Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I was promised a recession.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

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

No one could have predicted…

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

The revolution will be supervised.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

After roe, women are no longer free.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

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

This blog will pay for itself.

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

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Cake Watch: Day 2

Cake Watch: Day 2

by | 150 Comments

This post is in: ,

It’s possible that today will be a cake day (aka a day to celebrate an indictment).  Or not.

Still, there’s news.

Holy Shit, What Did I Miss? 1

Article from the tweet above – CNN

Mike Pence must testify about conversations he had with Donald Trump leading up to January 6, judge rules

A federal judge has decided that former Vice President Mike Pence must testify to a grand jury about conversations he had with Donald Trump leading up to January 6, 2021, according to multiple sources familiar with a recent federal court ruling.

But the judge said – in a ruling that remains under seal – that Pence can still decline to answer questions related to his actions on January 6 itself, when he was serving as president of the Senate for the certification of the 2020 presidential election, according to one of the sources.

The ruling from chief judge James Boasberg of the US District Court in Washington, DC, is a major win for special counsel Jack Smith, who is spearheading the Justice Department investigation. Pence still has the ability to appeal.

This poll, shaking my head.

Let’s do the math.   46% + 29% = 75%

So 75% of Americans think that Trump has done something illegal or at least unethical.

61% do not want Trump to be president again.

That means that 14% of Americans think Trump has done something illegal or at least unethical, but they want him to be president again.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

150Comments

  1. 1.

    thruppence

    Now I’ve got to get a bottle of champagne. I’m trying to drink less, but exceptions must be made

    ETA: Frist? No!

  2. 2.

    trollhattan

    Hey now, Obama did all those crimes and I still wanted a second term! Hell, I REALLY wanted that 3rd, too.

  3. 3.

    Renie

    I read no indictment today and tomorrow the Grand Jury will be hearing a different case. So, again, it’s pushed off till next week.  This is getting annoying.

  4. 4.

    Gravenstone

    That means that 14% of Americans think Trump has done something illegal or at least unethical, but they want him to be president again.

    Representatives of the “all politicians are crooks” cohort.

  5. 5.

    lowtechcyclist

    That means that 14% of Americans think Trump has done something illegal or at least unethical, but they want him to be president again.

    I doubt I could get through a 4-year term as President without doing some things that I considered unethical.  So I don’t consider this to be weird at all.

    I just wonder who the 25% of the population is that thinks TFG did nothing unethical as President.  The guy’s a walking disaster with respect to ethics.

  7. 7.

    StringOnAStick

    Covid Day 5.  Woke up to 5″ of heavy wet snow and not enough sun predicted to melt it.  I pushed the snow off the sidewalk and driveway, and I’m so exhausted that I’m going back to bed.  This virus is so bad.

  8. 8.

    Old School

    89% of Democrats, 64% independents, and 21% of Republicans do not want Trump to return to the White House. 76% of Republicans want Trump to be president, again.

    Only 89%?

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    I don’t understand why “Pence can still decline to answer questions related to his actions on January 6 itself.” Not a lawyer, but I’m guessing that’s because Pence is not the target of the investigation and maybe because of his role in the certification process, which he performed without attempting a coup? But does this shield Pence from answering questions about Trump’s actions on January 6? If so, what’s the rationale for that? I also wonder how long Pence will be able to drag out the appeals process. This shit went down well over two years ago! I’m in favor of due process, but I sure hope any appeals are expedited before these criminals have another run at the presidency.

  11. 11.

    Other MJS

    @lowtechcyclist:

    I doubt I could get through a 4-year term as President without doing some things that I considered unethical.  So I don’t consider this to be weird at all.

    Trump is completely uninterested in the well-being of the United States of America. I wouldn’t accuse even Nixon or Bush of literally that. Maybe Dick Cheney.

  12. 12.

    WaterGirl

    @Renie: The walls are closing in on Trump day by day, with each of these judicial decisions that these motherfuckers have to talk to the grand jury.

    (Whichever grand jury it is, since there are several!)

  13. 13.

    lowtechcyclist

    @BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️:

    Those who hate who TRE45ON proved he hated. They will ignore EVERYTHING as long as he gives them that.

    I’d figure them to go, “sure he did unethical stuff, but you can’t beat up on everyone from illegal immigrants to trans persons without crossing the occasional line. No big deal.”

  19. 19.

    Other MJS

    @Old School:

    Only 89%?

    There are outliers in any large demographic, but I can’t wrap my head around what a “Democrat Trump supporter” could even mean.

  23. 23.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker:

  24. 24.

    Delk

    All that money spent to hear pence say the things everybody already knows is ridiculous.

  25. 25.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker:

  26. 26.

    trollhattan

    @StringOnAStick: Sounds awful. Take good care of your covid self, and be glad you don’t have to shovel off the [checks notes] 830 inches currently at the Mammoth Mountain, CA resort summit.

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker:

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker:  I obviously don’t have direct answers to your questions, but it seems like the people who best understand these rulings are quite pleased and think Pence is gonna have to spill the beans.

    Unless he wants to plead the 5th, which won’t look very good, in my opinion.

  29. 29.

    kent

    How is this even vaguely a surprise? I’m pretty sure a bunch of us circa 1996 thought Bill Clinton had done some unethical things and yet supported his re-election.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: His actions in congress are the least interesting thing about that day, in terms of learning anything new.

    I wonder if they can ask him about not wanting to get in the vehicle with the Secret Service agents he apparently didn’t trust?

  31. 31.

    gvg

    @lowtechcyclist: Ask all of them to define illegal and unethical. I suspect a bunch of them have unique definitions. Education does not land on all of us equally.

    Of course you might also ask to see the exact wording of the question. That is always a possible source of problems.

  32. 32.

    gVOR08

    That means that 14% of Americans think Trump has done something illegal or at least unethical, but they want him to be president again. 

    You say that as though you find it surprising. He’s so strong and he loves them so much he’ll commit crimes for them. Besides they’re only crimes because the deep state says so. And if the president does it, it’s not illegal. And he’s still the president.

  34. 34.

    gvg

    @lowtechcyclist: Some people don’t pay attention to politics. I mean really really don’t pay attention as in how dare you try and make me notice anything. Also I am tired and working 3 jobs while raising small children, go away is another variant. And another I am poor and powerless therefore I am not going to participate.

  36. 36.

    Gravenstone

    @Betty Cracker:  “Pence can still decline to answer questions related to his actions on January 6 itself.”

    They’re ceding that he was acting in his role as President of the Senate so they’re letting him hide behind the Speech and Debate clause. Even though that’s actually an Executive Office role. The fact he’s written about his conversations with Trump prior to 1/6 and his stated objections during those conversations are really the issue here I think.

  37. 37.

    Ohio Mom

    Okay, I am not a math person but isn’t there supposed to be a line at 27%? Why do only 14% not care if Trump has done illegal or unethical things, they still want Trump to be president again, what happen to the other 13%?

    Please note, I don’t need an answer. I have a headache and an answer would just make it worse.

  38. 38.

    Anonymous At Work

    Sadly, I think Cake Watch will go for a few more weeks.  I think Trump prematurely erupted (intentional, sorry/not sorry) his load about being indicted, thinking that some particular witness testifying Friday or Monday was “the last one” since they either had the goods or were the last person he’d think would be called.

  39. 39.

    Mai Naem mobile

     

    @WaterGirl: Cake Day will happen when you don’t have a crucial ingredient because it either expired or you used it another recipe thinking you had time to get it before Cake Day happened.  Just go ahead and use all the ingredients in another non-Cake recipe so Cake Day happens.

  40. 40.

    UncleEbeneezer

    The Manhattan grand jury that has been weighing charges against former President Donald Trump is not expected to vote on a possible indictment in the hush money case this week, though the schedule could change, three sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

    The sources said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is not expected to convene the 23-member panel again until Thursday, when they say the group is expected to address matters other than Trump and Stormy Daniels. They did the same last Thursday after a scheduled meeting for the day before was abruptly called off. No reason was given.

    Listening to the Legal AF podcast yesterday both Michael Popok and former Ast. DA of Manhattan, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, both urged patience and said this sort of thing is very common and nothing to freak out about.  It definitely is NOT some indication that Bragg/DA’s office is getting cold feet.

  42. 42.

    Falling Diphthong

    @Renie: The only reason anyone thought he would be indicted last Tuesday is that Trump made a big fussy announcement about how he was TOTES going to be indicted last Tuesday. Trump is the one teasing this story.

    I don’t think he’s smart enough for this to be a plan, but trying to encourage some “If they had something they would have indicted last Tuesday, everyone was saying they would indict last Tuesday” would only help him.

  43. 43.

    Geminid

    I see there’s at least one bit of good news today. AP reported we hit a milestone on a long journey last year:

        Electricity generated from renewables surpassed coal in the United States for the first time in 2022, the U.S. Energy Information Agency announced Monday.

    2022 was also the second year renewable electricity production surpassed that of nuclear.

    The total share for renewables was slightly over 20%. Solar and wind power accounted for 14% of U.S. electrical generation, hydroelectric was another 6%, while geothermal and biomass added a small amount, <1%.

    Coal’s share of U.S. electrical generation was 20% in 2022 and is expected to drop to 17% in 2023. Natural gas’s share is expected to hold steady at 39%.

    California produces 26% of the nation’s “utility grade” solar power, followed by Texas with 16% and North Carolina with 8%. Texas leads in wind generation with 26%.

    Although it was not passed until August,

        …the Inflation Reduction Act influenced some of the renewable energy projects that went online last year, said Mellissa Lott, director of research for the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. and is expected to have a “tremendous” impact on accelerating clean energy projects.

  44. 44.

    Old School

    @Other MJS: @WaterGirl:

    I can’t wrap my head around what a “Democrat Trump supporter” could even mean.

    I assume they are the ones who write op-eds that start “I was a life-long Democrat until…”

  45. 45.

    randy khan

    I doubt that Smith cares much about what Pence did in his role as President of the Senate, since that’s all public record anyway and not really relevant to what Trump did.  And as others have pointed out, this likely also gets Pence’s notes on his conversations with Trump, which could be really important.

  46. 46.

    randy khan

    @Geminid:

    That is really good news.  From a climate perspective, it’s probably displacing a lot of coal generation, which is the important thing.  (Nuclear, whatever else you think of it, does not create any carbon emissions to speak of while generating electricity.)

  48. 48.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Ohio Mom: thats from the 75% of the total who think he did something wrong. You’re forgetting the 25 percent of the total who didn’t think he did anything wrong. I haven’t looked at the survey but there’s always a percentage who doesn’t know so the 25% of the total may actually be less.

  50. 50.

    JimV

    Eisenhower, JFK, and Clinton all did some things which I consider unethical. Maybe not Carter though.

  51. 51.

    lowtechcyclist

    @randy khan:

    as others have pointed out, this likely also gets Pence’s notes on his conversations with Trump, which could be really important.

    “Was you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy? Thank you!!”

  52. 52.

    geg6

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m not sure what your confusion is but is it that you think when the order said “his role” that it was Trump’s role?  I read it as Pence’s role while acting as President of the Senate.  And now I’m confused as to which.  Ugh.  I hate having to parse every word to try to read what lies behind them.

  53. 53.

    bbleh

    @Betty Cracker: @Baud: @WaterGirl: @WaterGirl: My not-a-lawyer understanding is that his executive-privilege claim has been disallowed for matters relating to criminal conduct, cuz doing crimes isn’t part of the duties of the Executive, and his speech-and-debate claim has been disallowed for anything other than his duties as Prez of the Senate.

    As to the question of getting into the car, I can see where someone might consider that Prez-of-the-Senate stuff, since acting as P-of-the-S is why he was evacuated.  But discussions with Trump about criming while he was there, nuh-uh.

  54. 54.

    Roger Moore

    @Other MJS:

    There are outliers in any large demographic, but I can’t wrap my head around what a “Democrat Trump supporter” could even mean.

    Some of them are probably people who lie to pollsters just to jerk them around.  Others are the people who claim to be Democrats even though they’ve voted exclusively for Republicans for a long while.  The party left them!

  56. 56.

    C Stars

    @Old School: The person who cuts my hair sometimes tells me anecdotes about his dad, a lifelong Democrat, Obama voter, who went Trumpy in 2016 when he retired to a rural area in Oregon. He was one of the ones who believed “Antifa” was driving around in a bus terrorizing smalltown America. Also an election denier. My hairdresser doesn’t understand how it happened either, but it’s a thing.

  57. 57.

    Eolirin

    61% do not want Trump to be president again.

    That means that 14% of Americans think Trump has done something illegal or at least unethical, but they want him to be president again.

    No, it does not. It means they don’t *not* want him to be president again. They may be indifferent or not feel it disqualifying, but it’s actually a different question if they want him to be President again. It includes all the people who don’t give a fuck as well as the people who actively desire a Trump repeat.

    This is a thing in polling, and why how you word the questions matters so much. You can ask opposite questions like Do you want X, and Do you not want X to the same survey population and get responses that don’t add to 100%.

  58. 58.

    Geminid

    @randy khan: Solar and wind electrical generation could start displacing that of natural gas before too long. In the meantime they will pick up coal’s slack. Most coal generation plants will go offline in the next decade.

    Thanks to the clean power plan pushed through by Governor Luhan Grisham and New Mexico Democrats, that state’s Four Corners coal plant is scheduled to shut down in 2032. In the 1960s, astronauts could see the plant’s smoke plume from orbit.

  60. 60.

    Tom Q.

    @Roger Moore: Kim Davis — that KY woman who refused to issue gay marriage licenses — was a registered Dem.  there are still plenty of Wallace Democrats throughout the South.  As you say, they haven’t voted Dem this millennium, but it’s still their ancestral ID, and they’ll probably keep it to the grave.

  61. 61.

    Roger Moore

    @C Stars:

    If they get most of their news from the TV, physically moving might also mean their main source of information changed.  If you moved to an environment where your main source of information was the local Sinclair station, you might take a hard turn to the right, too.  Or maybe the decision to move was the result of some deeper change in their worldview.  And, of course, you should never discount the possibility of some kind of physical change in their brain, like dementia or a tumor.

  63. 63.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Renie:

    So, again, it’s pushed off till next week.  This is getting annoying.

    Agreed. But I take solace in the fact that waiting is torture for the Angry Yam.

    Or to quote Willy Wonka, “The suspect is terrible. I hope it’ll last.”

  64. 64.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @Geminid: I’m curious what percentage of power is generated from burning oil and natural gas. My understanding is that oil is sometimes used to fill the gaps when renewable energy production is low.

  65. 65.

    Mike Furlan

    I think those numbers are wrong.  At least 27% of US population, and a much higher percentage of white people want Donald Trump to be President again, because he did unethical and illegal things.

  70. 70.

    Matt McIrvin

    I’m sure there’s some significant fraction who don’t want Donald Trump to be President again but still believe Joe Biden or any Democrat to be worse. And that’s the margin we need to shave.

  71. 71.

    Betsy

    I was talking with friends about the different charges and cases pending – it’s just a matter of time whether it’s Georgia, New York, or one of the others — we could think of five at least.  Which will be first?  should we place bets? — when one of us exclaimed “Hey! It’s like March Madness.  Only three more cases and we’d have a full bracket!”

  72. 72.

    Matt McIrvin

    @JimV: Carter did some dogwhistle-y race-baiting in his very early political career. Evolved past it, yes.

  75. 75.

    Captain C

    @WaterGirl:

    Unless he wants to plead the 5th, which won’t look very good, in my opinion.

    “Vote for me, I’m the guy who kind of protected the guy you really want!” will probably not win him many primary votes.

  77. 77.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Geminid: When people throw around dour “we are fucked” projections about future carbon emissions vs. what we need to hit climate goals, the thing that I always remind myself is the projections for the future pace of renewables adoption from official sources have always, consistently, vastly undershot the actual rate. Not to be a magical-thinking techno-optimist but there’s an actual revolution happening there. We are just now getting to the point where it’s actually a significant bite of total production, but the thing about exponentials is they don’t seem like they’re changing much until they suddenly do.

  81. 81.

    trollhattan

    @Geminid: Very cool. There are many days when CAISO reports 60+% of California supply from renewables (solar & wind accounting for nearly all). They’re also beginning to report “hybrid” which I interpret as wind and solar plants with onsite battery storage. They deliver energy from the batteries at night or during peak demand. That’s a small fraction still.

    This year will be the return of large hydro, missing from the mix the last two or three.

  82. 82.

    catclub

    @WaterGirl: ​
     

    Unless he wants to plead the 5th, which won’t look very good, in my opinion.

    Wouldn’t that imply he is a co-conspirator?

  83. 83.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    But I take solace in the fact that waiting is torture for the Angry Yam.

    Every day we wait for any of these assholes (besides the low level insurrectionists) to be held to account is another day they and their handlers have megaphones to spew lies, incite hatred and violence and recruit more followers to fascism.

    Every breaking headline about getting closer to a day of reckoning seems to have its own particular “but” attached.

    That you can publish and sell a book that touches on subjects you can’t be compelled to testify about tells me that whatever respect one has for due process, it is too easy grind the wheels of justice to a halt.

    The US has an accountability problem

  84. 84.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Geminid: Yeah, oil-burning power plants used to be a big deal in the 1970s but they are not any more–petroleum products are mostly directly burned for transportation and heating, and I think oil heaters are in decline too.

    (I think the big exception is Hawaii, which is still dependent on imported petroleum for a lot of its power generation but is trying to get off that.)

    Getting off natural gas is the big hurdle for the US, but natural gas was itself a better thing to use than coal or oil. Nuclear advocates like to make a lot of renewables being a secret stalking horse for natural gas, because gas plants usually take up the slack from the intermittency of wind and solar, but better grids and eventually grid-scale storage should help with that.

  85. 85.

    Geminid

    @Matt McIrvin: The economics of solar and wind energy have really shifted now. The AP article quoted an industry source:

        “This booming growth is driven largely by economics,” said Gregory Whetstone…of the American Council on Renewable Energy. “Over the past decade, the levelized cost of wind energy declined by 70%, while the levelized cost of solar power has declined an even more impressive 90%.”

  86. 86.

    Roger Moore

    @Geminid:

    I think that electricity generated from burning oil is very small now.

    Yep.  I just checked the numbers for California.  In 2021, the most recent year I could easily get a rundown for, oil accounted for 37 GWh.  To give that some perspective, “Other (Waste Heat/Petroleum Coke)” is 465 GWh.  To look at a major contributor, natural gas was 105,356 GWh.  So yeah, at least in California, oil is not a substantial contributor to power generation.

  87. 87.

    catclub

    @Matt McIrvin: the projections for the future pace of renewables adoption from official sources have always, consistently, vastly undershot the actual rate.

     

    I agree with this. Somebody who has looked at other problems agrees, but then thinks what we will do is completely wreck the biosphere (oceans only produce toxic slime and jellyfish, etc)

    just when we have a handle on the CO2 problem.

  89. 89.

    Dr. Jakyll and Miss Deride

    @WaterGirl: Yes!

    I just made the mistake of turning on “Deadline:  White House” and hearing Nicolle Wallace respond to the Pence news by yet again singing her one-note:  “Where’s DOJ?”  AARGH!

    Or, to put it another way:

    There’s a TV news host named Nicolle

    Who can sometimes seem charmingly droll,

    But all her smug smirks

    At how DOJ works

    Make her sound like an internet troll.

  90. 90.

    SteverinoCT

    @Other MJS: Trump is completely uninterested in the well-being of the United States of America. I wouldn’t accuse even Nixon or Bush of literally that. Maybe Dick Cheney.

    During the W administration, I was on an enforced stay at the local hospital, and to read I brought a thick tome on Kennedy Vs. Kruschev (that’s me, Mr. Excitement). What struck me was how Kruschev really was working for policies that were in the best interests of the U.S.S.R.  This era was in the early years of my political awakening, and the contrast I drew with GWB and Cheney were marked.

  92. 92.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Geminid: The thing that strikes me is that the Trump administration was not even able to kill the march of wind and solar adoption, despite Trump crowing to his buddies about how he wanted to eliminate renewable energy for some vice-signaling reason. It really gives the lie to the old idea that renewable energy is this marginal nerd toy that only exists because of politically-driven government subsidies. A lot of the rhetoric about this seems to be left over from 1978.

  94. 94.

    C Stars

    @Roger Moore: He (my hairdresser) thinks it was a move in physical location–he moved to a place where he didn’t have a social group and the friends he did eventually make are super Trumpy (well, I guess the whole town is). Scary to think that someone could be so emotionally transitory.

  96. 96.

    The Moar You Know

    Others are the people who claim to be Democrats even though they’ve voted exclusively for Republicans for a long while.  The party left them!

    @Roger Moore: my stepfather has always been a registered Democrat but hasn’t voted for one since 1976.  I don’t get it, but people are going to do odd things sometimes.

  99. 99.

    Roger Moore

    @Matt McIrvin:

    If Trump really wanted to kill renewable energy, he shouldn’t have appointed the governor of the state that generates the most as Secretary of Energy.  Yeah, Texas is most famous for fossil fuels, but it turns out it’s also a fantastic place for wind power, too.

  102. 102.

    bbleh

    @catclub: Not necessarily, and in any case no implication can be taken in a criminal case from someone pleading the Fifth.  But certainly it doesn’t look so good from a political point of view, although at this point enough of the Traitor Fascist White Supremacist Neo-Confederate Republican Party doesn’t care at all about their own politicians committing crimes.  Hell, some of them think it’s proof of Manly Strength or something primitive like that.

  103. 103.

    Betty

    @Renie: Not necessarily according to Joyce Vance. They are not going to hear more testimony but could make a decision.

  104. 104.

    patrick II

    I did not use to be a Tom Cruise fan but I have had to admit that, as a movie producer and director even more than as an actor, and in spite of his strange religious views, he has won me over. I watch his movies. All of them. Partly to see his most recent death wish stunt, but generally, they are just great action flicks and Tom is a better actor than he used to be.

    That is a rather long lead-in to tell you that I happened upon the background work for his latest stunt on Youtube.  The amount of work and expense they put in is amazing, not to mention the stunt itself.  Before they perform the stunt,  Cruise tells his fellow stuntmen “Don’t be careful, be competent”.

    Anyhow, if you want to see it: Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part one: The Biggest Stunt in Cinema History

  106. 106.

    Burnspbesq

    @Betsy:

    we could think of five at least.

    The generally know sixth potential case has to do with potential securities law violations in connection with the organization and funding of the SPAC that acquired Truth Social.

  107. 107.

    frosty

    We just got some more 4-packs of Barefoot Bubbly Brut Rose. We’re ready for French 75s if the time is right!

  109. 109.

    Geminid

    @Roger Moore: I drove west across Texas on I-20 four years ago, and after I passed Dallas-Ft. Worth I saw hundreds of wind generators. It was kind of fun to see a a line of windmills on a ridge, with oil pumps below and cattle grazing among them: three historic phases of the Texas economy all together.

    Then I got to New Mexico and there were hardly any wind generators, even though the campground where I spent the next few days was the windiest dam’ place I ever camped. But the local newspapers reported that the the new Governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham had campaigned on a platform of clean power and was now putting through with the help of the Democratic majority in Santa Fe.

    I hope to make it back to the Land of Enchantment this winter, and of I do I expect I’ll see more windfarms and maybe some solar arrays too. That state does not lack for wind, or sun either.

  110. 110.

    sab

    @UncleEbeneezer: She was too good enough. She wasn’t fired. She quit in a huff ( rightly so) because the execs insisted on pre-empting an interesting show she had planned with Beyonce for a panel of their own talking head reporter/pundits babbling drivel about political horse race stuff.

  111. 111.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Dr. Jakyll and Miss Deride: yeah, I flipped it on in the car out of habit and was disappointed to hear her droning about how none of the MoCs who asked for a pardon are being investigated, and more so when Joyce Vance didn’t push back. Scott Perry’s phone was seized last August and is still (I believe) in legal limbo. And would we necessarily know if any others were being looked at? Wallace often talks as if Garland has Wonder Woman’s golden lasso and just won’t use it.

  112. 112.

    lollipopguild

    @Matt McIrvin: Back when trump was new in office he would constantly talk about coal, so much so that you felt that he was gonna order the navy to go back to coal burning ships and order the railroads to go back to coal burning steam engines.

  114. 114.

    lollipopguild

    @Matt McIrvin: Back when trump was new in office he would constantly talk about coal, so much so that you felt that he was gonna order the navy to go back to coal burning ships and order the railroads to go back to coal burning steam engines.

  115. 115.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    These threads make me really crave cake, which is not consistent with my diet plan. 😢

  116. 116.

    Quinerly

    @rikyrah:

    I love that pic of Jack Smith. I got a real disappointment when I went to his Wiki page and saw the pic there.

    Weak chin and jaw line. He needs to always have a beard.

    So glad all the men in my life have had perfect jaw lines and chins…thus, I can have a strong opinion on this.😁

  119. 119.

    Dangerman

    @Baud: I don’t care if he is handcuffed or tied on 3 ways from Sunday, taking off holding the side of a plane takes big and brass ones. A badly timed bird strike would have been wildly unpleasant.

  120. 120.

    Burnspbesq

    I’m imagining Trump’s arraignment and bail hearing in Manhattan. In addition to being a circus, it will be interesting to hear his counsel explain why somebody who owns a 757 isn’t a flight risk.

  123. 123.

    Geminid

    @lollipopguild: Yeah, and then there was the time that dufus toured an aircraft carrier and said that he wanted steam catapults for the new carriers instead of electromagnetic ones. I could just see all those naval architects at the shipyard in Newport News keeling over with heart attacks. The draftsman would have been jumping out of windows. Trump could have told how Admirals were coming to him “with tears in their eyes,” and it would have been true!

    But I expect the Navy brass just shined Trump on. “Yes sir! We’ll look into it sir! Meanwhile, why don’t you go visit an Air Force base?”

  124. 124.

    Citizen Alan

    @JimV: I supported Bill Clinton throughout both his terms. But I never forgave him for rushing back to Arkansas in 1992 to oversee the execution of a mentally retarded man because, dammit, he was not going to lose the election over the death penalty like Dukakis did.

  127. 127.

    AWOL

    @patrick II:

    Scientology grifts and kills.

    Tom Cruise is the biggest proponent of this psychotic cult.

    Nice people do not watch Tom Cruise movies. Nice people do not support murder-adjacent shills.

    Dedicated to his craft? Yeah, his craft is to deceive.

    And his movies really suck ass.

  130. 130.

    H-Bob

    @catclub: Maybe he’ll plead the 67th Amendment (a witness can refuse to testify if threatened that his organs will be cut out and made into hamburger) — from Futurama.

  131. 131.

    Paul in KY

    @Roger Moore: I think some of these types were really big fans of ‘The Apprentice’ and enjoyed the show alot. They really dug (for some off-the-wall reason) the TV ‘Donald Trump’. They also think pro wrestling is not staged.

  132. 132.

    Paul in KY

    @catclub: If he has any true ambition or delusion that he can be a player in the 2024 Repub primaries, doesn’t he have to take the 5th on something?

  134. 134.

    Ruckus

    @Delk:

    Making him testify is not a waste of money.

    Either he screws SFB or he screws himself. I’d rather he screws SFB but I’ll take the screwing either way.

  136. 136.

    sab

    Back on Topic here. Since no indictments yet I made chocolate sauerkraut cupcakes instead of cake to take to work at my acounting firm. They scarfed them down and the recipe was asked for.

    Since almost everyone in the firm is of Polish or German ancestry no one was shocked when they heard of the secret ingredient. Mostly just laughed.

    If you go online to get the recipe, the sauerkraut needs to be cuisinarted (really seriously chopped up) instead of just chopped. Otherwise wee bits of cabbage between your teeth. I found that charming, but others might not agree. Also too, the cupcakes need to bake almost as long as the cake. Don’t count on a shorter cooking time.

  138. 138.

    Paul in KY

    @Citizen Alan: The riding-around-in-the-tank-with-the-helmet hurt him more (IMO) than his deathpenalty answer.

    Made him seem not serious, as a potential CINC.

  139. 139.

    WaterGirl

    Is it true that they might have voted to indict, but we will only know about it if / when Trump says something about it OR he is arraigned?

  140. 140.

    Citizen Alan

    @Paul in KY: perhaps, but Dukakis was only the latest example of Dems getting dumped on for being anti-death penalty (on account of the fact that we’re not evil). I wonder what Justice Garland’s views on the Death Penalty would have been (/glares psychically at Bernie Bros and Stein Freaks)

  144. 144.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: I don’t know what it is, maybe that school shooting set people off, but just over the past couple of days I’ve been reading A LOT of people online just asserting that there is no future and we are fucked. People just saying they’re giving up.

    They all seem to have slightly different ideas about why, often it’s climate change, sometimes it’s mass violence, but there are, like, even all these parents saying their children have lost all hope and they’re validating this loss of hope, saying, yeah, you’re right, kid, our civilization is dying and you’re probably not going to have a future.

    I’m not sure why now specifically. Things have been worse in the very recent past, in many ways. They weren’t this hopeless even when Trump was running things, when everyone was dropping dead of COVID–it seemed like that just gave people a sense of mission. Maybe it’s the freako Republicans feeling their oats in the red states and passing all these oppressive laws and regulations because they can. Maybe there’s a relatively slow news week and they’re stepping back and despairing.

    Kind of wondering if we’re going to just see a huge wave of mass suicides and drug overdoses, “deaths of despair” accumulating until it just engulfs us. I know they’ve risen quite a bit.

    I don’t know, the thing that freaks me out lately is mostly the prospect that the Republicans are going to flip out and murder us all. But I think it’s not usually specifically that, it’s some more general malaise.

  145. 145.

    Matt McIrvin

    @lollipopguild: It was some kind of weird toxic-masculinity thing–fossil fuel and maybe nuclear code as manly, everything else is wimpy–as well as a sop to Appalachian voters who still think the coal industry could be a going concern.

  146. 146.

    Ivan X

    @Other MJS: I met one at a bar. He was a trial lawyer and, more or less, a white supremacist, certainly a racist. I’m sure there are plenty like him.

  147. 147.

    trnc

    @Gravenstone: They’re ceding that he was acting in his role as President of the Senate so they’re letting him hide behind the Speech and Debate clause. Even though that’s actually an Executive Office role.

    The VP serving as President of the Senate is listed in Article I, so that is likely the context underlying the ruling. Setting that aside, unless Pence really participated in the plot, I doubt that any of his actions covered by the exemption would be very interesting to the prosecutors.

  149. 149.

    Paul in KY

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: He sure has a prominent whatever that thing is between your nose and middle of your mouth. I do think there’s good oppo fodder there. However the tank one was worse cause a tanker helmet is oversized to begin with and Gov. Dukakis looked like a little kid in it. The pilot helmet fits better, IMO.

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