DL Open Thread: Sunday, January 5, 2025

For Completists Only:  The ‘Battle’ For DNC Chair:

The two candidates who have emerged as front-runners to become D.N.C. chair, Ken Martin of Minnesota and Ben Wikler of Wisconsin, are both middle-aged white men from the upper Midwest and chair of their state parties whose politics are well within the Democratic mainstream.

Yet, as is common during internal Democratic squabbles, fault lines in the race have formed not over ideological differences but over arguments about party mechanics.

Mr. Martin, 51, is campaigning on a platform of returning power and resources to state parties, while his supporters are attacking Mr. Wikler, 43, as a tool of major donors and Democratic consultants in Washington.

Choose your mediocrity.  Although, can you just imagine what Betsy Maron would do with ‘more resources’?  That’s right.  Nothing.

The Livelsberger Manifestos.  As Josh Marshall points out, just another story the press has ignored.  An excerpt from one of the manifestos:

Military and vets move on DC starting now. Militias facilitate and augment this activity.

Occupy every major road along fed buildings and the campus of fed buildings by the hundreds of thousands.

Lock the highways around down with semis right after everybody gets in. Hold until the purge is complete.

Try peaceful means first, but be prepared to fight to get the Dems out of the fed government and military by any means necessary. They all must go and a hard reset must occur for our country to avoid collapse.

OK, another one:

Consider this last sunset of ‘24 and my actions the end of our sickness and a new chapter of health for our people. Rally around the Trump, Musk, Kennedy, and ride this wave to the highest hegemony for all Americans! We are second to no one.

You get the picture.   Haven’t mentioned all of his abusive relationships, but they’re there.

‘The Militia And The Mole’–what happens when a true patriot goes undercover with a militia group.  Today’s must-read from, who else, ProPublica:

The documents laid out a remarkable odyssey. Posing as an ideological compatriot, Williams had penetrated the top ranks of two of the most prominent right-wing militias in the country. He’d slept in the home of the man who claims to be the new head of the Oath Keepers, rifling through his files in the middle of the night. He’d devised elaborate ruses to gather evidence of militias’ ties to high-ranking law enforcement officials. He’d uncovered secret operations like the surveillance of a young journalist, then improvised ways to sabotage the militants’ schemes. In one group, his ploys were so successful that he became the militia’s top commander in the state of Utah.

Now he was a fugitive. He drove south toward a desert four hours from the city, where he could disappear.

Sounds like the beginning of a great story.  It is.

Biden:  More Weapons, More Dead Gazans.  Genocide Joe ends his term in typical fashion:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has informed Congress of a planned $8 billion weapons sale to Israel, U.S. officials say, as the American ally presses forward with its war against Hamas in Gaza.

The weapons package would add to a record of at least $17.9 billion in military aid that the U.S. has provided Israel since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, launched the war.

As of this morning, no other media outlet has picked up the story of Rep. Kevin Hensley’s near-brush with vehicular homicide.  If what passes for the news media doesn’t consider this news, then the definition of ‘news’ has really changed since I was in J-School.  Oh, well, his case is on the docket this Tuesday.

Come to think of it, here’s what passes for news in 2025:

With the calendar turning to 2025, it’s time to look back.

In the world of fast food, 2024 was the year of Chizza, saucy nuggets, pickles, the return of the McRib and other craziness.

To help you figure out if these items were worth trying, we previewed them for you … and after 12 months, it’s time to reveal the worst items we tried in 2024.

That reminds me, I’ve got a great idea for a fast food juggernaut:  Haggis Hut.  The more you like bagpipes and kilts, the more you will love this place.  Slather your haggis in the unused McRib Sauce referenced in the above piece.    Who’s got a couple mill to go into business with me?

What do you want to talk about?