Comment on Mike Pence: 'Smoking doesn't kill,' and other thigh-slappers

In a little-noticed court filing recently, feds described sleazy former Trump advisor Steve Bannon as a “co-conspirator” in a massive criminal fraud and racketeering case against a flamboyant, far-right Chinese fugitive -- you know, the guy with the yacht where Bannon was hiding out? Via Mother Jones: FBI agents in March 2023 arrested Guo Wengui, a self-styled anti-Chinese government activist Bannon once advised, charging him and two associates with using a series of fraudulent investment opportunities to defraud thousands of Guo’s supporters in the Chinese diaspora of more than $1 billion. Guo used the proceeds to fund a lavish lifestyle for himself and his family, including a $3.5 million Ferrari, a $26 million mansion, a $140,000 piano, and two $36,000 mattresses, the Justice Department alleges.

One of my lawyer friends has been predicting for months we would see Amy Coney Barrett gradually moving toward a partial alliance with the liberal justices on the court, and yesterday, we saw her back up Justice Sotomayor's argument in the Iowa abortion case before the court. "The U. S. Supreme Court sounded divided yesterday during oral arguments in a case concerning access to emergency abortions.

Maybe Lara Trump will give her a raise! After all, clearly she's willing to do just about anything! Via American Oversight: Christina Bobb, a former Trump attorney and far-right television presenter who was a fervent supporter of efforts to overturn the 2020 election, is now the Republican National Committee’s senior counsel for “election integrity.” Bobb’s RNC appointment came shortly after Trump secured the party’s 2024 nomination, and signals the RNC’s focus on continuing to push lies about voter fraud and election security.

HUGE legal news out of Arizona! 11 "Fake Electors" and numerous Trump co-conspirators were just indicted on felony charges related to their shenanigans during the period right after the 2020 election. The Washington Post reports that a grand jury officially "indicted seven attorneys and aides affiliated with Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign as well as 11 Arizona Republicans on felony charges related to their alleged efforts to subvert Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state." Those indicted include Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman, Christina Bobb, top campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn and former campaign aide Mike Roman.

Thursday's Turkeys Edition STRIKE!!! Sounds like an excellent idea. Hamilton Nolan "real talks" it. An American writes a letter about, among other things, working people. Speculation: Hackwhackers wonders what the alliterative "Peter" Pecker & Hope Hicks have on Lumpy. Insult someone w/ dirty words & this reporter is there. North Stars and Cowboy Bars & everyone is entitled to my own opinion come through. M.

The West Virginia Senate primary is May 14. When Zach Shrewsbury started campaigning, he was running against reactionary Democrat Joe Manchin, who has since announced he isn’t running for reelection.  At that point, another special interest, corporate-backed right-of-center Democrat, Glenn Elliott, jumped into the race against Shrewsbury. On Monday, as expected, Manchin endorsed Elliott. And if you want to see another senator just like Joe Manchin, Elliott’s the man.