DL Open Thread: Saturday, November 19, 2022

Garland Appoints Special Prosecutor For Trump.  Good Idea, Or Bad Idea?  I’m with Charles Pierce on this one:

Garland seems more concerned about the perception of a political prosecution than he is the perception of a DOJ paralyzed by politesse and standards and norms that the suspects don’t respect in the least. Does Garland think that Smith won’t be attacked for being a partisan hatchet man? Hell, the incoming House of Representatives is warming up to put Garland on the griddle along with half the administration, which also will batter the credibility of the ongoing investigations. And tossing the January 6 prosecution to a special prosecutor strikes me as a critical abandonment of the post to which Garland was appointed.

A special counsel means another layer of bureaucracy, which implies further delays and opportunities for mischief and deceit. The “circumstances” are simply not that “extraordinary” here. The guy is a private citizen suspected of a crime. That’s all he is, no more and no less. There’s nothing magical about declaring yourself a candidate for president. You are not then blessed with the magic oil of immunity. That’s not a “Get Out Of Jail Free” Card. If it were, Harvey Weinstein would’ve filed for the New Hampshire primary in 2016.

Nobody cuts to the chase quite like Charles Pierce.  Biden should have appointed a hatchet man as AG.  Let the little, um, piggies, complain of a charade.  I tried to find a ‘good idea’ piece to contrast with Pierce’s.  But pretty much everybody thinks it’s a bad idea. Like here.  And here.  Let me quote from that one to uncover the weak rationale for the appointment:

The reasons Attorney General Merrick Garland might now be considering such an appointment were described in the New York Times by John P. Fishwick, Jr., a former U.S. Attorney from the Western District of Virginia. He argued that the Department “needs to have a lawyer with Republican pedigree on that team to send the message that this is not a political persecution.”

“[E]very person in the United States will be the jury in this case,” Fishwick said, “and they will need to have confidence that the prosecution team reflects all of them.”

I, just like the authors of that article, call bullshit on that premise. Which reminds me, maybe I should head on over to Chris Coons’ page to see what he thinks…nothing on the appointment, but a ‘bipartisan’ plea to allow poultry plants and meatpacking plants to delay implementation of more stringent regulations.  BTW, I can’t make this up:

U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), co-chairs of the Senate Chicken Caucus…

Let’s call ’em by their proper title: “The Salmonella Soulmates.”

But, I digress.

Who’dathunk That Qatar Would Play FIFA Like This?  I mean, besides everybody?  Some select articles:  Qatar Blows Off Commitment To Migrants Who Built The Complex; Qatar Abuses LGBTQ People Despite This Promise To The Contrary…:

In 2020, Qatar assured prospective visitors that it would welcome LGBT visitors and that fans would be free to fly the rainbow flag at the World Cup football games. Suggestions by officials that Qatar would make an exception to its abusive laws and practices for outsiders are implicit reminders that Qatari authorities do not believe that its LGBT citizens and residents deserve basic rights, Human Rights Watch said.

…Qatar Bribes Fans To Say Nice Things, Then Reneges; and, of course, my favorite, Qatar Implements Last-Minute Ban On Booze Sales.  I’m not outraged about the latter, since the beer sponsor is the ubiquitous ‘Bud’. I’m also not outraged about this:

Normally a dry country where the guzzling of foaming shaft and assorted top-shelf beverages is not only frowned upon but largely forbidden, Qatar had agreed to relax their laws on alcohol consumption so that fans might be able to neck a few £12 suds within the perimeters of stadiums. Far more crucially, it meant Fifa would not lose out on the tens of millions of dollars of lovely sponsorship loot it receives from Budweiser in exchange for the exclusive rights to hawk their beer.

FIFA sold its soul to the Devil. In this case, the Royal Family of Qatar.  It is only poetic justice that its Hell will play out under the 122-degree sun of Doha. Sans suds. Let the games begin!

“I’m A Space Karen, Bet You Weren’t Ready For That.”  Please, I beg of you, don’t help this shameful nickname for Elon Musk to go viral.  BTW, I feel a song coming on…:

Is it just me, or does my well-adjusted sense of the absurd increase exponentially on the weekends?  But, I digress…

Good News Out Of Georgia–Until Some Trump Judge Somewhere Overturns This:

A judge in Georgia ruled Friday that voters in the state can participate in early voting on the Saturday after Thanksgiving ahead of next month’s runoff between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and his Republican challenger, Herschel Walker.

The counties most likely to offer the early voting are those where Warnock is strongest.  Don’t know whether rural counties that went for Walker will follow suit since they are merely permitted to conduct early voting, not required to do so.

Good News Out Of Alaska:  Murkowski Takes Lead Even Before Ranked Choice Voting Gets Calculated.  Good news because Murkowski, perhaps more than any returning R senator, has sided with the Democrats on several key issues. Her opponent is a ‘Big Lie’ proponent.

I checked.  Nothing of note happened in Delaware yesterday.

What do you want to talk about?