[Tantalizing title of a draft post by Trail friend Sturgeone this morning. Nothing more, just a taunting tease for a thread. Wonderful, classic first sentence worthy of a great mystery novel. Who are the men? What and where is the curtain? and why are they hiding behind it? Tune in later for more, hopefully. In the meantime, savor the line’s exciting promise and let our imaginations run wild with anticipation.]
in the news meanwhile:
Dianne Feinstein to resume Senate duties after long absence due to illness | Dianne Feinstein | The Guardian
New York congressman George Santos charged by federal prosecutors | George Santos | The Guardian
and
Jury finds Donald Trump sexually abused columnist E Jean Carroll | Donald Trump | The Guardian
the new tweety bird on twitter
Attribution: I Did Paw a Puddy by Pat Byrnes, PoliticalCartoons.com
haha….couldnt get it into the post so finally put it up as a comment. Not much mystery, but very much concerted effort from the Right Wing.
True now and only growing in the months to come, there is a dramatic and exponential rise in number of STORIES IN MEDIA which depict Democrats as confused, disgruntled, splintered, and generally in a state of TOTAL DISARRAY. Seems at this point to be a concerted effort from many different groups with the main and common goal of causing confusion, disgruntlement, splintering, and of causing a state of total disarray among Democrats .
And of course by “somewhat uncertain” I meant “Very Certain”.
Nothing new that Mitt Romney thinks Trump is a low life, but I especially liked his response to the verdict:
“I hope the jury of the American people reach the same conclusion about Donald Trump. He just is not suited to be president of the United States and to be the person who we hold up to our children and the world as the leader of the free world.”
Yep, Sturge. And much of the effort to portray Democrats in disarray is about insisting they don’t want Biden. Have any of any significance opposed his reelection?
sturge, glad you weren’t upset by my confiscating your masterpiece for a thread. i was bereft of ideas this a.m. and reached for the nearest life raft. that sentence does lend itself well to the interesting political games afoot.
I think some little voices were telling Senator Feinstein to pack her travel bag and get to Washington, D.C. real soon. Maybe not her directly, but her protective office staff. When the NY Times starts on your case you might need to change plans of vacationing for a year or two and go back to work. Of interest is that she returned last night. Why so early? Maybe to pull the dust covers off the chairs? Hopefully, she understands that just showing up is not the same as being a force to action.
For hot off the rumour pages, “George Santos”, if that is his real name, is to surrender to federal officials at nine am Eastern Daylight Time today. We should learn at least if that is a street name, or something at that time. And, probably a few pages of other names in the “also known as” section of the charges.
There is probably a greek chorus of little voices going off in the head of George Santos, but I doubt he listens to them.
the chorus in the background
Parodies: “Jolly Holiday” from Mary Poppins (Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman) “Georgy Girl” by The Seekers (Tom Springfield) Parody lyrics: Randy Rainbow
Old trick in the dysfunctional playbook: “I don’t have a problem, you’re the problem.”
Kevin McCarthy thinks it’s ok for Santos to remain in the house during the trial.
Kevin is a wuss, but I understand where he’s coming from. I don’t think he has the power to eject Santos. The idiots in Santos’ NY district elected him so he’s duly elected and “only” under indictment. Sound’s like there’s plenty of evidence that the did what he’s indicted for, but an indictment isn’t a conviction. The good news its that “independents” (esp. suburban women) will lump this in with the Repube attitude toward Dumbass and what are likely to be his upcoming indictments and current judgment not being disqualifying and vote for the alternative – at least I hope the suburbanites in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Pheonix, Milwaukee, etc. see it that way.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/10/us/daniel-perry-texas-sentencing-wednesday/index.html
“A US Army sergeant who was convicted of murdering a protester at a Black Lives Matter rally in 2020 was sentenced to 25 years in prison Wednesday morning – even as Texas’ governor pushes to pardon him.”
“The prosecution requested a sentence of at least 25 years in prison, highlighting a stream of racist and inflammatory social media posts Perry wrote prior to the shooting. Prosecutors also said the defense’s own analysis of his mental disorders and mindset showed he was a “loaded gun ready to go off.”
Behind the curtain? The racists and fascists and misogynists and bigots-in-general aren’t hiding anymore. Let’s hope sunlight is a great disinfectant.
George Santos faces fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds charges (msn.com) WASHINGTON — Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., pleaded not guilty at a Long Island courthouse on Wednesday to a 13-count federal indictment against him that was unsealed by the Department of Justice. Santos, 34, who surrendered into custody on Wednesday morning, has been charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, according to the DOJ. […] In the first, he defrauded prospective political supporters in September 2022 by enlisting a Queens-based political consultant — described by the DOJ as “Person #1” — to communicate with possible donors on the congressman’s behalf. “Santos allegedly directed Person #1 to falsely tell donors that, among other things, their money would be used to help elect Santos to the House, including by purchasing television advertisements,” the DOJ said. Two unnamed contributors then each transferred $25,000 to a bank account that Santos controlled. Santos used much of that money for personal expenses, including buying designer clothing, the DOJ alleged. In the second scheme, Santos engaged in unemployment insurance fraud beginning in 2020 by applying for unemployment benefits that were made available to out-of-work Americans during the pandemic, the DOJ alleged. He applied for the money despite being employed as the regional director of a Florida-based investment firm, where he earned an annual salary of $120,000, according to the indictment. Santos claimed falsely… Read more »
There was something that popped up and disappeared into the stream that this is just the first set of charges. Also, there are more sealed charges that might be put against the guy who is using “George Santos” as nom de plume, that are filed and to be grouped with the next set that are still being investigated. No news about his passports, although I think the State Department can do something about those too.
I would like to let everyone know that Rep. Brianna Titone, HD-27 is front page of the Washington Post today, 10May23.
Congratulations to her and more success in the future. I am so very proud that she represents my old home there.
Samuel L Jackson interprets a classic
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/10/bryan-slaton-groomer-backlash-legislatur/
“A self-described “bold and brave Christian-Conservative” who’d worked as a youth pastor, Slaton featured a picture of his wife and infant son on his campaign website. On social media, he railed against “groomers,” saying their efforts to sexualize minors needed to be stopped.”
“Slaton invited the woman to his Austin apartment late on a Friday night and poured her enough alcoholic drinks that she felt dizzy and had double vision, leading to unprotected sex, after which the woman reportedly purchased emergency contraceptives against a potential pregnancy…”
“LGBTQ advocates are pointing to Slaton to redirect attacks back on the GOP, saying conservative Republicans were so busy policing drag artists and transgender Texans that they missed abuse — and so-called “grooming behavior” — by one of their own.”
“It’s no surprise that the man obsessed with children’s bodies — especially transgender kids — is a predator,” González said in a statement. “The courage to stop a predator has to extend to opposing his crusade to fixate the entire state on children’s genitals.”
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/08/allen-mall-shooting-right-wing-death-squad/ “The man who killed eight people at a Dallas-area mall wore extremist insignia, posted racist and misogynistic screeds and praised Nazis online.” “…Mauricio Garcia, who was killed by police during Saturday’s attack at Allen Premium Outlets, had neo-Nazi tattoos and beliefs. Garcia also wore a patch during the killing spree that said “RWDS” — an acronym for “right wing death squad” — and while police have yet to announce a motive for the attack, journalists have uncovered a trove of social media posts in which the gunman fantasized about violence and glorified the Third Reich.” “The Tuesday announcement contradicts days of claims by prominent conservatives — including U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia — who pointed to Garcia’s name and presumed Hispanic ethnicity to discount his potential ties to white supremacist movements.” “Seeing a recruitment opportunity, the Daily Stormer — arguably the most influential Nazi propaganda outlet in the world — began publishing in Spanish in 2017. And there is ample evidence that extremist views are on the rise among communities of color, despite often being couched in ideologies that perpetuate false notions of racial or ethnic hierarchy.” “Today, the RWDS patch is prevalent at events that feature neo-Nazis, Proud Boys or other far-right extremist groups, and you don’t often see it anywhere else.” “Often shortened to RWDS, “right wing death squad” has for years been a popular slogan among neo-Nazis and other extremist groups.” “And the slogan has a direct connection to political violence — specifically Augusto Pinochet,… Read more »
Blue: thanks for posting the link to the Wapo article. Very courageous and intuitive woman. I’m following her page now with a local interest. As a newly minted Coloradoan, I’m seeing this state up close in its many complexities.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/10/investing/premarket-stocks-trading/index.html
“A lengthy default would wipe out about 8.3 million jobs and bring unemployment 5 percentage points higher, economists at the White House said last week. Even under a shorter default, the economy would suffer the loss of about half a million jobs and the unemployment rate would rise by 0.3 percentage points, they said.”
Republicans want to tank the economy to hurt Biden, and they don’t care how many Americans suffer if they do. It’s not just the millions of jobless, but many of those faceless numbers have families. Republicans are willing to hurt families, they are willing to hurt kids.
Remind me, how many times did Republicans raise the debt ceiling under tRUMPsky.
Speaking of Orange Adolf, he’s doing a Town Hall in about 30 minutes. I hope he gets booed.
NEW THREAD