US Politics, December 2022: "They're now the working class party, man."

I can't believe Lucy picked up the football AGAIN

The Squad and @justicedems-backed members stood with rail workers, flexed their bloc, and began turning Biden and Democratic Party leadership around on this one. pic.twitter.com/LArXaIkhTO

— Waleed Shahid (@_waleedshahid) November 30, 2022

If michigan gets the first primary I'm just going to hang out in diners for a month beforehand so I can say crazy nonsensical shit to reporters

lol

you could be the new Ken Bone

“What I really want is a Biden-DeSantis unity ticket. I want to defund the police but I’m also skittish about classroom litter boxes.”

“We need high gas prices AND fascism.”

If this happens it will radically reshape American presidential politics.

Biden pushes South Carolina as first primary state, elevates Georgia and Michigan

Imagine having to win over black voters first before a bunch of one-foot-in-the-grave farmers in one of the country's reddest and whitest states.

Feels like a “no more Bernies” move

Feels like a “no more Bernies” move

Don't threaten me with a good time.

Or at least making sure the next Bernie can win in larger, more diverse states. Bernie might have been force into a different (better!) campaign if he'd had to run in South Carolina first.

"How firing Christopher Cillizza may actually help Chris Cillizza," muttered a stunned Chris Cillizza to himself over and over again as he approached his parking space one last time.

— Danny Zuker (@DannyZuker) December 1, 2022

A 15-year-old canvassing for Raphael Warnock was shot

Savannah Police detectives have arrested a 42-year-old Savannah man who shot a teen outside his home on Hartridge Street on Dec. 1.

Around 5:35 p.m. officers responded to the 500 block of Hartridge Street in reference to a shooting and discovered a 15-year-old male victim suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg. He was transported to Memorial Medical Center for treatment of non-life threating injuries.

According to the preliminary investigation, the teen was campaigning for Raphael Warnock for the upcoming run-off election when the incident occurred. While at the front door of one of the residences on Hartridge Street, the suspect fired a shot through the closed door, striking the teen.

Officers quickly identified and located the suspect, Jimmy Paiz, at the residence. Paiz was booked into the Chatham County jail on charges of aggravated assault and aggravated battery.

The case remains under investigation. At this point, there is no indication the shooting was politically motivated.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=961009514418625

Same dude.

fuuuuck

where do they find these people

Herschel Walker voter to MSNBC: "I'm a Republican ... [Walker's] he's gonna lose, in all probability. Mr. Warnock is a wonderful individual, and I fully expect that he will win." pic.twitter.com/SyPGlhMFoK

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 1, 2022

I dunno, but I wish the Dems could find more people like Obama:

Obama on Herschel Walker: "Since the last time I was here, Mr Walker has been talking about issues that are of great importance to the people Georgia, like whether it's better to be a vampire or a werewolf ... this would be funny if he weren't running for Senate." pic.twitter.com/Wm2KNRvfgt

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 2, 2022

I think a werewolf can take a vampire, but it probably needs the advantage of surprise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn27aTInqBM

They should just put Obama on a two year National speaking tour to clown the GOP

xpost I have that album on vinyl, and the inside of the jacket matches that umbrella pattern

I have a CD of it and the packaging does the same.

Jimmy Paiz does not appear to be recovered from his PTSD

Arizona certified the results of its gubernatorial election after a judge threw out the Kari Lake suit (and sanctioned the lawyers who brought it)>

Excuse me, that was just Maricopa County. The state should certify on Monday.

That’s a bit reassuring—but I’m still thinking that the Arizona GOP has some shenanigans planned. There have been some low key indications buried in the inside sections of the Washington Posy that the Lake people are still going to try to take this.

—Post

I would totally read the Washington Posy.

Ridiculous

Man voting in Georgia is so different than in Illinois. When I lived in chicago, during early voting, I went to the local elementary school, waited in line about ten minutes, and they gave me a sheet of paper. I checked people off then I put it in the machine and left.

— Jason Coupet (@ProfessaJay) December 2, 2022

You have to read down and through to get the full sense of the nightmare

election processes in Georgia are overseen by the Secretary of State's office (currently led by Brad Raffensperger) but operated and almost wholly funded by county Boards of Elections

like most municipal governments, all the counties are strapped for funds and the current state administration shows little interest in providing significant financial help for staffing more poll locations

there are 159 counties in Georgia, ranging from low-population rural areas to the ultra-dense metro ATL counties, so voting runs more or less smoothly depending on where you live

it's no accident that the counties with the highest concentrations of black voters are the ones where limited funding creates scenarios like that Twitter thread

https://64.media.tumblr.com/0281504b9b44eafed292ed2ce0908176/26ef0e24ea28cbb9-12/s2048x3072/8fda586c86267a22f839d1a44561169a60c86819.jpg

uh excuse me?

i think i’m most offended by the screenshot of the crop tool. sic can’t you think of others and edit out the unnecessary information??

I saw this on twitter the other day and still don't get it - they sent an email out saying 88 words? What can this be beyond a heinous dogwhistle? This is some Balenciaga shit.

And not just writing out 88 words, but the lead in of the email was the words "88 words"? Do I have this right?

i think i’m most offended by the screenshot of the crop tool. sic can’t you think of others and edit out the unnecessary information??

I tried to make a more pertinent crop of my own but kept getting cloudflare timeouts on politicalemails.org

The official stories so far are not connecting these two things, but attacks on electrical substations in a North Carolina county that knocked out power to half the county seem most likely related to a drag show held last night that had attracted death threats and protests. Assuming that’s the case, it’s straight-up anti-LGBTQ terrorism,

https://www.thepilot.com/news/substations-vandalized-more-than-half-of-county-without-power/article_b3b19780-7370-11ed-865d-c78d0de5d921.html

https://www.thepilot.com/news/drag-show-goes-on-amid-peaceful-but-persistent-protests/article_576fbe72-7355-11ed-9e6c-bf04b3a3e425.html

More here: https://www.facebook.com/52201543/posts/pfbid02HWHXr3HBSKmiVBgomqC7U26x4dzpk7TCe5KakqY2ekj5Q4rKAQY97BN3ubbzepvbl/?d=n

They continued the drag show lit by cell phone flashlights.

as long as it’s not schiff

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/04/california-democrats-succeed-feinstein-00071996

Just hilarious that Padilla is the one guy out here who can be all "Welp, nothing to do with me!" (Not directly, at least; by default he'd become the senior senator and doubtless more than one of the candidates wouldn't mind his blessing/help.)

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/30/house-senate-negotiators-45b-biden-defense-budget-00071367

in case you were wondering wtf is it with runoffs in Georgia:

https://www.gpb.org/news/2022/12/03/the-racist-history-behind-georgias-runoff-elections

Georgia Dems are ahead in early ballots cast, putting pressure on Republicans to show on Election Day —when it’s supposed to rain in cities like Atlanta, Augusta and Columbus

How badly do Republicans want to turn out for Walker? https://t.co/mqYS84GxDM

— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) December 5, 2022

Shannon Epstein, the 25-year-old niece of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), was arrested in an extremely dramatic, combative event at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans on November 24 after being kicked off her plane. The Times-Picayune reports that Epstein had asked a family she perceived to be Latino on her flight if they were “smuggling cocaine.” (The family has not been identified.) When airline workers decided to remove her from the flight and the plane returned to the gate, she became “increasingly irate,” and the incident escalated at the airport.

When deputies tried to arrest Epstein at the airport, she fought back. Per the Times-Picayune:

In the scuffle, she injured six deputies, biting one of the arm and breaking the skin, and kicking another in the groin, Rivarde said. They were treated there by paramedics.

All the while, Epstein shouted that the deputies were going to lose their jobs or end up in jail, boasting that she was related to powerful people and that her uncle is a friend of former President Donald Trump, Rivarde said.

Chris Christie did not return messages left Friday at two telephone numbers associated with him.

what's in her laptop

Trump/Drunk racist niece '24

Another Madlibs article:

Epstein
Chris Christie
Louis Armstrong
Cociane
biting
groin
Donald Trump

DON’T YOU KNOW MY UNCLE IS THE DISGRACED FORMER GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY

who is famously Trump's best friend.

https://dehayf5mhw1h7.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2016/03/02112400/abc_christie_trump_mt_160301_31x13_1600.jpeg

One of the most satisfying videos you’ll see this week. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/06/mcconnell-mccarthy-police-gold-medal-ceremony-00072546

Today's favorite headline:

Kari Lake Says She Would Have Been Graceful if She'd Lost Arizona Election

LOL

ok let me tell you something that's been bothering me about these people for a while. not necessarily Trump but the people like MTG and Boebert whose rhetoric is basically straight up fascism and genocide, but then they drop a phrase like "Grouchy Fauci" in there. it feels so weird but not really because you know these aren't serious people to begin with, had they not been elected they'd be selling diet pills and auditioning for Survivor. its why all these scholars' warnings of "we are diving head first into fascism" aren't really resonating with me. I mean maybe they're right but it's not the kind of fascism we've seen in the past. it's way too stupid for that.

Fascism with a human face

The irony in "that makes me smart" is that the only decisive part Trump played in filing his taxes was to instruct his CFO to use bogus numbers so he could defraud the government. Creating that tangled maze of companies and trusts was entirely done by his underlings.

Months before the New York Times published a December article suggesting Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) had fabricated much of his résumé and biography, a tiny publication on Long Island was ringing alarm bells about its local candidate.

The North Shore Leader wrote in September, when few others were covering Santos, about his “inexplicable rise” in reported net worth, from essentially nothing in 2020 to as much as $11 million two years later.

The story noted other oddities about the self-described gay Trump supporter with Jewish heritage, who would go on to flip New York’s 3rd District from blue to red, and is now under investigation by authorities for misrepresenting his background to voters.

“Interestingly, Santos shows no U.S. real property in his financial disclosure, although he has repeatedly claimed to own ‘a mansion in Oyster Bay Cove’ on Tiffany Road and ‘a mansion in the Hamptons’ on Dune Road,” managing editor Maureen Daly wrote in the Leader. “For a man of such alleged wealth, campaign records show that Santos and his husband live in a rented apartment, in an attached rowhouse in Queens.”

The Leader reluctantly endorsed Santos’s Democratic opponent the next month. “This newspaper would like to endorse a Republican,” it wrote, but Santos “is so bizarre, unprincipled and sketchy that we cannot,” adding, “He boasts like an insecure child — but he’s most likely just a fabulist — a fake.”

It was the stuff national headlines are supposed to be built on: A hyperlocal outlet like the Leader does the leg work, regional papers verify and amplify the story, and before long an emerging political scandal is being broadcast coast to coast.

But that system, which has atrophied for decades amid the destruction of news economies, appears to have failed completely this time

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/12/29/north-shore-leader-santos-scoop/

along the same lines, josh marshall wrote about the North Shore Leader's work not getting picked up last week:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/hey-the-local-paper-was-all-over-notorious-liar-and-weirdo-george-santos/sharetoken/T56e6Lrn7D8E

worth reading (imo) because it also talks a bit about whose responsibility it is to do oppo research (which i totally just typed "op-ed research", lol) and some of those dynamics, if one is interested in that side of things. in this case, though, it appears that the local newspaper did all the op-ed research for them, and no one bothered to read it or forward it to anyone.

i wonder how much of it had to do with his opponent in the primary? i made a bob dylan joke (hilarious!!) the other day because this is wikipedia's account of the election results:

https://i.imgur.com/gODX6p0.png

robert zimmerman does exist, though. he seems like a game show host

https://i.imgur.com/v20eICo.png

Seems like it was an open secret among republicans

Top House Republicans were well aware of Santos's dishonesty before the election/NYT article, w/ several expressing late concern/incredulity that he might win. Here's what I wrote in @CookPolitical on September 1st: pic.twitter.com/1e5u7RFjOI

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) December 30, 2022

x[ Wrong Dude

it appears that the local newspaper did all the op-ed research for them

*facepalm*

A hyperlocal outlet like the Leader does the leg work, regional papers verify and amplify the story, and before long an emerging political scandal is being broadcast coast to coast. But that system, which has atrophied for decades amid the destruction of news economies, appears to have failed completely this time.

WaPo forthrightly reports that newspapers like the WaPo can no longer be trusted to even notice important stories being investigated and printed by smaller newspapers.

robert zimmerman notices that there is a trace of a wrinkle visible on the tail of his pristine dress shirt, near the bottom hem
robert zimmerman punches the wall in an explosive rage and immediately dips his face into cold water and screams as bubbles form in the sink

dishonesty is the best policy. watch the police and the taxman miss me!

the year has changed again

U.S. Politics January 2023: Kevin McCarthy's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Life