It could seem that in political circles, courage has almost become its own cottage industry. Cassidy Hutchinson is just the latest to capitalize on her fifteen minutes of courage. Obviously, her testimony took a lot longer than fifteen minutes and I’m sure the decision to testify was an agonizing one. Yet, her courage is a lot more inspiring than that of Mitt Romney.

Testifying and simply telling the truth seems ordinary and I suppose in some points of our history it might have been. One of the considerations here is in describing what Hutchinson is giving up. She is 27 years old. She had a bright future in GOP politics. How many people are capable of being the chief aide to the White House chief of staff in their mid twenties?

So, while the book and the accompanying tour on MSNBC might seem craven and self-interested, we have to remember that her lot in life has been cast. Maybe she lands with MSNBC or another center-left outlet, but in the meantime she is a pariah in GOP circles. This doesn’t even mention that everyone knows her face and we can’t calculate what kind of effect this will have on her personal life.

The personal accounts of what both Rudy Giuliani and Matt Gaetz did to her are disgusting and yet completely believable. We have to remember, she was willing to tell the truth while everyone else was scurrying for the exit. This plays into the little things we don’t think about when someone like her is willing to simply speak the truth about their collective experience.

This is wholly different than Romney and most politicians are like Romney. He is retiring from the senate. He is retiring from public life. His book is essentially his mic drop moment. Everyone of us has that fantasy in our head about who we would tell off and exactly what we would say on retirement day. Most of us don’t follow through. After all, what’s the point? However, he is throwing his hat on sideways, yelling “deuces” and exiting stage left. Sure, he is telling the truth and in a party dominated by liars, but who are we really trying to kid here?

Anyone that is 27 is a kid to me. I’ve taught people that are now 40 years old. I’m trying to imagine any of them in Hutchinson’s shoes. I’ve had some ex-students do some pretty remarkable things. Some are lawyers. Some our doctors. I even have one or two that went into movies and the music industry. I don’t know how many would have the courage to do what Hutchinson did.

I don’t think they would have lied. They would likely have done their civic duty and testified behind closed doors, but this was a story America needed to hear for themselves. This is a story that will take her path in life and throw it on a completely new track. Why shouldn’t see make a few dollars along the way? It will help cushion the blow as she does a hard reset on her life.

Okay, so here’s the crazy story.  There’s a guy named John Odom who is a major Republican donor and big Trump supporter.  Odom lives in Idaho but felt heavily invested in Louisiana gubernatorial candidate Jeff Landry’s race.  He donated $100,000 to the cause.

And then oops.  Odom discovered that Landry hired Corey Lewandowski as a political adviser to his campaign.

Odom is not a big fan of Lewandowski, and has asked for his donation back and urged people not to vote Landry. Wanna know why?

Well, come to find out Lewandowski tried to rape Odom’s then-wife, Trashelle Odom at a party in Las Vegas.  They filed charges at the time, recounting in lurid detail what Lewandowski said and did on that occasion, which you really don’t want to know but if you just gotta you can find it here.

I used to spent every free minute watching baseball but the Astros are breaking my heart again so now I spend time watching Republican infighting.  It keeps me real busy.

I wanna say something.  Thank all that is holy for John Fetterman for being the first Democratic Senator to stand up against Robert Menendez’s hanky panky.  He is a worthy man.

There is hope. It’s just a small candle but it shines in darkness.

Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe set up an illegal sting on ACORN in 2009 by playing a pimp and a hooker.  They were trying to get the liberal group in trouble. James and Hannah’s escapades turned out to be the beginning of a long list of scams the two tried to pull.

You might want to go back and read this other Juanita Jean post.

Well … it’s finally, oh dear God finally, ending.

Ya put two crooks Republicans who have never had a real job in their lives in charge, and then act shocked when all the money disappears.

Hannah’s grandmother, Teresa Raia, who you can read more about at the links I provided, is still around my neighborhood and although the Belles of Heaven Republican Women’s Club has dissolved in a foaming mess of rumors, hoochy, men, and one notorious DWI, Teresa is still fermenting revolution against gays, pronouns, and Catholics.

Honey, the wheels of justice turn slowly, but they do turn in my neighborhood.  Hey, I got to wave bye-bye to Catherine Engelbrecht, too.  There’s a reminder link right here.

Told ya so. There, I said it.

I dunno. Maybe it’s a thing, maybe it’s not. After I saw TLG hiding documents in a bathroom, I thought he’s just nuts.

Or, it’s a thing. And Matt Gaetz is thinging it.

This document was found in a bathroom on the baby changing table at the Capitol.

And here is where it was found. Note that it was found with a remains of a beverage.

Okay, so somebody got confused and thought it was a bar, or does someone dine on the baby changing table? I wouldn’t normally think that but after seeing Lauren Boebert get to third base watching a concert with children, my brain is having difficulty completing synapses.

See? Politics has just gotten so confusing for me.

Y’all, I am not ready to talk about the Ken Paxton “verdict” yet.  I am just too outraged, even for me. But, I will say this.

It was a damn goat rodeo.  And, Democrats have to accept some blame in this situation.

First, you do not, repeat not, hire two lawyers well into their eighties to fight in a battle of mental agility. That’s what a courtroom is. Texas Democrats chose two guys who are all hat and … well hell, their damn cattle wandered off 15 years ago. They both embarrassed themselves and that’s a shame. Their whole trial plan and use of technology was a disaster.

Most importantly, Republicans in the senate sat there for two weeks listening to Paxton’s rampage of lawlessness and thought to themselves, “Well hell, I’ve done worse than that myself, or at least I’m planning to.”  To people who think I’m being flippant about that, I’m most certainly not.  Plus, I can think of at least two Democrats sitting in the Texas senate, and more in the House, who ought to be in jail themselves.  So this isn’t a partisan thing.

I need more time to process this.  Thanks for putting up with me.

Do you remember the hissyfit that Temecula’s Ultra Right-Wing school board trustees pitched over the adoption of a widely-used California social studies curriculum? Yeah, THAT one. The one that nearly cost California taxpayers $1.5 million in fines.

Backed into a corner, the trustees suddenly saw the light, reversed themselves, and adopted the text that they claimed glorified pedophilia as long as they could launch an investigation into the “questionable” paragraphs.

So now they, along with another Left Coast school district, have drawn a line in the sand over a new cause celebre: Pride Flags.

They don’t want ’em.

The Hill has their stories well-documented.

Out from obscurity, a SF bay area school district, the Sunol Glen School District has weighed in on the issue, per The Mercury News.

The district is comprised of one school, an elementary school. Their governing board voted 2-1 to ban the Pride Flag from flying over their school. Just the Pride Flag.

1st Amentment lawsuit, anyone?

Temecula Valley’s school board was considerably slyer. In their vote this week, the board voted 3-2 to ban ALL flags in their schools except for the state and national flags. How brilliant is that?

How can you fault a school board for forbidding the Pride Flag when instead they effectively discriminate against all flags?

Too bad. It reminds me of my previous workplace, a high school, that took pride in the fact that many in their student population came from a wide array of countries. So much so that they displayed the national flags of every one of their students.

Like this:

OK, the US flag is a little bigger. That’s fine.

This news also comes on the heels of the story of a Southern California shop owner who was shot to death for the crime of flying a Pride Flag in front of her store.

What class, huh?

Unlike Sunol Glen SD, three of Temecula Valley SD trustees are already under recall for their past indiscretions. You can do that in California. But not to be outdone, Sunol Glen parents are making sure that two of Sunol Glen’s trustees are about to meet the same fate.