Tracker

The viewership numbers for the inquiry are very encouraging. The trump cult members will ignore the proceedings and foam at the mouth over the gross injustice but we can hope that the sane GOP adherents as well as the independent ones will take this to heart.

House GOP plot payback, plan to impeach Merrick Garland if they retake the House: report House Republicans are gearing up to punish Attorney General Merrick Garland over his apparent failure to enforce the law to their own liking, according to The Washington Times. Multiple lawmakers in the GOP caucus are reportedly considering impeaching the attorney general if they reclaim the House in 2022. "We just need to investigate and get all the facts right now," Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told the outlet, alleging that half a dozen "whistleblowers" have come forward to aid in the effort. "We're focused on getting the truth for the American people." Much of the Republican frustration with Garland stems from the Department of Justice's plan to crack down on the potential for violence at schools. Back in October, amid widespread conservative-led disruptions at school board meetings over curriculum related to race, sex, and gender, the DOJ issues a memo warning of a "a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation's public schools." Garland also announced that the DOJ would be convening a joint task force to mitigate the potential for violence associated with the school disruptions. https://www.salon.com/2022/06/21/plot-payback-plan-to-impeach-merrick-garland-if-they-retake-the-house-report/

A comment from David Butow, a journalist who covered 1/6 and Uvalde on site" As far as the country goes. I don't think there is an "America." When you think about Obama's speech in 2004, he said, "There is no red America or blue America." That was so hopeful. But now it strikes me as being incredibly naive. I don't think there is an America anymore. What actually binds us together? Right now, I can't really think of anything that does. There is very little overlap in terms of what people actually believe. It doesn't just come down to beliefs or intangible things such as religion. It's actual facts, such as science or a shared belief in the importance of certain political and social institutions. That basic disconnect is very frightening.

I watched some of the hearings as well, I think the committee is going to great pains to keep the inquiry as dry and factual as possible so the GOP nuts cannot describe them as hysterical or emotionally unbalanced. I would assume that at the end of the inquiry, the panel will be allowed to sum up their reactions to the evidence presented and you may see some fireworks then, Arizona Official Emotionally Testifies About Standing Up To Trump Russell “Rusty” Bowers, the Republican speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, repeatedly paused in an apparent effort to compose himself during his testimony Tuesday, as he described the consequences of refusing to violate his oath of office by declaring Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Trump and his lawyers were central to the intense pressure campaign on Bowers once it had become apparent that Joe Biden had won several key states, including Arizona. In the last weeks of his presidency, Trump leaned on a number of state officials, trying to convince them to state publicly that election fraud had invalidated Biden’s win, but they refused. Bowers was among them, as he testified at the fourth public hearing held by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. “There was no ― no evidence being presented of any strength ... anything that would say to me, ‘You have a doubt. Deny your oath.’ I will not do that,” Bowers said of Trump’s fraud claims. He said his belief in the Constitution, which he called “divinely inspired,” is “a tenet” of his faith. “And so for me to do that, because somebody just asked me to, is foreign to my very being,” Bowers said. “I will not do it.” Trump’s team argued many times in court that various forms of election fraud had taken place in 2020. The courts, however, repeatedly ruled against him, determining there was no such evidence. Bowers described conversations with Trump’s team where he asked if he could see the evidence that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani claimed to have. Giuliani said he would produce it, but he never did, Bowers testified. The Arizona lawmaker also pushed back on an effort by Trump’s allies to convince him to hold a vote to decertify the state’s slate of electors, in order for a pro-Trump slate of electors to take their place. Bowers said that John Eastman, a lawyer for Trump, told him: “Just do it and let the courts sort it out.” Bowers recounted his response: “You’re asking me to do something that’s never been done in the history of the United States.” At another point, Bowers read a short excerpt from his personal journal that was written in late 2020, at the request of committee member Adam Schiff . “I do not want to be a winner by cheating. I will not play with laws I swore allegiance to,” Bowers read. He explained how his office received more than 20,000 emails and “tens of thousands” of voicemails and texts from Trump supporters at the time. The “circus,” as he referred to the election aftermath, even showed up on his doorstep. Bowers testified that Trump supporters came to his home, upsetting his chronically ill daughter. (She died several weeks later.) “At home ... it is the new pattern in our lives to worry what will happen on Saturdays, because we have various groups come by,” Bowers testified. “They have had video panel trucks with video of me, proclaiming me to be a pedophile and a pervert, a corrupt politician.” “So it was disturbing,” he said. “It was disturbing.” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rusty-bowers-arizona-trump-jan-6_n_62b20290e4b06169ca9ebe49 Shortly before the hearing began, Trump released a statement disparaging Bowers, calling him “the latest [Republican in name only] to play along with the Unselect Committee” ― his nickname for the House panel. Trump claimed that Bowers told him in November 2020 that the election “was rigged” and that Trump had “won Arizona.” He concluded with an apparent threat: “Bowers should hope there’s not a tape of the conversation.” Under oath, Bowers hit back. He said that while he did have a conversation with the president, “that certainly isn’t it.” “Anywhere, anyone, any time has said that I said that the election was rigged, that would not be true,” Bowers testified.

Utterly bizarre that he could legally walk around dressed in battle fatigues and carrying a weapon designed to kill people in large numbers but get arrested for carrying brass knuckles. It sounds like an DNL skit.

Another report indicates that the police were on site in about 3 minutes after being alerted that there was a shooter in the school but waited an hour before entering the classroom out of fear of being shot. In that time, evidence indicates that one girl bled to death.

Report: Police At School Had Rifles Earlier Than Known Documents examined by the Austin American-Statesman show armed officers stood in the hallway with at least one ballistic shield within 19 minutes of a gunman arriving at the school. Multiple police officers stood in a hallway at Robb Elementary School armed with rifles and at least one ballistic shield within 19 minutes of a gunman arriving at the campus, according to documents reviewed by the Austin American-Statesman, a devastating new revelation deepening questions about why police didn’t act faster to stop the shooter who killed 19 children and two teachers last month. The series of revelations, which began the same week as the May 24 mass killing, has left the impression of a bumbling law enforcement response. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/uvalde-police-rifles-report_n_62b12549e4b0c77098b245a7

Pence is prostituting his ethics so as to simultaneously not approve of Trump but not alienate Trump's rabid followers. I would bet that Pence is afraid that if he criticizes Trump or the antics of the insurrectionists in any meaningful way, those lunatics will try to kill him. And he is probably correct.

Republicans Are Now Threatening To Shoot School Librarians The communications director of the far-right Republican front group Moms for Liberty was recorded threatening to shoot school librarians. Media Matters has the recording: The group has the facade of a grassroots organization, but it is funded by Republicans, and behind the claim of interest parental rights is the pushing of a far-right agenda. Lonoke County, Arkansas chapter head of communications Melissa “Missy” Bosch said about the school district’s librarians, “I’m telling you, if I was — any mental issues, they would all be plowed down with a freaking gun by now.” Librarians have been turned into a target by the far-right with its critical race theory campaign. Republicans have turned election workers, librarians, school district officials, and other local public servants into targets. Bosch claimed that the recording was illegally made and edited but according to Media Matters both of her claims are false. The combination of ease of access to guns along with right-wing conspiracies and disinformation has created a climate where Republicans are being radicalized toward violence against their own communities. The issue is much more complex than guns. Republicans seem to be transforming from conservative political activists to potential domestic terrorists in communities big and small across the country. https://www.politicususa.com/2022/06/19/moms-for-liberty.html

Christian nationalism on full display at Texas Republican Convention HOUSTON — Meeting at their first in-person convention since 2018, Texas Republicans on Saturday acted on a raft of resolutions and proposed platform changes to move their party even further to the right. They approved measures declaring that President Joe Biden “was not legitimately elected” and rebuking Sen. John Cornyn for taking part in bipartisan gun talks. They also voted on a platform that declares homosexuality “an abnormal lifestyle choice” and calls for Texas schoolchildren “to learn about the humanity of the preborn child.” The convention reinforced the extent to which former President Donald J. Trump’s unfounded claims of a stolen election continue to resound among the party faithful — even though his claims have repeatedly been debunked, including by many of his own former aides, and after a week of televised hearings about the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The new platform would call for: Requiring Texas students “to learn about the humanity of the preborn child,” including teaching that life begins at fertilization and requiring students to listen to live ultrasounds of gestating fetuses. Amending the Texas Constitution to remove the Legislature’s power “to regulate the wearing of arms, with a view to prevent crime.” Treating homosexuality as “an abnormal lifestyle choice,” language that was not included in the 2018 or 2020 party platforms. Deeming gender identity disorder “a genuine and extremely rare mental health condition,” requiring official documents to adhere to “biological gender,” and allowing civil penalties and monetary compensation to “de-transitioners” who have received gender-affirming surgery, which the platform calls a form of medical malpractice. Changing the U.S. Constitution to cement the number of Supreme Court justices at nine and repeal the 16th Amendment of 1913, which created the federal income tax. Ensuring “freedom to travel” by opposing Biden’s Clean Energy Plan and “California-style, anti-driver policies,” including efforts to turn traffic lanes over for use by pedestrians, cyclists and mass transit. Declaring “all businesses and jobs as essential and a fundamental right,” a response to COVID-19 mandates by Texas cities that required customers to wear masks and limited business hours. Abolishing the Federal Reserve, the nation’s central bank, and guaranteeing the right to use alternatives to cash, including cryptocurrencies. Not every far-right proposal was advanced. The party chair, Matt Rinaldi, ruled that a motion to defend the due process rights of those who rioted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and to “reject the narrative” that the riot was an insurrection was out of order and could not be voted on. https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/abbott/

A question: Are there ANY good teams int he CFL this year? So far it looks like the greatest competition will be for the worst team, not the best. I feel like we should apologize to Wilbur and his friends for having to sit through such a pathetic set of games this weekend.

Cops Never Even Tried to Open Classroom Door in Uvalde Massacre, Report Says - Reuters Police officers responding to last month’s mass shooting at an Uvalde, Texas, elementary school never even tried to open the door to the classroom where young children were trapped with the gunman, according to a new report. A law enforcement source cited by the San Antonio Express-News on Saturday said surveillance footage revealed no attempts by officers to open the door during the entire 77-minute siege at Robb Elementary School. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed during that time. In the wake of the massacre, police claimed part of the reason they took so long to confront the shooter was because officers could not access the classroom and needed to wait for a key. But the law enforcement source told the Express-News that the gunman, Salvador Ramos, could not have locked the classroom door from the inside, and investigators believe it may have been open the whole time. In addition, the source said, a forcible entry tool called a halligan bar was available to officers throughout the siege, which would have allowed them to open even a locked door. The police response to the deadly attack is currently under investigation by the Texas Rangers and the FBI.

Ezra Miller Hit with Order of Protection for Alleged Harassment of 12-Year-Old Child In recent weeks, reports have surfaced surrounding Ezra Miller and their alleged crimes against a number of individuals. Most recently, the actor was the subject of a temporary harassment prevention order granted to a child. As reported by The Daily Beast, The child, who is non-binary, was granted the order by a court in Greenfield, Massachusetts. The family alleges Miller, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, menaced them one evening in their neighbor’s home and behaved inappropriately with the child. The neighbor stated that on Feb. 2, Miller wore a bulletproof vest and was armed, which the neighbor did not discover until later when Miller seemingly threatened them. The child's parents and the neighbor also believe Miller may have been under the influence that evening. https://www.thedailybeast.com

Yes, we are gonna be 2-0 but this kind of effort will not take us to the Grey Cup.

Augustine showed better than Oliviera tonight but the O-line is still terrible.

The coaching equivalent of a hail Mary pass.

WHEW!!!

No longer sure if he has that.

We need a big stop followed by a time-consuming drive.

Damn. Ottawa's run game may kill us.

Historically, Masoli doesn't do well under pressure, so he may start trying to force his throws.

Damn. I was really, really hoping our kicking game would be a non-problem this year. We have to consider that Leggs may not be the answer..