Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

People are weird.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

When we show up, we win.

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

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

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

Tick tock motherfuckers!

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / This Is Who They Are – Wisconsin Extremists on the Ballot on April 4 (Open Thread)

This Is Who They Are – Wisconsin Extremists on the Ballot on April 4 (Open Thread)

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This post is in: 

We have talked about the two most important races coming up in the Spring Elections in Wisconsin on April 4.

The Republicans on the ballot are extremists. The Republican extremist who is running for State Senate (SD-8) suggests that he will impeach Judge Janet Protasiewicz if she wins the state-wide race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

⭐️

In Wisconsin, please vote for:  Judge Janet Protasiewicz (state-wide race) and Jodi Habush Sinykin (SD-8).

Vote against these Wisconsin extremists:   Dan Kelly (state-wide) and Dan Knodl (SD-8)

Former Attorney General Eric Holder calls this the most important election of 2023.

⭐️

Supreme Court Race:  Electing Janet Protasiewicz would shift the balance of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from Republican to Democrat.

I don’t have to tell you all the great things that could potentially move in the right direction – and all the horrible things that could potentially be stopped – if Judge Janet Protasiewicz is elected on April 4.

State Senate Race (SD-8): Electing Jodi Habush Sinykin will keep Senate Republicans from the 2/3 majority that allow them to remove state officials who are impeached by the State Assembly.

Wisconsin Republicans are defending a two-thirds majority in the state Senate that they achieved in November but quickly lost after the retirement of longtime GOP state Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills. If Knodl replaces Darling, Senate Republicans will have enough members to be able to remove state officials who are impeached by the state Assembly.

But wait, it’s worse than that!

The republican running against Jodi Habush Sinykin says that if he wins – which would mean that Senate Republicans would have the 2/3 majority – he will consider impeaching Judge Janet Protasiewicz if she is elected on April 4.

And here he is, the day after another school shooting.

MADISON – Republican state Senate candidate Dan Knodl says if his election gives Senate Republicans a two-thirds majority, he would “certainly consider” support launching impeachment proceedings against Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz.

Wisconsin Republicans are defending a two-thirds majority in the state Senate that they achieved in November but quickly lost after the retirement of longtime GOP state Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills. If Knodl replaces Darling, Senate Republicans will have enough members to be able to remove state officials who are impeached by the state Assembly.

The Wisconsin Constitution allows lawmakers to remove state officials “for corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors,” but Knodl said Sunday he would consider launching impeachment proceedings for criminal justice officials “who have failed” at their jobs.

Republican state Rep. Dan Knodl of Germantown and Democrat Jodi Habush Sinykin of Whitefish Bay will square off in an April 4 special election for the 8th Senate District.

In an appearance on WISN-TV’s political talk show “UpFront,” Knodl said the “Milwaukee County justice system is failing” and said he believes its prosecutors and circuit court judges “need to be looked at” including Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and Protasiewicz.

“She has failed,” Knodl said. When asked directly if he would support impeaching Protasiewicz, Knodl said “I certainly would consider it.”

Knodl did not immediately say whether his comments meant he would consider voting in favor of impeaching Protasiewicz if she is elected to the state Supreme Court on Tuesday.

I think it’s fair to say at this point that all Republicans are authoritarians now.  Whether they are active authoritarians or just supporting those who are, the Republican party has become the party of authoritarians.  Appalling.

Reader Interactions

115Comments

  1. 1.

    brendancalling

    OT, but also open thread so here goes:

    Turns out TN drag queen Governor Bill Lee’s wife was best friends with one of the victims at Covenant. Two of ’em, actually. Tots and pears, baby, tots and pears.

    Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee released a statement on Tuesday about the shooting Monday at The Covenant School.
    As part of the statement, Lee said his wife Maria was going to have dinner Monday night with Cindy Peak, one of the shooting victims, and had taught with both Peak and Katherine Koonce, Covenant’s Head of School who died in the shooting.
    “What happened at Covenant School was a tragedy beyond comprehension. Like many of you, I’ve experienced tragedy in my own life, and I’ve experienced the day after that tragedy. I woke up this morning with a very familiar feeling, and I recognize that today many Tennesseans are feeling the exact same way – the emptiness, the lack of understanding, the desperate desire for answers and the desperate need for hope.”
    Lee said Peak was one of his wife’s best friends.

    “Cindy was supposed to come over to have dinner with Maria last night after she filled in as a substitute teacher yesterday at Covenant,” Lee said.

    While I feel sorry for the victims and their families, I don’t give the tiniest little turd about whatever grief Lee and his wife are feeling. I have no problem being sarcastic and snarky about this, because we all know Lee won’t lift a finger to stop the next massacre. If anything, the idiot will propose arming children to shoot back.

  3. 3.

    Mike in NC

    Justice Kelly is having fun with his guns. How special! Then go read the stories about kids slaughtered at school by AR-15 bullets.

  4. 4.

    Another Scott

    I just got an e-mail that the DLCC is having a 5x match at the moment, for those inclined (they’re one of my monthly donations.)

    DLCC.org

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    The right wingers want to focus on trans, trans, trans with the Nashville shooter, but all the news I saw was focused on how this person was able to lawfully purchase a lot of guns.

  6. 6.

    Roger Moore

    @brendancalling:

    I don’t give the tiniest little turd about whatever grief Lee and his wife are feeling.

    I don’t care what any politician feels.  We show our real values by what we do, not by what we say or think or feel.  Expressing sorrow while taking only actions that make future massacres more likely shows what Lee’s true values are.

  7. 7.

    Alison Rose

    @Baud: Also, if they’re gonna say “one trans person commits a shooting = all trans people are evil and bad” then I got some bad news for them about cis white men.

  10. 10.

    hueyplong

    @scav: Sociopaths probaby don’t feel haunted, period.  And being a sociopath is an ironclad requirement for being a Republican officeholder.  Lack of intelligence helps, but is not absolutely required.  A proper sociopath can fake that for the crowd.

  11. 11.

    suzanne

    Open thread, so update:

    SuzMom has a femoral neck fracture and will be getting surgery today. Three screws, relatively less invasive compared to other orthopedic surgeries.

    Hospital is in the middle of the Oakland neighborhood. Five schools in western PA, including two in Oakland very close to the hospital, have had swatting calls made. Reports of active shooters appear to be false. The entire area is swarming with police (land and air). Hospital appears to be safe. Neighborhood is difficult to navigate.

  12. 12.

    Kay

    My youngest slid 40 feet hiking in the Ozarks and broke his ankle

    He and his friends are idiots so didn’t get an X-ray until they returned to Michigan so he walked on it for two days- he’s in surgery right now to put a screw in – doc says it will heal fine 🙂

  15. 15.

    scav

    Well, there’s a sudden burst of people getting screws put in in a larger thread concerning  people  with screws loose.

  16. 16.

    Scout211

    From Madison.com

    A few reasons to be hopeful:

    Liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz raised five times what conservative Dan Kelly received between early February and late March, with monetary transfers from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin comprising the majority of that amount.

    The donations from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin were fueled largely by two $1 million donations in the latest reporting period from billionaires who frequently donate to liberal campaigns. The Republican Party of Wisconsin didn’t raise nearly as much, but far exceeded the $56,061 it raised in the first five weeks of 2023.


    Protasiewicz received nearly $12.4 million to Kelly’s $2.2 million between Feb. 7 and March 20, with just over $8 million in cash coming from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

    And from Fox News.

    [Ha ha ha ha ha]

    George Soros pushes $1 million to Wisconsin Democrats ahead of pivotal state Supreme Court election

  18. 18.

    cmorenc

    @Baud:

    The right wingers want to focus on trans, trans, trans with the Nashville shooter, but all the news I saw was focused on how this person was able to lawfully purchase a lot of guns.

    The woman shooter was actually trans?  Or at least allegedly trans in RW media?  I don’t follow RW media sufficiently to have picked up anything about this.

  21. 21.

    cain

    @brendancalling:

    “What happened at Covenant School was a tragedy beyond comprehension. Like many of you, I’ve experienced tragedy in my own life, and I’ve experienced the day after that tragedy. I woke up this morning with a very familiar feeling, and I recognize that today many Tennesseans are feeling the exact same way – the emptiness, the lack of understanding, the desperate desire for answers and the desperate need for hope.” 

    But not desperate to solve the problem.

  22. 22.

    Scout211

    @Baud: From the Madison.com article:

    The Democratic Party of Wisconsin raised nearly $6.9 million from Feb. 7 to March 20, and spent around $10.1 million during that time. The organization had $270,000 left on hand at the end of the reporting period. It received $1 million in donations from Democratic donor George Soros and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

  23. 23.

    cain

    @Baud:

    Soros should donate a sum of money to a Republican candidate and then praise them for being awesome. Get it covered by the press.

    The candidate will then get Soros stink on them and will also be forced to give back the money.

    Meanwhile, their voters will remember that Soros supports them.

    Their shtick requires Soros to stay quiet. He shouldn’t.

  27. 27.

    StringOnAStick

    @suzanne: That’s great that a less invasive surgery is on tap; the state of that particular art has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 20 years.  Femoral neck breaks are unfortunately so common with falls.

    @Kay: When people break bones but they don’t move out of position, it can seem ok for a few hours and even not show up on an X-ray until the inflammation at the site of the break causes enough swelling (and pain) to force the fracture apart enough to be visible on an X-ray image taken a day or two later.  The adrenaline rush from injuring yourself is why people hop up and say they’re fine, but that wears off and the pain reality sets in, as your son discovered. Maybe add another day to that for being young and testosterone filled; kids, eh?

  28. 28.

    pat

    I’m surprised someone doesn’t say, Hey we have 430 million of these guns in the US and only one of them has been used so what’s the problem?  Restrict their purchase?  Never.

  31. 31.

    StringOnAStick

    @Kay: We live in a mountain biking destination tourism zone and it’s a big deal with the locals.  By midsummer every outdoor concert has several people in forearm casts from flying off their bikes, arms outstretched ( “the flying W formation”).  My husband was one of them last fall.

  32. 32.

    Kay

    @StringOnAStick:

    thanks. I had no idea but what you said is pretty much what he reported – that it got more and more painful over 2 days so he finally got an X-ray and broken in 2 places

    it was so ugly looking I couldn’t believe he would walk on it – just bands of bruise

  33. 33.

    StringOnAStick

    I just read that the Manhattan grand jury is going on a previously scheduled hiatus for a month, so no tRump indictment from there until after at least late April.

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    @Kay:

    I still think they should have come in from the trail- but his doc said it’s docs “first” hiking injury of the season so I guess injuries are common

    The problem is that injuries out on the trail require some way to evacuate to where you can easily get in a car or whatever.  Your son was probably going to have to walk on that injury a bunch just to get to medical care.  And honestly, if it wasn’t hurting him enough to stop him from enjoying the trip, he probably wasn’t doing too much damage by continuing to use it.

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    @StringOnAStick: Almost.

  41. 41.

    The Moar You Know

    Just had a look at the Wiki article on “political party strength in Wisconsin” because I’d been under the impression that it had been a pretty blue state at some point.  Not really, as it turns out.  But the GOP has definitely been up to some gerrymandering shenanigans, as the state should be purple, but at the state government level it’s blood red.

  43. 43.

    suzanne

    @StringOnAStick:

    When people break bones but they don’t move out of position, it can seem ok for a few hours and even not show up on an X-ray until the inflammation at the site of the break causes enough swelling (and pain) to force the fracture apart enough to be visible on an X-ray image taken a day or two later. 

    That’s exactly what happened….. she seemed relatively okay, but deteriorated over the course of the day. The x-ray didn’t show a break, but the CT scan did.

  49. 49.

    cain

    @The Moar You Know:

    The usual suspects are trying to whip up an honest-to-god genocide against transfolk, of course.

    It’s not really working from what I can tell.

    Why isn’t these politicians not focusing on the fact that a carrot is $0.50? I mean going to the grocery store, or just going out is a minimum $50 expenditure.

    As a party, we should be hammering them on this. Trans people commit no crimes and are not likely to commit any than any other demographic, they pay taxes, and they don’t impede on anybody else’s freedom.

    Make them say what the problem is and show documented evidence that they are causing a problem through specifically crimes. Play into their ‘law and order’ schtick – it will fuck them up.

  51. 51.

    StringOnAStick

    @cain: I’m glad to know we live in a pretty liberal neighbourhood; the only close by gun nut moved out a year ago.  Bullets from an AR-15 can go through a lot of layers of siding and drywall and still kill.  Those things laying around houses in suburbia is going to lead to exactly that.

  52. 52.

    Eolirin

    @cain: It’s important to look at those numbers in relation to the overall breakdown of the population. Owners are disproportionately likely to be former military, even if the majority of owners aren’t former military.

  53. 53.

    Geminid

    @cain: I talk politics some with a Republican customer. On Monday afternoon Jane brought up the Nashville shooting and we talked gun control a little. She was wary of firearms registration, but when I brought up assault rifles Jane frowned, shook her head and said they had no place in civilian society.

    Someone on Twitter posted a graph that showed the occurrence of mass shootings on a timeline from 1990 to the present, with a red line marking the expiration of the assault weapons ban in 2003. The increase after that date was striking.

  54. 54.

    StringOnAStick

    @suzanne: Sounds classic.  That the break was nondisplaced suggests better bone density than is often seen with such breaks, and that will help in the repair and the recovery.  Let us know how the surgery goes; sorry this happened.

  57. 57.

    StringOnAStick

    @Geminid: Even My reactionary, lifetime NRA member father who hates all non R individuals says no one should have an AR-15, and yet here we are.  Putin got a lot for his rubles when he purchased the NRA and associated politicians.

  59. 59.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @cain: I don’t think even that would work; they seem to have become expert at doublethink, and will believe something that feels true to them even if all the facts point the other way.

  60. 60.

    patrick II

    I was reading about an oral argument by SC judge Kavanaugh that there really wasn’t much difference between an AR-type rifle and a handgun.  And then I thought of the many news videos and movie scenes of the U.S. Army in Iraq and Afghanistan raiding houses of suspected militants.  Everyone I saw carried an AR because you don’t want to bring a pistol to a rifle fight.  ARs are made to kill people in war and they are good at it, Judge Kavanaugh’s (how it burns to write that phrase) pseudo-opinion notwithstanding.

  61. 61.

    gene108

    @patrick II:

    The type of ammo fired from an AR-15 type rifle is different than from a handgun. Plus, the muzzle velocity as the round is fired is greater in an AR-15 type rifle.

    These make AR-15 type rifles more deadly than handguns.

  62. 62.

    Geminid

    @Baud: There is another striking contrast in Missouri’s murder rate before and after they revealed the “permit to purchase” law around 2010. The permit to purchase requires a background check. It’s just one more step, but it seems to have inhibited gun crimes.

    California’s permit to purchase requires completion of a firearms safety course. Israel goes a step further and requires a civilian firearms owner to have passed a psychogical screening that is repeated every few years. Plus, Israeli citizens are allowed only 50 rounds of ammunition. If they want to buy more, they have to turn in that many empty cartridges.

  63. 63.

    patrick II

    @patrick II:

    When I wrote the above comment I called Kavanaugh’s opinion a pseudo-opinion because it is so clearly wrong that he has not given any thought to it and does not deserve the weight of the word “opinion”.  But then I looked up the word opinion, and if any word in the English language should be broken up into two words, each with one of the dual meanings of the current word, it is the word opinion.
    opinion
    ə-pĭn′yən
    noun

    1. A belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof: synonym: view.
    2. A judgment based on special knowledge and given by an expert.

    So, when Kavanaugh gives his view of guns since it is in court and part of an opinion expressed by a judge as part of a legal proceeding, people take it for the second meaning of “opinion” given by someone with expert knowledge, where it is, in fact, the first meaning of the word “opinion” and is a conclusion held with confidence but without fact.

    The conflation of these two meanings in one important word seems troublesome and often gives undue weight to confident but ignorant opinions in circumstances of importance.  We should make judges say a different word when speaking in ignorance.

  64. 64.

    Geminid

    @gene108: Besides firing more destructive bullets, these assault-type weapons also allow for bigger magazines. A typical oversized magazine will hold 30 rounds, but the guy who shot up that theater in Aurora, Colorado had a 100 round drum magazine. Fortunately, it jammed.

  66. 66.

    cain

    @Geminid: Our homes are not designed for assault weapons – using an assault weapon can penetrate your neighbors home. Your right to being safe stops at your door and keeping firearms that can into your neighbor’s home is not good and makes the neighborhood unsafe.

    The GOP is really running on thin ice here – you combine their unfettered access to guns plus the way they are driving anxiety across the nation and you’re going to see some shit.

  67. 67.

    cain

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: It’s never about them – it’s to minimize them it is our version of performance art – and peel away independents. They cannot win without independents even in the red state.

    Check out that gun owner survey – most of those gun nuts are one issue independents. I bet once we break their gun fetish, they’ll normalize and likely focus on other things.

  68. 68.

    JoyceH

    @WaterGirl: ​
     

    What is going on? Seriously. I remember back in February, we learned that the special grand jury in Georgia had wrapped up and the next step was for Willis to present the case to a regular grand jury that could indict. We were told then that the next grand jury session that could take action would convene on March 1. Okay, so stand down and wait for March, I guess. Just yesterday, I heard an explainer say that the next grand jury session in Georgia started MAY 1. Wait, what about the March session? She’s already got the report and the indictment recommendations – why can’t she present them NOW? It just seems like this kicking the can down the road is going to go on ad infinitum.

  70. 70.

    Josie

    I had an interesting conversation with the other grandmother this morning. I was saying that I saw no reason for anyone to have an AR15, and she admitted that she had one. She said she got it to take a class with other female gun owners at the range, but she was thinking of getting rid of it. She said she thought it has become a status symbol for many people. I knew she had a number of guns, but I never dreamed she would have an assault rifle. It almost sounded like a case of peer pressure.​
     ETA: She is fully onboard with the idea of extensive background checks, red flag laws, liability insurance, etc.

  72. 72.

    WaterGirl

    @JoyceH: I share some of your frustration, but the pace of all this legal stuff is extraordinarily slow, in terms of regular human time.

    So when Fani says IMMINENT, we are thinking IMMINENT!  Not the  legal version of imminent, which apparently runs on a while different timeline.

    And the only reason we all had expectations for close-to-immediate action from Alvin Bragg is because fucking Donald Trump put Tuesday out there.  And of course we got sucked into his expectations vortex.  Score 1 for the former guy.

  73. 73.

    rikyrah

    UH HUH

    UH HUH

    Barbara Lee for US Senate (D-CA) (@Needle_of_Arya) tweeted at 7:37 AM on Wed, Mar 29, 2023:
    The scary thing about the Bethany Mandel account is that when the anti-Black racism of her former white populist left stance did not change when she became a right-wing white supremacist~

    ~literally none of her white friends even bothered to notice.

     

     

     

    Barbara Lee for US Senate (D-CA) (@Needle_of_Arya) tweeted at 8:35 AM on Wed, Mar 29, 2023:
    And it’s even worse than that; Mandel’s tweet history reveals that she’s been a violent white supremacist for the entire time she’s been on Twitter and undoubtedly presumably long before that, but no one on the white populist left, in her family or in NYC even bothered to notice.
    (https://twitter.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/1641071555265323018?t=YXHtJpcX9dAEM_rmK2aaXQ&s=03)

  76. 76.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Another Scott:

    I just got an e-mail that the DLCC is having a 5x match at the moment, for those inclined (they’re one of my monthly donations.)

    Thanks for the heads-up! I just tossed them some money.  It’s a good cause – our state legislature candidates can always use more money than they’re likely to get.  I’ve given to the DLCC off and on for years.

  81. 81.

    Paul in KY

    @gene108: Anyone who says an AR-15 round discharge is about like that of a pistol (any pistol) is completely stupid or is a lying POS.

  82. 82.

    patrick II

    @WaterGirl:

    My problem is that the word “opinion” without the descriptive adjective “legal” or “expert” in front of it gets treated with too much weight because of the ambiguity of the word “opinion” itself.  How many times have we heard “you have to respect his opinion” and a fraudulent statement becomes unarguable?  No, you don’t have to respect the opinion of someone who speaks with confidence but ignorance. “Well, that’s his opinion” doesn’t work for me. I have heard that phrase too often from people who most need to learn some facts and who think because it is an “opinion” it already meets some invisible bar and doesn’t need further proof. It is especially frustrating when people are confronted with facts that clearly contradict a statement their counterargument is “it’s his opinion” which, to them, places it above argument.

    Sorry.  I’m going on because I am pissed at people immune to facts. I did not know they would play such an important part in our lives.

  83. 83.

    JoyceH

    @WaterGirl: ​
     

    It’s not just Trump raising expectations. Look, Willis HAS the indictment recommendations – that part is done. What is there left to do? We’re talking about actions that took place in early January of 2021, and we’re really getting into Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied territory. Ken Paxton was indicted in Texas in 2016, and he’s still running amok. Netanyahu was indicted in 2020, and he’s still running amok. If these guys think the law can’t touch them, it’s because they’re right. So far, nothing and nobody has proved otherwise.

    As for Willis, the longer she delays, the more time that gives the legislature and the governor to build this new mechanism that will allow them to cut the legs out from under local prosecutors. She needs to indict and get the process underway while she still can.

  84. 84.

    Paul in KY

    @rikyrah: That will sure make him popular with all the officers who are ready to be promoted (have their line number, etc.) and NCOs too!

    He really is a moran.

  85. 85.

    lowtechcyclist

    @WaterGirl: Or maybe she has a friend with a sledgehammer.

    OTOH, I’m not sure one AR more or less really makes a difference at this point, there are so many of the goddamned things in circulation.

    Until this nation is ready and willing to Hoover them all up and toss them into a blast furnace or an active volcano, or borrow one of Elon Musk’s rockets and fire them all into the sun, we’re pretty much stuck.

  86. 86.

    Paul in KY

    @WaterGirl: She better watch it happening, cause if it’s in good condition, it may end up in a policeman’s collection. A nice one is worth about $1000.

  87. 87.

    Geminid

    @cain: Well, the shit I hope to see is an assault weapons ban in Virginia. That can’t happen until Foungkin’ Youngkin’s term is up January, 2025 and he can run for President full time. But both General Assembly houses are up this November, and I think Democrats will make gun safety a central issue, along with abortion rights and education.

    Virginia Democrats used to be afraid of the gun control issue, but they centered it to good effect in 2017 and 2019. They got six good gun safety measures through in the 2020 session (besides banning firearms from the Capitol grounds). Republicans in the lower house voted to repeal five of them last year but the Senate stopped them. These laws polled at 70%+ approval, and Democrats will hang those repeal votes around Republican necks this fall. This is a losing issue for Republicans in suburban districts, and that’s where control of the legislature will be decided.

  88. 88.

    WaterGirl

    @JoyceH: That law will be effective in 2024, I think.  So Fani has time from that perspective.

    IANAL, but I feel pretty confident in saying that a whole bunch of stuff gets set in motion once you issue a formal indictment, and she surely wants to make sure all her ducks are in a row before she does that.

    I would want her to do that!  If come at the king, you best not miss.

    I totally understand your impatience.  I share it.  But I don’t want these people to rush to do anything related to Trump.  I mean, I want it all yesterday, but it needs to be done right.  And if that takes more time, I will have to live with that.

    But with elections coming up, clocks are ticking, and everyone knows it.  I am trying not to second guess these people who are really good at their jobs.

  89. 89.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Paul in KY: These are the same people that keep saying “The AR-15 isn’t a military weapon!”

    Yes, it is. It’s a military rifle very slightly modified and then sold to civilians. You could absolutely use it in a war. Which is obvious, since a lot of these chucklefucks explicitly say they should have them in case they need to rebel against the government.

  90. 90.

    JoyceH

    @WaterGirl: ​
     

    That law will be effective in 2024, I think.

    Oh! If that’s the case, okay. I thought they were setting this up basically to protect Trump. (Though I know they’re also irked at blue-district DAs who aren’t hounding after abortions to their satisfaction.) That’s what I get for listening to Maddow, I guess. And man, I’m so yearning for that Indictment Day Pizza…

  91. 91.

    cain

    @rikyrah: I wonder if you’re pregnant and you go to the hospital and you end up getting an abortion to save your life – does that mean that anybody you took with you to the hospital is now liable and can be charged with a felony?

  92. 92.

    Roger Moore

    @Geminid:

    A typical oversized magazine will hold 30 rounds, but the guy who shot up that theater in Aurora, Colorado had a 100 round drum magazine. Fortunately, it jammed.

    FWIW, 30 rounds is not oversized; it’s the standard magazine size for most 5.56 NATO rifles.  And the jam with the 100 round drum magazine was not just happenstance.  One of the reasons the military tends to steer clear of big drums like that is because they are far more prone to jams and other feed problems than standard stick magazines.

    In general, I see removable magazines as one of the key features we should regulate in firearm designs.  There’s a big functional difference between, say, the tubular magazine in a traditional hunting rifle and the removable magazine in an AR-pattern rifle that goes beyond the capacity.  Removable magazines can easily be replaced with something with higher capacity.  Even if you somehow prevented people from buying high capacity magazines, there’s a huge difference between reloading a whole magazine instead of having to reload individual rounds.  A surprising number of mass shooters have been stopped by their would-be victims while they were reloading.

  93. 93.

    cain

    @Geminid: Just have a political ad where a gun owner shoots his AR-15 and it penetrates the neighbors home and an angry distraught neighbor comes out with a crying kid and tells him what he did wrong.

    Let these assholes howl in protest, and then let try to fact check that.

  94. 94.

    Ksmiami

    @cain: they deserve to be victims of their own policy of non action. Sorry not sorry the GOP is the enemy of America.

  95. 95.

    Trivia Man

    Don’t forget, Judge Kelly provided legal services to the fake slate of electors. I am disappointed that it isn’t more widely mentioned in news coverage as I consider that a slam dunk disqualification.

     

    I got my precinct assignment for the election, I will be monitoring for long lines or any other hijinks. I offered to go anyplace in the state, luckily I only have to go cross town. It will be a long day – 6:30 to 9:00. You can bet I’ll be Juicing all day so I hope there is an acitve thread or two for me to follow.

    Thanks for all the swell postcards! We got one from San Francisco and one from Boston.

  100. 100.

    Matt McIrvin

    @cain: That’s far gentler and less horrifying than the version I would have made. And probably better.

  101. 101.

    WaterGirl

    @Trivia Man: I could put up a Wisconsin election post at, say, 10 am so that you and anyone else who is voting or working  the elections can pop in and let us know how it’s going.

    That way all the election comments can be in one place.  Does that seem like a good idea?

  102. 102.

    WaterGirl

    @cain: Well, the kid should be crying, but the kid should be young enough to have been holding a stuffed animal – which has been shredded by the bullet.

  103. 103.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @StringOnAStick: ​I’m feeling like the vulture in the Far Side.

    Mmm, I think you’re a bit confoozled. You clearly mean the long-predating-Far Side cartoon wherein two vultures are perched on a branch and one says to the other,

    Patience my ass, I’m gonna kill something!

    The only vulturous FarSide panel I recall is a whole bunch of buzzards chowing down on a carcass and one of then sticks his head up and says:

    You’re probably wondering why I called you all here. Hah! I’ve always wanted to say that!​

  106. 106.

    cain

    @rikyrah: lol – then find out that the people who use those drop boxes are mostly republicans. They should probably think about their demographic – if it is older americans I don’t think they are going to like having to stand in line.

    Slashing the budget is to make sure that some areas where liberals congregate will not have enough election handlers and thus will have long lines.

  107. 107.

    Old School

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    The only vulturous FarSide panel

    There are others.  The closest to the theme expressed here can be found about half way down this page where vultures are not taking the food offered by a couple of elderly gentlemen, but just sitting and staring at them.

  108. 108.

    Geminid

    @Roger Moore: I understand that military rifles have 30 round magazines and was using “oversized” in the context of civilian society. And yes, the detachable magazine feature is a key feature that should be addressed.

  110. 110.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Old School: Those others were very droll, thanky kindly. I’m reasonably sure I’d seen them before but had just forgotten about them.

    But what I actually posted at #103 supra went on,

    The only vulturous FarSide panel I recall

    By truncating my post and omitting the qualifying words, you made me seem both arrogant and ignorant. Was that your intent?

    In any event I bow to your superior knowledge of FarSide panels involving vultures. Well played!​

  111. 111.

    Dr. Jakyll and Miss Deride

    @patrick II: It’s even more complicated than that.  Trials often feature conflicting expert opinions, both given by witnesses who have been properly certified as experts (as accurately depicted in the documentary “My Cousin Vinny”), but juries are instructed that they may reject any such opinion if they find the facts don’t support it.  So even an “expert opinion” may be worth no more than the kind of opinion described in your first definition.

  112. 112.

    Spinoza Is My Co-pilot

    They are fascists, not just authoritarians.

    Our own homegrown American-style flavor of fascism, differing in certain ways from other forms of fascism around the world both past (like Nazi-ism in Germany) and present (like Putin’s Russia) due mostly to differences in culture and timeframe (as all the other forms differ in varying degrees from each other).

    But fascism nonetheless, with all the horror that term entails and portends for such a political movement coming into power (the Republican Party — somewhat proto-fascist to begin with, at least back to the 1930s — has become an out and out fascist organization over the preceding 5+ decades of political realignment via “southernization” of that Party; the progenitor of contemporary American fascism was the ur-fascism of the slave power/Confederacy).

    It Can’t Happen Here. Except it most definitely is happening, and too few either recognize and acknowledge that, or are whistling past the graveyard hoping against hope for the fever to “break”. And it might break, just not in the way that phrase is meant to convey.

  113. 113.

    The Lodger

    @Uncle Cosmo: “Patience, my ass… was a poster. One of the Spencer Gifts best sellers, as I recall. It was up in my dorm room for at least a year back in the day.

  114. 114.

    Trivia Man

    @WaterGirl: Excellent. I hope to be bored as can be with plenty of time on my hands. But just in case of shenanigans I will be there to thwart the forces of evil and ensure every vote counts.

  115. 115.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @The Lodger: Oh, no doubt – IIRC it preceded the FarSide by a good number of years.

    Coming onto 20 years ago (jeebus h cripes on a crotchet, wuzzit that far back) I was working in Rosslyn VA assigned to assist DoD’s Base Realingment And Closing (BRAC) activity. Data there was treated as if it were Top Secret – we were forbidden from taking any home, even though my own PC could run rings around the antediluvian hardware they gave us. Every Congressional stapher ;^D who could track down one of our phones was on it incessantly, their bosses desperate to know if the local facility was on the Chopin bloc** & prepared to scream bloody murther-most-fowl if it was…
    So OK. So I had this inspired concept for a poster:

    Desert scene.

    Left foreground, two buzzards on a cactus.

    Rear backgroud, a wooden stockade within which 10-gallon-hatted cavalrymen are running around firing shotguns into the sky at a flock of buzzards circling & screaming BRAC! BRAC!

    Buzzard in left foreground says to his companion, Patience my ass, I’m gonna close something!

    One of my coworkers in the home office was a truly gifted cartoonist, and I tried repeatedly to persuade him to draw it up – I think we could’ve made a nice piece of ¢hange, because every serviceperson and civilian in that very large orifice on Wilson Blvd would have bought at least one as a memento of that crazy time…ah well…​
     

    ** One of my Czech friends once bought the other, who was fond of music, a lined pad to stick on the fridge door with musical notation labeled CHOPIN LISZT. I thought that rather clever!

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