The New York Times has an amazing article about a woman who stopped and rendered aid to three central American migrants on the Texas border.  She is Teresa Todd and she is the elected county attorney of Jeff Davis County.

Three teenagers flagged her down and she stopped to help. It was two young men and their sister. The sister was on the verge of death and the young men were not much better.

Struggling to communicate using her broken Spanish, Ms. Todd told the three young people to get out of the cold and into her car. She was phoning and texting friends for help when a sheriff’s deputy drove up, followed soon by the Border Patrol. “They asked me to step behind my car, and the supervisor came and started Mirandizing me,” said Ms. Todd, referring to being read her Miranda rights. “And then he says that I could be found guilty of transporting illegal aliens, and I’m, like, ‘What are you talking about?”

She spent 45 minutes in a holding cell that night and it appears they are going to charge her with transporting undocumented people.  They confiscated her cell phone and have put her on alert.  It’s a long story but it is worth your time to read.

Here’s my question:  If the Super DeLux Brand Christians can use their deeply held beliefs to be mean to gay people, why can’t I use my deeply held regular sinner Christian beliefs to be good to all people?  I never heard of Jesus saying to be mean and judgmental to gay people, but he was pretty damn clear on being a Good Samaritan.

It just pisses me off that we’ve let them steal our country, our religion, and our common decency.  They are a bunch of money hungry charlatans and some mullet wearing thugs who don’t begin to understand the teachings of Jesus or Thomas Jefferson.  Or they do just don’t damn care.

Sorry for the downer.  I’ll go look for something funny.

One more thing: Teresa Todd is a genuine star-studded damn Texas hero.

Thanks to Kary for the heads up.

I want to talk about Jim Jordan because I don’t like the guy. I don’t know exactly why I don’t like the guy but he makes my skin crawl. You know that person you meet and just damn instinctually they make the hair on the back of your neck stand up?  Jim Jordan.

I don’t like the nasty way he treated Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood. He tried to play gotcha over women’s lives.  I don’t like him.

Then there was his anti-semitic tweet about Jerry Nadler and Tom Steiner.

Fun Fact: He graduated law school but never passed the bar exam. I know glittering idiots who passed the bar exam. Good Lord, Louie Gohmert passed the bar exam.

His snotty behavior at yesterday’s Barr contempt hearing was unpleasant.

Maybe this is why he couldn’t pass the bar exam. He can’t read the law.

Another Fun Fact:  Jim Jordan loudly protests the word of several responsible people that he full well knew of sexual abuse on the Ohio State wresting team. Jordan said he never saw it or knew about it.

I just don’t like him.  Never have and always will.

Republican Texas State Representative, Jonathan Stickland, is my choice for this year’s Louie Gohmert Goofball award.

He’s a doozy.  Right here is living proof that he gave himself the title “Living Fetus” while serving Texas.

And that he certainly is proud of his second amendment rights.

Once his online alter-ego got uncovered, Stickland offered an apology for telling a fellow fantasy football site member that “rape is non existent in marriage, take what you want my friend!” in response to a 2008 request for sex advice on the forum.  Yeah, you read that right, he was giving sex advice.

He admits to being a major marijuana user but says he quit commenting, “by the Grace of God my past sins are forgiven.”

The way I see it, this boy gets himself saved quarterly which is akin to a renewable Get Out Of Jail Free card for his past sins the previous three months.  However, I think the Republican Party takes him down to the river and beats his head on a rock instead of dunking him. He just keeps getting dumber.

Now he’s railing against vaccines.  He attacked Texas doctors claiming they were “men in white coats who think they know more than parents do”  and only support vaccines because it makes them money.

“Make the case for your sorcery to consumers on your own dime,” tweeted Stickland. “Like every other business. Quit using the heavy hand of government to make your business profitable through mandates and immunity. It’s disgusting.”

Apparently, there is no vaccine against disgusting or the members of the legislature would have given him one by now.

Thanks to everybody for the heads up.

For all the years I worked at a newspaper, I had a press pass. It was a laminated card with my picture on it.  The picture was a mug shot and the issuing authority was the county sheriff. I remember the sheriff handing it to me in a nice little flip-open nylon pouch to hang around my neck and saying, “Okay, Lois Lane, this gives you permission to go anywhere that nobody else wants to go. You can even run into buildings that everybody else is running out of. Use it to do good stuff.”

Do good stuff. I tried.

So did Dana Milbank.  After 21 years, Milbank’s White House press pass was denied. He suspects it’s because he’s a Trump critic.

I’m not looking for pity. Trump’s elimination of briefings and other changes have devalued White House coverage anyway. But there’s something wrong with a president having the power to decide which journalists can cover him.

I don’t pity Dana because he’s a big boy with lots of power and he can fight back. I am, however, outraged. The Trump White House has taken to the mattresses.

One other story. My last boss was a bodacious loudmouthed owner of a weekly newspaper that was the official newspaper of the county. I wrote both news and editorial columns. When someone asked her, “what exactly does Susan do at your newspaper?” Bev replied, “She finds out what people are doing and makes them stop it.”

That, right there, was the best description of an editorial writer I had ever seen.

And that’s what Dana Milbank did.

Okay, so there’s a small town north of Atlanta where time stands still.

Hoschton was hiring a city administrator and – oh Lord, we should have been this coming – a black man applied.

The mayor decided that although the man was qualified “she just didn’t think Hoschton was ready to hire” a black person as an administrator.  She said this privately to a council member.

“We are not Atlanta,” she carefully explained.

Two other council members were not in agreement and went to the city attorney to complain.

But Councilman Jim Cleveland agreed with the mayor.

“I’m a Christian and my Christian beliefs are you don’t do interracial marriage. That’s the way I was brought up and that’s the way I believe,” Cleveland was quoted as telling the newspaper.

“I have black friends, I hired black people, he added. “But when it comes to all this stuff you see on TV, when you see blacks and whites together, it makes my blood boil because that’s just not the way a Christian is supposed to live.”

Yeah, stunning.

Meanwhile, while racists were being racists, the man who had applied was hired at another city.  I hope at a much higher salary.

Thanks to Sam in Minn for the heads up.

I know you’ve noticed by now that Alfredo over at the Dairy Queen is a man with a lot of insider contacts.  But, then again, anybody with a Dairy Queen franchize makes lots of contacts.

Here’s his take on the Jerry Falwell “incident.”

You’re gonna love this.

The Reverend, His Wife, The Pool Boy and a Presidential
Endorsement Obtained by Blackmail?

It seems pretty clear who had the compromising photographs of the Reverend Jerry Falwell, Jr. and his wife.

The Falwells told Cohen that someone had obtained photographs that were embarrassing to them, and was demanding money, the source said. Reuters was unable to determine who made the demand. The source said Cohen flew to Florida and soon met with an attorney for the person with the photographs. Cohen spoke with the attorney, telling the lawyer that his client was committing a crime, and that law enforcement authorities would be called if the demands didn’t stop, the source said.

The matter was soon resolved, the source said, and the lawyer told Cohen that all of the photographs were destroyed.

Gee, who do the Falwells know in Florida? Oh yeah, Giancarlo Granda, a 21-year-old pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Hotel that the Reverend and Mrs. Falwell “befriended” during a Miami vacation – and then loaned $1.8 million to buy a South Beach youth hostel. Oh yeah.

The case raises more questions than answers: Falwell Jr. and his wife appear to have simply “befriended” a then-21-year-old pool attendant while the husband and wife were staying at the ritzy Fontainebleau. They then welcomed the pool attendant into their lives, began flying him around on a private jet, and even put up millions of dollars to help his business ventures. Falwell and his wife have appeared in Facebook photos eating at Macchialina with the pool attendant — a Florida International University graduate named Giancarlo Granda, who now lives in Washington, D.C., and attends Georgetown University.

The reverend, his wife and the pool boy.  A ménage a trois in Miami.  A cellphone.  Seems like a pretty clear violation of the Seventh Amendment.

So did Trump blackmail Falwell into giving him his endorsement for President?  Seems like a possible explanation for an otherwise inexplicable act.

Fortunately, Mr. Granda is now a student at Georgetown University.  Probably taking final exams this week. I’m sure he’ll be glad to  clear this up.

Thanks to Alfredo over at the Diary Queen.