Rep. Lauren Boebert - Colorado's Congressional Embarassment

[47of74]

Lauren's business might have to close down pretty soon

Quote

Shooters Grill, the gun-themed Hooters parody restaurant that put Rifle, Colorado, on the map and elevated Boebert to local celebrity status, has run into some trouble with its new landlord—a marijuana retailer.

As it stands, the landlord has told Boebert he will revoke the restaurant’s lease at the end of August, and send Shooters packing. The rest is up in the air.

Boebert told The Daily Beast that she and her husband, Jayson Boebert, had been surprised to receive the notice last week announcing that their lease would not be renewed. The building’s ownership changed hands last month, she said, and now Shooters would either have to find new digs or shut down for good.

She didn’t explain exactly why her business was being kicked out. A person familiar with the arrangement said the property manager felt he had a “moral” imperative to close the business, and had planned to lease the space to another restaurant.

 

Edited June 23, 2022 by 47of74

[GreyhoundFan]

I wonder if she'll move to Newsmax or OANN. Her insanity would fit in either.

[Howl]

Primaries are happening in Colorado; lots of Coloradoans vote by mail, but voting day is June 28. 

Boebert is in a primary with Colorado State Rep. Don Coram.   Boebert has a LOT of money in her campaign coffers, Coram hardly has any: 

Boebert has spent more than $3.4 million this election cycle and has more than $2 million in cash on hand, according to forms filed from the reporting period of April 1 to June 8. Overall, Boebert has raised more than any other U.S. House candidate in Colorado’s eight congressional districts. Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet is the only candidate for federal office, Republican or Democrat, who has raised or spent more than Boebert in the state.

In contrast, Coram has spent about $114,000 and has almost $112,000 in cash on hand.

“We were never going to raise the millions that she has, we knew that,” Key said. “We’ve raised quite a bit of money for a pretty grassroots campaign. Most of our money has come from our district.”

Boebert is a Sarah Palin demagogue and all around nitwit who has the backing of the Republican money machine.  

Coram is tuned into his rural district's needs, is a moderate conservative Republican and has expressed a desire to reach across the aisle if elected to US Congress. 

[GreyhoundFan]

"GOP Rep. Boebert: ‘I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk’"

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Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who faces a primary election Tuesday, says she is “tired” of the U.S. separation of church and state, a long-standing concept stemming only from a “stinking letter” penned by one of the Founding Fathers.

Speaking at a religious service Sunday in Colorado, she told worshipers: “The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it.”

She added: “I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk that’s not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter, and it means nothing like what they say it does.” Her comments were first reported by the Denver Post.

The Constitution’s First Amendment, which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” has been widely interpreted to mean the separation of church and state — although the phrase is not explicitly used.

Gwen Calais-Haase, a political scientist at Harvard University, told The Washington Post that Boebert’s interpretation of the Constitution was “false, misleading and dangerous.”

Calais-Haase said she was “extremely worried about the environment of misinformation that extremist politicians take advantage of for their own gains.”

Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, tweeted in reaction to Boebert’s comment: “I can’t. Not today.”

Steele also tweeted a line from the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of Religion.”

The “stinking letter” that Boebert mentioned is apparently an 1802 missive sent from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association. Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and a leading advocate of including a bill of rights in the Constitution, wrote in explaining the First Amendment: “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.”

The Supreme Court has since cited Jefferson’s letter in key cases, according to the Freedom Forum Institute, an advocacy group that works to raise awareness of First Amendment rights. The calls for a separation between church and state intensified in the 1800s as Americans feared the dominance of the Catholic church over government issues.

A day after Boebert’s comments, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a school board in Washington state discriminated against a former football coach when it disciplined him for postgame prayers at midfield.

The decision favored the protection of religious faith over concerns about government endorsement of religion.

Justice Neil M. Gorsuch wrote in the 6-to-3 decision that Bremerton High School assistant coach Joseph Kennedy’s prayers were protected by the Constitution’s guarantees of free speech and religious exercise.

“Respect for religious expressions is indispensable to life in a free and diverse Republic — whether those expressions take place in a sanctuary or on a field,” Gorsuch wrote. “Here, a government entity sought to punish an individual for engaging in a brief, quiet, personal religious observance doubly protected” by the Constitution.

Boebert, a firebrand member of the Republican Party, is being challenged by other party candidates in Tuesday’s primary in Colorado.

Among the primary elections and runoffs taking place Tuesday in seven states are five U.S. Senate races, four gubernatorial contests and dozens of polls for House seats. The results could give early insight into how voters are reacting to the Supreme Court’s decision Friday overturning Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed abortion rights for almost half a century.

Boebert thanked God for the court’s decision and received loud approval from the congregation Sunday at the Cornerstone Christian Center in Basalt.

“Look at what happened this week?” she said to cheers.

“This is the fruit of your labor, of your votes and of your prayers — this is your harvest,” she added.

Without naming him, Boebert also appeared to thank Donald Trump for his presidential role in nominating three conservative justices to the court. “God called a man who was not a politician to run for office, and I believe he was anointed for that position. He answered that call,” she said.

She rallied worshipers to be “bold,” stressing that “there’s still work to do.”

“It is so vital for the church to assemble,” she said.

 

[Howl]

Well, ****, **** and goshdarnit to hell.   Boebert has won her Republican primary against Don Coram.  So hoping Coram could make it.  Boebert had a huge campaign chest compared to Coram. 

[Shrubbery]

Where does the money behind Boebert come from? Is it just a lot of MAGAt-lifesavings or has she been bought by a weapon manufacturer?

[libgirl2]

What a total and complete moron this woman is. I know toddlers with a better grasp of the world. And she is dangerous because people are voting for her. I am speechless. I really wish she crawl back under the rock that she came from and take her followers. 

Edited June 29, 2022 by libgirl2

[Howl]

4 hours ago, Shrubbery said:

Where does the money behind Boebert come from? Is it just a lot of MAGAt-lifesavings or has she been bought by a weapon manufacturer?

I suspect it's Big Political Money coming from donors who know exactly how she can be weaponized for maximum effect. 

Her latest?  She doesn't think that separation of church and state should be a thing at the state level.  That will resonate with so many of her followers with a Dominionist bent, who think the church (actually THEIR church) should be the governing entity. 

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

She might want to be careful in wishing for no separation of church and state.  The SCOTUS justices (I am intentionally choosing not to capitalize it as I feel six of them have lost all credibility and do not deserve that respect) who are voting in the way she likes are either Catholic or were Catholic and now Episcopalian (which was described by one comedian as "Catholic Light- Less Guilt, More Fulfilling".)  If separation of church and state is eliminated and there are enforced religious mandates, it's probably not going to be the kind LBo and her followers want but will likely be of the Catholic variety.  She and her followers may think it will be their church, but if the six are going to go all in on stripping away the Constitution, why would they go the protestant route?  LBo had better start learning how to pray the Rosary and preparing to learn the rules for fasting and abstaining from meat during Lent.  No undercooked pork sliders on Ash Wednesday or Fridays!   

[smittykins]

1 hour ago, AlmostSavedAtTacoBell said:

which was described by one comedian as "Catholic Light- Less Guilt, More Fulfilling".) 

I think Robin Williams referred to it as “All of the ritual, none of the guilt.”

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, AlmostSavedAtTacoBell said:

She might want to be careful in wishing for no separation of church and state.  The SCOTUS justices (I am intentionally choosing not to capitalize it as I feel six of them have lost all credibility and do not deserve that respect) who are voting in the way she likes are either Catholic or were Catholic and now Episcopalian (which was described by one comedian as "Catholic Light- Less Guilt, More Fulfilling".)  If separation of church and state is eliminated and there are enforced religious mandates, it's probably not going to be the kind LBo and her followers want but will likely be of the Catholic variety.  She and her followers may think it will be their church, but if the six are going to go all in on stripping away the Constitution, why would they go the protestant route?  LBo had better start learning how to pray the Rosary and preparing to learn the rules for fasting and abstaining from meat during Lent.  No undercooked pork sliders on Ash Wednesday or Fridays!   

Maybe they can start banning meat sales every Friday, not just during Lent. And we should have a statue of the Virgin Mary in every classroom along with saying the Hail Mary every morning (since they are all about prayer in school). 

I'm Catholic so I can come up with more. 

6 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

Maybe they can start banning meat sales every Friday, not just during Lent. And we should have a statue of the Virgin Mary in every classroom along with saying the Hail Mary every morning (since they are all about prayer in school). 

I'm Catholic so I can come up with more. 

here is a big one, they could do away with divorce. You have two choices, separation or annulment. 

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

I have freely admitted on these boards that I am a petty bitch so I don’t mind saying I welcome the religious arguments from the Protestants. Frankly, I personally believe “God” has many names and the idea of one “true” religion is bullshit. I don’t believe someone has to be a Christian to get into Heaven and I don’t believe saying the “magic words” or going through certain ceremonies get you into Heaven. I believe if you are a good person who has flaws but overall have tried to do right, you are going to Heaven; but if you are choose to hurt others and do wrong you will not find yourself in Heaven. If you choose to do wrong and hurt others WHILE claiming to be a devout Christian- well, things are not going to go well for you. I may be totally incorrect but it is my personal belief. I also believe God does not knock someone out of Heavenly consideration just because he/she/they didn’t pick the “correct” religion but otherwise led a very moral and value driven life. With that background in mind, it amuses me greatly to think that LBo and her people may have to choose to abandon their supposedly staunch beliefs in exchange for staying in favor if my far-flung comment comes true. I have zero desire to see a church controlled country but if it happens, at least let it be the Catholic Church because it will (assuming the recent statements are true) put the smack down on guns and it will be extremely funny to watch the assholes who wanted a church state lost their minds over getting a church state- just not the one they wanted. Better start brushing up on the Saints, people! A few tips: St. Jude is the Patron Saint of lost causes; St. Thomas More the Patron Saint of politicians; and Saint Nicholas the Patron Saint of Thieves might be ones worth starting. 

[Mela99]

Raging lunacy. Absolutely raging.
I cannot understand this level of extremism. You want no wall between the two? That means you get to go back home and shut up and have more babies.

[libgirl2]

6 hours ago, Mela99 said:

Raging lunacy. Absolutely raging.
I cannot understand this level of extremism. You want no wall between the two? That means you get to go back home and shut up and have more babies.

Exactly, she really should if that is what she truly wants. 

[GreyhoundFan]

Dear Bobo -- shut the fuck up:

[ADoyle90815]

On 6/30/2022 at 11:47 AM, AlmostSavedAtTacoBell said:

She might want to be careful in wishing for no separation of church and state.  The SCOTUS justices (I am intentionally choosing not to capitalize it as I feel six of them have lost all credibility and do not deserve that respect) who are voting in the way she likes are either Catholic or were Catholic and now Episcopalian (which was described by one comedian as "Catholic Light- Less Guilt, More Fulfilling".)  If separation of church and state is eliminated and there are enforced religious mandates, it's probably not going to be the kind LBo and her followers want but will likely be of the Catholic variety.  She and her followers may think it will be their church, but if the six are going to go all in on stripping away the Constitution, why would they go the protestant route?  LBo had better start learning how to pray the Rosary and preparing to learn the rules for fasting and abstaining from meat during Lent.  No undercooked pork sliders on Ash Wednesday or Fridays!   

Another thing she should realize is that the Catholic church once burned people at the stake who were of the wrong religion, including Protestants like her.

Edited July 8, 2022 by ADoyle90815

[47of74]

 

[Howl]

 I'll keep saying this -- Boebert is incredibly dangerous, certainly more so than MTG. And she's being groomed and weaponized.  She's a Christian demagogue and an astounding number of our fellow citizens know the notes to the song she's singing. 

 

[Shrubbery]

3 minutes ago, Howl said:

 I'll keep saying this -- Boebert is incredibly dangerous, certainly more so than MTG. And she's being groomed and weaponized.  She's a Christian demagogue and an astounding number of our fellow citizens know the notes to the song she's singing. 

 

I‘m certainly not disputing this, just genuinely curious how you figure Boebert is more dangerous than MTG? To me they both have evil potential enough and I can’t yet see who might have more traction long-term … so I’d love to hear more about your conclusions if you have the time! TIA 🙂

[GreyhoundFan]

Good grief. Suck up to TFG much?

[Howl]

22 hours ago, Shrubbery said:

I‘m certainly not disputing this, just genuinely curious how you figure Boebert is more dangerous than MTG? To me they both have evil potential enough and I can’t yet see who might have more traction long-term … so I’d love to hear more about your conclusions if you have the time!

It's more of an intuition based on what I noted originally.  A red flag is that she has a million dollar + war chest FOR HER PRIMARY, so dark money from some source is funding her.  I expect this to be augmented with more millions for the Nov. election.  The western Colorado portion of her district has a major oil and oil shale component,  typified by a boom - bust cycles.  Big oil wants boom, not bust. 

She's gone full on Dominionist, screaming the already spoken part.  There are a staggering number of fundamentalists/Evangelicals who strongly believe in Dominionism, and that Donald Trump is the tip of the spear for getting to the point where their type of Christianity rules the country. I fully expect her to be elected in November with that agenda. 

The changes in her appearance to be more polished is noteworthy.  Someone is working on that aspect of her presentation for a reason.  It shouldn't be ignored. 

MGT is a howler who's been removed from all of her congressional committees assignments. No reason to put any money behind someone who has zero capacity to put introduce bills or anything else. I'm not sure where MTG is in her primary cycle.  She could get money based on the need to keep her as a placeholder to avoid having a Democrat replace her. 

We need to think back to Palin, who couldn't put a coherent sentence together to save her life.  She ended up being nominated for vice president.  WTAGDF!!!!!  Things have gotten magnitudes crazier since then, so yes, I have "concerns". 

 

 

Edited July 11, 2022 by Howl

[Shrubbery]

Thank you for the explanation, that makes a lot of sense! Especially the financial argument is very convincing  - and also makes you wonder whether whoever is backing her was backing her from the start, or whether they noted her being her, um, lovely self and saw promise. I tend towards the latter, since her arrival on the political scene was rather tumultuous and unpolished, for lack of a better, less classist word.

[Howl]

I think "polishing a turd" may be the phrase you're looking for! 

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

3 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Good grief. Suck up to TFG much?

Aw c'mon LBo, Billy Carter wasn't that bad.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Rep. Lauren Boebert’s gun-themed Shooters Grill closes in Rifle, Colo."

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Shooters Grill, the gun-themed restaurant where the servers packed heat and which helped propel its hard-line conservative owner into the halls of Congress, served its last Swiss & Wesson burger over the weekend in the small Colorado town named, appropriately enough, Rifle.

The Glenwood Springs Post Independent published a story Wednesday that said Rep. Lauren Boebert, the firebrand Republican from Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, had closed her restaurant Sunday. Along with the story, reporter Ray K. Erku snapped a photo outside Shooters Grill. There was a sandwich board blocking the entrance. In chalk, it read: “Thanks for the Support. Stay Tuned. #covfefe.” The last word, of course, was a reference to former president Donald Trump’s famous late-night typo tweet.

News of the restaurant’s closure wasn’t a surprise. Boebert had told reporters in June that the building’s new owners decided not to renew her lease. Records from Garfield County, where Rifle is located, indicate the building that housed Shooters was sold May 26, two days after the school shooting in Uvalde, Tex., where 19 children and two adults were killed.

The closing was on the same day Boebert went on Fox News and said, “When 9/11 happened, we didn’t ban planes, we secured the cockpit.” The new owner, a company named Milkin Enterprises, shares an address with another local business, the Green Cross Recreational Dispensary, which sells a wide line of flowers, edibles, cartridges and other THC and CBD products.

The owners of Milkin Enterprises, Mike Miller and Dan Meskin, have not provided many clues as to why they gave Boebert and Shooters Grill the boot. They have declined interviews. The Washington Post called the Rifle dispensary (and its sister location in Silt, Colo.), looking for the owners. The Post also emailed an account for Meskin found in public records. Neither Miller nor Meskin responded.

But when the news of Shooters Grill’s potential closing emerged, the Daily Beast reported that a “person familiar with the arrangement said the property manager felt he had a ‘moral’ imperative to close the business.” The same story also said Boebert had dismissed the idea that the new owners, one of whom is the son of the previous landlord, were politically motivated to shut down her business. Boebert’s office did not respond to a message requesting comment on the closing.

Whatever the reason, the western restaurant has ridden off into the sunset after a nearly 10-year run.

“We were like a family,” Boebert told Erku with the Post Independent. “I would say Shooters, for any employee, was their life. We lived and breathed it every single day. They were a part of this culture and brand that we created in Rifle, and there was a lot of pride with that.”

Shooters opened in 2013 in a location across the street from the current one. The grill looked like a saloon straight out of central casting. The floors were hardwood, the walls decorated with rifles, knotty pine wood, a cross, pro-gun signs and American flags, including one that had the Pledge of Allegiance printed on it. A sign was placed in the front window, announcing the restaurant’s position on open carry and positioning itself as a safe place for the MAGA crowd.

“WARNING,” the sign read in all caps, “THIS IS NOT A GUN FREE ZONE.”

A scroll through the restaurant’s Yelp page photos proves that point: Numerous patrons have taken pictures inside the dining room, or outside the grill, their hands hovering over a pistol strapped to their hip, as if ready for a quick draw. The servers, frequently young women in T-shirts and denim shorts, also carried firearms, which probably explains why numerous journalists dubbed Shooters Grill a Hooters parody for Second Amendment die-hards.

Its menu borrowed the language from weapons manufacturers, the National Rifle Association and middle America, often twisting words into food-related puns. The restaurant sold Guac Nine and Swiss & Wesson burgers. It offered a Ruger Reuben. Appetizers were listed under the heading of “Target Practice.” The kids menu was dubbed Lil Slingers. There was a prayer to “Father God” at the bottom of the menu.

The God-and-guns message would carry over into Boebert’s political career when she was elected to Congress in 2020. She has been a staunch advocate for gun ownership, rejecting any calls for bans or controls, even after mass shootings. When she started her first term in the House, Boebert said she would carry her Glock pistol on Capitol grounds and in Washington, even though D.C. gun laws do not recognize concealed-carry licenses from other states.

She created a stir last month at a religious service in Colorado when she said: “I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk that’s not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter, and it means nothing like what they say it does.” Experts called her interpretation of the Constitution false and “dangerous.”

A photo on the business’s Yelp page shows a plaque that was dedicated to the opening of Shooters Grill on May 22, 2013. It features a quote from Proverbs, in script that mixes cursive with all caps: “Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.”

Shooters, however, struggled over the course of its existence. According to one public disclosure statement filed by Boebert, Shooters lost more than $242,000 in 2018. The Daily Beast reported that public disclosures indicated that Shooters had lost “more than $600,000 in total between 2018 and 2020.” The restaurant also had accumulated nearly $20,000 of unpaid unemployment insurance premiums, which Boebert reportedly paid off days before the general election in 2020. Shooters also reportedly sickened dozens of people at a rodeo with its pork sliders.

Despite the hardships and the fact that she easily won her Republican primary in June, Boebert has not given up on Shooters. She told the Post Independent that she and her husband, Jayson, have been praying about the business’s future.

“We would just dramatically scale it back, because, obviously, we’re not in our building,” she told the publication. “It may look like a Shooters coffee shop with pastries and some easy breakfast sandwiches and merchandise.”