Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

People are complicated. Love is not.

“They not like us!” (that’s for sure!)

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Cole is on a roll !

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

We’re not going back!

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

by | 321 Comments

This post is in: 

This has haunted me since I saw it last night.  I think he is totally right.

Sociopath in a hurry.  Exactly right, and now I can’t shake it.

On a lighter note…

I have to say, I think they nailed it – 6 out of 6! 

Auto Draft 84

Trump really seems to be losing it. I want to say decompensating, but I’m not sure if it’s the right term.

 

Reader Interactions

321Comments

  2. 2.

    zhena gogolia

    That DeSantis clip is 😳

    I saw a little of it in an LP video yesterday, but not the aftermath where his face goes back to “normal.”

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    If I remember correctly from when my dog had kidney issues, as the kidneys are starting to lose function the rest of the kidney “compensates” so everything can appear to be working normally, until one day it tips over a line and then it’s all downhill from there.  I think that when it got to that point it’s it was called decompensation.

    Anyway, that’s where I think Trump is.  I think he has tipped over the line.  He has always been crazy but his recent social media posts are beyond nuts.  You look at them one way, and it just seems like more Trump craziness, but if you look at them with new eyes, it’s clear that they have reached a whole other level.

  6. 6.

    Scout211

    The current right wing/MAGA talking point is that the J6 committee “destroyed evidence” of Capitol Hill security failures and other misdeeds of the Democrats

    Fox News  (of course!)

    FIRST ON FOX: The House select committee that investigated the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021 failed to adequately preserve documents, data and video depositions – including communications it had with the Biden White House that are still missing – according to the Republican lawmaker overseeing the GOP investigation into the committee’s work.

    The now-disbanded “J6” committee, which was run by Democrats and included only two GOP members, has also failed to provide any evidence that it looked into Capitol Hill security failures on the day of the riot, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight for the Committee on House Administration, told Fox News Digital.

    Loudermilk said his staff has had difficulty gathering all the information it needs to investigate Rep. Bennie Thompson’s handling of the J6 investigation.

     

    Can I just say, “Ha ha ha ha!  Good luck finding evidence that does not exist, you idiots!”

    Okay, that felt good.

    ETA: From TIFG’s TruthSocial:

    THE JANUARY 6 UNSELECT COMMITTEE EXTINGUISHED AND DESTROYED ALL “EVIDENCE” & RECORDS. CRIMINALS!

  7. 7.

    Betty Cracker

    DeSantis is scary as fuck, and as much as I’ve enjoyed his political travails lately, I won’t truly relax until his polls bottom out, all the money dries up, and he drops out of the race. Please FSM, let it be soon.

    Just this morning DeFascist illegally fired another state attorney and replaced her with an obedient, unqualified right-wing appointee, overturning the will of the voters, just as he did when he fired a twice-elected former prosecutor in Tampa last year for criticizing DeSantis’s hard-right policies.

  8. 8.

    eclare

    I remember that clip of DeSantis scowling at kids wearing masks and telling them, angrily, you don’t have to wear those.  Scary is right.

  9. 9.

    bbleh

    Ima guess he’s still in withdrawal from no longer getting all the attention he got as President (and what he is getting isn’t nearly as flattering), and he’s just amping it up and up because he doesn’t have any other tricks.

    And yes, he’s trying to “try the case in the media” and “delegitimize” pretty much every standard or authority in the country other than himself, but that’s hardly new.

    There has been speculation about whether some kind of “break” is coming, but I dunno; he’s got a pretty strong ego …

  11. 11.

    Yarrow

    @zhena gogolia:  His face goes through so many phases in 12 seconds. What’s with the hand wiping the face? And that weird braying “laugh” again. Like a psycho muppet. It’s so creepy.

  12. 12.

    Alison Rose

    @Betty Cracker: When I first checked my phone this morning, there was a NYT notification about this, and it started with “Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida suspended…” and I was like OMG LOL WHAT and then I kept reading and was disappointed.

    Also that clip above is gonna be in my nightmares.

  14. 14.

    Jeffro

    trumpov was complaining just a week or so ago about “why’d they take so long to charge me?”

    Now he’s complaining that they’re throwing charges at him “quickly and haphazardly”.

    It’s almost like the whole schtick here is just to keep flailing away helplessly, and hope that his rubes supporters buy whatever he’s ‘selling’ on any given day…

  18. 18.

    smith

    @Jeffro: It’s almost like the whole schtick here is just to keep flailing away helplessly, and hope that his rubes supporters buy whatever he’s ‘selling’ on any given day…

    Well, they pretty much always do buy it. It’s like they haven’t yet achieved object permanence.

  21. 21.

    jonas

    Running around and pretending to lose his shit has been Trump’s standard m.o. for decades when threatened with any sort of consequences for some illegal/immoral thing he has done. Throw a tantrum. Threaten hellfire and brimstone and violence and lawyers and whatever might stick until your enemy (contractors/lawyers owed money, government regulators, competitors, ex-wives, etc.) backs down. He thinks it’s some kind of real New-Yawk alpha-male move or something.

    In reality, of course, it’s just being a PAB.

  22. 22.

    dmsilev

    Headline of the day: Italian cheesemaker crushed to death by wheels of his Grana Padano

    The owner of a cheese factory in northern Italy was killed on Sunday when 15,000 wheels of his cheese fell on him, crushing him to death.

    It took firefighters about 12 hours to move the heavy rounds of Grana Padano to reach the body of Giacomo Chiapparini, 74, according to news reports. The freak accident occurred when a 30-foot-high shelf in the warehouse broke, causing a domino effect that sent thousands of pounds of cheese tumbling, authorities in the small town of Romano di Lombardia said.

    That’s a lot of cheese.

  23. 23.

    jonas

    @Jeffro:I think DeSantis is legit hearing voices in his head.  Like, in real time.

    “Are the woke drag queens teaching CRT in the room with us right now?”

  24. 24.

    cain

    All the evidence that the GOP are looking for is in Hunter Biden’s laptop – and they have it! What’s the problem?

  30. 30.

    narya

    @WaterGirl: I saw a bit of a clip of him last night (maybe on Chris Hayes?) at some gathering. The AC must have been broken, but he was sweating and glistening and ranting . . . and the crowd (no clue whether it was a true crowd) cheered him along. You wanna tell him to get outside, ride a bike (hah!), have an ice cream cone, drive a corvette (hah!) . . . More seriously, it was not a pretty sight; he looked and sounded positively deranged

    ETA: several podcasters, Hayes, etc., continue to point out that his usual tactics simply aren’t useful in his current predicaments, but he has no ability to learn and adapt to his current situation.

  31. 31.

    tobie

    I keep on checking my computer to see if Jack Smith filed an appeal to the 11th Circuit regarding Cannon’s recent rulings. I want the 11th Circuit to decide on its own to remove her from the case. That would feel like a double Christmas gift. Does this make me weird?

  33. 33.

    rb

    Watching that Desantis clip I couldn’t figure out what it was reminding me of, quite sharply and viscerally. American Psycho? But no, that wasn’t it.

    Then I got it: the physical gestures, sweatiness, and rapid change from fake smile to totally flat and angry look EXACTLY like Anthony Starr’s much-memed portrayal of the deranged and terrifying “Homelander” character from the series The Boys. It is downright eerie, as if Starr had studied Desantis in preparing for the role.

    Example:  Link

    Bonus discomfort for the fact that the series, while pulpy and incredibly violent, is a pretty on-point critique of present-day America’s bloody taste for fascism​​

  35. 35.

    narya

    @tobie: Right there with you. She is not a good look for the 11th circuit. Not knowing how grand juries work is . . . not what should be the case for the judge for this trial. Or any trial.

  38. 38.

    tobie

    @narya: Thanks. Glad to know I’m in good company.

    To be overturned twice by the 11th Circuit and removed from the case, after having been exposed for messing up on basic things like swearing in the jury in another case, would be quite the humiliation in judicial circles.

  39. 39.

    NotMax

    @
    John S.

    Reports I’ve seen give a qualified yes. That is, certain blocks in Lahaina town or swaths outside of town where it’s bad it’s really bad. Wind-driven fires also in Kihei and Kula, probably a couple of other more outlying areas too, judging from the separate vistas of orange illumination against the clouds I observed yesterday at sunset. Extra firefighters being flown in from Oahu.

  40. 40.

    narya

    @tobie: given that she apparently got her last info from Faux News, I’m not sure that humiliation is in her portfolio of emotions.

  41. 41.

    Bupalos

    “THE FAKE NEWS AGREES WITH ME” is the kind of bold double-reverse-fumblerooski that only Trump or any other Alzheimers patient could pull off.

  42. 42.

    patrick II

    A psychologist once told me that a sociopath gets along with other people and can be very charming, while a psychopath lacks those abilities, can seem odd (sometimes very odd), and is generally not as able to fit in a crowd.  So, according to that, I think DeSantis is somewhere along the psychopath spectrum, not so much the sociopath.  But I am sure educated opinions differ.

  43. 43.

    Geo Wilcox

    @Rand Careaga: That is exactly what I thought when I first saw him ages ago. That scary as hell shell holding an insane creature inside. Dead Zone, no kidding.

  44. 44.

    JCJ

    @Raoul Paste:   I sent that to my daughter – she immediately replied the laugh was like that of The Joker (Batman, not Nikola Jokic or Novak Djokovic)

  45. 45.

    Alison Rose

    @NotMax: It’s awful :( My parents and I took a trip around the Hawaiian islands when I was a teen and Lahaina was one of our favorite spots. I know that’s probably true for most tourists, but it was just so pleasant and fun. I hope they are able to get as much help on the ground as they can.

  46. 46.

    brantl

    It’s a shame Henson’s group doesn’t do politics, they could make a meatball Ron muppet, that would deep-six him in 2 weeks.

  47. 47.

    Roger Moore

    @smith:

    Well, they pretty much always do buy it. It’s like they haven’t yet achieved object permanence.

    I don’t think they actually care about the content of the message, only the implications.  They want to believe Trump is right and his opponents are wrong, since that makes them right in their support of him.  Beyond that they really don’t care.  It simply doesn’t matter to them that what he’s saying now contradicts what he said yesterday or even earlier in the same sentence.

  50. 50.

    Juju

    @WaterGirl: And his wife seems to be equally so. I feel sorry for their children. They sort of remind me of a slightly older, slightly better looking version of the sociopath Stephen Miller and his equally sociopathic wife. I also feel sorry for their children.  They all seem to be lacking empathy and other normal human and humane qualities.

    Edit: stupid autocomplete.

  51. 51.

    cain

    @narya: As long as she is good in with the Federalist Society people – she’s probably all good. Maybe she’ll get a free trip with a billionaire.

  52. 52.

    trollhattan

    @patrick II: My psych major kid would probably be happy to do a workup of Meatball. TBH I don’t know how closely she follows politics, perhaps as a self-defense scheme.

  56. 56.

    tobie

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I agree that Smith has shown himself to be a master strategist, so I’m not questioning his judgment. I’m only hoping that someone as deeply partisan as Cannon gets her comeuppance.

  57. 57.

    patrick II

    I think in a weird way Trump is now finding out how the other side feels.  He has used legal means not to find justice during disagreements, but to oppress and humble those opposing him because he is rich and can afford it.  He was unrelenting until he had his way.  He’s not richer than the DOJ and is projecting what has been his own legal ruthlessness regardless of being right. He used the courts like a bully and feels the powerlessness of being on the other side and not being able to just outspend them.  Whether there is guilt or not is of little matter to him. He knows he’s outgunned and feels fear.

  58. 58.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    He’s 77 old, his “health” is rather questionable, because he likely eats whatever he wants, his never really sharp “brain,” such as it is, isn’t worth used toilet paper (and never was), and while he won’t and can’t admit it because, well it’s ShitForBrains, and while he may live for a while, just because human life can’t seem to clean up it’s own crap, he is on that downhill stride. I’m only 3 yrs younger than him and live in a seniors complex, you have to be over 55 to rent here. The oldest person I know is 97 and I can tell you, from living here and from having everyone older than me in the close and extended family having passed away, (oldest in the line now – SHIT) life gets different when you get up here. I’m old, but not OLD, SFB is way past OLD. He’s in decrepit and past his due date. But he’s such an ornery asshole, far worse than useless, at least acts dumber than a box of useless pebbles, and has a mouth operated by a brain that is way, way past it’s sell by date. He’s a racist POS, at least acts like a dumpster fire, and has managed, by stealing his siblings inheritance, to be though of as wealthy, although he’s failed at everything he’s ever done or attempted. If he wasn’t so dangerous he’d be a/the laughing stock of the US. Oh wait….

  59. 59.

    eclare

    @trollhattan:

    Awful.  When I went to Hawaii (only went to Maui) we stayed in Lahaina.  It was a great Thanksgiving with Hawaiian food, no turkey.  I think we were at a Marriott.

  60. 60.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Yarrow:

    What’s with the hand wiping the face?

    There are many clips of DeSantis doing this and it’s just gross.  It’s like there’s a disconnect between his mental and physical selves. He seems to have no idea how he appears to people.

  61. 61.

    rikyrah

    I’m sort of hoping that Dolt45’s lawyers DON’T appear in Court this Friday at 10 am.

    I’m good for a Contempt of Court charge against those clowns.

  62. 62.

    Lyrebird

    Thanks WG!   and thanks also

    @Betty Cracker: DeSantis is scary as fuck, and as much as I’ve enjoyed his political travails lately, I won’t truly relax until his polls bottom out, all the money dries up, and he drops out of the race. Please FSM, let it be soon.

    …for shining a light.

    True confession: As a lifelong dork, I don’t know how to respond to the video, because if I had to take a bunch of interviews with national coverage, I might do a face reset…  Didn’t listen, because I try not to turn the sound on for known fascists or creepazoids.

    But he has shown his fascism and his cruelty many times over.

  63. 63.

    Another Scott

    People must have told him that he looks creepy and inhuman when he does those giant face gestures, because he tries to quickly go back to a resting human face after noticing a camera pointed at him.

    “OMG, I did it again, didn’t I??”

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  65. 65.

    Ohio Mom

    Just got here, it’s been a busy morning. Skipping to end of comment thread to say, Yes, Trump is decompensating.

    From our friend, Google: “Decompensation is a clinical term used to describe a mentally ill individual’s state of mental health when he or she was previously managing the illness well but suffered a downturn at a certain stage. That stage is considered a decompensation or decline in overall condition. Episodes are periods of decline that occur.”

    It’s when the defenses the person was using to manage despite their mental illness start to fail. Trump’s bluster and bullying have met their match.

    Now back to the start of the comment thread.

  67. 67.

    Ruckus

    @Yarrow:

    Do we really think he’s human?

    I mean I know there is a wide range of quality in humans and sure he’s scrapping the bottom of the barrel that – OK use your imagination of what normally is in that barrel, I’m sparing you all the images/words in my brain, but really what is the possible explanation of why he is such a shit, other than just he is? His parents? They raised other not unreasonable kids – and him. The prime example of JFC, you couldn’t do any better than this? He’s got the things that could have gotten him a grand life, money and, OK all he has is money. But he couldn’t even manage to be the slumlord his father was, he started with $400 million – a part of he stole from his siblings, had he not attempted to prove how shitty he is and has been, his entire life he could have lived the high life and had the money he claims to have. But he is shit, the very definition of human shit, has not one redeeming quality, none, not one, and he gets to be president and people give him money that he now has to pay lawyers to clean up his gigantic mess he’s made? We all know the world isn’t fair, he is the very living proof of that.

  68. 68.

    Shalimar

    @narya: Someone last night on one of the MSNBC shows, I think Joyce Vance, pointed out that Cannon may be an inexperienced judge but she did work as a federal prosecutor in her current district for 8 years.  She does know how grand jury secrecy works.  Her feigned ignorance is intentional.

  69. 69.

    Redshift

    @rikyrah: Trying to claim he needs both his lawyers there, so it has to be postponed, seems like flailing. You’re under multiple indictments, that’s why you have multiple lawyers.

  70. 70.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @narya:

    I saw a bit of a clip of him last night (maybe on Chris Hayes?) at some gathering. The AC must have been broken, but he was sweating and glistening and ranting . . . and the crowd (no clue whether it was a true crowd) cheered him along.

    Went on a hike yesterday with my SIL and she asked me what I thought about the possibility of Trump being president again. We both expressed it might be the final straw to push us to move. Because we cannot fathom living in a country with the number of people who now know who and what he is and still support him. It is something we both simply do not (and will not ever) understand.

  71. 71.

    cain

    @Alison Rose: when I was a kid we used to do puppet shows. We had a “superman” puppet that looked just like Guy Smiley and we used to call him “Super Guy” :D

  72. 72.

    Maxim

    @patrick II: My understanding was similar, but this link seems to disagree:

    https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/psychopath-sociopath-differences

    It says that sociopathy (now called antisocial personality disorder) corresponds to a number of traits, including impulsivity, lying, taking unneeded risks, and difficulty holding down a job.

    Psychopathy corresponds to a brain that does not do well at processing, or producing, guilt, empathy, moral decision-making, or embarrassment. Psychopaths tend to have low anxiety and high levels of control; they violate social norms but will plan to do so rather than acting impulsively.

    More details about both at the link. I don’t know if DeFective fits either condition precisely, but he sure ain’t right in the head.

  74. 74.

    cmorenc

    DeSantis’s laugh in the clip reminds me of the Vizzini character’s laugh from “Princess Bride”.  And the Vizzini character was also a ruthless sociopath with an major over-estimation of his own intelligence and cleverness.  Hilarious as a pretend character in a comedic movie, but in real life, scary like an evil clown.

  75. 75.

    trollhattan

    @eclare: Charming town, reminding me of Gold Rush towns in California, with their remaining funky 19th century buildings and all. Hate to ponder it might all be gone.

  77. 77.

    waspuppet

    @Sure Lurkalot: The conservative movement runs on nothing but hatred. Nothing they do makes sense until one realizes that that’s front and center. (I know you know this; I’m just saying.) Trump wouldn’t have made it past Super Tuesday 2016 if it was about anything but hatred.

    BTW, can we talk about the avatar picture Trump uses on his PlaySkool Twitter? Has anyone anywhere ever pointed out that that’s not a sign of a well man?

  78. 78.

    Betty Cracker

    As a woman who used to resent men who urged me to SMILE in my younger days, it amuses me to know that the misogynist turd DeSantis is being coached on how to appear more cheerful and act in a people-pleasing manner. He’s failing miserably, but that’s what’s happening behind the scenes, people are saying, “SMILE, Ron!” And that makes me smile — for real! ;-)

  79. 79.

    narya

    @patrick II: That was exactly the point that someone made yesterday (I listened to a bunch of podcasts and then a little MSNBC, so . . .)–in general, one gets the justice one can AFFORD, and he’s always been able to outwait/outlawyer/delay the civil proceedings against him. The contractors and other people to whom he owed money? Wait ’em out. While he’s using as much of that strategy as he can right now, there are more limits than he has experienced in those other proceedings, but he’s incapable of changing his tactics or strategy. I loathe that man . . .

  81. 81.

    Ruckus

    @cain:

    They have been blaming HB’s laptop for likely longer than it existed, simply because they have nothing left other than blaming the real reason we are in this mess, THEM. And they never have had one. Their policies and practices bring about a world that benefits a few a whole lot more and screws a lot of the rest of the very people that could really use a few bucks, maybe a job and  something approaching a life. They are selfish children that have zero understanding and seem to feel that suffering is what many deserve. So they provide it, and some get massively wealthy at the expense of the many.

  86. 86.

    Caveatimperator

    @WaterGirl:

    Forget it Jake, it’s GOP town. Trying to tease apart whether they’re distorting the truth or just making things up is sometimes interesting academically. But that’s all it is. It’s a lie either way.

  87. 87.

    eclare

    @narya:

    Plus the govt has unlimited funds.  Average contractor that TIFG cheated out of payment does not.  At some point they can’t afford a lawyer anymore.

  89. 89.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @WaterGirl:

    It really makes you wonder what could make someone like DeSantis turn out the way he has or if he was just born that way. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that he tortured small animals as a teenager

  93. 93.

    WaterGirl

    @rikyrah: What I want to see is whether the attorney that supposedly couldn’t make it on Friday will somehow find a way to be there.

    Which will make him look even more terrible, like the bullshitter he is.

    I notice she chose the day when the more lead attorney ostensibly could not be there.

  95. 95.

    Baud

     

    DC circuit decision unsealed today reveals that Smith subpoenaed Twitter about Trump’s account in January 2023.

    ETA: The decision upholds contempt sanctions for Twitter for noncompliance.

  100. 100.

    Ruckus

    @MattF:

    Ask yourself why?

    He’s already proven that he’s pure crap at the job, has zero understanding of what, how to do it. Actually that applies to his entire life.

    He’s sweating because he’s working as hard as HE can to get himself out of the mess he’s gotten HIMSELF into. Like he always seems to do. This is nothing new in his life, other than he’s doing it on the world stage rather than at his golf club. He’s failed at pretty much everything he’s ever attempted, why should this be any better?

    Maybe it’s time we started looking at politicians bank accounts and realize that anyone with a lot of zeros behind the other nine digits likely isn’t going to have any real understanding of what anything approaching normal life is. They don’t work selling crappy cheeseburgers or stacking books in a library or really any actual job that requires any kind of physical effort. They don’t have to worry themselves about do their socks have holes or does their 12 yr old second hand car need tires and can I afford that this month. They’ve never lived in one of the shitty apartments they own, or had to wonder if their kids would be fed tonight. Their lives are not the norm. But they are still life and being a rich fuckup is just far more costly to them and every one around or in any way involved with them. Like us, involved because enough people decided that a worthless billionaire most know something to get to be a billionaire. They forgot about that WORTHLESS part of his description.

  105. 105.

    trollhattan

    MOTY candidate.

    The six-year-old student who shot his teacher in the US earlier this year, boasted about the incident saying “I shot [her] dead”, unsealed court documents show. While being restrained after the shooting at a Virginia school, the boy is said to have admitted “I did it”, adding “I got my mom’s gun last night”.

    His teacher, Abigail “Abby” Zwerner – who survived – filed a $40m (£31.4m) lawsuit earlier this year. The boy has not been charged.

    The boy’s mother, however, Deja Taylor, has been charged with felony child neglect and misdemeanour recklessly leaving a loaded firearm as to endanger a child. In June, she was also charged with unlawfully using a controlled substance while in possession of a firearm and making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm.

    Ms Taylor will be sentenced in October and could face up to 25 years in prison.

    Using his mother’s gun, the boy shot his first-grade teacher, Ms Zwerner, in the hand and chest on 6 January at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia.

  106. 106.

    Juju

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yes he’s married and has two children. He married during the last two years of the Trump administration to a woman named Katie. I remember reading an article about the birth of their first child and that some of his wife’s college friends remembered that she didn’t really care much about other people and weren’t surprised to find out that even though she was pregnant she didn’t find anything wrong with separating babies and toddlers from their parents as the border patrol was doing.

    I had to look up the wife’s name and from that I learned that they now have two children. I was also surprised to find out that he’s only 37. I thought he was much older.

  107. 107.

    smith

    I’ve seen speculation that this subpoena is to get access not to his public ravings, but to his direct messages. Could be very interesting.

  109. 109.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @WaterGirl:

    It’s a shame the fine is only $350,000. Has Twitter since complied? I’m guessing it has since it’s just mentioned as a delay

  115. 115.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @trollhattan:

    Never heard about this story. Glad the teacher survived. It’s so disturbing to hear those words come out of a 6 y/o’s mouth. I’m glad the mother is being charged. Usually they aren’t and it’s “they’ve suffered enough”. That kid is going to need a lot of therapy

  118. 118.

    Ruckus

    @patrick II:

    No, there is a reason there are 2 specific categories and the first part of each gives the actual concept more the where than the what. The what is the ending.

    Socio – a society of some definition, involving others.

    Psycho – basically the singular, the on the inside.

  121. 121.

    Frankensteinbeck

    I am not nearly as horrified by that DeSantis clip as the rest of you.  It looks like a person who is badly socialized, probably heavily autistic as well, trying to fake regular society’s body language and doing a bad job of it.  No, he doesn’t know how most people express themselves.  There’s nothing sinister about that.

    He is a deeply hateful, evil, twisted person, but I don’t think that’s what we’re seeing.  This is just really extreme social awkwardness.  Hell, I’ve been there, I’ve just never seen a case this bad, and that’s mostly because he’s trying so hard on such short notice to learn the system.

  123. 123.

    Bupalos

    @Sure Lurkalot: You really can’t run away. If the United States falls to facism, the places you’re currently thinking of as refuge are going to have their own crutches kicked out from under them.

    This is a global fight. Consider that it is a kind of privilege to be in a place where you have more power than most to take that fight up.

  126. 126.

    sdhays

    @Shalimar: When I pointed that out yesterday, DePutinize the Kurils… mentioned that she didn’t really have any trial experience in those 8 years. He was of the opinion that she really is this clueless.

    IANAL, I don’t have the basis for a strong opinion. Either way, pretty bad to have someone this bad, one way or another, presiding over such a high-stakes case. (Well, it’s pretty bad to have someone this bad presiding over any cases, but that’s where we are.)

  127. 127.

    Juju

    @Betty Cracker: I haven’t reached the  used to it phase yet. I still resent being told to smile. You are a better person than I. Men in general  don’t have to put up with that kind of garbage. So I will relish that fact that he’s being told to smile.

  128. 128.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @SiubhanDuinne: ​Speaking of whom … what were all y’all doing 49 years ago today?

    Scrounging as many morning papers as I could find (Baltimore Sun, Washington Post, NY Times) to bring over to my political-junkie friend. Don’t remember if we gloated over them over coffee at his kitchen table –

    NIXON TO RESIGN AT NOON

    but we sure might have.

    (He was running for the MD House of Delegates; I was the manager for his incredibly low-budget understaffed campaign; and astoundingly enough, he made the cut in the September primary and cruised to victory in the November general, at the age of 24. Wild times!)​

  129. 129.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Oh, something unrelatedly DeSantisy.  He was briefly a school teacher.  Some of his students have come forward and said he tried hard to whitewash slavery as positive for blacks in his lessons, and they remember being wtf about it.  So I guess he isn’t just posturing for votes.  He’s a believer.

  130. 130.

    cain

    @Ruckus: as long as they continue to have a distorted view of the U.S. – they can continue to grift from their mega donors towards useless ends. As the population becomes more progressive over time – it will only get worse with only Alabama and Mississippi being the hold outs.

  131. 131.

    Alison Rose

    @Frankensteinbeck: Look, I’m not saying I know for sure he’s NOT, but can we please stop saying that any human who exhibits awkwardness is autistic? The way some people define it, literally 98% of the population would be autistic. He’s just a fucking weirdo who never spends time around normal humans and doesn’t know how to not be a total dick when he does.

  133. 133.

    geg6

    @Uncle Cosmo: ​
     
    It was the Nixon win in ’72 that finally got my dad to switch his voter registration to Democrat. He’d grown up with his parents (both immigrants from England) being Republicans. But by 1974, he hadn’t voted for a Republican since Eisenhower. It was finally time.

  134. 134.

    Betty Cracker

    @WaterGirl: IIRC, the judge found that DeSantis had illegally fired Andrew Warren for protected speech but said he (the judge) didn’t have the authority to order reinstatement. Warren then took his case to the Florida Supreme Court (100% appointed by Repub govs, most by DeSantis), and they threw the case out on the grounds that he should have filed sooner. I hope Warren runs again, wins and kicks out the sycophant DeSantis appointed to replace him

    ETA: Same with Worrell, who won her election by 2:1, I think. The FL Supreme Court is like the SCOTUS with Sotomayor, Kagan and KBJ replaced with Alito clones, so there’s probably no point in bringing a case there.

  136. 136.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @SiubhanDuinne: Probably trying to low key my glee in front of my college financing father who railed that Nixon would never resign and leave office,

  141. 141.

    geg6

    @Alison Rose: ​
     
    I think it’s something that we olds have to adjust to, really. Seeing how the kids here on campus interact with the students on the spectrum here, it’s just another kid as far as they are concerned. They really don’t much notice the same social awkwardness that we all notice. And in return, those kids on the spectrum are much less socially awkward than they were when I was younger. One of the many reasons I always say that today’s kids are alright.

  144. 144.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @SiubhanDuinne: Speaking of whom … what were all y’all doing 49 years ago today?

    Parked in front of the TV listening to the speech, a cassette recorder propped up against the TV. I’ll bet that cassette is somewhere in my boxes to this day. I was 16.

  146. 146.

    Caveatimperator

    @cain:

    Heck, I don’t think those two states will be the last holdouts!

    Both states have sizeable black populations. And there’s some actual cities as well. If the white population gets less conservative and less evangelical, they could flip. Alabama elected a Democratic senator in 2017 when conditions were just right, the Dem candidate was amazing, and the Republican candidate was awful enough.

    The last holdouts are more likely going to be places like Wyoming or the Dakotas.

  148. 148.

    mrmoshpotato

    Dumbass.

    If he wasn’t such a narcissistic manchild pile of shit, he would’ve kept from crimeing and lived the rest of his fat, orange, miserable shitstain life on the government pension.  (No, I will not apply the official pension name when it comes to this Soviet shitpile mobster conman who sucks Kremlin asshole.)

  154. 154.

    MinuteMan

    Over a hundred years ago the locals tackily defaced a rather stunning red rock cliff to scrawl the nickname of the region, “DIXIE”, on its face.  Recently the vandalism has been promoted by adding it to the National Registry of Historic Places managed by the US National Park Service (apparently the standards for this list are pretty low). Sandblasting or cleaning it off the cliff would have been a far better result—but it’s Utah where nature is a second class citizen, if that.​

  155. 155.

    Ruckus

    @Jeffro:

    t’s almost like the whole schtick here is just to keep flailing away helplessly, and hope that his rubessupporters buy whatever he’s ‘selling’ on any given day…

    It’s not almost.

    It’s exactly the whole schtick. He flails away because flailing is all he’s got.

    He thinks he’s hot shit. The hottest shit. But no, he’s just somewhat wealthy shit, but not all that wealthy. And all the bills are past due. And the bills add up to far more than mere money can pay for. He fucked around and now he’s found out. And he’s screaming because all his life he’s fucked around and been OK (but not anywhere near fine). Finding out how fucked up he really is must be an eyeopener. Especially for one with entire head up ass syndrome.

  156. 156.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Juju: I was also surprised to find out that he’s only 37. I thought he was much older.​

    So did I. Particularly gobsmacked that whoever managed to scrape cells off the dying Reinhard Heydrich kept them viable for cloning for 45 years.

    (You think I’m kidding??!?!!?!)

  157. 157.

    mrmoshpotato

    I want to say decompensating, but I’m not sure if it’s the right term.

    Decomposing?

  158. 158.

    smith

    @SiubhanDuinne: Probably like the other Olds here, I was glued to the radio, knowing that the Monty Python Foot of Fate was bearing down on him inexorably, and there was not a damn thing he could do about it. Intense anticipation and a little disbelief that this could really be happening. I feel a bit like that now.

  162. 162.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    Particularly gobsmacked 

    You gob had that smack coming!  It knows what it did! 😁

    (And apparently Android’s library only gives me a kiss emoji for “smack.”)

  164. 164.

    Bupalos

    @cain: A lot of pressures (global warming especially) are likely to create a challenging environment as far as the population becoming more progressive. It’s up to us to overcome those challenges and and provide the right environment for kids so they don’t turn into frightened reactionaries. And we can do that. But I wouldn’t be thinking this is some automatic process.

  166. 166.

    Betty Cracker

    @Alison Rose: & @geg6: I’m not sure “awkward” is the right way to describe DeSantis, though I understand why people reach for that word. I know awkward because I am socially awkward myself in person. It comes from a place of not knowing what to say and not wanting to say the wrong thing that will embarrass me and/or make the other person uncomfortable.

    DeSantis isn’t motivated by that. His behavior is awkward, but it’s tinged with impatience and fury because he’s obliged to interact with inferior beings. You can tell by the way he interacts with children — dismissively, contemptuously.

    One time DeSantis was doing one of his gross right-wing bill signing ceremonies, and the elementary school-aged son of a statehouse Repub tried to get DeSantis to sign the cast on his arm. The kid got an ice-cold brush-off. There’s a lack of humanity there. That’s not awkwardness.

  170. 170.

    Maxim

    @Alison Rose:

    can we please stop saying that any human who exhibits awkwardness is autistic?

    Thank you. Speaking as someone who actually is autistic, I’m not at all convinced that RDS’s brand of awkward has anything to do with being on the spectrum. Most autistic folks who are able to mask at all do a better job of it than he does, and their awkwardness is of a different quality, at least in my experience and observation. Ron strikes me more as someone who is deeply angry (look at his expression at the end of that clip, once he stops the weird smile / laugh) and resents the very notion that anyone expects him to be pleasant.

  172. 172.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @geg6: After a few tense years bickering over dinner about Vietnam,Tricky Dick truly brought our family back together. I was a peace freak and Dad was a solid working-class Democrat, but every evening, gathered around the Tube for the news, when Nixon’s face appeared we would all rise shaking our fists screaming They’re gonna get you you sonofabitch!!

    (NB Unusually for a politically-uninvolved Easterner, my father had hated the Trickster since he came back from the Pacific. Dad had fallen in love with California on his way out to Leyte, Okinawa and Korea, kept up with the West Coast news back in Baltimore while he spent years trying [& failing] to convince Mom to more out there – and was not amused at Nixon’s sleazeball campaigns for Congress and then Senate.)

  173. 173.

    Roger Moore

    @Maxim:

    My general feeling is that it’s a bad idea to spend a lot of time and energy trying to diagnose Trump.  For one thing, the vast majority of us are unqualified.  Even for qualified psychologists, the APA guidelines say not to try to diagnose someone without examining them personally, which none of us here is able to do.  I honestly doubt any psychologist is going to get a chance to do that unless it’s under a court order.

    More importantly, I think it’s ultimately a pointless exercise.   Having a detailed diagnosis is mostly there as a guideline for a treating clinician.  All the rest of us need to know is that he has some kind of personality disorder that renders him completely unsuitable for public office.  Beyond that, detailed observations of how he functions as a politician are far more useful than being able to put a label on what’s wrong with him.

  174. 174.

    Barbara

    @Betty Cracker: A long time ago at a professional meet and greet that was part of a summer internship, one of my co-workers introduced his girlfriend to another summer worker, who promptly turned to them and said, “I don’t mean to be rude but I only want to talk to people who matter.”

    That’s the vibe DeSantis gives me.

  175. 175.

    Alison Rose

    @Betty Cracker: Yeah, I think the awkwardness he exhibits is because he just hates people and hates having to interact with them…which makes politics an odd career choice, but okey-dokey. And I mean…when I used to leave my apartment, I also often loathed having to interact with others, but not 100% of people 100% of the time, and also I knew how to fucking pretend. Ronnie seems to think he shouldn’t have to and he’s irritated that people expect him to. Christ, what an asshole.

  176. 176.

    Joy in FL

    @SiubhanDuinne: ” Speaking of whom … what were all y’all doing 49 years ago today?”  I was on a tour bus with other HS juniors and seniors in either Belgium or France. The bus driver had some English speaking radio on, and we heard that Nixon had resigned.  That busload of American students erupted in cheers. Then someone started singing America the Beautiful and everyone sang it. It is one of the most patriotic moments of my life.  We were Americans, and we were proud of how our nation practiced Justice.

  177. 177.

    lowtechcyclist

    @SiubhanDuinne: ​
     

    Speaking of whom … what were all y’all doing 49 years ago today?

    Working at my summer construction job. So I wasn’t glued to a TV when Richard Nixon officially ceased to be President. But I’d been following the action quite closely, and I can still quote stuff from the House Judiciary Committee verbatim.

    I thought at the time that the full House should have held its impeachment votes regardless of Nixon’s resignation, and the Senate should have voted to convict. The near-unanimity that those votes would have had, would have shut up all that nonsense that people repeated for decades about Nixon being ‘hounded from office.’

  178. 178.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Betty Cracker:

    DeSantis isn’t motivated by that. His behavior is awkward, but it’s tinged with impatience and fury because he’s obliged to interact with inferior beings. You can tell by the way he interacts with children — dismissively, contemptuously.

    Sounds like the exact opposite of what you’d want in a teacher, which he was briefly

  179. 179.

    hueyplong

    @Suzanne: Gotta agree with mrmosh that the Joker (at least in his H Ledger iteration) has a whole lot more charisma than DeSantis.

    It can’t be a coincidence that so many descriptions of DeSantis touch on variance from human qualities.

  180. 180.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    It’s always nice when you can be on the same page with your family on important stuff like that. What did your father think of Raygun?

  181. 181.

    Betty Cracker

    @Joy in FL: That’s such a cool story!

    The only American justice milestone I ever experienced abroad was when the OJ verdict came down, and strangers in Vienna asked me what the hell was going on when realized I was American from my accent. I shrugged. I still shrug!

  184. 184.

    Ruckus

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    49 years ago I was enjoying no longer being in the USN. 50 yrs ago I was enjoying being just 33 days out of the USN. Around 4 yrs earlier was trying to decide be drafted or join for a possible better experience. It was better than being drafted into the Marines and therefore guaranteeing that I’d be a grunt in Vietnam and very possibly not be here today. Ask raven how much fun it was.

  187. 187.

    Mike in NC

    Social media is a cesspool. Years ago I briefly had a Facebook account, but soon took it down. I deleted NextDoor because it was overrun by local wingnuts and busybodies. One of the many horrible things about Fat Bastard was having his demented, degenerate thoughts visible to the entire world. There is a special circle of hell reserved for whoever came up with Twitter.

  189. 189.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    Nixon was a mostly conniving piece of shit, BUT I think he did get genuine delight from his family, as was evidenced by his clear joy at Tricia’s wedding. Note his facial expressions as he dances, something he is clearly fairly comfortable with doing, even if rusty.

    An awkward jerkoff like Trump or DeSantis couldn’t pull off waltz, because that requires someone to be attuned to the movements of the dance partner. The endearing part is in the eyes as he occasionally counts steps or is remembering the next motion.

    For this, he’s 20 times the man Trump is, even with the lies.

  191. 191.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    Amusing that in a thread with many comments relating “You should smile more!” moments, you were telling your young self “don’tsmiledon’tsmiledon’tsmile”!!

  193. 193.

    Citizen Alan

    @Caveatimperator:

    Alabama elected a Democratic senator in 2017 when conditions were just right, the Dem candidate was amazing, and the Republican candidate was awful enough.

    By “awful enough,” you mean a literal (and basically admitted) child predator.

  194. 194.

    Soprano2

    @NotMax: When I was at Paia I saw evidence that there are fires on Maui, but nothing like that clip I watched in the earlier thread. I hope you are safe! That’s some scary stuff.

  197. 197.

    Citizen Alan

    @Paul in KY:  Sort of like how Dubya never had any issues with mangled syntax or mispronounced words whenever he was talking about people getting killed?

  199. 199.

    Ruckus

    @Alison Rose:

    I’m not going to attempt to diagnose him, even though I was a mental health counselor for 4 yrs and attended a weekly group counselor session with a psychiatrist to discuss our patients – and yes I said patients, we saw people in person and on the phone. I believe I learned far more than I wanted to about how screwed some people are. I have stories, and really don’t believe I can ever forget some of them. We did get assigned clients that could only talk to us because everyone could connect to someone. One of mine was a 13 yr old girl who would make up characters and play them over the phone with voices and entire histories. She was so good at it that many of the other counselors could not tell who it was. It was quite an education to say the least, most people just needed a bit of guidance about possibilities, some truly needed a hell of a lot more, for sure a hell of a lot more than could be provided over the phone or an hour or two.

    And I learned a lot about being a human, expectations, limits.

  200. 200.

    Ksmiami

    @JaySinWA: I hope soon these judges are rewarded in real time  for their contributions to making life in America intolerable. Sorry not sorry. They’re creating a hellish world, it’s past time, they’re forced to live or die in it.

  201. 201.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @trollhattan:

    You reminded me of this gem 🤣:

    Several other outlandish ideas have been floated in recent years, including one Facebook event calling for US gun owners to “shoot down” Hurricane Irma in 2017 with bullets and flamethrowers.

  202. 202.

    Brachiator

    Coming late to the thread. I am… enjoying… the various and often insightful takes on DeSantis.

    He is not “awkward” or “dorky.” He’s SCARY AS FUCK. Sociopath in a hurry.

    He looks like an evil Alfred E. Neuman, and may be proof that we have been visited by extraterrestrials.

  203. 203.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Ksmiami:

    Dude. Please edit this.

    Also, the judge is an Obama-appointee who is only following the precedent set down by the SCROTUS, bullshit as it may be, which she acknowledged in her decision

  204. 204.

    Bill Arnold

    @smith:

    I’ve seen speculation that this subpoena is to get access not to his public ravings, but to his direct messages. Could be very interesting.

    Also, twitter presumably records details of interactions, like IP address used, client type (e.g. phone type or browser type), and maybe even location data beyond what could be inferred from the IP address.
    Since Trump clearly did not write all his tweets on twitter (stylistic differences were occasionally obvious,, plus e.g. Dan Scavino and maybe others had access),, this might be useful to pin particular tweets on Trump.

  205. 205.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Bill Arnold:

    That’s a good point. If you could prove it was Trump himself who wrote certain tweets/DMs, then that would be one less defense he could use

  208. 208.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Re: Jack Smith’s warrant for Trump’s Twitter account in Jan 2023, former Fed Prosecutor, Elizabeth De La Vega notes:

    Have people who thought they “would have known” everything Thomas Windom and/or Jack Smith was doing wrt January 6 figured out that they were embarrassingly presumptuous and wrong yet?

    And that goes for Denver Riggleman, Adam Schiff, Mehdi Hasan, Nicole Wallace, Elie Mystal and anyone else who confidently claims that they somehow know what DOJ/Garland was/wasn’t doing in 2021.  If these people have such great knowledge into the secret, investigatory activity of DOJ, why didn’t they tell us about this bombshell much earlier?  

    The fact that DOJ could keep something like this secret for EIGHT MONTHS is a pretty good indicator that anyone who claims to know that “DOJ/Garland did nothing” is simply speculating and has no real proof to back up such a claim.

  209. 209.

    Gravenstone

    @narya: Just as likely that “novel” legal theory came from some rightwing thinktank who passed it along to her as well as Fox et al.

  210. 210.

    trollhattan

    Jesus Christ

    A Texas woman was attacked by a hawk and a snake at the same time after the bird – which eats snakes – accidentally dropped the wriggling serpent on her.
    Peggy Jones, 64, was mowing her lawn last month when a passing hawk dropped a snake on her before swooping down to angrily try to reclaim its meal. The snake wrapped itself around her arm and began striking her face as the bird sunk its talons deep into her flesh.The terrifying ordeal left her with cuts and bruising to her arm and face.
    The bizarre incident took place on 25 July in the town of Silsbee, Texas, near the Louisiana border. It began after a snake suddenly fell out of the sky and landed on her. Before she could remove it, the hawk attack began. “As I was trying to sling my arm and sling the snake off, the snake wrapped around my arm,” she told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.”The snake was striking in my face, it struck my glasses a couple of times… I was slinging and slinging, he was striking and striking, and he just kept hanging on.”She realised it must have been dropped by a passing bird, since she was not standing under trees when it happened. Her assumption was quickly confirmed when the hawk swooped down and joined in the melee. “Then the hawk appeared just as fast as the snake appeared,” Mrs Jones said.”The hawk grabbed the snake that was wrapped around my arm and pulled it like he was going to carry it away. And when he did, it flung my arm up.
    The hawk was carrying my arm and the snake with it.
    “The hawk struggled to remove the snake from Mrs Jones body, stabbing her with its talons repeatedly as it attempted to snatch back its food. Eventually the snake was pulled from her arm, leaving her startled husband to drive her to the hospital.

    My takeaway: never mow that lawn.​​

  217. 217.

    Burnspbesq

    @rikyrah:

    I’m sort of hoping that Dolt45’s lawyers DON’T appear in Court this Friday at 10 am.

    If that happens it’ll be a short hearing.

    Judge will ask the special counsel lawyers whether they have any objections to the court entering their proposed order. They’ll say, “no, Your Honor.” Done.

  221. 221.

    Elizabelle

    @NotMax:  There is something so terrible about a library in flames.  Oh no.

    They’re not only the books; they’re community (and job search) centers.

  222. 222.

    eversor

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:

    Nixon was extremely flawed.  However, he wasn’t Trump.  Nixon didn’t cower from military service.  Even though he had a legit exemption from the draft as a Quaker, he actively sought out a commision to the Navy.  Not only that, he sought to be deployed out of a cush US soil job into the fleet command.

    He also reached out to Native Americans and protected them, passed a lot of environmental acts, and did other stuff to the left of current Democrats.

    The man was flawed, a crook, and mostly horrible.  But he remains far, far, far, far, fucking far, from Trump.  Not that I think military service should be the be all end all of things.  However it speaks volumes that one man with a legit excuse chose to seek it out, then seek out deployment, and then other made up an excuse to run from it.  If the right wants to talk about “how to be a man”, that’s it right there!  One of these men ran toward it, the other made up an excuse to run as far from it as he could.  I also don’t care if Nixons war was noble and the war Trump could have joined was not.  One of these men had the nuts to do it, the other didn’t.  Nut up, or shut up.

    The video of Nixon with his daughter is also heart warming.  Rather than Trump, a man who can’t dance, the only video of him doing it is with Epstein of Pedo Island, and who wants to fuck his daughter!

  224. 224.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan:

    A Texas woman was attacked by a hawk and a snake at the same time after the bird – which eats snakes – accidentally dropped the wriggling serpent on her.

    The ancient Greeks would have gone nuts over this sign from the gods.

    I hope the woman fully recovers from this wild experience.

  225. 225.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I think it is possible and actually desirable for a trial level judge to acknowledge precedent, state “for X reason, I think that precedent is wrong in this circumstance/needs to be revisited in light of changed circumstances”, and then go with it.  Adherence to precedent is how we get things like ever-expanded official immunity, of excuses for corporate/institutional malfeasance, of proiferating firearms displays, and of lingering racial and religious oppression.

    Precedent hasn’t seemed to be a bar to conservatives doing whatever they want.  It has, however, become a very useful tool for stymieing societal progress.

  227. 227.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Brachiator:

    I viewed it as a sign that Texas should actually be returned to Mexico – the whole eagle/snake motif of the seal on the flag.

  228. 228.

    Elizabelle

    @Brachiator:  Such an odd story.

    The snake may have felt the woman was its savior — but not.

    Whole thing is up there with getting hit by a falling piano, or something falling off a plane.

  230. 230.

    bbleh

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): @Ksmiami: @Omnes Omnibus:  apparently she also struck down bans on guns in bars and other places that serve alcohol, and for the same reason: it isn’t in line with the “historical tradition” of gun regulation, a standard she called “curious and confounding” (or something like that).

    (Adding: I’d like to see her first draft.  “A standard that is such utter bullshit as to be entirely meaningless.  Hmm, guess I better tone that down a bit …”)

    Some future SCOTUS — or more than one — is gonna be kept busy getting rid of all these outta-their-ass doctrines the I’ll-do-what-I-want-cuz-I-feel-like-it members of the current Court are writing into law.

  232. 232.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Speaking of precedent, the new Congressional maps passed in AL that defied the SCOTUS decision in Allen v. Milligan are up for review on August 14th:

    The civil rights groups and individuals who challenged the current map have promised to fight the new version as well. They have until July 28 to submit their objections, and the state can then issue its response before August 4. Then, federal judges will hold a hearing on August 14 to consider them. There is a possibility the panel could reject the map and appoint a special master to draw a new one, if the judges determine the legislature’s map does not comply with the order.
    The plaintiffs in Allen v. Milligan released a statement Friday, saying in part, “Let’s be clear: The Alabama Legislature believes it is above the law. What we are dealing with is a group of lawmakers who are blatantly disregarding not just the Voting Rights Act, but a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court and a court order from the three-judge district court. Even worse, they continue to ignore constituents’ pleas to ensure the map is fair and instead remain determined to rob Black voters of the representation we deserve. We won’t let that happen.”

  233. 233.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl: I am way behind.  Did the House J6 committee actually lose anything or fail to preserve anything?

    Or is this made up out of whole cloth?

     

    Sorry, I just got back home and read your question.

    I really don’t know the answer to this question because I haven’t read any mainstream sources that are pushing this accusation.  I also haven’t read any of the J6 committee responding yet.

    But my theory, based on the past year and a half of the crazy caucus controlling the house “investigations,” it really doesn’t matter if it’s true or made up.  They don’t really care as long as they can push the appearance of a crime or cover-up, that’s all they need to make it go viral in the right wing media and social media.

    Were there any files that were shredded?  Likely yes.  I would not be surprised if that happens often when a final report has been submitted.  (I have no direct knowledge of this committee shredding documents or if it usually happens in congress). Were any of the files that were shredded super secret files that the Democrats on the committee destroyed to cover-up super secret bad deeds by the Biden administration?  Likely not.

    But it really doesn’t matter to them one way or another.  They don’t really need to prove it, they just need to keep saying it.  They may even have a secret “whistleblower” under wraps.

    It may not be made up out of whole cloth, but it is likely a tiny shred of ragged cotton being labeled as haute couture cashmere and silk.

    Just my opinion.

  236. 236.

    Ksmiami

    @Omnes Omnibus: with this joke of a Supreme Court- actually yes. I think she should thumb her nose at an extreme interpretation of the Second Amendment- especially from a perch in Hawaii.

  238. 238.

    eclare

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Civil rights groups have also filed a suit in TN to contest the redistricting that split Nashville into three Congressional seats from one.  The former rep, a D, retired.  All three seats now held by Rethuglicans.

  239. 239.

    Ruckus

    @geg6:

    My parents were both dems before I was born. I don’t know if either ever voted rethuglican. But to make a point, my rep when I was 23 years old was a John Burch Society member and not near as bad as that sounds. Today’s republicans seem to be rather losing it. They  make shitty decisions, have shitty ideas about the concepts of this country and their position and power. I believe that a lot of the money shoveled their way by wealthy supporters sends the wrong message. Look at the amounts a lot of republican state orgs have in the bank. It’s pathetic. I mean for them. The kooks are in charge and it shows because their wealthy donors seem to be ignoring them. Yes the wealthy conservatives want the power and control but they aren’t getting it from the part of the base that makes it happen. We are in a spiral of decline of the conservative side, not a fast enough spiral but one none the less. And they will get more conservative, attempting to win back the support. It’s very likely that won’t help because of those now far more conservatives left hanging on for the scraps. Yes it’s a big enough country that it will take time to collapse, but if they keep going the direction they are it will. Think about what does deathsanta give them? What does shitforbrains give them? There will always be some that are selfish in the extreme and think going back in time is always better, but believe me it wasn’t.

  242. 242.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Ksmiami:

    It couldn’t hurt her as a lifetime Article III judge, and would likely save some lives – something that “adhering to precedent” is unlikely to do.

  244. 244.

    rikyrah

    BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) posted at 11:17 AM on Wed, Aug 09, 2023:
    Ron DeSantis has:
    – Blocked college level AP African American history studies in his state
    – Insisted that slavery wasn’t all bad because some slaves acquired skills
    – Fired a democratically-elected Black state attorney, Monique Worrell, accusing her of being soft on crime while… https://t.co/ErnZ2kVPvE
    (https://twitter.com/mmpadellan/status/1689309931571195905?t=opKa2bFy-rhoQNs8TD0BuQ&s=03)

  245. 245.

    Ksmiami

    @bbleh: I am not sympathetic to her process as her decisions mean more death to citizens. As I said before, these judges need to live in the world they are creating- no special treatment, no extra protection.

  248. 248.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): What did your father think of Raygun?

    Loathed him as a second-rate actor and fourth-rate politician. But I don’t think he despised him like Milhous, who trampled the careers of two good Democrats (Jerry Voorhees and Helen Gahagan Douglas) on his way to the Vice Presidency. To him, Nixon was the kind of Quaker who cheats at poker.

  250. 250.

    Gravenstone

    @Barbara: “I don’t mean to be rude but I only want to talk to people who matter.”

    Point them at the management table and kick them in the ass. “There ya go sport. Knock yourself out!”

  252. 252.

    NotMax

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Also too, Hawaii is unique in that every single inch of beach not under federal control (I.e., abutting active military installations) is wholly owned by the state.

    Hotels and resorts fronting a beach are required to provide a small number of parking spaces on their property for general public beach access. Yes, it’s not so easy to scope those spaces out, but they are there.

  254. 254.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    *sigh*

    The would-be-freedom-fighter that the FBI liberated from our spiritual plane is straight out of the MAGA photo pak, grease and sweat included.

  260. 260.

    Jay

    @Scout211:

    They may even have a secret “whistleblower” under wraps.

    Which country (ies) is this one working as a spy/arms dealer for?

  262. 262.

    Ruckus

    @Roger Moore:

    This.

    Also there isn’t enough time to make him a better person. He’s had 77 yrs to get where he is, without seemingly anyone trying to correct him. He’s got too many markers for not being able to live into his 90s. I’ll give him 4-10 yrs to live, just from how he lives and how he’s acting now. If he desired to change, which he seems to be totally unable to do, he still likely doesn’t have enough time to effect any reasonable change.

  264. 264.

    pluky

    @eversor: My moment of sympathy for Nixon was watching him sob openly in the arms of one of his daughter’s at Pat’s funeral. Whatever else was wrong with the man, he was capable of true deep love. As for Trump and DeSantis . . .

  265. 265.

    Geminid

    @eclare: There is a similar lawsuit in South Carolina challenging that state’s redistricting, in particular the boundaries of the 1st CD represented by Nancy Mace.

    A Voting Rights Act lawsuit in Virginia resulted in a redrawn 4th CD. The late Don McEachin then won the Richmond-based seat in 2016, and became the state’s 2nd African-American Congressman. Now Jennifer McClellan represents the 4th.

    While Black people made up 20% of VIrginia’s population, Republican gerrymandering had left Rep. Bobby Scott its only Black Congressman. The situations now in Alabama and South Carolina are comparable.

  268. 268.

    Tony G

    @Raoul Paste: That’s right.  The DeSantis emulation of a human being has some catastrophic software bugs.  An upgrade won’t be enough.  Time to delete and the rewrite the thing from scratch.

  269. 269.

    Tony G

    @pluky: That’s right.  I despised Nixon back in the day, but the latest crop of GOP leaders make Nixon look not so bad in comparison.

  271. 271.

    eclare

    @Geminid:

    Out of nine reps, TN has one D.  I know the state is Republican, but it’s not that Republican.

    Just googled, in 2020 TIFG got 61% of the vote, Biden 37%.  One fucking Democratic rep in Congress.

  272. 272.

    Roger Moore

    @eversor:

    He also reached out to Native Americans and protected them, passed a lot of environmental acts, and did other stuff to the left of current Democrats.

    Nixon did not pass a lot of environmental acts.  The strongly Democratic Congress passed a bunch of environmental acts, and Nixon signed them because public opinion strongly supported them.  Nixon didn’t personally give a damn about the environment, which is why he became the first President since the Antiquities Act passed in 1906 not to declare any new National Monuments.

    FWIW, this was a bad tradition continued by other Republican presidents.  Every Democratic president since 1906 has declared at least one National Monument, but Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and GHW Bush declared exactly 0 between them. GW Bush broke the bad streak, and even Trump managed to declare one.

  274. 274.

    eversor

    @Tony G:

    The hardware is broken.  As a hardware guru software don’t mean shit if the stuff it’s built on don’t work.

  278. 278.

    Captain C

    @Suzanne:

    DeSaster is creepy as fuck. He’s like the goddamn Joker.

    Like the Joker, but without the panache that would make him appealing to a certain type of edgelord.

  280. 280.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @pluky:

    I have been alive in 11 presidencies.  Each has had flaws, some deeper than others, and all but one of those has demonstrated some depth of character and decency on occasion, showing a capacity for empathy and compassion, whether it be for a relative, a friend or even an opponent.

    Not Trump.  The man has no friends – just a little school of remoras, there to pick up scraps.

    I vividly remember Tom Barrack’s kindly, warm speech at the 2016 RNC, describing his friendship with Trump and talking about how warm he is on a personal basis – and how that was a masterstroke of deception because we only learned later that they really didn’t know one another at all.

  282. 282.

    Origuy

    I don’t think she has the authority to require a SCIF be constructed.

    Just in: Trump legal team asks Judge Cannon to approve the reestablishment of a SCIF at Mar-a-Lago, saying it's impossible for Trump to make regular trips to a courthouse SCIF to discuss classified docs produced to them in discovery https://t.co/c6uU922VyL— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) August 9, 2023

  284. 284.

    persistentillusion

    @Alison Rose: I had watched all of it unfold over the course of the summer, so I determined that I was a confirmed political junkie at 17.

  286. 286.

    rikyrah

    @trollhattan:

    A Texas woman was attacked by a hawk and a snake at the same time after the bird – which eats snakes – accidentally dropped the wriggling serpent on her.

     

    insane!

  287. 287.

    NotMax

    @Origuy

    For which space, no doubt, Crimey McCrimeface would charge rent.

    Moot, because the ludicrous request not a-gonna happen.

  288. 288.

    RevRick

    @narya: He looked and sounded deranged…

    Back in the 1930s, an Austrian corporal, who changed his name from Schikelgruber, was often accused of eating carpets. His speeches were peppered with outlandish boasts and revenge-filled rants. Somehow, despite that, no because of that, he enthralled the most educated nation in Europe. He led the world into a catastrophe.

  289. 289.

    Roger Moore

    @NotMax:

    Moot, because the ludicrous request not a-gonna happen.

    Remember which judge he’s asking this of.  I would not be at all surprised if Judge Loose Cannon decided he needed to have one and the government should pay for it.

  296. 296.

    smith

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: all but one of those has demonstrated some depth of character and decency on occasion

    One of the things that struck me when Biden took office — one of the first things he did was hold a memorial service for the many thousands who had died from covid to that date. It only then occurred to me that TFG had never once expressed any regret or condolences for all those lost lives, and I don’t think he has since.

  297. 297.

    CaseyL

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I was 18, and was probably in Atlantic City, because my family spent summers there every year until the 1990s.

    But I do know we all watched TV coverage of the resignation.

    And I think, when we went back home, I may have dug up the cache of magazines and newspapers about Watergate that I had buried in the back yard, to hide and preserve them when Nixon declared martial law (as I was sure he would do).

  298. 298.

    cain

    @JaySinWA: heh – the indigenous people are going to shoot some white people on the beach and claim 2nd amendment rights, castle doctrine.

  300. 300.

    cain

    @Caveatimperator:

    The last holdouts are more likely going to be places like Wyoming or the Dakotas.

    That’s plausible – but those two states have resisted any black anything. As you say, until the GOP lose power because the population is less racist – it’s possible to flip. But they will absolutely find ways to make sure that it will always have minority rule while they are still in charge.

    As for those other states – I concede that they might continue to be red states despite everything because of the strong mormon population – but all it would take is fascist evangelists going after them.

    ETA – I’m stunned. #300 – I’m not sure what to think.. the emotions are so complex realizing that I’m at 300. So many thoughts, so many thanks. The only word that comes to mind? ‘Grateful’.

  307. 307.

    Scout211

    @Origuy: It sounds like Smith’s team has been prepared for this.

    Link

    “There is no basis for the defendant’s request that he be given the extraordinary authority to discuss classified information at his residence, and it is particularly striking that he seeks permission to do so in the very location at which he is charged with willfully retaining the documents charged in this case,” the Justice Department’s counterintelligence chief at the National Security Division Jay Bratt wrote on July 28.

  309. 309.

    Ksmiami

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’m not trying to burn stuff down, but to make the case that we won’t save ourselves without a fight. This judge just rolled over – know who didn’t? John Brown. Sometimes bad precedents need to be broken.

  310. 310.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ksmiami:  You want a federal judge to seize a federal armory?  Come on, you can’t name check John Brown and claim you aren’t calling for violent action.

    ETA:  District Court judge literally do not have the power to do that.

  311. 311.

    NobodySpecial

    When I look at DeSantis, I see a guy who desperately wants to be anywhere but there, but is forced to by both his own bad choices and his unwillingness to tell his wife no. He thought it was going to be a lot easier to pull off the time tested “Not quite David Duke brand Republicanism on the surface” stuff because everyone was sure Trump was toast after the election. Like all the other smart guys, he didn’t want to believe that the Republican party is a collection of Demondim, but just a bunch of rich guys trying to make bank.

    He caught the tiger, and now every day he regrets it, but he can’t hop off.

  312. 312.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Origuy: Oh just fucking slap Dump across his fat, orange, fascist, manbaby face already!  Good lord, this fucking 77-year-old brat!

  316. 316.

    catclub

    @eclare: ​
     

    Plus the govt has unlimited funds

    actually the govt has unlimited funds compared to a small contractor. But extremely well heeled defendants can out lawyer the DOJ. And they do. Consider Citibank for example.

  317. 317.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ksmiami: I’ve been reading what you write for a while now.  I may not understand the stakes at a visceral level, but I am sure many people here do.  You are the only one who is continually calling for violence and wiping countries off the map.  I find that telling.

  318. 318.

    Brachiator

     

    @Barbara:

    one of my co-workers introduced his girlfriend to another summer worker, who promptly turned to them and said, “I don’t mean to be rude but I only want to talk to people who matter.”

    Just catching up with this thread…

    This story really stood out. Interesting that this person was so upfront about priorities. Do you know whatever became of this person?

  319. 319.

    Ksmiami

    @Omnes Omnibus: in this case all I’m asking for is liberal minded judges to at least draw attention to the extremist NRA bought and sold SC decisions and that judges foisting maximalist opinions be forced to inhabit the hellscape that they are creating in real time. And I make no apologies for recognizing that Russia is a menace to the world.

    furthermore, my kids are no longer in charge of their own birth control rts in nearly half the states so… yes for me the Republican Party is an existential threat that needs to be far from any halls of power.

  321. 321.

    misterpuff

    @NobodySpecial:

    He thought it was going to be a lot easier to pull off the time tested “Not quite David Duke brand Republicanism on the surface” stuff because everyone was sure Trump was toast after the election. Like all the other smart guys, he didn’t want to believe that the Republican party is a collection of Demondim, but just a bunch of rich guys trying to make bank.

    He caught the tiger, and now every day he regrets it, but he can’t hop off

     

    As Doctor John says “I been in the right place, but it must have been the wrong time”.

    Lucky for us.

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