Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

This fight is for everything.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

You are here: Home / 2024 Elections / More stupid shit!

More stupid shit!

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One of the January 6th insurrectionists was sentenced to 10 years in prison today. From NBC News:

WASHINGTON — A retired New York City Police Department officer who was convicted of several felonies for attacking a D.C. cop with a flag pole on Jan. 6 and then tackling the officer to the ground and attempting to rip off his gas mask was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on Thursday. Thomas Webster was sentenced by Judge Amit P. Mehta to the longest sentence yet in a Jan. 6 case.

The violent cultist’s cult leader said this today: [WaPo]

Former president Donald Trump said he would issue full pardons and a government apology to rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and violently attacked law enforcement to stop the democratic transfer of power.

“I mean full pardons with an apology to many,” he told conservative radio host Wendy Bell on Thursday morning. Such a move would be contingent on Trump running and winning the 2024 presidential election.

Do you reckon President Biden’s speechwriters are editing the draft of the speech on saving democracy right now? Good lord, these people are nuts.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

77Comments

  1. 1.

    zhena gogolia

    And I’m seeing disturbing stuff about the Special Master crap, but not being a lawyer, I don’t know if it’s Chicken Little or not. We need OO.

  4. 4.

    CaseyL

    A squirrel has come into my house.  She is sure I have a cache of hazelnuts I’m not sharing (she’s right).

    She’s been hanging out on the back deck (where regular readers may remember I have a container garden – though nothing that would interest a squirrel).  She comes in, looks for nuts, and runs back onto the deck again.  I put a big bowl of water out for her, plus a few hazelnuts, because I am the World’s Biggest Sucker for animals.

    I have also laid out a line of hazelnuts stretching from the back deck, across the living room, and to the front door which is propped open.

    To my utter amazement, neither of my cats is the slightest bit interested.

  8. 8.

    Doc Sardonic

    @zhena gogolia: She is going to rule for Trump. That was baked in when he filed. Although I am not a lawyer, judges generally do not telegraph their rulings in advance like she did, then reinforce that telegraphing during the hearing then do a 180. She has deferred to have a chance to do a late night or weekend ruling drop to in her mind maybe slip it under the radar.

  10. 10.

    Old School

    It’s about time he apologizes to the rioters for leaving them hanging.  He should have marched with them!

  11. 11.

    TaMara

    @zhena gogolia: Bradley Moss is my go-to on this stuff –

  14. 14.

    Scout211

    On CNN

    It looks like the long sentence was partially because of this, from the judge.

    “It is not until you arrived, Mr. Webster, that all hell broke loose,” Judge Amit Mehta said of the police line which Webster broke.

  17. 17.

    Barbara

    @TaMara: I am assuming they will be reviewing those documents 24/7 unless and until she tells them to stop. The idea that they could not even review them to determine or mitigate damage to national security interests is just obscene.  These are — most of them — clearly government records.

  18. 18.

    prostratedragon

    @Baud:  Rabbit, rabbit!​

    [I have always found 2 rabbits, to be efficacious, but some insist on “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit.”]

  21. 21.

    CaseyL

    @Ken:

    Oscar (one of my cats) has now gone out onto the deck.  The squirrel will probably vanish over the railing.  At least I hope so, rather than a panicked run into the house and upstairs.

    Hoo boy.

    Regarding the special master: I have no faith in the judge.  She took the motion away from the only court officially able to hear it, said at the outset she was inclined to appoint a Special Master, and seems completely ignorant of (or has decided to ignore) the applicable law.

    Saying now that the FBI can’t review the documents once she rules (thus also signalling that she will grant Trump’s request) is insane.

    The Federalist Society is focused on destroying the American government, so Judge Cannon’s behavior is fully in keeping with her training, and is the reason she was put on the bench.

  22. 22.

    Scout211

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Here is a short update from CNN in their breaking news updates

    A federal judge said Thursday she’s considering allowing the intelligence community to continue to review documents seized at Mar-a-Lago as part of damage assessments, according to reports from the courtroom.

    But US District Judge Aileen Cannon said she’s considering temporarily blocking the Justice Department from accessing the materials for its criminal probe if she appoints a special master to first review the materials for potential privilege issues.

  26. 26.

    Scout211

    Lindsey with a partial win.

    Seems like a big one, though.

     

    “(T)he Court quashes the subpoena only as to questions about Sen. Graham’s investigatory fact-finding on the telephone calls to Georgia election officials, including how such information related to his decision to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election,” May wrote in her ruling Thursday. “The Court finds that this area of inquiry falls under the protection of the Speech or Debate Clause, which prohibits questions on legislative activity.”

    One of the calls of particular interest to Willis is a call Graham made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, when — according to Raffensperger — Graham hinted that Raffensperger should discard some Georgia ballots during the state’s audit.May wrote that “Graham may be questioned about any alleged efforts to encourage Secretary Raffensperger or others to throw out ballots or otherwise alter Georgia’s election practices and procedures.”

  31. 31.

    Craig

    @CaseyL: A pal of mine in Vancouver BC has a couple of squirrels that come into his house. He started hand feeding them a couple of years ago. He said they always come alone, and it’s a couple of times a week, not greedy. Even Canadian squirrels are polite.

  32. 32.

    TaMara

    @JPL: I’ve gotten the sense, only paying a bit of attention, that she is trying not to piss off them that brung her, but ultimately won’t do something stupid that will quickly be overturned.  She talks like she’s going to favor them, but will ultimately rule with the DOJ with maybe a little bone to drumpers

  33. 33.

    Scout211

    California just passed a “massive climate and clean energy package.”

    Among other things, the legislation will codify new benchmarks to get California to 90% clean electricity by 2035 and 95% by 2040 — stepping stones toward its already established goal of 100% clean electricity by 2045.

    The $54 billion, intended to be spent over five years, contains around $6 billion for electric vehicles and more than $8 billion to decarbonize the state’s electrical grid — which is still heavily reliant on natural gas. It also includes close to $15 billion to improve public transit, and over $5 billion for climate and drought resilience programs.

  34. 34.

    Chief Oshkosh

    Judge Lucy Cannon, seated after Trump lost the election. How is it even allowable that this come before her?

  36. 36.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @TaMara: I sure hope you’re right. However, I don’t think any of the Trump appointed Fed Soc judges really give a rats ass about being overturned. First, they’re not long-term thinkers. Second, there’s a very good chance that ultimate appeal to USSC (majority Fed Soc) will result in confirmation of her ruling, and third, given that she and the rest of her ilk have shown that politics trumps all, what does she really care? She’s got a lifetime appointment and gets the same paycheck whether she calls balls, strikes, or fouls.

  38. 38.

    Keith P.

    @Scout211: potential privilege issues.

    I still don’t get this.  The only privilege that would apply to a FPOTUS vs the POTUS would be (personal) attorney-client, and by definition, all those documents with the big red or yellow borders saying ‘(TOP) SECRET/SCI’ wouldn’t fall under that privilege.

  43. 43.

    Keith P.

    @Baud: Probably a language filter team consisting of a guy with a swear jar for every time an agent reviewing the evidence says “JESUS FUCK-ING CHRIST!” or “WHAT…THE…FUCK!?!?!” or “HOLYSHITWHATISTHISGUYUPTO?!??!?!”

  44. 44.

    CaseyL

    @Chief Oshkosh: It isn’t.  Special Master requests are ONLY supposed to be heard in the DC Circuit Court: that’s the law.

    But Trump is lawless, and apparently so is the judge.

    And with Federalist Society judges seeded throughout the Federal judiciary, there is no recourse.

    PS: I don’t understand why the DoJ didn’t challenge that, the instant Trump filed in Cannon’s court.

  45. 45.

    Scout211

    @Keith P.: IANAL but Trump’s lawyers keep writing “privilege”  with no distinction between executive and attorney-client.  I don’t think it’s a mistake, though. They seem to have a plan with that wording. For the judge? For the MAGA followers out there? Who?

    What I have read of the DOJ filing, they make very clear the distinction between the two types.  And are very clear why Trump is not entitled to executive privilege.

  47. 47.

    Captain C

    @Baud: Unless it’s another Trump hack judge, I’d expect, or at least hope for, something along the lines of “You’re a joke as a judge and this order is gibberish and wrong and therefore squashed with extreme prejudice.  Resign, go back to law school, or just do the Honorable Thing”, but in exquisite legalese.​
    ​
    ​
    ​
    ​
     

    ETA: At least from my IANAL POV.

  49. 49.

    Urza

    Ok, maybe its cause i’m not employed by the FBI.  Nor have any legal training.  But unless those documents were WAAAY thicker than the picture, how is it 1 person couldn’t finish reading all of them within a day?  Like this whole appointing a special master to protect privileged anything seems stupid because anyone that reads faster than TFG, so the whole planet, would have already finished doing at least a cursory read of everything and seen anything privileged.  Now, maybe they need to do deeper investigations, fingerprinting, trying to tie each doc to actions he took which could take some time.  But the reading itself to see whats there had damn well better be done by now and that means anything they wanted hidden isn’t at this point and who’s fault is that other than the guy who mixed in all his private crap with the TS documents.

  50. 50.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @CaseyL:

    PS: I don’t understand why the DoJ didn’t challenge that, the instant Trump filed in Cannon’s court.

    Seems like DOJ ought to do that, then. Does the opportunity disappear within days? And who would that challenge it to? The Lucy Cannon herself? Or some other judge?

  52. 52.

    Geminid

    So trump promises to pardon all the January 6 criminals on the same day a judge sentences the guy whom pictures show trying to gouge a cop’s eyes out that day. A stable genius indeed!

  57. 57.

    JanieM

    @CaseyL: In the amicus brief?

    Second, Congress has established a specific procedure, set out in the Presidential
    Records Act (“PRA”), through which a former president may challenge a sitting
    president’s invocations of (or refusals to assert) executive privilege. The former
    President’s motion ignores that statute’s requirements, including the requirement that any
    challenge by a former president to the Executive Branch’s rejection of his claim of
    privilege be brought in the jurisdiction available under the PRA, the United States
    District Court for the District of Columbia. The former President thus seeks relief to
    which he is not entitled—adjudication of his claims of executive privilege by a special
    master—in a court that is statutorily precluded from hearing the matter.

  58. 58.

    Betsy

    @CaseyL: The squirrel is sure that you have a cache of hazelnuts that you could share in an intentional way in order to get the squirrel to come into your house.

    Could she be right?!

  60. 60.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @CaseyL: To the best of my knowledge that is not true.  Also, if it was why would the DOJ not have addressed it in the 36 page brief?  They forgot?  Come on.

  61. 61.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @JanieM: Okay, that is an argument that this is the wrong jurisdiction not that only the DC Circuit can appoint special masters.

  64. 64.

    eversor

    @Urza:

    You find a person thats cleared, cleared for those compartments, read into/has a need to know the stuff in there, and in the case of the ORCON stuff they have to check with the originator that they can.

    I don’t think the FBI is going to break the rules on this.  However this is enough of an “oh shit” moment I’m sure all the various agencies and parties involved are willing to work as rapidly as possible to get people there and the FBI to actually figure out what in the fuck happened.  Cause this looks to be the property of and generated by multiple agencies and I’m sure everyone wants to know what Trump stole from them.

  65. 65.

    Martin

    @Scout211: I’m a bit more encouraged about this bill than I am about the Inflation Reduction Act. Seeing more money for mass transit than for EVs is moving in the right direction. The EV money is a boondoggle. We’ll regret not spending it on other stuff.

  66. 66.

    Scout211

    @JanieM: They are likely referring to this in the Presidential Records Act.

    e) The United States District Court for the District of Columbia shall have jurisdiction over any action initiated by the former President asserting that a determination made by the Archivist violates the former President’s rights or privileges.

  67. 67.

    Geminid

    @Martin: At least there was a lot of money for mass transit in the Infrastructure bill. Ten billion dollars for New York City’s MTA alone. Plus $60 billion for AMTRAK, more than total investment since its founding

    We need to do more but this was a good start.

  68. 68.

    CaseyL

    Squirrel update, if anyone’s interested: She is finally out of the house. I put some hazelnuts just outside the front door and she went for them.  I quickly closed the door when I saw her on the front porch.

    I was getting very worried, because I can tell she’s a nursing mother, and wherever her kids are stashed, it ain’t on my back deck!

  73. 73.

    Gravenstone

    @CaseyL: To my utter amazement, neither of my cats is the slightest bit interested

    There is an upper limit to the rodent size engagement threshold. At least for the less motivated felines.

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