Flotsam and Jetsam - Speaker Fight Goes Extra Rounds

PJM's Stephen Kruiser snarks Scalise Is Out, So the GOP Drama in the House Is Over, Right? Hardly, Jordan had even less support in the caucus, but now he'll try to assemble the requisite votes over the weekend. ET reports Jordan Secures GOP Speaker Nomination, But Still Needs to Shore Up More Votes.  "For the second time this week, the House GOP has picked their speaker-designate.  NewsMax, Friday Speaker: Jordan First, Then Hern, Emmer, More. "Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., chair of the influential and conservative Republican Study Committee, will vote for Jordan on the opening ballot, but then will likely jump into the race if Jordan fails. There are strong signs Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., who is next in line to Scalise in the House GOP hierarchy, will also put his name forward." Hat Hair cites Jake Sherman New: Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) files for Speaker election. Capt. Ed comments "Who, you may ask? He’s the Congressman who told CNN this morning that the speaker fight “makes us look like a bunch of idiots,” and declared that he would not vote for Jordan. And there still could be more candidates with Jordan and Scott — maybe Tom Emmer, who wanted to move up after Scalise won the nomination. The big question will be why the House GOP are bothering with a nominating process when no one apparently feels bound to support the results. Which makes them look like idiots, as Scott declared before entering the fray." C'mon, assholes, just draw straws or something.

mrc-TV IRONY meter explodes, as Fetterman Says America 'Is Not Sending Their Best and Brightest to Washington'. Hat Hair's Jazz Shaw points out Congressman Fire Alarm faces ethics complaint, but I predict nothing will happen and  KT, All GOP presidential primary eyes on... Nevada? Susan Crabtree at Am Greats thinks  House GOP Shows Signs of 2024 Strength Despite McCarthy Ouster. Rabbi Dov Fischer at Am Spec Ah, the Sweet Smell of Election Season! "Guess who are becoming Republican conservatives for a few months now?" Joe Manchin and John Tester.

Da Fed's Shawn Fleetwood is happy to reports a Court finds No Evidence Georgia’s Election-Integrity Law Discriminates Against Black Voters. 

Althouse, "So I don’t want to say anything off the cuff but I respect where you’re coming from." "Said Pete Buttigieg, quoted in "Climate protesters crash Buttigieg interview, chanting 'stop Petro Pete'" (The Hill). . . .As I was playing that video out loud, Meade said, "Why doesn't a Cabinet Secretary have better security?" And that made me think perhaps the interruption was considered desirable — by Buttigieg, by the Biden administration/campaign. It isn't hard to generate ideas about why getting interrupted by extreme and rude climate activists might be advantageous."

At TNP, New Study Finds Trump-Backed Hydroxychloroquine Was an Effective Covid Treatment After All. Researchers found a “statistically significant reduction in crude mortality rate at 28 days was observed in the [hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin] group” – emphasizing their findings “do not support the current negative recommendations regarding this treatment.” Donald Trump, who stuck by his belief in hydroxychloroquine, based on the testimony of frontline doctors, despite pressure to withdraw his support, long argued the animus against the drug was motivated purely by the fact he had endorsed it."

Breitbart reports Hamas Began Planning Attack on Israel Two Years Ago — After Afghanistan. At Da Wire, National Security Council Spokesman Breaks Down Over Images Of Hamas Atrocities. Mary Chastain at LI, has a Report: U.S., Qatar Agreed to Freeze Iran From Accessing $6 Billion "You know who lives in Qatar? Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh." I'll bet he's thinking twice about living openly. Althouse, "But Obama is Biden’s boss. Guess you didn’t really know that... I think Obama is calling these shots..." "There’s no question about that. No, I think Obama and Obama’s people certainly are calling the shots, not Biden." Said Donald Trump, in an interview with Brian Kilmeade."

At Am Think Silvio Canto, Jr. thinks "'Mr. More than expected’ shows up again." TNP, Inflation Up In September, Still 2X Higher Than Fed Target. PJM's Cathy Salgado notes Mortgage Rates Hit 20-Year High: Build Back Better?  Thanks Brandon!

Alina Habba

At TNP, Trump Lawyer Alina Habba Did NOT Make Jury Request Mistake, Admits Judge.  "“It would not have helped to make a motion, nobody forgot to check off a box,” Engoron explained, adding the punishment sought by the state of New York is an “equitable” remedy rather than a “legal” remedy.  Habba, who was forced to defend herself and the former President’s legal team amidst the false accusations, said in court following clarification, “Thank you, your honor. Press, did you hear that? I didn’t ‘forget to check the box’.” 

Anxious is anxious that Colorado judge rejects first Trump challenge to 14th Amendment lawsuit. I predict they all will be rejected. 

Steven Richards at JTN reports White House knew Biden had his own document problem before siccing FBI on Trump, new timeline shows. "A case of psychological projection? Biden's White House knew that he left boxes of documents at the Penn Biden Center a year before he directed NARA to facilitate FBI's raid on Trump home over documents." So has it all been a diversion from Biden's secret document problem?

At the Center Square, Ex-IRS contractor who leaked Trump's tax returns pleads guilty "Charles Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty Thursday to disclosing tax return information without authorization. He faces up to five years in prison at a sentencing hearing set for Jan. 29, 2024. Littlejohn, while working at the IRS as a contractor, stole tax return information associated with Trump and others. Littlejohn accessed tax returns associated with Trump on an IRS database "after using broad search parameters designed to conceal the true purpose of his queries," according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He then evaded IRS protocols to detect and prevent large downloads or uploads from its systems."

Sundance at CTH is skeptical when the FBI Says No Credible Threats in U.S. – Meanwhile, NYPD Puts Police Resources on Patrol of Jewish Schools and Synagogues. Also, When It Comes to U.S. Intelligence Community Claims, ie. Egypt Warning Israel, Apply Strong Cynicism.

Nick Arama at Red State finds Bret Baier Stunned by Astonishing Comment From Leon Panetta About Disinformation and Hunter Biden Laptop. Still sticking with the 'Russian Disinformation' lie.

From Da Caller, Obama-Appointed Federal Judge Rules Libel Lawsuit Against Former NYT Reporter Taylor Lorenz Can Proceed "Ariadna Jacob and her company, Influences, Inc., sued Lorenz and the NYT in 2021 over an article suggesting Jacob had “leaked an individual’s nude photograph,” according to court documents. U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York Edgardo Ramos, an Obama appointee, allowed the lawsuit to proceed Tuesday, finding Lorenz’ argument that there is distinction between the word “leaked” as used in the article and the phrase “publically leaked” unpersuasive."

Stacy McCain has an Ironic Crime Update: Did a Gay Pedophile Basically Issue His Own Death Warrant? "The family of Robert Davis, 19, who is accused of killing local journalist Josh Kruger, said that Davis was just 15 when he and Kruger began a years-long relationship involving drugs — and that Davis told them Kruger was threatening to post sexually explicit videos of him online before, police say, Davis shot Kruger. . . As Dana Pico points out, sex with a 15-year-old would be a felony, and let me be clear that I am not saying Josh Kruger deserved to be shot to death by his alleged victim. I’m just saying it’s ironic."

Stacy is also amused that Michelle Goldberg, After Lying Down With Jew-Hating Dogs, Expresses Chagrin About Waking Up With Jew-Hating Fleas. Althouse hears about "An instructor at Stanford University.... asked Jewish and Israeli students to identify themselves... told [them to] stand in a corner, and said, 'This is what Israel does to the Palestinians'..." "From "Stanford instructor removed for targeting Jewish students as ‘colonizers’ after Hamas attack on Israel/Stanford officials were also criticized for neutral language in initially failing to unambiguously condemn Hamas"" From Twitchy, PoliMath takes Harvard students who celebrated dead Jews now begging for MERCY APART in BRUTAL thread. At the Free Bacon, The Shame of Academe. "As Israel mourns some 1,200 dead, prays for the release of more than 100 captives, reels from the worst day in its history, and mobilizes some 360,000 reservists, student activists and the international Left have mobilized to defend, apologize for, and appease evil."

Hat Hair's KT Not the Babylon Bee: Dylan Mulvaney named Woman of the Year "Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards named Dylan Mulvaney, an American transgender activist and social media influencer, as Woman of the Year. The ceremony was for an LGBT magazine for the U.K. and Europe." Across da pond, Da Mail notices Transgender cyclists take gold AND silver medals at Chicago women's race, as critics insist pair had considerable biological advantage over female rivals. Capt. Ed comments "Why bother having women’s competitions at all if men win the awards?"  Forget it, Ed, it's Chicago. From Da Caller, Dave Considine Calls Parents ‘Selfish’ Over Concerns Men On Women’s Teams Will Take Away College Opportunities. "Wisconsin State Rep. Dave Considine said parents were “selfish” if they had concerns men would take away college sports opportunities from women." Rebeka Zeljko at Da Fed, finds Men Who Identify As Women Are Now Eligible For Membership In Daughters Of The American Revolution. 

Wall Street Silver@WallStreetSilv "The US Army and US Marines are running ads featuring white males again all of a sudden. I think this means we are definitely going to war."

Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links.  The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Best Wrench Wench And Gun Bunny Too? and FMJRA 2.0: Don’t Lean On Me, Man, Because You Can’t Afford The Ticket up at The Other McCain more or less on time.

Flotsam and Jetsam - Scalise Backs Out

After not receiving enough support from the Republicans.  From Breitbart, Steve Scalise Has Serious Problems Getting Votes to Win Speakership. "Well over twenty House Republicans from across the ideological spectrum are against Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and will not vote for him on the floor, a source with knowledge told Breitbart News." Despite the support of the defector-n-chief, Matt Gaetz, and his nominal opponent Jim Jordan. Ben Whedon at JTN reports Steve Scalise bows out of speaker's race, laments unresolved 'schisms' in GOP, "Our conference still has to come together and we’re not there," he said." Capt. Ed at Hat Hair comments "Well, isn’t that peachy. Now what? Scalise couldn’t get to 150 in the conference, but Jordan couldn’t get to 100, either. Will they do another nominating round that no one will commit to supporting?" 'Becca Downs at TownHall, Steve Scalise Drops Out Of Speaker’s Race. Ace, Oof: Steve Scalise Will Withdraw His Bid to Become Speaker, As At Least 20 Republicans Will Vote Against Him. "The Democrats could vote for him but I doubt they will. They are pursuing a Chaos at Any Cost strategy. You know -- like any other day that ends in a -y." You have to ask what is the point of voting to decide on a Speaker if defectors are just going to sink every nominee.

NBC, cited at Hat Hair reports DoJ indicts Menendez for conspiring to act as a foreign agent of Egypt. Capt. Ed, "Hoo boy. This now sounds like an espionage case more than a corruption case. The Senate may have no choice but to expel Menendez under these circumstances. Stay tuned." Ace, Senator Bob Menendez Indicted for Acting as a Foreign Agent "Huh. I wonder if there are any other well-connected Democrats who have been acting as foreign agents. DOJ? Merrick Garland? Can you think of any other connected Democrats who have been hoovering up money from the Romanian government, Chinese communist party officials, and Russia gangsters acting as Putin's agents since 2014? And then failing to register as foreign agents under FARA (the Foreign Agent Registration Act)? And also committing tax fraud to avoid declaring all the millions they received from foreign governments, which monies, if declared, would trigger a FARA investigation? No? Not a one?"

At the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 10.11.12, American Greatness: House GOP Vows Probe of Biden Administration’s Unfreezing of $6 Billion for Iran and Biden’s VP Office Exchanged Emails With Hunter, His Brother Jim, and Both of their Businesses OVER 29,000 TIMES. Matt Margolis at PJM says the White House Cover-Up of Biden Classified Docs Scandal Worse Than Previously Thought. Breitbart reports Judge Officially Dismisses Previous Gun Charge Against Hunter Biden  "Weiss dropped the gun charge on October 5 as a procedural step that originated from the collapsed plea deal. The dismissed gun charge was replaced with three unrelated gun charges against the president’s son. Weiss charged Hunter Biden on September 14 with one count of false statement in the purchase of a firearm, one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, and one count of false statement related to information required to be kept by a federal firearms licensed dealer. Hunter faces up to 25 years in prison and a $750,000 fine."

Steve Hayward at Power Line rhetorically asks How Checked Out is Biden? At cabinet meetings, they keep the cabinets name tags pointed toward Biden because he doesn't really know who his cabinet is. Dan Greenfield at Front Page points out Biden Sent $148 Million to ‘Palestinian’ Areas Weeks Before Attack on Israel "The State Department warned that aid money was at “high risk” of funding Hamas." Ace, Our "Intelligence" Agencies Say "Nevermind Hamas Explicitly, Publicly Thanking Iran for Helping Them Attack Israel," Our "Intelligence" Finds That Iran Had No "Direct" Role In the Attacks. "Experts say that (some) Democrats' attempts to distance themselves from their terrorist clients (and patrons) is a bit too little too late."

At Da Caller, Left-Wing Pundit To Primary Biden Despite Being Ineligible To Run Under Constitution, Cenk Uygur, born in Turkey. So, will he seriously challenge the constitutional provision that precludes the foreign born from being elected? If so, should someone get behind Elon Musk?

At PJM, VodkaPundit asserts Bidenomics Has People More Stressed Out Than Obamanomics Ever Did. The debt bomb is going to go off someday. The trouble is no one knows exactly when, only that it grows closer every day.

As everyone, but Latetia James apparently thought, banker actually do their own appraisals when real money is on the line. Jazz Shaw at Hat Hair, Banker: We had "sanity checks" on Trump's loans

In the New York trial of Donald Trump related to his supposed fraudulent business loans, the court heard for the first time this week from one of the supposed “victims” of the fraud. Nicholas Haigh, who served as a Deutsche Bank risk management officer when Trump was applying for the loans answered questions for the court and it really didn’t sound like he did much for the prosecution’s case. There was plenty of banking industry technical lingo being thrown around, but the claim that Trump was somehow whitewashing his worth and fooling the banks isn’t holding up under scrutiny. Sure, Trump’s team tried to fluff up his assets to get the best deal possible, but Haigh’s testimony demonstrates that Deutsche Bank isn’t stupid and they wouldn’t still be in business if they were. They examined Trump’s claims when applying for loans and even pushed back when something didn’t seem kosher. He also confirmed that all the transactions played out smoothly, just as they had expected.

Insty has a HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Exclusive Photos: These students ‘justified’ murder, rape of Jews. The event was promoted with an image honoring the paragliders who descended upon and attacked civilians at a music festival. "I remember when people justified higher education’s exalted place in our society on the ground that it made people better. The recent evidence suggests it is an incubator for hate." At Da Caller Mary Rook claims  Now’s The Time To Ruthlessly Purge The Universities. Past time.The Babylon Bee quips Harvard Student Leaves Lecture On Microaggressions To Attend ‘Kill The Jews’ Rally. Hat Hair's Dave Strom notices the SPLC is conspicuously silent on pro-Hamas groups in US. Kevin Downey at PJM reports that According to KGB Defector Yuri Bezmenov, It's Time for a 'Crisis'

🚨🚨 We are living through the "Destabilization" phase of our Maoist cultural revolution. It's been planned for years.

Yuri Bezmenov explains it 🔊

- All institutions/organizations
- Family infighting
- Society antagonism
- All relations: Teachers/students and… pic.twitter.com/aeb9ntiNcd

— Resist CBDC (@Resist_CBDC) October 4, 2023

At the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 10.11.12, The Federalist: With SCOTUS Poised To Rein In Out-Of-Control Bureaucrats, Leftists Lash Out, Indulging The Left’s Historical Revisionism Has Consequences, Hamas Attack Is A Warning To America About The Risks Of Our Open Border, Why Calling For Israel’s ‘Restraint’ Is Depraved And Offensive, Why Elon Musk Nuking X Headlines Is A Good Thing, and Shocker! Embracing Drag Queens Didn’t Fix The Navy’s Recruiting Crisis. On that last one, Capt. Ed comments "Quelle surprise on all counts. The real issue in recruitment is that the US is producing less-healthy youth these days, in both body and spirit. Shawn discusses that as well, and that should be *very* concerning for our long-range nat-sec needs. But the DEI stuff clearly hasn’t helped, and it’s very likely hurting both recruitment and mission focus."

Dave Strom is aghast that California will use race to determine how hard to look for missing children. "It’s impossible to overstate just how vile this is. Not because Black children don’t deserve the utmost effort be put into finding them, but rather because ALL children deserve the utmost effort be put into keeping them safe. How hard is that to understand?"

Flotsam and Jetsam - 'Pubs Pick Scalise

According to Arryne Wexler at Da Fed, The U.S. Money Trail With Iran Is Worse Than You Think "The total? $50 billion." PJM's Ashley McCully asks $6 Billion in Iranian Assets Buys What, Exactly? A shitload of guns for Hamas. Hat Hair's Capt. Ed records NBC: Biden admin officials suddenly curious whether Iran trained Hamas "militants" and Begee Welborn notes A few Dem senators leetle uncomfortable w/ that $6B still floating out there.... PJM's Matt Margolis digs into the past and finds Joe Biden Predicted His Failure in Afghanistan in 2007: WATCH. At The Wombat's In The Mailbox: 10.10.23, Louder With Crowder, Weapons left during Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal used by Hamas in Israel attack…just as Biden predicted in 2007.  From Twitchy, 'Read the room'! Subject of Biden's remarks today causes out-of-whack priorities to be spotted. "At least 22 American citizens were killed in the war between Israel and Hamas" This at a time where Biden is busy talking about “junk fees”. This is the most unAmerican President we’ve had in history and no one can compare." Guy Benson at TownHall notices  Condoleezza Rice Notices What Was Missing From Joe Biden's Speech on Israel and Hamas, Iran.

James Lynch at Da Caller details how Testimony Shows the Biden-Appointed Prosecutor Ignored Potential Conflict Of Interest In Hunter Biden Case. PJM's VodkaPundit says You Won't Believe How Many Times Biden Lied About His Corrupt Family Business, but I do. Just Facts Daily lays out the Hard Evidence Warranting the Impeachment of Joe Biden. At The Wombat's In The Mailbox: 10.10.23, EBL, Frankie Biden Goes To Hollywood…I mean Washington, D.C.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (cited at Hat Hair) reports the Producer price index inflation hits biggest jump in five months. Capt. Ed comments "That’s an ugly jump, although the overall year-on-year rate isn’t too bad at 2.2%. That’s in part because we’re comparing to already-inflated levels last year and the year before that. The 0.5% month-on-month overall and 0.9% on goods is even more alarming. The Fed will likely see that as a harbinger of future spikes in CPI and PCE inflation indexes." Market Watch warns 1970s-style stagflation may be at risk of repeating itself, Deutsche Bank warns. 

Prior to the vote Hat Hair's KT sees  Texas Rep. Chip Roy proposes change to conference rules in Speaker's race. "If candidates fail to reach 217 votes but they receive at least 185 votes, they would be subjected to additional rounds of questioning from the conference, which would then vote again. And if candidates fail to obtain at least 185 votes, the entire nominating process would restart. A discussion of the proposed rule change was expected to be held Wednesday. “I think we are going to have a serious conversation about how we ensure that we have 218 behind that individual on the floor, and that’s what we’re going to debate tomorrow,” Roy said. Supporters of the rule change said the move would ensure GOP unity before bringing a nomination to the House floor, where Republicans govern by a razor-thin margin." Then, as Fox reports House Republicans choose Scalise as their candidate for speaker after McCarthy's ouster  "GOP lawmakers voted via secret ballot. Scalise won 113 votes, while Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan won 99. House Republicans voted minutes earlier to table a motion to raise the threshold for electing a speaker to 217 — a majority of the conference." Capt. Ed, BREAKING: Scalise wins Speaker nomination, 113-99; UPDATE: Gaetz will support Scalise; Jordan lines up behind Scalise. Ace, Survivor of Leftwing Extremist Violence Steve Scalise Wins Republican Conference Vote for Speaker; Now His Name Goes to the Full House "It's possible that some Republicans won't vote him, forcing the conference to vote for another candidate, but given the perilous situation, I think there will be a unanimous vote in favor. Is this good? I dunno, I heard he was a moderate." Sundance at CTH not happy, McCarthy’s Foot Soldier – Next in Line Steve Scalise Wins House GOP Vote for Speaker. "Republicans hate their base voters.  If the broader Republican electorate knew the internecine nature of how the Republican politicians in DC operate, they would never vote for another Republican ever." But it ain't over 'til the fat man sings, NewsMax claims 7 Republicans Blocking Speaker Scalise. Geez, guys, nobody is perfect, but you have to pick someone.

Hat Hair's KT unimpressed that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan hold summit to find alternative to Trump. From Da Caller, Tim Scott Drops Ad In Key Early State Slamming Men In Women’s Sports, ‘Liberal Indoctrination’ Of Kids. He still won't be President. Maybe a good pick for VP though. Also, Don’t Worry – Republicans Might Love RFK, But They’re Not Going To Vote For Him. Yeah, it's fun to see him stick it to Biden. 

At the Philly Voice, Women Politicians get naked to raise awareness of Pa.'s ballot secrecy envelopes "As fears about disqualified ballots grow, elected officials go nude for voter education." Hat Tip to Salena Zito at Hat Hair, Who Is on a Bigger Bender in Our Country: Voters or Elected Officials?

From NewsMax, Jack Smith sees No Reason to Delay Trump's Docs Trial. Why should he be allowed time to prepare a defense in a case with literally millions of documents? ET reports DOJ Says Trump May Lose Attorney-Client Privilege in His Defense Strategy

The prosecutors argue that President Trump has talked publicly about using an advice-of-counsel defense, which would allow him to say that he was acting on the legal advice of attorneys when he challenged the 2020 election results. If the former president uses such a defense, however, "he waives attorney-client privilege for all communications concerning that defense," the filing reads.

That would mean additional evidence available to the prosecutors, so the government is asking that President Trump declare to the court now if he means to pursue this legal strategy, so that the evidence can be shared with the prosecutors before the trial.

"Presumably he would try to rely on, for example, the 'very detailed memorandum from a constitutional expert' his counsel described in an interview, and therefore would need to identify that document on his exhibit list," the filing reads.

The prosecutors also note that while investigating the case, 25 witnesses withheld information and evidence under attorney-client privilege "where the privilege holder appears to be the defendant or his 2020 presidential campaign."

At Grabbien Jake Tapper has his Eyes-Opened  During the Last Few Days on Anti-Semitism Coming from the Left. Twitchy notices a Harvard student group 'retracts its signature' from pro-Hamas statement. Boston Globe, Conservative group circles two trucks with photos, names of Pro-Palestinian Harvard students around Harvard Square. The Dersh says Publish the Names of Students and Professors Who Support Hamas Lynching and Rapes. NYPo reports A dozen CEOs back Bill Ackman’s call to not hire Harvard students who blamed Israel for Hamas attack. Insty, HARVARD STUDENTS LEARNING SOMETHING? HEY, IT COULD HAPPEN! 

Harvard students having second thoughts about siding with Hamas. “Harvard is a place where microaggressions are very serious but siding with terrorist murderers, not so much.”

UPDATE: From the comments: “The lesson is that luxury beliefs vanish the instant the luxury is threatened. How much of our fake politics would turn in an instant if we didn’t have institutional enforcement and narrative policing, and everyone just had to stand on their own behind their own thoughts? What if radical chic consistently cost something? What if tenured communists had risk?”

Pushback works.

Who's Zoomin' Who?

Who Does The FBI Work For?

If you work for any extended amount of time in Washington, you are likely to meet people who work within the intelligence and law enforcement communities. You learn to recognize potential sources and those who will never be. The bad sources love to tell stories, so many stories, with at least a veneer of truth. The good sources will tell far fewer stories, but only when it’s important. But the most frequent stories you will hear, from good and bad, are stories of internal dysfunction and irresponsible uses of power. This is not confined to one administration or another, but is a recurring and expected fact of life within the agencies that ought to be focused on securing our liberties and protecting us from threats, foreign and domestic, not spying on an ex, using taxpayer funds for professional gain, or preventing the return of a romantic rival by adding them to a watch list. Once you’ve heard enough of these stories, a realization may dawn on you: these institutions are as dysfunctional as all the others, with their own internal politics, defects, aspiring people, and conflicted forces that often cross the lines of law and ethics in pursuit of their goals. Not losing faith in them at that juncture is a difficult thing indeed.

One of the things I realized growing up is that most people don't, not really.

That brings us to yesterday’s FBI briefing on the shooting targeting Republicans in Alexandria, a briefing that could not be more bizarre in its content and its conclusions. Mollie Hemingway has more:

“The FBI admits that Hodgkinson: vociferously raged against Republicans in online forums, had a piece of paper bearing the names of six members of Congress, was reported for doing target practice outside his home in recent months before moving to Alexandria, had mapped out a trip to the DC area, took multiple photos of the baseball field he would later shoot up, three days after the New York Times mentioned that Republicans practiced baseball at an Alexandria baseball field with little security, lived out of his van at the YMCA directly next door to the baseball field he shot up, legally purchased a rifle in March 2003 and 9 mm handgun “in November 2016,” modified the rifle at some point to accept a detachable magazine and replaced the original stock with a folding stock, rented a storage facility to hide hundreds of rounds of ammunition and additional rifle components, asked “Is this the Republican or Democrat baseball team?” before firing on the Republicans, ran a Google search for information on the “2017 Republican Convention” hours before the shooting, and took photos at high-profile Washington locations, including the east front plaza of the U.S. Capitol and the Dirksen Senate Office.
“We know from other reporting that the list was of six Republican Freedom Caucus members, including Rep. Mo Brooks, who was present at the practice.
“So what does the FBI decide this information means? Well, the takeaway of the briefing was characterized well by the Associated Press headline about it: “FBI: Gunman who shot congressman had no target in mind.” The Associated Press reported the FBI: believes the gunman “had no concrete plan to inflict violence” against Republicans, “had not yet clarified who, if anyone, he planned to target, or why,” believes he may have just “happened upon” the baseball game the morning of June 14, and that the attack appeared “spontaneous,” are unclear on the “context” of Hodgkinson’s note with six names of members of Congress, does not believe that photographs of the baseball field or other sites “represented surveillance of intended targets,” and “painted a picture of a down-on-his-luck man with few future prospects.”
“In fact, USA Today went with “FBI offers portrait of troubled Alexandria shooter with ‘anger management problem’” for their headline, since that’s what the FBI emphasized in the briefing.”

There’s also this incredible tidbit, which somehow has received little to no attention: “Hodgkinson also visited the office of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose campaign he had worked on as a volunteer, and was in email contact with the two Democratic senators from his home state.” If this was a shooter who had worked for Ted Cruz and was in contact via email with both of the Senators from Texas, wouldn’t we know about it?

It's exactly the same as when they continue to the question of the last terrorist who mowed down innocent bystanders while shouting "Allahu Akbar."

Because I can't find a live performance with Aretha:



Wombat-socho chimes in with "Late Night With Rule 5 Monday: All-American Catgirl".

That Was Fast

On Wednesday morning, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was nearly murdered, and four others wounded less severely by a Bernie Bro enraged by Donald Trump, who was found with a hit list of conservative Republicans he presumably intended to kill. The same people who blamed Sarah Palin and the Tea Party rhetoric for Jared Loughner's attack which brain damaged Congresswoman Gabby Gifford (D-Arizona) were quick to remind us that he is not representative of the "mostly peaceful" left wing, and that we needed to come together and decry political violence.

On the day of the shooting The New York Times revived the nonexistent link between Sarah Palin and the Giffords shooting, and even the Washington Post denied and debunked the claim: The bogus claim that a map of crosshairs by Sarah Palin’s PAC incited Rep. Gabby Giffords’s shooting, and threatened to award the NYT (or anyone else) four Pinocchios for further infractions. Yeah, that'll stop 'em.

As noted by the Weasel Zippers, brought to us by Wombat-socho's "In The Mailbox: 06.16.17", on the day of the shooting, a New Jersey Democrat started a hashtag #HuntRepublicanCongressmen

James Devine posted several messages on Facebook and Twitter following the Alexandra, Virginia, shooting of U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise and several others by a gunman with a history of violence and of making online rantings against Republican officials and their policies.

“We are in a war with selfish, foolish & narcissistic rich people. Why is it a shock when things turn violent?” Devine posted on social media, ending the message with the hashtag: #HuntRepublicanCongressmen

“I have little sympathy for the Republican Congressman who got shot today because he viciously opposed President Obama’s effort to reduce gun violence and instead, he accepted more gun lobby money than all but 15 other members of the House of Representatives,” he said on Facebook.

and by Thursday, Democratic Congressional staffers boo Trump at unity baseball game and CBS anchor Scott Pelley was hinting that the attack might be foreseeable, predictable, self-inflicted. Nice tight skirt you got there, Republicans.