alternet--2020-12-27--Ralph Nader: Serial lawbreaker Trump and future presidents can't be allowed to brazenly undermine th

Ralph Nader: Serial lawbreaker Trump and future presidents can't be allowed to brazenly undermine the rule of law

Serial lawbreaker Donald J. Trump is embarking on the most sordid presidential pardon spree in American history .
He has already pardoned convicted crooks , thieves , and violent outlaws .
Trump 's pardon lawyers are frantically assembling more MAGA besotted individuals and groups to be pardoned wholesale .
The number may climb into the hundreds .
The queue is long .
Trump corruptly doles out pardons to spite his list of archenemies and to reward his sycophants as many people are pleading with Trump for pardons .
( For a partial list of Trump pardons see here . )
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ absolute power to pardon , including family members and himself .
He is wrong .
No constitutional right or power is pursued at all costs .
All have limits .
The power to pardon is limited at least by prohibitions on bribery , witness tampering , obstruction of justice , and the 400-year honored maxim that `` no man can be a judge in his own case . ''
Further , the Constitution 's framers specifically described corruptly motivated pardons as impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors and specifically authorized criminal prosecution of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The latter would become an overthrow of lawful orders with presidential self-pardons .
No president has displayed the audacity or depravity to self-pardon .
In 1974 , the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department concluded that the president can not self-pardon .
Legal scholars differ on whether pardons must specifically describe the crimes and persons to be pardoned and whether the beneficiary must confess guilt .
Trump 's cynical pardons could provoke Congress and the courts to set procedural and substantive limits .
President Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to avoid impeachment and conviction for defying a congressional subpoena , obstruction of justice , and misuse of government agencies .
On September 8 , 1974 , in broad and sweeping language , Ford declared that pursuant to Article II Section 2 of the Constitution `` I … do grant a full , free , and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he , Richard Nixon , has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20 , 1969 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nixon 's pardon was never challenged for non-specific descriptions of the pardoned offenses .
Thus far , of the over 60 pardons or commutations issued by Trump , the vast majority of recipients have featured a personal connection or political affinity .
President Jimmy Carter , on January 21 , 1977 , pardoned violators of the draft laws , known as draft resisters , many of whom fled to Canada .
He granted `` a full , complete and unconditional pardon '' to `` all persons who may have committed any offense between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 28 , 1973 , in violation of the Military Selective Service Act or any rule or regulation promulgated thereunder . ''
He included in this pardon `` all persons heretofore convicted , '' of any such offense , `` restoring to them full political , civil and other rights . ''
Excluded , however , were all persons `` convicted of or who may have committed any offense involving force or violence . ''
President Carter specified the offense but did not name the thousands of Americans pardoned .
He simply established a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ obtain a certificate of pardon .
With four weeks of Trump 's tenure remaining , rumors of what he could or should do are multiplying .
Will he pardon all inmates in federal prisons convicted of nonviolent marijuana or other drug offenses ?
Will he pardon a wide network of people who could otherwise be compelled to testify against him ?
Will he pardon former business associates or future business partners of all federal offenses ?
( He can not pardon for state offenses . )
Trump can issue anticipatory pardons before an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Thus far , of the over 60 pardons or commutations issued by Trump , the vast majority of recipients have featured a personal connection or political affinity .
Speculation has centered on pardons for Edward Snowden or Julian Assange to leaven Trump 's overt favoritism .
Trump 's corruptly motivated pardons will continue until President-elect Joe Biden 's inauguration .
He will probably refrain from resigning in favor of Vice President Pence in exchange for a pardon for himself and family members .
The stench of bribery would be too great .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ chronicle of statutory criminal and constitutional violations ( See : December 18 , 2019 , Congressional Record , H-12197 and many past articles by writers on Trump 's lawbreaking ) , Trump will give both the Congress and the courts great incentive to set specific limits on the pardon power .
Trump and future presidents can not be allowed to brazenly dishonor justice and undermine the rule of law .
Congressional abdication and public indifference will pave the way for the kind of monarchical power so resolutely dreaded by our Constitution 's framers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and repudiate tyranny .
Unless resisted by a resolute , aroused citizenry .

Serial lawbreaker Donald J. Trump is embarking on the most sordid presidential pardon spree in American history. He has already pardoned convicted crooks, thieves, and violent outlaws. Trump's pardon lawyers are frantically assembling more MAGA besotted individuals and groups to be pardoned wholesale. The number may climb into the hundreds. The queue is long. Trump corruptly doles out pardons to spite his list of archenemies and to reward his sycophants as many people are pleading with Trump for pardons. (For a partial list of Trump pardons see here.)
Trump thrills at what he considers his absolute power to pardon, including family members and himself. He is wrong. No constitutional right or power is pursued at all costs. All have limits. The power to pardon is limited at least by prohibitions on bribery, witness tampering, obstruction of justice, and the 400-year honored maxim that "no man can be a judge in his own case." Further, the Constitution's framers specifically described corruptly motivated pardons as impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors and specifically authorized criminal prosecution of the President after impeachment and removal from office. The latter would become an overthrow of lawful orders with presidential self-pardons.
No president has displayed the audacity or depravity to self-pardon. In 1974, the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department concluded that the president cannot self-pardon.
Legal scholars differ on whether pardons must specifically describe the crimes and persons to be pardoned and whether the beneficiary must confess guilt. Trump's cynical pardons could provoke Congress and the courts to set procedural and substantive limits.
President Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon in the aftermath of his resignation to avoid impeachment and conviction for defying a congressional subpoena, obstruction of justice, and misuse of government agencies. On September 8, 1974, in broad and sweeping language, Ford declared that pursuant to Article II Section 2 of the Constitution "I … do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969, through August 9, 1974." Nixon's pardon was never challenged for non-specific descriptions of the pardoned offenses.
Thus far, of the over 60 pardons or commutations issued by Trump, the vast majority of recipients have featured a personal connection or political affinity.
President Jimmy Carter, on January 21, 1977, pardoned violators of the draft laws, known as draft resisters, many of whom fled to Canada. He granted "a full, complete and unconditional pardon" to "all persons who may have committed any offense between August 4, 1964, and March 28, 1973, in violation of the Military Selective Service Act or any rule or regulation promulgated thereunder." He included in this pardon "all persons heretofore convicted," of any such offense, "restoring to them full political, civil and other rights." Excluded, however, were all persons "convicted of or who may have committed any offense involving force or violence."
President Carter specified the offense but did not name the thousands of Americans pardoned. He simply established a Justice Department procedure for the beneficiaries to obtain a certificate of pardon.
With four weeks of Trump's tenure remaining, rumors of what he could or should do are multiplying. Will he pardon all inmates in federal prisons convicted of nonviolent marijuana or other drug offenses? Will he pardon a wide network of people who could otherwise be compelled to testify against him? Will he pardon former business associates or future business partners of all federal offenses? (He cannot pardon for state offenses.)
Trump can issue anticipatory pardons before an individual is formally charged with a crime.
Thus far, of the over 60 pardons or commutations issued by Trump, the vast majority of recipients have featured a personal connection or political affinity. Speculation has centered on pardons for Edward Snowden or Julian Assange to leaven Trump's overt favoritism.
Trump's corruptly motivated pardons will continue until President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration. He will probably refrain from resigning in favor of Vice President Pence in exchange for a pardon for himself and family members. The stench of bribery would be too great.
In the final days of his four-year chronicle of statutory criminal and constitutional violations (See: December 18, 2019, Congressional Record, H-12197 and many past articles by writers on Trump's lawbreaking), Trump will give both the Congress and the courts great incentive to set specific limits on the pardon power.
Trump and future presidents cannot be allowed to brazenly dishonor justice and undermine the rule of law.
Congressional abdication and public indifference will pave the way for the kind of monarchical power so resolutely dreaded by our Constitution's framers who fought to defeat King George III and repudiate tyranny. Unless resisted by a resolute, aroused citizenry.


alternet--2020-12-27--Here's a breakdown of all 126 seditious Republicans who signed on for a coup d'état

When Texas sued to overturn four other states ' election results in the hopes of installing illegitimate , two-time popular vote loser , and white supremacist mediocrity Donald Trump into a second presidential term , they exposed how many elected officials are straight-up wannabe oligarchs .
The fact that even in the upside-down world we are living in , with the hijacked ultra conservative Supreme Court in place , most everybody knew there was little chance of the Supreme Court stepping in and hearing the case , which should tip one off to how far afield this maneuver is .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ most people would rather not put their name on since it is the sort of thing people should go to jail for—if laws concerning sedition and treason are real laws .
Many of the people on this list came into office during the tea party wave of 2010 .
If you do n't remember what the tea party is , it 's sort of like if you looked at the American Revolution for independence and democracy and your takeaway was … being a racist asshole .
Another way to look at it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the United States and boiled it down to … being a racist asshole .
Let 's make sure we remember the 126 fascists who signed on for this attack on American democracy , and maybe even learn a smidgen more about them and their histories of being terrible people .
A tip of the hat goes to community members republicinsanity and Carmeninvermont—republicinsanity for the Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day series that is frequently sourced here , and Carmeninvermont for the easy-to-read and understand list of GOP anti-democracy Republicans who want to overthrow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up the most mediocre man in American history .
Here is a nice list of the 126 Republican officials who whether charged with sedition and treason or not , are guilty of trying to , at the very least , thwart the will of the American people and overturn our democratically elected president : Mike Johnson of Louisiana 's 4th Congressional District made small headlines this past summer when his attempts to `` gotcha '' assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland Aaron Zelinsky for not appearing in person during a pandemic blew up in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a newborn at home , explained that he had spoken with his family 's doctor and they thought potentially exposing the newborn to a pandemic was n't a good move .
Gary Palmer of Alabama 's 6th Congressional District is one of those conservative think tankers whose big ideas include : attacking same sex marriage and nonbinary public restrooms .
Big thinker .
Steve Scalise of Louisiana 's 1st Congressional District is a storied hypocrite and swamp creature of epic proportions .
Jim Jordan of Ohio 's 4th Congressional District is a person @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he has built a career on his ability to ignore some of the most heinous crimes happening under his watch .
Jordan 's act of sedition comes down lower on his list of sins than most others on this list .
Ralph Abraham of Louisiana 's 5th Congressional District is a shoot from the hip bigot with ideas that were last considered fresh in 1770 .
Rick W. Allen of Georgia 's 12th Congressional District has one truly great claim to fame , he `` disgusted '' some Republicans once upon a time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Different times .
Different times .
James R. Baird of Indiana 's 4th Congressional District was attacked with an insensitive and offensive mailer , by an out of state conservative super PAC in 2018 , during his Republican primary .
He seemed pretty offended at the time , but I guess he 's decided to let all of that go in order to overthrow the government .
Jim Banks of Indiana 's 3rd Congressional District spent the early weeks of the global pandemic to help pen a nonbonding resolution blaming China for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to help Americans .
Jack Bergman of Michigan 's 1st Congressional District blamed the press for the domestic terrorist shooting that injured Rep. Steve Scalise .
Andy Biggs of Arizona 's 5th Congressional District did n't go so far as to call Democrats who did n't applaud during Donald Trump 's State of the Union `` treasonous '' but did believe they were `` disrespectful '' and that they might have to answer to God .
He 's also had to leave public events after being booed offstage for saying that climate change @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Florida 's 12th Congressional District came into the office he sort of inherited from his father .
He 's been a good anti-women 's rights Republican since 2006 and pretty much does what he 's told to do .
And he 's in Florida where Republicans tell you to do the real bottom of the barrel stuff .
Dan Bishop of North Carolina 's 9th Congressional District came into office after actual election fraudster Republican Mark Harris had to step away due to controversy over … election fraud .
Bishop is best @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` bathroom bill . ''
Mike Bost of Illinois 's 12th Congressional District is famously prone to outrageous outbursts .
He 's also known for cowering away from constituents when asked about his attempts to rip away millions of people 's health insurance .
Kevin Brady of Texas 's 8th Congressional District was that diminutive bald white guy that got a nice grin going in the Rose garden for when the Republican Party gave away billions to the rich in their tax scam .
That 's his great achievement .
Mo Brooks of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hitler 's Mein Kampf on the floor of the House in a twisted attempt to skewer the Democratic officials over their pursuit of an investigation into Trump 's campaign ties to Russia .
He did this on the heels of calling for the National Guard to `` be allowed to use whatever force is necessary to secure that border . ''
Ken Buck of Colorado 's 4th Congressional District has faced questions over whether he pressured another party official to submit incorrect election results and then blew through some RNC money to make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a scumbag is offensive to bags filled with scum .
Ted Budd of North Carolina 's 13th Congressional District is one of the Republicans who signed on to this bit of treason while in quarantine , after announcing he had tested positive for COVID-19 .
Tim Burchett of Tennessee 's 2nd Congressional District believes in Bigfoot and eating roadkill instead of providing better social services .
Michael C. Burgess of Texas 's 26th Congressional District is the kind of guy that called for President Barack Obama to be impeached over Benghazi and then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ impeached for his law breaking and corruption-filled campaign .
Bradley Byrne of Alabama 's 1st Congressional District took time away from releasing racist attack ads to sign on for fascism !
Ken Calvert of California 's 42nd Congressional District is a famous `` family values '' hypocrite ( see busted with pants around his ankles , with a sex worker who was not his wife ) .
Earl L. `` Buddy '' Carter of Georgia 's 1st Congressional District .
I could n't find much on Buddy , but I do know that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ben Cline of Virginia 's 6th Congressional District was one of the dozen security threats with feet that breached national security for a hack partisan performance piece , led by Florida man Matt Gaetz .
Michael Cloud of Texas 's 27th Congressional District owes his seat to the fact that repeatedly disgraceful Blake Farenthold had to leave office , and Republicans have successfully repressed the vote in his district .
Mike Conaway of Texas 's 11th Congressional District knows a ton about stealing elections as he famously said , in 2017 , that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had enlisted `` Mexican soap opera stars , singers and entertainers who had immense influence in those communities into Las Vegas , to entertain , get out the vote and so forth .
Those are foreign actors , foreign people , influencing the vote in Nevada . ''
Rick Crawford of Arkansas 's 1st Congressional District is maybe best known for his opposition to taking down Confederate monuments saying it was akin to Holocaust denialism and would lead to the closure of Holocaust museums .
There 's not much else to say about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2nd Congressional District is a dirtbag who lies and pretends he is n't just a groveling McConnell follower .
Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida 's 25th Congressional District has the distinction of being the first member of Congress to test positive for COVID-19 .
He will also be remembered as one of those Republicans who refused to speak to Donald Trump 's describing countries as `` shitholes . ''
Courage is something these men do not have .
Jeff Duncan of South Carolina 's 3rd Congressional District has enjoyed trying , and failing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , by attempting to have it legislated out of being collected .
Too much thinking for Mr. Duncan , I guess .
Neal P. Dunn of Florida 's 2nd Congressional District has made sure to tell news outlets how worried he was and is for children separated from their loved ones due to Trump and the Republican Party 's zero tolerance immigration policies .
Not surprisingly , he 's done absolutely nothing to fix this inhumane practice .
Tom Emmer of Minnesota 's 6th Congressional District has complained about constituents wanting stuff like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vain to weaken the Endangered Species Act .
He 's never been particularly interested in a Democracy and does n't plan on starting now .
Ron Estes of Kansas 's 4th Congressional District literally walked in a swamp in the hopes of riding his way through a tight election .
Sadly , Estes never left that swamp , he seems to have just grown gills .
Drew Ferguson of Georgia 's 3rd Congressional District has a social media team that ca n't tell the difference between World War II American soldiers and Nazis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tennessee 's 3rd Congressional District is the kind of guy that takes a question about the many outrageous attacks made publicly by Donald Trump and answers it by blaming Nancy Pelosi for being mean .
But in Fleischmann 's defense , he 's been peddling the election fraud fantasy publicly , with zero evidence , since his lord and liege Trump told him to .
Bill Flores of Texas 's 17th Congressional District has made sure to point out that he would ignore the calls from his constituents in regards to Trump 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claims that same sex marriage led to civil unrest in Baltimore .
The civil unrest in Baltimore connected to the death of Freddie Gray in police custody and the lack of justice he ultimately received .
Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska 's 1st Congressional District got off his high horse to finally openly expose himself as the right-wing , batshit bananas hack that he 's always been and pretended not to be .
Virginia Foxx of North Carolina 's 5th Congressional District took time away from analogizing the regulation of for-profit colleges with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fascism and overthrow our Democracy .
She also once tried to argue that the murder of Matthew Shepard was not a hate crime .
In fact , she said the premise was a `` hoax . ''
Russ Fulcher of Idaho 's 1st Congressional District is a climate denier … as of 2018 .
He also claims that God wants Idahoians to mine the ground and log away the trees in the state .
Matt Gaetz of Florida 's 1st Congressional District is this guy .
What can be said about Matt Gaetz @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the soles of Donald Trump and Sean Hannity 's tiny shoes ?
Greg Gianforte , governor-elect of Montana , assaulted a reporter for asking tough questions and then lied about it to police .
Bob Gibbs of Ohio 's 7th Congressional District is the classic overly emotional conservative white male politician that uses hyperbole but demands that people take that incongruous hyperbole as fact .
Louie Gohmert of Texas 's 1st Congressional District is an unintelligent person but he is also a relatively powerful and disturbingly racist and unintelligent person .
Lance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been in the pocket of a Texas hotelier for years and owes most of his financial support to him .
In fact , Gooden is in business with millionaire Monty Bennett and it seems that Bennett is the only person in the state of Texas that Gooden feels he needs to answer to .
Gooden 's one claim to fame over the past couple of years was coming up with a plan to DNA test all new immigrants at the border , something that is problematic for about 1 million reasons .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ District is the kind of guy that runs on homophobia .
Mark Green of Tennessee 's 7th Congressional District is also a homophobe with a history of trying to create laws that would allow for the wholesale discrimination of LGBTQ folks in businesses throughout the Volunteer State .
Michael Guest of Mississippi 's 3rd Congressional District is on the House Committee on Ethics .
Drink that in : a guy that signed on for a coup d'etat represents Republican ethics in the House .
Guest is also a supporter of Confederate fashion-lover and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Harris of Maryland 's 1st Congressional District is a person who ran on a campaign against the Affordable Healthcare Act and then demanded to know why his government-sponsored healthcare did n't take effect until after one month in office .
And his dad was a Nazi-supporter—not like a neo-Nazi supporter , but an actual Germany during World War II Nazi supporter .
Hubris is too nice a word for what Andy Harris is about .
Vicky Hartzler of Missouri 's 4th Congressional District is really most famous for being an anti-gay activist .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ fame ?
Kevin Hern of Oklahoma 's 1st Congressional District is directly connected to arguably the single most corrupt official in recent Oklahoma history , Scott Pruitt .
He 's also been a big promoter of superspreader COVID-19 events .
Clay Higgins of Louisiana 's 3rd Congressional District is a former Louisiana police officer who lost his job for what would be considered criminal behavior if he had n't been on the unjust side of the thin blue line .
He 's also a scary racist fascist who believes in authoritarian rule .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ District believes that the hundreds of thousands of Americans dead from COVID-19 are the `` lesser of these two evils . ''
The other evil in that sentence is `` our way of life as Americans . ''
Richard Hudson of North Carolina 's 8th Congressional District is your run-of-the-mill , anti-women 's rights , Obama birther conspiracy theorist , demands drug testing in exchange for food assistance Republican .
Bill Huizenga of Michigan 's 2nd Congressional District has been investigated for corruption and has gone so far as to try and get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with his … corruption .
Bill Johnson of Ohio 's 6th Congressional District is a big Islamophobe GOP official .
That seems to be his main strength .
Like many of the people on this list , Johnson came into office on the ultra-conservative tea party wave of 2010 .
John Joyce of Pennsylvania 's 13th Congressional District is new to the scene , but we now know one thing about his political ideology .
Fred Keller of Pennsylvania 's 12th Congressional District barely understands his own elections , let alone national ones @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Congressional District has been on board this election fraud train since suing to have Black people 's votes in Pennsylvania nullified .
Trent Kelly of Mississippi 's 1st Congressional District gave his in-person seal of approval on the Trump administration 's family separation practices .
Steve King of Iowa 's 4th Congressional District is a lame duck racist who would sign anything so long as the devil told him to .
David Kustoff of Tennessee 's 8th Congressional District 's biggest claim to fame is being a sort of poor man 's Tom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 18th Congressional District took time away from trying to govern women 's bodies with his Bible to sign off on treason !
Doug LaMalfa of California 's 1st Congressional District has been promoting doubt about the Democratic process , with zero evidence , since the beginning of November .
LaMalfa is a mixture of painfully pathetic xenophobia along with quoting the bible to deny climate science .
Doug Lamborn of Colorado 's 5th Congressional District is the guy that continued to force his staff to work in the close proximity of his office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reportedly told his staff not to tell their roommates about COVID-19 symptoms they were having after coming into contact with someone with COVID-19 .
Think about that .
Robert E. Latta of Ohio 's 5th Congressional District has magically increased his wealth while in Washington by a reported 238 % , and while he is n't the wealthiest Ohio Republican , he 's made the biggest jump in wealth since entering office .
Strange !
Debbie Lesko of Arizona 's 8th Congressional District once said that the dozens of sexual assaults alleged against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ promptly forgot all about that as she co-sponsored a bill that would require women to prove to their employers that they took birth control for reasons other than … birth control .
Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri 's 3rd Congressional District 's main function in the Republican Party is to figure out ways to allow payday lenders to launder their money .
Kenny Marchant of Texas 's 24th Congressional District is retiring and throwing democracy under the bus as he walks out the door .
Roger Marshall of Kansas 's 1st Congressional District is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from answering questions and participating in debates while also plagiarizing other people 's campaigns , because he has no ethical standards .
Tom McClintock of California 's 4th Congressional District is the kind of guy that was still hanging out with right-wing criminal and strange lying machine Dinesh D'Souza .
D'Souza is one of those guys that almost makes you feel bad for being a human being .
Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington 's 5th Congressional District is a person that literally said she had made `` protecting those with pre-existing conditions '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in office .
She voted to repeal those very protections nine times—as in one less than 10 times .
Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania 's 9th Congressional District has called the Postal Service 's dismantling by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy a `` fabricated problem being pushed by Democrats . ''
Carol D. Miller of West Virginia 's 3rd Congressional District has the distinction of being the only new woman Republican congressional member in the 2018 blue wave election cycle .
Miller wants to make sure the other fascists in her party know that she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ !
John Moolenaar of Michigan 's 4th Congressional District 's only claim to fame has been to vote against calling Donald Trump 's racist statement against `` the Squad '' racist .
This makes John Moolenaar a racist .
Alex X. Mooney of West Virginia 's 2nd Congressional District was one of the dunderheaded crew of Matt Gaetz-led legislators breaking the law and threatening the country 's national security in the hopes of being on camera Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma 's 2nd Congressional District does n't know how many branches of government there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government works .
He 's clearly not alone in this .
Gregory Murphy of North Carolina 's 3rd Congressional District told the public that the only reason Sen. Kamala Harris was chosen to be Joe Biden 's running mate was because of `` her color and her race . ''
He finished that thought by wondering aloud if this was `` how we pick our leaders now in America ?
? ''
I guess Murphy is hoping that we just pick a white pseudo-billionaire to make important decisions for a majority of people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dan Newhouse of Washington 's 4th Congressional District is one of the many Republican officials that recently contracted COVID-19 .
Ralph Norman of South Carolina 's 5th Congressional District brandished a loaded weapon during a constituent breakfast and placed it on the table in front of people discussing gun safety .
Scott Perry of Pennsylvania 's 10th Congressional District once argued that God , as in the Judeo-Christian deity of the Bible , was an environmental polluter like , say , Duke Energy .
Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania 's 14th Congressional District believes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Minneapolis police means that taxpayers should invest more money into police departments .
He 's also a guy that wrote a forward for an incredibly hate-filled book , and then said he had n't read the book , even though his forward was about reading the writer 's hate-filled work .
U-S-A !
Tom Rice of South Carolina 's 7th Congressional District spent weeks in the state legislature refusing to wear a mask indoors and then announced that he and his wife and his son had all tested positive for COVID-19 .
John @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's big claim to fame was being one of the many Republicans , at different times , to block disaster relief help for Puerto Rico .
David Rouzer of North Carolina 's 7th Congressional District is a Trump defender with all of the general Republican bonafides we have come to expect : tax breaks for the rich , voting against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act , and being a part of the Gaetz impeachment crash party .
John Rutherford of Florida 's 4th Congressional District has frequently been dragged on Twitter for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democratic women of color .
Mike Simpson of Idaho 's 2nd Congressional District took his head from out of his own ass long enough to sign on for fascism .
Adrian Smith of Nebraska 's 3rd Congressional District sort of disappeared on his constituents , just like the rest of the Republican Party during this year 's pandemic .
Jason Smith of Missouri 's 8th Congressional District 's great moment of cleverness was when he attacked the ACA for taxing tanning salons , saying Democrats might as well `` tax the sun .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ tax on women .
Of course , Smith had a long history of attacking women in the legislature by trying to defund Planned Parenthood , as well as attacking children by voting against Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program funds .
Ross Spano of Florida 's 15th Congressional District took time away from his campaign finance scandal , and losing his primary , to support another one-term corrupt politician .
Elise Stefanik of New York 's 21st Congressional District is something of an easily verifiable liar .
Let 's all look forward to the day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , when Stefanik tells a local news reporter that she never supported the wholesale destruction of the democratic process .
Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania 's 15th Congressional District is a big Second Amendment fella who has said things in the past like `` You know , the Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting .
It 's about safety .
If someone is coming into my house in the middle of the night to hurt my family , I want as many bullets as possible . ''
I guess he needs all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ casted votes ?
Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin 's 7th Congressional District knows lots about election fraud and election law violations as he has been tied to all kinds of under-the-table , dirty , and likely illegal tricks to win his position in Wisconsin 's legislature .
William Timmons of South Carolina 's 4th Congressional District is most recently remembered for defending Trump 's racism by saying everybody is being called racist and so nobody is racist .
Trying to get rid of Black Americans ' votes wholesale is a great example of an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thought .
Ann Wagner of Missouri 's 2nd Congressional District is one of the legislators in Congress with the least amount of votes on actual legislation .
I guess she 's lazy ?
She was one of the first Republican officials to stand in front of microphones and tell Americans that based on her high level of knowledge , from `` multiple , multiple briefings at the federal level , '' she knew—as of March 7—that the United States was at a very `` low risk '' of having a COVID-19 pandemic .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ anything but eating oatmeal .
Tim Walberg of Michigan 's 7th Congressional District is one of those `` family values '' Republicans who wants to take away everyone else 's rights using the federal government .
Michael Waltz of Florida 's 6th Congressional District is already having newspapers who endorsed him apologize for supporting sedition .
This is one of those `` never Trumpers '' who very quickly began licking the boots of Donald Trump the moment Trump came into power .
Randy Weber of Texas 's 14th Congressional District replaced Ron Paul @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more that needs to be said .
A second-rate version of Ron Paul , while better than the fifth-rate version of Paul that is Rand , is still worse than having an old can of Tab sitting in a seat and being your representative .
Daniel Webster of Florida 's 11th Congressional District is … so much Florida !
Brad Wenstrup of Ohio 's 2nd Congressional District just followed in the footsteps of Jim `` I-turn-the-other-way-when-being-told-about-the-wholesale-molestation-of-young-people-I'm-supposed-to-be-in-charge-of '' Jordan .
Bruce Westerman of Arkansas 's 4th Congressional District has sat on top of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and shockingly ( read : `` not shockingly '' ) has been a lead sponsor on some super anti-climate , pro-logging bits of legislation that attempt to hand our trees over to private industry for profit .
Roger Williams of Texas ' 25th Congressional District is the guy that tried to pressure a bank to help out his flailing oil investor donor .
Swamp stuff .
Joe Wilson of South Carolina 's 2nd Congressional District loves to vote for American wars but not for healthcare funding for American veterans of said wars .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ He 's also in a district that 's drawn deeply red and acts like the petty little emperor he wants to be .
Rob Wittman of Virginia 's 1st Congressional District was able to fly mostly under the radar for his attempts at profiteering off of the COVID-19 pandemic when he bought into a pharmaceutical company which was producing an antiviral drug that hoped to help with COVID-19 treatments , and at the exact same time emailing his constituents that there was no coronavirus pandemic in the United States , and you did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ You know , like a real piece of shit .
Ron Wright of Texas 's 6th Congressional District is a relatively new congressman , whose views on school mass shootings include calling for public hangings as a solution .
Not working on the gun thing , just hanging people .
Ted S. Yoho of Florida 's 3rd Congressional District is the soon-to-be retiring congressman from Florida who famously `` did n't attend one single deposition '' as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee when Congress was investigating Trump 's Ukrainian bribery @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who , in a confrontation with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez resorted to calling her a `` fucking bitch , '' because his ability to debate matches the size of his courage .
Lee Zeldin of New York 's 1st Congressional District is best known for his intense Islamophobia and his unerring and idiotic support of the Trump administration from Day One .
Remember these ( mostly white ) men ( and a couple of white women ) .
They are the people who hope to be a middle-management fascistic vanguard in an oligarchy for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about any of the people listed above down below in the comments .

When Texas sued to overturn four other states' election results in the hopes of installing illegitimate, two-time popular vote loser, and white supremacist mediocrity Donald Trump into a second presidential term, they exposed how many elected officials are straight-up wannabe oligarchs. The fact that even in the upside-down world we are living in, with the hijacked ultra conservative Supreme Court in place, most everybody knew there was little chance of the Supreme Court stepping in and hearing the case, which should tip one off to how far afield this maneuver is. It's the kind of thing that most people would rather not put their name on since it is the sort of thing people should go to jail for—if laws concerning sedition and treason are real laws.
Many of the people on this list came into office during the tea party wave of 2010. If you don't remember what the tea party is, it's sort of like if you looked at the American Revolution for independence and democracy and your takeaway was … being a racist asshole. Another way to look at it is if you looked at the Civil War in the United States and boiled it down to … being a racist asshole. Let's make sure we remember the 126 fascists who signed on for this attack on American democracy, and maybe even learn a smidgen more about them and their histories of being terrible people. A tip of the hat goes to community members republicinsanity and Carmeninvermont—republicinsanity for the Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day series that is frequently sourced here, and Carmeninvermont for the easy-to-read and understand list of GOP anti-democracy Republicans who want to overthrow our elections process in order to hoist up the most mediocre man in American history.
Here is a nice list of the 126 Republican officials who whether charged with sedition and treason or not, are guilty of trying to, at the very least, thwart the will of the American people and overturn our democratically elected president:
Mike Johnson of Louisiana's 4th Congressional District made small headlines this past summer when his attempts to "gotcha" assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland Aaron Zelinsky for not appearing in person during a pandemic blew up in his face. Zelinsky, who had a newborn at home, explained that he had spoken with his family's doctor and they thought potentially exposing the newborn to a pandemic wasn't a good move.
Gary Palmer of Alabama's 6th Congressional District is one of those conservative think tankers whose big ideas include: attacking same sex marriage and nonbinary public restrooms. Big thinker.
Steve Scalise of Louisiana's 1st Congressional District is a storied hypocrite and swamp creature of epic proportions.
Jim Jordan of Ohio's 4th Congressional District is a person, so cowardly and so craven, he has built a career on his ability to ignore some of the most heinous crimes happening under his watch. Jordan's act of sedition comes down lower on his list of sins than most others on this list.
Ralph Abraham of Louisiana's 5th Congressional District is a shoot from the hip bigot with ideas that were last considered fresh in 1770.
Rick W. Allen of Georgia's 12th Congressional District has one truly great claim to fame, he "disgusted" some Republicans once upon a time by reading anti-LGBTQ passages from the Bible. Different times. Different times.
James R. Baird of Indiana's 4th Congressional District was attacked with an insensitive and offensive mailer, by an out of state conservative super PAC in 2018, during his Republican primary. He seemed pretty offended at the time, but I guess he's decided to let all of that go in order to overthrow the government.
Jim Banks of Indiana's 3rd Congressional District spent the early weeks of the global pandemic to help pen a nonbonding resolution blaming China for COVID-19. That's what he did to help Americans.
Jack Bergman of Michigan's 1st Congressional District blamed the press for the domestic terrorist shooting that injured Rep. Steve Scalise.
Andy Biggs of Arizona's 5th Congressional District didn't go so far as to call Democrats who didn't applaud during Donald Trump's State of the Union "treasonous" but did believe they were "disrespectful" and that they might have to answer to God. He's also had to leave public events after being booed offstage for saying that climate change wasn't settled science.
Gus Bilirakis of Florida's 12th Congressional District came into the office he sort of inherited from his father. He's been a good anti-women's rights Republican since 2006 and pretty much does what he's told to do. And he's in Florida where Republicans tell you to do the real bottom of the barrel stuff.
Dan Bishop of North Carolina's 9th Congressional District came into office after actual election fraudster Republican Mark Harris had to step away due to controversy over … election fraud. Bishop is best known for writing North Carolina's anti-trans "bathroom bill."
Mike Bost of Illinois's 12th Congressional District is famously prone to outrageous outbursts. He's also known for cowering away from constituents when asked about his attempts to rip away millions of people's health insurance.
Kevin Brady of Texas's 8th Congressional District was that diminutive bald white guy that got a nice grin going in the Rose garden for when the Republican Party gave away billions to the rich in their tax scam. That's his great achievement.
Mo Brooks of Alabama's 5th Congressional District read Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampfon the floor of the House in a twisted attempt to skewer the Democratic officials over their pursuit of an investigation into Trump's campaign ties to Russia. He did this on the heels of calling for the National Guard to "be allowed to use whatever force is necessary to secure that border."
Ken Buck of Colorado's 4th Congressional District has faced questions over whether he pressured another party official to submit incorrect election results and then blew through some RNC money to make that fraud work. To call Buck a scumbag is offensive to bags filled with scum.
Ted Budd of North Carolina's 13th Congressional District is one of the Republicans who signed on to this bit of treason while in quarantine, after announcing he had tested positive for COVID-19.
Tim Burchett of Tennessee's 2nd Congressional District believes in Bigfoot and eating roadkill instead of providing better social services.
Michael C. Burgess of Texas's 26th Congressional District is the kind of guy that called for President Barack Obama to be impeached over Benghazi and then became suspiciously silent when Donald Trump was impeached for his law breaking and corruption-filled campaign.
Bradley Byrne of Alabama's 1st Congressional District took time away from releasing racist attack ads to sign on for fascism!
Ken Calvert of California's 42nd Congressional District is a famous "family values" hypocrite (see busted with pants around his ankles, with a sex worker who was not his wife).
Earl L. "Buddy" Carter of Georgia's 1st Congressional District. I couldn't find much on Buddy, but I do know that he doesn't believe in democracy.
Ben Cline of Virginia's 6th Congressional District was one of the dozen security threats with feet that breached national security for a hack partisan performance piece, led by Florida man Matt Gaetz.
Michael Cloud of Texas's 27th Congressional District owes his seat to the fact that repeatedly disgraceful Blake Farenthold had to leave office, and Republicans have successfully repressed the vote in his district.
Mike Conaway of Texas's 11th Congressional District knows a ton about stealing elections as he famously said, in 2017, that Democratic Sen. Harry Reid and other Democrats had enlisted "Mexican soap opera stars, singers and entertainers who had immense influence in those communities into Las Vegas, to entertain, get out the vote and so forth. Those are foreign actors, foreign people, influencing the vote in Nevada."
Rick Crawford of Arkansas's 1st Congressional District is maybe best known for his opposition to taking down Confederate monuments saying it was akin to Holocaust denialism and would lead to the closure of Holocaust museums. There's not much else to say about that.
Dan Crenshaw of Texas's 2nd Congressional District is a dirtbag who lies and pretends he isn't just a groveling McConnell follower.
Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida's 25th Congressional District has the distinction of being the first member of Congress to test positive for COVID-19. He will also be remembered as one of those Republicans who refused to speak to Donald Trump's describing countries as "shitholes." Courage is something these men do not have.
Jeff Duncan of South Carolina's 3rd Congressional District has enjoyed trying, and failing, to do away with important census data, by attempting to have it legislated out of being collected. Too much thinking for Mr. Duncan, I guess.
Neal P. Dunn of Florida's 2nd Congressional District has made sure to tell news outlets how worried he was and is for children separated from their loved ones due to Trump and the Republican Party's zero tolerance immigration policies. Not surprisingly, he's done absolutely nothing to fix this inhumane practice.
Tom Emmer of Minnesota's 6th Congressional District has complained about constituents wanting stuff like healthcare protections and he's tried in vain to weaken the Endangered Species Act. He's never been particularly interested in a Democracy and doesn't plan on starting now.
Ron Estes of Kansas's 4th Congressional District literally walked in a swamp in the hopes of riding his way through a tight election. Sadly, Estes never left that swamp, he seems to have just grown gills.
Drew Ferguson of Georgia's 3rd Congressional District has a social media team that can't tell the difference between World War II American soldiers and Nazis. True story!
Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District is the kind of guy that takes a question about the many outrageous attacks made publicly by Donald Trump and answers it by blaming Nancy Pelosi for being mean. But in Fleischmann's defense, he's been peddling the election fraud fantasy publicly, with zero evidence, since his lord and liege Trump told him to.
Bill Flores of Texas's 17th Congressional District has made sure to point out that he would ignore the calls from his constituents in regards to Trump's problematic relationship with Russia and instead make claims that same sex marriage led to civil unrest in Baltimore. The civil unrest in Baltimore connected to the death of Freddie Gray in police custody and the lack of justice he ultimately received.
Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska's 1st Congressional District got off his high horse to finally openly expose himself as the right-wing, batshit bananas hack that he's always been and pretended not to be.
Virginia Foxx of North Carolina's 5th Congressional District took time away from analogizing the regulation of for-profit colleges with the Holocaust to practice some good old Nazi fascism and overthrow our Democracy. She also once tried to argue that the murder of Matthew Shepard was not a hate crime. In fact, she said the premise was a "hoax."
Russ Fulcher of Idaho's 1st Congressional District is a climate denier … as of 2018. He also claims that God wants Idahoians to mine the ground and log away the trees in the state.
Matt Gaetz of Florida's 1st Congressional District is this guy. What can be said about Matt Gaetz that hasn't been written in excrement on the soles of Donald Trump and Sean Hannity's tiny shoes?
Greg Gianforte, governor-elect of Montana, assaulted a reporter for asking tough questions and then lied about it to police.
Bob Gibbs of Ohio's 7th Congressional District is the classic overly emotional conservative white male politician that uses hyperbole but demands that people take that incongruous hyperbole as fact.
Louie Gohmert of Texas's 1st Congressional District is an unintelligent person but he is also a relatively powerful and disturbingly racist and unintelligent person.
Lance Gooden of Texas's 5th Congressional District has been in the pocket of a Texas hotelier for years and owes most of his financial support to him. In fact, Gooden is in business with millionaire Monty Bennett and it seems that Bennett is the only person in the state of Texas that Gooden feels he needs to answer to. Gooden's one claim to fame over the past couple of years was coming up with a plan to DNA test all new immigrants at the border, something that is problematic for about 1 million reasons.
Sam Graves of Missouri's 6th Congressional District is the kind of guy that runs on homophobia.
Mark Green of Tennessee's 7th Congressional District is also a homophobe with a history of trying to create laws that would allow for the wholesale discrimination of LGBTQ folks in businesses throughout the Volunteer State.
Michael Guest of Mississippi's 3rd Congressional District is on the House Committee on Ethics. Drink that in: a guy that signed on for a coup d'etat represents Republican ethics in the House. Guest is also a supporter of Confederate fashion-lover and general old-timey racist Cindy Hyde-Smith.
Andy Harris of Maryland's 1st Congressional District is a person who ran on a campaign against the Affordable Healthcare Act and then demanded to know why his government-sponsored healthcare didn't take effect until after one month in office. And his dad was a Nazi-supporter—not like a neo-Nazi supporter, but an actual Germany during World War II Nazi supporter. Hubris is too nice a word for what Andy Harris is about.
Vicky Hartzler of Missouri's 4th Congressional District is really most famous for being an anti-gay activist. Imagine if that was your claim to fame?
Kevin Hern of Oklahoma's 1st Congressional District is directly connected to arguably the single most corrupt official in recent Oklahoma history, Scott Pruitt. He's also been a big promoter of superspreader COVID-19 events.
Clay Higgins of Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District is a former Louisiana police officer who lost his job for what would be considered criminal behavior if he hadn't been on the unjust side of the thin blue line. He's also a scary racist fascist who believes in authoritarian rule.
Trey Hollingsworth of Indiana's 9th Congressional District believes that the hundreds of thousands of Americans dead from COVID-19 are the "lesser of these two evils."The other evil in that sentence is "our way of life as Americans."
Richard Hudson of North Carolina's 8th Congressional District is your run-of-the-mill, anti-women's rights, Obama birther conspiracy theorist, demands drug testing in exchange for food assistance Republican.
Bill Huizenga of Michigan's 2nd Congressional District has been investigated for corruption and has gone so far as to try and get rid of corruption laws that might conflict with his … corruption.
Bill Johnson of Ohio's 6th Congressional District is a big Islamophobe GOP official. That seems to be his main strength. Like many of the people on this list, Johnson came into office on the ultra-conservative tea party wave of 2010.
John Joyce of Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District is new to the scene, but we now know one thing about his political ideology.
Fred Keller of Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District barely understands his own elections, let alone national ones.
Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District has been on board this election fraud train since suing to have Black people's votes in Pennsylvania nullified.
Trent Kelly of Mississippi's 1st Congressional District gave his in-person seal of approval on the Trump administration's family separation practices.
Steve Kingof Iowa's 4th Congressional District is a lame duck racist who would sign anything so long as the devil told him to.
David Kustoff of Tennessee's 8th Congressional District's biggest claim to fame is being a sort of poor man's Tom Cotton.
Darin LaHood of Illinois's 18th Congressional District took time away from trying to govern women's bodies with his Bible to sign off on treason!
Doug LaMalfa of California's 1st Congressional District has been promoting doubt about the Democratic process, with zero evidence, since the beginning of November. LaMalfa is a mixture of painfully pathetic xenophobia along with quoting the bible to deny climate science.
Doug Lamborn of Colorado's 5th Congressional District is the guy that continued to force his staff to work in the close proximity of his office during the current pandemic, and then reportedly told his staff not to tell their roommates about COVID-19 symptoms they were having after coming into contact with someone with COVID-19. Think about that.
Robert E. Latta of Ohio's 5th Congressional District has magically increased his wealth while in Washington by a reported 238%, and while he isn't the wealthiest Ohio Republican, he's made the biggest jump in wealth since entering office. Strange!
Debbie Lesko of Arizona's 8th Congressional District once said that the dozens of sexual assaults alleged against Donald Trump should be investigated and then promptly forgot all about that as she co-sponsored a bill that would require women to prove to their employers that they took birth control for reasons other than … birth control.
Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri's 3rd Congressional District's main function in the Republican Party is to figure out ways to allow payday lenders to launder their money.
Kenny Marchant of Texas's 24th Congressional District is retiring and throwing democracy under the bus as he walks out the door.
Roger Marshall of Kansas's 1st Congressional District is the kind of guy that runs away from answering questions and participating in debates while also plagiarizing other people's campaigns, because he has no ethical standards.
Tom McClintock of California's 4th Congressional District is the kind of guy that was still hanging out with right-wing criminal and strange lying machine Dinesh D'Souza. D'Souza is one of those guys that almost makes you feel bad for being a human being.
Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington's 5th Congressional District is a person that literally said she had made "protecting those with pre-existing conditions" a "priority" during her time in office. She voted to repeal those very protections nine times—as in one less than 10 times.
Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania's 9th Congressional District has called the Postal Service's dismantling by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy a "fabricated problem being pushed by Democrats."
Carol D. Miller of West Virginia's 3rd Congressional District has the distinction of being the only new woman Republican congressional member in the 2018 blue wave election cycle. Miller wants to make sure the other fascists in her party know that she, too, can be a fascist!
John Moolenaar of Michigan's 4th Congressional District's only claim to fame has been to vote against calling Donald Trump's racist statement against "the Squad" racist. This makes John Moolenaar a racist.
Alex X. Mooney of West Virginia's 2nd Congressional District was one of the dunderheaded crew of Matt Gaetz-led legislators breaking the law and threatening the country's national security in the hopes of being on camera
Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma's 2nd Congressional District doesn't know how many branches of government there are, nor does he understand how government works. He's clearly not alone in this.
Gregory Murphy of North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District told the public that the only reason Sen. Kamala Harris was chosen to be Joe Biden's running mate was because of "her color and her race." He finished that thought by wondering aloud if this was "how we pick our leaders now in America??" I guess Murphy is hoping that we just pick a white pseudo-billionaire to make important decisions for a majority of people that do not want him to?
Dan Newhouse of Washington's 4th Congressional District is one of the many Republican officials that recently contracted COVID-19.
Ralph Norman of South Carolina's 5th Congressional District brandished a loaded weapon during a constituent breakfast and placed it on the table in front of people discussing gun safety.
Scott Perry of Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District once argued that God, as in the Judeo-Christian deity of the Bible, was an environmental polluter like, say, Duke Energy.
Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania's 14th Congressional District believes that the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police means that taxpayers should invest more money into police departments. He's also a guy that wrote a forward for an incredibly hate-filled book, and then said he hadn't read the book, even though his forward was about reading the writer's hate-filled work. U-S-A!
Tom Rice of South Carolina's 7th Congressional District spent weeks in the state legislature refusing to wear a mask indoors and then announced that he and his wife and his son had all tested positive for COVID-19.
John Rose of Tennessee's 6th Congressional District's big claim to fame was being one of the many Republicans, at different times, to block disaster relief help for Puerto Rico.
David Rouzer of North Carolina's 7th Congressional District is a Trump defender with all of the general Republican bonafides we have come to expect: tax breaks for the rich, voting against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, and being a part of the Gaetz impeachment crash party.
John Rutherford of Florida's 4th Congressional District has frequently been dragged on Twitter for the most racist and idiotic attacks on Democratic women of color.
Austin Scott of Georgia's 8th Congressional District recently tested positive for COVID-19.
Mike Simpson of Idaho's 2nd Congressional District took his head from out of his own ass long enough to sign on for fascism.
Adrian Smith of Nebraska's 3rd Congressional District sort of disappeared on his constituents, just like the rest of the Republican Party during this year's pandemic.
Jason Smith of Missouri's 8th Congressional District's great moment of cleverness was when he attacked the ACA for taxing tanning salons, saying Democrats might as well "tax the sun." He also spun it as a tax on women. Of course, Smith had a long history of attacking women in the legislature by trying to defund Planned Parenthood, as well as attacking children by voting against Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program funds.
Ross Spano of Florida's 15th Congressional District took time away from his campaign finance scandal, and losing his primary, to support another one-term corrupt politician.
Elise Stefanik of New York's 21st Congressional District is something of an easily verifiable liar. Let's all look forward to the day, likely a few weeks from now, when Stefanik tells a local news reporter that she never supported the wholesale destruction of the democratic process.
Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania's 15th Congressional District is a big Second Amendment fella who has said things in the past like "You know, the Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting. It's about safety. If someone is coming into my house in the middle of the night to hurt my family, I want as many bullets as possible." I guess he needs all the bullets to shoot holes in Democratically casted votes?
Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District knows lots about election fraud and election law violations as he has been tied to all kinds of under-the-table, dirty, and likely illegal tricks to win his position in Wisconsin's legislature.
William Timmons of South Carolina's 4th Congressional District is most recently remembered for defending Trump's racism by saying everybody is being called racist and so nobody is racist. Trying to get rid of Black Americans' votes wholesale is a great example of an attempt at systemizing racism. Just a thought.
Ann Wagner of Missouri's 2nd Congressional District is one of the legislators in Congress with the least amount of votes on actual legislation. I guess she's lazy? She was one of the first Republican officials to stand in front of microphones and tell Americans that based on her high level of knowledge, from "multiple, multiple briefings at the federal level," she knew—as of March 7—that the United States was at a very "low risk" of having a COVID-19 pandemic. Ann Wagner should be disqualified from doing anything but eating oatmeal.
Tim Walberg of Michigan's 7th Congressional District is one of those "family values" Republicans who wants to take away everyone else's rights using the federal government.
Michael Waltz of Florida's 6th Congressional District is already having newspapers who endorsed him apologize for supporting sedition. This is one of those "never Trumpers" who very quickly began licking the boots of Donald Trump the moment Trump came into power.
Randy Weber of Texas's 14th Congressional District replaced Ron Paul in Congress. There's not much more that needs to be said. A second-rate version of Ron Paul, while better than the fifth-rate version of Paul that is Rand, is still worse than having an old can of Tab sitting in a seat and being your representative.
Daniel Webster of Florida's 11th Congressional District is … so much Florida!
Brad Wenstrup of Ohio's 2nd Congressional District just followed in the footsteps of Jim "I-turn-the-other-way-when-being-told-about-the-wholesale-molestation-of-young-people-I'm-supposed-to-be-in-charge-of" Jordan.
Bruce Westerman of Arkansas's 4th Congressional District has sat on top of a pile of logging industry money for years and shockingly (read: "not shockingly") has been a lead sponsor on some super anti-climate, pro-logging bits of legislation that attempt to hand our trees over to private industry for profit.
Roger Williams of Texas' 25th Congressional District is the guy that tried to pressure a bank to help out his flailing oil investor donor. Swamp stuff.
Joe Wilson of South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District loves to vote for American wars but not for healthcare funding for American veterans of said wars. He's almost a perfect Republican! He's also in a district that's drawn deeply red and acts like the petty little emperor he wants to be.
Rob Wittman of Virginia's 1st Congressional District was able to fly mostly under the radar for his attempts at profiteering off of the COVID-19 pandemic when he bought into a pharmaceutical company which was producing an antiviral drug that hoped to help with COVID-19 treatments, and at the exact same time emailing his constituents that there was no coronavirus pandemic in the United States, and you didn't need to worry about it. You know, like a real piece of shit.
Ron Wright of Texas's 6th Congressional District is a relatively new congressman, whose views on school mass shootings include calling for public hangings as a solution. Not working on the gun thing, just hanging people.
Ted S. Yoho of Florida's 3rd Congressional District is the soon-to-be retiring congressman from Florida who famously "didn't attend one single deposition" as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee when Congress was investigating Trump's Ukrainian bribery. He's also the sweetie pie who, in a confrontation with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez resorted to calling her a "fucking bitch," because his ability to debate matches the size of his courage.
Lee Zeldin of New York's 1st Congressional District is best known for his intense Islamophobia and his unerring and idiotic support of the Trump administration from Day One.
Remember these (mostly white) men (and a couple of white women). They are the people who hope to be a middle-management fascistic vanguard in an oligarchy for the rich. Share your own stories about any of the people listed above down below in the comments.
Happy New Year!


alternet--2020-12-27--Mark Meadows has dinosaur  skeletons in the closet — and that's not even the weirdest part

Last week , Lin Wood , a right-wing Georgia attorney who has recently inserted himself into Donald Trump 's failed crusade to rewrite the results of the election , attacked White House chief of staff Mark Meadows for reportedly shooting down a number of harebrained , illegal strategies to hijack victory floated in an Oval Office meeting last weekend .
( Wood also represents Kyle Rittenhouse , the young man accused of shooting three people , killing two of them , during a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha , Wisconsin . )
`` Someone needs to do a deep @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrote on Twitter .
`` I have heard there are some serious skeletons . ''
In a sense , Wood is correct about skeletons — as well as about digging deep .
Meadows , a former Republican congressman from North Carolina , had since at least 2018 apparently failed to disclose a loan and monthly income of $ 11,000 related to the sale of a deed to a Colorado fossil park dedicated to promoting the creationist fiction that humans coexisted with dinosaurs .
Though Meadows has not been cited for this apparent violation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ breach : The House Ethics Committee sanctioned Meadows in 2018 for failing to respond appropriately to sexual harassment allegations made against his former chief of staff , and for paying the alleged harasser more than $ 40,000 in taxpayer money when the staffer was no longer employed in Congress .
Further , Salon reported earlier this year that Meadows appears to have misused congressional funds again in 2020 , this time to help a friend of his wife raise money for her failed campaign to fill Meadows ' congressional seat .
Additionally , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Ethics in Washington has filed a complaint accusing Meadows of campaign finance violations , based on a previous Salon report .
But at the time of the dinosaur-park purchase , first reported last year in The New Yorker , Meadows was still just a restaurateur and aspiring real estate baron , devoted to teaching his home-schooled children the tenets of fundamentalist Christian creation science .
Not only did Meadows score the real estate deal , he also appeared in a documentary about what turned out to be a fake discovery of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ display at a creation science museum as a purported piece of scientific evidence that the Big Bang never happened .
In May 2002 , Meadows , who is a fundamentalist Christian , took his family on a dinosaur fossil hunt for homeschoolers , with the intent to `` discover what the Bible says about dinosaurs and the Great Flood . ''
The expedition was organized by a group of self-identified `` creation scientists '' who contend that dinosaurs walked the earth with human beings , and that their extinction was caused by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which was no more than a few thousand years ago .
The Meadows family joined a group of about 30 other homeschoolers on the expedition , which traversed a nearly 100-acre park in Dinosaur , Colorado , owned by creation scientist Dana Forbes — property that Meadows himself would purchase just five months later .
The trip was led by two creation science groups , who had each promoted the event as a recruiting tool .
The first group , Creation Expeditions , was a family-run operation out of Florida , headed up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a contract with the landowner to carry out six such tours a year .
According to its now-defunct website , Creation Expeditions held to the belief that `` God created in six literal consecutive 24-hour days , the heavens , earth , and all that is within them .
We believe in a young earth that is not more than 6,000 years old . ''
Creation Expeditions marketed the expedition as `` the Dragon 's Den Dig , '' an allusion to the creation-science contention that all dinosaurs are dragons ( although , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dinosaurs ) .
Promotional materials promised that participants would work with `` a professional excavation team '' in `` the famous Dinosaur Triangle , '' a nickname bestowed on the fossil-rich Colorado region by actual paleontologists .
The second expedition was headed by Doug Phillips , president of Vision Forum , a San Antonio-based group that published a popular online and print catalog of books and videos aimed at homeschoolers .
The catalog had promoted the 2002 fossil hunt — priced at $ 995 per person — next to a book entitled `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ken Ham of the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter , who would go on to purchase the deed to the dinosaur park from Meadows .
( Ham 's concerted campaign to undermine modern archaeology was documented in a Salon report from August 2005 , published the day the levees broke in New Orleans . )
Julie Ingersoll , a religious studies professor at the University of North Florida , told Alabama.com for a 2017 article on then-Senate candidate Roy Moore that Phillips and Vision Forum were `` extreme and far outside the mainstream @ @ @ @ @ @ @ faced scrutiny that year for his connections to Phillips , including for participating in a 2011 textbook which argued that Christians are morally bound not to vote for women , and that women should not work outside the home or vote , among other activities .
The documentary was Phillips ' idea .
The movie , `` Raising the Allosaur : The True Story of a Rare Dinosaur and the Home Schoolers Who Found It , '' was intended to show homeschool students discovering an allosaur skeleton , believed to have lived about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ children would then `` scientifically '' prove had actually died 6,000 years ago in the Biblical flood .
Meadows and his family , including his wife , mother and two children , make appearances throughout the video , but Meadows nabbed a pivotal role .
On the final day of the dig , the narrator ( identified as `` Winston MacArthur , '' but really Doug Winston Phillips , who also plays himself in the film ) laments that it appears the troupe will not find an allosaur — but a voice comes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Doug , we 've got a claw up here ! ''
Phillips rushes to the discovery site , where he finds future White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and his daughter Haley , then 9 , whom a Vision Forum press release would later credit for the find : `` Nine-year-old home schooler Haley Meadows was dusting away dirt with her brush when she found the claws to a 100-foot Sauropod , presently believed to be of the rare Ultrasaurus variety . ''
Phillips and Meadows then engage in a dialogue .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ has changed the course of the excavation , delivering a `` resurgence of hope '' that rallies the diggers to find the allosaur 's skull .
The group turns to prayer , beseeching Jesus to `` bring forth the skull for the glory of God , '' so that they may shatter `` the lies of evolution . ''
In no time the skull is found , and along with it `` deposits of partially fossilized and unfossilized organic material , '' according to the narrator , the existence of which `` clearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The narrator concludes : `` The search for the allosaur is over , but God has answered their prayers and given them yet another devastating evidence for rapid burial , recent deposition and the Biblical Flood Model . ''
Vision Forum posted `` Raising the Allosaur '' for sale just in time for Christmas .
It cost $ 15 .
Meadows was apparently impressed enough by the operation that he bought the set itself , shelling out $ 250,000 and entering into a ten-year , $ 1,000 per-year commercial lease with Creative Expeditions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ successful enough that it spurred Phillips to create the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival in 2004 .
Just before the festival opened , however , Phillips had to yank the film : It turned out that the skeleton had not in fact been discovered by Haley Meadows , but had been uncovered two years earlier by Dana Forbes , the landowner who eventually sold the site to Meadows .
A paleontologist named Joe Taylor had identified the skeleton as an allosaur in May 2001 , a year before Meadows ' trip .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Phillips ' documentary in controversy .
This led to a bitter dispute over who owned the dinosaur .
Before the conference , Phillips sent out a letter to attendees that said `` a series of ethics-based issues have been brought to our attention , '' leading him to suspend sales of his film `` pending a season for Creation Expeditions to appropriately address the aforementioned issues . ''
Creation Expeditions posted a note to its website claiming that its ministry had `` endured an outrageous attack . ''
`` This does n't surprise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the evil one is to try to thwart the Kingdom advance , '' the post said .
The allosaur eventually found its way to the Creation Museum in Petersburg , Kentucky , which is owned by Answers in Genesis .
That group received the skeleton as a donation in May 2014 from a charity group that had bought the fossil from Taylor , the paleontologist .
`` It was a bad deal that we had to accept , '' Taylor told the New Yorker , who said the dispute mediation with Creation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 100,000 in debt and destroyed his business .
He sold the fossils for about $ 125,000 to a Christian foundation , which eventually donated them to the museum .
At that time the estimated market value of the allosaur was about $ 450,000 .
It 's unclear if any additional dinosaur fossils were ever found on Meadows ' land .
In 2016 , he sold the property to Answers in Genesis for $ 197,000 , taking a deed of trust for $ 192,000 , which had a 4.5 % interest rate and monthly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deed was released in 2018 , and Meadows presumably would have collected the $ 11,000 payments for the following 18 months , which he never reported .
In December 2019 , Meadows announced he would not seek re-election to Congress .
In fact , he resigned before the end of his term after President Trump appointed him chief of staff in March .
And while Lin Wood 's tweet was cryptic , it would appear that Meadows long ago escaped the reach of House ethics investigators .

Last week, Lin Wood, a right-wing Georgia attorney who has recently inserted himself into Donald Trump's failed crusade to rewrite the results of the election, attacked White House chief of staff Mark Meadows for reportedly shooting down a number of harebrained, illegal strategies to hijack victory floated in an Oval Office meeting last weekend. (Wood also represents Kyle Rittenhouse, the young man accused of shooting three people, killing two of them, during a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.)
"Someone needs to do a deep dive on @MarkMeadows," Wood wrote on Twitter. "I have heard there are some serious skeletons."
In a sense, Wood is correct about skeletons — as well as about digging deep. Meadows, a former Republican congressman from North Carolina, had since at least 2018 apparently failed to disclose a loan and monthly income of $11,000 related to the sale of a deed to a Colorado fossil park dedicated to promoting the creationist fiction that humans coexisted with dinosaurs.
Though Meadows has not been cited for this apparent violation, it would not be his first breach: The House Ethics Committee sanctioned Meadows in 2018 for failing to respond appropriately to sexual harassment allegations made against his former chief of staff, and for paying the alleged harasser more than $40,000 in taxpayer money when the staffer was no longer employed in Congress.
Further, Salon reported earlier this year that Meadows appears to have misused congressional funds again in 2020, this time to help a friend of his wife raise money for her failed campaign to fill Meadows' congressional seat. Additionally, the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed a complaint accusing Meadows of campaign finance violations, based on a previous Salon report.
But at the time of the dinosaur-park purchase, first reported last year in The New Yorker, Meadows was still just a restaurateur and aspiring real estate baron, devoted to teaching his home-schooled children the tenets of fundamentalist Christian creation science. Not only did Meadows score the real estate deal, he also appeared in a documentary about what turned out to be a fake discovery of a real allosaur, which is currently on display at a creation science museum as a purported piece of scientific evidence that the Big Bang never happened.
In May 2002, Meadows, who is a fundamentalist Christian, took his family on a dinosaur fossil hunt for homeschoolers, with the intent to "discover what the Bible says about dinosaurs and the Great Flood." The expedition was organized by a group of self-identified "creation scientists" who contend that dinosaurs walked the earth with human beings, and that their extinction was caused by the great flood of Noah's time, which was no more than a few thousand years ago.
The Meadows family joined a group of about 30 other homeschoolers on the expedition, which traversed a nearly 100-acre park in Dinosaur, Colorado, owned by creation scientist Dana Forbes — property that Meadows himself would purchase just five months later. The trip was led by two creation science groups, who had each promoted the event as a recruiting tool.
The first group, Creation Expeditions, was a family-run operation out of Florida, headed up by patriarch Pete DeRosa, who had a contract with the landowner to carry out six such tours a year. According to its now-defunct website, Creation Expeditions held to the belief that "God created in six literal consecutive 24-hour days, the heavens, earth, and all that is within them. We believe in a young earth that is not more than 6,000 years old."
Creation Expeditions marketed the expedition as "the Dragon's Den Dig," an allusion to the creation-science contention that all dinosaurs are dragons (although, strangely enough, not all dragons are dinosaurs). Promotional materials promised that participants would work with "a professional excavation team" in "the famous Dinosaur Triangle," a nickname bestowed on the fossil-rich Colorado region by actual paleontologists.
The second expedition was headed by Doug Phillips, president of Vision Forum, a San Antonio-based group that published a popular online and print catalog of books and videos aimed at homeschoolers. The catalog had promoted the 2002 fossil hunt — priced at $995 per person — next to a book entitled "The Great Dinosaur Mystery Solved" by Ken Ham of the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter, who would go on to purchase the deed to the dinosaur park from Meadows. (Ham's concerted campaign to undermine modern archaeology was documented in a Salon report from August 2005, published the day the levees broke in New Orleans.)
Julie Ingersoll, a religious studies professor at the University of North Florida, told Alabama.com for a 2017 article on then-Senate candidate Roy Moore that Phillips and Vision Forum were "extreme and far outside the mainstream of organized religion." Moore had faced scrutiny that year for his connections to Phillips, including for participating in a 2011 textbook which argued that Christians are morally bound not to vote for women, and that women should not work outside the home or vote, among other activities.
(Phillips resigned from Vision Forum after confessing to an affair with a girl who later alleged in a lawsuit that Phillips began grooming her when she was fifteen.)
The documentary was Phillips' idea. The movie, "Raising the Allosaur: The True Story of a Rare Dinosaur and the Home Schoolers Who Found It," was intended to show homeschool students discovering an allosaur skeleton, believed to have lived about 150 million years ago, which the children would then "scientifically" prove had actually died 6,000 years ago in the Biblical flood.
Meadows and his family, including his wife, mother and two children, make appearances throughout the video, but Meadows nabbed a pivotal role. On the final day of the dig, the narrator (identified as "Winston MacArthur," but really Doug Winston Phillips, who also plays himself in the film) laments that it appears the troupe will not find an allosaur — but a voice comes over Phillips' walkie-talkie: "Hey Doug, we've got a claw up here!"
Phillips rushes to the discovery site, where he finds future White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and his daughter Haley, then 9, whom a Vision Forum press release would later credit for the find: "Nine-year-old home schooler Haley Meadows was dusting away dirt with her brush when she found the claws to a 100-foot Sauropod, presently believed to be of the rare Ultrasaurus variety."
Phillips and Meadows then engage in a dialogue.
Phillips: Mark, I understand that we found a little something here.
Meadows: We did
Phillips: Tell me what happened.
Meadows: Well, my daughter Haley and I, we were working towards the end of the day here, just trying to get just one last bit of rock out before we finished. And so she was back-digging, and we were taking the brush and trying to take some of the sand out and all the sudden we spotted a little bit of bone, we thought, and we found a claw.
Phillips: Pretty exciting. Haley, is this the very first behemoth claw you've found?
Haley Meadows: Yes.
Phillips: Do you think you'll be finding others?
Haley: Yes.
Phillips: Good, I like that. Hey, that must have been very exciting.
Meadows: It has been exciting. This has been the trip of a lifetime.
The narrator then explains that the discovery has changed the course of the excavation, delivering a "resurgence of hope" that rallies the diggers to find the allosaur's skull. The group turns to prayer, beseeching Jesus to "bring forth the skull for the glory of God," so that they may shatter "the lies of evolution."
In no time the skull is found, and along with it "deposits of partially fossilized and unfossilized organic material," according to the narrator, the existence of which "clearly points to a recent deposition."
The narrator concludes: "The search for the allosaur is over, but God has answered their prayers and given them yet another devastating evidence for rapid burial, recent deposition and the Biblical Flood Model."
Vision Forum posted "Raising the Allosaur" for sale just in time for Christmas. It cost $15. Meadows was apparently impressed enough by the operation that he bought the set itself, shelling out $250,000 and entering into a ten-year, $1,000 per-year commercial lease with Creative Expeditions.
"Raising the Allosaur" was successful enough that it spurred Phillips to create the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival in 2004. Just before the festival opened, however, Phillips had to yank the film: It turned out that the skeleton had not in fact been discovered by Haley Meadows, but had been uncovered two years earlier by Dana Forbes, the landowner who eventually sold the site to Meadows. A paleontologist named Joe Taylor had identified the skeleton as an allosaur in May 2001, a year before Meadows' trip. When these facts were exhumed they mired Phillips' documentary in controversy.
This led to a bitter dispute over who owned the dinosaur. Before the conference, Phillips sent out a letter to attendees that said "a series of ethics-based issues have been brought to our attention," leading him to suspend sales of his film "pending a season for Creation Expeditions to appropriately address the aforementioned issues."
Creation Expeditions posted a note to its website claiming that its ministry had "endured an outrageous attack."
"This doesn't surprise us, as we know the wiles of the evil one is to try to thwart the Kingdom advance," the post said.
The allosaur eventually found its way to the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, which is owned by Answers in Genesis. That group received the skeleton as a donation in May 2014 from a charity group that had bought the fossil from Taylor, the paleontologist.
"It was a bad deal that we had to accept," Taylor told the New Yorker, who said the dispute mediation with Creation Expeditions would have left him nearly $100,000 in debt and destroyed his business. He sold the fossils for about $125,000 to a Christian foundation, which eventually donated them to the museum. At that time the estimated market value of the allosaur was about $450,000.
It's unclear if any additional dinosaur fossils were ever found on Meadows' land. In 2016, he sold the property to Answers in Genesis for $197,000, taking a deed of trust for $192,000, which had a 4.5% interest rate and monthly installments of about $11,000. That deed was released in 2018, and Meadows presumably would have collected the $11,000 payments for the following 18 months, which he never reported.
In December 2019, Meadows announced he would not seek re-election to Congress. In fact, he resigned before the end of his term after President Trump appointed him chief of staff in March. And while Lin Wood's tweet was cryptic, it would appear that Meadows long ago escaped the reach of House ethics investigators.