Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Republicans in disarray!

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Let me file that under fuck it.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

That meeting sounds like a shotgun wedding between a shitshow and a clusterfuck.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

So fucking stupid, and still doing a tremendous amount of damage.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: Something Attempted, Something Done

TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: Something Attempted, Something Done

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A federal appeals court Thursday night rejected Steve Bannon’s bid to delay the July 1 start of his criminal contempt-of-Congress prison sentence.

Following the ruling from the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals, it is likely the former adviser to former President Donald Trump will seek the intervention of the Supreme Court…

A jury found Bannon guilty of contempt nearly two years ago for not complying with a House January 6 Committee subpoena for his testimony, but his trial judge initially paused his four-month prison sentence for his appeal to play out.

Earlier this month, however, US District Judge Carl Nichols lifted that hold on Bannon’s sentence at the request of the Justice Department, which pointed to a recent decision by the DC Circuit that upheld his conviction.

In recent days, Bannon has amped his rhetoric against the Justice Department, telling a conservative gathering in Detroit this month that they would “purge” the department and “take apart” the FBI if Trump won the election.

Absent a Supreme Court intervention, Bannon is slated to serve his sentence at a low-security prison camp in Danbury, Connecticut, CNN previously reported. Because he is facing New York state criminal charges for his involvement in an the allegedly fraudulent “Build the Wall” fundraising scheme, he will not be sent to the minimal-security prison camps known as a “Club Fed.” …

Confirmation of yesterday’s speculation:

Reader Interactions

151Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    It’ll be a showdown between Biden and Trump

    Or Biden and an empty chair.

    I did read that the money caucus is pulling out all the stops. Biden will end up having to win with less funding than Trump.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    With even Fox News now acknowledging that Biden is pulling ahead,

    the nation turns to the NYT as it’s last hope.

  4. 4.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Baud: I flinched when I saw the news about the relative fund raising. But I take comfort in knowing that much of Trump’s money will go to his legal bills. Also, I believe that under Lara Trump money is going for an army of election observers, lawyers, etc, and not funding local candidates or GOTV

  6. 6.

    Baud

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    People like to talk about fighting the oligarchs until you tell them they need to turn out and vote.

    I’m most interested in seeing whose side labor will be on. Labor leaders know what’s what, but I’m not sure about the workers.

  9. 9.

    Kay

    Kyle Rittenhouse’s sister Faith is seeking $3,000 on a crowdfunding website in a bid to prevent the eviction of herself and her mother Wendy from their home, citing her “brother’s unwillingness to provide or contribute to our family.”

    He may not have it. I think he’s a failed Right wing influencer. Considering the quality of Right wing influencers and how much billionaire money is sloshing around on the Right, failing at it is quite an accomplishment.

  10. 10.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    When I watched the piece on “essentially closing the gun show loophole at the federal level”, my immediate reaction was “Why hasn’t anybody sued to stop this?”  Sure enough:

    cnn.com/2024/05/01/politics/gun-show-loophole-lawsuit-biden-administration/index.html

    Wonder how many years it’ll take to get before the Not-Surpeme Court so they can overturn the rule.

    I often make the analogy of how modern day ‘Murka and it’s love of guns really isn’t different than the late stages of the Aztec Empire.  By that I mean the blood sacrifices a large chunk of our population thinks is just a-okay in order to satisfy the God of the Second Amendment.  Aztecs just did their blood sacrifices with less technology.

  11. 11.

    wjca

    @Baud: Labor leaders know what’s what, but I’m not sure about the workers.

    Sometimes,  a top down approach can be the best shot at getting the job done.

  12. 12.

    topclimber

    Bannon: Put me in jail and we will purge the FBI and DOJ when Trump wins.

    Bannon: Don’t put me in jail and we will purge the FBI and DOJ when Trump wins.

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud:I did read that the money caucus is pulling out all the stops. Biden will end up having to win with less funding than Trump.

    I’m not so sure about that. He’s got to feed a lot of lawyers and he is loathe to let any money slide thru his grubby little mitts without some of it being left between his sticky fingers.

  16. 16.

    Layer8Problem

    @topclimber:

    Bannon:  “If you put me in the federal lockup, I and my friends shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”

    Non-MAGAts:  “Yeah, sure, maybe, but in the meantime we’ll be enjoying remembering the look on your face as the bars slammed shut on you.”

  20. 20.

    Trivia Man

    I’m reminded of Animal Farm and the whisper campaigns. Whenever the pigs want to do something clearly counter to the revolution, the sneaky pig walks around offering a plausible reinterpretation and all the animals get on board. Two legs bad? No! Here is why 2 legs are actually better!
    The billionaires have plenty of money to buy just the right messaging to sow confusion and Bothsideserism.

  21. 21.

    smith

    @Layer8Problem: He might as well get comfy, as his NY fraud trial is coming up in September. That’s a state trial, so no federal pardon, and it’s a crime that will get him more than a few months.

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    ‘My heart does not have any other job’: Lhakpa Sherpa, the record-breaking Nepalese climber who cleans houses in Connecticut

    When Lhakpa Sherpa was a small child growing up in a tiny village in the Himalayas, her mother warned her that if she didn’t behave herself, the yetis would come and snatch her away.

    It was a hollow threat – or so she thought. Then, one day as she played outside with her friends, she saw them: very tall, with blond hair and blue eyes, climbing up the hill in her direction. The children screamed in panic and scattered. When Sherpa’s mother heard the commotion and saw the figures reaching the village, she too screamed and ran from the yetis. It was her community’s first encounter with western tourists.

    She tells this story to illustrate how far she has come: from Makalu – a verdant, temperate and sparsely populated Nepalese region on the doorstep of Mount Everest – to the slightly less atmospheric northern English city of Sheffield, where we meet during DocFest to talk about the documentary Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa.

    It is a film that details the extraordinary life of a 48-year-old single mother working in a supermarket in the US state of Connecticut, who also happens to be one of the best mountain climbers in the world.

    Gonna have to catch her documentary.

  27. 27.

    SFAW

    @Baud: ​
     

    Or Biden and an empty chair.

    TCFFG will show up, if for no other reason than to Gish gallop through a series of lies and fake “proposals.”

    I did read that the money caucus is pulling out all the stops. Biden will end up having to win with less funding than Trump.

    $50M of that was from Tim “Walking Talking Advert for Why Inherited Billions Should Largely Be Confiscated” Mellon. I wonder — although not enough to research it — whether that’s the difference in putting TCFFG’s campaign ahead of Biden’s re: money.

  28. 28.

    smith

    @WereBear: This was a federal crime, so he’s going to a federal prison. Not the one called Club Fed, which he preferred, but a less comfortable one.

    As I mentioned above, though, he has an upcoming NY state trial on much more serious charges, so you can hope for some Rikers time for that one.

  30. 30.

    SFAW

    @WereBear:

    Tell me Bannon is going to Rikers! Tell me please.

    With any luck, he’d be going to Rikers to visit one of the inmates. Specifically, his former boss, TCFFG.

  32. 32.

    smith

    @SFAW: I’d wait for FEC reports before concluding Biden is behind. We keep hearing stories about the Felon’s big money hauls, and then when report time comes a lot of that money seems to have evaporated.

  33. 33.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    He’s got to feed a lot of lawyers and he is loathe to let any money slide thru his grubby little mitts without some of it being left between his sticky fingers.

    QFT.

    Also, I don’t think that, within certain parameters, more vs. less money is a meaningful metric. The question is whether a campaign has enough money to do the necessary work, without feeling constrained.

  34. 34.

    gene108

    @smith:

    Rikers is only if he’s denied bail or cannot pay the bail amount before the trial.

    I doubt either are likely possibilities.

  35. 35.

    wjca

    @Trivia Man: The billionaires have plenty of money to buy just the right messaging to sow confusion and Bothsideserism.

    I’ve seen an argument (maybe even here, when I was reading while falling asleep) that the billionaires figure supporting TCFG is a one-way bet.  Because if Biden wins, he won’t lock them up for “disloyalty” or something.  Whereas TCFG well might.

    But it seems to have escaped their notice that Democratic politicians can hold grudges, too.  TCFG is a threat to democracy — i.e. to their jobs, not to mention power.  A history of supporting that might be the spur needed to get Democrats to not only roll back the TCFG’s tax cuts (the ones which aren’t already slated to expire), but to getting serious about making some long overdue fixes** to our tax system.

    And, apparently, some of them feel getting taxed is about as bad as getting locked up.  Except for being harder to avoid.

    ** And they are fixes.  Not anything radically new.

  36. 36.

    raven

    @TBone: RE your “I can’t believe I have to defend. . .here”. There is nothing here that someone won’t have a problem with. It’s the nature of BJ, don’t let it bring you down, it’s only castles burning.

  38. 38.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    CNN sources say this treasonous shitheel will be going to a Fed prison in Danbury CT:

    cnn.com/2024/06/17/politics/steve-bannon-danbury-prison-contempt-of-congress/index.html

    The prison in Connecticut where Bannon will live houses a large number of white-collar criminals, but it also may house violent and sex offenders in its men’s population.
    It doesn’t have cells, and instead houses its inmates in open pods. Yet it does have a noticeable barrier — referred to colloquially as “the wall” — between the prison facility and the outside world, which prison camps don’t have.
    More than 1,000 male prisoners are in the Danbury facility.

  39. 39.

    Tony Jay

    Jackal News – Breaking News

    Pro-Biden elements within the Armed Forces accused of deploying top-secret ‘Havana Syndrome’ technology to sabotage Trump campaign.

    ”It would explain a lot” reveals anonymous insider.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    @wjca: Taxes and regulation are the only real thing rich people have to fear from government.  But they also fear loss of social status, and that’s something we can take away from them if we become dominant.

  42. 42.

    TBone

    I am stirring my cauldron today, adding noxious ingredients while thinking about the fuckery Aileen Cannon is about to get up to today and next week.  Bless her heart.

  43. 43.

    sdhays

    @Baud: The CEO is Winnett’s buddy and brought him in a transparently corrupt “process”. Getting rid of him is the real prize.

    I find it odd (well, not when I consider billionaire politics) that the “big idea” from Bezos to get to 100m subscribers is to hire some asshats from foreign right-wing media and just “let them do their thing”. It seems to me that if I were him, I’d be looking outside media altogether if I really wanted to shake things up, from a business perspective. Hiring from British media is just….tired.

  44. 44.

    topclimber

    @SFAW: I think almost all of this money comes via PACs. At least for broadcast media, they pay more for ads than do candidate committees. So maybe any differential will not be that great.

  45. 45.

    smith

    @gene108: He might be able to pull off some really flagrant contempt of court during his trial. That would mean Rikers, I believe. He’s good at contempt.

  46. 46.

    gene108

    @Kay:

    Right wing influencers and how much billionaire money is sloshing around on the Right, failing at it is quite an accomplishment.

    Even talented grifters have a limited shelf life in making big money as right-wing influencers.

    Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, etc. had their time in the Sun and are now living off those earnings. I’m sure there are more examples of former right-wing influencers falling by the wayside.

    Kyle doesn’t strike me as talented.

  48. 48.

    wjca

    @gene108: Rikers is only if he’s denied bail or cannot pay the bail amount before the trial.

    Wouldn’t it also be a possibility if he’s still jailed on Federal charges when his state trial comes around?  Rather than hassling with transporting him daily from whatever Federal prison he is gracing.

  49. 49.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WereBear: He is going to prison based on a federal conviction for contempt of Congress.  Rikers is a New York state facility.  IOW no.

  52. 52.

    Soprano2

    @Baud: I think what the money is paying for is as important as how much there is. Biden’s money is paying for field offices and ads, stuff like that. TCFG’s money is being put into his pocket to pay for his attorneys. Big difference in how much it helps their turnout.

  54. 54.

    gene108

    One thing to remember about Bannon, Trump pardoned him from federal charges relating to his Build the Wall scam, yet he’s still managed to end up in prison.

  55. 55.

    Soprano2

    @topclimber: I heard the O-Boys talking about how money to a candidate for ads is more efficient than money to PACs, because the candidate pays a certain set rate whereas PACs pay whatever the station or paper wants to charge them.

  56. 56.

    karen marie

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Trump and the RNC are lying liars who lie. I wouldn’t believe their numbers on a bet.

    You can smell the desperation.

    Trump is now saying he’ll make tips nontaxable and “illegals” who graduate college will “automatically” get a green card. Not explained is how anyone will qualify for the latter given he’s promised to round them up and throw them out.

  57. 57.

    Layer8Problem

    @sdhays:  Puts me in mind of an ancient Mad magazine scandal sheet parody’s line:  “They say they tell you the truth, truth spelled ‘P-H-O-N-U-S B-A-L-O-N-U-S'”.

  58. 58.

    Geminid

    This morning I heard a local radio report that the FBI has identified the murderer of Julianne “Julie” Williams and her partner Laura “Lollie” Winans. The two women’s bodies were found in 1996 at their campsite in Shenandoah National Park. They’d been hiking the Appalachian trail, and their murders sent shockwaves through the hiking and LGBTQ communities.

    An FBI official said that a new team was set up to review the cold case in 2021, and it was able to match DNA found at the scene to that of Walter”Leo” Jones Sr. Jones died in an Ohio prison in 2018, at age 70. CBS described Jones as a serial rapist who “had served at least four separate prison terms after being convicted of kidnapping and multiple rapes and assaults

  61. 61.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I believe today is the day Judge Cannon holds her ridiculous mini-trial on whether Jack Smith was lawfully appointed. Will we hear much about that? Will we be able to tell which way the wind is blowing?

  63. 63.

    wjca

    @Soprano2: I think what the money is paying for is as important as how much there is. Biden’s money is paying for field offices and ads, stuff like that. TCFG’s money is being put into his pocket to pay for his attorneys.

    In short, what matters isn’t fundraising.   It’s how much actually gets used for campaigning.

    Not lawyers’ fees.   Not overpriced “rents” for offices on Trump properties.  Not going into Trump’s pocket in other ways.  But actual campaigning.

    EDT What jonas said

  64. 64.

    Baud

    @karen marie:

    Trump is now saying he’ll make tips nontaxable and “illegals” who graduate college will “automatically” get a green card. Not explained is how anyone will qualify for the latter given he’s promised to round them up and throw them out.

    It’s a reboot of the “Trump’s campaigning to Hillary’s left” from 2016. They need to excite their voters and dissuade our potential voters from turning out. You throw a bunch of fake promises out there and hopefully it’ll catch some low-info fish.

  65. 65.

    Glidwrith

    @Baud: College = Green Card sounds like the stupid version of DACA that is all Shitgibbon’s baby food brain can understand.

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    Promissory notes are not cash.

    It’s far from beyond Dolt 45 and the campaign to inflate numbers.

    Q.E.D.

    (As DeSantis would say, “the proof is in the pudding.”)

  67. 67.

    NotMax

    @NotMax

    BTW, was it beyond the pale for any reporter to take the time to count the number of seats in that Detroit church?

    8000? Yeah,, pull the other one.

  68. 68.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Trump’s little helper, just doin’ her job–and you know what that means (NYT gift link):

    Judge in Trump Documents Case Rejected Suggestions to Step Aside

    Shortly after Judge Aileen M. Cannon drew the assignment in June 2023 to oversee former President Donald J. Trump’s classified documents case, two more experienced colleagues on the federal bench in Florida urged her to pass it up and hand it off to another jurist, according to two people briefed on the conversations.

    The judges who approached Judge Cannon — including the chief judge in the Southern District of Florida, Cecilia M. Altonaga — each asked her to consider whether it would be better if she were to decline the high-profile case, allowing it to go to another judge, the two people said.

    But Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, wanted to keep the case and refused the judges’ entreaties.

    [more at link]

  69. 69.

    Layer8Problem

    @Baud:  Time to queue up another Maureen Dowd excretion titled “Donald the Generous, Joe the Skinflint”.

  70. 70.

    TBone

    Word of the Day:

    amici  🤡

    m.youtube.com/watch?v=6gXLXlUPIGM

    In one filing in support of Trump’s motion to toss the case, attorneys for a former attorney general and the right-wing nonprofit Citizens United wrote that because of his appointment outside of the Senate’s review, Smith “is thus one of the most powerful officials in the entire United States Government.”

    cnn.com/2024/06/21/politics/aileen-cannon-trump-classified-documents-special-counsel-constitutional-…

  71. 71.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Geminid:

    I remember that.  We were still in NoVA when it happened (just prior to moving to Central Misery) and it would occasionally be reported on in the WaPo over the subsequent years.

    Interesting that even more newer advances in DNA technology enabled this to happen.  Authorities aren’t being specific but this piece provides a good overview of the case:

    huffpost.com/entry/shenandoah-hikers-cold-case_n_66722a85e4b0502eac64ebb3

    I hope it brings some closure to the families.

  72. 72.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @NotMax: It’s almost like the press are being paid to be stupid. Worse than stupid actually, deliberately misleading.

  74. 74.

    Soprano2

    @O. Felix Culpa: Of course she wanted to keep the case, I think that’s part of the reason she was appointed where she is. She knows her job is delay and slow walking of this case as much as possible.

  77. 77.

    WereBear

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Also, I believe that under Lara Trump money is going for an army of election observers, lawyers, etc, and not funding local candidates or GOTV

    My friend, you keep bring the good news.

    I had wondered if Pandemic memoirs weren’t working– writing market-wise — and you confirmed my hunch. Thus, Mr WayofCats challenged me to only use the word “Pandemic” once.

    I want to see him, and raise him, by not mentioning it at all.

    Writer Craft Challenge has been declared. (Cracks imaginary transcribing knuckles.)

    I actually am rested and ready.

  79. 79.

    Percysowner

    @Baud:

    I did read that the money caucus is pulling out all the stops. Biden will end up having to win with less funding than Trump.

    Or more after TFG uses it to pay his legal bills, funnel a large portion into his own pocket, and skims off the top of what’s left.

  80. 80.

    WereBear

    @Ksmiami: I’d like to see it, on the horizon, at freakin’ least.

    Or is it a mirage to lure us into Death Valley? Ever onward, yet more and more meaningless.

  81. 81.

    WereBear

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:  Also, the Aztec sacrifices at least knew the deal, going in? Whether that was as war captives or Chosen One, all knew this ending.

    And everything they did was about the difficult soil, and fertilizers, available to them. Which explains a lot, to me.

  83. 83.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Soprano2: Exactly. I shouldn’t be astonished by how…unsubtle…she is about her mission, but am nonetheless gobsmacked. I hope the Dems will have the time and numbers to un-corrupt our judiciary.

    Also looking hard at certain Supremes, and you know who they are.

  84. 84.

    Sanjeevs

    @Baud: Biden will definitely win with less money than Trump if you include all the in kind contributions like Musks’s 44 billion Twitter, the Chinese government’s Tik Tok etc

  87. 87.

    Anoniminous

    @Baud:

    Follow the money.  Trump’s 2017 Tax Abatement dropped the Rich People tax rate from 35% to 21% and it runs out next year.  Trump will extend it.  Biden won’t.

  88. 88.

    Delk

    Won’t matter where Bannon will be sent. Once those DT’s kick in, he’ll be in hell.

  91. 91.

    O. Felix Culpa

    WRT to campaign money, there isn’t a one-to-one relationship between dollars raised and votes cast.

    So, “Campaign X has raised more money than Campaign Y” isn’t necessarily meaningful in terms of outcomes. More important is whether (1) a campaign has raised enough money to GOTV effectively and (2) how well its funds are used to GOTV.

    With those qualifiers, I think the Biden campaign is in a better position than the Felon’s.

  93. 93.

    TBone

    @gene108: then, New York state prosecutors (Alvin Bragg) charged him with that same fraud, hence his upcoming NY trial.  And the trial judge is Juan Merchan 😂

  95. 95.

    WereBear

    @wjca: See, this must be why I’m not evil enough to understand power, or something.

    That makes perfect sense. We are known as cuddly stuffed animals in the political jungle. Arrogance, etc.

    Also, the accepted wisdom seems to have filtered into even the brains of least sharp leadership that the whole “be above it” thing didn’t work for Kerry, had to work the way Obama worked it, and then didn’t work and was dirty-tricked besides with HRC.

    But with Old White Guy teflon armor, we get Biden. And shenanigans. I love it.

    They have been holding him back, she mused.

  96. 96.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Sanjeevs:

    Biden will definitely win with less money than Trump if you include all the in kind contributions like Musks’s 44 billion Twitter, the Chinese government’s Tik Tok etc

    Good point. Under “etc.” would also be Russian disinformation campaigns, Fox “News,” and other domestic RW media outlets.

  98. 98.

    wjca

    @O. Felix Culpa:  I shouldn’t be astonished by how…unsubtle…she is about her mission, but am nonetheless gobsmacked.

    It’s the Servant Problem: it’s just so hard to get decent help these days!

    At least if your name is Trump.  (However does Biden manage it, do you suppose?)

  101. 101.

    Geminid

    @O. Felix Culpa: Joe Biden’s campaign seems to use its money fairly efficiently. What with the grifting, smash and grab ethos that pervades the modern Republican party from the top on down, it’s hard to see how they will use their money efficiently or very effectively.

    But quantity can sometimes make up for quality, and Republicans will lie their asses off, so I have to take these efforts seriously.

  102. 102.

    Omnes Omnibus

    First case of the day:  Texas v New Mexico.  5-4 by Jackson.  Gorsuch dissents, joined by Thomas, Alito, and Barrett.   It’s a water rights case.  I am assuming it is a good result based on the voting pattern.

  104. 104.

    Redshift

    @wjca:

    In short, what matters isn’t fundraising. It’s how much actually gets used for campaigning.

    This. In addition to all the grift and legal bills, it was reported that instead of putting money into campaign offices and voter contact, the RNC is promising to have tens of thousands of poll watchers to catch “voter fraud.” Meanwhile, the Biden campaign is about to open their fifth or sixth campaign office here in Virginia to do the work that wins campaigns.

  106. 106.

    Almost Retired

    Well nuts.  The second case is Department of State vs. Munoz.  It involved whether the denial of a visa to a non-citizen spouse constitutionally violates the rights of the US citizen spouse, and if so, did the government explain it’s reason for the denial.  In this case, the Salvadoran spouse was denied because his tattoos were suspicious (i.e., suggested gang affiliation).

    This one is personal.  Sandra Munoz is a friend and colleague.  We’ve both practiced the same kind of law in Los Angeles for about the same period of time, and I’ve co-counseled cases with her former firm.  The result is heartbreaking, but not unexpected.  Sigh.  Sandra has a hilarious podcast called “Law and Order Me Some Tacos.”

  110. 110.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Geminid: Agree that gross differentials in quantity can swamp quality, but I stipulated enough money to do the work, along with doing it well. My concern is that too often people–and campaigns, for obvious reasons–talk as if dollars raised equals votes cast.

  112. 112.

    frosty

    @TBone: Good to hear someone is hard at work. I have a box of stuff to go to Household Hazardous Waste disposal if you need more noxious ingredients.

  113. 113.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Erlinger v US.  6-3 by Gorsuch.  Kavanaugh, Alito, and Jackson(!)

    The question before the court is whether, in cases arising under the Armed Career Criminal Act, which imposes mandatory prison terms on some defendants who have committed three violent felonies or serious drug offenses on separate occasions, a judge should use a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard to decide whether the offenses were committed on separate occasions or instead a jury must make those decisions unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt.  The court holds that the Fifth and Sixth Amendments require a unanimous jury to make that determination beyond a reasonable doubt.

  115. 115.

    Rusty

    @smith: my understanding is Bannon will be housed at Rikers during that trial.  I hope he enjoys the accommodations.

  116. 116.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Baud: Munoz sounds like a truly bad (and cruel) decision. Where is that damn meteor when you need it?

  117. 117.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Smith v Arizona.  Unanimous in result by Kagan.  Several concurrences.

    This is a case about the Confrontation Clause, which guarantees a criminal defendant the right to confront the witness against him.  And in particular, this is a case about [w]hether the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees a defendant the right to confront the witnesses against him, allows prosecutors to use expert testimony about evidence – here, a report prepared by a different crime lab analyst who no longer worked at the lab and did not testify at trial – that was not itself admitted into evidence, on the grounds that the testifying expert was simply offering his own opinion and that the defendant could have subpoenaed the original analyst.  The court holds today that when an expert conveys an absent analyst’s statements in support of the expert’s opinion, and the statements provide that support only if true, then the statements come into evidence for their truth.  But the court does not decide whether the out-of-court statements that the expert conveyed in this case were in fact testimonial, because the state court did not decide that question.

    Instead, the court leaves that question for the state court to decide (as well as the question whether the state has forfeited the argument that the expert’s statements were not testimonial).

  118. 118.

    3Sice

    Random Interweb comment….

    Trump has averaged more than $90,000 a day in legal-related costs for more than three years — none of it paid for with his own money. Instead, the former president has relied almost entirely on donations made in an attempt to fight the results of the 2020 election. Now, those accounts are nearly drained.

    The RNC accounted for the bulk of the Trump payments, with 84% of the RNC’s spending going toward legal costs.

    There is pushing the Big Lie, and then there is the idiocy of the current GOP, which is more akin to faking a book report.

  121. 121.

    Omnes Omnibus

    United States v. Rahimi.  8-1 by Roberts.  Dissent by Thomas.  Several concurrences.

    The court holds that when an individual has been found by a court to pose a credible threat to the physical safety of another, that individual may be temporarily disarmed consistent with the Second Amendment.  Roberts explains that “Since the founding, our Nation’s firearm laws have included provisions preventing individuals who threaten physical harm to others from misusing firearms. As applied to the facts of this case, Section 922(g)(8) fits comfortably within this tradition.”

  122. 122.

    smith

    @Redshift: The Biden campaign announced yesterday that they have hired 1,000 organizers in the  swing states. The Felon has said he’s going to rely on Charlie Kirk’s TPUSA for GOTV, something it’s never done before. Otherwise, as noted, they’re spending their money on voter and electon worker intimidation.

  123. 123.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @smith: It is important for the Biden campaign to fight against voter intimidation, both before and during voting. I assume that’s part of their strategy. It certainly was in 2020.

  125. 125.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Geminid: Good question. I haven’t seen any numbers yet,  but his campaign is gearing up and grassroots events to support him have already started. I’ve received several notifications that his campaign is hiring. The state and county parties will make a major effort to reelect Vasquez.

  131. 131.

    Chris

    @wjca:

    And, apparently, some of them feel getting taxed is about as bad as getting locked up.  Except for being harder to avoid.

    Actually, I don’t think they’re nearly as dumb about that kind of thing as they look.

    There was a really revealing Elon Musk moment on Twitter last year, when somebody pointed out that for all his pissing and moaning about American liberals, he never made a peep about [I forget which country it was that was going on a full blown authoritarian bender].  To which Musk responds “well YEAH, because the LAW in that country is that if I say anything about it, Twitter will get BANNED and CENSORED, omg you people are SO STUPID!!!”

    They know damn well where the line is between a government that fully respects your rights as a citizen and then some but still taxes and regulates you a little, and a government that’ll actually oppress the shit out of them if they put one toe out of line.  And when they’re dealing with the latter, their noses get real brown.  They piss and moan about liberals largely because they know it’s risk-free, and ultimately, they run on the same logic as their middle-class peers in the Proud Boys et al: if there’s an easy target or at least one that won’t land you in much trouble, go after it, because it’s a sucker and that’s their lot in life, but be careful not to anger those above you in the pecking order.

  132. 132.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Why is it so hard for people to understand something so simple? Protesting outside of Jewish day school in LA, while shouting for Jewish families to “Go back to Germany,” does not resemble anything CLOSE to activism. It’s antisemitism in its purest form.

    This is why some of us were uncomfortable, right from the jump, with the notion that we can’t possibly criticize anyone who holds a FreePalestine sign or cloaks their actions under a veil of Anti-Zionism and that anyone who dared to do so was simply “ProGenocide.”

    It was always painfully fucking obvious that that sort of knee-jerk defense was going to enable gross Anti-Semitism by attracting shitty people who just want to make life miserable for Jewish People. Whether or not these assholes are “real” members of the movement or not is beside the point. The constant dismissiveness Gaza protestors and their supporters have shown towards anyone who tried to point out how “Anti-Zionist” can (and often is) easily weaponized into Anti-Semitism is a big part of how we got here. It gave bad faith actors the cheat code for how to be Anti-Semitic with just enough plausible deniability to claim they do so in the name of “Justice.”

  133. 133.

    Chris

    @Baud:

    It’s a reboot of the “Trump’s campaigning to Hillary’s left” from 2016. They need to excite their voters and dissuade our potential voters from turning out. You throw a bunch of fake promises out there and hopefully it’ll catch some low-info fish.

    The media environment makes this easy.  Fox News et al will make sure their viewers never hear about how he’s promising green cards to illegal immigrants (which he doesn’t have to do very often anyway), whereas mainstream news consumers will hear all about how Trump is doing it and talk about how this proves he’s so much more complex than the nasty liberals’ stereotype and he might actually be to their left!

    For obvious reasons, this kind of thing isn’t an option for Democrats.  Like most games, political campaigns get a lot easier when the umpires are in your pocket.

  135. 135.

    JML

    It’s also important to remember when it comes to fundraising that not all dollars are equal. Direct funds into a campaign committee are better than SuperPACs, and it’s not close. There’s a lot more you can do with it, your ad buys are cheaper, etc. You also have to check the burn rates closely: even now, a campaign should be filling it’s coffers and growing its cash-on-hand numbers while ramping up efforts. Biden’s COH numbers have been very healthy.

    Also, any sources on quotes about concern need to be checked carefully: the consultant class is very good at raising “concerns” any time they’re being shut out of the gains…

  137. 137.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @JML:

    “the consultant class is very good at raising “concerns” any time they’re being shut out of the gains…”

    Excellent point. I would add that one should always be skeptical about complaints from unnamed concern-havers, especially wrt Democratic campaigns. Agendas are being furthered, and not necessarily in good faith.

  139. 139.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @JML: the consultant class is very good at raising “concerns” any time they’re being shut out of the gains

    I’m not sure what you’re implying there.

    By the way, can I offer you an absolutely free inspection of your car / roof / driveway / windows / home appliances just to see if there are any concerns?

  142. 142.

    wjca

    @O. Felix Culpa: . I wonder sometimes if those unnamed concern- havers are even real people or real Dems.

    Does someone qualify as a “real Democrat” if they are registered as a Democrat, but haven’t voted for one in a general election in years?  Asking for a friend.

  146. 146.

    Chris

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    Hard agree. I wonder sometimes if those unnamed concern- havers are even real people or real Dems. How would we know?

    The media has perfected the art of trading on the widespread assumption that they’re liberal.  You don’t even have to actually say it, just report as if it were true and let the assumptions do your work for you.  They can do it on behalf of other people too.

  148. 148.

    Ruckus

    @smith:

    when report time comes a lot of that money seems to have evaporated.

    Lawyers are expensive, especially if you need them in ever increasing numbers…..

  149. 149.

    JML

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    I’m not sure what you’re implying there.

    By the way, can I offer you an absolutely free inspection of your car / roof / driveway / windows / home appliances just to see if there are any concerns?

    LOL. “no one knows as much about buying in the NYC media market as me. what do you mean, you’re not doing tv buys in NYC and having me handle the targeting at 13% of the ad buy? This situation is DIRE!”

  150. 150.

    Ruckus

    @3Sice:

    and then there is the idiocy of the current GOP, which is more akin to faking a book report.

    My understanding is that the idiocy of the current Grand Old Poop party is more akin to the 3 Stooges attempting to rob a bank by walking in the liquor store across the street and trying to open an account.

  151. 151.

    Shalimar

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I can’t think of a single one of my ancestors who wasn’t already in Virginia or North Carolina 250 years ago.  Doesn’t matter.  Even setting aside being a decent human being, our economy is currently built on immigrant labor.  Subtract 10 million people and it falls apart for all of us.

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