Category: News & Comment

Beto O’Rourke Spoke for Millions When He Confronted Texas’ Gun-Obsessed Governor in Uvalde

Pensito Editors

Texas Tribune: “Beto O’Rourke caused a dramatic scene Wednesday when he angrily confronted Gov. Greg Abbott at his the governor’s news conference about the school shooting, yelling, ‘This is on you.’

“O’Rourke, who is running for governor against Abbott, moved to the third row of the Uvalde High School auditorium about 15 minutes after the governor began speaking to the media alongside other state and local leaders onstage. When Abbott concluded his comments and introduced Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, O’Rourke rose and walked to the stage and spoke directly to Abbott.

“’You are doing nothing,’ O’Rourke said. ‘You are offering up nothing. You said this was not predictable. This was totally predictable when you choose not to do anything.’”

Immediately after interrupting Abbott’s news conference spoke to the media. “There are family members that are crying as we speak,” he said. “There are family members whose hearts are broken. There’s no words that anybody shouting can come up here and do anything to heal these broken hearts.”

California Senate Passes Gun Bill Based on Texas’ Abortion Bounty Hunter Law

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PoliticalWire: “Shortly after the nation’s latest mass shooting, which killed at least 18 children at an elementary school in Texas, the California Senate passed a bill Tuesday to allow private citizens to file suit for at least $10,000 — a bounty-hunter provision modeled on a Texas abortion law — against makers or sellers of untraceable ghost guns or illegal assault weapons,” the [paywalled] San Francisco Chronicle reports.

There’s Already a ‘Victims of Capitalism’ Movement

Pensito Editors
timetoast.com

When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation this week in Miami (of course) establishing a “Victims of Communism Day” on Nov. 7 and decreeing that Florida public school students will receive 45 minutes of indoctrination about the victims of Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong and, of course, Fidel Castro, my first thought was, We need a Victims of Capitalism Day — and fast!

Come to find out there already is one. Or, more accurately, there is a movement already extant to defend capitalism and deny its victims. I know, shocker, right?

If you do a Google search for “victims of capitalism,” the first link on the page is to the Nassau Institute. The banner at the top of the institute’s website is the cover of Ayn Rand’s “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal.” Triggered!

This is from the institute’s “About” link:

Founded in 1995 The Nassau Institute is a research institute – a think tank – that promotes capitalism and free markets. Our mission is to formulate and promote public policies for The Bahamas based on the principles of limited government, individual freedom, and the rule of law.

So, a country that is historically majority Black and that was a slave state until the British Empire outlawed slavery in 1833 — in other words, has a population that would not have been in the Bahamas if it were not for capitalism — the slave trade — has an “institute” that perpetuates capitalism? What’s wrong with this picture?
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Gov Newsom (D-CA) Addresses SCOTUS Leak on Roe, Sounds Like a 2024 Democratic Presidential Primary Candidate

Jon Ponder
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) reacts to Supreme Court pending reversal of Roe v. Wade

Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., is running for reelection, so it’s unlikely that the I don’t think the Democratic Party he’s criticizing is the one he leads in California. It must be the national party led by Pres. Biden and V.P. Kamala Harris, Newsom’s former state attorney general. He certainly sounds like a candidate in the 2024 Democratic presidential primary.

Starts at 0:37. Transcript follows:

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Under Gov. DeSantis, Florida Has Become the Least Affordable Place to Live in the United States

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CBS News: “Rents, which are rising by double-digits nationwide, are positively ballooning across Florida, fueled by a surge of people who relocated to the state during the pandemic. Florida’s population is growing faster than any state but Texas: Between 2020 and 2021, 300,000 people moved to the Sunshine State.

“In February, Realtor.com designated Miami as America’s least affordable place to live. Average monthly rents in the metro area, at $2,930, are on par with San Francisco and Los Angeles — and double the level considered affordable for people in the region given the local median income. Miami, Orlando and Tampa have the fastest-growing rents in the country over the past year.”

MAGA Legislators in Florida Botch Their Attempt to Cancel Disney’s Political Speech

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Miami Herald: As Florida legislators were rushing through passage of a bill to repeal the special district that governs Walt Disney World last week, they failed to notice an obscure provision in state law that says the state could not do what legislators were doing — unless the district’s bond debt was paid off.

Disney, however, noticed and quietly sent a note to its investors to show that it was confident the Legislature’s attempt to dissolve the special taxing district operating the 39-square mile parcel it owned in two counties violated the “pledge” the state made when it enacted the district in 1967, and therefore was not legal. The result, Disney told its investors, is that it would continue to go about business as usual.

Who’s Groomin’ Who? Here’s a List of Recent Top Republican Groomers, Including GOP Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert

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Former Speaker Dennis Hastert

It has become a hard and fast rule in 21st century American politics that when Republicans accuse Democrats of criminal, salacious or corrupt behavior, it’s a “tell” that they are engaged in the same behavior – and then some.

It’s called “projecting,” and Republicans have been doing it for years. According to Psychology Today, “Projection is a defense mechanism commonly used by abusers, including people with narcissistic or borderline personality disorder and addicts.” It is no surprise then that Republicans’ projection strategy was perfected during the regime of Donald Trump, the ultimate toxic narcissist.

Like psychological projection, political projection attributes the accusers’ worst impulses onto their opponents. Case in point, Republicans have recently begun parroting their small but apparently influential Qanon base by accusing Democrats of grooming children for sex. The political aim behind these smears is to scare suburban moms who voted for Obama and then Trump and then Biden to vote for GQP candidates this November and in 2024.

In spreading their lies about grooming, however, Republicans are projecting one of their most glaring character flaws onto Democrats. The unpleasant fact that they’re trying to deflects is that they are the party of rampant pedophilia. Republicans believe they can get away with this scam because they know right-wing propaganda outlets like Fox will never mention their party leaders’ record of child sex abuse – and they can count on the trusty lamestream media to ignore it. That means its up to the rest of us to get the word out.

The following list of Republican sex abusers could be a start. It includes a Republican former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, a Republican former U.S. senator and governor of South Carolina, a Republican former congressman, a Trump campaign state chairman, Republican state legislators, a Republican judge, Republican mayors, Republican fundraisers, Republican political activists, Republican preachers and right-wing radio propagandists.

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Dear Republicans: What Entitles You to the Right to Call Yourselves ‘Patriots?’

Pensito Editors
Trump enablers

Bruce Lindner:

Dear Republicans:

You didn’t object when you heard Donald Trump say he likes to grab women “by the pussy.”

You didn’t object when he kicked the American media out of the Oval Office and handed two Russian spies classified data entrusted to him by one of our allies.

You didn’t object when he likened our intelligence community to “Nazis.”

You didn’t object when he stood before the Memorial Wall of Stars at Langley and told lie after lie about himself and the election.

You didn’t object while at the Helsinki Summit, he met behind closed doors with the Russian President.

You didn’t object to him banning the American Press from covering that meeting.

You didn’t object when he emerged from that meeting and sided with the Russian President over the findings of our own intelligence community.

You didn’t object when the Trump campaign admitted to accepting Russian offers to help him defeat Secretary of State Clinton.

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