;)
The Conversation -- October 6, 2023
Potential House "Leaders" Have No Idea What They're Doing. Melanie Zanona & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "House speaker candidates have pulled out of a planned joint interview on Fox News next week just hours after it was announced amid fierce blowback from GOP lawmakers, the latest sign of how simmering tensions within the conference are boiling over as Republicans scramble to find a new leader following Kevin McCarthy's stunning ouster. Both of the leading Republican candidates for speaker -- Rep. Jim Jordan and Majority Leader Steve Scalise -- backtracked from the plan to be interviewed jointly on Fox News with anchor Bret Baier from the Capitol next Monday after it had been announced by the network Friday morning. A third potential speaker candidate also said he would not participate in the forum."
Olivia Beavers of Politico: "Kevin McCarthy is considering resigning from the House before the end of his term, two people familiar with the matter told Politico. The deposed former speaker has made clear he plans to stay at least through the speakership election that begins next week before ending his House career, these people said, in order to help the party steady itself after a seismic shakeup." ~~~
~~~ Update. BUT, since House GOP "leaders" have no idea what they're doing, this CNN story by Melanie Zanona & others, which originally said My Kevin was leaving Congress, perhaps in a few weeks, now ledes with, "Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is denying reports that he is expected to step down from Congress before the end of his term -- telling reporters on Friday that he still has 'work to do,' after sending signals in private conversations that he could step down early from Congress. 'No, I am not resigning,' he told reporters."
Surprise, Surprise! Alex Nguyen of the Daily Beast, republished by Yahoo! News: "A federal judge has gifted Donald Trump a step toward getting his classified documents case delayed until after the 2024 presidential election. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon granted a temporary stay on a filing deadline for Trump as she deliberates whether to postpone the entire schedule of pre-trial proceedings. Her order didn't, however, address whether the May 2024 trial date will be moved. Trump's legal team had requested in a Wednesday filing that Cannon push back the trial from May to 'until at least mid-November 2024.'"
Tracey Tully, et al., of the New York Times: "The New Jersey attorney general’s office seized records on Thursday from Bergen County law enforcement agencies to review whether the investigation of a fatal 2018 car crash involving the soon-to-be wife of Senator Robert Menendez was handled properly.... The attorney general's office began its inquiry a day after details of the collision were reported publicly for the first time by The New York Times and The Record of New Jersey, nearly five years after it happened. A review by The Times of police reports, dashcam footage, 911 call recordings and a video of the collision raises new questions about the rigor of an investigation that [the victim's] relatives have long believed was inadequate."
** House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a Washington Post op-ed: "Over the past several weeks, when it appeared likely that a motion to vacate the office of speaker was forthcoming, House Democrats repeatedly raised the issue of entering into a bipartisan governing coalition with our Republican counterparts, publicly as well as privately.... Regrettably, at every turn, House Republicans have categorically rejected making changes to the rules designed to accomplish two objectives: encourage bipartisan governance and undermine the ability of extremists to hold Congress hostage. Indeed, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) publicly declared more than five hours before the motion to vacate was brought up for a vote that he would not work with House Democrats as a bipartisan coalition partner.... Things further deteriorated from there.... [Republicans'] decision to strip Speaker Emerita Pelosi and Leader Hoyer of office space was petty, partisan and petulant....
"The rules of the House should reflect the inescapable reality that Republicans are reliant on Democratic support to do the basic work of governing. A small band of extremists should not be capable of obstructing that cooperation.... Traditional Republicans need to break with the MAGA extremism that has poisoned the House of Representatives since the violent insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and its aftermath -- when the overwhelming majority of House Republicans continued to promote the 'big lie' and voted not to certify the presidential election."
Ryan Lizza & Rachel Bade of Politico: "Just hours after Kevin McCarthy was deposed as House speaker, the 'draft Trump' movement began. 'I called him and I said, "Sir, I'm nominating you for the speaker of the House,"' said Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), describing a Tuesday call to ... Donald Trump. 'I said, "I think that you would do a great job fixing the brokenness we see in the Congress."' So began a wild 48-hour scramble that saw Trump openly pondering a quixotic bid to become the first nonmember to be elected speaker before his political advisers and House allies managed to convince him it was a terrible idea. The Trump-for-speaker bubble officially popped early Friday morning, when he took sides in the brewing battle between Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.)." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The remarkable news here is that someone claimed he really did address Trump as "Sir."
Ella Lee of the Hill: "Attorneys for former President Trump are seeking to temporarily pause his civil fraud trial, along with the enforcement of a ruling issued before the trial started that found Trump and his business liable for fraud, until after the case has been appealed. Trump's legal team wrote in a 1,154-page court filing that Judge Arthur Engoron's decision imposed 'unauthorized, undemanded, overbroad relief' to the New York attorney general's office, which will result in 'significant, irreparable harm' to the former president and his business." MB: Curious that Trump's lawyers didn't file this tome before the trial started Monday. I supposed Trump had one of his hissy-fits and ordered his lawyers to make this mess go away. ~~~
~~~ Update. Lauren del Valle & Kara Scannell of CNN: "A New York appeals court judge on Friday rejected Donald Trump's attempt to stop the ongoing $250 million civil fraud trial, but temporarily halted the process of breaking up the former president's businesses. Associate Justice Peter Moulton issued the ruling after a brief hearing Friday afternoon. It leaves Trump's empire untouched for at least another month and perhaps offers the former president and his family a glimmer of hope.... Trump's legal team believes the appellate court could eventually reverse at least part of Engoron's bombshell order and gut New York Attorney General Letitia James' case by dismissing a majority of the lawsuit's claims.... The New York attorney general's office opposed the request to delay the trial, saying Trump and the other defendants are attempting 'to sow chaos by disrupting an ongoing trial that has now been going for a week. Yet defendants fail to point to any purported irreparable harm from proceeding with a trial that has already begun.' The attorney general's office also criticized Trump's team for waiting days into trial testimony to file the stay request."
Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump has dropped a last-resort lawsuit against the judge overseeing his New York fraud trial. The former president's attorneys withdrew their lawsuit against Justice Arthur Engoron, which had been seen as a long-shot attempt to stop his real estate empire from being dismantled after he found that Trump and his adult sons had filed fraudulent financial statements, reported The Daily Beast." ~~~
~~~ Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump has been raging against the New York judge who will decide his financial fate, but his attorneys botched a crucial deadline that could have put the case in a jury's hands.... 'I wish I'd had a jury trial,' Trump grumbled to his lawyers in court, after [Judge Arthur] Engoron reminded him that he alone would decide his fate. A Daily Beast reporter was present in court when Trump attorney Alina Habba requested a jury trial, but neither she or anyone else on the former president's defense team ever followed up, and they blew a 15-day deadline to respond when New York attorney general Letitia James' office alerted the court they were ready for trial."
Gary Grumbach & Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "Hunter Biden will seek to dismiss the federal indictment against him that included three charges he was arraigned on earlier this week, according to a new court filing. The president's son 'maintains' that the original plea deal, or diversion agreement, 'remains in force,' Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden's lawyer, wrote in the filing on Thursday.... Under the terms of the original agreement, the younger Biden would have pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges over his failure to pay income taxes, and prosecutors had agreed to a related agreement that could have resulted in the gun charges being dismissed. But the deal collapsed in federal court on the day of his arraignment in July and he wound up pleading not guilty on the tax charges."
Ramaswamny Makes Up Stuff About Protesters. Kierra Frazier of Politico: "Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign claimed Thursday that protesters ran into their parked car at a campaign stop in Grinnell, Iowa. But local police later said that's not what really happened. Ramaswamy's car, with no one inside it, was struck by another car in a parking lot outside a coffeehouse. His campaign told Politico Thursday that two protesters hit Ramaswamy's car, but police say that the accident involved a driver unconnected to the protest. 'Our investigation has revealed no evidence to substantiate' the claim that protesters hit Ramaswamy's car on purpose and fled, police said in a statement Thursday night. Instead, police say that a woman had eaten lunch at a deli and backed out of a parking spot into the campaign's rental vehicle. A report was taken and the driver was released with a summons for unsafe backing. '[The driver] stated she was not in the area to protest, she did not know who the vehicle she struck belonged to, she did not intentionally back into the vehicle, and she did not flee the scene of the accident,' police said in a statement."
~~~~~~~~~~
Biden Builds the Wall, Ctd. Miriam Jordan, et al., of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Thursday said it would expand ... Donald Trump's wall on the Mexican border and begin deporting thousands of Venezuelans in an effort to cut down on the migrant surge that shows no signs of abating. The moves are an about-face by the White House, which is under political pressure to stem the flow of people. Criticism is intensifying among Republicans as well as Democratic leaders in New York, Chicago and elsewhere who say the influx is overwhelming their ability to house and feed the migrants.... In announcing that the U.S. government would begin deporting Venezuelans who enter the United States unlawfully, the Biden administration was reversing a policy of not sending migrants back to the troubled South American country, where years of political unrest and economic turmoil have driven millions of people to flee. Last month alone, 50,000 migrants from that country crossed the southern border, a record number, and they now represent the second largest nationality group, dwarfed only by Mexicans."
Priscilla Alvarez of CNN: "President Joe Biden said Thursday that he doesn't believe border walls work, even as his administration said it will waive 26 laws to build additional border barriers in the Rio Grande Valley amid heightened political pressure over migration.... The administration was under a deadline to use [the funds] or lose them.... Biden -- who, as a candidate, vowed that there will 'not be another foot' of border wall constructed on his watch -- defended the decision to reporters Thursday, saying that he tried to get the money appropriated for other purposes but was unsuccessful. 'I'll answer one question on the border wall: 'The ... money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to reappropriate it, to redirect that money. They didn't, they wouldn't. And in the meantime, there's nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what it was appropriated. I can't stop that,' Biden told reporters in the Oval Office. Asked whether he believes the border wall works, Biden answered, 'No.'" (This is a follow-up to this AP story, also linked yesterday.) (Also linked yesterday.)
Yasmeen Abutaleb, et al., of the Washington Post: "White House officials are urgently strategizing on the best way to salvage U.S. aid to Ukraine, debating whether to push for a larger funding package or seek a smaller one that may have a better chance of passing now that support for Kyiv in Congress has been thrown into doubt by House Republicans' ouster of their leader this week.... President Biden expressed concern Wednesday about what the tumult in the House means for Ukraine aid and said he would be delivering a 'major speech' on the issue soon. 'It does worry me,' Biden said. 'There are a majority of members of both parties that have said they are for Ukraine aid,' he added, but 'the dysfunction always concerns me.'... The White House has not yet settled on a new approach to bolstering funding for Ukraine."
Trumpity-Doo-Dah, Trumpity-Day
Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "Last week, the Republican Party's leading presidential candidate proposed executing suspected shoplifters.... Trump's advocacy of extrajudicial killings was widely covered by newspapers and TV stations in California but generally ignored by the national press.... CNN and MSNBC mentioned it during panel discussions over the next few days. The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, NPR and PBS didn't report it at all. The New York Times wrote about it four days later, playing the story on Page 14 of its print edition. The Anaheim speech was part of a pattern of increasingly aggressive rhetoric by Trump -- and a somewhat muted response by the news media to his repeated exhortations to violence....
"'Bombarded by a constant stream of deranged authoritarian extremism from a man who might soon return to the presidency, [journalists] have lost all sense of scale and perspective,' [Brian] Klaas wrote in the Atlantic last week, in a headline that felt both jarring and unsurprising: 'Trump Floats the Idea of Executing Joint Chiefs Chairman Milley.' Klaas continued: 'But neither the American press nor the public can afford to be lulled. The man who, as president, incited a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol in order to overturn an election is again openly fomenting political violence while explicitly endorsing authoritarian strategies should he return to power.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
Nobody has any idea where these people are coming from, and we know they come from prisons. We know they come from mental institutions and insane asylums. We know they're terrorists.... It's poisoning the blood of our country. It's so bad, and people are coming in with disease. People are coming in with every possible thing that you could have. -- Donald Trump, in an interview last week ~~~
~~~ When Reductio ad Hitlerum Is Not a Fallacy. Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump said undocumented immigrants were 'poisoning the blood of our country' in a recent interview, language with echoes of white supremacy and the racial hatreds of Adolf Hitler. Mr. Trump made the remark in a 37-minute video interview with The National Pulse, a right-leaning website, that was posted last week. It drew broader scrutiny on Wednesday after the liberal MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan surfaced the quote in a post on X. Other commentators went on to point out that Mr. Trump's attack invoked a theme of Hitler's autobiographical manifesto 'Mein Kampf,' in which the Nazi Party leader railed about what he claimed was the impurity of immigrants, Jews and interracial couples.... At campaign rallies, Mr. Trump has repeated that leaders of unspecified South American countries were releasing patients from mental hospitals to send as migrants to the United States, but fact checkers have found no evidence for the claim."
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Dan Froomkin of Press Watch has an idea of how to cover Trumpolini: "... when he says something that illustrates his continued descent into fascist rhetoric, the real news is not so much the particular thing he said, it's that he said it and that Republican leaders and Republicans generally still aren't renouncing him. The thrust of these stories should be that the current state of American politics is such that he isn't being roundly condemned by his party even as he threatens core American values like the rule of law and freedom of the press."
** Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "Shortly after he left office..., Donald J. Trump shared apparently classified information about American nuclear submarines with an Australian businessman during an evening of conversation at Mar-a-Lago.... The businessman, Anthony Pratt, a billionaire member of Mar-a-Lago who runs one of the world's largest cardboard companies, went on to share the sensitive details about the submarines with several others, the people said. Mr. Trump's disclosures, they said, potentially endangered the U.S. nuclear fleet. Federal prosecutors working for the special counsel, Jack Smith, learned about Mr. Trump's disclosures of the secrets to Mr. Pratt, which were first revealed by ABC News, and interviewed him as part of their investigation into the former president's handling of classified documents.... Mr. Pratt is now among more than 80 people whom prosecutors have identified as possible witnesses who could testify against Mr. Trump at the classified documents trial...." Thanks to RAS for the ABC News link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I recall speculating a while back, only somewhat facetiously, that Trump was probably sharing nuclear secrets with random Mar-a-Lardo guests. Turns out that's what he did. And don't kid yourself that Mr. Pratt there is the only fellow hanging out at the pool who got a classified earful.
~~~ Your Move, Judge Aileen. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump have again asked a federal judge to postpone until after the 2024 election his trial on charges of mishandling classified documents. In a court filing on Wednesday night, Mr. Trump's legal team proposed moving the start of the trial to mid-November from May 20, the date set by Judge Aileen M. Cannon. It was not the first time Mr. Trump has sought to push back the trial, in which he stands accused of illegally holding onto dozens of classified documents after leaving office and conspiring with two aides to obstruct the government's repeated effort to retrieve them." (Also linked yesterday.)
** "When the President Does It..., It Is Not Illegal." Alan Feuer & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump asked [Judge Tanya Chutkan] on Thursday to throw out a federal indictment accusing him of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election and claimed that because the charges relate to actions he took as president, he should be 'absolutely immune from prosecution.' The request to dismiss the election interference indictment, which came in a 52-page briefing filed in Federal District Court in Washington, was breathtaking in its scope. It argued that Mr. Trump could not be held accountable in court for any actions he took as president, even after a grand jury had returned criminal charges against him.... His ... remarkable ... motion to dismiss was certain to result in a pitched legal battle with prosecutors in the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, if only because the idea that a president cannot be prosecuted for actions undertaken in his official capacity as commander in chief has never before been tested.... Over and over in his motion, [Trump lawyer John] Lauro sought to flip the story told by the indictment and portray the various steps that Mr. Trump took to subvert the election as official acts designed to protect its integrity."
All His Trials
Ella Lee of the Hill: "The judge overseeing former President Trump's fraud trial in New York Thursday issued an order barring Trump or any other defendants in the sweeping case from transferring any assets or creating a new entity to acquire them without disclosure first. The order, which came via the case's online docket, was delivered on the fourth day of the trial, which was prompted after Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable for fraud, ruling that New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) had proved the crux of her case. As part of that decision, Engoron ordered the selection of an independent monitor of Trump's businesses. On Thursday, Engoron said that appointed monitor -- former Judge Barbara Jones -- must be informed if the defendants intend to move their assets or create a new entity that isn't a defendant in the case to acquire them." (Also linked yesterday.)
Congressman Has a Good Idea. Sahil Kapur & Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "A Democratic House member is asking Palm Beach County, Florida, to tax Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property at the rate the former president claims it is worth amid his ongoing civil fraud trial in New York.... Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., issued the request to Dorothy Jacks, Palm Beach County's property appraiser.... Trump has raged against [New York Judge Arthur] Engoron's ruling [that Trump committed fraud], insisting that his Florida resort is worth '50 to 100 times' what prosecutors in the New York civil case have said, or 'closer to $1.5 billion.' 'Between 2011 and 2021, you value the Mar-a-Lago property between $18 million and $28 million,' Moskowitz wrote in the letter to the Palm Beach County appraiser. 'Mar-a-Lago was listed as worth $490 million in financial documents given to banks,' he wrote. "... Will you be amending the property value in line with the Trump family's belief that the property is worth well over a billion dollars?'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Erica Orden of Politico: “Lawyers for Donald Trump asked a Manhattan judge to throw out the criminal charges related to Trump's hush money payments to a porn star, arguing in court filings that the case 'has prejudiced President Trump and the public by interfering with his presidential campaign.' 'After a five-year meandering, halting, and roving investigation that entailed inexplicable and unconstitutional delay, the District Attorney's Office filed a discombobulated package of politically motivated charges marred by legal defects, procedural failures, discovery violations, and a stubborn refusal to provide meaningful particulars regarding its theory of the case,' the lawyers, Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles, wrote." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Trump must choose lawyers based on tests of their ability to write in the style of a Trump tweet. In this filing, they did fault Hillary Clinton for commissioning the so-called Steele Dossier via an attorney for her campaign, but they forgot to call Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg a racist. So B+ effort, Todd & Susan.
Fin Gomez, et al., of CBS News: "... Donald Trump moved Thursday to dismiss his $500 million lawsuit against his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, without prejudice, allowing him to refile the suit again in the future. Trump's campaign issued a statement to CBS News, claiming that the civil and criminal battles he's waging, along with his 2024 presidential campaign, are currently occupying too much of his time to pursue the lawsuit at this time.... In a statement to CBS News, Cohen called the lawsuit 'nothing more than a retaliatory intimidation tactic, and his attempt to hide from routine discovery procedures confirms as much.'" MB: Fortunately, Trump's campaign statement was conciliatory & circumspect: ~~~
Given that President Trump is required to sit for deposition in a civil matter on Columbus Day, when he is scheduled to be in the Great State of New Hampshire, and while the President is fighting against the meritless claims that have been lodged against him in New York, Washington D.C., Florida, and Georgia, as well as continuing his winning campaign, where he is leading the Republicans by 60 points and Crooked Joe Biden by 11 points, to serve as our next President of the United States, President Trump has decided to temporarily pause his meritorious claims against Michael Cohen.
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The two leading candidates to become the next Republican speaker of the House worked the phones and the halls of the Capitol on Thursday, vying for support from within their party's fractured ranks as the chamber remained in a state of paralysis after the ouster of Representative Kevin McCarthy of California. Representatives Steve Scalise, the majority leader, and Jim Jordan, the Judiciary Committee chairman, had each landed more than a dozen endorsements by the afternoon as they raced toward a vote of Republicans tentatively scheduled for Tuesday. An election on the House floor could follow the next day, though the process could stretch much longer if no consensus can be reached.... Donald J. Trump, whose far-right acolytes in Congress helped lead the rebellion that has plunged the House into chaos, threatened to weigh in himself in what could become an epic struggle.... Some right-wing Republicans are encouraging Mr. Trump to make a run for speaker himself, though the party's current conference rules would block him from doing so because he is under multiple felony indictments and facing the possibility of significant prison time." ~~~
~~~ The story has been updated to include this news: "'Congressman Jim Jordan has been a STAR long before making his very successful journey to Washington, D.C.,' Mr. Trump wrote in a Truth Social message that was posted at 12:13 a.m. on Friday. 'He will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Although House rules say individuals under indictment cannot serve as speaker, "these rules aren't legally binding and aren't always followed." As speaker, Trump would be third in line to the presidency, after President Biden & Vice President Harris. If Trump should accept the speakership, my advice to the Secret Service is to immediately remove Biden and Harris to undisclosed locations. Just saying. ~~~
~~~ Trump Not Likely to Return to Scene of Crime, After All. Kristen Holmes, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump said Thursday that, if needed, he would be open to serving as speaker of the House for a 'short period of time' until Republican lawmakers settle on a candidate who could garner enough votes to serve as their leader. However, a source close to Trump told CNN later Thursday that the former president has privately told those around him that he wants to endorse Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio for speaker, and believes he is the best person for the job. Separately, a source who has discussed the speaker's race with Trump said he is expected to endorse Jordan in the near future. The former president is not expected to go to Capitol Hill, the source close to Trump said. He had been considering a visit to speak with Republicans in the coming days as they weigh a new speaker, a source familiar with discussions told CNN earlier in the day." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Wait, wait! Trump doesn't have time to attend his criminal trial for stealing & hoarding classified documents. He doesn't even have time to sue Michael Cohen because it would mean he'd have to testify under oath in a deposition. BUT he has time to be speaker of the house????
AND Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post offers her assistance by providing a free subscription-required job ad: "Help wanted! We are in urgent need of a new speaker for the House of Representatives! Our most recent speaker, Kevin, had to leave unexpectedly, and we are shorthanded with a lot of important business coming up!... What does the job entail? You have one job: Make all the laws for the entire country. This includes passing a budget so the government can keep running! If this sounds too overwhelming, just impeach the president." ~~~
~~~ Chris Hayes does a good job of putting Speaker Trump in context:
Note from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.): RINOs attacked & booed me. Send money. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Thankfully, Republican senators are a lot more thoughtful than the crass GOP clowns in the House. Here's a report on the philosophical musings of the junior senator from Oklahoma: ~~~
~~~ Ben Blanchet of the Huffington Post: "Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) accused Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) of openly detailing his sexual experiences to fellow lawmakers in a bonkers interview with CNN on Wednesday....'He bragged about how he would crush E.D. [erectile dysfunction] medicine and chase it with energy drinks so he could go all night. This is obviously before he got married,' Mullin told CNN's Manu Raju.... 'There's a reason why no one in the conference came and defended him ― because we had all seen the videos he was showing on the House floor that all of us had walked away, of the girls he had slept with,' Mullin said.... [Gaetz replied,] This is a lie from someone who doesn't know me and who is coping with the death of the political career of his friend Kevin. Thoughts and prayers.'... Mullin's claims arrive on the same day Marc Short, chief of staff for former Vice President Mike Pence, said Gaetz more likely came to Washington 'for the teenage interns on Capitol Hill' than to be a 'fiscal crusader.'" (Also linked yesterday.) Plus this: ~~~
Sen. Markwayne Mullin dishes some more on Matt Gaetz's behavior in Congress, claiming his first interaction with Gaetz involved him drooling over Kristi Noem and calling her a "fine b-word." pic.twitter.com/KACrBdIwES
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) October 5, 2023
~~~ Marie: Careful there, Matt. Cory Lewandowski, who reportedly is having a years-long affair with Kristi (married with children), might beat the crap out of you if you hit on his lady friend.
Uh-oh, Georgie. Grace Ashford & Michael Gold of the New York Times: "The treasurer who oversaw the finances of Representative George Santos's political campaigns surrendered to federal prosecutors on Thursday afternoon and admitted to her role in fraudulently reporting a fictional $500,000 loan that Mr. Santos claimed to have made to his campaign. The bookkeeper, Nancy Marks, pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. She also admitted to falsifying and inflating financial numbers and making numerous false statements in conjunction with Mr. Santos, a Republican from New York. Under the terms of her deal, she faces a recommended sentence of between three and four years in prison.... According to court documents, the $53,200 in false donations boosted the campaign's total to $251,549.68, just above the $250,000 threshold ... that would allow Mr. Santos to get logistical and financial support [from the Republican party committee].... Ms. Marks's lawyer told reporters that Ms. Marks had not formally agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in their case against Mr. Santos." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.)
Daniel Strauss of the New Republic (April 2023): For years, Clarence Thomas BFF (just ask Clarence) & billionaire Harlan Crow "was doling out donations and referring friends to No Labels, the outside group that claims to offer an avowedly nonpartisan approach to politics.... Between 2019 and 2021, Crow donated over $130,000 to No Labels.... Crow referred other donors to No Labels.... By 2021, Crow had steered nearly two dozen other donors to No Labels, the information provided to The New Republic shows.... No Labels has been torched by Democrats and Democratic-leaning groups, including the moderate Third Way, for mounting an effort that's almost bound to hurt Biden" Thanks to Jack M. & Ken W. for the link. TNR is subscriber-firewalled, but I don't have a subscription, and I was able to access the article through the link above, perhaps because it's an old story. (Also linked yesterday.)
Heather Knight of the New York Times: "'Millions of girls my age and long after me have grown blissfully free of the yokes our grandmothers wore because Dianne Feinstein wrestled them off,' [San Francisco] Mayor London Breed, 49, told the crowd who had gathered in her city under unusually hot temperatures to honor the late senator. 'She showed the way.' The memorial for Ms. Feinstein, who died on Sept. 29 at age 90, was by turns a celebration of her long and unwavering efforts around gun control and opposition to wartime torture, a deeply personal remembrance by her granddaughter, and a testament to her love of all things San Francisco.... Almost everyone on the stage outside San Francisco's City Hall on Thursday afternoon was a woman: the vice president [Kamala Harris], the former speaker of the House [Nancy Pelosi], the city's mayor and more."
Uh-oh, Rudy. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "The I.R.S. has placed a lien on a Florida property owned by Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and lawyer for Donald J. Trump, because he owes roughly $550,000 in income taxes, according to a court filing. The property, a lakeside condominium in Palm Beach, sits less than three miles from Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump's private club and residence. Mr. Giuliani and his ex-wife had tried to sell it for $3.3 million in 2019, but never found a buyer, according to The Palm Beach Daily News.... The action by federal officials over Mr. Giuliani's 2021 income taxes is the latest sign of his growing financial troubles."
Presidential Race 2024. Cornel West & Other Pains in the Ass. Amy Wang & Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "Cornel West, a liberal activist who launched a presidential bid in June, announced Thursday that he will leave the Green Party and run as an independent instead.... This is the second time West has changed his mind about how he will approach his campaign. When he launched his effort, West said he would run for the People's Party nomination, then abandoned that strategy to focus on the Green Party, which already had greater ballot access.... Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is mounting a long-shot challenge to President Biden in the 2024 Democratic primary, has suggested that he is considering a pivot to a third-party campaign. Self-help guru Marianne Williamson also is running as a Democrat."
~~~~~~~~~~
Alabamy. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "A federal court on Thursday ordered Alabama to use a new congressional map that could lead the state to elect two Black representatives for the first time in its history by creating a second district with close to a majority of Black voters. The order, the culmination of a nearly two-year fight over the Republican-dominated state's illegal dilution of Black voting power, could also lead to Democrats picking up another seat at a moment when control of the House of Representatives hinges on a thin conservative margin. A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama signed off on a map that increases the percentage of Black voters in one of the state's six majority-white congressional districts to 48.7 percent, up from about 30 percent, while preserving the state's lone existing majority-Black district." The NPR story is here. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Wisconsin. Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: "A man with a handgun showed up at the Wisconsin Capitol demanding to see Gov. Tony Evers (D) on Wednesday, was arrested, posted bail, returned to the Statehouse with a rifle and was taken into protective custody, according to police. The shirtless man had a holstered handgun and leashed dog with him when he appeared at the security desk outside of the governor's office Wednesday afternoon demanding to see the governor, according to a statement from the state police. An officer arrested him for openly carrying a firearm. The man was booked into jail and posted bail. He returned to the outside of the Capitol with a loaded AK-47 around 9 p.m., three hours after the Statehouse closed.... He asked to see the governor again. Officers ... asked to search his backpack. He agreed and they found a police baton, which they said violated state law...." The AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~~~~~~~~
Mithil Aggarwal of NBC News: "Jailed Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her fight against women's oppression in Iran and advocating for human rights. Berit Reiss-Andersen, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said in a news conference in Oslo that 'her brave struggle has come with tremendous personal cost.'"
Scotland. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Britain's opposition Labour Party won back a parliamentary seat in Scotland on Friday by a thumping margin, after a closely watched race that had been viewed as a barometer of the party's national appeal before a general election next year.... The result was striking evidence of a Labour revival in Scotland. But the broader significance is for the party's looming national contest with the governing Conservative Party.... It also dramatizes the collapsing fortunes of the Scottish nationalists, for many years a hugely powerful force in Scottish politics, led by the charismatic Nicola Sturgeon. Her sudden resignation in February plunged the party into division, and within months it was hit by a financial scandal that undermined voter confidence."
News Lede
CNBC: "Job growth was stronger than expected in September, a sign that the U.S. economy is hanging tough despite higher interest rates, labor strife and dysfunction in Washington. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 336,000 for the month, better than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 170,000 and more than 100,000 higher than the previous month, the Labor Department said Friday in a much-anticipated report. The unemployment rate was 3.8%, compared to the forecast for 3.7%."
Share Article
Reader Comments (15)
Introducing My Gym!
Two criminals lead the Party of Traitors.
A convicted rapist who tried to overthrow the government endorses a guy who allowed students to be sexually molested in order to keep his job, for the position of Speaker of the House.
For Republicans, the bar for that job gets lower and lower. At this point, a snake like Gym Jordan can easily slither under. Upright bipedal vertebrates need not apply.
Question:
If the Pretender would have shoplifters shot, what would he do with someone who stole boxes of public property, some of it classified, then tried to hide it and lied about having it?
Good, very disturbing history of the House debacle.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/06/house-gop-kevin-mccarthy-eating-its-own/
(Sorry if this one was linked before..)
The bastard in the Texas bounty lawsuit is as awful as you would expect.
"Texan Suing Ex’s BFFs Over Abortion Allegedly Promised to Drop Lawsuit for Sex
According to a new court filing, he also allegedly threatened to release intimate videos of his ex-wife unless she did his laundry"
"I came here not to fight, but to make peace"
"A speech is gaining attention across the state of Utah. A young trans girl named Allison tells her story with her supportive father standing just behind her."
Jordan would burn the House down!
It's National Banned Books Week here in the USA. Books like
'Huckleberry Finn" and any book that just one person can take
issue with can be banned.
I thought I could smell the smoke from Texas, burning books, but
I guess it was still the Canadian wild fires I smelled.
Our local libraray notified us that they have lots and lots of banned
books to check out.
https://news.yahoo.com/banned-books-week-comes-tense-
130000806.html?.tsrc=1013
@Akhilleus: Re: the two criminals vying for the speaker's gavel, we should not forget that whatever Repubican sits there, he will be occupying the Denny Hastert Memorial Chair. Before becoming a congressman, Denny was a high school wrestling coach (there's something about wrestling coaches, I guess) who molested his students. He went to jail, not for the molestations but for banking crimes associated with paying off his young victims. He admitted in court he had molested at least three wrestlers.
Forrest, if anyone can ban any book, has anyone nominated the New Testament? If not, let's get to it.
I would settle for the Bible being moved to the Science Fiction section.
And, since there is documented and publicly available proof that Jordan was key player in the insurrection, by elevating him to the Speakership the Repugnats will have officially blessed that violent attack on democracy.
The ad spots will create themselves, and as rickety as our polity is, they will not play well in a national and many local elections.
@Jack Mahoney: A few years back I was in the book section at one
of those big box stores and in the fiction section was a pile of bibles.
People were wondering why I was laughing so hard until I pointed
to the pile of fiction bibles.
Our local library is having a fundraising dinner later this month at a
local restaurant. The first line on the menu is the statement: 'Nut Free'.
Does that mean there will be no Republicans there?
On border walls and such:
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2023/oct/04/ron-desantis/ron-desantis-exaggerates-number-of-migrants-in-us/
Hard to keep up with the lies--and with the real numbers, but Politifact takes a stab.
Always changing the rules
"The Endless Attack on Public Education
Ohio’s Long and Painful Cautionary Tale, and This Week's Critical Battle"
Ohio Republicans are trying to take control of public education after voters had finally had enough of their incompetence and corruption. Ignoring the people's voices and the court's ruling in their lust for money and power.
Marie,
The most recent collection of Party of Traitors speakers is a rogues’ gallery of liars, schemers, incompetents, frauds, and, as you point out, at least one sexual predator (if Gym Jordan gets in, there’ll be an enabler of sexual predation, so Hastert will have company).
First, there was Newt Gingrich, a bomb throwing liar and agent of chaos, a sort of prototype to Burn it All Down Bannon. He once went before the C-Span cameras in a nearly empty chamber and pretended to attack Demovrats, specifically Tip O’Neill. Because C-Span didn’t move its cameras back then, it looked like Brave Sir Newt had cowed the Democrats who seemed afraid to take him on. The next day, Tip drilled that little fucker a new asshole, but the die was cast. Lying as and underhandedness became touchstones of right-wing political schemes.
Then we had jailbird Denny.
Following that creep there was Lyin’ Ryan, who took a page out of Gingrich’s playbook and pretended to wash dishes for the cameras. Dishes that were already clean. This was a guy who got everything he had in life from government largesse, but when it was his turn to give back, he took away. All for me, nothing for you. Classic R stance. Oh, and his single legislative achievement? He got a post office renamed. That was it.
Then Boehner. He was like a half-hearted traffic cop at a demolition derby.
That disaster was followed by MyKevin. Nuff said.
And next out of the GQP clown car?
MyGym.
Jesus.
Forget the legalese.
Judge Cannon appears to be writing a succession of thank you cards to her benefactor, the Pretender.