You know the picture of Michelle Obama holding up the sign that says, “Bring Back Our Girls”?

Ann Coulter just could not let that go.

Which leads us to wonder what country she’s talking about.  The one where only white men owning property voted?  The one that had slavery?  The one where rich white girls had nice stuff and every other woman suffered?  That country?

So Michelle Obama joins hands with other women to end the kidnapping of young girls and Ann Coulter’s response is, “Look at me.  Look at me.  LOOK at me.”

Thanks to Elizabeth for the heads up.

Let’s say you’re a Republican congressvarmint and let’s say you’re on the committee that writes tax laws.

Okay, that’s a great place to start cheating on your taxes, right?

Todd Young from Indiana started right there.

First, he took a property tax deduction for a house he didn’t live in and then he delayed paying his county taxes until CNN got on him like green on grass.

On his politician website, Young says, “Taxes are complicated.”  Not really, Todd.  You owe property taxes, you pay them.  Not hard.

And then the cherry on top?

Smith was already frustrated that the check Young used to pay the $4,000 in back taxes bounced, leading the treasurer to complain that Young’s problems have “created serious complications for our office.”

Straight from Young’s website —

The single greatest threat to our nation’s future – to the future we owe to our children – is Washington’s failure to adopt a specific, credible plan to address our nation’s rapidly growing national debt. The plain truth is that that we spend more than we take in and borrow more than 40 cents for every dollar spent.

When asked about his hot check, Young replied, “Benghazi.  Freedom.”

Not really, but you know for a dead certain fact that’s all he talked about the rest of the day.

Thanks to David for the heads up.

Katy, Texas is just down the road from me.

They said was supposed to be funny.

Thanks to Rene for the heads up.

Marco Rubio is hugging the rightwing wall and leaving scratch marks.

“I don’t agree with the notion that some are putting out there, including scientists, that somehow there are actions we can take today that would actually have an impact on what’s happening in our climate,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”

I wonder, does he realize that if scientists are saying it, it’s probably not a notion.  It’s like saying, “Despite what scientists say, I still believe the moon is made of green cheese.”  Or maybe it’s made of Republican brains because apparently there’s none on this planet.

“Our climate is always changing. And what they have chosen to do is take a handful of decades of research and say that this is now evidence of a longer-term trend that’s directly and almost solely attributable to manmade activity, I do not agree with that.”

Well hell, son, I don’t agree with gravity but if I fall down, it still hurts my butt.

We’ve entered the minus IQ points level.

As most of you know, my Mayor won her election and my friend Jesse Torres also won a city council seat.

I am gonna tell you why I have been so pre-occupied and busy for the past week.

This is probably a boring story if you don’t live here, but it needs to be chronicled so that if Gary Gillen runs for office again and I’m not around, his opponents can put his name in a search tool and learn what to look for when he starts campaigning in his real special way.

You know the saying about the more a man talks of his honesty, the more you should count the silverware?  The same a true for a politician who feels the need to continually say that he is running a clean campaign.  The only politicians who keep saying that are those who are running a filthy campaign, dirtier than a horse blanket in a drought.

Gillen is a relative newcomer in my city and ran for mayor.  He’s an exterminator and a paid Republican political professional / consultant. He gives advice and runs other people’s campaigns.  (This becomes very important later.)  And he is no stranger to infighting and dirty politics.

His critics say their differences are mainly due to Gillen’s attempts to block oversight of the management of the party assets. It is not so much personality as good business process that is at issue here, they say.

In 2007, he resigned as Republican County Chair in Fort Bend amid charges of financial irregularities.  I honestly don’t think he stole anything but he was so damn arrogant that it was hard to tell.  So he resigned and formed a club called The Conservative Club.  All went well for a whole damn year until they started fighting with each other and it totally fell apart.

Fort Bend GOP Sues Its Own Chairman Over Rights To Lincoln Day Fund-Raiser
by Bob Dunn, Jan 03, 2007, 02 13 pm
The Republican Party of Fort Bend County filed a lawsuit today against its own leader, saying Chairman Gary Gillen abused his position by scheming to divert money from the party “for his own selfish purposes.”

And so it goes.  The infighting continued to 2012, when Gillen began gossiping like a little girl.

 The former-former chair even sent out an email of his own. Message from Gary is shorter. Here it is in PDF. However, he’s unwilling to take responsibility for his words and will only give you the names of people over the telephone if you call him. You know, gossip. Like a little girl. Good Lord, Gary Gillen, grow the hell up. When I’m hacked at somebody, I use their name, out loud, on the internet machine. Like I’m using yours right now within spittin’ distance of the word wimp. Isn’t it the Republican gossip machine that got y’all in this mess in the first place?From Gillen’s Facebook page:

Which kinda brings us to now.

Yes, we are morally superior, but – most importantly – we are clean.  And here’s another.

“Good, clean campaign” is a refrain that keeps resurfacing in his strategy.

I told you about Gary and the YMCA.  As a political professional he knew for a damn certain guaranteed fact that using the YMCA in political ads was putting their 501(c) (3) in jeopardy.  He was willing to do that, knowing that it was going to hurt the city’s most vulnerable children.  That’s about as clean as a coal fire.  The Y says the letter was not meant for that but, instead meant to go home in backpacks in May, which leaves the question:  why was it written and given to him in April, just prior to a major hotly contested election.  The Y has no answer for that.

But, there’s something I didn’t tell you about.  What I did not tell you was about Gary’s extreme, if not hinkey, weirdness with PACs.  This is not his first adventure into the land of legal money laundering.

Gary did a mailer to his Republican voters in my city.   He bashed my mayor because she donated lots of money to Barack Obama, Emily’s List, and other evil, evil things.   Here it is in PDF.

Gary also endorsed candidates for city council, including a black man to show that his ideal ticket would “represent the interest of the minority community.”  Yeah, right.  Republican Whisperer – “don’t vote for this guy, he’s black.”  Gary did not talk to this guy or ask him if he could “use” him to bolster himself and send the message that he’s black.

Now in the interest of a “good, clean campaign,” Gary argues that he did not pay for this ad and has no idea who did.  That’s plain ole fried poopie del pollo.

The ad says it was paid for by the Fort Bend County GOP PAC.  Now, some day when you have a free couple of hours (or when you’re running against him in the future), hop your smart self over to the Texas Ethics Commission’s website and search Fort Bend GOP PAC and Harris County GOP PAC.  You’ll also notice that some of the mailing addresses and PO Boxes come back to … yep, Gary Gillen.  It’s a money laundering operation.  Perfecting legal but not, oh how shall I say this, “clean.”  And certainly not courageous, brave, or true.  It’s weenie stuff.

I’ve got my copies ready.

You are not clean, Gary.  Your hands are filthy attacking a good woman who has given much to this community.  She never once mentioned your name and local Democrats said nothing about you that you weren’t proudly saying about yourself.  You didn’t have the courage to say it in the minority community so we did it for you.  You should thank us for making an honest man of you.

So, if he tries to run again, watch out for Mr. Clean.  You’ll know him by the trail of Republican slime he leaves behind.

There’s more.  He knows it and I know it.  But I’m saving it so if he sues me …

And I have another piece of good news.  Danny Nguyen, the man in this political ad, got his butt handed to him by a 28 year old African American male who is a loud and proud Democrat and a young man going places.  Well done, Chris Preston.

So, all in all, yesterday was a good day for my community.

Now that I’m not distracted again until November, I’ll be back at work Monday morning.

My Momma and her newest great grand child.

I hope your day is filled with memories and joy.