Category: Opinion

UPDATED WITH STATEMENT John Boehner to resign at end of October

I knew this was coming, I just did not know when.

Via The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — Speaker John A. Boehner, under intense pressure from conservatives in his party, announced on Friday that he would resign one of the most powerful positions in government and give up his House seat at the end of October, as Congress moved to avert a government shutdown.

Mr. Boehner, who was first elected to Congress in 1990, made the announcement in an emotional meeting with his fellow Republicans on Friday morning.

The Ohio representative struggled from almost the moment he took the speaker’s gavel in 2011 to manage the challenges of divided government and to hold together his fractious and increasingly conservative Republican members.

Most recently, Mr. Boehner, 65, was trying to craft a solution to keep the government open through the rest of the year, but was under pressure from a growing base of conservatives who told him that they would not vote for a bill that did not defund Planned Parenthood.

Mr. Boehner’s stunning announcement lessens the chance of a government shutdown next week as Republican leaders in Congress will push for a short-term funding measure to keep the government operating and the speaker will no longer be deterred by those who threatened his job.

There are some that are saying that this could cause a problem for the GOP and it could be a win for the Dems. However, I disagree with that, the Dems are so unpopular now with Americans, especially middle America that I believe that this will only strengthen the GOP’s base and appeal.

Either way, this will be a shift from the establishment running the house to a conservative. Look for more impasse with the President till he leaves office. This might lead to Government shutdowns and other such stuff.

Stay tuned.

Update: Here is the Official Statement:

WASHINGTON, DC – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) today issued the following statement:

“My mission every day is to fight for a smaller, less costly, and more accountable government.  Over the last five years, our majority has advanced conservative reforms that will help our children and their children.  I am proud of what we have accomplished.

“The first job of any Speaker is to protect this institution that we all love.  It was my plan to only serve as Speaker until the end of last year, but I stayed on to provide continuity to the Republican Conference and the House.  It is my view, however, that prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable damage to the institution.  To that end, I will resign the Speakership and my seat in Congress on October 30.

“Today, my heart is full with gratitude for my family, my colleagues, and the people of Ohio’s Eighth District.  God bless this great country that has given me – the son of a bar owner from Cincinnati – the chance to serve.”

The comments over on that site are for the ages. The old school of politics and political operation is over. This is a new era and Boehner just could not exist in it. The days of the Republican ruling class are over; which is, in a way, a good thing for America. The establishment is going to have to either get in line or get out of the way.

Related:

Blogger roundup: ThinkProgress, Power Line, Political Wire, Business Insider, Hot Air, NBC News, The Week, Political Insider blog, Hit & Run, Aleteia.org, The Hinterland Gazette, The Gateway Pundit, Refinery29, Red Alert Politics, Towleroad, John Hawkins’ Right Wing News,The Iowa Statesman, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, BillMoyers.com,Althouse, Outside the Beltway, The Federalist and Allen B. West, Bloomberg.com news, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The PJ Tatler, TPNN and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times,  Liberaland, Washington Monthly, Speaker.gov, protein wisdom,Poynter., UPROXX, Outside the Beltway, The Pulse 2016, Washington Free Beacon and Index, : JustOneMinute, American Spectator, addictinginfo.org and Booman Tribune, Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Campaign for America’s Future, The Daily Banter, Forbes, AMERICAblog News and The Gateway Pundit, ABC News, RT, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Bloomberg Business, OnPolitics, Boing Boing and The Agonist 

Scott Walker drops out

I did not see this coming at all. 😯

The Video:

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Via NYT:

Updated, 8:14 p.m. | Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, whose early glow as a Republican presidential contender was snuffed out with the rise of anti-establishment rivals, announced on Monday that he was quitting the race and urged some of his 15 rivals to do the same so the party could unite against the leading candidate, Donald J. Trump.

Mr. Walker’s pointed rebuke of Mr. Trump gave powerful voice to the private fears of many Republicans that the party risked alienating wide swaths of the American electorate – Hispanics, women, immigrants, veterans, and most recently Muslims – if Mr. Trump continued vilifying or mocking those groups as part of his overtures to angry and disaffected voters.

Still, Mr. Walker’s exit was not selfless: He was running low on campaign cash, sliding sharply in opinion polls, losing potential donors to rivals and unnerving supporters with a steady stream of gaffes, like saying he would consider building a barrier wall along the Canadian border.

Appearing ashen and drained at a brief news conference late Monday in Madison, Mr. Walker said the Republican presidential field was too focused on “how bad things are” rather than on “how we can make them better for everyone.” Without naming Mr. Trump, Mr. Walker issued a plea to fellow candidates to coalesce around a different Republican who could offer a more “optimistic” vision and guide the party to a victory next year that, he admitted with sadness in his voice, he could not achieve himself.

“Today I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive, conservative message can rise to the top of the field,” Mr. Walker said. “With this in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately.

“I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so that the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current front-runner,” he said.

Scott Walker was seen by many as the social conservative that dared to take on public sector unions and won. Of course, the labor movement is over the moon that Walker dropped out.

My Take: While Walker might have generated a good deal of buzz in Wisconsin and with the labor movement; he really never caught on in the national stage. Not only this, but the field was just much too crowded and of course, the progressive media complex was after him from the start. When trump jumped in, all the attention went to him.

It was most likely for the best; because if the progressive did not savage him, the rest of the field would have.

Of course, this might have something to do with it too. Via Matt Lewis:

The thing that really soured me on him, however, was the very transparent way that his team decided Iowa was “must win,” telegraphed it, and then proceeded to pander to the populist right that presumably constitutes the base of the Iowa caucuses. It began when Walker ousted strategist Liz Mair for having said some uncharitable things about the state, but really manifested itself in the hurling of uncharacteristic red meat.

He flip-flopped on immigration, going so far as to say that it wasn’t a flip-flop since he didn’t vote on it. Then he went over the top on saying that he wanted a Constitutional amendment to let states ban gay marriage — but then (apparently) sent his wife out to let it be known that she disagreed. He started to look like a phony who would do or say whatever it took to be elected.

And then, having betrayed anyone not on the populist right (which includes center-right opinion leaders, establishment RINOS, and everyone in between), and having doubled down on being Iowa’s hard-right populist, Walker was completely out-flanked by Donald Trump (and Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina and Ted Cruz). But mostly Donald Trump. Walker looked like a wimp on the debate stage. He had no charisma. He didn’t look like a president. He didn’t even look like a bully, as Trump does. He looked like the guy whose lunch money the bully takes.

Hmmmm… Interesting.

Related:

Blogger Roundup:  Power Line, The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, The PJ Tatler, Slantpoint,JSOnline, WHNT-TV, Daily Kos, Hit & Run, No More Mister Nice Blog,National Review, Right Wing Watch, tpnn.com, The Gateway Pundit, Outside the Beltway,Business Insider, WSLS-TV, Political Insider blog, Taylor Marsh, LifeNews.com, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hot Air, Mashable, BizPac Review, Weekly Standard, Political Wire, Mock Paper Scissors, WQAD-TV, KFOR-TV, The Pulse 2016, Naked Politics and Washington Free Beacon

Michigan House boots Gamrat and Courser resigns

Remember these two dunderheads? Well, he quit and she got the boot:

Lansing — The Michigan House of Representatives ousted state Rep. Cindy Gamrat from office just after 4 a.m. Friday for misconduct involving her extramarital affair with Rep. Todd Courser — one hour after Courser abruptly resigned.At 4:13 a.m., the House voted 91-12 to expel Gamrat from office after the Plainwell Republican made a final plea on the floor for a censure. Gamrat’s ouster makes her just the fourth lawmaker to be expelled from the Legislature”Resigning would have been a whole lot easier, I’ll tell you that,” Gamrat said. “But sometimes the easy roads aren’t the best roads to take.”

Source: House expels Gamrat; Courser resigns before vote

What gets me, like Ed over at HotAir.com, I am amazed it took so many votes. Either way, I’m glad they’re gone.

Others (via Memeorandum): Talking Points Memo, MLive.com, NPR, Raw Story, Political Wire, Detroit Free Press and Associated Press

Justice? Detroit Drug Dealer and FBI informant “White Boy Rick” to be resentenced

This is an interesting development.

Via The Detroit Free Press:

Richard Wershe Jr.— known as White Boy Rick — wore European suits and had a full head of hair when he gained notoriety as a teenage drug dealer in the 1980s.

In a Detroit courtroom today, the now bald 46-year-old had on green jail garb when he learned he will be resentenced for a drug crime committed at age 17, which could lead to his freedom.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Dana Hathaway issued the ruling and said her decision was based on case law related to juveniles and the evolution of penalties for drug crimes.

Wershe was quiet and stoic during the 5-minute hearing in the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice attended by friends and family, including his mother and 27-year-old son. About a dozen reporters and several photographers also gathered in the courtroom.

Wershe was convicted of possession with intent to deliver more than 650 grams of cocaine in 1988 and has spent the last 27 years in prison. Authorities said Wershe had eight kilos of high-grade powered cocaine worth about $5 million.

I remember when this man’s trial and sentencing happened back in the 1980’s. I never knew him personally, as he lived on the other side of town from me. However, I remember the buzz in the local media. There is alot more to Rick’s story, to put you up to speed, here are a few videos on the subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJWoqqMftis

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For some context, watch these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10SprwE0qmM

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As you can see, Rick was used by the feds and then left in jail to rot. 😡

The truth is, that if Rick were a black man, he would already be out of jail. However, because Rick is a white man and because he happens to know a good deal about the corrupt workings of the Detroit police and the political elite class in Detroit and the federal government’s so called “war on drugs,”  the feds want him to stay behind bars.

Here is hoping that Rick finally gets some justice in his very sad case.

Others: Raw Story and Guardian (via Memeoradum)

 

#Blacklivesmatter utterly refuses to accept responsibility for what they and the media created

This is sick and unbelievable.

As you all know, Friday evening a black man, basically shot a police officer in Texas, and when I say “shot”, I mean, walked up behind him, shot him in the back of the head and then shot him on the ground. 😡

Well, as one would expect, the sheriff had a little something to say about that: (Via NYT)

“We have not been able to extract any details regarding a motive at this point,” Sheriff Hickman said. “As far as we know, Deputy Goforth had no previous contact with the suspect. It appears at the outset to be completely unprovoked.

“We have not been able to extract any details regarding a motive at this point,” Sheriff Hickman said. “As far as we know, Deputy Goforth had no previous contact with the suspect. It appears at the outset to be completely unprovoked.”

Deputy Goforth “was a target because he wore a uniform,” the sheriff said.

[…]

Even as officials at an earlier news conference emphasized that they had not established a motive, they tied the attack to the wave of protests across the country over police shootings, including the demonstrations after the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner on Staten Island.

To some, the death of Deputy Goforth echoed the attack last year on two New York City police officers who were sitting in their patrol car in Brooklyn when they were shot at point-blank range and killed. The gunman, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who had a history of mental health problems, had traveled to the city from Baltimore, vowing to kill officers, and had alluded to the Brown and Garner cases on social media.

“At any point when the rhetoric ramps up to the point where calculated, coldblooded assassinations of police officers happen, this rhetoric has gotten out of control,” Sheriff Hickman said. “We’ve heard ‘black lives matter.’ All lives matter. Well, cops’ lives matter, too. So why don’t we just drop the qualifier and just say ‘lives matter,’ and take that to the bank.”

The Harris County district attorney, Devon Anderson, who appeared with Sheriff Hickman, said it was time for “the silent majority” to come forward to support law enforcement.

“There are a few bad apples in every profession,” she said. “That does not mean that there should be open warfare declared on law enforcement.”

Of course, the entitled negro minority community was having none of this:

State Representative Garnet F. Coleman, a Houston lawmaker who is heading a legislative inquiry into the death of Sandra Bland, an African-American woman found hanging in a Waller County jail cell in July, criticized the sheriff’s remarks.

“It strikes me as politicizing a death that, I don’t know that anyone knows what was in the mind of the shooter,” said Mr. Coleman, a Democrat. “I think black lives matter. I think deputy sheriffs’ lives matter. But I think the statement shows a lack of understanding of what is occurring in this country when it comes to the singling out of African-Americans.”

DeRay Mckesson, 30, an activist who has attended and publicized several protests, from Ferguson to North Charleston, S.C., said in a Tweet that it was “sad that some have chosen to politicize this tragedy by falsely attributing the officer’s death to a movement seeking to end violence.”

The only “singling out of African-Americans” that is happening, is being done to the ones who are breaking the law. Also too, politicizing? Do these idiots realize just how really stupid they sound? I mean, were not these #blacklivesmatter people politicizing the deaths of their own stinkin’ people, when they were burning half of Ferguson, Louisiana to the ground?  🙄

It’s a Obama World folks.

Another White Police Officer shot, this time in Houston, TX

What say you, #blacklivesmatter?

From the AP:

HOUSTON (AP) — A sheriff’s deputy in uniform was shot and killed Friday night while filling up his patrol car at a suburban Houston gas station, according to authorities.

Deputy Darren Goforth, 47, was pumping gas into his vehicle about 8:30 p.m. Friday when a man approached him from behind and fired multiple shots, Harris County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Ryan Sullivan told The Associated Press. Once the deputy fell to the ground, the suspect fired more shots.

Police described the suspect as a dark-complexioned male who is believed to be between 20 and 25 years old, and stands about 5-foot-10 to 6-feet tall. He was wearing a white T-shirt and red shorts and driving a red or maroon pickup-style truck with an extended cab. Police said an intensive search for the suspect remained ongoing Saturday morning.

No motive was determined for the shooting. Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said Goforth, who was a 10-year veteran of the force, had a wife and two children.

“In my 45 years in law enforcement, I can’t recall another incident so cold-blooded and cowardly,” Hickman said.

Sheriff’s office spokesman Deputy Thomas Gilliland said Goforth had traveled to the Chevron station where the shooting happened, after earlier responding to a routine car accident.

“He was pumping gas into his vehicle. and the male suspect came up behind him and shot the deputy multiple times,” Gilliland told the Houston Chronicle. “The deputy fell to ground. the suspect came over and shot the deputy again multiple times as he lay on the ground.”

He said Goforth died at the scene. Detectives were checking security camera video for possible clues.

This is not justice, this is nothing more than straight up cowardice. This was an act of murder, which is the cause of the media ginning up resentment against law enforcement. This is what happens, when you give a movement of leftists, anarchists and common thugs a spotlight and try to make them into something that they are not.

Congratulations Democrats. You own this one. 😡

Update #1: Hotair.com confirms that the suspect is black and they have a photo.

AllahPundit makes a very good point about Donald Trump

Hate to say it, but he is very much correct:

One more thing: In the unlikely event that Trump does sweep to the presidency, I think some historians will begin reconsidering what the Reagan revolution was really about. Was it a conservative revolt against the Great Society, Nixonian welfare-state management, and Carter-era exhaustion with liberalism, or was it more a response to the sense of national renewal that Reagan projected, above and beyond ideology? Reagan, unlike Trump, was a true conservative and wanted to limit government accordingly, but they both stood for American power in different ways. Maybe it was that sense of power, of overhauling a failed governing class, that drew Republicans and centrist Democrats to Reagan first and foremost, with Reagan’s conservatism more of an experiment voters were happy to go along with so long as the economy was booming and the Soviets were back on their heels. If you look at Reagan that way, with ideology a component of his appeal but not the catalytic component, you can sort of see a line between him and Trump

Source: Hugh Hewitt to Trump: Will you resist the authoritarian impulse as president? « Hot Air

He’s right about that; and too, Reagan was the great communicator. Reagan also was a very kind-hearted person and would win you over with his charm. He was a statesman, and of the greatest generation and era ever, one that has sadly passed into the annals of history.

Now, Donald Trump? He is a totally different horse of a total different color and breed. Basically, he’s a bare knuckles, tell it like it is, shoot from the hip, tough guy New Yorker, with a really, really, good education and business savvy. Because of this, he tends to be very, very very, blunt. This works in the business world, where such things are seen as powerful, groundbreaking and decisive; but in the political world, especially in the Conservative political world, he has those people running around with their hair on fire, losing their minds! Mainly because today, political correctness and a slight amount of couth are the standard these days. Donald Trump has none of this; and the grassroots love it to death! The GOP establishment? Not so much.

By the way, the establishment hated Reagan too; but they had to accept him. Especially after the “I’m paying for this microphone!” incident. Funny that “AllahPundit” seems to have forgotten that one and the fact that basically the Fundamentalist and Evangelical Christian world basically was what propelled Reagan into the White House. But, he’s an idiot atheist, so one should expect that.

A very true statement about yesterday’s shooting

Erick Erickson, who has slandered me in the past, makes a good point. Which is why I am quoting him here.

Erick Says:

The reality is that evil exists and we will never legislate it away. Bad things will always happen. Evil people will do evil things. We saw evil in Charleston. We saw evil yesterday. Unfortunately, too many are too blind to evil. Those who have eyes to see can see the evil in Planned Parenthood decapitating children and sending their heads in the mail making sure their eyes are closed. Those who have eyes to see can see the evil in the collapse of families and the rise of dysfunctional young people without a relationship with one parent or the other.

Evil exists. It exists in degrees. It is sometimes obvious and sometimes not. But it is here in the world. The only cure for evil is Jesus Christ. As our society becomes more secular and hostile to the things of faith, it will only get worse. Only the acts of evil will more and more come not in the form of violence but the in the form of conduct deemed acceptable and beneficial thought it is not.

Evil is always going to exist. It is never going to be exterminated by us. It will not be legislated away. But it will be exterminated on that final day. Until then all of us should work to be better neighbors with each other and those who have eyes to see and ears to hear should not shy away from pointing out the barbarous when the world itself turns a blind eye.

He’s right about that. When something happens like what happened yesterday, which was horrible thing, regardless of the motivation; the liberal progressive left wants to move to regulate everything. This is not the solution, the solution is to change the hearts and minds of the people of America. Now, personally, I find all of this talk about a Christian revival fruitless. I believe that the revival ship has sailed and judgement is coming to America.

However, Erick is correct, because the sin of mankind, which is due to what happened with Adam and Eve, these sort of things are going to happen.

The Korean peninsula is turning into a powder keg

Because I have been so busy with covering local stuff, moral failings and silly attacks on multi-racial people; I have overlooked the fact that the fit is about to hit the shan in the Korean peninsula. 😯

Via CNN:

Paju, South Korea (CNN)North Korea outlined an ultimatum Friday to its southern neighbor: Stop the “provocations” and “psychological warfare” or pay the price.

“If South Korea does not respond to our ultimatum,” North Korean U.N. ambassador An Myong Hun told reporters, “our military counteraction will be inevitable and that counteraction will be very strong.”

North Korea’s regime, known for being both thin-skinnedand fond of saber rattling, has made plenty of threats before. In fact, articulating derogatory and intimidating words about South Korea and the United States has been more the norm than not for years.

What makes this case different, though, is that two South Korean soldiers have been seriously wounded (by landmines August 4 in the Demilitarized Zone) and that there’s been firing back-and-forth since then. An said Friday that “all the (North Korean) frontline large combined units (have) entered into a wartime state … fully armed to launch any surprise operations and finish their preparations for action.”

Specifically, this threat is tied to cross-border propaganda loudspeakers that South Korea resumed using last week for the first time in a decade. Pyongyang is demanding they be turned off by Saturday evening.

“The situation of the country is now inching closer to the brink of war,” Ji Jae Ryong, North Korean ambassador to China, told journalists in Beijing on Friday.

The part that gets me is that South Korea is actually provoking this whole thing.  If I were President Obama, I would be making a phone call to South Korea’s President and telling her, “Cut the crap, or we don’t lift a finger to assist you.”

The Korean War was one of the worst Wilsonian foreign policy blunders ever, that was given to us, by President Harry Truman. President Truman ended one war, that was declared properly and started another one at the request of the United Nations. We lost many a man on those battlefields, and what did we gain? Nothing. It ended in an armistice.

The President of South Korea is needlessly putting US troops at risk with what she is doing. She should be told to stop; or the United States of America should withdraw our forces from the region and wish them good luck.

MICHIGAN NEWS UPDATE: State Rep. Todd Courser says he was being setup

Remember the scandal that I reported about here in Michigan, involving State Rep. Todd Courser?

Well, there is more news about that. The story via The Detroit News:

State Rep. Todd Courser claimed Monday he distributed a story accusing himself of paying a male prostitute for sex to “expose” individuals trying to blackmail him into resigning office over a relationship with Rep. Cindy Gamrat.

In his first response to The Detroit News’ story Friday exposing Courser’s role in the email, Courser claimed his former aides Ben Graham, Keith Allard and Joshua Cline were behind the anonymous text messages he received, threatening to expose his relationship with Gamrat, a fellow Republican from Plainwell.

“The email in question was really put in motion to disrupt, disrupt the blackmailer and to give me some clues as to what their ability was as far as surveillance over my life and the threats they were making,” Courser said in an audio recording released early Monday morning.

[….]

Courser accuses Graham, 25, of being part of the blackmail plot. In May, Graham refused to send the email for Courser. Weeks later, Courser gave Graham a 6 percent pay raise, state records show. On July 7, Courser fired Graham without explanation.

“The blackmailer’s still operating, goading me,” Courser said on the audio recording. “So I’m not sure how big the ring still is, but they’re still out there and still anonymous.”

Courser accused Graham, Allard and Cline of being “ill-suited” for legislative work and claimed they “bugged and then wiretapped” the combined House office he and Gamrat ran — an unusual arrangement at the Capitol — at the behest of Speaker Kevin Cotter.

“There’s obvious malice and hostility and anger about being let go, and they’re bonded together with that and moved to extract their revenge in the way that they did,” Courser said.

Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, said Monday Courser’s claims of a House-led bugging operation of he and Gamrat’s office are “just ludicrous.”

“He’s really displayed a long and consistent pattern of that type of paranoia,” Cotter told The News. “There are no black helicopters here; no drones circling the House Office Building.”

Ike, for his part, is denying all involvement:

Lansing — State Rep. Todd Courser told an aide that he had a longtime friend and business associate send Republicans an email falsely claiming the lawmaker was caught having sex with a male prostitute, audio recordings show.

The email, which Courser first ordered a staff member to send out, was sent as part of a scheme to conceal the lawmaker’s relationship with Rep. Cindy Gamrat.

But Immanuel “Ike” Eickholdt, the man Courser says sent it, denied any involvement in distribution of the email in an interview with The Detroit News. Rank-and-file Republicans received the message May 20 and May 21 from an anonymous sender.

Former Courser and Gamrat aides confirmed to The News that the “Ike” mentioned by Courser during two recorded meetings is Eickholdt, who ran in a Democratic primary last year against Courser’s eventual general election opponent, Margaret Guerrero DeLuca.

[…]

In a telephone interview, Eickholdt acknowledged being a “friend and business associate” of Courser’s for a decade, but denied sending the email or having any knowledge of it.

“I did not send an email thing out,” Eickholdt told The News. “Whatever nonsense they’ve got going on, I don’t deal with that kind of stuff anymore.”

Either way, State House officials are not buying the story and are working to get to the bottom of what really happened:

State House officials have seized computers and paper records from the offices of Reps. Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat as part of an investigation into whether they used taxpayer resources to conceal their relationship, Speaker Kevin Cotter said Monday.

“All of the evidence is protected,” Cotter told The Detroit News. “Nothing can be deleted. We have the servers. We have all of these things. So there’s nothing that’s at risk of being lost at this point.”

Employees in the House Business Office began taking possession of documents, laptop computers and servers containing Courser and Gamrat’s state email accounts on Friday and continued over the weekend, Cotter said.

Cotter ordered an investigation into Courser and Gamrat just hours afterThe Detroit News first revealed Friday that Courser sought the help of a House employee to distribute a fictitious email alleging he had a homosexual affair in order to make allegations of an affair with Gamrat look tame by comparison.

Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, said the House’s computer servers preserved all electronic records in Courser’s and Gamrat’s systems.

“If either of the representatives, or anyone for that matter, had gone immediately with this story and tried to delete things, that information was not lost,” Cotter told The News. “We have a system in place whereby if even a user deletes an email, that those are still retained. So nothing was at risk of loss.”

It should be very interesting to see how all of that plays out, for his part, Rep. Todd Courser says he is not going anywhere:

Courser, a tea party conservative who has battled Republican leaders since being elected to office last year, said in the recording he would not resign as representative of the 82nd District in Lapeer County.

“I could have resigned, this is really the option that anonymous texter wanted, and doing so quietly,” Courser said. “I simply would have been submitting to the authority of the establishment machine and doing so to protect myself and protect my family.

“… I felt that in of itself really allowed them to win and continue to do this in the way that they do in finding the screw and the thing that they can turn and turning it,” Courser added.

Courser said remaining in office is “absolutely essential” to advance the cause of smaller government.

“I feel it is absolutely, absolutely essential to have these clandestine operations to control public officials exposed,” Courser said. “So I refuse to leave quietly and have decided to that these efforts really need to come out.”

What a freakin’ dope. 🙄