Winter Patriot Community Blog

District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble handed down a temporary restraining order of Texas’ draconian abortion law on Thursday. The order allows Kate Cox, of Dallas, to get an abortion and protects a Houston OB/GYN from civil and criminal penalties for performing it.

The Texas Tribune has the deets:

“The idea that Ms. Cox wants desperately to be a parent, and this law might actually cause her to lose that ability is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice,” Gamble said.

At 20 weeks pregnant, Cox learned her fetus had full trisomy 18, a chromosomal abnormality that is almost always fatal before birth or soon after. Before the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Texas law allowed doctors to terminate pregnancies due to lethal fetal anomalies at any point during the pregnancy. But now, Cox’s doctors said their hands were tied by Texas’ abortion laws, which prohibit abortion except to save the life of the pregnant patient.

The Tribune noted that Cox burst into tears at the decision Although she and her husband had wanted the baby, her doctors said continuing the nonviable pregnancy risked both her health and future fertility.

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The Biden administration yesterday opened the door to seizing the patents of certain costly medications from drugmakers in a new push to slash high drug prices and promote more pharmaceutical competition -- something I've wanted for years, since we already pay for most of their research and development. Via CNBC:

The administration unveiled a framework outlining the factors federal agencies should consider in deciding whether to use a controversial policy, known as march-in rights, to take patents for drugs developed with taxpayer funds and share them with other pharmaceutical companies if the public cannot “reasonably” access the medications. Doing so could lead to the development of lower-priced generic alternatives, which could cut into key drug companies’ profits and reduce costs for patients.

For the first time, officials can now factor in a medication’s price in deciding to break a patent.

It is unclear whether and how federal agencies will use march-in rights under the new framework. Notably, “no agency to date” has exercised the policy, which came about under the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, a senior administration official said during a call with reporters Wednesday.

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Fox News has been presenting an anti-vaccine activist as a “Democrat voter” — despite her past public comments declaring that she actually votes Libertarian for president and for Republicans in other races, and that Democratic candidates are “an automatic no-no.” Via Media Matters:

Stephanie Edmonds became an anti-vaccine political activist after she lost her job in the New York City school system for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine. She has an extensive media footprint, with interviews and appearances on outlets ranging from the mainstream CNN and CBS News to the right-wing Post Millennial.

On the Wednesday morning edition of Fox & Friends, a panel of voters gathered to discuss the previous evening’s town hall event with former President Donald Trump and Fox host Sean Hannity. Co-host Ainsley Earhardt introduced Edmonds, saying, “I know you’re a Democrat,” while Fox’s on-screen chyron identified her as a “Democrat voter.” Edmonds then criticized Trump on the grounds that he had “teed up a socialist vaccination program that then led to mandates” and promoted her work on an upcoming documentary about the pandemic shutdowns. She further added, “Democrats like me are fleeing from the Democratic Party.”

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Christian nationalists gathered Tuesday night at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C, for a National Association of Christian Lawmakers gala at which prominent dweeb Mike Johnson spoke, and received the NACL’s American Patriot Award for Christian Honor and Courage (I guess for helping Trump try to overturn the presidential election results). Isn't that special? Via Right Wing Watch:

When Johnson took to the stage, he thanked the NACL for banning media from the event, claiming that the media loves to “pick my comments out of context.” Guess he didn't know NACL founder Jason Rapert was streaming the event on his Facebook page.

Johnson began his remarks by claiming that weeks before he became House Speaker, God began preparing him to lead the nation through “a Red Sea moment.” Johnson said he didn’t know what that meant at the time, but assumed it meant that he was to serve as an Aaron to someone else’s Moses. (AWWW! HE'S SO HUMBLE!!!) But, it turned out, God intended for him to be that Moses.

“The Lord impressed upon my heart a few weeks before this happened that something was going to occur,” Johnson said. “And the Lord very specifically told me in my prayers to prepare, but to wait.”

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The Most Obnoxious Blowhard in America Edition

Icky stuff: "What Home Schooling Sometimes Hides: Child Abuse", from Diane Ravitch. I was homeschooled for a few yrs. (when it was illegal in California) but it was nothing like that.

Continuing the Wreck Your Weekend theme, Ten Bears looks at climate conditions. Après nous, le déluge!

Joe Costello goes off on members of the National Security Establishment & the WaPo in general at Life in the 21st Century.

Disaffected and it Feels So Good has more on Car Culture.

By the Second Most Obnoxious Blowhard in America, M. Bouffant. Submit your submissions to mbru@crooksandliars.com.

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Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy got called out by former Gov. Chris Christie over his bizarre attacks on Nikki Haley during the debate. In turn, Ramaswamy told Christie to "get the hell out of this race" for defending Haley. Vivek had the knives out for Haley, who had just secured a Koch Network endorsement. And Christie wasn't having it.

After the debate, Christie told CNN's Dana Bash he's a "truth teller." He called Ramaswamy "a jackass," explaining that "It's not me forming an alliance with Nikki Haley" and that he expected to continue debating Halley.

"Vivek does have a woman problem."

"I mean, look, I'm a truth teller, Dana. Look, Nikki and I disagree. I don't think Nikki should be president of the United States," he said. "But I'll tell you this. She is a smart woman, and she's an accomplished woman, and she's worked incredibly hard both in South Carolina and in the U.N."

"And I think Vivek does have a woman problem. I do think he insults women's basic intelligence. He has done it over and over and over again," Christie continued. "And I guess tonight I just had had enough. I had enough of listening to his garbage."

"And as I said, his smartass Harvard mouth, because that's what it is," he added. "When he is dictating to me and Nikki Haley, who committed ourselves to public service while he has been off stealing from seniors to make his fortune, yeah, I am not going to put up with him anymore."

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Obstruction of justice is defined by Merriam-Webster as "the crime or act of willfully interfering with the process of justice and law especially by influencing, threatening, harming, or impeding a witness, potential witness, juror, or judicial or legal officer or by furnishing false information in or otherwise impeding an investigation or legal process.

One might imagine that altering real-time video of the January 6 insurrection in order to deter the DOJ from bringing charges against insurrectionists in the building might fit that definition, and is a crime committed against our democracy and the United States constitution. That's not something a Speaker of the House should do, am I right? After all, every one of those Representatives took an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic" and "bear true faith and allegiance to the same."

Those January 6 rioters were there to stop the electoral vote count, also a violation of the Constitution. While many have been identified and prosecuted, many have not.

Here's what Mike Johnson told reporters about the release of all of the footage of January 6th, over 40,000 hours worth of video:

We trust the American people to draw their own conclusions.

We should not, they should not be dictated by some narrative and accept that as fact.

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It's always kind of surprising when a winger comes right out and says what we all suspected.

The Right doesn't care about fixing immigration - they want no brown people in "their" America.

And here is Charlie Kirk, going after LEGAL immigration.

CHARLIE KIRK (HOST): There is a lie that is told repeatedly that we are a nation of immigrants. We are not a nation of immigrants. We are a nation of settlers that had children. We allowed immigrants into this country at certain periods of time, if they spoke the language. You want to know something based? Blake, find this. Find the criteria from Ellis Island. You know we always have this big Ellis Island thing, “oh you know, well this –” Oh yeah? They said that if you are infirmed, diseased, don’t love the country, do not come into this country. I’ll get the exact criteria. It’s so unbelievable that if you would say that today, the ACLU would sue you and some judge in Guam would overturn you. The criteria that even during this time, “Oh, we’re a nation of immigrants.” Oh really? You’ve got to learn the language. You have to love the country.

And by the way, I want to make – I want to be very clear. I’m not just talking about illegal immigration, we have way too many legal immigrants coming into this country, too. 1.5 to 1.6 million legal people coming...

And then Charlie turns on the bigot spigot:

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House Republicans are moving toward a vote on a formal impeachment inquiry as they continue to allege, without evidence, serious corruption on the part of President Joe Biden. The evidence has not gotten stronger since mid-November, when House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly told so-called Republican moderates that there was “insufficient evidence” to move forward. The politics, however, have changed. Johnson’s move to keep the government from shutting down angered some extremist Republicans, and the expulsion of George Santos just after Johnson declared his opposition to expulsion did not make Johnson look any stronger. Giving the extremists a vote on an impeachment inquiry is an easy way for Johnson to try to shore up support.

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Krybaby Killer Kyle "KKK" Rittenhouse continues with his grift grab book tour. One of his most recent stops was at The Benny Show, wherein the host, Benny, asked KKK what advice he would give other young people. Prepare yourself for heavy doses of irony:

Benny: I think young men are looking for inspiration. You were an inspiration to a great deal of them. They want to stand up for themselves as you did. Maybe not - God forbid - people find themselves in the same situation you found yourself in. But they still wish to stand up for themselves. Your advice to young men watching this...

KKK: Absolutely. That's a good question, Benny. My advice for young men my age watching this is just find motivation. I know I struggled with that a little bit. To find motivation to go out and do things, do the right thing. Not like go to a riot or anything but the motivation to do the right thing and help people and get an education, be smart, be financially smart. Just to be a good person. A lot of people stuggle with that these days.

So, in other words, KKK's advice is to be the anti-KKK.

Remeber, not only did Kyle not get an education, but he kept getting caught in lies, trying to convince people he was actually going to school. I don't know of anyone who has evere accused KKK of being smart. And the past two plus years of him doing nothing but begging for money and grifting proves he is not financially smart either.

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I'm sure that this is all just an innocent coincidence and that no bribery ever occurred, as alleged by the Department of Justice. I mean, who doesn't keep $150,000 of gold bars lying around their house? There's absolutely nothing shady here, folks. Now move along.

Like Trump, Senator Menendez does not seem to believe he can ever be convicted in a court of law. However, reality might disabuse him of this notion in 2024.

Source: NBC News

Four gold bars connected to the FBI search of Sen. Bob Menendez’s home have direct links to a New Jersey businessman now accused of bribing Menendez, the state’s senior senator, Bergen County prosecutor’s records from a 2013 robbery case show.

The businessman, Fred Daibes, reported to police that he was the victim of an armed robbery in 2013, and he asked police to recover the gold bars stolen from him. Daibes reported that $500,000 in cash and 22 gold bars were stolen, Edgewater, New Jersey, police records show. Police later caught four people with the stolen goods.

To get his property back, Daibes signed “property release forms” certifying the gold bars belonged to him, the records show.

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House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and the Chaos Crew have gone from claiming, without proof, that President Joe Biden has received eleventy bazillion dollars from China to Biden receiving several payments of $1,380 -- that was not from dubious sources and was reported 18 months ago.

Where did that sneaky sneakster get that highfalutin money from, you ask? OK, you didn't ask, but we'll tell you. Again. Karoli did a good explainer here.

Comer alleges that he gives his children money and that "Nobody ever pays me back." OK, but his oldest daughter looks like she's in her teens. Whatever, James, keep showing off your parenting skills.

Then, he added to that on Newsmax.

"You can loan people money. If they pay you back, then you benefited directly from the influence-peddling!" Comer said.

He's desperate. We see that.

Republicans came up with the idea that people that have an addiction are pure shit. I hope Betty Ford haunts their stupid asses. Comer has been trying to gin up his lint-licking base by regurgitating the same old lies. Comer is very upset that Biden is a good father.

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Trump promoted an ad from The Lincoln Project last night on his Truth Social megaphone. He probably wouldn't have seen it but they ran it on Fox News, probably for that exact purpose, so they're probably giddy about his response. The ad itself is a typical one for them, not really designed to move the needle so much among voters as raise contributions for them. So, Trump is happy as he got to rage about something last night and The Lincoln Project are happy as more money flowed in as soon as he did.

Source: Forbes

Donald Trump attacked the Lincoln Project on Monday night with claims the anti-Trump political advocacy group is using artificial intelligence to make the former president look bad. The only problem? There’s no evidence the Lincoln Project’s ad uses anything but authentic footage of Trump.

“The perverts and losers at the failed and once disbanded Lincoln Project, and others, are using A.I.(Artificial Intelligence) in their Fake television commercials in order to make me look as bad and pathetic as Crooked Joe Biden, not an easy thing to do,” Trump wrote on his social network Truth Social late Monday.

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Joe Biden and Donald Trump probably won't be the only high-profile candidates on presidential ballots in 2024 -- No Labels wants to run a candidate, Robert Kennedy Jr. will probably have the money to get himself on all or most ballots, and there'll be candidates from the Green and Libertarian parties. Pollsters have begun testing the impact of a multi-candidate race on the outcome, and they generally conclude that the minor-party candidates will take more votes away from Biden than from Trump.

One reason is that most of these pollsters are asking respondents about a field that includes Cornel West, who announced his presidential candidacy last June. He'd be unlikely to take votes away from Trump, though he'd surely take quite a few from Biden.

But don't worry, because Cornel West probably won't be on your state ballot. He's too much of a fck-up.

A Forbes article published yesterday (paywalled, but you can read it here, though unfortunately without links) makes this clear:

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Matthew Loh of Business Insider warns us that TFG's Treason For The Season Grift Shop And Legal Defense Fund is now open.

Among the prizes one could purchase at extravagant cost is TFG mug shot wrapping paper! Yes, for just $35 you can purchase 3 sheets of wrapping paper with TFG's mug shot with a holiday cap and his infamous and totally out of place "Never Surrender" logo on it:

Imagine the look on your soon-to-be former loved one's face when they get a framed copy of TFG's rap sheet in TFG's mug shot wrapping paper!

But wait, there's more!

For a mere $25, you can get a TFG mug shot stocking to hang with care. Who knows? You might get really lucky and find come classified documents in your TFG stocking on Christmas morning.

If nothing else, you can hang on to this crap as evidence that it isn't really the left that has declared a war on Christmas.

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Former Rep. George Santos finally made history last week when he was expelled from Congress. Now he's made history again, as the first former congressperson to be used by Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania to troll Sen. Bob Menendez via a Cameo video. Via Business Insider:

"I thought my ethically-challenged colleague @BobMenendezNJ could use some encouragement given his substantial legal problems," Fetterman wrote on X. "So, I approached a seasoned expert on the matter to give 'Bobby from Jersey' some advice."

An attached video shows Santos giving advice to "Bobby from Jersey" about how to stay strong.

I thought my ethically-challenged colleague @BobMenendezNJ could use some encouragement given his substantial legal problems.

So, I approached a seasoned expert on the matter to give ‘Bobby from Jersey’ some advice. pic.twitter.com/y8iX55EyNi

— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) December 4, 2023

"You stand your ground, sir," he says. "And don't get bogged down by all the haters out there."

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A former Fox News employee has sued the network and a top Tucker Carlson producer, alleging that the senior staffer sexually assaulted and harassed him after promising to help advance his career. Via MSN.com:

In the lawsuit filed in New York State Court, Andrew Delancey claims that Justin Wells repeatedly grabbed his genitals at Wells’s apartment shortly after Delancey was hired in 2008, and that superiors dissuaded him from filing complaints.

A brief version of the suit — claiming assault and battery on the part of Wells, and negligence and sexual harassment on the part of Fox — was originally filed late last month, just ahead of a deadline for claims under the New York Adult Survivors Act, which temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for civil complaints from sexual assault victims. The full complaint was filed Monday.

“Wells utilized his status at Fox to prey on Mr. Delancey,” the complaint reads.

Wells later became the senior executive producer for Carlson’s show and was fired alongside him in April. He now works as a top producer on Carlson's Twitter series.

More details of the alleged assaults here.

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A major Swiss bank admitted to conspiring with U.S. taxpayers and others to hide over $5.6 billion from the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Justice announced yesterday. Private bank Banque Pictet will pay about $122.9 million in restitution and penalties as part of an agreement with prosecutors. Via CNBC:

Between 2008 and 2014, the bank had 1,637 accounts on behalf of American clients, who collectively evaded approximately $50.6 million in U.S. taxes, the DOJ said. The accounts held more than $5.6 billion of the roughly $20 billion in total assets from U.S. taxpayers that the bank managed during the relevant period.

If the bank complies with the terms of its deal, the Justice Department has agreed to defer prosecution for three years and then dismiss a charge of criminal conspiracy to defraud the IRS. As part of the deal, the bank also agreed to cooperate with ongoing investigations into hidden bank accounts.

"Rooting out financial malfeasance remains a priority for this Office," Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement. "We encourage companies and financial institutions to come to us to report wrongdoing before we come to you," he added.

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During Trey Gowdy's weekend show on Fox, Gowdy and his guests, Charlie Hurt and Leslie Marshall were rehashing some of the so-called "debate" between Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis, a much like some of his other Fox counterparts, Hurt of course was trying to spin the debacle as being bad for Newsom, but Gowdy and Marshall both responded with astonishment that either Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis believe that it's somehow a good idea to run on repealing the Affordable Care Act.

GOWDY: What I want is boring. I know people don't want day long debates, but these are serious issues, one of which is healthcare, so, Leslie, much to the Republicans chagrin, Obamacare has probably more popular than maybe what they thought. So why bring it up as an election issue when there are so many other things that are currently not going well in the country, why would Republicans want to bring back up healthcare unless they have a replacement strategy?

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Unfogged.

Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

Nan's Notebook.

Hullabaloo.

By M. Bouffant. Suggestions to: mbru@crooksandliars.com.

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