Mike Pence (r) – servile sycophant

30 Tuesday Oct 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in Resist, social media

Tags

14th Amendment, 8 U.S. Code § 1401, Article VI, citizenship, Constitution, ICCPR, Mike Pence, social media, Twitter

digby @digby56
Pence says it’s never been decided whether people in the country illegally are subject to the 14th Amendment and the (stacked) Supreme Court finally needs to resolve it — as if this is a burning issue.

Has there ever been a more servile sycophant?
12:53 PM – 30 Oct 2018

Michael Bersin @MBersin
Title 8, Chapter 12, Subchapter III, Part I, § 1401.
“The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:
(a) a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof…”

He’s also an asshole.
12:56 PM – 30 Oct 2018

One of the news reports:

The Latest: Pence discusses changing birthright citizenship
[….]
Vice President Mike Pence says potentially changing birthright citizenship is part of the Trump administration’s broad look at U.S. laws that draw people into the country illegally.

Pence said Tuesday the administration is looking at action that would revise birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed under the 14th Amendment. The amendment’s Citizenship Clause says all people born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States.

Pence says the Supreme Court has never ruled on whether the language in the amendment applies specifically to people in the country illegally.
[….]

In the United State Constitution:

Article VI
[….]
This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
[….]

In the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [ICCPR] [Treaty, entered into force for the United States, September 8, 1992]:

[…]
Article 16
Everyone shall have the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
[….]

In the United States Constitution:

Amendment XIV
Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
[….]

In U.S. law:

8 U.S. Code § 1401 – Nationals and citizens of United States at birth
The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:
(a) a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof;[….]

We’re going to find out what kind of country we are on November 6th. Vote.

Mike Pence (r): your awl stoopit

28 Tuesday Aug 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in Resist, social media, US Senate

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Tags

Brett Kavanaugh, gaslighting, Merrick Garland, Mike Pence, social media, Twitter, U.S. Senate, U.S. Supreme Court

….the classic ‘legal’ definition of chutzpah….a person who kills his parents and pleads for the court’s mercy on the ground of being an orphan….

This afternoon, via Twitter, from Mike Pence (r):

Vice President Mike Pence @VP
…Justice Antonin Scalia was confirmed 98-0 and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg received support of 96 Senators. If we lived in a more respectful time, Judge Brett Kavanaugh would be overwhelmingly confirmed by the United States Senate. #ConfirmKavanaugh
3:03 PM – 28 Aug 2018

Some of the responses:

If we lived in a better time, you’d be an anonymous potato farmer.

Actually he would be still be a DJ on a low-powered radio station somewhere in an Indiana cornfield.

If we lived in a more respectful time, all records would be released #WhatAreTheyHiding

#UnindictedCoConspirator doesn’t get to pick his own judge.

Remind us again how many votes Merrick Garland got.

If we lived in a more respectful time, you would not be Vice President.

If we lived in a more respectful time, Judge Merrick Garland would have been overwhelmingly confirmed by the United States Senate instead of being back burnered for months and months by your party. What a hypocrite!

Manafort’s top draft pick.

Сделать Америку великой Снова.

Well blame your boss for not living in respectful times.

Traitor says what?

If the documents had all been released already we’d have no problem beginning hearings. This nominee lied in confirmation hearings held on his appointment to the circuit court. We will not seat a man of no integrity.

Trump once said, “Most people aren’t worthy of respect.” His behavior toward others continues to demonstrate this belief. The lack of respect is coming from the top. If you wanted to live in more respectful times, you shouldn’t have helped him into the WH. #MerrickGarland

If we lived in a more respectful time, your boss would not Tweet hate towards everyone except those who bow at his feet. #YourBossIsUnindictedCriminal #NoKavanaughUntilMuellerIsDone

This is disgusting. If we lived in a more respectful time, the GOP would have given Merrick Garland A HEARING. And in a more respectful time, Trump would not be sitting in the Oval Office, and you, as transition head, would not have ignored bipartisan concerns over traitor Flynn.

what about MERRICK GARLAND? where was the respect owed him? where was his vote?

garland’s not on the record perjuring himself. garland wasn’t working in concert to hide 85% of his records from congress. garland didn’t say that a POTUS couldn’t be indicted.

Um…and Elena Kagan had to show ALL her papers from when she was an advisor the White House. THAT is the holdup over Kavanaugh. Republicans are damming up the flow of those documents that will be incriminating against Kavanaugh. Respect has nothing to do with it; documents do.

What was the final vote for Merrick Garland?

Was the president who nominated them under investigation for committing treason and working with Russia to make himself president?

If we lived in a more respectful time, you wouldn’t be in office. #complicit

Judge Merrick Garland deserved the support of every member of the United States Senate. If we lived in a more respectful time, Garland would have been easily confirmed. Your hypocrisy knows no bounds. #ReleaseTheRecords

NOPE Sorry Kremlin Ken. We don’t want a Putin appointed president to decide who sits on our highest court.

How DARE you complain about times not being “respectful”. The man you are enabling and hiding behind is the least respectful and most abusive person in our government, and is the top reason why our country is so divided and disrespectful. Get HIM to change, or stop your whining

Merrick Garland. Merrick Garland. Merrick Garland. Merrick Garland. Merrick Garland. Merrick Garland. Merrick Garland. Merrick Garland. Merrick Garland. Merrick Garland. Merrick Garland. Merrick Garland. Merrick Garland. Merrick Garland. Merrick Garland.

What was the vote on Merrick Garland, @VP?

“If we lived in a more respectful time…” With all due respect Mr. Vice President, get bent.

Only if we lived in less corrupt days.

have you had your irony surgically removed, or are you just that incapable of understanding it?

You have got to be kidding me. Tell me this is a joke.

Two words: Merrick Garland. Three more: so shut up.

Merrick. Garland.

A president under investigation should not pick his judge. #NoHearings

If we lived in a more respectful times, Merrick Garland would be a Supreme Court Justice, actual Nazis wouldn’t be running for public office, and Donald Trump wouldn’t be either a celebrity or a president.

Yep. Justice Merrick Garland fully agrees.

The ABSURD posturing around blocking Merrick Garland’s nomination and refusing to even let a vote happen has left your party with ZERO moral high ground to complain about lack of cooperation with Supreme Court nominations, you jackass

Not forgetting the confirmation vote for Merrick Garland, you pompous, purpose-less poser.

The hypocrisy runs deep in this one.

Merrick Effing Garland you putz

Merrick. Garland.
You set the standard.
Now live with it.

The difference is Scalia and RGB we’re appointed by a democratically elected administration. #NoNewAppointments

You’re a stooge, a crook and a flunky, Pence. Everybody knows it, even those who pretend otherwise to your face.

It goes on and on.

Mike Pence (r) is a putz. And probably the only reason why Donald Trump (r) won’t be impeached, convicted, and removed from office.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): jump on that publicity stunt bandwagon

08 Sunday Oct 2017

Posted by Michael Bersin in social media

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

4th Congressional District, First Amendment, Mike Pence, Misouri, protest, social media, Twitter, Vicky Hartzler

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) [2016 file photo].

Today, from Representative Vicky Hartzler (r), via Twitter:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler‏ @RepHartzler
I applaud VP @mike_pence for standing for our, our military, & our country by not supporting those who take a knee rather respecting same.
3:44 PM – 8 Oct 2017

Some of the comments reacting to Representative Hartzler’s (r) cheerleading for Mike Pence’s publicity stunt:

In other words? You don’t understand the First Amendment either. Resign.

A photo op ordered by racist leader. Do u know why people are kneeling Vicky? Do u care? Or is big lobby $ more important than 1st amend?

It was a publicity stunt that cost taxpayers thousands of dollars. So, thanks for wasting my money to try and make your party look cool

Morally Bankrupt Pence Stages Fake Outrage. No Comments on KLAN RALLY. Vicky, You can;t wrap everything in patriotism.

If anything it’s you & the right who are being disrespectful by brining the flag, anthem, and military into a debate they have nothing to…
…to do with. You’ve hijacked legitimate peaceful, silent protest & made it about patriotism and race. Shameful, transparent, irresponsible

You are not a serious person. Tweeting on this subject is not helping anyone. It’s an embarrassing fundraising tweet.

how do you feel about the wasted tax payers money btw?

Constitution mean much to you?

He wasted taxpayer money on a flight for a pre-planned political stunt. And you support that? You are truly horrible.

You should focus on WHY ppl are taking a knee. Some of it has to do with our white supremacist govt & ppl like yourselves who are hateful.

58 people were murdered and 500 more shot on the streets of an American city last week, and this is what you’re concerned with?

Paid protester < real protester

Protesting injustice is supporting the flag twit, I spent time in a combat zone, you?

You misunderstand & intentionally misconstrue the purpose of kneeling. Reason has always been to protest police violence and racism.

So Mike Pence can exercise his 1st Amendment right, but athletes can’t? How does this work, exactly?

And as usual you’re missing the point. These athletes taking a knee aren’t protesting the military. You’re being obtuse.

It was a stunt that Doltard J Trump put him up to, all fake patriotism down to years old picture he tweeted. Y’all say nothing about racism

You are unfit for office if you don’t understand the constitution and the right to protest. Delete your account & resign.

You are a fake patriot ignoring the injustices that are suffered under the “protection” of law enforcement. The VP wasted taxpayers money.

Why would you voluntarily inject yourself into an already failing stunt?

In 1943, in a time of war, no less:

WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION ET AL. v. BARNETTE ET AL., 319 U.S. 624
“….If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us….”

High or petty.

It’s all about the emails – or, if you’re Jared Kushner, not so much

25 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

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Tags

Ann Wagner, Billy Long, Emails, Jared Kushner, Mike Pence, missouri, Reince Priebus, Roy Blunt, Steve Bannon

I’m willing to bet that you remember all about Hillary Clinton and her email. And most of you remember that despite several “investigations” by Congress and the FBI nobody could substantiate claims that she did anything untoward – although James Comey, then the Director of the FBI, did give her a schoolmarmish lecture about seemly behavior or something along that line, and later made a feint in the direction of “reopening” the investigation upon the “discovery” of some additional emails that were also very quickly found to be inoffensive, but which many believe created a false impression of wrong-doing that cost Clinton the election.

I’m also willing to bet that you also remember all the Republicans who couldn’t constrain their concern about what they pretended to think was an earth-shaking matter, or, at least, what they wanted us to believe was a big bad no-no that deserved a serious hand-slapping. And, of course, Missouri’s GOP delegation were more than happy to join the feeding frenzy. A few examples:

Rep. Billly Long (R-7) got mightily exercised when the FBI investigation failed to find evidence of criminal wrongdoing:

The American people deserve better than a justice system that looks the other way rather than demanding honesty at federal agencies,” said Rep. Long.“Director Comey said point-blank that former Secretary Clinton recklessly stored and transmitted classified information, and it’s unthinkable that such brazen carelessness with our secret national security data could avoid justice.

GOP Senator Roy Bunt made some gleefully stern comments about Comey’s email Hail Mary :

From day one, it has been clear that Secretary Clinton did not take her national security clearance seriously,” […]. “The law establishes a standard that national security material cannot be handled carelessly. I have serious questions about the way the FBI has handled this case up to now. The immunity given, the potential evidence that was allowed to be destroyed, and political support for the spouse of a senior FBI official are all very concerning. The FBI needs to set a better standard as they reopen this case.”

Blunt’s over-the-top I-told-you-so was echoed by Rep. Ann Wagner (R-2), who was fairly salivating at the prospect of seeing a hard-working public servant punished for … something:

Secretary Clinton’s reckless mishandling of classified information proves that she cannot be trusted with the support of Missouri families. I am hopeful that this most recent probe by the FBI will be conducted fairly, swiftly and more thoroughly than the previous investigation.

Well guess what? We now have an opportunity to see just how seriously these self-righteous hacks really take a similar case where private email accounts have been used by the President’s capos to avoid public scrutiny. We’ll find out just who, if anyone in Missouri’s GOP delegation, has enough integrity to hold the apple(s) of Trump’s eye to the same standard with which they beat Hillary Clinton over the head.

It seems that son-in-law-in-chief and presidential advisor, Jared Kushner, set up a private email account during the transition upon which he has since conducted official business in preference to his official White House account. We are assured that while he used the account to exchange “emails with senior White House officials, outside advisers and others about media coverage, event planning and other subjects,” he did nothing wrong. Of course, we’ll just have to take the White House’s word about that since the folks there aren’t inclined to hand the emails over. And we’re also supposed to trust their assurances that these emails will be preserved as required by law.

Gee, if Clinton had only known that all she had to do was to say that she’d done nothing wrong she could have saved herself a world of hurt. Or maybe not. Clinton is a Democrat. And a woman. And smarter and kinder than the sleaze bag Republicans put into the White House. All hanging offenses to the members of the old, white, male cadre the GOP mostly represents.

Actually, use of private emails seems to be ubiquitous in Trump’s White House. Next time he tries to revive the “lock her up” business, remember that in addition to Kushner, White House officials Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon also used private email accounts to conduct their business.

Of course, we’ve known for some time that VP Mike Pence not only used private email to conduct state business in Indiana, but was actually hacked. Pence, interestingly enough, said nary a word about his transgressions during the campaign when he and Cheeto-in-Chief went off on Clinton’s emails.

But no matter. Because nowadays, given the way the cookie crumbles, the ball bounces, the mop flops, and the tail wags, we’ll wait a long time before we hear a peep from our otherwise truculent Republicans about private emails being used to evade the attention of a public that said GOPers and the Ritchie Rich-pants in the white House are determined to well and truly fleece.

We need to remind them that Karma’s a bitch, the wheel of fortune turns, and the handwriting is on the wall.

Josh Hawley (r): well, maybe

11 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by Michael Bersin in Claire McCaskill, social media, US Senate

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Claire McCaskill, Josh Hawley, Mike Pence, missouri, social media, Twitter, U.S. Senate

The up side is that he can get rid of that Jefferson City apartment.

Josh Hawley (r) [2016 file photo].

This afternoon, via Twitter:

Alexis Levinson‏ @alexis_levinson
Some #MOSen movement: AG Josh Hawley’s camp puts out statement that he talked to VP, giving run “serious consideration”

“Josh spoke to Vice President Pence this weekend and has been getting a great deal of encouragement to run. He is giving the race serious consideration. Josh has also received call from others interested in running and he is letting them know of his decision to consider the race.” – Scott Paradise, Hawley spox

3:59 PM – 11 Jul 2017

Just think about all those open public town halls across the state we can look forward to as he explains to voters why Trumpcare massively cuts Medicaid payments for rural hospitals and nursing homes.

Paul Curtman (r) must be besides himself.

Previously:

Already looking for another job, eh? (January 28, 2017)

Ann Wagner has had a change of heart – a day late and a dollar short

08 Saturday Oct 2016

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Ann Wagner, Donald Trump, Election 2016, Mike Pence, missouri

Breaking news from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: country-club Republican, Ann Wagner (R-2) has had a change of heart and will no longer support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The occasion for her newfound disdain was the exposure of Trump’s decade-old more explicitly sleazy than usual comments about women:

I have committed my short time in Congress to fighting for the most vulnerable in our society. As a strong and vocal advocate for victims of sex trafficking and assault, I must be true to those survivors and myself and condemn the predatory and reprehensible comments of Donald Trump, […] I withdraw my endorsement and call for Governor Pence to take the lead so we can defeat Hillary Clinton.

Laudable, but, one can only ask, why now? Why didn’t the stream of bigotry, racism and misogyny that have emanated from Trump over the past few months lead Wagner to disavow him as the leader of her party long ago? This is a woman who, up to now has been willing to support a candidate endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan , giving him her vote with only a few, pro forma quivers of trepidation.

Do you think that maybe that the last sentence in the quote above might have something to do with Wagner’s sudden willingness to make a hard turn on a candidate whose essential unfitness for office has been obvious from day one?

The faint whiff of Republican defeat in November has now become an overwhelming stench and, like rats too timid to leap pell-mell from their sinking boat, many GOPers hope that Pence might just be just the life-preserver the party and their own, individual political fortunes need if they are to emerge unscathed from association with Trump. And this latest piece of Trumpian nastiness, along with Pence’s self-aggrandizing performance at last Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate, offers just the opportunity they have needed.

Pence emerged as the hero of the Republican day when he coolly abandoned Trump during his debate with the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, Tim Kaine, last Tuesday. With almost breathtaking audacity, he substituted his own policy prescriptions for the incoherent ramblings of Donald Trump and earned widespread huzzahs for the cold-blooded smoothness with which he left his running mate twisting in the wind.

Many commentators have suggested that Pence did what he did in an effort to raise his profile for 2020. He was, in effect, preparing to make future lemonade out of an admittedly over-sized lemon. However, pols like Wagner want their lemonade right now and they think they can get away with flipping the ticket – even at this late date, an action that, as Akhil Reed Amar suggests in Vox, might be plausible if they act fast.

What this suggests to me is that now that the power struggles that animate the opportunistic GOP hacks have been bared for all to see it is, as they say, time to pass the popcorn.

Donald who?

05 Wednesday Oct 2016

Posted by Michael Bersin in media criticism, social media

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Tags

debate, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Mike Pence, Tim Kaine, Twitter, Vice President

There was a debate last night between Tim Kaine (D) and Mike Pence (r), the candidates for Vice President.

It’s beyond ironic in our post truth society, even with instant access to technology which allows us all to easily verify almost everything, that the denial of facts and, you know, what is the actual reality merits style points from self appointed media gatekeepers if delivered in a sufficiently deferential and plastic manner. This same world view considers it extremely rude to point this out.

Someone on Twitter understands that:

Dave Scott ‏@DaveScottSC
“Sure Trump’s a dangerous racist, less qualified to be president than any nominee who’s ever run, & Pence lied a lot. But Kaine interrupted”
5:54 AM – 5 Oct 2016

From Hillary Clinton’s (D) campaign:

Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton
At the #VPDebate, Mike Pence tried really, really hard to deny pretty much everything Donald Trump has said and done. Let’s replay the tape:
[….]
7:29 AM – 5 Oct 2016

The Mike Pence comedy routine in Chesterfield

06 Tuesday Sep 2016

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

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Tags

corruption, Donald Trump, Mike Pence, missouri

Many think that when it comes to Trump-Pence, Trump is the entertainment arm of the duo. But Mike Pence has his moments. Speaking at a stopover in Chesterfield Mo today, he, according to a local NPR report,* asserted that the Trump-Pence campaign would have a narrow focus on (oddly broad) issues like national security and “the integrity of the President’s office.” As a strategy, this approach is a natural for The Donald and his side-kick Mikey. It eliminates the need to dig around in the policy weeds – a really good idea for a candidate who rather obviously doesn’t know how to “pull dem weeds.”

But the real kicker was the effort by Pence to draw a contrast between Trump and the woman he has, on the basis of cooked-up evidence, dubbed crooked Hillary, insisting that the major part of their joint campaign’s “narrow” focus would be its emphasis on integrity. After what we’ve seen of Trump, that bit of boilerplate would always have been amusing, but it’s a real knee-slapper when you hear it uttered only a few days after allegations of illegal campaign contributions and potential quid-pro-quo bribery on the part of Donald Tump have started bubbling up.

It seems that a Trump “charitable” foundation contributed about $25,000 to the campaign of the Florida Attorney General, Pam Bondi, in 2013. The grisly details are summarized in The Hill:

In September 2013, the Florida attorney general’s office announced that it was considering joining a New York state inquiry into Trump University and the flood of consumer complaints from people who felt that they were ripped off by the so-called “university.”

In roughly the same time period, Bondi spoke personally with Trump and solicited a political contribution from him. These facts are all explained in strong detail in an Associated Press report from June of this year.

On Sept. 17, three days after a spokesman for Bondi told the Orlando Sentinel that her office was, indeed, considering joining the Trump U. investigation, a $25,000 check was cut by Trump’s foundation and sent to a committee associated with Bondi’s campaign.

According to a Sentinel report from the time, it was one of the biggest contributions the campaign committee had received. We’ve since learned, thanks to The Washington Post, that the Trump Foundation is a small organization with “no paid staff and relatively little money for a superwealthy man’s personal charity.”

And after the check arrived, Bondi’s office decide not to pursue a case against Trump U., saying there were insufficient grounds to join the New York state probe.

There’s more. Were there no appearance of bribery, tax-exempt charitable foundations can’t legally contribute to political campaigns – and if they do so by mistake they shoudn’t try to cover it up which seems to have happened in this case (Trump paid a $2,500 fine to the IRS). But there’s still more. Over the past few days, Trump has attempted to make light of this story and claimed that he never talked to Florida AG Pam Bondi. That is, as TPM reports, until today:

We’ve been talking over the last couple days about the apparent contradiction between Donald Trump’s statement that he never talked to Pam Bondi about his contribution or Trump University. Now Politico has gone to Trump for clarification. And Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks says there’s no contradiction. “His comments were in reference to any discussion about Trump University — not the donation,” Hicks told Politico.

Yeah, sure. And I want to sell you some beach front property in South Dakota. This is, after all, the guy who, as Hill consultant Jim Roberts observes, “has made it clear he expects favors for his political donations. ‘When I want something I get it. When I call, they kiss my ass.'”

Yet little Mikey, the so-called “happy warrior” (wasn’t that label also applied to Al Smith, a presidential candidate who lost badly?) has the chutzpah to get up before a Missouri audience and feed them blather about how he and his fellow-candidate are going to stand up for integrity? And will Missourian GOPers fall for it? You can bet that they want to.

Of course, I may have gotten it wrong. Maybe Pence didn’t really mean to say that he and Trump were going to campaign on the promise of preserving the integrity of the presidency, but perhaps he was talking about the “aesthetics” of the presidency, as in physically “looking presidential,” an issue that seems to preoccupy The Donald.

*I’ll update with a reference when one becomes available.

UPDATE: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that “Pence summed up a Trump presidency as one devoted to security and American integrity and not beholden to special interests.”

UPDATE 2: It looks like Bondi wasn’t the only politician who likely made big bucks off efforts to investigate – or not- the Trump U. scam. Officials in Texas, including Governor Abbott may be implicated in a similar bribery scandal.

Update 3: The Bondi scandal is even worse than it originally appeared. And these degenerates want us to believe they even know what integrity means?