Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Books are my comfort food!

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

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

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

When we show up, we win.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Bullhorn Lady and Her Co-Conspirators

Bullhorn Lady and Her Co-Conspirators

by | 209 Comments

This post is in: 

Ronan Farrow has a profile of “Bullhorn Lady” up at the New Yorker, and you can read it if you want to hear her opinions on the “journalist” Alex Jones and being a proud superspreader.

To me, the most important fact conveyed by the piece is that this person, who is almost certainly going to federal prison for years, hasn’t yet been arrested by the FBI.  If you read the charging documents on the hundred plus who have been arrested, which are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of charges they’re going to receive, you can see that the FBI is, if anything, thorough.  They’ll get to her, eventually.

To understand the kind of trouble she’s probably facing, here’s the list of charges for the Proud Boy “Spaz”, one of our own from Rochester, and his buddy the frog from the Buffalo Dutchess County area:

Dominic Pezzola, 43, of Rochester, New York, and William Pepe, 31, of Beacon, New York, were indicted today in federal court in the District of Columbia on charges of conspiracy; civil disorder; unlawfully entering restricted buildings or grounds; and disorderly and disruptive conduct in restricted buildings or grounds. Pezzola was also charged with obstruction of an official proceeding; additional counts of civil disorder and aiding and abetting civil disorder; robbery of personal property of the United States; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers; destruction of government property; and engaging in physical violence in a restricted buildings or grounds.

What’s interesting about this case is that Spaz’ (Spaz’s ?) lawyer has petitioned to withdraw from the case since he began representing this guy when he only faced a couple of charges.  Spaz had enough money to go to Washington DC, but he doesn’t have the six figures it would take to pay an attorney to fight an 11-count federal indictment.  His attorney helpfully suggests a Federal Public Defender or Court Appointed attorney at the end of his petition.  I think we’re going to see more of this, and it will drive plea deals in return for cooperation.

I agree that these people were, in general, “richer” than the stereotypical economically anxious diner eaters who populate the pages of the New York Times, but there’s a difference between being able to afford to get to DC and stay in a hotel for a couple of days, and being able to pay a defense attorney to defend you from a multi-count federal felony indictment.  I guess I’m supposed to feel bad about that — I suppose I should take this opportunity to point out that the justice system is unfair and gives a better hearing to those with money.  OK, consider that said.  I think I should also point out that these people are plainly, obviously, and overwhelmingly guilty of some set of serious charges, and I don’t feel a whit of regret over taking a little bit of pleasure in seeing them pay the price.

If you’re of the same mindset as me and get some non-guilty pleasure from this kind of thing, don’t miss the story of a man named Couy, the “Cowboy for Trump” who’s gonna rot in jail until his trial date. He also just lost a lawsuit where he was trying to avoid registering “Cowboys for Trump” as a PAC.  That’s a two-fer, my friends, and those of us with my obvious lack of empathy for these assholes should feel free to savor it.

Reader Interactions

209Comments

  2. 2.

    Cervantes

    It is very interesting that these people believed they had impunity. Presumably they thought the insurrection would be successful, Dear Leader would remain in power, and he would shower them with gratitude. That’s extremely nuts.

  3. 3.

    NCSteve

    Federal Public Defender offices are not like state court public defenders. They and their staffs are paid at the same rates as U.S. Attorney offices. They are competent and not starved of funding like state court defenders.

  6. 6.

    Immanentize

    @NCSteve: To add — to get a public defender you must be indigent — poor, without resources.  In State courts, indigency is kinda loosey goosey.  But in federal courts, the “probation officers” (really just extensions of the prosecutors offices in many cases) do a thorough job of researching assets including tax returns, jobs, cars, houses, etc.  Now these guys might have nothing.  Certainly the insurrectionist dimwits in Michigan seemed pretty marginal wealth wise.  But some of the DC players have wealth.  Which just might be forfeited (houses, cars, boats, etc.) Depending on things like — did they drive to DC?  Vehicle forfeiture likely.

  11. 11.

    Immanentize

    @NCSteve: Also, even the DC local courts have well paid public defender’s.  The capital’s PDS (Public Defender Services) is one of the best offices skill wise in the country.  And the DC court judges are pretty good too.

  13. 13.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @NCSteve:  And, fwiw, the vast majority of state public defenders and court appointed lawyers are dedicated people who are doing a thankless job for relatively low pay.

  14. 14.

    ant

    Yeah, I seen that she is aware that she needs “to talk to an attorney”, but yet is willing to do a two hour phone interview with the New Yorker.

     

    Not the brightest bulb.

  16. 16.

    Mike in NC

    “Cowboys for Trump” sounds pretty damn pathetic. Must have been at least a couple dozen of them. Were there also “Lumberjacks for Trump” and “Blacksmiths for Trump”?

  17. 17.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Cervantes: They STILL think they have impunity. Note the woman who asked the court if she could still take her vacation to Mexico and leave the country.

  19. 19.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @NCSteve: Having been either working in the system or tangentially involved since the late 80s, I can tell you that state and county public defenders are more than competent, and in many localities, regularly kick the DA’s ass. That said, they are starved for resources.

  22. 22.

    KenK

    mistermix,

    While I appreciate your articles and the fine job you do of repping western’ish NY, don’t go laying Pepe’s bullshit on Buffalo’s doorstep.  ;) I believe that Beacon, NY is just north of NYC.

  23. 23.

    Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix

    @Immanentize:  Yeah, I assumed that if you have some money, you need to spend that money on a lawyer before you get a public defender, but I didn’t know the details, which, frankly, sound delicious.

  24. 24.

    neldob

    This causes me to wonder what is happening to the kidnapping plotters in Michigan and also the scary hairies who pounded on the doors and yelled there while armed. Then the realization hit me like, thanks firesign theater, like a hot kiss at the end of a wet fist, that the Capitol breach wasn’t the first assault on Democracy inspired by Trump but the second.

  26. 26.

    Denali

    When I read that one of the instigators in the insurrection is from Rochester, I got chills. How many other members of the Proud Boys are in our area willing  to break the law and terrorize people? How many have bomb materials in their basement? Rochester is a community with many volunteer goups who gladly give to help others. How do these kind of people (Pezzola,et all) find support for their beliefs?

  27. 27.

    Steeplejack

    I just saw an interesting but telling little detail on MSNBC. (Not really watching but too lazy to change the channel.) They ran some footage of the 10 GOP senators coming out of their meeting with Biden yesterday and Susan Collins stepping up to the microphone to say something to the press. I noticed in a photo last night that she didn’t have a mask on but the people behind her did.

    In the clip I saw today, Collins was wearing a mask. Here’s what’s weird: As she got to the microphone, Collins pulled the mask off her face and up over the top of her head, without removing the ear loops. So the mask got stuck on the top of her head for a moment, stretched tight like a strange birthday hat, and then she managed to pull it to the side of her head and then off. It was the damnedest thing. I thought, “This has got to be like the second time she’s ever worn a mask.” Seems to me that everybody just unhooks the ear loops and, boom, the mask is off. WTF.

    But Collins, like all the senators, probably, lives in a bubble where she doesn’t have to wear a mask: chauffeured to and from work, catered to by minions at every moment, exposed almost exclusively to other cosseted VIPs. So why should she worry about wearing a mask—except for P.R. purposes—or, really, about the pandemic in general?

    I’m probably reading too much into this, but it seems irresponsible not to speculate.

    . . . Okay, found a clip. It happens in the first 30 seconds.

    Yes, I have too much time on my hands.

    ETA: I refuse to be embarrassed if someone tells me she has a well-documented case of Figby’s tremors or something and that’s the only way she can do it.

    ETFA: Eh, maybe it’s just as simple as “old lady struggles with mask.” Forget I said anything. Maybe I’ll watch the Weather Channel for a while. “Winter storm Orlena.” This naming thing is bullshit.

  28. 28.

    Brachiator

    Trump thought that saying and doing stupid shit while president was a game. No one ever held him responsible for the consequences of his rants or most self-destructive behavior.  His base foolishly believed that he had transferred his immunity to them.

  29. 29.

    MattF

    I guess it’s worth noting that Michael Gerson has decided to use the f-word to describe Trumpism. Right wingers are now, finally, choosing sides. It took long enough. The only caveat I’d make is that Trump is too much of a coward to qualify as a real fascist leader— part of the political thrust of Qanon is to inflate Trump into something more than he appears to be.

  30. 30.

    cmorenc

    There is something fitting about Trump having the financial means to pay high-priced legal teams to defend him and most of his rabid followers not being able to afford adequate legal representation for the kind of charges they are facing.   They get paid in having their resentments stoked up to 11, Trump takes in millions in cash donations and he skates (so far) on legal liability, but OTOH they take a hard legal fall, while few of them get any economic benefit from their support of Trump.  Not that they don’t deserve to go down for their participation in the insurrection.

  33. 33.

    Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix

    @MisterForkbeard:

    Note the woman who asked the court if she could still take her vacation to Mexico and leave the country.

    See, some people get outraged by this, but I think to myself, I wonder how much she paid her lawyer to file that motion.  Also, this woman (Jenny Cudd) went there with her friend and they are charged together.  I believe that means they can be subject to a charge of conspiracy (which takes 2+ people) in addition to the other charges, when the prosecutor gets around to putting their case in front of the grand jury.

  36. 36.

    Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix

    @Denali:

    When I read that one of the instigators in the insurrection is from Rochester, I got chills. How many other members of the Proud Boys are in our area willing  to break the law and terrorize people? How many have bomb materials in their basement? Rochester is a community with many volunteer goups who gladly give to help others. How do these kind of people (Pezzola,et all) find support for their beliefs?

    Have you never been to Greece (NY)?

  37. 37.

    Ohio Mom

    It’s a good time for those insurrectionists needing legal representation to take out a second mortgage, interest rates being so low.

  40. 40.

    Steeplejack

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Definitely.

    I will say that “Orlena” underperformed here in my little corner of NoVA. We got about 2-3″ inches of snow Sunday, very little yesterday and maybe another inch or so last night. Nothing to sneeze at, but not the apocalyptic deluge that was predicted. North of here, different story. I get it.

  42. 42.

    satby

    @rikyrah: Yep. Though the suburbanites that were the bane of it will show up at the bars on Western to drink anyway*.

    *for those not of the greatest city on earth, there’s a “family” side of the street that the parade is on and a “bar” side where the suburban and local hard partiers hang out to watch the parade. The divide dates back to when the Irish started moving into what had been a very WASPy neighborhood. To discourage the Irish, the KKK burned a cross outside the first convent of what would become St. Barnabas parish, and the local politicos passed laws making the neighborhood “dry”, which it remained for over 100 years.

  45. 45.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Spaz’ (Spaz’s ?)

    I have adopted the convention of always adding an apostrophe s (the parenthetical) and don’t worry about it.

    Also, the Cowboy for Trump is from New Mexico. We are appropriately mortified but glad he’s gonna stay in the cooler for a while.

  47. 47.

    Jeffro

    fuuuuuuuuck these people.  I hope they all get charged with 11+ federal counts, and I hope they all rot in jail, and I hope the country at large hears about it for years to come: this is the price you pay for a violent insurrection against our government.  It’s not a fucking game.

  48. 48.

    West of the Rockies

    Firstly, I’m glad the tRump rabble did not storm the Library of Congress; the damage would have been unspeakable.

    Secondly, I’m glad the feds are taking their time building cases.  It’s a bit like after 9/11… some people wanted immediate retribution–“Just bomb someone!” Not choosing the right targets has led to a twenty year war and senseless death.  We’ve created all new armed factions.

    Build the cases effectively and bring ruin to the perps.

  49. 49.

    lowtechcyclist

    @neldob: ​
     

    Then the realization hit me like, thanks firesign theater, like a hot kiss at the end of a wet fist, that the Capitol breach wasn’t the first assault on Democracy inspired by Trump but the second.

    Tru dat.

    Also glad to see that regnaD kciN has his fans around here.

  50. 50.

    Old School

    @WaterGirl:

    The story I read seemed to indicate that judge hasn’t ruled as to whether the Mexican vacation would be allowed, but that the government counsel didn’t offer any objections to the request.

  55. 55.

    Ken

    @KenK: I believe that Beacon, NY is just north of NYC.

    We had this discussion last week, and I think the consensus was that “upstate New York” begins at 150th Street. Also, on the Other Coast, Northern California begins at Bakersfield.

  57. 57.

    Brachiator

    @cmorenc:

    There is something fitting about Trump having the financial means to pay high-priced legal teams to defend him and most of his rabid followers not being able to afford adequate legal representation for the kind of charges they are facing.

    It’s even funnier that Trump has a history of not paying his lawyers. The dopes who got sucked into sedition don’t have that option available to them.

  59. 59.

    sab

    @Betty Cracker: We up north have groundhogs and woodchucks. Louisiana has nutrias. Florida has falling iguanas? That is wonderful. So much better than my guess of armadillos.

  60. 60.

    VOR

    @Steeplejack: I notice they all seem to be wearing the same mask with a 3M logo on the front. I wonder if the Biden WH is providing visitors with a 3M N95 mask vs. allowing them to wear whatever they usually wear. These probably fit differently and could explain the struggling with it. Her hands might be trembling too.

  62. 62.

    pacem appellant

    The era of 45, and to a greater and lesser extent, W, broke my empathy engine. I’m only capable of feeling schadenfreude now.

  63. 63.

    Ken

    @Mike in NC:“Cowboys for Trump” sounds pretty damn pathetic. Must have been at least a couple dozen of them. Were there also “Lumberjacks for Trump” and “Blacksmiths for Trump”?

    Time to roll out those Village People “YMCA” jokes again?

  64. 64.

    oldster

    I’m glad that they have ID’ed “Bullhorn Lady,” and that they will nab her in a bit.

    But I must admit to some disappointment that she turned out not to be Boebert’s mother.

    Some of the photo comparisons were very plausible! Which is why amateur on-line sleuthing can be dangerous, and why the professionals never speculate.

    A premature accusation like that could have harmed an innocent woman. Or Boebert’s mother.

  66. 66.

    patrick II

    @Cervantes:

    They seemed to have impunity in the state houses even going in armed didn’t get them arrested — that was probably a bad lesson learned.

    Also glad D.C. has stricter gun laws.

  67. 67.

    VeniceRiley

    Ronan is one talented “get” machine. He amazes me.
    Bullhorn lady has 8 kids and no lawyer. HA! She is going to rot in prison.

  70. 70.

    catclub

    @Kelly: ​
     

    Oregon Capitol too. Oregon even had a R legislator open a locked door for the mob

    Yeah, I was thinking [at least] second.

  75. 75.

    catclub

    @VeniceRiley: ​
     

    Bullhorn lady has 8 kids and no lawyer. HA! She is going to rot in prison.

    I think black women with kids get treated much more harshly than she will. It will be a reason to suspend a sentence.

  78. 78.

    zhena gogolia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Good question. My home city (KCMO), college, professional location (Moscow), and present home (CT), all have LOTS OF SNOW AND COLD. Hate it. Always have, always will.

  79. 79.

    Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)

    @mrmoshpotato:  We have 17″ here in SE PA (2.46″ of rain equivalent, by my snow gauge)” AND out snow blower died after one pass down the driveway. It has an appointment for service on Friday. I now have literally TONS of Snow to shovel by hand. Is there a sore back emoji ?

  81. 81.

    Pennsylvanian

    Oh, I am truly enjoying reading the charging documents for these traitors.

    “Multi-count federal felony indictment” just rolls off the tongue, am I right?

    I read about bullhorn lady described as a “homeschooling, yoga-doing mom of 8 radicalized by Facebook”. How often do we hear about the hobbies and children of defendants of color???

    I guarantee her family didn’t stage the obviously-needed intervention because they are all whack-nut traitors.

  83. 83.

    Jeffro

    By the way, this is pretty hilarious: Kevin McCarthy desperately tries to change the subject, find the GQP a new enemy

    McCarthy and other GOP lawmakers will travel to Houston on Tuesday to rail against what they call Biden’s “job-killing” energy policies. The GOP leader previously spent several days accusing Biden of dragging his feet in reopening schools and knocking his administration’s plan to give COVID-19 vaccinations to Guantánamo Bay prisoners.
    The efforts are a reprieve for McCarthy, who is otherwise the touchstone of an internecine battle ripping apart his party as it charts a path forward after former President Trump’s defeat and departure from Washington.
    Yet the attacks on Biden have done little to take the pressure off McCarthy, who faces a series of challenges ranging from committee assignments for controversial first-term Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to the leadership role of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) after she voted to impeach Trump.

    This freakin’ guy, I swear…best of luck, Kevin!  Let us know how you break the news to Marjorie Terrorist Greene that she needs to ‘take one for the team’ LOL

  84. 84.

    Sloane Ranger

    R.I.P. Captain Sir Tom Moore. you were and remain an inspiration.

    My thoughts go out to his family.

  89. 89.

    indianbadger

    The thing I remember most from a Into to Law class I had to take for my Paralegal Certification program was the difference in defense between State and Federal  courts. The guy who was giving the lecture basically said that even if the remuneration is better; it is mentally exhausting to do Federal defense because you lose 90-95 percent of the time. The Feds only bring cases that they know will have a high probability of conviction, combined with the fact that the procedural rules in the Federal Courts are more limiting to defendants.

    Most of what we see on TV, in terms of both fictional and real court cases; are State/County jurisdictions. I did not realize the difficulty of defense in Federal Court system till I heard that lawyer talk about it. These MAGAts are really screwed.

  90. 90.

    dexwood

    Cowboys for Trump founder Couy “the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat” Griffin is a fake cowboy, but a real fascist. As a New Mexican, I’m very happy with the decision to keep this grifter locked up until his trial.

  91. 91.

    pacem appellant

    @Pennsylvanian: That’s the Pink Hat Lady mistermix links to at the top of the blog post. Wasn’t too long a read, and she’s from PA. She sounds awful, and despite Farrow’s best efforts to humanize her (she’s a vegetarian, like me, has children, like me, likes cheese and farmers markets and yoga, etc), I hope she rots in federal prison.

  92. 92.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Sloane Ranger: Without denigrating him, it seems odd that he was still known as Captain.  It’s not a rank that one generally continues using post service in the army (British or American).

  94. 94.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @zhena gogolia: When I first heard about the guy using a flame thrower to clear his driveway, I thought he was an idiot. Now? I think I owe him an apology.

  95. 95.

    Subsole

    The surest sign these people are nowhere near oppressed is that they even tried this shit in the first place.

    Anybody…anybody… in the democratic coalition, even the raging blackbloc anarchists, knows that America will grind you up and spit you out if you get caught in the gears. Even by accident. Harsh reality has taught us the value of an indirect approach because we will not survive anything else.

    These people are like if a bunch of corn-fed tourists went and played at being Vietcong.

    1. @lollipopguild: Life can certainly be one hell of an education.
  97. 97.

    Immanentize

    @Ken: I practiced before a Judge (Snyder) in Miami during the Miami Vice days.  Whenever there was a big scale drug dealer in his courtroom, he would set bail very high — like 2 million (lots back then!). Then he would let the defense counsel come back in a week and negotiate it down — 1.5 million.  Then again the next week 1.2 million.  Until the bond was met (maybe 900,000, maybe 1.5 million).  Then when the guy jumped bail, Snyder was gleeful in revoking the bond.  “Dade County gets a million, and sooner or later, the cops will get him.”

  98. 98.

    Immanentize

    @The Thin Black Duke: I know!  I also want one of those weed killing torches they used to sell in the 70s to take out weeds between the cracks in my sidewalk.

    Some say the world will end in fire….

  99. 99.

    snoey

    @neldob: ​
      The Michigan kidnap plotter whose land they trained on has apparently rolled over, so the rest of them should be looking at very long sentences.

  100. 100.

    Geminid

    @patrick II: Most of the gun safety laws passed last year by the Virginia General Assembly did not go into effect until July, but the Democrats were smart to impose an immediate ban for firearms on Capitol grounds. Late last January, when 10,000 or so armed protesters showed up on Lobby Day, they were not allowed to get close to the Capitol.                                                       When the new gun safety laws actually went into effect last July, there were no protests that I heard or read about.

  101. 101.

    West of the Rockies

    @zhena gogolia:

    Well, much of CT is quite beautiful. So you’ve got that going for you.  Sharon, Cornwall, Ridgefield, West Redding, Mystic…  all quite lovely.

  102. 102.

    Ken

    @Jeffro: McCarthy and other GOP lawmakers will travel to Houston on Tuesday to rail against what they call Biden’s “job-killing” energy policies.

    IIRC, Texas is now the largest producer of wind-generated power in the country, and continues to increase capacity.  Lots of jobs installing and maintaining those turbines, too.  So I’m wondering how well this message will play to people who aren’t already all-in on it.

  103. 103.

    Subsole

    @Pennsylvanian: Not necessarily.

    I can barely speak to some of my folks about politics because otherwise we will never speak to each other again. Doesn’t make it right, or better. But it is a different mechanism from me agreeing with antivax bullshit.

     

    @Jeffro: That’s not just trying to change the subject, that’s trying to shore up TX. Whenever they get worried, they start squalling about soft little hiking-boot libs killerating the oilfield.

    Georgia has got these people shook.

  104. 104.

    Immanentize

    @snoey: I’m interested in the ones not yet arrested in Michigan  — like the local sheriff.

    Also, we must not forget that the FBI had an informant at the top of the Proud Boys.

  105. 105.

    Gvg

    @Steeplejack: maybe she is used to the behind the head kind of masks?

    However republicans have been aggressively antagonistic to mask wearers. I wonder if her fellows have prevented her and others from wearing even if they wanted to. Bad tribalism.

  107. 107.

    MazeDancer

    Beacon, NY, is the most gentrified spot, despite having ugly housing stock. But it does have some express trains that make long commuting possible.

  110. 110.

    zhena gogolia

    @West of the Rockies:

    I’m in a bit more “proletarian” section of CT than the towns you name, but yes, it’s a lovely state. It’s lovely today. I just hate the worries (snow removal, power outages, trees falling, etc.).

  113. 113.

    Anoniminous

    @mrmoshpotato: 

    aunt in Coral Springs said the iguanas are falling out of the trees

    Using a snow blower to remove them from walkways and driveways is contraindicated.

  117. 117.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Immanentize: I lived in Newtown for 2 1/2 years.  Some of the most miserable years of my life.  I don’t really think it was Newtown’s fault; those just happened to be my middle school years.  Two or three fights a week because I was new to town and played the violin sticks with a person.

  120. 120.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    It has a long tradition in Britain, at least in the literary world. All sorts of retired captains and majors in British fiction—Poirot’s Captain Hastings, for example. Probably dying out, but Captain Moore was old 40 years ago.

  122. 122.

    The Moar You Know

    Good question. My home city (KCMO), college, professional location (Moscow), and present home (CT), all have LOTS OF SNOW AND COLD. Hate it. Always have, always will.

    @zhena gogolia:   you’re living in the wrong place.  Native SoCal here; saw my first snowfall at 14, my first snowflakes at age 31.

    On the downsides, everytime I’ve gone to a place with snow I almost die of falling on the icy ground, because I don’t know it’s icy and don’t know what to be careful of.

  124. 124.

    Geoboy

    This “Cowboys for Trump” jerk is from the Alamagordo area in the southern part of New Mexico.  He is on record as shouting in a public meeting that “The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat”, though he later modified that statement by saying Democrats should have a choice of being hung or shot to death.  I speak for the vast majority of New Meixcans in saying that we will gladly send some serious coin to the District of Columbia if they will incacerate this fascist for the remainder of his natural days.

  125. 125.

    Subsole

    @Ken: Depends. In actual practice, it usually boils down to shorthand dog-whistling about androgynous Sierra Club types nagging you about being mean to prairie dogs. That tends to override appeals to logic and reason.

    Hell, sensible fact-based people in the oilfield don’t get worked up over it. They know oil is used in plastics, construction, lubricants, and other things. Still plenty of work on a wellhead there.

    Now, the folks extracting natural gas tend to be a little more concerned over wind doing to them what natural gas did to coal. Just what I’ve seen at  ground-level. No idea how the million-dollar necktie crowd feels about it.

  127. 127.

    sab

    Betty Cracker: We are trying to make falling iguanas a Groundhog Day thing for Florida. Any comments?

    I actually sort of hate to laugh about this since hard on iguanas. Groundhogs/woodchucks just briefly stop hibernating then go back to sleep. Usual Feb thaw stuff.

  128. 128.

    jonas

    Maybe Trump could use part of the $200 million he raised off these same people to fund their legal defense. Of course, that could get a little awkward when it turns out their defense is “the President told me to storm the Capitol.”

  132. 132.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steeplejack: ​
      Major is a common rank to keep in retirement. Captain is far less so. Almost never in the American army and usually only if one worked with horses in a nominally mounted regiment (e.g., Captain Mark Phillips).

  133. 133.

    different-church-lady

    @sab: If the iguana falls, it’s going to be hot and humid, and if the iguana doesn’t fall it’s going to be hot and humid?

  134. 134.

    Booger

    @Betty Cracker: As funny as that seems, it might not connect. I have lots of clothing representing other companies I have nothing to do with, and have Goodwilled lots of clothing from companies I did work for.

  136. 136.

    zhena gogolia

    @The Moar You Know:

    Despite all my experience, I do the same.

    In Moscow I used to be astounded at how seemingly ancient women could just tromp across a surface that was making me fall every three steps. My friend said, “They’re wiry.”

  138. 138.

    Mike G

    William Pepe, 31

    The writers aren’t even trying to be subtle at this point.

    We now cross to our war correspondent, Howitzer ExplosionGuy.

  143. 143.

    Subsole

     

     

    @Jeffro: I will rejoice when the propaganda network that made these people gets the hammer and tongs treatment. Until then, we are stalemated. Which defaults to their advantage until we institute structural changes.

  146. 146.

    Subsole

    @pacem appellant: Same. I remember how they acted the last time they were in charge.

    Ordinarily I’d rather be compassionate to these folks, but you can’t return what nobody ever gave you.

  148. 148.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Omnes Omnibus:  @Steeplejack:

    Damn it.  I left out an important part of my comment.  It should have read:

    Major is a common rank to keep in retirement. Captain is far less so. Almost never in the American army and, in Britain, usually only if one worked with horses in a nominally mounted regiment (e.g., Captain Mark Phillips).

  150. 150.

    germy

    Conservative political activist Virginia Thomas told her husband Justice Clarence Thomas’s former law clerks that she was sorry for a rift that developed among them after her election advocacy of Trump and endorsement of the Jan. 6 rally that resulted in violence and death at the U.S. Capitol.

    “I owe you all an apology. I have likely imposed on you my lifetime passions,” Thomas, who goes by Ginni, recently wrote to a private Thomas Clerk World email list of her husband’s staff over his three decades on the bench.

    “My passions and beliefs are likely shared with the bulk of you, but certainly not all. And sometimes the smallest matters can divide loved ones for too long. Let’s pledge to not let politics divide THIS family, and learn to speak more gently and knowingly across the divide.”
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/02/joe-biden-live-updates/#link-SQ3T5WOFGBBFLJYJZ64L3O6Z5

    “Lifetime passions”

  160. 160.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    You seem to be talking about today. I am talking about the older tradition that obtained after Captain Moore got out of the army (in 1946!). It was a mark of status in a status-conscious society.

  162. 162.

    Peale

    @mrmoshpotato: She rented the busses and identified the people to be on them.  But really, just because she took money from billionaires to organize this thing, doesn’t mean we should look into what else she’s been paid to do over the years by those same billionaires.

  163. 163.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: I bought these amazing canadian moccasins and boots from a first nations company in manitoba. They are amazingly comfortable and I love them but no tread at all. Useless on most snow and all ice. I was very surprised. Canadian can’t handle winter? For other weather the most comfortable shoes I have ever owned.

  167. 167.

    Betty Cracker

    @Booger: From The Columbus Dispatch:

    A Whitehall man is the latest Ohioan facing charges for participating in the insurrection and rioting Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol, after being identified in videos kicking in and breaking a window there.

    Troy Elbert Faulkner, 39, is facing counts of destruction of government property, obstruction of an official proceeding, knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority, and violent entry or disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia…

    As part of the subsequent investigation, the Whitehall Police Department forwarded an online exchange between Faulkner and another individual in which he wrote, “… We weren’t fighting against antifa, we’re fighting against the government,” according to documents.

    Pretty sure that fellow won’t be assigned to bring potato salad to the next MENSA picnic…

  169. 169.

    germy

    One of the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 is asking a federal court to let her leave the country so she can make the most of a Mexican vacation she booked prior to the insurrection https://t.co/c0RIVoln4Z
    — The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) February 2, 2021

    I guess it doesn’t hurt to ask.

  171. 171.

    BruceFromOhio

    those of us with my obvious lack of empathy for these assholes should feel free to savor it.

    Not savoring anything. This is a horrible, horrible chapter that has yet to finish. How many lives were destroyed and will be destroyed will never be fully counted. These mindless lemmings were spawned and programmed in the toxic wasteland of social media, egged on by people with no morals and fat checkbooks, and will be forever blackballed by federal felony convictions.

    There is nothing here to savor.

  172. 172.

    MomSense

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Yup.  One of my best friends does mostly court appointed defense work.  Maine has a different system so he also has full paying clients. He is brilliant attorney and I don’t think people realize how hard he works for almost no money.

    I do want him to write a book because damn some of his cases are so compelling.

  173. 173.

    Immanentize

    @Omnes Omnibus: I am sorry.  Newton is kind of a weird place.  Super rich plus working middle class plus college town.  I would never live there myself and I didn’t have your experiences.

    ERA. Oops were you talking about Newton Conn.?  Sorry if so.

  175. 175.

    Steeplejack

    @germy:

    I know we have long moved past the old cliché of career man and invisible helpmate wife, and that now two-career couples are common—even two-career power couples—but there should be some sense of propriety that would preclude a Supreme Court justice’s spouse from working as a raging partisan hack for organizations whose issues regularly appear before the court. At the least, Thomas’s husband should recuse himself from those cases. Appearance of propriety, etc.

  176. 176.

    Immanentize

    @Subsole: my in laws live in a Perry home west of houston in a “community” with lakes and live oaks.  Their HOA prohibits solar because Perry loved him some oil and gas and electricity for air conditioning.  Also, roofs must be black shingled.  It is so stupid.

  177. 177.

    MomSense

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I think we had similar experiences although mine were not in CT.  I was a skinny PK bunhead violin player who moved to a new town every two years.  No fights, but girls can be expert practitioners of psychological warfare.

  178. 178.

    Immanentize

    @germy: That sounds like “Questions have been asked….” And also — former clerks were appalled by her use of the ex-clerks’ email list for pushing seditious Trump rants.  Let it all be revealed.

  181. 181.

    Steeplejack

    @Frank Wilhoit:

    I haven’t read Fowler in years, but I don’t remember that. For example, the possessive of a singular lens is lens’s, which seems to be agreed upon by the Internet pedantry sites. (I Googled “lens possessive”.)

  183. 183.

    Kent

    @NotMax:

    @Ken

    Upstate Hawaii is Alaska.

    :)

    Actually more true than you think.  You’d be surprised at how many direct daily flights there are between Anchorage and Honolulu, and how many Alaskans in the oil and fishing industry have weekend homes and condos in Hawaii.  It’s just a straight north-south run.

  185. 185.

    Steeplejack

    @germy:

    Vacation? C’mon, man, clearly a “work-related bonding retreat for employees and their spouses,” as she told the court. You can’t let her miss that!

  186. 186.

    Immanentize

    @MomSense: That movement is undoubtedly coming….  My BiL installs and repairs garage doors.  I keep telling him that I have one word for him… Solar.

  190. 190.

    jackmac

    @rikyrah: Are you referring to the Chicago South Side St. Paddy’s parade? Too bad.
    (Incidentally, in high school I marched with our band in the official city parade — on State Street and presided over by Mayor Richard J. Daley. Those were fun times).​
    ​
    ​
    ​
    ​

  191. 191.

    Brachiator

    @germy:

    One of the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 is asking a federal court to let her leave the country so she can make the most of a Mexican vacation she booked prior to the insurrection

    Why should a little insurrection spoil a nice vacation?

  193. 193.

    MomSense

    @Steeplejack:

    I loathe her on an entirely too personal level, but it looks like the masks they are all wearing have elastics that go around the back of their heads.

  195. 195.

    The Pale Scot

    I’ll be satisfied with felony convictions, which means no soup guns for you. Along with occasional FBI surveillance since I doubt the NW LOs are going enforce it

  196. 196.

    zzyzx

    @Ken: As someone who went to school across the river from Kingston, NY (Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. Insert Steely Dan lyrics here), I was always considered upstate to New Yorkers and downstate for Rochesterites.

  197. 197.

    schrodingers_cat

    @sab: I have fur lined Canadian booties they are so comfy but the tread is not that great, so can’t really use them in snow and ice

    I have LL Bean chukkas that are great in winter but they are a huge pain to get on and off.

  198. 198.

    Steeplejack

    @MomSense:

    Okay, good point. Looks like Romney’s straps go around the head. But not all of them. Someone on the left of the scene is wearing a black mask. I wonder if the matching masks were given to those who showed up without any mask.

  201. 201.

    Nutmeg again

    @Immanentize: Heh. I once (carefully!) got out the little torch to make a point with some Japanese Knotweed.  That damned stuff.  Then I learned that an otherwise truly lovely neighbor was cultivating it!

    My only other reaction, re: Bullhorn lady: does she not know that Ronan Farrow Is a lawyer? Trained, anyway, but not, perhaps, stamped and sealed.  A young too smart for our own good.

  203. 203.

    SideshowBill because I can't use my real name for business reasons

    I feel sorry for the Cowboys for Trump guy’s horse.  It must suck having to hang out with an asshole like that.

  204. 204.

    Ken

    @different-church-lady:If the iguana falls, it’s going to be hot and humid, and if the iguana doesn’t fall it’s going to be hot and humid?

    I think it’s more like the “redneck barometer” joke gift.  If the iguana falls, it’s currently cold and damp.

    The barometer is a hanging piece of string, with attached sign:

    • String dry: dry weather
    • String wet: wet weather
    • String frozen: cold weather
    • String horizontal: high winds
  205. 205.

    Ken

    @germy: I like his philosophy, because he thinks beyond cars & widened highways.

    I forget who said it, but widening highways to solve traffic problems is like buying a bigger belt to solve a weight problem.

  206. 206.

    Annie

    @Betty Cracker:

    back when I worked in criminal defense we called that “ineffective assistance of client” — a reference to ineffective assistance of counsel.  Or, “my lawyer f****** up, man”

  207. 207.

    Ruckus

    @Steeplejack:

    Looks like Mom Sense is right, the straps look like they go behind the head. All of the masks I’ve bought have that and they are different to take off. Also I’d bet that she’s trying not to muss up her hair.

  209. 209.

    evodevo

    @germy: ​  She’s as crazy as Margie Greene, only not so in your face about it.. a nasty piece of right winger work .​

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