What happens to the Republican Party now?

[MT15]

This election nonsense by Trump may end up splitting up the Republican Party. I just don’t see how the one third (?) who are principled conservatives can stay in the same party with Trump sycophants who are willing to sign onto the TX Supreme Court case.

We also saw the alt right types chanting “destroy the GOP” in Washington today because they didn’t keep Trump in power. I think the Q types will also hold the same ill will toward the traditional Republican Party. In fact its quite possible that all the voters who are really in a Trump personality cult will also blame the GOP for his loss. It’s only a matter of time IMO before Trump himself gets around to blaming the GOP.

There is some discussion of this on Twitter. What do you all think?

 

[LA - L.A.]

You’ll never guess which side it is

Top fact-checker finally reveals which party lies more: Democrats or Republicans

Trump has twice earned the title of PolitiFact’s liar of the year, with 76 percent of his claims rated ‘mostly false,’ ‘false,’ or ‘pants on fire’

www.independent.co.uk

According to he fact checkers, Republicans lie 55% of the time. That means any time a Republican says something, it's more likely to be a lie than the truth.

 

[MT15]

Ex NFL RB.

Not unlike Antonio Brown...ex NFL

Fifty Cent says there are rappers being paid by the Trump campaign to endorse him. I would assume that is probable with these guys as well. They no longer play, and have so many kids and baby mamas to support, the money probably comes in handy.

 

[efil4]

Fifty Cent says there are rappers being paid by the Trump campaign to endorse him. I would assume that is probable with these guys as well. They no longer play, and have so many kids and baby mamas to support, the money probably comes in handy.

it aint that much. Believe that. They miss being relevant.

If it buys them 15 more min, they will do it.

None of this surprises me. They want to be part of the grift. Unfortunately for them, 90% of MAGA supporters arent going out of their way to buy the new album the rapper has put out. LOL.

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

Just a reminder of how far the GOP will go:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Two key GOP lawmakers – the chairman and a member of the state House committee that oversees the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation – recently warned the agency that it could face “unnecessary political fallout” if it does not end its criminal probe into the troubled Millersville Police Department.

The warning was delivered Oct. 10 in a four-page letter to TBI Director David Rausch by Rep. Bud Hulsey, a Kingsport Republican who chairs the House Criminal Justice Committee. Rep. Monty Fritts, R-Kingston, also signed the letter.

Hulsey and Fritts, who both noted their committee assignments in signing the unprecedented letter, urged Rausch to return all materials seized during raids last month of Millersville police offices, as well as the home of Assistant Police Chief Shawn Taylor.

“It would be in everyone’s best interest for the TBI to assist, rather than obstruct, the Millersville Police Department in their ongoing criminal investigations,” the letter concluded. “Doing so would not only be the right course of action, but it would also help preserve the integrity of the TBI and avoid unnecessary political fallout.”

Two key GOP lawmakers threaten 'political fallout' if TBI continues investigation of Millersville police

Two key GOP lawmakers recently warned the agency that it could face “unnecessary political fallout” if it does not end its criminal probe into the troubled Millersville Police Department.

www.newschannel5.com

 

[efil4]

Just a reminder of how far the GOP will go:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Two key GOP lawmakers – the chairman and a member of the state House committee that oversees the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation – recently warned the agency that it could face “unnecessary political fallout” if it does not end its criminal probe into the troubled Millersville Police Department.

The warning was delivered Oct. 10 in a four-page letter to TBI Director David Rausch by Rep. Bud Hulsey, a Kingsport Republican who chairs the House Criminal Justice Committee. Rep. Monty Fritts, R-Kingston, also signed the letter.

Hulsey and Fritts, who both noted their committee assignments in signing the unprecedented letter, urged Rausch to return all materials seized during raids last month of Millersville police offices, as well as the home of Assistant Police Chief Shawn Taylor.

“It would be in everyone’s best interest for the TBI to assist, rather than obstruct, the Millersville Police Department in their ongoing criminal investigations,” the letter concluded. “Doing so would not only be the right course of action, but it would also help preserve the integrity of the TBI and avoid unnecessary political fallout.”

Two key GOP lawmakers threaten 'political fallout' if TBI continues investigation of Millersville police

Two key GOP lawmakers recently warned the agency that it could face “unnecessary political fallout” if it does not end its criminal probe into the troubled Millersville Police Department.

www.newschannel5.com

they are like a kid with the stick poking a hornets nest.

You tell him " Thats a dumb idea and gonna end badly "

He turns away and starts jabbing it with the stick anyway.

20 stings later....

 

[Optimus Prime]

The former Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney “hopes to be able to rebuild” the Republican party after Donald Trump leaves the political stage. Mitt Romney, the retiring Utah senator and former presidential nominee, reportedly hopes so too.

Among other prominent Republicans who refuse to bow the knee, the former Maryland governor Larry Hogan is running for a US Senate seat in a party led by Trump but insists he can be part of a post-Trump GOP.

“I think there are a lot of people that are very frustrated with the direction of the party and some of them are giving up,” Hogan told the Guardian. “I think we’ve got to stand up and try to take the Republican party back and eventually get us back on track to a bigger tent, more [Ronald] Reagan’s party, that can win elections again.”

Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chair turned MSNBC host, advocated more dramatic action: “We have to blow this crazy-arse party up and have it regain its senses, or something else will be born out of it. There are only two options here. Hogan will be a key player in whatever happens. Liz Cheney, [former congressmen] Adam Kinzinger and Joe Walsh – all of us who have been pushed aside and fortunately were not infected with Maga, we will have something to say about what happens on 6 November.”

That’s the day after election day, when Trump will face Kamala Harris. If Trump wins, all bets will be off. If he loses, the never-Trumpers could try to reclaim their party. Few are under any illusions about the size of the task.

“It’s going to take somewhere between six, eight, 10 years to defeat the Maga piece of the party resoundingly and definitively,” said Reed Galen, son of the late GOP stalwart Rich Galen. Galen is an adviser to George W Bush and John McCain, a co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, and now running Join the Union, a coalition of pro-democracy groups.

“If you think about it, 85% of Republican primary voters this year voted for Trump. Now, is that bad for somebody who owns the party and is a former president? Yeah, electorally, it could be. But it also says that the people who actually choose nominees are Maga, right?

“Do I think there will be some erosion if Trump loses? Yeah, but I don’t think it’s going to be below 50% and I don’t think that anybody who considers themselves a diehard Republican or a Maga Republican is looking to go back to the days of George W Bush, John McCain, or Mitt Romney, or even Nikki Haley.

“If the establishment, such as it is, wants its party back, then it’s going to have to do some pretty serious work to destroy the parts of it that are anti-democratic and fundamentally dangerous to the country. I don’t know, based on their track record, whether they’re willing to do that. Frankly, I don’t think they are. I think they’re going to try and figure out how to survive long enough that maybe the thing burns itself out on its own.”............

‘We have to blow it up’: can never-Trumpers retake the Republican party?

Republicans who have refused to bend to Trump insist the GOP can be rebuilt – but if he wins, all bets are off

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida school board candidate who lost his race in a county south of Jacksonville will get a seat on the board anyway, after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis tapped him to fill a vacancy.

Derek Barrs will take an open seat on the Flagler County School Board in northeast Florida, succeeding a member who resigned in September, allowing DeSantis to appoint a replacement rather than the seat going on the ballot for voters to decide.

Barrs is a consultant with infrastructure design firm HNTB and a retired chief of the Florida Highway Patrol who campaigned with a focus on school safety and student achievement. He won DeSantis’ endorsement in his bid for the board but lost his Aug. 20 race by 290 votes to Janie Ruddy, a former teacher in the district.

DeSantis has done more to influence local education policies and politics than any Florida governor in recent memory. In the name of “parental rights”, DeSantis has banned instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity and limited what Florida schools can teach about racism and U.S. history, and he’s both endorsed a slate of his preferred candidates and targeted incumbent members he wants voted out.

“Derek is a candidate who is committed to fighting for schools to get back to the fundamentals," DeSantis said in his endorsement of Barrs. “Derek has pledged to serve on the school board with a focus on student success, parental rights, and curriculum transparency.”

In an interview with The Associated Press, Barrs pushed back on the assertion that he might owe DeSantis his political allegiance on the board, saying he’s focused on building relationships across the community and improving outcomes for all students.

“I don’t owe anybody anything,” Barrs said, “other than working for our students every day and making sure that they have the best quality education possible in our school district.”.............

A Florida school board candidate lost his race. DeSantis appointed him to the board anyway

A school board candidate who lost his race in a county south of Jacksonville will get a seat on the board anyway, after Florida Gov.

apnews.com

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida school board candidate who lost his race in a county south of Jacksonville will get a seat on the board anyway, after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis tapped him to fill a vacancy.

Derek Barrs will take an open seat on the Flagler County School Board in northeast Florida, succeeding a member who resigned in September, allowing DeSantis to appoint a replacement rather than the seat going on the ballot for voters to decide.

Barrs is a consultant with infrastructure design firm HNTB and a retired chief of the Florida Highway Patrol who campaigned with a focus on school safety and student achievement. He won DeSantis’ endorsement in his bid for the board but lost his Aug. 20 race by 290 votes to Janie Ruddy, a former teacher in the district.

DeSantis has done more to influence local education policies and politics than any Florida governor in recent memory. In the name of “parental rights”, DeSantis has banned instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity and limited what Florida schools can teach about racism and U.S. history, and he’s both endorsed a slate of his preferred candidates and targeted incumbent members he wants voted out.

“Derek is a candidate who is committed to fighting for schools to get back to the fundamentals," DeSantis said in his endorsement of Barrs. “Derek has pledged to serve on the school board with a focus on student success, parental rights, and curriculum transparency.”

In an interview with The Associated Press, Barrs pushed back on the assertion that he might owe DeSantis his political allegiance on the board, saying he’s focused on building relationships across the community and improving outcomes for all students.

“I don’t owe anybody anything,” Barrs said, “other than working for our students every day and making sure that they have the best quality education possible in our school district.”.............

A Florida school board candidate lost his race. DeSantis appointed him to the board anyway

A school board candidate who lost his race in a county south of Jacksonville will get a seat on the board anyway, after Florida Gov.

apnews.com

Then DeSantis will get angry when we point out his authoritarian antics such as this and his efforts to shut down reporting of his other unconstitutional actions.

Edit:

 

[Optimus Prime]

guess this can go here
==============

Raquell Barton was knee-deep in her doctorate program at the University of Memphis when her husband dropped a bomb on her: he wanted a divorce.

It caught her off guard. Somewhere between the research and projects for her instructional design program, he began to feel neglected, like he and their marriage were no longer a priority for her. She said he never mentioned how he was feeling until he asked to part ways, and by then, he'd mentally checked out of the marriage.

"When I went into that doctoral program, we were on the same page. We knew it was going to be hard. We knew it was going to be a struggle. We knew my focus was going to be on something else," she told Salon in a phone interview. "By the time I realized something was wrong, it was too late."

He wanted out. She didn't. Despite her protests, the pair legally separated in 2018. After six months of separation, Barton's husband still hadn't filed for divorce even though he'd started seeing someone new. Fed up, she felt she had to take the initiative. The divorce was finalized in 2019.

Her divorce was as no-fault as divorces come, she said, even if it wasn't what she wanted.

"I went into [marriage] hoping that I was gonna have that Happily Ever After fairy tale, but sometimes it just doesn't happen," said Barton, now a certified divorce coach helping other women who didn't want their marriages to end in Arkansas, Texas, Tennesee and Oklahoma. "It's not that I don't believe in the sanctity of marriage, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. You just have to let people go."

Barton's circumstances aren't at all uncommon. But opponents of no-fault divorce laws, which allow couples to split without either spouse having to claim fault or both having to agree, believe it's enough cause to eliminate or curtail no-fault grounds in divorce law altogether.

Though still only emerging from the fringes, the burgeoning movement against no-fault divorce has gained something of a foothold in a handful of ultraconservative states, including Texas and Oklahoma. The effort also has supporters up to the highest levels of government, from state Republican party platforms and state proposals to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance.

While legal scholars and divorce lawyers are unsure if legislation striking no-fault grounds for divorce will ever take hold due to its widespread unpopularity, the effort to make that a reality in places like Oklahoma and South Dakota presents a looming threat to advocates who, in a post-Dobbs America, fear the worst. That threat seems much more real with an active divorce antagonist currently seeking the vice presidency, they say, and should it ever become a reality, it stands to disproportionately harm women.

"I am scared every day as we get closer and closer to the election and the next legislative session," Samantha Chapman, the advocacy manager of the ACLU of South Dakota told Salon in a phone interview. Though the legislature doesn't currently have enough members who support eliminating no-fault divorce laws to pass, she fears the number will continue to grow.

"I am terrified that we will someday reach a point where they do have enough numbers to pass a law that would make it harder for people to escape dangerous situations, like pregnancy sometimes, and like marriages sometimes," she said...............

Experts say GOP men targeting no-fault divorce to keep women "trapped"

As worries grow after Dobbs, experts fear restricting no-fault divorce could be a death sentence for some women.

www.salon.com

 

[MT15]

The GOP is anti-woman. Mace should be up in arms about this.

 

[Optimus Prime]

The GOP is anti-woman. Mace should be up in arms about this.

“You wanted to be a mother. Go be a mother. And think about not coming back while you’re out”

 

[Optimus Prime]

Him framing this as freedom of choice is ironic because much of the “liberal dominance” he wants to crush is letting people live their lives as they see fit in peace
========

Leonard Leo, who financed and directed the rightwing takeover of the US supreme court, admitted he wants to “crush liberal dominance” across American society.

“I want to crush liberal dominance,” the dark money impresario told NPR, in an interview published three weeks after Donald Trump’s stunning election win.

Leo added that he wanted to “make sure that there’s a level playing field for the American people to make choices about the lives that they want to have in their country”.

“I’m perfectly happy having a world where people can make choices between various kinds of things. But what I don’t want is a system where our entertainment system or our world of news media or our business and finance worlds are heavily dominated by left ideology that either chokes out other ways of thinking about things, or that just creates a system where sort of inappropriate political and policy decisions are being made in places where politics and policy don’t really have a proper place,” he said.……..

Trump adviser who funded supreme court takeover wants to ‘crush liberal dominance’

Leonard Leo, rightwing billionaire who helped install conservative justices, outlines second term ambitionsUS politics – live updates

www.theguardian.com

 

[MT15]

Him framing this as freedom of choice is ironic because much of the “liberal dominance” he wants to crush is letting people live their lives as they see fit in peace
========

Leonard Leo, who financed and directed the rightwing takeover of the US supreme court, admitted he wants to “crush liberal dominance” across American society.

“I want to crush liberal dominance,” the dark money impresario told NPR, in an interview published three weeks after Donald Trump’s stunning election win.

Leo added that he wanted to “make sure that there’s a level playing field for the American people to make choices about the lives that they want to have in their country”.

“I’m perfectly happy having a world where people can make choices between various kinds of things. But what I don’t want is a system where our entertainment system or our world of news media or our business and finance worlds are heavily dominated by left ideology that either chokes out other ways of thinking about things, or that just creates a system where sort of inappropriate political and policy decisions are being made in places where politics and policy don’t really have a proper place,” he said.……..

Trump adviser who funded supreme court takeover wants to ‘crush liberal dominance’

Leonard Leo, rightwing billionaire who helped install conservative justices, outlines second term ambitionsUS politics – live updates

www.theguardian.com

Complete gaslighting. He wants to control the way people think. And their actions.

 

[Dragon]

Complete gaslighting. He wants to control the way people think. And their actions.

" Creates a system where sort of inappropriate political and policy decisions are being made in places where politics and policy don’t really have a proper place,"

Isn't that precisely what he is trying to do... Creating a system where politicians decides who can marry, womens healthcare and what can be taught in Schools ?

 

[Optimus Prime]

not sure where to put this



Full Text
=========

As we continue to try to get the full truth out about what’s happening in this country, I encourage you to watch
@cspan

On yesterday a colleague had a bill in markup entitled “dismantle DEI.”

In explaining why the bill was needed, multiple white R men argued that they are being “oppressed.”I didn’t bring race into anything… THEY DID & always do & then they twist history & dilute the definition of words.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Mitch can fork all the way off
===================
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was called out by his Democratic colleague after the Kentucky senator complained about playing "political games" with judicial nominations.

McConnell made the remark during a Senate floor session on Monday and said he was concerned that two U.S. circuit court judges who had plans to retire may not follow through with them in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 U.S. election.

"This sort of partisan behavior undermines the integrity of the judiciary," McConnell said. "Never, never before has a circuit judge un-retired after a presidential election. It's literally unprecedented."

The Kentucky senator went on to say that "these vacancies now properly belong to the next president. As I repeatedly warned the judiciary in other matters, if you play political games, expect political prizes."

McConnell's colleague across the aisle, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, didn't mince words when he reminded the minority leader of his refusal to grant a confirmation hearing to Merrick Garland, whom President Barack Obama nominated in March 2016 to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.

Obama nominated Garland eight months before the 2016 election, but McConnell insisted at the time that the next president should fill Scalia's seat on the court.

"I listened carefully to my colleague from Kentucky explain his concerns about the filling of four circuit court vacancies," Durbin said on Monday. "And he raises a question about whether that's fair.

"Well, I'd like to call the Senate's attention to the fact that there was a moment in time when we were shocked to learn that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had died while on a hunting trip," he continued. "And the decision was made almost instantly by the senator from Kentucky, the same senator who just talked about delaying and filling vacancies."

"The decision was made by him not to fill the Supreme Court vacancy," Durbin added.

Indeed, McConnell said at the time, "The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president."

The Kentucky senator reversed course four years later when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died less than two months before the 2020 election.

Within hours of Ginsburg's death in September 2020, McConnell released a statement pledging that Trump's nominee to fill Ginsburg's seat would "receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate." Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett shortly after, and she was confirmed to the Supreme Court a month later............

McConnell criticized for complaining about "political games" with judges

Senator Dick Durbin wasted no time reminding McConnell of his own political maneuvering with judicial nominees.

www.newsweek.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

A New York judge has declined to dismiss the case against Daniel Penny, the former U.S. Marine indicted last year in the chokehold death of subway performer Jordan Neely on a Manhattan train.


Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley on Wednesday denied Penny’s motion to dismiss charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Penny’s attorneys have argued that the 25-year-old “risked his own life and safety” to protect other subway passengers when Neely began shouting and behaving erratically during the fatal incident last May…….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/01/17/daniel-penny-jordan-neely-chokehold-death-case-proceeds/

A Manhattan jury has acquitted Daniel Penny in the subway chokehold death of Jordan Neely at the end of a weeks-long trial that sparked a fierce debate about whether the defendant was – as others put it – a “vigilante” or a “hero”.

Penny, a 26-year-old former Marine who is white, was charged in the death of Neely, a 30-year-old unhoused Black man, which occurred on a New York City subway train last year. Penny held Neely in a lethal chokehold.

Penny was charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide following Neely’s killing, which received widespread attention. Both charges carried the potential for prison time.


On Friday, the jury in the case said it had been unable to reach a verdict on a charge of manslaughter after more than two days of deliberations. Judge Maxwell Wiley dismissed the charge and directed the panel to consider the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide.

Penny was acquitted of the lesser charge after two hours of deliberations on Monday. In the courtroom, there was a burst of applause from Penny’s legal team, and the defendant was hustled out of the courtroom through a side door.

But Neely’s supporters audibly lamented the outcome, including some who were reported as visibly crying.

Earlier Monday, Penny’s defense team said they were concerned about protests outside the lower Manhattan criminal court, claiming that jurors were able to hear chants of “subway strangler” and “murderer” as they deliberated. Wiley said there were protesters from both sides outside.

Penny’s acquittal is a significant blow to the reputation of Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought charges against him as protests over Neely’s killing mounted.……

Jury finds Daniel Penny not guilty at New York City subway chokehold trial

Former Marine was charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the death of Jordan Neely

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Bolding mine, and that's the real reason
==========================
Florida state Rep. Susan Valdés announced Monday she is defecting to the Republican Party — immediately after being re-elected as a Democrat.

Valdés, a Cuban-American lawmaker who was raised by immigrants in New York, represents a Tampa area district.

"I have spent my adult life fighting to give a voice to the people of my West Tampa home," she wrote. "I have done so as a Democrat partly out of habit — I come from a family of Democrats — and partly because I believed the Democrats were the party most concerned with the working families I represent."

However, she added, "I will not waste my final two years in the Florida Legislature being ignored in a caucus whose leadership expects me to ignore the needs of my community."

"I will continue to fight every day to benefit the people of West Tampa, Hillsborough County and the state of Florida," she concluded. "And in my heart, I know the best way to do that is to stand with Speaker [Daniel] Perez and join the Republican supermajority in the Florida House of Representatives.

Valdés did not explicitly list a reason for abandoning Democrats in her statement. However, it comes just a week after she lost a campaign to chair the Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee.

Furthermore, last year, she was one of a small handful of Democrats who crossed the aisle to support a massive school voucher program championed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. This was also a precipitating issue cited by North Carolina state Rep. Tricia Cotham, who also infamously defected to the GOP last year, giving the party there a supermajority in the legislature that they narrowly lost this year, as well as Georgia state Rep. Mesha Mainor, who was defeated after defecting in the election last month.

Critics have said school voucher programs, touted as giving parents "choice" to move their tax dollars to private education, consistently worsen education outcomes while enriching a small group of wealthy parents already outside the public school system..............

MSN