Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

Sunday Thoughts:

Works on Ohio State wrestling coaches and other pervy friends of Ohio Rep. Gym Shower Jordon, too!

Shelby County Ex-GOP Chairman Chris Gibbs To Gym Jordan: "Legislation Is Not Wrestling. It Isn’t Pin And Get Points"

Gym Jordan by Chip Proser

Last week, much of the nation united in its hatred for a man few had ever heard of before, Gym Jordan, the former wrestling coach who allowed one of his colleagues to molest his Ohio State University students for years, despite their pleas for help. It was Jordan's harsh, loud and ugly screaming at congressional witnesses during the Intel Committee impeachment hearings that etched him into the nation's book of political villainy. His turns at bat, even more than his colleagues John Ratcliffe and Devin Nunes, became excuses for bathroom breaks from coast to coast.

On Thursday, Brent Larkin, the former editorial director of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, gave Jordan exactly what he deserved on the pages of the most widely read newspaper in his congressional district, accusing him of being a national afflication. The problem started not in Congress but with Ohio's notorious gerrymandering. "Of all the regions in all the states in all the country, Jim Jordan got dragged into ours. There was no good reason to punish Greater Cleveland by making the person who’s now the second most contemptible human being in the entire U.S. government part of the region’s delegation to Congress. Worse yet, the betrayal was bipartisan. When Ohio’s political and legislative leaders were drawing new congressional boundaries prior to the 2012 election, Democrats wanted a district that would protect U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge. Republicans wanted districts that would elect the maximum number of GOP congressmen. And some people from both parties wanted a district that would likely lead to the defeat of longtime Cleveland Rep. Dennis Kucinich. They all got what they wanted. But to make it work required drawing a hideously gerrymandered district for the southwest Ohio congressman, one that meanders some 200 miles from near Dayton north into Lorain County near Cleveland."

And now it’s fitting that Republicans have given this seven-term sycophant a starring role in the televised House Intelligence Committee impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump. The assignment comes as Jordan is being credibly accused by some of knowingly turning a blind eye to sexual abuse by a team doctor when Jordan was an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University from 1987 to 1994.

At least five people-- four of them former wrestlers and one of them a longtime friend-- have said Jordan had to have known former OSU team doctor Richard Strauss was on a sexual rampage that would include-- according to OSU-- 1,429 sexual assaults and 47 rapes of student patients during Strauss’ time at the school (1978 to 1998) prior to his suicide in 2005.

That makes Jordan an ideal candidate to lead the defense of a malignant president who has bragged about physically abusing women and who has been accused by two dozen women of sexual assault or misconduct.

Jordan was appointed to the Intelligence Committee the same day, Nov. 8, that NBC reported on a lawsuit filed early this month in which a former wrestling referee alleges Strauss masturbated in front of him in the shower following an OSU wrestling match in 1994.

When the referee told Jordan what happened, he alleges that Jordan blew him off with, “Yeah, that’s Strauss.”

As the allegations pile up, Jordan’s denials remain unchanged. He dismissed the latest one as “ridiculous.”

People have every right to believe Jordan’s angry dismissals. Common sense suggests they’d probably be better off believing five men who have no reason to lie.

When Jordan slithers out from under his rock each morning, dons a shirt and tie-- sans the jacket, lest he be mistaken for Joe McCarthy-- his life’s work is to besmirch everything America stands for in service of Donald Trump.

If it takes undermining yet another principle of democracy by condoning attacks on men and women who have devoted their lives in honorable service to this country, Jordan is always ready and willing.

If it takes changing the Trump defense strategy on an almost daily basis because facts keep getting in the way, Jordan is the ideal bootlicker. Trump’s support is all that seems to matter to the man former House Speaker John Boehner regularly referred to as "a legislative terrorist”-- along with a whole bunch of other descriptions unfit for print.

Why would Jordan so readily ruin what little was left of his reputation? One theory holds he hopes to inherit Trump’s base for a presidential run of his own in 2024. The swamp will be a crowded place in four years, overrun with loathsome folks angling to continue the dastardly business of shredding the Constitution.

Michael Gerson’s credentials to analyze Jordan are impeccable. He is an evangelical Christian, lifelong Republican and onetime chief speechwriter to former President George W. Bush.

In his Washington Post column of Nov. 14, Gerson showed his keen understanding of Jordan, describing him as “the Truly Trumpian Man-- guided by bigotry, seized by conspiracy theories, dismissive of facts and truth, indifferent to ethics, contemptuous of institutional norms and ruthlessly dedicated to the success of a demagogue.”

Gerson applied the identical description to Stephen Miller, the White House resident white supremacist.

Everything about Jordan reeks of a man willing to cast aside common decency and fairness in service of a corrupt and cruel president.

He may be the most unfit man to ever represent part of Greater Cleveland in Congress.

Bad news for anyone who thought we were finished with the agony of Jordan's screaming with the impeachment inquiry moving from the Intel Committee to the Judiciary Committee: he's a member of that committee too. As for defeating him at the polls... nearly impossible. The state legislature, in drawing his district, managed to cobble together one with the most low IQ voters in the entire state of Ohio. It isn't even that the PVI is R+14 and that Trump beat Hillary 64.3% to 30.7%. Of the 14 counties in the district, only one, Lorain, has the sense it takes every two years to reject Jordan. Others, like red hellholes Auglaize, Shelby and Mercer, have more in common with neo-fascist bastions in Alabama and Idaho than with other parts of Ohio. Last year, in the midst of his Ohio State molestation scandal voters reelected him 167,993 (65.3%) to 89,412 (34.7%). That's nothing short of an indictment of the backward ignorant voters in Allen, Union, Auglaize, Shelby, Seneca, Marion, Logan, Champaign, Crawford and Mercer counties. This cycle, three Democrats-- Shannon Freshour, Mike Larsen and Jeffrey Sites-- are competing to take on Jordan. On top of that, Chris Gibbs, a local farmer and the former chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party, is mulling a challenge to Jordan. Gibbs resigned as the chair of the county GOP and quit the Republican Party because of Trump's devastating agriculture and trade policies. He wants to run against Jordan as an independent. "People are tired of the vitriol in Washington, on both sides," said Gibbs. "It isn’t just Jim Jordan. It’s the vitriol back and forth and the lack of ability to roll up your sleeves and get something done for the American people... I never anticipated that the Republicans in Congress would wilt in their responsibility to their oath and serve the President over serving their districts."

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

Sunday Thoughts:

Well, isn't this special: Ohio, which "blessed" us with Gym Shower Jordan, passed the law referred to in tonight's meme about 10 days ago. Under the republikooks, this kind of thing isn't just limited to the South now. Not that we didn't already know that but the disease of Christian Nuttery is continuing to intensify right along with other Republican touchstones such as White Supremacy, the further subjugation of women, and the repression of "brown" people and the LGBTQ community. It's all of a piece of course. It's what the Republican Party is and Trump has enabled them and cheered them on, not just with his mouth and tweets but with his judicial appointments, all dutifully confirmed by Moscow Mitch and his minions.

So, if this sort of thing is going to become permissible across the land, and approved of by kook judges and idiot voters, I thought I'd come up with a few "religious beliefs" of my own. Here are just a handful:

1. Since I have found my new Christian god, I have decided that the scientific principles of friction are wrong, wrong, wrong. Accordingly, I have decided not to fix the brakes on my car and, even better, my 16-wheel fully-loaded truck. Good luck on the highway, folks! If you see me a-comin', you'd best pull over. Although, I could just run my big, manly truck right over you and speed you to the pearly gates. Wouldn't that make you happy?

2. I've decided that I am against vaccinations of dogs for rabies! So, next time I let my dogs out to roam the neighborhood you might want to stay inside!

3. I also have some nifty ideas that will make schooling (public, private, or the hugely preferable home schooling) for the kiddies easier. For instance, I will petition all Republican legislatures to decree that Pi now equals a flat 3.0, not 3.14. Won't that make those dreaded math courses so much easier? Hey, Republicans already believe that 3+3 = 10 anyway.

4. Come to think of it, maybe my religion states that Pi equals 3:16. Get ready to see signs behind homeplate at baseball games that just say Pi instead of John 3:16. Of course, in a country where people can't spell, a Pi sign will just make them hungry.

5. No more school science fairs! They offend me! They are against my new beliefs!

6. I now believe that nitrous oxide enables the brain to learn faster. Hence forward, all schools should make arrangements to have it piped into all classrooms during school hours. This is obviously being done with great results in Republican state legislatures and is one reason why my new hero, Moscow Mitch, makes so many visits to the Senate cloakroom with Lindsey Graham and always returns with such a beatific smile.

7. In my religion, we fervently believe that humanity should return to dumping our human waste into the middle of our streets. Cholera can be a good thing. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger! Since republicans believe that the dangers of pollution are simply fake news, this is, how you say, a no brainer.

8. Yes, Adam and Eve were white, just like my Jesus, and rode to work on dinosaurs. Got a problem with that?

By the way, Ohio is the new Flor-i-duh. Need further proof? Both states have a city called Miami. Where does the kind of thing that Ohio is doing end? Literature, another thing Republicans regard with fear and suspicion tells us-

Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.

-George Orwell, 1984 (He was only off by 35 years.)

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

Gym Shower Jordan, defender of sexual abuse and the latest pride of Ohio; yet another "stable genius" who slithers through the corridors of Washington power. Gym Shower Jordan, the Joe Paterno of Congress, is desperately trying to expand on his 15 minutes of fame, even in the face of new accusations. It's so embarrassing that a human can be like Gym. He craves power so much he'll say or do anything, even put on a pair of his old grungy, sweaty wrestling knee pads, for Trump. Gym Shower Jordan probably dreams of being the 2020 V.P. candidate. Can't you just see it? This is a sad state of affairs all around. It certainly follows that a cretin who has no problem with the sexual abuse of young schoolboy wrestlers in his charge would have no issues with a pussy-grabbing traitor. The biggest question I have about this lowlife today is: What other skeletons inhabit his various closets? What additional corruptions of what kind? Everyone who supports this asshole in any way, shape, or form, is suspect.

May Gym Shower Jordan someday serve some time in prison. Don't drop the soap, Gym. Karma's a bitch, Gym. And you could be, too.

Read The Transcript... May Look Nice On A T-Shirt, But It Could Lead To Prison For Señor Trumpanzee

The designated fall guy?

Yesterday, the House Dems guiding the impeachment investigation released the transcripts of the closed door depositions with the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman and former White House aide Fiona Hill, just as the White House and House Republicans demanded. CNN noted that "Hill testified behind closed doors last month that she took her concerns about the role President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani was playing in Ukraine to National Security Council attorneys. Hill also testified that then-national security adviser John Bolton described Giuliani's efforts with U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland in Ukraine as a 'drug deal.' Vindman was the first official interviewed by lawmakers in the impeachment inquiry who listened into the July call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Vindman said he was concerned about the call and reported it to National Security Council attorneys. The House Intelligence Committee has now released eight transcripts of the 15 witnesses who have testified behind closed doors in the impeachment inquiry." And next week they move-- again, after non-stop demands from the Republicans that they do so-- into the public hearings. Happy Republicans?

Of course not. They re flipping out. Yesterday Trump changed strategy and started carrying on there should be no public hearings at all. "They shouldn’t be having public hearings. This is a hoax," he groused to reporters as he headed off to try to save David Perdue's seat in Georgia. Trump claimed he doesn't know any of the witnesses and that none of them had any first-hand knowledge of anything. "I’m not concerned about anything. The testimony has all been fine. I mean for the most part, I’ve never even heard of these people. There are some very fine people. You have some Never Trumpers. It seems that nobody has any first-hand knowledge."

Read The Transcript, indeed

NPR's Philip Ewing reported yesterday that Vindman, who very much had first hand knowledge, was on the call with Zelensky and had access to the transcripts of the call Trump was trying to hide on a secret server. Vindman "said that departure in policy followed a conversation he had with a top lawyer on the National Security Council raising concerns about Trump's request that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy launch investigations that might help Trump's campaign in the 2020 election."

Another important detail from Vindman was his recollection that, in the phone call, Zelenskiy responded to Trump's inquiry by saying that a prosecutor in the Ukrainian government "will look into the situation, specifically to the company that you mentioned."

What Vindman wrote in his notes was that Zelenskiy specified by name the gas company Burisma-- the firm that paid Hunter Biden for a time when he had a position on its board.

That detail would confirm the accounts of others in the Ukraine affair, including the account by the intelligence community whistleblower whose complaint set the drama into motion, that Zelenskiy had been primed by other U.S. officials about the need to "play ball" with Trump when the two men spoke.

In the official account of the phone call released by the White House, Zelenskiy is described as using the phrase, "the company you mentioned" to Trump.

In Hill's case, her deposition not only reflects her own reservations about Trump's Ukraine pressure policy, but her descriptions of the views and actions taken by then-national security adviser John Bolton.

Hill, a well-known specialist in Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, told investigators that she too objected to the Ukraine strategy and why: It imperiled U.S. assistance to an ally in Ukraine was helpful to the adversary, in Russia.

Hill also is another witness who has characterized Bolton's concerns about the Ukraine affair, which she said he called a "drug deal" and of which she said he wanted no part.

Bolton also warned others inside the national security council that Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was a "hand grenade," according to Hill's account.

Meanwhile-- and tangentially-- John Wagner and Colby Itkowitz, writing for the Washington Post reported that the GOP's new top star to disrupt the impeachment investigation, Gym Jordan is in trouble again. "A college wrestling referee says he reported sexual misconduct involving a former doctor who’s been accused sexually abusing nearly 300 men over a 17-year period to... Jordan (R-OH), a former assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University. The congressman was dismissive, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court, and the doctor, Richard Strauss, continued to treat and abuse students at the school. Ohio State says it’s aware of 1,429 instances of fondling and 47 instances of rape involving Strauss, who committed suicide in 2005. Thursday’s filing marks the 13th lawsuit against the school. Jordan has found himself at the periphery of the controversy because some former wrestlers have said he was aware-- or should have been aware-- of Strauss’s misconduct. Jordan has denied any knowledge of the abuse, and did so again on Friday. 'Congressman Jordan never saw or heard of any kind of sexual abuse, and if he had he would’ve dealt with it,' Jordan spokesman Ian Fury. 'Multiple investigations have confirmed this simple fact.'" Except that isn't true, not even a little. Jordan would like to rewrite history, but he is totally complicit in the rapes and sexual assaults of dozens of boys over a period of several years and has done nothing but tried to cover it up and prevent a real investigation.

by Chip Proser

Poor Gym Jordan! His disgrace will never end. Why should it? Do you think he deserves to be forgiven?

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

Rep. Gym Jordan (R-OH) prides himself on being Trumpanzee's number one defender in the House. Can you imagine how sick and deranged you have to be to even want that job let alone take pride in it? No, Gym Jordan will never have any decency at long last.

Before Gym even got elected by the fools and pro-perv voters in his district, he was a national wrestling champion and then, what else, wrestling coach at Ohio State, a coach who reportedly failed his students miserably. Since his time as coach, charges of his wrestlers being sexually abused in the showers have never stopped, not even after cases were settled. Like Sgt. Schultz, Jordan has always claimed and still claims that he saw nothing. He even smugly says that the settlements provide vindication for him. No, Gym. They are just settlements. As he does with his master, Trump, he even basically takes a "So what!" approach. It's all for the greater glory. Imagine how many fellow priests Gym would be covering for right now if he had gone into the priesthood.

Wrestling coach to congressman: Like most politicians, Gym Jordan isn't going to ever win prizes at the state science fair. In fact, watching Gym Jordan speak leaves you wondering if he can even write his own name. It's that bad. My first impression of him was that his handlers found him in the woods being raised by wolves or chimpanzees. They shaved him, cleaned him up, introduced him to bipedalism, taught him rudimentary English, dressed him in his first clothes, and put him in front of microphones for the voters of his district, and, well, they bought it.

Gym Jordan is the ranking member (top Republican) on the House Oversight Committee. As evidenced by his twisted statements in defense of Trump after Kurt Volker's testimony and the depositions of other witnesses before committee, there's no Trump shit that he won't happily smear himself with. No doubt Rep. Jordan owns cherishes that famous piece of toilet paper that was once stuck to Trump's shoe as he walked up the stairs to board Air Force One. It wouldn't shock me if he got it autographed and has it framed in his office.

Gym Jordan is a bad, bad boy. He even makes the most of his sick displays of subservience to Trump by craving the cameras even more than is typical of most politicians. Attempts to realtime fact check Gym Jordan's blatant lies as he speaks to pundits and show hosts on live national television are meaningless to him as long as he can be on screen. He's a simple man. The word 'shame' is not in his lexicon. Think of Gym Jordan as giving Lindsey Graham a run for his money in Washington's endless Mr./Ms. Shameless category. The only difference may be that Graham has a much bigger vocabulary and can read street signs, books, and porno mags.

Jordan's narcissism may even top that of his master. One might almost feel sorry for him when that day comes that no one wants him on their show. He's the kind of guy who will beg for the attention until he's a sobbing mess on the floor. At that time, we can gladly tell him, "Take a shower, Gym! Take a shower!"

Even When They Manage To Steal Control Of Government, Conservatives Don't Do Anything But Obstruct

Ohio reactionary, Gym Jordan (R-OH) is a leading Republican on two committees: Oversight and Government Reform ,where he is the ranking member, and Judiciary. That's it. He's not on any committees that deal with passing actual laws, just committees that most deal with bad behavior. So when he goes on Fox every other day to warn about how Democrats don't deal with anything substantive, he's referring to his own committees-- and he's lying. Democrats have passed dozens of bills to make life better for the American people but they can't move forward because Senate Majority Leader, #MoscowMitch, refuses to allow then to be debated and voted on.

In the first 5 months alone, the House passed over 50 bills that McConnell refused to allow to reach the Senate floor-- all of which were opposed by Jordan-- from lowering prescription drug prices (HR 987, HR 1520 and HR 1503), protecting people with preexisting conditions (HR 986), the Paycheck Fairness Act (HR 7), two background check bills (HR 1112 and HR 8), bills to deal with Climate Change and environmental degradation (HR 9, HR 1331, and HR 2578), a resolution to end U.S, involvement in the Saudi genocide in Yemen (SJ Res. 7), Violence against Women Act (HR 1585) to bills to protect consumers (HR 1500), abused children (HR 2480), and government employees (HR 790)... and dozens more.

But there was Jordan-- who only wants to protect child molesters-- on Fox again yesterday, whining-- falsely-- that "the push for impeachment from House Democrats is taking away from Congress’s ability to fulfill the needs of the American people."

McConnell's self-proclaimed role as "the Grim Reaper" for all House-passed legislation is the problem-- and, of course, McConnell's is just the hideously ugly face of that problem. There isn't one Republican in the Senate, or anywhere in Congress, who has complained about it. And that's why I decided to post the video above from the latest John Oliver show. I urge you to watch it.

Gym Jordan Has Allied Himself Completely With Russia-- He Should Be Kicked Off The House Intelligence Committee Immediately

The Republican strategy yesterday was basically to say there was no there there, to set the stage for Barr's investigation of Hillary Clinton and to bore the audience to death so that they would turn off the station and tune in something-- anything-- else. The worst was Gym Jordan. Yesterday the Wall Street Journal set the stage by re-publishing a year old piece by Ben Kesling and Kristina Peterson, Former Ohio State Wrestlers Say Rep. Jim Jordan Knew of Team Doctor’s Alleged Misconduct, proving that Jordan is an inveterate and practiced liar. Short version: "Lawmaker denies knowledge of alleged sexual abuse that occurred in the 1990s, when he was assistant coach."

Five former wrestlers, including former UFC world champion Mark Coleman, said this week that Rep. Jim Jordan was aware of, but didn’t respond to, allegations of sexual misconduct by an Ohio State University team doctor when the lawmaker was an assistant wrestling coach there in the 1990s.

“There’s no way unless he’s got dementia or something that he’s got no recollection of what was going on at Ohio State,” Mr. Coleman, the mixed martial arts champion, said of Mr. Jordan in an interview Wednesday. Messrs. Coleman and Jordan roomed together on several wrestling trips, Mr. Coleman said. “I have nothing but respect for this man, I love this man, but he knew as far as I’m concerned.”

Mr. Jordan has denied that he was aware of any sexual misconduct by Dr. Richard Strauss. The doctor died in 2005.

If he had seen abuse at the time, “I would have done something about it,” the Ohio Republican said in an interview this week. “If there was abuse, we want justice done. There’s no room for this kind of behavior.”

The focus on Mr. Jordan intensified in recent days when NBC News reported that three former wrestlers said Dr. Strauss’s inappropriate conduct was common knowledge. Eight people involved in Ohio State athletics in the 1990s spoke to the Wall Street Journal this week.

The controversy over how much the Ohio Republican lawmaker may have known at the time could affect the career trajectory of one of the most influential conservatives in the House. Mr. Jordan helped found the House Freedom Caucus, a group of roughly three-dozen conservative Republicans, and said he has been considering a run to succeed departing House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI).

“These are serious allegations and issues. The university has rightfully initiated a full investigation into the matter. The speaker will await the findings of that inquiry,” Doug Andres, a spokesman for Mr. Ryan, said in a statement.

President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday he didn’t believe the allegations against Mr. Jordan. “I believe Jim Jordan 100 percent. He’s an outstanding man,” Mr. Trump said Thursday evening.

“We are aware of reports that individuals at the university did not respond appropriately during Richard Strauss’s time at Ohio State from 1978 to 1998,” Chris Davey, a spokesman for the university said in an email Thursday. “These allegations are troubling and are a critical focus of the independent investigation that remains underway.”

Former Ohio State wrestler Mike DiSabato has led a campaign to publicize Dr. Strauss’s alleged wrongdoings for months and only recently began to criticize Mr. Jordan for allegedly ignoring athletes’ concerns. Mr. DiSabato has been joined by other athletes who wrestled during Mr. Jordan’s tenure, as well as athletes from other teams and those who were aware of allegations about Dr. Strauss’s conduct.

Mr. DiSabato and Mr. Jordan have clashed over the issue. Mr. Jordan’s office contacted the Capitol police after the lawmaker received allegedly threatening texts and emails from him, an aide said.

Mr. DiSabato said he had absolutely not threatened Mr. Jordan and that he had not been contacted by law enforcement about text messages.

In interviews this week, other former Ohio State athletes said Dr. Strauss’s abuses were well known on multiple sports teams. They said that even for minor injuries, Dr. Strauss would conduct unnecessary, full-body physical examinations, during which he would inappropriately touch them. He would also regularly watch them shower, the former athletes said.

“I complained more than three times. I came across Strauss and I had a thumb injury, and ended up getting a physical,” said Dunyasha Yetts, a former Ohio State wrestler.

He said that back in the 1990s people simply didn’t use the same language to describe abuse as is used today, but he recalls telling the coaches that Dr. Strauss was acting inappropriately and needed to be reprimanded.

“If Jordan says he didn’t know about it then he’s lying,” said Mr. Yetts.

This isn’t the first time the House has been jolted by sexual misconduct allegations. Recently, a series of lawmakers from both parties have left Congress after being accused of sexual misconduct as public scrutiny has intensified under the #MeToo movement.

Ohio State has a continuing investigation by an outside law firm into allegations of abuse by Dr. Strauss that began on April 5, according to an Ohio State web page on the matter. Mr. Jordan initially said investigators had not contacted him, but later learned that they had used the wrong email address to try to reach him, according to an aide for Mr. Jordan.

The university has received reports of sexual misconduct by Dr. Strauss from former athletes in 14 sports, according to its website. Dr. Strauss is also being investigated by an independent investigator authorized by the university for possible infractions as a student health doctor as well, according to the university website. He joined Ohio State’s staff in 1978 and retired in 1998.

“I knew Strauss, he was there when I was there,“ said one former athlete. ”All the stuff they’re saying about Strauss was out there.”

Dr. Strauss allegedly showered with athletes and on other occasions took photos of them for what he said was a planned book on musculature, according to the former athlete. “We thought he was weird but harmless,” the athlete said. “It was a different time.”

Gym Jordan, in encouraging Russian interference with the U.S. election in 2020. In other words, he's as much a traitor to America as he was to Ohio State University and, worse, to the young boys on the wrestling team who he allowed to be molested and raped.

2018 In Review: Sex-Obsessed Hypocrite Edition-A Holiday Cornucopia Of Republican Wackos. The Whole World Is Watching, Part 10.

by Noah

Yesterday, I wrote about a handful of the Republican Party’s Nazi brethren. But, hey, enough of Republicans who worship Nazis and Nazis who worship republicans. The two are interchangeable anyway, so let’s proceed. How about some sex-crazed republicans? Republicans are always so obsessed with other people’s sex lives that they live by a “do as I say not as I do” “religious” creed. Their eager support of Judge Roy Moore for Senator and the attitudes they displayed during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings went even further than that. But then, what would we expect from 62 million people who voted for a sexual predator for president knowing exactly what he was. 55% of them will actually tell you that sexual assault is no biggie. And that’s just the ones that will say it publicly.

And so, without further ado, a small sample of Republicans who exemplify the rest of their party of hypocrites:

1. Dennis Hof – Kinda sounds like a Nazi already. I wonder if he liked to be addressed as Herr Hof. I used the past tense because Hof is dead. He has ceased to be! No matter though! Nevada Republicans voted for him for a position in their state Assembly anyway. It just didn’t matter. Neither did the fact that Hof, who considered himself a Trump protégé, was a pimp. Hof, discovered by porn star Ron Jeremy, enjoyed the backing of Trump associate Roger Stone and tax-cut activist Grover Norquist.

2. Ralph Shortey (R-OK) – Shortey, a former Oklahoma State Senator received his sentence for child sex trafficking in September, 15 years in the slammer followed by 10 years of supervised probation if he gets out alive. Shortey, 36, faced anywhere from 10 years to life. He was a prominent critic of Oklahoma’s anti-trans “bathroom bill” but, you guessed it, he was caught in a Super 8 Motel with a 17-year-old boy, an open box of condoms, and enough texts on his phone to put him away for life with Bubba.

3. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) – When Jim Jordan, a former Assistant Wrestling Coach at Ohio State was asked about claims that there was sexual abuse of some of the wrestlers during his time on the job and that Jordan had to have known about it, Jordan pulled a Nixon and said he didn’t recall any such thing. Funny about that: 8 former wrestlers said that Jordan had to have been aware but did nothing. Had republicans kept control of the House Of Representatives, Jordan was a likely republican choice for Speaker Of The House. Paul Ryan called him “a man of honesty and a man of integrity.” Now, THAT’S a character witness! Keep in mind that this is the Roy Morre/Brett Kavanaugh Republican Party.

4. Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA) – You know how repugs like to blame Obamacare for all of the world’s problems? Well, it seems that in the Republican Mind you can even blame sexual harassment on Obamacare. Meehan had been chosen to investigate sexual harassment in the House Of Representatives by none other than Speaker Paul Ryan who had placed him on the House Ethics Committee and assigned him that specific task. Republicans just have no sense of irony at all!

When Meehan harassed a member of his own staff and she rebuffed him, even citing her relationship with another man, Meehan just couldn’t deal with it. He lost his temper and lashed out. Things were so uncomfortable for her at the Meehan office that she began doing her work remotely rather than come to the office. When she filled a complaint, Meehan was removed from the Ethics Committee. After all, Republicans don’t mind being assholes; they just don’t want to look like assholes.

Meehan offered a novel excuse for his behavior. He said he was feeling tense due to strenuous discussions about Obamacare with his 7th District constituents. He even offered that he does, from time to time lash out at staffers and that sometimes “you go hardest at those that you care the most about.” Creepy!

Eventually a settlement was reached but Meehan does not deny using taxpayer funds to pay for the settlement.

5. Jim Knoblach – Minnesota 8 term Republican state representative abruptly ended his campaign for a 9th term this year after his 23-year-old daughter said that he had molested her for a 12 year period which began when she was 9. According to police reports, she had first made the accusations 2 years ago but says “My family threatened and coerced me into silence for almost 15 years.”

6. Tim Nolan – Former judge Nolan was Chairman of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in Kentucky. In February, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for child sex trafficking. Too bad, maybe he could have been nominated to the Supreme Court.

7. Judge Ralph Strother – Just 3 weeks ago, Strother let former Baylor University fraternity president, Jacob Walter Anderson, skate after he was accused of raping a female student at the Christian university in Texas. A plea deal had Anderson pleading guilty to a lesser charge of unlawful restraint. The accuser and her family found out about the deal when they read about it in the local newspaper. Strother and local law enforcement couldn’t even bother to let them know.

I suppose Strother is one of those “If it’s a legitimate rape” guys. Either that or he’s one of those “really no such thing as rape” guys. Strother has a past record of dealing with Baylor men accused of rape very leniently. He received both his bachelor and law degrees from Baylor. Speaks well of Baylor's style of Christianity doesn't it? Republicans probably consider Strother to be future Supreme Court material and, if Anderson were to attend law school and become a judge...

8. President Donald Trump – That Trump is a sadist is beyond discussion. He simply is, and he really has it in for people infected with HIV. He has a bad case of Republican “Fear The Gay Syndrome” so this is a reflection of that.

Trump has just quietly shut down research for a cure for HIV. Obviously, the republican attitude towards the LGBTQ community was a factor in his sadistic, judgmental decision. The action also pleases the religious right mightily. I’m guessing that Trump is so ignorant that he doesn’t know that you don’t have to be gay to get HIV.

9. Vice President Mike Pence – How could I possibly mention little Donnie Trump and his “Fear Of The Gay” without mentioning his sicko choice of VP? In January, Mr. Gay Conversion Therapy was sent to South Korea to represent our government at the Winter Olympics. Pence just couldn’t keep his tongue quiet though as he lashed out at a gay Olympic skater. I guess “Mother” was left at home, sitting in her rocker in the attic.

10. Rep. Matt Shea (R-WA) – Shea is a Republican state representative in Washington. This year Shea published his 4-page manifesto calling for Biblical Law (Think of it as Republican Christianity’s own version of Sharia Law), but, to Republicans, their version is just peachy. Among other twisted things, Shea calls for the usual outlawing of abortion and same sex marriage. He has added a little extra, though. Shea says that men who support gay marriage and abortion rights should be executed. He’s obviously put a lot of thought into this. Interestingly, he seems more concerned about men than women in his manifesto. Hmmm.

So much of Republican thought about sex is based in their twisted version of Christianity and its message of hate. Shea defends his manifesto while making insane claims that he is being persecuted and that the United States is really a Christian nation. This guy, like so many republicans, would make great fodder for a doctoral thesis for students of psychiatry.

Trump Sees McCarthy As The Most Easy Potential Minority Leader To Manipulate

With Paul Ryan going into retirement-- thank you, Randy Bryce!-- three ambitious, careerist Republicans are running to be House GOP top dog, likely Minority Leader:

• Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA)
• Majority Whip Steve Scalise (LA)
• Crackpot Freedom Caucus Molestation Enabler Jim Jordan (OH)

All three are extremely right wing and all three are devoted Trump rubber-stamps. According to the 538 Trump Adhesion barometer, Scalise is one of the very few members of Congress who have voted with Trump 100% of the time, McCarthy has voted 98.9% of the time with Trump and Jordan-- who often votes to the right of Trump and everyone else-- has voted with Trump 85.7% of the time.

Trump, who doesn't like people who been shot and doesn't like people who only voted with him 85.7% of the time, gave an unofficial nod to McCarthy Thursday night. Trumpanzee was hosting a fat-cat fundraiser to benefit the Protect the House SuperPAC at the hotel he owns down the street from the White House. There were dozens of right-wing congressmembers at the high-dollar event and they pretty much all interpreted his remarks wishing Ryan farewell and then turning to McCarthy and saying "I look forward to working with you," as an endorsement. Fuck-Up, Jr and his girlfriend, ex-Gavin Newsom wife, Kimberly Guilfoyle, agreed.

The event raised 15 million dollars. Please help offset that by contributing to progressive Democratic candidates by tapping on the thermometer on the right. Saclise must have been very disappointed after endorsing a whole weekend hunting alligators with Fuck-Up, Jr and Guilfoyle a couple of weeks ago. We're still checking out the rumors that a video exists of Guilfoyle skinning alligators.

According to the right-wing blog called the Washington Examiner, "Many people have doubts about McCarthy, worrying that he is too flexible and holds few core beliefs or principles other than that its a good idea to form political relationships. He's no policy wonk. But even his critics recognize that he is the party’s preeminent political animal in the House. He is king in the back-slapping world of grip-and-grin. He has been hyperactive. On the final months running up to the midterm elections, he is racking up frequent flier miles to campaign with beleaguered Republicans, even though few people give the GOP much chance of retaining control of the House. In the week before traveling to Pittsburgh, McCarthy’s schedule took him to Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, Ohio, Maine and New York."

[Q]uestions remain about McCarthy's second effort to grab the speaker's gavel.

McCarthy says, "I'm willing to take a risk. I'm willing to fail at things, because I think I learn from them at the same time, and I’ve always believed in constant improvement and education… I think that combination has all worked. I've always said timing was the most important part of politics. It may be on a personal level the right timing for me, but it may not be the opportunity. Am I ok with that? Yeah.”

Supporters say McCarthy was humbled by his failure in 2015 and has worked on what were weaknesses, including messaging and speaking ability. His most damaging gaffe three years ago was a comment to Sean Hannity that the special investigation of the fiasco in Benghazi that left four Americans dead was an attempt to damage Hillary Clinton's poll numbers.

...[People see H]is most visible quality, personality and relationships with members, as a main driver of his support within the conference. Friends and colleagues say McCarthy is uniquely able to recall moments and dates that are important to his 23 congressional colleagues... “He remembers members’ anniversaries better than the members remember their anniversaries. If you’re a member of Congress, your spouse is just as likely to get a ‘Happy Anniversary’ text from Kevin McCarthy as they are from their spouse,” said Gowdy, who, along with Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), another close friend McCarthy, dined with him to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year.

“His wife wasn’t here, my wife wasn’t here, and Tim Scott doesn’t have a wife,” Gowdy said with a laugh.

But have GOP conference dynamics changed enough over the past three years for McCarthy to win?

“He’s everybody’s friend, and when you’re everybody’s friend, you’re nobody’s friend. You can’t be everybody’s friend. You can’t be. I think he’s going to have some problems,” said one GOP House member, pointing to missed opportunities to get members floor time for local needs. McCarthy's team took issue with the critique, noting each GOP freshmen has had a legislative priority pass on the floor in each of the past two Congresses.

McCarthy will face opposition from the Freedom Caucus. Despite an improved relationship with Rep. Mark Meadows (NC), the group’s chairman, there are still questions and doubts about what kind of deal McCarthy would have to strike a deal with the right-wing group, which is expected to have about 40 members if Republicans retain their majority.

According to another House Republican, McCarthy has had “general discussions” with various factions to broker a deal, but McCarthy himself demurs, saying his talks, including those with Meadows, range across many topics.

“Not from a point where you need this or that," said McCarthy, describing his haggling with Meadows, "We’ve had conversations and we’ve had that prior to the scenario of [Ryan] departing. How do we work more as one? Meadows and I get along well and we work well together. Now can we get everybody to work well together?”

Rep. Jim Jordan, who says he is running for speaker to win the job, not as a ploy to increase the influence of the Freedom Caucus, is especially concerned about about the concentration of power in the Steering Committee, a source close to Jordan said.

Trust by Chip Proser

The Meaning Of Last Night's New Hampshire Primaries

Chris Pappas

One more little look at last night's primaries from New Hampshire. Because Carol Shea-Porter decided to retire, there was a lot of action in the first district. The Democrats nominated Chris Pappas, a slightly left-of-center candidate favored by the entire New Hampshire political establishment, and the Republicans nominated a mainstream conservative, Eddie Edwards, instead of the far right Trump character, Andy Sanborn. If Pappas wins, as looks likely, he will be the first openly LGBTQ member of Congress from New Hampshire. Should Edwards win, he would be the first openly African-American member of Congress from New Hampshire, where just 1.1% of the population is black. Pappas' chance of winning the seat in a district that voted, narrowly, for Trump (and has an R+2 PVI) is 84%... take the bet if you have an opportunity.

With just 4 small precincts left to count today, the biggest news, from a national perspective, is that 62,360 people voted in the Democratic primary, compared to just 47,910 in the Republican primary. THat's very bad news for the GOP nationally. That kind of turnout for the two parties augurs very badly for Republicans in November. In fact, they should expect a midterm bloodbath... and not just in New Hampshire. Cook moved NH-01 from "Lean D" to "Likely D" Anywhere where there are significant numbers of independent voters, the Republicans who have enabled and rubber-stamped Trump will suffer. And that wasn't the only indication of that today. Quinnipiac released a poll that points to the same point.

American voters back Democratic candidates over Republicans 52 - 38 percent in races for the U.S. House of Representatives nationwide, according to a Quinnipiac University National Poll released today.

Independent voters back Democrats over Republicans 50 - 35 percent, the independent Quinnipiac University National Poll finds.

Democrats lead by a narrow 48 - 42 percent among men and by a wide 55 - 35 percent among women. White voters are divided as 48 percent go Republican and 45 percent go Democratic. Democrats lead 84 - 7 percent among black voters and 64 - 22 percent among Hispanic voters.

American voters disapprove 72 - 18 percent of the job the U.S. Congress is doing. There is no listed party, gender, education, age or racial group which approves of Congress.

Congress should be more of a check on President Donald Trump, voters say 58 - 27 percent. Republicans say 62 - 11 percent that Congress is doing enough to check the president, the only listed group to feel that way.

Does anyone think this will help the GOP? "A collection of powerful conservative groups is mounting an aggressive campaign to install Freedom Caucus co-founder Jim Jordan as House speaker or minority leader in the next Congress, according to a half-dozen sources with direct knowledge of the effort. The bid to empower a rabble-rouser despised by much of the House Republican Conference will almost surely fall short. But success for the groups doesn’t necessarily require Jordan to end up in the top leadership spot."

Their effort could deny California Rep. Kevin McCarthy the 218 votes needed to secure the speakership if Republicans retain the House majority-- an outcome conservatives would cheer just as much. And if Republicans lose the majority, the groups intend to demand new leadership, which could wound McCarthy’s bid for minority leader.

The effort marks a rare instance of coordination among at least four prominent outside groups as well as a handful of smaller conservative groups with big nationwide followings. They include Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, Conservative Leadership Fund, Tea Party Patriots, and For America... Officials with the conservative groups say if they can help raise Jordan’s profile-- pitching him as President Donald Trump’s House enforcer-- they can garner national support and pressure lawmakers to reconsider.

I thought he already had a high profile-- for being a neo-fascist maniac and for permitting underage boys to be raped under his auspices, first as a wrestling coach and then as a congressman.

Wrestling' Around by Chip Proser

What Right Wing Former Wrestling Coach Jim Jordan Is Up To Now

UPDATE: After being turned down flat and mocked from every direction they turned yesterday, Jordan and Meadows threw up their hands, raised the white flag and buried their own absurd, self-serving resolution to impeach Rod Rosenstein. Now they're going to try to get a vote holding the Department of Justice in contempt.


Randy @IronStache Bryce frightened Paul Ryan out of his reelection plans and he's retiring from Congress instead. But Ryan is working hard now to make sure his party isn't obliterated in November. It's no longer a question of keeping power in the House-- that's long-- but of how many dozens of seats the GOP is going to kiss goodbye. Trump is an albatross and the Republican generic poll numbers are murderous. This week Ryan was looking at numbers for his own state where just 36% of likely voters say Trump is doing a good job-- the same number who say that in Michigan, two states that the Kremlin stole for Trump in 2016.

Ryan picked a clone (a corporate lawyer who used to be his driver) to try to defend the seat against Bryce. Ryan's superPAC, Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), isn't getting anywhere and instead is spending money to push an unelectable minor candidate against Bryce, last week by releasing a fake poll pretending the Democratic primary was tied, and this week was in the field with a push poll promoting the weak Democratic candidate who backed Hillary in a district that was firmly in Bernie's corner.

Meanwhile, Ryan is trying to contrast the mainstream of the House GOP with the extremists. He's using the extremists' latest call to impeach Rod Rosenstein to do that. One top GOP staffer told me that the 11 Republicans behind the move are "mostly seen as psychos... and pests." The leader of the pack is Ohio Republican Jim Jordan who's embroiled in 2 cases, spanning decades in which he protected child molesters who were having their way with under-age boys under his care. So far Jordan himself hasn't been accused of sexual relations with under-aged boys but almost a dozen men who were on a wrestling teach he coached have come forward to say he protected the man who was molesting them. In the other case, his staffer, Wes Goodman, was eventually forced to resign from the Ohio state House when it came out, so to speak, that he was having sex with young conservative boys who were impressed with his closeness to Jordan.

When he went on the attack against Rosenstein-- nothing more than a protected way to obstruct justice and derail the Mueller investigation-- Jordan complained about evidence being withheld. "Enough is enough," he whined. "It’s time to hold Mr. Rosenstein accountable for blocking Congress’s constitutional oversight role."

The same GOP House staffer who told me the whole bunch of them are considered "psychos" and "pests," also suggested I look into who exactly was working with Jordan on this. Scott Desjarlaid, a Tennessee doctor who used to drug his female patients and have sex with them when they were semi-conscious, was another misfit behind the push to destroy Rosenstein. "Given many opportunities to cooperate with Congress," he said in a statement, "Rod Rosenstein has demonstrated a chronic inability to answer questions important to our investigation of alleged criminal abuses of intelligence services under the previous administration. Even under subpoena, the Deputy Attorney General has refused to produce necessary documents, because they implicate top Department of Justice and FBI officials, including himself. His own role in fraudulent warrants and wiretapping the President’s campaign is a major conflict of interest that renders him unfit to oversee the Special Counsel or DOJ. Removing Mr. Rosenstein from office is the only option left to Congress."

Ryan made light of their caterwauling by noting to the media that Rosenstein's behavior doesn't rise to the status of a "high crime or misdemeanor," and is basically laughing at them. He told reporters he has no intention of allowing a vote on it. Jordan-- the ex-wrestling coach (like Denny Hastert-- who was eventually put in prison for raping underage boys after denying it for decades, as Jordan has so far)-- is running for the top Republican in the House. In fact, many Republicans say this unserious attempt to impeach Rosenstein-- if they really wanted to do it, it would have been a "privileged motion"-- accomplishes 2 things for Jordan:

1- diverts attention away from his sex scandal
2- helps him promote his bid to replace Ryan in the leadership

One member of Ryan's team, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), who would like to run for Ryan's job himself but is afraid he won't be able to overcome Kevin McCathy, is gambling on backing the far right extremists on this one. He announced yesterday that he supports Jordan and Meadows on impeaching Rosenstein.

Wrestlin' by Chip Proser

Yesterday, in a column in the Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin came right to the point-- the top take-away from all this is that The GOP Isn't Fit To Govern "[T]here has been," she reminds her readers, "no finding that Rosenstein is in contempt of Congress or that he has broken any regulation or law. The impeachment resolution is pure piffle. (“A Justice Department official said Wednesday that only one committee request has been formally denied-- a demand to see the unredacted Justice Department memo detailing which Trump associates are under investigation by Mueller and for which potential crimes. Officials declined that request because, they said, providing it could compromise ongoing investigations.”) Not even House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) thinks that the resolution has merit."

Indeed, former Justice Department officials and legal scholars have fretted that Rosenstein has been too accommodating to congressional requests. “The ironic thing about this push is that Rosenstein has done far more to satisfy what are really inappropriate requests from House Republicans than DOJ has ever done before,” former Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller says. “It’s been clear from the beginning that Meadows and company weren’t interested in anything other than shutting down the Mueller investigation, and this ridiculous move makes it even more obvious.”

The damage here is being done not by Rosenstein, but by irresponsible, hyper-partisan congressmen. Former White House ethics counsel Norman Eisen and Fred Wertheimer, founder of Democracy 21, recently wrote about the impeachment gambit:

Key House Republicans are abusing their offices and the public trust to blindly provide protection for [President] Trump. They are doing so instead of working to get to the bottom of the worst foreign attack on American elections in our history.

They need to be called on their scandalous efforts to undermine the Mueller investigation and ignore Russia’s cyber invasion of our democracy. A bipartisan outcry greeted Trump’s Helsinki betrayals. We should be hearing protests at least as loud and bipartisan in response to this parallel-- and equally unmerited-- attack on American law enforcement right here at home.

It is not Rosenstein who should be removed from office, but rather, the House Republican members who are obstructing an ongoing investigation of the Republican president and his cronies. While their actions are protected (most likely) under the "speech or debate" clause (preventing criminal prosecution or civil suit for actions that would otherwise be actionable), their pattern of conduct (cooking up a misleading memo about the FISA warrant application for Carter Page’s surveillance, exposing a confidential intelligence source, smearing the FBI) amounts to multiple blatant attempts to thwart an entirely legitimate investigation. If anyone in the White House is conspiring with them to interfere with the investigation, such individuals could be investigated for obstruction of justice.

“This is a cynical, corrupt effort to kneecap the legitimate investigation of Jordan’s and Meadows’s ally, the president,” Eisen tells me. “Their gambit is entirely divorced from the reality of Rosenstein‘s compliance with congressional requests , which has been quite good on his part. For that reason, it is highly likely to fail.” He observes that a similar effort with “the same actors previously tried the same ploy with another set of baseless allegations, against IRS Commissioner [John] Koskinen. They were defeated by an overwhelming bipartisan vote and the same thing will likely happen here.” He concludes, “Unfortunately, real harm will be done to an outstanding public servant and to law enforcement itself in the process. Jordan and Meadows surely know that and are proceeding anyhow to protect the president. What a betrayal of their oaths-- and their country.”

...Ironically, Republicans have been arguing that if Democrats ever get control of Congress, they will tie the place up with bogus impeachment hearings and create gridlock. No, Republicans are doing that all on their own. “It’s a PR stunt that nobody who knows anything about impeachment could take seriously,” says constitutional scholar Larry Tribe. “But it will do great harm anyway by contributing to the degradation of the impeachment power, making it harder to use when it is truly needed to rein in a would be-dictator.” Referencing his book with Joshua Matz, To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment, Tribe tells me this is why he and Matz argue that “casual and frequent impeachment talk can damage the already frayed fabric of our dangerously polarized polity.”

Trust Jim Jordan? by Chip Proser