Steve Bannon has done what no other human being in the entire world has been able to do, which is to shit on and try to ruin not only my real world, with actions you are all aware of, but my fantasy world in online gaming, as he earned some of his early fortune running World of Warcraft gold farming operations. If you want to do a deep dive into it just google Steve Bannon world of warcraft and enjoy.
At any rate, this pied piper of douchebaggery has already escaped justice once, so it is with much satisfaction to see that a grand jury has indicted the fucking asshole once again:
Stephen K. Bannon, a onetime senior aide to former President Donald J. Trump, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Friday on two counts of contempt of Congress, after his refusal to provide information to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
He’s being allowed to turn himself in and not hunted down and perp walked because, you know, he’s white, but once he surrenders on Monday his passport should be taken, he should be put on home monitoring or jailed, and stake a hefty hefty bail because he is absolutely a flight risk.
RaflW
This seems like a pretty good warning to Mark Meadows. The timing seems quite perfect, he ‘no shows’ and hours later Bannon gets a huge grand jury headline. Good!
Urza
For those of you that never played Warcraft, gold farmers are generally considered the lowest scum possible. Even after you use their services. High chance of stealing the credit card for nefarious purposes. Which means Bannon was always like this, probably why he was chosen to begin with.
Yutsano
I’m pretty sure Ol’ Bonesaw of the House of Saud could provide him a nice escape route if he somehow makes it to the embassy. Or Vladdy, if he hasn’t been cut loose. There are places he definitely should not be allowed to go near besides Congress and his house. Or a jail cell. That works too.
Adam L Silverman
It has already been announced that after Bannon turns himself in and they process him, he’ll be released on his own recognizance.
That’s of course provided he doesn’t flee on Miles Guo’s private jet sometime over the weekend.
Ms. Deranged in AZ
@Adam L Silverman:. How do they not consider him a flight risk?!?!? How!?
RaflW
@Adam L Silverman: Does that mean they won’t hold onto his passport as a little enhancement to the pinky swear? They guy was trying to open a sleaze-madrassas in Italy not that long ago (the landlord declined the rental application, thankfully).
randy khan
I don’t know if Bannon is the type to flee the country or not, but I do think his primary consideration will be how it will affect his brand. He’s that kind of guy.
Chetan Murthy
@Ms. Deranged in AZ: Wilhoit’s Law, of course.
Chetan Murthy
@randy khan: Since he’s at no risk, not of life, liberty, nor property, yeah, I think his primary consideration is gonna be “what it looks like to the base.” I’m sure he’ll be milking this for all it’s worth.
burnspbesq
I can see how DOJ could think that not throwing Bannon into pre-trial detention is a smart move, because it denies him the martyrdom he probably wants. But come on, y’all, grab his passport and put him in an ankle bracelet.
Chetan Murthy
@burnspbesq: Au contraire, it seems manifestly obvious that he needs to be thrown into the slammer, to induce him to *testify*. But hey, one law for the rich and powerful, another for us.
I remember that after 9/11, many immigrants were thrown into the slammer under “material witness” warrants.
HumboldtBlue
As was asked below, how long ago did AG Garkland empanel the GJ?
burnspbesq
In the day’s biggest news …
DOS A CERO. Goals from Pulisic and McKennie, big saves from Steffen, and a MOTM performance from an unlikely hero, defender Walker Zimmerman.
Major Major Major Major
Don’t forget that he gets paid every time you watch Seinfeld, too!
Felanius Kootea
@HumboldtBlue:
Good question. Maybe people (on twitter) should give Garland more credit than they currently are.
Why did Bannon choose this route? Couldn’t he have gone before the panel and just stayed silent after stating something about pleading the fifth because he has a right not to incriminate himself?
Craig
Because the writers are no fun Bannon’s case was assigned to Judge Carl Nichols, clerk for Clarence Thomas, appointed by Trump. Yeehaw.
Chetan Murthy
@Felanius Kootea: They would doubtless have questions about the actions of others, which he would not be able to avoid answering. That, and it gains him cred with the base, to just moon the committee.
Adam L Silverman
@Ms. Deranged in AZ: @RaflW: I would expect they’ve placed a hold on his passport ahead of Monday. But since that hasn’t been reported we do not know.
jonas
@Adam L Silverman:
I know they’ll obviously take his passport and stuff and it would be hard to miss that oleaginous five o’clock shadow trying to ooze his way across an international border, but sheez. What’s next? Federal agents will give him a backrub before arranging a ride home in a comfortable towncar?
Adam L Silverman
@HumboldtBlue: It’s been about three weeks since the House sent the referral over to the US Attorney’s Office for DC. The major hold up appears to have been a pair of memos from the Office of Legal Counsel pertaining to how former administration officials/officials from previous administrations could and should be handled by the DOJ.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: I’ve never watched Seinfeld, so no issues there.
NotMax
Like it or not, contempt of Congress is not the same as contempt of court. Let’s not fall into the trap of conflating the two.
That a grand jury reached a decision at warp speed is indicative of how watertight the evidence for issuing an indictment is, methinks.
Sensing a bit of overreach there, in this specific case. More to do with his lawyers dickering as to the terms of surrender within parameters offered by the prosecution, probably
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: He also gets paid when you don’t watch it.
Adam L Silverman
@jonas: I am not privy to the discussions on how this should be handled.
This is part of the problem set that has a lot of us who are professionally concerned about how things have been unfolding so concerned. As of now the only way to deal with the problem set – the ongoing revolutionary war of low intensity violence and political action that the Republicans have been waging against the US – is to do it through the structures, institutions, and laws we have. Unfortunately, our structures, institutions, and laws are not designed to handle this type of problem set. And certainly not with the alacrity and adroitness necessary to prevent the most deadly/dangerous outcome.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: I’m still not watching it.
CaseyL
Bannon might be under a form of omerta similar to the one whatsisname, Manafort, was dealing with – only the people that own Bannon are US oligarchs (Mercers) rather than the Russian variety.
I don’t expect to get any actionable intel out of him. Nor from anyone else in the Inner Circle.
I think the more fruitful targets are going to be people on the outside of Inner Circle, like Eastman.
Another Scott
@HumboldtBlue: I could be wrong, but I think there is always a DC grand jury available. It’s an arduous process if one is picked (one has to serve for 27 days (5+ weeks)).
Cheers,
Scott.
Hungry Joe
If he eventually gets locked up, will he be issued two prison shirts at a time? In a weird way, I kind of hope so.
HumboldtBlue
FW de Klerk, South Africa’s last president of apartheid and the polarizing figure who shares a Nobel Peace Prize with the country’s beloved late president Nelson Mandela, has died at 85 years old.
RaflW
BTW, Juice alum Cheryl Rofer made note of a very modest shift at the, ahem, Paper of Record today.
Yes, the failing NYT managed to not say “political language continues to ratchet closer to violence” or some other such whocouldaknowed both-sides writing. I pressed Cheryl slightly and she did note ‘baby steps’ and I guess I agree. Will it last is the more pertinent question in my mind.
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
I thought I was the only one.
Kattails
@Felanius Kootea: I’ve been following @MuellerSheWrote on twitter, she’s been on this. For example, this snippet. It’s worth checking her out. Further up thread she says “I’m willing to bet Bannon won’t cooperate or cut a deal for the minimum sentence… I think he will fight it and risk prison, become a martyr, and fundraise off calling himself a Solzhenitsyn-style political prisoner.”
Major Major Major Major
Samwise update
HumboldtBlue
@SiubhanDuinne:
Same here. Friends too.
HumboldtBlue
@burnspbesq:
LLL Tri!
SiubhanDuinne
@HumboldtBlue:
Same.
RaflW
@SiubhanDuinne: I’ve never made it thru an episode. Maybe it’s been on in the background of some space I’ve occupied, but the two or so times I ever tried to watch I clicked away in under 5 minutes.
It completely escapes me.
Kattails
Oooh, Jan. 6th committee deposition schedule up: Kayleigh McNinny on 12/3, Michael Flynn 12/6, Stephen Miller 12/10. Holiday special entertainment
And no to Seinfeld, Friends etc.
Eljai
@Major Major Major Major: Samwise is so debonair! I’m almost beginning to believe that wearing that bowtie is his idea. ;)
Eric S.
@SiubhanDuinne: Nope. There are many of us.
Redshift
@Ms. Deranged in AZ:
Because contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a year in prison and a fine of up to 100K. And there is nothing other than discomfort and inconvenience compelling him to testify; conviction does not force him to testify.
It’s good this is happening, but it’s still not a magic bullet against shameless defiance of the law.
Hungry Joe
Sorry, but “Seinfeld” … YES. Maybe it’s a gene you have to have — or not have. Like for cilantro.
Watched two or three minutes of “Friends” once.
Once.
Major Major Major Major
@Eljai: every cat is better with a bowtie!
Juju
@randy khan: His brand is bleh ick ick I don’t want to touch that, already. The man wear two shirts and a jacket all at once. Even his clothes don’t want to be near him. I feel sorry for his undershirt I think his picture is with the definition repugnant in Webster’s dictionary. I’ve of heard him described as the human portrait of Dorian Grey, which to me rings true. He looks like he needs a flea dip. Of course he doesn’t worry about his brand.
Major Major Major Major
I’ve been trying to watch Succession on HBO but I must be missing something, it’s just shitty people being shitty to each other.
Mallard Filmore
@CaseyL:
Do you expect anything of substance from documents that will be seized from him?
Omnes Omnibus
@Craig: That is the same judge who refused to dismiss Dominion’s defamation suit against Giuliani, Lindell, and Powell. But whatever, right?
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
Have recently gone back to the TV equivalent of comfort food as a cozy companion to half dozing times, earlyish episodes of What’s My Line?, before they quite had the formula for the program fully nailed down.
John Charles Daly was such a erudite scamp.
West of the Rockies
Is there a Mrs. Bannon? The mind reels…
Ruckus
Off topic but very good.
I watch a Y Tube channel called Fully Charged. It is basically about energy and how we use it day to day. Electric cars are where they started but they have really branched out. Now as a side note the person who started the whole thing is Robert Llewellyn – who played Kryten in Red Dwarf.
One of the latest presentations is 27 minutes with climate change experts and some kids of various ages. It’s called Talking About Our Generation. It is easily worth anyone’s time.
quakerinabasement
Now do that cobag Roger Stone.
Origuy
@Kattails: An Advent calendar of treason!
Mai Naem mobile
@West of the Rockies: there was an ex-Mrs Bannon. IIRC there were some abuse allegations that disappeared after she got a divorce with child support…yeah he’s got kids too. IIRC daughters. I can’t be bothered to google but there was a long piece on Bannon a few years ago in HuffPo or the New Yorker.
Matt McIrvin
@Redshift: Also, the assigned judge is a wingnut Trump appointee and will probably go to some effort to make Bannon walk.
lol chikinburd
Ah, for the good old days when World of Warcraft had to be ruined from without:
Not even to mention the state investigation and the lawsuits. I’ll stop myself before I become the guy who stops you in the airport (remember those) asking if you have five minutes to discuss the critically acclaimed MMORPG with the expanded free trial up to level 60 with no restrictions on playtime, but suffice to say a lot of us have WoW and Steve Bannon in similar mental compartments these days.
JoyceH
No Seinfeld or Friends here either. Also? No Simpsons. So there’s a whole world of memes that just whiz by me uncomprehended.
But may I make a political suggestion? Monday Steve Bannon is going to be criminally charged, and Joe Biden is going to be signing an infrastructure bill larger than anything seen in years. So – come Monday, can we all try to express a smidge of Triumphalism? Just a little bit?
Fair Economist
@JoyceH:
Heh, good point. I’m certainly game!
NotMax
@JoyceH
You new here?
(I kid, I kid.)
:)
Major Major Major Major
@JoyceH: Seinfeld, friends, fine, whatever, but the Simpsons! We must live on different planets.
rikyrah
When I heard the news???
JoyceH
@Fair Economist: It’s strategy. When it looks like you’re winning, the least motivated of your foes will drop back and slink away into the darkness, while the least motivated of your allies will stick around because they want to be there for the victory parade and the awarding of honors.
I just want to change the dang NARRATIVE! I’m so sick of the pundits assuring us that It’s All Falling Apart. No. It isn’t.
eclare
I am watching the latest episode of GBBS and enjoying a rum and Tonic. It is Free From week on the baking show, and the bakers are making tofu ice cream, free from dairy. Hmmm.
eclare
@Major Major Major Major: We are on different planets, I have seen every Seinfeld and Friends, but no Simpsons.
I also quit both Breaking Bad and GoT after a few episodes. Just all bad people, I didn’t care. Of course I am in a tiny minority.
mrmoshpotato
Will you throw it into a volcano?
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Wasn’t necessary of Alfredo Garcia. Nor, for that matter, Dobie Gillis.
;)
bjacques
To paraphrase the great Frankie Boyle, Bannon looks like a crack house mattress.
evodevo
@Major Major Major Major:
To me it’s an entertaining take on how the Trumpy half lives – sociopaths slicing pieces off each other like cage fighters. THIS was our “ruling class” for the most part for the last 4 years…and why they should be taxed WAY more fairly well into the future…
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us
@NotMax: I just discovered News Radio streams free (with ads) on the Roku channel.
I like both Seinfeld and Friends. Ridicule my taste if you want. I don’t care what you think about it.
schrodingers_cat
@eclare: I have seen all 3. And like Seinfeld the best. The humble bragging on this thread is epic.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us
@schrodingers_cat: For the record I like The Simpsons too. And Bob’s Burgers. I’m hoping The Great North finds itself – it’s got a talented cast but the few episodes I’ve watched have been mildly amusing but I haven’t cottoned to it like Bob’s Burgers so far.
Kristine
@SiubhanDuinne: Nope. Never watched it either.
Shalimar
@Major Major Major Major: There are some indications that story is a lie. Bannon’s company did work on the sale of a company that included future Seinfeld syndication rights, but normal payment for that work would be a fee, not a percentage of anything. And any payments should have shown up in his financial statements to a divorce court in 1997, but he didn’t declare any income from Seinfeld. Which means either his sworn statements to the court were lies, or he’s lying about the $32 million from Seinfeld.
For whatever it’s worth, Larry David says he has never heard of Bannon.
artem1s
@CaseyL:
at some point he will become too dangerous to leave out in the wild no matter how ‘loyal’ he’s been in the past. could be he’s in more danger out of jail than in.
Chief Oshkosh
@Ruckus: Been following that channel for some time. Well-produced, excellent and varied content, and good writing. And Bobbie Llew is so enthusiastic! :)
In a way, it’s the Ted Lasso of alternative energy geeks.
Shalimar
@artem1s: Bannon sees himself as the puppet-master behind the throne and the true leader of the movement, so he’s always been too dangerous. Trump is just too dumb to see it.
NotMax
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us
??
Was that supposed to be directed at me? I have made zero comment about either Seinfeld or Friends.
artem1s
@Shalimar:
it’s not TFG he’s got to be worried about. Bannon was only one of several toadies put into place to get him to the WH and do max damage while he was there. If Bannon is maintaining silence because he’s afraid of what will happen to him, it’s not about TFG.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@RaflW:
geg6
@eclare:
No, you are not. I tried both Breaking Bad and GoT and was bored stiff by all the awful people doing awful things to other horrible people. Not a single sympathetic character in either show as far as I could tell. Same with Succession. I do not understand the popularity of such dreck. I’d much rather watch Friends.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us
@NotMax: No I intended that for the community in general not you specifically. In retrospect it didn’t really belong in a reply to you but it’s early and my self editing skills are not fully engaged yet.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us
@geg6: I can’t take those kinds of shows either. Other than It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but that’s because it’s slapstick humor and the horrible people generally get deserved self inflicted comeuppance. Even It’s Always Sunny is somewhat hit and miss
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Thanks for the reminder. After a 2 year hiatus “Sunny” returns on Dec 1, bitches!
trnc
Well, now you’ve done it. Pick a side!
zhena gogolia
@Adam L Silverman: What is your take on Tucker Carlson? I’m thinking he is being directly paid by Russia. His performance this last week was breathtaking. “Why are we taking the side of Ukraine?”
zhena gogolia
@Major Major Major Major: Same here. We made it through 15 minutes. And I have a (distant but pleasant) connection to one of the stars, so I really wanted to be able to watch it.
Starfish
@Major Major Major Major: Yeah, I just could not get into the new season.
NotMax
@trnc
Already have. Outside.
;)
Another Scott
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us: Tastes vary a lot. I never saw GoT or BB and Sunny has never clicked with me.
But I thought The Mick was generally hilarious, though often cringey. (Similarly, Todd Margaret.)
Cheers,
Scott.
frosty
@schrodingers_cat: Yes, the humble bragging on these shows really is something. It reminds me of decades ago when the brag was about not watching (and sometimes not owning) a TV.
For the record, I’ve watched episodes of all of ‘em but didn’t go out of my way to do so. Now ask me about Big Bang Theory.
NotMax
@frosty
Worth repeating.
“My father hated radio and could not wait for television to be invented so he could hate that too.”
– Peter De Vries
:)
WaterGirl
I first read that as the bottled head of Steve Bannon, which struck me as a bit outside of the norm. Not undeserved, of course.
J R in WV
@Adam L Silverman:
All told I’ve probably seen 15-20 minutes of the show. There’s no there there, so always turn it off right away, or leave the room if someone else wants to see.
We see most of our TV on over-the-air broadcasts, so no money changes hands, anyway. Or news on the CNN/MSNBC web sites, when the connection and signal is sufficient to view a news show.
Why I don’t feel guilty watching NFL games, no one makes a dime off that from me. Plus I learn what things NOT to buy from the commercials. The more ads you see for an insurance product, the less valuable that insurance product is to their customers. Great insurance doesn’t need to advertise.
dnfree
@Major Major Major Major: The same thing happened to us with Yellowstone. (Shitty people being shitty to each other.). And murder after murder casually undertaken and never prosecuted, at least as far as we got, which was most of the first season. Apparently it’s still very popular. When the drunk and psychologically messed-up daughter got in the horse trough naked and carried on, we bailed.
Kosh III
Instead of Seinfeld or whatever, try House of Flowers on Netflix.
A telenovela of Mexico City’s rich and bizarrre. It’s absolutely hilarious.
My favorite line is when the family is arguing and sister says to brother-in-law:
“Are you stupid? Are you from Alabama?”