Andrew Cuomo, the three-term governor of New York, announced Tuesday that he is resigning amid allegations of multiple counts of sexual misconduct. During the early days of the pandemic, he was seen by some as a hero for regular briefings on his administration’s leadership during the crisis – something that was sore lacking from the Trump administration.
This is not the only controversy the soon-to-be former governor has faced of late. Last year during the height of the pandemic, his administration was accused of severe mismanagement of COVID deaths in nursing facilities in the state of New York.
Como has denied the allegations of sexual misconduct, claiming the whole thing is politically motivated. As part of his resignation speech he said:
“New York tough means New York loving, and I love New York. And I love you. And everything I have ever done has been motivated by that love. And I would never want to be unhelpful in any way, and I think that given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is to step aside and let government get back to governing, and therefore, that’s what I’ll do, because I work for you, and doing the right thing is doing the right thing for you. Because, as we say, it’s not about me, it’s about we.”
I will admit that much of his speech was cringey. He could have just said he was sorry and ended it there, instead of allowing his attorney to drone on for nearly an hour just to downplay the situation.
Republicans are thrilled that Cuomo has been singled out as a sexual deviant and a pervert. GOP chair, and Trump butt-kissing bootlicker, Nick Langworthy – who had this to say in February about Trump’s implication in the Capitol riot: “I don’t see where the man incited violence among anyone. We’re the party of law and order, and there was never a call to defy any law enforcement office or trespass or vandalize. He said, ‘let your voices be heard,’ “- said, “This resignation is just an attempt to avoid real accountability.”
Democrats impeached Trump in the House. Republicans let him off the hook in the Senate. That’s what I call avoiding accountability.
If Cuomo had refused to step down, there would have been increased pressure to impeach him, and I have no doubt that the Democrats would have done just that, rather than continue to make excuse after excuse for his past behavior like the majority of the Republican party has for Trump for his own severe mismanagement of the pandemic.
The Mueller report was released in 2018. From the introduction of the first volume:
“The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion. Evidence of Russian government operations began to surface in mid 2016. In June, the Democratic National Committee and its cyber response team publicly announced that Russian hackers had compromised its computer network. Releases of hacked materials – hacks that public reporting soon attributed to the Russian government – began that same month. Additional releases followed in July through the organization WikiLeaks, with further releases in October and November.
“As set forth in detail in this report, the Special Council’s investigation established that Russia interfered in the 2016 election principally through two operations. First, a Russian entity carried out a social media campaign that favored Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Second, a Russian intelligence service conducted computer intrusion operations against entities, employees and volunteers working on the Clinton campaign and then released stolen documents. The investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign. Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in it’s election interference activities.”
The Russian government attempted to interfere in the election to the benefit of Trump. Russian agencies participated in social media campaigns to benefit Trump. WikiLeaks released stolen emails from the Clinton campaign. These are established facts in the report.
When the report was released, conservatives rejoiced. The investigation found no direction links between Trump and the Russian government – no “collusion,” no evidence that he or anyone in his campaign assisted them in their interference. Their beloved president was finally vindicated! For two years Trump and his cronies and allies had suffered the injustices of a witch hunt by Democrats who made the whole thing up as a result of not accepting the fact that Hillary was a horrible person, just horrible, and everyone hated her, which is why she lost. Anti-liberal Progressives sneered and smugly lectured liberals on how wrong they were.
Last year, the final volume of a Senate Intelligence committee investigative report was released. Like the Mueller report, it found troubling evidence of Russia’s involvement in meddling in the 2016 election. Still no evidence of direct “collusion,” by Trump or his campaign, but despite being written about extensively by various news outlets at the time of its release, it too was dismissed by both Trump supporters and smug-ass anti-lib progressives.
During a 2019 segment of The Hill: Rising, Krystal Ball made a fool of herself by comparing Rachel Maddow and her network, to Alex Jones. Maddow, an MSNBC journalist had the audacity to report on a scandal that actually happened. Maddow may have over played her hand when it came to Russia Gate. Some would argue that she had, and others would argue she had every justification for doing so, since an investigation ( the Mueller investigation ) was on-going at the time. I don’t know. That’s not for me to judge. What I do know, is that Russia Gate was not a hoax, as the evidence shows. Anti-liberal progressives can call it Trump-derangement hysteria to their hearts’ content. It happened, and the mainstream media reported on it as was their job. If smug progressives like Ball can’t get over that fact, that’s on them.
“I can no longer avoid pondering a question that honestly gives me no joy to ponder, just to ponder how much damage has MSNBC in particular done to the left,” Ball said smugly. “Now this critique is not meant to be personal to the anchors and commentators there, some of whom are actually close friends having worked at the network for five years, but nearly all of whom got swept up in the ratings bubble that was feverish Russia conspiracy theories.”
After claiming her critique was nothing personal, she then called out one commentator at MSNBC in particular.
“I dare to say some talent did drink more deeply of the Russian conspiracy waters than others. Rachel Maddow, you’ve got some explaining to do.”
She admitted that the Mueller investigation revealed some facts , but added that it “doesn’t feel like a damning set of facts when for months MSNBC built segment after segment , show after show on building anticipation for a big reveal.”
She also mentioned several other reporters who the network brought on to discuss Russia Gate. “Seriously, this is not journalism,” she said. “It is Infowars conspiracy theory.”
Keep in mind that Ball is among a subset of smug, pompous “anti-woke, anti-imperialist” “progressives” – who love to refer to Russia Gate liberals as useful idiots – who see “deep state” conspiracies under every rock. Everything the American government says, is a lie. But other countries whose governments America doesn’t like – Russia, Venezuela, Syria, and China – are more credible and must be defended. With their “force the vote” nonsense on M4All, and then attacking progressives – including those in Congress – who did not fall in line with their demands, as sell-outs and traitors; and their brilliant ideas of forming alliances with right-wing anti-government groups like the Boogaloo Boys – are far more damaging to the reputation of the left than any reporting on the Russia Gate scandal.
They see themselves as saviors of the progressive movement, who think that they, and they alone know what’s best for the American people when it comes to matters of health care and other progressive policies. They pride themselves on being anti-establishment, anti-corporate, and anti-mainstream media, and yet the only “mainstream media” they seem to have a problem with are MSNBC and CNN. Never Fox News, Newsmax or OANN. They posture themselves as brave “truth-tellers” among a vast “corporate media” apparatus that is undermining truth and objectivity, and by watching Breaking Points, Jimmy Dore, and the like, can you be truly informed, because they would never misinform, and they would never engage in partisanship.
This group of “elite” progressives include people such as Jimmy Dore, Glenn Greenwald, Aaron Mate, Max Blumenthal, and Matt Taibbi. Many of these people have been accused by other progressives of enabling and promoting Assad, Russia, China, and Venezuela propaganda ( see the Grayzone’s Rationalwiki page here ). Max Blumenthal, the founder of the Grayzone is a contributor of both RT ( Russian television ) and Sputnik radio.
It’s ironic that Ball would accuse centrist Democrats like Maddow as having discredited and done damage to the left due to her overzealous reporting and speculation on the Russia Gate scandal. Ball and her elitist group of useful idiots have done far more damage to the credibility of the left than Rachel Maddow ever could. I’ll get to that in a moment.
Ball has spent the last few years at The Hill: Rising, and now Breaking Points, sitting next to a white nationalist, failing to push back on his conspiracy and fear-mongering, railing against the Democrat establishment as being the cause of all of America’s economic, and class woes, and the answer is a populist uprising, a merger between the populist left, and the so-called populist right. In other words, progressives like Ball would rather unite with fascists because they too see problems with the system, corporations, the government – rather than with liberals. I wish I was kidding.
Nathan J. Robinson, of the magazine Current Affairs, had this to say in his article Debating The Right Rather Than Collaborating With Them:
“I do not want to suggest that Ball and Enjeti are anything but sincere. I have admired much of Ball’s work, if none of Enjeti’s, and I think Rising has produced a lot of excellent material and filled gaps in the media ( I disagree with Robinson, they are not much better ). I do think it’s important to note that the Hill is owned by a close personal friend of Donald Trump. And from what Ball Says about the relative palatability of Enjeti’s politics versus those of the mainstream Democratic party, leftists watching the show could very well get the impression that Donald Trump is more similar to them than Joe Biden. Nationalist racists like Tucker Carlson are presented as preferable to centrists, because they are part of the “populist” movement.”
I have my doubts about Ball’s sincerity. There are plenty of liberals who want the same things Ball supposedly wants: Universal healthcare, a Green New Deal, affordable education, etc.. Is she interested in talking to these people? Is she interested in forming an alliance with them? I don’t see any evidence that she is. They’re liberals. Why would she talk to them? She hates them because they’re liberals. She’s seems more sympathetic to fascists. Her only interest is looking down her nose at liberals, sneering at them. However, she sees no problem giving a wink and a nod to fascists, because they both hate government, and have problems with corporations.
I find Ball’s hypocrisy also problematic. When it came to Russia Gate, she ignorantly buried her head in the sand and sneered at liberals who got it right. She buried her head in the sand and sneered at liberals who were right about the Douma chemical gas attack in Syria. In her video Will Liberals Ever Admit How Wrong They Were About Trump? she smugly lectured the “liberal” media on how wrong they were about Trump, that their concern of Trump interfering in the election, was nothing more than Trump derangement. This video was released prior to the Capitol riot, which they also downplayed.
These days, Krystal Ball is into her own conspiracy theories – something for which she recently sneered at liberals, over Russia Gate reporting. Lately, COVID conspiracies regarding its origin – the Wuhan lab leak theory – have been in the media. This conspiracy theory is not about finding the truth about COVID, but smearing Fauci and using him as a scapegoat to distract from the Trump administration’s massive failure during the pandemic.
Via the Washington Post:
“The central argument from Trump and his allies is that the possibility that the virus escaped from a lab in Wuhan or was manufactured there – a claim for which there is no public evidence – as opposed to spreading from an animal to a human, was unfairly dismissed or covered up by scientists and media organizations bent on destroying the former president.”
“The focus of the virus’s origin story also fits a pattern of Trump and his supporters trying to absolve the former president of blame by obfuscating his past actions or words and blaming others , despite his role as the country’s leader.”
“They’re using Dr. Fauci as a way to direct attention from what actually was a massive government failure from the White House and individuals Donald Trump put in place to handle the pandemic,” says Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
Last month Dr. Fauci appeared before Congress on the claim of gain of function regarding the coronavirus, and was, of course, accused of lying to cover his and China’s asses. Trump defenders saw it as evidence of his involvement in a world-wide conspiracy. But there was and is no evidence that he lied, other than personal opinion.
Via the Los Angeles Times:
“There is no evidence whatsoever that the virus originated or was warehoused in a Chinese lab, and was released, either inadvertently or deliberately.”
“Most recently, Fauci’s critics have picked over a trove of his emails, released to Buzzfeed and the Washington Post via Freedom of Information Act requests, to search for evidence of Fauci’s duplicity in commenting on the pandemic. They assert that the emails prove their point. In fact, they prove nothing of the kind. Instead, they portray a public servant taking pains to to be judicious about theories for the origin of the virus and about purported remedies.”
Recently, crazy QAnon Congresswoman, Marjory Taylor Greene called for Joe Biden to investigate and hold Fauci accountable for a “manufactured plague,” in a letter she sent to him in June. “Today, I sent this letter to Joe Biden to demand the immediate investigation into Anthony Fauci’s lies and his potential involvement in the cover up of the origins of the China virus,” which she posted along with the tweet.
Last month, Krystal and Saagar appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast, where they wasted no time implicating Dr. Fauci in a world-wide conspiracy to create the virus as a bioweapon, while downplaying the Trump administration’s failures during the pandemic. And, while still at The Hill: Rising, they hosted COVID vaccine conspiracist Bret Weinstein.
This is not the only conspiracy theory these two have dabbled in of late: Russia Gate was a hoax invented by the liberal media as an excuse to explain Hillary Clinton’s loss to Trump. However, Obama Gate is totally plausible and should be investigated; the FBI was really behind the Capitol riot, as well as the attempted kidnapping of Gretchen Whitmer.
It’s not just the conspiracy-mongering that I find troubling from serious journalists who supposedly counter corporate mainstream narrative. It’s that they are willing to platform other alleged journalists like Andy Ngo, a known right-wing provocateur – a fascist – who shows up at left-wing protests to instigate violence to make himself a victim. Having him on and failing to push back on his propaganda, is not serious journalism. It is a mockery of journalism. It is no different than MSNBC having on David Duke, and failing to counter his propaganda. And engaging in conspiracy theories while accusing mainstream media figures of doing the same, is a mockery of journalism.
And last, it’s that they spend too much time criticizing and condemning the Democratic party for rightly focusing on the Republican party’s threat to democracy. An alleged conspiracy is more plausible and merits more attention than the fact that the Republican party recently attempted to cancel democracy by subverting an election, and are continuing to subvert democracy through laws to make it more difficult to vote.
But none of this is important to people like Krystal Ball. By entertaining outlandish conspiracy theories, they are not the reputable journalists they pretend to be. They are nothing more than that which they accuse mainstream media. They are a cheap corporate opinion media knock off with their own wealthy donors. They are nothing more than podcasters on a social media platform, sharing a mutual hatred of the Democratic party, and giving their opinions on how bad they are, while ignoring and downplaying any threat from the Republican party. They have become Infowars-style conspiracy theorists. It is them who have drank deeply of the conspiracy waters, much more deeply than Rachel Maddow or anyone else at MSNBC, and it is them who have explaining to do. But they will never be held accountable.
Sources: Mediaite, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times.
Despite a surge with the delta variant, the U.S. has finally reached its 70% vaccination rate for adults who have received one dose of the vaccines. The Biden administration had hoped to reach it before the fourth of July holiday, but given the fact that disinformation about the vaccines have been the norm in right-wing media for months, some might wonder that the goal was reached at all.
I’ve had my own doubts about the vaccines, I will admit, due mainly to possible side effects many have experienced, and for that reason was reluctant to get vaccinated. And since I am an older adult with a pre-existent medical condition, I have no desire get a virus that would, in all likely hood, kill me, so I have always remained responsible, following the recommended restrictions, including wearing a mask when around others.
Recently, I received the first shot of the Pfizer vaccine without experiencing any side effects. What the second shot will bring, we’ll see.
Some states have recently reinstated restrictions in an attempt to counter the surge, which has been attributed to the delta variant, and the reluctance of many who refuse to get vaccinated. Other states like Texas and Florida, have defied reinstating COVID restrictions to own the libs who are, according to governor DeSantis, “Coming for your freedom again.”
“As quickly as we can discharge them, they’re coming in and they’re coming in very sick,” said Dr. Sergio Segarra, the chief officer of Baptist Hospital in Miami. “We started seeing entire families come down.” According to the Florida Medical Center, there has been a 140% increase in the number of hospitalizations due to the delta variant surge.
According to USA Facts, to date approximately 191,498,983 have received one dose of a vaccine, and the overall total of those who have been fully-vaccinated is over 164 million.
Right-wing media has fueled constant mistrust in the vaccines for months, and certain conservative politicians have blamed the Biden administration for its criticism of Trump’s previous vaccine drive. Senator Tuberville of Alabama said some skeptics wouldn’t get their shot until this administration acknowledges the efforts of the last administration.
“Every time Jen Psaki opens her mouth, or Dr. Fauci opens his mouth,” he said, “ten thousand more people say I’m never going to take the vaccine.”
In other words, MAGA lovers hate and distrust Fauci because all he did was lie, whereas Trump did nothing but tell the truth. Vanity Fair says it much better than I can:
“Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, the GOP collectively decided to make Anthony Fauci public enemy number one, having found in the veteran immunologist the perfect target through which to whip up their base and take the spotlight off the fact that the then president had let the virus gain a foothold in the country while actively lying about it at every turn. Fauci, of course, is everything conservatives hate: An educated man of science with not one but two degrees, he committed what Republicans believe was a capitol offense when he failed to back up everything Donald Trump said about the disease, including treating it by freebasing bleach…
“But like the living embodiment of a QAnon forum, Republicans, Trump, and Fox News believe they have found some smoking gun showing that Fauci is somehow responsible for the virus, based on the fresh interest in the lab leak theory ( which the doctor himself is supportive of investigating, which he wouldn’t be if he was implicated in the whole thing, a slight wrinkle conservatives will probably explain at a time to be determined ). So, naturally, they’re amping up their attacks like he’s the second coming of Benghazi/Hillary Clinton/Pol Pot.
Other conservatives are actually enabling common sense, rather than conspiracies. “The way to avoid getting back into the hospital , is to get vaccinated,” said Mitch McConnell. “I want to encourage everybody to do that, and to ignore all these other voices that are giving demonstrably bad advise.”
Unfortunately, not everyone will take his advise. Too many will continue to listen to conspirators and doomsayers like Tucker Carlson – who being fully-vaccinate himself – as he sits comfortably in his studio and convinces the rubes who watch him that the vaccines will either kill them, or make them sick.
Sources: The Week, New York Times, Associated Press, CDC.gov.
Through no fault of their own, millions of Americans lost their jobs during a pandemic that was poorly mismanaged by the government. Many of those Americans received some economic and other relief through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Securities Act, and other federal programs. The Cares Act included payments of 1,200 for individuals and 2,400 for couples, which included some unemployment relief.
This year’s EIP’s included 500.00 and 1,400 for individuals. But none of the relief that many have received, has been sufficient to prevent millions from being evicted from their homes once the ban expires. The moratorium by the CDC, which the Supreme Court allowed to continue through July, ended Saturday. Some states have enacted their own bans on evctions.
Both parties are content to blame the other, as well as the president for something that they could clearly do something about. Certain progressives are content to grandstand for now, pointing fingers at the their own party, while other progressives are blaming Pelosi – AKA Mrs. Scrooge – for not waving a magic wand and making everything better.
Protesters gathered outside her home, where they taped a fake eviction notice to her door that would have given anti-Democrat progressives a huge erection. Apparently she is the only politician who is out of touch and the only one to have ever owned a multi-million dollar mansion, and she alone can solve the eviction crisis that both chambers of Congress can do something about if only they can get their heads out of their asses.
“Dear Speaker Pelosi, you are hereby given immediate notice that millions of Americans will face eviction tonight when the eviction moratorium expires. We call upon you immediately to call Congress to session to vote to extend the eviction moratorium and keep people in their homes. We’re in the midst of the second worst COVID surge to date and this is not the time to allow evictions to begin. Housing is a human right #evictionmoratorium #eviction crisis.”
The only thing it didn’t say, is This all your fault! It’s a wonder they didn’t blame her for the Delta variant as well.
One genius told Fox News, “The reason we were at her house is that she has a beautiful mansion in Pacific Heights in San Francisco, and that shows how out of touch she is with the people that are facing a situation of eviction.”
Progressive AOC told Jake Tapper she “could not in good conscious blame the Republicans since the Democrats have a majority in the House.”
Republican lawmaker, Patrick McHenry, of the House Financial Services Committee, blames Joe Biden for the Crisis that Congress could have found a solution to some time ago.
“This is a full-scale failure by the Biden Administration that Republicans have been trying to address for months,” he said. “Now we are three days away from the CDC’S unconstitutional eviction moratorium, and what is President Biden’s solution? Blame the Court and call on Congress to fix it. This is absurd. The Administration is squarely to blame for any American family that loses their home due to the gross mismanagement of the Emergency Rental Assistance programs.”
It is absurd. It’s absurd that everyone is blaming everyone else, while failing to admit that everyone is at fault – Joe Biden, both chambers of Congress, the CDC, and the Supreme Court. The federal government in general, is at fault. It’s shameful that the federal government abandoned the American people in time of need, providing little economic aid and rental assistance during a pandemic, and are playing the blame game.
If Biden had used his authority and extended the moratorium through executive action, most Republicans would probably screech that he was exceeding his executive powers for something they say is unconstitutional, as they often did with Obama.
The truth is, neither party has done much of anything to address this situation, other than extending the moratorium. Neither party has sought a long-term solution. Both parties are out of touch with the American people. Both parties need to get their shit together. However, anti-Democrat progressives will continue to hold Nancy Pelosi and moderate Democrats responsible for not doing their job, something that both parties should be doing. Both parties working together could have addressed this issue earlier this year, or even last year and come up with appropriate legislation that would have provided a long-term solution. Finger pointing solves nothing.
By the end of 2021 the U.S. will no longer have a combat role in Iraq.
Biden met with Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi Monday at the White House, where he said,”Iraq has been a vital partner for the United States for some time now in the middle east and we’ve been engaged deeply in Iraq for my entire career, back in the Senate, as vice president, and now as President…
“Our shared fight against ISIS is critical for the stability of our region and counterterrorism cooperation will continue, even as we shift to this new phase we’re going to be talking about,” Biden said during the meeting.
“Our role in Iraq will be dealing with training, assisting, and help in dealing with ISIS. But we are not going to be, by the end of the year, in a combat mission.”
Both the U.S. and Iraq are allegedly committed to all U.S. troops departing when the coalition to defeat ISIS is allegedly accomplished.
Nasser Al-Shammari, spokesperson for an Iranian-back militia group, the Nujaba Movement, said that the so-called change in mission was just a trick.
“They will not differentiate between advisors of the occupation or soldiers of the occupation, for all of them are important targets for the weapons of the resistance, until the last occupying soldier leaves the land of Iraq.”
Charlie Kirk has had the last laugh. For years, Turning Point USA’s founder and executive director, has been owning the libs in spectacular fashion, just as he did when he put on his first pair of Pampers to own the smug libs in 2017, who were crying for a safe space on the campus of Kent State University because they’re such crybabies.
Kirk, a young leader in the “America First” conservative movement, has been touring America’s college campuses with other leaders in the movement, like Dana Loesch, and Tomi Lahren, warning young conservatives of the dangers of the culture wars perpetuated by liberals who want to ban their free speech, just as they banned Mr. Potato Head, Dr. Seuss, Confederate statues, and then shove CRT and the 1619 Project up their rear ends.
In 2018, Kirk tweeted that when Obama was elected, they didn’t cry and burn stuff down, they waited patiently for eight years, acting absolutely civil toward the new president, showing him the utmost respect that liberals refused to show Trump.
This time, Kirk – always the truth-teller – reminds us that the summer protests over the unlawful killing of George Floyd, were really out of control riots by Black Lives Matter and Antifa, who just can’t help but resort to violence when they can’t get their way, as opposed to Trump supporters who descended on the D.C. Capitol for a picnic, or a tour, to calmly convince the Senate that they were wrong to certify the electoral votes for Biden, and should, instead, declare Trump the winner.
“It really had nothing to do with president Trump’s “stop the steal” rhetoric,” Charlie told the Weekly Journal News. “It was all Sleepy Joe’s fault, and George Soros, and Hugo Chavez, Antifa and maybe even Mickey Mouse. Who knows who else was in on it? Casper The Friendly Ghost? That’s not so unbelievable, you know, since it’s been proven that Hugo Chavez had a hand in it. Who else could have been involved? Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids? Alvin and the Chipmunks? Maybe even E.T. for all we know. We’ll never know because the snowflake liberal judges wouldn’t allow any evidence to be presented.”
“And those people who were carrying a gallows chanting to hang the vice president, and the people who were beating up on cops and breaking into the building and defecating? They weren’t Trump supporters. They were Antifa, and Black Lives Matter, or both – trying to make Trump and his supporters look bad. Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity reported on it. Trump would never condone anything like that, and neither would Trump supporters. But Black Lives Matter and Antifa would. They’re all terrorists. They run around rioting and looting and beating and defecating and burning down American cities every day. I’m surprised there are any cities left standing in America.”
Kirk stood up, yanked his pants down, revealing a pair of adult Pampers – his signature brand – with baby duckies on them, and released a large, rather disgusting expulsion of gas. He then grinned and said, “Checkmate, libtards!”
It should be noted that that when Trump failed to win the election of 2020, conservatives didn’t burn stuff down. But they did cry, and they violently destroyed property, assaulted people – killing several, just as they did during the BLM protests – and used certain parts of the Capitol as makeshift toilets.
The brave warriors of the culture wars have found another reason to get triggered. Cleveland’s professional baseball team known as the Indians since 1915, are soon to change the moniker, and conservatives are not happy about it.
The name change was announced Friday via a video on Twitter, narrated by Tom Hanks. However, the change will not take effect until next year, when they will officially be known as The Cleveland Guardians.
The moniker change is allegedly inspired by a state landmark known as the traffic guardians located at each end of the Hope Memorial bridge.
Paul Dolan, the team owner said he was encouraged to change the name of the team after the killing of George Floyd.
“We do feel like we’re doing the right thing,” he told ESPN. “And that’s what’s driving this. I know some people will disagree, but if anything, I’ve gotten more and more comfortable that we’re headed in the right direction. And actually, the selection of the name solidifies that feeling because of the values that the name represents.”
Even though the name is changing, the teams colors will remain the same, as will the smiling caricature logo that fans have come to fondly know for more than one hundred years, and that has been protested by some indigenous groups in the past.
Normal people couldn’t care less about the name change. But depending on whether you consider them normal people or not, conservatives, for some reason, do care, or pretend that they care. Since they have nothing to offer in the way of policy, the culture wars are all they have to live for.
“And just like that, the Indians adopt the dumbest, most pointless name in major professional sports,” the National Review’s Rich Lowry complained about on Twitter.
I don’t know, Rich. I think the Guardians sounds better than the Indians. But that’s just my opinion.
Cancun Ted complained, “Why does MLB hate indians?”
Why do you hate your Texas constituents, Ted? Isn’t that why you ran off to Mexico, so you wouldn’t have to do anything for them?
“I will never call them the Cleveland Guardians,” Newsmax host John Carrillo tweeted, without realizing he just had. “It’s moronic.”
It’s funny that a guy who says he will never call them by their new name, mentions their new name while complaining he will never use it.
Even Fox News has weighed in on the nonsense. Joe Concha, who is allegedly a serious news analyst – in my opinion just a partisan hack – said the Cleveland Indians “caved to the pressure of the woke mob.”
In an appearance on Fox News with Tammy Bruce, he said, “You see the evening news, and you would think that the skyrocketing crime that we’re seeing , violent crime in cities, would be the lead story every night,” he told Tammy Bruce, noting that it took a “shooting in a ritzy district in Washington, D.C. to suddenly get everyone’s attention for something that’s been going on for months and months.”
Try years and years, Joe. The so-called Democrat-soft media has been paying attention to this for years, not ignoring it. Fox News, on the other hand, is too wrapped up in their culture war BS to cover anything else.
“After Concha ticked off a short list of other issues he believes the mainstream media is refusing to cover in any meaningful way, including rising crime rates and inflation, Bruce responded by noting that it is the job of the press to inform their communities.”
Which, I guess Tucker Carlson does every night by informing his viewers that BLM are terrorists and that the Trump Nazis who stormed the Capitol, are the true American patriots.
“If the term Indians is so overtly racist,” Concha asked, “how did it survive for a century. And are the Braves in Atlanta next? Florida State ( Seminoles) next? The Kansas City Chiefs? Maybe it’s just a symbol of pride and tradition, celebrating Indian culture.”
It’s not that the term is overtly racist, but if indigenous activist groups think it might be a problem to some, then maybe it’s time to listen to what they’re saying instead of dismissing their concerns as “caving to a woke mob,” or that it’s “political correctness gone amok.” Some may find it offensive for non-indigenous people to call themselves indians, even if it’s just for a sports team. Would a conservative like Joe Concha get that? Probably not.
Some may also see certain mascots of indigenous characters offensive. But again, to conservatives, it’s nothing more than political correctness.
So, maybe it’s not just a symbol of pride and tradition, and celebrating Indian culture. Since white American culture has been steeped in racism and bigotry for most of its history, I doubt most indigenous Americans see it as “celebrating Indian culture.”
The greatest culture warrior of them all, Donald Trump, complained in a statement:
“Can anybody believe that the ClevelandIndians, a storied and cherished baseball franchise since taking the name in 1915, are changing their name to the Guardians? Such a disgrace, and I guarantee that the people who are most angry about it are the many Indians of our Country. Wouldn’t it be an honor to have a team named the Cleveland Indians, and wouldn’t it be disrespectful to rip that name and logo off of those jerseys? The people of Cleveland cannot be thrilled and I, as a FORMER baseball fan, cannot believe things such as this are happening. A small group of people, with absolutely crazy ideas and policies, is forcing these changes to destroy our culture and heritage. At some point, the people will not take it anymore!”
It’s always an attack on culture and heritage to conservatives, especially on matters that have to do with race. They’re the real victims, after all. And Trump is the biggest victim of them all.
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy appointed Representatives Jim Jordan and Jim Banks to the January 06 insurrection probe. They were promptly rejected by House speaker Nancy Pelosi for their involvement in inciting conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 election.
The probe had been in the works for some time but had been blocked by Republicans in both the House and Senate. On June 28, Pelosi announced the formation of the committee, and on June 30 a resolution was passed to form the committee by a vote of 222 to 190.
Wednesday, Pelosi rejected the appointments of the two Representatives by McCarthy, to which McCarthy referred to as an egregious abuse of power.
In a press release Wednesday, Pelosi said:
“The violent domestic attack on Congress on January 6th was the worst assault on the Capitol since the war of 1812, and the worst domestic assault on American democracy since the Civil War. We are facing a radically new threat in the kinds of forces that combined to attack our government on January 6th. The future of our democracy is on the line. This assault was an attempt to overthrow the government…
“Monday evening, the Minority leader recommended 5 members to serve on the Select Committee. I have spoken with him this morning about the objections raised about Rep’s Jim Banks and Jim Jordan and the impact their appointments may have on the integrity of the investigation. I also informed him I was prepared to appoint Rep’s Rodney Davis, Kelly Armstrong, and Troy Nehls and requested that he recommend two other members.
“With respect to the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these members, I must reject the recommendation of Rep’s Banks and Jordan to the Select Committee.”
Kevin McCarthy responded with his own statement:
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi has taken the unprecedented step of denying the minority party’s picks for the Select Committee on January 6. This represents an egregious abuse of power and will irreparably damage this institution. Denying the voices of members who have served in the military and law enforcement, as well as leaders of standing committees, has made it undeniable that this panel has lost all legitimacy and credibility and shows the Speaker is more interested in playing politics than seeking the truth.
“Unless speaker Pelosi reverses course and seats all five Republican nominees, Republicans will not be party to their sham process and will instead pursue our own investigation of the facts.”
It’s ironic that McCarthy would accuse Pelosi and Democrats of playing partisan politics regarding an investigation of the events surrounding January 06, when not too long ago McCarthy and his anti-American Trump ass-kissing troglodytes in Congress were busy playing their own partisan games regarding a “stolen” election which Trump insisted that he won by a landslide, which ultimately led to a mob of Trump ass-kissing fascist troglodytes storming the Capitol as they attempted to overturn that election through violence, and their own sham investigations, audits and new voting laws to “preserve voting integrity.”
Fellow Trump ass-kisser Jim Banks had this to say in a previous statement in response to being chosen for the committee by McCarthy:
“If Democrats were serious about investigating political violence, this committee would be studying not only the January 6 riot at the Capitol, but also the hundreds of violent political riots last summer when many more innocent Americans and law enforcement were attacked. And of course, the committee would not overlook the Good Friday murder of USCP officer Billy Evans that was perpetrated by a far-left extremist.
“Make no mistake, Nancy Pelosi created this committee solely to malign conservatives and to justify the Left’s authoritarian agenda.
“Even then, I will do everything possible to give the American people the facts about the lead up to January 6, the riot that day, and the responses from Capitol leadership and the Biden administration. (??) I will not allow this committee to be turned into a forum for condemning millions of Americans because of their political views.”
Those “facts” mentioned by Banks, probably include how Antifa really perpetrated the assault. God knows Trump supporters are all wonderful patriots with the utmost respect for free speech, and fair elections, and it’s a shame they’re all being falsely condemned for their political views.
What Banks fails to understand is that the summer protests, some of which had turned violent, were in response to state violence perpetrated by law enforcement, that further exacerbated the situation, by police being deliberately violent against peaceful protesters, some of which were killed by both police and anti-BLM vigilantes. The Capitol riot, on the other hand, was a response to false claims of election fraud, incited and perpetrated by the former president and his sycophantic supporters in Congress and media.
His press release statement after being rejected from the committee, reads:
“I’m a sitting member of Congress and served my country in Afghanistan and the speaker knows how hard I will fight for my country. We said all along that this was a purely partisan exercise by the Democrats and Nancy Pelosi’s rejection of me and Jim Jordan shows once again she is the most partisan figure in America today.”
“The American people deserve the truth. Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi is afraid of the facts.”
I don’t care whether he served in the military or not. That doesn’t excuse the fact that he failed in his duty to protect the Constitution. His duty was to secure a fair election, not to promote false claims and conspiracy theories. He, and his fellow Trump ass-kissing troglodytes, should be tried for seditious conspiracy for failing to uphold their oath to protect the Constitution from domestic enemies, and barred from Congress. They betrayed the Constitution the moment they voted to overturn the election results.
He says the Democrats are afraid of the facts. But it was the Trump loyalists who opposed a January 06 commission that Pelosi and the Democrats proposed. They opposed it because they wanted it to include investigations into racial justice protests, to which Pelosi refused, wanting the commission to focus solely on the Capitol riot.
They also opposed it because they knew that it would make the party look bad. Republicans are not interested in making themselves look bad, even though they can’t help but do just that through their actions. Their only interest besides owning the libs, is making themselves look like victims, and they play up that narrative with their constant culture war nonsense, their cancel culture BS, while simultaneously playing up the narrative that it’s really the Democratic party that is un-American, while the real America-loving patriotic party does everything in it’s power to shred the Constitution and destroy democracy – to restrict the right to vote, to protest peacefully, to ban Critical Race Theory from being taught, and to criminalize abortion.
Sources: Associated Press, Housespeaker.gov, Republicanleader.gov, The Week, Banks.house.gov.
Last Friday, a federal U.S. District judge in Texas overturned the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program – commonly referred to as DACA – ruling it likely to be unconstitutional.
DACA was enacted in 2012 by executive action rather than Congressional legislation, and did not provide a pathway for citizenship, something the Republican party has always opposed for DREAMers. The program’s expansion was rescinded by the Trump administration, and in that same year announced that it would be phased out, which prompted several lawsuits to prevent it.
On his first day in office, Joe Biden issued an executive order fully reinstating DACA. On Friday, July 16, it was ruled to be unconstitutional by federal district judge of Texas, Andrew Hanen, who wrote that “DHS failed to engage in the statutorily mandated process, so DACA never gained status as a legally binding policy that could impose duties or obligations.”
In Hanen’s written opinion, he said, “The executive branch cannot just enact it’s own legislative policy when it disagrees with Congress’s choice to reject proposed legislation.”
In a White House statement, Biden said: “Yesterday’s Federal court ruling is deeply disappointing. While the court’s order does not now affect current DACA recipients, this decision nonetheless relegates hundreds of thousands of young immigrants to an uncertain future. The Department of Justice intends to appeal this decision in order to preserve and fortify DACA. And, as the court recognized, the Department of Homeland Security plans to issue a proposed rule concerning DACA in the near future.
“But only Congress can ensure a permanent solution by granting a path to citizenship for DREAMERS that will provide the certainty and stability that these young people need and deserve. I have repeatedly called on Congress to pass the American Dream and Promise Act, and I now renew that call with the greatest urgency. It is my fervent hope that through reconciliation or other means, Congress will finally provide security to all Dreamers, who have lived too long in fear.”
Indicted criminal, Texas AG Ken Paxton, bragged on Twitter how he had personally defeated Joe Biden on illegal immigration.
“This ruling is wrong and subject to appeal,” said Omar Jadwat, the director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. “It’s absolutely urgent that Congress acts now through the budget reconciliation process to provide Dreamers and other undocumented members of our communities with reliable status and a pathway to citizenship.”
Since Congress has proven themselves useless and unwilling to enact laws to protect the rights of undocumented immigrants, immigration activists have been urging the new administration to act through executive action.
If the decision is not appealed, Congress will have to enact legislation, but since an appeal, and any positive action by Congress both seem unlikely to happen, DACA’s fate may be left in the hands of the Supreme Court.
House Democrats in the state of Texas have reportedly flown the coop Monday in an attempt to prevent the passing of alleged Republican voting reform legislation.
“Today, House Democrats left the state and broke quorum to fight back against state Republicans’ continued attack on Texans’ freedom to vote,” the HDC said in a press release on Monday.
Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Chris Turner, Mexican American Legislative Caucus Chair Rafael Anchia, Texas Legislative Black Caucus Chair Nichole Collier, Legislative Group Caucus Chair Garnet Coleman and Dean Senfronia Thompson, released the following statement on the decision to break quorum.
“Today, Texas House Democrats stand united in our decision to break quorum and refuse to let the Republican-led legislature force through dangerous legislation that would trample on Texans’ freedom to vote.
“We are now taking the fight to our nation’s Capitol. We are living on borrowed time in Texas. We need Congress to act now to pass The For The People Act’, and The John Lewis Voting Rights Act to protect Texans – and all Americans – from the Trump Republicans’ nationwide war on democracy.”
A handful of the lawmakers have gone to Washington to urge other lawmakers to enact voting rights legislation. “We are determined to kill this bill in this special session, which will end on August 07,” said Chris Turner, the Chair of the state House Democrats at a press conference Monday. “And we will stay out until then, in order to do that.”
“Our democracy is on the line,” Representative Trey Martinez Fischer told reporters. “It became very clear to us this weekend that any attempts to negotiate some Democratic concessions were cut off, making it very clear that Republicans were hellbent on having it their way.”
Governor Abbott released his own press statement:
“Texas Democrats’ decision to brake quorum of the Texas Legislature and abandon the Texas state Capitol inflicts harm on the very Texans who elected them to serve. As they fly across the country on cushy private plans, they leave undone issues that can help their districts and their state.
“The Democrats must put aside partisan political games and get back to the jobs they were elected to do. Their constituents must not be denied these important resources simply because their elected representatives refused to show up to work.”
Speaking of partisan political games, it wasn’t too long ago that Abbott played his own political game, blaming green energy for the failure of the states power grid during February’s winter storm, as “Cancun Ted” skipped his responsibilities to head down to Mexico while thousands of Texans froze and more than a few died.
As Ryan Cooper wrote in an article in The Week, about Cruz’s Cancun get-away back in Februrary:
“It was all darkly amusing. But what Cruz did is emblematic of the Republican party’s mode of governance. The reason Cruz felt comfortable leaving Texans to freeze solid on the sidewalks of Houston is the same reason the Texas power grid crumbled under the winter storm. Theirs is a party in which catering to the welfare of one’s constituents, or indeed any kind of substantive political agenda, has been supplanted by propaganda, culture war grievance, and media theatrics. Neither he nor anyone else in a leadership position in the party knows or cares about how to build a reliable power grid. They just want to get rich owning the libs…
“Liberty,” to people like this, means that conservative elected officials never have to use their positions or authority to do anything when their constituents are suffering and dying. That, you see, is “socialism.”
“Whining is the beginning and end of Republican governance.”
Not to mention, the partisan Political games they played during the pandemic to play defense for a president who did virtually nothing while he blamed the Democratic party for his own failures, as hundreds of thousands of people died. It’s the perfect way to own the libs.
Sources: Politico, NBC News, Texas Tribune, texashousedems.com, gov.texas.gov., The Week.
