#ron ziegler

[jebbiearchive]

[the-white-rat]

Okay, actually kind of proud of this drawing

[mitjalovse]

Tim Renwick might seem like a hidden figure, yet he can manage to be pretty much everywhere as we've seen. For example, He found himself on the records by Andy Gibb, which aren't given a fair shake, I fear. Look, Andy Gibb was probably on his way to become a honorary Bee Gee, but set aside all the hype he had and consider the fact he equipped himself quite well for the tunes. Sure, his brothers give him their immense quality songwriting, yet the fact he didn't stumble in here showed he had a promise. Who knows where he could've gone later on. I mean, I assume he would've survived the 80's much better than Bee Gees, though this can only be our guess as he still remains underappreciated thanks to the popularity he had.

[hawkp]

Imagine Josh, Sam, Toby, and C.J. as Ben, Chris, Ron, and Leslie.

[giveemhell-leonbaby]

hiiiiiiiiiii leo stans !!! sry to keep u all waiting, ik i’ve been delaying posts almost as long as the white house wanted to delay nixon’s trials lol!! 

sooooo as u all may know there was some past beef between me and another prominent figure in the leon jaworski fan community a while back. 

i want to apologize to @leonjaworskiluvrgrlll for some comments and disagreements we’ve had. 

i’ve recently read thru the transcripts of leo’s interviews with bob and carl (eeeeeeee!!! u guys it was soooooooo cute omggggg he told a lil story abt his grandson!!!!! ugh and theres SOOOOO much DRAMA!! ) and it rly made me reflect on the leo content i’ve put out here. i was operating off of limited information and fell prey to some flash judgements inappropriate for someone committed to a man of the law (remember: “no one -- absolutely no one -- is above the law” 💖💖💞💞💞💞💗💗💗💕💕💕💖💖💖).

@leonjaworskiluvrgrlll​ and i have since reconciled and realized there’s someone even better for our baby than nixon OR sirica -- al haig!!! 

leon and al had “an unusual working relationship” 👀👀👀👀 sooooooo u may be getting some content abt that *real* soon from ljlgrrl & i !!! <3333 

[ralfmaximus]

Bridget Ziegler helped Ron DeSantis write the "don't say gay" law. Now she's admitted to consensual sex with a woman who's accused her husband of rape. The scandal threatens to bring them all down.

You read that right. Ultraconservative founders of Moms for Liberty got caught doing polygamy AND rape. Whatever you think is going on with these people, it's worse.

Please be aware I do not shame them for their poly lifestyle. No, it's all about the breathtaking hypocrisy of these jackasses trying to enforce moral codes they themselves ignore.

Moms for Liberty, btw, is the primary group driving library book bans across the nation. They print newsletters with Hitler quotes. They are literally book-burning fascists.

[mariacallous]

Moms for Liberty, the extremist “parental rights group,” was supposed to help the Republican Party regain the White House. In July, former president Donald Trump called the anti-LGBTQ group with 300 active chapters across the county a “grassroots juggernaut.” They are credited with forcing schools to lift mask mandates, banning books featuring LGBTQ characters, and supporting anti-trans laws and policies across the country. The group was on track to be instrumental to the GOP in the 2024 election.

But, over the course of the past five months, the group has begun to unravel.

Experts have questioned the claims about the size of the group’s membership, and individual members have been exposed as sex offenders and acolytes of the Proud Boys. Then, last month, Moms for Liberty cofounder Bridget Ziegler admitted in a police interview to being in a relationship with her husband and another woman. The interview was conducted after the woman in question alleged that Ziegler’s husband, Florida GOP chair Christian Ziegler, had raped her.

Ziegler’s husband has denied the allegations and refused to resign from his position as GOP chair, despite calls from Florida governor Ron DeSantis and other state Republicans to do so. Ziegler is also a member of the Sarasota County School Board, and has been instrumental in ushering in Florida’s Don’t Say Gay bill, pushing a Christian agenda in public schools, and banning the teaching of critical race theory. On Tuesday night, the board voted 4–1 in favor of a nonbinding resolution calling for her to resign, marking a rapid fall from grace for Ziegler and a potential fatal blow to Moms for Liberty.

“The impact of the Zeigler scandal has been enormous on the Moms for Liberty structure,” Liz Mikitarian, the founder of the activist group STOP Moms for Liberty, which closely tracks the group’s activities, tells WIRED. “We see chapters moving away or taking a break, chapter leadership questioning their roles and scrambling at the national level to save their ‘mom’ brand. The organization is trying to distance itself from the Zieglers, but this is impossible because the Zieglers are interwoven into the very fabric of Moms for Liberty.”

The group was founded in late 2020 by Ziegler, Tina Descovich, and Tiffany Justice. Ziegler’s close ties to the GOP establishment both locally and nationally helped the group get recognition, propelling their grassroots efforts quickly to the national stage. Initially founded to counter mask mandates during the Covid-19 pandemic, the group’s plans were straightforward: They wanted to support school board candidates who pushed their anti-LGBTQ agenda while advocating for the banning of books that feature people of color or members of the LGBTQ community. The group’s growth was extraordinary. In three years, Moms for Liberty claims to have established 300 chapters in 48 states, with a membership of 130,000 parents. While Ziegler resigned from the group in 2021, she has remained a close ally of the group, speaking at its annual conferences and pushing its agenda from her school board seat.

In a sign of just how coveted an endorsement from the group had become in GOP circles, Trump was joined at their convention this summer by GOP presidential candidates Ron DeSantis, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, and entrepreneur and great replacement conspiracy proponent Vivek Ramaswamy.

The group’s support from the GOP came despite widespread reports about the harassment and intimidation campaigns that Moms for Liberty members conducted against school board members, teachers, superintendents, and even other parents. These allegations led the Southern Poverty Law Center to label Moms for Liberty an extremist group earlier this year.

But in recent months, controversies and closer scrutiny of the group’s claims have significantly tarnished the group’s image.

Just days after the Moms for Liberty convention in Philadelphia, Heath Brown, a professor of public policy at the City University of New York, wrote on Medium that while Moms for Liberty claims to be a national movement, the vast majority of its membership is concentrated in just four states: South Carolina, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Florida.

“This suggests that the political power is considerable and expanding in some states, but nearly absent and even waning in others,” Brown wrote.

Research from the Brookings Institution published in October confirmed this, and found that while Moms for Liberty was attracting members in Democratic strongholds, it was winning school board elections only in staunchly conservative regions of the country.

While its rapid growth may have suggested that Moms for Liberty would sweep school board races nationwide in November, 70 percent of its endorsed candidates lost their races, according to an analysis from the American Federation of Teachers. Weeks after the embarrassing election losses, the group was forced to remove two Kentucky chapter chairs from leadership positions after the women posed for photos with members of the Proud Boys militia. The group has a long history of associating with members of the Proud Boys, and Ziegler herself had to deny links to the group after she posed with two members at a victory party after she was elected to the Sarasota County School Board.

Then, the group removed Phillip Fisher Jr., a pastor who coordinates faith-based outreach for Philadelphia’s Moms for Liberty chapter, after it was revealed he was a registered sex offender.

Then came the revelations about the Zieglers.

Initially, the Moms for Liberty groups circled the wagons and slammed the media attention on the story, claiming in a statement on X that the sexual assault allegation made against Christian Ziegler was ​​”another attempt to ruin the reputation of a strong woman fighting for America.”

But in early December, a chapter chair in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, who was also the state legislative lead for the group, announced she and the other members were splitting from the national group to form their own organization because of the leadership’s response to the scandal.

In the weeks since, those who are closely tracking the group’s activities say chapters have gone quiet. Some, including several chapters in Maryland, have been removed from the Moms for Liberty website and their online activity has slowed to a crawl.

“Moms for Liberty has been repeatedly exposed as hypocrites over the past months, but I believe these new issues will be insurmountable to them,” Karen Svoboda, cofounder of Defense of Democracy, a group created to counter Moms for Liberty’s actions, tells WIRED. “Moms for Liberty, the powerhouse that wreaked such havoc on our communities and schools, is becoming undone by their own hubris.”

Despite the vote against her on Tuesday night, Ziegler did not resign, and said the resolution “has no teeth” given that the only person who can remove a school board member is the governor. And given that DeSantis has not asked Ziegler to resign from her position on a Disney oversight board he appointed her to, it’s unlikely he will force her to resign from the Sarasota County School Board.

However, Ziegler has resigned from her position as vice president of School Board Leadership Programs at the Leadership Institute, the highly influential conservative group led by Morton Blackwell, who also cofounded the secretive Council for National Policy. The Leadership Institute has been a major funder of Moms for Liberty since its inception, and Blackwell’s apparent lack of faith in Ziegler could spell trouble for her and Moms for Liberty.

“There are a lot of signs that Blackwell holds the ultimate power over Moms for Liberty,” Maurice Cunningham, a former political science professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston who has tracked Moms for Liberty’s growth closely, tells WIRED. “He will decide Moms for Liberty’s future, and Moms for Liberty cannot continue if he pulls the plug.”

Moms for Liberty did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment about the impact the Ziegler scandal is having on the group or on their membership numbers. Instead, a spokesperson for the group pointed WIRED to a statement issued by Descovich and Justice in the days after the Ziegler scandal broke, distancing the group from Ziegler while also praising her for “remaining an avid warrior for parental rights across the country.”

[jebbiearchive]

[alternateworldcomics]

A daily newspaper comic strip version of Dragnet distributed by the Los Angeles Mirror Syndicate ran in newspapers from June 23, 1952, to May 21, 1955

Written by Dragnet scripter Jack Robinson (uncredited) with art by Joe Sheiber (June 23, 1952-Sept. 20, 1952), Bill Ziegler (Sept. 22, 1952-January 9, 1954) and Mel Keefer (Jan. 11, 1954-May 21, 1955). Comics historian Ron Goulart, in his book 'The Funnies' states the frequent turnover of artists on the strip was due to Webb's desire to find someone 'who could draw him as good looking as he thought he ought to be.'

While "Dragnet" never made it into comic book form in America (seems like a natural for Dell's Four-Color Comics) there was a five issue comic book published in Australia made up of the newspaper strip in 1954.

[my-head-is-an-animal]

What She Deserves

Toby Ziegler x OFC (Kaitlin Stone)

Rating/Warnings: Implied Domestic/Sexual Abuse, Some Depictions of Violence, Smut 18+

Summary: Kaitlin Stone works with CJ, Toby has loved her for eight years, since the beginning of the campaign trail. Kaitlin's abusive boyfriend is the only thing standing in his way from getting what he wants and giving her what she deserves.

Chapter 9

Toby was there after work every day for two weeks, waiting for Kaitlin to wake up. Sometimes CJ was there, sometimes Josh, Sam and Leo would visit, and Toby was grateful for them making the effort.

     He talked to her a lot, but he could only bear it for a couple of hours at a time before his heart broke at the state of her condition. She was hooked up to machines that were keeping her alive and stable.

     The nurse had told him at one point she had died during surgery, it was only for two minutes, but it killed him all the same. The fact that Dan had succeeded for two minutes in killing the woman he supposedly loved.

     He didn’t know what love was, he had no idea what love really looked like. It didn’t look like this, it was telling her every day about how beautiful she is, every day asking how she’s feeling, every day saying I love you without the expectation of her saying it back. Love was allowing her the space and freedom to be anyone she wanted to be and feeling good about it.

     Kaitlin deserved to be loved in all the best ways someone was capable of. She didn’t deserve to be in the hospital.

     Ashley had been there every lunch time to visit, only a couple of times going with Toby to sit with her boss after work. It became clear that Kaitlin’s problems extended beyond the physical with Dan. She was basically broke.

     ‘How can that be?’ Toby frowned, looking at the paperwork, thinking the calculations must be wrong.

     ‘Dan told her they paid the bills fifty-fifty, but he was only paying twenty percent.’ Ashley held onto her sadness well, but Toby couldn’t hide his anger quite so well.

     ‘I hope Ron finds his body dumped in an alleyway somewhere.’ He said. ‘It’s more than he deserves after what he’s done to her.’

     ‘I hope he kills him.’

     Toby’s eyes darted up to Ashley, shocked at her words, but not necessarily in disagreement.

     As Toby dived a little more into Kaitlin’s private life, he began to see patterns in her downwards spiral. Dan had been squeezing her dry for eight years, she had no savings and was living paycheque to paycheque. If she woke up and they found Dan dead, she wouldn’t be able to get herself out from under the debt that would soon pile up.

     ‘Hey Ron, it’s Toby.’ He said, leaving the room to talk outside. ‘How the search?’

     ‘We’re following a few leads.’

     ‘Good. I just wanted to call and… check in, I guess.’

     ‘Okay?’

     ‘Look, it’s important that we find Dan alive. I know that would obviously be your priority-‘

     ‘Obviously.’

     ‘It’s just that… if Dan kills himself or is killed before we find him, Kaitlin will be left in more financial trouble than she can hope to get out of. She’ll just be going from one hell to another.’

     It was a while before Ron answered.

     ‘Understood.’

     Toby nodded to himself before hanging up. He trusted Ron to find Dan and with the new information, he trusted him to find him alive.

     Toby went back into Kaitlin’s room. He gave her a small smile.

     ‘We’ve got work to do.’ He said.

     They worked as hard as they could in the following days, getting all the advice they could on how to get Kaitlin out of the house before it was too late. Toby asked Ashley to keep this to herself and tell no one for Kaitlin’s sake. They had all the forms, they just needed Kaitlin to wake up and sign them.

     Toby took them with him every day he went to visit. He begged her to wake up, he told her their plan to help her, he begged again, he promised her everything would be okay, he begged some more.

     Finally, after another week, Toby got a call from the hospital to say she was awake, it was the middle of the day and instead of grabbing lunch with Leo, Toby raced over to the hospital.

     She wasn’t able to sit up just yet, she was too weak, but she could still smile when he entered the room. A nurse was checking her chart and asking a few questions, stopping when she spotted him at the door.

     ‘You must be Toby.’ She raised her eyebrow playfully. ‘I’ve heard all about you.’

     Kaitlin’s cheeks flushed a little as she rolled her eyes. She was still so pale and thin, she looked like someone who had gone through something life threatening, her usually warm and kind eyes were red with dark circles around them. But he still thought she was beautiful.

     ‘Fifteen minutes.’ She told him. ‘Then I need to check her again.’

     ‘Yes ma’am.’ Toby nodded, slowly approaching the bed. ‘Hi.’ He said quietly. ‘How you doing?’

     ‘I’m okay.’ Her voice was raspy, like she was still getting used to it. ‘You okay?’

     Toby just laughed. He stared down at her, seeing her confused frown.

     ‘I’m not the one whose been napping for three weeks.’ He said, making her smile again. ‘Are you in pain?’

     Kaitlin slowly shook her head. ‘I’ve got the good stuff.’

     ‘Good.’ He chuckled. He didn’t want to break the moment, but time was still running out. ‘Kaitlin, we need to talk-‘

     ‘I don’t remember anything.’ Suddenly fear coated her whole expression, she was lying, but he didn’t mind.

     ‘That’s okay, I’m not here to talk about what happened.’ He pulled the chair closer, making it easier for her to see him. ‘I’m here to talk about what will happen.’ The fear didn’t subside. ‘First and foremost, I want you to understand that everyone at the White House is there for you, we’re your family and there is nothing you can’t tell us, okay?’

     It took her a moment, but Kaitlin eventually nodded. ‘Okay.’ She whispered.

     ‘Now, this is the hard part,’ Toby gave her a chance to prepare herself. ‘We’re still looking for Dan, Ron is on the case and you have a secret service agent posted outside your door twenty-four seven by order of the President. Nobody is getting in here without us knowing about it. So, you’re safe here.’ He could see the tears beginning to build up. ‘In our efforts to locate Dan, we began looking into his finances,’ the tears already began falling. ‘Are you aware that you pay the majority of the mortgage on your house? You pay upwards of seventy five percent of all bills and loans under your household.’ She frowned as if this was new information, it was only somewhat of a relief to him. ‘Kaitlin, you’re not married, and you deserve to not be lied to. You’re on the verge of financial collapse, but Ashley and I have come up with a solution. Nobody else knows about this, so you don’t have to feel embarrassed or guilty or upset with asking for help.’ Toby wanted to hold her hand and make her understand how much he wanted to help her. ‘Kaitlin, if you want to get out of that house, away from Dan forever, all you need to do is sign a couple of forms, you’ll be financially free of any obligation, and he will not be able to legally come at you with anything that we cannot deal with. But like with everything, I’m not going to force you to do anything, this is your choice.’

     It took a while, Kaitlin was silent for the longest time. She just stared at the ceiling, thinking hard on what Toby had told her.

     ‘Where will I go?’ Kaitlin finally asked. It caught Toby off guard, but he leaned forward to answer anyway.

     ‘Uh, well, CJ has offered her spare room for you to stay in while you get on your feet.’ Toby told her. ‘I know Sam and Josh are halfway towards clearing out most of their stuff if you wanted to go there…’ Toby looked down at his shoes, unsure whether to go on. ‘You’re always welcome at mine, you always have been. But I think CJ is the best option given everything available to you.’

     Kaitlin turned her head to watch him. Toby tilted his to line up more with hers, watching her tired brown eyes fill with tears once again.

     ‘What forms do I sign?’ She sniffed.

     Toby smiled, feeling his whole being inflate. He pulled out the forms and explained each one to her. Her hospital bills wouldn’t be a problem if she could get out of the house and moved into CJ’s in time. Toby wouldn’t let her fall into another pit.

     ‘Okay, I’ll get this filed for you,’ he said, putting the forms away. ‘And the next time you see me, you’ll be CJ Cregg’s new roommate.’

     Kaitlin half laughed as the nurse came back in.

     ‘Times up.’ She said, smiling kindly. ‘You’d better not have been working while my back was turned.’

     ‘Don’t worry, I made sure it was a hassle free fifteen.’ Toby winked as he stood to leave. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, Kaitlin.’

     ‘Bye, Toby.’ She nodded.

     Toby left the private room finally feeling like he’d achieved something good where Kaitlin was concerned.

     ‘Mr Ziegler?’ He heard his name being called by the same nurse who was taking care of her. ‘Mr Ziegler.’ He stopped to wait for her. ‘Sorry, but do you have a second?’

     ‘Sure.’ Toby nodded and followed the nurse back to the station. ‘Is there a problem?’

     ‘Not a problem as such,’ she shook her head trying to find Kaitlin’s file. ‘It’s just a couple questions we need some answers to. I assume you and Kaitlin are close?’

     ‘I guess.’ Toby suddenly wasn’t sure. ‘What’s this about?’

     ‘Oh no, it’s nothing to worry about, we just need to know if Kaitlin was receiving any treatment prior to her visit?’

     ‘Not as far as I’m aware.’ Toby shook his head as the nurse wrote it down. ‘Maybe an aspirin every now and again.’

     The nurse looked at him in understanding.

     ‘What about mental treatment? Was she seeing a therapist at all?’

     ‘There’s no evidence of it, no.’ Toby shook his head again. ‘She’ll need to see one after this, won’t she? When she gets out?’

     ‘There are some people we can recommend that the President and yourself would approve of.’

     ‘It’s not us who need to approve.’ Toby gave a tight smile. ‘If Kaitlin doesn’t like her therapist, she won’t get better.’

     The nurse raised her eyebrow again. ‘Maybe you should be her therapist.’ Toby couldn’t help but chuckle slightly. ‘Anyway, can you take a look at her file and let us know if we got anything wrong? Or anything else we might need to know.’

     Toby obliged and immediately hated what he saw. He knew Dan was a nasty piece of work, but seeing the evidence in front of him was horrifying, especially seeing that there were signs of repeated sexual assault.

     He hated Dan. Maybe it was a good thing that he wasn’t out looking for him, he might not have been able to control himself.

     Something hit him freight train.

     ‘Um, nurse?’ He called.

     ‘You done?’ She asked.

     ‘Yeah, everything looks fine.’ Toby handed the file back. ‘Listen, this therapist, whoever it is Kaitlin picks, is there any chance I’ll be able to talk to them?’

     ‘What for?’ The nurse frowned, suspiciously.

     ‘I’m not gonna… I just want to help her.’ Toby explained. ‘I just want to know if there’s anything I can do at work, as her friend that might help.’

     The nurse sighed, understanding what he was getting at. ‘I can ask, but don’t be surprised if the answer is no. Like you said, it’s Kaitlin’s choice.’

     ‘I understand.’ Toby nodded.

     He left the hospital, filed the paperwork and headed back to the office to tell CJ she was getting a new roommate.

If you liked this, please consider supporting me ☕ thanks for reading!

Masterlist

[boccadorata]

ron ziegler's eyelashes are so long and beautiful it genuinely throws me off every time i see his face

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Capitalism: trickling down bootstraps since the Industrial Revolution.

* * * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

December 6, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

DEC 7, 2023

In the Washington Post today, Marianne LeVine, Isaac Arnsdorf, and Josh Dawsey reported that the Trump camp is eager to get people to stop focusing on Trump’s authoritarian talk, noting that Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says the presidential candidate was just joking when he said he would be a dictator on the first day of a return to the White House. While the Republican base appears to like Trump’s threats against the people they have come to hate, two Trump advisers told the reporters that “recent stories about his plans for a second term are not viewed as helpful for the general election.”

Republicans have also moved quickly to cut ties with Florida Republican Party chair Christian Ziegler, who is under police investigation for rape. Ziegler’s wife, Bridget Ziegler, co-founded Moms for Liberty, an organization that has focused on removing from schools books that they find objectionable, generally books by or about racial or ethnic minorities or LGBTQ+ people. Often Moms for Liberty members have implied, or even claimed, that those trying to protect school libraries are sexual predators or “groomers.” Ziegler herself has been active in shaping anti-LGBTQ+ policies in the state.

But the police and court documents about the case revealed that the Zieglers and the woman Ziegler allegedly raped had participated in a three-way sexual relationship in the past. The rape allegedly occurred after they had set up another encounter that Bridget could not make. The woman then canceled, telling Ziegler “I was mainly in it for her.” He went to her home anyway.

The story of a key anti-LGBTQ+ activist engaging in same-sex activity as part of a threesome sent Moms for Liberty hurrying to say that Bridget Ziegler was no longer on their board (although both Zieglers were still on their advisory board) and purge her name from their website. And though no charges have yet been filed, Florida governor Ron DeSantis has called on Christian Ziegler to resign from his position at the head of the state Republican Party. 

The Zieglers helped to tie the Republican Party to Moms for Liberty shortly after the organization formed in January 2021, and DeSantis was very much on board, apparently seeing their message of taking the war against ��woke” to the schools as a political winner. But, as Amanda Marcotte pointed out in Salon, the 2022 midterms revealed that most voters did not like the extremism of that group and that it was a political liability. 

The fact that DeSantis is dropping his former ally Ziegler so fast suggests that DeSantis is eager to divorce himself from both the story and from the extremism of Moms for Liberty. 

The Trump Republicans took another hit today as well, when a grand jury in the state of Nevada charged six people who falsely posed as electors in 2020 in order to file fake electoral votes for Trump to replace the state’s real votes for now-President Joe Biden. The six Republicans charged with filing false documents include the chair and the vice chair of the Nevada Republican Party. If convicted, they face up to nine years in prison and $15,000 in fines. 

Nevada is the third state to charge the fake electors with crimes. Georgia and Michigan have also done so. 

Ten fake electors in Wisconsin today settled a civil lawsuit over their own participation in Trump’s false-elector scheme. The settlement involved correcting the historical record. The ten agreed to withdraw their paperwork with the false information, explain in writing to the federal offices that the filings had been “part of an attempt to improperly overturn the 2020 presidential election results,” and acknowledge that Biden won the 2020 election. Going forward, they agreed never again to serve as presidential electors in an election in which Trump is running. 

But while there are signs that even leading Republicans recognize that the extremism of the Trump Republicans is unpopular in the country, Trump Republicans are tightening their hold on Congress. Today former House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced that he will resign from Congress at the end of this month. Far-right MAGA Republicans ousted McCarthy from the speaker’s chair in October.

Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC), a McCarthy ally who took over as acting House speaker after McCarthy’s removal, announced yesterday that he had changed his plans from earlier this year and will not run for reelection.    

While hardly moderates—both refused to work with Democrats either to pass legislation or to elect a speaker—they appear to be ceding ground to the MAGA Republicans. 

Tim Dickinson of Rolling Stone reported today that one of those MAGA Republicans, House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), spoke freely Tuesday night at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., at a celebration for the National Association of Christian Lawmakers. Although the address was being livestreamed, Johnson apparently believed he was speaking privately. He told the audience that the Lord called him to be “a new Moses.”

Johnson, an evangelical Christian, told the audience that the U.S. is “engaged in a battle between worldviews” and “a great struggle for the future of the Republic.” He said he believed far-right Christians would prevail. 

The influence of Trump is also evident in the Senate, where there is broad, bipartisan support for supplemental funding for Ukraine, but where Republicans are refusing to pass such a measure without attaching to it an immigration package that overrides current law, replacing it with Trump’s immigration plans. Such plans could not pass on their own, as Democrats would stop them in the Senate. But by attaching them to a bill that is imperative for national security, Republicans hope to force Biden into it.

Democrats have repeatedly called for new immigration legislation, but their refusal to remake immigration policy as the hard-right wants has made Republicans balk. Now Democrats are still offering to negotiate a reasonable package, but as Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) said earlier this week: “I think there’s a misunderstanding on the part of Senator Schumer and some of our Democratic friends…. This is not a traditional negotiation, where we expect to come up with a bipartisan compromise on the border. This is a price that has to be paid in order to get the supplemental.”

In a speech this afternoon—just a day after Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) finally permitted the Senate to fill 425 senior positions in the U.S. military and while he is still preventing 11 top-level positions from being filled—President Biden called it “stunning that we’ve gotten to this point…. Republicans in Congress…are willing to give [Russian president Vladimir] Putin the greatest gift he could hope for and abandon our global leadership not just to Ukraine, but beyond that.” 

“If Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there,” Biden warned. “It’s important to see the long run here. He’s going to keep going. He’s made that pretty clear. If Putin attacks a NATO Ally—if he keeps going and then he attacks a NATO Ally—well, we’ve committed as a NATO member that we’d defend every inch of NATO territory. Then we’ll have something that we don’t seek and that we don’t have today: American troops fighting Russian troops—American troops fighting Russian troops if he moves into other parts of NATO. 

“Make no mistake: Today’s vote is going to be long remembered. And history is going to judge harshly those who turn their back on freedom’s cause.”

“Extreme Republicans are playing chicken with our national security, holding Ukraine’s funding hostage to their extreme partisan border policies,” he said. 

Biden reiterated that he and the Democrats are eager to pass new immigration legislation, but “Republicans think they can get everything they want without any bipartisan compromise.  That’s not the answer.... And now they’re willing to literally kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield and damage our national security in the process.” He begged Republicans to get past partisan divisions and step up to “our responsibilities as a leading nation in the world.” 

Hours later, Senate Republicans voted against the supplemental aid package.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[pika-nachua]

2023 NFL Season Predictions

Full Season Schedule,Final Standings, and Playoff Bracket available at

Adjusted 2024 First Round Draft Order (Includes trades to date)

1.Cardinals

2.Colts

3.Bears (via Panthers from Bryce Young/ DJ Moore trade)

4.Buccaneers

5.Raiders

6.Cardinals (via Texans from Will Anderson trade)

7.Rams

8.Bears

9.Giants

10.Commanders

11.Seahawks

12.Patriots

13.Falcons

14.Jaguars

15.Broncos

16.Jets

17.Steelers

18.Ravens

19.Saints

20.Titans

21.Vikings

22.Cowboys

23.Chargers

24.Chiefs

25.Dolphins

26.Packers

27.Lions

28.Bills

29.49ers

30.Texans (via Browns from Deshaun Watson trade)

31.Eagles

32.Bengals

Awards Picks (also receiving votes in parentheses)

Most Valuable Player: Joe Burrow, QB, Cincinnati Bengals (Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Deshaun Watson, Josh Allen)

Offensive Player of the Year: Nick Chubb, RB, Cleveland Browns (Ja'Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Brandon Aiyuk, Tony Pollard, Tyreek Hill, Christian Watson, Chris Olave)

Defensive Player of the Year: Myles Garrett, DE, Cleveland Browns (T.J. Watt, Micah Parsons, Nick Bosa, Gregory Rousseau)

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Bijan Robinson, RB, Atlanta Falcons (Jahmyr Gibbs, Will Levis, De'Von Achane, Bryce Young, Quentin Johnson, Zay Flowers, Sam LaPorta)

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Christian Gonzalez, CB, New England Patriots (Will Anderson, Jack Campbell, Brian Branch, Emmanuel Forbes)

Comeback Player of the Year: Damar Hamlin, S, Buffalo Bills

Most Improved Player: Christian Watson, WR, Green Bay Packers (Skyy Moore, David Njoku, Brandon Aiyuk)

Head Coach of The Year: Mike McDaniel, Miami Dolphins (Dan Campbell, Zac Taylor, Kevin Stefanski, Mike Vrabel)

Offensive Assistant Coach of The Year: Ben Johnson, Offensive Coordinator, Detroit Lions (Eric Bieniemy, Pete Carmichael, Tim Kelly, Ken Dorsey, Kellen Moore)

Defensive Assistant Coach of the Year: Jim Schwartz, Defensive Coordinator, Cleveland Browns (Lou Anarumo, Aaron Glenn, Patrick Graham, Brian Flores, Vic Fangio)

Additional Speculation On Season Storylines (Listed by team) List does not include all NFL teams

Las Vegas Raiders

Raiders fire Josh McDaniels after starting 2-10 and losing to the Chiefs Week 12 in Las Vegas, and promote defensive coordinator Patrick Graham to be their interim head coach.

Patrick Graham will finish the season with a record of 2-3, leaving the Raiders with a final record of 4-13.

The Raiders will fire general Manager Dave Ziegler, interim coach Patrick Graham, and a majority of the rest of McDaniels' staff after the regular season is completed.

Tennessee Titans

Starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill gets injured early in the season, and the Titans allow scond-year QB Malik Willis and rookie Will Levis to struggle for the starting spot before Levis wins it outright after during Tennessee's bye week in Week 7.

Levis then manages to lead the Titans to an 8-3 record from the bye week on, putting up Rookie of the Year-worthy numbers... if he had started the full season.

The Titans still manage to fall in the Wildcard Round to a tough Browns team, but this year still cements Levis as the starting quarterback going into 2024, with Tannehill likely to be moved by the front office in the offseason.

Washington Commanders

Ron Rivera is fired after a Week 16 loss to the Jets, finishing his season in Washington with a record of 4-11. Assistant head coach and Offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy is promoted to be the interim head coach.

Bieniemy then coaches the Commanders to a 2-0 record in the final games, and after the season, his interim tag is dropped in order to make Eric Bieniemy the full-time head coach of the Washington Commanders in 2024.

Aside

Originally, I had afew wonkier predictions, namely the Cardinals and Colts trading their respective picks to quarterback-needy teams so those unnamed teams could select one of USC QB Caleb Williams or UNC QB Drake Maye.

My only reservation was that by the time October comes around, we're gonna have seen a much better sample size of football in 2023, so I'm certain I'll have opinions on it. I'd just like to save some for the wilder stuff for when there's a clearer picture to expand upon.

Ideally, I'd like to do one of these at the end of every month of the season, so we'll see how that goes.

End of the way, I wanted to put something out to reign in the new year, and I hope you're along for the ride.

Now who's ready for some mothafuckin football?

[ulkaralakbarova]

The adventures of two amiably aimless metal-head friends, Wayne and Garth. From Wayne’s basement, the pair broadcast a talk-show called “Wayne’s World” on local public access television. The show comes to the attention of a sleazy network executive who wants to produce a big-budget version of “Wayne’s World”—and he also wants Wayne’s girlfriend, a rock singer named Cassandra. Wayne and Garth have to battle the executive not only to save their show, but also Cassandra. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Wayne Campbell: Mike Myers Garth Algar: Dana Carvey Benjamin Kane: Rob Lowe Cassandra: Tia Carrere Stacy: Lara Flynn Boyle Dreamwoman: Donna Dixon Security Guard: Chris Farley Noah Vanderhoff: Brian Doyle-Murray Alan: Michael DeLuise Tiny: Meat Loaf Bad Cop / T-1000: Robert Patrick Alice Cooper: Alice Cooper Glen: Ed O’Neill Mrs. Vanderhoff: Colleen Camp Terry: Lee Tergesen Russell Finley: Kurt Fuller Davy: Mike Hagerty Ron Paxton: Charles Noland Elyse: Ione Skye Frankie Sharp: Frank DiLeo Waitress: Robin Ruzan Officer Koharski: Frederick Coffin Old Man Withers: Carmen Filpi Film Crew: Original Music Composer: J. Peter Robinson Screenplay: Mike Myers Executive Producer: Hawk Koch Director of Photography: Theo van de Sande Director: Penelope Spheeris Producer: Lorne Michaels Editor: Malcolm Campbell Stunts: Hannah Kozak Stunts: Alisa Christensen Associate Producer: Dinah Minot Associate Producer: Barnaby Thompson Screenplay: Bonnie Turner Screenplay: Terry Turner Casting: Glenn Daniels Production Design: Gregg Fonseca Second Unit Director: Allan Graf First Assistant Director: John Hockridge Second Assistant Director: Joseph J. Kontra Set Decoration: Jay Hart Camera Operator: Martin Schaer “B” Camera Operator: David Hennings First Assistant Camera: Henry Tirl First Assistant “B” Camera: Peter Mercurio Steadicam Operator: Elizabeth Ziegler Script Supervisor: Adell Aldrich Sound Mixer: Tom Nelson Boom Operator: Jerome R. Vitucci Additional Editor: Earl Ghaffari Assistant Editor: Ralph O. Sepulveda Jr. Assistant Editor: Ann Trulove Assistant Editor: Brion McIntosh Supervising Sound Editor: John Benson Sound Effects Editor: Beth Sterner Sound Effects Editor: Joseph A. Ippolito Sound Effects Editor: Frank Howard Dialogue Editor: Michael Magill Dialogue Editor: Simon Coke Dialogue Editor: Bob Newlan Supervising ADR Editor: Allen Hartz Foley Supervisor: Pamela Bentkowski Assistant Sound Editor: Carolina Beroza Assistant Sound Editor: Thomas W. Small Foley Artist: Ken Dufva Foley Artist: David Lee Fein Foley Mixer: Greg Curda ADR Mixer: Bob Baron ADR Voice Casting: Barbara Harris Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Andy Nelson Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Steve Pederson Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Tom Perry Music Supervisor: Maureen Crowe Supervising Music Editor: Steve Mccroskey Set Designer: Lisette Thomas Set Designer: Gae S. Buckley Special Effects Makeup Artist: Thomas R. Burman Special Effects Makeup Artist: Bari Dreiband-Burman Makeup Artist: Courtney Carell Makeup Artist: Mel Berns Jr. Hairstylist: Kathrine Gordon Hairstylist: Barbara Lorenz Hairstylist: Carol Meikle Costume Supervisor: Pat Tonnema Costumer: Janet Sobel Costumer: Kimberly Guenther Durkin Location Manager: Ned R. Shapiro Assistant Location Manager: Serena Baker Second Second Assistant Director: John G. Scotti Property Master: Kirk Corwin Assistant Property Master: Peter A. Tullo Assistant Property Master: Jim Stubblefield Leadman: Robert Lucas Special Effects Coordinator: Tony Vandenecker Chief Lighting Technician: Jono Kouzouyan Production Office Coordinator: Lynne White Unit Publicist: Tony Angelotti Still Photographer: Suzanne Tenner Craft Service: Vartan Chakarian Transportation Coordinator: James Thornsberry Color Timer: David Bryden Negative Cutter: Theresa Repola Mohammed Title Designer: Dan Curry Second Unit Director of Photography: Robert M. Stevens Stunts: Tony Brubaker Stunt Double: Steve Kelso Movie Reviews: tmdb15435519: I wish I could dress the exact same every day and still be cool.

[niigata-division]

Valor Guard — Inspirations

— Seiji

Aaron Hotchner - Criminal Minds

Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto - Bleach

Yukichi Fukuzawa - Bungou Stray Dogs

Neuvillette - Genshin Impact

Ned Stark - Game of Thrones 

Batman - DC

— Lyall

Spencer Reid - Criminal Minds

Lucien Lunaris - First Stage Production EN

Satan - Obey Me!

Hikaru Kamiki - Oshi no Ko

Ron Kamonohashi - Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective

Nightwing - DC

— Ayumu

Emu Hojo - Kamen Rider Ex-Aid

Angela “Mercy” Ziegler - Overwatch 

Isshin Kurosaki - Bleach 

Diavolo - Obey Me!

Meredith Grey - Grey's Anatomy 

Natasha - Honkai: Star Rail

[bllsbailey]

Inauguration Day Is Coming. What Will Become of Karine Jean-Pierre?

The position of White House Press Secretary can't be a heck of a lot of fun. You're dealing with uncomfortable questions from people who would love to see you stumble and fail - unless you're in a Democrat administration. But a good Press Secretary has to be bright, well-informed, and able to think on their feet. I've seen a few of these people in operation, beginning with Ron Ziegler. I've seen some good ones and some bad ones. Tony Snow was a good one. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was a good one. Jen Psaki was a bad one, even when you factor in that she was in the position of having to defend the indefensible.

Karine Jean-Pierre is worse. She's not suited for the job; she's dishonest, not particularly articulate, and is prone to fits of pique when she's expected to answer difficult questions, which is her job. But on January 20th, she'll be unemployed. What will she do then?

A piece in the Daily Caller presents some ideas.

The consensus seemed to be that KJP, despite being considered by many to have performed poorly at her White House gig, will likely find safe harbor as a contributor on a cable news program, just like her predecessor Jen Psaki. “She’ll go where all the other failed Hollywood actors go when they’re useless to the deep state: a cable chat show that exclusively exists to sell weird books and products to lonely women,” Daily Caller alum and media veteran Kay Hill said. NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck concurred, adding “I fully anticipate someone will hire her as a contributor, whether it be a return to MSNBC or even CNN.” Jean-Pierre’s predecessor, Jen Psaki, jumped ship in 2022, leaving the Biden White House to host her own show “Inside with Jen Psaki” on MSNBC.

MSNBC? That's an interesting notion. As I mentioned, she's not really qualified to be press secretary; she's dishonest, inarticulate, and thin-skinned. But MSNBC? Heck, she's overqualified, if their current talent pool is any indication.

A few media types of note bring up another interesting point:

Color me skeptical. The Biden brand stinks like a dead woodchuck under the porch, sure. But in the legacy media? It's hard to imagine a Democrat administration failing so utterly, so miserably, and so obviously that the legacy media won't run cover for it. And if that means finding a comfy sinecure for someone like Karine Jean-Pierre, that's likely what will happen. Someone will hire her and let her drop into a late-night or weekend show every now and then to blather out an uninformed opinion. That's how these things work.

Maybe Jen Psaki will let Karine Jean-Pierre (KJP) sit in for her next time she takes a vacation.

See Related:

The Hilarious Peter Doocy Memes Have Arrived - and He's Earned Them

RedState's Top 10 Stories of 2024: Biden's Brain Melts Down, Kamala Finds Solace in a Bottle

We all know why KJP is in the position she is. She checked off a couple of "diversity" checkboxes; there certainly aren't any positives that recommend her. But we all know how these things work, I doubt KJP is losing any sleep worrying about where her next paycheck is coming from. Someone, somewhere, will pick her up to do something. It may be make-work, it may be an invented position that is pure horse squeeze, but the Swamp takes care of its own.