News bits: Gun rights; Election tussles; God endorses the TTKP; Fiddly bits

Regarding gun rights:

Let that sink in. 

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Rolling Stone reports that DJT is in a major snit because his secret plan to impose a nationwide abortion ban got leaked to the public:

Trump’s Abortion Plan Leak Inflamed His Campaign and Energized Democrats

Donald Trump’s plan for a 16-week, national abortion ban wasn’t supposed to be public. Democrats are ready to pounce

LATE LAST WEEK, the New York Times reported that Donald Trump privately told his allies he backs a 16-week national abortion ban with some exceptions. Inside the Trump campaign, the news was immediately met with deep annoyance, anger, and a scramble for damage control, two people familiar with the matter tell Rolling Stone.

Prior to the report, the former president and 2024 GOP frontrunner had repeatedly stressed to advisers that he wants to avoid announcing specific abortion policy positions, at least during this stage of the election cycle, sources close to him say. This is, of course, largely because he understands the dismantling of Roe v. Wade — which he engineered — has become a grave political liability for Republicans.

Funny how State’s rights stop being a thing when they think they’ve got power at the national level.

One Peanut in the gallery commented: Don’t forget. Trump removed protection for violence against women act during his administration. It was one of the very first things he did. To which another Peanut responded: And then Ivana fell down the stairs.

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Politico reports that Christian nationalist freak and House Speaker Mike Johnson told a group of House TTKP members that God would keep the House under the control of the TTKP:

Johnson’s private remarks to a small group of Republican lawmakers at Miami’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel over the weekend alarmed both people, who addressed the speech on condition of anonymity. Rather than outlining a specific plan to hold and grow the majority, these people said, Johnson effectively delivered a sermon.

The speaker contended that when one doesn’t have God in their life, the government or “state” will become their guide, referring back to Bible verses, both people said. They added that the approach fell flat among some in the room.

“I’m not at church,” one of the people said, describing Johnson’s presentation as “horrible.”

I keep warning about the ongoing rise of bigoted, hate-filled Christofascism in American government and society. This is another warning. Christofascists want a Christofascist state to be our guide, whether we want to be guided or not.

TTKP = Trump Tyranny & Kleptocracy Party, formerly the Republican Party

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A NYT opinion commentates: Alabama’s I.V.F. Ruling Shows Our Slide Toward Theocracy -- If you don’t think this country is sliding toward theocracy, you’re not paying attention. The drumbeat of incidents moving us ever closer to the seemingly inescapable future is so steady and frequent that we’ve developed outrage fatigue — we’ve grown numb. .... Control of women’s bodies is the endgame. And some religious conservatives won’t stop until that goal is achieved. For that reason, intervening victories — like the overturning of Roe v. Wade — will never be seen as enough; they will only intensify a blinding sense of righteousness.

The WaPo reports: Leaked files from Chinese firm show vast international hacking effort -- A trove of leaked documents from a Chinese state-linked hacking group shows that Beijing’s intelligence and military groups are carrying out large-scale, systematic cyber intrusions against foreign governments, companies and infrastructure — exploiting what the hackers claim are vulnerabilities in software systems from companies including Microsoft, Apple and Google. “We rarely get such unfettered access to the inner workings of any intelligence operation,” said John Hultquist, chief analyst of Mandiant Intelligence, a cybersecurity firm owned by Google Cloud.

A very interesting WaPo opinion (not behind paywall) about American supermajority support for constitutional democracy:

Among those of us who have not been radicalized, on both sides of the aisle, there is also the work to do to forge that cross-ideological supermajority.

First of all, people have to believe such a supermajority is possible.

Happily, the evidence abounds, especially in the results of state ballot initiatives. These are decided with cross-ideological supermajorities or near supermajorities voting in favor with surprising frequency. Here are some examples: Legalization of recreational marijuana (2020): New Jersey, 67 percent; legalization of recreational marijuana (2022): Maryland, 67 percent; legalization of medical marijuana (2020): Mississippi, 74 percent; restoring voting rights to those who have completed felony conviction (2018): Florida, 65 percent; new state flag without Confederate emblems (2020): Mississippi, 71 percent; right to repair in support of small auto shops (2020): Massachusetts, 75 percent. 

Look at these decisions and you’ll see American supermajorities voting over and over again for fairness, inclusion and the person getting the short end of the stick. This is not only a cross-ideological supermajority in the making; it’s one with good, salt-of-the-earth values.

That seems to be a bit of good news. 

And here is an important update about Mike Lindell, the pillow guy, who offered a $5 million reward to anyone who could prove his stolen election lies really were lies: Mike Lindell must pay man $5M in ‘Prove Mike Wrong’ challenge, judge says -- In 2021, MyPillow founder Mike Lindell offered $5 million to anyone who could disprove his claim that he had data showing voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Now, he must pay a 64-year-old from Nevada that award, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. 

Faux News makes some sense for a moment??: The Hill reports:

Faux News co-host Jessica Tarlov mocked House Republicans on Wednesday for their pursuit of impeachment charges against President Biden.

“This is the path that they’ve chosen to take, and honestly I’m surprised that they have this high of a threshold for humiliation,” Tarlov said during an appearance on the network. “Every witness they have called has decimated their argument.”

A high threshold for humiliation? That assumes the TTKP members in the House can feel humiliated. I doubt that is possible. Things like being caught in asserting gigantic lies or blatant double standard hypocrisy does not faze any of them in the slightest. Why would they feel any humiliation at anything they do that turns out to be stupid or mostly or completely false? 

Q: Is this a sneaky way for Faux News to try to humanize the TTKP by asserting its elites have any moral qualms about any stupid, cynical or morally rotted thing they say or do?