Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

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

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

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

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Good News-Bad News Open Thread

Good News-Bad News Open Thread

by | 174 Comments

This post is in: 

The wheels of justice turn slowly, and sometimes the vigil is like waiting for Godot. But it’s encouraging that some of the worst people in the country got mauled in court this week, including Donald J. Trump, Alex Jones, Mike “Pillow” Lindell and James O’Keefe. To recap:

  • Team Shitgibbon got kneed in the groin by its hand-picked “special master,*” Judge Dearie, and the Trumpified 11th Circuit Court of Appeals vaporized the special treatment Trump received from Trump-appointed Judge Cannon.
  • The squat, poisonous toad Jones lost his shit on the stand in a Connecticut court yesterday, and in a Houston courtroom, a bankruptcy judge barred Jones’ corrupt henchmen from overseeing InfoWars operations and ferreting out its assets.
  • Citing the 11th’s ruling against Trump, a Trump-appointed judge in Minnesota rejected Lindell’s motion for a restraining order, allowing the DOJ to continue its criminal investigation into the coup attempt and telling Lindell to go scream into one of his crappy pillows. (Okay, I made that last part up.)
  • A jury in DC found that O’Keefe’s Project Veritas violated wiretapping laws and fraudulently misrepresented itself during one of its “sting” operations, awarding its victim $120K.

In not-so-encouraging news, it looks like Matt Gaetz might get away with whatever grotesque shit he was up to (for which he begged Trump for a pardon):

(WaPo) Career prosecutors have recommended against charging Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) in a long-running sex-trafficking investigation — telling Justice Department superiors that a conviction is unlikely in part because of credibility questions with the two central witnesses, according to people familiar with the matter.

The witnesses in question were former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg and Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend. So, Gaetz will probably skate for sex trafficking a minor. That’s what usually happens when people with rich and powerful families commit crimes.

And Joel Greenberg, also the frat-boy shithead scion of a rich and powerful family, will do time but probably not nearly as much as a regular person would for his many crimes since he cooperated, even though ultimately he proved too much of a scumbag to be useful. That sucks.

Anyhoo, I plan to focus on the positive. Open thread.

*Can we please find another term for the person who fulfills this function? Principal Expert? Document Doyen? Due Diligence Dude?  

Reader Interactions

174Comments

  1. 1.

    kindness

    I have a hard time with the ‘good Christians’ of Gaetz’s district continuing to support such an ugly predator.  Then I remind myself these people’s views of Christianity are essentially the anti-Christ versions and the MSM plays along ignoring it all.  The whole of the Republican party has gone tribal.

  3. 3.

    Tony G

    @kindness: I “grew up” was a Catholic back in the Stone Age.  Corrupt, ignorant, mean-spirited “Christians” are, unfortunately, as common as dirt.

  4. 4.

    JCJ

    Well, when you think of the “special master” for Dump just picture him hogtied with a dominatrix using a whip on him.

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    @Tony G: Yep. Fake Christian DeSantis is putting religious fanatics in charge of public school education in the name of protecting children from LGBTQ “groomers” at schools. I want to ask every Florida voter if they had to leave their children with a random evangelical preacher / Catholic priest or a random school teacher, which would they choose?

  10. 10.

    cope

    Having taken so long to get to this point vis-a-vis Gaetz, I was feeling less and less hopeful that he would be charged.  He’s just another horrible human whom I will have to accept is unlikely to suffer legal retribution for vile actions.

    On the positive side, though, it does seem that Jones is likely to suffer some rather severe punishments, though probably more financial than incarceratory.

    O’Keefe I prefer not to even think about so, OK, good that he has to cough up what probably amounts to a week’s worth of Koch money.

    TFG…who knows?  He reminds me of the Bismarck.  He can take a lot of punishment but I can’t imagine that he won’t go down.

    The Pillow Guy is just a joke so HA HA.

    Off topic but get ready for whatever name is given to TD 9.  We just put our central Florida home on the market a week ago and things do not bode well for mid-week.

  11. 11.

    Geminid

    The second witness in the Gaetz matter might be a Greenberg associate with the DJ name of “Big Mike.” When “Big Mike” pled guilty to two federal felonies, including illegal distribution of Adderall, his attorney reportedly told journalists that his client could incriminate Gaetz. “Big Mike’s” sentencing was in the hands of the same judge as Greenberg’s.

  12. 12.

    Betty Cracker

    @matt: I’m not sure how it works, but prosecutors dropped more than two dozen charges against Greenberg to secure his cooperation, and he cooperated. Can they walk that back because he’s such a scumbag that a jury would discount his testimony? They knew that going in.

  15. 15.

    waspuppet

    So, Gaetz will probably skate for sex trafficking a minor. That’s what usually happens when people with rich and powerful families commit crimes.

    It’s also what happens when they only associate with creeps and crooks — “You’re gonna trust HIM?! He’s a crook!” — and they totally know that. That’s why they associate with them.

  16. 16.

    cain

    @Betty Cracker: Gaetz is going to continue doing stupid shit, there will be another opportunity.

    Look at Project Veritas, we finally got something on that asshole – we still haven’t sent him to prison where he belongs. His ilk for some reason get special treatment from the justice system.

  18. 18.

    Ohio Mom

    I maintain hope that justice will catch up with Matt Gaetz eventually. Because he’s not walking away thinking, “Whew, I just scraped by this time, better straighten up and fly right, next time I may not be so lucky.”

    He’s thinking, “Yup, I’m bullet proof, yee haw! Full speed ahead!”

  23. 23.

    Mai Naem mobile

    They may not get Gaetz this time but from what I’ve seen something like this happening usually empowers people like Gaetz to do more stupid stuff. Stuff that he will eventually get in trouble for.

  26. 26.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Betty, I’m not criticising, but I wonder why you didn’t include the Tish James NYState lawsuit against TFG, the TFG Organization, Don TFG Jr, Ivanka TFG, and Eric TFG. Surely that’s something to celebrate as well

    ETA: Oh, on rereading the OP, I see you were referring only to court actions and decisions. My bad.

  27. 27.

    oatler

    I get a heapin’ spoonful of Mypillow ads every morning on MeTV. Supposedly it’s not MeTV but the AZ affiliate. The price I pay to see Tex Avery and the GOOD Tom & Jerrys. MeTV is all Shemp and no Curly, literally.

  28. 28.

    Geminid

    @cain: I’m not sure I was implying anything. Ms. Cracker said the shaky second witness against Gaetz was his former girlfriend, and I said it might be an associate of Greenberg’s. I guess my saying that sentencing of this “Big Mike” was in the hands of the same judge as Greenberg’s implied that “Big Mike” figured in the Gaetz case, but I’d already said that.

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    @cain:

    Gaetz is going to continue doing stupid shit, there will be another opportunity.

    That was my first thought, too, except that where you put stupid shit, I had sexual activities with underage girls.

  34. 34.

    WereBear

    I found my Scribd account has a four part Ludlum series that starts with The Hades Factor.

    I need to rest this weekend and imaginary crises sound just right.

  36. 36.

    gene108

    As a sitting member of Congress, Gaetz’s position offers a patina of legitimacy that wouldn’t be given to others.

    Second, his BIL is a billionaire. If he’s on decent terms with BIL, he’ll get the money to really challenge the prosecutors.

    None of the women/girls, who were getting paid want to be a part of any trial. I can’t blame them.

    They’re the only other people who can corroborate any of the allegations Gaetz is accused of.

  39. 39.

    Anonymous At Work

    Reading the Jones saga as an attorney, he’s hurting himself continually with these games and any money he makes he either has to disclose to a fed-up bankruptcy judge (Reuters article is very neutral but the judge’s words are harsh) and get factored into each subsequent trial.  Plus having an independent third-party running his finances for a decent stretch is likely to uncover further malfeasance.  Not a stretch, given his history and having lost 3 separate lawsuits for non-compliance with judges’ orders.  Taken to the next level, malfeasance in bankruptcy and attempting to shift assets to a LLC run by his parents will get your corporation dissolved and your corporate liability shield pierced.

    Anyone here know if Connecticut has damage caps?  If not, the potential is there to lose everything.

  40. 40.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: It’s not the stupid shit that’s the problem with Gaetz, it’s proof beyond a reasonable doubt.  The concern is that jurors will say, “ I am pretty sure the sleazebag did it, but I can’t believe a word these sleazebags who rolled on him say.”  That is not an unreasonable position.

    ETA:  It’s the OJ Simpson situation.

  41. 41.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Wildly OT but (a) I’m a little fatigued by all the political / criminal news and (b) it is an open thread. So here’s a distraction.

    This question came up in a French language forum. Someone asked whether French had any phrases that could be conveyed by merely singing the intonation, as we can and frequently do with “I don’t know”.

    My question since I know we have lots of non-Americans here is whether that’s even universal for English. Is that just true for us Americans and our monotone English, so only a few phrases have a strong characteristic intonation and can be conveyed by humming?

    The French answer was “no phrase we can think of.”

  42. 42.

    misterpuff

    @WereBear:

    I found my Scribd account has a four part Ludlum series that starts with The Hades Factor.

    I need to rest this weekend and imaginary crises sound just right.

     

    Enjoy the Expunging!

  43. 43.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @gene108:

    Second, his BIL is a billionaire. If he’s on decent terms with BIL, he’ll get the money to really challenge the prosecutors.

    Aren’t his parents rich enough to bankroll that? WIki on Old Man Gaetz

    Shortly after receiving his Master’s degree, Gaetz worked in Jacksonville as a hospital administrator, and lobbied the legislature to create hospice care programs for the dying. In 1983, Gaetz founded VITAS Healthcare Corporation with a group of investors, which he later sold for nearly half a billion dollars in 2004.[2]

    so many wing nuts got rich off healthcare in one form or another. You’d think people would notice

  44. 44.

    Anonymous At Work

    @gene108: More about the only adverse witnesses being coked-up felons with a load of fraud to their names.  When your best material witness only looks trustworthy next to Trump, it’s rational not to proceed.
    Also, hopefully by this point, DoJ is getting pleas to things like “fraud” and sufficient facts to aid in civil suits and recovery.  “Fraud” is a long-term handicap since it bars you from a ton of professions and you can be introduced to everyone, any time, as “The convicted fraudulent felon X”.
    That’s looking at it as an attorney.  Going on wingnut speaking tours and fundraising using Paypal, etc. reduces the sting but you will have been reduced to a beggar in a cheap suit.

  45. 45.

    noncarborundum

    A friend from college is in the special master business but dislikes the term. He refers to the position as “a neutral”. I don’t travel in those circles so I don’t know whether he’s the only one or not.

  46. 46.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: more on Papa Gaetz

    In 1997, he called for an investigation into the conduct of a vice-principal at Niceville High School, where his son went to school, after reports surfaced of the vice-principal promoting his religious beliefs while working at the school. Following his call for an investigation, which he said was warranted by the vice-principal’s attempts “to make people who didn’t share his views feel as though they were somehow second-class Christians or that they were in danger of damnation,” he said, “I have received death threats from individuals who mistakenly believe the way to advance their own particular brand of Christianity is to threaten the life of someone who is a Christian not of their particular kind.”[6]

    So crazy god-botherers sent him death threats when he spoke up for keeping religion out of public schools? Imagine that….

  47. 47.

    trollhattan

    O/T Remember Berlusconi–the Italian Trump, the one who gave the Bunga-Bunga parties? Silvio has thoughts about the Ukraine invasion. Noting this because the Italian far right is about to take power again.

    Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has defended Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, saying Russia’s leader was “pushed” into the conflict.

    The 85-year-old said Russian troops were meant to replace the government with “decent people” then leave. The three-time Italian PM is a long-term ally of the Russian president. This weekend his party is expected to take power as part of a right-wing coalition in a general election in Italy. A narrative alleging the Ukrainian government was slaughtering Russian speakers in the east of the country was created by the media in Moscow, Mr Berlusconi told Italian TV.

    He said the reporting, pushed by separatist forces and nationalist politicians in the Russian government, had left Mr Putin with no choice but to launch a limited invasion. “Putin was pushed by the Russian population, by his party and by his ministers to invent this special operation,” he said.

    “The troops were supposed to enter, reach Kyiv in a week, replace the Zelensky government with decent people and a week later come back,” Mr Berlusconi added. “Instead they found an unexpected resistance, which was then fed by arms of all kinds from the West.”

    Thanks, Silvio. Nice work.

  48. 48.

    RaflW

    “’Is this a struggle session? Are we in China?’ Jones asked,” while testifying in court!

    These f**ing aholes keep thinking that what works on Fox, or on a podcast, or even in a congressional hearing will also work before juries, or the 11th circuit or what have you. They think the bubble is much, much bigger than it actually is. And our job over the next several months (and years) is to keep pushing the bubble to shrink, and where possible, burst.

  49. 49.

    Mo MacArbie

    We could go the portmanteau route with “Spaster”. Alternately, “Mecial” can fit nicely with the whole marshal/marshall/martial complex. But then there’s always DocuMan!

  50. 50.

    Baud

    @trollhattan:

    The troops were supposed to enter, reach Kyiv in a week, replace the Zelensky government with decent people and a week later come back,”

     
    Jeez. Even the Bush people said it would take six weeks to win Iraq.

  52. 52.

    Geminid

    @Omnes Omnibus: Greenberg’s testimony would have been easy to impeach. He was a one man crime wave, and just about all his criming involved deception of some sort.

  53. 53.

    NorthLeft

    I think all western democracies have an issue with how the rich are treated by the justice system. The preferential treatment is at every level; from police, prosecutors, and judges.
    And I did not forget the structural favouritism provided by the way laws have been written and passed to ease punishment for pretty well all white collar crime.

    And don’t get me started on the handicapping of the IRS/CR and pretty well every other institution with oversight duties of the financial, investment, and real estate businesses.

  54. 54.

    PaulWartenberg

    There has to be stuff Greenberg and Gaetz did together that can be corroborated by other more reliable witnesses. For the love of God, Gaetz went begging to trump for a blanket pardon for every possible crime, implying Gaetz had his hands deep into enough corruption to make him think he was in legal trouble.

  55. 55.

    RaflW

    @matt: Alas even if scumbag Greenberg testified as stipulated in the cooperation agreement, Gaetz’s defense team would no doubt have found a ton of slime and ooze to ‘prove’ he’s an unreliable witness.

    Now, I’d enjoy seeing a defense team publicly air all of Greenberg’s sleaze, but DoJ is probably correct that the case fails, and that’s a lot of resources spent — and Gaetz beating a trial case would elevate his MAGA-trash stock. We don’t want that.

  56. 56.

    Cameron

    @trollhattan: I think it’s going to be a problem all over Europe – Putin has a lot of friends in the far right who are just waiting for their countries’ economies to sink this winter.  Of course it isn’t Ukraine that’s cut off the gas and oil, but they’ll all skate around that.

  57. 57.

    Ken

    @RaflW: I saw a report that at one point in the Jones trial, his lawyer objected to something Jones had said — but before the judge had responded, Jones kept talking, so the judge overruled the objection.

    This may have been the same incident where, it was reported, the judge asked Jones’s’ * lawyer “Do you want me to have him physically silenced?” (or words to that effect). I was disappointed the lawyer didn’t take the offer, as I was curious what would be involved.

    * See last night’s lengthy discussion of the spelling of possessives of proper names ending in “s”. Here I have made my usual compromise that manages to offend everyone involved.

  58. 58.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Geminid: Exactly.  And you can’t force any of the girls to testify.  So you have a couple of scumbags pointing the finger at another scumbag in return for a reduced sentence.    Any halfway decent defense attorney would have a lot to work with.

  59. 59.

    Mimi

    I want Alex Jones destroyed. I want him sleeping under bridges and people spit on him wherever he goes. I do not want him to die…at least not until he’s been through hell on earth.

  62. 62.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Gaetz’s father’s cash probably fixed his son’s legal troubles by buying the silence of the former 17 year old whose exploitation was at the heart of the matter. Apparently prosecutors could not get her to talk.

  64. 64.

    Burnspbesq

    @Mai Naem mobile:

    DOJ will go hard against whoever leaked the Gaetz story if the leak came from inside. Every Federal lawyer gets seriously indoctrinated about not disclosing grand jury material. I sat through all those presentations, which started about five minutes after my ID photo was taken.

    It’s a felony for a lot of reasons.

  65. 65.

    Betty Cracker

    @Mimi: Co-signed. I listened to a This American Life podcast a while back — I think it was called “The Parents Step Up” or something along those lines. It was about parents who’ve lost children in mass shootings and how one such couple offers support to new members of that awful club by helping them deal with the inevitable harassment they’ll endure at the hands of Jones and his loony followers.

    Can you imagine? The worst thing that can ever happen to a parent has happened, and then they have to deal with an onslaught of lunatics. Burning at the stake is too merciful for that shithook Jones.

  66. 66.

    Searcher

    @Mimi:

    “The first thing you lose will be your feet. Below the ankle. You will have stumps available to use within six months. Then your hands, at the wrists. They heal somewhat quicker. Five months is a fair average. Next your nose. No smell of dawn for you. Followed by your tongue. Deeply cut away. Not even a stump left. And then your left eye—”

    “And then my right eye, and then my ears, and shall we get on with it?” the Prince said.

    “Wrong!” Westley’s voice rang across the room. “Your ears you keep, so that every shriek of every child shall be yours to cherish—every babe that weeps in fear at your approach, every woman that cries ‘Dear God, what is that thing?’ will reverberate forever with your perfect ears.”

  68. 68.

    James E Powell

    @cope:

    Having taken so long to get to this point vis-a-vis Gaetz, I was feeling less and less hopeful that he would be charged.

    I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to happen. It doesn’t take that long to put a case like that together.

  69. 69.

    Betty

    @Anonymous At Work: I have read that Connecticut does not have a damages cap. Texas has a number of tort restrictions. I understand they were put in place after Abbott recovered big bucks in his own case.

  74. 74.

    Anonymous At Work

    @Betty: Long before that.  Even before Shrub, the Republican Party turned Texas into a paper-HQ hub with “tort reform” and no taxes.  That’s not a surprise.  The question mark is CT.

  76. 76.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @PaulWartenberg:

    There has to be stuff Greenberg and Gaetz did together that can be corroborated by other more reliable witnesses.

    such as? as far as underage girls go, don’t they pretty much need a text from Gaetz saying, ‘Yeah, dude, we’re gonna get us some underage [deleted cause I feel gross even typing it]!’ ? [edited to add IANAL question mark] And even then, Gaetz could say it was a joke about how young, but legal, the girl was. As James E Powell, and Saul Goodman, said, they only need one juror.

  77. 77.

    HumboldtBlue

    It also hasn’t been a good week for the regime in Iran.

    New video shows police retreating in the face of massive protests.

    Rasht, North Iran.
    Police retreats under protesters’ pressure.

  79. 79.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    McConnell Center @ULmCenter · 40m

    This Monday, Sept. 26, the McConnell Center is excited to welcome U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) to give a talk titled “The Future of Political Discourse and the Importance of Bipartisanship.” Join via livestream at http://McConnellCenter.org at 10 AM. #Leadership

    Jacob Rubashkin @JacobRubashkin

    Kyrsten Sinema: unpopular among everyone. Sometimes it seems like she’s trying to please nobody, and if so, she’s succeeding. Sinema is 20 points underwater among Democrats, 10 points underwater with Independents, 18 points underwater among Republicans.

  80. 80.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Cameron:

    I thought at least the natural gas for heating problem had been solved because Finland had some extra surplus of natural gas?

  83. 83.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @trollhattan:

    It seems like he’s trying to weirdly defend Putin while still condemning the war, yet still manages to cast shade on the Ukrainian government with the “replace with ‘decent people'” remark

  84. 84.

    Jay

    "Russian authorities plan to conscript 1.2 million people for their 'partial mobilization,' Meduza has learned from a source close to one of the country’s federal ministries." Up to 16,000 people from Moscow are also slated to be drafted.t.co/Vq88uPu8Zm pic.twitter.com/5Pnt74mQB4— Rob Lee (@RALee85) September 23, 2022

    Absolute scenes at an airfield in Russia's Far East where one man mobilised to fight in Ukraine was so drunk that he reportedly fell asleep in the long grass next to the runway pic.twitter.com/T7ddrMkyBb— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) September 23, 2022

  86. 86.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m not sure Sinema will run for a second term. I think that Congressman Gallego will announce by January that he is challenging Sinema, and polling will show a deficit for Sinema that she is unlikely to make up. I don’t think she has built a base of loyal supporters.

    I guess a lot will come down to how well Mark Kelly does this November. People will see whether his election in 2020 was a fluke or if Arizona is in fact trending blue. If Kelly wins, Arizona Democrats will be more inclined to see the centrist Sinema as expendable.

  87. 87.

    Ken

    @Paul in KY: Not intending sarcasm, but when I read that, I just closed my mouth and hummed while saying/thinking “I don’t know”.  It is curiously recognizable.  There is even a noticable difference between an emphatic “I don’t know” and a more apathetic “I dunno.”

  88. 88.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid: Kelly is pretty centrist himself, just not obnoxious about it. I really don’t get Sinema, to the point where she intrigues me. People say she hasn’t played it right to become a power lobbyist, maybe she’s content with being a low-power lobbyist? Somebody (Suzanne?) once said her goal is a seat on The View. That makes as much sense as anything, though she seems camera-shy for a politician.

    fukifino, as Betty C once said.

  89. 89.

    misterpuff

    @WereBear:

    I found my Scribd account has a four part Ludlum series that starts with The Hades Factor.

    I need to rest this weekend and imaginary crises sound just right.

     

    Enjoy the Expunging!

  90. 90.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Ken: yeah, it’s hard to type out mmm-mm-mmm in a way that conveys that sound, but once I made it I got it

  92. 92.

    Baud

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I don’t know where that poll is from, but the google came up with this one from the summer.

    She may not be up for re-election for another two years, but Arizona voters are none too pleased with Democratic US Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, according to a new Courier Newsroom/Data for Progress poll.

    Forty-eight percent of likely voters in Arizona disapprove of Sinema’s performance as senator, including 57% of voters in her own party. Conversely, only 42% of voters—and only 34% of Democrats—approve of her performance. 

    Sinema’s abysmal approval numbers come after a year in which she’s repeatedly obstructed President Joe Biden’s economic agenda and refused to reform or eliminate the filibuster-–an arcane Senate procedure that effectively requires 60 votes to pass most bills, instead of a simple majority.

     

    The good news is, that articles notes that Kelly’s numbers are very good.

  94. 94.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: Rubashkin is a polling analyst for NBC. In a different poll in that thread, he says that Hobbs is more or less tied with Lake (‘I god, as Gus MacRae would say) she has a narrow lead with independents. Fingers crossed.

  95. 95.

    Geminid

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The Eu’s shortfall in gas must be made up from many different sources. One reason Secretary Blinken stopped in Algeria in March was to urge them to up their production. They ship gas through a pipeline to Spain. Eastern Mediterranean countries are accelerating production that has only just begun, while the US companies are expanding their capacity to ship liquified natural gas. So are the Gulf countries. It’s not certain that these sources will be sufficient, though.

  96. 96.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Jacob Rubashkin @JacobRubashkin Sep 22

    Seeing a lot of dunking on Katie Hobbs already in response to this, but, at risk of plagarizing@amyewalter, pay attention to absolute vote share: Kelly and Hobbs are basically in the same place, right around 50%. The difference in the races comes down to Lake vs. Masters.

    On a press call, pollsters Bob Ward and Matt Hogan point out that Hobbs is overperforming among independents relative to the generic ballot. She’s winning them 49-46, while they split D42-R46 on the generic.

  99. 99.

    Starfish

    @cain: The strategy has been “if you can’t get the justice system to deal with this for criminality, make them all go broke.”

    Making them go broke can involve civil lawsuits where the requirements of evidence are lower, or just pressuring the various ad networks to quit carrying ads for terrible people doing terrible things. Both strategies work.

  100. 100.

    Baud

    Speaking of courts and Arizona

     

    A federal judge in Arizona has decided the court can’t block a House January 6 committee subpoena for GOP state chair Kelli Ward and her husband Michael’s cell phone data, a ruling that may deliver more information in the probe about the state-level backing for Donald Trump after his 2020 loss.

  102. 102.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Mark Kelly is a moderate not too dissimilar to Joe Biden, or to most of the Senate Democratic Caucus for that matter.

    But I view “centrism” more as a strategy than an ideological position. Sinema won election in 2018 in what appeared to be a red state and she has consciously pursued a course she thinks is agreeable to Independents and moderate conservatives, trusting her state’s more liberal Democrats to tolerate this. I think their attitude will be conditioned by how well Kelly does. If he wins reelection, he’ll have shown that a Democrat can suceed without pursuing Sinema’s centrist strategy.

  103. 103.

    Quiltingfool

    @Alison Rose 💙🌻💛:  In re “kicking Gaetz in the hoo-hah,” I’m reminded of a scene in the movie “9 to 5,” where Dolly Parton’s character suggests to her friends that maybe they ought to hire some “good ol’ boys to go beat the shit out of him,” referring to what should be done about their horrible boss.

    I’ve been raised in a civilized manner, so I ought not be thinking of violent retribution, nor condoning such actions, but sometimes I can’t help myself.

    I suppose the only thought that doesn’t irritate my civility is the hope that whatever these miscreants do will come back on them threefold…

  104. 104.

    trollhattan

    @Geminid: Can a narcissist step away from the camera and mic? Sinema’s fierce attraction to media attention will inform a good deal of her decision to run again.

    On the coin’s other side is her ability to raise campaign ca$h. How poisonous has she become to the usual sources and is she disruptive enough to attract dark Thiel-type money in order to retain her seat and keep senate Democrats unbalanced?

    Stay tuned.

  105. 105.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Cameron:

    Actually, I was sort of wrong. Fuel (LNG) stockpiles are filling up in Europe in preparation for the winter

    Reuters Graphics

    Domino effect of Europe’s natural gas crisis will resonate in changing global energy map

    The above Jerusalem Post article is more mixed and pessimistic:

    A new lights-out policy that has national monuments darkened by 10 p.m. is a strikingly visible reflection of Germany’s situation. As the days grow shorter, there is a realistic fear that it will be the harshest winter the country has faced in decades.

    “Europe is in for a very cold and expensive winter,” said Dr. Amit Mor, CEO of Eco Energy Financial & Strategic Consulting and a senior lecturer at Reichman University. “The continent will survive the winter, but at hysterical and historical prices.”

    On Wednesday, the German government nationalized gas giant Uniper in an attempt to prevent an energy supply crisis in the country. Once Europe’s strongest economy, the outlook for Germany is grim.

    “We will need plenty of stamina … we need to prepare not just for this winter, but also the next one. We are making great strides forward on reducing our dependence on Russian gas, but we can already predict that 2023 will still be a challenging year,” German Economic Affairs and Climate Action Minister Robert Habeck said over the summer.

    […]

    It is not only about shivering in the winter or putting on an extra layer of clothing, it is about further plunging Europe into an economic crisis that will take years to recuperate from. Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, forecasts a possible recession with gross domestic product expected to decline well into 2023.

    Factories have been shut down or drastically scaled back operations. Some of Germany’s leading industries are struggling to stay afloat.

  107. 107.

    trollhattan

    @Quiltingfool: Being hoisted by one’s own petard, i.e., getting his earmed desserts, would be justice for Gaetz in light of his crimes obvious and still unknown, not revenge.

    A Doc Martin to the nads seems in order. Just sayin’.

  108. 108.

    kalakal

    @trollhattan: They’re actually user Laffer as an authority while lauding the benefits of trickle down. They’re either complete morons, deliberately trashing the economy or both.

  109. 109.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Geminid:

    What I’m most worried about are these recent gains made by European far-right parties, particularly in Sweden and now likely Italy and what implications that could have the current world order, NATO, and the Western support for the Ukrainian war effort, WRT to Silvio Berlusconi’s remarks on the war upthread, given it’s his party that would enter into a coalition government. I’m worried that what happened in Hungary could spread.

    I’m also concerned about what implications these victories could have for our midterm/2024 elections, coupled with the recent refusal of any Senate GOPers to sign onto a resolution condemning a coup in Brazil

    The global economy is likely headed for a recession in the next year or two

  110. 110.

    trollhattan

    @kalakal: That’s really disturbing.

    Admit I didn’t pay much attention to the Tories, at least after Thatcher had to hit the bricks, but their Giant Pack of Lies Enormous to get Brexit passed was shocking, especially as it foretold Trump’s election here.

    Labour and whomever else need to stop wandering in the wilderness and figure how to send this lot packing, before they destroy the joint.

  111. 111.

    Joe Falco

    @Anonymous At Work:

    And then the Repukes and other right-wing “semi’s” cheer about how low their state income taxes are while grousing about how high their property taxes are. As if there’s no connection between the two.

  112. 112.

    Geminid

    @trollhattan: I’m not sure Sinema can raise enough money to overcome the animus Arizona’s Democrats have for her. If she has a large following among Independents, that could give her a narrow win in an open primary. But I wonder if she has a large or strong following.

    Sinema surely likes the spotlight, but if polling in 2023 shows her down by double digits among likely primary voters she might bail. Sinema has never faced a well funded primary opponent of Gallego’s stature.

    It’s hard to figure what makes Sinema tick. Someone here who followed her career in Arizona describes her as a social climber. That characteristic could cut both ways in her response if Gallego entes the race.

  114. 114.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @RaflW:

    — and Gaetz beating a trial case would elevate his MAGA-trash stock. We don’t want that.
     

    First, who cares what the drooling idiots think? Second, Gaetz DID beat the case as far as they’re concerned and as he’ll play it.

    I realize that part of the job for the prosecutor is to make judgement calls like this, but normally that’s “is there sufficient evidence to conclude that a crime was likely committed and that this person did it?” I guess if your only evidence is the testimony of a professional liar, the answer is “there is not sufficient evidence.”

    Sux, but there it is.

  115. 115.

    Scout211

    Yesterday, a commenter here posted a tweet showing Trump’s attorneys and a federal prosecutor leaving a DC courthouse.  CNN  has an “exclusive.”

    CNN — 
    Former President Donald Trump’s attorneys are fighting a secret court battle to block a federal grand jury from gathering information from an expanding circle of close Trump aides about his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, people briefed on the matter told CNN.

    The high-stakes legal dispute – which included the appearance of three attorneys representing Trump at the Washington, DC, federal courthouse on Thursday afternoon – is the most aggressive step taken by the former President to assert executive and attorney-client privileges in order to prevent some witnesses from sharing information in the criminal investigation events surrounding January 6, 2021.

    The court fight over privilege, which has not been previously reported and is under seal, is a turning point for Trump’s post-presidency legal woes.
    . . .

    Under grand jury secrecy rules, the legal dispute is under seal, with no public documents to show the state of play.

    The Justice Department has been girding for a legal challenge along these lines for months, CNN previously reported.

    In addition to Cipollone and Philbin, former vice presidential aides Greg Jacob and Marc Short have appeared before the grand jury in the DC courthouse and declined to answer some questions because of Trump’s executive privilege claims, CNN previously reported.

    On Thursday afternoon, Evan Corcoran, Tim Parlatore and John Rowley, who work together representing Trump in the January 6 probe, exited the courthouse accompanied by a law clerk.

    Parlatore told reporters he was there “representing a client” but would provide no further details. The other lawyers declined to comment.

  116. 116.

    JoyceH

    I’ve got to say that I just love how the special master thing worked out. You know that Trump had his lawyers do that suit to Judge Cannon totally for delay and particularly delay on the classified material. Drag your feet long enough, and something might happen – Repubs take back the House and defund the DOJ, or whatever. And they lucked out with a judge who isn’t just Trump appointed, but apparently also a genuine Trumpie.

    But then – the DOJ, to move quickly, appealed only the part of the judge’s ruling dealing with the classified documents. The 11th Circuit, justly alarmed by the implications to national security, ruled quickly in their favor and hastily returned the documents to the FBI. Judge Cannon said oh well, and voided her part of her ruling dealing with the classified documents, so Trump’s team can’t even appeal it.

    But the rest of the ruling stands! The special master exists and is on the job. So now he’s going to methodically work his way through the 11,000 unclassified documents that were seized, along with the $500/hr assistant he just hired, and has already issued a ruling on how the project will be paid for in monthly installments — and Trump has to pay for it!

    And showing that he knows who he’s dealing with, Dearie’s establishing documents say that monthly invoices will be paid within 7 days, failure to pay will be grounds for contempt.

    Man, Trump is going to have to sell a lot of stupid red hats.

  117. 117.

    eddie blake

    i don’t get it. they have the money transfers. they have video of gaetz and greenberg committing identity fraud. they need the underage girl to testify?

  118. 118.

    trollhattan

    @kalakal: ​Just checked and wow, the pound ended the day at $1.09! (In May of 2021 it was $1.42 and July 2014, $1.71. How’s that Brexit thing doing with restoring UK’s fiscal greatness?)

  119. 119.

    Calouste

    @trollhattan: Labour needs to get their heads out of their asses and face up to reality. They used to be able to rely on 40-50 seats in Scotland, but those have gone to the SNP and they are not coming back. Unless they acknowledge that fact and the implication that the next time Labour is in government it will be in a coalition with the SNP and/or the LibDems, it’s hard to take them serious.

  123. 123.

    kalakal

    @Calouste: You got it, the next government will either be the Tories or a coalition of the rest. If Labour ignores the SNP etc the UK FPTP electoral system will return a Tory party with 35% of the vote

  124. 124.

    Gin & Tonic

    At least they won’t have to stand in long lines at the polling place:

    Mobile “referendum”. It is always more convenient to vote when two soldiers with machine guns are knocking at your apartment. Zaporizhzhia region pic.twitter.com/4DPihwwnFw
    — Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) September 23, 2022

  126. 126.

    Scout211

    @JoyceH: The appeal of Cannon’s special master order as a whole has not been decided yet.  Commentary on Lawfare.

    The writers have a very informative wrap-up of the case and think that the whole order could be eventually vacated. Well worth a read

    There’s also the question of the rest of Cannon’s order, of which the department noticed an appeal on Sept. 8. The government hasn’t yet filed anything with the Eleventh Circuit on that front, but it seems almost certain that it will pursue the appeal, given the executive privilege components of Judge Cannon’s opinion. The most likely approach, in light of the court of appeals’s Richey analysis, will be to ask for vacature of the entire opinion on jurisdictional grounds since no evidence exists in the record of anything like “callous disregard.” This was the government’s primary argument before Judge Cannon and the panel has now signaled, albeit only partially, that it sees things similarly.

  127. 127.

    scav

    Maybe the Tories theory is if they crash the country hard enough, they’ll waken Merlin and Arthur who will double-team the King of the Leprechauns into making a bridging loan to buy time for the city boy Rumpelstiltkins to spin enough gold to fund their next election PR campaign.

  128. 128.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @trollhattan:

    I thought that was just because the FED was hiking interest rates faster and higher than other central banks, strengthening the US dollar?

  129. 129.

    zhena gogolia

    I guess the thread is dead, but this construction really irks me. When did “decorated” start referring to anyone but war heroes?

    Ms. Mantel, the author of 17 books, was one of Britain’s most decorated novelists.

  134. 134.

    Ruckus

    Well I just found out about a new problem, not for me but for one of my neighbors. She had/has polio and lives in a wheelchair. She gets her medical care through federal programs and because she needs a wheelchair she can have one, but it only can be replaced every 5 yrs. Her last one lasted 2 months before it broke, so she got a replacement. But now, 3 yrs later her wheelchair broke again. It’s a small part and there is a private service that comes out and fixes them so it’s likely not a lot of money but for someone who literally lives in a wheelchair, a broken one is bad. Her granddaughter helps her, I’m helping her but she really hates having to need help, and I can’t blame her. I have a few ideas, there are places like GoodWill, Salvation Army, thrift stores that sometimes have used chairs but then she has to pay for them. Being a senior can be hard enough but then having special needs makes that even tougher, especially when expensive things that are 100% requirements break.

    This country needs to get it’s collective head out of it’s collective asses and realize that human beings sometimes have needs beyond fresh air, that they can’t really deal with alone. We do an absolutely shitty job with healthcare for most anyone who actually has a long term need for it. And yes that includes many seniors. I’m lucky that I have the VA, which isn’t bad but could be better. At least they make the effort.

  135. 135.

    HumboldtBlue

    @zhena gogolia: ​
    From a quick search, she received no less than seven awards for her books, including two Booker Prizes. I’d say she was a decorated author.​
     

    Also, you see decorated used in all sorts of professions from science to sports to theater and film.

  137. 137.

    J R in WV

    @Joe Falco:

    And then the Repukes and other right-wing “semi’s” cheer about how low their state income taxes are while grousing about how high their property taxes are. As if there’s no connection between the two.

    I have read (I  think here) that the actual data and math shows that people in Texas pay more in taxes than the citizens of California. I am not surprised at all, the Rs in charge of TX need as large a state pool of money as possible to “wet their beaks” in more often.

    The bigger their budget the easier it is to steal without being noticed.

  138. 138.

    kalakal

    @zhena gogolia: The UK has a whole set of civilian awards, Eg OBEs, Knighthoods, Peerages etc. Some are for gallantry eg the George Cross but most are for more normal achievements. The system is pretty whiffy, most awards go to senior govt functionaries as a little perk for just doing their jobs, politicians, party donors and other assorted riff raff, but people normally just pick up on the celebs like actors, rock stars, authors, sportsbeings etc. Depending on the award you get a little medal and if you really make it to the top, swords are involved

  145. 145.

    zhena gogolia

    @trollhattan:

     

    @scav: I’m not talking so much about Mantel in particular. The NYT says this about all kinds of people, like rap stars, etc. If they’ve gotten a Grammy and and Emmy, they’re “among the most decorated X.” It grates on me.

  147. 147.

    catclub

    since it is an open thread: Which way do you suggest for transporting a 15 y.o cat that has been exclusively indoors for all her life, a long way?
    a) 1 day airplane trip
    b) 3 day car trip with hotel stops

    I usually have trouble catching her to get put in the pet box to go to the vet ( she knows and hides)
    This is the only car trip she knows.
    We have never been able to give her medication by mouth.

    Is there a WereBear signal lamp?

    c) should I hire a pet wrangler? She behaves meekly once at the vet.

    Thanks in advance.

  148. 148.

    Princess

    @catclub: I have a cat just like this (though younger) and I’m going to need to take her on a two-day journey by car. In my case, I think we’ll do it by car rather than fly, but part of that is because we have another cat who is a bit more biddable. In your case, I think I would fly. I can just about imagine getting my cat into a carrier two days in a row. My mind boggles at three days. Good luck, and report back!

  149. 149.

    zhena gogolia

    @catclub: I don’t know, but does the airplane trip allow for her to be in the cabin with you? I know they used to allow that. I’d be worried about a 15-year-old cat going in the cargo hold. But if she could be with you, that might be less stressful than the longer trip.

  150. 150.

    Brachiator

    @Ruckus:

    This link might be helpful to your friend.

    There was a place in Pasadena that offered free or low cost aids for seniors. It was near the Kaiser Medical Center. I can’t recall the name, but if I can find something I will post it.

  153. 153.

    CarolPW

    @catclub: I have done both air and multi-day car with cats. Air has been less traumatic for my car-averse or really nervous cats. You can travel with the cat in the cabin if you get your ticket early enough (they limit the number). A soft-sided cat carrier fits under the seat.

    If the choice was between plane steerage and car I would go car. My sister took one on a two-day car trip in my dog carrier (sized for a 80 lb dog, so there was room in it for pillow, food/water and cat box). She then used a small carrier to take it into and out of the hotel room. My 3-day trip with my cat was easy because she was very mellow. I had one that would nap on the ledge in the rear window, and traveled better than the dog.

  155. 155.

    Ohio Mom

    @catclub: WereBear has a blog and I believe, also a FaceBook page. They are titled “The Way of Cats.” I am sure that if you wrote her and introduced yourself as a Juicer, she would answer you.

  158. 158.

    Ohio Mom

    @Ruckus: Good luck to your neighbor. Medicaid is known for being miserly with wheelchairs and other types of mobility equipment, I know that from the days I knew parents with kids who need equipment (now that Ohio Son is out of public school, our paths don’t cross anymore).

    I am going to guess that the wheelchair that Medicaid will pay for is flimsy to begin with, and less likely to last a full five years than a higher-priced model.

  160. 160.

    Captain C

    @Anonymous At Work:

    Reading the Jones saga as an attorney, he’s hurting himself continually with these games

    At what point can/will his lawyer just fire him for not following instructions (assuming Jones’ attorney is not a true believer, himself)?

  161. 161.

    Layer8Problem

    @zhena gogolia:  Oh, you don’t want to know.   Kind of like Patriarch Nikon v. the Old Believers, or whether Bud Light “tastes great” or is “less filling,” or whether Jameson whiskey can sit on the same shelf as Bushmills, or . . .

    ETA:  and @scav gives the answer.

  162. 162.

    dnfree

    @Ken: ​  OK, “I don’t know” CAN be hummed, but is it actually done in the course of a conversation? I’ve never heard anyone do it and I’ve never thought of doing it. Seems like more work than just saying it. I would think just a simple [shrug] gesture with the shoulders conveys the meaning without words.​

  165. 165.

    Origuy

    Ready, fire, aim!

    NEW: House Republicans just rolled out their official “Commitment to America” plan for 2023 with an inspirational video chock full of scenes presented as exceptional imagery of America — but that are actually stock footage from Russia and Ukraine. t.co/xtQm52WWNp
    — Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) September 23, 2022

  169. 169.

    cain

    @Origuy: ​
     
    Apparently, nothing in America was good enough eh?
    That said, I get it that you’re looking for images and in the scheme of things it doesn’t really matter where it was taken.
    At least they didn’t have one with a shot of the Russian flag in it. That would be embarrassing.

  171. 171.

    Jinchi

    The witnesses in question were former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg and Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend.

    So Gaetz will get off because the sex trafficker he hung out with isn’t trustworthy.

    Makes sense.

  172. 172.

    frosty

    @dnfree: The Baltimore version of “I don’t know” is almost a hum. There are dropped consonants (typical of other words too). Something like “ah-o-no”.

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