|
- Trump Lawyer Alina Habaa saying something true, just not in the way she meant it.
|
|
|
We’ve done a lot of talking about Trump lately (the past 7 years) but it’s high time we give his enablers the same level of scrutiny.
-
There has been heavily-increased interest in federal judge Aileen Cannon since she issued her much-derided legal order effectively halting the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of classified records the FBI recovered during the August 8 search of disgraced former president Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. Though when someone starts intervening on behalf of the president who appointed her and granting his legal wishes, who can blame us for wanting to take a look under the hood? Well, she doesn’t have a lot of records to review.
-
Cannon was not yet 40 when Senate Republicans confirmed her to a lifetime federal judgeship (during the lame duck period after Trump had lost!) and if you paid any attention to Trump’s other judicial appointees, she fit his specifications to a tee: extremely right-wing and young (meaning a career that will outlast Trump by decades). Of course, she’s a longtime member of the Federalist Society. Her confirmation did not cause many waves when it was happening as she was one of hundreds of lifetime appointees Trump and the then-Republican-controlled Senate were able to push through during his single presidential term. But in hindsight, maybe not-making-waves when Republicans were racing Trump-nominees onto the bench after he’d lost the election (and was trying to overturn it) was a mistake!
- The Justice Department filed a notice of its intent to appeal Cannon’s ruling yesterday, saying that her order risks “irreparable harm to our national security and intelligence interests.” Federal prosecutors also asked her for a partial stay of her ruling while the appeal is pending, so DOJ can resume its investigation of the classified documents and assess the damage the theft of those documents caused. Yesterday’s filing was far from routine: The Justice Department noted that Cannon’s willingness to block investigators from accessing seized classified records would “cause the most immediate and serious harms to the government and the public.”
|
|
|
Since the news cycle can never escape him, we’d be remiss if we didn’t throw in some Trump news for good measure.
-
Speaking of federal judges, a different one dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee, several ex-FBI officials, and more than two-dozen other people and organizations he claims conspired to undermine his 2016 campaign by trying to vilify him with unsubstantiated(?) information tying him to Russia. This from the guy who shot to prominence in the Republican Party by implying that Ted Cruz’s father was the Zodiac Killer! (Although that one was funny, we admit.) U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks said that what Trump’s lawsuit “lacks in substance and legal support it seeks to substitute with length, hyperbole, and the settling of scores and grievances.” Go off, Judge Middlebrooks!
-
Remember last week when president Biden delivered his primetime address on the domestic dangers posed by MAGA Republicans and their shouty overlord who “promotes authoritarian leaders”? Well, he couldn’t have made a more accurate or timely assessment. Yesterday, Trump offered a massive (sorry, Complete and Total™️) endorsement to Brazil’s hyper-corrupt right-wing authoritarian president, Jair Bolsonaro. Of course he did. In the post, Trump went to great lengths to liken himself to Bolsonaro, who is all but expected to stage a coup if he doesn’t win the upcoming presidential election. Yes, we can certainly see the resemblance!
Trump hasn’t changed since he was first barreling down the campaign trail in 2015. He’s still suing anyone who dares to oppose him and praising authoritarian strongmen who oppress their citizens. The difference now is that during his presidency, he was able to install people in the government to do his bidding long after he left office. Even if we’re able to stave off Trump 2024, we are left with the problem of those who remain loyal to him. And they’re still lingering in some of our highest offices.
|
|
|
Celebrate the new season with Crooked Coffee’s first ever sale. Nothing gets us in the Fall spirit like a good cup of coffee, so Crooked Coffee is having a sale to help you make it through the shorter days and long to-do lists we all have coming up. Or maybe to just enjoy a cup of coffee in peace now that your kids are back to school.
Now through this Sunday at midnight, get FREE shipping when you spend $35 or more. Use code FUELUP at checkout. As always, every Crooked Coffee order supports Register Her – an organization working to register and activate millions of women across the country to vote.
Head to crooked.com/coffee and stock up on some delicious dark or medium roast while supplies last. That’s crooked.com/coffee
**US only, exclusions apply.
|
|
|
The Boston Police Department is investigating (yet) a(nother) threat called into Boston Children’s Hospital today, less than two weeks after the hospital received a(nother) bomb threat. The August 30 threat was determined to be unfounded; responding officers found no explosives on the premises. This disturbing pair of threats comes after doctors and other Children’s Hospital staff who treat transgender minors began recieving threats, because the pediatric and adolescent transgender-health program became a right-wing social-media target. The hospital said it’s “working with local, state, and federal law enforcement authorities and outside experts to hold accountable the individuals threatening our providers and patients.” This is a menacing reminder of the dangers of extremist bigotry, even in states where transgender teens are comparatively “safe.”
|
|
|
Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) asked the state ethics board to dismiss a corruption complaint against her without a public hearing and to seal off related records from the public. Sure sounds like something an innocent person would do!
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth yesterday, her firstborn son Charles gave his first televised address as King Charles III. May his reign less eventfully than Charles I and Charles II!
A group of computer- and election-security experts urged Georgia election officials to replace the state’s touch-screen voting machines with hand-marked paper ballots ahead of the November midterm elections, citing the “serious threats” posed by a breach of the voting system in one county.
A 13 year-old transgernder boy in Texas was pulled out of class and questioned for over an hour by the state Department of Family and Protective Services, according to his mother and court records.
Rudy Giuliani delivered a truly unhinged sound bite in a recent Newsmax interview ahead of Sunday’s 21st anniversary of 9/11, saying it was, “...in some ways, you know, the greatest day of my life…” Perfect Giuliani quote, no notes.
A new report confirms that of the 74 amicus briefs filed in favor of overturning Roe vs. Wade, half of the groups who filed them had links to Ginni Thomas, Conservative activist, MAGA psycho, and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Funny coincidence!
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch said yesterday that the Court’s investigation of the May leak of a draft opinion overruling Roe vs. Wade is ongoing, and that a report on the incident is forthcoming.
The United States celebrated(??) its millionth organ transplant today since the first American organ transplant took place in 1954, on the heels of a new campaign to speed the next million by encouraging more people to register as organ donors.
|
|
|
Something is rotten in the union of Europe: Russia’s war on Ukraine; the hottest summer on record, decimating crops and causing heat-related deaths; an economy still struggling after years of the pandemic, with the added burden of its main energy supplier, Russia, cutting off Ukraine’s allies, sending heating and cooling costs through the roof. (Ok, that’s like three things.) It’s no secret that Europe has had a rough summer, but the confluence of events has left Europe in a precarious socioeconomic and political situation, which will likely have large implications the world over. The European Central Bank announced its largest-ever interest rate increase yesterday. European Union ministers met today to discuss emergency measures to ensure their nations can get through the winter months without additional economic strain caused by skyrocketing energy prices.
The United Kingdom (which, I get it, is no longer part of the European Union, but bear with me) has gone through its own upheaval, from the lingering effects of Brexit and the quick turnover of three prime ministers in the past five years. Newly sworn-in Prime Minister Liz Truss announced yesterday that her Conservative government will cap domestic energy prices for homes and businesses to ease a cost-of-living crisis that is heavily straining U.K. residents. Sounds good! But she will also approve more North Sea oil drilling and lift a ban on fracking to increase domestic energy supply. Sounds bad! But Truss’s major policy announcement was of course overshadowed by yesterday’s news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. These kinds of precarious socio-economic conditions leave Europe’s soil fertile for the outgrowth of ideologically extremist candidates, which has already come to fruition in Italy, where the (basically fascist) Brothers of Italy are poised for a clear win.
|
|
|
The world is ending. And if you think this is some sort of game, well...good. Because it is.
DOOMLINGS is a delightful card game for the end of the world. Score points by playing Traits for your Doomlings' species, making them more adaptable, resilient, and mischievous. Play Traits over multiple rounds, called Ages. But be warned: hidden in the Ages are Catastrophes—special rounds that befall the planet. After three Catastrophes, the world ends, and the player with the highest score wins.
DOOMLINGS is for 2-6 players, ages 10+, and takes 20-45 minutes to play. It's perfect for dinner parties, family game night, and when you just need a break from prepping your bunker.
DOOMLINGS was funded on Kickstarter in 49 minutes, and catapulted into the top 0.1% of Kickstarters of all-time! It’s been played in over 80 countries around the world and has over 2,500 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reviews!
Get 20% off using code CROOKED on doomlings.com!
|
|
|
|
|
