Showing posts with label Mark Takano. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark Takano. Show all posts

Friday, September 05, 2025

I Didn't Say It ...

Robert Garcia, out Democrat Representative from California, leading the charge on the Epstein files:

“[GOP Representative from Kentucky,  James Comer] and Republican leadership understand that we are picking off Republicans to join Democrats in assuring that we get as much disclosure and transparency as possible. We are going to raise hell. What we got was complete bulls**t [from the DOJ and from Comer]. “We demanded the full Epstein files, and that’s not what was sent over. The White House cover-up clearly continues. What they sent us was 33,000 pages of documents that have already been in the public domain. Handpicked, partial productions are wholly insufficient and potentially misleading. They are now trying to claim somehow that Ghislaine Maxwell was claiming that [The Felon] wasn’t involved? Give me a break. She’s a sex trafficker and known liar. She should not be trusted. Once again, [The Felon], Pam Bondi, [Republican House Speaker] Mike Johnson, they’re all involved in a massive cover-up. I think what James Comer and the Republicans finally know is that Democrats on the Oversight Committee are not messing around. We’re gonna force votes, just like we forced the Epstein files to get released. We’re gonna force them to take votes they don’t wanna take, and we are not going to stop until we get justice for all the victims.”

Garcia and the Democrats have used the fury from the MAGAt base over the Epstein case to their advantage and yet, Oversight Chair Comer issued 11 subpoenas for testimony from Democrats such as former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former FBI Directors James Comey and Robert Mueller, as well as former Attorneys General Merrick Garland and Bill Barr; The Felon was not on the list.

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Oliver Kornetzke, in his words, ‘not a historian … not a Kremlinologist … not a credentialed scholar on authoritarian regimes … a behavioral psychologist … not a PhD in fascism or kleptocracy’ but he can tell you a little something about The Felon:

“Behold. The festering carcass of American rot shoved into an ill-fitting suit: the sleaze of a conman, the cowardice of a draft dodger, the gluttony of a parasite, the racism of a Klansman, the sexism of a back-alley creep, the ignorance of a bar-stool drunk, and the greed of a hedge-fund ghoul—all spray-painted orange and paraded like a prize hog at a county fair. Not a president. Not even a man. Just the diseased distillation of everything this country swears it isn’t but has always been—arrogance dressed up as exceptionalism, stupidity passed off as common sense, cruelty sold as toughness, greed exalted as ambition, and corruption worshiped like gospel. It is America’s shadow made flesh, a rotting pumpkin idol proving that when a nation kneels before money, power, and spite, it doesn’t just lose its soul—it shits out this bloated obscenity and calls it a leader.”

He ain’t wrong …

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Gavin Newsom, California Democrat Governor, taking apart JD “CouchF*cker” Vance over the recent shootings in Minneapolis:

“JD Vance just blamed mental illness for the epidemic of mass shootings in America. That’s rich considering that he and [The Felon] have cut over a trillion in mental health funding, including: $1 trillion in Medicaid, the nation’s primary funder of mental health services; $1 billion from school mental health programs; $1.1 billion from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; $1.81 billion in National Institute of Health mental-health related grants. Enough hypocrisy, JD.”

JD, woefully out of his league and his only qualifications are taking vacations and running away from protesters.

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Larry Krasner, Philadelphia' Democratic District Attorney, lays out a plan for arresting and prosecuting fascist ICEstapo agents and troops as the MAGA crackdowns spiral out of control:

"If what you have is a group of ICE agents or you even have the military coming into Philadelphia and they're committing crimes, they're committing assaults that are illegal, homicides that are illegal, they're kidnapping people, they're engaging in unlawful restraint which is a crime in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ... They're obstructing the administration of justice ... If you have people coming in—military, ICE, whoever it is—acting beyond their legal authority they can be prosecuted, assuming they commit crimes, in state court. And they cannot be pardoned by the president which means that they get to tell a Philadelphia jury exactly why it is that they thought that they could invade this city and they get to bear the consequences whether they are in handcuffs, a jury trial, or a jail sentence."

This is exactly what we need from all of our Democratic leaders. The Felon and his band of fascists are breaking the law at every turn and it's time that we started holding them accountable. And by prosecuting any lawbreakers on a state level, Democrats can circumvent the presidential pardon which has been irreparably corrupted by The Felon.

Do it.

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Mark Takano, out Democrat Representative from California, compared civil rights abuses that immigrant detainees face to the more than 125,000 Japanese-Americans forcibly sent to internment camps during WWII:

“I have seen that logic before, when the government imprisoned my family in camps, officials wrapped the policy in the language of necessity and security. They cited military zones and expedience, and they used banal words to mask a violation of the Constitution. There are distinctions between Japanese American incarceration of WWII and Alligator Alcatraz. But at its heart, there is not a wide gap between the two. In both instances, the government claimed that violation of human rights en masse was and is justified because of emergency circumstances. In both cases, there was and is no vetting, due process, or writ of habeas corpus. The government is so concerned with making it appear that they are executing on wild campaign promises that no human rights, no Constitution, and no court orders can stand in its way. This administration, which has leaned heavily into the optics of the prison and celebrated its cruelty, treats people as cattle to be processed rather than human beings with rights. [The Felon]’s ever-growing state apparatus makes sloppy, careless, and rushed arrests, which is precisely why independent oversight and real access are not optional luxuries but basic safeguards. None of this is radical. It is the bare minimum in a democracy that claims to respect the rule of law. The last time our nation failed this test, my family paid the price. I will not be quiet while others are made to pay it again.”

Is this the country any of us want to be? Locking people up in camps without due process? Separating families? Jailing children?

Seriously, this needs to stop and we all need to rise up against it.

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Pete Buttigieg, on his tenth wedding anniversary with Chasten:

“Ten years ago tonight, I went on a first date, arriving at the pub with tickets to that night’s (South Bend) Cubs game in my pocket in case our chat over beer went really well. Which it did. A decade later, I can’t imagine life without Chasten and the amazing family we have built together. And I can’t wait to see what the next ten years and more will teach us about life and love.”

The Future President and First Gentleman, y’all.

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Friday, April 18, 2014

I Didn't Say It ...

Jared Leto, accepting the Best Transformation at the MTV Movie Awards, on AIDS:

"We've made a lot of progress in the battle against AIDS, but it's not time to celebrate just yet. There's no cure, the epidemic rages on. But here's to the hope that one day, we'll put an end of this plague, and the world will rejoice, knowing that no one will ever have to suffer the indignation of this sickness again, nor the intolerance, the fear or the prejudice that lives alongside it. Love who you want to love, live how you wish to live and never let anyone ever stop you from turning your dreams into your reality."

Yes, even in 2014, we still need to be reminded that this epidemic is far from over, so kudos to Leto for saying it so eloquently.
Pope Francis, on pedophile priests:

"I feel called to take responsibility for all the evil some priests -- large in number, but not in proportion to the total -- have committed and to ask forgiveness for the damage they've done with the sexual abuse of children. The church is aware of this damage and is committed to strengthening child protection programs and punishing offenders"

Lovely words. Now back it up with actions.
I'd like to see a Catholic priest who raped small children arrested and tried for his crimes because he was turned in by the Church.
Words are meaningless unless followed up by actions, Frankie.
Mark Takano, the Democratic Congressman from California, staging an "intervention" U.S. House floor to help the GOP overcome their obsession with repealing the Affordable Care Act:

“To my Republican friends, I want to say, this is a safe place. We are here to help. Your addiction to repealing Obamacare and peddling conspiracy theories about the law are not doing any good – for yourselves or for the American people. Stop standing on the wrong side of history….Let’s move on!”

Seriously.
Let's.Move.On.
Like, oh, I dunno, with that Jobs Bill you've been promising for seven years?
Mike Huckabee, on Obama's change of heart regarding marriage equality:

"The position that I hold is the position that Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden held in 2008. Barack Obama held it until 2012. And the question now that I'd love to pose to the President is this, 'Mr. President, please explain that when you said in 2008 at the Saddleback Church Forum that you stood for traditional marriage and you did so because you were a Christian and because it's what the Bible taught, please answer. Were you lying then, or are you lying now? Or did the Bible get rewritten. I'm just wanting somebody in the press to answer that honest question....He said it was because of his Christian convictions. Does he have them or does he not?"

He has them, you asshat, but he isn't letting his Christian beliefs become the law in the country.
We have a Separation of Church and State you idiot, though you don't get it because you have a separation of brain and mouth.
Eddie Calvo, Guam Governor, on marriage equality:

“I’m going to be upfront with you, I have an issue with gay marriage. I’m not trying to put my morals on anybody. I just want everyone to understand that when society makes that move, there will now be a new question.”

Thanks for being "up front" but now you can "step to the side" as the rest of the world marches on.
The only new question to be asked will be, 'Will you marry me?' heard from every gay corner of the world.
Evan Wolfson, head of Freedom to Marry, when asked by Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer if LGBT rights is the next chapter of civil rights:

“I wouldn’t call it the next chapter. I think it’s part of the same struggle. I think that what the struggle ... that the civil rights movement did so much to lay the foundation for… was to create an America that’s a more perfect union for everybody. And gay people are part of that everybody. But as we’ve just all heard and said, we’re not done with any of these fights on any of these fronts that overlap anyway. My blood boils when I see voter suppression and the assault on women’s access to contraception…. Civil rights is about the America we want for everybody.”

Simple, eh?
Rush Limbaugh, on Stephen Colbert replacing David Letterman when letterman retires next year:

"CBS has just declared war on the heartland of America. No longer is comedy going to be a covert assault on traditional American values [and] conservatives. Now, it's just wide out in the open. What this hire means is a redefinition of what is funny and a redefinition of what is comedy. What this hire means is a redefinition of what is funny and a redefinition of what is comedy, and there’s blowing up the 11:30 format under the guise that the world’s changing. It’s media planting a flag here. Maybe even media’s last stand. It’s a declaration. They've hired a partisan, so-called comedian, to run a comedy show." 

Wow, I never thought Colbert wielded that much power.
Or maybe Rush has over-medicated himself again.
Debby Boone, best known for her 70's mega-hit "You Light Up My Life", saying she's through preaching the anti-LGBT perspective she was learned growing up Christian--her father is the raging homophobe, and former singer and actor, Pat Boone:

“I'm really happy to be here in support of GLAAD, because I am one of the people that has made the transition from an old way of thinking to a new one. And I think that's really the crux of what GLAAD is all about...I have really good friends and family members that have changed my mind. And the couple that we're with tonight is a lesbian couple who attended the church where my husband was associate rector.”

As times change, people change, and we need to accept those who've affected the change.
Boone has stepped out of her father's intolerant, anti-Christian shadow and she deserves applause for that.
Jennifer LeClaire, news editor of Charisma, on the Honey Maid ad controversy:

"Many are calling for a boycott of Nabisco. I’m not a fan of boycotts, but I am a fan of healthy eating—and I’m not a thin little 7-year-old anymore. I stopped eating Oreos, Nilla Wafers and Nutter Butters long ago to avoid packing on unwanted pounds. That said, Nabisco is still trying to shove something down my throat for which I have no taste. Although I defend their right to do so, I grieve over the latest example of how immorality is the new normal. Our only godly response is to continue speaking the truth in love and to pray for those whose hand may be caught in the cookie jar of sexual immorality when Jesus returns."

I think that when Jesus returns he might have a lot to say about love and acceptance and intolerance to LeClaire because, unlike what she alludes to, Jesus never said a word about The Gays.