Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

I desperately hope that, yet again, I am wrong.

Trump makes a mockery of the legal system and cowardly judges just sit back and let him.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Republicans in disarray!

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

You are here: Home / Yes, I’m Planning Prevenge

Yes, I’m Planning Prevenge

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What kind of a fucked up piece of shit has an affair and pre-plans blackmail of his mistress to keep her quiet? In Missouri, they call him “Governor”:

Gov. Eric Greitens was indicted Thursday afternoon by a St. Louis grand jury on a felony charge of invasion of privacy.

The charge stems from a 2015 affair and allegations that he threatened to release a nude photograph of the woman, taken while she was blindfolded and her hands were bound, if she ever spoke publicly about the affair.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner launched a criminal investigation of the allegations last month shortly after they become public. The indictment accuses Greitens of not only knowingly photographing the woman with whom he had an affair, but also transmitting the image “in a manner that allowed access to that image via a computer.”

Reader Interactions

114Comments

  4. 4.

    patrick II

    Did he still have pictures on his phone? I thought this went public before the subpoena. Either I have the timing wrong, or this Governor is dumber than most Republican governors.

  5. 5.

    Mike in NC

    Per the MSM, he was a “rising star of the Republican Party” (so was that remarkable Rubio fellow).

  8. 8.

    Adria McDowell

    Ladies, don’t date, marry, have children or an affair with Republican men. They do you dirty.

  12. 12.

    M. Bouffant

    Announcement yesterday from the Republican Goobernators’ Ass:

    GOP Governor Eric Greitens continues to fight for lower taxes in Missouri, rolling out new reforms that would cut taxes for 97% of the state’s citizens. Last week, Governor Greitens put forward an extensive tax reform package that would put in place an Earned Income Tax Credit, cut the state’s business tax, and lower personal income tax rates. As Governor Greitens fights for tax relief, the people of Missouri understand that they have a leader in office focused on returning money to the pockets of taxpayers – not government.

    Well, he sure is focused on something.

  13. 13.

    mad citizen

    Mike beat me to it. NBC Nightly news at the top of their newscast, and in the story had the obligatory “rising star” and in the story they added “future Presidential candidate”. It’s really obnoxious and sloppy.

  16. 16.

    Fair Economist

    On top of everything else, he’s the public figure. It was a stupid threat as well as evil and illegal.

  17. 17.

    Amir Khalid

    What kind of sentence is Greitens looking at if convicted? Blackmail The accusation sounds like something that incurs serious jail time. And is Missouri one of the states that disenfranchise convicted felons?

  18. 18.

    jeffreyw

    Josh Schwerin
    @JoshSchwerin
    FOR PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY: Governor Greitens will not be able to attend the @NatlGovsAssoc meetings in Washington, DC this weekend due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict.

    4:17 PM – Feb 22, 2018
    75
    34 people are talking about this

  25. 25.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jeffro: Nikki Haley, Cory Gardner, Ben Sasse. I’m obviously not her target audience, but my sense is that Ernst has peaked. Cotton… at the risk of overestimating the American public (again), that “I’ve got a crawl space full of small dead animals and barbie dolls’ heads” vibe will take him down.

  26. 26.

    Big Picture Pathologist

    Geez, I know Dems have their sleazy side (Bob Filner, Anthony Weiner) but for top-shelf misogynistic sociopaths, you can’t beat the GOP.

  28. 28.

    burnspbesq

    In other news, Trump is apparently threatening to pull ICE out of California.

    Be our guest, sir. We don’t want your Gestapo here.

  34. 34.

    Mnemosyne

    @? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?:

    Telling the press that Castile was allegedly smoking pot, so therefore he wasn’t a real gun owner.

    The saddest thing about that story is that it seems to have been a straight up fuckip by the cop — Castile vaguely resembled a suspect they were looking for and the cop panicked when Castile said he had a legal, permitted gun in the car.

    And, of course, by shooting and killing the wrong guy, the cop helped the actual criminal get away. Great job, moron!

  38. 38.

    mad citizen

    OT but was just checking on local Republican Family Values coverage at the St Louis Post Dispatch and saw an actual, AP “Florida Man” headline: “Florida man yells ‘murderers!’ as he’s executed for slaying”. Only thing is, when I read the story, it turned out he was really an “Indiana Man” and that made me feel sad for my state.

  41. 41.

    Zinsky

    @geg6: yeah, right. What is it with these pervy, degenerate Republicans? Bunch of sicko creeps that I wouldn’t want to even be in the same room with!

  45. 45.

    marv

    You know, I’ve given up on the concept of peak wingnut, but will say: in this day and age, can a Republican be more fucked than this guy? I mean, he already went thru the part about working through it with his wife, the request for privacy, the absolute denial of the photo, and then in MISSOURI he gets perp-walked. Hard to post among total strangers, but where I come from, this is Fuck an A territory

  48. 48.

    ewrunning

    In other, other news, Politico reports a last minute instruction has gone out to Embassies to gut the sections of the annual human rights report dealing with women’s rights, reproductive rights (except for government forced abortion) and discrimination against LGBTQ and other disfavored groups. Probably means the report won’t be ready by the February 25 deadline.

  52. 52.

    Mnemosyne

    So I spent a bit of the afternoon arguing with gun nuts on Facebook. I’m not sure they realize that the overall effect of their nitpicking that a shooter could kill just as many people with a .22 rifle as an AR-15 is making normal people decide that if that’s the case, we’ll just need to ban all guns.

  57. 57.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mnemosyne: It also isn’t true. I can’t be arsed to explain, but, if they don’t understand why a semi-auto with a detachable mag, shoots faster and longer than anything that isn’t full auto, they don’t know enough about guns to have the conversation. Please feel free to use this.

  59. 59.

    Jim, Foolish Literlist

    So, after scrolling through Cole’s tweets: Does anyone know what pickled banana blossom is usually used for, and how we can get in to one of the baskets on Chopped?

  64. 64.

    Mike in NC

    @Jay S: Jay, ever been to South Carolina? Wearing of pants is pretty much optional, just like motorcyclists don’t have to wear tyrannical helmets there.

  65. 65.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mike in NC: I rode through it and your state on the way to DC after I graduated from OCS. Does that count? We didn’t stop or buy anything. I was wearing shorts, if that matters.

  66. 66.

    Jay S

    @Mike in NC: I don’t recall being in or through South Carolina. At any rate they seem to have gotten their knickers in a knot about how they are worn, if they are. Now that you mention it, I don’t think the law said anything about not wearing them at all.

  67. 67.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Earlier today I turned on MSNBC looking for some info about the rumors McMaster was being forced out. I muted it when I heard Kristin Welker go full metal Broder on the armed teachers thing, “Isn’t it possible the president has a good point….?” As I glanced up at the TV in the fifteen or so minutes after, it seemed like trump was just getting crazier as they put up more chyrons with quotes from his babbling on guns. Now I’m seeing on the O’Donnell show how trump held up John Kelly as an example of a guy you’d really want to have a gun in a school if somebody came in with an AR-15.

  68. 68.

    Amir Khalid

    @ewrunning:
    Certainly also reflects the Trump Administration’s foreign policy, which doesn’t give a toss about human rights any more than it does about professional diplomacy. Tillerson’s brief at the State Department is to sabotage it from the top. Trump appointed much of his Cabinet with that in mind.

  71. 71.

    Duane

    I’m embarassed for my state. Asshole wants to make us Kansas; Instead he’s made us a laughingstock.
    Hey Missouri republicans,just do us a favor and quit voting. You’re bad at it.

  72. 72.

    Luthe

    @Mnemosyne: There’s a piece in the Atlantic by a radiologist who works at the closest hospital to the Parkland shooting. She describes the difference between the damage done by a bullet from a regular gun and a bullet from an AR-15. I guess the former causes relatively simple, straight line damage while the latter can liquefy organs. Naturally, this makes a big difference in the lethality between the two.

  73. 73.

    GregB

    Republican Governor Phil Scott in Vermont is proposing sweeping changes to gun laws.

    “Vermont Democratic legislative leaders, the attorney general, lieutenant governor and students are calling for passage of universal background checks for all gun transactions following the Florida school shooting and the arrest of Vermont teenager in what officials say was a near miss on a high school shooting.

    Republican Gov. Phil Scott also recommended legislators consider raising the gun-buying age to 21, banning bump stocks and large-capacity magazines and providing $5 million in security grants to schools.”

    Link.

  76. 76.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: So does Trump plan to arm teachers with AR-15s? Handguns won’t cut it in a shootout with higher powered weapons. Trump’s budget includes cuts to school security so he can’t be taken seriously.

  77. 77.

    lgerard

    @marv:

    You know, I’ve given up on the concept of peak wingnut, but will say: in this day and age, can a Republican be more fucked than this guy? I mean, he already went thru the part about working through it with his wife, the request for privacy, the absolute denial of the photo, and then in MISSOURI he gets perp-walked. Hard to post among total strangers, but where I come from, this is Fuck an A territory

    You might also add his brilliant strategy of having his dark money group spend a year attacking republican legislators….the same legislators now not lifting a finger to support him.

  78. 78.

    Mart

    @Jager: I hate Ernst, but think she has been Al Gore invented the internet on her plastic bag shoes. An idiot friend and I made a pact to golf every month of the year in Chicago. At times the temp was in negative numbers, and we would holler at cross country skiers to get off the greens. One time I was going to quit after nine as my feet were frozen/dead. My friend explained to me how he puts a plastic grocery bag over the socks and then into the shoe/boot. Worked very well. Now about chopping off those hog nuts…

  80. 80.

    Corner Stone

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Now I’m seeing on the O’Donnell show how trump held up John Kelly as an example of a guy you’d really want to have a gun in a school if somebody came in with an AR-15.

    Yeah, Grampy McRacist with a gun in a fucking school in South FL. I have to admit he’s probably much better prepared than any teacher could possibly be. But, I mean, c’mon.

  81. 81.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Omnes Omnibus: not a direct quote, but her premise was that mass shooters would avoid schools if they thought teachers might be packing. She made my head hurt

  85. 85.

    Citizen_X

    @Fair Economist:

    On top of everything else, he’s the public figure.

    “If you ever cross me, I swear, I will ruin me!”

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    trump held up John Kelly as an example of a guy you’d really want to have a gun in a school if somebody came in with an AR-15.

    Of course Trump would say that; Kelly would start shooting all the Mexican kids.

  87. 87.

    schrodingers_cat

    Well I didn’t grow up with guns, nor have I ever used one to shoot. I find the debate about guns, in one word, insane. Guns == freedom, is even more ludicrous than capitalism == free markets == freedom. This was my opinion before the latest round of crazy RW talking point of arming teachers. Is this fucking Stalingrad in WWII or what?

  95. 95.

    Miss Bianca

    @Mnemosyne:

    So I spent a bit of the afternoon arguing with gun nuts on Facebook. I’m not sure they realize that the overall effect of their nitpicking that a shooter could kill just as many people with a .22 rifle as an AR-15 is making normal people decide that if that’s the case, we’ll just need to ban all guns.

    Did you happen to make that point to them, in so many words?

    ETA: We know that isn’t actually true, of course. It’s an utterly moronic way to try to make…whatever point they were trying to make.

  96. 96.

    Chet Murthy

    @schrodingers_cat: SC, I agree with you about “too hard to take”. But …. y’know, it’s not the latest idiocy. It’s been going on at this fever-pitch for decades. Do you remember those jackholes parading thru crowded downtown shopping districts with their assault rifles? Going into Starbucks, scaring the living shit out of everybody? That was back in 2013, ISTR. There’s a weekly diary at DailyKos about the latest in gun-owners hurting/killing themselves/their kids. Our country’s been heading to a dark place for a long, long time.

    I mean, the Vegas shooting … 58 dead and 851 injured? That’s close to a thousand casualties, and nothing happened. Nothing. Like a lot of folks, I feel hope for the first time in forever — the young have decided that this is something they want to change. Finally, something might get done. B/c we olds sure weren’t gettin’ it done.

    So I’d say this: stay angry. But please remember that it’s been this bad for all these kids’ lifetimes. It’s not the latest atrocity.

  99. 99.

    Chet Murthy

    @schrodingers_cat:

    The idea of arming school teachers with guns to counter school shootings.

    Yep, it’s idiocy. But have you ever heard about the argument against seat belt laws that went: “if I don’t wear a seat belt, in an accident I’ll be thrown clear”?

    Or against motorcycle helmets: “they occlude my range of vision, making it harder to be situationally aware” (and ignoring that not having one in any sort of crash, is a trip to the organ-donor banks)?

    This isn’t idiocy. It’s *bullshit*, per Harry Frankfurt’s classic definition. The goal is to cloud the discussion, lengthen it until the moment passes, so that nothing will get done. It’s not idiocy. It’s actually really clever. And the kids are great at cutting thru it: “yeah, that’s BS”. B/c you can’t argue with BS. You can only attack the speaker’s decency, b/c s/he has none.

  100. 100.

    Miss Bianca

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Now I’m seeing on the O’Donnell show how trump held up John Kelly as an example of a guy you’d really want to have a gun in a school if somebody came in with an AR-15.

    Well, yeah. If I felt assured I’d have a safe place to shelter from the carnage, I’d *love* to know that John Kelly was offering to soak up the bullets for me. Cuz, what a guy!

  102. 102.

    No Drought No More

    So, the portending avalanche in miniature. The governor is simply among first of a great many deluded republicans soon to bite the dust. What’s hilarious is knowing that as recently as this morning, he had been thinking to himself: “Just continue to deny the blackmail, but play coy and don’t admit to haven taken the photo unless cornered, at which point declare it a consensual lark between two law abiding adults. Perfect! Greitens, you brilliant bastard, you’ve done it again”.

    Speaking of deluded republicans, and given that Trump can’t keep his big mouth shut, were I a FISA judge I would readily approve any request by Mueller to commit unlimited resources to a comprehensive wire surveillance on both his treasonous ass, and those of his fellow traveling, co-conspirarizing, un-American, members of the republican congress- all of whom have effectively promoted Trump’s treason for over a year now, and that at the very least.. Goddamn the whole rotten lot of ’em.

  104. 104.

    Mike in NC

    @Chet Murthy:

    But have you ever heard about the argument against seat belt laws that went: “if I don’t wear a seat belt, in an accident I’ll be thrown clear”?

    My glibertarian, deadbeat dad older brother (whose present whereabouts are unknown) claimed this happened twice. He would park where the signs all read “No Parking” and light up his pipe when the signs read “No Smoking”.

  106. 106.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Samantha Fuentes, who was shot in both legs during the Parkland assault, said she had felt no reassurance during a phone call from the president to her hospital room last week.
    “He said he heard that I was a big fan of his, and then he said, ‘I’m a big fan of yours too.’ I’m pretty sure he made that up,” she said in an interview after being discharged from the hospital. “Talking to the president, I’ve never been so unimpressed by a person in my life. He didn’t make me feel better in the slightest.”
    Ms. Fuentes, who was left with a piece of shrapnel lodged behind her right eye, said Mr. Trump had called the gunman a “sick puppy” and said “‘oh boy, oh boy, oh boy,’ like, seven times.”

    as so often with trump, where to begin? “I heard you’re a big fan of mine…” he can’t even say something barely appropriate to a girl in this situation without first reassuring himself, deluding himself, that she had somehow flattered him first.

  110. 110.

    Mart

    @Corner Stone: I shoulda googled the bag shoes – “You see, growing up, I had only one good pair of shoes. So on rainy school days, my mom would slip plastic bread bags over them to keep them dry. But I was never embarrassed. Because the school bus would be filled with rows and rows of young Iowans with bread bags slipped over their feet.” That is just dumb, unlike golfing in bitter cold.

  111. 111.

    scott alloway

    @Mart: Did that many times when I lived in Maine. Insulates, keeps moisture away from the shoes and keeps your feet warm.

  112. 112.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @debbie: Well, for one thing, actually reading it is the first step, and the ammosexuals absolutely can’t do that, because it demolishes their “I have a right to deadly toys!” argument.

  114. 114.

    Bess

    @debbie:

    Sadly, welcome to America. We have to figure out how to reargue the Second Amendment. I think it’s the only solution.

    We already have Second Amendment restrictions. We do not allow private ownership of fully automatic weapons. What we need to argue is the cutoff point between weapons that are acceptable for individual ownership and those that are not.

    I’d suggest the cutoff point being set at “weapons designed to kill large numbers of people”.

    If you can’t be a successful hunter with a one to three shot capacity rifle or shotgun then you do not belong in the field. You belong on the practice range.

    If you can’t defend your home with a pump-action shotgun then you need to pack up immediately and move to a different neighborhood.

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