House of Representatives 2: Nancy is in Charge

[GreyhoundFan]

It seems that repugs recruit the biggest asshole of each district to become their house members:

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[AmazonGrace]

There is no limit. 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Gaetz and Gohmert are on the list too. I'm surprised Lauren Bobert isn't on it.

[fraurosena]

7 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Gaetz and Gohmert are on the list too. I'm surprised Lauren Bobert isn't on it.

I wonder, could this list be a carbon copy of the members who also happened to give tours of the Capitol in the days before the insurrection?

[GreyhoundFan]

I guess Marjorie forgot she's a woman.

How do you perform an abortion after birth? I don't know anyone who advocates for infanticide.

[smittykins]

And I can remember when the main reich-wing objections to the ERA were marriage equality and unisex bathrooms.

[GreyhoundFan]

Not only is Roy a racist ass, he needs to have that mask glued to his face, it's not doing much good hanging loose.

 

[fraurosena]

3 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I guess Marjorie forgot she's a woman.

How do you perform an abortion after birth? I don't know anyone who advocates for infanticide.

Does she even know what an afterbirth is? 

[GreyhoundFan]

Once again, Matt tries to claim the title of dumbest congresscritter:

 

[fraurosena]

23 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Once again, Matt tries to claim the title of dumbest congresscritter:

 

Wow, that was some Freudian slip there from Matt.

"I don't think the American would prevail."
(emphasis mine)

In other words, he's aligning himself with Putin, not Americans. Which begs the question: What the heck is he doing in Congress then, if he's not representing Americans?

 

[GreyhoundFan]

They really are the repugnant party:

[GreyhoundFan]

Crenshaw (R-Jerk) doesn't like actual facts and figures.

 

[47of74]

Yeah it’s no fun now with the fuck knob not being in office. 

Quote

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has privately told confidants he's seriously considering not seeking re-election and possibly leaving Congress early for a job at Newsmax, three sources with direct knowledge of the talks tell Axios.

Why it matters: Gaetz is a provocative figure on the right who's attracted attention by being a fierce defender of former President Trump. The Republican also represents a politically potent district on the Florida panhandle.

What we’re hearing: Gaetz has told some of his allies he’s interested in becoming a media personality, and floated taking a role at Newsmax.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

8 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

Gaetz has told some of his allies he’s interested in becoming a media personality,

Since his real life personality is insufferable, Newsmax would be perfect for him.

[GreyhoundFan]

Some of the reactions to the Gaetz news are priceless:

Spoiler

 

[Cartmann99]

[GreyhoundFan]

I wonder if this is why he's suddenly looking at leaving Congress: "Matt Gaetz Is Said to Be Investigated Over Possible Sexual Relationship With a Girl, 17"

Quote

Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida and a close ally of former President Donald J. Trump, is being investigated by the Justice Department over whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him, according to three people briefed on the matter.

Investigators are examining whether Mr. Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, the people said. A variety of federal statutes make it illegal to induce someone under 18 to travel over state lines to engage in sex in exchange for money or something of value. The Justice Department regularly prosecutes such cases, and offenders often receive severe sentences.

It was not clear how Mr. Gaetz met the girl, believed to be 17 at the time of encounters about two years ago that investigators are scrutinizing, according to two of the people.

The investigation was opened in the final months of the Trump administration under Attorney General William P. Barr, the two people said. Given Mr. Gaetz’s national profile, senior Justice Department officials in Washington — including some appointed by Mr. Trump — were notified of the investigation, the people said.

The three people said that the examination of Mr. Gaetz, 38, is part of a broader investigation into a political ally of his, a local official in Florida named Joel Greenberg, who was indicted last summer on an array of charges, including sex trafficking of a child and financially supporting people in exchange for sex, at least one of whom was an underage girl.

Mr. Greenberg, who has since resigned his post as tax collector in Seminole County, north of Orlando, visited the White House with Mr. Gaetz in 2019, according to a photograph that Mr. Greenberg posted on Twitter.

No charges have been brought against Mr. Gaetz, and the extent of his criminal exposure is unclear.

Mr. Gaetz said in an interview that his lawyers had been in touch with the Justice Department and that they were told he was the subject, not the target, of an investigation. “I only know that it has to do with women,” Mr. Gaetz said. “I have a suspicion that someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward.”

Mr. Gaetz called the investigation part of an elaborate scheme involving “false sex allegations” to extort him and his family for $25 million. He said he and his father, Don Gaetz, had been cooperating with the F.B.I. after they were approached by people saying they could make the investigation “go away.”

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Central Florida.

Mr. Greenberg pleaded not guilty last year and was sent to jail this month for violating the terms of his bail. He is scheduled to go on trial in June in Orlando.

A frequent presence on Fox News and other conservative media, Mr. Gaetz has recently mused with confidants about quitting elected politics and taking a full-time job with the conservative television channel Newsmax or another network, according to a person familiar with the conversations. Axios first reported on Tuesday that Mr. Gaetz was considering leaving Congress.

Mr. Greenberg maintained ties to controversial figures who have supported Mr. Trump, an examination of court records, social media posts and far-right websites showed. A website run by a member of the far-right group the Proud Boys and a network of fake social media accounts linked to Mr. Trump’s longtime political adviser Roger J. Stone Jr. have promoted false accusations about Mr. Greenberg’s rivals similar to rumors that prosecutors accused Mr. Greenberg of secretly trying to spread.

It was not clear how Mr. Greenberg knew either Mr. Gaetz or Mr. Stone. He posted a selfie with both in 2017, tweeting, “Great catching up.” The following year, Mr. Gaetz expressed support for Mr. Greenberg’s successful bid for local office, predicting he would someday make a great member of Congress.

On Capitol Hill, Mr. Gaetz has embraced the role of villain to the left as much as he has served as one of Mr. Trump’s staunchest defenders and enablers, often with theatrical flair. He wore a gas mask on the House floor last year in the early days of the pandemic, insisting he was demonstrating concern for public safety amid accusations he was mocking the seriousness of the spread of the coronavirus.

Mr. Gaetz was first elected to Congress in 2016. As a member of the Florida State Legislature and the scion of a Republican political family, he had initially backed former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida in the Republican presidential primary that year before hitching his political fortunes to Mr. Trump.

It paid off. He won a seat in Congress representing part of the Florida Panhandle, and as one of Mr. Trump’s most flamboyant supporters on Capitol Hill and on cable television, his profile skyrocketed.

Mr. Gaetz invited a right-wing Holocaust skeptic to the State of the Union address in 2018, and attended an event last year where he said the Proud Boys had provided security, though he has distanced himself from the group on his podcast. When Democrats moved in 2019 to impeach Mr. Trump for the first time, Mr. Gaetz and a phalanx of Republicans following him barged past Capitol Police into the secure rooms of the House Intelligence Committee to briefly break up the investigation into the president.

After Mr. Trump’s defeat last year, Mr. Gaetz once again rallied to his side, defending the president’s baseless claims of widespread election fraud. Mr. Gaetz helped organize efforts among lawmakers to challenge President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory during Congress’s certification of it on Jan. 6 that was disrupted for hours by a pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol. Mr. Gaetz later traveled to Wyoming to hold a rally against Representative Liz Cheney, a Republican leader who had voted to impeach Mr. Trump for inciting the riot.

In 2017, Mr. Gaetz was the only member of Congress to vote against a law that gave the federal government more power and money to fight human trafficking.

“Voters in Northwest Florida did not send me to Washington to go and create more federal government,” Mr. Gaetz said in a local television interview at the time. “If anything, we should be abolishing a lot of the agencies at the federal level.”

Mr. Gaetz’s personal life has gained attention before. Last summer, he announced that he had a son, Nestor Galban, 19, though Mr. Gaetz said he was not Mr. Galban’s biological father, nor had he adopted him. Mr. Galban had been 12 when they met and had come to the United States from Cuba; Mr. Gaetz was at the time dating Mr. Galban’s sister.

“He is a part of my family story,” Mr. Gaetz told People magazine in June. “My work with Nestor, our family, no element of my public service could compare to the joy that our family has brought me.”

Mr. Gaetz proposed to his girlfriend, Ginger Luckey, at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on Dec. 30.

It was unclear how investigators in the Greenberg case began examining Mr. Gaetz’s conduct. Last June, federal prosecutors secured an indictment against Mr. Greenberg, accusing him of stalking a political rival.

Around that time, federal authorities seized Mr. Greenberg’s phone and laptop, according to court records. They discovered evidence that Mr. Greenberg, whose job responsibilities included issuing licenses, was creating fake identification cards for himself and a teenage girl, and was experimenting with holograms used on permits for concealed firearms, according to court documents.

Two months later, he was indicted on the sex trafficking charge. From May to November 2017, prosecutors said, Mr. Greenberg targeted the girl, who was between 14 and 17, saying he “recruited” and “solicited” her for sex acts in exchange for unspecified perks or favors.

Mr. Greenberg worked in advertising before running successfully at the age of 31 in 2016 for tax collector in Seminole County.

Within days of taking office, he fired three employees who had supported his predecessor and began spending more than $1.5 million in taxpayer money on personal expenses, including guns, ammunition, body armor and a drone, as well as on computers for his own cryptocurrency venture, a county audit later revealed.

The following year, according to The Orlando Sentinel, Mr. Greenberg posted a photograph of himself on social media with Milo Yiannopoulos, a right-wing personality who has a history of making racist remarks. The newspaper also detailed Mr. Greenberg’s own misogynist and anti-Muslim comments on Facebook.

In his bid for re-election, Mr. Greenberg turned in late 2019 to clandestine tactics to undermine a possible rival, according to court papers. Prosecutors said he sent an anonymous letter to the school where one potential candidate worked that made unfounded accusations of sexual misconduct with a student and making similar claims on a fake Facebook account.

As the primary race intensified last summer, similar messaging began appearing on fake social media accounts that have been tied to Mr. Stone.

“Watch out Seminole county,” said someone named April Goad on Facebook, warning Floridians “don’t open your door” to the rival candidate, according to Graphika, a company that specializes in analyzing social media.

The post linked to an article about the rival published on Central Florida Post, a website controlled by Mr. Stone’s associates that had written favorable articles about Mr. Greenberg. The website was founded by a member of the Proud Boys who has been linked to security providers for Mr. Stone on Jan. 6 in Washington in the lead-up to the insurrection at the Capitol.

Mr. Greenberg’s re-election efforts quickly evaporated when he was first indicted last June, and he resigned a day later.

 

[47of74]

4 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I wonder if this is why he's suddenly looking at leaving Congress: "Matt Gaetz Is Said to Be Investigated Over Possible Sexual Relationship With a Girl, 17"

 

If true no wonder he likes fuck face.  Predators of a feather stick together after all.  And where there's smoke in GOP land there's usually a forest fire to go alone with it.

[GreyhoundFan]

[Howl]

This is from back at the beginning of March, but still true!  CrossFit is so over Majorie Failure Greene:

CrossFit condemns Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for 'loathsome and dangerous lies'

 

[Ozlsn]

14 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Maybe someone could introduce a bill to pay her $0 until the sedition charges are investigated?

[fraurosena]

This is really weird and could just as easily have gone in the shenanigans thread. 

Warning, language NSFW.

 

[Howl]

So sad when your family turns on you.  Numerous siblings of Rep. Paul Gosar (R*-Desert) have outed him as an instigator of the Jan. 6 insurrection who should be expelled from Congress and face criminal consequences. 

*R = Racist

They insist that he's a racist, and HuffPo notes that he

• spoke at a white nationalist event in Florida earlier this year
• last month...tweeted a message with the motto of a white nationalist organization

Six (6!) of his siblings endorsed his opponent in the last election in Arizona and three siblings are part of a current video suggesting  "that he be expelled from Congress over his role in the insurrection and his attempts in the House to overturn the election results from multiple states..."

GOP Rep’s Family Calls Him Out Over Insurrection In Scathing Fox News Ad Three of Rep. Paul Gosar’s siblings want him held accountable for the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Edited April 2, 2021 by Howl

[Howl]

On 3/11/2021 at 9:04 AM, GreyhoundFan said:

It seems that repugs recruit the biggest asshole of each district to become their house members

Exhibit 1: Representatives like Devin Nunes, who of course then pick large assholes for their staffers. 

But there's an upside: 

As it turns out, the lawsuit didn't show what a lawsuit needed to show to be considered, and it was really about Devin Nunes being pissed because CNN was really really mean reported news about him accurately ...

Spoiler

 

...“This Court finds that Plaintiff Harvey’s filing of the Amended Complaint unreasonably multiplied the proceedings in this case, and this Court is satisfied that it is appropriate to impose a sanction as to the Plaintiff and his counsel under this court’s inherent authority and (federal law),” Bennett wrote in his decision to apply sanctions.

He ordered Harvey and Biss to pay CNN’s court costs and legal fees, writing that the amended complaint had been filed in “bad faith.” Biss and Harvey can appeal the sanctions.

Bennett said in multiple rulings that Harvey’s lawsuit had more to do with Nunes, R-Tulare, than with Harvey. That’s significant because plaintiffs in defamation lawsuits must demonstrate how they were harmed by the material to recover damages from the organizations they sue.

“In fact, this Court was hard pressed to see how several of the allegedly defamatory statements cited in Harvey’s original Complaint had much to do with the Plaintiff at all, as they focused almost entirely on the actions of Congressman Nunes,” Bennett wrote.

 

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by Howl