This woman is really bad at math.

And logic. And coherent reasoning. And trustworthiness.

But, she really good at being damn silly.

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO): “I left a prescription at a pharmacy once. I went to get birth control … The price was very, very high … And I said, 'It’s cheaper to have a kid.' And I left it there, and now I have my third son.” pic.twitter.com/5aUut9DBg8

— The Recount (@therecount) May 23, 2023

Really, Honey?  You’ve become a science fiction writer?

I  remember, way back in 6th grade (1963), a lot of stuff happened. Mrs. Libby was our teacher. I really liked her. She was strict but she would let me do extra science experiments from the big box when I was getting too far ahead in my reading program. Most of my classmates don’t remember her so fondly. Probably the biggest bad thing that happened was JFK being assassinated. The biggest good thing (to me) was when daily recitation of the Lord’s Prayer was halted, thanks to Madelyn Murray O’Hair.

The Most Hated Woman in America was My Shero. I hated having to recite this every morning, after the Pledge of Allegiance (which I did not hate). It was bad enough that this was my PUBLIC school, but it was extra bad because we Catholic kids were not supposed to say the last phrase (“for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory …”) because that was the PROTESTANT version. Oh no. Way to divide tweens when all they want to do is blend in, right? Say The Lord’s Prayer in Church? No problem. At home, or during the rosary with Cardinal Cushing’s mumbling drone? We were ready. But NOT in school, in the rules of life according to young Fenway Fran.

Today’s article in the WaPo about the latest shattering of the line between Church and State brought it all back to me. I believe the Texas Lege has drunk too much holy water. Pop those 10 Commandments in every classroom! Replace those trained school counselors with ‘chaplains’!  These hypocrites have forgotten what Matthew said about loudly praying in public. They’ll have some ‘splainin’ to do when they meet their Maker.

Well, am I getting old or is history actually repeating itself?

Yeah, it’s true.

The advisory comes as a direct response to what the Board says is an “aggressive attempt to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools” by Governor DeSantis.

Equity Florida reminded everybody that Florida ain’t safe for LGTBQ people either. Or women. Or children.

The Governor of Florida quickly issued his usual statement.

I’ve talked about scale before. Yet, the thrust on that day was the impressive math skills of Majorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. In that case, somehow dozens had turned into millions and millions had turned into billions. I suppose we can call that the politics of hyperbole or exaggeration. Numbers are confusing you know. They tend to point to facts and facts are so useless when you are crafting an alternative narrative.

In this case we have seen two news stories that are obviously related. First, Ken Paxton has launched yet another investigation into Texas Children’s Hospital. This is not the first time. It’s usually at this point where we would remind the studio audience that gender affirming care is not illegal in Texas…yet. However, that is about to change. We can easily go down the rabbit hole and debate this issue back and forth. I suspect that most of the readers here are on the same side. Why is the party of “personal responsibility” and civil liberty somehow in favor of taking away autonomy and limiting freedom? It’s obvious that the GOP is no longer conservative in any traditional sense.

Yet, that’s not the question for today. The question for today is why we are even bothering in the first place. Lost in the maze of cruelty, drastic overreach, and religious zealousness is the fact that this impacts so few people. I have been on my current campus for nine years. We graduate between 300 and 400 students every year. That’s eight graduating classes (the first year we only had up to 11th grade). We have three more classes right now of the same size. Basic math tells me that we have had between 3500 and 4500 students roll through this campus. Let’s make it an even 4000. I know of only a handful of students that have been openly transitioning. That’s one hand. That’s 0.1 percent of the students that have rolled through this campus. I have no idea if we are indicative of the entire population or not, but I can’t imagine it is that different.

I will grant that there are any number of students that are privately grappling with their identity. Obviously, the state of Texas and those that govern it aren’t helping. Still, we aren’t talking about a lot of people. It’s the same thing as those conservatives that want to fondle girls because they want to make sure that some girls are actually girls when playing sports. Beyond the abject horror of these ideas is the extreme impracticality of it all. Are you to tell me that there is nothing else going on Texas or your state that you need to spend time on this? How many girls are we talking about here? My daughter played junior volleyball from the age of ten to the age of 15. I counted one boy that played and no one cared.

The cruelty is the goal. It’s a feature and not a bug. Beyond that is the ridiculousness of it all. We aren’t solving problems. We are inventing them. There isn’t a whole hoard of boys dressing up like girls and going into the girls bathroom. There isn’t a hoard of girls dressing like boys and going into the boys bathroom. Of course, no one has a problem with that for some reason. I don’t know anyone that has even seen a drag queen story hour being advertised much less attended one. Yet, this is what we spend time on. These have become our legislative priorities.

They have also become the battle lines we fight with family and friends over. We don’t fight over whether we should keep our democracy. We don’t fight nearly enough over military grade weapons killing our kids. We don’t fight to save the environment, pass true educational reform, overhaul the health insurance system, or combat the wealth gap. Nope. We fight over stuff that affects less than one percent of the population. Don’t get me wrong. We all know people we love and respect that deserve to be protected. They deserve to be themselves. They deserve their dignity. Sadly, many don’t agree. However, what we can all agree on is that government shouldn’t be spending time on any of this. Whether you think a girl should become a boy or vice versa is certainly a personal preference. Spending valuable time and resources litigating this in the public sphere is just proof the GOP isn’t serious about addressing any actual problems

Okay, let me bring you up to speed. Most of y’all remember Andino Reynal, the 12th in a random line of unreservedly incompetent trial lawyers willing to cripple their reputation and bar license for the fame and fortune of representing Alex Jones. (By the way, only one of them resigned, explaining to the court that Jones had asked him to do illegal hanky panky. From there forward the new lawyers tried to blame their own mistakes on the only guy with guts.  They were pretty much lower than a snake’s belly in a wheel rut.)

So Andino Reynal has the bad luck of being the last lawyer standing at the time of trial. According to opposing counsel, Reynal made cocky personal threats and taunts outside the courthouse before trial even began. It came to pass that Reynal was the only man I have ever seen who could strut sitting down. (You can watch opposing counsel explain it here – it starts at about 17 minutes in and last a couple of minutes.)

Reynal’s courtroom performance, including releasing two years worth of Jones’ text messages, emails, and assorted other silliness made national late night comedian fodder, and at one point included giving the bird to opposing counsel and physically threatening him.

All the delaying tactics and courtroom hijinks were costly and painful the the family suing Jones, not even to mention an affront to the legal system.  So at the end of trial opposing counsel filed for court sanctions against Reynal personally for his unjustified tactics. It’s not often done, but this case deserved it, especially after it was discovered that Reynal was charging Jones $700 an hour so he had economic interest in delaying the trial without appropriate justification for doing so.

The judge agreed. On April 25th, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble wrote …

Reynal made “knowingly groundless statements,” “acted in bad faith,” and “significantly interfered with the Court’s legitimate exercise of core functions,” when he represented Jones throughout his July 2022 trial against Sandy Hook parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, according to Gamble’s January order granting the motion to sanction Reynal.

You can read the whole order here.  It’s only two pages long but it packs maximum punch.  She granted sanctions of a little over $97,000 and an additional $116,000 if he appeals and loses. She gave him 30 days to either file an appeal or to send a check to the law firm of opposing counsel.

“I would say it’s rare to see an attorney sanctioned in this manner and with that dollar amount,” Stringer said. “I have never seen that.”

Stringer added that despite the rare sanction, the ruling is a fair one.

Reynal immediately said he was going to appeal.  He just sounded damn indignant about it.

Well, my guess is that it boiled down to this.  An appeal is a crap shoot.  You’re gonna win or lose, and with a case of this fame, odds are you’re gonna eat dirt. All you’re doing is buying time for your check writing. My guess is that Reynal is far more willing to gamble or even stall with Alex Jones’ money than his own.

Sure ‘nuff, Reynal’s check arrive at the law firm before the end of the 30 days. The parents take some happiness in receiving Reynal’s personal check, which they immediately deposited in their nonprofit.

If you want more background, the Huffington Post has most of it here.  Sebastian Murdock has followed the case closely.

He ain’t drunk, y’all.  He can lay on the ground without holding on to the grass to keep from falling off.

Speaker Dade Phelen is a doozy.

By the way, the guy posting this is a conservative Republican.

https://twitter.com/repstickland/status/1660097724111306754?s=12

Rumor has it that Phelen might try to claim he had a mild stroke.  Well, my state representative is a practicing medical physician specializing in geriatrics.  I think he’d know a stroke.