Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

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

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

I was promised a recession.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

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

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

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

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

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

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

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread: When You Don’t *Have* To Spend Every Waking Minute Focused on A Single Unrewarding Subject…

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Below the fold — this being a full-service blog — Topic A, for Arrested…

This is a good read — Errol Louis, at NYMag, “Don’t Underestimate Alvin Bragg’s Chances Against Trump”:

… Bragg is expected to argue that hush-money payments to adult actress Stormy Daniels and/or ex–Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal were made by setting up a fake retainer agreement with Trump’s ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, who paid the cash up front and later got reimbursed by Trump’s company for nonexistent legal services. Creating phony business transactions to hide the payments could constitute the misdemeanor offense of falsifying a business record, with the intention of committing or concealing a second crime of not reporting what was, in effect, a campaign contribution. (New York election law defines a contribution as “any thing of value, made in connection with the nomination for election, or election, of any candidate.”)

This is where things get sticky for Trump. Falsifying a business record in order to commit or conceal a second crime would bump the matter up from a misdemeanor to a felony, punishable by one to four years in prison. In fact, New York courts have found that the second crime need not even be proved: Mere intent to commit or conceal a crime can be sufficient to make records falsification a felony.

And don’t forget the devastating statements made by Trump’s own Department of Justice about the hush money in the sentencing memo prepared shortly before Cohen was sent to prison. “With respect to both payments, Cohen acted with the intent to influence the 2016 presidential election. Cohen coordinated his actions with one or more members of the campaign, including through meetings and phone calls, about the fact, nature, and timing of the payments,” the memo said. “In particular, and as Cohen himself has now admitted, with respect to both payments, he acted in coordination with and at the direction of Individual-1.”…

So Trump is in serious legal jeopardy, not least because his adversary, Bragg, is a dogged and meticulous litigator who has proved he can build complex white-collar cases. Years ago, as an assistant U.S. Attorney under Preet Bharara, Bragg successfully prosecuted misconduct by elected officials, including former State Senator Malcolm Smith, who ended up in prison. Bragg also prosecuted a slew of white-collar criminals as the state’s chief deputy attorney general, and he prides himself on not bringing frivolous cases.

“I’ve done cases involving multimillion-dollar money laundering by business people who were financing violent criminal enterprises,” he said during a campaign debate in 2021. “The only misdemeanor case I’ve ever tried was two men blocking patients and staff going into Planned Parenthood. I’ve been very judicious with the use of prosecutorial power.”…

Trump has lost or settled so many damaging lawsuits that it’s easy to forget that he used his businesses to cheat before and during the 2016 campaign. But that is why we have a judicial system that uses courts, prosecutors, juries, judges, and meticulous rules of evidence and procedure to discover truth and hold the powerful accountable.

Trump, an expert at distortion and distraction, is betting that the public will focus on threats, theatrics, public outrage, and personal insults rather than a formal investigation of his actions.

Don’t fall for it. Bet on Bragg.

Reader Interactions

245Comments

  5. 5.

    Baud

    The lemmings cheering on @ManhattanDA haven’t thought this through. Every norm broken today is an invitation for the opposition to break the same norm later.

    It’s interesting that when Trump tried to put the screws to Ukraine to manufacture dirt on Biden, no pundits were concerned that it would cause Dems to follow suit.

  7. 7.

    Kay

    I don’t care that much if Bragg wins. There was always going to be risk in going after Trump and waiting for a slam dunk is how he got away with this stuff for 50 years. Bragg could lose. It’s competitive and adversarial- losing is part of it.

    Win or lose, I’m really grateful someone finally held him accountable for something and I think it’s fitting that it’s NYC because they’re responsible for turning a blind eye to his lawbreaking for 50 years. It’s a chance for NYC law enforcement to redeem themselves.

    Get him processed, take his plea and apply the bail factors – he’ll get out on an OR bond which he should.

  9. 9.

    MagdaInBlack

    I noticed that Melania is trending on twitter, so I followed that thread a bit and learned that trump is an “old school gentleman” who wants to protect his wife and children from this ugliness. That’s why she isn’t with him.

    I had a good laugh at that belief.

  11. 11.

    Kay

    If Trump is held accountable for crimes Republicans might try to overthrow an election and engineer a dictatorial/authoritarian regime. Oh, wait. They already did that when he wasn’t indicted.

    Republicans are going to get really, really mad at us but that’s not a reason to abandon the rule of law.

  12. 12.

    Dangerman

    Is cake allowed for breakfast on Indictment Day? Maybe I should at least wait for my mid morning snack. Hold on. Coffee Cake is still cake, right? Says so right in the name. I think we have a winner. More the coffee thing than the cake thing (435am my time because who can sleep on Indictment Day?) Also, how soon for the photoshopped mugshots to come out?

    ETA: Lock them all up.

  13. 13.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    If Trump is held accountable for crimes Republicans might try to overthrow an election and engineer a dictatorial/authoritarian regime. Oh, wait. They already did that when he wasn’t indicted.

     

    You’re so funny, Kay

     

    LOL

  14. 14.

    Kay

    I think these people who want special legal treatment of former incumbent officeholders should have to be specific. What crimes, exactly, do they believe pols should get away with? All misdemeanors and certain felonies? My sense is they think former officeholders should only be prosecuted for violent crimes but maybe not even those. What’s the special legal standard for Donald Trump? Should we codify it? I think we have to.

  15. 15.

    waspuppet

    Trump, an expert at distortion and distraction, is betting that the public will focus on threats, theatrics, public outrage, and personal insults rather than a formal investigation of his actions.

    My abusive, addicted ex-wife was the same way (albeit with better politics). There was nothing she wouldn’t destroy to avoid answering the question “What did you actually do?” On some level, the past eight years have been so familiar to me.

  16. 16.

    Barbara

    @Baud: ​Evidently a large number of people in the pundit class have utterly forgotten the entire time period between 1992 and 2001, when it was just fine to pursue a sitting president with a criminal investigation.

  18. 18.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay:

    My sense is they think former officeholders should only be prosecuted for violent crimes but maybe not even those.

    One of these articles worried aloud that a major-party Presidential candidate might be prosecuted for manslaughter because their motorcade ran over someone and killed them. That prosecution would apparently be a bad thing.

    So, not even violent crimes, I guess.

  19. 19.

    Barbara

    @Kay: That’s kind of what the 11th Circuit asked and rejected when it reviewed Judge Dimwit’s decree for “special handling” of search warrants for ex-presidents.

  20. 20.

    Betty Cracker

    Re: the moon fly-by mission — will Mr. Hansen be the first Canadian in deep space? I assume all the Apollo era astronauts were Americans, but as my husband and I often say when an actor, public figure or casual acquaintance we’ve assumed is an American is revealed to be Canadian instead, “they walk undetected among us.”*

    *We say this affectionately because we like Canadians. If it wasn’t so damn cold, we’d probably move there and GTFO of our nutty-ass country. 

  21. 21.

    Cameron

    @Kay: The last thing these bozos want is specific codified standards.  Note that the objections are “this is unprecedented,” “it sets a bad example,” “it’s a witch hunt,” “it’s all politically motivated,” “it’s George Soros/Santos/DeSantis/whothefuckever’s payback on Donald Trump for being America’s Very Best American,” etc., etc., blah, blah, blah.  AFAIK, nobody has said that what he’s accused of isn’t criminal; nobody has said he’s innocent if what he’s accused of is in fact criminal.  Like the use of the word “woke,” the intent is to keep things as vague as possible.  I’d say they were seeking plausible deniability, but that might imply they know what those words mean.

  22. 22.

    Van Buren

    @Baud: That’s a good point. I was thinking further back in time to all the people who lauded going after Clinton-it proves we’re a nation of laws!- who are suddenly troubled that politics and jurisprudence interesect.

  23. 23.

    MisterDancer

    @Kay: Win or lose, I’m really grateful someone finally held him accountable for something

    This. I’m gonna do my As A Black Man (Patent Pending) bit again: I’ve watched a lot of people rail at how slow all this is.

    That’s the system we’ve always had. The system that sees poor people, and esp. poor Black/Brown people, sucked in at the speed and rate many seem to want from Trump.

    I’m not trying to make everything about Race. I’m trying to say that my experiences have informed me that you cannot expect Justice in America.

    But you can buy it, which is what Trump and others have done. And if we truly want 1/6 to not happen again, we have to have better laws about how we enforce Justice. We cannot depend on a system this broken, this mercantile, to stand up to repeated assaults, as we see today.

    I know that’s not what people want to hear, but I feel in my bones this is truth.

  24. 24.

    Barbara

    @Cameron: Two-word response: Bill Clinton.  Four word response:  Bill Clinton Ken Starr.  Six word response: Bill Clinton Ken Starr Fuck you.

  25. 25.

    Jeffro

    @MagdaInBlack:trump is an “old school gentleman” who wants to protect his wife and children from this ugliness.

    omg who could even tweet that and live with themselves?

    I mean, there are lies and then there are lies.

  26. 26.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Kay:

    I disagree with OR – given what DeSantis said about refusal to cooperate, he is a flight risk.  Plus, he is a walking contempt charge.

    Strap an ankle monitor to his leg, confine him to whatever digs he has left in New York, impose a strict gag order on him, his lawyers, campaign officials and spokesmen, and wait for the giggly bits when he breaks it.

  27. 27.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @waspuppet: My abusive, addicted ex-wife was the same way (albeit with better politics). There was nothing she wouldn’t destroy to avoid answering the question “What did you actually do?” On some level, the past eight years have been so familiar to me.

    I know that song, practically by heart. The things she did to me? Well, I’m a big boy, broad shoulders and all, I can carry that burden. The things she did to my sons? Nope, I’m not gonna forget and I’m not gonna forgive even if my sons have.

    People wonder why I won’t even say hello to her to her at family events but my sons know, and accept.

  28. 28.

    MazeDancer

    Loved the Artemis call.

    Loved hearing about Alvin Bragg’s chops. Sounds like Harvard did all right by him, as opposed to many others.

  29. 29.

    Jeffro

    That Beutler tweet is spot-on.  All of these people (with the exception of, I think, Pompeo?) are circling the wagons and trying to protect the GOP from the consequences of its actions.

    Or should I say, the consequences of their inaction re: trumpov.

    Once he starts circling down the drain, the infighting should be quite a spectacle and I hope it lasts for years.

  30. 30.

    Kay

    @Cameron:

    Genuinely curious though. Joe Biden travels to X city and commits a crime. His two terms are up and he’s no longer President. Gets off? Depends on the crime? Trump wasn’t even President when he did these crimes so it’s also retroactive?

    The other “precedent” seems much more dangerous to me- that pols wil realize is all they have to to do is declare they’re running for office and they’re in a weird lawless zone perfect for crime sprees.

  31. 31.

    Princess

    The trail and verdict in the Trump thing is important; the show in NYC today isn’t, which is why the news media will focus on it all day long (watch — when he is convicted, they’ll bury it).

    The big national story today is the WI court election. And even the Chicago mayoral race.

  32. 32.

    Cameron

    @Betty Cracker: Canadians do love themselves some Florida, though, don’t they?  I see a lot of Canadian plates on cars in my development in snowbird season.

  34. 34.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I had the same thought yesterday. The bounty hunter reality show would draw in the most ratings ever.

  35. 35.

    Princess

    Meanwhile, the Tennessee legislature is poised to expel three members who represent hundreds of thousands of votes and not one peep about how this destroys historic norms.

  38. 38.

    Kay

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:

    So many of the wealthy/powerful criminals are old men that I think one could make some exceptions or new rules for processing of  geriatric defendants. I think we set up the system assuming young men would be coming into the system but all of these criminals on the Right are  ancient. Accomodations for walkers, diapers, long lists of prescription meds etc. I’m not inhumane and we should of course comply with the ADA.

    Is “flee” the right term or do we need “waddle away slowly”?

  41. 41.

    cmorenc

    I don’t get why Trump thought it necessary to pay hush money to Stormy Daniels, since in a 2011 interview for InTouch magazine, she had claimed she had a sexual affair with Donald Trump, so it wasn’t a secret.  She did at first, in the runup to Trump’s 2016 campaign, deny the affair took place (before again changing her story to affirm the affair).  Perhaps the hush money payment was to get her to deny the 2011 magazine story.  In retrospect, Trump need not have sought to keep Daniel$ quiet, since his base of support has proved stunningly indifferent to tawdry tales about him.

  42. 42.

    Baud

    Via reddit, I guess TN has lost Reba.

    What do you think about the bill that Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee recently signed into law restricting drag performances in certain parts of the state?

    I wish they would spend that much time and energy and money on feeding the homeless children in those two counties.

     

     

    Were you surprised the bill passed?

    Disappointed.

     

    You’ve been around long enough that I have to assume you’ve known plenty of politicians in Nashville and in Tennessee. Ever get involved in a race or a campaign?

    I don’t do politics. Never have. My job is to entertain. I’m not there to influence people one way or another how to vote.

     

    And yet you know your take on the drag bill is potentially alienating to some in your audience.

    Boy, why? I mean, we’ve got a real problem in this country, and to be worrying about men wanting to dress up as women? God bless ’em to wear those high heels — I feel for ’em. But let’s center our attention on something that really needs attention

    It’d be cool if the next country music awards was all in drag, but I don’t expect it.

  43. 43.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: The United Arab Emirates might take him. That’s a little too close to Iran, though. The Revolutionary Guard still wants revenge for the death of General Solemeini. His golf partners would be looking over their shoulders a lot.

  45. 45.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    Trump wasn’t even President when he did these crimes so it’s also retroactive?

     

    People seem to forget is that this crime is the first attempt at election manipulation and fraud.

  46. 46.

    RedDirtGirl

    I was enjoying the Errol Louis article until he mentioned his respect for Peggington Noonington!

    Still a good read.

  47. 47.

    SFAW

    @Kay: ​
     

    What crimes, exactly, do they believe pols should get away with?

    Shooting someone on Fifth Avenue in broad daylight? Well, maybe not all pols, on that one.

  48. 48.

    bbleh

    @Dangerman: No no no, it’s Arraignment Day.  Indictment Day was last week.  Look, I know these holiday weeks can be confusing, but I’d guess your local congregation puts out a calendar every year, like a fridge magnet or something

    We’ll be celebrating here with the traditional Arraignment Day drinks, very like Indictment Day drinks, except a different day.

  49. 49.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Princess:

    I note that the current lege leader made some bleat about “hearing” the protestors.  I also note that prior expulsions in the modern era were for people who had committed felonies, and that the last multiple one was in 1866, bouncing a core group for disruptions designed to inhibit approval of the 13th-15th Amendments.

    In other news, Texas has a few nasty bills percolating:

    To have schools chaplains instead of school counselors;
    To put up idolatrous posters of the King James Version of the 10 commandments in every classroom;
    To allow the Secretary of State to invalidate election results in counties with a million residents or more, and to essentially supplant and supercede the role of district judges in election administration in those places.

    Cue the Lee Greenwood drawling about be “Ah’m Praoud to be ‘Murkin, where at least Ah know Ah’m Fraaaaaaaaaeeeeeee!!!!!”

  50. 50.

    MisterDancer

    @Baud: I don’t do politics. Never have.

    I appreciate Mz. McEntire speaking up.

    But I can’t abide the “I have opinions on critical topics BUT I ain’t telling y’all how to vote” approach. Human Rights are Political, and always have been.

    To say that someone should have the right to do and be X, but also that you have no interest in asking people to support those rights…whew, that is some textbook privilege at work.

  51. 51.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Maybe he brought his golf cart from Florida and will flee in that! Imagine an ultra-low-speed pursuit through the streets of Manhattan until the golf cart runs out of juice, followed by the slow waddle toward freedom that would end with panting after 100 yards and a seat on the nearest park bench…

  52. 52.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah: ​
     

    Who would actually offer him asylum?

    Well, if DeathSantis has his way, the newly-declared Rethuglic Republic of Florida.

  56. 56.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Kay:

    Usually, with those old guys (like the bloated orange mediocrity), they’ve crimed so long that they think they’re bulletproof.

    I want him treated like a 16 year old black kid accused of stealing a backpack, with the legendarily harsh New York judges assessing ridiculous bonds and release terms.

    Let him get a true taste of the system he helped create.

  59. 59.

    Jeffro

    @Dangerman:

    @bbleh: since I missed out on celebrating Indictment Day, I will be celebrating doubly this evening for Arraignment Day!

    What’s the over/under on whether or not the Mango Menace says something threatening enough to get more charges added (or even be taken in)?

  61. 61.

    Brachiator

    There are millions of us who loathe Trump but also see the danger in hyper partisan prosecutions of former presidents. The lemmings cheering on @ManhattanDA haven’t thought this through. Every norm broken today is an invitation for the opposition to break the same norm later.

    Trump himself broke more norms than the first 75 presidents combined. Yeah, I’m including future presidents as well as past presidents. And that president from the multiverse.

  64. 64.

    Cameron

    @Kay: Fresh air and exercise will keep them youthful.  A full day of picking up trash by the side of the highway should do the trick.

  65. 65.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Betty Cracker:

    The fat boy wheeze would be awesome.

    In my ideal world, he’d get to suffer the effects of his mad dash untreated and ignored by jail medical services, in a holding cell for three weeks.

    He wouldn’t even be afforded a change of clothes.

    You know, like a regular slob.

  66. 66.

    Kay

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:

    Exactly. He should be thanking his lucky stars NYC doesn’t treat him like they treat unrepresented juveniles they randomly pick up in parks and frame for high profile crimes:

    President Trump said on Tuesday that he would not apologize for his harsh comments in 1989 about the Central Park Five, the five black and Latino men who as teenagers were wrongly convicted of the brutal rape of a jogger in New York City.  Mr. Trump was asked about newspaper advertisements he bought back then calling for New York State to adopt the death penalty after the attack. (The ads never explicitly called for the death penalty for the five defendants.)

  68. 68.

    Betty Cracker

    @WereBear: I’ve only been to Canada a few times, but I think it’s the country that best fits my spirit. The first time I tried poutine, it tasted like home.

  69. 69.

    eclare

    @Baud:   I’m waiting for Taylor to speak up.  She *has* gotten more political, and she lives here.  C’mon Taylor, harness your Swifties!

    Her doc a few years ago was very good.  It’s called Miss Americana.

  75. 75.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly: ​
     

    I suspect his lawyers will have him gagged and muzzled.

    One can only hope. And hope that it’s a permanent condition. If I never hear his disgusting voice again — other than confessing to his various crimes while he’s being sentenced to 20 years — it will be too soon.

  77. 77.

    Kay

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:

    Here’s the NYTimes in their usual role promoting whatever nutty invention police come up with, in this case – “wilding”

    The youths who raped and savagely beat a young investment banker as she jogged in Central Park Wednesday night were part of a loosely organized gang of 32 schoolboys whose random, motiveless assaults terrorized at least eight other people over nearly two hours, senior police investigators said yesterday. Chief of Detectives Robert Colangelo, who said the attacks appeared unrelated to money, race, drugs or alcohol, said that some of the 20 youths brought in for questioning had told investigators that the crime spree was the product of a pastime called ”wilding.”

    The fentanal Halloween candy. I wonder if it’s because none of them do old fashioned reporting anymore- where they’re in police stations and courts. No one could stay this naive about police if they spent any time at all in a court. I think that’s why they’re so incredibly gullible re: police. They never encounter police other than when police are feeding them whole paragraphs of dialogue over the telephone.

  78. 78.

    Kathleen

    @Barbara: I’ve thought the same thing and used that example when I commented on the opinion piece in WaPo (the one that claimed it was wrong to prosecute former President)).

  79. 79.

    Geminid

    Trump hired a third attorney to defend the Manhattan prosecution. Politico has an article on him. I forget his name, but he resigned his partnership in Cadwallader, Wickersham and Taft to take the case.

  81. 81.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Geminid: How’s he gonna make bank off such a flimsy nothing of an indictment that the judge is gonna toss it today?

  82. 82.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Betty Cracker: It’s Greece for me – specifically Crete. They have everything I like – lamb, branzino, Assyrtiko, tsipouro, wild herbs, various greens, beautiful (and cheap) homes with sea views and within walking distance of beaches….

  83. 83.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Geminid:

    How much do you want to bet that this is yet another dumbass who is doing it as a promise and/or the “publicity”?

    The only way I’d rep Trump is for legit big retirement money that had already been paid over by wire.

  86. 86.

    Betty Cracker

    I subscribe to three major Florida dailies — Miami Herald, Tampa Bay Times, Orlando Sentinel — and all are roasting DeSantis for getting played by Big Mouse. It makes him look like a chump!

  87. 87.

    SFAW

    @Geminid:

    I was hoping you’d tell us his name is Hugh Louis Dewey, of the law firm Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe. (h/t to Tom and Ray)

  91. 91.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Geminid:

     

    Cadwallader, Wickersham and Taft

    Even though I’ve actually had a case with these guys, I’m still convinced it’s a fictional firm out of a Regency period novel.

  97. 97.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW: ​ My wife, believe it or not, is a Stooges fanatic. We have every Curly episode and even a few Shep. No Joe, not ever.

    eta: I miss Car Talk, alot. Listened to it every Saturday. Broke my heart when they announced Ray had Alzheimer’s.

  99. 99.

    WereBear

    @rikyrah: People seem to forget is that this crime is the first attempt at election manipulation and fraud.

     
    I find this miniseries promising and look forward to more episodes. :)

  103. 103.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Those are the guys who send you a weirdly folded note informing you that the doting uncle who provided you an allowance of 8000 pounds a year has died and that you no longer have the funds to cover your extensive gambling debts.

  104. 104.

    James E Powell

    @Geminid:

    From Politico:

    [Todd] Blanche, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, has previously represented Trump ally Paul Manafort as well as Igor Fruman, a onetime associate of Rudy Giuliani who pleaded guilty in a campaign finance case brought by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office.

  105. 105.

    Ken

    @Kay: pols wil realize is all they have to to do is declare they’re running for office and they’re in a weird lawless zone perfect for crime sprees.

    Ah, yes. The Penguin used that in the 1960s Batman TV series, “Hizzonner the Penguin“.

  112. 112.

    Suzanne

    One of my colleagues is hoping for a great Nick Nolte-esque mugshot. That would be fabulous. LMAO.

    ”First crackhead president”.

  113. 113.

    jonas

    @Betty Cracker: ​

    loves it for the same reasons, minus lamb

    “It’s not meat….it’s lamb!” — one of the funnier bits from My Big Fat Greek Wedding

  115. 115.

    Gin & Tonic

    @James E Powell:

    has previously represented Trump ally Paul Manafort

    I know you law guys and gals will jump all over me — “every client is entitled to representation” — but, uhm, Manafort? May as well represent Idi Amin or Pol Pot.

  116. 116.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Omnes Omnibus: @Baud: early in my career, I handled a celebrity dog bite case, so clearly I am eminently qualified.  Or possibly imminently—I only scored 220 on the verbal SAT.

  117. 117.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Every norm broken today is an invitation for the opposition to break the same norm later.

    Trump told the DoJ to prosecute Hillary, Obama, and Biden.  They told him it doesn’t work that way.

    @cmorenc:

    I don’t get why Trump thought it necessary to pay hush money to Stormy Daniels

    Turns out, he paid her for the sex originally by getting her a part on a TV show.  Except… he reneged.  So, didn’t pay the prostitute, and then found out why that’s a bad idea and had to pay her actual money to keep her mouth shut.

  119. 119.

    Matt McIrvin

    The fretting about norms is of a piece with being more concerned with masks and vaccines than with COVID-19. As long as we pretend everything is OK and don’t change our behavior, everything is fine.

  122. 122.

    Bupalos

    @rikyrah:

    It’s ELECTION DAY
    If you are in Wisconsin…. VOTE
    IF you are in Chicago….VOTE

    THIS. Today really is a critical day for democracy. And that has nothing to do with the stupid Trump circus we all seem fine with feeding. I kinda feel like we’re sleeping on what a huge race that SC seat in Wisconsin is. Or looking in another direction.

  123. 123.

    Denali5

    @Deputin,

    And I thought you had principles. Oh, I forgot, you’re a lawyer.  By the way, would you represent those Tennessee lawmakers who are apparently are going to be expelled because they had the audacity to stand with protesters who (gasp) wanted some form of gun control? I would contribute to your fees, but maybe you might offer to do it gratis.  Wait, you don’t practice in Tennessee. Darn.

  124. 124.

    jonas

    A lot of conservative pundits are trying desperately to compare the charges against Trump to Clinton’s peccadilloes and it’s just not sticking. People can tell the difference between a private affair and public corruption, which the payoffs were. They were a violation of campaign finance law as well as business and tax law. Had Trump slept with Stormy Daniels (or even several women) and then just sort of dissembled to avoid admitting the affair, most people probably would have shrugged their shoulders. But this idea that just because you’re an ex-president, you should be able to skate on serious fraud (or theft of classified documents, or fomenting insurrection, or election interference) charges is ridiculous. That’s all the Republicans have — literally arguing out loud that Trump is, and should be, above the law.

    Ideally Trump will be so preoccupied with court appearances and meetings with his legal teams over the next year and a half that he won’t really have time to campaign. Not that he won’t stop grifting fundraising, but at least he’ll probably have to skip the Nuremberg-style rallies he so loves.

  125. 125.

    Bupalos

    @Matt McIrvin: I honestly don’t know how the myth of “norms” is even still in play, other than a whole lot of folks nominally on our side are in denial and think “getting back to normal” is some kind of goal. It’s denial about what that “normal” was.

  126. 126.

    Geminid

     

     

    @kalakal: The guy doesn’t sound like a fool. I expect he got a hefty retainer. Trump’s got the money; he’s just used to nickeling and diming people.

    Trump seems to be taking things like this more seriously now. Republican political foes say his current campaign team is a level or two above his 2020 operation.

  127. 127.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Gin & Tonic: celebrity’s dog bit a townie.  Allegedly

    ETA: one of my friends still has me listed as “Dog Bite Lawyer to the Stars” in his cell phone.  Branding!

  131. 131.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Geminid: I still think that indicted or no, Trump is going to be tough to beat. The media are still clearly just totally fascinated by him and desperately want him at center stage. It’s like the circus is back in town and they’ll do anything to keep it there. He’s the one guy I could see winning the Presidency from jail.

  132. 132.

    eclare

    @Betty Cracker:   Thanks for the update!  No one wins against Disney legal.

    I am not an attorney, but I have been corporate attorney adjacent in tax.  You just do not take them on.

  135. 135.

    Geminid

    @Gin & Tonic: Mr. Stoltenberg, the NATO chief, says he expects that Sweden will achieve NATO membership in time for the July NATO summit. He did not say if this was contingent on Turkish President Erdogan being replaced in next month’s election. But many observers predict that after the election, Erdogan will agree to admit Sweden anyway.

  136. 136.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Geminid: ​Republican political foes say his current campaign team is a level or two above his 2020 operation.
     

    So it’s reached Kindergarten level? (with apologies to all Kindergartners)

  137. 137.

    eclare

    @OzarkHillbilly:   I used to love that show.  I remember a guy called whose car would not go in reverse.  “Well with some careful planning, you don’t need reverse.”  In those Bahstahn accents.

  139. 139.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @eclare: ​ I played the same game when the starters on my Datsun p/u kept burning out and I was too poor to keep replacing them.

  142. 142.

    Princess

    Just voted in my precinct in Chicago. It seemed very very quiet, which is not great news for Brandon Johnson. But the ballot was very short, only two races, so maybe people moved quickly in and out. Fingers crossed. What are other people seeing? Anyone in Wisconsin?

  144. 144.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Barbara:

    Two-word response: Bill Clinton.  Four word response:  Bill Clinton Ken Starr.  Six word response: Bill Clinton Ken Starr Fuck you.

    This, in spades.

    Every norm broken today is an invitation for the opposition to break the same norm thirty fucking years ago.

    Fixed that for ya, Eli Lake.

  145. 145.

    BC in Illinois

    @rikyrah:

    It’s ELECTION DAY

    If you are in Wisconsin…. VOTE

    IF you are in Chicago….VOTE

    And even in deepest Misery, there are a lot of local school board races being run. The local “Moms for Liberty” [sic] have published a list of their preferred candidates, so we know who to vote against.

    Mrs BC and I already voted a week or two ago.

  146. 146.

    Spanky

    This seems a bit … unusual. Will be interesting to see what gets uncovered.

    WaPo:

    Roy C. McGrath, a fugitive who had been a top aide to Larry Hogan when he was Maryland’s governor, died Monday as the result of a confrontation with the FBI in the area of Knoxville, Tenn., his lawyer said. He had been the subject of a 21-day manhunt launched after he failed to show up to federal court in Baltimore.

    “The loss of Roy’s life is an absolute tragedy, and I think it’s important for me to say that Roy never wavered about his innocence,” Joseph Murtha said.

    In a statement Monday night, the FBI said that it was “reviewing an agent-involved shooting” that occurred at approximately 6:30 p.m. “During the arrest the subject, Roy McGrath, sustained injury and was transported to the hospital. The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force members seriously.”

    Murtha said he wasn’t sure how McGrath was killed. “That’s unclear to me at this time,” he said. “I haven’t gotten any information on whether Roy died from gunfire from an agent or whether it was a self-inflicted wound.”

    In a statement issued by a spokesman late Monday, Hogan said: “Yumi and I are deeply saddened by this tragic situation. We are praying for Mr. McGrath’s family and loved ones.”

    McGrath, 53, was slated to face wire fraud and embezzlement charges stemming from alleged financial improprieties as the head of a Maryland quasi-public agency beginning March 13 — a day after his last contact with Murtha.

    McGrath, who’d had a lifelong interest in politics, rose to become one of Hogan’s most trusted advisers until the Baltimore Sun broke news of a nearly quarter-million-dollar severance he received in 2020 upon leaving the Maryland agency to become Hogan’s top aide. The revelation prompted legislative hearings that Hogan (R) once labeled a “witch hunt” in a message to McGrath, but it also led to a break between the two men.

    The blame for the disintegration of that relationship lands squarely on Hogan, according to an e-book titled “Betrayed: The True Story of Roy McGrath,” released under mysterious circumstances on Amazon.com the week after his disappearance. The book featured McGrath as a protagonist who “worked hard” and “had no record of any wrongdoing in his lifetime.”

    A person claiming to be the book’s author, listed online as Ryan Cooper, contacted reporters at The Post, saying he had written the book based on a draft by McGrath and “half a dozen or so conversations” with him. He declined to provide The Post with information to verify his identity and said he was not in touch with McGrath — and was not McGrath posing as someone else. “I haven’t heard a peep from him, and to make matters worse, that’s what worries me,” the person said. “He is not the kind of guy to just vanish.”

    Before McGrath was found, Murtha said he had last spoken with his client by telephone the day before trial. They had planned to meet outside the courtroom at 8:45 the next morning. McGrath had planned to testify in his own defense, Murtha said. “More than anything else, I have a concern for his safety,” he said.
    McGrath was indicted in 2021 over allegations including that he had misled officials to obtain the large severance package from the Maryland Environmental Service (MES), where he served as executive director.
    …
    Federal and state authorities allege that McGrath enriched himself by “using his positions of trust” as the executive director of MES and the chief of staff for Hogan to cause MES to pay the severance and other expenses. Prosecutors also say McGrath falsified time sheets, recording that he was at work while he took two vacations, including one to Europe in 2019 with his girlfriend, whom he later married.
    Hogan was on the prosecution’s witness list for a trial expected to take several weeks. McGrath also was charged with theft, misconduct in office and violating Maryland’s wiretap laws by recording private calls with Hogan and other officials without their permission. A state trial was scheduled for this summer.
    …
    This is a developing story and will be updated.

  147. 147.

    JPL

    @OzarkHillbilly: There was a person who called in once, because they had put butter on the dash and forgot about it.   Needless to say, it was a very, very bad thing.

    When we lived in Dallas, I forgot eggs in the car once.   They didn’t melt and leak all over though.

  149. 149.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Baud: Yeah is it too much to ask that the press discuss that the “norm” of not indicting an ex POTUS is attributable to the fact that no ex-POTUS except Nixon has broken the law? The norm being broken is not that Trump is being prosecuted but that he’s the only POTUS who committed crimes before, during, and after being POTUS. That’s the part that’s unprecedented. That’s the norm that was broken. That’s what the press should be focused on.

    I mean the threat that if you indict ours we’ll indict yours is only a threat if POTUSes of both parties are criming. Trying to indict someone who is innocent results in…no indictment. It’s an empty threat. Someone should, like, point that out.

  150. 150.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @eclare:

    I just had a brain fart – DeSantis’ analysis of his position vis-a-vis Disney isn’t all that much different than what Blago thought about the Obama Senate seat.

    “This is a valuable thing you have here – you need to give up your position on woke things, bring back ‘Song of the South” and support me, or I’ll stifle your ability to do things.”

    Seems to me that Georgia has a lot of empty ground in its temperate Southern parts, is purple and is now very used to catering to the needs of entertainment conglomerates.

  152. 152.

    Kathleen

    @SFAW: I prefer your initial thought. DeSatan does indeed preside over the Rethuglic of Florida. In fact that moniker applies to all Red states. I like it.

  156. 156.

    Elizabelle

    @Spanky:  I was wondering how that was gonna play out.  Since there were no updates on his condition in the hours after the shooting.

    Very strange.

  157. 157.

    Bupalos

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Trump is going to be tough to beat. The media are still clearly just totally fascinated by him and desperately want him at center stage.

    I think when we point at the media we probably need to understand that three fingers are pointing back at us. One of the ways Trump works is by making himself into an avatar of the right for the right. The other way Trump works is by making himself and avatar of the right for the left. His bet is that enough of us are lying about our preference for policy substance over entertainment or morality plays that the Trump show will never be cancelled.

  159. 159.

    SFAW

    @Steve in the ATL:

    which is Cadwalladerwickershamtaft.

    Which, if I remember correctly, you shortened from “Cadwalladerwickershamtaft bergsteinowitz” (because anti-Semitism — even toward lawyers — is still a thing).

  161. 161.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Florida is a gigantic sunk cost for Disney–their property has more land area than several sovereign nations; they’re not in great financial shape at the moment and when it comes to theme parks specifically, Universal is breathing down their necks. So, no, they’re not going to pick up and leave Florida until it’s physically destroyed by the rising sea. But they do take the long-term view and if DeSantis causes them trouble, I’m sure they figure they can wait him out.

  163. 163.

    stacib

    @Gin & Tonic: They were talking about this guy on MJ this morning, and to a person agree he’s the “real deal”, not like those other posers trump** had representing him.  This guy got Manafort off for his charges, so I’m sure trump** is expecting exactly the same result.

  164. 164.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JPL: The episode I remember with great fondness was when an ornithologist stationed on the Farallon Islands called in to ask for help (iirc) with getting a water pump running again so he could take showers. Either Tom or Ray suggested he just go swimming, which caused me to spit my coffee all over my dashboard. I had just finished a book on the Farralons and one of their natural wonders is the once a year massing of great white sharks there. They had a lot of fun with the guy but that is the moment that stuck in my head.

  165. 165.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly: ​
     

    We have every Curly episode and even a few Shep. No Joe, not ever.

    Which raises the question: how have you treated episodes with Curly Joe DeRita?

  167. 167.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW: Aaaach, I couldn’t remember for certain so just thru a dart at the forgotten memories board and it landed on Ray. Thanx for the correction.

    @WereBear: Another dart that missed it’s mark. I thought it might be Shemp but it has been a while since we’ve watched one of his episodes.

  168. 168.

    SFAW

    @stacib: ​
     
    Since I’m an old fart, perhaps my memory is failing, but wasn’t Manafort convicted? At least on some of the counts?

  171. 171.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly: ​
     
    The loss of Tom was tough. The local NPR station broadcast “The Best of Car Talk” (or something like that) — replays of old shows — for a number of years after Tom’s death, but they ended that two or three years ago.

  172. 172.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @stacib: ​ Manafort went to prison. The only reason he got out is because trump pardoned/clemencied (fancy word I just made up) him.

  173. 173.

    SFAW

    @smith: ​
     
    Yes, I know he was pardoned. The statement to which I was responding was that the lawyer got Manafort off.

  174. 174.

    mrmoshpotato

    @rikyrah:

    IF you are in Chicago….VOTE 

    early (done), and vote often (still batting 1.000 without committing a felony).

  175. 175.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    On the negative side, we both have covid and are confined to our cabin.

    On the plus side, that gives us time to watch Trump be arrested. Though I agree that 24/7 coverage for days on end seems excessive.

    The maddening thing is I was randomly tested for covid when we landed in Santiago, and was negative. So I got this on the ship

  176. 176.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW: ​ They should make a package of old Car Talk episodes and sell them. I know I’d happily plunk down $30 or so.

  177. 177.

    ARoomWithAMoose

    @eclare: @Betty Cracker: I get the sense that lil’Ron’s team doesn’t realize that with Disney all the threats they’ve issued surrounding overturning a long running very stable state-private venture (Reedy Creek Improvement District) in order to be in a better position to “punish” Disney, the legal challenges pretty much write themselves, Disney’s legal team is just waiting for legislative/executive action so they have standing to sue.

    Iger specifically had a statement recently where he talked about “corporate freedom of speech” in regards to the legislative “punishment” in dissolving/replacing the improvement district, that kicks things into federal courts.  1st amendment claims push things into federal courts.

  178. 178.

    Elizabelle

    I would love if they could catch Manafort and Trump, on some thing new to Manafort. Back to prison for you, jailbird. Recall that Manafort was sprung to house arrest as soon as Covid  raised its head, whereas no mercy was shown Michael Cohen, so: revenge is a dish best served cold.

  182. 182.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kay:

    Republicans are going to get really, really mad at us but that’s not a reason to abandon the rule of law. 

    They can all suck my left nut and throw themselves into the Sun.

  184. 184.

    rikyrah

    @Spanky:

     

    I heard when he went on the run. Honestly, I thought that they had captured him and just did the lowkey processing of another Whyte dude. Had no idea that they killed him. I mean…Whyte mass murderers are taken into custody all the time…

  185. 185.

    rikyrah

    @Matt McIrvin:

     

    Florida is a gigantic sunk cost for Disney–their property has more land area than several sovereign nations; they’re not in great financial shape at the moment and when it comes to theme parks specifically, Universal is breathing down their necks. So, no, they’re not going to pick up and leave Florida until it’s physically destroyed by the rising sea. But they do take the long-term view and if DeSantis causes them trouble, I’m sure they figure they can wait him out.

     

    Which is why they set it up that his hand-picked stooges can’t do anything for the next 30-40 years.

  187. 187.

    rikyrah

    @stacib:

    They were talking about this guy on MJ this morning, and to a person agree he’s the “real deal”, not like those other posers trump** had representing him.  This guy got Manafort off for his charges, so I’m sure trump** is expecting exactly the same result.

     

    The thing is……the charges from now on are going to be CRIMINAL FELONIES.

    And, there will be no negotiations, IMO.

    However many he’s charged with, Bragg only has to win on one.

    Dolt45 has to run the gauntlet.

    Win them all against Bragg.

    Win them all against the Georgia DA

    Win them all against the Special Counsel.

     

    My money is on the prosecutors  winning some at every level.

  188. 188.

    Quinerly

    I’m laughing.

    Reporters are breathlessly reporting that George Santos has arrived at the courthouse. He said he was there to support the president….then scurried down the street.

  190. 190.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @eclare: It’s not too bad. We both thought we had colds. We only realized it was covid when Mr DAW went to see the doctor in case he had bronchitis or something. The I gave myself  one of the home tests we brought with us and it was emphatically positive. Took about 10 seconds for that second line to show up

    The nurse will come around every day and check on us.

  192. 192.

    Geminid

    @SFAW: The feds convicted Manafort, and that is what his pardon was for. Manafort was also charged by the Manhattan County DA’s office for financial crimes. This Blanche guy got him off with a double jeopardy defense. According to the Politico article on Blanche, his representation of Manafort impressed Trump.

  193. 193.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @stacib:

    They were talking about this guy on MJ this morning, and to a person agree he’s the “real deal”, not like those other posers trump** had representing him.

    Then he’ll be sidelined, because Trump won’t listen to competent council.  Competent council will tell him not to act out like a toddler who didn’t get a cookie.  I mean, it’s a better job at least than the documents case, which Trump really screwed the pooch on because he keeps insisting that the documents are his property.

  195. 195.

    Jackie

    @Betty Cracker: Did you see this?

    “Months since it took effect, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature law to censor books in Florida schools has found an unintended target: his own book,” the Daily Beast reports.

    “In a clever bit of trolling, Florida Democrats are subjecting DeSantis’ new tome—The Courage To Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival—to the rules that he and GOP lawmakers established to weed out books with allegedly inappropriate content on race, sexuality, and gender from school libraries.”

    From the Political Wire.

  197. 197.

    Geminid

    @Frankensteinbeck: The two other attorneys are not “poseurs,” but rather are experienced New York criminal attorneys. An earlier Politico article on the two said they were looking for a third attorney to round out the team, and evidently they persuaded Blanche to join. So it’s likely this team will work together, with nobody sidelined.

  203. 203.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    One of Trump’s many flaws is his expectation that his lawyers are there to find reasons and excuses for him to do what he wants.  They’re not guiderails – instead, they are facilitators, which is why he’s so dangerous to anyone who takes him on as a client.

  204. 204.

    lowtechcyclist

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:

    Yeah is it too much to ask that the press discuss that the “norm” of not indicting an ex POTUS is attributable to the fact that no ex-POTUS except Nixon has broken the law? The norm being broken is not that Trump is being prosecuted but that he’s the only POTUS who committed crimes before, during, and after being POTUS. That’s the part that’s unprecedented. That’s the norm that was broken. That’s what the press should be focused on.

    I mean the threat that if you indict ours we’ll indict yours is only a threat if POTUSes of both parties are criming. Trying to indict someone who is innocent results in…no indictment. It’s an empty threat. Someone should, like, point that out.

    Indeed! I’ve been pointing it out in online chats elsewhere, reminding them that they already tried their damnedest to pin something on Clinton and failed (unless a BJ counts), and good luck pinning something on Obama because as first Black POTUS, he knew he had to be cleaner than a hound’s tooth.

    And other than yelling “Hunter Biden’s laptop, Hunter Biden’s laptop!” over and over again (OK, what’s on it? Their point is…???), they’ve got nothing on Biden either.

    The vast majority of people never come anywhere remotely near committing a felony, and that’s as true for Presidents as it is for the rest of us.

  206. 206.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @eclare: ​
     
    We have a floor to ceiling window that opens from the top. This ship just came from Antarctica, so it was designed with no balconies. Viking calls these areas “Nordic balconies.” Our cabin is very nice. And we do get free room service.

    On another topic, Mr DAW and I were both big Car Talk fans. I remember stumbling on the show when we first moved to Iowa and laughing my head off.

  208. 208.

    SFAW

    @Geminid: ​ Thanks for the clarification/explanation.For the record, I’d be OK with the guy getting TFG off on a “double jeopardy” defense, as long as he got convicted on a bunch of stuff beforehand. Such as: sedition, terrorism, espionage.​

  209. 209.

    evodevo

    @Betty Cracker:  Oh, you HAVE to watch Justified…based on an Elmore Leonard novel Fire in the Hole.  I thought I wouldn’t like it, but I am a big fan…

  210. 210.

    SFAW

    @Betty Cracker: ​
     
    I only watched the first two-plus seasons (out of five, I think), but it was a pretty good show. I’ll probably resume watching it at some point.

  212. 212.

    Elizabelle

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  Yikes!  The floating petri dish aspect strikes.  Hope you both recover quickly and are free to roam again soonest.

    Any idea how many other passengers have taken ill?

  213. 213.

    eclare

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:   So glad you can at least look outside and see the sun.  I hope they take good care of you and that you recover quickly.  And like you said, there is plenty of drama to keep you busy.

    Oh yeah, Click and Clack cracked me up every Saturday.

  214. 214.

    Old School

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    They should make a package of old Car Talk episodes and sell them. I know I’d happily plunk down $30 or so.

    They have done a number of compilations over the years.  You can find them on Amazon or Audible.

    There also are a number of shows in their archives.

  215. 215.

    worn

    @OzarkHillbilly: Oh my goodness, I had a Honda Prelude back in college that started regularly eating alternators. Luckily I found an auto parts store up the road that was selling one with some sort of accompanying crazy warrantee. I had no money – and certainly not a lot of time for mechanical troubleshooting activities while finishing up architecture school – so I wound up replacing the damn thing every week or two (right in the store parking lot, natch). The guys in that store were not happy to see me arrive over and over, yet another dead part in hand. I must’ve availed myself of this guarantee ten or fifteen times before the sememster was over.

  217. 217.

    Geminid

    @evodevo: Have you seen the movie The Tall T? It’s based on an Elmore Leonard story. Randolph Scott plays the protagonist, while Richard Boone plays the very bad villain

    I liked it a lot, but I am a Randolph Scott fan. I especially like his response to critics of his acting ability: “I can’t act and I have 34 movies to prove it!”

  218. 218.

    Hangö Kex

    @Gin & Tonic: ​

    Indeed, earlier today (around 15:54 EET (= UTC+2)) Finland become a full member of NATO as foreign minister Haavisto handed over the final piece of paperwork to his US counterpart in Brussels. Right after that, Finland’s first official act as a member was handing over our ratification document for Sweden’s membership.

  220. 220.

    Ken

    @rikyrah: I thought it was more like the next 70-80 years, assuming King Charles’ grandkids have a typical life expectancy

    EDIT: I see Deputinize got there first.

  222. 222.

    Nora

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: You have my sympathies.  The same thing happened to me on a Viking cruise on the Rhine last year.  Only I didn’t get to stay on the ship — they put me in a car and stuck me in a hotel for 10 days (the first 7 of which I wasn’t allowed out of the room).  It was not fun.

  223. 223.

    kalakal

    @Ken: add then add 21 years after the last one dies. So if lillibet lives as long as her grandma & great grandma you’re looking at 120 years

  230. 230.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Most frighteningly normal villain I’ve ever seen portrayed. She made you believe that the reason why she did her crimes was just and good.

  231. 231.

    Ixnay

    @OzarkHillbilly: That was Tommy. I believe Ray is still kicking. Used the good news garage when it was still a place to rent space and borrow tools. A high point of my motoring career was being taken on a test drive by Ray in an empty lot in East Cambridge, checking the front end, and being plastered against glass in our Renault r5. Ray is like, Nah by now you’d be hearing clunking if it was CVs…

  236. 236.

    Geminid

    @rikyrah: I never thought I’d want to go on a cruise until I heard a travel agent on a local Shenendoah Valley radio station promoting a cruise to Bermuda. The ship would start out from the Port of Norfolk, and that’s just a 3 hour drive for me. The cruise would last 6 days, with 3 spent docked at Bermuda. The agent talked up all the golfing opportunities there, but I would just wander around the island.

    I would need to buy some new clothes, but I need some anyway.

  237. 237.

    Captain C

    @Kay:

    I want him to flee. I think that would be a lot of fun for us. Me, anyway.

    It’ll be OJ’s White Bronco 2.0, with a coked-up Junior at the wheel, and Secret Service SUVs interspersed with the cops.

  238. 238.

    Hangö Kex

    @Omnes Omnibus: Turkey delayed ratification until now: they handed the ratification document to Blinken at the NATO foreign minister summit earlier today. I suppose it was an attempt to wring out something for them (such some F-16s from the US) and an opportunity to grandstand to the home audience before an upcoming election. They are still holding Sweden’s membership hostage though. :(​

  240. 240.

    Hangö Kex

    @Steve in the ATL: ​The recent election didn’t really get in the way: PM Marin’s cabinet took care of passing the necessary bills before while the parliament was still in session (which wasn’t too difficult, the application bill passed with 188-8 votes (out of 200 in the unicameral parliament), the final authorization bill with 188-7 (incidentally, most of those few who voted against didn’t make it to the new parliament in the recent election (02APR))). Which was a good idea as getting a new cabinet together will probably take a while (weeks, at least); until them Marin is still the PM, but of a caretaker cabinet which can’t do much.

  242. 242.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:

    You of course know that they want their guys to be able to do all the criming they want and everyone else to be shot at sunrise for not putting milk in their coffee and whitening it up.

  243. 243.

    Ruckus

    @MisterDancer:

    I know that’s not what people want to hear, but I feel in my bones this is truth.

    I’m going to do my As An Old White Man bit and say that I agree with you 100%.

    Yes this is a democratic country but many if not most laws do have an element of “Is this person rich?” in at least the background. Here we have a man, who tried to have the government that he was the head of overthrown for his personal, illegal power, and he’s getting special treatment and showing up in a parade for his first court date for over 30 felonies. If this was you, or me, we’d already be in handcuffs and orange jumpsuits. This country believes in the rich. We know they can do plenty of wrong, but they have MONEY. And we give deference to MONEY, and especially to white money.

  244. 244.

    Ruckus

    @Betty Cracker:

    Do humans live there? (And yes there can be anywhere) Not all humans are nutty-ass but enough are and they live everywhere that normal humans do. Some places in a larger or smaller proportion but still, nutty-ass humans are everywhere. Having been to FL a number of times, knowing people that live there, I’d say that the nutty-ass percentage is a bit higher than average but every place that has more than 2 humans per square mile has the real possibility of having nutty-ass humans there. I call it the law of humanity. It’s only where nutty-ass out numbers non nutty-ass that it is at all weird.

  245. 245.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @rikyrah: ​
     We have TV though the selection is limited. We’re watching msnbc. There are movies and TV series on tap but we haven’t seen on we’re interested in. We also get the National Geographic channel which I think we’ll try.

    They knock on our door twice a day to see if we need anything. This morning we asked for new towels, kleenex, and emptied wastebaskets. They’d probably change the sheets if we asked.

    When they come in here, we have to wear masks and sit on a couch over by the floor to ceiling window.

    The biggest pain is that we’re sharing Mr DAW’s laptop

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