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Black-Robed Hack Sam Alito Flew a 'Stop the Steal' Flag Outside His House - The Friday AM Quickie 5/17/24

By Corey Pein —

Art critics don't think much about King Charles' first official portrait, but I for one think it's refreshing to see such a striking acknowledgement that the British monarchy is a tradition drenched in blood. The butterfly, apparently, was Charles' idea, and the artist reports that his subject was unusually good at sitting perfectly still. We can't pick our talents! - Corey

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THE BIG NEWS

Republican Bullsh*t Roundup: Bridge for Sale in Maryland as Larry Hogan Claims He's 'Pro-Choice'

  • Signaling Support for Donald Trump's 2020 Election Lies, Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito Flew Inverted US Flag Outside His Home After Jan. 6 Alito blames his wife for flying the flag in the manner promoted by MAGA fanatics after the Capitol insurrection, citing her ongoing dispute with neighbors who displayed an anti-Trump sign; for any lower court judge, such a brazen political statement would "trigger some sort of review to determine if there was any misconduct." via the New York Times.
  • House Republicans Deny Recognition to Capitol Cops Attacked on Jan. 6, Give Shout Out to Proud Boys "Standing back and standing by, Mr. President," creepy Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz wrote in one of many ass-kissing posts from Trump's New York criminal trial. via HuffPost and Politico.
  • Self-Described Former Trump 'Thug' Michael Cohen Keeps His Cool Under Cross-Examination at Hush Money Trial While Cohen's "voice grew raspy at times, he did not panic or counterattack even as [Trump lawyer Todd] Blanche grabbed the microphone and shouted that he was a liar." via the Washington Post and Politico.
  • 16 Democrats Join House GOP to Pass Bill Forcing Biden to Send Bombs to Israel No Matter How Many Civilians They Kill House Republicans are also somehow finding the time to investigate UCLA for not cracking down hard enough on student protesters, and to move forward with contempt charges against Attorney General Merrick Garland over some truly irrelevant bullsh*t. via NBC News, the Los Angeles Times, and the Associated Press.
  • Soft on Crime? Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Pardons Racist Killer Who Shot Black Lives Matter Protester in 2020 "Daniel Perry texted his friends about plans to murder a protester he disagreed with. After a lengthy trial, with an abundance of evidence, 12 impartial Texans determined that he carried out that plan, and murdered my Garrett," writes Whitney Mitchell, common-law wife of Garrett Foster, the BLM protester Perry shot. "With this pardon, the Governor has desecrated the life of a murdered Texan and US Air Force veteran, and impugned that jury's just verdict. He has declared that Texans who hold political views that are different from his — and different from those in power — can be killed in this State with impunity." via the Texas Tribune.
  • Record Heat Swamps Florida After Gov. Ron DeSantis Signs Bill Deleting the Words 'Climate Change' from State Law and Banning New Wind Power Projects The rebuke to "radical green zealots" follows another bill he signed earlier this month banning lab-grown meat, which isn't yet commercially available, on the grounds that it is part of a plot by "global elites" to force people "to eat fake meat and bugs." via the Washington Post.
  • North Carolina GOP Seeks to Criminalize Mask-Wearing in Public, with No Exemptions for Health "The bill also further criminalizes the blockage of roads or emergency vehicles for a protest, which has occurred during pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Raleigh and Durham." via the Associated Press.
  • Alabama Republicans in Full Panic Mode as Mercedes Workers Speed Toward Historic Union Vote Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill this week denying state funds to companies that voluntarily recognize employee unions, characterized as "dangerous leech[es]" by state House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter. via the New York Times and HuffPost.

South Africa Seeks Emergency ICJ Ruling to Stop Israel's Rafah Invasion

Attorneys for Israel will respond today to an urgent filing at The Hague by South Africa, which has asked the International Court of Justice to order a halt to all military action in Gaza. "Enough is enough," Irish lawyer Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, representing South Africa in the genocide case, said yesterday, telling the court it had one last chance to save ensure the survival of Palestinians in Gaza as Israeli forces press their assault deeper into Rafah. South Africa also asked for an order stating Israel must permit international investigators and journalists to enter Gaza. "Israel's declared aim of wiping Gaza from the map is about to be realised," another lawyer, Vaughan Lowe, said. "Further, evidence of appalling crimes and atrocities is literally being destroyed and bulldozed, in effect wiping the slate clean for those who've committed these crimes and making a mockery of justice." Meanwhile in New York City, leaked chat logs show a group of pro-Israel billionaires directly lobbied Mayor-Cop Eric Adams to use police to crack down on pro-Palestine protesters – and that Adams was "ok" with the idea of police intelligence officers teaming up with private investigators, presumably to target protesters.

Keep It in the Ground: Biden Taps the Brakes on Coal

Environmental groups are celebrating the Biden administration's decision, announced yesterday, to stop auctioning off coal mining leases in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming, the source of nearly half of the coal extracted in the US. "This means that billions of tons of coal won’t be burned, compared to business as usual,” Earthjustice attorney Shiloh Hernandez tells the Washington Post. "It's good news, and it's really the only defensible decision the [Bureau of Land Management] could have made, given the current climate crisis." Sick F*ck Donald Trump, who will certainly reverse the decision if reelected, secured millions of dollars for his campaign this week at a Kentucky fundraiser "hosted by Joseph W. Craft III, president and chief executive of coal producer Alliance Resource Partners." Meanwhile, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official, Derek Manzello, tells NBC News that the world's oceans have gone "crazy haywire," with heat stress placing nearly two-thirds of cloral reefs around the world at risk of coral bleaching and possible death – all because of climate change caused by humans burning fossil fuels.

QUICKEST QUICKIES

  • U.S. Military Is Preparing for 'Eventual' Deployment of NATO Trainers to Ukraine "As a part of NATO, the United States would be obligated under the alliance's treaty to aid in the defense of any attack on the trainers, potentially dragging America into the war." via the New York Times.
  • Panama's President-Elect Plans to Make the Darien Gap Crossing Even More Dangerous By Adding Checkpoints UNICEF, meanwhile, announced that the number of child migrants crossing the Darien Gap will increase by more than one-third this year to a rough total of 160,000. via Reuters.
  • Thai Prime Minister Promises 'Investigation' Into Death of Imprisoned Young Pro-Democracy Activist Netiporn "Bung" Sanesangkhom, 28, had ended her hunger strike before she died of "heart failure" in the prison where she was confined during her trial for allegedly insulting the monarchy. via Deutsche Welle and Al Jazeera.
  • 'The CFPB Is Here to Stay': Consumer Banking Regulator Survives Right-Wing Legal Challenge at Supreme Court In a 7-2 decision yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that the funding mechanism for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was constitutional, contrary to a lower court's ruling that sided with business lobbyists and payday lenders. via the Washington Post and the Associated Press.

SOME NUMBER

$80 million

That's how much Hard Rock International expects to pay in severance to 3,000 employees of the Mirage hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip, which the company is closing this summer so it can build a new, rebranded hotel on the same site. The Culinary Workers Union won a contract last year that ensures $2,000 in severance per year of service for laid-off workers, who will also be able to reclaim their jobs when the hotel reopens in 2027. Nevada is a right-to-work state with no mandatory severance, so without the union, those workers might have gotten nothing.

ON THE SHOW TODAY

5/17: It's Casual Friday! Sam speaks with Heather Digby Parton, contributing writer at Salon.com and proprietor of the blog Hullabaloo, to round up the week in news. Then, he's joined by Matthew Film Guy!

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

Crowd LAUGHS at Tech Grifter Predicting Your AI Will Hook Up With People's AI on Dating Apps

It boggles the mind how much these people get paid.

🚨 Help Evacuate This Family From Gaza 🚨

Sam and Emma welcome Mohammad Aldaghma back to the show for an update about his family's struggle to get out of Gaza; here is the link to the fundraiser, which is now about halfway to its goal.

PARTING WORDS

"Nothing criminal about being generous."

-- César de Castro, attorney for New Jersey developer Fred Daibes, arguing in federal court yesterday that the gold bars he gave to crooked Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez were not bribes but friendly gifts. Mendendez disclosed yesterday that his wife and co-defendant Nadine, whom his attorneys are blaming for the whole situation, is being treated for breast cancer.

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