;)
November 19, 2021
Morning/Afternoon Update:
Jury finds Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on all counts. MB: I guess he now can go on to a great career as a Congressional intern -- at least as long as Matt Gaetz himself can stay out of jail. This is an indictment (1) of the U.S. gun culture; (2) of the Supreme Court confederates for encouraging that gun culture; (3) of the Wisconsin open-carry law; (4) of the Kenosha police who let a kid who did not even look of age prance around town with a loaded AR-15 during a riot; and (5) of irresponsible parents who allowed their irresponsible child to go on a murderous excursion. ~~~
~~~ Here are the Washington Post's live updates; verdicts at the top.
Emily Cochrane & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The House on Friday narrowly passed the centerpiece of President Biden's domestic agenda, approving $2 trillion in spending over the next decade to battle climate change, expand health care and reweave the nation's social safety net, over the unanimous opposition of Republicans. The bill's passage, 220 to 213, came after weeks of cajoling, arm-twisting and legislative legerdemain by Democrats. It was capped off by an exhausting, circuitous and record-breaking speech of more than eight hours by the House Republican leader, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, that pushed a planned Thursday vote past midnight, then delayed it to Friday morning -- but did nothing to dent Democratic unity." The AP's report is here.
Devon Sayers, et al., of CNN: "A defense attorney for one of the three White men accused of chasing and killing Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery asked prosecutors for a plea deal and was declined, an attorney for Arbery's mother told CNN. William 'Roddie' Bryan Jr.'s lawyer 'asked for a plea deal before resting their case. Prosecutors declined any plea offer,' Lee Merritt, an attorney for Wanda Cooper-Jones, said Friday. The district attorney's office that is prosecuting the case declined to comment about being approached about a plea deal."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden met Thursday with the leaders of America's neighbors to the north and south amid much praise on all sides, part of the president's ongoing effort to rebuild relations with allies after a Trump administration that was often at odds with the nation's longtime partners. But ... while Canada and Mexico welcome Biden's friendlier tone, major points of contention remain, including over U.S. immigration policies and the country's approach to trade -- both flash points under ... Donald Trump -- as well as disputes over climate change.... The White House summit marked a return to the tradition of the three-way meetings after a four-year hiatus under Trump, who had a contentious relationship with [Canadian PM Justin] Trudeau and former Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto." The New York Times story, which as of 1:30 am ET didn't make the front page, is here. The AP report is here.
John Wagner & Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: "President Biden said Thursday that his administration is 'considering' a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in China, a move that would allow U.S. athletes to compete but keep government officials from attending the Games in Beijing to protest China's human rights abuses. Democratic and Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), have advocated for such a boycott." An AP story is here.
McCarthy "Filibusters" BBB Vote with a Lie-a-thon. Tony Romm, et al., of the Washington Post: "House Democrats plan to vote Friday on a sprawling, more than $2 trillion package to overhaul the country's health care, education, climate, immigration and tax laws, pushing back their initial plans after Republicans mobilized to briefly obstruct a central piece of President Biden's economic agenda. Democrats began Thursday hoping to hold a swift vote on the signature spending initiative, putting an end to months of intense, internal wrangling among their own liberal and moderate ranks.... But ... House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) took to the chamber floor beginning in the evening ... [and] embarked on a form of filibuster, using the unlimited time available to House leaders ahead of votes to rail on the roughly $2 trillion bill. McCarthy's winding speech attacked Democrats over a broad range of issues, including border security and Afghanistan policy, and repeatedly mischaracterized their exact spending ambitions. The GOP leader's ongoing remarks often drew jeers and laughs from Democrats...." This is an update of a story linked Thursday. ~~~
~~~ Update: According to CNN, Kevin's lie-a-thon ran for 8 hours & 32 minutes, the longest in House history. ~~~
~~~ Marie: The New York Times story, which sports a misleading headline -- "Social Policy Bill Will Add to Deficit, C.B.O. Says; Democrats Delay Vote" -- is here. The AP's report is here. ~~~
~~~ For those of you who are saddened you didn't stay up all night for Kevin McCarthy's lie-a-thon, Matt Fuller and Ursula Perano of the Daily Beast, via Yahoo! News, report the, uh, highlights: McCarthy "delivered a stemwinder of half-truths, outright lies, aggrieved arguments, unrelated tangents, and recycled rhetoric.... When McCarthy baselessly claimed the bill would cost $5 trillion, Democrats started yelling out increasingly large numbers. '$6 trillion!' one shouted, before another topped him with '$7 trillion!' -- with more Democrats joining in with even more farcical projections. When McCarthy said, 'If I sound angry, I am,' Democrats chimed in with a prolonged 'awww' sound...." ~~~
(~~~ Marie: BTW, I did stay up much of the night, but I didn't listen to Kevin's speech. Instead, I kept going outside in the rain (because I'm not all that smart) to try to see the eclipse of the moon. Finally, the skies cleared enough at about 4 am for me to see the eclipse. Luckily, it was the longest eclipse in 580 years, because I would not have wanted to wait another 600 or so years to see an eclipse in inclement weather.) ~~~
~~~ Sarah Ewell-Wice & Melissa Quinn of CBS News: "The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on Thursday released its much anticipated cost estimate of President Biden's signature social spending plan, Build Back Better. The analysis -- commonly referred to as the CBO score -- said passage of the legislation would increase the deficit by more than $367 billion over 10 years. But the estimate does not include the revenue that could be generated from increasing IRS enforcement.... Over the past several weeks, the Congressional Budget Office had been releasing estimates on individual components of the Build Back Better Act, but the section dealing directly with how much money the legislation would raise as well as its total cost was not released until Thursday. On Wednesday, the CBO estimated the legislation would include $1.63 trillion in spending. At the same time, changes to the tax code and other provisions would generate more than $1.26 trillion in revenue. The Congressional Budget Office said increased IRS enforcement would add another $207 billion in revenue." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I read the whole article, and it looks to me as if -- based on the numbers CBS News reports -- there's a shortfall of $163 billion, not $367 billion, when you include CBO's estimated enhanced enforcement revenue. Sixteen billion a year is chump-change for the federal government & therefore effectively meaningless in an estimate that covers a decade. ~~~
~~~ Update. Paul Waldman of the Washington Post agrees with me (in principle but not exactly with my arithmetic): "... the CBO score looks quite good for the BBB. It found that the bill will increase the deficit, but within a margin that should permit an important principle to kick in: While we should take the CBO's analysis into account, we should also remember that there's always a good bit of uncertainty in its projections.... On top of this, many people think CBO's figure on the cost savings from tax enforcement is a drastic underestimate.... We can't know for sure [who's right], which points to the reason it's foolish to act as though the CBO's predictions are necessarily the correct ones."
David Smith of the Guardian: "... Republicans in Washington ... dusted off the 'red scare' playbook to portray Joe Biden's choice to run one of the agencies that oversees the banking industry as a dangerous communist. Saule Omarova, 55, was nominated in September to be America's next comptroller of the currency. If confirmed, she would be the first woman and person of colour in the role in its 158-year-history. Omarova was born in Kazakhstan when it was part of the Soviet Union and moved to the US in 1991.... Questioning whether Omarova was still a member of communist youth organisations, [Sen. John] Kennedy [R-La.] said: 'I don't mean any disrespect: I don't know whether to call you professor or comrade.' The remark prompted gasps in the hearing room on Capitol Hill. [After rebutting Kennedy's charactertization of her political views,] Omarova ... told how her family suffered under the communist regime.... 'Taken in totality, her ideas do amount to a socialist manifesto for American financial services,' [Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.)] said. ~~~
"... the Democratic chairman of the committee, Sherrod Brown of Ohio..., said: 'Senate Republicans have a formula. Start with a passing and inaccurate reference to her academic work, distort the substance beyond recognition, mix in words -- Marx, Lenin, communism. End with insinuations about Professor Omarova loyalties to her chosen country. That's how Republicans turn a qualified woman into a Marxist boogeyman ... Now we know what happens when Trumpism meets McCarthyism.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Somehow I think Sen. Foghorn T. Leghorn (R-La.) did "mean disrespect" when he used a public Senate hearing to imply Omarova was a Communist. (I am not, BTW, the first person to equate Sen. Kennedy with the cartoon rooster. In 2019, Tim Morris of the New Orleans Times-Picayune assembled a series of statements in the form of a quiz, asking readers to choose who made each remark, Leghorn or Kennedy. I could not access any but the first question, but maybe you can.)
Felicia Sonmez & Eugene Scott of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump and House Republicans rallied behind Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) Thursday, a day after he was censured for posting an altered anime video of himself killing a colleague, endorsing his reelection and signaling he would be given better committee assignments if Republicans win control of the House in 2022. Trump praised Gosar, who earlier this year appeared at an event whose organizer has defended racial segregation and minimized the Holocaust, as 'a loyal supporter of our America First agenda, and even more importantly, the USA.'... Earlier in the day, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said that he would likely give Gosar and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) better committee assignments if the GOP wins the majority next year, dismissing the lawmakers' embrace of violent rhetoric and imagery against Democrats." MB: Very touching. See also the second story linked on the civil suit brought against other white supremacists who attacked counter-demonstrators in Charlottesville, Va. There's a connection. ~~~
~~~ Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "Listen to political scientists, pollsters and well-meaning elected officials, and you'll likely hear a lot of chatter about 'polarization.'... The polarization argument too often treats both sides as equally worthy of blame, characterizing the problem as a sort of free-floating affliction (e.g., 'lack of trust'). This blurs the distinction between a Democratic Party that is marginally more progressive in policy positions than it was a decade ago, and a Republican Party that routinely lies, courts violence and seeks to define America as a White Christian nation." Read on: Rubin makes her case.
All in the Family. Joaquin Sapien & Joshua Kaplan of ProPublica: "Kimberly Guilfoyle, a top fundraiser for ... Donald Trump and the girlfriend of his son Donald Trump Jr., boasted to a GOP operative that she had raised $3 million for the rally that helped fuel the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. In a series of text messages sent on Jan. 4 to Katrina Pierson, the White House liaison to the event, Guilfoyle detailed her fundraising efforts and supported a push to get far-right speakers on the stage alongside Trump for the rally, which sought to overturn the election of President Joe Biden. Guilfoyle's texts, reviewed by ProPublica, represent the strongest indication yet that members of the Trump family circle were directly involved in the financing and organization of the rally.... Guilfoyle's attorney, Joe Tacopina, denied that Guilfoyle had anything to do with fundraising or approving speakers.... He threatened to 'aggressively pursue all legal remedies available' against ProPublica." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Sorry, Joe, unless ProPublica invented the emails they cite (and they almost certainly did not as ProPublica is a reputable news org), you don't have much in the way of "legal remedies" against them.
Trump Inspired Every Known Case of 2020 Presidential Election Voter Fraud. Dennis Aftergut in the (right-wing/anti-Trump) Bulwark: "On Tuesday, Donald Kirk Hartle, the CFO of a Nevada company that hosted a September 2020 rally for Donald Trump, pleaded guilty to voting twice in last November's election, including once in his dead wife's name. Hartle is just the latest in a string of apparent Trump supporters who committed voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. This pattern is a warning of the lawlessness among Trump's followers that could engulf us all.... Last November, before it was discovered that he was the culprit, [Hartle] feigned 'disbelief' that someone would steal and submit his dead wife's ballot.... A review of [a Heritage Foundation] database reveals an astonishing fact: In every listed indictment and conviction for voter fraud or other malfeasance in connection with the 2020 presidential general election, when the culprit's political affiliation is known he or she turns out to be a Republican or 'unabashed conservative.'... There appears to have been a bit of an epidemic of Republican dead mothers voting.... A breakdown of the constraints of law occurred under the bombarding messages of Donald Trump and his enablers. Among Trump's followers, the end -- one party under Trump -- apparently justifies the means of breaking the law to vote for him twice." (The Heritage Foundation is also a right-wing outfit.)
Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Two Iranian men were indicted by the U.S. Justice Department on Thursday, accused of a brazen hacking and disinformation campaign that targeted American voters in the run-up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Seyyed Kazemi, 24, and Sajjad Kashian, 27, allegedly sent threatening emails to try to scare voters, attempted to break into several states' voting-related websites and gained access to a U.S. media company's computer network. Officials say the pair emailed thousands of voters in October, including many Democrats. They allegedly claimed to be Proud Boys and threatened the email recipients with physical attacks if they did not change party affiliation and vote for ... Donald Trump. The emails seemed to target primarily voters in Florida and Alaska, officials said at the time. The same illicit effort also pushed a video through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube that claimed to show someone hacking into voter websites to create falsified overseas and absentee ballots, according to the indictment." The NBC News story is here.
Eric Schmitt & Ronen Bergman of the New York Times: "An armed drone strike last month on an American military base in southern Syria was Iranian retaliation for Israeli airstrikes in Syria, according to eight American and Israeli officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. The drone attack, which caused no casualties, would be the first time Iran has directed a military strike against the United States in response to an attack by Israel, an escalation of Iran's shadow war with Israel that poses new dangers to U.S. forces in the Middle East. Five so-called suicide drones were launched at the American base at Al Tanf on Oct. 20 in what the U.S. Central Command called a 'deliberate and coordinated' attack. Only two detonated on impact, but they were loaded with ball bearings and shrapnel with a 'clear intent to kill,' a senior U.S. military official said."
Judges Sick of First Amendment Press Rights
Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "A New York trial court judge ordered The New York Times on Thursday to temporarily refrain from publishing or seeking out certain documents related to the conservative group Project Veritas, an unusual instance of a court blocking coverage by a major news organization. The order raised immediate concerns among First Amendment advocates, who called it a violation of basic constitutional protections for journalists, a viewpoint echoed by The Times.... The judge's order is part of a pending libel lawsuit filed by Project Veritas against The Times in 2020.... The Times planned to immediately oppose [the order] in an appellate court."
AP: "The judge at Kyle Rittenhouse's murder trial banned MSNBC from the courthouse Thursday after police said they briefly detained a man who had followed the jury bus and may have tried to photograph jurors. Judge Bruce Schroeder said the man had claimed to be working for MSNBC. The judge said he was stopped because he was following the bus from about a block behind and went through a red light. NBC News said in a statement that he was a freelancer who received a citation for a traffic violation that took place near the jury vehicle, and he 'never contacted or intended to contact the jurors during deliberations, and never photographed or intended to photograph them.' The network said it regretted the incident and would fully cooperate with an investigation." Moreon happenings around the Kenosha courthouse linked below.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Friday are here.
** NEW. Sharon LaFraniere & Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "The Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized booster shots of both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for everyone 18 and older, opening up eligibility to tens of millions more fully vaccinated adults.... Dr. Anthony S. Fauci ... has argued relentlessly over the past month for booster shots for all adults, a position shared by most of [President] Biden's other health advisers. Dr. Fauci has said that a dip in antibody levels in fully vaccinated people was a clear sign that booster shots were needed.... If the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agrees, all adults who received a second shot of either Pfizer or Moderna at least six months ago will likely be eligible for a booster shot by the weekend. A meeting of the agency's outside advisers is scheduled for Friday." The Washington Post story is free to nonsubscribers.
Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post: "The location of early coronavirus infections in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, suggests the virus probably spread to humans from a market where wild and domestically farmed animals were sold and butchered, according to a peer-reviewed article published Thursday in the journal Science that is the latest salvo in the debate over how the pandemic began. The article, by University of Arizona evolutionary virologist Michael Worobey -- a specialist in the origins of viral epidemics -- does not purport to answer all questions about the pandemic's origins, nor is it likely to quell speculation that the virus might have emerged somehow from risky laboratory research. Worobey has been open to the theory of a lab leak. He was one of the 18 scientists who wrote a much-publicized letter to Science in May calling for an investigation of all possible sources of the virus, including a laboratory accident. But he now contends that the geographic pattern of early cases strongly supports the hypothesis that the virus came from an infected animal at the Huanan Seafood Market...." ~~~
~~~ A New York Times story is here. MB: And I don't suppose you'll be reading any of this in Right-Wing World News of the Week, where the virus is a Chinese plot to destroy America.
Beyond the Beltway
New Jersey. Michael Wilson of the New York Times: "The disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, a mystery that has gripped the American imagination for half a century on its ascent to national folklore, is the subject of a new F.B.I. investigation centered on the site of a former landfill in Jersey City. A worker, on his deathbed, said he buried the body underground in a steel drum. F.B.I. agents armed with a search warrant arrived in Jersey City at a plot of dirt and gravel the size of a Little League diamond below the Pulaski Skyway on Oct. 25 and 26 to conduct a 'site survey,' according to the Detroit field office, which has led the investigation into Mr. Hoffa's disappearance in 1975. The steel drum is said to be buried about 15 feet below ground...."
New York. Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "A judge dismissed the convictions of two of the three men found guilty of killing Malcolm X, after Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. acknowledged deep flaws in the decades-old prosecution and said 'it was clear these men did not receive a fair trial.' With 83-year-old Muhammad A. Aziz sitting at the next table in New York Supreme Court Justice Ellen Biben's courtroom, Vance said the convictions of him and the late Khalil Islam -- both of whom served 20 years in prison -- were 'wrongful' and asked for them to be vacated. He said there was no way to retry the legendary murder case with most witnesses dead and with major pieces of evidence missing from the record. Vance's office joined attorneys for Aziz and Islam's family in filing the motion seeking to overturn the first-degree murder convictions." The AP report is here.
Oklahoma. Michael Levenson, et al., of the New York Times: "Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma called off the execution of a death-row inmate just hours before the man was scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday, culminating an extraordinary campaign for clemency that drew in celebrities, his fellow conservatives and Christian leaders. Mr. Stitt, a Republican and death-penalty supporter, announced that, after 'prayerful consideration,' he had reduced the death sentence for the inmate, Julius Jones, 41, who was convicted of first-degree murder in 2002, to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Mr. Jones and his supporters insisted he was not guilty, and a state board voted twice to recommend that he be made eligible for parole." MB: Whether or not Stitt thinks he got a message from God, he did the right thing. This doesn't happen to Republicans very often, so we can all say Hallelujah!
Virginia. Ellie Silverman of the Washington Post: Jurors in the civil suit against white supremacists & hate groups heard closing arguments Thursday and are expected to begin deliberations Friday. ~~~
~~~ Ellie Silverman of the Washington Post: "The jury in a federal courtroom listened as a longtime researcher of far-right movements parsed the style guide of the infamous neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer. 'The tone of the site should be light. Most people are not comfortable with material that comes across as vitriolic, raging, nonironic hatred. The unindoctrinated should not be able to tell if we are joking or not,' according to a guide section titled 'Lulz' — which stands for for 'laugh out loud.' Continuing with a derogatory term for Jews, it read, 'This is obviously a ploy and I actually do want to gas k---s. But that's neither here nor there.' This evidence, introduced in an ongoing civil trial against organizers of the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, appeared to highlight a sinister strategy expert witness Pete Simi was trying to teach the jurors: the ways in which white supremacists employ humor to shield their calls for violence, in an effort to render them legally ambiguous." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I don't have to tell you that this is exactly the advice Paul Gosar took when he "employed humor" to call for the murders of Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez & President Biden.
Wisconsin. Kyle Has the Sweetest Supporters. Tim Stelloh of NBC News: "A man seen carrying an AR-15 rifle outside the courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where a jury is deliberating in the double homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, identified himself as a former police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.... [Jesse] Kline said he had traveled to Kenosha from Arizona, where he lives, to 'exercise my constitutional rights.'... After sheriff's deputies told Kline that he couldn't have the firearm because state law prohibits people from carrying guns within 1,000 feet of a school, the incident was resolved without further action...." Photos also captured him holding what appeared to be a sex toy [MB: which must be totally legal to brandish near a courthouse!].... Kline ... was fired [from the Ferguson police force] ... after he was accused of following an ex-girlfriend to another man's home and poking the man's chest with the barrel of his gun, NBC affiliate KSDK of St. Louis reported." The Chicago Tribune story, which is subscriber-firewalled, IDs Kline as "a man who screamed obscenities about Black Lives Matter ... outside the Kenosha County Courthouse...." So just a totally rational person.
Way Beyond
China, etc. Helen Davidson of the Guardian & Agencies: "The Women's Tennis Association is prepared to pull its tournaments out of China if there isn't an adequate response to Peng Shuai's allegation that she was sexually assaulted by China's former vice premier, chief executive Steve Simon has told US media. Peng, Chinese tennis star and former doubles world No.1, has not been seen in public since she accused the former high-ranking official, Zhang Gaoli, of sexual assault in a Weibo post that was deleted half an hour later. In the lengthy 2 November post, Peng alleged that Zhang had forced her into sex after inviting her to his house to play tennis with him and his wife three years ago. She also said she and Zhang had previously had an on-off consensual relationship.... Concern among the global tennis community and beyond has grown over Peng's safety and whereabouts since her allegation, with the WTA calling for an investigation and the world's top players tweeting #WhereIsPengShuai."
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Reader Comments (16)
@Marie: Thanks for the Leghorn/Kennedy quiz. I was able to access the entire quiz. Answering a question takes you to the next one.
There are some howlers in there.
Last night's McCarthy marathon performance proved Republican leadership does occasionally demonstrate the courage of its entire absence of convictions.
If you took the worst orator in the world
Gave him the worst speech in the world
And made him read it for the longest time in the world
That would be a lot like listening to Kevin McCarthy tonight.
Except, probably better.
Adam Schiff
How did he fill over eight hours? Nursery rhymes? Dirty limericks? Recitations from the Book of Donald (ghostwritten, natch)? Or did he just sing “I’m ‘enery the eighth, I am” over and over and over again? “Second verse, same as the first…”
Can even someone as spineless, obsequious, obstreperous, and oleaginous as McCarthy lie non-stop for eight plus hours? Do dogs pee on hydrants?
@Akhilleus: According to the Daily Beast, in an article I'll link above momentarily, "After eight-and-a-half hours—and a speech that hit topics like inflation, Elon Musk, the McDonald’s dollar menu, Taiwan, baby carrots, the Soviet Union, the Virginia governor’s election, winning the lottery, Afghanistan, San Francisco, proxy voting, Hitler, Abraham Lincoln, mask rules, McCarthy’s first speech in Congress, and, from time to time, the actual bill—the House recessed and said lawmakers would come back at 8 a.m. on Friday."
I would opt that the prize for long lasting stability does not go to Motor Mouth McCarthy but to our own Marie Burns who stayed up until 4am in order to get a glimpse of the eclipse –-back and forth did she venture out–-in the rain, no less. So––-here's to M.B. who surpassed K.M. whose diatribe lasted eight hours and resulted in only a postpone of a bill and a whole lot of spurious spouting while M.B. viewed a phenomenon in the night sky. Heavenly!
I looked out our kitchen window this morning shortly after 6 EST, and observed that there was a light behind the clouds in the West. It may have been the tail-end of the most momentous moon in 600 years, but the clouds did not allow a determination.
Unlike some, I am quite prepared to wait another 600 years for that long eclipse sucker, or maybe I'll just see it on the weather portion of tonight's local news.
Just think -- the last time that came around, there were no Republicans. It must have been nice.
Patrick: I am grinning. That would be splendid! Imagine, no creeps.
Rittenhouse acquitted. BFD. I predict he will have a George Zimmerman-like future and will be a loser until the day he dies.
Patrick,
But 600 years hence, Confederate traitors may have figured out a way to meld their bigotry, hatred, and auto-mendacity into digital operating systems so that the genes that eschew responsibility and humanity for power at all costs, infect every node of whatever neural networks exist at that point.
Oh, wait. That might require competency, a belief in science, and an understanding that facts matter and specious bullshit doesn’t.
Whoop, whoop, whoop! “Danger Will Robinson, danger!”
Okay, never mind. In 600 years, if they’re still around to see a lunar eclipse, they’ll take it as a sign that god is unhappy (the same god that loves seeing non-white minorities and all non-Christians horribly murdered then sent to hell) that gays have not been eradicated.
That murdering, smirking little shit acquitted? ON ALL COUNTS!?!?!?
We truly have passed into a post-truth, post-just, post-reality dimension. Matt Gaetz has already offered this murdering, lying little prick a job…IN CONGRESS!!!!
The judge, who, at every turn, has petted Rittenhouse and attacked the prosecution, told poor little Kyle that he understands how tough this has been for him, and promised him that the system will make sure that no one says anything mean to him, and he will be looked after. Too bad the innocent, unarmed people he murdered/shot weren’t given the same considerations. We are living in Trump World.
Akhilleus: those Confederates may be anti-science, but, like the Iraqi resistance, the IRA, Aum Shinrikyo, the Taliban, ISIS, the Black Hand etc., they are BIG fans of destructive technology. If you can weaponize something, they'll do it. Someone else did the science and componentry, and the bombers just ... adapt it.
The self defense laws need to be changed. If you bring a gun in public then point that gun at someone you should not be able to claim that you feared for your life from the gun in your own hand. Ridiculous. Unfortunately there is only a small chance of self defense laws being changed in blue states and even there it will probably hard to enact. Red states will probably enact laws that say that seeing a black person out in public constitutes a threat of grave bodily harm, or not since that law is already unoffically on the books.
Imagine living your life as a judge and being known as the guy who let a murderer walk? It makes me really appreciate the brilliance of Thurgood Marshall. Most people wouldn't characterize Kenosha as a place where people go to thrive and do their best work.
I was born and raised in Wisconsin. Got my degree from the Berkley of the Midwest. It was a nice place to be from, once upon a time. I pledge to never step foot there again.