Satchel

Wasn't he going to be a nurse? He’s nothing if not a helper.

The reason Texas Republicans continue to take their country back is obvious. Unless and until they began to experience serious blowback from voters over a couple of election cycles, they will continue to mimic the Taliban. They don’t see a downside to overseeing the greatest regression of rights in our lifetimes because to date, there has been no downside for them.

Great news! Now the aggies can get Ben Shapiro for the journalism department AND Steven Miller to be president! Is Kyle Rittenhouse not available?

But the judge said: Trump has filed a counterclaim alleging Carroll defamed him by continuing to say he raped her in public statements following the jury verdict. In his ruling Wednesday, Judge Kaplan indicated that may be a losing argument. He noted that rape in New York criminal law "applies only to vaginal penetration by a penis," a definition that is "far narrower than the meaning of ‘rape’ in common modern parlance, its definition in some dictionaries, in some federal and state criminal statutes, and elsewhere." "The finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was 'raped' within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump 'raped' her as many people commonly understand the word 'rape.' Indeed, as the evidence at trial recounted below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that," he wrote.

So, the Court did find that Trump raped E. Jean Carroll, after all, despite his and his lawyer’s protestations to the contrary: The jury’s finding of sexual abuse therefore necessarily implies that it found that Mr. Trump forcibly penetrated her," and the damages are therefore not excessive, Kaplan wrote. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-denied-new-trial-e-jean-carrolls-sexual-assault-defamation-case-rcna95114

Boy, he was a hot mess today.

Makes me wonder if we can ever crawl out of the abyss. It seems that our darkest impulses have taken hold and we don’t know what to do about it. Nobody should be able what MTG did and get off without penalty. It’s beyond bizarre.

Anybody know how many kids have been sliced and diced by razor wire or drowned in the last couple of days? Abbott may need those stats for his state of the state report later

Raskin recently declined the opportunity to run for the opening senate seat in Maryland. I think his recovery is his top priority.

I wonder if MTG displayed that pic in Jaysus’ name…being the big Christian and all…?

Throwing the Ulvalde kid’s flyer in the trash was a money move. She knew her people would eat it up.

All black football players should refuse to play at Alabama and cite this injustice as just one of many reasons why they won’t.

It’s unbelievable that she thought she was dragging Biden. What a stupid woman.

Update from today’s hearing: https://www.yahoo.com/news/irs-whistleblowers-lash-federal-officials-211028325.html Ziegler, a 13-year IRS veteran, was the main IRS case agent on the case and supervised by Shapley. He had been anonymous until Wednesday's hearing. During his opening statement, Ziegler emphasized that he is a gay man and a registered Democrat who has been accused of betraying his party. He compared testifying to the day he came out as a member of the LGBTQ community. "I am an example to other LGBTQ people out there who are questioning doing the right thing at the potential costs to themselves and others," he said. "We should always do the right thing no matter how painful the process might be." Ziegler alleged David Weiss, the U.S. Attorney for Delaware, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, previously agreed certain felony charges against Hunter Biden were warranted. But he said other Justice Department officials believed no jury would convict him given given his drug addiction and the death of his brother, Beau Biden. Hunter Biden improperly claimed business deductions for a range of personal expenses, Zeigler said, from his children's college tuition to stays for his drug dealer at a Hollywood hotel. In written testimony, he said he was denied a request to interview Hunter Biden’s adult children, alleging prosecutors said that would "get us into hot water." "I do not want my colleagues at the IRS, FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies to go through my frustrating journey," Zeigler said… …Throughout the hearing, Democratic lawmakers looked to poke holes in the two agent's testimony and the GOP's assertion about the investigation. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., pointed out how Joe Biden never replaced Weiss, a Trump appointee, and he has stayed out of the investigation into his son. "Now, can you imagine Donald Trump saying nothing about a witch hunt or not trying to quash the prosecution if it were his son being prosecuted?" he said. Other Democratic lawmakers grilled the two IRS agents and pointed out how claims of delays during the investigation happened before Biden was ever president. Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the oversight panel, added that no concrete evidence was presented that Hunter Biden was given preferential treatment, and that the two whistleblowers are simply expressing their disagreement with the decision to accept a plea. "We'll hear about how they disagreed on investigative steps and what criminal charges to bring on normal stuff in government investigations that doesn't usually lead to a congressional hearing," he said. "But one thing you will not hear today is any evidence of wrongdoing, by President Joe Biden or his administration.

We’re in a free fall. Thanks Abbott and company: https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-tops-list-worst-places-100524916.html#:~:text=Texas has received the number,%3A Life%2C Health %26 Inclusion. Texas has received the number one spot on a not-so-pleasant list: The top 10 worst places in America to live and work in 2023. While Texas landed at number six on CNBC's yearly America's Top States for Business study, the state scored significantly low in one category: Life, Health & Inclusion. Factors in this category include: crime rates environmental quality health care quality and availability of childcare inclusiveness in state laws such as reproductive rights, protections against discrimination and voting rights. Texas received 53 out of 350 points for its 2023 Life, Health & Inclusion score, giving it an F in its Top States grade and the lowest nationwide, securing its number one spot on the list

I believe their motivations are more twisted than that. They cannot bring themselves to acknowledge that there are classes of people in this country who are legitimate victims systemic discrimination. In a very disordered way, they are jealous and resentful of the fact that their attempts to paint themselves as beleaguered victims of systems they mostly created, have no resonance outside of their orbit. That these people actually want to be victims underscores just how much they don’t understand what it’s like to be truly victimized. Again, it’s this manufactured toxic admixture of nostalgia and grievance than drives them. c

Well, that’s certainly one way of looking at it, although it is true. When it comes to brand and viewership, TCU does not resonate nationally: https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-football/ohio-state-michigan-ranked-most-popular-college-football-teams-per-study

He cheated, you say? He just punched his ticket to become president of a Sec university.

Trooper: Migrants 'made in the image of God' The trooper, a medic who made it clear in the email to his superior that he supports the aims of the initiative, listed several incidents in the Del Rio area in late June and early July during which distressed migrants, including injured children and a pregnant woman who miscarried, were not given water or proper medical care despite intense heat. He also noted that five migrants had drowned in the river and that others were injured by the razor wire installed by the Texas operation along the Rio Grande. "I truly believe in the mission of Operation Lone Star; I believe we have stepped over a line into the inhumane," Trooper Nicholas Wingate said in his email to a DPS sergeant. "We need to operate it correctly in the eyes of God. We need to recognize that these are people who are made in the image of God and need to be treated as such." In a follow-up email, Trooper Brandon Tinsley corroborated the account. "Trooper Wingate is the author of this recap, but together we discussed its contents and I fully co-sign the message," Tinsley wrote. In a news release Tuesday afternoon, Abbott insisted no policies have been implemented that would lead to the mistreatment of people attempting to cross without legal authorization. https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/texas/state-bureau/2023/07/18/texas-democrats-decry-abbott-on-immigration-say-biden-must-step-up/70425987007/

People started noticing TCU after their win against Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. Generally speaking they’ve made the most of their opportunities, unlike some other schools. I suspect they’ll continue to do the same despite not being in the big 2

Of course it would make more sense. Problem is, most of America is irrational and nonsensical which it comes to the question of guns, On this issue, we’re as lost as a ball in tall grass.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama Republicans, under orders of the U.S. Supreme Court to redraw congressional districts to give minority voters a greater voice in elections, rejected calls Monday to craft a second majority-Black district and proposed a map testing the judges’ directive. https://www.yahoo.com/news/alabama-republicans-despite-supreme-court-203946698.html

The country should be more concerned about this than we appear to be: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/us/politics/trump-plans-2025.html Donald J. Trump and his allies are planning a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government if voters return him to the White House in 2025, reshaping the structure of the executive branch to concentrate far greater authority directly in his hands. Their plans to centralize more power in the Oval Office stretch far beyond the former president’s recent remarks that he would order a criminal investigation into his political rival, President Biden, signaling his intent to end the post-Watergate norm of Justice Department independence from White House political control. Mr. Trump and his associates have a broader goal: to alter the balance of power by increasing the president’s authority over every part of the federal government that now operates, by either law or tradition, with any measure of independence from political interference by the White House, according to a review of his campaign policy proposals and interviews with people close to him. Mr. Trump intends to bring independent agencies — like the Federal Communications Commission, which makes and enforces rules for television and internet companies, and the Federal Trade Commission, which enforces various antitrust and other consumer protection rules against businesses — under direct presidential control Mr. Vought and Mr. McEntee are involved in Project 2025, a $22 million presidential transition operation that is preparing policies, personnel lists and transition plans to recommend to any Republican who may win the 2024 election. The transition project, the scale of which is unprecedented in conservative politics, is led by the Heritage Foundation, a think tank that has shaped the personnel and policies of Republican administrations since the Reagan presidency. That work at Heritage dovetails with plans on the Trump campaign website to expand presidential power that were drafted primarily by two of Mr. Trump’s advisers, Vincent Haley and Ross Worthington, with input from other advisers, including Stephen Miller, the architect of the former president’s hard-line immigration agenda. Some elements of the plans had been floated when Mr. Trump was in office but were impeded by internal concerns that they would be unworkable and could lead to setbacks. And for some veterans of Mr. Trump’s turbulent White House who came to question his fitness for leadership, the prospect of removing guardrails and centralizing even greater power over government directly in his hands sounded like a recipe for mayhem

This thread has potential to eclipse Hillary hate since it’s possible to add a skosh of racism to the misogyny.