Tag Archives: republicans

Well, pardon me

01 Tuesday Jan 2019

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Really?

Sheriff Joe Arpaio to headline St. Louis County’s Lincoln-Reagan Days Dinner
The Republican Central Committee of St. Louis County announced that their keynote speaker for their Lincoln-Reagan Days Dinner will be Sheriff Joe Arpaio. “Sheriff Joe” is a former law enforcement officer and politician. He served as the 36th Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona for 24 years, from 1993 to 2017. The dinner will be held on March 23rd and is open to the public.
[….]

It probably sounded like a good idea back in 1955.

Donald Trump’s (r) government shutdown is imminent

21 Friday Dec 2018

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He owns it.

Bad combover. Check. Too long red tie. Check. Orange spray tan. Check. Tiny hands. Check. Cluelessness. Check…

Gaslighting:

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
Shutdown today if Democrats do not vote for Border Security!
6:31 AM – 21 Dec 2018

Some of the comments:

You mean the Trump Shutdown.
You said in the WH that you would proudly take ownership of the shutdown. Here it is.
You’re putting over 400,000 federal workers on furlough the week before Christmas. Congratulations.
You’re a mean one Mr Trump!

This is YOUR #shutdown. Be “proud” of it as you take that “mantle” you promised when a week ago you said you wouldn’t blame @SenSchumer & Dems…

Well Don Congrats on changing the news cycle away from Family Corruption to a Scouched Earth Policy … all while Weakening a Nation …

It sounds like you are happy about your Trump Shutdown and hoping it will happen because you know the senate will not pass it. Ryan and the house knew it also and only played the game so they could go home for the Christmas break

You. Own. It.

What happened to ‘I’ll take the mantle?’

You had bipartisan agreement. You’re not getting the wall. This is your fault, not the Democrats.

#TrumpShutdown

#TrumpShutDown today because you’re an incompetent, self-obsessed idiot. #TrumpResign

7th tweet in the last 45 minutes.

He’s locked in the john

Republicans still control all the branches of government. The shutdown is all theirs.

No, this is your shutdown, buddy.

And on and on.

Previously:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): all in on Donald Trump’s (r) wall (December 19, 2018)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): doubling down on Donald Trump’s wall (December 21, 2018)

Campaign Finance: the restocking continues

17 Monday Dec 2018

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Today at the Missouri Ethics Commission for the Missouri republican state senate committee:

C071094 12/17/2018 MISSOURI SENATE CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE Dealers Interested in Government PO Box 245 Jefferson City MO 65102 12/17/2018 $10,000.00

C071094 12/17/2018 MISSOURI SENATE CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE Missouri REALTORS PAC Inc. PO Box 30635 Columbia MO 65205 12/17/2018 $7,500.00

[emphasis added]

They’ll always have all the money they’ll ever need.

Campaign Finance: restocking the shelves

28 Wednesday Nov 2018

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Yesterday at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C000953 11/27/2018 MO Republican Party Ralph and Ruth Deuser Trust PO Box 779 Jefferson City MO 65102 None None 11/27/2018 $25,000.00

[emphasis added]

Anyone wonder what they’ll use all that money for?

Previously:

Campaign Finance: the smell of fear (November 21, 2018)

Campaign Finance: finish the job

31 Wednesday Oct 2018

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Yesterday at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C091068 10/30/2018 HOUSE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE, INC Missourians For Freedom To Work 239 Rock Industrial Blvd Suite 108 Union MO 63084 10/29/2018 $50,000.00

[emphasis added]

They leave no doubt, do they?

Finish the job.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: advocating for your right to get paid less (June 15, 2018)

Campaign Finance: because working people hold a disproportionate share of America’s wealth (June 21, 2018)

“Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten us into.”

24 Friday Aug 2018

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Why is it sometimes this way out outstate street fairs/festivals?

In the Kansas City Star:

Spotted at a Missouri fair: Uncle Sam manning a ‘shooting gallery’ of GOP opponents
August 24, 2018 02:06 PM
By Matt Campbell

A GOP “shooting gallery” manned by an Uncle Sam at the Holden, Mo., Street Fair has some people concerned….

[….]

Not to put too fine a point on it, yesterday an individual dressed up as Uncle Sam set up shop with a representation of shooting gallery, complete with a toy gun, made up of photos of Democrats – this next to a republican college student group booth at the Holden, Missouri fair. Of course, either intentionally or randomly, who knows, the fair organizers had placed the Johnson County Democrats booth directly across from the republican booth.

People took pictures and then posted them on social media.

Raymond James
Small town Missouri racism. Booth selling KKK/ Confederate flags with no US flags for sale or present. The US flag in the picture is the booth next door. You do not get to pick your neighbors.
GOP had a “game ” toy gun and a Shooting Gallery with Senators pictures on it. Great Family Fun shooting at Senators.

Raymond James is a Johnson County Democrat who was manning the Democratic party both at the fair.

The flag vendor booth was another booth which was in close proximity to the other booths.

A photo of the republican booth and shooting gallery posted in the Facebook post comments:

In case you’re not convinced, the shooting gallery is labeled “shooting gallery”.

We’ve seen this individual at public events before.

With a Hillary Clinton (D) effigy in a tiny jail cell outside the Missouri State Fair Governor’s Ham Breakfast in 2016:

Outside the Missouri State Fair Governor’s Ham Breakfast [August 2016 file photo].

And at the same venue a little over a week ago:

Outside the Missouri State Fair Governor’s Ham Breakfast [August 2018 file photo].

In addition to the newspaper coverage we’ve heard that a Kansas City metro market television station sent a crew to the fair today.

In an interesting turn of events, demonstrating brilliant public relations and damage control strategies, the street fair authorities have apparently issued an edict of “a plague on both your houses” and booted the Democrats and republicans from the fair.

Don’t you just love small town Missouri?

Update:

Johnson County Missouri Democrats

This post is from Ray James Chair Johnson County Central Committee.

As previously posted, the Holden Chamber of Commerce asked the Democratic Booth to leave at the same time as the Republican Booth from the Holden Fair Tonight. We did not ask or discuss reasons why. We packed up when told to do so and left. We were told we may still participate in the parade 5 pm Saturday.

At this time we are considering it. I will post by 2 pm Saturday if we will participate.

For those scheduled to staff the booth I thank you for your time.

Any questions or concerns about the actions of the Holden Chamber of Commerce Fair Committee and what / how they reached a decision should be directed to them. Remember they put in long hours to put on a fair in a very thankless job.

There was no yelling, name calling, heckling, interference by Democrats staffing the booth with any other booths at the fair.

We did not complain to the Fair organizers, Holden Police or the staff at the Republican booth about any actions by any booths at the fair.

We did notify the Johnson County Republican Central Committee, Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler staff, Secretary of State [Attorney General] Josh Hawleys campaign staff of the unacceptable actions of the Republicans at the booth with their having a Shooting Gallery “Game” complete with Targets of US Senator Claire McCaskill and a toy gun.

Tonight the game was renamed as the words Shooting Gallery were replaced and the toy guns were not present. I did not see if the pictures had been changed. The Gentleman who brought the “game” was again in attendance. Interestingly he brought an American Flag and insisted he had one present on the 23 Aug. I refer you to the pictures posted from the 23 Aug. The Gentleman clearly has memory issues or was untruthful on this issue.

I was contacted by several media organizations and did give two interviews between 3:30 and 4:00 pm to Channel 5 and Channel 41. In which, I stressed the unacceptable actions of the Johnson County Central Committee Sponsored Booth.

It is never OK to Joke about shooting a person or to encourage others to actually commit violence. As to the intent of the “game ” I would direct all questions to the Johnson County Central Committee as it was their booth.

Any further questions by Johnson County Democratic Club members or Central Committee members please contact Ray James.

The CC does not intend to issue a press release or to contact media concerning this matter but we do anticipate further media interest. I have referred all questions, as to why we had to suspend operations, from media organizations back to the organizers of the Fair as we did not discuss/ask.

Previously:

Trumpoids at the Missouri State Fair Governor’s Ham Breakfast (August 18, 2016)

Cargo cult (August 17, 2018)

For right wingnuts “The Handmaid’s Tale” is not dystopian fiction, it’s aspirational

16 Thursday Aug 2018

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This morning outside the Governor’s Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia:

Concerned Women for America Brett Kavanaugh (r) U.S. Supreme Court tour bus.

We understand red is the color.

At least he made the trains run on time …

20 Sunday May 2018

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Wish I had a nickel, dime or whatever for every time I’ve heard somebody excusing Mussolini’s fascist coup by referring to those timely trains. Which may be why I was so gob-smacked by Republican Senator Roy Blunt’s comments when asked to react to the fact that the current occupant of the White House lies consistently. Blunt refused to engage with the substance, declaring that :

It would [be a problem] “if we weren’t getting things done,” Blunt responded. “What the regulators are doing. … The tax package, better than I would have expected. I think the foreign policy, the president was left with lots of problems. We had about eight years where we acted like the United States of America was basically any other country in the world. And a lot of things got off track during that eight years.”

So, as far as Blunt is concerned, Trump can do no wrong, he can lie, collude with Russians and curry favor from Vladimir Putin, and enrich himself with taxpayer money as long as he delivers on goodies that Blunt has been trying to get for his rich cronies. Because that’s what “getting things done” means.

Stop and think about that list of achievements: The justly unpopular and deficit-busting tax cut for the wealthy? Deregulation? Tell me in a few years how you like living in a country where basic health, consumer and social protections – air and water pollution and our food supply,  for instance – are left to the tender mercies of corporate America. Foreign policy? You gotta be joking. – and don’t give me any backchat about Korea now that it seems more and more likely that the naive and egoistic Trump  is getting played two ways to Sunday.

Funny thing is, the claim that Italian fascists managed to make the trains run on time is equally spurious.  As Brian Cathcart put it in The Independent, “like almost all the supposed achievements of Fascism, the timely trains are a myth, nurtured and propagated by a leader with a journalist’s flair for symbolism, verbal trickery and illusion.”

Sounds a bit like that prominent liar that Blunt is so eager to defend, doesn’t it?

Meanwhile, folks like Madeleine Albright* are warning us that if the tendencies that Trump embodies are left unchecked, the U.S., like Italy, could also go the fascist route:

“The possibility that fascism will be accorded a fresh chance to strut around the world stage is enhanced by the volatile presidency of Donald Trump,” Albright warns.  “Instead of standing up for the values of a free society, Mr. Trump’s oft-vented scorn for democracy’s building blocks has strengthened the hands of dictators. No longer need they fear United States criticism regarding human rights or civil liberties. On the contrary, they can and do point to Mr. Trump’s own words to justify their repressive actions,” she adds.

In order to save our democracy Albright recommends  “defending the truth in the press, [and] recognizing that no one is above the law, ” both efforts that Blunt eschews because, under Trump, “we” are “getting things done.” I can hear that fascist choo-choo train pulling into the station right on time.

As Snopes observes about Mussolini and the ubiquitous trains trope, if you can’t –  or won’t – govern to benefit the majority of the people, “the next best thing is to convince them that you have done something of benefit to them, even though you really haven’t.” Trumpism – and today’s GOP – in a  nutshell.

*Typo corrected; Albrecht changed to Albright 5/20/18, 11:19.

Roy Blunt and the NRA: Married on the way to the bank

15 Thursday Feb 2018

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According to The New York Times Roy Blunt is one of the top ten “career”recipients of NRA largess in the congress. His take: $4,551,146. That’s right. Our boy got himself over four million of those NRA dollars. And I don’t think anyone would disagree that he’s done himself proud when it comes to earning his fee.

All of which prompts one to ask what he has to say about the latest mass shooting event at a school, a spree that took 17 lives and wounded at least 12 other children. The Sedalia Democrat offers the following quote:

In an interview, Blunt said that “I don’t think we have enough information yet to know that a change in any law would have impacted what happened in Florida.” But, referring to reports that the FBI had been warned by threats that the killer had made on social media, Blunt added: “Whether it is bizarre anti-social behavior or terrorist activity, when people see something they should say something.”You have got a guy parading around in a gas mask with weapons making threats and putting that on social media; that needs to be reported,” Blunt, R-Mo., said. “And the people that is [sic] reported to need to respond to that report.”

Blunt echoed the president in his imputation that the correct way to protect against mass school shootings would be for the “normal” folks to report aberrant behavior on the part of troubled individuals. Happened here, didn’t work, not going to work, just stigmatizes folks with emotional problems.

In the past Blunt has resorted overtly to the tack taken by Donald Trump today which is that it is mental illness that kills people, not guns – in spite of the fact that those suffering mental illness have been shown to more often suffer violence than they are to commit violent acts,  that when they do act out violently, they themselves have frequently been previously victimized, and they are more likely to do so within institutional settings rather than in public.

All of this is just a way to frame the simple-minded NRA bumper sticker that says in one variant or another that “people kill people, not guns.” If Kim Jong-un, who may or may not be mentally unstable, doesn’t realize that he’s dealing with a possible mental case in the White House, push comes to shove, and hundreds of folks, possibly in the U.S. as well as North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia are killed, will Republicans excuse the holocaust with a similar slogan: Crazy people kill people, not bombs? Funny that. Or not.

Of course, the real thrust of Blunt’s response was that he just doesn’t have enough facts to say anything substantive. While I know he’s unlikely to read this screed, I’d sill like to supply him with a few hard and fast facts:

  1. A disturbed young man, who, incidentally, had been reported and investigated by the authorities, was able to legally buy a military-grade weapon.
  2. President Trump, in his haste to destroy any remnants of Obama-style common-sense regulation, stopped a rule that would have made it more difficult for the mentally-ill to buy firearms.
  3. Republicans like Blunt have consistently refused to vote for legislation that regulated civilian acquisition of military-grade weapons in spite of the fact that they seem to be the weapon of choice for mass shooters.
  4. A conservative analysis by The Washington Post tells us that “more than 150,000 students attending at least 170 primary or secondary schools have experienced a shooting on campus since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999.”
  5. In the first 45 days of this year there have been six school shootings that have injured students.
  6. States are skint. They aren’t willing or able to pay to supply the school security officers that schools are requesting. Florida schools, scene of the most recent shooting, are among those that have experienced growing enrollments but have received less money to pay for necessities like increased security for which they have requested funding.
  7. A spate of studies report that states – and developed countries – with more guns have more homicide deaths and suicides. States and countries with better regulated gun ownership have fewer.

There are lots more facts like these. And I’m willing to bet that Blunt knows a few of them already. He just doesn’t care.

Nor, as Blunt’s GOP pals like to claim, do these facts suggest that gun ownership should be illegal; nobody’s 2nd amendment rights should be violated. But we have to be clear that the Supreme Court ruling, District of Columbia v. Heller, authored by conservative, gun-loving Judge Antonin Scalia, specifies that that the right to own firearms is subject to regulation, specifically in the case of “prohibiting the carrying of ‘dangerous and unusual weapons’.”

So what’s keeping the pot boiling for a dangerously out of control NRA, an organization that wants to persuade us that even talking dirty about guns is not only a violation of a poorly understood 2nd amendment, but an invitation to “jack-booted government thugs” to steal our liberties? Look no further than Senator Roy Blunt and an NRA-whipped GOP.

But hey! Four million dollars is one heckava payout. And Blunt wasn’t even number one on the list.

Campaign Finance: ante up

30 Tuesday Jan 2018

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Today at the Missouri Ethic Commission for the republican senate campaign committee:

C071094 01/30/2018 MISSOURI SENATE CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE Isle of Capri Casino Boonville 100 Isle of Capri Blvd Boonville MO 65233 1/29/2018 $10,000.00

[emphasis added]

“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!”
“Your winnings, sir.”
“Oh, thank you very much.”

Heh.