Not only is it good news that Ed Martin is out; this is as express an acknowledgment we've seen so far from Trump about how the Senate can reject his nominees. Remember when his term started and he was going to try to force a recess to get his folks through in an authoritarian way?
— Rick Hasen (@rickhasen.bsky.social) May 8, 2025 at 12:36 PM
We’re all enjoying the comic potential of replacement Judge Jeanne ‘Winebox’ Pirro’s nomination, but let’s celebrate a righteous citizen’s one-person protest…
we've all moved on to pope stuff but this article has some pretty wild details about Martin's tenure at the DC US attorney's office www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/u…
— Quinta Jurecic (@qjurecic.bsky.social) May 8, 2025 at 12:46 PM
WaPo reports on Ed Martin's memory lapses when Senators asked him whether he'd ever called Jan. 6 a staged operation, called J6ers patriots, victims, politically persecuted, and deserving of reparations, called prosecutors despicable, and called for firing Capitol cops who spoke of what they saw.
— Walter Olson (@walterolson.bsky.social) May 8, 2025 at 9:07 AM
D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin was spat on during a live interview.pic.twitter.com/L6Ox3on1bn
— Community Notes & Violations (@CNviolations) May 9, 2025
A passerby spat on Washington D.C’s interim U.S. attorney, Ed Martin, as he was giving a live interview.
The incident was captured on video, which went viral.
“We need to get really focused,” Martin started saying to the television reporter, when the unidentified woman pointed her finger at him before spitting at him and then walking off.
According to The New York Post, when the incident happened, Martin was speaking about the withdrawal of his nomination to be the permanent U.S. attorney to Newsmax on May 8, 2025. Fox News host Jeanine Pirro was nominated instead to be U.S. attorney for the Washington D.C. district.
It appeared the woman was simply walking past when she spotted Martin because she was also walking a dog.
“You are Ed Martin,” the woman said before spitting on him…
let's go to the replay from another angle fam
— Microplastics Sommelier (@leastactionhero.bsky.social) May 10, 2025 at 10:19 AM
for some reason, under this video on twitter, all of the brave masculine warriors for conservatism are melting down and calling for this woman's arrest. such stoic bravery from that crowd.
— Microplastics Sommelier (@leastactionhero.bsky.social) May 10, 2025 at 12:20 AM
You can always spit on Ed Martin. It is always morally correct.
— The Almighty Tallest (@spooknine.bsky.social) May 10, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Jeffro
Ed Martin, Russell Vought, Mike Davis, Stephen Miller…sooooo many shitballs in this goon squad who’d never find a job in any remotely normal administration.
(and that’s not even counting the monumentally unfit Cabinet officials…Patel, Gabbard, RFWTF Jr, Oz…I’m just talking about the Vanilla Faces of Evil)
Anyway…glad she nailed Martin and I hope Vought’s next!
raven
Setting up 50 more years of wingnut “OOOO, they spit on me”.
sab
The GOP hasn’t come to their senses. Ed Martin in DC would have jurisdiction over them and their staffs,
They were just protecting themselves from a rampant nutjob. Still not the least bit concerned with their constituents.
Mike E
@raven: yeah I’m surprised he didn’t don a spare hardhat and chase her down.
Ten Bears
Actually, spitting on someone is assault. You could be carrier of a bug that kills someone.
Not kidding, I’ve seen it charged …
trollhattan
Not to worry, his replacement will be lit.
https://youtu.be/FJdDn006ldI?si=zyyWNaBrgXJc3-2q
sab
@Ten Bears: I agree on spitting as a no-no and also an assault.
John Sterling
So what’s the news on the Columbus get together next week? Still on? Cancelled?
sab
@John Sterling: Nobody has said it was cancelled, so I assume still on.
ETA I am certainly counting on it being on.
trollhattan
Just want to note the happy addition of tree-wrangling doggie today on the page footer. Tree never had a chance.
bbleh
@Ten Bears: @sab: true. Assuming she is identified and charged, how long before her defense GoFundMe hits $500,000?
Also was this DC? Questionable whether she’d even be indicted.
NutmegAgain
So, it seems that it only takes one Repub with a spine (or other anatomy of your choice) to shoot these vicious dinguses down.
caphilldcne
@Ten Bears: sadly it is often charged to people living with HIV. HIV cannot be transmitted through spit. There is literally no known case of this happening. But people get charged all the time and it leads to enhanced penalties or forces people to plea bargain.
NutmegAgain
@trollhattan: Agreed. I’m spending inordinate amount of time looking at pix of various dogs. Also wombats, sloths, and various creatures.
Baud
@raven:
At least they don’t have to make something up this time.
Jay
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/10/newark-mayor-denies-trespassing-at-immigration-center-following-arrest
eclare
@sab:
I agree yet I somehow condone it. After all, you can’t carry rotting fruit or a rotting fish with you everywhere!
HinTN
Happy fishing, @raven:. Even with rain the OB ought to be lovely.
John Sterling
@sab: Great! Where and when?
Baud
An early upgrade
Go USA!
columbusqueen
@sab: Yes, it’s still on. Just sent a little reminder for WaterGirl to post tomorrow.
Jay
@eclare:
Or get to prep their food order.
Another Scott
@Jay:
As usual, ICE and 47’s goons are lying about nearly everything.
Best wishes,
Scott.
different-church-lady
@Ten Bears:
That just makes this one even better.
Ben Cisco
I’ll outsource this one to the Geto Boys:
WV Blondie
@NutmegAgain: Martin’s problem was he couldn’t get his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Cmte w/o Tillis’ vote – if the nomination made it to the full Senate, he’d have been confirmed.
Baud
@Ten Bears:
It’s assault no matter even without any disease.
satby
@Baud: Yeah, he’ll surely disappoint on some adherence to outdated church doctrine, but on the whole he’ll be a better Pope than Francis, and since he’s younger he’ll have possibly even more longterm impact. And Francis was a serious upgrade from the previous ones.
Ihop
Was the pupper on board with this obviously craven act?
Another Scott
@Baud: Update – Interview was in 2022.
Even better.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Baud
@Another Scott:
Thanks for the update.
eclare
@Ben Cisco:
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta – woman who spit on Martin
Matt McIrvin
@Ben Cisco: reminds me of the Iliad, in a strange way.
Another Scott
Long thread from the DNC chair:
There seems to be some undiscussed stuff going on (I know about Hogg’s PAC, but I don’t know what else might be going on in the DNC about it or him). It sounds like Martin’s officer neutrality pledge might be a way to address whatever the issues are, assuming everyone signs and abides by it, but we’ll see.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Jay
@Baud:
They can charge it as assault, but that’s why you should always research sentencing guidelines and convictions, to find an assault that has similar sentencing to find “better” more impactful alternatives.
Baud
@Another Scott:
Weird. Just do it.
Is there a copy somewhere?
schrodingers_cat
@Another Scott: Hogg was badmouthing Ds in general and elected Ds in particular on Bill Maher’s show. And Clyburn was one of the people he criticized by name. With Ds like this who needs Rs.
Black Twitter is predicting that we will see him at the RNC convention of 2028 at this rate.
the pollyanna from hell
I just found out ubuntu needs to forget networks in order to use a new range extender. Yippee!
Another Scott
@Baud: Dunno. Presumably any changes have to be voted on and approved.
Nothing’s jumping out at me in a quick search.
I do see some FTFNYT and Politico stories about Martin and Hogg, that they seem to be trying to pump up into Democrats in Disarray™ Part MCMXLVIII, but no clicks from me for them. Maybe they have slanted stories about the Martin proposals.
FWIW.
Best wishes,
Scott.
kindness
@Another Scott: David Hogg has been talking smack about elected Democrats and pushing to have them primaried. He’s done this to some who are actually good Democrats. It seems as if many in the party find this annoying and counterproductive.
Another Scott
@schrodingers_cat: and @kindness: Ok. Thanks.
[ eta: ]
Martin’s right that leadership in the DNC shouldn’t be squashing debate. But the Party is a party of Democrats and if Hogg doesn’t want to be a Democrat, then he should move on. Drawing the line can be difficult, but always needs to be done. The Neutrality Pledge seems sensible.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
@kindness:
Definitely not something someone in a leadership position in the DNC should be doing.
Baud
@Another Scott:
The neutrality principle seems like one of those norms that will now be a rule. I don’t know if there are other proposals that are more controversial.
Baud
Via reddit, meme.
raven
@HinTN: We’ll be there for a week. Tuesday is the offshore trip and it looks rough but I’m hoping the rest will be good.
NaijaGal
@Ten Bears: Bashing in police officers heads during January 6 was assault. Ed Martin had no problem with that, so I’m sure he’s fine with a little spit.
(I don’t really disagree with you, but it’s often enlightening to see rightwingers’ reaction to conduct they’d condone against a person they oppose when it happens to them. I’m sure he’ll eventually call for her arrest plus the death penalty.)
Jay
@NaijaGal:
Naw, he’ll just start up a Give,Send,Go bleg asking for $1 million to cover the drycleaning costs.
eclare
@Baud:
That’s pretty good.
Kelly
As far as I know the guy that punched Nazi Richard Spenser remains unidentified.
Ben Cisco
@schrodingers_cat: Yeah, he can officially get…stuffed.
Jackie
@Baud:
Both spitting and coughing deliberately on someone – or as during the Covid scare – deliberately coughing on produce in grocery stores.
Jay
@Kelly:
The NAZI Richard Spencer never filed a Police Report or a complaint, so there was no investigation.
Ben Cisco
@eclare: HA!
Ben Cisco
@Matt McIrvin: They were poets for a new age, to be sure.
oldgold
Harriet Miers> Sam Alito; Matt Gaetz> Pam Bondi; Ed Martin> Jeanine Pirro
I am not sure when these nominations get pulled that they necessarily end up being wins for us.
NobodySpecial
@oldgold: Pirro is a win in that she’s even more unqualified, less respected even by her supposed allies, and much more likely to get pushback or resistance internally. Just like in the first administration, damage will be mitigated largely because these fools dream about unlimited power but have no ability to handle it.
TONYG
Ha ha ha. That video of the woman gave me the first good laugh that I’ve had in months. The fact that she had that tiny dog on a leash just made it extra funny.
Shalimar
@oldgold: Miers would have been better than Alito and I think most Democrats realized that at the time without knowing even 10% how bad Alito would end up being. But I think Gaetz and Martin are such lawless thugs that Bondi and Pirro won’t be as bad even with all the stupid shit Bondi has done so far.
Jay
@NobodySpecial:
Pirro told Kegstand to hold her beer, he drank it.
Judge Boxwine is a perfect DJTdiot nominee.
Lauryn11
Have any of you received a snail mail letter from the IRS saying they need to verify your identity before they can process your return ( a 5071 form)? I signed in on ID Me and they had some security add-ons (scan your DL/take a selfie) and then I got on site and filled in some questions about my return. Then I got a screen saying they needed further information and either call the IRS 800 number or make an appointment with the local office.
In 47 years of filing returns I have never had an issue. They know it’s me because my address and other info popped right up on the screen w no input. This is probably some DOGE / Elon fuckery. God knows how long I will have to wait on the phone or get an appointment thanks to them gutting the IRS. 😡😡
Ben Cisco
@Jay: BWAHAAHAAHAAA!!
Ben Cisco
@Lauryn11: Don’t engage! It’s some straight up DOGESHIT.
arrieve
Since this is an open thread: I am always grateful for any reminder of non-assholery, so I’m sharing this one.
Today was the last ESL class of the semester, and we had a party (with an amazing array of food including guacamole made on the spot). I love teaching this class, and I love my students, who are amazing smart, funny, hardworking people, many of whom have survived hardships MAGAt’s couldn’t even imagine.
One of my students this semester was a trans man. I was a little worried about how students in the class would respond to him because some Latin or Muslim cultures are very conservative, but everyone was kind and respectful. He was also pregnant, and had the baby a couple of weeks ago. And he came in today, and seeing the responses of my students to the baby was heartwarming. They treated him like anyone else who happened to have an adorable baby. And I thought, these people are so much better than the assholes in the government who are demonizing them. It is a privilege for me to get to know them.
oldgold
Mike Waltz> Stephen Miller ?
Sally
Whiskey Pete and Jeanine Pinot
Jay
@Lauryn11:
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/what-taxpayers-should-do-if-they-get-an-identity-theft-letter-from-the-irs
cain
@NobodySpecial:
She will be drunk most of the time and crying because she has a kush job earlier
Princess
Yes, spitting on a Nazi is assault as is punching a Nazi. I prefer to watch the latter on a loop, with Just Cant’t Get Enough in the background. If you’re like me, here it is:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LVCg8FmPlC8
Im guessing most of Balloon Juice won’t be on the barricades — can’t promise I’d be there either. But there may come a time, or maybe this is already the time when in order to stop these people, some other people are going to have to do things that are illegal.
stinger
So how many members of the administration, so far, are former Fox News talking heads?
Jay
@cain:
So she does Hindu Kush as well as boxwine?
MagdaInBlack
@Jay: Since this “administration” has pretty much devolved into a surreal shit show, I think Judge Boxwine is a perfect addition.
Ben Cisco
In lieu of a Saturday Night Music Thread, a musical interlude…
This one’s for you Steep…
Gil Scott-Heron – B Movie
“You don’t need to be in no hurry.
You ain’t never really got to worry.
And you don’t need to check on how you feel.
Just keep repeating that none of this is real.
And if you’re sensing, that something’s wrong,
Well just remember, that it won’t be too long
Before the director cuts the scene.
Yea
This ain’t really your life,
Ain’t really your life,
Ain’t really ain’t nothing but a movie.”
Jay
@stinger:
23 so far.
Suzanne
@Baud: I am cautiously optimistic that this Pope will be a good one, relatively speaking. And he’s fairly young, so he’ll be around a while….. so fingers crossed that he proves to be a positive influence.
Another Scott
@Lauryn11: @Jay:
I think Jay’s on the right track here – someone may have tried to claim your refund or who knows what else. There are all kinds of scams now, and just about everyone’s SS # and everything else is out there for the scammers to try to use. The IRS is trying to protect you.
I would: 1) Check the return address/phone numbers, etc., in the letter to make sure they’re legit, and if so 2) do what the letter asks, keeping my wits about me.
Good luck!
Best wishes,
Scott.
sentient ai from the future
@Ten Bears: perhaps the editors of the NEJM can be persuaded to weigh in on this, and clarify the situation.
JMG
@Lauryn11: Do you have a Democratic rep? Call their office. Do you have a Republican rep? Call their office and your local newspaper or TV news outlet.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: I always forget that phones get the sidebar stuff after the end of the comments!
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: A frequent phrase heard at my house is “you’re not helping” – works for the dog and the cats.
I’m sure the pup was just helping TaMara!
WaterGirl
@columbusqueen: I sent you email just now, asking for more info for the post.
mrmoshpotato
Ed Martin may be out, but the next nominee will be crap as well.
Jim Appleton
@NobodySpecial:
I like this. The Keystone Kleptomaniacs.
Lauryn11
@Another Scott: I did what the letter said but you have to go on the IRS website to accomplish it. That requires logging in with ID Me.
ID Me now is requiring you to scan your DL and a selfie to have an account (which I need to have to login/comply/communicate w the IRS). I’m not happy with them having my scanned DL and selfie linked to my IRS info but I can’t ignore the requirement or the IRS will not process my return. I probably should have just done everything the old fashioned way at the local IRS office, though they probably will make a copy of my ID, too, to verify it.
Princess
Omg, don’t ever think your vote doesn’t count: a riding in Québec just flipped to the Liberals after a recount shows they won it by one single vote. They are now two shy of a majority government with more recounts to come.
Another Scott
@Lauryn11: i had to do the ID.me thing with the drivers license and selfie thing this year to file our taxes as well. I didn’t like it either.
ID.me Privacy policy – Section 8:
It’s annoying, but I think everything the IRS and ID.me are asking of you is within their normal policies and not out of bounds. It’s the world we live in now.
I’m probably a little more sanguine than most about this stuff given my [redacted] job, so I commiserate. But I don’t think that DOGE or the other wrecking of the systems can be blamed (yet anyway). Jay’s link is from 2022 (if I recall correctly).
Good luck!
Best wishes,
Scott.
Matt McIrvin
@NobodySpecial: “Crush the lesser races! Conquer the galaxy! Unimaginable power! Unlimited rice pudding! Etcetera, etcetera…”
–The Seventh Doctor, mocking Davros with cosmic levels of sarcasm
NotMax
@Shalimar
Hitler’s dog: Blondi.
Dolt 47’s lapdog: Bondi.
//
laura
@schrodingers_cat: Black Twitter is not wrong, ever. David Hogg is the young fresh face of White Men, ever centered, ever large and in charge.
JoyceH
Is this thread still alive or has everyone gone over to the kitten thread? In case this is still being read, I’d like to repost something I just posted to Facebook that I’m still steaming about. Here it is:
Sigh. Once again I am disgusted and appalled, but not surprised, by the stupidity and incompetence of the Trump administration. Why? Because they fired the Librarian of Congress. Just saw a panel discussion on the topic and of course they’re right that the woman was fired because she is a black woman. But the panel skipped over the really enraging thing, which is this – nobody in this administration even knows what the Library of Congress IS.
Here’s administration spokes-chipmunk Karoline Leavitt on the firing – “We felt she did not fit the needs of the American people,” Ms. Leavitt told reporters at the White House. “There were quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children.”
Putting inappropriate books in the Library? Guys, here’s the thing. Yes, inappropriate books are in the Library of Congress. But they’re not checked out to children. They’re not checked out to anyone. You want to read a book in the Library, you go to the Reading Room and you read the book there, but you don’t walk out with it.
The Library of Congress is the repository of all the books published in the United States. Not the “appropriate” books. Not the books that meet the administration’s standards of worthiness. ALL. The. Books. And yes, some of them are awful books, some are stupid, some aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. Doesn’t matter. If it was published in the United States, it goes into the Library of Congress. Fercryinoutloud, the US Copyright Office is a department of the Library of Congress!
So while it’s important that this administration fired a black woman for being black (and you know damn well that’s what they did), let’s not overlook the fact that this gang of morons is running an immense government with absolutely no clue in the world what that government even does.
Craig
Thanks for this. I lived close enough to DC that I got to go to reading room a few times as a teen. Amazing place.
mrmoshpotato
@Princess: How do you say “FUCK TRUMP!” in Canadian French?
Jay
@mrmoshpotato:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Quebec/comments/1iuqf1m/inspired_by_someone_asking_the_best_way_to_say
It’s a whole thing.
Sally
@JoyceH: Thank you.
Ruckus
@Jim Appleton
The Keystone Kleptomaniacs.
They aren’t that bright.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@JoyceH: I had not yet seen that.
This regime is full of petty, silly, unserious people.
Ruckus
@JoyceH:
with absolutely no clue in the world what that government even does.
It’s not just what the government does that they have no clue about.
They don’t have a clue, period, the end.
They want a world that does not exist and never will. They want a world that gives them everything and everyone else nothing. But other than being fuckups they’ve got nothing. They weren’t the smartest in their kindergarten class, hell the chairs were smarter. And they haven’t gotten any better since. I don’t call him shitforbrains for no reason – and he’s their chosen one.
Now they will be able to fuck up anything and everything they touch, or likely even look in the general direction of, that’s how bad and stupid they are.
The big question is how long, how easy and how much will it cost to fix everything they fuck up? Because it isn’t going to be cheap. Or easy.
Ruckus
Ruckus
@Another Scott:
They wouldn’t be them if they weren’t lying. If they told the truth their jaws would drop off. Their pants might actually catch on fire. After their jaws dropped off so they can’t yell – anything.
This entire whatever the hell one might call this group of effectively morons has to be a negative, because that’s who and what they are, huge negatives. Not one iota of positive anything about them except the purity of the shit that comes out their mouths.
NaijaGal
@JoyceH: Oh, it’s OK – they’ll appoint one of the Afrikaner refugees arriving on Monday to be the new Librarian of Congress in place of the woke, DEI hire, Carla Hayden. The Afrikaners can add Hendrik Verwoerd’s thesis and expand the catalog of books to include the best South African books and articles exploring why apartheid makes great neighbors and is good for everyone.
Snark aside, it’s amazing to me that no one from the Senate has said anything about the firing. Carla Hayden rocks and will land on her feet. The loss is the US’s.
Soprano2
@kindness: It’s dumb to primary someone just because they’ve been around for awhile. What I want is people who are effective regardless of age. Younger isn’t always better.
Timill
@Soprano2: Moreover, ex hypothesi incumbents are people who can get elected in the constituency…
Scamp Dog
@Lauryn11: Scanning your ID isn’t a new thing for ID.me, it’s been that way for a couple of years now. So I would recommend going ahead and doing it. I’ve helped several of my tax clients with that, and even signed up myself.
different-church-lady
@Lauryn11: It’s a new thing, but it’s legit. I went through it two years ago. If you have a refund coming the IRS wants to verify there’s a real taxpayer behind the return.
It was a pain in the ass for me, because apparently the IRS systems are so antiquated that they don’t scan paper returns; a human being enters the data by hand. And for my return they had entered my credit forward to the next tax year into the field for refund. So the validation system coughed up an error that I had to get sorted out through a series of phonecalls.
Any rate, ID.me is legit and it works. I was impressed because I started the process at about 2 in the morning figuring I’d hear from someone days later, but instead there was a real person at the other end of a video call almost immediately, and all I had to do was hold my identity documents up to the camera and then I was validated.
Lauryn11
Thank you all for your helpful advice and comments about my tax / ID situation. It has allowed me to de-stress and feel more informed.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@JoyceH: It gets worse
This president fired without any cause the Librarian of Congress in part to fire Shira Perlmutter, the Register of Copyrights. Yes. Those copyrights !
A statement from Representative Joe Morelle (D-NY) tonight
https://democrats-cha.house.gov/media/press-releases/morelles-statement-abrupt-firing-shira-perlmutter-register-copyrights
Ten Bears
@Princess: I’m not adverse to engaging in illegal stuff, have no problem committing assault. I just don’t think its a good idea for civilians to be engaging in illegal stuff, or committing assault. What’s done is done, we all got a good chuckle out of it, but as others have also pointed out ~ it’s not a good idea. It’s not the way to do this. The jackboots could be kicking that little girl’s door in right now, not to mention martin is a suit … there ain’t no telling how an old outlaw might react to being spit on (that would be “with aforethought”)