We. Would. CRY.: US Politics, July 2022

If the FBI wants cops to tell them about their use of force they need to send out emails that say "Tell Us How Much Ass You Kicked This Week, You Awesome Super Trooper, You!"

Huh

This wasn't SNL on a Thursday night.

This was Wyoming's Republican primary debate. pic.twitter.com/PUHeOMdx7I

— The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) July 1, 2022

"All the major internets do that"

Jesus Cheney sounds like churchill in that batch of kooky birds

forgot a comma, I don't actually consider her to be Jesus

But she has the same initials.

She's doomed

I hate to look up who on that stage is ahead of her in polling

yeah. it's Harriet Hageman, on the far left. expected to win. she's the one who says something about fauci being totally corrupt, and then later in the clip becomes only first person i've ever heard in my life say the words "2000 mules" out loud

horseshoe theory is real

"Serious leaders"

It's 2000 mules when all you need is an ox

one time, i said "bona fide" out loud. it wasn't even that long, maybe 4-5 years ago. i said "bone-uh-fyed", rhyming it with "died" which is what happened inside when one guy there clearly knew how dumb i was and said "...bone-uh-fyed...?" to me and then politely changed the topic to the category of Other Things, Any Thing Else At All, leaving me to search "bone fide pronunciation later that night. god DAMN IT! how could i not have known. and yet, harriet hageman says "2000 mules" out loud as a real thing for people to think about, and she's probably going to win. come on

wyoming should really get two half-senators... each working 2-3 days a week

...with brains working maybe 2-3 hours a day

Fwiw the obnoxious bona fide dude was just being a pedant. BOH-nuh-fied is standard American English.

https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/03/bona-fide-2.html

Here in the South, the way very well-educated lawyers pronounce "voir dire" rhymes with "for fire."

Yep I've heard that in courtrooms.

CNN
—
Then-President Donald Trump angrily demanded to go to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and berated his protective detail when he didn’t get his way, according to two Secret Service sources who say they heard about the incident from multiple agents, including the driver of the presidential SUV where it occurred.

The sources tell CNN that stories circulated about the incident – including details that are similar to how former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson described it to the House select committee investigating January 6 – in the months immediately afterward the US Capitol attack and before she testified this week.

While the details from those who heard the accounts differ, the Secret Service sources say they were told an angry confrontation did occur. And their accounts align with significant parts of Hutchinson’s testimony, which has been attacked as hearsay by Trump and his allies who also have tried to discredit her overall testimony.

ike Hutchinson, one source, a longtime Secret Service employee, told CNN that the agents relaying the story described Trump as “demanding” and that the former President said something similar to: “I’m the f**king President of the United States, you can’t tell me what to do.” The source said he originally heard that kind of language was used shortly after the incident.

“He had sort of lunged forward – it was unclear from the conversations I had that he actually made physical contact, but he might have. I don’t know,” the source said. “Nobody said Trump assaulted him; they said he tried to lunge over the seat – for what reason, nobody had any idea.”

The employee said he’d heard about the incident multiple times as far back as February 2021 from other agents, including some who were part of the presidential protective detail during that time period but none of whom were involved in the incident.

The source added that agents often recounted stories of Trump’s fits of anger, including the former President throwing and breaking things.

“Not just plates,” the source added,

The former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson received at least one message tacitly warning her not to cooperate with the House January 6 select committee from an associate of former chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The message in question was the second of two warnings the committee disclosed at the end of its explosive special hearing on Tuesday, when Hutchinson testified about matters including how Donald Trump directed a crowd he knew was armed to march on the Capitol, the sources said.

Yep I've heard that in courtrooms.

Hell, I've said it. To pronounce it any other way would mark me as an outsider--not that my lack of Southern accent doesn't do that already.

Oh yeah, during his Senate primary campaign, JD Vance was indignant about charges that he wanted to defund the police. PolitiFact checked:

Vance’s calls to abolish ATF
The mission of the ATF is "to protect communities from violent criminals, criminal organizations and illegal use and trafficking of firearms," among other things, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Vance, an author and venture capitalist, has called several times for getting rid of the agency, including in a February opinion article published by the Cincinnati Enquirer, in tweets and in a campaign ad.

His Feb. 2 tweet included a video clip of himself at a campaign event alleging that the ATF is "spying on lawful gun owners" by keeping a database of gun transactions.

Vance falsely claimed in a February ad that President Joe Biden "uses the ATF to illegally track your gun transactions." The Government Accountability Office found that ATF is following the law in how it manages gun transaction records.

A joint fundraising committee that raises contributions for Vance’s campaign and for his leadership PAC also ran an ad on Facebook and Instagram calling for the ATF to be abolished.

Vance’s criticism of the FBI
Vance has been critical of the FBI, calling for an investigation of its "corrupt leadership," accusing it of botching investigations and of spying on Trump.

We found that in January, Vance retweeted a tweet that said: "The FBI is an irreparably corrupt and broken agency that needs to be defunded and eliminated."

ATF hatred is sure to get him the votes of 1992 Michigan Militia dweebs who've emigrated to Ohio.

Some new details on the Biden-McConnell deal:

1. Biden agreed to name Chad Meredith, an anti-abortion advocate, to a federal court in Kentucky in exchange for McConnell's promise that he would stop blocking Democrats' picks for U.S. Attorney in Kentucky. https://t.co/R57iFtSuZ3

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) July 1, 2022

Goddamn, lifetime Federalist Society judgeship for two years of a couple of prosecutors.

dems going to try and recruit Cheney to run in 2028 huh

Where's Schumer?

Gardening, probably.

Adding to his sock collection

Appointing an anti-abortion judge anywhere is bad, but in a state that's about to outlaw abortion it's even worse. And the only reason to care about U.S. attorneys is to let some political players pad their resumes.

(what is 2000 mules a mondegreen of?)

It's not. It's some ridiculous conspiracy theory promulgated by Dinesh D'Souza that thousands of fake Democratic voters cast fraudulent mail-in ballots...somefuckinwhere. I forget the details. He made one of his bullshit documentaries about it.

Yeah, it's the title of the latest D'Souza joint.

Good news for Minnesotans, apparently:

pic.twitter.com/dQFwfOeJVE

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) July 1, 2022

lmao how did this happen

deets: https://www.courthousenews.com/minnesota-legalizes-low-dose-pot-edibles-to-the-surprise-of-gop-legislator/

Here's an article from the Star Tribune (pasted in full 'cause it's paywalled):

Minnesotans who are 21 or older can start buying edibles and beverages that contain THC — the ingredient in cannabis that gets you high — under a new state law that takes effect Friday.

The new law permits the sale and purchase of edibles and beverages that contain up to 5 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) per serving and 50 milligrams per package. A 5-milligram THC edible can cause a high feeling for first-time users, while people who are used to cannabis could require a larger dose to feel the effect.

Five milligrams is about half the standard dose found in recreational marijuana products in other states.

New THC products must be derived from legally certified hemp, which contains trace amounts of the psychoactive compound, according to the law. But THC will produce the same effect whether it's derived from hemp or marijuana, industry experts say.

"This stuff will get you high, no doubt about it," said attorney Jason Tarasek, founder of the Minnesota Cannabis Law firm and a board member of the Minnesota Cannabis Association. "Everybody's calling it hemp-derived THC, which makes it sound like something other than marijuana. But I went on social media and I called it adult-use marijuana, because that's what most people are going to consider this to be."

Cannabis advocates say they can hardly believe the law passed the Minnesota Legislature given Senate Republicans' opposition to recreational marijuana legalization. Steven Brown, CEO of Nothing But Hemp, said he will begin selling a dozen new THC products Friday at his six Minnesota retail stores, with a few dozen more rolling out over the next month.

"In some ways, we legalized cannabis," Brown said.

Rep. Heather Edelson, an Edina Democrat who sponsored the legislation in the House, said the new law was born from an effort to strengthen oversight of the emerging market.

Hemp and cannabidiol (CBD) products were already legal in Minnesota provided they contained less than 0.3% delta-9 THC, the primary intoxicant in marijuana. But that legal threshold did not apply to delta-8 THC, an intoxicating cousin of delta-9. As a result, delta-8 products were widely sold in the state in various forms and at dosages high enough to pose health risks.

The new law's milligram requirements apply to any form of THC, reining in the delta-8 market while also allowing the sale and purchase of traditional THC edibles and beverages.

Starting Friday, CBD and THC products must be clearly labeled and sold only to those 21 or older. Edibles must be in child-proof and tamper-evident packages, have clearly defined serving sizes and carry the label, "Keep this product out of reach of children."

"Bringing more consumer protections really was my goal," Edelson said, though she admitted the new law gives Minnesota a sample of recreational marijuana legalization: "There was no mystery about what we were doing here."

It's unclear if leaders of the Republican-controlled Minnesota Senate fully realized the law would legalize delta-9 THC edibles before they agreed to pass it. Sen. Michelle Benson, R-Ham Lake, said she knew it would but "did not discuss that specifically" with Republican Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, R-Winona.

Benson, chair of the Senate Human Services Licensing Policy Committee, said she and some other lawmakers were interested in capping dosages of delta-8 THC, which existed in an unregulated gray area. But to regulate any type of THC, as the new law does, "you have to pick an amount to measure by," she said.

Miller declined to comment, deferring to Sen. Mark Koran, R-North Branch, who authored a Senate version of Edelson's bill that did not explicitly allow milligram dosages.

"With the federal changes in 2018, the [Minnesota] Board of Pharmacy and Department of Agriculture recognized the need for regulations on certain products and worked with the Legislature to restrict the market," Koran said in a statement. "That's what this bill does."

Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, who chairs the Senate Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee, said he didn't realize the new law would legalize edibles containing delta-9 THC before it passed. He thought the law would only regulate delta-8 THC products.

"I thought we were doing a technical fix, and it winded up having a broader impact than I expected," Abeler said, adding that the Legislature should consider rolling the new law back.

House Democrats and Gov. Tim Walz, both of whom support recreational marijuana legalization, are unlikely to agree to such a request. Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, called Abeler's suggestion to roll back the law "ridiculous" and said Democrats have no interest in doing so.

Abeler "voted for it. He signed the conference report," Winkler said. "This is a step forward towards a policy we strongly support."

The law places no limit on how many CBD and THC products can be purchased and does not regulate who can sell them. It also allows the cannabis components to be infused into food and drinks.

Brown is already working with breweries to create nonalcoholic THC beers and seltzers that he will sell in his stores. He said he wants to "promote cannabis over alcohol" to Minnesotans.

Superior Cannabis Co., which has stores in Duluth; Austin, Minn.; and Superior, Wis., will soon begin selling THC gummies, president and co-owner Jeff Brinkman said. Coffee shops and bars have already begun reaching out to him about selling CBD products, he said.

"This is really exciting for us," Brinkman said. "It's a really good opportunity to demonstrate to legislators [that] legalization is just one step away."

Tarasek said Minnesota's new law is a "cannabis industry oddity." He's already fielding calls from cannabis companies nationwide that now see Minnesota as a "quasi-legal market."

"I'm getting calls from across the country saying, 'What is this? We've never seen this,' " Tarasek said. "They want to jump in."

CDB gummies are about as intoxicating as Werthers Originals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRQF8oGumaE

xp Um, the article mentions THC gummies, not CBD gummies.

From a certain point of view, we legalized marijuana

NY Gov signs new gun law:

Democratic leaders have said they expect pro-gun advocates to challenge the legislation in court -- but they believe the bill language will hold up.
New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said during a news conference Friday that lawmakers crafted the language carefully following the Supreme Court decision.
"We wanted to make sure that our permitting process would be able to stand up to scrutiny, and the technical aspects took a long time. But we are confident that we are providing New York, again, an opportunity not only to be able to have their concealed carry, but also to make New Yorkers safe," Stewart-Cousins said.
...Last month, Hochul signed a legislative package to tighten state gun laws, including a law that raised the minimum age to buy a semiautomatic rifle to 21.

i know this is a minor gotcha-type-thing and i'm piling dumb on top of dumb, but if the talking point that trump actually requested 10k or 20k national guard troops for jan 6 and pelosi and not-at-all-at-the-time-senate-majority-leader shumer nixed the request, so therefore they're responsible for the lax defense against the capitol attack, wouldn't that just implicate trump?

i mean, the reality is when he suggested that he just wanted to protect his supporters from antifa and blm and people with green hair and nose rings but the way it's presented on righty talk radio that i allegedly listen to sometimes is that this totally and irrevocably forever and ever amen contradicts the accusation that he was ok fine with his supporters breaching the capitol and perpetuating various wildings therein, because he actually tried to provide security for the capitol but was rebuffed.

wouldn't then the inference be that he assumed congress needed protection against his own supporters? it's not like antifa was going to try to stop the certification of let's go brandon frasier.

i see articles that refute the trump defense by saying that didn't happen, trump never formally requested troops and pelosi didn't have the power to reject, and i assume it's the case, but since the apparent upshot of the jan 6 panel is to triangulate trump's frame of mind and intent, why wouldn't it matter either way? either he's lying about being the guy who actually wanted to protect the capitol or elsewise he foresaw that the mob he riled up and directed capitolwards was gonna do some heinous stuff and he felt the need to provide security against what he set in motion.

i am not trained in formal logic processes and i spend most of my life like butters out in the outfield singing i see a ladybug, hello little ladybug while there's a game going on, but imo there are only two possibilities,

a) trmpu suggested nat'l guard security for his supporters only, and in the aftermath tried to game that into the assertion that he was the one who tried to protect the capitol and all his fox and friends were knowingly in bad faith with that's the fact, jack, and boo wendy pelosi, boo wendy, boo, in which case they're lying liars or

b) it's true, he requested the guardians because protecting the capitol and democracy against whom? himself and his supporters?

perhaps this is a small thing and not the silver bullet that's the final nail in the coffin but this is is kind of thinking that keeps me in the state of mind that this guy and all his friends are cheats and weasels and why are we having to deal with this still. why ado we have to prove he knew he was doing the wrong thing, if all we have to prove is he did the wrong thing?

Does Biden get stigma from having abortion criminalised under his Presidency however it's looked at. Is it going to be something taht is permanently attached to his name.
Like even allowing it to happen when he's in a position of supposed power.
& shouldn't that mean he does whatever he can to prevent it to stop it attaching to him or for more egalitarian less centred on him reasons.

He’s against abortion, he doesn’t give a shit

Like the guy is quite literally on the record as being against abortion

Yet if he had the senatorial support he'd sign a carve-out to the filibuster. Because he's been an obstreperous hack since 1974 who'll say anything to stay in power.

you see the problem here is you need a revolution or a 3rd party that was interested in doing things proactively and not in reaction to a negative other.
Should just ground SCOTUS until they learn how to behave. Would be so good if there was a way of keeping a body like that in tune with contemporary mores. If Thomas gets his way will he be tolerated by the ruling party anyway.
I mean, what is happening.
Quite enjoyed having a world that seemed like it might possibly improve. Do they need to keep running worst case scenario until things look better in comparison.

In one way it's a bummer that more off the record secret service sources have already refuted the off the record refutations of Trump's steering wheel lunge, especially the claim that his sheer size prevented such a move, because I woke up in the middle of the night with the phrase "too big to flail" stuck in my head and found it really amusing.

Imagine being Liz Cheney and being the only semi-competent human being on stage and having to pretend to take all those other people remotely seriously and knowing that you're going to lose to them.

BTW, I saw an interesting comment re: the anti-abortion judge Biden is allegedly going to nominate. Someone with more knowledge than me can unpack it:

Ok, some clarification may be in order here regarding the context.

First of all, the only thing Biden can promise is a nomination. He can’t promise any votes from the Democratic caucus, and he can’t promise that no Democratic Senator won’t filibuster the nomination (and under existing rules any Democratic Senator can do so anonymously). Unless the GOP can attract at least one vote from the Democratic caucus and ensure that not one Democratic Senator filibusters the nomination and ensure that if filibustered at least 10 members of the Democratic caucus vote with the GOP to overcome the filibuster, that guy wouldn’t be confirmed.

Second, based on the wording in this article (I’m not paying for an account with the Courier Journal to confirm), if the judgeship is “in Kentucky” it’s a District Court judgeship. That’s a lifetime appointment, but it’s a trial level judgeship in a State that falls under the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals (which the Federalist Society hates) and U.S. Supreme Court. According to uscourts.gov, there are currently 75 Federal judicial vacancies and pending nominations for 20 of those vacancies, including 2 for Circuit Court of Appeals positions. The only federal judicial nominations that can proceed to be confirmed without potentially being blocked by a filibuster are Supreme Court Justices (see Ketanji Brown Jackson). 50 votes plus Kamala is enough to get a Supreme Court Justice nominee confirmed. It’s not enough to get any other Federal judgeship confirmed. Assuming the article is accurate, it is a trade of 1 trial level judge nomination (and presumably only a nomination because Biden can’t promise that no Democratic Senator will filibuster or that 10 Democratic Senators will vote to override the veto) that would be bound by decisions and subject to appeal to the Sixth Circuit (which the Federalist Society hates) and eventual appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has no vacancies at the moment, in exchange for 19 Federal judgeships, including 2 Circuit Courts of Appeal Judges. If the agreement was more far ranging than just existing nominations, it could potentially be as much as a trade of 1 Kentucky trial court judgeship in exchange for 74 Federal judgeships, including 7 Circuit Court of Appeals judgeships.

This doesn’t speak to whether McConnell will live up to his end of the bargain, but I suspect McConnell and Biden have probably made analogous deals in the past that McConnell honored.

Who wrote that?

idk, the latest conservative line that's been popping up over the last 48 hours is that Trump happened because the press and democrats were mean to Mitt Romney, so they certainly have the potential to hone in on the mildest of grievances and whine endlessly about it

xp right. overall approval among your voters goes up when you pass things, even if those things are unpopular with those voters! i don't think overall approval goes up when you tattle that CHIPS was passed unfairly. most people don't know what CHIPS is.

overall approval among your voters goes up when you pass things, even if those things are unpopular with those voters!

e.g. iirc 2017 tax cuts were and are incredibly unpopular, but their passing was the high point in trump's approval?

gab, the social media network for nazis, has started running ads on their platform. but who would pay to advertise their products & services on a website for white nationalists, antisemites, and aspiring mass shooters? well...

— molly conger (@socialistdogmom) July 29, 2022

Ad-Based Gab for August thread title.

they certainly have the potential to hone in on the mildest of grievances and whine endlessly about it

Like my conservative friend who is still so mad about the “cover up” of Hunter’s laptop.

Russian government officials requested that a former colonel from the country’s domestic spy agency who was convicted of murder in Germany last year be added to the US’ proposed swap of a notorious arms dealer for Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, multiple sources familiar with the discussions told CNN.
...The request was seen as problematic for several reasons, the sources told CNN, among them that Krasikov remains in German custody. As such, and because the request was not communicated formally but rather through the FSB backchannel, the US government did not view it as a legitimate counter to the US’ offer which was first revealed by CNN on Wednesday.
But underscoring how determined the Biden administration has been to get Griner and Whelan back to the US, US officials did make quiet inquiries to the Germans about whether they might be willing to include Krasikov in the trade, a senior German government source told CNN. A US official characterized the outreach as a status check on Krasikov.

The conversations were never elevated to the top levels of the German government and including Krasikov in a potential trade has not been seriously considered, the German source said. But the previously unreported discussions reveal that Russian officials have at least somewhat engaged with the US’ proposal.

...Asked for comment, a State Department official told CNN that “In order to preserve the best opportunity for a successful outcome, we’re not going to comment publicly on any speculation.”

...Multiple sources told CNN that even if it is not Krasikov, the Russians will likely demand two prisoners be released in exchange for Griner and Whelan. Russian government officials have indicated publicly in recent weeks that they want to see the release of Bout and Roman Seleznev, a convicted hacker currently serving a 27-year sentence in the US.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/29/politics/griner-whelan-russia-murderer-request/index.html

Here’s @tedcruz fist-bumping fellow Republicans after blocking a bill to help veterans exposed to toxic burn pits. pic.twitter.com/sZdDljrJV7

— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) July 29, 2022

So there's nothing in this reconciliation bill about renewing the child tax credits, I assume?

Manchin really didn't like the idea of his constituents' children sitting around eating food, when they could starting a summer job way down in the mine

lol

He was worried about people spending it on drugs, someone could have just pointed out that the credit let them buy his daughter's epi-pens.

Maybe child tax credits for freeing up child labor? Fair and Balanced.

Careful with the phrasing, he'll think you mean tax credits for coal mining operations to hire pre-teen children.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/29/homeland-inspector-general-texts/

The Department of Homeland Security’s chief watchdog scrapped its investigative team’s effort to collect agency phones to try to recover deleted Secret Service texts this year, according to four people with knowledge of the decision and internal records reviewed by The Washington Post.

In early February, after learning that the Secret Service’s text messages had been erased as part of a migration to new devices, staff at Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari’s office planned to contact all DHS agencies offering to have data specialists help retrieve messages from their phones, according to two government whistleblowers who provided reports to Congress.

But later that month, Cuffari’s office decided it would not collect or review any agency phones, according to three people briefed on the decision.

...Cuffari, a former adviser to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R), has been in his post since July 2019 after being nominated by Trump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/29/homeland-inspector-general-texts/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/joseph-cuffari-blocked-investigation-into-secret-services-clearing-of-lafayette-square-says-report

Why has Biden White House or current DHS head not asked for Trump appointee Cuffai to resign? And shouldn't all be asked to testify under oath and face charges? Back in April the Project on Government Oversight said that Cuffari should be placed on administrative leave and or fired https://www.pogo.org/letter/2022/04/pogo-calls-on-president-biden-to-remove-dhs-ig-joseph-cuffari

They're such shameless mobsters

New: Rep. Matt Gaetz was caught on a hot mic assuring Roger Stone that Trump would likely pardon him shortly before Stone’s criminal trial in 2019. “The boss still has a very favorable view of you … he said it directly.” https://t.co/GcePQC3vcg

— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) July 30, 2022

We have to give them the benefit of the doubt here. By “the boss” Gaetz is probably talking about the American taxpayers

Or Springsteen, or Ross?

Sinema indicates she may want to change Schumer-Manchin deal
Also: coming Vote-a-Rama, poison pills, more---it's Axios, but seems plausible enough:
https://www.axios.com/2022/07/30/sinema-schumer-manchin-deal-democrats

Rep. Chuy García (D-IL) tweeted profanities and a slur in response to a random Twitter account with 531 followers who trolled him. pic.twitter.com/LUjqWnDoxd

— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) July 30, 2022

will use the vote-a-rama to force vulnerable Democrats to take politically difficult votes.

Similar to whining about being tricked on CHIPs, is this something that ever really matters? Every Republican ad is a lie about their opponents record anyway.

(and I'm sure Democrats will run ads about Republican Senators stabbing veterans in the bank to similarly little effectiveness)

Yeah getting them to withdraw money and then stabbing them probably more effective

Apparently the vets thing will pass next week. I follow this stuff and I have no idea what’s going on. Amazed senators think anyone cares at all about anything other than bills that pass (and even then).

Mr President, passage would not have been delayed if Senator Schumer had kept his promises. Good news is, despite his mendacity, it will pass this next week. https://t.co/HVUtLYmFeU

— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) July 31, 2022

cornyn is talking out of his ass

So, given what we know of cover-ups and incompetence, why are there *any* Trump picks still in appointed government positions?

Deep state

Dem adherence to norms and traditions

If God didn’t want Louis DeJoy running the Post Office, He’d smite him.

getting ready to cast my vote in the missouri primary. my choices for a democratic senator are a marine, someone with busch in their name, and a guy who spends all of his interview time talking about how cool the text message campaign is that he built which costs 2 cents per message instead of the state-wide average of 6 cents.

guess i'm voting for tough guy marine with a soft heart lucas kunce to stand up man-to-man with all the republican candidates who center their campaigns around how they want everyone to use their guns and also how everyone is out to get them. he was endorsed by sanders last night, i guess. but early polling shows that even if Eric Greitens, who is a shell of a man and a reaaaaaaaaaal piece of shit, wins the Republican nomination, Kunce would be a significant underdog. And if the other Eric (Schmitt) wins -- Schmitt is a reaaaaaaaaaal piece of shit -- then it's not even close. The good people of Missouri know in their hearts that they want a reaaaaaaaaaaaal piece of shit!

speaking of, trump made an endorsement yesterday: ""I am therefore proud to announce that ERIC has my Complete and Total Endorsement!"

predictably, both Erics thought it was about them.

so did Eric Trump

that eric trump is a reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal

so Nancy Pelosi is in Taiwan, not really sure what to make of that

She should hoist an American flag and claim the country, see what China makes of *that*.

Good news, I guess:

President Joe Biden has far outpaced his Oval Office predecessors in nominating women and racially diverse attorneys to the federal bench, a new American Bar Association analysis confirms.

As of July 1, 68% of the 68 federal judges nominated by Biden and confirmed by the Senate are Black, Hispanic or Asian American, and just three are white men, the ABA found. By contrast, 16% of the judges installed on the federal bench by former President Donald Trump are non-white, according to the organization's 2022 Profile of the Legal Profession.

The report, released Thursday, details how diversity within the federal judiciary is slowly increasing.

After Biden, Barack Obama appointed the second-most non-white federal judges, at 36%, followed by Bill Clinton at 24%. According to the ABA’s figures, which date back to the Carter administration, Ronald Reagan had the lowest percentage of non-white federal judges at 6%....

...In addition to racial diversity, Biden has pushed to nominate federal judges with a broader range of professional experience and has tapped more nominees with backgrounds as public defenders than past presidents.

Our intelligence community is the best.

— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) August 2, 2022

lol

what a weird thing to say

Not if they’ve got Chasten held at an undisclosed location.

appropriately chastened

Gimme a C
Gimme an I
Gimme an A

Pete was assigned to 'intelligence' when he served in the US army, so he's a member of the club.

Would be funny if the DOT had its own spooks looking for, I dunno, foreign subversion of air traffic control or something.

I just remembered that the buildings for the Federal Highway Administration and the CIA are adjacent to each other in Virginia.

BURNPIT: U.S. Politics, August 2022

Boring: sorry, nope, the FHWA facility adjacent to CIA HQ is just a test track. Their headquarters is in SE.