DL Open Thread Friday, May 21, 2021

This is a short news roundup today for a simple reason: Damn near every story on the internet tells me I should be very, very afraid of damn near everything. In the media, the Democrats have already lost the 2022 midterms, because — you’ve read this thin gruel cooked up from flop sweat and bovine excrement a million times — the president’s party always loses ground in the House in the midterms (except when it doesn’t, of course), the GOP will gerrymander the states it controls, and Republicans are united (except when they’re not). It’s all shit, shit of every description — bullshit, horseshit, chickenshit, batshit — and it’s all designed to keep you clicking in anxiety.

As with every single other thing, the Republicans obsessed with politicians and their pedophile sex rings are projecting: Sure, there was one, but it was being run by Florida Republicans, and Rep. Matt Gaetz and his freakishly large noggin weren’t the ringleaders. Its tentacles seem to spread all over south Florida, which, let’s face it, is a bigger sinkhole of vice and sin than San Francisco could ever hope to be.

Here’s one for the No Shit, Sherlock file. The headline tells the story: “Republicans fear January 6 probe could undercut 2022 midterm message.” As I said, Watson…

The Last Guy is still bilking the American government. He submitted a bill of $40,000+ — close to $400 a day — for the Secret Service agents who protect him to use as a work space at Mar-a-Lago. I say stiff him and let him sue.

The New York Times did a deep dive into decades of public records of Black men dying in police custody and found an interesting new medical condition: Sudden death brought on by — I fucking kid you not — sickle cell anemia.

The New York Times has found at least 46 other instances over the past 25 years in which medical examiners, law enforcement officials or defenders of accused officers pointed to the trait as a cause or major factor in deaths of Black people in custody. Fifteen such deaths have occurred since 2015.

In roughly two-thirds of the cases, the person who died had been forcefully restrained by the authorities, pepper-sprayed or shocked with stun guns. Scattered across 22 states and Puerto Rico, in big cities and small towns, the determinations on sickle cell trait often created enough doubt for officers to avert criminal or civil penalties, The Times found.

Morning Consult has polled Republicans for their preference in the 2024 presidential primary. Here are the results:
Trump 48%
Pence 13%
DeSantis 8%
Trump Jr. 7%
Romney 4%
Haley 4%
Cruz 4%
Tim Scott 2%
Rubio 1%
Noem 1%
Pompeo 1%
Cheney 1%
Hawley 0%
Hogan 0%
Rick Scott 0%

Tl;dr: Trump 48%, all others 46%.

Lest you doubt that Republican Party elections have become a reality show we might as well dub “Who’s the Biggest Shit?” two of the four announced candidates running for the Republican nomination for a Missouri Senate seat have been indicted — former Gov. Eric Greitens, an ex-military asswipe driven from office after he raped his hairdresser (though that’s not what he was charged with), and Mark McCloskey, the lawsuit-happy personal-injury lawyer who panicked and rushed for his guns at the sight of Black people in his neighborhood. Republicans are worried that Greitens might win. The other candidates are just ambitious.

Joe Biden has proposed doubling the IRS workforce to crack down on rich cheaters. Take that, Bill Roth’s ghost.

The floor is yours.