Back in August, coup plotter John Eastman did an interview with a Claremont Institute hack in which Eastman basically admitted that he tried to overthrow the government in 2021 because voters bounced Trump and right-wingers didn’t like that:
“There’s actually a provision in the Declaration of Independence that a people will suffer abuses while they remain sufferable, tolerable while they remain tolerable,” he said. “At some point abuses become so intolerable that it becomes not only their right but their duty to alter or abolish the existing government.”
Among the intolerable abuses Eastman cites as justification for attempting to overthrow the government are the existence of drag queen story hours and alleged OSHA regulations pertaining to chairs in home offices. I am not a lawyer, but I remember thinking it was pretty dumb for a person who was then under investigation for an attempted coup to assert a “right” to overthrow the government on camera.
Now, Eastman is under criminal indictment for trying to overthrow the government, but he’s made the decision to confess on camera some more, this time during a “60 Minutes” interview. He starts off by saying his legal team’s first piece of advice was to shut the fuck up but then makes more damning admissions.
Here’s the entire clip. The relevant bit starts around the 9:00 minute mark and comes in response to a question from Scott Pelley about why no swing state officials (including multiple Republicans) were buying the Trump team’s bullshit fraud claims.
“I think we are quickly turning into a country where, uh, there’s the ‘pro-government party’ or the ‘uni-party’ as one [Steve Bannon] might euphemistically call it, uh, and folks that are concerned about the direction our country is going — the MAGA movement, the tea party movement before that, if you will. And the folks in those government offices tend to be on the one side of that dispute rather than the other.”
To clarify, the “side” Eastman is putting his opponents on is democracy, and in tandem with his earlier assertion in the Claremont interview, Eastman is claiming that MAGA/tea party cranks have “not only their right but their duty” to abolish the government if they don’t like the way the election works out.
Pelley also interviewed Greg Jacob, former legal counsel to Mike Pence. You may recall Jacob as the Republican official who famously emailed Eastman during the January 6 riot to say, “Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.”
Jacob told Pelley that Eastman was “a serpent in the ear of the president.” But Trump is a serpent himself. I’ve always found it incredibly ironic that Trump likes to recite “The Snake” poem at rallies to gin up hate and fear toward immigrants.
The stanzas so clearly apply to Trump, who’s a destructive force to anyone who throws their lot in with him, as Eastman and the rest of the coup plotters are now finding out. It’s snakes all the way down.
Maybe there’s also a throughline between Eastman’s serial confessions and Trump’s logorrhea in court yesterday. David Kurtz at TPM says Trump’s courtroom behavior signals he’s a loser:
Look, Donald Trump wouldn’t resort to the name-calling, the prickly attacks on judges and prosecutors, the self-defeating effort to appeal to his base even when it hurts him in court if – and I can’t emphasize this enough – he weren’t losing.
It’s a losing man’s bet to gamble that instead of winning in court you’re going to win at the polls on Election Day and make this all go away.
It’s a loser’s play to chide, ridicule, and threaten the judge who is hearing the big fraud case against you.
It’s a desperate man’s Hail Mary to ignore the overwhelming evidence against you and play to the cameras and friendly audiences.
Eastman’s confessions reek of loser stink too. He’s desperate for a Trump restoration because that’s his only hope.
I’ve never believed that Trump will do time, even if he’s convicted of serious crimes. I hope I’m wrong about that, but I suspect that when it comes down to it, folks in power will decide that it’s too embarrassing for the country to jail a former president. But Eastman isn’t too big a fish and might actually go to prison. Good.
Open thread.
waspuppet
The stanzas so clearly apply to Trump that until literally today I did not understand why he did that.
And yes I sadly agree that Trump will never do a day in prison — the Peter Bakers of the world would never stand for it, for starters. But he’s never run for president to stay out of jail; I’ve never been more confident his net worth is negative, and he’s been running to stay out of the trunk of a car.
lowtechcyclist
Nixon may not have gone to prison on account of Watergate, though he should have. But at least Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell, Colson, Magruder, Strahan, Liddy, Hunt, and assorted others did – all the higher-ups who were involved except for the President himself. All the people who the President couldn’t have done his criming without.
So while I dearly hope Trump gets incarcerated in some way, shape, or form, I’ll believe it when I see it. But if all the clowns who helped him with his criming, who made it all possible, go to prison for non-trivial sentences, it ought to at least give people pause before they help some other President try shit like this again.
geg6
I watched that interview on Sunday and was just astonished that this guy ever graduated from college, let alone became a “constitutional scholar.” Stupidest shit I’ve ever heard that didn’t come from Mango Mussolini’s pie hole. And I still can’t get over him being several years younger than me. He’s very old looking.
MattF
I agree that both Eastman and Trump sound desperate because they are desperate. They’re losing, and losing big time. Don’t hang around waiting for mea culpas— that’s not the next act, IMO.
Alison Rose
In worse news, I just banged the side of my kneecap on the underside edge of the coffee table and now I want to amputate my leg.
geg6
@Alison Rose:
I bashed my ankle on the steps Lovey uses to get on the bed yesterday. I was paralyzed for a good five minutes and now have a spectacular bruise.
Other MJS
@waspuppet: Many right-wingers on FB seem to love George Carlin; I’m guessing they think he’s ranting about the “deep state” and the libs and not about them at all.
geg6
@Other MJS:
They really are dumber than a box of rocks.
Alison Rose
@Other MJS: They ought to watch Back In Town where he opens the show by going off on anti-abortion conservatives.
Betty Cracker
@geg6: Until last year, he was the dean of the law school at Chapman University!
H.E.Wolf
@Alison Rose:
Owwww. Sympathies. I developed a limp just reading that.
Is there anything in your freezer that can serve as an ice pack?
Josie
@Alison Rose:
Sounds painful. Put some ice on it right away.
lowtechcyclist
The signers of the Declaration of Independence knew that if their rebellion failed, they’d end their lives dangling from the end of a rope. That created a pretty high bar that governmental oppression had to clear before evils became insufferable.
I don’t want any of these bozos executed for their coup attempt, but if they each spend a couple of decades in prison on its account, maybe the next batch of these bozos will be less inclined to treat things like drag queen story hours and OSHA regs as anything other than “light and transient causes” in the words of the Declaration.
Other MJS
@Alison Rose: Yeah, somehow they never post that. I’m not keen on the later Carlin, but I wish he’d been around for candidate Trump.
Betty Cracker
@geg6: Your mention of the steps Lovey uses to get on the bed reminded me of a hilarious event that took place recently. Our two dogs are also too small to jump onto the bed from the floor. They jump up onto a padded linen storage bench we have at the foot of our bed to gain access.
One night Bill got up to fetch a blanket from the storage bench, and while he was doing that, the dogs jumped off the bed and ran around the house. They came back while the lid of the bench was still up, but because it was dark, they couldn’t see that, so they jumped into the storage area of the bench!
Omnes Omnibus
@Alison Rose: A long faded denim skirt should cover the bruise. ::ducks::
lollipopguild
@waspuppet: Trump constantly has to “confess” his crimes. He confessed in court that he was guilty of rigging the value of his properties. He not only has to commit the crimes he then has to take public credit for them as a way of bragging about himself.
JoyceH
I’ve thought all along that Trump would wind up in prison but I’m starting to rethink – the mental hospital option is looking more likely every day.
Alison Rose
@H.E.Wolf: @Josie: The pain subsided after a couple minutes, but I’m icing it anyway just in case :P
lowtechcyclist
@Betty Cracker:
With cats, that’s never a problem. Ours can go directly from the kitchen floor to the counter, and from there it’s just one more jump to the top of the fridge.
Needless to say, that creates other problems. We’ve given up on indoor plants because no place is safe from them.
...now I try to be amused
@lowtechcyclist: The Republic of Venice executed a Doge for treason (and condemned him to damnatio memoriae). The least we can do is throw our traitors in jail.
[Wikipedia]
Mike in NC
Eastman, Giuliani, Barr and every other scumbag lawyer who ever got within 50 feet of Fat Bastard deserve to be disbarred.
MisterDancer
Just started the video, but…yeah, he comes off already like one of those True Believers. That’s terrifying.
Layer8Problem
@waspuppet:
Well that’s dispositive. Sorry Ms. Willis and Fulton County and Jack Smith, guess you didn’t know who you were dealing with.
Maybe I’m too inclined to revenge porn where TFG’s screaming “UNFAIR!!! LOW ENERGY!!! WHERE’S MY THIRD TERM???” in an orange jumpsuit through bars. I think he is going to see some kind of incarceration in spite of the delicate sensibilities of his Secret Service detail.
And I’ve never been able to comprehend how this imbecile Eastman and Sydney Powell are actually in the law business given their antics, rather than law-adjacent, maybe just law-curious, or really just devoted fans of Boston Legal.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Mike in NC: I think the odds are good that you’ll get your wish as far as Eastman and Giuliani are concerned. Barr is unlikely.
Matt McIrvin
The “uni-party” stuff is of course also beloved of lefties who think there’s not a dime’s worth of difference. It all blurs together.
trollhattan
For once, and maybe only once, George Effing Will has reverted to old Cold Warrior George Effing Will and gone after…gasp…congressional Republicans for their Putin love and enabling. Not hugely surprising in itself, but the piece also manages to avoid boff-siderism to assure readers that lib Dems remain the Real Problem.
I assume it’s a one-off, but accept the token of sanity nevertheless.
mrmoshpotato
Well, Asshole Eastman, I don’t like that I’ve never won a lottery jackpot, so I should be given back every dollar I’ve ever put into a lotto machine. Right?
cmorenc
The argument that it’s more dangerous than it’s worth to jail a former president, no matter what, rests on the precedent this gives bad-faith actors to prosecute, convict, and imprison opponents in the future on trumped-up allegations (yes that’s an intended pun). But seems hard-right forces are already willing and ready to do that here in the us – failing to follow through and imprison trump will only embolden these factions. They will see it as weakness and demonstration of impotence of forces against them, not as demonstration of a practical principle they need to avoid crossing.
Geminid
In clean energy news, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland just announced 15 renewable energy projects on public lands. Some, like a couple transmision lines in Arizona have just passed the permitting stage. Two photovoltaic facilities on Riverside County, California public lands have started operating. One has a capacity of 500-megawatts, the other 364-megawatts. There is another photovoltaic/ energy storage project near Yuma, Arizona being permitted.
The Pensacola (Florida) News Journal had a different kind of story, headlined:
The money would have gone towards installing rooftop solar panels on poorer peoples’ houses.
Uncle Cholmondeley
Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT event goers went to a Hong Kong party, and literally got their eyes burned:
Bored Ape NFT event attendees report ‘severe eye burn’
Apparently, black lights and UV lights aren’t the same. Who knew?
thalarctosMaritimus
@Betty Cracker: In turn, you reminded me of a story about my old cat Shimi of beloved memory.
Shimi used to like to sit on the closed toilet lid and watch Mommy get ready for work each morning. One day, she came tearing in, leapt up on the toilet without checking to make sure the lid was down, and actually did a Wile E. Coyote air scrabbling to try to avoid landing in the toilet.
It was exactly as effective for her as it was for old Wile E., and I fished her out of the toilet for an impromptu bathtime.
One thing that her look made clear as anything was that, somehow, this was All. My. Fault.
Ken
You must admit that lately they’ve found their natural legal role, as indicted co-conspirators.
H.E.Wolf
Icing an injury in cold weather is the pits; however, it does help reduce swelling, bruising, etc. (I speak from experience with both halves of that sentence.)
SiubhanDuinne
Friend just messaged me that Santos has been arrested and jailed. Off to check reliable sources.
ETA: I am not seeing anything in the usual news sources. Have asked my friend where he got that info.
Taken4Granite
@JoyceH: There is that possibility. The one I think is more likely is that he pulls a Ken Lay and dies while his appeals are pending.
I am among the many who think that Joe Biden has a better chance of still being alive come January 2029 than Trump does.
Benw
Little old lady at the polling place where I’m working: “excuse me, sir, I’m a registered Republican but if there’s a Democrat on the line can I vote for them?”
Me: ABSOLUTELY
lol
Layer8Problem
@SiubhanDuinne: Nothing in the NYT or the WP, but those guys are cautious. However, Streisand has a new memoir, so we got that going for us!
Geminid
@SiubhanDuinne: The jail that can hold George Santos has not been built!
Ask his fellow French Foreign Legion officers. They call Santos, “The Fox.”
trollhattan
@Geminid: Only George Santos can build the jail that can hold George Santos.
lowtechcyclist
@trollhattan:
And then he’d break out of it.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Geminid: “🎶how do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?”
Ruckus
@waspuppet:
But he’s never run for president to stay out of jail.
He was so far down the list prior to now that his chances of going to jail then were tiny. He’s now high enough on the list to at least be considered for a cell occupant that running is really his only reality.
Besides, he’s the bestest human on the planet, just ask him.
I don’t think this country will put him in a cell but he does deserve living out his existence in one. And while the response from some would be very bad, that doesn’t change that he does deserve to be in one.
H.E.Wolf
@thalarctosMaritimus:
My sympathies are with both you and the cat.
On my first morning in an apartment I was renting with two friends and their two cats, I took my turn in the bathroom rota (third person in, based on who had to be at work when).
Walked in, closed the door, and a THING started flailing at the shower curtain from inside the bathtub.
I had just enough time to flash on the movie “Psycho” before a freaked-out cat disentangled itself and raced to the door in terror of the horrible monster that had trapped it in the bathroom.
From then on, White Cat and I had a system. I’d walk in and hold the door for him, so that he could exit the nice, warm, empty tub and stroll out of the bathroom with dignity.
Martin
Man, California private law schools turn out some real pigfuckers. Claremont and Chapman really punch above their weight.
Layer8Problem
@Geminid: From his period in colonial Spanish Los Angeles, where he fought oppression and injustice with masterful swordplay and a neat black outfit as Zorro.
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
🤣🤣🤣🤣
SiubhanDuinne
@Layer8Problem:
AFAICT, my friend stumbled across an old (last May?) article and failed to note the date.
@Geminid:
LOL
Layer8Problem
@lowtechcyclist: He operates in dimensions we can’t even comprehend!
trollhattan
@Layer8Problem: BBC interviewed Barbra a couple days ago. She noted calling Tim Cook to have him fix Siri’s pronunciation of Streisand using a “z” sound rather than the proper “s.” Said he was really lovely and had it taken care of.
The interviewer tried it right there and sure enough, “StreiSand.”
piratedan
@Geminid: before there was Chuck Norris, there was George Santos, he’s eternal.
trollhattan
@lowtechcyclist: Would Warden George Santos catch escaping prisoner George Santos?
I’m in danger of breaking my brain.
Layer8Problem
@SiubhanDuinne: Oh phoo, I was so hoping. Quel bummer.
WaterGirl
@Benw: That made my day!
You are in NY, correct?
Ken
@Layer8Problem: You sure he wasn’t in a selection of stylish red, orange, yellow, and purple outfits, fighting oppression as Bunny Wigglesworth?
WaterGirl
@H.E.Wolf: Good that you learned your place.
EarthWindFire
@Other MJS: One rwnj of my acquaintance loved Springsteen’s 41 Shots but cried Police Lives Matter. Head pounds on desk.
Eric S.
Before reading any comments or anything after the jump I’m going to just point this out. I think all their grievances are utter horse pucky. But just taking it from their point of view that they are valid, there’s nothing in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution or any other law I’m aware of that grants failed coup members immunity from their actions. Quite the opposite actually. In modern parlance, FAFO.
Layer8Problem
@Ken: Well played! I forgot that movie.
Hoodie
@Martin: Law schools, including supposedly prestigious ones, churn out a lot of pigfuckers. Eastman got his JD from U Chicago. I’ve met some real clowns that went to prestigious schools like Duke and Emory.
Betty
@Betty Cracker: Did much wailing ensue?
Betty Cracker
@thalarctosMaritimus: Haha, poor thing
@Betty: Just momentary confusion — they jumped out, waited for the lid to be shut and then bounced right up. :)
waspuppet
@lollipopguild: As a domestic abuser, he knows it’s no “fun” unless he makes sure YOU know that HE knows he’s guilty and got away with it.
Manyakitty
@geg6: that’s because he’s rotting from his soul.
Matt McIrvin
@Eric S.: A lot of people seem to literally believe the “right to revolution” is a protected Constitutional thing, implied by the Declaration of Independence and the Second Amendment.
prostratedragon
@Betty: I heard, “and great was the disputation therewith.” 😄😄
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@Matt McIrvin: Poll the same group on the right to privacy…
Captain C
@lowtechcyclist:
I suspect that after his multiple convictions and he loses the election, TFG may well pull a convenient Ken Lay, whether its just a real stroke or aneurism, a semi-convincing suicide, or a semi-convincing assassination (ETA: that is, an actual assassination disguised as a suicide or natural death). Or perhaps he’ll just fall from a balcony, landing 30 feet away from the building while shooting himself in the back of the head 6 times.
Manyakitty
@SiubhanDuinne: oooh fingers crossed 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞
hrprogressive
I would rather deal with the “embarrassment” of having jailed the former Head of State than allowing him and his Fascist Acolytes a chance to destroy the Republic by not punishing him, and them, for their coup.
jonas
@Martin: Just to clarify, the “Claremont” Institute isn’t affiliated with the Claremont Colleges in any way. Chapman University — well, yeah, they have some ‘splainin to do.
I remember back in the 00’s when Hugh Hewitt’s show was still based in SoCal, he would periodically have Eastman and Erwin Chemerinsky (then at UC Irvine, iirc) on to debate various issues. Eastman pretty much sounded like Jonathan Turley — a hack whose job it was to defend Republicans no matter how stupid it made him sound (Hewitt would occasionally have to interject or cut to commercial when Chemerinsky started pwning him too much). You rolled your eyes at stuff he said, but he didn’t seem like some radical fascist. At some point, he came into Trump’s orbit and kind of snapped, I guess.
Frankensteinbeck
@waspuppet:
As much as Trump’s every word and action screams ‘domestic abuser’, I don’t think that applies here. This is just bragging. It’s his narcissism. He has to assert that he is The Best, which to take the civil rape case as an example, means he stated in his deposition that he was famous enough to rape women and get away with it. He could deny doing it, but his ego demanded he say he’s that important.
hotshoe
Article says “The Snake” is usually credited to singer Al Wilson — but Oscar Brown Jr wrote the poem in 1963, its story-line apparently inspired by black folklore. Brown was himself a musician and singer; here’s a utube of him singing The Snake.
Interview with Africa Brown, one of Oscar Brown’s daughters, in 2018: “The elephant in the room is that Trump is the living embodiment of the snake that my father wrote about in that song”
Surprising that Dumpster was ever literate enough to read a long quote from a poem at his anti-immigration rallies. Not so surprising that he stole the words of a black-nationalist left-wing former candidate for Congress.
Dumpster is stupid, and shameless, and never called out by his demented fans.
Here is the part which Thugs use as a metaphor to dehumanize immigrants:
As Betty says, its incredibly ironic.
Considering that every sentient being knows Dirty Donnie is a snake — and yet multiple millions of those people intend to clasp him to their bosom even tighter this time around … ugh.
Lord what fools these mortals be!
Captain C
@Layer8Problem:
They should put all the suspect ones and/or all the ones bitten, apparently correctly, by Biden’s dogs on this detail, forever.
Frankensteinbeck
@Captain C:
Narcissists are major suicide risks in jail. If life won’t give them what they want, they’ll take their ball and go home.
Manyakitty
@Frankensteinbeck: okay, cool. Acceptable.
Yutsano
@…now I try to be amused: Pikers. They should do what the Dutch did and ate him after their riot.
SiubhanDuinne
@Manyakitty:
I know, I had the same reaction. Sadly, it turned out to be a story from several months ago ☹️
Captain C
@Taken4Granite:
Beat me to it.
frosty
@Martin: The Claremont Institute has no relationship to the five Claremont Colleges, something that pisses off their alumni.
trollhattan
@jonas: Just think, Chemerinsky is now John Yoo’s boss.
Jeffro
@Geminid:
@trollhattan:
@lowtechcyclist:
I need this whole series on a t-shirt or poster or something. =)
Misterpuff
No, Warden George Santos would take a bribe from Prisoner George Santos and look the other way.
Benw
@WaterGirl: yep. Long Island
kalakal
@trollhattan: In Stalag Luft 9 he was known as the Cooler King, prior to his daring escape on a motorbike
kalakal
George Santos – is there no beginning to his talents?
hueyplong
Even if everything goes well from this point forward, the USA will suffer historical embarrassment because of Trump. We’re just trying to mitigate the damage.
H.E.Wolf
That I did: servitor. :)
Taken4Granite
@Matt McIrvin: There actually is a right to revolution in the New Hampshire state constitution, but that has nothing to do with the Second Amendment. It’s more in the “live free or die” sentiment.
MisterDancer
RE: What I want Trump to do.
Shut up. Go away. Stop filling column inches. Stop filing people’s heads.
I want this because it’s the most realistic way to get at least him to stop fueling the fever pitch of hate.
I don’t wish death upon him, not just because my morality balks at it, but because almost every form of death just means he turns into Reagan times 1000 in terms of cult-like fury. Yes, I do think it can get worse, and even the most open/shut Trump death gets you there.
I also don’t think this stops the hate train. This is just my vain hope that Trump shutting up gets us a chance to derail these asshats.
Salty Sam .
I did. I got “Welder’s Flash” once from being lazy with eye protection while tacking up a project. UV “sunburn” on your retina- one of the most painful nights in memory.
Manyakitty
@SiubhanDuinne: booooo ☹️😠 I need some perp walks!
Sister Golden Bear
@Uncle Cholmondeley: Not just UV lights, but UV lights — multiple ones — normally used for sterilization. It’s a wonder comparatively few people were blinded.
Matt McIrvin
@Uncle Cholmondeley: That smells suspiciously like a “satirical” fake story to me, but stupider things have happened
…I guess it’s not–I first saw it on another site that seemed more like it might be a fake-news site!
Jeffro
Laugh, or cry? Ted (did you know he has a podcast?) Cruz says “of course” he’ll be running for president again some day.
(Texas Tribune via TPM)
yes, yesssss…the ‘timing isn’t right’ to run this year, Ted…LOL…
And this was just classic…is there a German term for when ‘projection’ goes this far overboard?
Because I know that’s what I think of when I think of today’s conservatives: their appeals to logic!
Matt McIrvin
@Taken4Granite: Another reason I’m glad I live just barely on this side of the border (though I spend a lot of time there).
There used to be a mortgage office a few feet on the NH side of the state line that had an electronic sign out front that just scrolled this deranged conspiracy stuff all day long, assertions about various politicians and local business people doing terrible conspiracy things. I wondered if the place got any business but there are probably customers that that stuff attracts.
The amazing Funspot arcade up in Weirs Beach was founded by a libertoonian guy and has its own electronic sign that shows rants about the evil of taxation all day long. Just another day of living free or dying.
Sister Golden Bear
@Ruckus: George Santos is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.
MattF
OT. In case you’re one of those old-fashioned fuddy-duddies who thinks they have any privacy… have you ever heard of Kochava? Me neither.
brendancalling
Got my ballot in under the wire, voted against retention for every single GOP judge. I’m sure some of them are decent people—hell, one upheld child endangerment charges against Penn State’s odious Graham Spanier—but sorry. I can’t trust anyone in the GOP to do the right thing reliably. So TTFN, Mr. Judge!
Ken
@Jeffro: I thought he was Canadian? Or Cancunese?
matt
We should abolish the insurrectionists.
Ken
And simultaneously the wickedest, most cowardly, coldest, most depraved human being. He is maximally everything.
(Which reminds me of an SF story with superheroes. One didn’t have superpowers as such; their abilities were strictly human. But they were in the 99% percentile for everything.)
Martin
@Frankensteinbeck: I’m honestly shocked that he survived being booted out of the WH. I was convinced he was going to be taken out of there feet first.
Martin
@Taken4Granite: Anyone consider that the bears might be the ones to exercise that clause?
prostratedragon
bjacques
A hundred comments and no reference to “The In-Laws”?
That’s it! I’m voting Republican tomorrow!
(^_^)
Layer8Problem
@prostratedragon:
Ow, that’s gonna hurt.
Jay
https://nitter.net/michaelh992/status/1721783378452554129#m
Ken
@Layer8Problem: It’ll go over his head. Or his lawyers, handlers, and the people who sing showtunes to calm him down will conspire to keep it from him.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@bjacques: I thought of it but I’m having trouble finding a relevant quote.
Miss Bianca
@bjacques: I was thinking the same thing! The minute I saw the title of the post I heard Peter Falk yelling, “Serpentine, Shel! SERPENTINE!” at poor Alan Arkin!
Geminid
Virginia polls close in two hours. Some election officals caution that results might come in more slowly than usual because there are a lot of local contests on the ballot. Still, we ought to know what’s what by 9 pm.
prostratedragon
@Layer8Problem: 😈😈
piratedan
@Geminid: my feed keeps getting pinged by LOTS of young voters showing up to vote, unexpectedly long lines for voting and registrations (Virginia, North Carolina, Texas)
Geminid
@Geminid: These will be the first General Assembly elections held on the new map drawn by the two Special Masters tasked by the state supreme court. I have not seen complaints from partisans, so I’m guessing it’s fairly neutral.
The last 6 House of Delegates elections were held on a map gerrymandered by Republicans in 2011. Their gerrymander broke down, and the House went from 65R-35D to 51R-49D in 2017. Democrats won a 55-45 andvantage in 2019 and Republicans won back a 52-48 majority in 2021.
Nowadays analysts can easily aggregate past election results for the various precincts that constitute the new districts. Those results indicate that there may be only 4 Senate and 7 Delegate races in play.
But it’s a new map without the usual number of incumbents running, so there may be some surprises. One thing is certain: there will be a lot of new faces in the General Assembly when it meets in January.
Suzanne
I voted this morning at about 7:30. I was voter #5. Polls close in just under three hours.
Our races are all for local stuff, but there’s some interesting stuff happening with progressive activists running for local office.
Manyakitty
@Jay: unsurprising. Putin’s greasy fingers are all over this whole mess, starting with Iran and Hamas. He’s been desperate to get Ukraine out of the news and to minimize the military support.
Edited for clarification
Suzanne
@Jay: Jesus Christ. That is…. terrible.
Putin is garbage.
Geminid
@piratedan: I saw a tweet by Victor Shi about long lines at William and Mary University. Some are registering before they vote. Same day registration is allowed now by a law passed in the 2020-2021 General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Northam.
catclub
I am in the crowd that was convinced he would not survive the General election campaign of 2016. Trump is not going to die shortly at a convenient time.
I am not yet claiming he is immortal.
Frankensteinbeck
@Suzanne:
Thank you for this! My 2016 PTSD is acting up.
Manyakitty
@catclub: but like, seriously. How has he not stroked out?
SiubhanDuinne
Am I an outlier? Am I alone in finding Steve Kornaxcki incredibly annoying? I just want to smack him senseless whenever I see him on my T & V machine.
Matt McIrvin
@Geminid: When I went to William and Mary I actually missed the midterm election of 1986 because I couldn’t figure out how I was supposed to vote. The townies clearly didn’t want the college kids registering locally, and it took me a while to figure out how to apply by mail for an absentee ballot to vote in NoVa. (I don’t remember exactly how you did it–maybe it was a form you picked up at the post office?)
I did figure it out by 1988. But I’m still a bit embarrassed about that since it was the first federal election in which I was eligible.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Manyakitty: Only the good die young. :(
trollhattan
@Misterpuff: @kalakal:
Citizen Alan
@Layer8Problem: There were absolute idiots in my graduating class at Ole Miss who nevertheless managed to pass the bar. I assume it’s the same at every law school, even the ivy leagues.
frosty
@bjacques: Alan Arkin was my first thought when I saw the post title! I need to watch that movie again.
Matt McIrvin
@Other MJS: George Carlin is also one of those guys that it’s popular to attribute things to that he never said, so he can have all kinds of opinions.
Matt McIrvin
@catclub: Trump’s parents lived to ripe old ages; I figure he honestly has a genetic tendency to longevity in spite of taking poor care of himself.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Matt McIrvin: A fellow and W & M alum! I’m class of 1979. I registered to vote at home (Roanoke, VA) and voted absentee – I had to go to the bank to get a notary to witness my signature! I’m so proud of the changes in voting registration in Virginia so students can vote at their school.
Subsole
@Ken:
No. He wasn’t wearing purple.
It was plum.
Geminid
@Matt McIrvin: Trump could hold up physically but still crack up mentally. He’s under stress like he’s never been before. And I think Trump talks too tough to be a truly tough person.
patrick II
@piratedan:
George Santos doesn’t do pushups, he pushes the earth down.
Layer8Problem
@SiubhanDuinne: No, no you’re not. Many fine people and responsible taxpaying citizens do like him. I tend to fixate on the just-so rolled-up sleeves. He’s not Gym Jordanesque in the least, but that makes my eye twitch all the same.
SiubhanDuinne
@Layer8Problem:
Well, I shouldn’t care to say that I fixate, exactly, but I do find them irritating in the extreme.
hotshoe
@bjacques:
Well, yeah, The In-Laws was my first reaction, but I got distracted by researching “The Snake” …
Serpentine, Shel, serpentine — still makes me laugh, thanks for the memory!
Redshift
@Geminid: I’m so glad we have same-day registration now. At the same time, those darn kids should have registered earlier – I’m sure there were voter registration drives at that same colleges. But I’ll take it anyway.
Layer8Problem
@SiubhanDuinne: If his idea (or some MSNBC producer’s notion) is to look like someone’s concept of “the numbers guy from the back room” I say go back a hundred years and have him dress in a green eyeshade with sleeve garters for that retro vibe.
Manyakitty
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: as evidenced by the continued existence of Henry Kissinger.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@Manyakitty: yup. Old Russian playbook. Soviets started Six Day war hoping at best to draw US into a quagmire or atleast to cripple US economy with middle east oil boycott. They failed, but got a lot of people killed in the process. (documentary)
MattF
@Yutsano: Uh, yikes.
Manyakitty
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: they’re nothing if not one trick ponies.
eclare
@Layer8Problem:
That would be hilarious!
Matt McIrvin
@Cheryl from Maryland: I think that by the time I did it, you didn’t need a notary to witness it, but you did need some other person. Unless I was doing it wrong and my vote for Michael Dukakis got thrown out.
I remember that I did vote in person in the 1988 presidential primary, because it happened while I was at home on spring break. And I used a primitive electronic voting machine, with a touch panel and red LEDs indicating your vote. In 1992, the Democrats had a caucus and I was off at grad school and still voting absentee so I was completely SOL.
JR
Restoration is about right. Trump is basically all the worst parts of Charles II, James II, Louis XVIII and Charles X
Layer8Problem
@Yutsano: Damn, those Dutch play hardball. I’ll never be able to look at a wedge of Gouda the same way knowing that fact.
lowtechcyclist
So Virginia polls close at 7pm, Ohio polls close at 7:30, PA polls close at 8. How about other states (KY, NJ)?
Maybe there should be a fresh thread for results as they come in.
Yarrow
@SiubhanDuinne: I don’t find him incredibly annoying but I understand why people would.
When he stays with election stuff it doesn’t bug me that much, but the NBC networks haul him out for everything – football games, March Madness, stupid “what’s the best picnic food” brackets on the Today Show. He shows up with his rolled up sleeves, waving his arms around saying things like, “potato salad has a 60% chance of beating cole slaw.” It’s ridiculous.
eclare
@Yarrow:
Same here. I like him for election results, but MSNBC thinking that will carry over to other events is ridiculous.
Mr. Bemused Senior
Ridiculous is right! Cole slaw (I’m talking good cole slaw, not some junky “health salad”) is clearly the winner.
Geminid
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: The account of Russian actions in Michael Oren’s Six Days of War (~2010) showed how the Soviets tried to keep the Mideast pot simmering but hot cold feet when it started to boil over. Soviet leadership tried to restrain Egypt, but their Defense Ministers had implied to visiting Egyptian generals that Russia would come in on their side.
Oren’s book is very detailed about the diplomatic and political sides of that war. The internal Egyprian dynamic had a lot to do with the war. President Nassar and his military chief, General Amer, had been close friends and allies during the 1952 Officers Coup (along with Anwar Sadat).. When Nassar achieved power in 1955 Amer was his right hand man.
But in the 1960s Amer began to build a personal power base in the Army. He drove the decisions in May of 1967 that led to the war. Amer was the one that pushed the Egyptian Army into the Sinai and ordered UN observers to evacuate their posts on the Israeli border. Then he explained to Nassar that his troops could not tolerate watching ships pass Sharm El Sheik on their way to Israel, essentially taking the decision to blockade Eilat into his own hands.
General Amer had consolidated his control of the Army by installing incompetent minions in top positions. He and they botched the deployment, and when Israel attacked, Amer ordered a general retreat that turned into a humiliating rout. Nassar fired him a few days after the war ended and in September Amer took a fatal dose poison. The official story is that he took the poison as he was being arrested, but another story is that he was given a choice of poison or being tried for treason and executed.
Another aspect of the Egypt story: Nassar developed diabetes in the early 1960s. He had been a an energetic and charismatic leader of the Arab and Non-Aligned worlds, but the illness took a lot out of him. Nassar died of a heart attack in 1970.
Suburban Mom
@lowtechcyclist: NJ closes at 8
wjca
If only because polling misses them if they don’t register ahead of time. Leading to much unnecessary weeping and wailing over poll results.
Citizen Alan
@catclub: Speaking of someone who was raised baptist before escaping to reality, I would argue that there is persuasive evidence that he is in fact the antichrist. In fact, if he (god forbid!) does win next year, it will arguably fulfill one of the most notable prophecies about the antichrist.
Wapiti
@Uncle Cholmondeley: My dad collected old bottles and would put bottles in a light box, with a UV bulb, to artificially age them and bring out purple or other tints (depending on the heavy metals in the glass).