DL Open Thread Friday, Sept. 29, 2023
Considering the pointlessness of the entire spectacle – all the challengers combined don’t reach Trump’s share of the Republican voters – the media sure is spilling a lot of pixels talking about the GOP gabfest. I’m not linking to any of it because I don’t want to encourage them. Besides, only 9.3 million people tuned in, all of them political reporters.
Whatever pixels are left over have been devoted to the rumored Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce romance. I’m not linking to that, either, because it might be the only thing that matters less than the GOP confab. On the plus side, it’s become the RWNJ Freakout of the Week™.
House Republicans can’t stop fighting with each other – the McCarthy-Gaetz spat makes one long for the days when they settled this sort of thing with pistols at 20 paces – and their attempt to Benghazi the president isn’t going so hot, either. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, stole the show:
California boosted the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $20 an hour. Current median wages for fast-food workers in California range from $16 to $18 an hour, depending on the municipality. No word on what this will do to the cost of an animal-style burger at In-N-Out, but an association that represents McDonald’s franchisees say it will cost them $250,000 a year, or about 10% of an average restaurant’s annual sales.
Some fucking TikTok idiot tried to bring his emotional support animal – a 5-foot-long alligator – to a Phillies game, triggering the only time in my life I’ve ever agreed with Howard Eskin.
Trumpublican tax cuts have funneled $2.2 trillion, with a TR, to billionaires. Republicans want to make the whole package permanent at an estimated cost of $3.8 trillion. A small percentage will, of course, trickle down to Clarence Thomas.
In case you weren’t already aware that the American legal system should stop using the word “justice,” read about how Google lawyers are objecting their way to keeping the bulk of the testimony in the company’s anti-trust trial out of the public record. Maybe I spend too much time in the Place de la Bastille, but I think the people should tear down the Supreme Court building stone by stone.
The floor’s yours.
Wow. Rep. Jasmine Crockett summed it up perfectly in about 90 seconds.
Too bad she couldn’t drop the mic b/c that was a mic drop if ever there was one.
Also impressed with Crockett, she did indeed nail it. Maybe there is hope for Texas.
Feinstein dead
Pretty sure that Newsom can name her successor to serve until the next election. Wonder if he’ll pick someone who would run for the seat, or someone like Ted Kaufman, who will pledge to serve out the term and not run.
His hands are a little tied, as he pledged to appoint a Black woman at one point, which was presumed to be Barbara Lee, but now she’s officially running for the seat. She’s said she doesn’t want to be a caretaker and the appointment would make it look like such.
Good point. Either he essentially hands her the seat moving forward, which would piss off the (seemingly) 20-odd candidates already running, or he appoints a Black woman who will not run for election.
“or he appoints a Black woman who will not run for election.”
That is a great opportunity to raise name recognition for an up and coming black woman who wants to run for another office.
Or, maybe Oprah–if she has a Cali residence.
There was a joke Twitter post that suggested Megan Markle.
I actually don’t hate the idea. She certainly has the free time.
BREAKING: First Co-Defendant Pleads Guilty In Fulton County RICO Case:
https://www.ajc.com/politics/breaking-first-trump-rico-defendant-takes-plea-agreement/3L3OZWOFIJHWHLJUTQSNHO4VL4/
An excerpt:
“Bail bondsman Scott Hall on Friday became the first defendant in the Fulton County election interference case to take a plea agreement with prosecutors.
During an impromptu hearing before Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, Hall pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit intentional interference with the performance of election duties.
Hall agreed to testify truthfully when called, five years probation, a $5,000 fine, 200 hours of community service and a ban on polling and election administration-related activities. He also recorded a statement for prosecutors and pledged to pen a letter of apology to Georgia voters.”