Thursday, January 23, 2025

Ari breaks it down while Marco Rubio gets Idiot of the Week

First up, important video that you need to see.



Please share that video.  It's important.


I am so sick right now of the Rashida Tlaib freaks.  I go through BLUESKY and just block them when they show up on my home page.  I don't need your lies defending her.  I'm fine with ignoring her.  But if you're bringing her up, I'm blocking you.  You're a lying piece of garbage defending a supposed Democrat who stabbed the party in the back.  She needs to publicly flip over to Trump since that is who she worked to get in the White House.  She's a f**king p.o.s. who betrayed the party, betrayed democracy, betrayed the country.  And you freaks need to understand that I'm not out here alone with that opinion.  It is the popular opinion and it's only going to strengthen over the next four years.


Every death in Gaza and the broader Palestinian area after Nov 5th is on the hands of Rashida Tlaib and the Muslims in Dearborn MI. I said what I said. https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-ceasefire-west-bank-violence-c5eb8ef474446671eb56bcc53ff5ff36

— EthanObama (@ethanobama.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 8:11 PM


I'm sure we'll get another idiot of the week before Saturday but Marco Rubio said something so stupid we really need to signal him out now.



U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio refused to comment on President Donald Trump’s pardons and commutations of more than 1500 people convicted of crimes surrounding the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, including the insurrection — despite having denounced the attack in strong terms four years ago.

In three separate interviews on Tuesday — on ABC News, CBS News, and NBC News — when presented with his comments about the 2021 attack, Rubio declared that he would not discuss domestic issues because he is now Secretary of State.

CBS News’ Gayle King told Secretary Rubio, “in February 2021, even you issued a statement and you said the images of the attack stirred up anger in you, the nation was embarrassed in the eyes of the world by our own citizens.”

“How do you personally reconcile those feelings with the pardons that he did yesterday?” she asked. “I understand you have work to do in the job is hard for many things, but on this particular issue, I’m curious about what you’re thinking.”

“Yeah, well, what I’m thinking is that I used to be a United States senator until midnight last night, and now I’m going about to be sworn in as the Secretary of State of the United States,” Rubio curtly replied. “And that’s what I’m thinking is I work for Donald J. Trump, the new president of United States, the 47th president who has a clear mandate to reorient our foreign policy to one that once again puts America and our interests at the center. And that’s what I’m gonna focus on. A hundred percent.”


No, you greasy, little weasel.  You work for the American people.  We pay your salary.  You are our employee -- as is Donald Chump.  Not the other way around.  You assholes better get it straight.  And you better do so quick.






President Donald Trump may have signaled that he's growing tired of his so-called co-president Elon Musk, according to MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle.

The president on Tuesday announced a joint venture investing up to $500 billion for infrastructure related to artificial intelligence by a new partnership formed by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank, but the CEO of one of those companies is the archenemy to Musk, who poured at least $277 million of his own money into Trump's re-election campaign and has been at his side as a key adviser since the election.

"I will make one, maybe it's a political point but it's worth pointing out, [at] the press conference yesterday, [OpenAI CEO] Sam Altman, standing behind the presidential seal with president Trump standing next to him," said CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin. "Think about that just for a moment, and the reason I say think about that, Sam Altman is Elon Musk's nemesis, and there has been a long conversation about whether we thought that Elon Musk was going to have influence over president Trump, and he was going to use his influence to thwart and hurt his enemies, and I think it was a surprise. I don't know if it's surprising or not, but I think it was remarkable, just worth remarking upon that Sam Altman and president Trump standing there next to each other. I should also mention Sam Altman spent $1 million during the inauguration, but the truth is that clearly the president, president Trump, behind this in a major way, and I think that that has a lot of folks sort of looking at this, trying to understand what it all means."


It means Chump took Elon for a ride.  He rode Elon hard and put him up wet.  It'll be interesting to see which one of the two tries to slit the neck of the other first -- Chump or Elon.  As they say on HIGHLANDER, "There can be only one."



Here's C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Wednesday, January 22, 2025.  We need to be planning now on how to weaken outsiders attacks on the next Democratic Party presidential nominee, that means not letting people rewrite history, Chump is on a rampage to destroy all that's good in this country and, yes, those who helped elect him need to be held accountable.

Let's start with this.


Blue MAGA?  Let's give Matt applause for at least being honest about what he is:  A Socialist.  And Socialists and Democrats are not the same thing.  The closet cases give us a bad name because the GOP tars and feathers us all as Socialists and Communists.  That's one of their tools to frighten the American people from Democrats.  So I will applaud Matt for not being closeted.


His sentiment is 100% accurate for a non-Democrat.  

It's not accurate in any other way.

Rashida ran as a Democrat and was elected as a Democrat and took campaign money from the Democratic Party.  So those of us who are Democrats -- not Blue MAGA -- have every right to be furious that she backstabbed the party and the country.  

She helped put Donald Chump into the White House and that was her goal.  

She deserves the anger.  As this country begins four years of hell, Rashida's earned the blame.  


Again, good for Matt for being public about being Socialist.  Because I really don't feel like being tarred and feathered in the next election with his views passed off as being the views of a Democrat.  



Exactly.  They are responsible for their actions.  

And let's note again that Rashida believed Donald Chump was such a threat to this country that she twice voted to impeach him.  But in 2024, when he ran for re-election, she campaigned against Kamala.  That's what she did.  And so, reality, she and her followers?  They are the Blue MAGA.

We're the Democrats, Matt, the same Democrats you've hated your whole life.  But Rashida is your type of politician because she's proven she's not really a Democrat.  So you have her.  I grasp where you're coming from and I understand why you feel the way you do.  

And we can all see that this is a highly popular take among Socialists.

Socialist do not control the Democratic Party.  They'd like to.  That's why so many stay in their political closets.  That's why they come up with "Justice Democrats!" and other slogans to pass Socialists off as Democrats in their attempt to take over our party.

But again, to fool people, they have to lie about who they are so they hide in political closets.

Applause for Matt for being honest about who he is.

You saw the Socialists look the other way in 2024 when Bernie ran for re-election.

He was 83 years old.

That's too damn old.

And he's not a Democrat.  And he's not an "independent."  He's a Socialist.

Which is why we could call it out but THE NATION, DEMOCRACY NOW, COMMON DREAMS eat al looked the other way and acted like it wasn't happening.

They rightly have noted that there are too many people in government who refuse to leave at a reasonable age.  And that's where you can find Democrats and Socialists in agreement on an issue.

But when it's time to call out Saint Bernie, the Socialists look the other way.  When he was calling Nelson Mandela a terrorist, they looked the other way.  They blamed it on him being Jewish and they excused it with "The ADL has the same position!"  

Nelson was a political prisoner and the leader of a movement.

Bernie was wrong then.

Most Black people are aware of his history.  He gets to avoid it in part because he'll insist he doesn't want to do "identity politics."  Sorry, Bernie, calling Nelson a terrorist is not something Black people are going to let you escape from no matter how many Socialists stooges -- especially those who blame the US government for the deaths of their parents -- looking at YOUTUBER -- to work on your campaign.

We're bring up Bernie for a reason.  It's really too late for the Socialists to find their spines and call Bernie out for running for re-election to a six year term at the age of 83.  

But you can certainly call out the latest news.  Sophie Clark (NEWSWEEK) reports:

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has filed to run for reelection in 2030, when he would be 89 years old.

On Monday, Sanders, who has been vocal against what he sees as an oligarchy looming over the U.S. government, expressed his desire to fight back against the Trump administration and has opened the door to running for the Senate again at the end of this decade.


Now we'll all see if the majority of Socialists have backbones or not?

They've covered for or ignored Bernie's long history of racism -- which also includes his trade policies -- and last year they ignored that he was too old to run for re-election.

Now he's expressing his intent to run for re-election in 2030.

Will his Socialist fan base call him out or not?  I think a number of them will stay silent and that, children, is the real Blue MAGA.

Red MAGA?

Disgraced Congress member Matt Gaetz was Convicted Felon Donald Chump's first nominee for Attorney General a few months back.  That imploded.  No, not because Matt's inflated looking face sprung a leak.  Instead, it was because Matt has no ethics at all.  Drugs, prostitutes, underage females.  When a man's got an ass as fat as Matt's, they're going to land on it and Matt hopped his ample ass on over to TV.  If anyone wanted to wish him well, they should avoid Adam Gabbatt's review at THE GUARDIAN:



Matt Gaetz’s brand new show on the far-right wing One America News Network began with him looking absolutely bizarre.

It was unclear who had applied the disgraced congressman’s makeup, but the combination of very light concealer around his eyes and dark foundation on the rest of his face made for an odd look, like a sort of reverse Hamburglar.

That distracting appearance proved to be the only memorable thing about his first episode. Gaetz spent 60 minutes waddling through boilerplate conservative talking points in front of a cheap-looking green-screen, all in an attempt to continue his time in the public eye.



Is there money in the program's budget for JD Vance?  Miss Sassy know more than just eye liner -- remember those photos of JD in drag? And he has so much free time now that he's the Unwanted Visitor at the White House.  Donald didn't even introduce JD Sunday night -- but Donald did bring Elon Musk on stage. 

Pete Hegseth is Donald's drunken nominee for Secretary of the Army. As we noted in yesterday's snapshot, he's refusing to meet with Senator Patty Murray.  He had agreed to meet with on January 15th but then cancelled the meeting.  The senator is the Vice Chair on the Senate Appropriations Committee -- that means defense spending.  A qualified nominee for Secretary of Defense would grasp the importance of building a relationship with all the members of the Senate Appropriations Committee.  It goes to yet again how unqualified Hegseth is for the job.  And we know his history of sexism. So if this has anything to do with that, it's worth noting the Chair of the Committee is Susan Collins.  Both the chair and the vice chair are women and both were elected to the US Senate.  Maybe it's hard for a basic cable TV personality to grasp that or that when he refuses to answer to those senators, he's refusing to answer to the American people?  As Murray's office noted, Hegseth has said he'll catch her after his confirmation.

Pass.

She needs to meet with him to ask her questions ahead of that vote.  As she's observed, "I expect every nominee to be willing to meet with Senators, regardless of their party, to answer basic questions about how they would approach their role if confirmed. Conducting these meetings is the absolute bare minimum given the role of each Senator and the constituents they represent. And should Pete Hegseth be confirmed, we have to be able to meet and communicate."  Exactly.

Steve Benen (MSNBC) reports the latest on that still troubled nomination:


Even if Pete Hegseth’s personal life were that of a teetotaling and celibate monk, the former Fox News host would still be the most controversial defense secretary nominee in American history. We are, after all, talking about a man who’s been accused of financial mismanagement at the two veterans-related charities he ran. (He has denied the accusations.)

Alas, that’s just the start. President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Pentagon has also never led a large organization, has written bizarre and conspiratorial books, did not attain a high rank during his tenure in the military, and has touted highly provocative ideas related to American women serving in combat and the Geneva Conventions. After Hegseth’s recent Senate confirmation hearing, The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank added that the nominee “also appears to have no idea what he’s doing.”

But just as importantly, the former television personality has most definitely not lived the life of a teetotaling and celibate monk. On the contrary, Hegseth has faced allegations of excessive drinking and sexual misconduct, which he has repeatedly denied.

Given the traditional norms of American politics, Hegseth’s odds of confirmation would be around zero. Given the state of American politics in 2025, Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee have already voted unanimously to advance Hegseth’s nomination to the full floor for final consideration.

It’s unclear if anything could convince senators in the GOP majority to think twice ahead of the confirmation vote, but as NBC News reported, Hegseth is facing new allegations that have reached Capitol Hill in the form of an affidavit.


Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat and the Senate Armed Services Committee’s ranking member, asked Danielle Hegseth to detail what she knew of “instances of abuse, or threats of abuse, perpetrated against any other person” and “mistreatment of a spouse, former spouse, or other members of his family,” among other requests. 

Reed said in a statement, “As I have said for months, the reports of Mr. Hegseth’s history of alleged sexual assault, alcohol abuse, and public misconduct necessitate an exhaustive background investigation. I have been concerned that the background check process has been inadequate, and this sworn affidavit confirms that fact.”

The Democratic senator, who voted to confirm Trump’s Pentagon nominees in the Republican’s first term, added that “the alleged pattern of abuse and misconduct by Mr. Hegseth is disturbing. This behavior would disqualify any service member from holding any leadership position in the military, much less being confirmed as the Secretary of Defense.”

NBC News’ report added that Danielle Hegseth’s affidavit described allegations “of volatile and threatening conduct by Hegseth that made his second wife, Samantha Hegseth, fear for her safety.” (She says she didn’t witness the conduct firsthand.)



He's not qualified.  He has anger management issues at best.  At best he can't handle stress.  Do we think Secretary of Defense is not a stressful job?  When he goes on a drunken bender -- he swears that, if confirmed, he'll stop drinking -- when he goes on a drunken bender as a result of being given a job he can't do, will the Senate be legally responsible?  Are they opening themselves up to litigation?

Should Joni Ernst vote to confirm him, would that make the Republican senator even more liable then others since she herself was a victim of assault?


 Tom Vanden Brook, Cybele Mayes-Osterman and Davis Winkie (USA TODAY) note some of the assertions made by Danielle Hegseth:

 

  • Hegseth's second wife sought refuge in a closet after Hegseth threatened her.
  • She was so concerned about her safety that she shared a code word with her sister-in-law to alert her when Hegseth threatened her. She texted the code word to the sister-in-law in 2015 or 2016.
  • The complainant witnessed Hegseth drunk on several occasions, including one Christmas when he vomited and passed out. In another instance, at a bar in 2013 in Minneapolis, Hegseth danced with drinks in both hands, broke glasses and was dragged out. On the walk home he made comments that implied he condoned non-consensual sex.
  • On another occasion in 2009, Hegseth was found drunk at a strip club in downtown Minneapolis in his military uniform, drunk and getting lap dances. He had to be dragged out of the club.
  • He disparaged Hispanic people and said Christian people needed to have more babies than Muslims to avoid being overtaken.



A Department of Defense scholar claimed that Trump nominee Pete Hegseth's objective to bring "warrior culture" back to the Pentagon is a "terrible idea."

"We need soldiers, not warriors," wrote Eliot A. Cohen in an article for The Atlantic.

Hegseth, who served as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard, said at his defense secretary hearing, "When President Trump chose me for this position, the primary charge he gave me was—to bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense. He, like me, wants a Pentagon laser focused on warfighting, lethality, meritocracy, standards, and readiness."

In his article, Cohen gave the definition of warriors as "people who exult in killing, who prize individual courage and daring, who obsess about honor (often in self-destructive ways), who frequently take trophies from the bodies of their enemies, and whose behavior on and off the battlefield often veers into atrocity."


While I believe most people can grasp the point Cohen's making, I'm not sure Hegseth can.  He has no control over his rage as evidenced by one nasty episode after another.  That's probably why he's skipping out on Senator Murray who has noted, "If Pete Hegseth is determined to make the role of Secretary and Department of Defense partisan by refusing to meet with Senators as part of his confirmation process -- then he shouldn't be confirmed as Secretary of Defense. I think most Americans would agree that you shouldn't get the job if you decide you can just skip the job interview. Mr. Hegseth's refusal thus far to commit to meet with me before a confirmation vote is unacceptable and I hope all of my colleagues will condemn this unprecedented effort to ignore the Senate’s role to advise and consent."



Donald Chump is on a destruction spree.  Emery Winter (VERIFY) observes:


President Donald Trump issued a flurry of executive orders during the first day of his second term, including a single sweeping order revoking dozens of executive orders issued by the Biden administration.

Viral social media posts claim that one of the orders revoked was one that lowered prescription drug costs for people on Medicare and Medicaid. Several VERIFY readers asked us if these posts are true.


[. . .]

Yes, Trump did rescind a Biden order to lower prescription costs for people on Medicare and Medicaid.

WHAT WE FOUND

Trump rescinded an executive order that required the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop and test ways to lower drug prices for people on Medicare and Medicaid. 

Since former-President Joe Biden's 2022 order, CMS had been planning out and preparing to test three models to lower prices. None of them had fully gone into effect. Therefore, current Medicare and Medicaid enrollees will not see their drug prices go up. They will also not see some of the proposed price cuts scheduled to go into effect in the future.




Wow.  I guess we were so lucky to have Rashida Tlaib and others insisting that there was no difference between Kamala Harris and Donald Chump, that people should vote for grifter Jill Stein or sit it out and don't vote or even vote for Chump.  Weren't we lucky?  I don't feel lucky about it, do you?

Their actions have consequences and Blue MAGA can deny responsibility all they want but they were calling it a "movement" in real time.  And this what their "movement" produced: Four more years of Convicted Felon Donald Chump.

No, it is not forgotten.  They want us to because they really want to act out and have their tantrum in 2028.  That's why we need to get honest so all their tricks and whoring are known ahead of time.  So people can pay attention when Red Diaper Baby Amy Goodman brings on guest after guest in three months before the election who hate the Democratic Party's presidential nominee.  She doesn't tell you that they're Socialists.  She let's you assume this is the reaction of the average Democrat.  Hell, she doesn't even tell you that Naomi Klein needs to shut her mouth and sit her ass down because her lukewarm 'praise' of Kamala doesn't matter -- she was born in Canada and raised there and should not be considered an American citizen when the reason her family was in Canada was because her father deserted during Vietnam.  But by all means, let's bring Socialist Naomi on the program and let her speak to the ills of Kamala with no context because Amy's entire point was to tank the election.

We don't need these fake asses trying to trick people again.








President-elect Donald Trump is now — once again — President Donald Trump, and in the roughly 24 hours since he has taken office, he has very publicly claimed for himself an extraordinary amount of executive power: He issued more executive orders on Day 1 than any previous president, including one to end birthright citizenship (a right guaranteed in the Constitution) and one blocking the enforcement of a ban on the video streaming app TikTok that was passed by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court. He also pardoned rioters who breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Even before these latest actions, a significant number of Americans were worried about the U.S. becoming less of a democracy and more of an authoritarian state under Trump's second term. A Dec. 3-5 poll from Marist College found that 73 percent of adults thought there was a serious threat to the future of our democracy. And according to an Ipsos/Public Religion Research Institute poll from last August-September, 49 percent of Americans thought there was a real danger that Trump would use the presidency to become a dictator.

But when people think of Trump becoming a dictator, they're probably thinking of something akin to him going on TV one day and declaring himself president for life. (For instance, host Nikki Glaser memorably joked at the Golden Globes about there not being a next election.) There are a myriad of legal and practical reasons why that is extremely unlikely to happen — but that doesn't mean he won't pose a threat to democracy. Political scientists who have studied the erosion of democracy in other countries emphasize that it's a gradual, even subtle process that often leaves the trappings of democracy in place. In fact, those experts say, U.S. democracy was already eroded under Trump's first term — and the most serious danger is that his second will see more of the same.


Protections in place?  Hmm.  When Congress passes a law -- and the Supreme Court doesn't overturn it -- then it's settled law and executive orders aren't supposed to be able to get around it. Nor are executive orders supposed to be able to circumvent our Constitution.  But Chump's currently trying to do both things. 


There are two ways Trump could try to prevent it -- on sketchy legal ground but it could happen.  No, I'm not revealing it here -- I'm not here to provide destruction plans to the despot in chief.  



President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. on Monday to withdraw once again from the 2015 Paris climate agreement — instantly isolating the country from the global campaign to stem catastrophic warming.

This time, Trump’s repudiation of the worldwide climate effort could bite deeper by taking effect more quickly and at a time when the new president has more far-right allies overseas and at home.

Language in Trump's executive order said the U.S. would consider the withdrawal to take effect "immediately." It didn't mention the one-year notice period that the climate pact spells out.

The order, which Trump signed with public fanfare just hours after taking office, collides with a rise in climate havoc around the world, including the devastating Los Angeles wildfires and revelations that last year was the hottest ever recorded. It marks the launch of an aggressive agenda to roll back U.S. climate policy, driven by an emboldened president who invites confrontation over the scientific underpinnings of climate change.

The long-promised exit will jettison the United States' Biden-era promise to cut climate pollution by up to 66 percent within a decade. It also calls into question a host of other U.S. commitments, such as providing billions of dollars in support to poorer nations suffering from unprecedented heat waves, floods and rising seas.





President Donald Trump has cancelled flights for 1,660 refugees from Afghanistan who were previously cleared by the government to come to the U.S., according to Reuters.

The 1,660 Afghan refugees who have been taken off flights include family members of active-duty U.S. military personnel, unaccompanied minors flying to the U.S. to reunite with family, and those who fought for the former U.S.-backed Afghan government.


Trump's suspension of U.S. refugee programs and subsequent cancelling of flights is detailed in a report from Shawn VanDiver, the head of the #AfghanEvac, a coalition of U.S. veterans and advocacy groups, and an anonymous U.S. official.


Allie Kelly and Noah Sheidlower (BUSINESS INSIDER) report:


President Donald Trump's mass deportation plans could have a significant economic side effect: draining the Social Security fund.

As more Americans reach retirement age — many without adequate savings — Social Security can be a financial anchor. The checks average $1,976 monthly, and thousands of older adults told Business Insider they rely on the money to pay for essentials. However, the checks often aren't enough to live on.

Trump's vow to carry out a mass deportation of people living in the US illegally could make matters more difficult because the Social Security fund is largely financed by payroll taxes from American workers. The Social Security Administration told BI that deportations could cut annual cash flow by $20 billion — potentially reducing retirees' benefits over time.

Immigrants living in the US illegally, about 8.3 million of whom work, also pay payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare. They are ineligible to claim these benefits themselves.



Are you getting why we can't afford, in 2028, to let non-Democrats pose as Democrats and attack our presidential nominee?  They're doing the same thing FOX "NEWS" does when they pass off someone as a Democrat -- Tulsi for instance -- and say, "See even Democrats don't support this."  It cannot happen again.


We'll wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:


Following President Donald Trump signing Day One executive orders, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the following statement:

“Donald Trump ran on the promise that he would make life more affordable for hardworking Americans, but he spent day one of his presidency doing next to nothing to lower costs. Instead, he spent his time on an agenda of revenge, division, and cruelty with a side helping of cozying up to billionaires. If Day One is a sign of what a second Trump term will look like, it will be great for his billionaire donors and giant corporations, and pain and costs for everyone else.” 

### 




The following sites updated:


Posted by at