Yesterday one of two compromised Secret Service agents, Tony Ornato and Robert Engel, one of whom (Ornato) became a Trump aide for a time, was more than likely the “anonymous source” who ran to a credulous hack and became part of the MAGA pushback and tarring of Cassidy Hutchinson. Remember, all Hutchinson said under oath is that Ornato told her the story. She didn’t testify as an eyewitness.

Also, yesterday, Ginni Thomas, through her lawyer, said she’d changed her mind and won’t testify under oath after all.
So in the actions of Thomas, we see the gameplan. Make a headline and then let the truth out on the back page a few weeks later.
Unfortunately for us and the nation, the god damned DC Press Corpse is more easily distractible than a ten week old puppy, so they’ll run this Jesus take the wheel horseshit into the ground, while ignoring the bigger story. The reasons are many, including a fanatical devotion to “both sides”, but the one I despise is laziness. A reporter would actually have to talk to an expert and learn something to realize it’s Trump’s intention to go to the Capitol, not grabbing the wheel, that is the real issue here. Instead, we’re going to have stories on the inner dimensions of the SUV, Trump’s reach, etc. In addition to laziness, part of the problem is the ghoulish fixation that they have on assassination and presidential protection. A still bigger issue is the Stockholm syndrome of formerly bullied nerds that leads to veneration of supposed tough guys like Secret Service agents.
The bottom line is a big part of the reason that Democrats’ talking points and positions don’t get any traction is because the so-called liberal media is not on the side of truth, but rather on the side of their mostly white, mostly male media privilege. They think this privilege will be retained in the coming Reich: in that sense, they’re like Republican women who are just now understanding that their ectopic pregnancy could lead to death under the new Canon law that they gleefully supported. Unfortunately for our self-appointed disinterested arbiters of truth, if the MAGAts take over, the mainstream media will be among the first to be strung up by the Proud Boys and Gravy Seals.
Anyway, my point is that Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony will be challenged if and only if one of these clowns goes under oath and swears to a different version of the story. Until then, we should pay them no heed, and certainly not grant them anonymity to tell their lies.
Baud
Delk
Ha ha ha. Nancy Pelosi received communion from the pope.
R-Jud
Did you know that Coke Zero really, really scorches the sinus cavities? I do, now.
citizen dave
My pitches for DougJ’s pitchbot: “Is Biden waffling on pardon for President T$%@#” followed by “Why Biden is waffling on pardon for President T%$#$”
Was reflecting on how Nixon would have faced indictment(s) but for the Ford pardon. Would have been a plea agreement or the stubborn basterd would have faced a trial.
Steeplejack
@Baud:
[non-racist version]
mistermix
mistermix
The above is what Delk was talking about. I LOL’d when I saw it.
Leto
SEAL Team Slop: Lard Force
Birdie
I didn’t know Ornato was that Secret Service guy. You’d think legitimate news orgs would include “who left the Secret Service to work on Trump campaign” as relevant context. It’s a 10 word clause, and not hard to explain.
Steeplejack
@citizen dave:
Holy $#%&! Synchronicity. I was just rereading something this morning about the grawlix, which is what you used for TFG in your comment. The “lexicon of comics” is a tiny but fascinating subject.
WaterGirl
If I recall correctly, Hutchinson said she was told the story with a third person in the room. So there is a witness to the telling of the story. They also asked followup questions: did the story teller ever change the story and did anyone EVER say afterwards that the story was not true.
Mike in NC
Everybody needs to read “Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service” by Carol Leonnig. It paints a damning picture of that organization, which like most law enforcement agencies in this country today, contains far too many white supremacists who think they’re answerable to nobody.
Betty
Just a little reminder that Muslims are annoyed when we refer to the anti-abortion ruling as Sharia law. Sharia law does not forbid abortions. We need another reference for this one.
Steeplejack
@R-Jud:
Baud
@Delk: Who does he think he is? The pope?
mistermix
@Betty: Canon law? I just changed it to that. Looking for something better.
TaMara
@Delk: That is perfect! Stuff that in your big hat, US bishop-asshats.
Old Man Shadow
Be nice if someone dragged all of these people into a courtroom.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: I wonder if it still tastes like stale cardboard. At least in the Byzantine Rite churches, you actually get bread and wine, like the book says.
ian
I don’t want to wish ill or harm on anyone, even those I despise, but I can certainly say I will not shed any tears or place any flowers.
MisterDancer
@mistermix: I’d go with “‘Christian’ law”, with Christian in quotes. It’s literally what they think they want, after all — never mind what the Bible actually says on any of this.
TaMara
Again, I will reiterate here – Rachel pretty much threw Peter Alexander under the bus last night while reporting this “news”. He’s a tool.
Calouste
@mistermix: I can’t remember the exact details, but someone high up in the papal hierarchy published an article in reaction to the “supreme” court decision that the Catholic Church’s support of life wasn’t limited to being anti-abortion, but that they were also anti-gun violence, anti-war, anti-death penalty, and supported health care for all. (Paraphrased). So a big middle finger to the US bishops who align themselves with the GOP.
Gin & Tonic
How life marches on: a Tweet from a Ukrainian, director of a think tank working on “social development” saying “Let’s agree: everyone who is against same-sex marriages will have the right not to enter into one. Where’s the problem?”
sab
@Delk: Pope is Jesuit so it doesn’t count.
Baud
FTA
Gin & Tonic
Odd. Twice I tried to post a comment, with text in Ukrainian (an embedded Tweet) and it just vanished. No moderation message, nothing. Like the bad old days. Is WG around?
UncleEbeneezer
Also worth noting: Oronato (the person Hutchinson says relayed the story to her) is NOT refuting her testimony.
hells littlest angel
@Betty: That’s always a helpful reminder. Muslims get enough bullshit from non-Muslims.
Gin & Tonic
OK, confirmed – Cyrillic text means the comment goes in the bit bucket. It would be nice to get this fixed (again.)
UncleEbeneezer
Since this is an Open Thread:
Megan Thee Stallion gets crowd of thousands at the Glastonbury Festival to scream “my body, my motherfuckin’ choice”
Gin & Tonic
Oh, I see she went to the vet. Ability to edit comments is gone too.
ETA: Edit is back.
TaMara
@Baud: As it should be. In any of the times I’ve taken communion, I’ve never been asked, “hey have you sinned today?” or asked my political views.
TaMara
@Gin & Tonic: It ended up in SPAM. I marked it as not spam, so hopefully that will continue, otherwise, shoot WG an email so she sees the issue.
Gin & Tonic
@TaMara: Thank you. I’ll drop her a note.
ETA: You can delete #30, that was just a test.
debbie
@mistermix:
Christianist law?
Booger
I really fhink Tony Ornato did his best work wirh Dawn back in the early 70s.
Ken
There’s a lot of #NotMyPope is the U.S. Catholic community, much of it driven by the bishops and archbishops.
RaflW
Great rant. But this part is wrong: “formerly bullied nerds”. They are still being bullied. The threats are just so commonplace now that we don’t even see them. But reporters and editors do.
cain
@MisterDancer: These folks want something as archaic as Sharia as the foundation, but of course it doesn’t go far enough when it comes to women’s bodies.
RaflW
“They’re like Republican women who are just now understanding that their ectopic pregnancy could lead to death under the new Canon law that they gleefully supported.”
Most of those women will still vote Republican the next time. Because they still believe that Black and brown people getting ‘welfare’, healthcare, $10K in student debt relief etc is an affront. How dare these people who don’t pay taxes (they do) getting this free shit! I’ll fly my granddaughter to Ireland for an abortion if I have to (and pretend its a sweet 16 grandma-granddaughter adventure).
Josie
“it’s Trump’s intention to go to the Capitol, not grabbing the wheel, that is the real issue here. ” This is exactly what my son, a prosecutor, told me just this morning Also, he mentioned that, based on his experience with law enforcement in general, he would tend to believe Cassidy over the agents.
Captain C
@MisterDancer:
How about ‘Christianist Law’? That emphasizes that it’s politicized, and also that it’s entirely reasonable for a Christian, especially a non-Fascist one, to believe otherwise (and not just on abortion, but on just about anything).
Paul in KY
@Gin & Tonic: We’uns don’t want that thar Putin to be sending coded messages thru BJ comments! Cyrillicee stuff is commie (or whatever Putin is now)!!
James E Powell
Many years ago, Duncan Black said, “Republicans kick the soccer ball and the press follows.”
It is not because the press are stupid or duped. It’s because the press are predisposed to do whatever Republicans tell them to do. That Duncan Black quote is from May 2009, a point in our history when Republicans were at their 21st century (so far) electoral low point. Yet even then, the press would do Republicans’ bidding by elevating a minor side story so as to obscure the big story.
I want them all to go away. Start with the entire Beltway.
Ramona
It just occurred to me that regardless of whether or not Trump is indicted, civil suits against Trump for injury, death and destruction of property can still present the J6 committee’s findings in court and likely collect.
Nevertheless, I still want to see him indicted.
IANAL, but I think Hutchinson’s testimony today just blew aside the last shreds of any Brandenburg defense he might make against a criminal charge of incitement.
Captain C
@debbie:
@Captain C: I see Debbie got there first.
Steeplejack
@mistermix:
Gilead law?
James E Powell
@mistermix:
Puritan Law?
misterpuff
Having watched the hearings and the effect of the hearings, I’m going to bet on the Committee. I do not think Liz and the team would have featured the SUV and the testimony related by Hutchingson unless they had it confirmed several ways.
Yes the GOP, Trump and cult members have their pattern of press manipulation (and the Press revels in it), but the J6 Committee also has established a pattern: Establish a clear point with testimony, put it out there and when the GOP or Trump criticize it or attack/smear the messenger, the Committee releases new testimony that corroborates and usually deepens the original testimony.
.
.
.
So I am waiting for the hammer to fall.
Betty Cracker
@mistermix: How about “superstitious nonsense”? It’s ecumenical!
cain
@James E Powell: Yep, DC press is wired for Republicans – and I think it’s because a lot of those journos are around my age now – all coming up during the Clinton years.
cain
@RaflW:
Until someone tattles on them and they get records like if they bought pregnancy test kit (they might even turn that into needing a doctors prescription to test in order to get it documented)
This place is mostly still unexplored but these folks in the red states are going to know what overreach govt intrusion is going to look like.
I wonder if their heads will explode after talking about small govt, but have their taxes go up to actually expand govt to track them.
Steeplejack
@misterpuff:
All of this.
Chief Oshkosh
I appreciated your many outstanding posts and the hard work of a front pager, but boy oh boy do you not understand how this works. Our self-appointed disinterested arbiters of truth will continue to do just fine under actual fascist rule. Just look at Russian media. Or Turkish media. Or any of a number of other media conglomerates in fascist states. There may be some initial winnowing of the small fry, but MSM is a large industry with consolidated, rich players. They do especially well under fascism.
Betty Cracker
@misterpuff: Interesting theory. Not to go all Zapruder film analysis, but it struck me as mildly odd yesterday in the hearing when Cheney described Trump leaving the rally in the SUV and then paused while video appeared onscreen depicting that, in a super-zoom that was somewhat low res. Why bother? Maybe they’ll spring more video later showing the SUV tantrum — that would be cool! :)
lowtechcyclist
@RaflW:
Sweet sixteen and
never been kissedalready been knocked up. :DCaseyL
@Chief Oshkosh: …and would have to work even less hard than they do now: just wait for the political officer to tell them what to say, and say it. Not a whole lot different from how it’s already done.
Calouste
@CaseyL: And the political police would go after the rabble that dare to contradict them on twitter, so even more of a win.
cain
@Calouste: See India
mistermix
How do you all feel about “Christofascist”?
mistermix
@Chief Oshkosh:
Can’t disagree with this, but the “small fry” that are up for winnowing don’t understand they’re small fry.
O. Felix Culpa
@mistermix:
Like the term, hate the concept. :)
oatler
@ian:
Chuck will be on the scene. “Both sides have tied my limbs to wild horses and they’re ignoring protocol! Go Nats!
Josie
@mistermix: Perfect
Baud
@mistermix:
Patricia Kayden
@Birdie: Yeah, but that would be too close to actual reporting for our MSM.
Chief Oshkosh
@Betty Cracker: That was exactly what I was thinking – does Jesus love us enough to have had the filming documentarians in The Beast for that ride?
Baud
@Chief Oshkosh:
I would be surprised if Jesus loved us that much.
Chief Oshkosh
@mistermix: True, but they’ll figure out toot sweet what will and will not get them a visit from the UStasi.
citizen dave
@Steeplejack: I didn’t know that was called a grawlix! Thank you. As a kid I guess the grawlix was something I always noticed. We had two newspapers coming in every day, and I read many of the comix.
EarthWindFire
@MisterDancer: I’d call it the Capitalist Jesus law. They’re treating adoptive children like a commodity and women like producers.
Patricia Kayden
@Betty Cracker: I really hope they have that video. Play it on a dang loop!
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic: I’ma gonna try it
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй
brantl
@Baud: If they didn’t want Nancy to get it, Nancy wouldn’t have gotten it. Just ’cause you’re in the line, doesn’t mean a priest will give you anything, other than the stink-eye.
citizen dave
@TaMara: I’ve always thought that NBC’S Peter Alexander looks like a tool. Always reminded me of the Seinfeld character/tool David Puddy.
Betty Cracker
@Chief Oshkosh: I’d be shocked if Jesus loves us enough for there to have been interior action shots. But my guess is The Beast doesn’t roll anywhere without multiple video cameras trained on it. I suppose it’s possible someone got a clip that showed Trump lunging, etc. I mean, you could see him wave bye-bye to the insurrectionists in the video the committee highlighted.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker: According to Maddow, it was so we could see he was in the smaller SUV and not the actual “Beast” Cadillac, in which it would have truly been impossible to reach over into the front seat.
catclub
I think you meant Nuremburg. Is the higher authority who gave the order Trump was following Putin?
The Brandenburg defense is to play a concerto.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
This “coming Reich” language and tone makes it sound like you think it’s inevitable, mistermix; that it’s a fait accompli. Well, the future is unknowable and none of us know what is going to happen
zhena gogolia
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Nobody knows. Don’t worry.
Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog
The media may be “wired for the Republicans”, but it strikes me as almost equally damning that they think whether or not Trump tried to take the wheel of the car is the story.
If you’re a reporter, and you have the choice of reporting the story of Trump wanting to lead an armed attack on the capital, hang the VP, murder various members of Congress, and install himself as King Don the First …
… or reporting the story of maybe he tried to grab the wheel, but maybe not, opinions differ, and in conclusion, America is a land of contrasts …
… and you choose the latter?
Just how bad at your job are you?
And your editors?
This is the best Professional Journalism (TM) has to offer?
Baud
I feel like the Trump taking the wheel story is distracting from the ketchup on the wall story.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Haha!
zhena gogolia
@Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog: Yeah. Everyone seems very calm about the president trying to kill the vice president.
Mnemosyne
@Delk:
Way too many American bishops think they’re more Catholic than the Pope.
Burnspbesq
ICYMI, the Brit documentary filmmakers is set to testify before the Atlanta grand jury early next month.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Mnemosyne:
Glad to see you back, Mnem! How have you been?
Bupalos
“the so-called liberal media is not on the side of truth, but rather on the side of their mostly white, mostly male media privilege.”
We really need to drop what is at this point a near reflex to bury everything under the impenetrable rubric of white male privilege. Not because it isn’t a big background part of the picture, it is. But because it obscures functional realities under a thick schmear of mostly imaginary ideology.
Realities like that the media doesn’t really operate on ideology at all, and its members aren’t calculating their interests within some future regime. The operating principles are much more visceral and organic. It’s a for-profit endeavor full of people trying to please the boss by delivering eyeball$ so they can earn money and fame and power.
Why focus on the salaciousness of alleged physical confrontations like grabbing the wheel or smashing the china? Because that’s true and important? No. Because that’s a white male way to do things? No. Because eyeballs. Money. Promotion. Drinks and dinner on the terrace. Why uncritically overpresent the denial of these confrontations? Eyeballs. Money. Promotion. Drinks and dinner on the terrace.
TaMara
@Betty Cracker: Would love it if a “there are tapes” moment arose.
Suzanne
@Delk:
Rod Dreher is complaining about this, saying Francis is “defying her local archbishop”. Apparently Dreher has to be reminded that the boss gets to tell one’s underlings what to do, not the other way around. LMAO.
Also via The American Conservative today, I read this great comment on one of their pieces, and it accurately summarizes the situation. Love that they’re being directly called out.
“The antiabortion movement has always been about ruining the lives of women in order to reduce the competition mediocre men face in jobs and education. In a fair world, mediocre men lead mediocre lives. The antifeminists exist to make the world better for mediocre men.”
Barry
@cain: And so many m-f-inf wannabe Stasi Karens, all aching to a chance to be a rat.
cope
@WaterGirl: If I understand things correctly (always an iffy proposition), that third person was Bobby Engle, the person the former president* tried to throttle. The point was made that Engle did not refute the story as told.
CaseyL
@Burnspbesq: Oh, that should be interesting. Are the filmmakers also going to appear before the J6 Committee?
Dangerman
@mistermix: Instead of “small fry”, let’s use a fish comparison. Small fish. Minnows.
The Minnows are definitely too close to the White House.
zhena gogolia
@cope: Yes, it was Robert Engel. not Engle
zhena gogolia
Cipollone
Ornato
Engel
Raoul Paste
I can’t get over the dish throwing and tablecloth yanking. This is a historical building , and one wonders. what was damaged.
Imagine future White House public tours. “And here, ladies and gentlemen, is where President Trump threw food and plates at the wall”
Steeplejack
@mistermix:
That works.
wvng
@Chief Oshkosh: As the Jan 6th hearing clearly showed, Trump was NOT in the Beast. He was in the armored Suburban he often rides in, where he had plenty of room to reach for the wheel. You might recall his joyride out of Walter Reed following covid treatment, where he was waving out the window to his supporters and sitting right behind the drivers section.
SiubhanDuinne
@zhena gogolia:
Non Engli, sed Engeli
Mnemosyne
@brantl:
Agreed. It’s highly unlikely that the Vatican would not know exactly where a visiting dignitary was in that crowd and whether or not she was eligible to receive communion. It’s not like she was there on vacation or traveling incognito.
Uncle Cosmo
@Gin & Tonic: Speaking for myself, I wonder if it still sticks to the woof of your mowf if you don’t gulp it right down. I remember once dipping a finger in the holy water font so I could pry it loose…a long, long, pre-Vatican-II time ago…:^D
Paul in KY
@Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog: The way their job really works, they are good at running with the most inane, non-news portion of the revelations.
UncleEbeneezer
Janelle Monae also nails it: “Fuck you, Supreme Court“
hueyplong
@Betty Cracker: I saw that same footage yesterday and had the same reaction — they might be waiting to spring an enhanced shot on a lying SS agent.
Mnemosyne
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Pretty good, thanks! I had a productive time away — I published a short story last year and I’m publishing three more this year (preorder links above ).
Mallard Filmore
@Betty:
I’m rather partial to “White Jesus law”.
JoyceH
@Betty Cracker:
The hearing just showed a brief clip of that. Someone on Twitter linked to the CSPAN footage of the Trump rally, all 4+ hours of it. At the very end it showed the motorcade. After the Suburban loaded, it just sat there for over four minutes. It did look as if someone leaned forward from the back seat, either talking to someone in front, or… who knows? I’m sure someone with better equipment and video skills than me has taken that four minutes and is hard at work enlarging it and slowing it down.
raven
@Bupalos: You’re gonna get in trouble. . . .
divF
@Suzanne: Francis has already dissed Cordileone, by passing over him for a cardinal’s hat in the most recent announcement of cardinals being elevated at the next consistory in August. Especially since McElroy, the bishop of San Diego, who takes a more pastoral, less political approach to his calling in line with Francis, is on the list.
ETA: This is a double-barreled slap in the face – the San Francisco episcopate has been traditionally been occupied by a cardinal, and Francis is elevating a bishop (not an archbishop) ahead of him.
ian
@catclub: Brandenburg is the 1969 relevant case law regarding incitement to violence.
Steeplejack
@citizen dave:
There are names for all of the different symbols or visual effects: “odor lines” (wafterons), running-away puff of dust (briffit), etc. Hilarious.
SiubhanDuinne
@Dangerman:
But “small fry,” by definition, are fish!
mistermix
@Bupalos:
I agree that this is a big part of it, but why not both: privilege and moneylust. I used to think that greed was a bigger part, but then I saw how the Post treated Wesley Lowrey and realized that it isn’t only greed.
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
Thank you.
Uncle Cosmo
@Baud:
(Tom Lehrer, of course.)
Back in my salad days** when we played that cut at a party, the ones writhing on the floor & losing sphincter control with laughter were the mackerel-snap…uhhh…Catholic kids***. We alone knew enough about the rites & wrongs to truly understand what a holy hoot it was…
** Late 1960s. When I was a green leafy vegetable drowning in oil and vinegar.
*** True story: I never encountered this (tactfully interrupted) pejorative for “Catholic” until well into my forties, in John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany. Might’ve been a regional thing – it was effectively unknown down in Balmer Merlin Hon.
VOR
Ms. Hutchinson was not present for the alleged incident between TFG and the lead of his security detail. She recounted a story told to her by people who were present. The agent in question was present when Ms. Hutchinson was told the story and did not interject or contradict the story.
The incident did not take place in the presidential limo, aka “The Beast”. The committee showed video of the motorcade leaving which showed SUVs. We know TFG previously used similar SUVs, such as his outing when he was ill with COVID but wanted to see the crowds outside the hospital. Remember, the location of his speech is about 2 blocks from the White House – it’s very close. I suspect White House aides use the term “the beast” as a way to refer to whatever vehicle the president is in, much as the term Air Force One refers to any airplane holding the president rather than a specific airplane.
The incident is not the important part. The important part is that TFG was determined to go to the Capital and had to be stopped by his security team.
The really important thing from Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony is that TFG had been informed the crowd had weapons, he was okay with them having weapons, and told them to go to the Capital anyway.
If these people want to contradict Ms. Hutchinson, then they need to do so under oath. Put up or shut up.
citizen dave
@JoyceH: Thanks for this info on the footage. I’m picturing the driver/agent doing the classic Dad move: driving with the left arm, reaching in the back seat with his right arm swatting at The Donald, yelling “I’m going to turn this car right around!”
‘Least that’s how my childhood trips were..
UncleEbeneezer
“Again this is worth repeating. Justice Dems, Working Families Party, Sunrise Movement, Our Revolution, Brand New Congress got caught up in Bernie’s platform and put #M4A and #GND ahead of reproductive rights for years. Now they’re trying to change the subject. Don’t let them.”
This is something that has really been pissing me off in recent days. I remember the 2020 Dem Primaries and how they were utterly dominated by unending litmus tests on GND/M4A (both of which I support) and how things like Voting Rights and Abortion Rights were treated as mere afterthoughts. I remember the way Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris (who went hardest on the need to protect Choice) were mocked and called bad candidates for doing so and being insufficiently pure. Hell, for just the past six months (until Uvalde) all this segment of the Left wanted to talk about was StudentLoans!!1! These groups are very good at focussing on the trees (advocating for their pet issues) but suck donkey balls at seeing the forrest (threats to Democracy and Civil Rights) and they way too often dominate the discourse on the Left in this country.
VOR
@Raoul Paste: I would love to hear testimony from White House staff with an inventory of items destroyed by TFG. We’re not talking about Ikea plates here, I have to believe someone tracks White House china.
HumboldtBlue
This guy has seen some shit.
Steeplejack
@citizen dave:
I know you’re making a joke, but this is a point of contention. Some people think that the SUV driver and Bobby Engel are one and the same; others think that the driver and Engel are two separate people. I am in the latter camp, although I saw some news reports last night conflating the two. And, listening again to that part of Hutchinson’s testimony this morning, it is somewhat ambiguous.
Omnes Omnibus
@James E Powell: Puritans we’re fine with abortion. They were also a lot more sex positive than they are portrayed.*
*Another in my apparently quixotic series of attempts to stop Puritan defamation.
Steeplejack
@UncleEbeneezer:
GND is Green New Deal. I had to look that up.
Geminid
@UncleEbeneezer: Politicians affiliated with the organizations you mention all vehemently denounce the”dark money SuperPACs” supporting their opponents. Yet these organizations are all supported by their own dark money SuperPACs.
@LizBurgh does a lot of good research of these organizations and their candidates’ financing by assiduously studying FEC reporting and other public records.
Paul in KY
@citizen dave: Because he knew that after 100 yards, he’d be sweating something awful & would have to be carried the rest of the way.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
As I said elsewhere, the Founding Fathers had no problem with abortion prior to “quickening” (aka the first trimester). That’s what Alito had to go back to 17th century witch hunters to find the quotes he wanted.
ETA: Plus, historically, the life of the mother was ALWAYS paramount. Not so much these days.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: (Waves at Omnes.)
Due to my job at the Home of the Orange Apron, I’m more of a lurker these days. I tend to get to threads after they’re long dead.
catclub
@ian: ah! thanks.
Tony G
@citizen dave: I was an 18 year old kid when Ford gave that blanket pardon to Nixon. It’s been my opinion for the past 48 years that Ford’s pardon caused more lasting damage to the country than anything that Nixon did. In effect, Ford was saying, loud and proud, that powerful people will not be held accountable for their crimes. Reagan, the Bushes, Trump and many others heard that message loud and clear and they have acted accordingly.
oatler
@Uncle Cosmo:
Victorian writer George Borrow was common in midwestern area libraries, at least through the 1960s. His mouth was as frothy as Adolf’s but his target was Catholicism. He used words not well-known today, like “Papish” and Romish” when he’d waste pages on incoherent rants. This was not remarked on in my day.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Is the pope catholic?
Soprano2
@MisterDancer: If you haven’t found it yet, here’s a link to the post I saw about RA and not being able to get meds last night https://twitter.com/acrowandthedead/status/1541602157492948994
Mart
@Josie: Us olds facing Vietnam knew of folks with proper connections who got in the reserves ahead of hundreds of thousands; because they knew the reserves nearly never faced combat at the time. (Came as quite a shock to many a Gulf War I volunteer reservists to be called up.) Bush Jr. gets to the head of the reserves line of hundreds of thousands; and then gets trained to fly jets – one the most expensive individual weapons platforms – training that would never be used in combat. That absolutely unreputable story was buried in months of the wrong font and how bad should Dan Rather be punished for his crimes. So tiring.
misterpuff
@mistermix:
Canon law is perfect. These phony impartial justices seem to think they are wearing Cardinal Robes.
/s from a fallen away Catlick!
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: Alito got the Judge Hale citation wrong anyway. Hale used the quickening standard. IOW Alito is worse than the witch convicting guy who did not believe in marital rape. Plus, he was dishonest about it.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Does the pope shit in the woods?
Martin
Do not feed this story. Do not feed the ‘throwing food’ story.
Turmp’s personality is not at issue here. It would be a relevant story for any other politician, but these are not the disqualifying acts.
Demanding that armed protestors be able to bypass security so he could personally march them to the Capitol to threaten Congress and the VP – a plan that was conceived days before Jan 6 is the story. That is the equivalent of an act of war against the United States. That is the only relevant story. Who fucking cares about his temper. We can deal with bad tempers. Lyndon Johnson had a bad temper. Addressed the White House press corps buck naked. Who cares. Embarrassment is not the hill we die on. TRYING TO OVERTHROW THE MOTHERFUCKING GOVERNMENT IS THE MOTHERFUCKING HILL WE DIE ON!
What the Jan 6 committee should do here is take the agents up on their offer. Get them to testify and don’t ask them anything about grabbing the wheel or assaulting an agent. “They do not deny that Trump was irate and wanted to drive to the Capitol”. *That’s* the crime that matters and getting his detail to testify to that fact matters. Who cares *how* irate he was.
The Lodger
@Omnes Omnibus: John Paul II was a former member of the Polish ski patrol, and those guys got into the woods quite often. So, quite likely.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: I thought that was kind of odd, too, yesterday, with the focus on the slow motion of the SUV. I expected them to be showing us the action, and was surprised when they didn’t.
Maybe they are keeping that in their pockets to rebut all the lies the Rs will be telling in the next few days.
catclub
@Mart:
The dodging the draft via Nat’l Guard was ignored as standard for his class. The story also showed he had gone awol to campaign for some senate candidate in Alabama. hence the font wars.
RedDirtGirl
Open thread? Did you guys hear about this?
ETA: Another Freddie Gray situation!
zhena gogolia
@Martin: TRUTH
Citizen Alan
@Betty: Possibly off topic, but my pet theory theory for why there is such a hysterical fear and hatred of sharia law in this country Is that, as I understand it, sharia law forbids collecting interest on loans which means that it is a potential threat both right to our capital banking system.
Citizen Alan
@EarthWindFire:
Not producers. They’re a resource to be mined for extraction.
Omnes Omnibus
@ BillinGlendaleCA: Cool.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Just saw this on Reddit. Poster claims that a major Republican marketing firm which is central to a lot of campaigns around the country is about to shut down because of losing all of their accountants to bad management.
Anybody have any thoughts on who this might be and whether the impact could be as large as the poster is gleefully suggesting?
Citizen Alan
@Raoul Paste:
Around the time of Biden’s inauguration, I was genuinely afraid that Shitgibbon had carved his name into the resolute desk.
Chief Oshkosh
@Dangerman: Actually fry are fish, specifically: “recently hatched or juvenile fishes”
Jim Appleton
Eight of the most powerful words in history, Bennie Thompson’s closing remarks 6/28/2022, referring to 2020 election conspirators/coupists:
“Your attempts to hide the truth will fail.”
Chief Oshkosh
@wvng: I’ve conflated my grossly-oversized, black presidential vehicles — thanks for the correction. And I do recall the spin around the hospital in the SUV; in fact, this testimony brought it to mind yesterday. Didn’t one of the SS detail get covid from that?
Scout211
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Could it be this marketing firm?
lowtechcyclist
@UncleEbeneezer:
Let’s see: voting rights and BBB were dead, nothing to be done about the Bogus Scotus, but Biden could act unilaterally about student loans.
The people directly affected by student loans are disproportionately Democratic, but are also disproportionately on the younger side, which means lower turnout. Maybe they felt that action on this front would get more young, educated Dem voters to actually vote. That’s a good thing, right?
Whatever else the sins of the groups you mention might be, this seems to be a less than inspired criticism.
artem1s
@Citizen Alan:
Judaic law also forbids usury. But the fundies are just fine with using Levitical Law to justify homophobia, misogyny and just about everything else they hate under the sun.
audax major
@James E Powell: Ouch! I live inside the Washington Beltway.
Skepticat
@Betty:
I’d imagine that Muslim people get rightfully annoyed when people talk about Sharia law at all, considering the fact that those who bandy the term about have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about but simply (and I use that word advisedly) assume it must be baaaad.
Odie Hugh Manatee
I wish there was some way to give reporters first amendment protections but not their media employers. IOW, an individual may say whatever they want to say about anything they want (true or not) without government interference but hold to account any media organizations that reprint false or misleading reporting that they write. Give the individual the protections and allow them to be employed by media organizations who have to vet their reporters for veracity, honesty and accuracy in reporting. If they hire and use reporting from liars, they get sued blue.
Our media is designed to trigger (anger) people to drive views/clicks, it’s what makes them money. They don’t care if it’s true or not; the more outrageous it is the more money it makes them. Republicans know this and do outrageous shit specifically to get attention. Democrats just aren’t crazy enough to make the news and thus we don’t hear from them. The more you watch our media, the less informed you are about something that you are interested in. Most media likes to shape opinion rather deliver a story that informs you.
They are not interested in informing anymore, making them detrimental to our society.
Scout211
Cassidy Hutchinson’s attorney just released a statement.
My bold, with a hat tip to the the attorneys and Ms. Hutchinson.
David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch
Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen were called liars.
The whistleblower who exposed Dump’s extortion of Ukraine was called a liar.
Hell, even John Dean, as well as Woodward and Bernstein, were called a liars by WH officials during Watergate.
Calling whistleblowers liars is what the Mob does.
UncleEbeneezer
@lowtechcyclist: I know people in these camps. I remember what they were saying in 2016 (when control of the Supreme Court was still up in the air and Abortion, Voting Rights, Gun Control, Immigration etc. were all on the line and those people sure as hell didn’t want to talk about those things then either.
A Good Woman
@cope:
Also, Cheney followed up as to who was in the room (Engel) and did he dispute the story. He didn’t.
livewyre
@Martin: I think someone beat you to it. Let’s not get distracted about which distraction we’re distracting ourselves from.
J R in WV
@Gin & Tonic:
Our very Catholic family doctor is much the same. “If you oppose abortion, then don’t have one!” he told Wife some time back. He converted to marry his wife of many decades…
J R in WV
@mistermix:
I like it very well. Perhaps we can squeeze in some theocratic patriarchy as well? Like theocratic Christofascist patriarchy maybe!
J R in WV
@Baud:
Holy cow, that’s almost exactly what the Christofascist theocratic patriarchy wants to do right here.
J R in WV
@Mnemosyne:
I think I read earlier today that Madam Speaker was also seated in a special area reserved for high-rollers/dignitaries among the crowd.
So yeah, they knew who she was. Nor was it her first trip to Rome!
Rich2506
Way back during the 70s, Newsweek published a story on what purported to be Hitler’s diaries. They discovered the diaries were fake (and boring as hell). Newsweek felt obliged to run the correction on the cover because that’s where the original story was featured. They felt the correction had to be just as prominent as the original story.
Where did we lose those kind of journalistic ethics?
evodevo
@Citizen Alan:
As did Catholic law, IIRC, up through the Middle Ages…I am unsure when that became moot…
Ramona
@catclub: I meant Brandenburg: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/brandenburg_test
Quaker in a Basement
“…if and only if one of these clowns goes under oath and swears to a different version of the story…”
After which Cheney pulls a Columbo and adds, “Oh, I almost forgot. One more thing….”