Mike Pence just signed a double book deal with Simon and Schuster, announcing that the first one will be an autobiography. The question is, who is going to want to read these? MAGAites hate him and wanted to lynch him for not interfering in the certification of the electoral vote, and normal people think he’s a moron.
All we have to say is that this deal is going to generate a lot of toilet paper.
Latest lie from the GOP and its official networks – “Colorados voting laws are like Georgia’s, so MLB shouldn’t have moved the All Star game there.” As we all know, the controversy began when Georgia Repubs, not liking the results of the 2020 election, rammed through a whole new set of voting restrictions designed to suppress the votes of those they don’t like. They lied that it was about “election integrity”, but we all know that’s pure USDA Grade A bullshit. It’s about voter suppression, though they’re working hard to make it look like what it’s not.
In response to the bill, many large corporations belatedly condemned the law (after their customers and activists protested). MLB announced they were pulling the All Star game from Atlanta and subsequently moved it to Denver. The immediate response of Repubs? Corporations should stay out of politics (except for donating money to us). They also started lying about Colorado’s voting laws, falsely claiming that it’s laws are worse than Georgia’s. Of course, that’s not true, not even close.
Jen Psaki was asked about that lie in the WH press briefing, and she set the record straight –
Boom.
Christopher Worrell is a Proud Boy member and was at the Capitol on January 6 spraying Capitol Hill Police with bear spray. Oh, and he wasn’t wearing a mask. Turns out that Worrell had been previously treated for lymphoma, and is now worried about contracting Covid 19 while in jail, so his lawyer asked for him to be released pending trial. DC judge says, “You didn’t seem concerned while in a mob without a mask…”, and rejects Worrell’s request. Boom.
OOF: DC judge REJECTS request from accused Proud Boy & Capitol insurrectionist Chris Worrell for release from jail. Worrell has been treated for 14 years for lymphoma and is concerned about COVID. Judge says…You didn’t seem concerned while in “mob” on Jan 6 “without a mask” pic.twitter.com/IUBPTl2j2a
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) April 6, 2021
Thanks to Alan for the heads up.
Those that live in the Houston area are well aware of the Deshaun Watson situation. Watson is the star quarterback for the Houston Texans. Based on current events, the is will soon become was. Commenting on these cases is always difficult. He has been sued by 22 women for sexual misconduct and/or sexual assault. Two of those 22 women have gone to the police and filed criminal complaints.
We know only a few things. We know that Watson regularly gets massages. We know he has gone to Instagram to find massage therapists. We know what the women have all said. We know that he has denied it. From there, it’s all conjecture. The first woman to file a suit spoke yesterday. Her emotions were raw and real. It’s difficult to watch and listen and come away believing Watson. Then again, Watson hasn’t come out in public and made a statement since the first lawsuit was filed.
We can extend it beyond Watson and include Matt Gaerz and Andrew Cuomo if we want to be balanced and thorough. However, we could include any high profile potential abuser in this discussion. Watson’s opening statement on Twitter seems innocent enough by itself, but when taken in concert with the overwhelming amount of accusations and the repetitive nature of the modus operandi it is downright disturbing.
Notice the line in the middle. “I have never treated any woman with anything but the utmost respect.” This was actually following the first filed lawsuit. 21 further lawsuits have come. On the one hand it is predictable. It was almost as if Watson were daring those other women to come forward. We see this behavior frequently from famous abusers. The huge question comes in what the abuser believes themself.
Does he honestly believe that he is treating all of these women with respect? Is he saying it just because he feels like it is in his best interest to say it? In some cases, you can see the wheels spinning in their head. Some people are duplicitous jackasses. They know very well what they are doing. Cuomo and Gaetz have certainly been painted that way for good reason. With Watson I’m not so sure. I’m guessing a large part of him has been caught off-guard with all of these accusations. I’m sure a large part of him still believes he has done nothing wrong.
That’s the scary part of this whole deal. Most of us know monsters exist in the world and we’ve made our peace with it. There are all kinds of monsters. There are people that routinely do evil in the world. Not much can be done for them. We often call them sociopaths or psychopaths. They know right and wrong and see human weakness. For whatever reason they have chosen to exploit weakness instead of protecting and nurturing it. Fine. The world is made up of all kinds of people.
The ones that cross the line can be put in two groups. The sociopaths and psychopaths couldn’t give two craps about the line. They want to be gratified and see something they want. They recognize there is a line and they always know where it is so they can stay out of trouble. They just won’t let it stop them. They just cross the line. Those people are easy to understand once you admit to yourself that some people have no conscience.
The ones that always get me are the ones that seem to be ignorant of the line. When you have 20+ women accusing you of some form of assault or abuse we aren’t talking about stumbling over the line once on accident. This is a compulsion. Yes, we don’t know all of the facts, but we can probably put a picture together in our head. At the very least, it appears Watson has a compulsory need to recreate the same situation over and over. Yes, in isolation that situation might be perfectly legal, but when repeated and done purposely it is abuse. The fact that he may not know this is frightening. I couldn’t imagine doing it to 20, 30, or even more. Maybe that’s the difference between normal people and predators. Maybe he knows and just doesn’t care.
Matt Gaetz is spinning so fast he’s going to fall down. After deny, deny, deny didn’t work, he’s now saying that the DOJ investigation into sex trafficking and crossing state lines with a minor for sex is all a Democratic plot to take him down. The little detail he left out? The investigation was begun last year when Trump and Bill Barr were still in office. Oops. Oh, and it gets worse. While Gaetz continues to dig a deeper hole for himself, the NY Times is reporting that he had petitioned the Trump WH for a blanket preemptive pardon for himself a some unnamed associates for crimes they may have committed during his term in office. Mercifully, WH counsel determined that request to be a non-starter. Apparently, he did not disclose to the WH that he was under federal investigation at the time of the pardon request. Oops, again.
All of this stands in the backdrop of corporate America’s standoff with the Georgia GOP over their new voter suppression law. Some have dubbed the bill “Jim Crow 2.0.” Whether it is motivated purely by racism or if it is simply a sinister power grab that happens to disproportionately affect African Americans and people of color is open to debate. The impact cannot be debated. Fewer people will vote and that is exactly what the GOP wants.
We can marvel at the simplicity of it. We can marvel at the naked ambition and undemocratic principles of the notion. I choose to marvel at corporate America’s collective response. MLB has pulled it’s all-star game and MLB draft out of Georgia. The collective impact has been estimated at a loss of 100 million dollars of revenues for the city of Atlanta and the state. That kind of loss in revenue has its way of trickling down. Funny how this trickle down method could topple the Republican party as it stands.
See, Corporate America never does anything for anyone else if it doesn’t benefit themselves. MLB and those companies looked at the bottom line and discovered their customer base would be more upset if they just went along with it than if they embraced democracy and free and fair elections. NASCAR made a similar calculation when they came out in opposition to racism and in support of the aims of Black Lives Matter. The comments have been eerily similar from critics of both organizations.
Conservatives from the racism and religious wings have asserted that these companies will suffer at the box office if members of their wings boycott those companies. Businesses don’t stay in business long if they make short-term and rash decisions. Someone thought this through and someone figured out that they would come out ahead. They thought it through and determined that racism, xenophobia, and homophobia was bad for business. That might be the death knell of this entire unholy triumvirate.
Of course, this doesn’t stop the other wings from putting their foot in their mouth. Governor Greg Abbott (I’ll let you choose which wing he belongs to) not only refused to throw out the first pitch at the Rangers game. He also said that Texans didn’t want any part of hosting the all-star game. I’m sure Ray Davis and Bob Simpson were happy to hear that. The Astros aren’t likely to be in line to host the game, but the Rangers surely would have been. They just built a new stadium and MLB has a habit of rewarding cities that build new stadiums. Not all 100 million of that economic impact would have been theirs, but much of it would have been. Abbott’s big mouth just took money out of their pocket.
Nothing pisses off big business faster than stupid people that take money out of their pocket. Never in a million years would I have dreamt that it would be big business that would balk first, but it looks like that is about to happen. Big business is about to drag the Republican party kicking and screaming back into the 21st century and back into democracy. Of course, the racists and religious zealots are powerful and stubborn. Who knows where this finally ends up.
Abbott began his reign as governor as somewhat of a compromise candidate between all of the factions. He’d tip his cap to each as he walked the tightrope between all three. This is certainly true when you compare him with his lieutenant governor. You can’t walk that tightrope long. Eventually you have to choose either one or two sides to favor. Abbott has made his choice and it ultimately will be his undoing. The question comes whether that comes in 2022 or later.