There is literally NO NEWS today worth talking about, unless you consider the death of an 83-year-old boogieman notable. Yes, Charles Mason, the nutcase “hippie” whose murderous mutterings caused the deaths of seven people and gave Middle America the weapon it needed to demonize the hippies, died in prison. Also, the sun rose today toward the East, and water remains wet, yet I see no retrospectives on that.
Roy Moore’s lawyers sent a cease and desist letter to the company that publishes Alabama’s three largest newspapers. Unlike, say, The News Journal, the publisher said “Bring it on.”
In addition to refusing to comply with Moore’s demand that AMG stop publishing stories about him, the company said they’d be happy to litigate the matter with Moore in a court of law and urged his operation to preserve all “materials, documents, writings, recordings, statements, notes, letters, journals, diaries, calendars, emails, videos, computers, cell phones, electronic data, and other information.” Court proceedings, AMG’s letter warned Moore’s legal team, would “also reveal other important information about” Moore and his campaign.
I include this mainly for the dimwits who run the News Journal, who still cower in fear at the mere mention of a lawsuit.
Bald person Donald Trump just can’t stand black people who dare to think and say things of which he doesn’t approve. The newest examples are his Twitter spat with La Var Ball, the father of one of the UCLA basketball players who were charged with shoplifting on the team’s trip to China. Trump claims his intervention was crucial to obtaining their release, which naturally many dispute. Then the NFL played a game yesterday in Mexico City, and Marshawn Lynch of the Raiders knelt for the US national anthem and then stood for the Mexican anthem, a challenge Trump couldn’t resist tweeting about. This barely-disguised racism didn’t escape the notice of Salon’s Chauncey De Vega, who draws the obvious conclusions.
More evidence that Delaware’s Republicans are fully committed to making a political issue of protecting transgender students from harassment: A letter signed by 14 GOP House members. This, folks, is how they distract us. Instead of focusing on the state’s economy, we’ll now spend six months arguing over how schools should treat the small percentage of students who would be affected by this.
If you see any news break out, by all means add it below.
UPDATE: A second woman has come forward to say Al Franken grabbed her buttock during a photo in 2010 (the GHWB move). Now it’s a matter of whether he can hang on through the holidays.
Also, an interesting story from Greg Palast on last week’s Keystone pipeline leak: In theory, leaks that big should never occur because there’s a sensor that’s supposed to signal when it finds small leaks or weak spots. Palast explains why it doesn’t work as it’s supposed to. Spoiler alert: It’s not the technology that’s flawed.