The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

[brettac1]

IANAL but the recommendation really means nothing, doesn't it?

I think Trump is probably pretty cooked at this point regardless of whatever criminal charges he may or may not see in the future, though I think everyone is (rightly) cautious of saying so.

[beantownbubba]

IANAL but the recommendation really means nothing, doesn't it?

That depends on what "means" means.

The referrals have no specific legal consequences and do not have the force of law. But as I tried to suggest, the fact that the House has referred to the DOJ even the mere possibility of criminal conduct (actually they concluded criminal conduct was "probable", but I'm trying to describe the impact, or if you prefer, meaning of the referrals) is in US historical terms earth shaking and unprecedented. Post-Trump, "unprecedented" doesn't mean what it used to, but still it's a pretty big deal. In practical terms, it shrinks Trump's freedom of action/ability to set and pursue his agenda and more generally makes it harder for him to present as a credible candidate for president. Although very unlikely, it also provides potential Republican breakaways from the Trump train w/ some cover but that's a longshot at best.

[Zip City]

This is Merrick Garland's moment. How does he want to be remembered in the history books?

[Flea]

This is Merrick Garland's moment. How does he want to be remembered in the history books?

Likely to be a footnote as a feckless AG and a totally screwed SC nominee.

[brettac1]

This is Merrick Garland's moment. How does he want to be remembered in the history books?

Likely to be a footnote as a feckless AG and a totally screwed SC nominee.

"Massive cuck" is the first phrase that comes to mind.

[beantownbubba]

Worth it for the headline alone:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... 00007F7AB9

[pearlbeer]

Stop Believing

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/jou ... 54510.html

[beantownbubba]

Every once in a while knowing how the sausage is made is interesting and edifying:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/23/maga ... 029039208a

[Jonicont]

Every once in a while knowing how the sausage is made is interesting and edifying:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/23/maga ... 029039208a

Daddy taught Cheney well

[beantownbubba]

Daddy taught Cheney well

Right?

[chuckrh]

Stop Believing

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/jou ... 54510.html

& they still tour together. Some interesting dynamics in that band. I saw them when they were still a 4 piece opening for the real (with Ronnie) Lynyrd Skynyd. One of my early concerts. Journey were great back then.

[Beaverdam]

Did y’all read that Afroman is now a 2024 candidate???

[beantownbubba]

George Santos himself doesn't even rise to the level of a pimple on an elephant's ass. He's just another in a long line of grifters and criminals who see politics as a quick path to riches they can achieve in no other way. He's already on minute 14 of his allotted 15.

The only remarkable things about this story are (a) how long it took to come out and (b) the deafening silence and apparent support for Santos from the Republican Party. Can a political party that won't disown a complete POS like Santos*, whose transgressions have nothing to do with politics, policy, culture wars or any of the usual battlegrounds, possibly maintain any credibility? And yes, i know, for many of us the GOP lost credibility ages ago, but even taken on their own terms, w/in the context of the sorry state of our political reality, what kind of moral authority or leadership can the party claim or project? What kind of faux outrage can they muster in the face of the next "scandal"?

*And that's even before the inevitable allegations of criminality and fraudulent conduct that will surely follow the "mere lies" that have been exposed so far.

[Zip City]

The short answer is that standards only apply to the democrats. There is no baseline, no standard, no red line for their own. It’s power and winning Uber alles

[John A Arkansawyer]

criminality and fraudulent conduct

You rang?

Madcap Details Emerge of Santos’s Criminal Past In Brazil

Santos seems to have disappeared before he could go on trial. According to Brazilian press reports, the case is still open and could be recommenced if and when Santos is found.

[beantownbubba]

The early, ummmm, returns from Trump's newly released tax returns unsurprisingly confirm that he's a lousy businessman. By far the largest source of his income in recent years is the sale of investments he inherited from his father, who's been dead for a long time. Trump sold even "signature properties" like 40 Wall Street at a loss.

And Trump gave exactly zero, ZERO, NONE, NADA, ZIP dollars to charity in 2020. ZERO!! I find that incomprehensible and more than a little disgusting. If anyone had any doubts that Trump's character is as bad as many of us have been saying for a long time, hopefully this will erase those doubts. ZERO!

[beantownbubba]

criminality and fraudulent conduct

You rang?

Madcap Details Emerge of Santos’s Criminal Past In Brazil

Santos seems to have disappeared before he could go on trial. According to Brazilian press reports, the case is still open and could be recommenced if and when Santos is found.

My guess is that Santos will hide over this weekend, show up in DC to be sworn in, vote for McCarthy for Speaker and then resign. I realize that's a fairly optimistic view of the GOP but I just don't see how they would want him hanging around, dragging them down for a full 2 years. Right now they (or at least the "McCarthy wing" of the Party) need him, but that's extremely short-term.

And it turns out that a local Long Island newspaper did publish some of the problems later revealed by the NYT and NOBODY followed up, not the media, not his Democratic opponent, not the Democratic Party, not good government groups, nobody. An epic failure.

[beantownbubba]

The profile of Elise Stefanik in today's NYT is pretty interesting and very revealing. It's not often one gets to watch a public figure sell their soul in real time while the world watches.

The Times also has an article about a new restaurant in London called Bacchanalia. Its over the top glitz, excess and tackiness would not seem fit for the current mood in the UK or maybe we already have reached the point where excess leads to civilization's ruin a la Rome.

[beantownbubba]

The rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried is a very modern kind of spectacle that we have become all too used to. What gets me about this particular iteration of the same old story is how many big money investors, the kind of people who make their names and reputations on how hard they work to identify worthy investments, apparently did little to no due diligence before throwing money at SBF. Once again the illusion of the efficiency of capitalism proves to be ... an illusion.

[beantownbubba]

Very curious to see how the Speaker of the House election plays out. Any way it goes, it's more clear than ever that Kevin McCarthy is a loser of historic proportions.

[Jonicont]

Very curious to see how the Speaker of the House election plays out. Any way it goes, it's more clear than ever that Kevin McCarthy is a loser of historic proportions.

How sweet would it be if the Dems could turn a few repubs and put Cheney in

[pearlbeer]

Very curious to see how the Speaker of the House election plays out. Any way it goes, it's more clear than ever that Kevin McCarthy is a loser of historic proportions.

Build a party of "no" and suffer the consequences. Gotta feel bad for 'ol Kev...hard to deal with the true idiot wing of the party he helped enable. Thoughts and prayers.

[beantownbubba]

Very curious to see how the Speaker of the House election plays out. Any way it goes, it's more clear than ever that Kevin McCarthy is a loser of historic proportions.

Build a party of "no" and suffer the consequences. Gotta feel bad for 'ol Kev...hard to deal with the true idiot wing of the party he helped enable. Thoughts and prayers.

Yeah, thoughts and prayers seem particularly appropriate.

CNN is calling McCarthy's first ballot loss a "public humiliation" which seems about right. But there's one big part of this fiasco that I don't get. It would be a mistake to assume that the motives of 222 people can be attributed to only one thing, but the single story line I've seen in the mainstream media has been how this whole episode is a demonstration of the GOP right wing's power and willingness to use it. I don't doubt the truth of that but there has to be more.

And the more that seems obvious to me is McCarthy himself: In particular his sense of entitlement and his complete absence of convictions, principles or whatever you want to call it. Apparently, just this morning McCarthy summed up his case for election to the Speakership by saying that he had earned it. To which Lauren Boebert responded "bullshit!" it certainly feels odd finding myself in agreement w/ Ms. B, but she's clearly right on this one. McCarthy has been acting for a long time as if the Speakership belonged to him and people don't respond well to that.

As to his lack of principle, i don't think I need to rehash the many examples but I do want to point out that people of firm, even fiery, convictions tend to react worse to people w/out convictions than to people with different convictions, no matter how abhorent those different convictions are. Simply put, it's impossible to trust a guy who switches sides at the drop of a hat and has never presented a clear statement of what he believes. So it's not just the right wing of the right flexing its muscles, it's the right wing of the right expressing its lack of use for McCarthy himself, for very good reasons, imho.

[beantownbubba]

This just in: McCarthy has already lost at least 8 votes in the second round of voting which means he's already lost unless a whole bunch of people choose to abstain (which would change the number of votes constituting a majority). That seems pretty unlikely but I guess anything can happen and probably will before this is over.

Meanwhile, George Santos and other rookies apparently get to vote even though they literally haven't been sworn in yet. Beltway logic I guess.

[pearlbeer]

This just in: McCarthy has already lost at least 8 votes in the second round of voting which means he's already lost unless a whole bunch of people choose to abstain (which would change the number of votes constituting a majority). That seems pretty unlikely but I guess anything can happen and probably will before this is over.

Meanwhile, George Santos and other rookies apparently get to vote even though they literally haven't been sworn in yet. Beltway logic I guess.

[pearlbeer]

Vote #2 failed - hard to hold an election when you are counting on support from election deniers, huh, Kev? Don't worry - Boebert, Gatez, Jordan, Roy, MTG - they'll come around won't they? I mean, they are well intentioned and sane, right? Down deep, they are good people, right? Right, My Kevin?


[[[ Yummmmmmm...this freshly baked New Year's Schadenfreude is delicious. ]]]

[beantownbubba]

Vote #2 failed - hard to hold an election when you are counting on support from election deniers, huh, Kev? Don't worry - Boebert, Gatez, Jordan, Roy, MTG - they'll come around won't they? I mean, they are well intentioned and sane, right? Down deep, they are good people, right? Right, My Kevin?


[[[ Yummmmmmm...this freshly baked New Year's Schadenfreude is delicious. ]]]

Actually, MTG is on Kev's team: He promised her all kinds of committee assignments and investigations, so now she's on the opposite side to her best buds and frenemies for exactly the reason people distrust Kevin to begin with - they think he's got everything for sale w/ no telling what he might agree to since he has no center.

[pearlbeer]

Vote #2 failed - hard to hold an election when you are counting on support from election deniers, huh, Kev? Don't worry - Boebert, Gatez, Jordan, Roy, MTG - they'll come around won't they? I mean, they are well intentioned and sane, right? Down deep, they are good people, right? Right, My Kevin?


[[[ Yummmmmmm...this freshly baked New Year's Schadenfreude is delicious. ]]]

Actually, MTG is on Kev's team: He promised her all kinds of committee assignments and investigations, so now she's on the opposite side to her best buds and frenemies for exactly the reason people distrust Kevin to begin with - they think he's got everything for sale w/ no telling what he might agree to since he has no center.

Yeah, you're right, btb - I forgot. But, that'll bite him in the ass eventually as well. Lie with dogs, wake with fleas.

Meanwhile...third vote failed. What a first day on the job for some. DisfunctionJunction.

[beantownbubba]

A friend swears this is true: George Santos issued a press release claiming to have been sworn in as a Congressman today (not true; nobody got sworn in because of the Speaker fiasco) by the Speaker of the House (not true; there isn't one). You can't make this stuff up.

Also, multiple outlets are reporting that Santos tried to charge supporters to accompany him to his swearing in. No indication of whether anybody took him up on this once in a lifetime (I hope) offer.

[pearlbeer]

A friend swears this is true: George Santos issued a press release claiming to have been sworn in as a Congressman today (not true; nobody got sworn in because of the Speaker fiasco) by the Speaker of the House (not true; there isn't one). You can't make this stuff up.

Also, multiple outlets are reporting that Santos tried to charge supporters to accompany him to his swearing in. No indication of whether anybody took him up on this once in a lifetime (I hope) offer.

There were a couple of pretty funny articles yesterday about how awkward his day was. Sounds like he was the loneliest little liar in Congress. And he he was sworn in-"ish".