Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Biden: No matter what the white supremacists and the extremists say. I made a bet on you, the American people, and that bet is paying off, proving that from darkness, the darkness of charlottesville, of covid, of gun violence, of insurrection, we can see the light. pic.twitter.com/rMtPaSocve
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 2, 2022
TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: Some Speech!Post + Comments (125)
My 4 year old: Why’s Joe Biden mad?
Me: He has to defend democracy, buddy. #bidenspeech pic.twitter.com/a7mERJAJg3— christina (@christinaweina) September 2, 2022
“You can't love your country only when you win,” President Joe Biden#bidenspeech
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) September 2, 2022
One of the January 6th insurrectionists was sentenced to 10 years in prison today. From NBC News:
WASHINGTON — A retired New York City Police Department officer who was convicted of several felonies for attacking a D.C. cop with a flag pole on Jan. 6 and then tackling the officer to the ground and attempting to rip off his gas mask was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on Thursday. Thomas Webster was sentenced by Judge Amit P. Mehta to the longest sentence yet in a Jan. 6 case.
The violent cultist’s cult leader said this today: [WaPo]
Former president Donald Trump said he would issue full pardons and a government apology to rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and violently attacked law enforcement to stop the democratic transfer of power.
“I mean full pardons with an apology to many,” he told conservative radio host Wendy Bell on Thursday morning. Such a move would be contingent on Trump running and winning the 2024 presidential election.
Do you reckon President Biden’s speechwriters are editing the draft of the speech on saving democracy right now? Good lord, these people are nuts.
Open thread.
Oh boy…
This photo clearly suggests that the ex-President shows great respect for the importance of classified documents, right? pic.twitter.com/GvXnwxVOP5
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) August 31, 2022
And if you look closely, you can see the HCS marking for human source intelligence. https://t.co/ayZ7BcWiJ3 pic.twitter.com/s6UympQv1m
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 31, 2022
This thread:
2/ As a starting point, it's apparent the DOJ was concerned that the judge took Trump's motion — which was bizarre, unprecedented, and without basis in law — seriously.
Their filing is full of factual information rebutting Trump's false claims and compelling legal arguments.
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) August 31, 2022
NEW: Trump team 'likely concealed' classified records from investigators, DOJ says.
More details as DOJ fights the appointment of a special master.
w/ @joshgerstein https://t.co/wu3jcbrQDK
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 31, 2022
And again, lots more at the link
With that news, I’m off to put everyone to bed and get some more work done.
Open thread
Late Night Open Thread: DOJ Filing Is OutPost + Comments (151)
It probably speaks poorly of my character that I post more about conservative tribulations than liberal triumphs. But that’s how I roll, and there’s no shortage of good news posts around here these days, so let us savor the impending downfall of a lawless scoundrel who richly deserves the dump truck-load of trouble that’s barreling his way: James O’Keefe, the proprietor of the mendaciously misnamed Project Veritas.
An unmitigated asshole, O’Keefe rose to prominence in conservative circles with a “sting” video, which, despite being ridiculous and deceptively edited, brought down ACORN, an organization that had the temerity to ensure poor people were counted in the U.S. Census and encouraged to vote. Thanks to O’Keefe’s lies (and cowardly defensive crouches assumed by some Democrats who should have known better, it must be noted), ACORN was effectively destroyed in the U.S.
O’Keefe never quite matched that “success.” Subsequent stunts aimed at a woman who worked for CNN, New Jersey teachers, Medicaid offices in several states, polling places, newspapers, etc., were redolent of flop sweat and misogyny. That odor wafting from O’Keefe reached Donald Trump’s nostrils in 2016, and Trump donated (other people’s money for sure) to Project Veritas and eagerly elevated an organization and leader almost as gross, tacky and deceitful as himself.
In 2020, O’Keefe attempted to repay the favor by helping the future twice-impeached, two-time popular vote loser Trump secure another term — with the aid of a pair of Florida scumbags who stole a diary belonging to President Biden’s daughter. The scheme backfired spectacularly, and last fall, the feds raided O’Keefe’s NYC apartment and the homes of some of his associates. [NYT]
The raid occasioned much meeping about press freedom from fascists who would shut down the independent press within five minutes of getting their fat fascist fingers on the levers of power. And if O’Keefe had just paid the Florida scumbags for the diary, that would be sleazy but possibly protected by the First Amendment.
But O’Keefe also instructed the Florida scumbags to steal more stuff and dispatched an employee across state lines to transport the stolen goods, activities that are not protected by the First Amendment and are in fact crimes that can result in serious legal consequences. O’Keefe is not now and never has been a journalist, and the Florida scumbags who stole the diary flipped and have text messages that detail the shady scheme, so it looks like O’Keefe is probably o’fuct. [TPM]
This is all extra-hilarious because O’Keefe never even published the fucking diary! Before the election, he tried to conduct yet another lame “sting” on Biden’s daughter, whose lawyers took his “interview” request as an extortion attempt. That prompted them to alert federal prosecutors, and here we are. To sum up, it appears O’Keefe’s grift empire will collapse in yet another epic flop.
The end.
And also, open thread.
Happy Redacted Affidavit Day! I’ll post a link to the doc online when I find one. Here’s an excerpt from WaPo’s breaking news page on the event:
A redacted version of the affidavit supporting the request to search former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and club was released in a federal courthouse in Florida, potentially shedding new light on the high-profile investigation into the possible mishandling of classified documents…
The affidavit likely contains key information about the investigation into classified documents that were kept at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left office, including why FBI agents suspect crimes may have been committed. On Aug. 8, FBI agents searched the estate in Palm Beach and carted away about 20 boxes from a bedroom, office and a first-floor storage room. Authorities have said some of the seized documents included highly classified national secrets.
The warrant authorizing the search said agents were seeking all “physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation of three potential crimes,” including a part of the Espionage Act outlawing gathering, transmitting, or losing national defense information. The warrant also cites destruction of records and concealment or mutilation of government material.
According to CNN, the documents included sensitive material on the country’s human intelligence assets. Big if true! The person on camera waving the print-out around showed off some pages that were basically all blacked out. The intel analysts on CNN seem horrified by the descriptions of the documents, for what it’s worth.
Open thread.
UPDATE: Read the document at the NPR site here.
I’m heading out the door, but this caught my eye, and thought I needed to share. If it was already covered, my apologies, I missed it. But the takeaway is ROE, ROE, ROE the VOTE all the way to November.
— 𝐁𝐞𝐤𝐬 (@antifaoperative) August 24, 2022
With the fight over abortion rights looming large over the midterm elections, voters in Florida ousted two prominent anti-abortion elected officials in separate races on Tuesday.
Florida Rep. James Bush lost his reelection bid, a notable defeat for the sole Democrat in the state legislature who voted on a 15-week abortion ban and the anti-LGBTQ “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
His opponent, 37-year-old lawyer Ashley Gantt, ran on a platform focused on affordable housing, public education, and criminal justice reform. Gantt, an attorney and former public school teacher, has criticized Bush for siding with Republicans on the abortion ban and the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which bars “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity.”
“As a Black woman, I was offended when he voted to restrict my rights, our right to make decisions over our bodies,” she said last week. “As a former teacher, I was insulted that he voted to inject Tallahassee extremism into our classrooms and deny local control over our school systems.”
Gantt and Bush were the only two candidates vying for District 109. As the winner of the Democratic primary, Gantt is now the representative-elect.
Bush was first elected to the Florida state House in 1992. He was elected again in 2008, then in 2018. His penchant for supporting Republican-sponsored bills drew the ire of his fellow Democrats, some of whom publicly voiced their support for Gantt in the election; Democratic state Sen. Jason Pizzo recently accused him of “voting against Democratic values and kissing the Governor’s ass – all day, everyday.”
Florida voters also ousted Jared Smith, an incumbent circuit judge for Hillsborough County who gained notoriety for rejecting a teenager’s request for an abortion because her grades were low.
The race between Smith and his opponent, Nancy Jacobs, was relatively contentious for a typically low-key nonpartisan judgeship election, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Smith had denied a 17-year-old seeking an abortion without parental consent in January this year on the basis that her grades were low and that she lacked “intelligence or credibility,” and was therefore not mature enough to get an abortion. An appeals court later overturned his ruling.
Jacobs did not directly criticize Smith over his decision (Florida bars judicial candidates from making public statements on legal issues), but she has shared posts on Facebook regarding the ruling.
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, Jacobs said she looked forward to taking the bench in January and “ensuring that the people of Hillsborough County who enter my courtroom are treated with respect, dignity, and integrity every day.”
She said that Smith’s decision in the abortion case was possibly “one factor among many in voters’ decisions on whom to cast their ballots for in this race” given that it made national headlines.
Smith had made his Christian faith central to his reelection campaign. His wife, Suzette Smith, once told supporters that Jacobs, who is Jewish, “needs Jesus.”
“We pray for her. She needs Jesus,” Suzette Smith said. “To deny God and to deny the Bible is a person that’s — the heart is very hard toward God.”
Jacobs called the comments “troubling” and accused the couple of “using their religion to insult and disparage the faith of an opposing candidate.”
Florida is set up for a riveting general election in November, with abortion rights expected to be a central issue in races all the way up to the gubernatorial election.
Charlie Crist, a former Republican governor, won the Democratic primary on Tuesday, setting up a challenge against Gov. Ron DeSantis. Crist fended off accusations of being “pro-life” from his primary opponent, Nikki Fried, arguing that he struck down anti-abortion bills during his time in office.
Aug. 24, 2022, at 18:17 PM
