Yes, Virginia, the Trump brain trust, such as it is, really did put their plans to overthrow our government into a PowerPoint presentation. Which begs the question: if Mark Meadows turned this document over to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attempted coup before he decided to stop cooperating, what far worse crap could he now be hiding? It's a question worth answering!
Right-wingers are wringing their hands over the fact that "young Democrats" don't want to date them or be their friends anymore, but what the fuck do they expect after the way they've acted for the last two decades? How many times should they be entitled to call people "traitor" and "weakling" without any consequences? I, for one, am glad that the youths have figured out that shame and shunning are real things civilized people do. And, last I looked, our First Amendment guaranteed freedom of association, which I guess right-wingers think is only for corporations.
Alex Pareene suggests that Elon Musk might be playing a long game by making his self-driving cars work so badly -- chiefly so that governments may further restrict the movements of folks who walk, "for their own safety," of course. Instead of actually punishing Tesla for developing bad technology, which would be a better way of insuring citizens' safety than walling off their sidewalks! Those of us who are trying to make our lives more walkable might take such things a bit personally. And folks who find themselves impressed at such "galaxy-brain thinking" should ask what good any plan does if its goal is "make one person richer." It's not a thing to take to the Pearly Gates, after all.
Oh Jesus Mary and Joseph now Fox News prettyheads want to call the burning of their Christmas tree outside a hate crime against Fox News! Which sure would take corporate "personhood" to a whole new level! Apparently that's about the only way to hold the accused arsonist on bail in New York City now; of course they blame TEH LIBRULZ!!!! for reforming bail laws, and whine about TEH CRIMEZ SURGEZ!!!! though not using actual facts, but seriously, it's not at all absurd to regard a guy who burns down a big Christmas tree as not much of a flight risk or a danger to others. Why, Fox News is whining so much I'm starting to suspect the whole thing was an inside job!
Uh oh: a publicist for Kanye West apparently threatened a Georgia poll-worker with jail if she didn't "come forward" with non-existent election fraud. Of course he didn't directly threaten Ms. Freeman; he just said "I cannot say what specifically will take place. I just know that it will disrupt your freedom and the freedom of one or more of your family members. You are a loose end for a party that needs to tidy up." And he imagines a court of law won't find that a threat? Would now be a good time to remind everyone that Kanye West's best riff comes from Phil Manzanera?
Finally, the president of California's medical board alleges that a group of anti-vaxxers, possibly associated with the notorious astroturf group America's Frontline Doctors, have stalked her, spied on her (by flying a drone over her house), and confronted her in a dark parking lot. If these allegations are true -- and local police seem to think they are -- I hope these individuals get jail time. After all, if we want to be a law-and-order country, we should go after the real enemies of law and order.
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