The Trumpiest Item Of The Day. Yep, he’s negotiating with the Saudis for them to underwrite at least two yu-u-u-ge golf tourneys at his ailing clubs. The golfers? Multi-millionaires who don’t think they’re getting paid enough by the PGA. Headed by Greg Norman, who uses the typical ‘I’m not a politician’ line to justify forming a new tour underwritten by Saudi blood money:
One of the people familiar with the matter said Trump had spoken to Greg Norman, the head of LIV Golf Investments, about having his properties involved in the tour.
‘I Am Not Q’. Cunning linguistic detectives claim they’ve identified the original Q and his successor. The alleged successor? He’s running for Congress in Arizona:
Now, linguistic detectives have identified South African software developer Paul Furber, who previously appeared to be a first disciple of a QAnon message posted in 2017, as a founder of the movement — along with Ron Watkins, who is now running for Congress in Arizona.
According to the word sleuths in the Times piece, Watkins likely took over from Furber in 2018. He operated a website where the Q messages began appearing that year.
Both men have denied being the creators of QAnon, though Furber, 55, glibly told the Times that “Q” so influenced people that we’ve “all started talking like him.”
Watkins, 34, told the Times: “I am not Q.”
But the latest revelation adds evidence to the unmaskings. Scientists hope the information will undermine QAnon’s hold on millions of gullible Americans — and free them from Q’s unhinged conspiracies like John F. Kennedy Jr. has risen from the dead, and that Donald Trump will crush a worldwide Satanic child sex trafficking operation run by the Democratic Party.
Olympics Ratings A Disaster. I didn’t watch one second of them. Here’s one viewer’s take:
My lasting impression will be fake snow against a backdrop of 87 nuclear reactors in a country with a despicable human rights record during a pandemic. And kids who can look forward to years of therapy.”
Political Disaster Not Just For D’s Any More. Civil war in the Wisconsin GOP:
The entire party has been erupting on a near-daily basis here. In recent weeks, several county parties have called on the state’s longtime Republican Assembly speaker, Robin Vos, to resign, accusing one of Wisconsin’s most reliable conservatives of doing too little to pursue baseless claims the 2020 election was rigged. Other local party leaders are objecting to — or considering ignoring — the state party’s endorsement process in critical midterm elections, arguing it’s exclusionary. And in addition to Ramthun, there’s another gubernatorial candidate, Kevin Nicholson — who is openly warring with the state party, casting its chair as part of a “broken machine.”
It’s an unusual level of dysfunction for a state party that not so long ago was regarded as a model for conservatism nationally. And it may have disastrous implications for the party in the fall of what otherwise looks like a favorable year for Republicans across the electoral map, undercutting fundraising and turnout efforts in the GOP’s bid to reelect Sen. Ron Johnson and to unseat the state’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers.
DeSantis’ Latest Dangerous Ploy. Wants to take $200 mill from schools who defied his ‘no-masks’ mandate, and send the bucks to Rethug counties:
Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, is backing a controversial proposal to strip $200m in education funding from Democratic counties that defied his executive order last year banning mask mandates in schools.
DeSantis, who is widely seen as a leading heir to Donald Trump in the Republican party, plans to send the money instead to mostly Republican counties that supported him.
The plan, which some analysts believe is almost certainly unconstitutional, was part of a budget bill that passed the Republican-dominated Florida house on Wednesday.
It was immediately attacked by teachers unions, school districts and education advocates, who say the penalties will strip further resources from classrooms in a state already in the bottom four of per-student spending nationally.
“This is retaliation by legislators and the governor,” said Jabari Hosey, president of the advocacy group Families for Safe Schools and a parent of school-age children in Brevard county.
He must be stopped.
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