Today is Friday, November 17, 2023. As expected with the unfolding George Santos imbroglio, House Ethics Chairman Michael Guest, a Mississippi Republican, introduced a resolution today to expel Rep. Santos of New York from Congress, one day after the Ethics Committee released a scathing report on its investigation into the pathological liar. However, lawmakers are expected to address the resolution at the end of the month once they return from the Thanksgiving holiday. This ongoing story is covered in an online article for CNN entitled “House Ethics Chairman introduces resolution to expel George Santos from Congress” by Haley Talbot, Lauren Fox, and Clare Foran.

There is new momentum for this latest effort to oust Santos from Congress following the damning report on Santos’s growing list of infractions reported yesterday.

So far, 13 GOP lawmakers have emerged in support of expelling Santos since the inquiry was released, and that number is expected to grow in the days ahead. Let’s hope it reaches a groundswell after these lawmakers return from their Thanksgiving feasts.

Santos is currently charged with 23 federal charges, including allegations of fraud related to COVID-19 unemployment benefits, misusing campaign funds, and lying about his personal finances on House disclosure reports. Wouldn’t one seriously wonder that this newbie “lawmaker” was so arrogant to think that these infractions would not have easily been uncovered in any simple investigation? As they were and this wasn’t even by federal authorities.

In early November, a Republican-led effort to expel Santos failed. A number of representatives had expressed concern over the prospect of expelling a member facing an as-yet unfinished legal battle and absent a criminal conviction.

In May, the House voted to refer a Democrat-led resolution to oust Santos to the Ethics Committee.

So concerning the fate of George Santos, we will have to eagerly wait until the end of the month to see if the House has the gumption to oust him for good.

Just received bad news out of Colorado: a Colorado judge has just rejected an attempt to remove former president Chump from the state’s 2024 primary ballot based on the claim he’s constitutionally barred from office because of the January 6, 2021, insurrection. This sad news is reported by Marshall Cohen for CNN online in an article entitled “Colorado judge keeps Trump on 2024 primary ballot as latest 14th Amendment case falters.”

This major decision was issued today by Colorado District Judge Sarah Wallace and it comes after judges in Minnesota and Michigan also refused to remove the insurrectionist from that state’s Republican primary ballots.

These three high-profile challenges against Trumpilini, which had the backing of well-funded advocacy groups, have so far failed to remove him from a single ballot, with the 2024 primary season fast approaching.

Get this crazy reason as to why Wallace decided that she was keeping the hated Orange Blob on the ballot because the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban” does not apply to presidents, though she found that “Trump engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021, through incitement, and that the First Amendment does not protect Trump’s speech.” Isn’t this a case of splitting hairs here? I would say. This clause in the 14th Amendment supposedly does not apply to presidents, but it does apply to U.S. senators, representatives, and even presidential electors – but it does not say presidents. It says it covers “any office, civil or military, under the United States,” and Wallace ruled that does not include the office of the presidency. In the meantime, we will have to endure Trumpilini on these state ballots if we like it or not and we will have to endure a repeat of the presidential contest in 2020 between the same contenders: Joe Biden and Donald Chump – unless something happens to either of them before November 2024. Not that I would want anything to happen to Joe Biden.

However, the individuals who filed the Colorado lawsuit in coordination with a liberal watchdog group can still file an appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court. Colorado election officials said any appeals need to be resolved before January 5, when they are legally required to certify the list of names that will appear on the March 5 primary ballot.

In the eyes of the challengers and to this blogger, the actions performed by Chump on that infamous day clearly rose to the level of “engaging in insurrection” against the U.S. Constitution – which is the bar for disqualification set by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

The weeklong bench trial featured firsthand accounts from U.S. Capitol Police officers who were wounded fending off the pro-Chump mob on January 6, video clips of Trumpilini’s incendiary speech before the riot, and testimony from an expert on right-wing extremism who contended far-right groups like the Proud Boys interpreted Chump’s words as a “call to violence.” In my mind, his words were not meant to take a tour of the Capitol, as some birdbrained GOP lawmakers have erroneously reported in support of the main insurrectionist.

An attorney for the challengers, Sean Grimsley, said at closing arguments this Wednesday that “the Constitution does not allow” Trump to return to office, no matter his standing in these ridiculous polls.

Grimsley argued, “Our founders have made clear, time and time again, that a candidate’s popularity does not supersede the Constitution.” He added, “The rule of law must apply whether a candidate has no chance of winning election or is a potential frontrunner. The application of Section 3 is at its most urgent when a person who has desecrated their oath to support the Constitution seeks the highest office in the land.” Like Trump!

One legal expert who testified in favor of removing Trumpilini from the ballot was Indiana University law professor Gerard Magliocca, who explained to the court how thousands of former Confederates were disqualified from office, including some who never took up arms, even one congressman-elect who had only written a letter to the editor advocating violence against Union troops. And this judge couldn’t see the danger of a Donald Chump running for the highest office in the land on her state ballot after she stated that Chump did engage in an insurrection. Huh? What’s going on here?

The provision says, in part: “No person shall . . . hold any office . . . under the United States . . . who, having previously taken an oath . . . to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” To me, this clearly disqualifies from the ballot the former president. Not the outcome I expected from this court case at all. Even though I have heard other legal experts pontificate on the news that this was indeed a difficult case to win – even though I didn’t see that, given that I’m no lawyer, just a commonsense human being, I would hope.

No matter how you feel about Chris Christie, you have to give the chubby former Chump acolyte credit for continuing to rail against the former insurrectionist when most of the other horrible GOP candidates will do so. Yesterday, the Republican candidate for president got into a shouting match with Newsmax host Eric Bolling after the latter suggested that Christie should stop attacking former president Donald Trumpilini.

The exchange between the two heavyweights ended with Christie besting the far-right jerk with the truth over how dangerous Chump is, even though Bolling and his loyal far-right viewers have still not acknowledged it. They are still in a fantasy-land with Trump occupying their surreal center.

This angry exchange between Christie and Bolling is covered in an online MediaITE article by Charlie Nash entitled “Chris Christie Snaps at Newsmax Host: ‘No! I’m Not Gonna Put Up With You Saying That!'”

You have to admire Christie’s strategy at denouncing Chump every chance he can get, as Bolling suggested that this strategy was not working for him, while Christie retorted with a lengthy explanation as to why he won’t back down from criticizing Chump. Christie points out the obvious lead that Chump has at the moment and that Nikki Haley and Ron DeSatan’s program is so ineffective because they refuse to “make the case against the one person who you need to beat if you want to be the Republican nominee for president, and that’s Donald Trump.”

Then Christie continued his rant against Bolling by indicating that Chump’s own chief of staff, Mark Meadows, “has signed up to testify against him. Not some, you know, woke prosecutor. Not some crazy Democrat from the Justice Department. Mark Meadows, one of the founders of the Freedom Caucus and his chief of staff, is going to testify that Donald Trump committed crimes.”

The stupid host of Newsmax tried then to interrupt, where Christie interrupted him, shouting, “Don’t interrupt me when I start to say things that make people uncomfortable!” Touche, Mr. Christie. He even added this disclaimer, “I think we deserve better as the Republican Party and as the United States than a guy who’s going to be convicted of felonies this April.” I would question his use of April here as the date he might be convicted, given how some of these court cases can now be delayed for so long, from what I’m hearing.

At this point, Bolling lost all composure as he retorted to Christie, implying that Chump would be convicted “by a bunch of liberal Democrats” (this is what the entire fucking GOP would want you to believe and it’s bullshit!)

Christie got the final word in here and it is a great one for the truth, when he replied, “No! I’m not gonna put up with you saying that. He’s gonna be convicted by Mark Meadows, a founder of the Freedom Caucus and his chief of staff, who he called the next James Baker. That guy is now testifying and will sit 20 feet away from Donald Trump in a courtroom, taking an oath, and saying he committed crimes, that ‘he directed others to commit crimes, including me.’ That’s what he’s going to say, and that’s not some woke prosecutor, that’s not some group of liberals, that’s a guy who founded the Freedom Caucus in the House, a Republican from North Carolina, and his choice for chief of staff, Eric.”

Christie did have the last word as he predicted, “The truth is coming, baby. The truth is coming.”

We have to believe Christie here – that the truth is coming for everyone and let’s hope that truth emerges before November 2024!

Have a good weekend.

Stay safe and be well.