Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

People are weird.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

Cancel the cowardly WaPo and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

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

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

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

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Reader Interactions

103Comments

  3. 3.

    RaflW

    I mean, the “Dean scream” was really illustrative of how the media can be manipulated (and can be complicit in the manipulation) in pursuit of a colorful story that drives readership rather than advancing the truth.

    See, also, Al Gore “inventing” the Internet, and many similar.

    Funny how it’s almost always Democrats who get caught in these things (not freakin funny at all).

  6. 6.

    piratedan

    so leading up to today, there was an awful lot of chatter from the legal punditry that Bragg’s case would be difficult to prove considering the nuance of showing how the money mattered and showing of intent to defraud and mislead the country in defiance of the law.

    Does the testimony offered today alleviate any of those fears?  Apparently Pecker stated that this was the specific agreement that he had with Trump and alleged that there are written notes from Trump confirming this plan?  Can it be true that Trump actually took notes on outlining this criminal conspiracy?

  8. 8.

    SpaceUnit

    I don’t know.  So far I haven’t heard anything from this trial that sounds criminal, technically speaking.  Sleazy, shameless, and deceptive?  Yep.  But nothing that Fox News hasn’t been doing for years.  I don’t think a media outlet being in the tank for one candidate or one party constitutes a crime, however outrageous and unprincipled as it is.

    ETA:  And though it makes trump look scummy as hell, his supporters will never see it in the news that they watch.

  9. 9.

    Marmot

    @RaflW: That’s a lot like how I was thinking today about how many times the Serious Press gamely pursued a false Repub allegation.

    My personal favorite is when Wen Ho Li was alleged a Chinese Communist spy. But then there’s how Ahmed Chalabi and Judith Miller helped them allege Iraq was hiding WMDs!

    But also, that time Bill Barr pre-empted the  Mueller Report with a summary all “oh, it’s nothing really”—and somehow permanently set the thing’s historical meaning.

    More recently, most Special Counsel Robert Hur alleges Biden can’t remember events that he actually did remember, about which the NYT runs what—80 articles mentioning it over two weeks.

    And that’s just off the top.

  10. 10.

    piratedan

    @WaterGirl: ty for the confirmation.  So Bragg, via Pecker’s testimony, has shown that there was intent to deceive proving motive.  That’s one helluva hurdle for day one.  With the testimony of the guys who moved the money, that confirms that crime with the known caveat that they are convicted criminals.

  12. 12.

    Princess

    I had a Porn Star martini tonight for the first time to celebrate the woman who is helping us save the country. Delicious.

  13. 13.

    Eolirin

    @Narya: Which I think we can admit is a bit like getting Capone on tax evasion.

    On the other hand, it’s a bit like getting Capone on tax evasion.

  14. 14.

    SpaceUnit

    @Narya:

    Okay.  Well I guess that makes sense.

    But I find it hard to believe that in this day and age there will be much in the way of consequences.  Maybe a fine.  The RNC will end up paying it.

  16. 16.

    BQuimby

    I saw Trae Crowder @ Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco.  Absolutely perfect, tight, funny show.  If you ever get a chance to catch him live, GO!

  17. 17.

    like a metaphor

    @Princess: I just walked by a TV that had CNN on. Jeffrey Toobin was discussing Pecker, on Anderson Cooper.  Fortunately he was behind a desk.  Pour me one of those Porn Star Martinis.  Make it a double.

  18. 18.

    Narya

    @Eolirin: I don’t think it’s as serious a crime as the other cases, but it IS a crime, and it’s of a piece with his whole MO. It doesn’t quite have national security implications for example, but it speaks to fundamental corruption, IMO.

  21. 21.

    Eolirin

    @Narya: No disagreement here. I’ll take anything that sticks.

    But he is being charged with something that only becomes a felony because it was done in furtherance of another crime that isn’t being charged. It feels a lot like getting him on the thing he can be gotten on, even though it’s indirect to the underlying and more serious criminal behavior. That’s why I think the Capone metaphor is apt.

  22. 22.

    piratedan

    @HumboldtBlue: hope you enjoyed the soft ball…. (apologies, but when discussing a dude with the name Pecker, sophomoric sexual metaphors are mandatory).

  25. 25.

    HumboldtBlue

    @piratedan: ​ 

    I’ll take the easy pitch, gets the blood flowing, tighten the grip, hands firm but loose, take a few practice strokes in the on-deck circle and then get in a good swing, and bam! That’s outta here!

  28. 28.

    KrackenJack

    @BQuimby: Thanks for the alert. My assumption these days should be if someone is famous enough on social media for *me* to have heard of, they must be touring or have an upcoming Netflix show.

  29. 29.

    like a metaphor

    @SpaceUnit: actually, I prefer my vodka with plain old pomme d’amour.  You know, tomato.  Like in a Bloody Mary.

    But still, Toobin was the guy who was wanking on the Zoom call with his coworkers.  I mean, I’m gay, but not like that.

  30. 30.

    Elizabelle

    LOL.  Mitt Romney, speaking off the cuff to reporters today in some hallway:

    ” … As far as I know, you don’t pay someone $130,000 not to have sex with you.”

  31. 31.

    Dangerman

    @Princess: I had a Porn Star martini tonight …

    OK, what is a Porn Star martini? Does it involve Porn Stars and Belly Buttons?

    ETA: Oh. 24. Got it. I was told there would be no math (BUMMER) and limited reading here.

  36. 36.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    Artificial intelligence (AI) can quickly and accurately predict the path and intensity of major storms, a new study has demonstrated.
    [snip]
    The researchers used four AI models and compared their results with traditional physics-based models. The AI models, developed by tech giants like Google, Nvidia and Huawei, were able to predict the storm’s rapid intensification and track 48 hours in advance. To a large extent, the forecasts were ‘indistinguishable’ from the performance of conventional forecasting models, the researchers said. The AI models also accurately captured the large-scale atmospheric conditions that fuelled Ciarán’s explosive development, such as its position relative to the jet stream – a narrow corridor of strong high-level winds.

    The machine learning technology underestimated the storm’s damaging winds, however. All four AI systems underestimated Ciarán’s maximum wind speeds, which in reality gusted at speeds of up to 111 knots at Pointe du Raz, Brittany.… Source

    Place an asterisk on that “accurately.” For now, kind of, sort of.

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    @HumboldtBlue

    There’s a Chicoesque joke in there somewhere about an Italian sports car with a four-barrel carbonara but I’m not going to go there.
    :)

  38. 38.

    Shalimar

    @SpaceUnit: “Heard anything that sounds criminal” is not how you do law.  We (and Trump’s attorneys) finally found out what the underlying felony is, a New York state law about conspiracy to aid a specific candidate in an election.  You do law by analyzing how the facts relate to the elements of this particular felony.  Which I haven’t read yet, just the descriptions in news stories, so I am not going to do that analysis.  But the conspiracy Pecker describes sounds pretty bad for Trump.

    Also, there has been a lot of negative coverage of how an underlying federal felony would make the case much weaker.  They don’t have that problem.  Federal appeals courts (with many members appointed by Trump) have no hook to get involved in a case that is brought strictly under New York law.

  40. 40.

    Martin

    @SpaceUnit:

    I don’t know.  So far I haven’t heard anything from this trial that sounds criminal, technically speaking.

    So far they haven’t presented anything that is criminal. They’re establishing the motive and the context. The falsifying business records part will come later as will the in-kind campaign contribution.

  41. 41.

    Splitting Image

    There is actually a fun little bit of trivia about David Pecker if you’re a fan of comic books.

    Apparently before he took over the National Enquirer, he managed the Fawcett magazine brand for CBS Publications. According to Paul Levitz, Pecker was the person who negotiated the sale of Fawcett’s comic book characters (Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, etc.) to DC comics back in the 1980s.

  45. 45.

    NotMax

    @Splitting Image

    Right companies, wrong decade. DC reintroduced the Fawcett characters as part of its publications in 1972.

    To complete the circle for those not conversant with comic book history, it was the copyright infringement lawsuit DC leveled against Fawcett that for all intents and purposes killed Fawcett’s comics line-up in the early 1950s.

  46. 46.

    Martin

    @NotMax: Yeah, the big asterisk on that is that weather, storms are non-linear dynamic systems. The dynamics of the kinds of systems make them unpredictable to a large degree. That also means that our ability to predict the unpredictability is also constrained. We can’t really even say ‘this is 90% accurate’. This is literally unsolvable. We can improve, but you need to get increasingly detailed data in order to make substantial improvements – as in steadily filling the environment with sensors until it’s nothing but sensors.

    The existing models can certainly be improved upon, but only so much. We currently have a handful of different models and we average the results – so yeah, there’s room for improvement. I think the breakthrough here is that it can do this *quickly*. You can hook the model into the sensor data and it’ll constantly churn out predictions, even for storms that the meteorologists may not bother with. And that could help smaller communities get better warnings for smaller scale storms that have a big local impact.

    That would also put pressure on getting data more frequently on these storms – do more hurricane hunter flights which get a lot of pretty important information. Developing drones that can do that would be nice.

  47. 47.

    wjca

    @SpaceUnit: So far I haven’t heard anything from this trial that sounds criminal, technically speaking.

    As I understand it (IANAL) under New York law (not Federal law, but New York law) it is illegal, per Section 17-152 of that law, to “conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means.”  Which is where Pecker’s testimony is heading.  They’ve got “conspire to promote or prevent” already.  Once they’ve got the falsified business records part (which, by all accounts, is a slam dunk), they’ve got “unlawful means.”

  48. 48.

    mrmoshpotato

    @wjca: And then Lady Justice  can shitslap the living shit out of the fat, orange, fascist shitstain who sucks Kremlin asshole.

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    @wjca

    In one way, doesn’t matter. Being able to constantly (and accurately) refer to him as “convicted felon Donald Trump” takes a toll.

    IIRC, convicted felons who are residents of Florida remain denied the vote?

  52. 52.

    Martin

    @wjca: I think it’s going to be a bit difficult for that. One problem Trump has is that he is utterly remorseless. Sentencing is also supposed to influence behavior to incentivize them to not break the law in the future. I suspect there is not a person in that room (including his attorney) that believes he will change his behavior without some kind of constraint on his freedom.

  54. 54.

    strange visitor (from another planet)

    @NotMax:  splitting image was close. the whole slate of fawcett characters (along with the charlton stable which dc had also purchased) were integrated into the mainline dc universe after the seminal maxiseries, crisis on infinite earths, in 1986-’87.

  55. 55.

    wjca

    @Martin:  I suspect there is not a person in that room (including his attorney) that believes he will change his behavior without some kind of constraint on his freedom.

    I could see a condition of his probation being a ban from social media.

    Of course, that’s a constraint on his behavior with respect to the gag order, rather than the crime he’s charged with, so perhaps that’s off the table.

  56. 56.

    Martin

    @wjca: I think that’s off the table. But NY does have a decent track record of tossing rich white executives in the slammer for this kind of stuff. I suspect the judge will be pretty motivated to find a way to do that if he’s found guilty.

  57. 57.

    SectionH

    Thank you for the Trae link, first, and always thanks for all you do. Mr S and I just started laughing early on for that one, and we laughed for a long time. And yeah, we adapted to that kind of accent.*

    Unnoticed ? interesting thing tonight: Pink Moon!  Sadly not being seen here. It’s Grapril in San Diego.

    *If I could be less wordy, I’d tell the story of interpreting between 2 nominally English speakers who srsly could not understand each other. I was in Keswick (Lake District Northern England) at a laundromat/laundrette, The guy was from somewhere in the Deep South US, and she – the employee – was obviously on duty and stuck. He was not being evil, but he was frustrated he just wanted to ask a question about how much money and how to do it. When I figured out what was going on, I sideled up and looked at Her, and asked if could help, and she said “I can’t understand him.” And I looked at Him and said “What is your problem?” or something

    a bit nicer. He was “I just want to know what coins to put. in.” They literally could not understand each other. So I translated. Well, I guess I just did shorthand, but it got sorted.

    Oops I guess I just did do the short version. It’s absolutely true.

  58. 58.

    Chet Murthy

    @SectionH: In 1986 while in grad school in upstate NY, I went with some friends to Montreal.  We visited an art museum there, and during the visit I needed to hit the loo.  So I wandered off, and went down some stairs, looking for it.  I bumped into a security guard, who spoke to em and said something-or-other (which I didn’t understand) in a very thick French accent.  So I of course replied “I’m sorry, I don’t speak French; I only speak English”.  She replied (very nicely) “I was speaking to you in English”.

    Ha!

  62. 62.

    TBone

    Hubby going inpatient at Evangelical Hospital today, where I anticipate that only Fix, oops, Fux, oops, Fox channel will air to avoid upsetting his fellow patients.  If MSNBC is available during my visits this week, I will loudly giggle and discuss the play by play with hubby so the bubble people will get their bubbles popped.  Gotta go drop him off now at this decidedly ungodly hour.

  66. 66.

    TBone

    Thanks everybody 🙂 hubby is dropped off and getting shaved and cathed.  Now, I wait at least 5 hours for word.  As soon as I get the call, good trouble visits Evan as we call it.  I appreciate your words of comfort and good cheer!

  67. 67.

    TBone

    I hope I’m in the hospital visiting near a defibrillator if the Supremacist Court’s decision this week is heart attack-inducing.

  68. 68.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @NotMax: Vermouth is fortified wine flavored with botanicals so it’s basically fruit juice to the extent that wine is fruit juice

  69. 69.

    trnc

    @Narya: I don’t think it’s as serious a crime as the other cases, but it IS a crime, and it’s of a piece with his whole MO. It doesn’t quite have national security implications for example, but it speaks to fundamental corruption, IMO.

    I get the gist of what you’re saying, but that crime probably went a long way toward getting DT elected, which definitely had national security implications.

  70. 70.

    lowtechcyclist

    @TBone: ​
     

    Hubby going inpatient at Evangelical Hospital today, where I anticipate that only Fix, oops, Fux, oops, Fox channel will air to avoid upsetting his fellow patients.

    Faux News is all about getting people riled up, upset and angry. I can’t imagine a worse channel to be playing in a hospital. By all means, if it’s on, change the channel.

  72. 72.

    David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch

    The president of the building trade unions is on Morning Joe right now giving a stirring, heart felt endorsement of President Biden

  74. 74.

    Barbara

    @HumboldtBlue: I’m pretty sure that it’s not so much a vote for Haley, but that she is a proxy for “anybody except Trump.”  If nothing else, you can deduce this from the much higher proportion of Haley voters that voted by mail — at least 2x the rate as for Trump. They are not average Republican voters, and they are much more likely to be in urban parts of the state, as are Biden voters.

    Agree it’s a problem either way.

  75. 75.

    hueyplong

    Misogynistic America might have elected Trump over shrill, deathly sick, email incompetent, murdering, she-devil Hitlery anyway, but, happily, the state doesn’t have to prove that “but for” this conspiracy, Hillary would have won.

    Instead, with luck, nearly a decade of American history will be dismissed by a high school teacher playing the famous Stringer Bell scene, and the half century old line “It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up” will be replaced by a reference to not taking notes on a MF criminal conspiracy.

    If we get to a conviction, the longer this case takes, the better.  Let the narcissist suffer, one drip of humiliation at a time until he gets into a fist fight with his lawyers about whether he should be allowed to testify against his tormentors.

  76. 76.

    Betty Cracker

    @lowtechcyclist: Anecdata from my recent and broad sampling of medical facility TV usage indicates home improvement programming is the default setting. Would definitely demand a channel change if Fox News was on — it’s not good for anyone’s health.

  77. 77.

    Gvg

    @SpaceUnit: Apparently New York has a specific law that says in effect being in the tank for one candidate IS illegal. Also it’s not a new or recent law.

    interesting.

    So I think a New York publisher like the Post would be well aware from the start that it was.

    I haven’t heard what the NY Post or Pecker got out of it.

  78. 78.

    AM in NC

    @SpaceUnit: It is an actual crime for media outlets to coordinate this much coverage with candidates because it’s an in-kind campaign donation that exceeds the limit of allowable campaign donations.

    The National Enquirer’s stories (pro-Trump and against his opponents) have value and that value far exceeded the few thousand dollars Pecker is allowed to donate to Trump’s campaign.

    THAT’S the crime Pecker committed (for which he was granted immunity to testify). Receiving the contributions is also illegal.

  79. 79.

    Matt McIrvin

    @NotMax:

    To complete the circle for those not conversant with comic book history, it was the copyright infringement lawsuit DC leveled against Fawcett that for all intents and purposes killed Fawcett’s comics line-up in the early 1950s.

    And that’s how Marvel Comics was able to trademark “Captain Marvel” as the name of a completely unrelated character in the 1960s–Fawcett wasn’t using it. Which is, in turn, why DC had to name the original Captain Marvel’s comic “Shazam!” which eventually led to the character being called that.

    At Marvel, a whole succession of characters has had that name, since their first Captain Marvel wasn’t all that popular but they really wanted to retain that trademark by keeping it in use.

  80. 80.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @piratedan: I don’t think we can tell how this is all going to land until the defense has a chance to muddy things up

    ETA: Remember how we all thought Brett Kavanaugh was finished after the rape testimony? Then he ranted and raved and cried and presto! Justice Kavanaugh

  81. 81.

    hueyplong

    That’s correct, but that wasn’t a trial.  And I’m pretty sure we’d actually want Trump to take the stand.

  83. 83.

    JWR

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    ETA: Remember how we all thought Brett Kavanaugh was finished after the rape testimony? Then he ranted and raved and cried and presto! Justice Kavanaugh

    And good ol’ Lindsey Graham ranted and raved and cried and made that snarling little pig-nosed face and presto, Justice Kavanaugh!

  84. 84.

    Geminid

    David Satterfield, President Biden’s special envoy for humanitarian isdues in the Middle East, gave a press briefing yesterday about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Axios reporter Barak Ravid’s article:

    https:www.axios.com/2024/04/23/israel-gaza-aid-biden-famine-conditions

    Bad link. I see the mistake, will post it again.

  87. 87.

    SFAW

    @Chet Murthy: ​
     
    Try Scotland.
    Years ago, had a telephone “conversation” with a co-worker from our plant in Scotland. We spoke for about 45 seconds (I was actually trying to get hold of one of his co-workers, this guy picked up the ‘phone as he was walking by). To this day, I have absolutely no idea what that guy said. Not a single word.

    So when Robin Williams was doing the lead-in for his “Invention of Golf” bit, I had a flashback.

  88. 88.

    NotMax

    @SFAW

    And yet nary a person in Scotland has the least bit of trouble understanding :”This round’s on me.”
    :)

  91. 91.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Baud:

    We should get some of them. And as with all the usual Republican components, a little here, a little there, and we win Georgia and Arizona again.

  92. 92.

    Bill Arnold

    @trnc:

    I get the gist of what you’re saying, but that crime probably went a long way toward getting DT elected, which definitely had national security implications.

    Also, a felony conviction would mean that the felony helped get a unconvicted felon elected as POTUS.

  94. 94.

    TBone

    I will report back about my visitation TV experience in the inpatient wing.  Because I’ll prolly be the only mask wearer, anything is possible since that very visibly outs me as a lib.

  95. 95.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Chet Murthy: In 1985 on a train through central Sicily I met 3 German girls who asked me about places to stay in our destination (Palermo). I told them the Pension I was returning to was ordentlich & reasonably preiswert & probably had rooms free, so they followed me from the stazione. Upon arrival we discovered they and the owner had no language in common. Between what I recalled of college German from 15 years back and three months of night-school Italian** I negotiated them a room. Niente male for a Yank, nicht wahr?

    ** Mom & Dad never taught us the language – they kept it as a code for discussing  things we weren’t spozeta hear (even though their parents’ dialects were so different they could hardly understand one another). So before I could go to look up family records in the Boot and the Triangle, I had to take a course.​​

  96. 96.

    Miss Bianca

    @Melancholy Jaques:

    I go by the Peggy from Mad Men rule: A cocktail has to have at least three ingredients. Or, as she so pungently put it in one of the early episodes: “Mountain Dew and vodka isn’t a cocktail, it’s an emergency.” :)

  97. 97.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @SFAW: Try Scotland.​

    In the early Naughties, I was perusing a display of pins on the wall of the gift shop at Edinburgh Castle when a lovely young lassie on duty approached me and said, Pwerwneoiwfn(&@$)@#$).I looked at her. Again she said, : Pwerwneoiwfn(&@$)@#$). I looked at her again. She leaned closer and murmured,

    Yer no’ unnerstan’n a wrrrrrrrd I’m sayn, arrrre ye?

    No, I replied, but if you could speak (here I caught myself before saying “English”) – more slowly, perhaps I would.

    She switched to perfect BBC-news-presenter English** and informed me that there were more pins displayed on the far wall I might care to peruse…

    FTR I’d delayed visiting the Aisles til this umpteenth European trip on the grounds it was cheating to go where English was the native tongue. Could’ve saved myself the trouble: BritRailing north I discovered Yorkshirefolk were less comprehensible than Parisians, though my French was by then >30 years old. Newcastle was worse, And Sco’lan, Lan’ o’ th’ Glo”al Stop….

    ** Rumor hath it (or had it, anyway) that any BBC news presenter whose ancestry is not obviously extra-Aisle is odds-on to be a Scot.​​

  100. 100.

    Geminid

    @Uncle Cosmo: My friend Debbie’s Ma is Sicilian. She’s Irish on her father’s side and grew up in Medford, Mass. After I knew Debbie for a while I decided Medford’s Town Motto must be, “Blow It Out Your Ass, Buddy”.

  101. 101.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Geminid: “The Triangle” is a gorgeous island within ~5 km of the sea. Taormina, on the slopes of Mt Etna, is a real jewel. Further inland it’s mainly sulfur mines and pea farms (which contribute an essential food group to la gastronomia siciliana). My father’s family comes from almost dead center, a smallish town a few km outside Caltanissetta (pop. 62,000), capital of the eponymous provincia.

  102. 102.

    Geminid

    @Uncle Cosmo: I think Aleister Crowley lived in Taormina for a while in the 1920s, as part of an “artists colony.” Then the colony was broken up, I think by the Fascists. Crowley wrote about this period in his Autobiography, and I got the sense that this was the last bright period in his life. The remainder seemed kind of gloomy.

  103. 103.

    JAFD

    The Portugese / Brazilian supermarket in my neighborhood used to have jars of passionfruit puree and caramel / dulche de leche swirled like those peanut butter and jelly combinations ….
    (If you want to make ‘Caramel Knowledge’ jokes, that was title of cookbook by Al Sicherman (food writer fo a Minneapolis paper, has sense of humor like mine. Hope to find another copy oneovdezedaze.))

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