He can’t condemn paying hush money to porn actresses, of course, because to do that would be a betrayal of his Dear Leader. Instead, he makes shit up about the DNC and Hillary Clinton using gibberish, which is really all he knows how to do. Bill Barr’s very special prosecutor (who is still in business for some reason) took a case to trial pertaining to that charge and the person accused of being the supposed conduit was acquitted. I don’t think McCarthy even knows what really happened anymore because he and the rest of these liars have created such a convoluted conspiracy theory that they can’t keep it straight in their own minds. But let’s ask ourselves just how lame it is to compare Trump’s sordid little tryst with an adult film actress and his attempts to keep it quiet to the Democrats hiring a firm to do oppo research on their opponent (the same firm that the Jeb Bush campaign had used.) It’s so stupid it makes my head hurt. But then, this is Kevin McCarthy, a man who will be remembered for making deals to sell out his party and his country to a rump group of lunatics in order to become Speaker.
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Look who’s coming to save the GOP… Former Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said his trip on Monday to New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary and votes second overall in the GOP presidential nominating calendar, will help him decide whether to “get into the battle” and launch a 2024 GOP presidential campaign. Christie said that a key to that decision will be whether he sees a pathway to victory over former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Christie will headline a town-hall style event Monday evening at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, which for over two decades has been a must-stop for actual or potential White House contenders from both major parties. Word of the town hall and a dinner later in the evening with close friends and supporters in the Granite State was first reported earlier this month by Fox News.
Yeah, it was always ridiculous. That CNN sideshow with him and his brother turned my stomach at the time. I’m not surprised they both crashed and burned. And look at Andrew Cuomo now. Does he think he can make a comeback as a Republican or something? Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) slammed the New York and Georgia investigations into former President Trump as being part of a “cancer in our body politic,” arguing they are politically motivated. Cuomo told John Catsimatidis, who hosts the talk radio show “The Cats Roundtable,” in an interview on WABC 770 that he expects Trump will be indicted in Manhattan next week.
Omertà (/oʊˈmɛərtÉ™/, Italian pronunciation: [omerˈta]) is a Southern Italian code of silence and code of honor and conduct that places importance on silence in the face of questioning by authorities or outsiders; non-cooperation with authorities, the government, or outsiders, especially during criminal investigations; and willfully ignoring and generally avoiding interference with the illegal activities of others (i.e., not contacting law enforcement or the authorities when one is aware of, witness to, or even the victim of certain crimes). It originated and remains common in Southern Italy, where banditry or brigandage and Mafia-type criminal organizations (like the Camorra, Cosa Nostra, ‘Ndrangheta, Sacra Corona Unita and Società foggiana) have long been strong. Similar codes are also deeply rooted in other areas of the Mediterranean, including Malta, Crete in Greece, and Corsica, all of which share a common or similar historic culture with Southern Italy.
“Fiction is just as good, maybe better, in the attention economy” The attention economy powers the internet. It made cable news a 24-hour affair. It makes talk radio infotainment. It makes “influencer” a job description. It makes YouTubers money. It makes TokTok TikTok. It makes Trump Trump. It makes us all stupider and more vulnerable to those who would deceive for their own ends. It killed Ashli Babbitt. God knows how A.I. will metastasize the attention economy. We can see it coming and as feel powerless to stop it as we were to learn from its past predations. Michael Kruse interviews Abraham Josephine Riesman on the release of Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America on how professional wrestling has, as someone else observed of the New Age Movement, dissolved external reality. The result in liberal “choose your own spiritual journey” circles was to make conflict impossible, or at least unlikely. The result among black-and-white thinkers is just the opposite.
Macron’s defense won’t help either The massive street protests in France after President Emmanuel Macron raised the retirement age from 62 to 64 should give pause to Republicans considering raising the retirement age to 70 here. But it won’t. “The French are fiercely protective of their universal health care and generous pensions,” NPR’s Lisa Bryant told Morning Edition. “And it’s a choice society has made: Work hard, pay high taxes, but also retire at a relatively young age with a high standard of living.” If only, right? Meantime, Macron is trying to defend his decision. With this amusing hiccup: Macron argues the retirement age must be raised to prevent the pension budget from running a deficit. BBC News: The exact cost of the watch was debated online, with some of Mr Macron’s critics suggesting it was worth €80,000. But the Élysée Palace told French media the president was wearing a Bell & Ross BR V1-92 model, which is personalised with a coat of arms. Prices online for this watch, without the personalisation, are between €1,660 and €3,300 (£1,460 and £2,900).
An early look at Trump’s speech:
Undisciplined yes, unconventional? Not anymore: Just a week ago, former President Trump’s team was touting his more disciplined approach to campaigning. But now there’s a more familiar Trump: an angry, scorched-earth force on social media, trying to rally his base by casting himself as a victim. Trump’s tirades on Truth Social over his potential indictment in New York were filled with the type of incendiary rhetoric that preceded the Jan. 6 insurrection — and symbolized the colliding forces inside his campaign. Those forces pit a fiery candidate who’s a social media bulldozer when he feels wronged, vs. the more measured, policy focused ex-president his staff has been hoping to show voters. “The Trump campaign team knows the former president’s candidacy has to be more than a stream of consciousness and listing of grievances,” said Ken Spain, an adviser to George W. Bush’s 2004 presidential campaign.
The smart move would be to wait until 2028 Unfortunately, he’s already cast himself as the smart man’s Trump (an oxymoron) and I don’t know if he’d be able to shed it. His donors are already getting antsy: A number of the Florida governor’s donors and allies are worried his recent stumbles suggest he may not be ready for a brutal fight against Donald Trump. Some feel DeSantis needs to accelerate his timeline to run for the GOP presidential nomination and begin directly confronting Trump if he’s to have any chance of thwarting the former president’s momentum. Others believe DeSantis should sidestep Trump altogether and wait until 2028 to run. At a Sunday luncheon following the annual Red Cross ball in Palm Beach, Florida, a group of 16 prominent Republicans, described by one attendee as a mix of DeSantis backers and Trump “skeptics,” discussed misgivings about the governor’s standing for the future if he tussles with the former president. “They liked him — many of them might even support him,” the person who was at the event said of DeSantis.
This is some chilling stuff from Oklahoma. A minority of state Supreme Court Justices make it clear that there is no constitutional right to life for women — only their fetuses. They say that if the state wants to protect the vessels they’re going to have to write a law demanding it. Otherwise, it doesn’t exist: Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, dozens of reports from red states have told of hospitals withholding care from pregnant patients until they are hemorrhaging or suffering catastrophic infections, lest the doctors be prosecuted for providing an illegal abortion. When confronted with these effects of abortion bans, anti-abortion advocates often blame the doctors for misinterpreting the law. There are exceptions for medical emergencies, they say, and it should be easy enough for a doctor to tell when a patient is in deep enough danger to protect her medical team from possible prison time. This is a mealy-mouthed attempt at misdirection. Health crises are never so predictable and containable; they do not progress in linear fashion, with easy off-ramps at every level of endangerment.