Source: USA Today

The Vatican has defrocked Frank Pavone, a high-profile anti-abortion American priest, over “blasphemous communications on social media” and “persistent disobedience” of his bishop, according to news reports Sunday.

The Vatican removed Pavone from the priesthood Nov. 9 and there is no chance for him to appeal his dismissal, according to a letter to U.S. bishops from Christophe Pierre, the Vatican ambassador to the U.S. The letter was first reported by Catholic News Agency.

Pavone, founder of anti-abortion group Priests for Life, frequently posts on social media about politics and abortion, largely in support of former President Donald J. Trump and the Republican party's anti-abortion platform.

The Vatican said it provided Pavone "ample opportunity" to defend himself, but he provided "no reasonable justification for his actions," according to the letter.



Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/12/18/priests-life-founder-frank-pavone-removed-vatican/10921387002/

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I guess the Catholic church is getting tired of being used as pawns by repuglicans.

Link to editorial:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/12/03/kemp-2024-georgia-governor-trump-president-abrams/10811303002/

Brian Kemp won for two main reasons.

1. All the democrats I know in Georgia crossed-over in the primary to defeat the complete whackadoodle that trump was pushing. Since Kemp upheld the election, he was the lesser of two literal evils.

2. Stacey Abrams campaign suffered serious neglect. I don't know if it was due to lack of resources, volunteers, money or all three. The few ads I saw with Stacey did not show her as a competent executive which was terribly wrong. She has more schooling and knowledge than 10 Brian Kemps, but she wasn't spotlighted properly. I saw early on things would not go in her favor unless the campaign made some serious adjustments, which I never saw happen. I know it's hindsight now, but just my two cents. Giving Brian Kemp credit or acting like he's presidential material as is stated in the editorial is just ludicrous. Of course, when you use Herschel Walker as a comparison, I think Daffy Duck would be a better choice.

I don't feel this way about all of them but they're doing their best to make me that way.

Headline reads:

Jewish Allies Call Trump’s Dinner With Antisemites a Breaking Point

For much of Donald J. Trump’s presidency, Jewish Republicans rationalized away the bigoted fringe of Mr. Trump’s coalition, arguing that the unsavory supporters in his midst and the antisemitic tropes he deployed paled in comparison with the staunchly pro-Israel policies of his administration. But last week, Mr. Trump dined at his Palm Beach palace, Mar-a-Lago, with the performer Kanye West, who had already been denounced for making antisemitic statements, and with Nick Fuentes, an outspoken antisemite and Holocaust denier, granting the antisemitic fringe a place of honor at his table. Now, even some of Mr. Trump’s staunchest supporters say they can no longer ignore the abetting of bigotry by the nominal leader of the Republican Party.

“I am a child of survivors. I have become very frightened for my people,” Morton Klein, head of the right-wing Zionist Organization of America, said on Monday, referring to his parents’ survival of the Holocaust. “Donald Trump is not an antisemite. He loves Israel. He loves Jews. But he mainstreams, he legitimizes Jew hatred and Jew haters. And this scares me.”

Not all Republican leaders have spoken out, but Jewish Republicans are slowly peeling away from a former president who, for years, insisted he had no ties to the bigoted far right, but refused to repudiate it. Jewish figures and organizations that have stood by Mr. Trump, from Mr. Klein’s group to the pro-Trump commentator Ben Shapiro to Mr. Trump’s own former ambassador to Israel and onetime bankruptcy lawyer, David M. Friedman, have all spoken out since the dinner.

For Jews, the concern extends far beyond a single meal at Mar-a-Lago, though that dinner has become a touchstone, especially for Jewish Republicans.

The article is behind a paywall but that is the gist of it.

I guess all it takes is to have some dumb rally and say you support Israel while encouraging anti-Semite hate groups as supporters. Some people just walk around with their eyes closed. ( I said it that way to be kind. What I wanted to say was much more derogatory )

That fat bloviated pig spent his first two years coddling russia while weakening Ukraine. He got rid of all the seasoned veterans dealing with Ukraine on behalf of the U.S. all to please Putin. The entire fiasco makes me sick to think about it. Am I wrong to think this way? I never see it discussed from that aspect.

A co-worker and myself were talking about a couple of really bad bosses we have experienced over the years. Each had common undesirable character traits such as complete narcissism and petty revenge tactics to anyone that questioned them, even if it was just an honest question. We reminisced how they would come into a situation that had worked for years without them and then take credit for all of it. We were both on the same train of thought until I said " they are just like trump". My co-worker clammed up but I could tell he didn't really get it, or didn't want to. Anyone that works for a total asshole, tell your co-workers he/she is just like trump. Maybe they'll think twice about voting for the moron or any politician who kisses his ass.

https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/corporations-have-given-40-million-to-the-sedition-caucus/

On January 6, 2021, thousands of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building in an effort to overturn the results of a free and fair election after being commanded by President Trump to “fight like hell.” Swiftly following the attack, corporate America correctly placed blame on the 147 members of Congress who fanned the flames by refusing to certify Trump’s loss. Nearly two hundred fifty companies announced they would no longer support the so-called Sedition Caucus. But since the January 6 insurrection, more than two thirds have abandoned their commitment.

Corporate and industry group political action committees have donated more than $44 million directly to the campaigns and leadership PACs of the 147 members of the Sedition Caucus. Companies and trade associations that pledged to suspend donations have given more than $12 million to the campaign and leadership PACs of the Sedition Caucus.

Koch Industries ($626,500), American Crystal Sugar ($530,000), Home Depot ($525,000), Boeing ($488,000), and UPS ($479,500) have contributed the most money to members of the Sedition Caucus through their corporate PACs. In the days after January 6, many of these companies vowed to use their political spending to hold those members of Congress responsible. Boeing released a statement that they “strongly condemn the violence, lawlessness and destruction that took place in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021,” but demonstrated their lack of concern when they resumed giving to seditionists just five months after the insurrection. Koch Industries claimed they would evaluate the members they donate to based on “civility” following the attack. How they define that is questionable, however, as they resumed giving to seditionists two months later. Home Depot suspended donations while “carefully reviewing and reevaluating each of the members who voted to object to the election results,” but evidently decided that taking part in an effort to thwart the peaceful transfer of power was not a dealbreaker.

More at
https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/corporations-have-given-40-million-to-the-sedition-caucus/


Sickening.

Source: usatoday.com

DETROIT -- Two of the men convicted of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer hired a private investigator to go to a juror's workplace and investigate the juror's potential bias, according to a newly unsealed court filing.

The men -- Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., who were found guilty last month of planning to kidnap the governor over her COVID-19 policies -- hired the investigator to track down the juror's coworkers to determine if the juror was biased against them. The investigation was part of a broader effort by their defense attorneys to get a new trial.

The defense long maintained this was a case of entrapment and vowed a vigorous appeal, which right now appears to focus on a potentially problematic juror who surfaced on the second day of the trial. The juror was allowed to stay on the case after the judge interviewed the person and concluded there was no proof of bias.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/09/09/whitmer-kidnap-plot-private-investigator-juror/8036074001/

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So, we can't have a juror who is biased against a couple of weirdos plotting to kidnap a sitting Governor?

Can we find jurors that think this is ok? And now it's ok to intimidate jurors personal lives for doing their duty?

Here are a few examples :

from usatoday front page

Charges for mishandling classified documents are rare. What that means for Trump.

Ya, they're rare because we never had such a huge criminal in the white house - other than nixon, and at least he didn't take classified docs.

You can't not 'believe' in abortion. Here's why

Abortion is not a belief system you moron headline writer. Only rightwing nutjobs that use religion to control our bodies are guilty of using beliefs.

Americans are running out of money as prices, inflation soars.

Not all Americans, just the hard-working class that have been ripped off by our system for decades.


On to the next stupid newspapers.

from usatoday

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/08/19/mitch-mcconnell-cautious-gop-senate-midterms/7847080001/

snip

McConnell said attacks on law enforcement agencies are "completely unacceptable.""I think attacks on law enforcement agencies is completely unacceptable," McConnell told reporters during a visit to Greater Cincinnati on Thursday. "Acts of violence are not protected by the First Amendment and people who engage in acts of violence need to pay the price for it," McConnell told reporters, one week after an armed man wearing body armor tried to gain entry to Cincinnati's FBI headquarters. "Hopefully all people in public life will push back against that," McConnell said when asked about growing threats and anti-law enforcement rhetoric following the FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida.

Sure Mitch. You could have gotten rid of trump in the first impeachment but you shirked your duties and F'd the country. You are just as complicit as the assholes making the threats.