Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Second rate reporter says what?

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

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

This blog will pay for itself.

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

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Where’s Our Friday Afternoon News Dump?

Where’s Our Friday Afternoon News Dump?

by | 139 Comments

This post is in: 

Where’s our Friday afternoon news dump?  Someone needs to speak to the manager about that!

Those bastards (who predict the weather) did not give us our thunderstorm – as promised – to reduce the heat.  I would personally like to speak to the manager about that! :-)

In lieu of news, I want to share this from Tony Jay, from an earlier thread.

Tony Jay

The lights are on, but you’re not home
Your time is not your own
Your flop sweats, your body shakes
Net closes in, Fani don’t fake
You can’t sleep (Whoa) you can’t eat
There’s no doubt, you’re in deep
Your throat is tight, you can’t breathe
Another lawyer, that what you need?

Whoa, you liked to think you were immune to the law, oh yeah
It’s closer to the truth to say you, just really suck
You know you’re gonna have to face it, you’re indicted you fuck

Those docs you stole, but you can’t read
Your flunkies, are gonna plead
Your legal team, are paying fines
So many crimes, you’re doing time
And that phone call, the one Brad taped
With the orders, that you gave
Now there’s no hope, left for you
You don’t get it, man you’re screwed

Whoa, you liked to think you were immune to the law, oh yeah
It’s closer to the truth to say you, just really suck
You know you’re gonna have to face it, you’re indicted you fuck

Might as well face it, you’re indicted you fuck
Might as well face it, you’re indicted you fuck
Might as well face it, you’re indicted you fuck
Might as well face it, you’re indicted you fuck
Might as well face it, you’re indicted you fuck
Might as well face it, you’re indicted you fuck
Might as well face it, you’re indicted you fuck
Might as well face it, you’re indicted you fuck

Repeat until the cell doors slam closed!

Open thread.

Update: I do approve of this, though.

Reader Interactions

139Comments

  1. 1.

    Alison Rose

    Okay, I needed that laugh. Thank you, Tony Jay!

    Maybe this evening TIFG will release new trading cards with his mugshot on them and we can all laugh at those, too.

  5. 5.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Hope the jet stream sends the Denver weather to WG and everyone else sweltering. After a couple of weeks of mid nineties, it’s 30 degrees cooler and drizzly today. The windows are open and it feels nice!

  6. 6.

    Josie

    WaterGirl, I think we in Houston got the thunderstorm you were looking for. There was nothing about rain in the forecast, just unending heat. The high yesterday was 109.
    We were dining out al fresco to celebrate my granddaughter’s 8th birthday. Thank FSM there was a roof over our heads, since a ferocious thunderstorm cropped up out of nowhere. We finished eating with heavy winds and rain swirling around close to us. We drove home in blinding rain. Everyone on the freeway was going about 10 mph with emergency flashers on. It was so spooky. An hour later all was calm, as if nothing had happened. Tree limbs and downed lines everywhere. I’m wondering what is in store for us this fall.

  8. 8.

    smith

    There’s evidence that the pile-up of TFG’s indictments is having an effect on public opinion. A new survey by Navigator Research shows 67% of independents now think TFG committed at least one crime, compared to 18% who don’t. This result has shifted 12 points in just two weeks, just since his last indictment. The results for Dems and Repubs haven’t shifted much, and are as you’d expect.

    Unfortunately, they didn’t ask if it made them less likely to vote for him, but we’ve got time for the implications of a criminal president to sink in. If we really get early trials in GA, it might help solidify TFG’s image as a criminal — those trials will have to include a lot about his role in the coup.

  9. 9.

    Fake Irishman

    @Josie:

    And my Houston neighborhood didn’t get a drop….

    (Space city Weather did notice the potential for some scattered thunderstorms yesterday, but that cell did surprise them.)

  10. 10.

    grumbles

    Glad to see the investigation of Floyd and whatshername – cosplay Olivia Pope – is moving along.

    Freeman deserves the vindication. And I suspect there is quite a bit more unaired stink behind that one.

  17. 17.

    JWR

    In last weekends Tuberville article in The Intellectualist, ( Tommy Tuberville Regularly Trades Stocks of Industries He Oversees ), blogged about here, I don’t think this bit was discussed. It’s way down in the article, but I thought it was a gem of a confession:

    […] Tuberville’s perspective on this issue? In an interview with The Independent, he voiced his concerns over the growing momentum to curb stock trading for members of Congress. He described such legislative efforts as “ridiculous” and insinuated that putting too many restrictions could deter talented individuals from considering political careers. His exact words: “I think it would really cut back on the amount of people that would want to come up here and serve.”

    IOW, Traitor Tommy thinks of his office as an insider trading bonanza.

    PS. And if this Traitor Tommy tale has been covered here, extensively, I truly deserve a boot to the head!

  18. 18.

    trollhattan

    Why Republicans require crushing.

    The Shasta County District Attorney’s office said it is reviewing allegations by a local journalist that she was assaulted last month while attempting to cover a publicly-advertised meeting of conservative organizations. Doni Chamberlain, who publishes the site A News Cafe, said she was harassed, assaulted and ejected from the July 6 gathering at a community center in Cottonwood. Chamberlain said she left the meeting with a concussion, whiplash and a neck injury. The incident reflects escalating tensions between county political leadership that has tacked hard right in the Trump era and Chamberlain, 67, who has reported on Shasta for more than three decades and founded A News Cafe in 2007. While historically red, Shasta’s politics have been overtaken by an increasingly vocal faction embracing election denialism, anti-vaccine conspiracies and at times violent rhetoric. Since 2020, the MAGA right has claimed a majority on the Shasta County Board of Supervisors, led a successful recall campaign against the board chairman, fired the county health officer, rid the county of voting machines and passed a resolution enshrining gun rights as paramount. Supervisors’ meetings have spiraled into chaos. A measure to enact a code of conduct for board meetings failed earlier this month. Chamberlain and her small team of journalists, one of the only news sites in the area, show up at most local government meetings. She said threats and intimidation have become commonplace. “I’ve received death threats, people yell at me during meetings and call me names.” she said. “This situation with a physical, violent assault and reaction from this group has just rocked my world because it’s had me completely rethink everything I thought I knew about being a journalist in Redding, in California, in Shasta County, in the United States of America.” Shasta County Supervisor Chris Kelstrom, who attended the July 6 meeting, said the organizers wanted her out because they “did not want any words taken out of context or their intentions to be misreported which Donni (sic) is famous for doing” in an email to The Bee. “Donni skirts the line when slandering local conservatives calling anyone right of Joe Biden racist, Nazis, white supremist (sic), militia members, white nationalist, terrorists and my personal favorite Shastaiban members referring to Shasta County and terrorists.” Chamberlain said she has never described any of the individuals as racists or Nazis.

    On July 6, Chamberlain arrived at Cottonwood Community Center, a nonprofit-owned venue, to attend a meeting she’d seen advertised on Facebook. It was organized by Jesse Lane, an up-and-coming leader in the local far-right movement. The goal, as described in the Facebook post, was to reunify local conservative groups he saw as “splintered.” It invited “all leaders, presidents, hosts, owners, and anyone else with a vested interest in the community.” In attendance were representatives from groups including Red White and Blueprint, the California State Militia and Moms for Liberty, as well as two county supervisors. “We’re so splintered and how I look at it is we put all the splinters together and make a big two-by-four and we beat the hell out of them,” said Lane at the start of the meeting. Roughly 200 people were in attendance, Chamberlain estimated. She stood at the back of the meeting room using her phone to stream the event for Facebook Live, something she does, she said, when she “might be unwelcome.” Chamberlain said she recognized some of the attendees, including the leader of the Cottonwood Militia and individuals affiliated with the Proud Boys, a white nationalist hate group. Five members of the Proud Boys were convicted of multiple federal felonies earlier this year for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. Lane and other attendees asked Chamberlain to leave.

    https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article278547069.html#storylink=cpy

    It goes on but could be paywalled. The pic below the banner is some corpulent “talk show host” with an UZI strapped to his side, while at the speaker’s dais. Lovely people.

  19. 19.

    Tony Jay

    @WaterGirl:

    The always straight to the point British singer/songwriter Billy Bragg liked the first few lines of the song but lost his nut at the down-punching parts all the wingnuts like, so he wrote a response.

  21. 21.

    Scout211

    Women’s World Cup champions have taken a stand. Good for them.  Link

    Spain’s women’s soccer team says they won’t play until Luis Rubiales, the Spanish soccer federation president who kissed a player on the lips without her consent during the country’s World Cup victory is removed from his position.

    Spain’s Association of Professional Soccer Players said in a translated statement Friday that the team “wants to express their firm and resounding condemnation” of Rubiales’ unsolicited kiss of Jenni Hermoso during the medal ceremony.

  24. 24.

    japa21

    @WaterGirl: ​
      Actually, speaking to management about the weather is actually very easy. Not infrequently, however, the answer to any request you make is “No.”

  25. 25.

    Jackie

    You know the world is turning upside down when the vice chair of CPAC says enough!

    “The vice chair of the Conservative Political Action Coalition has resigned from his longtime position on the organization’s board and is calling for investigations into the group’s top leader and its financial practices, among other issues,” Politico reports.”

    “Charlie Gerow, an attorney and communications executive who has served on the board of CPAC and its parent organization, the American Conservative Union, for nearly two decades, submitted his letter of resignation on Friday.”

  26. 26.

    KenK

    “Might as well face it, you’re indicted as fuck” needs to go into the rotating tagline queue

  28. 28.

    Jackie

    Another one of TIFG’s ex attorneys wants a speedy trial… in other words, a broke attorney who can’t afford a prolonged trial!

    “”Attorney Sidney Powell on Friday filed a speedy trial demand in the Fulton County elections interference case that has also ensnared former President Donald Trump and ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.”

    ”“Powell becomes the second defendant to file for a speedy trial in the sprawling racketeering case, which culminated in a 19-person, 41-count indictment last week.””

    “She joins Kenneth Chesebro, who is set to have his trial begin October 23.”

    I’m sure more will be following shortly; Jenna Ellis? She has a Go Fund Me account to help with her legal fees.

  32. 32.

    JWR

    I’ve yet to see the Big Brother image, (from the movie), side-by-side with TFGs booking photo. Having done some limited research and photo editing, I think that would work, not to mention that it would be funny as all Hell ;)

  33. 33.

    MomSense

    That was awesome, Tony Jay.

    It is a cold and rainy day here.  It started to feel like fall a few weeks ago.  Since we hardly had a summer, I’m not ready for fall weather.

  34. 34.

    Jackie

    Paging President Obama!

    “The House majority next year could be determined in a state-by-state fight over redistricting that’s taking place right now.”
    “And Democrats are calling in the big guns.”

    “Former President Barack Obama hosted a fundraiser for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee on Thursday. The event in Martha’s Vineyard raised $1.5 million, the committee told POLITICO, ahead of a crucial stretch of redistricting fights that will play out in the closing months of this year.”

    ”“The only danger is that we get complacent,” Obama said at the fundraiser for the premiere Democratic group working on redistricting battles, according to a readout obtained by POLITICO. “Because one thing we’ve learned is that the other side doesn’t quit.””

    ”The NDRC is helmed by Eric Holder, who served as Obama’s first attorney general. Obama has been a vocal supporter of the NDRC’s efforts in the past, which were launched in early 2017 after the party was largely overrun in redistricting fights in the previous decade.”
    Much more at the link:

    https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/25/democrats-obama-redistricting-push-00113057

  35. 35.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    The affidavit accuses Floyd of body-slamming an [F.B.I.] agent

    Just comply.

    Back the Blue.

  36. 36.

    JPL

    Ruby Freeman must be happy to know that Harrison is still in jail pending a full bond hearing.

  37. 37.

    C Stars

    Speaking of Houston in a roundabout way: I am celebrating this:

    Judge blocks Texas ban on gender-affirming care for most minors

  38. 38.

    smith

    @Jackie: I had expected the summer-long schadenfreude-a-palooza had drawn to a close with the GA indictments, not to be resumed until winter at the earliest, but looks like it’s going to be non-stop, for perhaps the next year or more. We’ll not only have the speedy GA trials, however many there turn out to be, but TFG also has a couple of civil trials coming up: His fraud trial in NY, in early Oct, and the follow-up E. Jean Carroll trial in Jan. Then there’s a good chance the Jack Smith DC trial will start soon thereafter. If the cases are as strong as they seem to be, we’ll get tired of all the winning.

  41. 41.

    Fake Irishman

    @Josie:

    You’re right that it was widespread, I could see the clouds and hear thunder, but it pulled up a bit short of our section of the Loop. Bummer.

  49. 49.

    JerseyBeard

    Longtime lurker here with a question I’m thinking some Jackals can help answer. My family is looking to adopt a shelter pet soon, and going to visit a few this weekend to begin the process. Any advice on preparing the house ahead of time? Things to get/things to wait for the dog for?

    I have two teenagers and no other pets. We’re looking at dogs in the 40-60 lbs range, lots of collie/lab/hound mixes listed on the shelter sites. We have a decent sized fenced yard but it does have a pool that’s not fenced off separately.

    Happy to give any other details folks think important to know. Thanks in advance to all the pet lovers for any tips. 

  50. 50.

    C Stars

    @WaterGirl: Yes, and the ruling is straightforward about what is happening–that such laws are written for political purposes with no real benefit to the state, and that in fact they harm a specific population that is protected under the constitution.

    Anecdotally I know of one family who has already moved away from Texas recently because of SB14, but hopefully this means that families without the means to leave can access the care they need in state.

  51. 51.

    JPL

    @JerseyBeard: Labs love the water.   When I lived in Dallas, we had a pool and my intent was to keep the dog out of the water because of problems with hair causing problems with the filter..  Although we didn’t leave him out back often, I realized that we had to teach him how to get out of the pool.   My last mutt loves sleeping in a crate   I leave the door open now, but it’s his safe place.

    Enjoy   Dog ownership is the best.

  59. 59.

    Jackie

    @Frankensteinbeck: She’s the kind of nuts that TIFG has to worry about flipping, and throwing him under the bus!

    In fact I can see a group of the codefendants saying screw this shit; team up and heave ho TIFG under the bus in unison!

  60. 60.

    WaterGirl

    @JerseyBeard: You may not get a lot of answers on a Friday evening.  If you don’t, feel free to send me an email message and I can put up a post tomorrow where BJ peeps can share their thoughts in response to your question.

    In case you don’t know how to reach me, send email to watergirl at balloon-juice.com

    If that’s too cryptic, check out Contact Us in the white menu bar at the top for more details.

    Good luck with your new adventure!

  61. 61.

    Jackie

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: We don’t know yet, but I’m hoping so – along with others who simply can’t afford the cost of a prolonged trial filled with TIFG’s plans for delaying as long as possible.

  62. 62.

    JPL

    @JerseyBeard: Make sure that you purchase a tag with your phone number on it.   When I adopted my terrier mix, I walked him around the yard on leash for about a week.   The first time I let him off leash, he escaped the fenced yard.   Terriers dig.    I have almost an acre and it is wooded.   Anyway cuz I had the tag, someone called within a half hour.

    Keep us informed and consider sending WaterGirl a pic .   We love dogs.

  63. 63.

    smith

    @Jackie: That won’t get them off the hook, though, especially the lawyers, who certainly knew that what they were up to was illegal.

    I have to agree with others, though, if Powell decides to testify, it will be comedy gold. That raises the question of why no indictment for Lin Wood?  Did they decide he’d probably be found incompetent to stand trial?

  65. 65.

    MomSense

    If anyone has a free FTFNYT link, they actually did a nice story on my local library.  They had an exhibition of Robert McCloskey’s illustrations and then grown up Sal from Blueberries for Sal and One Morning in Maine came and read the stories.

  66. 66.

    CarolPW

    @JerseyBeard: Get food and water bowls, treats, leash, poop bags and dog bed(s) ahead of time. Find out what they have been eating and on the way home buy that. Get some soft squeaky toys (that they will surely eat up) but meanwhile will comfort them and distract them (even if briefly) from eating up something more important.

  68. 68.

    wjca

    @japa21:

    speaking to management about the weather is actually very easy. Not infrequently, however, the answer to any request you make is “No.”

    To my mind, it’s closer to “We will take it under advisement.”  As so often with that “response”, my suggestion is then slow walked into irrelevance.

  70. 70.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @C Stars: Great news! When the haters have to defend laws targeting trans people in court, they’ve mostly been losing.

    Unfortunately though, these sorts of laws are going to end up with the SCOTUS all too soon. But at least this seems to be strictly based on the Texas Constitution, and if nothing else, trans kids will be able to get needed healthcare for the interim.

  80. 80.

    C Stars

    @Sister Golden Bear: Yes, but after all these losses at the state level the hard right wing of SCOTUS will further degrade their own legitimacy if (when?) they rule against trans rights. Clearly none of them gives a shit about civil rights, but they do care about their own reputations (or at least Roberts seems to).

  81. 81.

    JPL

    @C Stars: I woud not count on it.   Alabama is already defying them because they think that Kavanaugh will change his mind and not make them redraw their lines to be more inclusive.

  82. 82.

    Jay

    @JerseyBeard:

    Collies are high energy,

    Labs are waterhounds and couch potatoes,

    Hounds are vocal.

    Depending on the mix, you get what you get.

    #1, training

    #2, Exercise

    #3, treats

    #4, socialization

    With new to you, older dogs, once they have habituated to your household, often go through separation anxiety when the house returns to normal, and can act out. Crate training is useful, also not making a big deal of it when you return home until they and you have settled in.

    Dog’s are puppies until they are 8 months old, teen’s until they are two, (ish, YMMV).

  85. 85.

    CarolPW

    @Jay: There are a number of them that are pretty mellow and I always test them before I buy. My sister bought Bisket a rubber fish squeaky toy that absolutely shrieked and I did not allow her to have it inside (kind of like buying a nephew a drum set).

  86. 86.

    Jackie

    @smith: No getting off the hook; just easier on their wallets before sentenced to jail 😉

    Didn’t Lin start singing like a canary after TIFG withdrew his endorsement from his run for senator?

  87. 87.

    Jay

    @CarolPW:

    Casey loved her squeaky toys, right up until she surgically removed the squeaker, then a frantic search.

    Each dog is different.

    When we got her Pippie’s, she would chew the feet off. Teddy Bear, evicerated.

    The star pillow I got her for comfort after her first TPLO surgery,

    well, 20 years later we buried her with it under her head and her favorite fleece to keep her warm.

  89. 89.

    CarolPW

    @Jay:

    It’s funny how they get attached to something and destroy similar items. The rescue gave us a stuffed non-squeaky toy (a monkey) when we brought Bisket home. It stayed in the car. She is a very nervous dog, has big separation anxiety, and when we head out to the grocery store she holds the monkey in her mouth there and back (at the store she just stares at their door waiting for me to come out). She loves rending anything fabric, and having the monkey last for 5 years so far is astonishing.

    As soon as she disables the squeakers she shreds the toy. One of the best ones I have gotten had five squeakers in it so it lasted a really long time.

  90. 90.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Doesn’t look like there are lawyers around but what does everyone think of the Georgia electors trying to move their cases to federal court because they became false electors at Trump’s direction? Somehow that grants them permission on a federal level? Their attorneys are advising this? Whaaaa?

  92. 92.

    smith

    @Sure Lurkalot:  IANAL, but it looks like nonsense to me. First of all, when Trump or his toadies tried to recruit them, they were clearly acting on behalf of a political campaign, not the federal government. Secondly, the Constitution clearly says that the States govern the appointment of electors; neither the federal government nor the president has any role in it. The president especially has no business trying to assemble a slate of electors and then attempting to force them in as a replacement for the ones legally appointed by the state.

  93. 93.

    JerseyBeard

    @Jay: Appreciate the tips. Thank you! We’re all excited at the prospect, keeping in mind that chill is good for the pup is something I’ll mention to everyone.

  95. 95.

    Scout211

    @Sure Lurkalot: IANAL, but it seems shaky to me. Their attorneys are trying to tweak the “I was only following orders” defense, but they are the ones who were planning to commit fraud as electors.   They had to have known it was not legitimate, and they had to have known they were breaking the law.  They all seem to think that federal court will be easier than state court, for some reason.

    It also seems like they are starting to point fingers at Trump as the mastermind and the puppeteer.  That part is cool with me.

    Link (Politico, sorry)

    In a series of court filings this week, those false electors, who became part of Trump’s last-ditch bid to subvert the 2020 election, said it was Trump and his campaign lawyers who urged them to sign the false documents, claiming they were necessary to preserve Trump’s flailing court efforts to reverse his defeat to Joe Biden. That exhortation from Trump’s campaign lawyers, they said, amounted to federal government permission to take the actions they did.

    . . .

    Though the Trump campaign’s attorneys told many of them that the effort was necessary to preserve Trump’s chances to prevail in ongoing legal challenges, Trump eventually used the existence of these illegitimate slates to provoke a controversy on Jan. 6, 2021, pressuring then-Vice President Mike Pence to recognize and count the unofficial electoral votes instead of Biden’s. Prosecutors in those states and Washington, D.C., have scrutinized the false electors in numerous criminal probes. In Michigan, all 16 false electors were recently charged with felonies for their role in the effort.

    The three codefendants’ arguments are part of an effort to pluck their cases out of the state courts and instead have their legal fate decided by a federal judge in the Northern District of Georgia. They contend that because Trump effectively instructed them to cast the ballots — based in part on legal advice from campaign and party lawyers — they were acting with the imprimatur of the federal government. That entitles them to immunity from state prosecution under the Constitution’s supremacy clause, they say.

  96. 96.

    Geminid

    @smith: The people organizing Trump’s attempted Georgia election steal might have steered clear of Lin Wood because they thought he was unreliable, a loose cannon. Wood wouldn’t have kept his mouth shut.

    As it happened, Wood did his best to suppress Republican turnout in the January 5th Senate runoffs. He argued that the state’s Republican leaders had allowed Trump to be cheated of of a win and voters had to protest this by staying home. Wood had a receptive audience that might not have even needed him to tell them that the RINOs had betrayed their hero.

    But Joe Biden did win the state fair and square, and the consequences were far greater than the 16 electoral votes added to his column. Biden’s victory set in motion the conspiracy that resulted in these indictments. It also upset Georgia’s Republican coalition, and the resulting dropoff in voting proved fatal to Perdue’s and Loeffler’s chances in the runoff election..

  97. 97.

    Jay

    @JerseyBeard:

    Welcome. Each dog is unique.

    Sugar, (Rottie, Lab, Shep cross) slept on out bed from night 1.

    The ex and I got her as a 3 month pup, and I made a wire fence with a gate, closing off the kitchen for her to sleep in, (crates weren’t a thing). The first night, scrabble, scrabble, bam. Rinse and repeat for two hours, when I finally got up to check on her.

    Went to the kitchen/dining room entry area and turned on the lights, only to see her trotting past me and into the bedroom, where after a couple of tries, she got up on the bed and snuggled in.

    So, after that, she slept on the bed, either at the foot, or snuggled between our legs, even when she got to 90lbs,

    except,

    When I was going fishing, I would pile my gear near the front door. If it was an Interior run, I would hit the road at 3 am, get to an Interior lake or river around dawn, fish until sunset, come home. If it was a local river, I’d get to sleep in until 4am.

    Sugar would sleep on my gear all night to make sure I took her with me. She was my best fishing buddy.

  98. 98.

    Sure Lurkalot

    As much as it seems that some of the Georgia co-conspirators are going to be hard pressed to afford a defense, I think there’s a nonzero chance that all of them have been or will be threatened by someone in Trump’s orbit or cult. They are truly and well deservedly fucked.

  101. 101.

    Scout211

    @Sure Lurkalot: They are truly and well deservedly fucked.

     

    Yes, and I wonder if we will see a cascade of deals made, the defendants pleading guilty to lesser crimes.

  102. 102.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Jay: Not particularly a dog person in that I’ve never owned one but I have dog pals and I make dog pals on just about every walk I take (and I walk a lot). I love dog stories and this one about Sugar is a Friday night soother for sure!

  103. 103.

    Mike G

    Trumpy, I got your number

    You’re gonna do hard time

    Trumpy, you can’t change your number

    P011358-oh-niii-eee-iiiine

    (P011358-oh-niii-eee-iiiine)

    — Tommy Tutone

  104. 104.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mike G:

    P011358-oh-niii-eee-iiiine

    (P011358-oh-niii-eee-iiiine)

    — Tommy Tutone

    It doesn’t trip off the tongue but it would be funny if people start referring to trump this way.

  105. 105.

    wjca

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    …they became false electors at Trump’s direction? Somehow that grants them permission on a federal level? Their attorneys are advising this? Whaaaa?

    They seem to be under the illusion that the Bannon “flood the zone with sh*t” approach will work in the justice system, too.  Well, it may be a learning experience** for them,

    ** assuming, that is, they are capable of learning.

  107. 107.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I’ve seen the second part reported as “rootin’ for ya”. I think I like that better, but the sarcastic “Handsome guy” is gonna get right under The Beast’s make-up and skin

    Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1. 4h

    Asked today what President Biden thought of Trump’s mugshot, he said with a smile: “Handsome guy. Wonderful guy.”

  108. 108.

    Steeplejack

    Maybe this question was answered months (years?) ago, but what I still don’t understand is why the slates of fake electors were needed. Wouldn’t the play have been to say, “The election was stolen, so throw out the Biden electors and install the [original] Trump electors”? Why were new electors needed? Because the original Trump ones wouldn’t go along with the plot?

  109. 109.

    Jackie

    The list of challengers keeps growing. This article from ABC is a great in-depth of the steps being taken by multiple states to keep TIFG off of the ‘24 Presidential Election.

    “ABC News: “Separate from the criminal cases, over the past few weeks a growing body of conservative scholars have raised the constitutional argument that Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election make him ineligible to hold federal office ever again.””

    ”“That disqualification argument boils down to Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which says that a public official is not eligible to assume public office if they ‘engaged in insurrection or rebellion against’ the United States, or had ‘given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof,’ unless they are granted amnesty by a two-thirds vote of Congress.””

    ““Advocacy groups have long argued that Trump’s behavior after the 2020 election fits those criteria.””

  110. 110.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack:

    I guess maybe it would have taken the court cases to throw out the Biden electors? And when that didn’t happen they decided to get their electors on the down low.

  111. 111.

    Mike G

    @Jackie:   Sound reasoning. Now see if you can get the corrupt Extreme Court to agree inbetween their free vacations with fascist billionaires.

  113. 113.

    BeautifulPlumage

    @WaterGirl: thanks TonyJay & WG, great to hear him fix that song.

     

    @JerseyBeard: you may not need to do this before bringing your doggo home, depending where you live, but figuring out your veterinary options might be good before you need one. Make sure they’re taking new patients. Also, I haven’t bought pet insurance, but others might have opinions on that.

  114. 114.

    LAO

    @JerseyBeard: hey, I just wanted to share the best advice I got before adopting my previous dog, which I still do with my current dog. I truly believe Maggie, my now 7 year old staffy beagle mix, never developed separation anxiety because of it — the leave treat. Every time, I’m going to leave her alone for an extended period of time, 2 hrs or more, she gets a super special treat (a small Kong with kibble and peanut butter, frozen). She only gets it under those circumstances. It signals to her that I’m leaving, she’s going to be alone and eventually I’m going to return. When I open the freezer and take a Kong out, she literally cannot wait for me to leave.

    It doesn’t matter what the treat is, just that’s you’re consistent and it’s truly special.

    Good luck!

  115. 115.

    Jackie

    @Mike G: And therein lies the rub… Getting two RW justices to side with the liberals… I’m not putting MY money on it. But, it’s interesting to follow and read the reasonings as more and more Constitutionalist scholars weigh in.

  116. 116.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Scout211:

    I wonder if we will see a cascade of deals made, the defendants pleading guilty to lesser crimes.

    That would be consistent with past RICO cases that Willis has prosecuted. IIRC, there was one case that started with 35 or so defendants, and only a dozen ended going to trial because the others flipped and/or took plea deals. The remaining dozen were all convicted.

  117. 117.

    wjca

    @Steeplejack:

    Wouldn’t the play have been to say, “The election was stolen, so throw out the Biden electors and install the [original] Trump electors”? Why were new electors needed? Because the original Trump ones wouldn’t go along with the plot?

    Precisely.  In some states, one or more of the original electors refused to go along.

    But in addition they were not, in fact, elected.  So, by signing a sworn statement that they were the state’s electors they were committing election fraud.  Because the real electors were Biden’s, all these guys were fake electors.  Regardless of whether they were part of the original slate of Trump electors or not.

  118. 118.

    Mike G

    I walk along Fifth Avenue
    I know that I could shoot a girl like yoooo-ooouu
    Shoot a girl like yoooo-ooouu
    Not even lose a single vote
    My cult voters are dumber than a shooo-oooe
    Dumber than a shooo-oooe

    And I ran
    With secret docs so far away
    Perfect phone calls
    to Secretaries of State
    I thought I’d get away

     

     

    — A Flock of Seagulls

  119. 119.

    smith

    Hooh, boy. Up above I was wondering how the lawyers for Chesebro and Powell and any others who want to get it over with would be able to prepare in the 8 weeks until the Oct 23 start date of their trials. I was thinking about the huge pile of discovery Jack Smith is providing in his DC case related to just one defendant. How much would it be with 19?

    Well, Fani Willis has answered my question. She’s requested the lawyers  “provide a USB drive that is at least 2 terabytes large for copying of the initial batch of discovery” by September 5. And that’s just the initial batch…

  120. 120.

    Tony G

    @Sure Lurkalot: That sounds about right.  Anybody with two working brain cells would have realized in the early eighties that associating with Trump is hazardous to one’s health and wealth.  But there are plenty of dumb people out there, and those are the people who chose to do business with Trump.

  122. 122.

    Sanjeevs

    @Steeplejack: In the case of Michigan, the state law says the electors sign an affirmation that they are the electors and this must be done on Dec 14 in the State Capitol building. Could not be legally done after the fact.

    So in this case they not only lied that they were the electors but they must also explain how they affirmed this in the heavily guarded State Capitol after being refused admission.

     

    https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/all-16-michigan-republicans-accused-of-being-fake-electors-for-trump-plead-not-guilty

  125. 125.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Tony G: I live in Denver, Mr Lurkalot is an architect and back in the early two thousands, he worked for a firm considered for a hotel site and Trump was supposedly interested in branding it but there was a cacophony of NO, no Trump whatsoever! Wildfires, tornados, hailstorms, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc, lots of natural hazards that you can only plan so much to mitigate, but with Trump, after say 1980, got the mobby MO, why do biz with a sleaze ball?

  128. 128.

    wjca

    @Jackie:

    John Eastman’s losing his battle to keep from being disbarred.

    Richly deserved.  But a bit of a moot point, if he spends a few decades in prison.  Although, perhaps a caution to others…

  129. 129.

    JerseyBeard

    @LAO: love the idea of a “leave treat.”

    Fortunately I work from home, it’s rare the house is empty. But it does happen on occasion – leave treat sounds like an awesome idea.

  130. 130.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    funny photoshop with this tweet from the former Mr Kellyanne

    Xeorge Xonway @gtconway3d. 14h

    Wishing a happy Friday and a super fun weekend to everyone except inmate number P01135809 and his codefendants and cohorts.

    Inmate # P01135809 is gonna knock lawn-mowing-kid out of first place as my favorite trump meme.

  131. 131.

    like a metaphor

    @Jay: he was worried they would strip search him, and find like a hundred pounds of crack in his britches

  133. 133.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: The January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol overshadowed the Georgia Senate runoffs the day before. By the time Warnock’s and Ossoff’s races were called the Insurrection was underway.

    These were fascinating elections though, and a critical factor was the relative vote dropoff from November to January. In November, David Perdue led Jon Ossoff 2,462,000 votes to 2,374,000. Libertarian Shane Hazel polled 115,000 votes, just enough to keep Perdue below 50% and force a runoff.*

    Observers discounted Ossoff’sand Warnock’s runoff chances because the Republican vote typically drops off less than the Democratic in Georgia runoff election. But Ossoff ended up winning by 2,269,000 votes to Perdue’s 2,214 000.

    Ossoff’s vote dropped by only 105,000, evidence of a strong GOTV effort by Democrats. Perdue’s vote fell by 248,000, turning his 88,000 vote November lead into a 55,000 vote deficit. This is one reason that Republican leaders today are afraid to cross Trump. They need his voters.

    *In November Raphael Warnock was in a 10+ candidate jungle primary so comparisons are not so clear. Warnock ran ~15,000 votes ahead of Ossoff on January 5th.

  134. 134.

    RaflW

    @Jackie: I still don’t get why being charged with a criminal indictment would slow a disbarment.

    Sure, in the criminal case one is presumed innocent until proven guilty. But if so, then it’s really neither here nor there in terms of impact.

    And if it’s a matter of “I don’t have time to prepare defenses for both,” I kind of have a ‘sucks to be you’ feel about it. Add in that like 95% of criminal defendants in this country take a plea, a lot because they lack funds (rather than time) to defend themselves, and I am pretty confident Eastman has never once given a sh*t about that systemic stacking against those less resourced than him, and I just 乁⁠(⁠ ⁠⁰͡⁠ ⁠Ĺ̯⁠ ⁠⁰͡⁠ ⁠)⁠ ⁠ㄏ.

  135. 135.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid: those are interesting, if not terribly reassuring, numbers

    I didn’t know Perdue came so close to winning outright. IIRC the conventional wisdom was that trump’s rantings and lies even before 1/6 hurt Perdue and Loeffler. I wonder how much the GA electorate will evolve between now and ’26 when Ossoff is up again

  137. 137.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Trump held two rallies in Georga between the November election and the runoffs. Ostensibly they were to boost Perdue and Loeffler, but he put most of his energy into his own grievances, and tearing down Governor Kemp and other Republicans.

    Georgia Republicans blame Trump’s vendettas for Perdue’s and Loeffler’s defeats, and rightly I think. After Ms. Willis’s indictments, there were calls for action by the state legislature to change Georgia’s RICO and other laws to help Trump. A Kemp loyalist threw cold water on the project. “Where have we heard these calls before?” he asked. “During the Senate runoffs. What can be learned by getting kicked by a mule a second time?”

    Political developments in Georgia and neighboring North Carolina are worth watching. Both states show some of the demographic and political trends that helped turn Virginia blue (or a bluish purple) over the last two decades. Georgia’s establishment, Chamber of Commerce wing seems to have kept the upper hand in their Republican Party though, and I think they will be tough to beat for the rest of the decade. That’s not to say Joe Biden cannot win Georgia next tear and Jon Ossoff cannot win in 2026, just that these elections will likely be close.

    North Carolina’s party may have been captured by the radicals, and this could enable Democratic inroads. I would not be surprised if North Carolina had two Democratic Senators by January, 2031: Roy Cooper and the young Congressman from Charlotte.

  139. 139.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Tony G: Anybody with two working brain cells would have realized in the early eighties that associating with Trump is hazardous to one’s health and wealth.

    How much the more so now that there’s someone behind him with Internet hackers, polonium, nerve agents, death squads with global reach – and no qualms about threatening their families.  I suspect that anyone who’s in deep enough to have been charged thought that with Vlad behind him Trumplthinskin could possibly lose – and now none of them dares to risk the wrath of Vlad.

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