Smells Like Nepo-Baby Corruption

The 22-year-old son of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) — one of Capitol Hill’s most prominent boosters of cryptocurrency legislation — has reportedly raised $30 million to launch a derivatives exchange startup that is already valued at $300 million.

Theodore Gillibrand, whose mother has emerged as a leading advocate for crypto regulation and stablecoin legislation, secured the funding round for his startup, American Perpetuals Exchange Corporation, or APEC, Fortune reported.

The fundraising was led by venture capital firm Lux Capital, according to Fortune, which cited sources familiar with the matter.

Right, because any 22-year-old can raise $30 million right out of the gate for a new business venture.

This smells as badly as a Trump-family crypto scam.

Courts Step Up

The Rule of Law is still holding:

The chief federal judge in Minnesota says the Trump administration has failed to comply with orders to hold hearings for detained immigrants and ordered the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appear before him Friday to explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt.

In an order dated Monday, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz said Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, must appear personally in court. Schlitz took the administration to task over its handling of bond hearings for immigrants it has detained.

“This Court has been extremely patient with respondents, even though respondents decided to send thousands of agents to Minnesota to detain aliens without making any provision for dealing with the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were sure to result,” the judge wrote.

Now it is up to the Senate and the Republicans to step up. At least one Republican is fleeing.

The Fix is In on ICE Murders

At least four leaders of a Justice Department unit that investigates police killings have resigned in protest over the administration’s handling of the fatal shooting of a motorist in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, according to three people briefed on the departures.

Top leaders of the criminal section of the Civil Rights Division have left their jobs to register their frustration with the department after the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon decided not to investigate the ICE officer’s fatal shooting of Renee Good last week. The criminal section of the division would normally investigate any fatal shooting by a law enforcement officer and specializes in probing potential or alleged abuse or improper use of force by law enforcement.

The Demented Orange Farter, the Hillbilly CouchFucker, and ICE Barbie the Puppy Slayer have all decreed that Ms. Good was a terrorist before her body had begun to cool, so of course the DoJ isn't going to do any investigation.

The FBI has gone back to its bad old days of being a political intimidation force and not anything remotely concened with enforcing the law.

Meanwhile, ICE is arresting, confining and beating American citizens (what is politely called a "Kavanaugh Stop") and then citing them for "not carrying alien paperwork" because they are brown and have a Latino name. ICE is nothing more than the Klan with badges. Their brutality, spread nationwide via various forms of media, are making "abolish ICE" into the moderate position.

Eventually, the needle will move far enough that even the so-called leaders such as Jeffries and Schumer will see it and find their spines.

The Difference Between Cowardice and "Brand Protection" is Paper-Thin

This is what "brand protection" is all about. It is an inside-the-Beltway-think that Trumpism will burn out of its own weight and, so, there is nothing to be gained by taking a stand and fighting it in the present day.

I think that a lot of the Democratic establishment is made up of cowards. For example, the main response to Trump's idea of gerrymandering Texas is to carp and whine. Despite the talking of governors like Pritzger and Newsom, most won't do shit to counter the GOP's attempt to set its kleptocracy in stone.

The Inept Fecklessness of Chuckie Schumer (and His Nine Co-Cowards)

Drew Magary, a columnist in San Francisco, had a lot to say about the utterly inept professional Democrats, who seem to only be capable of wringing their hands. He ended with this:

And if you don’t get your s—t together now, I’ll know it’s because you don’t want to. I’ll know that you never cared about democracy. That you never cared about fixing the Constitution that’s currently sitting at the bottom of Sam Alito’s toilet. That you never cared about women or gay and trans folk or the poor or Muslim Americans or even Jewish people. I’ll know that you only care about yourselves, same as the president does. If you careerist scum want to prove me and every other voter wrong, you’d better get started right now. The clock is ticking.

Senate Republicans were never going to negotiate with Chuck Schumer on the CR. He's a spineless, gutless political pussy and everyone knows it. They're always going to roll him, because he flops down on his back and begs not to be hurt.

In a game of political chicken, Schumer always turns away. If only he had a fraction of the spine and purpose of Mitch McConnell.

ETA: His boss approves.

ETA II:

The Onion Nails It.

With the elected officials trying their hardest not to move a muscle, reports confirmed Monday that top Democratic leaders in Congress were standing real still in hopes that the American people wouldn’t notice them. “Don’t make any sudden movements, or they’ll spot us,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said out of the corner of his mouth, tightly squeezing his eyes shut as he reminded Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to hold their breath anytime a member of the voting public walked by. “Did it work? I think we’re in the clear for now, but that was a close one. They could have talked to us, for crying out loud, or worse—demanded that we do something.

That's satire, of course, but it is also the truth. People are beginning to demand that the Democrats do something.

In 2009, with only forty senators, Moscow Mitch rallied his troops to oppose President Obama on all fronts. Chuckie Schumer the Slug Farmer can't seem to get off the dime.

Younger Democratic politicians with some ambition need to start spinning up primary challenges for the Democrats now in the House and the Senate.

Dear DNC, DNCC, DSCC and Every Other Democratic Political Fundraising Group

Don't bother texting me, emailing me, or sending me any fundraising emails. I will not give any of you one fucking dime until you show me that you're going to stand up and fight.

I've had enough of Vichy Democrats like Whitmer. The Orange Shitbag and the World's Richest Nazi are demolishing the country, trashing our relationships with our allies, crashing our economy and doing damage that will take a generation or more to repair and she wants to collaborate?

When dealing with authoritarians, there is collaboration, there is acquiesence, and there is resistance. The Criminal-in-chief hasn't asked for collaboration, but there is Whitmer, offering to help. She is bringing a white flag to a gunfight.

History never remembers kindly those to collaborate and acquiesence to tyrants.

Vichy Democrats

That's what a number of people, including myself, fear that the Democrats are becoming. They're not fighting Trumpism, they're collaborating.

The billionaires and mainstream media companies have already caved.

Fascist regimes all fail, usually in less than a generation. The replacement strongmen can't keep it going and then justice comes for the collaborators.

NH Gov Sununu (in 1912): That Iceberg Hasn't Permanently Damaged the RMS Titanic

President-elect Trump is set to return to the White House in a few weeks, but New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said Sunday that he hasn't permanently altered the GOP.
...
When asked if the president-elect had permanently marked the GOP, the governor said no, but said Republicans are now more "hardcore" conservatives than the traditional conservatism of the past.

"Hardcore conservative" is pretty close to white/Christian nationalist. If Trump 2.0 is as he's promised or as bad as I think it will be, I don't see the GOP recovering anytime soon.

If I were running the DNC, I'd be hammering on Musk and Bezos with a message of "preserve Social Security, preserve Medicate, tax the billionaires". I'd be pointing to the percentage of taxes paid by the billionaire class as opposed to the percentage of taxes paid by wage-earners and pounding on the fundamental unfairness of it. I'd be showing the posts of conservatives deriding those who work in restaurants and demonstrating how Wal-Mart parasitically pushes their costs on the taxpayer by paying people so low they're on food stamps and Medicaid.

In short, I'd convert the GOP's culture war into a class war. A class war has been going on since Reagan cut taxes for the rich, continued on by Bush II and the Orange Shitbag; it's high time that we start fighting back.

A Summation of Hunter’s Pardon

TRUMP: I’m going to use the FBI illegally to go after my political enemies!

BIDEN: Um, I guess I’ll pardon my son then because fuck that.

MEDIA: Biden is breaking norms!

The coverage of Hunter's pardon in the press seems to be evidence of either sheer and utter laziness or anticipatory obedience to the incoming wannabee dictator. There is a lot of hand-wringing that Trump is going to use Hunter's pardon as an excuse to pardon the J6 terrorists, but he has been campaigning on doing that for months, if not years.

All those talking-head idiots, both in the media and in political office, who are declaiming that Trump is going to use Hunter's pardon as an excuse to do what he was already going to do, need to take a firm grasp on their ears and pull their heads out of their collective asses.

Second Toljaso

Remember all of those Democratic activists who, during the first half of the Biden Administration, called for getting rid of the filibuster so shit could get done?

I wonder how they feel about the filibuster, now?

Toljaso.

Just What This Race Needs: Another Old White Guy

Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) is considering reregistering as a Democrat and running for the party’s presidential nomination after President Joe Biden announced he would end his reelection campaign on Sunday.

Or this:

Sen. Joe Manchin of Virginia, who briefly sparked fears among Democrats that he could re-register as a Democrat and challenge Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidential nomination, has ruled out running.

Manchin is a threat to Harris? Get fucking real, pundits. First off, when the issue is that the first guy chosen was too old, replacing him with a guy a few years younger does not solve the problem.

Second, Manchin is a fucking tool. Doe he think anyone has forgotten his outright treachery to the rest of the caucus in the Senate, that by using the rules, he elevated himself to being nearly a king of the body? If he needed a clue as to how that plays out, he only need look at what that level of perfidity has done to his good buddy Sinema's career, who retired rather than be primaried out of existence.

All those in favor of Joe Manchin as the party's nominee, applaud.

*Crickets*

One Touchstone to Keep in Mind Over the Coming Days: Fuck the Republicans, Every Last One of Them

ETA: Read what Jess Piper has to say on this.

President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House on Sunday, ending his bid for reelection following a disastrous debate with Donald Trump that raised doubts about his fitness for office just four months before the election.

The MAGA Morons are going to be bleating that Biden has to run because he's the nominee. He's not. The nomination is not official until the convention. Delegates are normally bound only for the first vote and then they can vote for whomsover they want. It's not unheard of for candidates to release their delegates; how many delegates voted for Nikki Haley last week at the Nazi MAGA party rally last week?

They're going to bleat that this is unfair to those who voted for Biden, which is even more bullshit, because Republicans don't give a fuck about any of that.

So, however this plays out, fuck Republicans. Every one of them. They all hate this country, they want to destroy our democracy, which is the entire point of Project 2025.

Biden recognized that he's not up for this and he stepped aside as a candidate. The other fucker, well, he's been convicted of felonies, has lost civil cases for sexual assault and defamation and yet his cult is standing behind him.

We're now in interesting times, folks. Strap in.

And keep your powder dry.

Yes

I’m going to say this as clearly as I can… if you are a Democratic Party elected official, pundit, etc focus your time (especially TV time) talking about how disastrous Trump, Vance, your opponent (if you have one), and Trump’s Project 2025 will be to the nation. Full stop. If…

— Jaime Harrison (@harrisonjaime) July 20, 2024

As far as I am concerned, every one of those cocksuckers who have publicly called for Biden to step down are gutless, frightened weasels. I'm not rich, so they won't care, but they are all dead to me.

I'd go sit shiva in their offices if I could. I wish that I was rich, so I could threaten not to give any money to those 30+ assholes who pushed him out.

Normalizing Dictatorship

What continues to graw at me is that the Times has continued to normalize the TOFF's behavior. His lies go mainly unchallenged. His incoherence at his rallies go unremarked by everyone except comedians. His desire to put political opponents on trial for the crime of being mean to The Donald gets ignored. The allegation that surfaced in the recent Epstein document dump that the FOFF raped a 13-year-old girl sank like a stone.

One would expect that sort of conduct from Fox News and other Murdoch propaganda outlets. But the Times is conducting itself like the New York Post, albeit with longer articles and better writing.

Funny thing about the Times and the other hand-wringers about Biden's age: They all seem to assume that whoever would beat Trump like a gong. What if they don't? Who is going to look in the mirror and wonder: "Maybe we shouda stuck with Joe" as Felon^34 and his acolytes implement Project 2025?

And, as my sister has reminded me, they did the same exact thing to Hillary Clinton in 2016. So they are nothing if not consistent.

Merrick Garland Is a Foot-Dragging Tool, and Not In a Good Way

Best comment via text or email on Garland's special counsel's "report":

What a fucking bit of gratuitous character assassination by a hack who was trying to preserve his MAGA credentials because he couldn't figure out a way to bring charges against Joe Biden.

Besides this bullshit, Garland moved at a glacial pace when it came to any of the document cases or the insurrection case. But what can one expect? Garland moves so slowly that he probably has to set aside ninety minutes to take a shit.

Tollbooth Ned is an Idiot

When Gov. Ned Lamont suggested changing the state hero from Nathan Hale to Noah Webster, little did he know that he would spark a revolution in Hale's hometown.
...
Lamont said Hale was a "nice enough guy who was captured after a week at the inn. If he had two lives to give for his country, he would have been a spy for us for two weeks."

In his endorsement of Webster, Lamont noted that he helped to create the American language that distinguished the United States from Great Britain.

Lamont is a moron, and there is no other way to put it. The classic definition of a hero is someone who risks their life and limbs, someone who performs an act of bravery. Noah Webster was a great guy in compiling his dictionary, but that wasn't exactly an act of bravery.

As a governor, Lamont is pretty much an empty suit. His administration has been specializing in increasing the opacity of state government. If it wasn't for a columnist and then the Feds investigating things, Lamont would have swept the corruption and nepotism at the new State Pier in New London under the rug. He is either venal enough or inattentive enough to be electable in Florida.

But this is what happens when rich people win elective office. They hold themselves accountable to nobody.

The Democrats on Long Island (NY) Are Idiots

So, this is what happened: Some clown ran for Congress this year on the Republican ticket. He won.

But, as it now turns out, his resume is a work of fiction. 

•  He claimed to have worked for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. He didn't. 
•  He claimed to have graduated from Baruch College. He didn't.
•  He claimed to have attended New York University.  He didn't.
•  He claimed to have run an animal rescue group.  No such charity exists.
•  He claimed to have lost four co-workers in the Pulse Nightclub shooting.  Nobody can determine who they might be.
•  He claimed to have a family fortune in real estate.  Nobody can find a record of any properties.

What he didn't disclose was criminal check fraud charges in Brazil, which he committed (he confessed to it) during the time he was supposedly in college.

There is more. such as being evicted for non-payment of rent at least twice, questionable campaign expenditures and much, much more.

But this is the thing: Nobody bothered to do any opposition research on this clown? Nobody could be bothered to vet any of his claims?

Democrats, where the fuck were your heads? I would think that even doing a cursory look into the background of the otehr guy running for Congress would be Basic Politics 101.

So yes, this guy apparently is a liar, a criminal, and a grifter who hangs out with American neo-nazis. But you couldn't find any of this out?

And now his district is stuck with this schmuck of a goniff for the next two years.

Good work, Democrats.

It Would Seem That Being Labeled As an Appeaser is Less Comfortable For Democrats

The chair of the progressive caucus of the US House of Representatives, Pramila Jayapal, has retracted a letter sent by 30 of the members urging Joe Biden to engage in direct talks with Russia to end the war in Ukraine following a heated debate within the Democratic party about future strategy over the conflict.

In a statement issued on Tuesday afternoon, Jayapal made a dramatic U-turn, scrapping the letter that had been sent to the White House the previous day and implying it had all been a mistake. “The letter was drafted several months ago, but unfortunately was released by staff without vetting,” she said.

Allow me to point out the obvious: Those thirty dingbats all signed that letter. I find it extremely hard to believe that such a letter would have been drafted and signed months ago, then just stuffed in a file folder and forgotten and now, all of a sudden, some filing clerk finds it and sends it out?

When the shit hit the fan about the letter, Jayapal did not immediately disavow sending it. No siree, she tried to "clarify" things by expressing support for Ukraine while shanking them in the back. It's only when that didn't settle things that she switched to blaming some GS-2 clerk for mailing it.

That's just the sort of chickenshit move that one would expect from the caucus of appeasement. And it's a total fib, for their website has a press release in support of the Appeasement Letter.

Craven cowards, every last one of them.

"Peace in Our Time", or The Republicans Are Not the Only Appeasers in Congress

A group of 30 House liberals is urging President Biden to dramatically shift his strategy on the Ukraine war and pursue direct negotiations with Russia, the first time prominent members of his own party have pushed him to change his approach to Ukraine.

The kindest thing I can say about them is that they are useful idiots for Putin. Anyone who believes that Putin has lost his ambitions to rebuild the Imperial Russian Empire has mush for brains. These fools only give Putin reason to hope that if he doubles down on his war, and escalates it further, the West will fold like a house of cards. Those halfwits speak of "support[ing] Ukraine to reacy a peaceful settlement", but we all know, Gentle Readers, that what those appeasers truly want is to see a fait accompli presented to Ukraine with the implied threat of an arms embargo.

The nations of Eastern Europe (less one Putinite) well know the nature and quality of Russia under Putin. They know his ambitions. They have been warning the western European nations of the threat posed by Putin for many years. We should have listened to them, then. It's not for nothing that the Finns and the Swedes are joining NATO. They can read the writing on the wall. These thirty cowards cannot, or will not.

The last time that European major powers tried to prevent a continent-wide war by negotiating away the territory of a smaller nation, it not only did not end well, but it covered those who did the negotiating with shame that has lasted to this day.

That was a mistake that is not worth repeating. Putin will use any ceasefire, any negotiated end short of a full withdrawl from Ukrainian territory as a welcome break in the fighting, which he will diligently use to rebuild his army, and then he will strike again. Anyone who believes otherwise, in my humble opinion, is either a Putinist fellow-traveler or is anacephalic.