;)
The Commentariat -- August 11, 2021
Afternoon Update:
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "Federal health officials on Wednesday bolstered their recommendation that pregnant people be vaccinated against Covid-19, pointing to new safety data that found no increased risk of miscarriage among those who were immunized during the first 20 weeks of gestation. Earlier research found similarly reassuring data for those vaccinated later in pregnancy."
Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "House Democrats investigating Donald Trump can have access to his personal financial records from 2017 and 2018, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, as well as information related to his lease of a building near the White House. U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta of Washington had previously ruled that the former president's accountants must turn over a broader array of records. But the U.S. Supreme Court subsequently ruled that courts must take separation of powers concerns into account when members of Congress want personal information from the president. Because of Congress's role in overseeing the president's foreign business interests, Mehta said, release of the records from 2017 and 2018 is justified. If lawmakers could not access the records, he wrote, 'presidents could simply conceal foreign emoluments from Congress to avoid scrutiny -- a result contrary to the Framers' intent.'" ~~~
~~~ Josh Gerstein of Politico: Mehta's "decision is likely to be appealed by Trump's lawyers and could also be challenged by the House panel."
Nadja Popovich & Winston Choi-Schagrin of the New York Times: "During the deadly heat wave that blanketed Oregon and Washington in late June, about 600 more people died than would have been typical, a review of mortality data for the week of the crisis shows. The number is three times as high as the states' official estimates of heat-related deaths so far. It suggests that the true toll of the heat wave, which affected states and provinces across the Pacific Northwest, may be much larger than previously reported. This week, the region is once again steeling itself for extreme heat." ~~~
~~~ Marie: While I'm not "blaming" right-wingers for climate change, since we are all contributing to it to one extent or another, I am blaming them for encouraging global warming with their aid to the fossil fuel industry and their aversion to almost all attempts to reduce climate change. So there's no question in my mind that climate catastrophes -- like heat waves & stronger, more frequent hurricanes -- are among the ways that wingers are actually killing us.
~~~~~~~~~~
No Mo Cuomo
Luis Ferré-Sadurní & David Goodman of the New York Times: "Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said on Tuesday he would resign from office, succumbing to a ballooning sexual harassment scandal that fueled an astonishing reversal of fortune for one of the nation's best-known leaders. Mr. Cuomo said his resignation would be effective in 14 days. Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, will be sworn in to replace him. She will become the first female governor of New York.... In a 21-minute speech that was by turns contrite and defiant, Mr. Cuomo decried the effort to remove him and acknowledged that his initial instinct had been 'to fight through this controversy, because I truly believe it is politically motivated.'" (This is an expansion of an item linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Michael Scherer & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced his resignation Tuesday in an effort to head off a looming impeachment effort in the state Assembly after a state investigation found he sexually harassed 11 women and oversaw an unlawful attempt to exact retribution against one of his accusers. 'Wasting energy on distractions is the last thing that state government should be doing,' Cuomo said in a video address. 'And I cannot be the cause of that.... Given the circumstances the best way I can help now is to step aside and let government get back to governing,' he added.He said his resignation will be effective in 14 days. Cuomo will be replaced by Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who will be New York's first female governor and will serve out the rest of the term until the next election in November 2022." MB: As Tom Winter Ron Allen of NBC News pointed out, the last legislature could still impeach & convict him. The AP's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "... as Mr. Cuomo resigned in disgrace on Tuesday, another message became clear: The governor, ever the tactician, was seeking redemption in the eyes of New Yorkers, straining to litigate and define his legacy -- sometimes in defiance of reality -- and to preserve his future standing amid the worst crisis of his career."
Alexandra Alter & Elizabeth Harris of the New York Times: "In the months following its October release, Mr. Cuomo's book, 'American Crisis: Leadership Lessons From the Covid-19 Pandemic,' became a source of financial and ethical headaches for Crown[, a Penguin imprint]. Sales were surprisingly weak for a title that Crown had invested in heavily, with fewer than 50,000 hardcover copies sold.... Promoting the book became challenging, as Mr. Cuomo was mired in investigations that battered his public image.... In March, Crown made an attempt to distance itself from the governor, saying that it had canceled plans for a paperback version and would no longer promote the book.... Questions remained about whether Crown will pay the remainder of his [$5 million] advance.... For the week ending July 31, the most recent data available, BookScan said Cuomo's book sold 71 hardcover copies." ~~~
~~~ Marie: If a publisher turns down your manuscript, bear in mind that publishers are mostly idiots. Also, too, take comfort in the fact that publishers rejected some world best-selling books, like the first Harry Potter book (10 times) and the Diary of Anne Frank (15 times).
Benjamin Parker of the (conservative) Bulwark: "For people determined not to give Democrats credit for policing their own side, you could say that it was helpful that in both [the cases of Gov. Andrew Cuomo & Sen. Al Franken] the person succeeding the beleaguered official was also going to be a Democrat.... So it's not as if the stakes were astronomically high for the Democrats seeking to oust Cuomo and Franken.... When the Republican party had an historically unpopular incumbent president and had the opportunity to impeach him and remove him from office not once -- but twice! -- why didn't they do it? It's not as if removing Trump in 2019 would have made Hillary Clinton president.... The obvious answer is that at the current moment the Democrats are a political party, while the Republicans are a personality cult.... In the Republican party, criticizing, disappointing, or contradicting the dear leader is an offense worthy of expulsion -- if not worse.
AP: "Kathy Hochul, a western New York Democrat unfamiliar to many people in the state even after six years as its lieutenant governor, was set to begin reintroducing herself to the public Wednesday as she prepared to take the reins of power after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced he would resign from office. Hochul 62, in two weeks will become the state's first female governor, following a remarkable transition period in which Cuomo has said he will stay on and work to ease her into a job that he dominated over his three terms in office.
She stayed out of public sight Tuesday but said in a statement that she was 'prepared to lead.' Hochul planned to hold her first news conference Wednesday afternoon at the State Capitol...."
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "President Joe Biden has decided to tap Elizabeth Prelogar, the veteran appellate lawyer who has pursued the administration's interests at the Supreme Court over the past seven months, to become solicitor General on a permanent basis, a White House official said Tuesday night. Prelogar, a Harvard Law graduate and a former clerk to Attorney General Merrick Garland during his tenure as a judge on the D.C. Circuit, served as a prosecutor on the staff of special counsel Robert Mueller during his investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.... In addition to Garland, Prelogar clerked for Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan."
Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden nominated Damian Williams as the U.S. attorney in Manhattan on Tuesday, naming the first African American to lead one of the most powerful prosecutor's offices in the country as part of a slate of picks for top law enforcement posts.... Mr. Biden also announced nominees to supervise two other offices that tend to investigate the Justice Department's more prominent cases...."
Nahal Toosi & Alexander Ward of Politico: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) "is blocking State Department nominees en masse because he is upset that [President] Biden waived some sanctions related to Nord Stream 2, a Russian-German energy pipeline project that the United States has long opposed.... Cruz also has been vocal about his intentions, leading to intense negotiations between him, his staff and administration officials."
Caitlin Emma & Jennifer Scholtes of Politico: "Senate Democrats adopted a budget measure early Wednesday morning to deliver their next filibuster-proof ticket to passing major legislation against the will of their GOP colleagues. After more than 14 hours of continuous amendment votes, the chamber adopted on party lines a 92-page framework for Democrats' $3.5 trillion package of climate and social initiatives, including subsidized child care, expanded Medicare and paid family and medical leave benefits. Once both chambers have approved the budget instructions, it will unlock the reconciliation process, which empowers the majority party to eventually clear the final bill with just 51 votes in the Senate, rather than the usual 60-vote hurdle." ~~~
~~~ Vote-a-Rama. Luke Broadwater & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "... as the Senate turned to a $3.5 trillion budget blueprint that begins the Democrats' push to expand the social safety net, the tradition of considering hours upon hours of nonbinding budget amendments will once again get underway -- with senators forcing politically sensitive votes on their rivals as campaign operatives compile a record for possible attack ads. Only one vote really matters: If all 50 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents give final approval to the blueprint, Senate committees can begin work this fall on the most significant expansion of the safety net since the 1960s, knowing that legislation cannot be filibustered under the Senate's complicated budget rules." (MB: I assume at some point today, the article will be updated to reflect passage of the budget framework.)
Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Forty-six GOP senators are warning that they will not vote to raise the debt ceiling, as Republicans ramp up pressure on Democrats to increase the nation's borrowing limit on their own. All but four members of the Senate GOP caucus signed onto the letter -- ... released Tuesday night -- that warns that the 46 GOP senators won't support a debt hike, regardless of whether it's attached to another bill or brought up on its own.... The letter was spearheaded by GOP Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).... The GOP senators who didn't sign the letter were: Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Richard Shelby (Ala.) and John Kennedy (La.)."
Jonathan Weisman & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "The Senate's passage on Tuesday of a trillion-dollar infrastructure package may have been a vote of confidence for President Biden and his insistence that bipartisanship can still thrive, but there is a far harder task ahead for his agenda: keeping Democrats in lock step. The crosscurrents in the president's own party have only sharpened since Congress began moving on parallel tracks with two separate legislative efforts. One, a $1 trillion bipartisan measure that the Senate passed Tuesday, would pay for roads, bridges, rail and water systems. The other, a budget blueprint the Senate was expected to pass late Tuesday or early Wednesday, would come together this fall to expand the nation's social safety net -- education, health care, child care and climate change -- with Democratic votes only.... Mr. Biden used a speech after the Senate vote not only to trumpet [both packages].... In an evenly divided Senate and a narrowly divided House, the path for Mr. Biden's agenda is treacherous. It is remarkable that his expansive social and economic proposals -- all $4 trillion of them -- have gotten this far, and the two chambers' Democratic leaders, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, have proved adept at holding their caucuses together."
Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The Senate gave overwhelming bipartisan approval to a $1 trillion infrastructure bill on Tuesday to rebuild the nation's deteriorating roads and bridges and fund new climate resilience and broadband initiatives, delivering a key component of President Biden's agenda. The legislation would be the largest infusion of federal investment into infrastructure projects in more than a decade, touching nearly every facet of the American economy and fortifying the nation's response to the warming of the planet. It would provide historic levels of funding for the modernization of the nation's power grid and projects to better manage climate risks, as well as pour hundreds of billions of dollars into the repair and replacement of aging public works projects. The vote, 69-30, was uncommonly bipartisan; the yes votes included Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate Republican leader, and 18 other Republicans who shrugged off increasingly shrill efforts by ... Donald Trump to derail it. But the measure now faces a potentially rocky and time-consuming path in the House, where the speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the nearly 100-member Progressive Caucus, have said they will not vote on it unless and until the Senate passes a separate, even more ambitious $3.5 trillion social policy bill this fall." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Betsy Swan & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "Donald Trump asked the country's top legal official in late December about a conspiratorial draft complaint aimed at overturning the 2020 election results, according to a previously unreported account of Trump's phone call with former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. Rosen persuaded Trump the lawsuit wasn't a good idea, he told Senate investigators last weekend, two sources familiar with his testimony said. The previously unreported details underscore how hard DOJ lawyers worked to shoot down the increasingly harebrained legal strategies that reached the president's desk.... The complaint was being circulated by an outside group helmed by Kurt Olsen, an attorney who had represented Texas in its own failed suit challenging Trump's loss earlier that month, and some of the president's allies found its logic compelling. The complaint, modeled on the Texas suit, would have urged the Supreme Court to declare that the Electoral College votes from six key swing states lost by Trump 'cannot be counted' because of baseless allegations of fraud, and for the justices to order a 'special election' for president be held in those states." ~~~
~~~ Marie: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." By this standard, Trump is insane, inasmuch as he had already lost some 60 lawsuits -- including the Texas suit -- claiming fraud & irregularities.
NSA Watchdog Elevates Tucker's Conspiracy Claim. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The office of the National Security Agency's inspector general said on Tuesday that it would investigate a claim by the Fox News personality Tucker Carlson that the surveillance agency 'has been monitoring our electronic communications and is planning to leak them in an effort to take this show off the air.' The agency has denied the allegation. The office of its independent watchdog, Rob Storch, announced that it was 'conducting a review related to recent allegations that the N.S.A. improperly targeted the communications of a member of the U.S. news media.'... [The NSA's denial], however, left open the possibility that the agency may have incidentally swept up some communications of or about Mr. Carlson as it conducted surveillance of foreigners for intelligence purposes, without intentionally targeting him as part of any nefarious plot to take his program off the air." For instance, Carlson was contacting the Kremlin to try to secure an interview of Vladimir Putin.
Jason Wilson of the Guardian: "A Washington state man who was involved in an armed brawl at a contentious protest in downtown Portland[, Oregon?,] over the weekend was also charged, along with his son, over his presence during the attack on the Capitol in Washington DC on 6 January. Jeffrey Grace's ongoing participation in far-right street politics since January -- which has included trips to the southern border -- indicates that widespread charges against those involved in the Capitol attack have not deterred at least some militant pro-Trump supporters from further direct actions. Grace, 62, of Battle Ground in south-west Washington, was captured by a photographer at the scene of the clash, which involved antifascists on one hand, and on the other armed rightwing demonstrators.... Grace was captured leaving the scene of the brawl in the back of a truck, holding a baton."
** Book Report. Jennifer Szalai of the New York Times: In his "barnburner of a new book, 'Reign of Terror'..., [Spencer] Ackerman contends that the American response to 9/11 made President Trump possible. The evidence for this blunt-force thesis is presented in 'Reign of Terror' with an impressive combination of diligence and verve, deploying Ackerman's deep stores of knowledge as a national security journalist to full effect. The result is a narrative of the last 20 years that is upsetting, discerning and brilliantly argued.... Trump, Ackerman writes, never wavered on one key point -- 'the perception of nonwhites as marauders, even as conquerors, from hostile foreign civilizations.'"
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "Florida's second-largest school system is threatening legal action to challenge the ban on mask mandates by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), as it voted to keep its own requirements in place for students and staff. The Broward County school board -- which voted 8-1 on Tuesday to uphold its mask mandate despite DeSantis's move to curb such restrictions and subsequent threat to stop paying superintendents and school board members who defy his orders --; said in an evening news conference that it told its legal counsel to prepare a challenge."
Maeve Sheehey of Politico: In response to a reporter's question, "President Joe Biden on Tuesday called out Republican governors on their positions against mask mandates in schools, calling some recent actions 'a little disingenuous' and out of line with a small government message.... Biden said he was 'very concerned' about the trend of schoolchildren testing positive, adding that most children who become infected are living in states with low vaccination rates."
Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "... Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Rand Paul (Ky.) denounced health mandates against the virus at a time when the nation recorded its highest single-day number of new cases since January.... 'There should be no mandates -- zero -- concerning covid,' Cruz [told Sean Hannity]. 'That means no mask mandates, regardless of your vaccination status. That means no vaccine mandates. That means no vaccine passports.'... Cruz accused [President] Biden, without evidence, of 'imposing unscientific and burdensome mandates.'... [Cruz] and Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) introduced two bills that would ban mask and vaccine mandates.... [Meanwhile, Paul] released a video Sunday that urged people to resist the regulations implemented by health experts and elected officials to help prevent the spread of the deadly delta variant.... Paul, who [Anthony] Fauci has said does not know what he's talking about when it comes to the pandemic, called the CDC's mask guidance 'anti-science.'" ~~~
~~~ That Went Well. Donie O'Sullivan of CNN: "Sen. Rand Paul ... has been suspended from YouTube for seven days over a video claiming that masks are ineffective in fighting Covid-19, according to a YouTube spokesperson.... 'Leftwing cretins at YouTube banning me for 7 days for a video that quotes 2 peer reviewed articles saying cloth masks don't work,' he wrote, calling the suspension a 'badge of honor.' Paul's tweet included a link to watch the video on an alternate platform." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Here's what the liberal cretins at the British Medical Journal said about cloth masks in February 2021. I heard one of the TV experts/liberal cretins say yesterday that if you wear a cloth mask, you have 70% protection; if you and a nearby person wear cloth masks, you both have 90% protection from transferring the coronavirus to one another.
Davey Alba of the New York Times: "Twitter on Tuesday suspended Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, from its service for seven days after she posted that the Food and Drug Administration should not give the coronavirus vaccines full approval and that the vaccines were 'failing.' The company said this was Ms. Greene's fourth 'strike,' which means that under its rules she can be permanently barred if she violates Twitter's coronavirus misinformation policy again. The company issued her third strike less than a month ago." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Lies about the effectiveness of the vaccines were hardly Miss Margie's only Covid Lies o'the Week. As the video below (thanks to PD Pepe for the link) shows, she claimed Dr. Anthony Fauci "funded, with your tax dollars ... in the Wujan lab ... Covid-19."
~~~ Even worse, Akhilleus pointed out a few days ago that Margie encouraged a group of supporters to give local volunteers bringing information about vaccines a "Second Amendment" greeting.
Covid Is Killing All the Right-Wing Radio Hosts. Ed Scarce of Crooks & Liars: Long-time WNDB (Daytona Beach, Florida) talk-show host Marc Bernier, who has spoken out against Covid-19 vaccines & mask-wearing, has been hospitalized with Covid-19.
Beyond the Beltway
The Banana Republic of Texas. David Montgomery of the New York Times: "The Texas House of Representatives on Tuesday authorized state law enforcement to round up and potentially arrest absentee Democrats who fled the Republican-led chamber to block action on polarizing election legislation. The 80-12 vote empowered the House sergeant-at-arms to dispatch law enforcement officers to compel the attendance of missing members 'under warrant of arrest, if necessary.' After the vote, Dade Phelan, the speaker of the Texas House, signed 52 civil arrest warrants which will be delivered to the House Sergeant-at-Arms Wednesday morning for service, Enrique Marquez, the speaker's communications director, said in an email. The move by the Texas House, sitting in Austin, came hours after the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court, acting on a petition by Gov. Greg Abbott and Mr. Phelan, overturned an earlier ruling. That ruling, from a district court in Austin's home county of Travis, had determined that the two officials, both Republicans, did not have the authority to order the arrest of their fellow elected officials." The Texas Tribune's story is here.
Way Beyond
Afghanistan. Thomas Gibbons-Neff, et al., of the New York Times: "Afghan forces essentially collapsed in three more provincial capitals on Tuesday, adding to an already alarming drumbeat of Taliban victories around the country and effectively cutting off the main highway connecting the country's capital with northern Afghan provinces. The three cities -- Pul-i-Khumri, roughly 150 miles north of Kabul in Baghlan Province; Farah, the capital of the western province of the same name; and Faizabad, in remote and rugged Badakhshan Province -- were the seventh, eighth and ninth to be overrun by the Taliban in less than a week." The AP's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: The Pentagon should force immediate retirement upon U.S. military brass who told civilian leaders that U.S. forces could train Afghans to defend the country against the Taliban. It might have been worthwhile to test out training programs 10 years ago, but shame on anyone who favorably assessed the potential of the Afghan military. ~~~
~~~ Dan Lamothe, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration is preparing for Afghanistan's capital to fall far sooner than feared only weeks ago, as a rapid disintegration of security has prompted the revision of an already stark intelligence assessment predicting Kabul could be overrun within six to 12 months of the U.S. military departing, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the matter. One official ... said Tuesday that the U.S. military now assesses a collapse could occur within 90 days. Others said it could happen within a month."
Canada/China/U.S. Joe McDonald & Ng Han Guan of the AP: "A Canadian entrepreneur was sentenced to 11 years in prison Wednesday in a spying case linked to Beijing's effort to push his country to release an executive of tech giant Huawei, prompting an unusual joint show of support for Canada by the United States and 24 other governments. China is stepping up pressure as a Canadian judge hears final arguments about whether to send the Huawei executive to the United States to face charges related to possible violations of trade sanctions on Iran. On Tuesday, a court rejected another Canadian's appeal of his sentence in a drug case that was abruptly increased to death after the executive's arrest. Entrepreneur Michael Spavor and a former Canadian diplomat were detained in what critics labeled 'hostage politics' after Huawei's Meng Wanzhou was arrested Dec. 1, 2018, at the Vancouver airport." The New York Times story is here.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Neal Conan, a radio virtuoso who as a rigorous journalist and congenial raconteur anchored NPR's flagship call-in program, 'Talk of the Nation,' for 12 years, died on Tuesday at his farm in Hawi, Hawaii. He was 71. His wife, the travel writer, poet and essayist Gretel Ehrlich, said the cause was brain cancer."
Weather Channel: "Tropical Storm Fred is moving through the Caribbean, where it will bring heavy rain and gusty winds over the next few days. Florida could see rain and wind impacts from Fred by this weekend, but details on the magnitude and timing of those impacts are still uncertain. For now, Floridians should monitor the forecast closely given Fred's current most likely path."
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Reader Comments (6)
Adam Hochschild, in an essay he called "All American Vigilantes," says in many ways the Klan (with hoods) hostile not only to Blacks but to Jews, Catholics, labor unionists, and immigrants has a distinct familiar ring today. It appealed to the same sense of social and economic loss and displacement to which Fatty was able to speak so skillfully nearly a century later. He cites a prominent Klansman who said in 1926:
"The Nordic American today is a stranger in the land his fathers gave him."
The Klan members and sympathizers ranged from senators, governors and Supreme Court justices to a youthful New York real estate developer named Fred Trump––who was, as we know, arrested wearing a hood, when a 1927 march of some one thousand Klansmen through Queens turned violent .
Ninety-four years later, his son, would launch the crowd of vigilantes who invaded the Capitol.
Here's the transcript from last night's Rachel Maddow who tells the fascinating story of fallen men who paved the way for Kathy Hochul who will become governor of NYC in 13 days.
https://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/transcript-rachel-maddow-show-8-10-21-n1276539
Contrary to the Bulwark article, there is no way to put Franken and Cuomo in the same sentence. Franken was messing around with a co-worker, Cuomo repeatedly targeted employees much younger than himself. A certain sign about Cuomo is that his ex-wife Kennedy with whom he has three kids, has said nothing. Harassment is on a spectrum of severity and it is best to remember the simple rule: no means no.
And, no. I don't feel badly about how close Dick Cheney came to being a victim at Bagram: https://www.inquirer.com/news/nation-world/afghanistan-war-united-states-dick-cheney-20210810.html. This is more spin and bullshit to make Dick less of a Dick. He and McGahn have exactly zero victimhood to cloak themselves.
Yesterday, I heard a news report that described the bills for infrastructure and other much needed programs as “partisan priorities” for Democrats. This got my Irish up. Whadaya mean partisan? What’s partisan about fixing roads and bridges, rail lines, power grids, bringing high speed internet connections to rural areas largely left behind in the digital revolution, of providing expanded healthcare, investing in families, climate, jobs, mending the shredded social safety net? Huh? What’s partisan about those things?
Then I thought about it.
They ARE partisan goals, actually. Republicans have zero interest in any of those things, so insofar as only Democrats care about those goals, they can legitimately be described as “partisan priorities”.
Republican priorities? Expanding their death cult, white supremacy, racist nationalism, tax cuts for the already obscenely wealthy, batshit conspiracies, stealing elections, and Donald Trump.
But don’t worry, as soon as money for fixing roads and better healthcare and faster internet, so the droolers can get online even quicker to listen to the fruitcakes, begins arriving to make big changes for average Americans, Republicans, who fought against all these things will step right up to take credit for everything.
Oh wait…Joe Manchin.
We didn’t get his permission for any of this.
Never mind.
Citizen,
Couldn’t agree more about not lumping Al Franken in with Andrew Gropo. Franken’s joke was silly but in no way did he use a position of power over many years to grope women who worked for him. Big difference.
As for Darth Cheney almost being bagged and tagged in Bagram, to hell with that. He started that mess based on lies and his own snarling self interest. It’s like the asshole who digs a Burmese tiger trap in his backyard to gut the neighbor’s kitty cat, then one night while sneaking out to whiz on the neighbor’s roses, falls in and impales himself. Buh-bye now.
@citizen625 & @Akhilleus: While it's true that Parker put "Franken and Cuomo in the same sentence," he did not "lump" them together. Rather, he wrote, "That choice [i.e., the defenestration of Cuomo] isn’t dissimilar to the one offered to former Sen. Al Franken, who was driven to resign at the height of the #MeToo movement for far less serious allegations." Emphasis added.
And Franken was not accused only of making a sexist joke. The woman who initially complained about the photo was a "conservative" with an agenda. But several woman came forward and said he touched them inappropriately & apparently deliberately (ass, breast, wet kiss, etc.). I do think the Senate acted too hastily in dumping him; he should have had his "day in court" before the Senate Ethics Committee or whatever. But Parker's point was exactly that; that Democrats' treatment of Franken was harsh & swift.