Tracker

You have a very demanding girlfriend.

Yesterday I saw a woman from Texas who has two barely pre-teen children and she and her husband have been living in terror since the Uvalde killings. They would move to Canada except that their work prevents that. They were stunned that kids here walk to schools, malls and playgrounds all by themselves. For all the things we struggle with and complain about here, we live in a far better world than most Americans.

Sounds like show biz where a performer is described as "multi-talented" which means s/he can do a lot of things but none of them well.

Holm sweet Holm?

Butbutbut...guns aren't in the Bible, so obviously they are OK in schools, malls, workplaces and so forth. Life is only valuable when it is in utero. After that you are on your own.

Breaking News: the SCOTUS has overturned Roe vs Wade. For the anti-abortionists, that was money well spent and the next step will be banning the "morning after " pills and then its on to witch dunking. Sad beyond words.

All of the flaws in the Riders were on full display last night: a mediocre quarterback, chaotic team discipline, porous O-line and a patchwork defence. If this continues, I can see Dickinson being canned by Labour Day.

Even though he is a Winnipegger, money is money and home is where you hang your head.

You're in for the long haul here. Your immune system will be compromised for 3-6 months and it will be about a year before you won't be aware of the surgical effects . Good to hear you are home and well.

Does my heart good to see the Riders get blown out by a mediocre team led by a scrapheap quarterback. Good on Khari, too.

Alouettes' return game is still Worthy!

Witness Tells Jeff Clark He’s Perfect for Trump AG Because His First Step Would Be to Commit Felony Just how unqualified was Jeff Clark, the man Donald Trump wanted to install as Attorney General? Well, for starters, he’s the guy whose home the F.B.I. raided Wednesday. But before that… “When he finished discussing what he planned on doing, I said ‘(expletive), congratulations. You just admitted your first step you would take as A.G. would be committing a felony. You’re clearly the right candidate for this job,'” former Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann was heard testifying via pre-recorded video on Thursday.

At Least 5 Members Of Congress Asked Trump For Pardons, According To Jan. 6 Committee The requests stemmed from their involvement in Trump’s schemes to try to subvert the 2020 presidential election. WASHINGTON ― The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol named five additional Republican Congress members who sought pardons from President Donald Trump. The requests stemmed from their involvement in Trump’s schemes to try to subvert the 2020 presidential election, which Trump insisted he won despite losing by several million votes. The committee previously revealed that Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) sought a presidential pardon, something the congressman denied. During Thursday’s public hearing on Capitol Hill, witnesses close to the Trump White House said in previously recorded interviews that Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Mo Brooks (Ala.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.) and Louie Gohmert (Texas) also asked for pardons. “The pardon he was requesting was as broad as you can describe ... for any and all things,” former Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann said of Gaetz in video testimony that the committee played on Thursday. Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, confirmed to the committee that Gaetz and the other GOP members of Congress sought pardons. “Mr. Gaetz and Mr. Brooks I know both advocated for there to be a blanket pardon,” Hutchinson said. Hutchinson said that she heard Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) also asked for a pardon but that she didn’t hear it directly. “I heard that she asked the White House counsel’s office for a pardon,” she said. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ongress-members-asked-trump-pardons-january-6_n_62b4d3c4e4b0cdccbe68f26a

We had a spring? Thought we went right from winter to summer.

Sooooo.......one foot in the grave?

Officer husband of slain Uvalde teacher was disarmed, detained and prevented from helping his wife during massacre New details have emerged about one of the Uvalde, Texas school teachers that were shot during the deadly school massacre in May. On Tuesday, June 21, Texas DPS Director Steve McCraw appeared at a hearing with the Texas Senate where he shared details about the aftermath of Eva Mireles' shooting. According to KHOU, McCraw revealed Mireles' husband — who was also a Uvalde police officer — knew his wife had been shot. When he attempted to go into the classroom to take action to save her, other officers took his weapon and detained him before forcing him to leave the scene. During McGraw's hours-long hearing, he also shared new details about the timeline of events that transpired the day of the deadly shooting and offered a critical assessment of the Uvalde school district police chief, Pete Arredondo. https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/uvalde-2657542888/

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.