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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Oct012023

The Conversation -- October 2, 2023

Catie Edmonson of the New York Times: "Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida moved on Monday to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his post in an act of vengeance that posed the clearest threat yet to Mr. McCarthy's tenure and could plunge the House into chaos. After days of warnings, Mr. Gaetz rose Monday evening to bring up a resolution declaring the speakership vacant, which starts a process that would force a vote within days on whether to keep Mr. McCarthy in his post. In doing so, Mr. Gaetz sought to subject Mr. McCarthy to a rare form of political punishment experienced by only two other speakers in the history of the House of Representatives." ~~~

     ~~~ Olivia Beavers & Jordain Carney of Politico: "It's far from clear that Gaetz has the votes to depose McCarthy, as the Floridian himself acknowledged to reporters after making his move. Only three colleagues, Reps. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Bob Good (R-Va.), are openly supportive of his effort. But a handful of other House Republicans frustrated with the speaker are seen as persuadable on the matter of his future."

The New York Times is liveblogging the civil trial of Donald Trump. So far we know Trump was 9 minutes late for court because he was busy standing out front and telling reporters that Judge Arthur Erdogan was a "rogue judge, New York AG Letitia James was a racist, and calling the trial "a sham and a scam." ~~~

~~~ Susanne Craig: "As soon as the cameras [in the courtroom] were in front of Trump, he clenched his jaw and cocked his head up and to the side. His face looked like the mug shot that resulted after his arrest in Atlanta." MB: Clearly, he thinks this is what tough guys look like. ~~~

~~~ Jonah Bromwich: "Speaking to television cameras during the break, Trump calls for Justice Engoron to be disbarred. 'This is a judge that should be out of office,' he said. 'This is a judge that some people say could be charged criminally for what he's doing.'"

     ~~~ CNN's liveblog is here: Judge Arthur Engoron "has denied media outlets' request to allow a camera in the courtroom for opening statements." The judge did allow cameras in the courtroom for a few minutes before the proceedings started.

Colleen Long of the AP: "Attorney General Merrick Garland said in an interview that aired Sunday that he would resign if asked by President Joe Biden to take action against Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. But he doesn't think he'll be put in that position. 'I am sure that that will not happen, but I would not do anything in that regard,' he said on CBS '60 Minutes.' 'And if necessary, I would resign. But there is no sense that anything like that will happen.'... Garland said the president has never tried to meddle in the investigations, and he dismissed criticism from Republicans that he was going easy on the president's son, Hunter, who was recently indicted on a gun charge after a plea deal in his tax case fell apart."

Zach Schonfeld of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a long-shot bid to disqualify former President Trump from running for office under the 14th Amendment. John Castro, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, has filed various lawsuits seeking to challenge Trump's eligibility under the amendment's provision targeting those involved in insurrections. In a brief, unsigned order issued Monday, the justices declined to take up one of his cases after Castro lost in a lower court."

Justice Thomas Recuses! Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Monday denied an effort by lawyerJohn Eastman >to appeal a ruling that found he may have acted criminally with the legal advice he gave former President Trump. It spurred a rare recusal from Justice Clarence Thomas, whose wife corresponded with the California attorney in the weeks ahead of Jan. 6. Thomas's recusal comes after reporting that his wife, Ginni Thomas, emailed Eastman, as well as Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows and Arizona lawmakers wrestling with pressure from the Trump campaign, to look for ways to reverse the election. The episode ... triggered a renewed look at Thomas's failure to recuse himself from other matters relating to Jan. 6. His actions have further come under the microscope following reporting he accepted a series of lavish gifts from a Republican megadonor. The order says that Thomas 'took no part in the consideration' of Eastman's petition."

Miranda Nazzaro of the Hill: "Former President Trump said Sunday that Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) should be jailed for the 'egregious act' of pulling the fire alarm Saturday ahead of the House's vote on a stopgap measure to keep the government open past the midnight deadline. 'Will Congressman Jamal Bowman be prosecuted and imprisoned for very dangerously pulling and setting off the main fire alarm system in order to stop a Congressional vote that was going on in D.C.,' Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Sunday. 'His egregious act is covered on tape, a horrible display of nerve and criminality.'" MB: Yeah but attempting to lead and carry out an insurrection in which dozens of police personnel are injured is fine and jailing the perps is a violation of their First Amendment rights.

~~~~~~~~~~

** Maeve Reston & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office confirmed late Sunday that he plans to appoint Emily's List president Laphonza Butler to fill the seat held by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who died last week at age 90. The interim appointment will extend until at least November 2024. Feinstein had planned to step down at the end of her term, in January 2025. Three of California's top Democrats -- Reps. Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam B. Schiff -- are in a contentious three-way primary contest for that seat, in what is likely to be the most expensive congressional contest in the nation next year. The appointment helps Democrats hold onto their narrow margin of control of the Senate." After Newsom promised to choose a Black woman for the position should it become necessary to replace Feinstein, liberal groups pressured him to appoint Lee, but he indicated recently that he would not choose anyone who was currently running for the seat. Butler is Black. Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: And here I was hoping Meghan Markle would get the nod. (Do we call you Senator or do we call you Duchess? Is a curtsy appropriate? What does the new Senate dress code say about wearing tiaras to work? ~~~

~~~ Hillary Clinton, in a Washington Post op-ed: Dianne "Feinstein, who passed away on Thursday evening, was a giant of the Senate. She was brave, honorable, honest and unafraid to do what was right for her constituents and her country. We both came to Washington in 1993, I as first lady and Dianne as senator. When she used her first floor speech to support the Family and Medical Leave Act, I knew I had found a kindred spirit. When I joined Dianne in the small sisterhood of Senate women eight years later, I gained an appreciation for her blend of principle and pragmatism. In an institution known for show horses, she was a workhorse. Perhaps because she had been a mayor, she believed in delivering results not rhetoric -- and that's what she did.... The United States needs leaders willing to respond to attacks on the rule of law with the same fearlessness that Dianne showed when she exposed unlawful 'enhanced interrogation techniques.'"

Kevin Freking & Colleen Long of the AP: "President Joe Biden said Sunday that American aid to Ukraine will keep flowing for now as he sought to reassure allies of continued U.S. financial support for the war effort. But time is running out, the president said in a warning to Congress. 'We cannot under any circumstances allow America's support for Ukraine to be interrupted,' Biden said in remarks from the Roosevelt Room after Congress averted a government shutdown by passing a short-term funding package late Saturday that dropped assistance for Ukraine in the battle against Russia. 'We have time, not much time, and there's an overwhelming sense of urgency,' he said, noting that the funding bill lasts only until mid-November. Biden urged Congress to negotiate an aid package as soon as possible.... 'Stop playing games, get this done.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the text of the President's speech, as delivered, via the White House.

Miranda Nazzaro of the Hill: "Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Sunday said he will push to unseat House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) this week, vowing to make good on his threat after McCarthy backed a measure to prevent a government shutdown a day earlier that won broad bipartisan support. 'I do intend to file a motion to vacate against Speaker McCarthy this week,' Gaetz told CNN 'State of the Union' anchor Jake Tapper. 'I think we need to rip off the band-aid. I think we need to move on with leadership that's trustworthy.'" The New York Times story is here. ~~~

~~~ David Edwards of the Raw Story: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said he would not get involved in the possible push to expel Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) from Congress. A Republican in the House of Representatives told Fox News that caucus members could move to expel Gaetz over an ethics complaint after he tried to force a government shutdown. 'No one can stand him at this point. A smart guy without morals,' the unnamed Republican lawmaker reportedly said."

The Supremes Are Back. Adam Liptak & Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "When the Supreme Court returns to the bench on Monday, it will face a docket filled with unfinished business. The justices will revisit issues like gun rights, government power, race and free speech even as they are shadowed by intense scrutiny of their conduct off the bench. In the coming months, moreover, the court will very likely agree to hear a major abortion case, one that could severely limit the availability of a drug used in more than half of all pregnancy terminations. A decision in that case could come in June, two years after the court overturned Roe v. Wade.... The coming term could also take large strides toward achieving a long-sought goal of the conservative legal movement: stripping administrative agencies of the power to regulate.... Recent history suggests that the court's six Republican appointees will continue to move the law to the right.... If liberals achieve some victories..., those may come because litigants and lower courts had staked out positions too extreme for even a fundamentally conservative Supreme Court.... The main questions are how far, how fast and what impact the questions swirling around the justices' ethical standards will have on their judicial work and personal relationships." ~~~

     ~~~ Robert Barnes & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post concentrate on the Supremes' ethics challenges and the resulting low esteem in which the public holds the Court. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I seriously want to see Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan & Sonia Sotomayor lip-synching "Stop in the Name of Love." They should definitely wear their robes & practice their choreography. Somebody has got to put the Supremes back in the Supremes. And it definitely won't be the Dancing Alitos, who are more into 16th-century ecclesiastical excesses than R&B and doo-wop.

The Apprentice Sorcerer. Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "After decades of exaggerating [his wealth] with impunity, [Donald] Trump will go on trial Monday, facing a lawsuit that accuses him of inflating his riches by billions of dollars and crossing the line into fraud.... The trial will determine how much he and his adult sons exaggerated that wealth and what the ultimate consequences will be.... It will be an avidly scrutinized spectacle that will lift the curtain on Mr. Trump's reputation as a businessman, a core piece of his identity.... Mr. Trump, who has denied wrongdoing, is expected to attend the opening day of the trial and eventually will be called to testify." The Guardian's story is here.

Mary Jordan of the Washington Post: President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter's "drive through downtown Plains[, Georgia, last weekend during the annual peanut festival] was just the latest surprise from Carter, who has already lived longer than any other former president.... The waves of applause only stopped when a 'Happy Birthday' serenade began.... On Sunday, Carter plans to have a low-key birthday with Rosalynn at the Plains home they built in 1961 and where they spend most days sitting together.... But even for a life marked by the unexpected, Carter's appearance last weekend stunned many. In February, doctors told Carter's family he would likely not live more than a week.... In 2015, after doctors told him his melanoma had spread to his brain and liver, a usually fatal condition, Carter seemed unfazed."

Jason Wilson in the Guardian: The rightwing Claremont Institute is a thinktank behind a movement of far-right extremists who argue that the only way to get the U.S. back to the country the founders envisioned is to install an authoritarian leader who would quash the "cosmopolitan class that includes much of the entrenched bureaucracy, the military, the media, and government-sponsored corporations.&" The movement is called "Caesarism" or "Red Caesarism." MB: IOW, this is the Trumpists' idea of putting an intellectual gloss on fascism. If the Claremont Institute sounds familiar, you may be thinking of its prominent "scholar" John Eastman, who is now under indictment in Georgia for providing Donald Trump with a theoretical "legal" framework for overturning the federal government. As Molly Ivins might say, it sounds better in the original German: the German word for "Caesar" is "Kaiser."

Presidential Race 2024

Brian Klaas: "The 'Banality of Crazy' has warped American politics, as few voters recognize just how deranged, delusional, and dangerous Donald Trump is ... because the press rarely reports on his routine insanity.... One of [the] two [leading presidential] candidates faces relentless newspaper columns and TV pundit 'takes' arguing that he should drop out of the race. (Spoiler alert: it's somehow *not* the racist authoritarian sexual abuse fraudster facing 91 felony charges).... How is it possible that the leading candidate to become president of the United States can float the prospect of executing a general and the media response is ... crickets? How is it possible that it's not front page news when a man who soon may return to power calls for law enforcement to kill people for minor crimes? And why do so few people question Trump's mental acuity rather than [President] Biden's, when Trump proposes delusional, unhinged plans for forest management and warns his supporters that Biden is going to lead us into World War II (which would require a time machine), or wrongly claims that he defeated Barack Obama in 2016.... We need to amplify Trumps vile rhetoric more, because it will turn persuadable voters off to his cruel message." ~~~

     ~~~ Thanks to RAS for the link.

Conservative New York Times columnist David French argues that the Christian nationalists who back Donald Trump do so from an emotional or spiritual viewpoint and a sense of fellowship with other Trumpists, rather than from any philosophical or theological position. They rely more on their various prophecies, messages they receive directly from the Holy Spirit, and conspiracy theories. They believe that by supporting Trump, they are playing a part in God's divine plan.

~~~~~~~~~~

Slovakia. Ladka Bauerova, et al., of the Washington Post: "The party of pro-Russian populist Robert Fico has won Slovakia's parliamentary election, nearly complete results showed Sunday, dealing a potential blow to European unity on support for Ukraine.... The results mean the country is headed for a coalition government, with neither of the largest two parties winning enough support to command a parliamentary majority. If Fico's Smer leads that coalition, it could reverse Slovakia's strong support for Ukraine amid Russia's invasion."

News Lede

New York Times: "Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, who together identified a chemical tweak to messenger RNA that laid the foundation for vaccines against Covid-19 that have since been administered billions of times globally, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday. Their discovery 'fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system,' the panel that awarded the prize said, adding that the work 'contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times.'" The Guardian's report is here.

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Reader Comments (17)

It’s a two-fer for Faux screamer Jesse Watters, who continues the tradition that poop hawking outlet has for treating its viewers like drooling idiots.

While gleefully reveling in his own determination that Joesph Kennedy, Jr’s narcissistic and batshit candidacy will sink Biden in 2024 and return the Orange Monster to power, Watters makes two claims both of which rest on the assumption that the average Faux viewer is a moron who will happily consume any nugget of crap Watters throws on the floor.

First, he tosses out Kennedy’s poor-poor-pitiful-me complaint (with zero context) that Joe Biden is “denying” him Secret Service protection. Second, he tries to whip up additional outrage by claiming that by not debating Kennedy, Biden is “rigging the primary”.

Secind turd first. So…by not debating a guy who is more than 50 points behind him in the polls, Biden is rigging the election. But… Trump is not? I guess Watters figures (correctly, it seems) that his viewers are too stupid to note the gigantic problem with painting Biden as am asshole for the exact same plan that Trump invented.

As for Secret Service protection, “denied” is highly misleading at this point.

“Kennedy’s suggestion that he is being treated differently than every other presidential candidate since 1968 is baseless. In reality, the vast majority of candidates in modern presidential primaries never receive Secret Service protection because they are not deemed ‘major’ candidates – and it would be nearly unprecedented for even a major candidate to receive protection this early in a campaign if they did not already have it on account of currently or previously serving in the White House. A CNN review of presidential campaigns dating back to 1980 found that only then-Senator Barack Obama, who faced unique threats as a Black man with a realistic chance to become president, was granted Secret Service protection as early in a campaign as Kennedy is seeking it.”

And we won’t even mention that the only group that regularly throws around assassination threats is on the right, and they love Kennedy.

More of the same from Muddy Watters.

October 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

On French:

So we have bred a bunch of stupid, spoiled self-centered people (narcissism, anyone? ) who had a TV show which I never watched named after them:

Arrested development explains a lot. I get to have whatever I want when I want, whether it be guns and/or white supremacy and I get to feel good about myself because I'm not the only one who feels that way. There are thousands like me and we all have God on our side.

Not the namby-pamby Christ, lord no. The real angry Old Testament god or his self-declared avatar who has said he is my vengeance.

Of course you can't reason with them. They don't have the capacity to reason.

Yes, these yokels are among us by the thousands but I'll begin to take them more seriously as threats when they regularly don suicide vests and blow themselves up in the name of their "beliefs."

And I'd add, since I'm in such a good mood, the Claremont hangers-on are weenies and intellectual lightweights, propped up by Right Wing money.

October 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

The 33 clips of trump's ignorance, just in the last 2 weeks, is mind-
blowing. Just think of 4 years of ignorant statements.
I'm not sure, but I think I could do better, even after 4 martinis (doubles), without even trying.
And last week, the 27 things he said he would do in his next term,
number 11 "any person convicted of selling drugs-death penalty."
When I picked up a prescription at the local drug store, I repeated that
one to the pharmacist because trump didn't say "illegal drugs", he
just said drugs. The pharmacist laughed and said "he'll have to deal
with my wife if he tries anything here, and we all know what she's
like."

October 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

@Forrest,

Succinctly put. And folks cheer for it. We may be deluding ourselves that we haven't slipped right off the slippery slope and are free falling, ala Wiley Coyote, to the hardpan below..

October 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterShawn

Regarding the French piece, I have said for years that we show the lunacy that is organized religion far too much deference and that deference is then mistaken by them for respect. I have zero respect for anyone who believes that looking up and saying words has ever solved anything. The world is getting wise to "thoughts and prayers," but somehow those who aren't best friends with the Creator haven't called out those who claim to be as clear and present dangers to terrestrial life. Addicts can deny their depravity as long as they are enabled.

October 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterJack Mahoney

@Jack Mahoney: I have disagreed with you about the extent to which religious belief interferes with civic life, as I know many people who function quite normally and at the same time adhere more-or-less to "mainstream" religious teachings. But I'll have to admit that the unhinged religious fervor that elevates Trump and others like him puts a serious crimp in my theory. These people have succumbed to what you aptly call "lunacy," and they cannot function in the rational world of ideas.

October 2, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Here's some info from the FDA which came with the new Covid-19
tests for the latest variant.
If anyone has a pile of older tests for the original Covid-19, go to:
www.fda.gov/covidtestdates

It lists dozens of makers and the old expiration dates and the new
expiration date, if it has been extended.

I threw away about 6 old ones. Should have tested more often I guess.

October 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

Re: Justice High Tech Lynching’s recusal.

I’m guessing it was the general sense around the Court’s ivory tower that Eastman’s petition was a dog and Clarence’s vote to help out his wife’s co-conspirator wouldn’t save his treasonous ass. This meant it was the perfect time for him to recuse himself and put on the mask of sober jurisprudence, all the while continuing to sip Ginni’s insurrectionist Kickapoo Joy Juice through a long straw.

The real test will come when Clarence has the chance to cast a deciding vote in a case he genuinely should step away from. We’ll see what wins then: sober jurisprudence, extrajudicial Joy Juice. Or maybe just greedy self-interest (“The Gulfstream is ready for you now, Justice Thomas. Enjoy your vacation in the Caymans”). Ahhh…life in the ivory tower.

October 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

“[Rekigious fanatics] believe that by supporting Trump, they are playing a part in God's divine plan.”

Know who else operated on a similar belief?

The guys who flew planes into the World Trade Center towers and smashed into the Pentagon.

Will the FBI respond this time when Fatty’s Crusaders say something like “Oh, we don’t need to know how to land”?

October 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Marie, as much as I admire and respect you, I have to disagree with you on whether casual churchgoers fuel the crazies. I believe that respectable people talking to the sky can settle any uncertainty as to whether your doing so is nuts.

One of the first "serious" books I read around the age of 10 was J. Edgar Hoover's "Masters of Deceit," which, among other things, described a "fifth column" in the United States that at the very least enabled the Communists. So, the concept of fanatics finding support among the "sane" isn't a new one. Why it so clear to Americans that the mullahs in Afghanistan are high on theocracy and dubious that high officials in Oklahoma suffer from the same condition? Camouflage.

October 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterJack Mahoney

Raw Story
"Emails exposed Kansas police chief trying to find a law to justify his raid on a local newspaper"

October 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Injustice Thomas:

I take the recusal as an implied admission of his past duplicity in the stolen election plot.

A slow very learner, still grade levels below where a justice should be on the ethical scale, but still a learner it seems.

Thanks Sheldon Whitehouse, et. al.

October 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/02/democrats-cant-really-save-kevin-mccarthy/

As a roadmap for McCarthy's future it's a bit blurred, but it is a map.

October 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

The GOP is always copying each other and pushing each other to more extremes.
"North Carolina Republicans create "secret police force"

North Carolina’s new $300 billion state budget contains a provision that gives extraordinary investigative powers to a partisan oversight committee co-chaired by Senate Leader Phil Berger (R) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R).

The Joint Legislative Committee on Government Operations — or Gov Ops for short — is empowered to seize “any document or system of record” from anyone who works in or with state and local government during its investigations. The rule applies to contractors, subcontractors, and any other non-state entity “receiving, directly and indirectly, public funds,” including charities and state universities.

Moreover, Gov Ops staff will be authorized to enter “any building or facility” owned or leased by a state or non-state entity without a judicial warrant. This includes the private residences of subcontractors and contractors who run businesses out of their homes, lawmakers say.

Alarmingly, public employees under investigation will be required to keep all communication and requests “confidential.” They cannot alert their supervisor of the investigation nor consult with legal counsel."

October 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

I'm sure lawyers are already preparing legal objections to the newly established North Carolina police state.

Would a "non state entity" include a private home?

October 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Re: North Carolina secret police state

Democracy - blink and you've missed it.. Sheesh.

October 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterShawn
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