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Kid Berwyn
Kid Berwyn's Journal
Kid Berwyn's Journal
April 25, 2024
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was at the Bohemian Grove, a secretive all-men’s retreat in Northern California, with billionaire industrialist David Koch, right, and Ken Burns, whose films Koch has financially supported. Credit:Obtained by ProPublica
https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-secretly-attended-koch-brothers-donor-events-scotus
There are billions of reasons.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was at the Bohemian Grove, a secretive all-men’s retreat in Northern California, with billionaire industrialist David Koch, right, and Ken Burns, whose films Koch has financially supported. Credit:Obtained by ProPublica
https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-secretly-attended-koch-brothers-donor-events-scotus
April 25, 2024
"A cabal of grotesques..."
"...might yet predominate."
Fake journalist George Will hit the nail on the head re 112 GOP members who voted against military aid for Ukraine.
April 24, 2024
By JEFF SHARLET
Salon, July 21, 2009
I can't say I was impressed when I met Sen. John Ensign at the C Street House, the secretive religious enclave on Capitol Hill thrust into the news by its links to three political sex scandals, those of Gov. Mark Sanford; former Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., who allegedly rendezvoused at the C Street House with his mistress, an executive in the industry for which he then became a lobbyist; and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev. Although Sanford declared today that his scandal will actually turn out to be good for the people of South Carolina because he's now more firmly in God's control, the once-favored GOP presidential prospect will finish out his term and fade away. And Ensign's residence at the C Street House during his own extramarital affair now threatens to end a career that he and other Republicans hoped would lead him to the White House.
When I met Ensign, he was just back from a run, sweaty and bouncing in place, boasting about the time he'd clocked and teasing a young woman from his office. She seemed annoyed that the senator wouldn't get himself into a shower and back on the job. When I wrote about Sen. Ensign in my book about the evangelical political organization that runs the C Street House, "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power," I described him as a "conservative casino heir elected to the Senate from Nevada, a brightly tanned, hapless figure who uses his Family connections to graft holiness to his gambling-fortune name."
Now, of course, I know I was wrong: John Ensign is a brightly tanned, hapless figure who used his Family connections to cover up the fruits of his flirtations, to make moral decisions for him, and to do his dirty work when his secret romance sputtered. Doug Hampton, the friend and former aide whom Ensign cuckolded, tells us that it was Family leader David Coe, along with Coe's brother Tim and Family "brother" Sen. Tom Coburn, who delivered the pink slip when it was time to put Cynthia Hampton out of Ensign's reach.
If sexual license was all the Family offered the C Street men, however, that would merely be seedy and self-serving. But Family men are more than hypocritical. They're followers of a political religion that embraces elitism, disdains democracy, and pursues power for its members the better to "advance the Kingdom." They say they're working for Jesus, but their Christ is a power-hungry, inside-the-Beltway savior not many churchgoers would recognize. Sexual peccadilloes aside, the Family acts today like the most powerful lobby in America that isn't registered as a lobby -- and is thus immune from the scrutiny attending the other powerful organizations like Big Pharma and Big Insurance that exert pressure on public policy.
The Family likes to call itself a "Christian Mafia," but it began 74 years ago as an anti-New Deal coalition of businessmen convinced that organized labor was under the sway of Satan. The Great Depression, they believed, was a punishment from God for what they viewed as FDR's socialism. The Family's goal was the "consecration" of America to God, first through the repeal of New Deal reforms, then through the aggressive expansion of American power during the Cold War. They called this a "Worldwide Spiritual Offensive," but in Washington, it amounted to the nation's first fundamentalist lobby. Early participants included Southern Sens. Strom Thurmond, Herman Talmadge and Absalom Willis Robertson -- Pat Robertson's father. Membership lists stored in the Family's archive at the Billy Graham Center at evangelical Wheaton College in Illinois show active participation at any given time over the years by dozens of congressmen.
SNIP...
Family leaders consider their political network to be Christ's avant garde, an elite that transcends not just conventional morality but also earthly laws regulating lobbying. In the Family's early days, they debated registering as "a lobby for God's Kingdom." Instead, founder Abraham Vereide decided that the group could be more effective by working personally with politicians. "The more invisible you can make your organization," Vereide's successor, current leader Doug Coe preaches, "the more influence you can have." That's true -- which is why we have laws requiring lobbyists to identify themselves as such.
CONTINUES...
https://www.salon.com/2009/07/21/c_street/
Sex and power inside "the C Street House"
Sanford, Ensign, and other regulars receive guidance from the invisible fundamentalist group known as the FamilyBy JEFF SHARLET
Salon, July 21, 2009
I can't say I was impressed when I met Sen. John Ensign at the C Street House, the secretive religious enclave on Capitol Hill thrust into the news by its links to three political sex scandals, those of Gov. Mark Sanford; former Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., who allegedly rendezvoused at the C Street House with his mistress, an executive in the industry for which he then became a lobbyist; and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev. Although Sanford declared today that his scandal will actually turn out to be good for the people of South Carolina because he's now more firmly in God's control, the once-favored GOP presidential prospect will finish out his term and fade away. And Ensign's residence at the C Street House during his own extramarital affair now threatens to end a career that he and other Republicans hoped would lead him to the White House.
When I met Ensign, he was just back from a run, sweaty and bouncing in place, boasting about the time he'd clocked and teasing a young woman from his office. She seemed annoyed that the senator wouldn't get himself into a shower and back on the job. When I wrote about Sen. Ensign in my book about the evangelical political organization that runs the C Street House, "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power," I described him as a "conservative casino heir elected to the Senate from Nevada, a brightly tanned, hapless figure who uses his Family connections to graft holiness to his gambling-fortune name."
Now, of course, I know I was wrong: John Ensign is a brightly tanned, hapless figure who used his Family connections to cover up the fruits of his flirtations, to make moral decisions for him, and to do his dirty work when his secret romance sputtered. Doug Hampton, the friend and former aide whom Ensign cuckolded, tells us that it was Family leader David Coe, along with Coe's brother Tim and Family "brother" Sen. Tom Coburn, who delivered the pink slip when it was time to put Cynthia Hampton out of Ensign's reach.
If sexual license was all the Family offered the C Street men, however, that would merely be seedy and self-serving. But Family men are more than hypocritical. They're followers of a political religion that embraces elitism, disdains democracy, and pursues power for its members the better to "advance the Kingdom." They say they're working for Jesus, but their Christ is a power-hungry, inside-the-Beltway savior not many churchgoers would recognize. Sexual peccadilloes aside, the Family acts today like the most powerful lobby in America that isn't registered as a lobby -- and is thus immune from the scrutiny attending the other powerful organizations like Big Pharma and Big Insurance that exert pressure on public policy.
The Family likes to call itself a "Christian Mafia," but it began 74 years ago as an anti-New Deal coalition of businessmen convinced that organized labor was under the sway of Satan. The Great Depression, they believed, was a punishment from God for what they viewed as FDR's socialism. The Family's goal was the "consecration" of America to God, first through the repeal of New Deal reforms, then through the aggressive expansion of American power during the Cold War. They called this a "Worldwide Spiritual Offensive," but in Washington, it amounted to the nation's first fundamentalist lobby. Early participants included Southern Sens. Strom Thurmond, Herman Talmadge and Absalom Willis Robertson -- Pat Robertson's father. Membership lists stored in the Family's archive at the Billy Graham Center at evangelical Wheaton College in Illinois show active participation at any given time over the years by dozens of congressmen.
SNIP...
Family leaders consider their political network to be Christ's avant garde, an elite that transcends not just conventional morality but also earthly laws regulating lobbying. In the Family's early days, they debated registering as "a lobby for God's Kingdom." Instead, founder Abraham Vereide decided that the group could be more effective by working personally with politicians. "The more invisible you can make your organization," Vereide's successor, current leader Doug Coe preaches, "the more influence you can have." That's true -- which is why we have laws requiring lobbyists to identify themselves as such.
CONTINUES...
https://www.salon.com/2009/07/21/c_street/
April 23, 2024
The United States has accomplished more on climate change under the Biden administration than during any other presidential administration—and there’s still more to come.
by Trevor Higgins, Rachel Chang, Devon Lespier
Center for American Progress, March 6, 2024
From comprehensive legislation to ambitious executive action, the Biden administration has set the United States on a new course of climate action. Not only does this mark a profound break from the policies of the Trump administration, but it also amounts to more action on climate than any other administration in history.
This column details just nine of the many ways the Biden administration has pushed forward its ambitious climate agenda, from boosting the clean energy sector to prioritizing environmental justice.
1. Setting a goal that gets the job done on eliminating emissions
Building a 100 percent clean energy economy requires clear goals to guide its critical decisions. The Biden administration is the first to embrace the goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury in order to stabilize global temperatures at 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming.* That means that the Biden administration’s interim target—cutting U.S. carbon pollution to half of peak levels by 2030—requires reducing annual carbon pollution nearly four times faster than the Obama administration’s interim target did.** Ambitious policy goals drive ambitious policy change.
Continues...
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-biden-administration-has-taken-more-climate-action-than-any-other-in-history/#:~:text=Mar%206%2C%202024-,The%20Biden%20Administration%20Has%20Taken%20More%20Climate%20Action%20Than%20Any,there's%20still%20more%20to%20come.
Time for some Biden Bragging
The Biden Administration Has Taken More Climate Action Than Any Other in HistoryThe United States has accomplished more on climate change under the Biden administration than during any other presidential administration—and there’s still more to come.
by Trevor Higgins, Rachel Chang, Devon Lespier
Center for American Progress, March 6, 2024
From comprehensive legislation to ambitious executive action, the Biden administration has set the United States on a new course of climate action. Not only does this mark a profound break from the policies of the Trump administration, but it also amounts to more action on climate than any other administration in history.
This column details just nine of the many ways the Biden administration has pushed forward its ambitious climate agenda, from boosting the clean energy sector to prioritizing environmental justice.
1. Setting a goal that gets the job done on eliminating emissions
Building a 100 percent clean energy economy requires clear goals to guide its critical decisions. The Biden administration is the first to embrace the goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury in order to stabilize global temperatures at 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming.* That means that the Biden administration’s interim target—cutting U.S. carbon pollution to half of peak levels by 2030—requires reducing annual carbon pollution nearly four times faster than the Obama administration’s interim target did.** Ambitious policy goals drive ambitious policy change.
Continues...
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-biden-administration-has-taken-more-climate-action-than-any-other-in-history/#:~:text=Mar%206%2C%202024-,The%20Biden%20Administration%20Has%20Taken%20More%20Climate%20Action%20Than%20Any,there's%20still%20more%20to%20come.
April 16, 2024
In this courtroom sketch, former President Donald Trump smiles to the jury pool as he is introduced to them at the beginning of his trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York, Monday, on April 15, 2024.Jane Rosenberg / Pool via AP
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-hush-money-trial-jury-selection-day-2-rcna147940
Somehow the leer doesn't match its circumstances.
Donald Greeting the Jury Pool
In this courtroom sketch, former President Donald Trump smiles to the jury pool as he is introduced to them at the beginning of his trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York, Monday, on April 15, 2024.Jane Rosenberg / Pool via AP
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-hush-money-trial-jury-selection-day-2-rcna147940
Somehow the leer doesn't match its circumstances.
March 27, 2024
Trump praises judge overseeing his classified documents case, saying she ‘loves our country’
BY BRETT SAMUELS
The Hill, July 16, 2023
EXCERPT...
Asked on “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News whether he believes the judge will grant the motion, Trump said he did not know.
“I know it’s a very highly respected judge. A very smart judge, and a very strong judge,” Trump said.
When host Maria Bartiromo noted that Trump appointed the judge in the case, Trump said, “I did, and I’m very proud to have appointed her.”
“But she’s very smart and very strong, and loves our country,” Trump said. “We need judges that love our country so they do the right thing.”
SOURCE: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4100155-trump-praises-judge-overseeing-his-classified-documents-case-loves-our-country/
How Trump talks about Judge Aileen Cannon
Trump praises judge overseeing his classified documents case, saying she ‘loves our country’
BY BRETT SAMUELS
The Hill, July 16, 2023
EXCERPT...
Asked on “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News whether he believes the judge will grant the motion, Trump said he did not know.
“I know it’s a very highly respected judge. A very smart judge, and a very strong judge,” Trump said.
When host Maria Bartiromo noted that Trump appointed the judge in the case, Trump said, “I did, and I’m very proud to have appointed her.”
“But she’s very smart and very strong, and loves our country,” Trump said. “We need judges that love our country so they do the right thing.”
SOURCE: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4100155-trump-praises-judge-overseeing-his-classified-documents-case-loves-our-country/
March 26, 2024
Trump could be slapped with "gag order" after latest outburst, says ex-US Attorney Joyce Vance
by Igor Derysh
Salon.com, March 26, 2024
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday attacked the judge overseeing his Manhattan criminal hush-money case and his daughter.
“Judge Juan Merchan, a very distinguished looking man, is nevertheless a true and certified Trump Hater who suffers from a very serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “In other words, he hates me! His daughter is a senior executive at a Super Liberal Democrat firm that works for Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, the Democrat National Committee, (Dem)Senate Majority PAC, and even Crooked Joe Biden.”
Trump’s post came a day after Merchan took his lawyers to task for claiming prosecutorial misconduct in the case and set his trial to begin on April 15.
“Trump puts a target not only Judge Merchan in the criminal case in Manhattan but on his daughter,” tweeted former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance. “This is a rank effort at intimidating the judge by threatening his family. It merits a gag order but also serious pushback from GOP leadership—which we know won't come.”
CONTINUES...
https://www.salon.com/2024/03/26/intimidating-the-judge-expert-says-truth-social-post-put-a-target-on-judges-daughter/?in_brief=true
The traitor Donald J Trump is a no-good, low-down, bastard.
Trump Post Targets Judge's Daughter
“Intimidating the judge”: Expert says Trump Truth Social post put a “target” on judge’s daughterTrump could be slapped with "gag order" after latest outburst, says ex-US Attorney Joyce Vance
by Igor Derysh
Salon.com, March 26, 2024
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday attacked the judge overseeing his Manhattan criminal hush-money case and his daughter.
“Judge Juan Merchan, a very distinguished looking man, is nevertheless a true and certified Trump Hater who suffers from a very serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “In other words, he hates me! His daughter is a senior executive at a Super Liberal Democrat firm that works for Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, the Democrat National Committee, (Dem)Senate Majority PAC, and even Crooked Joe Biden.”
Trump’s post came a day after Merchan took his lawyers to task for claiming prosecutorial misconduct in the case and set his trial to begin on April 15.
“Trump puts a target not only Judge Merchan in the criminal case in Manhattan but on his daughter,” tweeted former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance. “This is a rank effort at intimidating the judge by threatening his family. It merits a gag order but also serious pushback from GOP leadership—which we know won't come.”
CONTINUES...
https://www.salon.com/2024/03/26/intimidating-the-judge-expert-says-truth-social-post-put-a-target-on-judges-daughter/?in_brief=true
The traitor Donald J Trump is a no-good, low-down, bastard.
March 24, 2024
NY AG James Can Target Any Donald Trump Assets 'Across the World': Lawyer
For all who could stand a happy thought...
Letitia James Can Target Any Donald Trump Assets 'Across the World': Lawyer
by Rachel Dobkin
Newsweek, March 23/24, 2024
New York Attorney General Letitia James can target any of former President Donald Trump's assets from "across the world" in order to pay the $454 million judgment he owes, according to lawyer Renee Zaytsev on Saturday.
SNIP...
MSNBC's Katie Phang asked Zaytsev on The Katie Phang Show on Saturday about what James could do if Trump can't come up with the bond.
"New York is a very creditor-friendly state. We take creditors rights seriously here and our law has a lot of options for creditors to enforce their judgments. Even before we get to his properties, she can very, very easily go ahead and freeze his bank accounts," Zaytsev, a New York-based corporate lawyer, said.
She continued: "And all she has to do to that is to serve restraining notices on the banks where he holds accounts, and she can then have a sheriff execute on those accounts or she can commence a turnover proceeding directing the banks directly to turn over the assets in those accounts."
CONTINUES...
https://www.newsweek.com/letitia-james-can-target-any-donald-trump-assets-across-world-lawyer-1882749
March 22, 2024
NAZI Kirk vows: 'If this election doesn't go our way the next day we fight'
Thus sprach Chuckie, the frustrated future Führer.
Trump ally’s stunning request: 'If this election doesn’t go our way the next day we fight'
by David Badash
Alternet.org, March 21, 2024
Christian nationalist and far-right political activist Charlie Kirk, a top influencer and Trump ally, urged supporters at a faith-based event on Sunday to “fight” if Donald Trump doesn’t win the 2024 presidential election.
“I want to make sure that we all make a commitment that if this election doesn’t go our way, the next day we fight,” Kirk told the audience at “Freedom Night,” hosted by Pastor John Randall.
“It’s a very important thing,” Kirk added before saying, “a lot of people don’t want to hear that. They say, ‘What do you mean it doesn’t go our way? It has to go our way. We have to win.’ I agree.”
Kirk is a member of the highly-secretive Council for National Policy, a purveyor of Donald Trump’s “Big Lie,” and has repeatedly promoted the false claim that U.S. elections are “rigged.”
Continues...
https://www.alternet.org/trump-charlie-kirk/
Image source: https://www.cltampa.com/tampa/photos-neo-nazis-gather-outside-turning-point-usa-summit-at-tampa-convention-center/Slideshow/13849084
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