Let me kidnap you and take you to New Hampshire.  I have to kidnap you because I know you’d never go there under your own free will.

There was a hearing at the New Hampshire House of Representatives about gun safety.  The group Moms Demand Action came to speak in favor of a bill, that has passed in 14 states, making it easier to take guns away from potentially dangerous people.

Since there are no words to express opposition to this bill, the Republican gun nuts only had one way to express their disagreement: they showed up wearing pearls.

Yep.  That happened. They wore pearls to the hearing. The really handsome and manly dude in the middle, sported pin in the shape of a semiautomatic rifle on his lapel to match his pearls.

Their intent was to make fun of the women coming to testify about horrific incidents of gun violence they have suffered in their own lives. The big strong Republican men followed in the footsteps of their leader and President and decided that name calling is always the appropriate action.  They wanted the world to know that these women are merely clutching their pearls.

I dunno. Maybe women should get a symbol for men who either have to hold their gun or their winkies to remind themselves that they are men.

Thanks to everybody for the heads up. 

The White House is refusing to give the House Oversight Committee any information about Jared Kushner’s security clearance.

On March 1, the Oversight Committee requested information about the context surrounding the White House granting Kushner’s security clearance after the New York Times reported that the president ordered then-chief of staff John Kelly to give it to him — in spite of security issues raised the CIA.

Kelly and then-White House counsel Don McGahn were both reportedly so concerned by the order that they both wrote contemporaneous memos about it.

Their argument seems to be that they don’t have to give Congress much of anything and that they are nice people and that should be enough proof that Jared is not selling secrets to Saudi Arabia in exchange for money.  So there.

Since 81 subpoenas were issued and this is the first they jumped on, that tells you which one we really, really need to see.

Jared’s Dad went to prison to cover for him but I would not count on Trump doing that.

Thanks to SGray for the heads up.

Trump is Twittering today —

This is from the same guy who hired a private investigator to go to Hawaii to find Present Barack Obama’s birth certificate?

And, hey, aren’t 17 women accusing you of harassment?

This is from the same guy who watched people chant, “Jews will not replace us,” and then said they were “very fine people.”

This is United States Congressman Clay Higgins, Louisiana’s answer to Louie Gohmert.

He came to a congressional hearing dressed like he was late to be groomsman at a hillbilly wedding.

And he said that he didn’t know who Michael Cohen was until last week.  And he didn’t have any smart questions. And, considering that he consumed several beers during one teevee interview, he may well have been drunk.

He’s an ex-cop and says he’s all law and order, claiming he has arrested “thousands of men.”

Well, he forgot one.  His congressional aide was arrested on human trafficking charges. District Director Jerod Prunty and his lady friend were apparently running several massage parlors where they messaged in all the right places.

Prunty’s arrest was the result of an expansive, 17-month long investigation undertaken by the Lafayette Sheriff’s Department. “Deputies served warrants at five massage parlors and three residences in a coordinated sting on Feb. 12, (Sheriff Mark) Garber said,” according to The Daily Advertiser. “The raid was the result of the first phase of the investigation, he said, and it’s not over.”

They seized $50,000 in cash and several cars.

Now you’d think an ex-cop would ask someone if they dabbled in human trafficking before hiring them to work in congress.  Yeah, apparently he was drunk then, too.

Thanks to Quaker Granny for the heads up. 

This morning, Jennifer Rubin laments to loss of dignity and honor among Republican men.  You know those guys – Cruz, Rubio, Graham, and the other pathetic men who know for a fact that they would have had a conniption fit if Barack Obama had pulled any emergency powers stunt like Trump, but they are too scared to say anything.

After all, a Trump scorned calls people names. It’s easier not to be called names than to stand up to man who favors dictators over Americans.

Rubin writes —

Unfortunately, if they are remembered at all, it will be for their docility in the face of an authoritarian president and for their willingness to disregard their oaths for the security of another term or a gig on Fox News after retirement or a cheesy award from some right-wing group. These are cheap dates and small men.

Which brings me to why I am afraid of impeachment. Do we really want the smallest man of them all – Mike Pence – stepping into that slot with all the power he would inherit from Trump coupled with his religious fervor?

And I am especially grateful that my Party has people with guts, and that merrily, many of them standing toward the front are young women of color.  No cheap dates or small anything among them.

Hey, you know what’s wonderful?  Back in Nixon’s Day, you had to cut the witness list out of the newspaper and then drive to the library and then try to track down who all these people were because you knew for a damn fact that Huntley and Brinkley weren’t going to get to all them in one newscast.

Now, CNN has a cool place where you can radial dail each one in.

Or, a long list with links on most of them.  Let me know if you made the list.