Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

Giving up is unforgivable.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Decision time: keep arguing about the last election, or try to win the next one?

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

The revolution will be supervised.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Military / Chelsea Manning / Bert and Ernie, courtesy of The Onion

Bert and Ernie, courtesy of The Onion

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Warning–NSFW/NSFK

The Government is has rested their principal case  in US v Manning.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/state-department-cables-remain-focus-as-gis-trial-in-wikileaks-case-enters-5th-week/2013/07/01/6ee00d90-e21f-11e2-8657-fdff0c195a79_story.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/02/bradley-manning-wikileaks-trial-government-rests

I don’t know if the Defense will start to present their case tomorrow, or if they’ll wait until Monday or if there will be a session on Friday.

MAJ Nidal Hassan’s capital Court-Martial is set to start soon.  He will be defending himself.  Due to a quirk in the UCMJ, he (MAJ Hassan) cannot plead ‘guilty’ to a capital charge, but can only be found either ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’ of the capital charge.  The available punishments for a capital conviction under the UCMJ are Life Without Parole or Death by lethal injection.  The Government has already stated their intent to prosecute him and seek the death penalty if they get a conviction.

Also too, an open thread

 

Oh, and one more thing–for the current crop of racists and other winger fuckwits trying over and over again to post things in dead threads–the automod  kicks in after the thread has been inactive for a while, and it does it to everybody as an anti-spam feature.  But if I see you trying to post in the Creepy ass Cracker thread that “Trayvon was the REAL racist!” I’m not going to un-mod you.  And while I haven’t talked to any of the others, I don’t expect they will feel any differently than me.  If you don’t have the balls to post in active threads, then you probably shouldn’t be posting here at all.

Reader Interactions

38Comments

  2. 2.

    Yatsuno

    Is Hassan still representing himself or does he have an attorney? I seem to recall he was mounting his own defence.

  4. 4.

    Thlayli

    Did the mobile version disappear for anyone else today? My phone suddenly switched to the desktop version this morning.

  5. 5.

    Soonergrunt

    @Yatsuno: He’s defending himself, but the Judge, COL Tara Osborne has ordered his former Defense Counsel to act as standby counsel prepared to return to actively representing him and to provide him with any advice he may seek in the meantime.

  6. 6.

    Hal

    @lamh35: I’ve always been perplexed by some of the animosity to Venus and Serena. They single-handedly reinvigorated interest in women’s tennis, and kicked ass while doing it. Too bad they don’t look like Anna Korna-whats her name. Then they could be half-ass at the game and still make millions a year.

    Also, that one of the critics of their behavior was John McEnroe still blows my mind.

  7. 7.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    Here’s some good news. Only just not for you.

    The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it would delay for a year, until 2015, the Affordable Care Act mandate that employers provide coverage for their workers or pay penalties, responding to business complaints and postponing the effective date beyond next year’s midterm elections.

    Profiles in Courage.

  8. 8.

    lamh35

    @Hal: Yep, the Wiliams sisters, to much of the Tennis heirarchy, don’t have the right “complexion for impression”. But they fight on and they prove time and time again, that they are the best in women’s tennis, and their white competitors know it.

    The Williams sisters, but particurly Serena since she IS the best, get nothing but shit from them.

  9. 9.

    Violet

    @Hal: Agreed. Women’s tennis was moribund until the Williams sisters showed up. I’m sure they can be criticized for something–who can’t? But they’re great to watch, they’re powerhouses of the sport and they’ve singlehandedly made women’s tennis interesting. It will be less so when they retire.

  10. 10.

    Hungry Joe

    I clicked on an article about Sabine Lisicki — she knocked Serena out of Wimbledon — in part, I admit, because it featured a stunning picture of Lisicki. But so many of the comments were sickening: Praising Lisicki for being “beautiful” instead of “an ape,” for being “blonde” instead of “sh*t,” etc. and, oh my, etc. It’s easy to forget that these people walk among us. I was a big Serena fan for a long time; then her attitude kind of got on my nerves. But this stuff reminds me that I can’t even begin to imagine what she’s had to put up with.

  11. 11.

    JPL

    @Hal: Serena’s every words are parsed and unfortunately, that is what some demand. I’m not excusing some of her antics but it is ridiculous to hold her to higher standards.
    When McEnroe had a temper tantrum at the USOpen, my neighbor was the line judge involved. He is and always will be a spoiled brat.

  18. 18.

    Hungry Joe

    McEnroe: One of the greatest tennis players ever. Also (more arguably) one of the greatest sports broadcasters ever. And also (less arguably) one of the greatest jerks ever.

    Wish I hadn’t liked watching him so much, but he was that good. Wish I didn’t like listening to him so much, but he’s that good.

  20. 20.

    Soonergrunt

    @mk3872: I’ve never said the government was seeking the death penalty against Manning. I’ve said over and over that the “Aiding the Enemy” charge and specification was preferred as a non-capital charge. FWIW, it’s also some bullshit over-reaching by the Government, IMO.
    It is, however, definitely seeking the death penalty against MAJ. Hassan. I don’t think it will ever happen. So far every single military death penalty since the 1980s (when it was brought back to the UCMJ) has been overturned to a sentence of Life Without Parole either by the Convening Authority exercising his statutory clemency function, or by the military courts of appeals. I think Hassan defending himself guarantees that he will never be executed, no matter what the final verdict and sentence is.

    Nonetheless, I’ve updated the main story to erase any confusion.

  21. 21.

    Violet

    @JPL: Loved Borg too. I just loved that whole era. The Borg-Connors rivalry was just fantastic. Those were the days.

  22. 22.

    Thlayli

    The way things are going in Egypt, they could end up with Bob Bradley in charge.

    Think about it: he’s not attached to any faction, the whole country likes him, and there would be no queston of American support. It makes sense….

  24. 24.

    muddy

    When I was in my 20s a doctor told me I was like Bjorn Borg because my heart rate, blood pressure, pulse and temp are quite low. A natural athlete, he exclaimed. Well, aside from hating jumping about being all sweaty I said. I do physical work, not sport.

  25. 25.

    Yatsuno

    Tunch eted my comment. FYWP.

    @Violet: I read that completely wrong. I thought maybe there would be assimilation involved.

  26. 26.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    At least your spammers are sources of info on how the other side, well, “thinks” is top strong a word….

    The site I’m cleaning up right now just gets cheap Vuitton knockoffs.

  27. 27.

    mk3872

    @Soonergrunt: The U.S. gov’t has already stated that they won’t seek the death penalty. I’m not sure why you haven’t correct your post?

    This is what you are saying above:

    The Government has already stated their intent to prosecute him and seek the death penalty if they get a conviction

    Yet, this is from the NYT:

    The prosecution is not seeking the death penalty in this case, “only” a life sentence.

    nytimes.com/2013/03/14/opinion/the-impact-of-the-bradley-manning-case.html?_r=0

  32. 32.

    Mnemosyne

    @mk3872:

    You’re mixing up two separate cases that Soonergrunt is writing about:

    The government is not asking for the death penalty for Manning.

    The government is asking for the death penalty for Maj. Hassan.

    You’re asking him to “correct” a comment he made about the Hassan case, not the Manning case.

  35. 35.

    Roger Moore

    @Hal:

    I’ve always been perplexed by some of the animosity to Venus and Serena.

    I think there was a lot of dislike for Arthur Ashe, too. I wonder what they have in common…

  37. 37.

    ruemara

    @Roger Moore: Killer lobs? Extreme ball control? Looking good in headbands? Who knows what mysterious thing Arthur Ashe and the Williams Sisters have in common?

  38. 38.

    Paul in KY

    @lamh35: I think they should also press to play 3 of 5, instead of 2 of 3. That way they would be doing same amount of playing as dudes.

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