Tuesday, January 06, 2026

Chump sends crazies after judges


Federal judges who have ruled against President Donald Trump have claimed they and their families are facing a surge of threats, harassment, and intimidation. Some judges have linked the threats to hostile political rhetoric amid some of Trump’s legal setbacks.

District Judge John Coughenour stated, “I’m not a gun nut. But in light of these threats, I have armed myself.”

Coughenour said he holds MAGA leaders and influencers responsible for inflaming tensions around the judiciary. “The things they say and descriptions they use — I blame them for stirring this stuff up.”


Here are some comments left on the article:

Rick
5 hours ago
There was one on TV a few months back that ruled against Trump that was saying she and her family had been harassed and receiving threats ever since Trump attacked her on social media. She said she had contacted the FBI numerous times, but they refused to do anything about it.

M W
14 hours ago
All of our checks and balances are under extreme attack.  The war on our judiciary (which leans substantially conservative by the way); the absolute obeisance from congress; the complete dismissiveness to the free press so necessary to shed light on power; should make all Americans of any political leaning shudder.  Shame on the senate for shirking their advice and consent!

Bernard Chelius
5 hours ago
The Supreme Court carries a significant amount of blame for this.

Robert Smolinski
2 hours ago
Threatening judges and their families is a tactic taken from the fascist playbook.  Threatening harm and violence against our judges puts our democracy at great risk.  
      This is another example of MAGA-Fascists trying to employ tactics of intimidation, to impose their autocratic, right-wing political philosophies on our country.  Anyone who favors these tactics is supporting fascism.


As they age, some people turn to trash and that's basically what's happened to Alan Dershowitz over the last five decades.  He's an embarrassment who just gets more embarrassing.  Beth McCue reports:

Attorney Alan Dershowitz has asked the Supreme Court to overturn its landmark press freedom ruling in New York Times v. Sullivan, arguing that regardless of the court's intent, the decision has made the media feel "untouchable" and enabled it to grow "disdainful of the truth."

In a 149-page petition to the high court filed Dec. 29, the former Harvard law professor maintains that as a result of the unanimous ruling by the court in 1964 and subsequent lower court rulings in the six decades since then, Sullivan has "morphed into an impregnable fortress that protects media irresponsibility while denying public figures any remedy for egregious misrepresentations."

"The First Amendment protects robust debate, not deliberate or reckless falsehoods, as Sullivan itself declared," writes Dershowitz's attorney, Jay Alan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative legal organization based in Washington, D.C.

You know what I say?  Shut up, you Trumper, you turn 88 this year, die already, leave issue like this to those of us who don't have one foot in the grave.  Also I say, stay away from young women, you pervert. 


"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Tuesday, January 6, 2025.  Chump and Bondi continue to withhold Epstein documents, envious Pete Hegseth goes after Senator Mark Kelly, Kristi Noem thinks that the American people should foot the bill for putting ICE agents up at a Hilton, and much more.

 


Let's start with Pete Hegeseth's push-pull same-sex attraction, the root of his hatred/lust for Senator Mark Kelly.  

Three times.  That's the number of times the 45-year-old 'traditionalist' male has been married.  Three.  And they don't last.  What we're looking at it a man who apparently spent his entire life in the midst of homosexual panic.  Gets with a woman because she's got a masculine energy but after awhile?  That's not enough for him to get it up.  So he moves on to a more mannish wife -- and the current wife, wife number three, looks like a man.  Someone who knows Pete didn't buy the hypothesis at first.  

But he loves to go to strip joints!

He does, I agreed.  He goes to them with other men.  The strippers are props, not equals an what he's really there for is to see these men he kind of knows get aroused.

Women are nothing but props for him and that's why he keeps attacking our women who serve in the military.  

So we've got Pete horny for men, desperate for men, and he's going after Senator Kelly who represents everything that Pete doesn't.  Kelly's honest, he's given real service -- not the mincing and backstabbing that Pete did during his brief service -- "brief service" -- I hear a Pete acquaintance laughing at that.  The one who told me about how Pete is all 'don't bathe don't bathe!' whenever he's got one of his man cave weekend.  Pete is a joke.  

Senator Mark Kelly issued the following statement yesterday:

“Over twenty-five years in the U.S. Navy, thirty-nine combat missions, and four missions to space, I risked my life for this country and to defend our Constitution — including the First Amendment rights of every American to speak out. I never expected that the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense would attack me for doing exactly that.  

“My rank and retirement are things that I earned through my service and sacrifice for this country. I got shot at. I missed holidays and birthdays. I commanded a space shuttle mission while my wife Gabby recovered from a gunshot wound to the head — all while proudly wearing the American flag on my shoulder. Generations of servicemembers have made these same patriotic sacrifices for this country, earning the respect, appreciation, and rank they deserve. 
 
“Pete Hegseth wants to send the message to every single retired servicemember that if they say something he or Donald Trump doesn’t like, they will come after them the same way. It’s outrageous and it is wrong. There is nothing more un-American than that.  

“If Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in our country’s history, thinks he can intimidate me with a censure or threats to demote me or prosecute me, he still doesn’t get it. I will fight this with everything I’ve got — not for myself, but to send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don’t get to decide what Americans in this country get to say about their government.”

The failure that is Pete Hegseth thinks he's going to demote Kelly after the fact?  That might last a second or two but it's not going to stand.

And the reason Pete's doing it -- yeah, Pete, I know, I'm that far into your inner circle -- is because he couldn't win a trial against Kelly. Unlike Pete, Mark has a lifetime of service.

And a military trial?  Pete was told he'd lose big.  He was told any military court would side with Mark.  Couldn't take it down to the whore in Florida because this isn't a civilian case.

This is a military justice case and no one was going to convict Kelly of the 'crime' of stating basic military policy in public.  That's not a crime.  And the military would also see this for what it was -- politicization of the military and that would reject those grounds.  

As it was explained to Pete, "You're going to look like a little  jealous bitch trying to smear the reputation of a great man."

Pete being called a "little bitch" in the same sentence that another guy is called "a great man?"  Oh, you know he was on the phone, "Baby, stop everything and get into bed.  It's been a few months but I finally got a hard on again!  No, you don't have to put on the Jake Paul mask.  Well  . . . Put it on, itmight help."

The sad life of Pete Hegseth who could have addressed his panic long ago but instead gets off on humiliation.  He must be in heaven every ay because, if you love humiliation, the Donald Chump administration is where you need to be.


Just ask Pam Bondi.


Last weekend, Mike named Pam da Bimbo Bondi "Idiot of the Week" and it may be the only award she's ever deserved to win:


So Thursday morning, I did my pick for Idiot of the Year and had no plan to do an Idiot of the Week this week.  

But . . . 

When you are so stupid that MORNING JOE is laughing at you, sounds like you're a slam dunk.


Poor Pam, she's just so damn stupid.  Adam Lynch reports:


The Guardian reports incoming Attorney General Pam Bondi had no place for ethics training while taking the reins at the Department of Justice.

“I think the reason to fire the senior ethics attorney at DOJ is pretty clear. It’s to send a message,” said Joseph Tirrell, an attorney responsible for overseeing ethics compliance across the agency and training top officers in their obligation. “The message is: ‘Do what we tell you to do, or you’ll lose your job.’”
Tirrell was nearing the end of a July vacation when he got an email from the Department of Justice on his personal account. The notice, signed by Bondi, misspelled his name as “Jospeh W Tirrell,” and did not give a reason for his firing. The Guardian reports Tirrell bosses initially seemed as surprised as he was before confirming that he had indeed been removed from the payroll.

Tirrell, 51, joined the FBI as an ethics lawyer in 2006 before moving to the justice department in 2018. During that time, he fielded requests about whether or not employees could accept certain gifts or attend certain events and other conflicts of interests. He notes that Bondi and her chief of staff appeared focused on questions of whether the attorney general could accept commemorative challenge coins from subordinates in the department during training.

“There seemed to be a lot of importance by these officials placed on [the] appearance of them getting stuff, on the appearance of them showing their willingness to accept that gift,” Tirrell said.

Tirrell recalls telling Bondi: “We’ve pretty much said you can’t accept gifts from employees unless it’s your birthday or Christmas or Hanukkah or a similar kind of holiday where people give gifts,” and added that “We spent more time than I thought was warranted on … whether or not you could accept a challenge coin from whomever.”

The attorney said he caught his first whiff of Bondi’s ethical failings when she received a box of cigars from the mixed martial artist Conor McGregor. The value of the gift, he said, exceeded what Bondi could accept under the department’s ethics rules, so he spelled out three options for her: reimburse McGregor for the gift, send it back, or destroy it.

“Immediately I got the sense they were reluctant to send things back or destroy stuff,” said Tirrell.

“’No, we can’t send it back,’” the administration told him. “’I mean what does that say?’”




A buffoon and a crook.  She really found an administration she belonged in, didn't she.  It's as though the missions statement when Chump was putting together his cabinet was: Give me your most f**ked up and your most corrupt

That's certainly what he got.

They continue to flounder.  

The illegal actions in Venezuela?  

Ben goes over that this morning on MEIDASTOUCH NEWS.

 




David Rothkopf  addressed the issue in greater detail on THE DAILY BEAST podcast yesterday.

 






Last night on MS NOW, Rachel Maddow addressed the ever changing claims of the Chump administration.

 


Some more commentary and analysis.

 


 



Of course, one of the reasons -- one among many -- he launched the operation was to try to distract from the fact that The Epstein Files are not being released.  He and Pam Bondi are in violation of the act of Congres ordering the release of the files.  Pam has missed every date on the Epstein Act so far, by the way.  Jennifer White (THE HILL) reports:


The Justice Department (DOJ) has drawn criticism for releasing only parts of the records required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Many documents were heavily redacted, and some were temporarily removed. The law, signed in November 2025, set a strict deadline of December 19, 2025.
President Donald Trump defended the rollout and said the government had provided more than 100,000 pages. However,

However, on December 31, the DOJ admitted that it had identified approximately 5.2 million pages of records that fall under the law, far more than the 100,000 pages cited by Trump.
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) are among those pressing for contempt measures against Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Schumer said, “Initiate legal actions. This is a blatant cover-up. They are shielding Donald Trump from accountability, and the Senate has a duty to act. The law Congress passed is crystal clear: release the Epstein files in full so Americans can see the truth.”

As we all know, one reason Chump attacked Venezuela was to try to distract from his ongoing Epstein problem. Jennifer White (SACRAMENTO BEE) reports:


A January 7, 2020 email from a New York prosecutor said flight logs showed Trump took eight flights on Epstein’s jet. The trips included at least four with Ghislaine Maxwell aboard.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls, and the email noted that women on other flights could have been potential witnesses in her case.



A buffoon and a crook.  She really found an administration she belonged in, didn't she.  She's missed every date on the Epstein Act so far, by the way.  Jennifer White (THE HILL) reports:

The Justice Department (DOJ) has drawn criticism for releasing only parts of the records required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Many documents were heavily redacted, and some were temporarily removed. The law, signed in November 2025, set a strict deadline of December 19, 2025.
President Donald Trump defended the rollout and said the government had provided more than 100,000 pages. However,

However, on December 31, the DOJ admitted that it had identified approximately 5.2 million pages of records that fall under the law, far more than the 100,000 pages cited by Trump.
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) are among those pressing for contempt measures against Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Schumer said, “Initiate legal actions. This is a blatant cover-up. They are shielding Donald Trump from accountability, and the Senate has a duty to act. The law Congress passed is crystal clear: release the Epstein files in full so Americans can see the truth.”

As we all know, one reason Chump attacked Venezuela was to try to distract from his ongoing Epstein problem. Jennifer White (SACRAMENTO BEE) reports:

A January 7, 2020 email from a New York prosecutor said flight logs showed Trump took eight flights on Epstein’s jet. The trips included at least four with Ghislaine Maxwell aboard.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls, and the email noted that women on other flights could have been potential witnesses in her case.
 

Only the inept and crooked can serve in Chump's administration.  Let's wrap up by noting Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem's latest problems.  Abby Church and Matt deGrood (HOUSTON CHRONICLE) report:


Houston City Council Member Edward Pollard penned a letter to the city's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office Monday asking the agency to adopt a policy that would prohibit agents from wearing face coverings during enforcement operations and require agents to identify themselves "as soon as reasonably practicable."
In his letter, Pollard said the agency's tactics, like using face coverings and lack of identification, have damaged his constituents' trust and made encounters with law enforcement less safe.

He cited a recent example where a father and son were pulled over by ICE agents who started banging on their vehicle's windows. The pair fled in fear and found refuge in a nearby store, only for agents to track them down, allegedly tackling and beating the father.
Pollard listed numerous benefits to implementing the policy, like lessening confusion between ICE and local officers to avoid negative interactions and adding a layer of prevention so residents don't try to impersonate federal agents.

"I am a strong advocate of having a secure border and responsible pathway to citizenship, and I am a strong advocate for ensuring all people, regardless of background, are afforded basic human rights and are treated with dignity and respect," Pollard wrote to Houston's Field Office Director Bret Bradford.

The troubles never end for Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem who overseas Chump's gestapo.  David Edwards (RAW STORY) notes:


Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials cried foul after Hilton Hotels refused service to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The department expressed outrage in a Monday post on X.
"NO ROOM AT THE INN!" the post exclaimed. "@HiltonHotels has launched a coordinated campaign in Minneapolis to REFUSE service to DHS law enforcement."
"When officers attempted to book rooms using official government emails and rates, Hilton Hotels maliciously CANCELLED their reservations," the statement continued. "This is UNACCEPTABLE. Why is Hilton Hotels siding with murderers and rapists to deliberately undermine and impede DHS law enforcement from their mission to enforce our nation's immigration laws?"


Good for Hilton.  They're not Motel 6 so that probably confused Kristi Noem.  They have a higher end cliental and those consumers really aren't going to want to stay at a place that's helping destroy lives.  Sorry for Kristi but I'm sure she knows fleabag motels across the country -- from her own experiences -- that will take anyone and probably she also knows which ones rent by the hour. 

And one more thing there, we're not paying for them to stay in pricey digs.  Get it?  We the American taxpayer are not paying for cushy suites for the gestapo.  Chump made members of the National Guard sleep on the floor in California, but we're putting these ICE freaks up at a Hilton?  Oh, no, no, no.


We'll close with this from Senator Jack Reed's office:

WASHINGTON, DC -- In response to the Trump Administration’s arbitrary and unscientific changes to the childhood vaccine schedule announcement today, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) issued the following statement:

“It is astounding that at the same time the Trump Administration is making health care more expensive for families it is weakening the health of children and our communities.

“U.S. vaccine policy has long followed the science based on what medical experts in the U.S. recommend is best for children’s health. The Secretary of Health and Human Services is not a doctor, a public health expert, nor a vaccine scientist. This unilateral, non-transparent decision upends that entirely. It isn’t based on science. It will spread confusion and disease. It will weaken public trust in health. And it will likely increase preventable deaths of innocent children.”



The following sites updated:



"

Monday, January 05, 2026

The great Diana Ross, the disgusting Pam da Bimbo Bondi

As I noted last time, I loved Diana Ross' performance.  I liked how she pulled a number of songs together -- "I'm Coming Out," "The Boss," "Upside Down," "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "Tomorrow" -- that last one from THANK YOU. 

My reason for noting it again?  Ashley King (DIGITAL MEDIA NEWS) reports:


Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest led all TV programs on New Year’s Eve 2025. The show drew in an average of 18.8 million total viewers during the 11:30 pm – 12:30 am ET time slot.
ABC aired the special from Times Square in New York City, with this year’s viewership marking a four-year high for the program. The new year celebration variety show rose 5% from 17.9 million the year before. Meanwhile, ABC reported 30 million viewers at midnight. The full broadcast reached 34 million total viewers across the night, though out of home viewing data is pending.

The special beat out rivals by wide margins. It topped CBS’s New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash by more than 255% in the key hour. That CBS side-show celebration attracted around 5.3 million viewers. Diana Ross headlined the 2025 edition of the show, with other acts including Lara Lar, Pitbull, Chappell Roan, and Mariah Carey.
[. . .]
Meanwhile, iHeartMedia’s audio broadcast of the celebration hit two million listeners across 150 stations—up 9% compared to last year. More people watched the show this year than last year, the midnight viewership only peaked at 29 million viewers in 2024.

I watched and I watched for one reason only: Diana Ross.

The legend.  The artist.  The one and only.  And she was brilliant.  No surprise there.  

From the greatest to the dregs of the country -- Pam da Bimbo Bondi's 'Justice" Department, Jennifer Parker (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER) reports:

Lawyers for former CIA Director John Brennan asked U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga to prevent the Justice Department from steering a Russia-related criminal investigation to a judge they view as favorable to President Donald Trump.

Brennan’s attorneys said the Trump administration is “judge-shopping” to move the case to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon.

The investigation involves subpoenas tied to the Obama-era intelligence assessment on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Aileen Cannon's not a judge, she's a Trump Tramp.  She's how he escaped a prison sentence.  She's a sad and ugly woman.  She's a liar and a threat to democracy.  


You know when they look at Pam Jo's life, no one cares.  She's trash and she's a racist and she's everything that's wrong with this world.  Diana Ross?  She's lifted the country up with her -- a true  trailblazer who's been an inspiration for so many -- including me.  Loved her as a singer and still do.  But when I as a kid it was Whoopi and Diana in terms of films.  Diana's three from the 70s were on constantly: LADY SINGS THE BLUES, MAHOGANY and THE WIZ.  She was a movie star. 

Not a leading lady.

She was a movie star.  Diahann Carroll was a leading lady.  But she was never a movie star.  Diana was the first ever Black woman to break into the box office.  She was twice on the box office lists -- in the top 20.  And it wouldn't be until Whoopi Goldberg that another Black woman would make that list.

The only list Pam Bondi will ever make is a list of corrupt officials. 



A federal judge upheld New York’s Green Light Law, rejecting the Trump administration’s claim that the state measure conflicts with federal immigration law.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James were named in the lawsuit. The Justice Department said the law hindered federal immigration enforcement. The judge noted federal authorities can still access state records with a warrant.
U.S. District Judge Anne M. Nardacci found the Justice Department did not show the statute violates the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.

James said, “As I said from the start, our laws protect the rights of all New Yorkers and keep our communities safe. I will always stand up for New Yorkers and the rule of law.”


That's Pam Jo's corrupt 'Justice' Department.  And she lost again.  Because she's corrupt and because she's a loser.


"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Monday, January 5, 2025.  In the midst of his dementia, Donald Chump invades Venezuela and kidnaps that country's president and first lady, though Chump did not inform Congress of what was about to take place, he was on the phone with big oil, Cowardly Lindsey Graham put a toe outside of his closet long enough to defend "boss" Chump, a Democrat in Congressional leadership decided to start 2026 off demonstrating -- as he did all last year -- that he needed to step aside and let a real leader take over. 


"Before and after."  Pay attention to that in the video below.



If you took a long holiday, let's catch you up: Nut Job Chump illegally  invaded Venezuela and kidnapped their president and first lady. 

War Criminal Chump made clear that The Nobel Peace Przie did not belong to him and never will.  He's insane, babbling through his dementia in front of the world.  

He broke international law.  


"Before and after."  In the MEIDASTOUCH NEWS video above he says he consulted "before and after"?  With Congress?  No, he bypassed them, he provided them with no updates and he certainly didn't get permission from them.


He is a threat to the world.  He's no longer just stupid and dumb and trashy.  He's now completely paranoid -- that is a characteristic of dementia -- and his mental illness really should result in him being removed from office.


"They've stolen our property."  He says that and he says, "We're going to take our oil back"


He's talking about the oil.  The oil in the ground in Venezuela.  That would be Venezuelan oil.  No, they didn't steal it from the US.  No, Chump is not taking our oil back -- he's stealing from the Venezuelan people.


At his side was pep squad leader Lindsey Graham.  You know, Lindsey, right?  The gay man hiding in the closet.  Laura Loomer said it.  She wasn't the first to say it.  

Our professional bachelor turns 71 later this year and he's never been married but refers to a foreigner who was a flight attendant as the great love of his life.  The made up woman apparently loved being a flight attendant more than she loved Lindsey because she gave him up and not her job.  Even in his made up, wack job stories, Lindsey can't satisfy a woman.


Here's GLAAD on the elderly closet case:


10.11.20—Responds to LGBTQ voter asking about how his marriage to his husband and other LGBTQ rights will be defended, Sen. Graham defends people opposed to marriage equality as “not bigots” and “not neanderthals” and tells the voter, “I’ve tried to be tolerant.”

10.12.20—Opens hastened confirmation hearings of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court with active COVID-19 infections among Judiciary Committee members. Chairman Graham refuses to take a COVID-19 test to ensure the safety of a debate with his challenger or the safety of the confirmation hearings. Sen. Graham had pledged in 2016 that Supreme Court nominations should not be made in an election year. Millions of Americans are early voting in the 2020 election, and polls show Americans want the winner of the 2020 election to nominate the next Supreme Court justice. Chairman Graham asks Barrett how landmark rulings like Obergefell could be overturned.

10.14.20—In day three of the Barrett hearings, attempts to link the Court’s landmark marriage equality ruling to legalizing polygamy. Chairman Graham had also attempted this question and linkage in 2015.

06.03.20—Signs brief to U.S. Supreme Court to defend taxpayer-funded agency’s right to discriminate against qualified same-sex couples looking to become foster parents, Fulton v. City of Philadelphia.

03.15.19—Graham did not return a reporter’s request for comment regarding whether he, as head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, would allow consideration of the Equality Act, offering LGBTQ people protection against discrimination in areas like public accommodations, employment, housing, and credit.

06.17.15—Co-sponsored the First Amendment Defense Act, which seeks to create an exemption to nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people by those citing a religious-based objection to marriage equality.

01.28.15—While questioning Loretta Lynch during her attorney general nomination hearing, Graham compared same-sex marriage to polygamy. “What legal rationale would be in play that would prohibit polygamy?” he asked. “Could you try to articulate how one could be banned under the Constitution and the other not?”

06.26.15—Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, Graham released a statement calling himself “a proud defender of traditional marriage” and stressing his support for “religious liberty.”

01.29.13—Graham opposed adding same-sex couple protections to an immigration reform bill, saying it would cause bipartisan talks to fall apart.

11.07.13—Graham voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would have prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

06.26.13—When the Supreme Court ruled against DOMA, Graham expressed his disappointment in the decision, saying in a statement that he believed in “traditional marriage,” and noting he voted for the law, as well as wrote a brief to the Court expressing his desire to see it upheld. “One key point, today’s Supreme Court ruling will not change South Carolina law and I will continue to fight for and defend the traditional definition of marriage,” he added.

12.18.10—Voted against allowing gay and bisexual people to openly serve in the military by opposing the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The Senate voted in favor of the repeal, with eight of Graham’s Republican colleagues voting to repeal the discriminatory policy.

05.18.06—Voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution, and released a statement expressing his support of the legislation, claiming it was needed because, as he put it, “Traditional marriage is now under attack.”

09.13.00—argued against federal hate crime legislation, saying it was not needed and that it would “divide Americans.”

07.29.99—Voted in favor of an amendment to prohibit same-sex couples from adopting in Washington, D.C

05.14.96—Graham co-sponsored the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), defining marriage as between a man and a woman, which was signed into law in 1996.


A 70 year old man hiding in the closet?  How pathetic.  And worse?  He's used so much of his career to attack LGBTQ+ people in the hopes that people won't see the truth about him.  Suck a dick, Lindsey, suck a dick.

"Before and after," Chump said.  Remember?  "Before and after," he was in contact with US oil companies.  But not with the US Congress.  Over the weekend, we noted various statements from members of Congress.  We're going to note those again because we're working up to a point about leadership or the lack of it.


Senator Adam Schiff's office:

Today, Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) issued the following statement in reaction to U.S. military operations in Venezuela:

“Nicolás Maduro was a thug and an illegitimate leader of Venezuela, terrorizing and oppressing its people for far too long and forcing many to leave the country. But starting a war to remove Maduro doesn’t just continue Donald Trump’s trampling of the Constitution, it further erodes America’s standing on the world stage and risks our adversaries mirroring this brazen illegal escalation.

“For months, as the Trump administration massed American servicemembers and firepower in the Caribbean, and used military force to destroy vessels and kill those on board, I and others in the Senate forced bipartisan votes to stop the illegal misuse of our armed forces. We warned that the true motive was not drugs, but regime change in an oil-rich nation. Despite all of the administration’s false denials, those motivations are now clear.

“Acting without Congressional approval or the buy-in of the public, Trump risks plunging a hemisphere into chaos and has broken his promise to end wars instead of starting them. And in conjunction with his continued saber-rattling around the world and dropping approval ratings at home, the American people should be concerned that this is not the last time he will break that promise.

“The president has vowed that this is not the end of our engagement in Venezuela, saying that ‘we’ll be involved in it very much.’ Congress must bring up a new War Powers Resolution and reassert its power to authorize force or to refuse to do so. We must speak for the American people who profoundly reject being dragged into new wars.”

###


And Senator Elizabeth Warren's office issued this:

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the following statement following President Trump's military action in Venezuela:

"President Trump’s unilateral military action to attack another country and seize Maduro — no matter how terrible a dictator he is — is unconstitutional and threatens to drag the U.S. into further conflicts in the region. What does it mean that the U.S. will ‘run’ Venezuela, and what will Trump do next around the world? The American people voted for lower costs, not for Trump’s dangerous military adventurism overseas that won’t make the American people safer.”

###


US House Rep Jasmine Crockett put her statement out on video.  She rightly notes in the video below we can all out Chump's actions without glorifying Maduro.


 

This is from Senator Patty Murray's office:


Senator Murray: “It is outrageous for a President who is tanking our economy here at home to suggest that the American taxpayer spend a fortune to ‘run’ another country while doing nothing to make life better in America. I opposed the war in Iraq from the outset—and the parallels here are glaring. I will similarly oppose any war in Venezuela. I refuse to put the lives of servicemembers at further risk, and I refuse to saddle our children with yet another costly war for no good reason.”

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement in response to President Trump unilaterally launching a regime change war in Venezuela, where he ordered strikes on multiple military targets in the country and seized Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela along with his wife Cilia Flores.

“The American people didn’t ask to start a war with Venezuela. They didn’t ask for an indefinite and costly occupation of another country and they didn’t ask for ‘boots on the ground,’ their sons and daughters put in harm’s way. All they asked for were lower prices at the grocery store. Only Congress can authorize war and I absolutely will not support a large-scale military conflict in Venezuela or a dangerous and expensive occupation. What the President has done is unconstitutional, reckless, and will have far-reaching effects well beyond last night’s strikes.

“The President has provided no legitimate justification for these unauthorized strikes nor any kind of long-term strategy for how he will deal with the fallout of this slapdash regime change—and he must now explain his unhinged statements that we will ‘run’ Venezuela. The American people can see for themselves how dishonest and cynical this entire venture is—we’re supposed to believe drug trafficking warrants the use of military force to topple a foreign government in one instance and then merits a full pardon for the former President of Honduras who was lawfully convicted of the same crime? And we should all be eyes wide open about the potential for self-enrichment and corruption by the Trump administration when it comes to profiting off Venezuela’s oil. This is not about law and order, because if it were, Trump wouldn’t have withheld these plans from Congress, and it is not about actually helping Americans suffering from drug addiction.

“Maduro is a corrupt and oppressive dictator—that much has always been clear. But what stops China or Russia from making similar claims about foreign leaders they don’t like and then using military force to overthrow them? This kind of careless use of military force threatens serious global instability—and none of that is good for Americans here at home.

“There needs to be serious oversight and accountability here. Trump administration officials must come before Congress and publicly explain their rationale and—importantly—just what exactly they think happens next here. Republican leaders should not just shrug their shoulders and let the President bomb whoever he wants on hardly more than a whim—they must join Democrats in pressing for serious accountability and insisting that the use of military force be authorized by Congress.

“If this escalates into a prolonged conflict of any sort, you can bet it won’t be Trump’s family putting their lives on the line—the American people do not want to be dragged into another costly foreign war with no real justification. It is outrageous for a President who is tanking our economy here at home to suggest that the American taxpayer spend a fortune to ‘run’ another country while doing nothing to make life better in America. I opposed the war in Iraq from the outset—and the parallels here are glaring. I will similarly oppose any war in Venezuela. I refuse to put the lives of servicemembers at further risk, and I refuse to saddle our children with yet another costly war for no good reason.”

###


And this is from Senator Cory Booker's office:


WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement:

Today, many leaders will rightly condemn President Donald Trump’s unlawful and unjust actions in Venezuela, and I join them.

But just as glaring, and far more damning, is Congress’ ongoing abdication of its constitutional duty. For almost a year now, the legislative branch has failed to check a president who repeatedly violates his oath, disregards the law, and endangers American interests at home and abroad.

Time and again, Congress, now led by Republicans, has chosen spineless complicity over its sworn responsibilities. From the reckless leaking of classified information that put American troops at risk, to the illegal use of military force destroying vessels and killing people in the Caribbean and the Pacific without congressional authorization, there has been a stunning absence of accountability.

No hearings.

No serious investigations.

No enforcement of checks and balances.

No accountability.

Again and again, the president has exceeded his authority, defied congressional intent, trampled the separation of powers, and broken the law - while Congress looked away in cowardice and submission.

Republicans in Congress own this corrosive collapse of our constitutional order. With only a handful of honorable exceptions, they have bent themselves to the will of Donald Trump, afraid to state in public the feelings they often communicate privately. That submission, this abandonment of independent judgment and constitutional courage, now stands as one of the greatest dangers to our nation and to the global order America claims to defend.

Nicolás Maduro is a brutal dictator who has committed grave abuses. The United States military remains the most capable fighting force on Earth, and our praiseworthy service members carry out their orders with professionalism and excellence.

But none of that suspends the Constitution.

The Constitution is unambiguous: Congress has the power and responsibility to authorize the use of military force and declare war. Congress has a duty of oversight. Congress must serve as a check, not a rubber stamp, to the President. On this count, Congress has failed.

We face an authoritarian-minded president who acts with dangerous growing impunity. He has shown a willingness to defy court orders, violate the law, ignore congressional intent, and shred basic norms of decency and democracy. This pattern will continue unless the Article I branch of government, especially Republican congressional leadership, finds the courage to act.

They must stop behaving as partisan puppets and start acting as patriotic constitutional stewards.

What happened today is wrong. Congressional Republicans would say so immediately if a Democratic president had done the same. Their silence is surrender. And in that surrender lie the seeds of our democratic unraveling.

There are still three years left in this administration. From the pardoning of individuals who violently attacked police officers while attempting to overturn our election to this latest extrajudicial assault on another nation’s sovereignty, the damage will continue unless it is confronted.

Enough is enough.

Congress has failed. But it is not too late to redeem the harm done by a year of submission and silence. Congress must act now. It must reassert its constitutional authority, restore the rule of law, and stop this president before further injury is done to our democracy and our republic.


And I am sure there are many, many more  Go to the Minority Leader of the House's website and you'll find this:


Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued the following statement:

Nicolas Maduro is a criminal and authoritarian dictator who has oppressed the people of Venezuela for years. He is not the legitimate head of government. Undoubtedly, the rule of law and democracy have broken down in Venezuela and the people of that country deserve better. 

Donald Trump has the constitutional responsibility to follow the law and protect democratic norms in the United States. That is what putting America First requires. 

The Trump administration has not sought congressional authorization for the use of military force and has failed to properly notify Congress in advance of the operation in Venezuela. The promotion of security and stability in a region requires more than just military force as we painfully discovered in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Far too many questions remain unanswered, including with respect to whether further military actions are planned. First, how many American troops remain on the ground in Venezuela? Second, what does America is going to run Venezuela until a judicious transition takes place mean? Third, were these military strikes about seizing foreign oil to benefit friends of the Trump administration? Fourth, why did Donald Trump pardon the former Honduran President, a narco trafficker convicted in an American court of law, but is willing to take us to war in Venezuela in connection with similar allegations?

Pursuant to the Constitution, the framers gave Congress the sole power to declare war as the branch of government closest to the American people. The House and Senate must be briefed immediately and compelling evidence to explain and justify this unauthorized use of military force should be presented forthwith.

###


But you know where you won't find a statement?  The Senate Minority Leader's site.  Go to Chuck Schumer's site right now and Venezuela wasn't invaded, Nothing happened.  In fact, nothing happened in the country since December 15th when his office issued "SCHUMER ANNOUNCES WHOLE MILK FOR HEALTHY KIDS ACT HAS PASSED CONGRESS & IS ON ITS WAY TO BECOMING LAW TO BRING MORE MILK FROM UPSTATE NY DAIRY FARMS TO SCHOOL CAFETERIAS ACROSS AMERICA."  That's not leadership.


21 days and he's issued nothing while holding the title of Democratic Party leader of the Senate.  He needs to step down.  He's repeatedly failed as a leader and he can't even do the bare minimum.  'I don't like him' or "he doesn't do enough for Gaza' are the sort of whines the ineffective on the left offer for Schumer.  The reality is, he's not leading.  Forget what the issue is, he's not leading.  He wants the year book credit but he doesn't want to do the work.  And that's why he needs to be forced aside and retired from leadership.  He's worthless and he's been that way for a long, long time.  It has nothing to do with whatever your pet issue of the moment is.  It has to do that throughout 2025, from one crisis to another, he never offered leadership and he never stood up.  Now, I'm not calling for him to step down from the Senate.  The voters can decide when that needs to happen.  I am saying he needs to be kicked out of leadership immediately.  He's been  coward through 2025 and that enabled Chump, tht allowed him to get away with so much.  It's time for real leadership and that's not Chuck. 


Andre Damon (WSWS) notes:

The day after the United States carried out an illegal military attack on Venezuela and kidnapped its president, Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration unleashed a torrent of threats against countries on every inhabited continent, targeting not only Latin America, but North America, Europe and Asia.

In remarks to The Atlantic on Sunday, President Trump threatened Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who was sworn in as acting president on Saturday, with a fate “worse” than that of Maduro.

“If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price,” Trump said. “Probably bigger than Maduro.”

Trump’s threat against Rodríguez came just hours after he had claimed at Saturday’s press conference that she had agreed to cooperate with US demands. Her public statements have been defiant, denouncing the US operation as “a barbarity” and calling Maduro Venezuela’s “only president.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” suggested that Cuba would be the next target of US military operations.

When asked whether Cuba was the Trump administration’s “next target,” Rubio replied: “The Cuban government is a huge problem.” Pressed again, he said: “They are in a lot of trouble, yes.”

Trump went even further, renewing his threat to annex Greenland, a territory of Denmark and a NATO ally of the United States.


For those paying attention, this is how world wars begin.  And it's why you don't put an unemployable TV 'personality' into the White House.   AFP notes:


The prime minister of Denmark on Sunday called on President Trump to "stop the threats" about taking over Greenland after the U.S. president reiterated his wish to take over the Danish territory.

Since returning to White House a year ago, Mr. Trump has repeatedly claimed that making Greenland part of the United States would serve U.S. national security interests, given its strategic location in the Arctic. Greenland is also rich in key critical minerals used in high-tech sectors.

In an interview with The Atlantic magazine published Sunday, Mr. Trump reiterated his wish to take over Greenland.

"We do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense," he told the magazine.

Later that night, Mr. Trump again told reporters aboard Air Force One, "We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it."


Like Hitler, Chump's not buttered by rule of law and certainly not by international law.  He's a blood thirsty dictator suffering from dementia on a holy tear and the world has to stand up to him.  Again, there's no legal basis for what he did.  What he ordered the US military to do was illegal.  Joel Abrams (THE CONVERSATION) explains:


The legitimacy of the Maduro regime has also been called into question. There were disputed election outcomes in 2018 and 2024.

However, the legitimacy or otherwise of the Maduro regime is not a legal basis for a military intervention.

Rather, the Trump administration is relying on US domestic laws to justify its actions in Venezuela. A 2020 US grand jury indictment of Maduro and his wife for drug trafficking underpins the legal argument. 


At THE NEW YORK TIMES, David E. Sanger and Tyler Pager examine what this all means:

Mr. Trump’s actions on Saturday cast America back to a past era of gunboat diplomacy, when the United States used its military to grab territory and resources for its own benefit.

A year ago this week, he openly mused, also at Mar-a-Lago, about making Canada, Greenland and Panama parts of the United States. Now, after hanging in the White House a portrait of William McKinley, the tariff-loving president who presided over the military seizure of the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico, Mr. Trump said it was well within the rights of the United States to wrest from Venezuela resources that he believes had been wrongly taken from the hands of American corporations.

The U.S. operation, in seeking to assert control over a vast Latin American nation, has little precedent in recent decades, recalling the imperial U.S. military efforts of the 19th and early 20th centuries in Mexico, Nicaragua and other countries.

Mr. Trump and his aides claimed they had a legal basis for the immediate action he ordered on Friday, the extraterritorial rendition of Mr. Maduro. An indictment that dates to 2020 charged the Venezuelan leader with a series of acts related to drug trafficking. A refreshed indictment was published Saturday, one that included Mr. Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores.

But that indictment only deals with Mr. Maduro’s alleged crimes. It did not provide a legal basis for taking control of the country, as the U.S. president declared he was


Hitler started with Austria, Chump started with Venezuela.  


I'd hoped to include Epstein news but we're already running long.

For those who did take a long weekend, 2025 end of the year pieces that went up last week include Rebecca's "hottest men of 2025,Ann's "2025 in films" and Stan's "2025 in films," Mike's "Idiot of the Year," Martha & Shirley's "2025 in books (Martha & Shirley)," Kat's "Kat's Korner: 2025 in music,"  Ruth's "Ruth's Media Report 2025," Ava and my "Media: The best and the worst of TV showed up in December"   and my "2025: The Year Of The Jig Is Up."


The following sites updated: