From Pine View Farm

Republican Hypocrisy category archive

“Nice Little Business You’ve Got Here. Wouldn’t Want Anything To Happen to It.” 0

Joe Conason marvels at Trump’s grift of grab. A snippet:

With the menacing manner of a mob boss, Trump has extorted million-dollar contributions from dozens of corporations that fear federal retribution against their shareholders or management (as in the case of Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, who coughed up his million after Trump literally threatened him with “life in prison” not so long ago).

Follow the link for context.

Share

The Fires This Time 0

Farron dissects the GOP ransom note.

I don’t think it’s pushing the envelope to suggest that today’s Republican Party is willing, to paraphrase the Founders, to put faction over nation six days a week and twice on Sundays.

Share

Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

Clearly, if we don’t talk about America’s original sin of chattel slavery, then it must not have happened.

Because that’s the way history works.

Share

Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

Thom is astonished. I’m not.

All pretense is off.

The racism and misogyny of today’s Republican Party are fully out of the closet.

Share

Suffer the Children 0

It’s a Republican family value.

Donald,  holding a club:  I want to start this new mandaate by sending a clear message about how brave and powerful I am.  Out-of-Frame Voice:  Great.  Should we bring you Putin them?  Trump:  What?  No.  Voice:  China.  Trump:  No.  Voice:  Iran?  Trump:  No.  Any other dictatorship?  Trump:  No. . . . Bring me a few brown kids from their school.

Click for the original image.

Share

The Party of Flaw and Disorder, One More Time 0

Donald Trump speaks to a crowd of red hats,

Click to view the original image.

Share

Executive Disorders, Reprise 0

To watch the blizzard of executive orders issuing from Donald Trump’s White House, it seems that Trump thinks that executive orders are pronouncements from Caesar’s throne, sweeping all else before them.

My old Philly friend Noz, who, I would note, has some legal training, points out that they are not nearly so sweeping as Trump seems to think:

Also Executive Orders, while treated as legally binding, they are the least binding of any form of law in the federal government. The priority for laws in the federal system is like this: Constitutional Provisions > Statutes > Regulations > Executive Orders.

I urge you to read the rest of his post. Methinks it most timely.

Share

“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0

The Washington Monthly’s Bill Scher hears a rhyme in the firings this time. A snippet; follow the link for a parsing of the parallels.

Less than a week after Trump was sworn in, he fired 17 inspectors general.

Inspectors general are federal government investigators embedded in government agencies to ferret out waste, fraud, and abuse. Lofgren’s prediction came in a review of the book Watchdogs by Glenn Fine, a former inspector general fired by Trump after 20 years of exemplary service.

Last week’s pink slips violated a law enacted three years ago in response to Trump’s first-term firings, which mandated 30 days’ notice to Congress before the president could terminate an Inspector General.

Trump’s illegal assertion of executive power echoes the attempt 158 years ago by President Andrew Johnson to fire Secretary of War Edward Stanton.

________________

*Mark Twain.

Share

Those “Values Voters” 0

David Masciotra, in the midst of a longer post, makes a trenchant observation:

To applaud Trump and MAGA, one must reject, or at least ignore, values that have regulated American politics and dictated ethical behavior. They are the values of democracy, especially the peaceful transfer of power, the rule of law, acknowledgment of ideological adversaries as legitimate, fidelity to the truth, and the unwavering disapproval of violence as a tool of politics.

Follow the link for context.

Share

The Party of Flaw and Disorder, Reprise 0

Title:  A Few of the Weapons Used To

Click to view the original image.

Share

This New Gilded Age 0

Sam and the crew follow the money to understand why the right-wing wants to get rid of what it–the right–refers to as “the administrative state,” that is, federal regulatory and research agencies established to protect the well-being of the country and its inhabitants. (Disregard the caption in the video below; it misses the gist of the clip.)

Read more »

Share

A Tune for the Times 0

Share

The Rule of Lawless 0

Thom comments on Trump’s pardon of his violence-prone fanboys the January 6th insurrectionists.

This topic was also discussed in somewhat more detail on Thursday’s episode of The Bob Cesca Show.

I have listened to Bob’s podcast almost since its beginning–certainly since its first year–and commend it to your attention.

Share

Real Big Men 0

GOP members lying on their backs.  Passer-by asks,

Click for the original image.

Share

Republican Family Values 0

Jesus stands on the Mount saying,

Image via Michael in Norfolk, who has commentary.

Share

The Rule of Lawless 0

Donald Trump letting January 6th insurrectionists out of prison.  As they storm out of the prison, they trample over GOP Elephant labeled

Click to view the original image.

At the Tampa Bay Times, retired DEA agent Robert Mazur shares his thoughts.

Share

Humpty-Dumpties 0

Shorter PoliticalProf: To right-wingers, the Constitution means what they want it to mean.

Share

The Oath Keeper 0

Donald Trump swearing an oath to

Click for the original image.

Share

Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

Donald Trump, a second-generation American citizen who benefited from Americans’ constitutional right to birthright citizenship, wants to strip away the right to birthright citizenship.

At Above the Law, Elie Mystal reprises an article laying bare the underlying intent. A snippet:

I know you are afraid of the browning of the country, I know you’ve crunched the numbers and have come to the obvious conclusion that you can’t deport your way into a future of white majorities. I know you have two options: double down on apartheid rule, or strip away rights from non-white people who you can’t stop from living here. The Electoral College is going to do the work of the former, so when you come for birthright citizenship, I know you are fighting for the latter goal.

Today’s Republican Party has truly become the party of the New Secesh, as America’s original sin of chattel slavery and the doctrine of racism created to rationalize it continue to wield their curse.

Share

The Privatization Scam 0

At the Idaho State Journal, Randyu Sttapilus argues that it’s all about the Benjamins.

Share
From Pine View Farm
Privacy Policy

This website does not track you.

It contains no private information. It does not drop persistent cookies, does not collect data other than incoming ip addresses and page views (the internet is a public place), and certainly does not collect and sell your information to others.

Some sites that I link to may try to track you, but that's between you and them, not you and me.

I do collect statistics, but I use a simple stand-alone Wordpress plugin, not third-party services such as Google Analitics over which I have no control.

Finally, this is website is a hobby. It's a hobby in which I am deeply invested, about which I care deeply, and which has enabled me to learn a lot about computers and computing, but it is still ultimately an avocation, not a vocation; it is certainly not a money-making enterprise (unless you click the "Donate" button--go ahead, you can be the first!).

I appreciate your visiting this site, and I desire not to violate your trust.