Raw Story

Featured Stories:

Where the Bands Are: This Week in Live Music and Concert News

Organ FairchildSaturday, October 25, 8 pm at Sportsmens Tavern,...

Where the Bands Are: This Week in Live Music and Concert News

Organ FairchildSaturday, October 25, 8 pm at Sportsmens Tavern,...

George Conway mocks MAGA evangelicals with Trump-inspired 10 commandments



Anti-Trump attorney George Conway on Thursday took a shot at evangelical Christians who remain loyal to former President Donald Trump despite – or because of – his multiple indictments on charges related to making hush-money payments to an adult film star, illegally retaining top-secret government documents, and trying to illegally remain in power after losing the 2020 election.

Writing on Twitter, Conway delivered a Trumpian refresh of the Bible's 10 commandments that come with carveouts aimed at excusing Trump's years of un-Christian behavior.

"Honor thy father and thy mother, and burieth thy mother on thy father’s golf course," reads one commandment.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

"Thou shalt not commit adultery, but if thou shalt do so with thy porn star, thou shalt payeth her off through an intermediary and falsifieth thy accounting record," reads another.

Conway even used the commandment against stealing to poke fun at Trump's habit of misspelling the word "stolen" as "stollen."

"Thou shalt not steal, unless thou needeth to steeleth one moreth than a certain number of popular votes or unless thou can hideth thy stollen documents at thy bathroom in thy resort," he wrote.

Conway's post was inspired by a separate Twitter post by Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), who credited the power of prayer for the victory of Trump ally Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) in the GOP's House speaker election.

See the full list of Trumpy 10 commandments here.

‘My God — what an operation’: Steve Bannon despairs over Jim Jordan’s battle for speaker



Right-wing broadcaster Steve Bannon expressed frustration on Wednesday over Rep. Jim Jordan's (R-OH) flailing battle to become House speaker.

During an interview on Bannon's War Room podcast, Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) told Bannon that Jordan had yet to meet with the 20 lawmakers who voted against him.

"But hasn't he been even in a struggle session for those people?" Bannon asked. "We're going in reverse."

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

"I don't think that he actually took the people specifically that voted against him and got in a room with them," Rosendale confirmed.

"My God," Bannon gasped, lowering his head. "What an operation."

The podcaster then encouraged his audience to call Jordan's opponents.

READ MORE: Melania claim by Mitt Romney prompts furious response from Trump team

"This is a fight we've wanted for a long time," he said. "This gets down to reality."

Watch the video below from Real America's Voice.

Morning Joe pounces after Ron DeSantis stumbles into discussion of Trump crimes



Ron DeSantis seemingly walked into a question on Donald Trump's mishandling of classified documents during an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

The Florida governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate made a rare appearance outside of conservative media Tuesday, speaking to host Joe Scarborough during a brief interview that focused primarily on the Hamas attack on Israel.

But DeSantis tried to deliver a campaign message shortly before the program ended.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

"Going forward as Republicans, you know, my argument has been very simple," DeSantis said. "If the election is about Joe Biden's failures and our positive vision for the future, which it would be if I was the candidate, we will win. If it is about what piece of paper or document was left at the toilet at Mar-a-Lago, or all these other things on Jan. 6, if that's what the election is about, then it is going to allow Biden to be in his basement and they're going to be able to do it again.

"Just a question for Republicans about what you want to be talking about?"

That left an opening for Scarborough to ask his opinion on Trump's indictment on 40 counts in federal court for retaining classified documents and stashing them in his bathroom and other areas of his beach resort.

"You talk about the toilet as something being -- that really brings up an issue I wasn't going to bring up," Scarborough said. "Let me ask you really quickly, we're about to run out of time. Should Americans be concerned, are you concerned by the fact that President Trump revealed war plans to invade Iran, military attacks against Iran to people that didn't have classified ability to see those documents?"

DeSantis, like most of the former president's Republican challengers, has only indirectly criticized Trump's alleged crimes, which have resulted in indictments in four jurisdictions and 91 charges.

"Well, look, I think that's an allegation, it remains to be seen," DeSantis said. "Obviously if it is proven, that would be a difficult thing. I would note, I think this is why a lot of Republicans are concerned about some of these cases is that he was being attacked for years as being in collusion with Russia, and that was not accurate.

"That was a false narrative that was created, and so I would be remiss if I dove in and accepted all those things. I think he has his day in court, I think he's innocent until proven guilty. The reality is we're dealing with this situation and if the elections is a referendum on all the other issues and we're not talking about inflation and interest rates and the border and crime, then that gives the Democrats a huge advantage to try to retain power."

Scarborough asked whether the election becoming a referendum on Trump, rather than the current president, would be bad news for Republicans.

"I think a referendum on Joe Biden means we win," DeSantis said. "If I'm the candidate, I think a referendum on Donald Trump, if that's it, then I think the Democrats would win. There are millions of voters out there who don't like what Biden is doing, think the country is in the wrong direction, going in the wrong direction. They want to vote for a Republican, but once it is Donald Trump, that's just a deal breaker for them.

"They just won't do it. I saw a report, I think on your network, someone said it was a Republican, he said it didn't matter, he would do Biden. That's just a reality that Republicans have to face up to if we want to win and we saw these losses in the most recent elections. Let's give them a fresh, America a chance for a fresh start, and I think that the results will be very positive for us."

Watch the video below or at this link.


10 10 2023 09 55 42 youtu.be

Republicans hope Hamas terror attack will fix their ‘rudderless and leaderless’ caucus



In the wake of he worst terror attack in Israel's history being carried out by Hamas, people are wondering if the House, led by Acting Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry, has the power to respond, Politico reported.

As the fallout from the attack escalates, there's fear that a new speaker won't be elected this week. But as Politico points out, Republicans are hoping the attack provides a "rally-around-the-flag moment" for the party.

“Our hope is that this whole situation would be clarifying for our membership, that we need to get our shit together and elect a new speaker,” one senior GOP aide told Politico. “Because stuff like this can happen … and we’re rudderless and leaderless.”

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

The current crisis in the Middle East also brings up the question as to whether the House in its current state could function if a similar tragedy struck in the United States.

“What if we were in the kind of scenario for which the rule was originally drafted? Would we actually want a speaker with limited powers/who could only drive the House towards the election of a new speaker?” Molly Reynolds, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told ABC.

“I’m not sure, and I worry that setting a precedent now could hamstring the House in a future crisis.”

Read the full op-ed over at Politico.

Ken Paxton to file criminal complaints against Texas House impeachment managers



Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Monday he plans to file criminal complaints against the group of state representatives who led the impeachment against him for releasing his personal information.

“The impeachment managers clearly have a desire to threaten me with harm when they released this information last week,” he said in a statement. “I'm imploring their local prosecutors in each individual district to investigate the criminal offenses that have been committed.”

The 12 House representatives being targeted by Paxton led the impeachment trial in the Senate after the House overwhelmingly voted to impeach Paxton in May. Last month the Senate acquitted Paxton of 16 articles of impeachment that alleged corruption and bribery.

In a statement Monday, Paxton accused the House impeachment managers of violating a new state law with an Oct. 2 release of documents related to the case. The new legislation cited by Paxton prohibits posting an individual’s personal information such as a home address or telephone number with the intent to cause harm to that individual or their family.

Paxton said he plans to file the criminal complaints in each of the eight counties represented by the dozen impeachment managers. It is not clear which address is in question. Several of Paxton's addresses are available through already-published public records, often found online from any location through local municipalities' appraisal district databases.

House lawyer Rusty Hardin, who prosecuted Paxton, said Monday that the documents released last week contained the same information that was included in other documents that had already been filed or were admitted into the impeachment trial without objection.

He also said that the information about Paxton's residence is available through public records, and has been for years. Further, he said the release of documents was not conducted with an intent to cause harm to Paxton as he alleged — it was "simply a repeat of public information to anyone that wants to look into it."

If Paxton makes good on his pledge to file the criminal complaints, Hardin said his Houston law firm will consider countering with a criminal complaint against Paxton for making a false report to police.

"This is the exact kind of bullying, uninformed vengeful act that we predicted if the attorney general was not impeached," Hardin said. "He's trying to misuse the criminal justice system to cower and punish people who sought to impeach him under the law. It's just one more outrageous, vengeful act by a man who has no business being attorney general."

This is a developing story.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/09/ken-paxton-impeachment-managers-criminal-complaint/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

‘I need my speech’: RFK Jr. flubs roll-out of his independent presidential run



Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s independent presidential run got off to a rocky start on Monday after he took the stage without a speech.

After being introduced by his wife, Cheryl Hines, Kennedy was expected to announce that he was leaving the Democratic Party to pursue an independent presidential bid.

Instead, there was a moment of confusion while he fumbled through his jacket for a speech.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

"I need my speech," he said, noting that the TelePrompter appeared upside down.

Kennedy left the stage and returned moments later with a speech in hand.

Watch the video below or at this link.

Popular articles

Where the Bands Are: This Week in Live Music and Concert News

Organ FairchildSaturday, October 25, 8 pm at Sportsmens Tavern,...

Where the Bands Are: This Week in Live Music and Concert News

Organ FairchildSaturday, October 25, 8 pm at Sportsmens Tavern,...

From conservative to kinda crazy

Back in the day, Republican leaders in Western New...