LOOKING FORWARD TO ANOTHER WEEK OF THE CRAZY

Let’s start today with the best news and work our way down. And yes, there are 271 days left to defeat these motherfuckers .

Liam Conejo Ramos and his father Adrian Conejo Arias returned to Minnesota this morning. When they were released from the Dilley concentration camp yesterday evening, they were left with no way to get home. Texas congressman Joaquin Castro picked them up last night and escorted them back to Minnesota. In an appearance this morning on ABC’s “This Week,” Trump defense attorney cosplaying as “Deputy Attorney General” Todd Blanche claimed that Liam and his father did not apply for asylum, bucking their attorney’s claims of legal residency in the United States.He said, “That is not true. There’s a very meaningful dispute about whether they had properly applied for asylum.” Liam’s school superintendent says he has a pending asylum claim that allows him to remain in the country for the time being. In spite of pending litigation, Blanche said Maladministration II believes undocumented immigrants should be held in custody for breaching the law. (FACT CHECK: Being here undocumented is not a major crime - it’s a misdemeanor on parking ticket level.) “The fact that they’re here illegally is a crime. And so when you say they don’t have criminal records, they are - by their presence being here without status, having come into this country illegally or overstayed illegally, that is a crime. And so, we have to be careful. And you’re right, there is a schism in the law right now about whether an illegal alien can be held pending their proceeding or whether they need to be released on bail. We very strongly believe that they should be held and there’s a bunch of appellate cases, a number of district court judges have reached a conclusion that we very much believe is contrary to law and there will be an appellate court and ultimately, probably the Supreme Court that will be asked to interpret that.” As with everything else any one of these scumbag traitors say, this is all a lie on Blanche’s part.

A Texas special election runoff in State Senate District 9 (Tarrant County/Fort Worth area) produced a stunning result last night: a district that Trump carried by 17 points in 2024 just elected a Democrat with more than 57% of the vote - a 14-point Democratic win, a net 31-point swing from the presidential baseline. Democrat Taylor Rehmet topped 57% in the runoff against far right conservative activist Leigh Wambsganss (So, that last name wasn’t some writer’s joke on “Succession” - who knew?), despite Trump having gotten involved personally, trying to rally voters. Turnout this time was 95,000 ballots vs nearly 119,000 in November 2024. Most important, the Democrat was outspent about 10-to-1 in January - and still won comfortably. It appears that despite Trump’s public involvement, it wasn’t enough to bring Republican voters back to their polling places. Taylor Rehmet is an aircraft mechanic and union leader, and a first- time candidate. Wambsganss - a conservative activist and an executive at Patriot Mobile - was backed by the MAGA ecosystem; and Trump explicitly framed the race as a loyalty test to keep Texas red, posting that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick “needs a strong conservative Republican in SD-9 to KEEP TEXAS RED!” on Lies Anti-Social.Regarding the finace pictue, Rehmet spent a little over $70,000 while Wambsganss spent more than $736,278. He also is reported to have spent about $65,000 in the November primary, while the two Republicans in that three-way contest spent nearly $2.4 million combined. As Michael Sellers points out, “A union aircraft mechanic can present differently than “generic Democrat,” especially in a district that includes working- class voters alongside conservative suburbs. And in specials, candidate fit matters more, because fewer people are voting on pure party autopilot. That’s the kind of outcome that forces strategists to ask uncomfortable questions about coalition management, suburban drift, and turnout reliability, especially heading into 2026.” Both candidates will face off again this November for a full term. Organization mattered here more than money - and it will in 271 days, too.

In other good news from the Texas special election, Democrat Christian Menefee won the special election runoff for Texas’s 18th Congressional District, knocking down the House Republicans’ slim amajority by securing a long vacant seat in a heavily Democratic district. MAGA Mike now has a “majority” of 218 - the minimum to hold Congress. He cannot afford to lose one Republican on any vote.

According to an article in the New Yorker on how Trump has enriched himself to the tune of $4 Billion Dollars in the first year of his second theft of the presidency - ethics watchdogs say that no other President has ever so nakedly exploited his position, or on such a scale - Trump recently explained to the NYT why he cast aside his former restraint: “I found out that nobody cared.” I have said it before and I’ll say it again: we got here as we are because too many of us fell asleep over the past 50 years, disbelieving the proof that was right before us that every Republican president since Nixon has played a leading role in the Republican Party’s war against democracy in America that has been going on since 1932, to install themselves in power despite the fact they are actually the permanent minority party. It’s taken a monster like Trump to wake up enough of us to begin to mount a resistance to this conspiracy, but there are still too many willing to disbelieve what’s in front of them daily.

After Trump’s defense attorney/coverup artist got through with besmirching Liam Ramos and his father on “This Wee,” he decided to ladle some more defamation onto Don Lemon. He claimed Lemon was included in the planning of a protest at a Minnesota church, citing the grand jury “indictment” (so far, these morons are zop-for-all with the lies in their grand jury “indictments” on every political retribution case they’ve brought) he claimed Lemon was “part of the decisions to make sure the police didn’t know this was happening and federal law enforcement didn’t know this was happening.” The 14-page indictment alleges that Lemon received information from activists on the protest beforehand and was careful not to disclose details on where it would take place to the public. He told Dana Bash, “If he wants to go forward with the defense that, ‘Aw, shucks, I was just a journalist,’ he can do that. But, obviously, as the indictment lays out, there’s a lot of things that Mr. Lemon did that you would never do as a journalist. You would never do that.” (FACT CHECK: a journalist being told an event at which no violence is being planned beforehand will happen, and not passing on that information to the cops, is not a crime. Reporters aren’t supposed to be stoolies.) If that is the “indictment,” the professional white male shitty asswipe defender Blanche has his head as far up his ass as you’d expect from your average MAGAt Gamma. You know that, as an attorney, Blanche actually knows this is all bullshit, but like most Mob Lawyer coverup artists, he’ll say anything for El Jefe.

Give them credit when due: Kristen Welker was having non of MAGA Mike’s lies this morning on Press the Meat. She was promptly shut him down after he attempted to repeat false claims about Georgia voter fraud in the 2020 election, claims Welker didn’t hesitate to remind the top Republican had been thoroughly debunked. Mike was asked to comment on fears that Trump may “meddle in the 2026 midterm elections,” fears that have only been exacerbated after the recent FBI raid on a Georgia election office that has been at the center of his false claims the 2020 election was “rigged.” He said he found such fears to be “comical,” citing Georgia, falsely, as “example A” of “schemes in elections.” Welker pushed back, reminding him there had been two statewide recounts in Georgia that produced no evidence of widespread voter fraud. Undeterred, Mike continued to float the idea that the 2020 election in Georgia was plagued with “problems,” while also choosing his words carefully in an apparent attempt to not make explicit claims of voter fraud that could later be used against him. “They sent mail-out ballets to everyone, everyone knows all of the problems that occurred in Georgia, it was very controversial and remains so to this day because of all the things that happened there. Again, we’re not going to relitigate that, but what we have to focus on going forward is to ensure that there are not questions about the elections, and that’s why Republicans are working at the federal and state levels to clean those things up.” Again, Welker pushed back. “But there are really no questions about election integrity from 2020 that have not been asked and answered.” Mike shook his head, and dismissed Welker’s remarks, telling her “that’s your opinion!” All Republicans now are liars. You cannot believe one word they say. They’re members of a cult.

This past week, a man showed up to a Santa Clara City Council meeting in a Batman costume. He roasted local leaders for failing to protect residents from ICE ahead of the Super Bowl, saying they have had months to prepare, adding: “I don’t give a damn if this is out of decorum.” He then demanded the council put in writing that no city resources would be diverted to ICE, then asked: “Can any one of you go home to your children and tell them that you did everything you could to protect their classmates? … Their grandparents? … Them? I don’t think you can.” He said they would be “traitors” if they refused to act. The crowd erupted in applause, and thanks to his powerful testimony, the council scheduled another meeting this week to determine what actions they’ll take. Sometimes, superheroes do wear costumes.

Once again, Michael Cohen gets today’s last word: “We keep being told, by people who benefit from fear, that we are powerless. That the machinery of federal enforcement is too large, too entrenched, too armored to challenge. That once the uniforms arrive and the orders are given, resistance is futile. I once believed that story. I helped reinforce it. And I know now how false it is. What is happening in Minneapolis, and echoing across cities nationwide, is proof that Americans still understand where real power lives. It does not sit inside a federal agency. It does not wear tactical gear or arrive in unmarked vehicles. It lives with the people willing to stand in public, demand accountability, and refuse to accept violence disguised as policy.”

You are not the crazy ones. These are truly the times that try men’s and women’s souls. This is the fight of our lifetimes, and the challenge of our generation. I realize times are getting harder, which is why some readers understandably didn’t renew their subscriptions. There are several free subscribers who read TAFM daily according to the site stats. If you folks happen to be in a position to help make up the gap, please consider joining the other paid subscribers here at That’s Another Fine Mess to keep things going. Across Substack, authors like me are losing to the Big Names who come here to say the same things they said in corporate media. We need your help! It’s only 21 cents a day. I am deeply thankful to those who have done so.

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