Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

The words do not have to be perfect.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Consistently wrong since 2002

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

The willow is too close to the house.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Let’s finish the job.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Fire Sale At the Grift Pardon Factory

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Fire Sale At the Grift Pardon Factory

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Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Fire Sale At the <del>Grift</del> Pardon Factory

(Clay Jones via GoComics.com)
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Look, over there! Illicit Democrats attempting to vote! Details of the accusations against Paxton here at CNN:

… There is, meanwhile, an accumulating body of allegations against Paxton. A letter obtained in October by the Austin American-Statesman and television station KVUE, noted that a number of Paxton’s top aides had reported to “the appropriate law enforcement authority” a “potential violation of law” by Paxton. The staffers insisted they had “a good faith belief that the Attorney General is violating federal and/or state law, including prohibitions relating to improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other potential criminal offenses.”

Several of Paxton’s former employees filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the attorney general, saying Paxton retaliated against them after they accused him of intervening in legal matters to help his friend, a real estate investor who had made a $25,000 donation to his 2018 campaign, according to the suit. Paxton has denied their allegations…

Paxton has already been indicted for felony securities fraud, accused of failing to register with the State Securities Board while selling stock to investors without disclosing he was making a commission. The case has been hung up on questions of venue, and payment and replacement of county prosecutors, and has slogged through appeals that have dragged it out for five years without adjudication.

The indictments did not stop Paxton from winning reelection at the same time his wife was being voted into a seat in the Texas state senate. In one of her earliest acts in public office, Angela Paxton filed a bill to broadly increase her husband’s power with legislation allowing him to exempt individuals from state securities law. Surely, it is only coincidental that those are the laws Paxton is accused of violating. The measure appears to have stunk too much even for the Texas legislature and didn’t get a committee hearing…

Also, NY Attorney-General went on The View today, to remind the Squatter-in-Chief that she has his number (all his numbers), and that cute theories about stepping down in order to let Very Briefly President Pence pardon him would not protect him, even assuming Trump could stand to be reignite the ‘Nixon, only dumber & less effective’ comparisons.

Reader Interactions

114Comments

  2. 2.

    debbie

    I hadn’t heard of Paxton before this lawsuit. The sad part is that he’s not unique in his amorality. Every corrupt GOPer ought to be ferreted out and brought up on charges.

  3. 3.

    MomSense

    I’ve been laughing so hard tonight.  Someone crashed one of my son’s zoom classes wearing a parrot costume and after some antics he pulled out a trumpet and started playing it really loudly.  The photos are hilarious.

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    So, under the theory espoused by Texas where “another state’s laws are causing injury to us just by comparison”, can’t California sue all of the Red states for impeding California’s anti-pollution laws? How about New York suing because of lax Red State gun laws? Michigan suing because of all the anti-union laws? Massachusetts suing North Carolina because Duke calling itself “the Harvard of the South” degrades the worth of Harvard’s endowment?

  5. 5.

    p.a.

    Fux ‘News’ wall-to-wall Hunter Biden tax issue ????? They’re doing more to lower the national i.q. than meth cooks are.

  10. 10.

    dmsilev

    @p.a.: This will obviously reduce Hunter’s chances of being nominated for a Cabinet post.

    Seriously, how long until we find out that either the White House or someone like Barr pushed this investigation into existing? And also, I assume we’ll learn that it existed before the election and that Trump is pissed because it didn’t become public until now.

  11. 11.

    bbleh

    @dmsilev:  Indeed from some of the few comments by Savvy Lawyers I’ve seen, this is one of the things that’s likely to make the Supremos run away, run away fast.

  13. 13.

    Steeplejack

    This “Hunter Biden tax investigation” thing is really pissing me off, because it’s reminding me that Trump has skated through an entire term in office—plus the campaign beforehand—without revealing anything about his own taxes or being called to account. It has been buried under COVID and all the other crap that happened before that. I really hope that the New York attorney general is keeping this simmering on the back burner for when Trump is out of office.

    P.S. And I’m still pissed that Chris Christie skated on Bridgegate. The Rethuglicans delay, obfuscate, delay some more and eventually walk. I want to see some accountability, damn it, preferably with some smiting involved. All that this “Look forward, not back” stuff means is that they pop up again later doing something even worse.

  14. 14.

    bbleh

    One of the questions I have is, will the Honorable Legal Profession do anything at all in response to these blatant abuses that might even suggest that the term “legal ethics” is anything but a bad joke?

    I’m guessing the answer is “LOLsoveryVERYmuchNOThahahahaha.”  And I’m further guessing that the Political Media will continue to carefully ignore even raising the issue, not least because many members of the Honorable Legal Profession are some of their very bestest friends evarrrr.

  15. 15.

    debbie

    That dipsy chick, Mellissa Carone, apparently is refusing to self-quarantine despite her proximity to Rudy G. Can we hang a “Superspreader” sign like an albatross around her neck?

  17. 17.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    The list gets longer and longer

    Word is Dump will pardon all of Adam Sandler’s movies.

  18. 18.

    bbleh

    @debbie:  At this point, I’m not sure there’s anything we could do to subject her to more ridicule.

    (Not, of course, that she would care …)

  19. 19.

    Carolina Dave

    @dmsilev:  A gent!e reminder, it is spelled Dook, and as a private school, the state of North Carolina isn’t responsible for its graduates (Richard Nixon – Law) or atrocities (men’s basketball)

  20. 20.

    satby

    And while we’re fitting folks for prison stripes, let’s not forget DeJoy, whose destruction at the Post Office is in track to really mess up Christmas, and is still delaying medications and other important deliveries.I

    Dammit spellcheck

  21. 21.

    TS (the original)

    @dmsilev:

    Seriously, how long until we find out that either the White House or someone like Barr pushed this investigation into existing?

    My very first thought – when I saw it. Yet another attack by trump as a parting gesture.

  25. 25.

    zhena gogolia

    @Spanky:

    You can definitely get Covid from one. I saw that early in the pandemic. They were advising everyone to always wear pants.

  32. 32.

    Spanky

    Sigh.

    House approves one-week spending bill as stimulus talks drag on

    WaPo, from the homepage.

  33. 33.

    TS (the original)

    O/T: Breaking news at the Washington Post

    U.S. records more than 3,000 deaths in a single day, a new high

    After weeks of surging infections and rising levels of virus hospitalizations, the United States recorded more than 3,000 covid-19 deaths in a single day, a pandemic record.

    Another first for the president

  35. 35.

    MomSense

    @sab:

    Here’s an insight into my bizarre upbringing.  My mom (violinist) told me that I should try to date a trumpet player. “They are the best kissers in the orchestra.” Then she sort of tilted her head and said with a knowing look that “…it’s the embouchure.”

  37. 37.

    debbie

    @TS (the original):

    For some reason, Ohio is now tracking antigen test results in addition to PCRs. I don’t know why because they’re not supposed to be as accurate. As a result, however, there were more than 20,000 new cases yesterday. I may never sleep again.

  39. 39.

    dmsilev

    @TS (the original): 3000 is about the same number of people who died in the 9/11 attacks. So, we’re now at the point of suffering a 9/11 every day. And looking at the case history and noting that deaths trail cases and hospitalizations, that number is going to get worse before it gets any better.

  40. 40.

    sab

    @MomSense: That made me laugh.

    Your mom’ favorite chocolate store in Akron might stil be alive. In support of local commerce could I send you some?

  41. 41.

    debbie

    @geg6:

    Isn’t this what Trump’s quid pro quo with Ukraine was all about? Or maybe I’m getting the scandals all jumbled up.

  45. 45.

    MomSense

    @sab:

    Hey thanks for that.  I appreciate the thought, but actually you have just solved my Christmas present dilemma for my mom.  When this pandemic  is behind us, I promised my mom a road trip to Akron and of course a visit to the cemetery and the chocolate shop.  I’d love to meet up in Akron.

  49. 49.

    PsiFighter37

    Apparently Ted Cruz agreed to argue the Texas case in front of SCOTUS if it makes it. Honestly, that moron has no honor. Right before he dropped out in May 2016, he said one of the very few things I agreed with 100%, which was his assessment of Trump as a person. To see how much he has debased himself for someone who called his wife ugly and said his dad was part of a conspiracy to kill JFK…Jesus F’ing Christ. You have to have less than zero self-respect to do that to yourself.

  56. 56.

    scav

    Quick! Pardons for all the Trump buddies!  Quick-Quick!  Federal executions for as many as possible! Party of Life! Party of Law and Order!  Party like it’s 2020 Trumpland!!

  57. 57.

    mrmoshpotato

    Trump is now offering pardons to associates who don’t even want one, Axios reports

    Hooray to another five weeks of this shit. 

    Over/under on when the Soviet shitpile mobster conman tries to appoint someone else as President so they can pardon his traitorous orange ass?

  64. 64.

    mrmoshpotato

    Also, NY Attorney-General went on The View today, to remind the Squatter-in-Chief that she has his number (all his numbers)

    “I would like to directly address the dumb, orange fascist who was a massive loser of the 2020 Presidential election.  You know who your loser ass is.”

  65. 65.

    sab

    @sab: I have some very musical inlaws your mom might like. Sister in law lead singer in church choir. Her daughter has masters in flute  now working in labor department as a lawyer.

  67. 67.

    Cacti

    Just saw on worldometers that US Covid-19 deaths for the past 24-hours are 3,156.

    And we’re only just starting the post-Thanksgiving infection spike.  :-(

  68. 68.

    Bill Arnold

    @Cacti:

    Just saw on worldometers that US Covid-19 deaths for the past 24-hours are 3,156.

    That’s almost 800 Benghazis per day. Hillary Clinton testified for a full day (8 hours testimony, 11 hours) for one Benghazi. Trump is racking up 2 years seven days per week,, of testimony, per day.

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    “I hereby proclaim a full and complete pardon for every American citizen as defined below alive at the time of the signing of this document of all and any criminal infractions, or for any actions in word or deed which might be construed as contrary to law.

    So long as they are Republicans.

    And white.”

    //

  70. 70.

    MomSense

    @sab:

    I will be so happy to see you in Akron. My mom was a church music director for years so it would be fun to go to church.  When she and my dad met, she was the music director at the Akron UU church.

  71. 71.

    trollhattan

    @Cacti:

    Our California region blew past the ICU bed minimum today and will be going on lockdown tomorrow night. The county dashboard numbers and graphs can be described as “shitshow.” This upswing started with Halloween and it appears Thanksgiving has kicked it even higher.

  76. 76.

    Kattails

    @Bill Arnold: Yup. That’s my measuring rod as well.  If I ever hear one peep from any right-wingdings about Benghazi again–ever–(mutters threats and imprecations).

    I am “relatively” safe up here in NH, rural, reasonably sane populace. I want to just send a virtual hug to all the Juicers in places that are so much more under threat.

  78. 78.

    Kent

    @Kattails:@Bill Arnold: Yup. That’s my measuring rod as well.  If I ever hear one peep from any right-wingdings about Benghazi again–ever–(mutters threats and imprecations).

    Benghazi served it’s purpose.  It got Trump elected.  Remember the Benghazi Hearings are where they ‘discovered’ horror of horrors, that Hillary was doing the same thing as her predecessors (and successors) and using private email.

  80. 80.

    TS (the original)

    @dmsilev:

    So it should now be time to lock down the country, put trump into the underground bunker and not let him out until eviction day.

  81. 81.

    TS (the original)

    @Bill Arnold:

    One can hope there will be a pandemic inquiry into the near half million (or more) deaths on trump’s watch.

    For the millionth time – What if this had been while Obama was president.

  86. 86.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Baud:

    I’ve always wondered, and anybody can answer this, if courts can be sued or they have some kind of immunity? I’d have to imagine they would

  89. 89.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    From the “Melania just wants to go home” article at CNN– she’s already started shipping her stuff to Mar-A-Lago

    Kelly had previously run the White House Office of Administration and after it became clear Trump would need to prep for her life after Washington the first lady told Kelly to discreetly ask West Wing acquaintances and a member of the Office of Management and Budget whether there were taxpayer funds allocated to former first ladies, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
    The short answer is no

    yeah the grift goes on

  90. 90.

    Another Scott

    In the comic up top, is that a smart sippy cup that Donnie is holding??

    1000 hours to go!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  92. 92.

    Calouste

    I think we can safely assume that anyone trying to help the shitgibbon at this point, like those 17 Republican AG’s supporting the Texas case, is a criminal looking for a pardon.

  94. 94.

    TS (the original)

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    From your link

    The first lady quietly brought on Marcia Lee Kelly to her scant East Wing staff in April as a special government employee who could add gravitas and experience. She is unpaid and serves in a volunteer capacity but her job as Trump’s special adviser proved helpful as the waning months of her first-term tenure.

    The grift goes on – why do people work for the trumps for nothing???  $1M wouldn’t be enough pay to have to work with these people – and then we have

    The intel gathered by Kelly on the budget — that there isn’t one — has not deterred Trump from turning her energy to departing Washington. According to discussions with three sources familiar, there is currently ongoing inventory being taken at the White House of the Trump’s own furniture and art and personal items.

    And who might be doing this inventory? Anyone connected to  a trump & who knows what might be listed on it.

  101. 101.

    Kattails

    @WaterGirl: Someone in the previous thread mentioned the Steve Schmidt interview with Michel Martin last night, (sry forget who) so I checked it out.  Pretty much what he’s saying:  This whole thing is about deliberately poisoning democracy. That you can win a war either by overpowering your opponent or by wearing them out. This hydra aspect is wearing us out and I suspect it’s also partly responsible for the uncomfortable fights that sometimes break out around here. It’s hard to maintain equilibrium.

    I have no say in what other states are doing but would be happy to once again call my Republican governor in a blue-voting state and ask him (his office) what he has to say about this.  It sure would be helpful if the governors and AG’s of all the other states, red and blue, stood up and said out loud “WTF ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING???” Silence is tacit agreement.

  102. 102.

    different-church-lady

    It’s truly disconcerting to have these events reveal the frightening extent to which the basic functionality our democracy relied on the honor system.

  103. 103.

    J R in WV

    @MomSense:

    Here’s an insight into my bizarre upbringing. My mom (violinist) told me that I should try to date a trumpet player. “They are the best kissers in the orchestra.” Then she sort of tilted her head and said with a knowing look that “…it’s the embouchure.”

    I played Bass Horn / Sousaphone in Jr HS and High School, marching band with 55 pounds of brass on my shoulder! I think my embouchure is better than trumpet players, nor french horns either. Bass Horn takes a lot of wind, too. Won’t go any farther with this, ;-)

  104. 104.

    Kattails

    Just saw that 7 in 10 Republican voters no longer think elections are free and fair.  The poison is in the system.  This is Putin and his puppets.

  105. 105.

    different-church-lady

    It’s also pretty fuckin’ frightening that the only thing standing between democracy and a coup is… a bunch of judges Trump appointed who, nonetheless, can’t truck to his bullshit.

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