Weekend Open Thread

10 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”

1. Just gonna leave this here.

   https://www.westword.com/news/50-cent-jokes-about-not-catching-chlamydia-after-lauren-boebert-photo-op-20958241

   Log in to Reply

2. Steve Bannon must report to jail by July 1, judge rules.

   Bannon is still blustering about taking it to the Supreme Court, but they have already refused to hear a similar case by Navarro.

   And then he is still facing trial for defrauding donors with his “Build the wall” scheme. His co-conspirators on that fraud are

   already serving time

   Log in to Reply

   1. Bannon got a FEDERAL pardon from Trump.

      However, NY state indicted Bannon for the same activity (focusing on NY impacts).  The trial is currently set to begin September 23, 2024 — in front of suddenly broadly-known Juan Merchan, acting justice of the New York State Supreme Court in New York County.

      Log in to Reply

      1. yes. Bannon will be in the same courtroom facing the same judge that Trump did. and with the same prosecutor. Delicious.

         Log in to Reply

3. Good to know that Colorado Republican operatives are able to continue to make a buck, despite not having many in CO who can pay them.

   Digby's Hullabaloo noticed: [and I provide a bit of emphasis]

   Cornel West’s independent presidential campaign is broke. His former campaign manager says he knows nothing about ballot access. And he spent more on graphic design than petition-gathering in his most recent campaign finance report.

   But tens of thousands of signatures have been gathered on behalf of the famed left-wing academic in key states thanks to self-organized grassroots volunteers — and some help from outside operatives tied to a Republican consulting firm.

   […]

   Emails from elections officials, obtained through a request under North Carolina’s Public Records Law, show the pro-West Justice for All Party authorized three people to pick up and drop off signatures for them statewide — and all three are current or past employees of a Colorado-based Republican political firm called Blitz Canvassing.

   Blitz Canvassing has worked for numerous Republican House and Senate candidates and took in more than $14.6 million in payments working for Never Back Down, the main super PAC that supported former GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to campaign finance reports.

   Log in to Reply

   1. This is hardly surprising. They know the rules of the game and they're in the game to win.

      Why doesn't George Soros and the other billionaire lefties bankroll and prop up Chase Oliver (Libertarian Party candidate) and Randall Terry (Constitution Party candidate) as alternatives to Trump?

      They only need to peel a few thousand votes away from Orange Jesus in selected states to make a difference.

      Log in to Reply

      1. Terry could certainly pull the anti-choice vote away from The Screaming Yam. He couldn’t win, but he could throw a small wrench into the GOP’s campaign.

         Log in to Reply

4. What happens in Europe doesn't always stay in Europe but sometimes portends what is coming here ….

   In 1979, Margaret Thatcher took Britain and the following year, Reagan won here.

   Eight years ago, we saw Brexit narrowly pass and then along came Trump who narrowly got elected.

   It's not England that is the canary in the coal mine this time. Keir Starmer is on track to win a landslide and bring in a center-left government which will have its hands full fixing the British economy.

   It's the French who may portend what will happen later this year. Macron has dissolved the French parliament and called for new elections at the end of this month. The fear is that the fascists will win given their strong showing today in the EU elections. 

   Macron calls snap election after far-right triumph in EU vote – POLITICO

   Be afraid, be very afraid.

    

   Log in to Reply

   1. Much of that European fascist lean has been due to the machinations of Steve Bannon. His "War Room" show has a limited auddience of Americans, but he reaches and preaches for autocrats worldwide. His project for the last five years has been to unite the far right movements in Europe and to gut the European Union. He has led the Catholic uprising against Pope Francis' liberal theology, for instance. 

      But Bannon will report to prison by July 1, and so his outreach on all fronts will be curtailed, for which I'm thankful. He says it won't cramp his social life much: 

      He added: “It’s not like I’m out every night; it’s not like it’s going to cramp my social agenda.”

      Log in to Reply

      1. Yes, I've read about that. Bannon's taken his shit show on the road to Europe.

         And, of course, we frequently see his little buddy, Tucker Carlson, ass-kissing the fascists in central/eastern Europe.

         The interesting question is how this will cut on the Ukraine issue. Many of these characters are slavishly devoted to Putin. (I'm looking at you, Marina le Pen.) But others support Ukraine (e.g., Giorgia Meloni in Italy). 

         Log in to Reply