Saturday Report 4/13/24 - Who Runs the House: Republicans, Trump, or Putin?
The Best of the Rest of the News
— Are Arizona Republicans masochists? They just blocked an attempt by Dems to repeal the 1864 abortion law! This story gets weirder every day. When Arizona Republicans (without a single Democratic vote) passed their 15 week ban on abortion in March, 2022 — before the Dobbs decision — it included a provision saying that if the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v Wade, then it would be set aside and the 1864 total ban on abortion would become the law of the state. Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake bragged about it, saying that the state “already has a great law on the books.” Dobbs happened, and Republicans sued before the state Supreme Court to bring that total ban into effect, and, sure enough, the five rightwing cranks appointed to the Court by former Republican Governor Doug Ducey threw out the 15 week ban in favor of the original, 1864 law. Even more bizarre, the guy responsible for passing that ban into law in 1864, William Claude Jones, was best known from that era for having married, and then left, in sequence, a 12-year-old girl, a 15-year-old-girl, and then a 14-year-old girl (all gave him children: this was legal, as the age of consent for girls in the Arizona territory then was 10). So the Arizona Republicans wanted this law, bragged about this law, and even sued to get this law, but now, suddenly, they’re saying they don’t want it? But wait: there’s more! In Wednesday’s session of their legislature, when Democrats proposed legislation to set the 1864 law aside, Republicans blocked that in both the Arizona House and Senate, and adjourned the session until next Wednesday. The people of Arizona are getting a great lesson on the dangers of electing Republicans!
— Who runs the House: Republicans, Trump, or Putin? The Foreign Intelligence Security Act (FISA) lets the federal government spy on Russians here in the United States and abroad, and needs to be reauthorized periodically. So, Trump, having been kept financially alive (according to both his sons) since the 1990s by Russian money, and having been elected in 2016 with help from Russian troll-farms, and his Truth Social having been kept alive in 2022 by a Russian American, on Wednesday blasted out an order to his followers in the US House: “Kill FISA!” And, true to form, the Putin Caucus in the House did just what Trump demanded, just like they have by blocking aid to Ukraine for 16 months now. Some argue that Trump runs the Republican Party and the House of Representatives; I say a more accurate analysis is that Putin runs both.
— Is Biden doing everything he can for Ukraine? The bad news, of course, is that because Republicans in the House have blocked further aid to Ukraine for a year-and-a-half since they took power in January, 2023, that country is now under an unprecedented and massive, savage attack by Russian bombs and missiles. This week they took out the largest power station in Kiev, because Ukraine has largely run out of air defenses. In the face of this treason by the GOP, some have criticized President Biden for not doing more by executive action. Turns out he’s now on it! CNN reported this week: “The US transferred thousands of machine guns, sniper rifles, rocket launchers and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition seized from Iran to Ukraine last week, US Central Command announced on Tuesday.” In addition, European Union countries have given Ukraine $5 billion to purchase weapons on the open market and Biden just authorized them to purchase those from US defense contractors. The first purchase was just released: “The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Ukraine of HAWK Phase III Missile System Sustainment and related elements of logistics and program support for an estimated cost of $138 million.” Step by step, Biden and the Democrats will overcome the treasonous behavior of this Putin-loving GOP.
And the stakes in the Ukraine war couldn’t be higher. The EU’s top diplomat, Josph Burrell, recently said that a full-scale European war with Russia was “no longer a fantasy.” In a speech last Tuesday in Brussels, Burrell said, “Russia threatens Europe,” both through its ongoing war in Ukraine and hybrid attacks on EU member states, and, “War is certainly looming around us. A high-intensity, conventional war in Europe is no longer a fantasy.” Every day that Republicans in the House continue to block aid to Ukraine brings that Europe-wide war — which could trigger WWIII — closer. If you haven’t already called your member of the House at 202-224-3121 to register your opinion, please do so now!
— Finally! The US will require background checks for gun shows and online firearm sales. In the largest and most consequential step toward rational gun regulation in the United States since the passage of the Brady Bill 30 years ago, the Biden Justice Department finalized a new ATF rule to close the “gun show loophole” by requiring the 22,000+ sellers of guns at gun shows, online, and via private sales to get a license and perform background checks. Republicans, who seem just fine with a nation drenched in blood, have already filed a lawsuit to block the change: stay tuned.
— Crazy Alert! Revealed: Trump county chair is reportedly an ex-cop who threatened to rape his boss’ wife and daughter before he killed the boss. Jonathan Stone, a second-term New Hampshire Republican State Representative and former gun store owner, has a past that seems to fit in well with the general misogyny of the GOP. When he was a police officer, according to the Huffington Post, he was called to the home of a 15-year-old girl on a domestic issue, and apparently began to groom her; by the time she was 16 they were having a full-blown sexual affair. When the police chief found out and confronted him, Stone threatened to rape the chief’s wife and daughter in front of the chief, and then kill the chief. Reports Huffpo: “The coup-attempting former president first came to know Stone during Trump’s 2016 run, when Stone gave him an inscribed AR-15 assault rifle at a campaign stop.” Trump has only the finest people, right?
— Wisdom School Alert! Why Mastering the Learning Trance Can Be Useful. Use these techniques to induce a learning trance, and people will remember your message for years instead of hours or days!
— Hunter in a Farmer’s World Alert! How Authoritarianism Leadership & Economic Chaos Affects ADHDers. Should “Hunters” beware of the overfocused Farmers who want to set the rules & define the game?
— The Biden EPA imposes first-ever limits on levels of toxic “forever chemical” PFAS’s in drinking water. This is a massive victory for public health; these chemicals
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