DL Open Thread Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024
Rep. James Comer, dumbest man in Kentucky, isn’t going to let a little thing like a lying Russian stooge derail his impeachment of Hunter Biden. No sirree, he’s gonna keep fucking that chicken until its feathers fall off. Some Republicans are on the Russian payroll; others, like Comer, are just following along.
Israel and Hamas both denied they’re anywhere close to any deal for a truce, cease-fire or cessation of hostilities, directly contradicting what Joe Biden said Monday. I’m getting the sense that somebody’s lyin’.
You could fill a daily newsletter on the Republican vs. Republican beat. In Michigan, the new head of the state party, an old-school Republican, got a court order telling the MAGAt he ousted she can’t keep calling herself the party chairperson. This could interfere with her plan to hold an alternate state convention. Keep that popcorn buttered.
One of the many reasons that I can predict greenhouse gas emissions won’t be cut anywhere near enough to stave off global warming: the thousands of abandoned wells emitting methane and other gases. Basically, wells produce at ever-decreasing rates, and get sold to smaller companies that try to squeeze out the rest. When the bottom-feeders go bankrupt, they simply abandon the wells to the elements, another gift of our system of barely-fettered capitalism.
Outside the U.S. media echo chamber, there’s much less coverage of Trump, but people seem to form a clearer image of what he represents. Here’s what Malcolm Turnbull, the center-right prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018, had to say about Trump and the MAGA Republicans at a televised confab about Ukraine. The quotes begin at 5:20:
Regrettably, the Republican Party under Donald Trump, and particularly the right wing of the Republican Party, are very sympathetic to Vladimir Putin. I mean, I have been with Trump and Putin. Trump is in awe of Putin. When you see Trump with Putin, as I have on a few occasions, he’s like the 12-year-old boy that goes to high school and meets the captain of the football team. ‘My hero.’ It is really creepy. It’s really creepy. …
It struck everybody. It was, it was, like you could touch it. It was creep—the creepiness was palpable. … I’m just telling you what I saw. You saw that in that press conference they did in, I think, in Helsinki. You saw a similar thing. Now the sad thing is that you’ve got the right wing of the Republican Party—you saw this with Tucker Carlson, doing that sycophantic kind of non-interview with Vladimir Putin. I mean, it’s terrifying. It is terrifying. And the scary thing is that countries like Australia or many European countries, uh, we may find ourselves, are we going to find ourselves not dealing just with two autocracies in Russia and China, but what is Trump’s America going to look like? This is a guy leading a party that is no longer committed to democracy as we understand it.
The floor’s yours.
The fucking Supreme Court! They’ve just agreed to hear Trump’s immunity case. In April.
Un-fucking-believable.
Even if they rule against him, they’ve effectively delayed any Federal prosecution until after the election.
Turns into a good day for Trump.
Palestinian prime minister submits government’s resignation, a move that could open door to reforms
I sense Biden’s hand in this, moving toward some sort of post-Hamas negotiations with a revitalized PA.
(You didn’t think Hamas was going to get a seat at the table, did you?)
Did two things get mushed together in this sentence/paragraph?
“In Michigan, the new head of the state party, an old-school Republican, got a court order telling the MAGAt he ousted she thousands of abandoned wells emitting methane and other gases.”
Thanks for the heads up. WordPress was acting really weird this morning; one item wouldn’t post at all.
Polls close at 8 today for the Red Clay referendum. Voting locations here: https://www.redclayschools.com/Page/4225
McConnell to step down as R leader after November election:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/28/mcconnell-senate-november/
Gee, if he retires, I wonder whether Gov. Brashear would run for that seat…
That would be an interesting race depending on who the Rs put up. An aside, if Mitch were to leave before his term ends, a couple years ago the rethug supermajority passed a law that the governor can only appoint a republican to replace him. Who that would be that would then get the benefit of “incumbency” is another fascinating angle.
Trump’s attorneys say he will (can?) only post a $100 mill bond:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/nyregion/trump-bond-civil-fraud.html
“It was a stunning acknowledgment that Mr. Trump, who is racing the clock to either secure a bond from a company or produce the full amount himself, lacks the resources to do so. Without a bond, the New York attorney general’s office, which brought the fraud case, could seek to collect from Mr. Trump at any moment.”
They, of course, can’t unilaterally do that. So they’re appealing.
“One appellate court judge was hearing the request from Mr. Trump on Wednesday afternoon and was expected to issue a decision shortly after. If the judge were to grant the pause, it would be only temporary; Mr. Trump would still have to persuade a larger panel of appellate judges to keep the judgment on hold.”
This should be quickly denied. Nobody ever benefited from doing Trump a favor.
I suppose the reason Trump can’t borrow against his properties is that they are already mortagaged to the hilt and aren’t really even his.
So if NYS seizes an indebted property, who gets first claim on the proceeds? I guess either way Trump Inc. is screwed. At least until the legal system bows down again to let him scamper away once more.
Trump’s having a bad day. Even the REAL crooked judge ruled against him:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/28/trump-cannon-classified-documents-ruling/
“The federal judge overseeing Trump’s criminal trial for allegedly mishandling classified documents ruled Wednesday against his lawyers’ bid to see more of the classified filings prosecutors have submitted — concluding that the access Trump’s team sought was not typically granted in such cases, and that withholding the information would not hamper his ability to defend himself.
U.S. District Court Judge Aileen M. Cannon issued a nine-page order rejecting Trump’s arguments for his lawyers to see prosecutors’ filings under Section 4 of the Classified Information Procedures Act, a law designed to shield national security secrets at issue in criminal trials.
“As best the Court can discern following its rigorous analysis, Defendants’ rights will not be impaired by today’s ruling,” she said.
The ruling follows a similar judgment Cannon issued Tuesday, in which she ruled against separate requests by lawyers for Trump’s co-defendants, Waltine “Walt” Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, to have access to some of the classified information.”
Bad day for Mark Meadows as well:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/28/mark-meadows-georgia-election-case
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/02/28/state-treasurer-colleen-davis-ends-campaign-us-house-race-for-health-family/72780725007/
Colleen Davis drops out of House race.
That health news is devastating. Best wishes on her road ahead.