Killer Tomatoes 🌻🌻🌻

Food For Thought:  Well it turns out that the Former Guy is afraid of fruit and maybe even vegetables since his biggest fear seems to be focused on that both sides culinary delight the tomato. He’s also very afraid of getting hit by a banana or a pineapple, and to be fair, who would want to be hit by a pineapple?  He revealed his intense fear under oath in a delayed deposition that he finally sat for as part of a 2015 lawsuit brought by a group of activists who allege that Keith Schiller, who was then chief of security of the FG Organization before going on to become White House Twitter guru, hit one of them on the head when they were protesting outside of his Manhattan headquarters.  In the course of the deposition the FG pretty much admits that he’s all in on anyone demonstrating against him getting roughed up or worse, no surprise since he called for demonstrators to be hurt several times during his campaign rallies.  It’s also no wonder that his lawyers fight so hard to keep him away from depositions.  Laugh all you want about flying tomatoes, but the way things are going, the FG could be the Republican candidate for president again in 2024 and may more or less control at least one house of government after the midterms.  If you think that concern is irrational, check out the thoughts of retired federal judge J. Michael Luttig.  Luttig, a very conservative judge who was appointed by George HW Bush, warns that the Republicans “are already a long way toward recapturing the White House in 2024 whether the FG or another Republican candidates wins the election or not.”  In an opinion piece published by CNN Luttig breaks down what he calls the “Republican blueprint” to steal the 2024 election, the cornerstone of which he refers to as the Supreme Court’s embrace of the “independent state legislature” doctrine, a legalized version of one time Trade Advisor Peter Navarro’s “Green Bay Sweep,” the plan he hoped to use to turn the 2020 election into a FG victory.  Luttig calls the last election a dry run for the next and that the party’s actual objective is “to execute successfully in 2024 the very same plan they failed in executing in 2020” and to overturn the 2024 election if the FG or his anointed successor loses. While most attention continues to be focused on the FG and his House and Senate endorsements of candidates who agree that the last election was rigged, we should also be focusing on the local elections in places like Arizona and Michigan where the FG and his followers are trying to get as many far right loonies into positions where they will then be able to control the levers of state and local elections, in other words he wants fewer Brad Raffenspergers and more QAnon types who really would be willing to find him or “his” party the votes they need to overturn legitimate election results.  It’s no coincidence that Florida’s Governor DeSantis, who hopes to be president one day just signed a bill dedicated to pursuing voter fraud and other election crimes, and call me crazy but I don’t think that DeSantis’ focus is Republicans in the Villages voting their dead mothers’ ballots.  By the way, though DeSantis’ long game is winning elections, his current Disney solution probably won’t stand the test of time as Minnie and Mickey’s lawyers have made it clear that eliminating their Reedy Creek Improvement District really will saddle local counties with at least a billion dollars of Disney’s debt.  The rating agencies aren’t happy.

Did Someone Say Video? There is one Republican that the party seems willing to sacrifice.  No it’s not Margie Q of Jewish Space Laser and Marshall law fame, it’s North Carolina’s Madison Cawthorn, the orgy accuser.  All of his infractions, recent and not so recent, appear to be mysteriously surfacing right now either because he’s their sacrificial lamb or because that orgy thing touched a nerve, or both.  On top of getting caught trying to bring an armed gun on to a plane for the second time, and all those speeding without a license infractions, Cawthorn is now being accused of insider trading and of having an inappropriate relationship with a male member of his staff, one that involves both financial and other “Improprieties.”  By the way, the aide in question lives with him and accompanied Cawthorn on his honeymoon, which could explain why Cawthorn’s marriage didn’t even last a year. Anyway the most recent accusation which went viral yesterday involves a truly icky video, because as we’ve learned by now, there are almost always tapes and the most uptight politicians usually have the most to hide.