Elaborating on #DebateNight thoughts that I shared on last night's Five 8 show.

[THREAD] 1/ Why the Dem freakout after the debate? We are all traumatized by 2016, and Biden's performance in the debate triggered our collective trauma. "No! Not again!" Hence the panic.

Alito's comments here are similar to remarks made by Rev. C. John McCloskey, Opus Dei priest and spiritual godfather to the Catholic extremist Leonard Leo cabal, to Charles Pierce 21 years ago. He, too, regarded the so-called culture wars as a Manichean struggle.

[THREAD]

https://twitter.com/lawindsor/status/1800201783945683120

"Do I think it’s possible for someone who believes in the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of life...to choose to survive w/ people who think it’s OK to kill women & children or for—quote—homosexual cpls to exist and be recognized? No, I don’t think that’s possible,” he said.

Let's talk about the #RoughBeast who is the presumptive GOP nominee for president, Donald Trump.

[THREAD, old school] 1/ Donald Trump’s term in office can be summed up in four words: pandemic, protest, impeachment, and insurrection.

🧵on #Project2025

I. The “Cowboy Catholic”

Like many leaders of the reactionary right—Mike Johnson, Mike Davis, Stephen Miller, and so on—the current head of the Heritage Foundation has a dull, forgettable name: Kevin Roberts.

[THREAD] 2/ Roberts has a winsome smile, a PhD in U.S. history, a background in academia, & a well-earned reputation as a nice guy. Who could have imagined that this bright, friendly Gen Xer would be leading a Christian conservative counter-reformation—a crusade to end American democracy?

If action is character, as F. Scott Fitzgerald proposed, then it is instructive to look at the life of Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson in reverse, Benjamin Button style. . .

[THREAD] 1/ It is the night before Veteran’s Day, 2021. On his primetime Fox News program, Tucker Carlson argues that the U.S. should back Russia, and not Ukraine, in the escalating conflict between the two countries. “Why would we take Ukraine’s side and not Russia’s side?”

Should the media try to present Elise Stefanik (R-Machiavelli) as a moderate, throwback, Paul Ryan Republican and not the ruthless, power-mad opportunist in league with Dear Leader Donald that she is, please consider her career trajectory:

[THREAD] 1/
Carpetbags her way to a House seat

Sidles up to Nunes (her doppelgänger) and to Jim Jordan (which makes that hateful troll look tall)

Comes out against impeachment

Last week, Leonard Leo’s Supreme Court handed down a bevy of wretched decisions that are now the law of the land. These decisions have two things in common: All of them will cause more harm than good. And all of them are wins for Leonard Leo.

[THREAD] 2/ As many legal scholars have pointed out, the internal logic of the Leonard Leo Court is functionally nonexistent. Nothing holds. There is no rhyme or reason to these decisions.

#WPJWJT?

(Whose Private Jet Would Jesus Take?)

Alito's corrupt behavior is matched only by his sneering arrogance.

propublica.org/article/samuel… This @propublica article is something. Among the choice quotes:

"On June 9, Arkley’s group [which included Alito] chartered a boat, the Happy Hooker IV, to tour Yakutat Bay."

Tuning in just as Charles is placed in his own kingly cubicle like on Office Space. The Anointing. Rated R. Now playing.

The New Year promises to be volatile in the early going—and therefore ripe for fuckery.

How to navigate the chaos that 2023 is sure to bring? Let’s set down what we know, and explore what that knowledge teaches us. Start here:

[THREAD] 1/ Putin is bad.

If there was ever any second thoughts about Putin’s motives, his character, or his overtures of friendship with the West, the war has erased all doubt. Ukraine is a battleground between the forces of good (democracy) and evil (fascism).

My wife has given me the greatest of all advent calendars. His right arm will be the marker…

OFF TOPIC
With just two episodes remaining in #WhiteLotus, it’s time to rank the characters by how likely they are to die.

(Remember, E1 began with dead bodies, plural, floating in the water).

NOTE: Mild spoilers follow. 100% SAFE

17/ Daphne
Cameron’s wife, & Sicily’s favorite Airbnb villa renter, finds the body. We know for sure she makes it out alive.

16/ Valentina
Feeder of feral kittens & buyer of star broaches is marked safe.

15/ Rocco & Isabella
How do you say “I ship this” in Italian?

This was an AMAZING Halloween episode of @the_five8. Thanks to our guests @lifesafeast, @Victorshi2020, @allisongill, @ninaandtito, @MelissaJPeltier, @EthanBearman, @sandibachom, and—how do they say it in the movies?—introducing @chunkled & @gal_suburban.

PLUS a cameo from @TheClaudiaBlack. AND we have t-shirts!

etsy.com/listing/132020…

Today's "Sunday Pages" is an excerpt from my new historical novel, EMPRESS. Read all about it here:

gregolear.substack.com/p/sunday-pages… This is a special offer, available while supplies last:
educationalcoin.com/product/empres…

"[T]reason of the kind Trump and his associates engaged in is arguably the worst crime an individual can commit. It jeopardizes not just us as individuals, but our nation as a functioning democracy."

—Yours Truly,
Dec 14, 2017 Quinn Cummings has been at this longer than I have, and she's right about this:

https://twitter.com/quinncy/status/1563313720948047874

The more that resident fascist #LeonardLeo—the radical Catholic Oz behind the SCOTUS curtain—appears in the news, the less effective his byzantine operation becomes.

Yesterday he killed his Twitter account (h/t @GoddessOfOdness).

EVERYONE has to know who he is & what he does.

https://twitter.com/gregolear/status/1522357082204295170

This is important because Barre Seid just gave Leo $1.6 billion, billion with a B, to ratfuck democracy.

(Seid is 90 years old. His parting gift to the country is to destroy it. May his name live forever in infamy and shame.)

propublica.org/article/dark-m…

Jared Kushner intentionally sabotaged the pandemic response, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, because he thought that would help his criminal FIL get re-elected. #BlueStateGenocide

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1561514159690375168

I guess the Fox News host won't ask Jared if he had advance notice from his bestie MBS that Khashoggi was going to get killed.

Elise Stefanik should run in NY-6. I think she'd do really well in Flushing. Elise Stefanik just announced that if she secures the Republican nomination, her running mate will be Mr. Whipple.

Here we go. “And domestic.”

Let's revisit the (ridiculous) Sodom and Gomorrah story, since that phrase is trending.

Per Genesis 19, this is what went down:

[THREAD] 1/ Two angels show up at Lot’s house. The men of Sodom immediately set about trying to rape them.

Lot—the only honest man in that God-damned town, we’re told—implores them to please rape his virgin daughters instead of the angels. The men refuse.

Let's talk about "Justice" Sam Alito and the religious fanatic behind the curtain who has captured the Supreme Court, Leonard Leo.

#Scalito
#ForcedBirthIsFascism
#ForcedBirthers

[THREAD] 1/ WHAT LEONARD LEO wants you to know about Leonard Leo, first and foremost, is that he is a Knight of Malta. It’s an extremely selective group. Of the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world, only 13,000 are Knights of Malta—although most of them don’t go around bragging about it.