Best Bets: Sza, Ugly Sweater Pub Crawl, El Monstero, Take 6, 'charlie Brown Christmas'

Madge Greene is now screeching that Democrats want Donald Trump to be “murdered in jail.” This was during an interview with whacko Alex Jones, natch. Via the Independent: The right-wing lawmaker made the remarks during an interview with Infowars host Alex Jones, in which she suggested that the four criminal cases Mr Trump is facing - including an ongoing trial where he has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts relating to alleged hush money payments - are an intentional effort by his political rivals to imprison the former president until he dies. She added that Democrats are also attempting to strip Mr Trump of his presidential Secret Service detail to accomplish their goal.

The Federal Trade Commission voted yesterday to adopt a historic and far-reaching ban on noncompete agreements, which are common now in almost all job markets. Thanks, Lina Khan! Via HuffPost: The agency has said that the agreements, in which workers are forbidden from seeking a job with a competing business for a certain period of time, lead to an “unfair method of competition” and violate federal law.

Donald Trump’s ongoing New York criminal trial hinges on payments of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels. It’s not the hush money, per se, that is illegal, it’s the fact that Trump allegedly falsified business records to cover up the payment and avoid damage to his presidential campaign. Nevertheless, compulsive liar Trump denies he ever had an affair with Daniels. Sen.

P. M. Carpenter. Avedon's Sideshow. Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters. Press Watch. By M. Bouffant. Submit to mbru@crooksandliars.com. read more

If you look closely, you'll notice that Zhanna Polupanova is wearing a sweatshirt with the English words "Follow Your Dreams." Apparently, hers includes a new roof for her modest house in the country, which with any luck will be repaired with what the Russians call "coffin money." Zhanna also rather cold-bloodedly says she does not feel sympathy for her sons going to war in Ukraine as they are meant to serve the Motherland.

The International Monetary Fund issued a most unusual rebuttal this month. Its spokeswoman Julie Kozack told reporters in Washington that executive director Krishnamurthy Subramanian’s growth forecast of 8% for India did not represent the views of the IMF, which still maintained a projection of 6.5% for the country. Subramanian’s views—expressed at an event in New Delhi a few days earlier—were in his role as India’s representative at the IMF, she said.