<A longtime advocate for Supreme Court ethics reform believes revelations in a ProPublica report alleging that Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose years of gifts from billionaire GOP megadonor Harlan Crow could be a “tipping point” for new action.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said the revelation is part of a broader pattern.

“Unfortunately, it’s both a pretty significant one and only a thread in a larger tapestry of improprieties,” the junior senator from Rhode Island said in an interview with MSNBC’s Jordan Rubin.

“But it does demonstrate how very out of whack the behavior of the justices can be compared to regular federal judges. I don’t think there’s another court in the country that would countenance a member accepting this kind of hospitality without reporting it. And it also puts a very sharp pin on the problem of a court that refuses to allow any investigation of itself where every other federal court in the country has a mechanism for ethics concerns to get investigated and resolved.”

Whitehouse was among 11 Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee who cosigned a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts stating the committee plans to investigate details of the report describing behavior that in their view is “plainly inconsistent with the ethical standards the American people expect of any person in a position of public trust.”

Whitehouse said the Supreme Court has shown an unwillingness to self-police, and he questions whether it even has the capacity to do so.

He cited the Latin phrase nemo judex in sua casa,” which he described as “an elemental principle of justice for centuries, that no one should judge their own case.”

“And I think that once the spotlight is on the fact that these justices have put themselves in the position of being exclusive judges in their own cases, it becomes untenable to defend.”

Whitehouse believes that time may have arrived.

“Yeah, you keep banging away at something and then one day the world changes and progress opens up. I hope that this is that day,” Whitehouse said.

“And two things could happen. One, we’ll explore what the Republican appetite is for fixing any of this. We’ve seen [Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member] Lindsey Graham [R, S.C.] express his concerns about the financial reporting discrepancy, for instance. And two, it sends a powerful signal to the court that it better get its own act together before we come in and start doing things.

“So this could be the tipping point where the chief justice decides it’s clean-up time at last over there in the Augean stable.”>

Time to hit that there stable and sweep the sumbitch with an iron broom.

<United States Representative Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) melted down during a Fox News appearance on Wednesday afternoon because President Joe Biden's son Hunter accompanied him to Ireland and mingled with the crowd.

Host Martha MacCallum led with a question:

Curious. You know, what, what goes through your mind when you see Hunter traveling with the president and you know, doing the rope line, shaking hands with everybody?

In response, Jordan – the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee – fell into a tangent about how unfair it is that former President Donald Trump is being pursued by the law:

I, I think it's just how brazen the left has become. I mean, I mean, go back to what I said earlier, the fact that the IRS knocked on a journalist's door while he is testifying in front of Congress after that same journalist had learned, the FTC mentioned him in a letter to a private company. I, I just think there, there's no bounds now, and this is the scary part. The, the Biden, uh, Hunter Biden behaves this way. You, I think you're gonna see, I think you're gonna see the state of Georgia go after President Trump. I hope it doesn't happen. I think you may see the special counsel go after President Trump. I hope it doesn't happen. But that's just how, how ridiculous the left has become. And it's not good. Not good at all for our great country.>

Jaysus, wot a dumbass.

<Texas Sen. Ted Cruz proposed a solution to school shootings: Stationing as many armed police officers in schools as there are in banks.

Less than two weeks later, a shooter in Kentucky opened fire at a bank, killing at least five people and injuring eight others.

"You know, when you go to the bank, and you deposit money in the bank, there are armed police officers at the bank. Why? Because we want to protect the money we save. Why on earth do we protect a stupid deposit more than our children?" Cruz said on March 30.

"We have an opportunity right now to double the police officers on campus and keep kids safe," Cruz added.

He reiterated the sentiment in a tweet on March 31.

Cruz's proposed bill on school safety, which he has been pushing for months, was blocked in the Senate on March 30.

The senator's insistence that banks are a paragon of safety and security came just days before a 25-year-old bank employee opened fire on his colleagues.

Cruz has, in the past, made widely panned suggestions on how to stop gun violence.

After the Uvalde school shooting, where a shooter killed 21 people, Cruz floated a bizarre idea for preventing school shootings: Having a "single point of entry" in schools.

"Fire exits should only open out. At that single point of entry, we should have multiple armed police officers or, if need be, military veterans trained to provide security and keep our children safe," Cruz said in an interview with Fox News, published on May 27.

Cruz was also booed at a September festival in Austin after his comments on gun legislation. At the festival, Cruz suggested that violence "is actually the only thing" that helps stop violence — a common, right-wing talking point often trotted out by the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Cruz is also an NRA-friendly GOP politician. Days after the Uvalde shooting, Cruz refused to cancel his appearance at the organization's leadership conference in Houston. Justifying his decision, he told CBS News that the NRA "stands up for your rights, stands up for my rights, and stands up for the rights of every American."

Texas has the highest firearm mortality rate of any state — 4,164 firearm-related deaths in 2020 — per statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Representatives for Cruz did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.>

<Tucker Carlson went on an overtly racist tirade against a Tennessee state lawmaker on Wednesday night, suggesting Democratic Rep. Justin Pearson speaks like a “sharecropper” and got into college only because he’s Black.

Pearson is one of two Black lawmakers recently expelled from the state legislature by the GOP supermajority for joining protesters who chanted in the House chamber in support of gun control following a school shooting that left six people dead in Nashville last month. Pearson was reinstated Wednesday by the Shelby County Board of Commissioners in Memphis, and state Rep. Justin Jones was reinstated Monday by Nashville’s Metro Council.

In a Fox News segment attacking Pearson and other Democrats for what he called “mimicking civil rights leaders,” Carlson said Pearson had changed his demeanor over the years from that of a “crypto white kid” into “the “modern incarnation of Martin Luther King Jr. himself.”

“Pearson has been in the news recently for helping to facilitate an insurrection at the Tennessee State House,” Carlson said.

He played a video Pearson had filmed in 2016 when he was campaigning for student body president at Bowdoin College. In Carlson’s estimation, in that video, Pearson was trying to act like a white person.

“Justin Pearson wasn’t white. That’s probably how we got into Bowdoin in the first place,” he said, referring to the private liberal arts college in Maine. “But he did a fantastic impression of it .... That was the old Justin Pearson, before his ‘transition.’”

“You got to ask yourself, as long as we’re mimicking civil rights leaders who died almost 60 years ago, why not some variety?” Carlson added after showing a video of Pearson speaking passionately on the House floor last week ahead of the vote to expel him.

“You never see politicians transitioning to say, Malcolm X. Why is that? Maybe because Malcolm X didn’t talk like a sharecropper. He spoke dignified standard English,” Carlson said.

It’s not unusual for Carlson to make racist comments and embrace white supremacist talking points on his show, one of the most-watched cable news programs in the country. He’s repeatedly promoted the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which claims that white Christian Americans are being intentionally replaced by immigrants, people of color and non-Christians. Once, on a radio show in 2008, he called people from Iraq “semiliterate primitive monkeys.">

<.... "The police are under siege because of things -- they can do 10,000 great acts, which is what they do, and one bad apple, or a choker -- you know a choker, they choke -- shooting the guy in the back many times. Couldn't you have done something different? Couldn't you have wrestled him? In the meantime, he might've been going for a weapon. And there's a whole big thing there. But they choke. Just like in a golf tournament, they miss a three-foot..."

In which the President of the United States compared a police officer shooting a man in the back -- a la what happened to Jacob Blake in Kenosha -- with a golfer missing a three-foot putt. No words.

"People choke. And people are bad people. You have both. You have some bad people, and they choke."

<During the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature's Wednesday debate over a fetal heartbeat bill that would ban abortions after six weeks in most cases, a right-wing lawmaker quoted a Bible passage to argue why terminating a pregnancy is a supposed abomination.

"With a brand new baby in her womb, marrying her new baby in her womb, she approaches Elizabeth. And John is in Elizabeth's womb. And the Holy Spirit is communicated in some miraculous, incredible way from the womb of the Virgin Mary in Jesus Christ himself to the womb of Elizabeth John the Baptist. And John lept," State Senator John S. Lowe (R-37th District) said, reciting Luke 1:41. "And that is why abortion is clearly evil. And that is why abortion is clearly evil."

His remarks were met with an eruption of laughter in the chamber. But Lowe was not the only Republican to proffer a bizarre defense of their party's effort to strip Nebraskans of their reproductive rights.

"We have killed two thousand babies since abortion became legal. Those are two thousand people in the state of Nebraska that could be working and filling some of those positions that we have vacancies. They're not here. Our state population has not grown except by those foreigners who have moved here, or refugees who have been placed here," State Senator Steve Erdman (R-47th District) said. "Why is that? It's because we've killed two hundred thousand people. These are people we've killed."

To recap, the Nebraska Heartbeat Act "would ban abortions once cardiac activity can be detected" and contains "exceptions for rape, incest or if a mother's life is in danger" as well as "complications in pregnancies, miscarriage and in vitro fertilization," Omaha's KETV explains.

Medical experts have long maintained that there is no heart to generate a rhythm at six weeks. Instead, "the embryo will develop a tube that generates sporadic electrical impulses that eventually coordinate into rhythmic pulses. Six weeks of pregnancy is closer to four weeks of actual development, because pregnancy is measured from the first day of a woman's last period, before she is actually pregnant," NBC News noted last year.>

<An Arizona Republican has been kicked out of the state legislature for inviting a conspiracy theorist to a committee hearing who falsely claimed Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and a number of other lawmakers — as well as leaders of the Mormon church — were being paid off by Mexican drug cartels.

In February, just a month after taking office, Rep. Liz Harris, a Republican from outside Phoenix, invited a speaker who spent 40 minutes detailing an alleged scheme, involving members of both parties and the Church of Latter-day Saints, to accept bribes from narcotics traffickers in the form of phony deeds to property, the Arizona Mirror reported.

Harris had previously promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory and authored a debunked report alleging mass voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Elected last November — an election she has also claimed was fraudulent — Harris has said she did not know the speaker planned to make the unsubstantiated claims, which included a charge of bribery against her fellow Republican, House Speaker Ben Toma. But at an ethics committee hearing earlier this month, Harris asserted that she was scared following the February hearing because she thought she would be targeted by drug cartels for airing the conspiracy theories, claiming she thought: "I'm about to be beheaded," per the Arizona Mirror.

In a report on Tuesday, the ethics committee said Harris, because she allowed false claims of criminal wrongdoing to be aired against her colleagues, of having violated the "institutional integrity of the house." A day later, by a 48-11 vote, members of the GOP-led legislature elected to kick her out immediately, passing a resolution that charged her with having "engaged in disorderly behavior" that "violated the order and decorum necessary to complete the people's work in the State of Arizona."

Harris did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the Arizona Republican Party.

In a statement, House Democratic leader Andrés Cano praised Wednesday's vote, saying Harris had done "real damage" to innocent people.

"Misinformation, lies, and conspiracies are not harmless, and it's not just politics," Cano said. "The defamatory allegations that Representative Harris' invited her guest speaker to make are patently absurd, but there are many people who believe them. They believe the lies, and they continue to threaten retribution because we dispute them."

Harris is the third state lawmaker to be removed from office by her colleagues this year. Earlier this month, Republicans in Tennessee voted to expel two Democratic members for joining with protesters on the House floor demanding gun control legislation in the wake of the Nashville school shooting. One of those lawmakers, Rep. Justin Jones, was reinstated earlier this week, and another, Rep. Justin Pearson, was reinstated on Wednesday.>

<....Psychopaths are social predators who charm, manipulate, and ruthlessly plow their way through life, leaving a broad trail of broken hearts, shattered expectations, and empty wallets. Completely lacking in conscience and in feelings for others, they selfishly take what they want and do as they please, violating social norms and expectations without the slightest sense of guilt or regret.>

Hare, Robert D.. Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us . Guilford Publications. Kindle Edition.

<Since it is simply not possible to steal and have for oneself the most valuable "possessions" of another person-beauty, intelligence, success, a strong character - the covetous sociopath settles for besmirching or damaging enviable qualities in others so that they will not have them, either, or at least not be able to enjoy them so much. As Millon says, "Here, the pleasure lies in taking rather than in having.">

You clearly can't operate within the standards of a community, and constantly interject yourself and your bad behavior in thread after thread.>

Yet he interminably posts of how others are responsible--not, of course, that he has any sense of responsibility.

Ain't that so, <fredthenonentity>?

<The world's best chess player, Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, swapped the chess board for the poker tables Wednesday and lost a $17,095 pot by playing the worst possible starting hand.

The reigning five-time world chess champion has played poker before, notably competing at the Norwegian Championships main event in April 2022, and finishing 25th out of a field of 1,050 entrants.

This time around, it was a far more informal setting, as he was drinking Modelo beer and playing hands against content creators and one renowned pro player called Mariano Grandoli during a Hustler Casino Live (HCL) session in Gardena, California.

One of the most interesting hands Carlsen played was when he played the seven of clubs and two of diamonds — the worst starting hand which, in normal games, should be instantly folded.

During this HCL stream, if a player won after being disadvantaged with the 7-2 off-suit then they could collect a $100 reward from everybody else at the table.

Incentivized by the potential bonus, Carlsen was happy to raise the stakes to $125 before the flop (first three community cards) were even in play.

When the action checked around to him after a flop of ten of hearts, ace of spades, and five of diamonds, Magnus bet a further $500.

Three other players called the bet, which should have set alarm bells off in Carlsen's mind, as it meant one if not all of his opponents had connected with the board.

The turn (fourth community card) was the seven of hearts, which gave Carlsen a pair. However, Alexandra Botez made two pair.

Unfazed, he bet a further $1,700, which inspired praise from the HCL commentator David Tuchman as it showed what Tuchman called "heart."

As two players behind Carlsen called his action, the pot had grown to $7,725 before the river (fifth community card) got dealt — the seven of clubs.

As two sevens were on the board, Carlsen's 7-2 off-suit had turned from the worst starting hand to trips (three of a kind).

It would normally be a position of strength, however, the bad news for him was that, as Botez had an ace as well as the only other seven in the deck, her hand was by far superior as she had completed a full house.

Carlsen, this time, bumped his bet to $4,100, which Botez raised to put the chess grandmaster all-in.

Carlsen reluctantly folded, relinquishing the $17,095 to chess creator Botez.

It wasn't the only notable hand Carlsen played that night as he was one of the most consistently interesting players at the table throughout the evening.

YouTube creator Nick Austin picked up the ace of clubs and the jack of spades and attempted to run a triple-barreled bluff against Carlsen.

Carlsen seemed to read Nick Austin's mind
A triple-barreled bluff is when a player fails to connect with the board at any stage, and instead bets large at the flop, turn, and river, in an attempt to show strength.

It can work especially well in situations like the one Nick found himself in with Carlsen, who entered the hand with the four of hearts and three of hearts, and had only made a pair.

As there were high cards on the board, a player betting big at every juncture could be enough to perturb some players.

But Carlsen said that he had a read on Nick, that he did not believe he had anything, and was comfortable thinking his pair of fours was good enough to beat whatever his opponent was holding.

The read was excellent and scooped Carlsen a $13,775 pot.

Though play likely continued off-stream, Carlsen had recovered all of his losses by the end of the broadcast segment of the game.

According to a graphic Hustler Casino Live displayed at the end of the YouTube show, Carlsen had $17,790 left on the table with cumulative winnings (profits) of $4,490.>

<<It's rather obvious that nobody fair and honest is monitoring chessgames. Whoever is in charge should be promptly replaced for dereliction of duty.>

<Do you hear that <sf>?

Have some honesty . Listen when <gw> tells you <<sf> you making fool of yourself . Either show proof that perjerious is dating trump's sun or stop talking nonsense >

2) secondly , stop behaving like 100 year olds.

If you are told with proofs <<sf> , you are dishonest > , you go into <100 year old > mode.

<you are dishonest>

<no , you are dishonest. And your mother is fat >

<no , your mother is fat. And she is loud too >

That is how some 100 year olds talk , <sf>. Stop talking like 100 year olds.>

Isn't this lovely stuff? Is this how business should operate? Is this what is advertised to the public? Is this what people paid up for?>

<An emergency regulation announced by Missouri's attorney general on Thursday could severely limit access to gender-affirming care in the state, setting several new requirements for trans adults seeking treatment.

Attorney General Andrew Bailey's sweeping regulation would prohibit medical providers from providing gender-affirming care unless a number of requirements are met. While some of the regulation's requirements are specified by age group, its most expansive provisions, including a potential three-year delay in care, would be in place regardless of the patient's age.

Bailey's proposal would go into effect on April 27 and last until February 6, 2024.

The ACLU of Missouri and Lambda Legal responded with a joint statement promising legal action against the attorney general and emergency regulation. "We will defend the rights of transgender people through any necessary legal action, just as we have done in other states engaging in this anti-science and discriminatory fearmongering."

The statement added: "The Attorney General's so-called emergency rule is based on distorted, misleading, and debunked claims and ignores the overwhelming body of scientific and medical evidence supporting this care as well as the medical experts and doctors who work with transgender people every day."

The ACLU of Missouri had previously said that the attorney general, a Republican, overstepped his authority when it condemned Bailey's initial announcement of the policy in March. The state attorney general is basing his regulation on a law aimed at fraudulent business practices, The Missouri Independent reported.

"During the first months since being appointed as Missouri's Attorney General, Andrew Bailey has politicized his office by inserting himself into highly coordinated administrative, legislative, and alt-right media-driven attacks on transgender youth," PROMO, an LGBTQ+ public policy and advocacy organization in the state, said in response to the regulation. "His actions today fanned the flames of hate by including transgender adults' ability to access care in his culture war."

The proposal includes two potentially year-plus delays in care if a medical provider cannot document previous care.

A provider would need to show that a patient has a "medically documented, long-lasting, persistent and intense pattern of gender dysphoria" for "at least the 3 most recent consecutive years" before seeking treatment and that they have received "a full psychological or psychiatric assessment" over at least 18 months consisting of at least 15 hours worth of therapy.

Adults with depression or other mental health issues would not be able to receive gender-affirming care until those existing issues "have been treated and resolved," the regulation says.

Patients would also need to be screened for autism.

Before care could be administered, the regulation also requires that parents or guardians be provided a 23-bullet pointed list of reasons questioning gender-affirming care, citing international restrictions, studies, and journal articles. As The Missouri Independent pointed out, one of the studies cited was later revised after academics questioned its methodology.

Republicans and conservatives have moved to restrict gender-affirming care and other trans rights in recent years. GOP governors in Indiana and Idaho just signed into law bans on minors receiving such care last week. Bailey's restrictions on adult care may signal a new wave of restrictions to come.>

As so often, the GOP are proving themselves anti-life, despite their protestations.

<Republicans are finally reportedly ready to share their debt ceiling demands as a package. Those demands will reportedly include banning student loan forgiveness, among other big cuts.

Their package would only raise the debt ceiling for a year, setting up another fight in the middle of the next election.

After months of back and forth as the country slowly teeters toward a potentially catastrophic debt ceiling crisis, Republicans are reportedly finally ready to start making a deal.

According to Punchbowl News, House Republican leaders are gearing up to present their ideas to the rest of the party as recess comes to a close. Per the report, the lawmakers are starting to put together a debt ceiling package that would raise the limit until May 2024, and they're aiming to limit budget growth to 1% annually over the next decade by banning student-loan forgiveness, placing work requirements on welfare programs, and rescinding unspent COVID-19 funds, among other things.

With Congress returning from recess next week, formal details of a debt ceiling plan are expected after months of stalemate and Republican calls for President Joe Biden to sit down with Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and negotiate a deal.

The US is potentially mere months away from breaching the debt ceiling, meaning it'll be unable to pay for the spending that Congress has already authorized. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that a breach might come as soon as July; in the meantime, Republicans have been preparing emergency measures to pay off high priority debts — what Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said would still be "effectively a default."

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has said that defaulting on the debt "is not an option," but neither is "a future of higher taxes, higher interest rates and an economy that doesn't work for working Americans." But the White House continues to insist on a clean raise, with no cuts or deals attached, which leaves them far from Republicans. Congress passed a clean debt ceiling raise three times under former President Donald Trump.

And it looks like lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are getting antsy to reach a deal. Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern sent a letter to the committee's members on Wednesday urging them to pass a "strong" debt limit deal in April.

"We must work night and day to get it passed to show the American people we can be trusted and force the Senate and White House to answer for their dereliction of duty," Hern wrote.

As Democrats have repeatedly stressed, the consequences of defaulting on the nation's debt would have major financial consequences. Moody's Analytics projected that even a short default could lead to 1 million Americans losing their jobs, and a mild recession. A report from the Joint Economic Committee found that a default could cost Americans $20,000 in retirement savings, private student-loan payments would surge, and a monthly mortgage payment could increase $150 a month. With Republicans' reported package only covering the debt limit until May 2024, the same concerns could be on the table yet again in a year.

Still, Biden has been adamant that he will not meet with McCarthy over raising the debt ceiling. That's a problem for McCarthy, who told Bloomberg TV last week that "the president never wants to meet."

"I'm very concerned about the debt ceiling," he said. "I want to make sure we don't have conflict.">

<Last Sunday, millions of Christians around the world celebrated Easter. Beyond the mythological elements, the story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of death, life, and renewal. At its core, Easter is a time to reflect upon and mark the change of seasons from Winter to Spring and the need to plant and nurture new life.

Donald Trump embodies, both as a human being and through his behavior, the literal opposite of the self-sacrifice, humility, dignity, generosity, sacrifice, and courage represented by Jesus Christ and his teachings. Trump is also the antithesis of the forces of health, life, and regeneration represented by the Easter holiday. Trump is plotting his return to the White House and has publicly promised an apocalyptic reign, a Hitler-like "final battle" and "End Times" where he and his MAGA movement's "enemies" will be severely punished if he wins the 2024 Election.

These facts have not stopped Trump, his propagandists, and cultists (most notably Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene) from elevating him to the level of Jesus Christ, as if Trump is a martyr who is being "persecuted" for doing the work of "God." When Trump was recently arrested and arraigned in New York for crimes connected to hush money payments he made to his mistresses during the 2016 presidential campaign, he reportedly wanted to have a public perp walk and be photographed for a mug shot because he believed that it would make him look like "Jesus Christ" to his followers.

"He is visualizing burning things and blowing them up": How Trump may be coping with being caught

In an "interview" on Tuesday with Fox News, Donald Trump told host Tucker Carlson that the police and other court officials were crying, extremely upset and apologizing to him for being "forced" to arrest and arraign him. Of course, that is not true: Trump is a compulsive liar and a malignant narcissist. But the story and imagery of Trump the martyr, being taken off to be executed like Christ or some other divine figure, is powerful and compelling for his cultists and other followers.

Trump's anointment as some type of new Jesus Christ exists in the much larger context of how white right-wing Christian fundamentalists view Trump as a tool for their anti-democracy theocratic project.

Donald Trump would go on to "celebrate" Easter by using his Truth Social disinformation platform to amplify death threats against President Biden, maniacal rants about World War 3 and other massive violence, and white supremacist, conspiracist, antisemitic, and other threats of stochastic terrorism and violence by him and his followers against "enemies" such as Manhattan District Attorney Bragg and the Department of Justice.

In a series of conversations with me here at Salon, psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank responded to Trump's Easter Day threats:

To anyone paying attention, Trump's outbursts are transparent.

He gives permission to unstable people to carry out their grievances at a murderous level. This is not just because violent people love Trump, but because they are following Trump's stated practice of striking back "ten times as hard" with any means available when he feels wronged.

I'm beginning to think a warning, or even a gag order is not sufficient. He needs to be secured where nobody can hear his genuinely dangerous outpourings. And it needs to be now.

Donald Trump's anointment as some type of new Jesus Christ exists in the much larger context of how white right-wing Christian fundamentalists view Trump as a tool for their anti-democracy theocratic project. Likewise, Trump has no respect or sincere interest in "Christianity" and the Christian right: They are just a means for him to get and keep unlimited power.

Calling Trump's martyrdom "a symptom of a much larger—and much more dangerous—problem," Candace McDuffie writes at the Root: "Nothing is beneath the right to cling to power and propping up Trump as a political sacrifice was perhaps a predictable move. Even though it's obviously outrageous and ridiculously tone-deaf, it's how conservatives have always moved—and it's proven alarmingly effective."

She continues: "The irreparable damage conservatives have done to Americans in the name of religion continues to harm marginalized and vulnerable groups. Whether its laws that attempt to eradicate trans people, abolish women's rights, employ deadly police forces or emphatically uphold the right to bear arms, Christianity has become the go-to excuse for Republicans to act however they like."....>

<....In a recent op-ed at Time Magazine, Rev. Nathan Empsall, who is a priest in the Episcopal Church and the executive director of Faithful America, offers the following warnings about Trump as "Jesus Christ":

Any comparison between Trump and Christ is clearly heretical and inappropriate. However, these extremist voices are right about one thing: There is, indeed, a parallel between Donald Trump's arrest and Holy Week. But it's not between Trump and Jesus—it's between MAGA leaders and Pontius Pilate, the brutal Roman governor who ordered Christ's crucifixion.

Not only would Jesus never pay anyone hush money to change the outcome of an election, he wasn't even a politician. When the devil tempted Christ with earthly authority, he flatly refused to take it. Neither did Jesus support political violence the way Trump delights in playing Jan. 6 footage at his rallies. In fact, when the disciples drew weapons to prevent Jesus's arrest, he told them, "All who take the sword will die by the sword."

Pontius Pilate, on the other hand, was a regional Roman dictator known not only for his cruelty, but also for his alliance with local religious leaders. The high priests were eager to collude with the governor, including to crucify Jesus, because it allowed them to keep their status and personal freedom. In turn, Pilate benefited by having allies who could keep his subjects in line and thus keep him in power. It was a great deal for everyone—everyone but the people.

Two millennia later, a nearly identical bond has been forged between conservative American Christians and MAGA Republican politicians like Trump, Greene, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Under the blessing of conspiracy-theory preachers like Franklin Graham, Mike Huckabee, and Paula White-Cain, these politicians use and abuse religious imagery to create a culture where disagreeing with them is no longer seen as civic discourse, but as an act of blasphemy. To them, indicting a corrupt Republican politician like Trump isn't an example of a healthy democracy, but a demonic attack on a holy figure anointed by God.

The idea of Trump as some type of Jesus Christ figure extends beyond White Christianity to the secular neofascist and "conservative" movement and the larger white right. The latter are first and foremost engaged in a political-cultural project that works through a religious devotion to its cause. The assumptions, "logic", and revolutionary goals of the global neofascist and right-wing project exist outside of rationality, empirical reality and real facts. This is a politics of faith.

In all, Trumpism, and other fascisms are a force that gives its members meaning. They are sacred in that way, something rapturous, charismatic, a way to find salvation and fulfillment. The leader – Trump in this case – is a type of secular mystical cult leader and godhead.

We see this of course at Trump's rallies and across the vast right-wing echo chamber and propaganda machine that has created an alternate lifeworld where Trump is a superhero, a god, savior, a great man of history, a conquering force, and represented as a type of masculine ideal, supremely virile and a Hollywood action hero like Rambo or Rocky. In this imagination, Trump rides Abrams tanks that are protected by bald eagles; he is a king or emperor; he is the ideal leader and man; every woman wants to be with Trump and every man dreams of being Trump.

In that world, Donald Trump is the MAGA Fascist Jesus Christ.>

<Here's [sic] a few more tips:

9. Kiss the pun master's arse for favors.

10. Compliment the pun master's own selections three days per week.

11. Trash the game pages of the pun master's puns with ridiculous stories about AIDS/HIV, dental implants, and toothpaste. Make it the most watched page on CGs.

12. Lie, lie, lie some more about FTB making political posts on the games pages, but go along with whatever pebbles says about the beach.

13. Don't change your avatar.

That's the dedicated, detailed prep work that it takes to be POTD. Cross your fingers and thighs, and be resilient! Or, use up one of your three wishes in life.

Oh <morphishine> [sic], remember when? You tried to tell us all.>

Excellent question.

Maybe cos he leads such a miserable existence that his only joy comes in attacking others; an alternative explanation is that he is projecting his own negative habits on others.

<A Republican politician has said he wants to ‘erase’ the LGBTQ+ community in a tirade accusing it of ‘targeting children’.

Randy Fine, a lawmaker for the state of Florida, is spearheading a bill which activists say is a thinly-veiled crackdown on drag shows and pride events.

Fine, 48, insists his bill is for ‘the protection of children’ from ‘adult live performances’, pointing out that it doesn’t explicitly mention drag.

The Democrats’ Senator Tina Polsky argues the bill is ‘purposely vague’ in order to create an ‘administrative nightmare’ in which public venues are too afraid to host performances featuring drag artists.

Urging his colleagues to back the bill Wednesday, Fine doubled down on his claim that the new law isn’t aimed at LGBTQ+ people while at the same time suggesting they are ‘determined to push’ sexualised performances on kids.

He said: ‘We have a definition, and they’re the ones saying this definition applies to them. If it means erasing a community because you [LGBTQ+ people] have to target children, then damn right we ought to do it.’

It does not specify what counts as ‘lewd’ or ‘sexual’, suggesting shows can fall foul of the law for being ‘patently offensive to prevailing standards’ or ‘appealing to a shameful interest’.

The only example Fine gave for shows he wants to ban was a Drag Queen Story Time event at a previous Pride event in Florida, in which fully-clothed drag performers read out children’s stories from mainstream publishers.

Meanwhile, it was reported that his wife, Wendy Fine, is set to host a fundraiser for a children’s charity which will feature ‘sultry performers’.

Pictures from previous years’ events appear to show her and a number of other women posing and dancing in revealing burlesque outfits at the Spring Forward For Autism gala.

The organisations’s website and ads make no mention of the soirée being an adults-only, and a toddler can be seen in footage from a previous event.

The 48-year-old Republican appeared to stand by his comments after an avalanche of criticism – including one social media user who said his wife’s activities showed the bill is ‘rules for thee, not for me’.

He retweeted a post singling out his quote about ‘erasing a community’.>

Fine is a hypocritical, contemptible whore.

<A Republican lawmaker who recently defended the rights of parents to allow their 12-year-old children to get married is now walking back his comments, and blaming Democrats and Californians.

Missouri State Sen. Mike Moon (R) was seen on video saying, "Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12? I do. And guess what? They're still married." The comments were reportedly made amid a debate over banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors, in which Rep. Peter Meredith (D) called out Moon on his positions.

On Wednesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) posted the video of the debate on Twitter, saying Moon is "advocating for 12 year old kids to be married off to adults.

Moon responded to that tweet on Thursday, saying, "I did not advocate for minors to be married off to adults."

Moon went on to seemingly blame Democrats, deflecting blame on their purported desire to "keep mutilating children."

"Keep your California politics out of Missouri," he wrote. "Democrats will say whatever they can to make sure they can keep mutilating children."

Fox News picked up the story, and said Moon had "clarified" his remarks.

A spokesman for Moon reportedly told Fox News Digital Thursday that the "one-hour committee meeting had strict time constraints and the senator did not have time to clear up his comments before Meredith moved on...">

<One of the top high school basketball prospects has been arrested on five felony counts of assault with a firearm.

NBC San Diego reported Friday that Mikey Williams had been arrested and booked into San Diego County Jail on Thursday. He was released on $50,000 bail just after midnight on Friday.

Williams, a consensus five-star recruit who has committed to Memphis, is accused of having a role in a shooting.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office released a statement. They say a shooting took place prior to midnight on March 27 in Jamul.

“There was a verbal argument about guests in the house being asked to leave. Five people got into a car and as they were driving away, shots were fired. The car was hit, but no one was hurt,” the statement says.

An investigation commenced the following day after a police report was filed at the Rancho San Diego Sheriff’s Station. Authorities served a search warrant at the home where the incident took place, and Williams was arrested.

Williams, 18, committed to Memphis in November.

The 6-foot-3 guard played for San Ysidro as a freshman and senior. He played for Lake Norman Christian School in North Carolina as a sophomore and junior.

Williams’ Instagram page was deactivated in the early hours on Friday.>

I'm here to tell you, he would be a right good get for Memphis--but may wind up having a few play dates with Bubba on the way.

<Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis is working to help his city recover from torrential rains that have caused unprecedented flooding, resulting in massive storm damage and even forcing an airport closure. In a press conference (see below) Trantalis says that his team is working with Florida state officials on solutions. However, when asked, Trantalis said that Governor Ron DeSantis has not called him.

“Governor DeSantis has not yet called,” Trantalis said, “I’m not sure what’s going on but I’m sure that he’s, uh, very interested in what’s going on here and we’re happy to work with his office.”

DeSantis has been on a book tour, promoting his The Courage To Be Free, in what many believe is a warm-up for announcing a run for the GOP presidential nomination. He has also recently signed a bill that gives Florida among the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.

In addition, DeSantis has been battling Bob Iger and Disney — over “don’t say gay” and other power play issues — a fight with especially unfortunate timing given Disney’s real world experience running water parks.

Trantalis, the first openly gay mayor of the city, “was first elected mayor of Fort Lauderdale in 2018 and was re-elected in November 2020. His 2018 election represented the largest victory in city history for a candidate running for a first term as mayor. The 2020 election was also by landslide proportions and featured the largest turnout ever in a city race.”>

<This week, Florida’s statehouse cleared the way for Gov. Ron DeSantis to sign a six-week abortion ban. The man who shepherded the bill, House Speaker Paul Renner, joins Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza for this episode of Playbook Deep Dive.

A bill to ban surgeries and prescription treatments for transgender minors, which has passed the state Senate and Renner will soon push through the House

One of the most comprehensive new school voucher laws in the country

Legislation removing books with sexual content from Florida public schools

A major tort reform bill, big tax cuts

And if he gets around to it this session: a bill aimed at over-turning the 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan decision, the most important First Amendment ruling of the last century All of this is aimed at Renner’s other project: helping Gov. Ron DeSantis build a record of accomplishments in Florida on which he can base his presidential campaign.

While Republicans have created a legislative assembly line that is spitting out laws to change seemingly every aspect of life in Florida, a big question suddenly hangs over their project:

Are they building a record of accomplishments that can launch the DeSantis rocket to the White House? Or are they weighing down the governor with so much right-wing baggage that he crashes upon liftoff?>