Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

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

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Thursday Evening Open Thread: The Jack Smith Fan Club

Thursday Evening Open Thread: The Jack Smith Fan Club

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Thursday Morning Open Thread: Life Goes On

(John Deering via GoComics.com)

 

Per the Washington Post, “Assailed by Trump, special counsel Jack Smith lets indictments speak for him” [unpaywalled ‘gift’ link]:

… While Smith has remained taciturn, a picture of the prosecutor has emerged through his work and court filings, which included charges filed against Trump in early June in the documents case and charges filed Tuesday in the 2020 election case. Together, the efforts reveal a prosecutor meticulously assembling two high-stakes cases with scope and speed, according to a review of his work and interviews with legal analysts.

“He’s obviously methodical, he’s obviously thorough, but he’s also just efficient,” said Lauren Ouziel, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan and Philadelphia who is now a law professor at Temple University. “He’s not dillydallying. He’s taking the time he needs, but no more.”…

Attorney General Merrick Garland, who named Smith special counsel last year to take over the two Trump cases, pointed to the fact that Trump and President Biden were both seeking the presidency again in 2024. Since his appointment, Smith has been the focus of online threats and criticism, and he receives protection from a security detail…

Even though Trump has been charged, key elements of Smith’s work still remain unknown. Prosecutors could have additional evidence beyond what is included in an indictment, for instance.

Smith also mentioned Tuesday that the investigation of other people is ongoing. The indictment unsealed that day mentions six unnamed co-conspirators — most of whom are identifiable through other public information, but none of whom were charged so far, though that could change.

“These are ‘speaking indictments,’” Ouziel, the professor, said. “But in an important sense, the government is not really going to speak. They’re not really going to put their money where their mouth is until it’s time to go to trial and actually present the evidence.”…

Smith’s refusal to engage with Trump’s rhetoric is how prosecutors are supposed to act, legal experts said.

Prosecutors “make their cases in court,” Kay L. Levine, a law professor and associate dean for research at Emory University’s law school, said in an interview before the latest indictment. “They don’t make their cases in the court of public opinion.”

“He seems like he is immune to getting baited into any kind of public debate about the case or what the case is going to be about,” Levine said of Smith. “When he has the evidence, he gets the indictment and goes forward.”…

“He’s speaking through the documents he’s filing in court,” Litt said, “and that’s what a prosecutor’s supposed to do.”

Much more detail at the link!

Tiger Beat on the Potomac isn’t sure whether to be snarky, or jealous:

For years, there has been palpable desperation on the left for Trump to get punished for a crime — any crime.

Now, after special counsel Jack Smith brought four charges against former President Donald Trump on Tuesday stemming from the Jan. 6 attack, liberals who have long been praying for Trump’s downfall have found their hero.

Within hours of the latest indictment, Smith was an online phenomenon, portrayed as the left’s avenging angel and Trump’s worst nightmare.

The legion of Trump haters have been looking to Smith for salvation since Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed him as special counsel in November. On X, the website formerly known as Twitter, the fan account @7Veritas4 — with a display name of “Jack E. Smith” and a header photo of Smith replicated in dark sunglasses — has racked up over 300,000 followers. In recent days, the account has been posting GIFs from the film Inglourious Basterds, with Smith’s head superimposed onto a menacing character known for killing Nazis called the “Bear Jew,” along with Game of Thrones images of dragons descending on cities, ready to wreak havoc. Countless accounts online have display names like “Jack Smith Fan Club President;” take a look at the hashtag “jacksmithisahero” on TikTok and it’s more of the same…

Reader Interactions

157Comments

  2. 2.

    Urza

    Pretty please at least indict and preferably jail every last congresscritter that was involved.  Likely get even stupid/worse in a special election but it would at least send a message.

  3. 3.

    West of the Rockies

    Was there another staredown by Smith as Trump went galumphing out of the courtroom?

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    And Sunshine Stupidman goes on.

    The College Board announced Thursday that Florida has banned Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology from its schools over lessons pertaining to gender identity and sexual orientation.

    The course was nixed after Florida passed a law earlier this year stating sexual orientation and gender identity could not be taught in K-12 schools.

    The AP Psychology curriculum asks students to “describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development,” which the College Board noted has been in the class for 30 years.

    Florida asked the College Board to go over any classes it offers and omit lessons that conflict with its new law, but the company has refused. Source

  6. 6.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @NotMax:

    It’s interesting that the College Board is now refusing to go along with Florida’s demands. I wonder what changed?

  7. 7.

    piratedan

    so… at the time, 29 members of the House and 6 Senators were in contact with the WH Chief of Staff during the events of Jan 6th.

     

    Any bets on what they were talking about?

  8. 8.

    Old School

    Even though Trump has been charged, key elements of Smith’s work still remain unknown. Prosecutors could have additional evidence beyond what is included in an indictment, for instance.

    Ummm…. who doesn’t think there is more evidence beyond what’s in the indictment?

  10. 10.

    H.E.Wolf

    @schrodingers_cat: The 6 co-conspirators haven’t been named by Jack Smith (yet; as far as I know); but Google and Wikipedia made it pretty easy to identify the first 5.

    1. Rudy Giuliani

    2. John Eastman

    3. Sidney Powell (the only woman of these 5)

    4. Jeffrey Clark

    5. Kenneth Chesebro

    6. [still unidentified, I think]

  15. 15.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    For years, there has been palpable desperation on the left for Trump to get punished for a crime — any crime.

    Oh GFY, Politico – we’ve all been watching  TFG blatantly commit crimes out in the open, and gratuitously lie about it. We want accountability for THOSE crimes. Not just “any crime”.

    We’re not just throwing accusations against the wall to see what sticks. That’s what the Republicans are doing. It’s not a “both sides” thing.

  16. 16.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Yarrow:”I think 6 is Boris Epshteyn but not sure.”​
     Whoever it is, will richly deserve the notoriety. (And the prison term, one hopes.)

    Good to see your ‘nym around again. :)

  17. 17.

    Dan B

    @NotMax:  What could be more foundational to psychology than gender identity and sexual orientation, at least in the puritanical and Calvinist USA?  Well, maybe there are other areas but they’re near the top.  The GOP sees LGBTQ+ people as SEX!!!  Methinks they should check their religious leaders.

  18. 18.

    smith

    @Urza: IANAL, but I understand that the Speech and Debate clause probably protects most of them. In other words, they could have made false statements that furthered the conspiracy, and cast votes for crackpot actions that furthered the conspiracy, but as long as those were arguably related to their roles in Congress — and certainly certifying the electoral vote was related — they are not legally liable.

    If they did anything that was arguably outside their roles as Congress members, then maybe there’s a case, but I’m having a hard time putting a finger on what that might be. Maybe if it could be shown that they helped in the planning for violence at the Capitol?

  25. 25.

    laura

    @Maxim: Total agreement regarding the conspirators inside the Capitol- investigate, indict, try, convict and enforce an appropriate penalty including fines, prison, probation and baring from holding office. And let’s not stop there- get the money people and those they conspired with to move the MAGA to DC from across the US. Every last one.

  27. 27.

    LAO

    Ridiculously, I have a Jack Smith story from back in the day when he was an AUSA in the EDNY — it was told to me by another defense attorney BUT when I writing an appeal for a defendant he had successfully prosecuted (which required several conversations- he was a pleasure to deal with) I asked him directly if the story was true. After hemming and hawing, he confirmed it.

    It goes as follows: after a significant investigation, the FBI arrested a  group of people on narcotics charges. The defendants were mostly represented by CJA lawyers (court appointed, court paid private lawyers). One of those lawyers (as was typical at the time) turned over the case to his newly minted associate, we shall call her A.

    A was a very new lawyer. She went to visit her client in custody shortly after the arraignment and the client adamantly swore that he was innocent and he had no idea why he was arrested.

    Jack, reached out to A to offer a queen for the day proffer session, in an effort to convince her client to cooperate. She spoke to the client; he again said no and professed his innocence.

    A turned down the proffer and told Jack that her client was innocent and he had nothing to offer.

    Less than 48 hours later, Jack called A told her to get to the courthouse, they were releasing her client – turns out the feds picked up the wrong guy and he was innocent.

    Now, when I asked him about it, he told me that (1) he thought A was naive and over her head (2) he called the agent asking him for all the evidence against her client so that he could offer a reverse proffer (where the government lays out all the evidence against a defendant to coerce cooperation) (3) he was shocked when he and the agent realized their mistake.

    tl/dr: Jack Smith is a mensch.

  30. 30.

    Old School

    @Eolirin:

    It would be a huge gift to us if Ron Johnson got wrapped up in this somehow and we got his seat back in Dem hands.

    Johnson is in the indictment as the senator who tried to deliver the fake electoral votes to Pence.  However, it’s probably unlikely that he’d lose his seat over it.

  32. 32.

    smith

    @Geoduck: Some taking orders as to what to do next. Wasn’t there a story that Boebert tried to tip the protesters as to Pelosi’s whereabouts?

  34. 34.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @smith:

    I’m not sure that Sen. Ron “I’m a” Johnson trying to hand off the fake electors to Pence isn’t protected by the Screech and Berate Clause that protects Republican politicians from accountability. The Repub PA Sen is so exposed too, I think.

  35. 35.

    Sure Lurkalot

    “Desperation on the left.” “Liberals…have found their hero.” “The left’s avenging angel.”

    Fuck Politico. Apparently they’re shitty owner, editors and writers don’t give a rat’s ass about democracy, the rule of law or due process.

  36. 36.

    LAO

    @Baud: Crazy right. My brother (an agent) once had a similar situation and it took over a week to get the defendant released from custody- Jack really had to move heaven and earth to get the defendant released so quickly. And, he was like I’m no hero, I was just trying to get the defendant to cooperate.

  38. 38.

    dmsilev

    So, we should be hearing from the fine folks in Georgia next week?

    More indictments. MORE!

  40. 40.

    smith

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: I certainly hope that there are aspects of their participation that make them vulnerable. It’s a distressing thought that a member of Congress could participate in a conspiracy to achieve an illegal end, but be protected if it’s carried out via Congressional duties.

  41. 41.

    HumboldtBlue

    Guys, guys, umm… guys? The guy who was the driving funding force behind the Jim Caviezel Qanon Sound of Freedom movie, and who regularly hosted Sugar Daddy/Sugar Baby parties, has been arrested. Can you guess on what charges?

    Guys? Can you guess the charges?

    That’s right, child kidnapping!

  42. 42.

    Redshift

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    It’s interesting that the College Board is now refusing to go along with Florida’s demands. I wonder what changed?

    I’m guessing it’s the blowback they got from other states when it turned out they lied about Florida officials not being involved in their “revisions” to the African American History course.

  43. 43.

    different-church-lady

    Apparently I’m not allowed to be a fan of justice and democracy. No, I must be a “Trump Hater” in order to view Jack Smith  in a positive light.

  47. 47.

    dmsilev

    @HumboldtBlue: Sigh. I can’t wait for the writers’ strike to be resolved; the bunch of scabs they have working now have no imagination whatsoever.

  51. 51.

    Redshift

    The only reason Smith is “the left’s” avenging angel is because support for democracy has become a partisan issue. If there were any conservatives with any principles, he would be their avenging angel too.

  52. 52.

    Dan B

    @LAO:  Joe My God blog post about a minister almost every day charged with child sex abuse.  How many more don’t get caught?

  53. 53.

    piratedan

    @smith: just spitballing here…. but say said MOC was involved in previous texts and planning of said event and part of the plan, involved them doing Congressional Representative stuff, that in and of itself, wasn’t illegal per se, but knowingly did so to achieve multiple ends….. 1) present bogus electors and 2) delay proceedings to allow Trumps terrorists to infest the Capitol, I think a judge may look at that and say….. E-I-E-I don’t think so… but then again, I’ve only stayed at a Holiday Inn Express and am only expressing my opinion.

  54. 54.

    Roger Moore

    @smith:

    IANAL, but I understand that the Speech and Debate clause probably protects most of them. In other words, they could have made false statements that furthered the conspiracy, and cast votes for crackpot actions that furthered the conspiracy, but as long as those were arguably related to their roles in Congress — and certainly certifying the electoral vote was related — they are not legally liable.

    I don’t think that’s quite right.  Members of Congress certainly can’t be tried for any of their votes or for any thing they say during a Congressional proceeding.  But the Speech or Debate clause is fairly limited:

    for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

    That seems pretty clear to me that it would not cover text messages, phone calls, or pretty much any private communication.  It’s there to allow them to be candid in their official capacity, not to allow them to engage in criminal conspiracies outside of Congress.

  55. 55.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Origuy: ​
     

    Florida will ban AP Calculus next, because integration is fundamental to it.

    Definitely. There seems to be no limit to what they’ll do next.

  57. 57.

    Dan B

    OT John Eastman’s attorney says he won’t cooperate with the DOJ.  I would guess that Jack Smith had monsters at the International Criminal Court that tried the same gambit.

  59. 59.

    smith

    @piratedan: Well, maybe we’ll get to see it tested in court. However, Jack Smith so far has been careful to charge only for offenses for which he’s sure conviction will be nearly a slam-dunk, and I don’t know how far out on a limb he’ll want to go with something like this.

  60. 60.

    JaySinWA

    @smith: I’m sure some of the congress people and some of their aids conspired to get the phony elector’s forged documents into the house and/or senate. Some of that was done off the floor and outside of travel to and from congress.

  66. 66.

    LAO

    @Dan B: I don’t mean to be cynical but I doubt the DOJ wants Eastman’s cooperation. He’d never be offered a nonpros, so he’d face significant jail time and loss of his license, on any cooperation deal.

  69. 69.

    Dan B

    @LAO:  The lawyer expenses for Eastman could be huge if he insists on going to trial and appeal.  Where would the money come from?  He’s not a sympathetic character and TIFG is hoovering up all the moolah.

  70. 70.

    trollhattan

    God, that Politico excerpt is garbage. Who the fuck wastes column inches on some fancied group of a thousand lefties who want Trump “punished for a crime — any crime” and not the actual story: 81,283,501 Biden voters want Trump convicted for his many, many crimes, most notably those committed in the effort to erase those 81,283,501 votes?

    Trash.

  71. 71.

    trollhattan

    @NotMax: ​
    Does he have an actual public presence/persona? I barely know what the dude looks like; compare and contrast with Don Jr. who is in our damned faces daily, generally high as a kite.

  76. 76.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Dan B:

    The only reason Smith is “the left’s” avenging angel is because support for democracy has become a partisan issue.

    Nailed it!

  78. 78.

    Miss Bianca

    @HumboldtBlue: Holy crap. Could this be true? Seems almost too on the nose, but at the same time, I can easily believe it.

    My theater has gotten a lot of requests to show this movie. When I said, on our own FB page (because these people were bombing threads about other movies about it) that we weren’t going to be showing it, the next thing I know is that we are being accused on a community FB page of “supporting pedophilia” because we weren’t showing it. Crazy shit. I remember thinking at the time that judging from the way it was getting the fundies stirred up, this piece of shit movie had to be classed with something like Triumph of the Will or Birth of a Nation. I also remember thinking, “every accusation a confession…”

  80. 80.

    Redshift

    From Lindsey Graham’s attempt to use Speech or Debate to avoid testifying in Georgia, as explained by SCOTUSblog:

    a federal court in Georgia ruled that although the grand jury could not ask him about his discussions related to the certification of the 2020 election, it could ask him about other things, such as his communications with the Trump campaign.

    The Supreme Court declined to take up an appeal.

  81. 81.

    H.E.Wolf

    @WaterGirl:”

    WaterGirl

    August 3, 2023 at 7:56 pm

    @H.E.Wolf: Someone today found original source material online that matched the description of #6. So they are sure it’s Boris Epshteyn.
    ”
     Oh, him. A shanda fur die goyim.

    Thanks to you and Yarrow for the news!

  82. 82.

    Geminid

    @Jackie: From the little I’ve read, Rep. Perry may be in the deepest. But I’m not sure any members of Congress will get indicted unless their assistance to the insurrectionists can be shown. I expect they were pretty careful though.

    Staffers may be a different story. A lot of them came out of the Alt-Right, and I won’t be surprised if some of them endel up in hot water..

  88. 88.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Chris Hayes and his panel– Jen Psaki and Michael Beschloss– hammering the fact that trump had no family with him in court today. I wonder if Melanie will be ostentatiously flipping through a Harry Winston catalogue if he walks by her room tonight, or if he tells Walt Nauta to try and find a number for notIvanka. Eric and Junior will see tweets about it and spend days waiting for the phone to ring, and when it don’t they’ll know it’s Daddy.

  91. 91.

    p.a.

    Politico et al should be reminded that if the civics book* version of American society were true, Politico, FTFNYT etc could be heroes of democracy too.

     

    *well… maybe not Florida’s civics text…

  95. 95.

    Reverse tool order

    So, we’re well past the ironic meaning of the proverbial “two more chains” but not quite at the unironic meaning.

    In fire lingo, those are ‘nowhere near being close’ vs ‘no, really, we’re close.’ Literally, 2 x 22 yards or 40 meters. Jack Smith has the saw dogged in and throwing chips. This punky, flaming Trunk is finally coming down. Looking to see the brush grubbed out clean down to mineral earth too. Keeping this side green while firing that side to ash.

    Trump trials seemed not distinguishable from mere speculation a couple years ago, at least to not-a-lawyer me. No more.

  96. 96.

    Another Scott

    Smith is good. I’m sure there are many like him, in the trenches, doing the work every day for all of us. We cannot forget that.

    Meanwhile, … NotebookCheck.net:

    Tesla made a splash when it announced a move to AMD-based infotainment systems, especially for their powerful graphical capabilities that would allow drivers to play games in their cars. Now, the move to AMD hardware seems to have come back to bite the EV maker after a security research group from TU Berlin (Technische Universität Berlin) announced via a Black Hat event page that it had managed to break through Tesla’s defences using a known AMD exploit.

    In this talk, we will present an attack against newer AMD-based infotainment systems (MCU-Z) used on all recent models. It gives us two distinct capabilities: First, it enables the first unpatchable AMD-based “Tesla Jailbreak”, allowing us to run arbitrary software on the infotainment.

    The hackers used off-the-shelf hardware to perform a voltage fault injection attack to get past the AMD Secure Processor, after which they could bypass early boot processes. After getting around boot security, the researchers were able to reverse-engineer the boot flow and gain root shell access to and modify Tesla’s recovery and custom Linux distribution.

    After going through all the work to break into the vehicle’s software, the researchers discovered that their level of access allowed them to decrypt the NVMe storage and access private user data. The researchers don’t mention data outside of calendar entries and contacts, but it’s conceivable that location data or other such information may also be accessible.

    The researchers also posit that they could use this method to gain free access to software-locked features, like Acceleration Boost, heated seats, and even Full Self-Driving

    Additionally, it appears as though this vulnerability could be used to expose a TPM-protected authentication key that is used to migrate the vehicle from one owner to another.

    […]

    What’s that old joke? If Microsoft built cars. I guess Melon is too busy being Edgy to worry about such mundane things…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  99. 99.

    Geminid

    @H.E.Wolf: I thought you might like this headline from the news site RFD TV:

       The new Deputy Ag Secretary says she “stands ready” to help with the 2023 Farm Bill.

    USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small points to her prior experience in Congress as a way she can help lawmakers craft the Farm Bill if they need help.

    The current Farm Bill expires Sept. 30. Among others, Water Girl’s new Representative Nikki Budzinski is working hard on it.

  100. 100.

    cintibud

    Is it possible that MOC could be identified as “unindicted co-conspirators due to the speech and debate clause”?

  101. 101.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Maxim:

    That last tweet is where it’s at 

    Smash two turntables over their heads then bitchslap them all with a microphone.

  102. 102.

    Jackie

    OT re earlier discussion today.

    Neal Katyal wrote an opinion piece for the WaPo on why the J6 trial should be televised:

    “There are at least two pathways toward televising the Trump trial. One is for the Judicial Conference, run by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., to vote for an amendment to Rule 53. Indeed, the conference has considered the idea of allowing cameras for more than 30 years and in 1994, it considered and rejected a proposal to televise criminal trials. But there is no need for the conference to resuscitate that proposal — it need only authorize broadcast of this unique case.”

    “The other mechanism is for Congress to pass a law — a possibility contemplated in Rule 53. While Congress finds itself incapable of much action these days, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) notably introduced a bill this year that provides a framework for presiding federal judges to permit television coverage of their trials. That legislation could be a model for a specific bill in the Trump case. This shouldn’t be a partisan issue. (Grassley’s bill was co-sponsored by four Democratic senators.) Democrats might expect the broadcast to demonstrate to skeptics the definitive clarity of the prosecution’s case against Trump; Republicans might count on the audience seeing the trial as a tedious, technicality-laden political stunt.”

    WaPo gift link https://wapo.st/3Qkr7Xr

  104. 104.

    Alison Rose

    @CaseyL: Well, Ivanka doesn’t need to be either, in a financial sense. I get the feeling Tiffany has never give much of a shit about her father, since he clearly doesn’t give a shit about her. She’s rarely been present at any of his political events or other stuff.

  106. 106.

    BC in Illinois

    Trump, having been told by the judge (and, one assumes, his lawyers) not to mess with other witnesses or the jury, decides to take his wrath out on the city:

    CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT I HAD TO FLY TO A FILTHY, DIRTY, FALLING APART, & VERY UNSAFE WASHINGTON, D.C., TODAY,

    & THAT I WAS THEN ARRESTED BY MY POLITICAL OPPONENT, WHO IS LOSING BADLY TO ME IN THE POLLS, CROOKED JOE BIDEN, IT WAS A VERY GOOD DAY!

    Now, I didn’t watch his motorcade in slow motion so I’m not sure what route he took, but Google Maps shows that, to come from National Airport to the Prettyman Courthouse, he would travel most of the way on I-395, then pass the Botanical Gardens, the Capitol, the Labor Department, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

    That’s it.

    Not really a bad part of town.

  113. 113.

    lowtechcyclist

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Smash two turntables over their heads then bitchslap them all with a microphone.

    Guess I know what my earworm is going to be for the rest of the evening.

    (Well played!)

  114. 114.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @NotMax: I see all of this garbage DeSan-shit is doing in Florida as a long-game effort to destroy the public school system. Between fleeing teachers, fleeing caring parents soon they all will be wanting private school educations that the state can’t interfere with…for now.

     

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): They woke the fuck up that they were shitting on their brand

  115. 115.

    marklar

    @NotMax: I think it’s time for the College Board to tell the State of Florida that unless they reinstate both African American History and Psychology, all other AP tests will no longer be offered to students in Florida.  Let the Florida State Legislature then deal with the howls coming from parents that such a move will result in their children being disadvantaged relative to students in the 49 other states.

  119. 119.

    Jeffro

    Did anyone else catch (or already comment) on DeSantis’ calling for “slitting throats” of federal workers today???

    What in the ACTUAL

    “On bureaucracy, you know, we’re going to have all these deep state people, you know, we’re going to start slitting throats on Day One and be ready to go,” DeSantis said at a barbecue in Rye, N.H., on Sunday hosted by former senator Scott Brown (R-Mass.).

    Fuck it – take him into custody, make him hire lawyers.  This is absolutely out of hand.

  124. 124.

    cain

    @lowtechcyclist: Also it’s Al-Gebra – and I don’t mean Al Bundy.

    We should try to push them to make it as absurd as possible. Start talking about how math is woke because it is all equitable  – to be true both sides of the equal sign has to be the same! WOKE!

  125. 125.

    Redshift

    @BC in Illinois: Yeah, it was an idiotic slam, probably intended to appeal to his mouth-breathing “librul cities are all crime-ridden and burnt to the ground” followers. DC is less “dirty and falling apart” than when he was last there, if you consider that the damage to the Capitol has been repaired.

  126. 126.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Lawrence O’Donnell (not a lawyer) is giving himself quite a case of the fantods over trump’s defense lawyer going on Fox tonight and, per O’Donnell, basically saying trump is guilty as charged. He’s got a stable of former-federal-prosecutors on to comment. I’ll hold my excitement until the judge brings her gavel down.

    (I think Andrew Weissman just said that anything Lauro says on TV will be admissible in court?)

  127. 127.

    Jackie

    EXCELLENT NEWS!

    “The two young, Black Tennessee state House Democrats whose expulsion sparked a nationwide controversy in April, will win reelection on Thursday, CNN projects.”

    YAY for Justin Jones and Justin Pearson!!!

  129. 129.

    Danielx

    @NotMax:

    An entity that refuses to recognize the awesomeness of Ron DeSantis? Say it ain’t so!

    More of this, please. Fuck that guy.

  131. 131.

    cain

    @marklar: ​
     
    Florida will likely sue but not sure they can win the case since they are the only outlier nobody else raising a fuss.

  132. 132.

    Kay

    The Ohio Issue 1 early vote was 55% women, now it’s up to 57

    60% of those who did not vote in 2022 but have now early voted are women

    I think this is better than if it were 57% men, but other than that I don’t know what it means.

  134. 134.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Glidwrith: sorry, a Molly Ivinsism, he is in a state of great excitement

    Here is a twitter link to Lauro on the Ingram show

    Harry Turtledove @HNTurtledov 21m
    Trump defense lawyer John Lauro just admitted to Laura Ingraham that Trump urged Pence to call a 10-day recess for state legislatures to reconsider election results.

    IOW, he just admitted to one of the charges in Jack Smith’s indictment.

  137. 137.

    Yarrow

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:  Good. I’m glad she’s calling him that instead of President. He’s NOT the president. I’m against all former presidents retaining the title.

    I read something awhile ago that some governmental code stipulates that a small number of positions retain titles after they leave the office. But the custom of calling people by their last or highest title after they’ve left office is not correct. It’s nothing but ego stroking and title inflation. It’s wrong and it needs to stop.

  142. 142.

    Yarrow

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:  I don’t know why those and not others but the fewer people who retain titles after leaving office the better.

    Today I heard someone on TV talking about “The President” doing something or other. They were talking about TFG not Biden. It creates confusion and I wish the custom would stop.

    Someone who has one of the overused former titles should say, “No, It’s wrong to continue to use the title now that I’m out of office.” and set a good example.

  143. 143.

    Danielx

    @Jeffro:

    To whom is he referring? Air traffic controllers? FDA inspectors? NIH scientists? And with a serrated or straight edge?

    Come on Ron, we want specifics.

    It’s like he took a reverse Dale Carnegie course: how to be an utter prick and make enemies.

  146. 146.

    Matt McIrvin

    @cain: Math education has been a culture war target many times in the past (New Math, Common Core). That the math curriculum was being ruined by whatever they called “woke” in that era was a central claim. It keeps going.

    There are homeschooling curricula aimed at religious fundamentalists that still proudly advertise that they do not cover set theory, and I think it’s because that was a big deal in the 1960s New Math–it’s a 60-year-old culture war shibboleth.

  148. 148.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Yarrow: I believe judges and generals– at least in theory or by tradition or ceremony (?)— can/could always be recalled, or invited, back to serve. Not sure about ambassadors.

  149. 149.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Yarrow: ​ 

    “I’m learning tonight that Trump left here in a sour and dejected mood,” said CNN host Kaitlan Collins on Thursday after Trump pleaded not guilty to four charges to Judge Moxila Upadhyaya in a Washington, D.C. courthouse. “He was, quote, ‘pissed off,’ according to someone who spoke to him.”

  152. 152.

    Lyrebird

    @BC in Illinois: @Redshift:

    Not surprising, just pitiful.  I don’t know about Orangemandias, but for many conservatives, slamming DC is their way of showing they can be as racist as possible without getting censored.  Since a big portion of the population and many of the government officials in DC are Black, it makes a shameful but convenient dog whistle.

  154. 154.

    Ishiyama

    @Steeplejack: “The fantods” more accurately denotes upset or uneasiness and has been around at least since Mark Twain.

     

    “That is the way to write! Peppery and to the point. Mush and milk journalism gives me the fantods”, from Journalism in Tennessee.

  155. 155.

    Burnspbesq

    @Roger Moore:

    Both sides have solid arguments about the scope of Speech and Debate Clause. It would be a crapshoot, and the DOJ Manual counsels against engaging in crapshoots.

  157. 157.

    AM in NC

    @smith:  I need to understand the timeline around all of this.  If the USSC had refused the last of Trump’s challenges (thus legally determining that Biden was, in fact, elected President) then is anything these Congressional Reps did after that to install Trump was, de facto, an illegal act, going against the USSC ruling?

    Even if they claim it was part of their duties, if they are going against the USSC ruling in order to install a non-elected person as President, that would seem to be illegal to me.

    Lawyers, what say you?

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