10 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

1. Another member of the Democratic Party's gerontocracy has passed …..

    https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5311277-gerry-connolly-democrat-passes-away/

   For the GOP, one more Dem vacancy makes it that much easier to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill.

   I'm guessing that Glenn Youngkin will do whatever is possible to delay scheduling a special election to replace Connolly.

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   1. All the very old Dems in Congress show a total lack of care toward their constituents and the country when they hold on to their seat into old age. A pox on them all.

      And kudos to my mom who retired when she felt she was past her prime representing her district.

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      1. She was indeed a wonderful person, David; always a breath of fresh air. 

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      2. It really is so gross. If you could go back in time and force some of these to retire I think we would be in a very different place right now.

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2. The Fix is in at the Commission

   Thou shalt not advocate for nuclear today

   Even those that are anti-nuclear – are you comfortable with the PUC disallowing an intervener who will advocate for something no one else is advocating for?

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3. Another embarassing moment for Trump’s DOJ:

   Judge blasts ‘embarrassing retraction of charges’ in Newark mayor’s case

   “The apparent rush in this case, culminating today in the embarrassing retraction of charges, suggests a failure to adequately investigate,” [Judge] Espinosa continued. “Your office must operate with a higher standard than that.”

   Interim U.S. attorney Alina Habba has offered no explanation for her decision to drop the misdemeanor trespassing charge her office filed against Baraka (D) following his controversial arrest this month outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in Newark.

   Equally absurd charges were filed against a New Jersey Congresswoman, Rep. LaMonica McIver who was on an official congressional oversight visit.  Surely these charges will be dropped as no jury in their right mind would convict her of any offence.  Team Trump’s malice is only exceeded by their incompetence.

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4. D'oh!  Little Marco claims ignorance (which in this administration is entirely believable).

   Defense Department accepts Qatari luxury jet for Air Force One use

   Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who appeared on Capitol Hill this week to defend the administration’s dramatic cuts to foreign assistance and restructuring of the State Department, also faced a barrage of questions about the legality of accepting the plane from Qatar and the projected cost of retrofitting it for the president’s use.

   “I’m not aware of any plane that’s been given. I know the media reports about it," he told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday, about an hour before the Pentagon’s announcement.

   Nobody in the Air Force seems willing to tell Emperor FDFQ the First that it will cost just as much and take at least as long to upgrade to military standards (secure communications, anti-missle defenses, EMP hardening, in-flight refueling,  etc.) as the $3.9 billion pair already under construction that are scheduled for 2027 delivery.

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   1. I say just let him use it as is.

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5. The Trump Mean Girls (Habba, Bondi, Noem) basically remind me more of Squeaky and the girls from the Manson family than the Plastics from the movie, brainwashed and programmed, but I was still happy that at least one judge (US Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa) would tell Habba to get her act together after the “must bust the Newark Mayor” embarrassment. Apologies to harrydoby who already posted about the same thing…

   “Your role is not to secure convictions at all costs, nor to satisfy public clamor, nor to advance political agendas,” Espinosa told Habba. “Your allegiance is to the impartial application of the law, to the pursuit of truth and to the upholding of due process for all. Your office must operate with a higher standard than that.”

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   1. Speaking of Kristi Noem, I highly recommend this article elaborating on her embarassing performance before the Senate demonstrating her complete ignorance of the Constitution and its provisions that protect our freedoms.

      When government officials are ignorant about the Constitution

      After all, the furor about suspending the writ arose when Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller raised it earlier this month in the context of the administration’s crackdown on immigration and what the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency might do. ICE is, as the Federal Register explains, “the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the second largest investigative agency in the federal government.”

      Noem’s performance on Tuesday was ever that of the loyal bureaucrat seeking to please her boss by steadfastly insisting that he has the authority to do what the Constitution expressly forbids. But it is also strong evidence that she does not intend to “bear true faith and allegiance” to a document whose contents she does not seem to know or whose requirements she does not understand.

      That is more bad news for the fate of our constitutional republic.

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