www.al.com

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) #wingnut #conspiracy al.com

A newly elected Republican member of Congress has filed articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden on his first full day in office.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) announced the stunt last week, and followed through on her promise Thursday, Jan. 21, a day after Biden’s inauguration. The Trump loyalist and QAnon conspiracy theorist accused Biden of “abuse of power” while serving as vice president under President Barack Obama.

Greene claimed, without providing evidence, that Biden threatened to withhold a loan to Ukraine while then-prosecutor general Viktor Shokin was investigating the founder of Burisma Holdings. Biden’s son Hunter Biden served as a member of the Ukraine gas company’s board from 2014 to 2019. Greene also accused the former VP of allowing the younger Biden “to siphon off cash from America’s greatest enemies Russia and China.”

“President Joe Biden is unfit to hold the office of the Presidency. His pattern of abuse of power as President Obama’s Vice President is lengthy and disturbing,” Greene said in a statement. “President Biden residing in the White House is a threat to national security and he must be immediately impeached.”
[…]
The Daily Beast reports Greene previously repeated false claims the Parkland and Sandy Hook school shootings were “staged.” In a 2018 Facebook post, she also agreed with a comment that claimed the 9/11 terrorist attack was perpetrated by the U.S. government: “That is all true,” she wrote.

Donald Kidd #fundie al.com

"Donald Trump is telling the truth and people don't always like that," said Donald Kidd, a 73-year-old retired pipe welder from Mobile. "He is like George Wallace, he told the truth. It is the same thing."

Roy Moore #fundie al.com

Roy Moore today announced he is resigning from his position as the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court to run for the United States Senate.

"I'll stand for the rights and liberties of the people," Moore announced to cheering supporters and to reporters gathered at the State Capitol.

"My position has always been God first, family then country," Moore said. "I share the vision of President Donald Trump to make America great again," Moore said.

He later added, "Before we can make America great again, we've got to make America good again."

Moore said a key to making that happen is making sure the federal government stays within constitutional bounds.

"We've got to understand that getting back to the Constitution, getting back to its restraints, are what we need in this country to make it great again."

Moore said he has submitted his papers to resign from the state Supreme Court, a position he was suspended from for the remainder of his term.

Gov. Kay Ivey appointed Lyn Stuart chief justice. Stuart had served as acting chief justice since Moore's suspension. Ivey will now be able to appoint a new associate justice to give Alabama's highest court its full nine members.

Justice Tom Parker said today he will seek the chief justice seat in the 2018 primary election.

"Alabama is a conservative state. We revere the Constitution and the Rule of Law. And I believe our courts are the battleground for our God-given rights as free people," Parker said. "Please pray with me as I take this step, and thank you for standing with me as I continue to stand for the God-given principles that remain the foundation of the freedoms we cherish as Alabamians."

Jeff Carroll #fundie al.com

[A Birmingham pastor and his congregation build a church without getting any building permits or following any building codes and, surprise, the church collapses. The pastor then remarks:]

If the state and the church are separate, I don't understand why they think they've got jurisdiction.

Thank God nobody was hurt. He chose to let it come down on a Thursday evening when nobody was there.

The Machine #fundie al.com

Despite an historic election last month, the University of Alabama Student Government Association is currently stalled as Senate members refuse to allow its new president to choose his own chief of staff.

SGA President Elliot Spillers garnered a record-breaking voter turnout in March to become the school's second black president, but the SGA is now at a standstill after the Senate voted down two of his appointments and tried to force through their own pick.

Spillers is also the first non-Machine candidate to hold the office since 1986 (when now-Secretary of State John Merrill won), and many at UA say the senators opposing Spillers' appointments are taking Machine orders.

A chief of staff must be confirmed before other cabinet positions are filled, per UA SGA rules, and the cabinet must be confirmed before any other legislative action.

"It makes no sense to me," Spillers said Wednesday. "These arguments are tired. They're preventing themselves from doing any work, and it's not something I condone at all. It's a nuisance."

Political parties are illegal under SGA rules, but the Machine, an underground but well-known group of traditionally white fraternities and sororities, is thought to have controlled campus institutions for decades.
Though supposedly underground, the Machine is well-known on campus and among alumni.

...

In an investigative series on the Machine during the 2011-12 school year, student newspaper The Crimson White confirmedthe Machine consists of upwards of two dozens Greek houses (in 2011, there were 28 member houses), each with a younger and an older representative who attend Machine meetings.

In their 2011 report, the CW confirmed each affiliated Greek house pay at least $850 a semester to fund the organizations, reps' bar tabs and an annual beach vacation.

In return, the group endorses candidates (primarily white males) for SGA senate and SGA executive offices and controls an impressive voting bloc.

SGA elections are not just contentious for UA students. The university's Faculty Senate frequently discussed the Machine and its influence during heated meetings in 2013 while dealing with the fallout of possible Greek tampering with a local school board election and the lack of diversity in the sorority system.

"It's not a place for the fainthearted," Thomas said in March. "Student politics at Alabama are as rigorous as student athletics. Football at Alabama is more than just children playing, there's something larger at stake. UA forecasts professional lives."

Thomas and Spillers were both successful in large part due to their relationships within the Greek system while still maintaining their independence.

"I don't care if you're [Machine] backed or not, just have freedom of thought. Think for yourselves," Spillers said. "What it comes down to, a lot of the senators are very young. And they're doing what they think is tradition, but it's just the Machine in their ear."