Texas' GOP-led House of Representatives was set to hold historic impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Ken Paxton on Saturday as the scandal-plagued Republican called on supporters to protest a vote that could lead to his ouster.
Joe Biden Is the Master Deal Maker America Needs Right Now
If passed, the deal to preserve America’s financial standing in the world by avoiding the debt disaster threatened by Republicans would be one of Biden’s deftest accomplishments.
These were not just complex, major pieces of legislation that impacted the lives of millions, they were each historic in their own way—driving record job creation, leading to the biggest investment in our infrastructure in more than half a century, producing the biggest investment in combatting climate change in our history, resetting America’s approach to competitiveness.
Without a doubt there are things that didn’t get done in Biden’s first term, and there are bad things about this nascent debt ceiling deal.
But as in all things, you also have to ask compared to what? Default? Not getting stuff passed at all? If that’s your baseline it’s a good deal despite its compromises. And the same is true for the Biden record overall.
Want a better deal than what we’ve got, with less compromise? Don’t lose the House. Put a majority in the Senate not based on a conservative Senator from West Virginia or a corporate sellout from Arizona. Put a winning president in the White House with a bigger coalition. Don’t shake your head knowingly, claiming there’s no difference between the parties.
If you can’t do those things, you’re not going to get the laws, policies and programs you want. And (wait for it)… you’re going to have to compromise.
Speaking of Republicans, let’s look at GOP dystopia:
Attorney General Ken Paxton faces impeachment. Here’s how that works in Texas.
The Texas Legislature has never removed an attorney general. If the House votes to impeach, the Senate will hold a trial.
Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has been at the center of several scandals, faces a possible impeachment. A Texas House committee voted Thursday to recommend the action, opening the way for the Texas House of Representatives to hold a hearing and decide whether to impeach the three-term attorney general.
Paxton, the state’s top lawyer and one of its most powerful and controversial Republicans, has faced criminal investigations, legal battles and accusations of wrongdoing for years. But after he requested $3.3 million in taxpayer funds to end a lawsuit by former staffers who accused him of on-the-job retaliation, the Texas House General Investigating Committee began looking into accusations of wrongdoing.
The vote to impeach is today, and it’s by simple House majority. The article spells out what’s next.
AUSTIN, Texas (@AP) — GOP-held Texas state House sets Saturday afternoon vote on impeachment of Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.
How Fighting for Conservative Causes Has Helped Ken Paxton Survive Legal Woes
With the Texas House set to vote on his impeachment, Mr. Paxton is counting on political support that he’s amassed as a Republican legal firebrand.
Now, facing his own political showdown in the Texas House of Representatives on Saturday as the House prepares to vote on impeaching him, Mr. Paxton made the stakes plain for his Republican supporters.
In a news conference on Friday, he reminded them that he was “leading dozens of urgent challenges against Biden’s unlawful policies” and said that the “illegal impeachment scheme” was playing into the Democrats’ longstanding goal of removing him from office. He then called on supporters to come to the State Capitol on Saturday “to peacefully come let their voices be heard."
A glimpse into the dystopian abyss of President DeSantis’ America
Press interest has perked up lately, with DeSantis’ policy initiatives becoming more febrile as his announcement draws nigh.
But the press hasn’t begun to devote sufficient attention to the curious experiment DeSantis has launched, based on the hypothesis that it’s possible to win a presidential nomination, not to mention a presidential election, by appealing exclusively to a bloc of racists, antisemites, gun nuts and other nightcrawlers of the far right. An America led by DeSantis as he has portrayed himself thus far would be a dystopian hellhole.
Let the examination begin.
It would be proper to start with scrutiny of DeSantis’ positions on the most important geopolitical issues of our time, if they could be detected.
DeSantis says, if elected president, he’d consider pardons for Jan. 6 offenders
Hosts of the conservative “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” asked DeSantis if he thinks Jan. 6 defendants “deserve to have their cases examined by a Republican president,” and whether he would pardon former president Donald Trump if he were “charged with federal offenses.” DeSantis said that on his first day in office, he would “have folks that will get together and look at all these cases.”
“Now, some of these case, some people may have a technical violation of the law,” DeSantis said. “But if there are three other people who did the same thing but just in a context, like [the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020] and they don’t get prosecuted at all, that is uneven application of justice, and so … we will use the pardon power.”
Ron DeSantis administration officials solicit campaign cash from lobbyists
The practice raises ethical and legal questions about state employees trying to raise campaign cash from lobbyists who have business currently before the governor.
NBC News reviewed text messages from four DeSantis administration officials, including those directly in the governor's office and with leadership positions in state agencies. They requested the recipient of the message contribute to the governor’s campaign through a specific link that appeared to track who is giving as part of a “bundle” program.
“The bottom line is that the administration appears to be keeping tabs on who is giving, and are doing it using state staff,” a longtime Florida lobbyist said. “You are in a prisoner’s dilemma. They are going to remain in power. We all understand that.”
NBC News is not naming the specific staffers who sent the text messages because it could out the lobbyists who received the messages and shared them.
This is the way DeSantis runs Florida. It’s as disqualifying as his January 6th comments..
Reuters: OATH KEEPERS MEMBER JESSICA WATKINS SENTENCED TO 8.5 YEARS FOR ROLE IN JAN. 6, 2021, US CAPITOL ATTACK
After long debate, CT Senate advances state voting rights act
The Connecticut Senate on Thursday night advanced a landmark bill intended to protect historically disenfranchised communities from discrimination at the ballot box, including key protections once considered a stronghold of the federal Voting Rights Act before it was gutted by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Senate Bill 1226, dubbed the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of Connecticut — a nod to the late civil rights icon — passed on a 27-9 vote just before midnight, following hours of emotionally charged debate among lawmakers over what the proposal would accomplish. The Senate’s approval of the comprehensive bill marked the first time it passed out of either chamber since it was initially introduced in 2021.
Are the Anti-Trump GOP Forces Starting to Implode?
A mission-control breakdown for DeSantis and smooth launch for Scott bode ill for those hoping to thwart the former president.
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Will this go down as the week that the grand plan to deny Donald Trump the nomination fell apart?
For months, high-level Republican lawmakers, donors and strategists eager to block Trump have described, in separate conversations with me, an endgame to the presidential primary.
When it becomes clear in the early state and national polling who is consolidating support, the most influential figures with ties to the lagging candidates will stage a sort of political intervention and tell them it’s time to quit and rally to the strongest alternative to Trump.
Such a plot always struck me as a bit far-fetched, for starters because politicians aren’t known for putting party ahead of self. Yet the appetite among elite Republicans to move past Trump was and is so immense I thought there could at least be a do-the-right-thing effort.
Yet as spring turns to summer, traditionally the period when presidential hopefuls consider whether they’re gaining any traction, this vision seems more fantasy than strategy.
This has come up with some Republicans I talked to who don't agree 100% w DeSantis but support him over Trump. His FLGOP spent four years registering voters, giving Rs their first-ever FL registration advantage. https://t.co/RC1PWhGsiJ
Tonight, the Manhattan DA’s office publicly released a list of discovery items it has produced or will soon produce to Trump. Those items include a number of recorded conversations, including one between a witness and Trump. But something else interests me more.
In New York state, a defendant is entitled to receive all witness testimony before the grand jury and any and all other witness statements provided to the relevant prosecutor’s office. But here, the Manhattan DA’s office also attached this two-page list of books.
Why? Because these books themselves may contain relevant witness statements. And it is quite a collection.
These are political books, gossip books and other books of interest included in discovery. Give the thread a read.
On a different topic, here’s Cliff Schecter on freshman Dan Goldman and his approach to Congressional BS:
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is facing calls of impeachment from his own party. The GOP controlled House plans to vote tomorrow on the 20 impeachment articles against Paxton, who faces accusations of abusing his office. CNN's Ed Lavendera reports.
Happy 21st blogiversary to the persnicketiest band of muckrakers and misfits in Blogger Land. It all started when a dirty effing hippie named Markos Hemp Flower Rainbow Moonbat Moulitsas emerged from his deep-state law school cocoon, flapped his tie-dye wings on May 26, 2002, and proclaimed: “I am progressive. I am liberal. I make no apologies.” It's been all high-quality blah blah blah ever since.
"The" Daily Kos percolated for several months before I discovered it (via the Dean for America blog) and got addicted to the weekly 2004 primary “cattle calls” (which were revived for 2020, delighting audiences around the globe). After that, all hell broke loose and it's been a sprint for world domination ever since.
Continued...
Today Daily Kos has an amazing Elections Team, affiliation with Civiqs polling, dulcet-toned David Waldman and Justice Putnam on the radio, an activism and community-building arm, talented front-page and diary contributors (of note lately: Kos’s and Mark Sumner's Ukraine updates and Joan McCarter's laser-focus on the doings in the House and Senate), and groups within the community that focus on everything from environmental issues and labor to pooties and the day's top comments.
Just a fad……..since 2002.
We also continue to raise a ton of money and generate grassroots support for campaigns at the local, state, and federal level, not to mention over $3 million for relief agencies in Ukraine. Among our registered members: Elizabeth Warren, Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, John Fetterman, Stacey Abrams, Raphael Warnock, and Stephen Colbert.
We even caught the eye of late luminaries like Ted Kennedy and Harry Reid (may they rest in a hereafter with no fucking filibuster headaches). Tonight we pour out a splash of drinkey in their honor, and all the beloved DK community members—too many, dammit—who have left us.
Despite the meta wars, sigh-inducing GBCWs, and the sheer crazy volume of information that gets posted every day, The 'The' "The" Daily Kos is still a vital national source of netroots-level analysis, opinion, issue-vetting, fundraising, snarking, storytelling and flying furniture. Only a fool would try to herd our breed of cats. So from all of me to all of you—especially you, Kos, our mighty Keyboard Kingpin and your “squadrons of rabid lambs”—Happy #21 from user ID #2574. May your hearts remain progressive, and your hands always be filled with pies.
And now, our feature presentation…
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Cheers and Jeers for Friday, May 26, 2023
Note: We wish you a safe, healthy, and hammock-filled holiday weekend. C&J will return on Tuesday, May 30. Probably with an errant lawn dart or two stuck in our foot, thigh, chest, head or buttock region. Because we hate to break with tradition. —Mgt.
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By the Numbers:
6 days!!!
Weeks 'til the start of the July 4th holiday weekend: 5
Prison sentence for Richard "Bigo" Barnett, the Jan. 6 traitor who sat in Speaker Pelosi's chair and propped his feet up on her desk: 4.5 years
Number of songs Tina Turner had on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including her #1 hit What's Love Got to Do with It?: 17
Rank of Delta among best airlines rated by The Points Guys based on "factors such as reliability, affordability, loyalty programs and customer experience": #1
Year in which Congress officially declared Waterloo, New York as the birthplace of the Memorial Day holiday: 1966
CHEERS and JEERS to the week in review. Just a quick moment to take lightning-round inventory of our universe as we prepare to pause for an extended holiday weekend of picnics, memorials, flight delays, and lots of unexplained rashes:
» Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues huffing turpentine vapors.
Also, as is obvious, the Earth remains a flat disc.
» Republicans continued their love affair with carnage and chaos.
» Every Republican-inspired mass-murder prevention measure, up to and including funding the police, failed to prevent mass murders.
» The Florida Man who wants to be the 47th president of the United States bumbled his rollout so badly that he’ll probably succeed.
» Daily Kos turned 21 and marked the occasion with several hours of botox injections.
» Gas prices are down. Inflation is down. Egg prices are down. Unemployment is down. Infrastructure construction is up. Optimism is up. But Biden is old so I question his competence.
» A ruthless and scary space alien trapped the Enterprise in a tractor beam and threatened to blow it up unless its demands were met, but it turns out it was just baby Clint Howard who was easily fooled by Captain Kirk's fake "Corbomite Maneuver."
Oh, and NOAA released its forecastfor the 2023 hurricane season, which starts next Thursday. Consensus: the gays, feminists, and pagans are still angry. Can’t say I blame ‘em.
CHEERS to multitasking. As our endorphins go wild over the prospect that our first warm-weather holiday weekend (and the unofficial start of summer) is upon us, Michael Embrich of the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs’ Advisory Committee on the Readjustment of Veteransoffers up a few wordsfor the occasion:
Originally known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day was first observed in 1868, after the Civil War, when Major Gen. John A. Logan declared that May 30th should be a day to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers. It became an official federal holiday in 1971 and is now observed on the last Monday in May.
It is important to remember that Memorial Day is not just another three-day weekend or an excuse to head down to the Shore and have a barbeque. It is a day to honor the sacrifice of those who have died for our freedom, and to reflect on the true meaning of patriotism.
And, as always, we pause to reflect on Dwight Eisenhower's famous words: "I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity." Me, too. Minus the living it part, but I'll take his word for it.
CHEERS to the other star-spangled banner. Here’s a notable event to muse on this Memorial Day. On May 29, 1916, the official flag of the President of the United States was adopted by executive order. This is interesting, via the late historian David McCullough:
One morning, standing at his desk, [President Truman] presented to the press a new presidential flag … “This new flag faces the eagle toward the staff,” Truman explained, “which is looking to the front all the time when you are on the march, and also has him looking at the olive branch for peace, instead of the arrows for war …”
To me it looks like the eagle flew into a window.
Both the flag and presidential seal had been redesigned for the first time since the Wilson years, and Truman meant the shift in the eagle’s gaze to be seen as symbolic of a nation both on the march and dedicated to peace.
CHEERS to the end of the end. It was all over for Tricky Dick 49 years ago tomorrow, thanks to a 27-11 vote by the House Judiciary Committee to adopt the first of three articles of impeachment against President Nixon who, said ABC News's Tom Jarrell at the time, was "presumably still in his swim trunks" while on vacation in California when he heard the news. Meanwhile, then-VP Gerald Ford just couldn’t help but play a little game of up-is-downism:
Ford: It's interesting that every Democrat on the committee—north and south—voted for the article. ... It tends to make it a partisan issue.
Oh knock it off and get the f*ck outta here, crook.
Reporter: Even if one-third of Republicans voted for it?
Ford: Well, the fact that every one of the Democrats voted for it, I think, uh, lends credence that it's a partisan issue, even though some Republicans have deviated.
...said the Republican who later unilaterally exonerated the Republican crook. But, hey, what's a little hypocrisy among friends?
CHEERS to home vegetation. Here's some of the haps on TV this weekend, starting tonight with a pre-Memorial Day MSNBC reality check by the prime time hosts, or you can join me at 8 on the H&I Network for live-tweeting (at #allstartrek) of the classic Trek episode What Are Little Girls Made Of? with guest Ted “Lurch” Cassidy as a very tall robot in a very puffy robot suit.
Oops. I accidentally posted the logo of this weekend’s winning NBA team. Sorry ‘bout that.
The new movies and streamers (led by Rob Marshall’s live-action update of The Little Mermaid) are all reviewed here at Rotten Tomatoes. The MLB schedule is here, the NHL Stanley Cup finals schedule is here, the WNBA schedule is here, and the NBA east finals schedule is here (Go Boston woo woo woo). Or you can catch the Indy 500 Sunday starting at 12:30 on NBC, followed by the final round of the Senior Open golf tournament (Go ghost of Ben Hogan woo woo woo). Saturday night at 10 Sarah Silverman debuts her new standup special Someone You Love on HBO.
Sunday on 60 Minutes: an encore of the profile they did on Tina Turner. The National Memorial Day Concert airs Sunday at 8 on PBS. And beyond that you should just go outside and tiptoe through the tulips.
Now here's your Sunday morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Roy Blunt (The Cult-MO).
Also: Debt Ceiling Cat will explain the latest negotiations by chasing the red dot from a laser pointer around the studio.
This Week: TBA
Face the Nation: Microsoft President Brad Smith; Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Austan Goolsbee.
CNN's State of the Union: Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA); Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison; Gov. Chris Sununu (The Cult-NH).
Fox GOP Talking Points Sunday: Speaker Kevin McCarthy (The Cult-CA); Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT); Sen. Lindsey Graham (The Cult-SC).
Happy viewing!
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Ten years ago in C&J: May 26, 2013
CHEERS to the Master of the World. Belated C&J congrats to Sathwik Karnik, the Massachusetts seventh-grader who won the 2013 National Geographic Bee and gave King Philip Middle School good reason to cheer:
The victory was the Karnik family’s dream come true, [coach Dave] Quinn said. This is the third year a Karnik has appeared in the bee’s final round. … Sathwik is a veritable triple threat. He has previously competed and placed in science and math competitions, including one at MIT, and is looking forward to competing more.
The 12 year-old Karnik won the event in the final round when he was the only contestant who was able to go to his room and locate a clean pair of socks.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to today’s pop quiz. No peeking or Googling—if you try to cheat, I’ve inserted malware that will make your computer or smartphone start playing a never-ending loop of It’s A Small World After All, so fair warning. Here’s the question: who was the first senior Trump official—aka rat on the sinking ship—to flee the White House six years ago this week? Here’s a pleasant musical interlude while you’re thinking it over…
If you said Communications Director Michael Dubke, you win! Since that fateful day a mere 3 months after the stable genius who “only hires the best people” took the oath, the revolving door spun so fast that even Rachel Maddow gave up adding new names to her giant Departures Board. By the end of his massive fail in office, the only people left were the ones resigned to hosing him down with spray-on tan, fetching his cheeseburgers, and shoving UV lights up his tuchus. I wonder if they’re sitting at home bored with all the winning yet. On second thought, no, I really don’t.
Have a great weekend. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
Bribery, dereliction of duty, obstruction of justice. Those are just some of the allegations against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton after a months-long investigation led by members of his own party. The Republican has faced years of scandal but now he faces 20 articles of impeachment in the final days of the legislative session. Ali Rogin discussed the latest with Sergio Martínez-Beltrán.
The vote on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's impeachment by the state House over alleged bribery and obstruction of justice takes place Saturday afternoon.
Texas has set the impeachment vote on Paxton for Saturday. They’re moving fast and getting this messy business done on a weekend where it will get reduced coverage.
If the House votes to impeach, Paxton will be removed from his position immediately until the results of his trial in the Senate. His wife is one of the states senators who will be voting on his impeachment. Considering the nature of the charges against him, her vote may be up for grabs.
On Thursday evening, a special investigative committee of the Texas Legislature officially filed charges of impeachment against state Attorney General Ken Paxton. As The Texas Tribune reports, the document includes “20 articles listing a yearslong pattern of alleged misconduct and lawbreaking.”
The chair of that committee has already announced that he will call for Paxton’s impeachment. On Wednesday, members of that committee voted unanimously that the attorney general should be impeached. If it happens, it will be a first: No attorney general has been impeached in the history of the state.
Paxton has issued a response calling the legislators members of the “corrupt political establishment,” and posted a statement on Twitter in which he called on the speaker of the Republican-led House to resign for, among other things, allowing “Chinese spies” to control Texas land. He’s also declared that Texas Republicans are tools of President Joe Biden and the Washington elite, all of which should make the upcoming hearings even more enjoyable.
Before you reach for the popcorn, here’s a reminder of some of the “accomplishments” that have marked Paxton’s career.
On Jan. 6, 2021, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stood in front of the Trump supporters gathered at the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington and delivered a speech that made clear allusions to the Civil War. “One of the great things about the state of Texas is, we did not quit,” said Paxton. “If you look at Georgia, they capitulated, they consented. We kept fighting in Texas.” That’s not exactly a record to be brought up with pride, but then there’s little to be proud about anywhere in Paxton’s record.
Just hours after he urged Trump supporters to, like Texas, “keep fighting” and watched them march toward the Capitol, Paxton swore that it wasnot Trump supporters who smashed their way into the building. “These are not Trump supporters,” Paxton wrote on Twitter. Instead he blamed the insurgency on the forces of antifa. When Paxton was asked about his sources, he said he was only reporting what he heard from a “journalist,” by which he meant the fascism-friendly conspiracy site WorldNetDaily.
Paxton topped off his Jan. 6 escapades by refusing to turn over records related to his own appearance at the rally. As with so many things related to Paxton, that battle went to court, where he did what he is so good at doing: make irrational arguments and lose. But those Jan. 6 events were just one small item on the checklist of all things Paxton.
The Texas constitution states that if Paxton is impeached in the House, he will immediately be removed from office until his trial in the Senate. Should he survive that trial, Paxton could go back to misusing his office, as he has always done.
Why is Paxton up for impeachment? Take your pick.
The FBI investigation into how Paxton used his office to illegally help a donor.
The indictment for fraud that Paxton’s Republican supporters have stalled for years, in part by blocking attorneys prosecuting the case from getting paid. As the AP pointed out, it’s not many people who can avoid going to trial on felony charges for seven straight years—and they made that point last year.
The $3.3 million that Paxton had to pay out to settle a whistleblower case after a group of his own deputies raised warnings about his actions, including “abuse of office and other crimes.”
An affair with a woman he later promoted to a high-paying job in a case so tangled it’s hard to tell if it’s bribery or extortion.
There’s also a state bar association investigation into lies Paxton told in court in an effort to overturn the 2020 election, but it’s unlikely the Republican-led legislature was upset by that point.
Both the legislature and the voters of Texas have supported Paxton over the years as he carried on a crusade of lies and distortions, becoming the poster boy for how a state attorney general’s office could be used to prosecute a political agenda. It's impossible to briefly list all the efforts Paxton has made to sue federal agencies, from the EPA and Homeland Security to Health and Human Services. However, among the “highlights,” Paxton has:
Tried to enact a complex system for collecting child support payments, including another failed attempt to sue the federal government that ended up going hundreds of millions over budget and left children without support payments for months.
Sued four other states for failing to run their elections according to Paxton’s view of the law, an effort that garnered a scathing reply from the attorneys general of those states, as well as a blunt rejection by the Supreme Court, saying that Paxton had “not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another state conducts its elections.”
Hard to believe he lost, considering that Paxton’s lawsuit included “evidence” from the debunked film “2,000 Mules.”
Somehow, through all this, Texas voters still put Paxton in office by a wide margin. That includes returning him to office in 2020 despite three felony indictments and a public investigation by the FBI. Paxton has the biggest selling point of any Republican candidate: He knows how to hate the right people. So don’t be surprised if being impeached is not his last act.
How can Democrats win the messaging war? It turns out there's actually a science to it, as strategic communications consultant Anat Shenker-Osorio tells us on this week's episode of "The Downballot." Shenker-Osorio explains how her research shows the importance of treating voters as protagonists; how Democrats can avoid ceding "freedom" to Republicans by emphasizing "freedoms," plural; and why it actually makes sense to call out "MAGA Republicans" (even though, yes, it's all Republicans).
