This from the NY Times – Trump’s coat of arms that is plastered all over his golf courses, hotels, and other sleazy properties that carry his name is actually stolen from the family that built Mar-a-Lago in Florida.  The symbol was granted by British authorities in 1939 to Joseph Edward Davies, the third husband of Marjorie Merriweather Post, who built the estate now owned by His Orangeness.  One minor change, though – in place of the banner that says “Integritas” (Latin for integrity), it now says “Trump”.  Now, that is the definition of irony, and marks Trump yet again as the King of Cheesy Fake Crap.

One bit of good news is that the stolen symbol is only used in the US.  Both Scotland and England denied his right to use it in their countries since they regard stealing other families’ heraldry as cheesy, too.

LOL.

Okay, this is oh so very cool.  Donald Trump’s own personal attorney, Michael Cohen, is now under Congressional investigation.

Cohen says he declined their invitation to come talk to them, sooooo …

After Cohen rejected the congressional requests for cooperation, the Senate Select Intelligence Committee voted unanimously on Thursday to grant its chairman, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, and ranking Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, blanket authority to issue subpoenas as they deem necessary.

Oooooh, that was a unanimous vote.  That means Republicans also voted for it.

This couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.  Cohen is a jerk who loved to wave his law degree in the faces of reporters to intimidate them.

He was quoted in 2015 telling Daily Beast reporters, “I will take you for every penny you still don’t have. And I will come after your Daily Beast and everybody else that you possibly know … So I’m warning you, tread very f—ing lightly, because what I’m going to do to you is going to be f—ing disgusting.”

Honey, Honey, Cohen Honey, everything you do is pretty disgusting.

Cohen was mentioned in the unverified dossier prepared by a British intelligence agent during the 2016 election.  That was disgusting, and he wasn’t even in the peeing part.

Okay, so this deal with Jared and what conservatives are calling “a back channel” and I am calling “the Rat Phone”.

Why in goodness sake does Jared need a phone line straight to the Prelim from the Russian Embassy?  So he doesn’t care if the Russians hear what he says but he care a helluva lot if we hear?

And you know that fight that Jared and Steve Bannon had?  You know it was over who got to go talk in the Rat Phone.

Y’all, I think maybe Trump is a goner and Jared is the president.

Yes, I know all hell is breaking loose in Austin at the State Lege, where a Republican State Rep called ICE to get rid of the demonstrators at the capitol.  One Republican Rep threatened the life of a Democrat State Rep, and the State Troopers have become Storm Troopers.

I want to wait to sort out the bodies before I write about it.  But please feel free to comment here if you find something that looks legitimate.

Trusted source.

UPDATE:  Here is a video.  At 32 seconds you can see one of the Republican Reps (in a tan suit toward the front of the crowd), raise his hand to expose his handgun in a holster. He’s a little short prissy guy and loves his gun so much it’s considered obscene in 32 states and assorted territories.

Rinaldi the Twit

This is also where Republican Rep Matt Rinaldi called ICE on the people protesting SB 4 — he assumed because they were largely Hispanic, they were here illegally.

I have to tell you something about Matt Rinaldi.  He is a foul-mouthed little dip-dump who has to get an old woman to hold his hand to cross the street.  He is so crude that the F word ought to be embroidered on his tie.  He is generally recognized as the garden gnome of the Tea Party.

There are witnesses who heard Rinaldi threaten to shoot Democratic State Representative Pancho Nevarez “in the head.”

Reading several news sources, the best I can figure, it went like this: Rinaldi sashayed over to two Hispanic Democratic Representatives and goaded them by saying he had called ICE on the protesters.  One of the Democrats said, “I’m gonna get you,” and that’s when Rinaldi threaten to shoot him in the head.

Then Rinaldi runs as fast as his little legs will pump and asks for DPS protection.

Then like the little twit that he is, Rinaldi claimed he said that threat (you know, the one he first claimed he didn’t say)  in “verbal self defense.”  No, I am not kidding.  There is now such a thing as “verbal self defense.” That used to be called, “escalating the situation.”  The Texas Penal Code says that verbal crap ain’t provocation for nothin’.

Like a damn little fluffy puppy, Rinaldi growled and growled and then ran back under the couch when someone growled back.  I think this falls under, “You started this fight, butt boy” rule as codified in the Handbook of Getting Your Ass Whooped.

And Dan Patrick wants to call a damn special session because this one didn’t get nasty enough.

Customer Scott has put together a pretty neat story.  Well, that’s not correct. It’s not neat, it’s frightening, but it’s neat how he put it together.

Last week, my hero Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo, tweeted this:

GOP single issue advocacy group?  Hummmm.

So Scott started looking around for more information.  He kinda figured they had to be talking about the NRA.  That caused him to dig this out.  It reads like a spy novel.

The TL/DR version:  Spain has been investigating members of a Russian Mafia family that leads straight back to Donald Trump.  Okay, maybe not straight, but that’s what makes it interesting.

Alexander Torsion is one of the lead characters.

The formidable and powerful Taganskaya organization of which Torshin is allegedly part is recognized by the US and the EU information and intelligence services (including Europol and the FBI), according to the dossier about Torshin from the Spanish Civil Guard. Its activities include the appropriation of companies using violent or fraudulent methods, bank scams, extortion and the carrying out of contract killings.

He’s also a lifetime member of the NRA – yes, the American NRA – and is trying to form an NRA group in Russia.  And then …

During that visit to Washington, Torshin did have dinner with two Republican congressmen. The date was February 1 in a French restaurant, according to an article published in Time magazine earlier in March, and at which Maria Butina and a close friend of Trump White House strategist Stephen Bannon were also present.

Yeah, unnamed congressmen.  Hell, we don’t need no damn names.  We have names.

“From my cold, asset-forfeiture seized offshore bank account!”

Drain that damn swamp, baby, drain it.

Thanks to Scott for his work on this.

In light of the Texas Lege passing SB 4 to ban sanctuary cities and Lt. Gov Dan Patrick insisting on his damn bathroom bill, Michael Dell and some of his friends signed a letter to Governor Abbott.

You can read it here.

Dell, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Gearbox … and more, all warned that Texas might lose them.

Texas could also lose Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth, El Paso, and Laredo when we all secede from Texas and found The Republic of Texans Who Can Read.

Meanwhile, M. Scott Byers has some fun with our cowboys in government.