A Reckless TrumpWorld Round-Up

 

I'm trying to take a moment of Christmas clarity to see the good in the world around me, and while I've never been a Suzy Silverlinings, I did notice the SEC seems to have decided to pay attention to some of Elon Musk's financial shenanigans regarding the purchase of Twitter. Basically, everyone who was wide awake in 2016 saw that social media was a powerful tool in shaping world events, and Elon bought in. Comms for his worldview is an expense in general, but he gets back what he's lost financially in DOGE and influence. 

It's a neat thing, using money to buy influence to get more influence to get more money. Here's a David Bowie song:

It's All Right

 

President Biden has announced that he is issuing a pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, and for one thing--good. 

Although he had previously said he wasn't going to, I rather hoped he would and am not one bit disappointed. If the power of the pardon is supposed to be for the sake of mercy--why not one's own son? Is his son less deserving by virtue of blood? And if the father seriously believes that the son was persecuted and prosecuted for his political sake, is that not something he can at least do for him?

Some are calling it an "abuse of power." A pardon is an official act. I don't even understand what that argument is supposed to mean. Is he gaining something other than his son not being further punished? 

Is it a norm? Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother, Roger. George H. W. Bush granted clemency to his son. Neil. Trump pardoned his daughter's father-in-law, Charles Kushner, and has now appointed him to an ambassadorship. You tell me: what is a norm, here? 

If someone wants to say it enrages MAGAs, again: good. They can bite their My Pillows in rage. They are outraged by things all the time. It's what they do. I don't care.

Here's What I know

 

.@ABCWorldNews reports there is not a single other case of someone being brought to trial like Hunter Biden for lying on a gun purchase form without there being either multiple guns involved and/or commission of a crime with the gun(s) purchased. In a country of 500M guns. pic.twitter.com/J8JLRv6flW

— Victoria Brownworth (@VABVOX) June 11, 2024

President Biden loves his son, hasn't criticized or interfered with the investigation of his son that opened up  during his predecessor's administration, and says he will not pardon him. There has not been another case of someone being brought to trial for lying on a gun purchase form without some other, greater crime also being charged--there was no such crime here. He was found guilty by a jury, and a few of those people were now comfortable talking with the media.

Trump screams "rigged" about everything, and jury members of his trials are cautioned to stay anonymous for their own safety. These are not similar situations at all. And yet the real victims of Trump Derangement Syndrome (MAGAs) are already saying that Biden rigged a case against his own surviving son, just to distract from Trumps own supposed railroading.

There are some people you can't and really shouldn't try to reach. You could explain this to them all day and they wouldn't see it. It's like their paycheck depends on it (Fox News) or their sense of worth depends on it (losers). 

I really, truly, deeply believe you can only tell such people to go fuck themselves. Truth is for people who can still see truth. 

The Steaming Manure of 2000 Mules

 

Pardoned felonious dirtbag Dinesh D'Souza wrote a genuinely fraudulent book stating that the 2020 election was stolen, and absolutely everything was wrong with it. Now Salem Media Group wants nothing to do with it or the film made from it because they do not want their whole ass sued off of them. 

This is a very clear stance largely based in the very real situation that what D'Souza posits is indefensible and that he used bad false data to defame real people. You know, the same way Rudy Giuliani defamed real election workers with his false claims, and for which he is now being disbarred and bankrupt because he decided to use fraud to do treason.

(Look, you can say I'm over the top to call this "treason", but when Russian active measures support Trump, I don't equivocate about that--why? Why do they want this senile indebted corrupt and easily blackmailable asshole for president? Because he is the entire handbook of "people you would never give top secret clearance to" and there he nonetheless was. Scooping up boxes to take to Mar-a-Lago and by some accounts, having scooped some off to Bedminster while he was at it. Given his Oval office performance with Lavrov and his little gimp act at Helsinki, you want to bet he never sold assets out to his lil' friend Putin? Therefore, if I were a patriot, I would simply not accept their witch hunt intel about Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, because how in the hell is that the American Way? And I would view his Mar-a-Lago docs case way differently from how blindfolded hostage judge Aileen Cannon seems to have . Are you okay Aileen? Blink or something!) 

I Love the Smell of Discovery in the Morning

 

Comer’s new talking point is that the reason his impeachment investigation is stalled is because there’s *too much evidence* 😆 pic.twitter.com/MOi09SmVka

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 30, 2024

It smells like burning whatever Comer's fucked-up old "evidence" is. And yes, I am saying "fucked up old evidence. " And Comer should know by now, it doesn't actually go anywhere. If there was too much evidence, why haven't we seen an orderly, not-debunked, probative trail of information that connects the dots from Hunter Biden doing....aw Jesus, any damn thing....and his dad somehow benefitting and quid pro quoing the fuck out of it? 

Hunter Biden, despite being depicted as unqualified for various positions he's worked in by Republicans as if he's a nepo-baby, is a lawyer. He's a good lawyer with really good lawyers. He's suing Fox News for defaming him over exactly the bullshit that the House GOP has being trying to impeach his father over. And I say "Bravo!" because here's the fun thing--Fox News seems to do the same thing for Trump the National Enquirer did--bury negative shit about Trump, and fluff absolute bullshit to denigrate his opponents. That's what happened with their Dominion and Smartmatic voter fraud lies--and until the Biden story became obvious toxic waste, that's what they were peddling to an audience well-conditioned (by them!) to believe in Democrat fuckery and excuse any obvious GOP lies. 

How shitty, busted and past its sell-by date is the Biden impeachment story? Um, Rudy Giuliani, who needs an intervention and seems to have no one in his life who is considerate enough to make it happen, is making it very clear SOMEONE should just "lean on" Zelenskyy again.  

TWGB: Is it Dead Yet?

 

One might well ask if the House Impeachment clusterfuck is dead yet, but as for my observations of TrumpWorld, I maintain that just because the mule is dead is no reason for fools to stop flogging it so long as they find value in tenderizing the meat.  And that's what this is--red meat. Once the dogs are whipped up, they don't care how gamey it is, so long as they get fed. 

So what if the witness who was indicted for lying to the FBI has been re-arrested after being let go because:

“It has come to this Court’s attention that counsel for defendant has sought an emergency hearing in the District of Nevada to arrange the release of Defendant Smirnov, likely to facilitate his absconding from the United States,” Wright wrote.

Heh. Yeah. that sounds kind of novel, until you realize he has access to millions of dollars and several foreign intelligence contacts.  

So what if Tony Bobulinski's claim that former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson is a liar can be debunked with a photo? 

"In the shadows of the bleachers, I observed Mark and Tony Bobulinski's interaction through a gap in the vehicles. When they said their goodbyes, I saw Mark hand Tony what appeared to be a folded sheet of paper or a small envelope," Hutchinson wrote in the book.

"Cassidy Hutchinson is an absolute liar and a fraud," Bobulinski told the panel, saying he wasn't wearing a ski mask and that "[Meadows] didn't hand me a single thing."

Knowing Truth from a Lie

 

BREAKING:

Alexei Navalny’s wife @yulia_navalnaya releases a video announces she will continue her murdered husband’s work.

She says it’s clear Putin murdered Alexei.

“ Iwill continue to fight for our country. And I call on you to stand beside me” pic.twitter.com/evgIGHqBym

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) February 20, 2024

Yulia Navalnaya has been by her husband's side while Putin's government poisoned him, lied about him, arrested him, imprisoned and tortured him, and finally, murdered him. She knows truth from a lie. Her mother-in-law has gone to collect to body of her son--the authorities would not like to release it, because a body can tell a story. Alexei Navalny's brother is now threatened with new charges. 

The truth is, Putin cannot bear opposition. The flowers left for the martyr are swept away from sight, and so are the protesters. And the flowers return, and sometimes, the protesters will. This is the country Tucker Carlson extolled because of its supermarkets, one where a dual citizen is accused of treason for sending $51 to a humanitarian aid fund for Ukraine. 

This is a country that commits heinous acts against humanity. 

And they are responsible for actual election interference here in the United States with respects to our presidential elections, especially. We know this is actually true about the 2016 election, despite all the right-wing foofaraw. And it's starting to look like there was definite election interference in the 2020 election by Russians just as many former intelligence officials believed. Because now we know from an indicted witness that they had contacts with Russian intelligence who passed on "dirt" on Hunter Biden. Which snowballed into the fucking up of his plea deal, but also was pimped by GOP congresscritters as ammo against Biden. 

TWGB: Raining Bad Pennies

 

This post is brought to by Bell's Theorem, karma and the tendency of criminals to return to the scene of the crime. If this opening sentence doesn't make sense, wait for it. I've been waiting for the NY civil trial decision and the immunity thing like all of you guys. The waiting is either the hardest part as Petty proclaimed, or the special sauce as hedonists everywhere have discovered to their throbbing surprise and delight. 

Discovering that Trump's data protection suit against Christopher Steele was rejected was a fun thing to trip over on a Thursday morning. There's no good reason to have brought that case, and no good reason to file it when it got filed except--as a warning that Trump will try to sue you eventually if you say mean things about him ever? I don't know UK law, but this was rejected for statute of limitations, which really feels to me like he didn't want the suit, just the message the making the suit sends. And his campaign paid for the pleasure of a lolsuit. (Level Law--the firm--it's in his FEC reports. Donors are paying for the pleasure of Trump satisfying his grudges.)

Trump's predicament is dumb. What if there were a suit that had to deal with the data in the dossier, which would be rehashing shit that could have come up in 2016--NOW?! Me? I think there were a LOT OF THINGS we could have discussed about Trump in 2016 that we didn't. And now it's 2024, there's SO MUCH MORE. 

TWGB: Who is the Fairest One of All?

 

Donald Trump is very jealous that Taylor Swift is prettier than him and has a football player boyfriend and is the Time Magazine Person of the Year. And she did it all herself.  So he wants to send his flying monkeys to let her know he IS SO more popular than her. He was president once you know, and probably still has papers in his possession that prove it! He's still BIG. It's just the Deep State and the Lying Media's fault he looks SMALL. 

He'll show them! He's ready for his close-up, Mr. DeMille! 

Just, maybe not so close. And with a bit of a filter, And with so much makeup it looks like he's applying shoe polish to his face. 

Deciding he needs to go after a female pop star just after a hefty defamation decision against him sounds like just the sort of beef he would get into. Being appalling to women is one of his hobbies, after all. And consider that it's women who are or would be giving and have given him the most trouble. The nasty Hillary Clinton, who first pegged him as a national security threat and his followers as a basket of deplorables. Nancy Pelosi of the two impeachments. Letitia James. Fani Willis. Nikki Haley. Stormy Daniels, E. Jean Carroll, Roberta Kaplan, Tanya Chutkan... 

House Republicans Had Some Kind of Day

 

Things aren't great with the House Republicans. For one thing, some of them are big mad at Speaker Mike Johnson for trying to do something useful like make the government still happen, in part because it involves dealing with Democrats and obviously, that's insane. They tanked some rules just from spite because they're salty about it.  And poor Mike Johnson has to make a pilgrimage to Godfather Trump to get his blessing on the whole avoiding a shutdown thing, which is awkward, because we all know Trump wants the economy to crash because he absolutely said so. 

I have some idea of the kind of arguments that have to be made. If House Republicans are responsible for a shutdown--all Republicans could be blamed, including Trump. Whether Trump can hear arguments like that is dicey, though. Ditto (or maybe that should be "MAGA-dittoes") for the mascots some red districts have elected to Congress--they were elected to sow chaos and it really shows. They want a shutdown for the same reason Patriarch Newt Gingrich normalized Republicans causing shutdowns--just burning spite against the idea of doing government at all. 

This is why the House sucked out loud in 2023. They couldn't pass legislation for shit and just did mascot stuff. Retiring Rep. McHenry referred to it as "a very actively stupid political environment" and that sounds exactly right. 

What the Biden Impeachment Inquiry is About

 

Earlier this year, I wrote a blogpost about the House GOP Biden impeachment inquiry back when I agreed with Rep. Raskin that this inquiry has been an impeachment about nothing, but now I'm pretty sure I see exactly what's it's about. Thanks to Rep. Troy Nehls, we can all appreciate what it's for: "Donald J. Trump 2024, Baby!"   (Okay, I lie--I always knew it was exactly about that.) 

I mean, Trump's legal fund money is going to Trump himself and his PAC money is paying his own legal bills, so why not have the taxpayers fund an anti-Biden campaign for him? And that's what he wants, so that's what every little GOP congressperson in the House gave him. 

I mean, here's a snip about what Trump wants from July:

Former president Donald Trump called on congressional Republicans to withhold military support for Ukraine until the Biden administration cooperates with their investigations into the president and his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings.

The demand, delivered at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, echoed Trump’s conduct at issue during his first impeachment, when Trump withheld aid from Ukraine while pressuring the country’s president to announce an investigation of Biden.

“Congress should refuse to authorize a single additional shipment of our depleted weapons stockpiles … to Ukraine until the FBI, DOJ and IRS hand over every scrap of evidence they have on the Biden Crime Family’s corrupt business dealings,” Trump said at the rally. He added that any Republican lawmakers who didn’t join the effort should face primary challenges, a tactic he used last year to unseat Republicans who voted to impeach him for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

That little bit there? "Echoed Trump's conduct at issue during his first impeachment." It's a great touch because it sure does! The US conditions aid to Ukraine (although the Republicans in congress are playing their fund-denial games with border security) and the pay-off is dirtying up Biden so that Trump can win re-election! See how in those paragraphs, you can understand who is doing what for whom, to get what in return? And what should happen to GOP reps who don't do what Trump wants?

Yeah, well, after all the "inquiring" that Comer, Jordan, and Smith have done so far, we still don't have anything like that for how Hunter Biden paying back his loans equals political favors the senior Biden was going to do for...anybody.  

Now, Hunter Biden showed up yesterday and called out the House GOP over their subpoena shenanigans, letting them know he would give a deposition, but not behind closed doors. Sounds to me like he isn't hiding something, the House GOP are. After all, I remember when they just hated closed door depositions. Then they realized that if they used closed-door depositions, their failures wouldn't be nearly as, um, public.

And then they could keep up the lying. And I while I certainly could expect less from them (I mean, MTG wants to toss around revenge porn again, I just know it), I trust they will continue to limbo under my expectations. 

A No-Interest Loan

 

Comer: That’s bullcrap! If he wanted to send money to his son for a truck then send him money for a truck pic.twitter.com/Z8zgBNRUi6

— Acyn (@Acyn) December 5, 2023

So, Rep. Comer got all heated up because he found these payments that definitely demonstrated influence peddling: Hunter Biden made three whole payments to his dad in 2018, totaling...$4,140.  A truly prodigious sum that had already been reported as being for a truck loan. Once everyone pointed out that we already knew about this and it was just a loan getting paid back, Comer came up with the very magnanimous point: Why wouldn't you just gift him the money out of the goodness of your heart?

Um, not for the bills of a grown-ass man. 

This is pretty small, and I'm sure they would like to hear Hunter Biden tell more about it. Just not in public. Because to hear Republicans talk about these very serious Biden allegations, it's the Democrats who turn everything into a clown show. 

Uh-huh. And although I don't like this to get around, when I'm not blogging, I'm actually the Pope. 

TWGB: He's Flaunting It

 

Trump last night: “Thank you very much for being here. They wanted to use the place … this place is packed. We don’t let people use Mar-a-Lago very much because, as you know, we hold very important documents here.” pic.twitter.com/jyIlDVrZN0

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 2, 2023

Ha, ha. He implies there are still very secret documents kept at Mar-a-Lago. This is so funny to me. So funny I think we need another search warrant.  Because this man is not learning anything from his various brushes with the law yet: like, does it apply to him? He's in well enough trouble over keeping documents at Mar-A-Lago, regardless of his pet Judge Cannon's attempts to delay his trial. We know he had advice of counsel he'd be screwed if he still had documents, but then sort of ignored that. 

So, do I think he's still that stupid? Well, yeah. As the comedian Ron White has established, "You can't fix stupid." He's happily stupid this far in his life, what good would smartening up do him? 

Does he think he has all kinds of rights and privileges other people don't? Huh--well he got told this week he doesn't have immunity against civil trials over 1/6 because what in the world does pretending your election was stolen have to do with being president? He also got told, and not for the first time, that presidents aren't kings and hell yeah, he is liable for shit he's done. 

But why would that stick if it doesn't help him any?

TWGB: TrumpWorld is Definitely Not OK

 

You know, all I wanted to do last night was post a little bit about Rudy Giuliani fixing to sue President Biden, but I fell asleep at the computer because it got so deep in the weeds, and as of today, there was more to the story:

Look, I think it's great that Rudy Giuliani found lawyers to take this case even though he is being sued by some of his other lawyers for not getting paid and can't seem to keep a Georgia-based counselor to save his behind. He's getting sued by Hunter Biden, of course, and by a former employee alleging sexual assault and harassment which is a case involving details that are profoundly stomach-churning. But these guys believe enough in Rudy Giuliani to pursue a case where his allegations are that Joe Biden's crack about Giuliani being a Russian pawn spreading disinfo cost him his reputation and millions of dollars of business--

In a way actually being a source of Russian disinfo, making wild pronouncements about a stolen election with shoe polish running down his face, putting on a presser at a landscaping service, farting COVID into the face of his stolen election co-counsel, losing his license to practice because of his shoddy ethics and being so frequently intoxicated that it's part of the investigation into the attempt of the Trump Team to steal the 2020 election are not the ACTUAL THINGS that screwed Giuliani's reputation? 

The Impeachment About Nothing

 Rep. Jamie Raskin (D, National Treasure) was one of the most persistent voices of sense in Thursday's House impeachment hearing, and his comment that this was an "impeachment about nothing" gives me the title of the post. Maybe it's about bribery? But who got bribed and for what by whom? 

Usually, you would want to establish a quid pro quo, right? I give you "X" and you give me "Y". You give me an investigation into Joe Biden and I'll release military aid, for example. This is not so clearcut. Is the bribe coming from Burisma to get rid of the prosecutor who was manifestly not investigating them? Is the bribe coming from Chinese businessmen because yadda yadda yadda? (That Hunter Biden was drawing a loan based on his investment to pay major debts is actually pretty plausible, given what we know of his circumstances at the time.) 

What the GOP House established was they were GONNA GODDAMN FIND a reason. They were going to take this impeachment business seriously. They didn't all stick around or provide any evidence or anything, so I don't know how literally they are taking the impeachment business, but man, they are serious. 

Raskin proposed subpoenaing Rudy Giuliani and Lev Parnas. Oh. The Jimmies (Comer and Jordan) didn't like that idea.  The damaging data of the liberated laptop loses a bit of its shine when you consider the irregular provenance. 

TWGB: We're Never Leaving 2016, Right?

 

Hammered Junior interrupts Michael Flynn to riff on the allegations of his dad getting golden showers from Russian prostitutes. pic.twitter.com/2TyiLBQrW5

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) September 25, 2023

Heh, yes, the takeaway of the Steel Dossier is DEFINITELY the golden showers part. Jesus.  See, this is the ridiculousness of the Real Housewives of TrumpWorld that keeps me hanging on. Junior always looks like he wanders into rooms vaguely hoping someone cares enough about his ass to stage an intervention (they don't). Mike Flynn should have been x'd from a professional political campaign over fake news shit in 2016, but went on to be pardoned for lying to the FBI by the Trump Administration because my god. He's a Russian-influenced quisling practicing psyops on the US population, but he's their Russian-influenced quisling practicing psyops on the US population. 

They're bringing up the Steele Dossier because it didn't actually start the investigation into Russian interference and no one heard anything about pee tapes before Trump was already in office, but most people don't remember things linearly. It still scratches a very specific itch--the desire of Trump to exorcise the "Russia, Russia, Russia" demon with his own specific and frankly amusingly stupid counter narrative. 

Ukraine are the bad guys who helped Hillary Clinton by framing Russia and no they didn't, and despite all the obvious RIGGING! like in California, where Trump could have definitely won! um. Trump won in 2016 anyway. He had his little bullshit election fraud commission that found nothing and disbanded. Why does he need to pretend he was wronged? He had his opportunity. He fucked up COVID. He lost more jobs than like, Hoover. He got impeached twice! Why is he still here?

Why are we all still here in 2016? 

TWGB: They Want to Impeach Joe Biden?

 

Ok, you have questions: "How is the declaration of Speaker McCarthy (R: Gimp) a TrumpWorld Grab-Bag post?"

Oh gosh, I think it's because Trump told them to do it. Trump said, out loud and also in private, to the House GOP that they wanted to go on ahead and try to impeach Joe Biden because he got impeached, too, and wasn't that some kind of RIGGING? Which is funny as fuck, because the investigation that the House GOP are going to do into Joe Biden the year before the 2024 election is the exact same sham investigation that Trump extorted Ukraine President Zelenskyy for sparking his own first impeachment. And even some current GOP House members can kind of admit that.  (And sadly, Rep. Ken Buck, who is a Tea Party conservative in you'd think good standing, is likely to be looking at some Liz Cheney treatment for his honesty.) 

So, what do we know? Well, we know Kevin McCarthy's round and fuzzies just get passed between MTG and Trump and he unilaterally called the investigation because he belatedly realized he might have a hard time with the votes. And GOP centrists all sighed a sigh of relief because actually, this impeachment thing might be seen as a real partisan clusterfuck since they spent so much time decrying the "politicization of government."

And here they are. 

Marjorie Taylor Greene the Purposeful Pornographer

 

It amuses me that some Republicans pretend that Trump indictments are somehow detracting from Biden scandals, when it really looks to me like Biden pretend scandals only exist to detract from the fact that the GOP has placed their ONLY HOPE in Dopey One Kenobi, the twice-impeached one-term wonder who is facing all kinds of legal jeopardy in his post-presidency. They have absolutely no faith that anyone else on their bench could get on the field and play. They pretend that striking Trump down with indictments is only going to make him stronger, but, um. 

That totally feels like a Jedi mindtrick, and that does not work on anyone but the weak-minded. That's why I'm pretty sure that rhetoric is meant for, you know. Republicans. 

So, I get that the whistleblower stuff was mostly just a platform for MTG's stunt--wasn't it? Because it's what we're going to remember. right? Sure, Rep. Jamie Raskin debunked the bullshit that got put out today, but the star of today's clownshow was Marjorie Taylor Greene, inexplicably allowed to be on committees, who brandished a printout of a Hunter Biden selfie from his laptop to pretend that Hunter Biden was doing on purpose porn. 

You know who demonstrated intent to distribute said porn? Not Hunter Biden--Marjorie Taylor Greene. She just waved that stuff about in a committee hearing like Whoa! And frankly, there's no indication he (Hunter Biden) intended to distribute anything on the laptop or licensed the use of his image in any way. And that laptop was illicitly obtained as far as I know.

Look, MTG is all about the prurience. She made a big deal out of "Fang Fang"  not long ago, like all gutter GOP do, and frankly, the allegations made her smile, and I understand why. She needs to feel sanctimonious about something. And my god--Democrats fuck! And coming from a Crossfit gym trampoline, we will accept that criticism from her for exactly what it's worth!

TWGB: The Essence of Trumpism

 

"Audrey Ann Southard, center, holds a mask during a counter-protest against a Black Lives Matter demonstration in New Port Richey on Aug. 8, 2020" Garbage person. https://t.co/tDV7wI47RH https://t.co/IcRL7qHBRz pic.twitter.com/bDC8rZI9hc

— Jean-Michel Connard 🎃 (@torriangray) July 14, 2023

Audrey Ann Southard stood in the dock awaiting sentencing today and decided to throw out all good sense and her lawyers' instructions and go on a stupid rant about the government. She was before a judge known to be reasonable, the DOJ originally counseled leniency, and her spectacle got her six years. That's a long time when you are manifestly aging like mayo on a warm windowsill. (I'm sorry, but ol' girl is only 54 and looks a badly-used seventy. I'm 50 myself, and she looks bad next to my momma.)

I don't know what made her this way in life. I very nearly don't care. But here's her idol, Donald Trump, reacting to the DOJ retracting its support of his defamation case because he just keeps defaming:

He's doubling down. He thinks he "won" at trial because they found him very likely guilty of sexual abuse and not rape, but only because she couldn't be sure if she was penetrated by his fingers and not his penis, which is...not flattering or exculpatory. And if he's still fucked up about what she looks like--hint--she looks a little like his second wife, he said so himself.  This not smart or advised by his lawyers, I am certain. And he's basically just like Audrey Ann Southard. He's mad about being called out for what he did, it's everyone else's fault he's getting called out, and he's more convinced he can go be his worst self. He's basically back in the defamation saddle again. Like does he want more of a case against him? Because this is how you get it. 

Now, Southard got a little more of a sentence than she was going to get. She might have got three-four years--she basically begged for six. Contrary to the claims that 1/6 folk got heavy sentences and are being treated worse than anyone else, some people say they are getting off lightly and deserve greater sentences. (Some people say otherwise.)

Whistleblowers Sometimes Fail

 

Whoops. Gal Luft, the GOP's new fake Hunter Biden "whistleblower," was just indicted by the Justice Department for arms trafficking, violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, making false statements to federal agents, and being an unregistered foreign agent for China.

James Comer… pic.twitter.com/cgwcfPbDnE

— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) July 10, 2023

You ever lose track of your very important witness to something and it turns out they were actually an agent of a foreign government just cutting deals left and right with what you might call hostile government entities? Because that's what seems to have happened with one of the GOP House Oversight Commitee's really big guns. You wouldn't have thought, right? 

Anyway, this guy was influencing TrumpWorld from 2016. 

 Among other things, in the weeks before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, LUFT and a co-conspirator (“CC-1”), who is a Chinese national and worked for a Chinese nongovernmental organization affiliated with a Chinese energy company, created a written “dialogue” between CC-1 and Individual-1, in which LUFT wrote Individual-1’s responses and included information that was favorable to China.  The dialogue was then published in a Chinese newspaper online and sent to, among others, individuals in the United States, including a journalist and professors at multiple U.S. universities.  When LUFT was writing the dialogue, CC-1 told LUFT that “[i]n these articles, we do not want to spill all the beans yet, just enough to let ‘people’ know he [i.e., Individual-1] is in the corridor of power to be.  Just broad stroke policy consideration that leaves plenty of room for interpretation and imagination to be filled in later.”  After the purported “conversations” were published, LUFT told CC-1 that certain information, favorable to China, had been “tucked between the lines.”  Shortly after the 2016 election, LUFT and CC-1 also discussed possible roles Individual-1 might have in the incoming U.S. administration and discussed Individual-1 taking a “silent trip” to China.  LUFT responded that “[w]e are debating about his role in the new admin.  There are all kinds of considerations . . .We should talk ftf [i.e., face-to-face] as there can be a supremely unique opportunity for china.”

The Individual-1 looks to be Jim Woolsey.  He was in the loop for a little bit of fuckery. But I'm not saying I understand how all of those parts fit. I just know when the House GOP's witness is kind of a spy for China this is very not good for them.

And I had thought it was pretty bad when one of their whistleblowers was just dead. 

Anyway in other news, the Trump-appointed US Atty investigating Hunter Biden's tax things says he was as independent as independent could be, which would have been my linchpin story if not for the China agent thing. Which lets you all know how well the GOP Oversight stuff is going right now.