Crooked Media - Borderline personalities

—Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), asking the hard questions.  

Dueling court orders threw the southern border into new depths of chaotic uncertainty, thanks to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.  
 

• The U.S. Supreme Court gave Texas the green light to start—for the first time ever, for any state—arresting migrants who cross its border illegally yesterday. But by dinner time, a federal appeals court temporarily stopped Texas once again. This legal pandemonium all stems from Abbott’s ongoing campaign to promote himself as the field marshall of disgraced former President Donald Trump’s election-year border battles. 
   

• The law in question is called SB 4. It’s a piece of heinous legislation, signed by Abbott, that makes it a state crime for anyone to enter Texas from a foreign country via anyplace but an official port of entry. Of course, that’s already banned by federal law. But turning immigration violations into crimes punishable by the state of Texas gives local police the power to arrest and charge migrants. It also represents a power grab over a function long reserved for the federal government: Enforcing immigration laws. That’s why the Biden Administration is suing to block the law. Yesterday, however, the Supreme Court merely said the rules could stay in effect while the lower courts fight it out—which is why there still isn’t a final resolution.
   

• Instead, SB 4 is pinballing chaotically through the courts while GOP governors and legislators lick their chops at the prospect of enacting their own draconian crackdowns on migrants. The Fifth Circuit court of appeals held more hearings today, with Abbott’s power to start enforcing SB 4 in the balance. But, amid all the chaos, don’t lose sight of the big picture. Trump is running on a campaign of ethnic scapegoating of migrants, complete with Nazi-inspired rhetoric of dehumanization. Abbott is winning praise from Trump as the ultimate border tough guy. Meanwhile, Trump killed the only realistic congressional border security deal meant, however imperfectly, to actually address the problem. To recap: Trump wants to use the chaos as a showpiece for his campaign, and that’s the game here.
   

The MAGA base loves Trump and Abbott’s cruelty to migrants. What will voters—especially Latinos in Arizona and Nevada—think?

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All three rings of Republicans’ Joe Biden impeachment circus were back in town today, as GOPs keep trying to make Hunter happen, without evidence—or votes. Yes, this is the frantic Republican effort to find some reason—any reason!—to impeach President Joe Biden, using the misadventures of his troubled son, Hunter. In the first ring: Hunter’s former business associates, who are double-dog swearing that they witnessed Joe Biden participating in Hunter’s foreign business deals, even if the elder Biden wasn’t an elected official at the time. The kicker: One of the GOP’s key witnesses got special permission to testify…from prison! That would be James Galanis, one of Hunter's former business associates, who is now serving 14 years for defrauding a Native American tribe. Sounds like a super-duper credible guy!

In the second ring, Democrats used the opportunity to remind everyone that Oversight Chairman Rep. James Comer’s (R-KY) central witness for the whole inquiry, Alexander Smirnov, was just indicted for perjury and may be some kind of Russian agent. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) racked up the likes for reminding GOP witness Tony Bobulinksi that he should speak when spoken to. 

And in the center ring: Convicted felon Lev Parnas, who called out Republicans for doing the Kremlin’s bidding with their disinfo-fueled impeachment inquiry, and told the committee that he and Rudy Giuliani seeded Russian disinformation about Joe Biden into U.S. politics via Ukraine and Fox News. Parnas called out individual Republicans like Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) as knowing accessories to the Russian op, and said that Trump knew about all of it. Step right up, folks!

The show, of course, is getting old. And the audience isn’t what it used to be. Even Fox News mostly took a pass on today’s hearing.

Several of the loopiest characters from Trump’s past are rapidly reattaching themselves to Trumpworld. That includes convicted felons Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, disgraced former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, and far-right anti-Muslim activist Laura Loomer. Manafort, of course, is a confessed money launderer with deep ties to Russian oligarchs through his work in Ukraine. Maybe Trump reactivating his money-laundering-and-pardoned-felon-buddy at a time when Trump owes hundreds of millions of dollars is a thing that deserves some scrutiny! 

Trump is in “panic mode” over Monday’s looming deadline to secure a half-billion dollar bond so he can appeal his massive civil fraud loss in New York, CNN reported, citing sources close to Trump. We presume he’s running cartoon circles around his desk in Trump Tower, yelling “ohhhh nooooo!”

In related news, Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, refused to tell Fox News whether Trump might seek the money from someplace like Saudi Arabia or Russia. “I can't speak about strategy,” she said. Very reassuring!

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he’s thinking about inviting Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to address Congress. Netanyahu criticized Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in a closed-door speech to Senate Republicans on Wednesday, days after Schumer labeled Netanyahu an impediment to peace in a speech.

Meanwhile, 19 Senate Dems called on President Biden to outline a path toward a Palestinian state. 

Trump’s Georgia racketeering criminal case will be allowed to proceed while the defendants appeal a ruling allowing local District Attorney Fani Willis to continue the prosecution. 

House Democrats added three more signatures to their discharge petition to bypass Speaker Mike Johnson and force a vote on Ukraine aid on the House floor. Many Republicans have demanded the aid but none has signed the petition yet. 

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Biden administration finalized environmental rules that aim to gradually promote electric vehicles and push automakers to phase out gas cars.