The second March For Our Lives rally will take place Saturday in Washington, D.C.
With recent shootings in Texas and New York, tens of thousands of people are expected at rallies around the U.S. this weekend demanding meaningful changes to gun laws. https://t.co/E2kTly9FI5
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 10, 2022
***********
***********
New study estimates 1.6 million in U.S. identify as transgender https://t.co/s9eFtRjaqP pic.twitter.com/dvbGSjTXCd
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 11, 2022
***********
This ad from @ReverendWarnock against Herschel Walker is absolutely incredible. pic.twitter.com/L3s3fWcyo7
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) June 9, 2022
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Friday / Saturday, June 10-11
Math Guy
Good morning!
Baud
@Math Guy:
Good morning.
WereBear
Good morning. Love this tweet roundup!
kalakal
Morning all!
artem1s
Raphael is in great shape! physically and mentally. He seems to be a genuinely great guy too.
mrmoshpotato
I wouldn’t call it “incredible,” Brian, but it’s a good ad.
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
You sure? Brian guaranties “no lie.”
Kay
Day Two of Denmarkgate, where Trump’s former ambassador said Danes ride bikes because they’re too poor to afford cars. Now Obama’s former ambassador has jumped in.
Getting nasty in the comments- some talk of Americans lack of “cardiovascular health”.
NotMax
A pair of related items.
Hate sails through unchallenged.
This may explain the presence of several burly gentlemen with shirts emblazoned SECURITY posted at the entrance and exit of Target as witnessed here just the other day.
Bodacious
Great Ad!
I think his reference to insulin cost work is well placed and spans across all parties. But does it matter???? Go Raphael!
Gin & Tonic
@Kay: I’m trying to understand how you consistently manage to embed Tweets without actually embedding them, leaving us with no link to follow.
Kay
@Gin & Tonic:
Sure.
SFAW
@Baud:
But he doesn’t guarantee “No ridiculous overstatement.”
NotMax
Speaking of a salmagundi —
The Internet Is Divided On What To Call This Classic Dish
;)
kalakal
Todays entry in the failing upwards stakes raises the grim prospect of Bloody Stupid Johnson raking in the big bucks over here
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jun/11/boris-johnson-stands-make-millions-after-no-10?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
I cannot say how strongly I disagree with the last two sentences
Mo Salad
Decades ago, the local PBS station, channel 56 in Detroit, would televise an auction where they sold donated goods, similar to what we have with churches or animal shelters today.They would go back-and-forth between 3 or 4 chalkboards that showed 20 items and the current winning bid on those items. Each of those boards was sponsored by a local business. The Belvedere Construction board, the Twin Pines Dairy board, et cetera. Then they have the salmagundi board .
And I wondered who this Sal McGundy guy was because I’d never seen him advertise his business on television before. I only learned the meaning of salmagundi years and years later.
It could be worse. Earlier this week, I saw a tweet where someone was laughing about the fact that when they were a kid they thought that the phrase “this little piggy went to market” was about a pig going grocery shopping, as opposed to going to get butchered.
Until that tweet, so did I. I believed in the shopping piggy, And the thought of him being future breakfast had never crossed my mind. I’m 58.
Fuck that tweeter.
Baud
@Mo Salad:
What about the piggy that stayed home?
Matt McIrvin
@NotMax: I’ve noticed that in YouTube comments on reviews of popular media, the subthreads generally bellyaching about “woke shit” have had an uptick in some of the commenters going flat-out racist with phrasing right out of a Klan poster. It’s not subtle. I’ve been flagging them for hate speech when I see them but of course I don’t know if it’s having any effect.
Matt McIrvin
@kalakal: I cannot imagine any Democrats or liberals being fans of Boris Johnson. If we don’t hate him it’s because we’re not thinking about him or considering him relevant.
Planetjanet
I am on my way to the DC March. The kids are alright. They deserve our support.
Mo Salad
@Baud:
Exactly my point!
Did any of the other pigs have horrifying outcomes? Other than maybe the parents of the piggy who needed to go to the bathroom the whole time on the drive home?
NotMax
‘@Baud
He called dibs on the market piggy’s stuff.
:)
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: Cycling advocacy is one of those things where I have a love-hate relationship–I’ve loved being in situations where I could get everywhere on a bicycle, and it would be so much better for us in so many ways if we reformed our land use and infrastructure to support bikes… but the fandom also has this nasty ableist/ageist/fat-phobic streak to it that seriously bothers me. Some members seem to think the moral superiority of bicycles outweighs all other considerations.
NotMax
‘@Mo Salad
Obligatory.
:)
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
NotMax
‘@Matt McIrvin
YouTube comments can make the Great Dismal Swamp look like the gardens at Versailles.
Matt McIrvin
@Mo Salad:
I suspect that sanitized children’s media contributed to this–I have vague memories of Richard Scarry illustrating it that way. Of course he might well show the shopping piggy buying pork sausages.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Mo Salad: I remember channel 56! Those were primitive times
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
Agree. They can be pretty smug. But the basic idea is right, I think – that places should be designed for people first, not cars first. Imagine how much housing you could build if you didn’t need vast parking lots surrounding every building. Picture a street that isn’t lined with cars- nicer, right? It wouldn’t work in vast sections of the US – weather, distances- but it would work in a lot of places.
kalakal
@Matt McIrvin: Absolutely. And I think the indifference is stronger than the hate.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
It’s the lecture circuit. Some wealthy centrists Dems might be among the interested group.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: The setup in the Netherlands awed me when I encountered it. You could rent a clunker bike and just go anywhere from the middle of Amsterdam way out into the countryside, with zero fear of being squished by a truck.
Ken
@Baud: Then there’s the piggy that had roast beef, and the other who had none. I once wondered if it was a reference to some historical event, or perhaps a secret call for revolution.
Narya
Greetings from Road America…
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
And we don’t really do anything for disabled people in “car centric” cultures other than let them park closer with a placard. That’s our big accommodation.
Baud
@Narya:
Good morning from Couch America.
Mo Salad
@Ken: An English socialist rhyme from World War I, and the market is the Western Front?
Narya
@Baud: that would be warmer. It’s been in the 50s at night at the campground.
NotMax
‘@Ken
Persistent sloppy error in copying changed it from “nun.”
//
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic: It has something to do with the revived site, trying to keep down the number of embedded tweets per post.
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
I started (back) riding a bike a couple of years ago – I just loved it as a kid because I could go places without asking or help- and I would ride to work but we have no bike lanes and I’m afraid of getting hit by a car.
We would have to change the whole town. I mean, you COULD, it’s small enough, but it would mean some concessions by drivers.
NotMax
‘@Ken
Dunno about you but I’d give a shot at watching Beefeaters vs. Zombies.
:)
Layer8Problem
@Ken: I think we’re needlessly limiting the pig community with our tedious Western notions of porcine propriety. If pigs want to shop with us, prepare and eat a fine roast beef (or a fine vegan lasagna for that matter), or cry bitterly as they return home after a soul-crushing day at the office, I say let them.
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
it’s also REALLY flat here – like Denmark.
we have no hills :)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Kay: When we lived in Waterloo, IA, some of Mr DAW’s co-workers would ride their bikes to work in the summer. Bike riding is big in Iowa. There are lots of rail-to-trail bike paths. And every July there’s RAGBRAI, The Register’s Great Bike Race Across Iowa. Thousands of people participate.
But you can’t do it in the winter and in the summer, I’d want to know how I could do it in work clothes or how I could shower and change once I got there. I guess the Danes manage those things
Baud
@Layer8Problem:
NotMax
‘@Baud
Orwell suffered snout doubt.
//
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Yeah? And apparently Majorie Trash Greene has been HUMILIATED a few times. Like she has a sense of humility, or decency, or a soul…
Miss Bianca
@Mo Salad: Channel 56! Mr Belvedere! Twin Pines Dairy, with Milky the Magic Clown!
Man, you are ringing my “grew up in Detroit” bells this morning!
mrmoshpotato
@Kay:
Is that Danish-nice for “STFU, you fat bastards!”?
eclare
@Mo Salad:
I had the same realization, I’m 53. That thought never crossed my mind.
Kay
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
They have a kind of rain suit they wear but it doesn’t get as cold as Iowa or Ohio so “wet” is the only issue. They also have electric motor assists on a lot of the bikes they use to haul children. The bikes aren’t cheap – 2000 US for one with a cart that accommodates children or hauling big stuff. They remind me of Amish buggies – small version of that.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Kay: Deep snow is obviously an issue in Iowa too
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: To be fair the degree of actual compliance with handicapped-parking restrictions amazes me–if I didn’t know about it I would never predict that Americans would do that.
(We do have the opposite problem of people declaring themselves the handicapped parking fraud police and picking on people whose disabilities are not visible enough.)
NotMax
‘@Kay
Vast majority of Americans may have ditched the buggies but sill have to stare at the horse’s ass in front of them on the road.
;)
prostratedragon
@NotMax: With rice or potatoes, some would call it picadillo. Maybe with macaroni, too. Beans required for chili mac.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: The towns where it would be easiest to accommodate cycling as a major transit mode tend to be in places where people consider it a political affront to not be driving a giant 4×4.
eachother
Cold blooded pigs. Always in a blanket.
Good morning.
mrmoshpotato
@Ken:
Hahaha
mrmoshpotato
@eachother: Dipped in ketchup.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Maybe if someone made a bike that rolls coal…?
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: That restriction is only for front-page posts. Here in the comments we can embed Tweets all we want:
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: …I’ve been reading some discussions of the American (and, increasingly, global) car market’s turn from actual cars to SUVs, and the obscene wastefulness of it–how it tends to obliterate the effects of the actually quite amazing efforts to increase automotive efficiency over the years, and how manufacturers have been making big hybrid and electric SUVs as a kind of purchaseable indulgence, but even these could do so much better with efficiency if the vehicles weren’t so big.
Anyway, a point some people make in these discussions is that a lot of the “crossover” type SUVs are easier for people with aging bodies to get into and out of than a car with a very low driving/riding position. I was definitely feeling that myself before I got my cyborg knee. But I do think that in many cases a minivan would do as well, and there is a point beyond which it’s actually hard to climb up into the vehicle.
(An aside: Turns out the kind of “car guys” who gush over the fantasy V12 supercars sold to billionaires often dislike SUVs as well, because they’re not cars and are too normie.)
NotMax
In a happy place upon discovering this week that Costco here now stocking the oft hard to find Bulleit brand rye (previously had only the bourbon for sale). 1.75 liter bottle a shade under a paltry six bucks more than price of a 750 ml bottle at the other markets which sell it..
Betty Cracker
Did y’all see the bizarre texts Sean Hannity sent to Kayleigh McEnany about the possibility of Trump issuing a pardon to Hunter Biden? Here’s a link to the story in The Daily Beast, excerpt below:
Maybe because Trump cultists like Hannity get enraged when any of the Trumps are denigrated, they figure Dems feel the same way about the Bidens. So they think we would feel better about the violent insurrection if Hunter Biden got a pardon. It’s a bizarre misreading by cultists of their opponents, IMO.
Personally, I don’t give a shit one way or another about Hunter Biden. I don’t think he should be hounded if he hasn’t committed a crime nor protected from the consequences if he has, and obviously, it has nothing to do with the insurrection.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Is that why they pardoned Rod Blagojevich?
Mo Salad
@Miss Bianca: You have watched Detroiters, right? Their parodies of Dietrich Furs, D.O.C., and their use of bizarro world Mort Crim are amazing.
I still can’t believe the Ron Burgundy is based on Mort Crim and not Bill Bonds.
NotMax
‘@Matt McIrvin
Did someone say V-12?
Ultraluxe for only $20k, provided willing to wait 25 years for a stray one to legally show up in the U.S. (a swifter ten years in Canada).
:)
Matt McIrvin
@Gin & Tonic: Come with me… And you’ll be… In a world of pure imagination…
Matt McIrvin
@NotMax: Yeah, I was kinda thinking of those guys (among others).
jeffreyw
@NotMax: Thanks for that, I will make a batch for dinner today.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
The crossover SUVs can be lighter and more efficient. Doesn’t take a Humvee to just raise you up a little.
Layer8Problem
@Betty Cracker: It’s all transactional with these scumbags.
Scout211
File this under “water is wet” file: Truth Social can’t handle the truth.
NotMax
‘@Matt McIrvin
While they’re no Click & Clack (but then who is), the lighthearted banter can be fun.
Matt McIrvin
@Betty Cracker:
It reminds me of the way they thought liberals would not be bothered at all if Trump fired James Comey, because we hate James Comey, right? If we thought like they do, this reasoning would make perfect sense.
Matt McIrvin
@NotMax: I am finding car YouTube oddly addictive, though it is a guilty pleasure of sorts. I imagined it would be wall-to-wall reactionaries but it’s not really.
Geminid
Raphael Warnock’s commercial is a good one. He comes across as a genuine, likeable man.
In neighboring North Carolina, somebody is trying to undermine Senate candidate Cherie Beasley with a Green Party candidate. I say somebody because there may be a Republican connection:
@ForwardCarolina is the Twitter account of CarolinaForward.org. It looks like a good organization.
I found this tweet this morning on @eclecticbrotha’s twitter account.
eclare
@Matt McIrvin: My dad had a smallish pickup for that reason, to get out he could literally fall out of the pickup. I thought it was nonsense til I rode in my mom’s Sentra…wow. To get out of that car was like climbing a mountain.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker: These asshats and their obsession with Hunter Biden…
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Who? Oh, right… FUCK BLAGO!
Raven
We’re hanging in Savannah. Our friend has a really cool place in the historic district that was built in 1870! The place is so much like their ( her husband died about three years ago) in the French Quarter it’s eerie. Savannah is very much a walking city so the boss lady is out shopping and Artie and I are chillin. We haven’t decided if we’re going to stay another night, it’s a nice option when you don’t have to pay!
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Betty Cracker: I thought that the “25th amendment” texts from Hannity were pretty wild, but after looking it up, they weren’t “news”, having been reported on back in January.
Still pretty eyebrow-raising. What did they know about Mr. Trump’s involvement in this matter, I wonder?…
It was neat to see the texts illustrated to look like actual smartphone texts by the stagecraft of the J6 Committee.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Yep — IIRC, Kushner thought the Blago commutation would appeal to Democrats. As if we gave a shit about that corrupt shitbird!
@Matt McIrvin: Excellent point.
NotMax
‘@Matt McIrvin
Ed’s Auto Reviews YouTube channel is both history and often a hoot. Example: The History of the Dutch Car Industry. Some of his earliest efforts are, to be charitable, shaky, but he quickly found his footing for a particular niche.
Brachiator
@kalakal:
Boris Johnson earned more as a journalist and columnist than he does as prime minister. He has mastered an affable style that would work well on a speaking tour. This is part of that Eton and Oxford BS.
Nigel Farage is another total phony who has mastered a kind of jovial British hail fellow persona that kills in interviews and during speeches. Contrast this with someone like Tory MP Michael Gove, who always comes across as a clumsy and obvious Bond villain.
But when you come down to it, almost everyone on the speaking circuit, no matter what their political ideology, is overpaid. It is one of the ways that retired politicians are rewarded for past service.
mrmoshpotato
@Scout211:
And what happens if you create an account to call everyone fascist, Dump-humping, loser (You lost! – the popular vote too! Get over it!) trash who should throw themselves into the Sun?
Miss Bianca
@Mo Salad: I have not! Is that a TV series? (I tend to do all my TV watching on DVDs, being a cable-less household in the mountains).
Mort Crim and Bill Bonds, hoo-whee…now all you have to do is mention Sonny Eliot, the weatherman to end all weathermen!
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Baud:
@Matt McIrvin:
@Betty Cracker:
Y’all are really onto something here. Hilarious!
That’s not who we are (for the most part). It’s hard to understand decency, or anything approaching honor, when you have none.
zhena gogolia
@Mo Salad: Haha, you’ve ruined it for me too! I never thought of that.
eclare
@Betty Cracker: Yes, he thought that. Just weird, IMO. But he is a cyborg, so not understanding humanity is par for the course.
And obviously, evil. And somehow whiny. A weird blend.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker:
Well then! That pasty-faced, Nazi shitstain is also an IDIOT!
Brachiator
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:
The degree to which many people easily adjusted to this foul Hannity/Trump/Fox News relationship always amazes me. Especially among the dopes who always moan about librul mainstream media.
It is also wild that an ignorant low-life like Hannity became an unofficial but trusted Trump advisor.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Raven: I’ve never been to Savannah. It sounds lovely
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
Let’s say it together:
Seditious conspiracy to overthrow the duly elected government of the United States
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I could not make heads or tails of why “Hunter” was in there. What is more interesting to me is they knew how bad it was. All their denials of the import now came after they got their instructions on what to say. At the time they thought it was really, really bad.
Layer8Problem
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:
The guy in question is an SS Panzer officer in a tank between them and the gold.
Gin & Tonic
@eclare: Funny – after retiring from the world of work I bought a Mazda Miata, which is … small… and low to the ground. Getting in and out requires a bit of doing, but it is very comfortable once we are seated, and a whole lot of fun. Plus it’s excellent on gas – I’ve gotten over 40 mpg on highway trips.
NotMax
‘@Dorothy A. Winsor
Good, atmospheric Savannah-based read is the Southern gothic Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.
tom
@Betty Cracker: Was he talking about Hunter Biden or Duncan Hunter?
geg6
@Raven:
Savannah is beautiful, most especially the historic district. My ex and I spent a New Year there at a gorgeous bed and breakfast, the Forsyth Park Inn. So lovely and the perfect location.
germy shoemangler
Betty Cracker
@tom: Biden, according to linked article.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
On a more positive note, I enjoyed episode 1 of Ms. Marvel last night. I was already a fan of Kamala Khan and her Ms. Marvel origin story from the comics, so I had been looking forward to it.
My skeptical teenagers enjoyed it too, despite their initial protests when I asked for a turn with the remote.
I hope we get to meet a super-sized dog named “Lockjaw” at some point…
tom
@Mo Salad: A number of years I was on a business trip to Winnipeg. I checked into my hotel room, turned on the TV, and there was Bill Bonds giving the news. Couldn’t believe it.
Turns out that at time, Winnipeg got its ABC feed from Detroit.
RaflW
@Kay: This is perfect, tho.
A depressingly large slice of Americans have no concept of what a different quality of life is like in western Europe. Throwing chum in the MAGA waters is so cheap, easy, and ultimately pathetic. They have nothing positive to offer, so they bash a small, prosperous, stable european democracy.
Another Scott
@Mo Salad: Same here, and I’m older. :-
But lots and lots of the old songs and stories are very dark – gotta keep the kiddos scared and compliant.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/eric-zorn/ct-perspec-zorn-piggies-nursery-rhyme-market-grim-0829-20180828-story.html
Cheers,
Scott.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: It really was striking, their initial panic. All of the Fox News people and the Republicans in Congress who weren’t directly involved in the insurrection too. They absolutely knew how bad it was, but they also knew they were dealing with a recalcitrant man-baby sore loser who would not do the right thing, so they rolled the dice and went along with his version of reality, hoping the infinite malice and gullibility of the GOP base would hold. And by golly, it did.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:@Ken:
We had a second verse in my family, for the other foot. I’ve never come across it elsewhere, and I’ve always wondered about the hidden meanings:
Has anyone else come across something similar to this?
Kay
I was wondering why there wasn’t more media discussion of where this committee seems to be going. They introduced the evidence on the Proud Boys and the Oathkeepers leading the insurrection for a reason- the whole “stacks” discussion. Their theory (IMO) is that the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers planned this and used the ordinary Trumpists as “force multipliers” – unwitting participants in a planned event where the ordinary Trumpists didn’t have the whole picture but the Proud Boys and Oathkeepers did. They don’t have to show each/all insurrectionist/riot attendee has a connection to Trump, the Trump Administration or GOP members of Congress. They just have to show that the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers did. That seems doable, especially given that Proud Boys are now openly taking (local) GOP Party positions and running as Republicans in local races.
germy shoemangler
@SiubhanDuinne:
The little piggy who went to market… she was shopping, right? That’s what I always thought.
Raven
@geg6: We’re a block from there. We’ve been here so many times over the years that it almost feels like home. Did you know that the cobblestones on River Street were ballast in the cotton ships from England that they dumped on arrival?
Baud
@RaflW:
Lots of wingnuts travel to Western Europe. Information isn’t going to change their minds.
Ken
@SiubhanDuinne: Never heard that one. It does have that “Musgrave Ritual” feel to it, doesn’t it?
NotMax
‘@SiubhanDuinne
Thought for the other foot the traditional recitation was done in … Pig Latin.
;)
germy shoemangler
@Kay:
In my city there’s been a mingling of proud boys, other conservative biker groups and conventional conservative activists. The conventional conservatives are the ones in suits and ties who run for the school board and other local races. But there’s more and more communication between them and the thuggish alt right types. The local journalists (the ones who weren’t laid off) don’t want to touch the subject, perhaps out of fear.
Another Scott
@Matt McIrvin: But I **need** a giant $120,000 Lexus LX with the massage recliners in the back!!1
Why do you hate America so much!!11ONE
Cheers,
Scott
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
That’s like the extra stanzas to the Star Spangled Banner.
ian
@Brachiator:
It’s wild the Hannity was the voice of reason. That should be sobering
Betty Cracker
@Kay: The committee’s tick-tock on Trump’s activities before, during and after the Capitol Building was sacked also seems tailor-made to prove intent. Leonard Pitts Jr. had a good column about it in yesterday’s Miami Herald:
RaflW
@Matt McIrvin: I have mild hopes that e-bikes will start to popularize bike commuting / erranding / social+leisure outing. I’d suspect few Dutch or Danes give a fig about bragging on their bike prowess, percent body fat, kms per week, whatever. Because it’s just a mass convenience, not a ‘lifestyle choice’.
(It helps that Amsterdam is flat as can be, Copenhagen – at least where we rode on rented hotel bikes – too. That red-rubber-carpeted bike bridge was the highest point of our ride!)
NotMax
‘@germy shoemangler
“People who submit those unhinged screeds to Letters to the Editor are subscribers too, don’tcha know!”
//
sab
Our yard trimming deer just turned up with two tiny babies. Fortunately they can’t jump the fence yet and she had them outside of our yard. I think she has been keeping them stashed in the blackberry patch by the creek.
Kay
@RaflW:
I think they’re offended not that “Americans” don’t understand their culture around bikes- that they’re proud of the bikes and think it’s part of their quality of life, but that the US Ambassador to their country didn’t understand it. Which is really pretty amazingly obtuse on her part. I don’t know how you miss it. They’re simply not pining away for a car-centric culture, “oh I wish I could AFFORD an SUV”. They think Denmark is great :)
To me it goes to the arrogance/defensivess of conservatives. It’s a little tiny country. Why are they bothering these people? Everyone has to view cars like we do? It’s an affront to us somehow?
MagdaInBlack
@Matt McIrvin: I’m at that point. Its hard on my knees getting out of a Hyundai Elantra. So, I have my eye on the Subaru Crosstrek. I’m also seeing a lot of Hyundai Kona’s. The big SUV’s and trucks are mostly about vanity, to my mind.
MagdaInBlack
@germy shoemangler: Gym gets nailed in the comments every time, and he just keeps cranking out the stupid.
RaflW
@Kay: I’m going to disagree on this one. ADA has done a lot. I’m quite the europhile/cheerleader, but much of the Continent is far behind the US in doing things like curb cuts on sidewalks, wheelchair ramps in buildings, etc.
My partner was in Paris with his mom and a friend of hers some years ago. The friend badly sprained her ankle and had to be wheeled about for a couple days. Bit of a bother.
The Louvre did what they could, but guards had to take the friend through back corridors and on freight elevators to accommodate her. We take a lot of infrastructure for granted here. (Retrofitting thousands of old buildings with step-up entries, too small for lifts, etc IS a bugaboo. But at least in some European countries, there’s a libertarian streak that I’ve seen characterized as “if you’re wheelchair-bound, well life has fewer options. Sorry. (not very sorry)”)
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
All of which I had to memorise in high school!
CaseyL
@Kay: I like the idea in principle, but in practice it doesn’t work so well.
Here in Seattle there are quite a few new housing developments that explicitly make no provisions for cars: no parking lot, no garages.
What happens is that people who do have cars buy those houses anyway, and then park on the already-crowded street, or in someone else’s parking lot.
I happen to live in a townhouse complex with a large parking lot. We are constantly having people who live in those “no-car” complexes nearby park their cars in our lot!
Mo Salad
@Miss Bianca: Since it was a former Comedy Central show, it can now be found on Paramount plus.
Local boys Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson, of I Think You Should Leave and Veep star as local ad guys.
Think of it as a cross between Dumb and Dumber and Mad Men.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
Right and we have focused on that, but I think that connection might be too attentuated – even for me and I loathe Trump. I have trouble getting from “Trump” to “whole mob” in terms of a criminal charge or analysis. The connection, the middle piece, is the Proud Boys and Oathkeepers. That I think is maybe doable. Trump, GOP to Proud Boys/Oathkeepers to mob, with the mob as the least culpable – the dopes that unwittingly provided the chaos they needed to execute the plan. Remove the mob and what do you have? You have 300 or so extremists storming the Capitol. The Trumpists were cover for the committed extremists who planned this.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ken:
Wow, nice catch! It does indeed.
Now I need to go on a Sherlockian bender.
Soprano2
@eclare: I had to consider the passenger seat height when I bought my Sonata. For some reason the passenger seat in my 2012 Sonata hybrid was really low, and there was no way to adjust it to be higher. Hubby had a hard time getting in and out of that car. My 2019 Sonata has a passenger seat that has an adjustable height.
CaseyL
@Mo Salad:
Uh oh. I’m another one who thought it meant the piggy went shopping!
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
Culture wars, and their side are the whiniest “no, I’m the victim” leeches on society ever. They are pathetic.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
“Is-thay ittle-lay iggy-pay ent-way o-tay arket-may…”
Doesn’t exactly scamper trippingly off the tongue, does it?
geg6
@Raven:
I did not know that! I’m not generally comfortable much below the MD line but I really loved it in Savannah. So much lovelier than anywhere in FL or the rest of GA. A real jewel of a city.
NotMax
‘@MagdainBlack
Aged knees questionable and one leg even more so. My new Maverick zippy hybrid pick-up is super-easy and comfy to get in and out of; lower to the ground than the fleets of hulking trucks being sold but not so low that one need scrunch over and then haul oneself upright.. Also low enough that it doesn’t require balancing on tiptoes or a stepstool to put stuff into the bed from the sides (or to remove it).
Was humorous when I drove it out from the garage to the lawn for its first bath and shut it off. The readout for that short trip flashed up on the instrument console as 999.9 mpg.
Kay
@CaseyL:
Oh, that’s bad. We have a town festival once a year that is on the square so they close off all the parking around the courthouse because the festival is mobbed with children and they’re wandering around not paying attention and there’s food trucks and rides and things. It means lawyers have to walk a block or two or three in June for a week. You should hear them bitch.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: That seems like the strongest case to me too. Focus on the organizations that engaged in seditious conspiracy and had stockpiles of guns, etc., rather than people like the pathetic Beverly Hills salon owner who was braying “They will not take away our Trumpy Bear!” into a bullhorn. (An actual thing that happened!)
I was looking at the schedule of upcoming hearings and topics, and they are going after Trump hammer and tongs. Good!
Miss Bianca
@Mo Salad: OMG. I have to find this. Thanks for the tip!
Bruce K in ATH-GR
On cars: I’m firmly in the camp that they haven’t yet made an urban/suburban family SUV that couldn’t be improved by several passes through a car crusher, but my brother’s shopping for a car that’ll be used to take my mom and dad places, and because they’re both well into their golden years, he’s strongly leaning towards a hybrid crossover because of the increased chassis height. (Of course, this is in Greece, and many streets here in Athens are simply too narrow to fit the traditional yuppie tank. Not to mention that if he placed an order today he might, maybe, take delivery in November or December.)
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Kay: I felt that the “big reveal” on Thursday (other than the professional stagecraft, compelling presentation, and excellent witnesses) was that the committee was going to put J6 in context, and not only prove that Trump was responsible for the violence that day, but to prove that it was one piece of a larger conspiracy by Trump to overthrow the duly elected government of the United States.
That R members of Congress were in on it is also interesting. Don’t touch that dial!
NotMax
‘@SiubhanDuinne
Actice-pray, actice-pray, actice-pray.
If Ginger could do it for “We’re in the Money”….
;)
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
It’s renewed my interest because I never could get there. I just don’t think Trump saying “go and I’ll go with you!” (lie, of course) gets you anywhere near a criminal charge. But if there are communications with the Proud Boys or the Oathkeepers you’re getting somewhere, and I think there might be.
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: I got a Sonata too, my wife was just complaining that in the trim model I got, you can’t adjust the height of the passenger seat, only the driver’s side one. I wasn’t 100% aware of that.
I think in the next model up they all adjust, and the driver’s one remembers your preferences and readjusts when you get in (depending on which key fob you are carrying).
Matt McIrvin
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: Lockjaw apparently was featured in the awful, awful “Inhumans” TV series (which also got a brief shout out in “Dr. Strange 2”, involving “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” star Anson Mount). I get the impression that this version of Kamala Khan is not an Inhuman, so I wonder if he’ll be making an appearance. They changed her powers a little too.
I thought it was nice to see a show about a teenager in high school where the lead actor didn’t look like a 29-year-old (though apparently she actually is playing down in age a little)
I saw some commenters saying they absolutely nailed the experience of growing up in a somewhat conservative Muslim immigrant family.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
And the GOP House members DO seem nervous, which is delightful of course but I didn’t expect it. Here I was giving them the presumption of innocence and they’re all acting guilty. I’m like “well- THAT’S interesting” :)
NotMax
‘@Matt McIrvin
Anson Mount sounds as if it would be an undersea volcano.
;)
Elizabelle
@Kay:
Plus: Roger Stone’s ass landing in prison. Without potential of pardon. And Steve Bannon too, one could wish.
I wish Fox News would face legal issues, too. The criminals in the first paragraph use the criminals in the second to tear our democracy down. Other countries are wiser, and do not allow entities like Fox News. We should learn. Ugly propaganda and lies upon lies imperil democracy. Period.
trollhattan
@Kay:
The Dutch have the whole bicycle thing figured out and there, the car is the second-class citizen. We’ll never, ever, ever-ever do something so silly.
But cities can and should have traffic corridors for bikes and pedestrians only. They will have the desired effect of getting a lot of folks out of their cars more often.
Scout211
@Kay:
Roger Stone was always working as his agent.
Most jackals are aware of this link and Stone’s work as a go-between. The key is to find a direct link to TFG. Hopefully, that will be revealed in subsequent public hearings.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
“That Mount’s got a lot of Anson, if you know what I mean and I know you do.”
jeffreyw
Sister Golden Bear
At least the Reuters story on the latest estimate of the trans population had a neutral headline. FTFNYT went with an alarmist headline that OMG the number of trans people is up sharply — something straight out of the “social contagion” BS being pushed by TERFs.* We really are seeing this stuff getting mainstreamed. They already have a shitty record of publishing “just asking questions” op-eds and articles.
Like there wasn’t a sharp uptick in us left-handed folks after society stopped (literally) beating it out of us.
Sorry, not sorry, I’m a bit salty this morning, since this week I’ve been trying to support a trans man at work who’s planning to come out. At an office in Texas. Thankfully the company as a whole has a good record (so hopefully coming out at work should well), but he’s scared about what’s next for him, and it’s hard for me to disagree.
*Basically it’s the argument that there really aren’t trans people, especially trans kids. It’s just that they’re confused by seeing supposed trans people, and being pressured by peers to identify trans to be “on trend.” Pretty the same tired arguments homophobes have used to justify banning any mention of LGBTQ+ people.
Baud
@Sister Golden Bear:
Sorry for my ignorance, but what does coming out mean in the trans context? What gender does the company think he is now?
Good luck to him (and you). Texas is scary.
Matt McIrvin
@jeffreyw: “Beefy Mac” or “American Chop Suey”.
2liberal
Since 1994 I was driving Saturn SLs (3 different cars) and as big as I am i had to use my elbows to lever my self out of the driver seat, and fall into the car for entry. Now I’ve got a Kia Soul and it is so much easier getting in and out . Getting mid 20’s MPG driving mostly about town (using about one gas tankful per month as I’m working from home)
Sister Golden Bear
@Baud: No dumb questions, thanks for asking.
He’s currently presenting as the gender he was assigned at birth (i.e. as a woman, thanks to assumptions based genitals at birth), and will be living as a man after coming out.
On the plus side, he’s about to discover he’s going to gain a bunch of male privilege, even in Texas. Plus all the sturm und drang over trans people almost always focuses on trans women/girls, so trans men/boys often get overlooked. (Which does cut both ways, but that’s a separate conversation.)
Kay
@trollhattan:
I think about it more now, especially regarding children. We complain that they don’t walk and ride bikes but we’ve made towns and cities that make that dangerous. A couple of years ago I came really close to hitting a kid on a bike. It was Sunday and I was coming back from work and he came out of a bank parking lot and cut crosswise right in front of me. He had his hood up – it was raining- and he might not have seen me- 10 or maybe 12 year old. I had to really hit the brakes- screech- which scared him and he said “I’m sorry!” like, terrified. I was scared too so I yelled at him- “put your hood down- you can’t see!” but I felt so bad. I almost mowed him down and he’s apologizing.
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: I am in your neck of the woods for a week. Check your email. The one which you corresponded with me a while back on my bloggy email.
Raven
I’m getting 60 in my Niro!@2liberal:
Baud
@Sister Golden Bear:
Thanks. He should get himself a large cowboy hat to celebrate.
Raven
@geg6: There are plenty of attractive cities and towns in Georgia.
Sister Golden Bear
@Sister Golden Bear: Just to follow-up, personally experiencing the difference in how women are treated to compared to men was eye-opening, even for someone who considered themselves an ardent feminist prior to transitioning.
It’s going from an intellectual understanding to feeling it down to your very bones. Things like men just don’t get just how absolutely pervasive sexual harassment and sexual threats are. Or how common it is in the workplace for women to be talked over or their ideas dismissed — and then those same exact ideas get regarded as brilliant when a man raises them a few minutes later in a meeting.
Calouste
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Danes and Dutch mange to cycle to work in their work clothes because they don’t cycle very far. The average bike ride there is a bit over 2 miles. The cities are compact.
Sister Golden Bear
@Baud: And cowboy boots. Especially high-heeled cowboy boots. Most trans men are on the shorter side (Elliot Page is only 5’0″) much to their eternal frustration.
Another Scott
@jeffreyw: My mom called it, or something like it, “Hungarian Goulash”.
It was eye-opening to order goulash in Budapest. ;-)
Looks yummy.
Cheers,
Scott.
MagdaInBlack
@Another Scott: My mother would have called it that too. Then I had the (more) real thing at The Berghoff in Chicago and Oh My good. I can only imagine how good what you had was.
Sister Golden Bear
@Calouste: Absolutely.
Having just gotten back from vacationing in Europe, it’s striking how both the cities are more compacted, but also how much more compact (and densely populated) Europe is as a whole, compared to the US — in particular the Western US. Makes their extensive public transit/rail system far more feasible.
E.g. the BART system in the Bay Area is really an intercity rail system that’s not that equivalent to the NYC subways or DC Metro.
Likewise, it only took me 90 minutes via high-speed train to get from Paris to Brussels — but it’s only about 200 miles. That would get you less than half of the way between SF and LA. The equivalent two-hour train ride from Paris to Lyon would leave you stranded somewhere short of Bakersfield.
Finally, it’s worth pointing out the obvious… both Amsterdam and Copenhagen are flat. (As are many other European cities for the most part, although there’s obvious exceptions — the Montemarte neighborhood in Paris, pretty much all of Edinborugh, etc.) So a two-mile commute there is a very different thing than a two-mile commute in SF, which has a comparatively high percentage of bicycle commuters in the States.
Raven
@Raven: 50
Soprano2
@RaflW: To most Americans who don’t live in big cities, having to ride a bike, take public transportation, or walk means you’re poor, because that’s mostly true. Not being able to afford a car where I live is a huge problem in your life.
MisterForkbeard
@MagdaInBlack: My father’s doc has recommended that he get a Volvo crossover, both for his knees and his back. It’s interesting, as I hadn’t seen car recommendations from a health perspective before.
Kay
@Sister Golden Bear:
Right. It is also really flat where I live, which makes bike riding much easier. In Pittsburgh I’d be walking the bike up a lot of hills :)
Betty Cracker
@Sister Golden Bear: The anti-trans rhetoric from people like Abbott in TX and DeSantis in FL (along with Dr. Ladapo, the crackpot surgeon general in FL) is getting scarier by the day. They’ve definitely found their culture war scapegoats.
Calouste
@Sister Golden Bear:
Bike commuting in a hilly city doesn’t have to be much of a problem with an electric bike.
One of the other problems in America is that the bike culture (and consequently bikeshops etc) is focused on cycling as exercise, not as much as a mode of transportation. So good commuter bikes with all the amenities that make a commute better (upright position, fenders, racks, built in lights, etc) are harder to come by.
Sister Golden Bear
@Betty Cracker: It’s only a matter of time before it turns into physical violence. Whether it’s another Pulse massacre, and/or individual attacks. Security concerns for Pride events have been off the charts.
Still going and still flying my inclusive Pride flag (the one with the additional black and brown, and trans-flag stripes) at home. They want us to feel isolated and alone, and I refuse to give them that. We’re not trying to “convert” straight cis kids, we’re trying to prevent our LGBTQ+ kids from becoming dead kids.
Kay
@Soprano2:
It’s nonsense in this context though, because the former Trump ambassador to Denmark is a wealthy person. She’s pandering to their base, or what they claim is their base.
There’s not too many places that are more car-centric than Michigan, and the must-have this summer in resort towns is an electric bike. No one thinks people are riding them because they are “too poor” to have a car. She used a dumb example (Denmark) to make her point, which is that liberals want to make cars unaffordable which would be just another dumb wingnut thing to say except she was the Ambassador to Denmark, so knows better.
Steeplejack
@Matt McIrvin:
It was “chili mac” at my Illinois grade school in the 1960s.
J R in WV
@jeffreyw:
Wife’s family called it Mizmowhenny, or a word that sounds like that which I’m just taking a swing at interpreting phonetically. I usually make it without meat and call it pasta and cheese, with onions, garlic, tomatoes, peppers and curry powder. Etc.
StringOnAStick
@Sister Golden Bear: I read a tweet today by a journalist who follows RW extremists, and he said they’ve moved on from tRump as their “thing” to going full speed against trans people. He expects violence at Prid events sooner or later; please keep safe.
Soprano2
@Kay: Perhaps that attitude is more isolated to places like where I live. Plus, it’s hilly here, so riding a bike to work would be harder. I don’t know if they have electric bikes here or not. Probably they do and I’m not aware of them because I don’t ride. Honestly here it’s dangerous to ride on the streets even with all the bike lanes.
Sister Golden Bear
Kay
@Soprano2:
I think a lot of the Republican commentary is patronizing to Republican voters. There are plenty of upper middle class people in the Republican Party who live in smaller towns and cities who are as health conscious as any urban liberal. They all talk to their base as if their base is 100% Wal Mart employees but they’re not- they’re college educated managers who buy expensive groceries and worry about their resting pulse rate. The Trumpsters who stormed the capitol weren’t factory workers- they’re realtors and interior decorators and people who own gyms, with the (notable) exception of a lot of the young men who just seem lost and frankly not “successful” as adults in any capacity, personal or otherwise.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: I know many Republican leaning granolas.
NotMax
‘@Kay
Salt of the earth, the common clay of the
Old WestNew Right….//
Kay
@Sister Golden Bear:
This is what kills me- seeking out the Pride event to insist they are being victimized by it. What about just not going? What’s he guarding against? Him seeing or hearing people he objects to? It really is “you will not EXIST in the same country as I do”. They can’t share the park like everyone else?
stinger
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The place where I worked was thoroughly remodeled a few years ago, and one change was putting shower stalls in two of the unisex bathrooms, for people who wanted to bike to work. (Office clothes in a backpack, I presume.) I don’t know how often the showers were used. And then covid hit and now almost all the 1,500 employees work from home.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NotMax: trumpists/De Santis supporters (potatoes/spuds) gas up their giant gas-powered boats in order to /checks notes/ protest high gas prices
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
Every Republican small town or city has a manager class and they run/own everything. This is literally my neighborhood. The AREA has only 25% with a college degree but that 25% run/own everything. Rock solid Trump voters but not in any way downtrodden. And the truth is they are as snobby about conservative working class people as any caricature of an urban liberal. They look down on them because they smoke, or are overweight, or eat poorly or speak incorrectly or spend on the “wrong” things. These are women in my book club. Not an “urban liberal” among them.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Matt McIrvin: In my town, even with bike lanes, bicyclists sometimes get into collisions with cars, and the biker always gets the worst of the deal. One biker was killed last year at a busy intersection. So some people do have a good reason to drive, even if they want to bike. On the other hand, I see bikers all the time on more rural roads, especially on the weekends.
UncleEbeneezer
@Betty Cracker: Here’s the thing I don’t get: we keep hearing variations of “why hasn’t DOJ indicted Trump yet?” when the fact is that in took a year and a half just to get the Proud Boys/Oathkeepers guilty pleas and cooperation. We are only just now getting to the point where these asshats can give first-hand testimony, emails, phone records, bank records etc. that can now possibly implicate Trump’s henchmen (Stone, Jones, Clark, Eastman, Powell, Giuliani etc.) and then hopefully Trump himself. There are still things like Meadows’ texts that are being litigated in civil court and should be resolved soon. DOJ would be absolutely CRAZY to bring an indictment against a former President without knowing what is in those texts, and what evidence the PBs/OKs can provide. DOJ has been investigating the Proud Boys/Oathkeepers since day one, and it took this long to get to the point of cooperation and hopefully some very serious dirt/evidence. I think that is a good reminder of how long this shit takes and that it’s foolish to assume that Trump could’ve been indicted already if only DOJ/Garland tried harder. Heck some of the most damaging testimony the 1/6 Committee presented on Thursday was only acquired in the last couple weeks. Even though they’ve been working on it for over a year.
There are also serious considerations of discovery, because the moment that DOJ brings indictments, then it is legally required to share all it’s evidence with the accused, which can tip off collaborators who they are still investigating.
Also, that judge said Trump likely broke 2 Federal laws and that’s great, but that is light-years away from “and it can be proven beyond reasonable doubt to a jury and withstand appeals” which is the standard for DOJ to bring indictments.
Likely Committed A Crime =/= Can Be Found Guilty Beyond Reasonable Doubt
Geminid
@Scout211: Roger Stone is the most obvious connection between Trump and the Proudboys and Oathkeepers. Prosecutors have gotten cooperation from some of these militias’ members who could be described as “middle managers” for the insurrection. The next step is an indictment of Stone.
It’s possible, though, that Stone was the only direct conduit between Trump and the militias. Trump is no Professor Moriarty, but he has a low cunning when it comes to criminal activity. He may have been cautious enough to limit his instructions to Stone alone. Stone in turn would not need to say explicitly that he was acting with Trump’s authority; the militias knew that Stone was Trump’s man.
There was some improvisation involved in Trumps scheming, so he may have gotten sloppy. And, Stone is in a different position financially now than when he stonewalled the Muellar team, and he cannot count on a pardon this time.
UncleEbeneezer
@Scout211: There’s already a connection we know of. Proud Boy Joshua James recently pled guilty and is cooperating with DOJ. He was with Roger Stone on 1/5. Roger Stone was in the Willard War Room with Trump (and others) on 1/6.
zhena gogolia
Right @UncleEbeneezer:
UncleEbeneezer
@Geminid: Thing is, and the #SistersInLaw podcast just talked about this: if you enter into a conspiracy to commit one crime (like Obstruction of Congress, Attempt to Defraud the US etc.) and other people in your group commit other crimes (like Seditious Conspiracy) in the process, you are also potentially on the hook for the other crimes.
They used the example of how a getaway car driver can also be charged for a killing that takes place during a bank robbery even if they had nothing to do with the killing and only signed on for the bank robbery not the killing.
Kay
@UncleEbeneezer:
I never saw a specific, persuasive theory for indicting Trump. I hope everyone understands that him saying “go down there and do ..something!” will not be enough. Impeachment isn’t a criminal process, so he could be impeached without a crime. I think there has to be more than an idea he “wanted people to do something” to indict the former President.
So if there is a nexus- a connection- where the Proud Boys planned a seditious conspiracy and Trump and associates or GOP House members were involved in that, that is something to work with. But just kind of putting him in front of the mob and getting to criminal culpabilty with that? That’s a stretch.
What he’s DENYING is kind of interesting. He’s denying that Ivanka had any opinion on whether he won or lost, so he thinks it’s important that he had a real belief he won. He didn’t of course, he’s lying he knew he lost, but he thinks its important to deny that and it is important.
Matt McIrvin
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): What they have in Amsterdam is bike lanes physically separated from the automobile traffic lanes by a barrier with a curb. That’s not going to stop 100% of drivers mowing down cyclists but it helps a lot.
Sister Golden Bear
@Kay:
Unfortunately, yes.
I know I sound like a broken recorded, but they’ve long tried to eradicate us — a term I don’t use lightly from public life. The scary part is they’re now moving into actual eliminationist rhetoric, such as this Republican House candidate in South Carolina promising that he’ll execute LGBTQ+ supportive parents and teachers.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
always remarkable to me that he adheres to the lesson he learned (I believe) from Roy Cohn: Never write anything down– though I suspect his innate laziness helps him with that. I’m also struck by what I always think is his inability to speak in complete, coherent sentences… but maybe there’s some (barely-conscious) strategy in that, too. He was conscious enough to get from “stand down” to “stand by” in that exchange with Chris Wallace.
Geminid
@UncleEbeneezer: The example of how felony murder charges can ensnare participants in a larger conspiracy is a good one. I always thought Ashley Babbit’s death could be charged to Insurrection organizers as felony murder. This has been done before when a participant in a crime is killed.
I am just saying that establishing a direct connection between Trump and the violent participants in the insurrection could be a problem. The analogy is not the getaway driver in a bank robbery, but the crime boss whose lieutenant planned the robbery. Prosecutors might be certain that the crime boss was the intellectual author of the crime, but can they prove it without the lieutenant’s testimony? This is not neccesarily an insoluble problem in the case of Trump and the insurrection, but it is a problem.
Geminid
Elizabelle
@Geminid:
Holding Trump and Roger Stone responsible for the death of Ashli Babbit. That would be delicious.
Wish they could indict “Q” too.
VOR
@Matt McIrvin: I would literally pay money to never hear a word from Boris Johnson ever again. He deserves a well-earned retirement into obscurity.
UncleEbeneezer
@Kay: “If federal charges are brought against Trump and his associates, § 371 and § 1512(c) are the most likely vehicles. But those are hardly the only statutes that might apply—and federal prosecution is not the only avenue for holding Trump accountable.
Coercion of Political Activity.399 18 U.S.C. § 610 makes it a felony to “intimidate, threaten, com- mand, or coerce” a federal employee to engage in political activity. Attempts are crimes, too, and political activity includes “working or refusing to work on behalf of any candidate.”400 To the extent that Trump, Meadows, and Clark commanded DOJ officials—on pain of termination—to initiatepatently meritless investigations and litigation aimed at the political purpose of overturning the results of an election that they knew Trump lost, investigation is warranted as to whether such actions constitute a felony under § 610.
Political Use of Official Authority.401 18 U.S.C. § 595 prohibits “a person employed in any adminis- trative position by the United States” from “us[ing] his official authority for the purpose of interfering with, or affecting, the nomination or the election of any candidate for the office of President….” Trump, Meadows, and Clark, as persons employed in administrative positions by the United States and the DOJ, should be investigated for possible violations of § 595 in using their official authority for the purpose of changing the outcome of the election.
Conspiracy Against Rights and Deprivation of Rights.402 18 U.S.C. § 241 creates a crime “if two or more persons conspire to injure…any person” in freely exercising a right secured by federal law or the U.S. Constitution. 18 U.S.C. § 242 prohibits willfully depriving any person of federal rights under color of law. Trump and his inner circle should be investigated for possible violations of both statutes—not least, through their efforts to cancel the presidential votes of battleground state residents by convincing Mike Pence to reject electoral slates.”
And here’s another making similar arguments.
UncleEbeneezer
@Kay: Here’s the other link I tried to post in that comment.
UncleEbeneezer
@Geminid: This is probably why the criminal case against Trump Org in NY couldn’t get anywhere. Without Weiselberg flipping, there’s just no real fraud case there.
Elizabelle
@UncleEbeneezer: That’s interesting re Weiselberg. I am confounded by Alvin Bragg soft pedaling; maybe there are more acts to come there.
StringOnAStick
Emptywheel had a good point yesterday. The DOJ has a list of Proud Boy and Oathkeeper members who flipped and are providing evidence; the 1/6 committee does not have access to these witnesses and DOJ is not sharing their testimony with the committee (obviously they can’t and shouldn’t do that). Given how devastating a presentation the 1/6 committee was able to put together without these insider witnesses, imagine what the DOJ is currently putting together WITH their testimony.
Elizabelle
@StringOnAStick: Popcorn all around.
Yeah, the midterms are going to be decided on gas prices. Hello?
StringOnAStick
@Elizabelle: I like that the 1/6 committee is doing multiple TV presentations over an extended period, for several reasons. One is that it provides a chance to turn the slow moving ship that is public opinion of the politically uninvolved. Presentations over a longer period gets the media talking about it over an extended period, and that is background noise to those who don’t pay much attention to politics but it has a greater chance of penetrating their consciousness by repetition over a period of time. This prepares the mental ground for when indictments start coming out, and the media will go nuts when that starts, so they’ll be hearing more on the daily bits of news they might encounter. This will be a version of the right’s strategy of repeating their lies constantly enough that people start to believe it, with the advantage of it being, you know, TRUE!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@StringOnAStick: I agree. I was at first skeptical of the utility of prime time in this media age, but given the numbers, it seems to have worked, and (at least in my MSNBC-dominated media silo) the staggered timing is working out well.
An interesting contrast to the impeachment hearings. I wonder if McCarthy regrets trying to stack this committee with bomb-throwers, or if McConnell wishes he hadn’t let something pass more along the lines of the 9/11 Commission. In both alternative realities, I think Tom Keane/Jim Thompson-like Republicans, people with partisan instincts and loyalties and non-partisan reputations, would have watered things down.
lowtechcyclist
@Matt McIrvin:
Sounds like I’m just as glad to have missed out on all that. I never thought of cycling as something I should do with a group. If it’s a nice day and I’ve got the time, I just get on my bike and go.
My handle comes from one of those rare times when I did participate in a cycling event. Some friends coaxed me into a Bike Virginia weekend ride, and most everyone was wearing the standard cycling duds – the cycling shorts and shirts and shoes you see on everyone, anytime you see a group of cyclists riding together. And I was there in my cutoffs and t-shirt and everyday sneakers.
My friends told me later that they’d overheard chatter about me, that people were apparently surprised that this guy who didn’t look like a serious cyclist had no trouble keeping up with everyone else. As if the outfit has anything to do with how many miles have rolled under your wheels! I was amused more than anything else, and it inspired the nym that I’ve been using for at least 15 years now.
lowtechcyclist
:D
Elizabelle
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I’m so glad the GOP “leadership” failed so badly with the J6 committee assignments. We are safer for not having the GOP “moderates” in there mucking the message up.
Still haven’t watched the hearing! Must see C-Span.
Sister Golden Bear
A truckload of white supremist facists were arrested in Idaho, charged with conspiracy to riot. Reportedly they planned to attack a Pride celebration there. When you’re too nazi for cops in Idaho….
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I wish people who are all hot and bothered for indictments now! would take this into account. Also the fact that an indictment, while an important milestone, is very, very, very (etc) far from the end of the road.
Denali
Kathy Boudin spent 20 years in prison for driving the getaway car when two policemen were murdered.
lowtechcyclist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
In this year’s reconciliation bill, I think it will be VERY important for Dems to fund the DOJ in general, and their 1/6 investigation in particular, through the end of calendar 2024. With enough funding to support a metric ton of prosecutions.
That way, if the Dems should lose either house of Congress, the GOP can’t force them afterwards to choose between a defunded 1/6 investigation, and a government shutdown. The investigation, and prosecutions, would keep on going no matter what.
oldgold
Every Sunday morning Jackals park at the intersection of Garden Street and the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue to smell the roses and comment on the current DC follies.
Earlier this week this intersection was comically corrupted when the creepy clown car that is Margaret Taylor Greene careened crazily through this crossroads of flowers and politics with this mendacious malaprop: “The rights of the January 6th protesters have been fragrantly violated.”