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Monday Open Thread

by — ,

What a delight last weekend was. I would have liked to see more sun, but it made the hours when it broke through the clouds glorious. But! A light drizzle or no rain at all is a fine time to ride a bike or go for a walk.

The long dark and its cousin the midday gray can be tough if they’re an excuse to stay in. But get out in it. I mean, have a good rain coat and some waterproof shoes. But seriously it’s good to get out. Enjoy yourself.

Comments

  1. Of course.

    https://youtube.com/shorts/nuBGefh9l-k

    I still say bring it.

    The redactions to protect Republicans and Fat Hitler will be obvious. And it will be easy enough to reconstruct the identities of all the Republican child rapists in spite of the obvious redactions. I have no interest at all in shielding any Democrat involved.

    Bring it.

  2. Stable genius don’t forget getting their commerce Dept. hauled into court for trying to NOT count all the people.

    J. Trump 5 C
    @realDonald Trump
    I will be strongly endorsing against any State Senator or House member from the Great State of Indiana that votes against the Republican Party, and our Nation, by not allowing for Redistricting for Congressional seats in the United States House of Representatives as every other State in our Nation is doing, Republican or Democrat. Democrats are trying to steal our seats everywhere, and we’re not going to let this happen! This all began with the Rigged Census. We must keep the Majority at all costs. Republicans must fight back!

  3. When Newsmax inquired with the Republican Chair of the House Oversight committee about a text from Epstein to U.S. Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett during hearing testimony by Michael Cohen in 2019, in which Epstein offered advice about lines of questions that could hurt Trump, the chairman demurred from addressing the issue and quickly changed the subject.

    Probably because Epstein was texting with the chairman and the Speaker as well.

    Just release the files now.
    Unredacted.

  6. and our Nation

    always toss that in to make is seem like there is some patriotic justice to be a crook.

    Another prop pulled from the ass.

  9. 5,
    The prosecutor was unable to present evidence to the grand jury establishing probable cause supporting criminal elements set forth in the federal statute. So when the jury questionaires included requests for that specific evidence the prosecutor responded by instructing the grand jury to go ahead and vote a true bill and she would get back to them at trial.

    That’s not how it works at all. Her obligation under the law was to inform the grand jury that no such evidence was available at that time. And that it was their legal duty to proceed with their deliberations without it, and accounting for its absence from the record in reaching their decision whether or not to indict.

    It’s definitely not the law nor the proper application of the law. And this is fairly clearly spelled out in the manual that guides the U.S. Attorney’s offices in conducting grand juries. But it’s also fairly close to criminal misconduct. Especially under these circumstances. The criminal intent on the part of the prosecutor to obstruct justice in violation of federal law probably exists. The Attorney General and the President of the United States were clearly on record giving orders to get the indictment. And communication records establishing that underlying criminal intent expressed by Lindsay Halligan also probably exist, or at least did up to this point. There is a five year statute of limitations on such a violation. So Lindsay better fucking pray to God she didn’t fuck up and express that criminal intent in automatically preserved communication records like email.

    Time will tell. Until then she rides the bubble.

  10. Going to be close in Ottawa, Conservatives already said they are a No before the Budget was announced, Bloc a no because not enough for Quebec, so it’s up to how many NDP abstain. Conservatives say too much spending, NDP don’t like where the spending goes, but they have to weigh whether they want to go into an election with an interim leader. The Conservatives have a leadership review in January, and after the events of the last couple weeks, with one defection, another resignation, another election would stave off that review.

    https://globalnews.ca/news/11528568/budget-2025-confidence-vote/

  11. Wall Street hitting the Crack pipe again.

    Highs and Highs and Highs!

    See – you celebrate the highs and you hide from the lows like a coward.

  13. @9 I expect after the judge dismisses with prejudice, this twit will try to refile the charges. She either didn’t take any crimlaw in law school, or dozed through that class.

  15. Tired:

    They’re eating the dogs they’re eating the cats.

    Wired:

    They’re bringing the diseased cows with them to dive up the price of meat.

  18. 13,
    He doesn’t have to dismiss with prejudice.

    The statute of limitations has lapsed. New charges cannot be filed. That’s why the prosecution was making mistakes, because they were under an intense time crunch significantly exacerbated by the fact that the folks pursuing the indictment had never read the DOJ grand jury manual or even tried a criminal case.

  19. 13,
    Also, Halligan has filed a motion to block the order.

    The clock is running down on this fiasco, for sure. But a defense motion for dismissal can only come after the full grand jury record has been released to the defense. And the DOJ still has one or two very dumb delay moves to make in that respect.

  20. Sorry, but another sadly important reminder in light of how incompetent modern media really are:

    Trump has the authority to release the Epstein file this minute. It was a hallmark promise of his campaign that he would order the release on “his first day”. He had the authority last spring when he ordered the FBI and the DOJ to reassign several thousand investigators and attorneys to comb through the documents to redact his name and those of his fellow Republicans. He had that authority last summer when his Attorney General said that she “had the Epstein client list” on her desk. He had it a few weeks later when she said it did not exist. He still has that authority today when he says he is “ordering” the House to vote to release the files.

    If Fat Hitler has the authority to “order” a prosecution of one of his political enemies who has aggrieved him like James Comey, then of course he has the authority to release investigative files about a dead pedophile and his accomplices.

    The files are still not released.

    And that is because Fat Hitler is in the files.

  21. Sorry kids. We don’t give a fuck about you. You took out the student loan and now you pay it.

    Kevin Hassett: “I think there could be a little bit of an almost quiet time in the labor market, because firms are finding that AI is making their workers so productive that they don’t necessarily have to hire the new kids out of college and so on.”

  22. 21

    Yes, when you borrow money, you agree to pay it back in accordance with the loan agreement.

  23. A brief, and somewhat cartoonish, but nevertheless reasonably accurate synopsis of what hypothetical prosecutorial misconduct occurred in the James Comey grand jury indictment:

    Prosecutor to a hypothetical Grand Jury: Here is my evidence to charge the defendant with the aggravated federal charge of kidnapping. The aggravating element is that the defendant raped his kidnap victim.

    GJ to Prosecutor: Okay. We have some questions and concerns. The charge sheet that includes the language from the statute says you have to prove that the defendant transported the victim across state lines against their will. Maybe we missed it. But none of us can remember you showing us that evidence about the will of the victim or their state of consent or lack thereof. What’s up with that?

    P to GJ: Okay. I got you fam. So here’s the deal then. If you don’t think we showed you that evidence it’s totes cool, cuz. Once we get to trial we will put the defendant on the stand and he won’t be able to explain anything about why or how he grabbed the victim and took her across state lines. And that’s how you’ll know. It will be obvious.

    GJ to P: Ah. Got it. Alright then. We thought it over carefully and in light of what you said about the defendan’t testimony at trial we can get there for you on the simple kidnapping charge. But we gotta pass on the aggravating factor. There isn’t a shred of evidence about any rape. Nothing. Nada. So we can’t go there. If you come back to us with the lesser charge of simple kidnapping instead of aggravated kidnapping we got you covered.

    Prosecutor to the federal court: I obtained a vote of “True Bill” on the federal charge of kidnapping. Here’s the complete record of the grand jury proceedings and indictment.

    Court to P: Hol’ up. We don’t see any transcripts showing your final presentation to the grand jury on the lesser charge. All we see here is the presentation about aggravated kidnapping. And that’s not the charge you have here. Where is the transcript of the prosecution re-presenting the lesser charge?

    P to Court: You have the complete record, Mr. Court, sir. We don’t know what to tell you. It’s all there.

    Court to P: Mmmmmkay. So you lied to the grand jury about being able to make the defendant take the stand to persuade them to indict on the lesser charge. But then you declined to present the lesser charge? And then the Attorney General lied to us about that? Are you sure that’s your final answer?

    P to C: Um, I guess?

    C to P: Okay. The motion to order the government to provide the complete record of the grand jury proceedings to the defense is granted in full. I await the defense motion for dismissal.

  25. Bob’s play book. He’s cautiously, and anxiously, sitting back afraid of what’s to come, but we all know what’s about to come, a doctored version of the Epstein Files, which will be cause for him to chastise. Never miss an opportunity to be a flip flopping advantageous individual with no morals nor convictions, it’s about inflicting harm, pain and ridicule.

  27. a doctored version of the Epstein Files

    Which will in no way ever come close to explaining why Fat Hitler and Republicans hid the files for so long.

    Pam Bondi was attorney general in Florida from 2011 to 2019. She could have gone after Epstein at any point during that time when she was also spending most weekends at Trump’s private sex club. She could have released the files (that portion developed by Florida investigators) during that time.

    Mike Johnson or Kevin McCarthy could have released the files at any point in the last two and a half years after Republicans won control of the House. They did not.

    The only possible explanation is that Fat Hitler is all over the Epstein Files and everyone knows it.

  28. Looks like by a vote of 170-168, ,the budget passes. The Tories will have the leadership review scheduled for January, unless another confidence vote happens. Had a couple New Democrats not abstained, the Earliest Canadians would be voting was December 24.

  29. @18 Or maybe she sabotaged it, to get out of working the case. But I don’t think she’s that clever or smart.

  30. @21 What good is an economy that only creates jobs for robots? Oh yeah, I forgot, there are lots of openings for farmworkers, relocation required.

  31. @22 Unless, of course, you’re Donald Trump or another business borrower like him who makes liberal use of the bankruptcy laws.

    Those laws were written by Republicans. That being the case, their bleating about repaying debts carries no weight whatsoever.

    Neither does yours.

  32. @23 Sounds about right. Don’t lawyers get disbarred for this kind of shit? Isn’t there something in the RPCs about competence?

  33. In Montreal, the next phase of the REM, a light metro opened today. Besides being steel-wheeled, it differs from the regular heavy Montreal Metro by actually having above ground revenue portions. . The original Montreal Metro was modeled on the Paris rubber-tired system, but had to be adapted to the harsh winter, by being entirely underground. REM is also fully automated like the SkyTrain in Vancouver.

    https://www.trains.com/pro/passenger/light-rail/montreal-opens-second-section-of-rem-light-rail-system/

  35. @ 3

    When Newsmax inquired with the Republican Chair of the House Oversight committee … in 2019 …

    The Chair of the House Oversight Committee in 2019 was a Democrat.

    Weak, libbies. Very weak.

  37. 31

    You borrow the money, then you pay it back. It has nothing to do with any political party or ideology.

  38. The joke writes itself. MAGA Mike went on Fox and has thoughts on not workong

    Mike Johnson claims House Republicans did “some of the best work of their careers” during the govt shutdow

  41. You mean the peace plan Israel is already violating by killing people and razzing more buildings?

    Cool story, bro.

    How are those wars going?

    Release the Epstein files.

  43. Sorry drunken librul dummocretins..

    the fabulous djt has to use those files to investigate bartholin bill, hitlery, obummer and all the rest of teh dummocretins..

    Republicans win!

  44. @37 Sure does. Republicans rewrote the bankruptcy laws to give a free pass to giant corporations and business owners, while telling people being ruined by medical debt to go pound sand.

    You want to see the world as black-or-white, but let’s explore the shade of gray. We tell youth they can’t get a decent job without a degree. Employers join in, demanding degrees for jobs that don’t require them. At the same time, state legislatures pull funding from public colleges, which then raise tuition to cover their expenses. So society forces students into debt. Then some numbnuts like you comes along and spews, “You borrow the money, you pay it back,” which has never been true.

    Banks write off a certain percentage of credit card debt, car loans, and personal loans in the normal course of business, because they make more money by lending than by not lending. Bond holders don’t always get their money back, which is merely considered an investment risk, not a great moral crisis.

    It has been public policy for quite some time to write off student loans for people in low-paying, high-public-benefit, occupations like teaching because society benefits from their willingness to work in those occupations instead of chasing the highest possible income. That policy isn’t a moral crisis, ending it is, especially when you yank student loan forgiveness away from people it was promised to, who made career choices based on it (“Lucy and the football” scenario).

    You are a shallow thinker.

    But if we’re going to go with your argument that loans must be repaid no matter what, then that needs to apply equally to everyone, which means no bankruptcies for anyone, including corporations or business owners. It means repealing the bankruptcy laws and statutes of limitations on collecting debts. It means if you owe child support, your wages, Social Security, and 401(k) get garnished until you die.

    Is that what you want?

  47. 32,
    Want the cherry 🍒 on top?

    In a separate and unrelated investigation Bondi ordered the seizure of Comey’s lawyer’s communications records which included privileged attorney/client coms with Comey. And Halligan then requested and received a comprehensive briefing on those attorney/client communications between Comey and his lawyer from the FBI agent who handled the seizure. She did this before presenting to the grand jury.

    So that violation of privilege and the resulting taint covering the prosecutor assigned to the case is included in the material that AG Bondi claims to have thoroughly reviewed and “ratified” twice.

    🤪🤡🤪🤡🤪🤡🤪🤡🤪🤡

    If any of this really is deliberate sabotage, then the Attorney General is in on the conspiracy.

  48. @47 They must hate being lawyers, because they’re sure acting like they’re eager to have their licenses revoked.

    But unfortunately, they’re both licensed in Florida, whose bar association seems to feel anything goes.

  49. 48)Well, they probably would have joined the DC Bar if Bondi had won the election. I think it was great Brad Bondi ran for DC Bar President, heard turnout is usually lackluster.

  50. One of the violent rioters who beat police officers to death with hockey sticks and fire extinguishers and attempted to assassinate the Vice President, that Epstein coconspirator Fat Hitler pardoned, raped a child and then attempted to silence his victim by promising them a share of a giant taxpayer funded payout that Fat Hitler is arranging for the rioters.

    And the Actual Pedophile Fucktard celebrates this daily.

  51. Remember that time that one of Fat Hitler’s violent supporters forced his way into Nancy Pelosi’s home, and beat her husband nearly to death with a claw hammer in an attempt to kidnap her, and the Actual Nazi Fucktard and the rest of MAGA spent months afterwards claiming the MAGA attacker was Paul Pelosi’s secret gay lover?

    And then they demanded summary execution for any Democrat insufficiently saddened by Charlie Kirk’s assassination?

  52. ANOTHER GRANDEOUS DAY ON WALL STREET!

    MY ECONOMIC RECOVERY FROM SLEEPY JOE IS EXTRODINARY!

    AND WE ARE NOT DONE YET!

    THOSE DEM SCUM BAGS WISH THEY HAD A DEAR LEADER LIKE ME!

  53. claiming the MAGA attacker was Paul Pelosi’s secret gay lover?

    And then they demanded summary execution for any Democrat insufficiently saddened by Charlie Kirk’s assassination?

    Shit like that just make me laugh.. I have to believe it will catch up to them.

    And we’ll always remind them of it while we laugh at them.

  55. Sir, How do you feel about the house vote to release the Epstein files.

    QUIET PIGGY

    Do you have any comment on Secretary Noem awarding no bid contracts to make propaganda films to close personal friends?

    QUIET PIGGY

    Why are you hosting a murderer at the White House today?

    QUIET PIGGY

    Steve Bannon, your advisor, was telling Jeffrey EPSTEIN how to beat a charge of child rape AFTER he’d been convicted once. Are you going to take any action on Bannon’s role in your..

    QUIET PIGGY

  57. Concluding a two week trial the Texas gerrymander map tossed out by a three judge panel this morning due to “substantial evidence of racial bias”.

    They are going to have to resort to shooting voters in line.

    And they will.

  59. @51 Republicans aren’t getting a free ride from this behavior. It’s destroying their credibility, and there probably are voters in the middle who’ve decided to never vote for them again.

  61. Some people shouldn’t stick their noses into other people’s business..

    You’re mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don’t have to embarrass our guest

  65. I’m so old I remember the Willie Horton ad.

    Pardoned Capitol rioter tried to bribe child sex victim with promise of Jan. 6 payout, officials say
    Andrew Paul Johnson, 44, faces multiple charges in Florida, including lewd/lascivious molestation, according to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office.

  66. Read it in your best Jeff Foxworthy impression

    If you’re linked to three pedophiles in a single news day….

    Trump White House Protected Alleged Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate From Federal Investigation

  67. At the Grey Cup Sunday, the PM May have created his own Let’s Go Brandon just by being next to the CFL Commissioner when. There would have been boos if he wasn’t there. Canadian Football fans are upset with changes to be phased in 26 and 27 seasons the new commissioner has announced. Moving the goalposts(currently at the Goal line), reducing the field to a 100 yards, and restricting the use of the Rouge.(Game started, possibly for the last time, Montreal up 1-0). The Commissioner has said they will keep 3 Downs, and 12 players on the field. No plans to try US expansion again, although that could be the easiest way to get a team in Atlantic Canada. The last attempt, only the Baltimore Stallions (name gives an idea what Baltimore wanted to call the team) were successful, and when the NFL came back moved to Montreal, renamed the Allouttes. That brief tenure in Baltimore, Stallions made two Grey Cup appearances, won one.

    The booing during the anthem is being explained by some Winning fans(although Winnipeg was the host, they didn’t make the Grey Cup, although being a 9 team league, odds of a host team in it are much higher) by a tradition their sports teams have of when True Patriot Love and True North Strong and Free, fans yelling “Blue”. It’s almost plausible (listen to Kraken Games, fans love reacting to certain lines of their national anthems.).

  69. Voting fraud found!

    Arizona state lawmaker and Charlie Kirk “lieutenant” who pushed Trump’s 2020 election lies and claimed the accusations against him were “ludicrous” and a “coordinated attack by Democrats” has pleaded guilty to forging more than 100 signatures on his reelection petition.

    https://www.ms.now/news/austin-smith-arizona-guilty-election-fraud-rcna244691

    https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/ex-arizona-lawmaker-guilty-attempted-election-fraud-40622084/

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