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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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Sep222023

The Conversation -- September 23, 2023

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The [Justice D]epartment's aggressive pursuit of [Sen. Robert] Menendez [D-N.J.] appeared to undercut claims that [Donald] Trump is the victim of pervasive political bias that targets leaders on the right while shielding transgressors on the left.... Barbara Comstock, a former Republican congresswoman from Virginia, said recent indictments showed the department was functioning as it should. 'The department goes where the facts lead them," she wrote on X-...Twitter. 'Trump, Hunter Biden, Menendez now. That's how it's supposed to work.'... Shortly after the charges were announced, Mr. Menendez issued a blistering one-page-long denial that was not unlike the vehement pushback by Mr. Trump and his supporters in response to his multiple criminal indictments." ~~~

~~~ Matt Friedman of Politico: "Democrats figured there would be new developments in the Bob Menendez investigation, but the charges are far more serious than any of them anticipated.... The statements late Friday afternoon [from New Jersey Democrats urging Sen. Bob Menendez (D) to resign] came after a meeting in Newark between [Gov. Phil] Murphy [D] and a small group of high-ranking Democratic leaders.... The allegations involving Egyptian arms sales and the passing on of sensitive information to foreign sources in particular caught them off guard and have left them privately frustrated that a senator who already imperiled a safe seat in 2018 over corruption allegations would now put them in an even worse position.... The Democrats' response starkly contrasts with the unified front of support last time Menendez was indicted." ~~~

     ~~~ Here's Gov. Murphy's statement. ~~~

~~~ ** Benjamin Weiser, et al., of the New York Times: "Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, has been charged in a sweeping federal corruption indictment, the authorities said on Friday. The three-count indictment, which also charges the senator's wife and three New Jersey businessmen, accuses him of using his official position in a wide range of corrupt schemes at home and abroad. In one, he sought to benefit the government of Egypt, including secretly providing it with sensitive U.S. government information, while in two others, he aimed to influence criminal investigations of two New Jersey businessmen, one of whom was a longtime fund-raiser for Mr. Menendez.... In exchange for all those actions, the indictment said, the senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes, including cash, gold bars, payments toward a home mortgage, a luxury vehicle and other valuable things....

"The businessmen named in the indictment, which was unsealed in Manhattan federal court, are Fred Daibes, a prominent New Jersey real estate developer and fund-raiser for Mr. Menendez; Wael Hana, a longtime friend of Ms. Menendez's who founded a halal meat certification business and Jose Uribe, who works in the trucking and insurance business.... The 39-page indictment charges the senator, his wife and the businessmen with conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. It also charges Mr. Menendez and his wife with conspiracy to commit extortion under the color of official right, meaning using his official position to force someone to give them something of value." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

The story has been updated to add: "Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey, a close Democratic ally, called on Mr. Menendez to resign, an admonition that unleashed a torrent of similar messages from political leaders throughout the state. Mr. Menendez gave no indication that he would heed them. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he said in a statement Friday evening. Mr. Menendez did send a letter to Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate majority leader, informing him that he was stepping down as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, as required by rules the Senate Democrats adopted to govern themselves."

     ~~~ Erica Orden & Matt Friedman of Politico: "During a search of the Menendezes' New Jersey home in June 2022, federal agents probing the alleged scheme found 'over $480,000 in cash -- much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe' along with $70,000 in Nadine Menendez's safe-deposit box, the indictment says.... Menendez has survived two previous federal investigations." (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ The indictment, via Politico, is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Congrats to Bob Menendez for extending & enhancing New Jersey's long tradition of (allegedly!) crooked Democratic pols! And he made it a family affair. Lovely. Which brings us to ~~~

~~~ Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "James E. McGreevey, a former [Democratic] New Jersey governor who resigned two decades ago in scandal..., is making plans to do what he had said he would not: re-enter politics. Over the past several months, Mr. McGreevey has begun cobbling together support for an expected run for mayor of Jersey City, the state's second-largest city, where he has lived for eight years.... He expects to make a final decision before Thanksgiving.... The current mayor, Steven Fulop, who is running for governor, does not intend to run for re-election. But the contest is not until November 2025...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Thankfully, Clarence Thomas continues to do his bit for (alleged!) GOP corruption: ~~~

     ~~~ ** Joshua Kaplan, et al., of ProPublica: "On Jan. 25, 2018..., some of the richest people in the country were arriving for the annual winter donor summit of the Koch network, the political organization founded by libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch. A long weekend of strategizing, relaxation in the California sun and high-dollar fundraising lay ahead. Just after 6 p.m., a Gulfstream G200 jet touched down on the tarmac. One of the Koch network's most powerful allies was on board: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.... The justice was brought in to speak, staffers said, in the hopes that such access would encourage donors to continue giving. That puts Thomas in the extraordinary position of having served as a fundraising draw for a network that has brought cases before the Supreme Court, including one of the most closely watched of the upcoming term. Thomas never reported the 2018 flight to Palm Springs on his annual financial disclosure form, an apparent violation of federal law requiring justices to report most gifts....

"Thomas' involvement in the events is part of a yearslong, personal relationship with the Koch brothers that has remained almost entirely out of public view. It developed over years of trips to the Bohemian Grove, a secretive all-men's retreat in Northern California. Thomas has been a regular at the Grove for two decades, where he stayed in a small camp with real estate billionaire Harlan Crow and the Kochs, according to records and people who've spent time with him there.... The dinners' purpose was 'giving donors access and giving them a reason to come or to continue to come in the future,' a former Koch network executive told ProPublica.... Thomas' appearances were arranged with the help of Leonard Leo, the Federalist Society leader, according to the former senior network employee." Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I gather that Thomas did not report on his financial statements the gifts of travel and hospitality he received on the 2018 bucolic retreat/fundraiser and on other all-male (good grief!) Koch vacay ventures. Apparently, Clarence thinks the Supreme Court "ethics rules" require a justice to report only gifts he and his spouse have been caught accepting. The fact that he didn't report these Koch jaunts on the "amended report" he was forced to file this year is telling. And damning. ~~~

    ~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: "... this increasingly absurd situation is just illustrative of the accelerating pace at which the anti-democratic features of the American constitutional system are becoming more and more self-evident. Lifetime tenure for unelected judges, appointed by a radically unrepresentative Senate, after being nominated by a president who lost the election -- in the sense of the definition of losing usually employed in democratic nations, i.e., getting less votes than your opponent -- mixes especially poorly with practically open New Gilded Age bribery of the Koch persuasion. There are mornings when I sincerely wonder how much longer this train can stay on the track, or even if it should."

~~~ Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Justice Elena Kagan said on Friday ... [during] a wide-ranging live-streamed public interview [link fixed]at Notre Dame Law School ... that the Supreme Court should adopt a code of ethics.... Justice Kagan did not discuss the [ProPublica] report [linked above], = but she said that an ethics code 'would, I think, go far in persuading other people that we were adhering to the highest standards of conduct.' She added that 'I hope we can make progress.' G. Marcus Cole, the law school's dean, asked her to identify the holdout among the justices. She refused, saying the justices' deliberations are private." Read on. Cole asked Kagan some good questions; her answers, not surprisingly, were fairly oblique. CNN's report is here.


Erica Green of the New York Times: "President Biden on Friday announced a new office dedicated to gun violence prevention, his latest effort to combat a growing national crisis through executive action instead of the more sweeping reforms that would require congressional approval. The office will be led by Vice President Kamala Harris, who pursued gun safety measures when she was California's top prosecutor. Its focus will be on helping the administration coordinate gun policy and pressing congressional leaders to act on the issue. 'We all want our kids to have the freedom to learn how to read and write instead of duck and cover, for God's sake,' Mr. Biden said during remarks in the Rose Garden, where survivors of school shootings were among the hundreds of attendees." Politico's story is here.

Reid Epstein, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden announced that he would travel to Michigan on Tuesday to 'join the picket line' with members of the United Automobile Workers who are on strike against the nation's leading automakers, in one of the most significant displays of presidential support for striking workers in decades.... The trip is set to come a day before Mr. Biden's leading rival in the 2024 campaign, Donald J. Trump, has planned his own speech in Michigan, and was announced hours after Shawn Fain, the union's president, escalated pressure on the White House with a public invitation to Mr. Biden." ~~~

     ~~~ Ali Velshi of MSNBC noted Friday night that this is the first time in U.S. history that a sitting POTUS would join a picket line. ~~~

~~~ Ellen Francis of the Washington Post: "The United Auto Workers (UAW) union has filed a labor complaint against Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) after he suggested that workers who join a strike against the nation's three biggest carmakers should be fired. UAW President Shawn Fain reported Scott to the National Labor Relations Board after the senator criticized the strike against the Big Three automakers at a Monday campaign event, praising former president Ronald Reagan's response to federal air traffic controller strikes.The form filed Thursday against Scott, who has condemned the UAW more forcefully than other Republican candidates, alleges he violated the rights of his own employees by threatening the right to strike. A day after the complaint, Scott doubled down on his position, accusing unions of not representing workers' interests and tweeting that UAW 'want to threaten me & shut me up. They don't scare me.'... UAW members ... are legally protected from being fired for striking...." ~~~

~~~ Neal Boudette of the New York Times: "The United Automobile Workers union on Friday significantly raised the pressure on General Motors and Stellantis, the parent of Jeep and Ram, by expanding its strike against the companies to include all the spare parts distribution centers of the two companies. Shawn Fain, the union's president, said Friday that workers at 38 distribution centers, which provide parts to dealerships for repairs, at the two companies would walk off the job at noon. He said talks with two companies had not progressed significantly, contrasting them with Ford Motor, which he said had done more to meet the union's demands.... The union said it was not striking more facilities at Ford because of the gains it had achieved in talks with that company, including on cost-of-living adjustments, the right to strike if the company decides to close plants and two years of pay and health care benefits for workers who are laid off indefinitely.... Mr. Fain also invited President Biden to join workers on the picket line." (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Rothfeld of the New York Times: "A former top F.B.I. spy hunter pleaded guilty on Friday in Federal District Court in Washington to concealing payments he received from an Albanian-born businessman -- a former intelligence agent he had helped in business dealings overseas. The official, Charles F. McGonigal, the F.B.I.'s former director of counterintelligence in New York, had been the bureau's highest-ranking official to be accused of corruption in recent years. His plea marked the second time in as many months that Mr. McGonigal admitted to criminal wrongdoing. On Aug. 15, he pleaded guilty in federal court in New York to conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions and to laundering payments from a prominent Russian oligarch, Oleg V. Deripaska."

Kim Bellware & Kyle Rempfer of the Washington Post: "In the strange saga of the downed, and briefly missing, military F-35 jet, the 911 call received after the pilot ejected into a suburban Charleston, S.C., family's backyard is fittingly as bizarre as the incident. 'I guess we got a pilot at our house and he says he got ejected. He ejected from a plane,' the resident says as he requests an ambulance, according to a recording of the call from Charleston County.... As the call continues, the 47-year-old pilot jumps on the line to explain he ejected from a military plane and parachuted 2,000 feet to the unidentified family's backyard in North Charleston.... The Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II jet, which has a current cost of $145 million, continued flying away from Joint Base Charleston, S.C., on Sunday afternoon after the pilot safely ejected. Investigators soon enlisted the public's help to find where the costly jet might have crashed before eventually locating a debris field Monday evening in Williamsburg County.... 'Normally, when a pilot ejects from an aircraft, the aircraft crashes really close to where the pilot lands,' [former Marine captain Dan] Grazier told The Post. 'So why did the pilot eject from an aircraft that flew for another 60 miles?...'" Included redacted audio of the 911 call.

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "The judge overseeing New York Attorney General Letitia James's $250 million business fraud lawsuit against Donald Trump, on Friday became visibly annoyed with defense lawyers for what he called false statements and previously used arguments.... 'You cannot make false statements used in business, [New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur] Engoron told Christopher Kise, banging his fist on his bench and raising his voice. 'That's what this statute prohibits, and that's what's alleged here.'... One of [the Trump lawyers'] arguments was that James (D), the top legal authority in the state, does not have standing to sue. 'When I first heard those arguments I thought it was a joke,' Engoron [said]...." MB: The upside for Trump is that this a civil case, so it won't put him in jail if he loses.

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Special counsel Jack Smith has added a veteran war crimes prosecutor -- who served as Smith's deputy during his stint at the Hague -- to his team as it prepares to put ... Donald Trump on trial in Washington and Florida. Alex Whiting worked alongside Smith for three years, helping prosecute crimes against humanity that occurred in Kosovo in the late 1990s.... He also spent seven years prosecuting organized crime in Boston for the Justice Department from 1995 to 2002.... Whiting's precise role on Smith's team is unclear.... But a Politico reporter observed Whiting at the U.S. district courthouse in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday and Thursday, spending several hours monitoring the trial of a Jan. 6 defendant. The judge in the case is Tanya Chutkan.... During a break..., Whiting introduced himself to prosecutors as a new member of Smith's team, saying he 'just joined' the office."~~~

     ~~~ Marie: War crimes and organized crimes? Sounds like the right experience for a Trump prosecution.

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times cites numerous examples of Donald Trump's being and boasting that he was the "abortion president*. Then: "Whether or not Trump is personally opposed to abortion is immaterial. The truth, established by his record as president, is that he is as committed to outlawing abortion in the United States as any other conservative Republican. There is no reason, then, to take seriously his remarks on Sunday, in an interview on NBC's 'Meet the Press,' where he criticized strict abortion bans and tried to distance himself from the anti-abortion policies of his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.... Trump is triangulating. He sees, correctly, that the Republican Party is now on the wrong side of the public on abortion. By rejecting a blanket ban and making a call for compromise with Democrats, Trump is trying to fashion himself as an abortion moderate, a strategy that also rests on his pre-political persona as a liberal New Yorker with a live-and-let-live attitude toward personal behavior.... There's a ... [great] chance that this gambit falls flat."

~~~ Wherein Our Miss Brooks Got Tipsy at Newark Airport. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Unfortunately for [David] Brooks, a conservative [New York Times columnist] whose books include The Road to Character and The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life, large numbers of his followers on X[...Twitter, decided to look into his complaint.... Kurt Eichenwald..., reporter for the Conversation, wrote: 'That same meal at Newark airport cost me just over $17 (Smokehouse Restaurant, right?).['] Jacob Bacharach, a novelist and critic, wrote: 'A typical airport burger and fries is in the $18 range; a typical double .. whiskey rocks is in the $20 range. Solve for x: 18+20x=78.'" [MB: So three double whiskeys.]... [Comedian Jay] Black said: '... My family has had to cut back to only eating at airport restaurants four nights a week. THANKS JOE BIDEN!'" Thanks to Monoloco for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "The restaurant [-- the 1911 Smoke House Barbeque] ... has also made a new meal available to customers: the 'D Brooks Special.' Instead of paying $78, customers can get a burger, fries and a double shot of whiskey for $17.78..., [which] will be available at [the restaurant's] Trenton location.... 'There's a lot I'd love to say, but I will leave it with no comment -- and please continue to support small business, especially small Black businesses,' [restaurant owner Michael Hallett] said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: On a more serious note, there is scarcely anyone better at deflecting blame for various right-wing excesses & failures than David Brooks. He's a masterful dissembler, an expert at twisting, exaggerating or disguising the facts. The airport tweet is a too-perfect example: the photo he provided as "evidence" is misleading: he asserts the photo includes everything in the $78 order. But someone quickly realized that the bill did not cover just the one drink in the photo but three drinks. Maybe Brooks was angry he had to wait a while for his plane, maybe he was a little drunk, maybe he was pissed the restaurant makes so much money pouring liquid & ice into a glass, maybe his wife (whom he met when she assisted him in writing that Road to Character book) has been complaining he drinks too much. Whatever. But instead of directing his anger at its source, he conjures up a scapegoat: the "terrible economy" that liberals are overseeing. Oh, and never mind that the economy isn't terrible, and restaurant drinks have been overpriced for as long as anyone alive can recall.

~~~~~~~~~~

Texas. David Goodman of the New York Times: "Mayor Eric Johnson of Dallas announced on Friday that he had switched his party affiliation to become a Republican, saying that leaders in the Democratic Party had focused on 'virtue signaling' and had not done enough to help residents of the nation's cities. The decision was surprising for its timing: Mr. Johnson was re-elected to a second term last year after running unopposed, and cannot run for a third. But the move appeared in line with how he had increasingly been positioning himself politically: At his second inauguration, Mr. Johnson was joined by Texas's two Republican U.S. senators, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn. Technically, the position of mayor in Texas is nonpartisan. But Mr. Johnson served in the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat before he ran for mayor, and was long aligned with the party's moderate wing." The Texas Tribune's story is here.

News Ledes

Weather Channel: Hurricane "Ophelia is headed into North Carolina, then the mid-Atlantic states, spreading heavy rain, strong wind gusts, high surf, and coastal flooding up the Eastern Seaboard into the weekend." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Weather Channel: "Tropical Storm Ophelia is spreading heavy rain, strong wind gusts, high surf, and coastal flooding along the Eastern Seaboard this weekend. T​he storm made landfall at about 6:15 a.m. EDT near Emerald Isle, North Carolina, according to the National Hurricane Center. At landfall, Ophelia had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, just shy of hurricane strength." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post is live-updating developments.

Comments Off

Reader Comments (12)

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-republicans-try-long-shot-strategy-avoid-shutdown-2023-09-22/

Guess the House R's did do some work on Friday.

Not to fund the government, but to come up with a way to blame someone else when the don't.

September 22, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

That Dallas mayor, Eric Johnson, who has switched party affiliation gives an additional layer of meaning to “Party of Traitors”.

This guy says the Democratic Party (is he now required to refer to this group as the “Democrat Party”?) doesn’t do enough to help cities but thinks that Republicans will??

Seriously? Republicans HATE cities. They describe cities as satanic cesspools, soaked in blood, violent and disgusting:

“Bashing the country’s cities and the people who live there has found new life in the Donald Trump era as Republicans try to ape the former president’s blend of nastiness and victimhood. An example of the former was Trump’s comparisons of Chicago and Baltimore to Afghanistan. An example of the latter was his incessant railing against the ‘elites,’ though it seemed he was conscious that this may have been a tough sell from a man with a gold toilet. (‘Why are they elite?’ he wondered aloud at a 2018 rally. ‘I have a much better apartment than they do. I’m smarter than they are. I’m richer than they are. I became president, and they didn’t.’) It’s like the entire Republican Party is running for police commissioner of Gotham City.”

The only interest the Party of Traitors has in cities is making sure their residents—especially black residents, Mayor Johnson!—do not get to vote.

This is weird. I smell a rat. There’s some kind of payoff here somewhere, and it ain’t coming to Dallas residents. He wants to help cities so he becomes a…Republican? It’s like someone claiming that gun violence needs to be addressed, then joining the NRA board of directors.

September 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Akhilleus: I bet you're right. Generally speaking, the only reason to switch from the Democratic party to the Republican is to get something for yourself. That seems to be the case here, as you speculate. Johnson can't run for mayor again, so I'd say he's thinking of his future & looking for another job, either elective or appointed. Judge Johnson? Congressman? He has decided the GOP is the best way to get there.

September 23, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Get out the vote
"How Can Democrats Boost Youth Turnout? Enact Vote-at-Home
A new study shows that when states mail ballots to every registered voter, more young people vote, and when more young people vote, Democrats win.
by Bill Scher"

September 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Unhinged loser "Trump: Gen Milley Should be Executed for Treason for Betraying Me!"

September 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Sooo…Our Miss Brooks, absorbing the well deserved blowback from his poor, pitiful me tweet about how expensive it is to get hammered at an airport restaurant, issues a classic right-wing non-apology apology in which he first resorts to the standard R deflection of “It was a joke!”
then veers into the entirely expected but I wasn’t wrong declaration.

So he says he shouldn’t have TWD’ed (ie Tweeted while drunk), but, umm…well, um, it was just a joke. And besides, I was right about inflation.

These fucking people. “Yeah, I did it, but not really, and not only that, I did nothing wrong.”

As Marie pointed out earlier, a master dissembler.

Also an asshole.

September 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Nice of Senator Menendez to persist in offering himself as proof that Democratic AG's follow the law wherever it leads...

Wonder how his daughter, whose TV presence I like, is taking this news...

Not to rush to judgment on the current charges, but she must be used to dealing with her father's peculations by now.

September 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

"... So why did the pilot eject from an aircraft that flew for another 60 miles?...'”

Maybe this ...

"... Similar in function to the Harrier jump jet, the B variant of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter is a short takeoff/vertical landing model. It features a unique auto-eject capability and is the first US aircraft to do so ..."

Sounds like they need to do some work on that auto-eject unique feature. If they can pop-off any time, that could tend to affect the pilot's concentration just a smidge.

September 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Hey! What we need are randomly functioning ejection seats for the House impeachment/investigation/guano guys.

“Now, AG Garland! Tell us about how you’re hiding Biden crimes against…*BOOM* Aieeeee!”

“Oh look…is that Gym Jordan being flung up over the Capitol dome?”

“Hmmm…looks a bit James Comerish to me…”

“And no parachute? Oh well…”

September 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Bob Menendez. Jesus. He escapes twice but continues the grift?

What’s wrong with this guy? I mean, greed only goes so far…

Luckily, when (and if) he resigns, NJ has a Democratic governor. Were this not the case, we risk turning over complete control of the Congress to the traitors. Manchin is all but a Republican vote, and Sinema is an unreliable “independent”.

But no matter, Menendez needs his basket filled. Time for ol’ Bob to write his memoir. From a jail cell (if found guilty).

September 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Patrick: So does this mean the pilots need to be darned sure they know their favorite colors?

https://youtu.be/0D7hFHfLEyk?si=7TURn-2ydxD5TKdL&t=145

September 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterNiskyGuy
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