INTEREST-FREE MANNA FROM HEAVEN WITH A MARTINI

The Great GOP Presidential Candidate Shakedown has begun! Former Trump VP Mike Pence announced he has suspended his campaign, with Steve Schmidt on his The Warning blog declaring Pence “a hollow man with an appetite for the prerequisites of power and the perks that come along with it.” Mikey declared from the start in 2015 that he was “a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order,” even as he followed his President through all the division and malice that were the earmarks of the administration. He was enamored of the perceived power, the mansion, helicopter, Air Force 2, the fanfare and motorcades, the perks that solidified his place in the American pantheon, as he stuck by Trump’s side throughout the embarrassments, and defiling of the Constitution. He was declared anathema by the MAGATs when he refused to do Trump’s bidding, showing his disloyalty by declining to delay the electoral college vote count on that momentous January 6; and, while he did his duty during that insane insurrection, Schmidt says, “The single issue that defined Mike Pence’s service was disloyalty – disloyalty towards decency, humanity, and patriotism. He served a cruel cause with a cold heart. He well and truly tried to ride the tiger in pursuit of power – only to wind up inside…I hope the photo albums were worth it. My generation will be cleaning up this disaster for the rest of our lives.”

So, who’s next? Tim Scott is making a big play for one dollar donations in order to qualify for a place in the next GOP candidate debate, but his name may be de-listed soon, along with those of Larry Elder, Will Hurd, Perry Johnson and Francis Suarez. Some lesser lights are hanging in there, but why and for how long? Nikki Haley, while far beneath front-runner Donald Trump in the polls, has a heated competition with Ron DeSantis as her poll numbers now exceed his. Vivek Ramaswamy seems to be spending most of his time with both feet in his mouth, so who knows where he ends up? They all seem to be waving their hands in the air at the Trump Train in hopes of validating their relevancy as worthy second bananas. There’s always somebody that doesn’t get the message…the reason you don’t believe you have been lied to and brainwashed, is because you have been lied to and brainwashed…simple as that!

A couple of weeks ago most of us in California got the Earthquake Early Warning signal on our cell phones, but some instead got the worthy message, ‘SUPREME COURT BACK IN SESSION!’ No doubt this was spurred by the ongoing grifting revelations regarding Justice Clarence Thomas and his consort, Ginni ‘Imelda‘ Thomas. Their never-ending ‘handful of gimme, and a mouthful of much-obliged’ addiction continues to obligate them to their sugar daddies instead of to the American public and the Constitution. What’s it this time? The Senate Democrats have discovered Thomas never paid back in full a quarter-million-dollar-plus loan from ‘a friend’ to buy a high-end recreational vehicle in 1999. The five year term saw the Thomas twins paying only the interest of about $20K annually before the term was extended to ten years. The Senate committee concluded that the loan was never paid in full and none of the principal was satisfied, though other documentation is being sought to conclude their findings.

Health care executive, Anthony Welters, who was the cash-cow for the loan has written a note, dated November 2008, indicated he was seeking no further payments because he believed Thomas’ annual payments exceeded the total purchase price of the Prevost Marathon Le Mirage XL RV. Talk about mirages! The nine years of interest payments would still leave about an $87K shortfall for the total loan amount which at this juncture should be considered taxable income for the Justice, a figure which seems to be suspiciously missing from his 2008 financial disclosure report. The ethics lapses in Thomas’ ‘gimme’ lifestyle continue to mount, further damaging the public’s opinions of government officials, and in this case, the Supreme Court’s which has been mum on the many disclosures. Our citizenry would be much obliged if the Thomases would just come clean instead of letting the situation fester…show us the documentation of your compliance, your innocence…where are the receipts? If Senator Robert Menendez and his wife are being taken to task over their indiscretions, why not Clarence and Ginni?

It is said that Vladimir Putin bought American…he purchased one Trump and got the whole Republican party for free! And now he has the added bonus of a House Speaker in Louisiana’s Mike Johnson, hand-picked enthusiastically by none other than Mr. Trump himself. The House had a close call when it came reasonably close to electing Gym Jordan to the position, but the GOP thought better and elected a guy who will wear a suit jacket instead. Johnson is known as an ‘election denier.’ But it goes much deeper, since he supported a Texas group’s bid to overturn the election while working in conjunction with others to overturn electoral college votes in four swing states. Prior to his four term stint in Congress, Johnson was a senior lawyer and national spokesperson for the Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative group which opposes abortion, same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ rights. In what has now become a familiar hardcore Christian nationalist formulation, Johnson touted during his 2016 Congressional race, “I am a Christian, a husband, a father, a lifelong conservative, constitutional law attorney and a small business owner in that order, and I think that order is important. I have been called to legal ministry and I’ve been out on the front lines of the ‘culture war’ defending religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and biblical values, including the defense of traditional marriage, and other ideals like these when they’ve been under assault.”

Meidas Touch calls out the new Speaker, an opponent of gun control legislation, for blaming the recent mass shootings in Maine on both teaching evolution and abortion. Speaking at the Christian Center in Shreveport in 2016, he said that a “series of cultural shifts” in this country, led by ‘elites’ and ‘academics’ back in the 1930s who endorsed Charles Darwin’s theories erased the influence of Christian thinking and creationism from society. His religious fundamentalism marks his life and career, and he advocates for return of prayer in public schools, as he derides the “so-called separation of church and state” on the House floor, arguing that our nation’s founders did not establish the separation to prevent religion from influencing government, but rather to impede the government from restricting the influence and free exercise of religion.

Trump’s newly christened (CHRIST-ened?) lackey’s resemblance to Clark Kent may serve to conceal his full nut-job MAGAness, but we shouldn’t be fooled…he is a full-on, rabid election denier, a Bible-thumper who will bash your head in with his holy book if you don’t follow his brand of worship and his interpretation of the First Amendment. He fits in with the GOP brand very well with his denial of climate-change while getting big bucks from the oil and gas companies, is against raising the federal minimum wage, and is in the forefront of the drive to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. So, did the House Circus get what they wanted out of their inept procedure of selecting a new leader? Mike who? Obviously, not by a long shot! Remember…93% of the House GOP voted against dumping Kevin McCarthy, who was an effective party fund raiser. Now they have a powerless, unproven nobody who has already started an irritating glut of an email campaign to introduce himself…and oh, can you send money?

What it all boils down to is that the Republican House will continue to be run by committees, each in their own tiny enclaves, doing what they wish with nobody to stop them. Speaker Johnson can take whatever position he wants on a whole range of issues, but he will be bulldozed by the committee chairs who know what they are doing, and who have the power and influence to do so, leaving Johnson’s crown perilously askew. Next up? Think the GOP might come up with someone who believes in democracy, rather than one who believes he is being ordained by his god? That would be manna from heaven! Kind of reminds one of the statement by Charles de Gaulle, “How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?”

The New Yorker’s Andy Borowitz couldn’t let the ascendance of Mike Johnson pass by without some of his humor: In a stirring acceptance speech after being elected Speaker of the House, Representative Mike Johnson vowed to be “the greatest Speaker of the seventeenth century. For years, time travel was the stuff of science fiction,” he said. “Now as I take this majestic nation back four hundred years, I will make that dream a reality.” Noting that LGBTQ and women’s rights would be subject to his review, he said that he would also be taking a “hard look at some other so-called innovations, such as electricity and soap. My message to the American people is simple: I work for thee,” he said. When a reporter pointed out that there was no such thing as a Speaker of the House in the seventeenth century, Johnson replied, “I see you’ve been reading history books. Enjoy them while you can.”

And what we’ve all been waiting for, the promise of Artificial Intelligence: A guy goes into a bar that has a robot bartender and orders a martini. The robot brings him the best martini ever, and asks the man, “What’s your IQ?” A bit taken aback, nevertheless he answers, “168.” The robot then proceeds to discuss physics, space exploration, and medical technology. The guy leaves, but remaining curious, he goes back to the bar and orders another martini. With a great martini in hand, the robot asks him again, “What’s your IQ?” This time the guy answers, “100,” which prompts the robot to talk about NASCAR, Budweiser, and John Deere tractors. Exiting the bar, the guy’s curiosity is further aroused, so he goes back inside, orders a martini, and is met with the same question, “What’s your IQ?” This time he answers, “Oh, about 50,” and with that the robot moves in closer and says, “Isn’t it terrible the way Biden stole the election?”