(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . So What Else Is Going On? - GNR for Bluesday, April 4th [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-04 News of the INDICTMENT broke last Thursday a little after 5:30 PM Eastern. I swear I heard the country’s giant sigh of relief. I know I’ve been smiling ear to ear ever since (I think my face might be stuck this way). Today is the designated day for SURRENDER, MUG SHOT, and FINGERPRINTS, ARRAIGNMENT and PLEA to follow. This’ll be another occasion for more spontaneous, but mostly preplanned, celebrations. Of course, the republican reaction to all of this was entirely predictable — they whined, moaned, and pretended the wheels of justice weren’t grinding away at a career criminal. The full and complete republican argument appears to be: He was the president, so laws don’t apply to him, because reasons. Also, Hunter Biden’s laptop. While that was going on large parts of the corporate media bent over backwards, swallowed their journalistic ethics, and made sweeping pronouncements about the quality of the case, without having read any of the 34 counts of the indictment. I heard more pundits lamenting. “it’s sad that it’s come to this,” regarding the indictment than they did about the kids who got slaughtered in Nashville. Over in the House, the Teabagger Freedumb Treason Caucus got busy fomenting another insurrection. Mustering all their vast store of spit-flecked, incoherent, performative fauxtrage, the usual suspects managed to make a mockery of the law, the Constitution, common sense, and rationality while simultaneously attempting to obstruct justice and intimidate witnesses, and continuously fluffing their false idol’s oh-so-fragile ego. It was pathetic. It was expected. It’s true all of this might be good news for John McCain, but it was most definitely not so for tfg and the leaders of his cult. Following along from the Giuliani lessons of speechifying (a noun, a verb, and 9/11), their newest incarnation is a noun, a verb, “woke,” and some mangled syntax. They are trying to tell us tfg’s indictment happened because nasty woke people (specifically nasty Jews like George Soros and African Americans like Alvin Bragg) are behind a giant conspiracy to frame Orange Judas for crimes he committed. I wonder if it will ever sink into slack-jawed magas that being woke is way better than the republican alternatives — comatose, delusional, or sadistic. Instead, republicans have demonstrated quite a strong fetish for extremism. In fact, it's become one of the basic pillars of republican thought (I use that term very, very loosely) along with deceit, deflection, and distortion. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if their aberrant, obnoxious behavior was extremely rare and harmless because they succumbed to the raucous laughter they inspire? I wish we could explain republican transgressions in terms of their tiny, tiny penises and overwhelming feelings of inadequacy. Those traits go a long way to explaining their slobbering gun lust. But, while they might be significant contributing factors, they don’t give real insight into the unprecedented rise of traitorous conspirators and professional liars. Maybe they should have left religion out of politics (especially their for-profit version). Have you ever noticed that the Moral Majority has never once taken an actual moral position on anything? They also stink at ethics, compassion, honesty and responsibility. Perhaps, as a pre-condition for party membership, they are forced to undergo a formal dehumanization process where every element of human decency gets sucked out of their souls, to be replaced with some of DeSantis’s left-over congealed finger pudding. Cheering on the republican circular firing squad as they look for ways to dump their leader all the while publicly expressing their undying love for all things orange is a lot of fun. It’s also a bit of a distraction. Those sick fucks are still busy with all their Snidely Whiplash plots to destroy democracy. We owe it to our children’s and their children’s futures to remain vigilant. We still have a job to do — the republican party is in need of cancellation; magas should receive assistance as they crawl back under their rocks; republican Jesus is waiting to get woke. We have the power. We have the ability. We can and we will do this. Slava Ukraini! Remember the Children Screw you, Samuel Alito Stray thoughts: When does being a giant asshole cross the line into being a card-carrying criminal? — With tfg, it most likely occurred before he fully traversed the birth canal. Do you think the delay in indicting him was because they had to wait for the factory to deliver the tiny handcuffs? tfg is going to need serious medical care to handle the wounds from all the forks testing him for doneness. Republican politicians don’t need to be identified and categorized for their sins, they need to be indictified and carceratized. I hear members of the Treason Caucus are planning to publish a new book — Lying for Fun and Profit. It will be produced in crayon on construction paper. I think Stephen is having fun right now. x YouTube Video In case you haven’t seen the newest from Randy Rainbow. x YouTube Video Was that a Ford Bronco ferrying tfg to his tower? What news through yonder arraignment cacophony breaks? This Story Is Way More Important than Obsessing Over the Last Gasps of a Failed President Finland will formally join NATO today. After spending his entire tenure as Russia’s tyrant trying to dismantle NATO, Putin has succeeded in growing it by inspiring Finland to drop its traditional neutrality. Next up, Sweden, after Erdogan stops being such a petulant dictator. AP News: Finland set to join NATO, in blow to Putin BRUSSELS (AP) — Finland is set to officially become a member of NATO later on Tuesday and take its place among the ranks of the world’s biggest security alliance. Neighboring Russia has already warned that it will bolster its defenses near their joint border if NATO deploys any additional troops or equipment to what will be its 31st member country. Finland’s blue and white flag is scheduled to be raised among those of its partners outside NATO’s Brussels headquarters. Finland’s president, foreign and defense ministers will take part. The ceremony falls on NATO’s very own birthday, the 74th anniversary of the signing of its founding Washington Treaty on April 4, 1949. It also coincides with a meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers. Some Good News from Pennsylvania One of my favorite politicians is out of the hospital and heading back to work. Wonkette: Robyn Pennacchia: Good For John Fetterman! Senator John Fetterman from Pennsylvania was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on Friday, after spending six weeks there dealing with a major depressive episode. On Sunday, he appeared on "CBS Sunday Morning" to talk to Jane Pauley about what happened, how he's doing now, and how he ended up being severely depressed after winning a major election. "It's like, you just won the biggest, you know, race in the country," he said. "And the whole thing about depression is, is that objectively, you may have won, but depression can absolutely convince you that you actually lost. And that's exactly what happened. And that was the start of a downward spiral."✂️ Still, someone in Fetterman's position being as open about it as he's being is pretty radical. He joins a few other lawmakers who've been open about their mental health struggles. It's a big deal that he went and got help in such a visible way and that he's been open about the accommodations he needs to deal with that, about taking time off, as well as those he needs to deal with the side effects of the stroke he had last year. I will be glad to see him on the floor, kicking ass while visibly using those accommodations (like the closed captioning) and giving no fucks. It's important for people to see that. It's worth noting that depression is also, in fact, a very common side effect of strokes. Do You Want to Know How to Make a Fortune Disappear? Just give it to tfg. Raw Story: Tom Boggioni: Trump's net worth takes a massive hit: Forbes Adding to Donald Trump's woes – which include a scheduled arraignment in New York City on Tuesday in a Manhattan courtroom where a sealed indictment containing a reported thirty charges awaits him – a report from Forbes claims that he is now not nearly as rich as he was when he helped launch his Truth Social social media platform. According to the report, Truth Social has been a flop and is in danger of collapsing, taking the former president's net worth down with it. On Sunday, the New York Times reported that the two entities tied to Truth Social that are attempting to merge are facing a September deadline to get SEC approval to avoid having to refund approximately $300 million to investors which could lead to a collapse.✂️ As Forbes' Dan Alexander wryly noted, "If people continue to join at the current pace — and assuming that no one quits or dies —Truth Social will not hit its projected 81 million users until 2086. By that point, Trump would be 140 years old. A more likely outcome: Truth Social will join Trump Steaks, Trump University and GoTrump.com in the graveyard of failed Trump ventures." One of Those Other Cases Is Getting Stronger While we wait for the wall to wall coverage of the arraignment to wrap up, some other bad news for tfg has been sneaking up on him. It looks like his long time pattern of obstruction has caught up and is about to take large, chunky bites out of his sorry ass. Salon: Igor Derysh: “Feels obstruction-y”: Experts say it may be “game over” after Trump aide gives DOJ key evidence Special counsel Jack Smith's team has amassed new evidence of potential obstruction by former President Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation, according to The Washington Post. Justice Department and FBI investigators obtained "particularly helpful" emails and texts from Molly Michael, a former Trump White House aide who followed him to Mar-a-Lago before leaving the job last year, according to the report.✂️ Investigators are particularly interested in whether Trump may have obstructed government efforts to collect and return all sensitive materials that he took home to Mar-a-Lago, according to the report. Investigators have spent much of their time looking at what happened after Trump's advisers received a subpoena in May demanding the return of all classified documents.✂️ Investigators have also found evidence that Trump told others to mislead government officials before the subpoena was issued while the National Archives was working with the DOJ to recover documents from Mar-a-Lago. Sources told the Post that Trump ignored requests from aides to return the documents and asked advisers and attorneys to release false statements claiming he returned all the documents. This Is Ron. See Ron Fail. See Ron Run. See Ron Fail Again. American Bridge has released their “Pudding Fingers” Ron oppo research archives. It’s chock full of all kinds of reasons not to vote for him. It should be required reading before anyone can receive their tax returns. American Bridge: DESANTIS RESEARCH BOOK Who is Ron DeSantis? His campaign hopes Americans will try to answer this question by looking at a few curated interviews with friendly news outlets, a heavily produced campaign video, and perhaps a glance at the glossy book pitched and edited by consultants. Welcome to American Bridge 21st Century's Ron DeSantis opposition research hub. This website exists to help anyone understand the reality his career, his tenure as Florida Governor, and his record on issues that matter to Americans. So, who is Ron DeSantis? He's a failed governor. He's a threat to Social Security and Medicare. He's a corrupt and authoritarian career politician, and he's a policy extremist who's out of touch with the voters on every issue. Turnabout Is Fair Play, and Also Hilarious The state leading the nation in book banning has found another book to remove from the shelves. Daily Beast: Jake Lahut: Florida Dems Try to Use Ron DeSantis’ Book Ban on His Own Book Months since it took effect, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature law to censor books in Florida schools has found an unintended target: his own book. In a clever bit of trolling, Florida Democrats are subjecting DeSantis’ new tome—“The Courage To Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival”—to the rules that he and GOP lawmakers established to weed out books with allegedly inappropriate content on race, sexuality, and gender from school libraries. Fentrice Driskell, the minority leader in the Florida House, is leading an effort across 50 counties to see if any of them might review or ban DeSantis’ book based on his law’s vague and unwieldy criteria. There’s Tone Deaf and Then There’s This Fool Just when you think there’s absolutely no place that could possibly be lower than the hellhole they’ve dug justifying child slaughter. Nope, they’ve managed it again. This is a soundbite that should come back to haunt him for the rest of his life. Huffington Post: David Moye: Tenn. State Rep Asks Protesters What Gun They'd Prefer To Be Shot With ✂️ State Rep. William Lamberth agreed to talk with the protesters, but had a weird way to trying to win a debate with students worried about getting shot in class. Lamberth’s approach was to ask the students which firearm they’d prefer to be shot with. “If there is a firearm out there that you’re comfortable being shot with, please show me which one it is,” he asked rhetorically. Lamberth probably thought the question he asked the protesters was deep and Socratic, but it came across as heartless ― especially when accompanied by a shrug. Tennessee Has a Glut of Insincere (R) Politicians Not even the clowns who wrote the bill were willing to put in any of their own money to support it. That says a lot about how they don’t really care about their proposals. They just want to do the interview, get the publicity and fugedaboutit. They haven’t gotten any better over the last five years, as evidenced by their position on school safety. Jezebel: Kylie Cheung: Tennessee’s Proposed Monument to ‘Victims of Abortion’ Has Received Zero Donations Back in 2018, the Tennessee legislature greenlit a bill to establish the “Tennessee Monument to Unborn Children, In Memory of the Victims of Abortion: Babies, Women, and Men.” The monument was going to be erected on Capitol grounds, fittingly, next to a statue honoring Confederate soldier Sam Davis. Five years on, Quartz reported on Wednesday that the monument is nonexistent—because nobody wanted to donate money toward its creation. rather donate to abortion funds The language of the 2018 bill prohibited state funds from being spent on the monument’s construction and stated that “the monument must be erected using private funds.” In an email to Quartz, a spokesperson from the Tennessee Finance & Administration Department confirmed that—again, five whole years later—“there have not yet been any contributions received to deposit into the fund.” It’s almost as if abortion is widely popular and people would, which serve a practical purpose. Most people also seem to have the good sense to distinguish between aborted embryonic tissue and actual “victims.” That the “monument for abortion victims” has received approximately zero donations is undeniably pretty hilarious. So, too, is the mix-up around who’s responsible for its failure. Republican leaders in the state House and Senate were supposed to appoint members of their bodies to oversee the monument’s construction, but no one could answer Quartz’s pretty basic questions about this.✂️ The entire fiasco feels emblematic of the anti-abortion movement’s reliance on hollow symbolism that not even they seem to really believe, all while providing any resources to children and families. Tennessee ranks 41st in the nation for the health of women and children due to high rates of maternal and infant mortality. The mere idea that a statute—which equates a health service with murder—could swallow up people’s resources amid these health crises, speaks to anti-abortion lawmakers’ willfully deranged priorities. The Prosecutors Are Swarming Decrepit henchweasel, Steve Bannon, is trying to hide some of his other criming by coming to the aid of his co-conspirators. It’s not going well, as prosecutors blocked his first attempt. Mother Jones: Dan Friedman: An Exiled Mogul’s Jailed Aide Has a Secret Backer. The Description Matches Steve Bannon. It’s been nearly three weeks since Yanping “Yvette” Wang was arrested and charged with helping her boss—exiled Chinese mogul Guo Wengui—orchestrate a $1 billion international fraud scheme. Her attorneys are still struggling to get her out of jail. Wang, according to her lawyers, has a mysterious benefactor willing to assist in that effort. A “very well-known individual” has offered to put up a house he owns as collateral to help Wang post bond, attorney Alex Lipman said at a March 22 hearing in New York. Lipman didn’t name this supporter, but his description of that person suggests it is Steve Bannon, the former strategist for Donald Trump. The identity of this benefactor is important because a federal prosecutor said in a recent court hearing that this unnamed person “is very involved” in the fraud scheme Guo allegedly ran. Bannon is not mentioned in any of the federal charging documents in the Guo case, and no evidence has emerged showing that Bannon knew about the alleged diversion of investor funds central to the accusations against Guo. But Mother Jones has reported that federal agents have asked witnesses in the case about Bannon’s work with Guo.✂️ Lipman said he did find one person who is “very well known” and is “not Chinese,” who agreed to put up a property worth $2.5 million to secure Wang’s bond. But prosecutors “rejected him because they said he was a convicted felon,” Lipman told the court at the hearing. In response, assistant US Attorney Julia Murray said that the government’s concerns went beyond this person’s criminal record. The “prominent individual” supposedly offering to put up property “is very involved in the fraud in this case,” she said. “And this is a billion dollar fraud that was spearheaded by…Guo. The individual who was going to pledge the property has been involved in several organizations that are alleged to be instrumentalities of the fraud.” (Prosecutors say they are required to ensure that people helping defendants to make bail are financially responsible.) I Tried But I Couldn’t Do It I was hoping to make it all the way through the roundup without including a story about the indictment and today’s arraignment. This was too delicious to pass up. Remember how all the pundits were talking about how this was likely to be a bunch of misdemeanors? Well, gee, I guess they were wrong. First he was going to throw a no-indictment party. Then it was all about it being just a bunch of minor charges. Now it’s all felonies. Poor Donnie. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving scofflaw. Alternet: Brandon Gage: Donald Trump furiously demands Alvin Bragg 'indict himself' following leak of pending criminal charges Less than half an hour after Yahoo!News Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isakoff revealed on Monday that all thirty-four indictments filed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg against former President Donald Trump for falsifying business records are Class E felonies, Trump threw a tantrum on his Truth Social app. Once Trump turns himself in on Tuesday, Isakoff learned from a source "who has been briefed on the procedures" that "a New York City police arrest report summarizing the charges against Trump will then be prepared and entered into the court system before he is led into a courtroom to be formally arraigned on the charges, none of which are misdemeanors."✂️ Trump blew a proverbial gasket when he saw Isakoff's exclusive exposé, targeting President Joe Biden, Isakoff, Bragg, United States Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith, and the latter two men's spouses while parroting Fox News host Jesse Watters' allegations that it was Bragg who spoke with Isakoff. Trump also declared that there was "no crime" committed by himself. What Does Andy Have to Say About It? If there’s anyone who needs skewered with barbs of scorn and derision, her name is Empty Greene. The New Yorker: Satire from the Borowitz Report: Marjorie Taylor Greene Caught in N.Y.C. Eating Soros-Backed Hebrew National Hot Dog NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s political future was in peril after she was caught on camera in New York City eating what her supporters alleged was a George Soros-backed Hebrew National hot dog. Greene, in Manhattan to protest Donald J. Trump’s arraignment, was photographed eating the Judaic sausage in Times Square while en route to having her picture taken with Elmo. After images of Greene seemingly enjoying the controversial beef product ricocheted across social media, the Georgia congresswoman took to Twitter to control the damage. Sensory Overload GoodNewsNetwork: New Sensor Can Tell Whether You Have Covid-19 or The Flu – And Do it Within 10 Seconds Have a cough, sore throat and congestion? Any number of respiratory viruses could be responsible. Conventional tests can identify the culprits by relying on chemical reactions—but researchers now want to swap chemistry tests for electrical changes sensed by nanomaterials. They reported using a single-atom-thick nanomaterial to build a device that can simultaneously detect the presence of COVID-19 and the flu—at much lower levels and much more quickly than conventional tests for either.✂️ “When both of these viruses are circulating together as they did earlier this winter, it would be immensely useful to have a sensor that can simultaneously detect whether you have COVID, flu, none of the above, or both,” said Akinwande, of the University of Texas at Austin. Musical Interlude Bob Marley lives! x YouTube Video Music from Ukraine Look who they’ve got as the guest star, back from before his career change. x YouTube Video On the Lighter Side (with an Edge) Nuns on a field trip Quote(s) of the Day When the enemy enthusiastically embraces you, and the fellow countrymen bitterly reject you, it is hard not to wonder if you are, in fact, a traitor. — Ursula K. LeGuin There are but two parties now: traitors and patriots. And I want hereafter to be ranked with the latter and, I trust, the stronger party. — Ulysses S. Grant No tin-hat brigade of goose-stepping vigilantes or bible-babbling mob of blackguarding and corporation paid scoundrels will prevent the onward march of labor, or divert its purpose to play its natural and rational part in the development of the economic, political and social life of our nation. — John L. Lewis Donald Trump has the benefit of the fact that he's dominated media coverage, I mean, literally dominated media coverage because of the outrageous things he says and so forth. That's going to end here. There's going to be real fight now for the heart and soul of the Republican Party and the conservative movement. And it is not - I will do whatever it takes to prevent it from being taken over by a con artist. — Marco Rubio Donald Trump is a world-class con artist. He conned all these people that signed up for Trump University. Now he's trying to do the same thing to Republican voters. He's trying to convince them that somehow he's the guy that is going to stand up to illegal immigration, but he hires illegal immigrants, that he's fighting for American workers, but he's hiring foreign workers for his hotels, that he's going to bring back jobs from China and from Mexico, but, in fact, he's creating jobs in China and Mexico, because that's where all of his suits and ties that he sells are made. — Marco Rubio Marco Rubio is one of those people. How does that work? How can you call him a con artist and dangerous, and object to all the controversial things he says, and then say, but I`m still going to vote for him? Come on, man. — Barack Obama The Hunting Pressley Report Musings from the desk of Pressley T. NotEver Pressley surrounded by her diverse security detail Dateline: (The living room at Chez NNNE) In today’s edition, Pressley speaks out on press(ley)ing issues faced by Doggie Nation. Take it away Pressley! Well, son of a bitch (he’s my brother)! The former guy has been indicted. I guess all those cats down in Floriduh are going to have to stop trying to bury him in their giant litter box by the sea long enough for the arraignment to occur. Well, son of a bitch (he’s my other brother)! Dominion only has to prove Malice in Foxland to win enough treats for everyone. It should be easy. All they need to do is show that video of Tuckems talking about the M&M that refuses to mate with him. Talk about malice. Do you folks understand that if the country just quit squirming and took a damn flea bath, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Kevin McCarthy and the rest of those disgusting congressional ticks and fleas would be gone in 5 to 8 hours? Remember, it’s your duty to cast shade where needed Goodnight, Chet! Closing Notes In honor of recent events in New York City. Here’s US Blues, being performed as an encore at the 2nd 'Fare Thee Well' 50th Anniversary show at Soldier Field in Chicago, on July 4, 2015, synchronized with the lights atop the Empire State Building 790 miles away. x YouTube Video [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2023/4/4/2159621/-So-What-Else-Is-Going-On-GNR-for-Bluesday-April-4th Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/