BREAKING: judge tosses jury's conviction of woman arrested after laughing at Jeff Sessions hearing https://t.co/bP8ySzkdfx
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) July 14, 2017
A D.C. judge has tossed out a jury’s conviction of a protester who laughed during Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ Senate confirmation hearing, finding on Friday that the government had improperly argued during the trial that her laughter was enough to merit a guilty verdict. The judge ordered a new trial in the case, setting a court date for Sept. 1.
Desiree Fairooz, 61, who was associated with the group Code Pink, had been convicted of disorderly and disruptive conduct and demonstrating inside the Capitol. Fairooz was taken into custody during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January after she laughed when Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) claimed Sessions had a “clear and well-documented” record of “treating all Americans equally under the law.” (The Senate rejected Sessions’ nomination for a federal judgeship in the 1980s over concerns about his views on race.)
But Chief Judge Robert E. Morin of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia tossed out the guilty verdict on Friday because the government had argued that the laugh alone was enough to warrant the verdict…
I had to try: a spokeswoman for Jeff Sessions declines to say whether AG wants the woman who laughed at him retried. https://t.co/877YpaLfo5
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) July 14, 2017
Methinks “a spokesman for Jeff Sessions” is waiting to see whether the Malevolent Leprechaun still has a job six weeks from now, because nobody wants to get stained by your bad boss’s dumb comments when you’re shopping around your resume.
Yoda Dog
Desiree Fairooz. Fucking hero.
TenguPhule
Meanwhile, Sessions is now under a cloud of suspicion for unreported meetings with Russians.
Oh how the worm has turned.
Immanentize
I worked with Bob Morning at what was then the Southern Prisoner’s Defense Committee. Once part of the Southern Christian Leadership Counsel Now it’s called the Southern Center for Human Rights.
I am so glad to see Judge Morin is staying true to Justice.
jl
Entire US health industry industry comes out against Senate tax cut pretending to be a health care bill.
And to show the miserable spineless and complete lack of principles of the mindless and soulless hacks who call themselves GOP moderates, since Collins got her golden pass, the rest of them are occupying themselves with the noble aim of trying to figure out how best they can get out of this jam without getting noticed. That is all they care about. So, need to contact them with somewhat stimulating and more bracing messages.
Tiopher Sprio
@TopherSpiro
REAKING: In rare joint letter, insurers say Cruz amendment “unworkable in any form” and will lead to “widespread terminations of coverage.”
https://twitter.com/TopherSpiro/status/886015376173268992
Edit: “Hey, look dude, I’m trying to do you a favor, OK? Your party will be extinct in this state of this passes. Don’t come crying to me when you are a punk lobbyist for a crook party out of power in a few years.” I guess that is one approach.
TenguPhule
@jl:
Feature, not a bug.
And they’re still not listening. They serve a new master now, Putin.
Baud
@jl:
Or as Republicans call it, FREEDOM
p.a.
I know they had as many human failings as any other people, many were slaveholders, but I can’t imagine many of the American revolutionaries would read the above and not think: maybe we should reconsider fighting to get this people their own independent government if this is a result…
TenguPhule
@Baud: Free market, you mean.
Snarki, child of Loki
Yeah, that “laugh” was completely inappropriate.
A loud snort? Sure.
Incoherent rage? Spot on.
Inconsolable weeping? All too appropriate.
Villago Delenda Est
Sessions perjured himself three times in his confirmation hearing.
Given that Bill Clinton was disbarred for lying about a blow job, I think Sessions should be disbarred and sanctioned.
debbie
@p.a.:
And yet Joe Wilson wasn’t even indicted. And he did something much more disruptive than laughing.
Villago Delenda Est
@TenguPhule: He lied on his SF 86. This is a felony.
Omnes Omnibus
@Villago Delenda Est: Clinton was not disbarred. His AR license was suspended for five years and he resigned his USSC bar membership before any action could be taken against him
Villago Delenda Est
@Omnes Omnibus: Ah, thank you for the correction.
Sessions should suffer at least those consequences. Along with time in Leavenworth for his SF86 shenanigans.
Omnes Omnibus
@Villago Delenda Est: The SF86 stuff with all of these guys is complete madman shit. I remember filling out the paperwork for my TS/BI and being totally paranoid about accidentally leaving something out.
efgoldman
@Omnes Omnibus:
Ah, but you have (a) common sense and (2) ethics.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
I’m waiting at a local establishment for an event a couple of friends said they were going to, and I’m not sure I’m going to make it. I’m an odd sort of introvert because I really want to socialize more. Increasingly, I can’t take crowds and especially lots of strangers. So I’m lonely a lot. And if the friends don’t show up, there’s zero chance of my interacting with anyone.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: And a brain.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: As I understand it, introversion doesn’t mean that you don’t like being social; it means that being social takes energy from you even if you enjoy it. Extroverts find that social activity energize them. Me, I test on border between the two and find that, depending on the circumstances, socializing can either tire or energize me. It depends on my mood.
efgoldman
@Omnes Omnibus:
Remember the good old days, when “ethically challenged” politicians meant fudging expense accounts, screwing with the house post office funds, taking bribes across the governors desk, and going for a swim, fully clothed, drunk, with a stripper, in a DC fountain?
Schlemazel
@TenguPhule:
He may have turned but he is still the AG. Just trying her will shut up a lot of people who cannot afford or is unable to go through her ordeal. Hell is not hot enough for the Kibler General
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: Wilbur Mills FTW!
mai naem mobile
Okay so when can we start saying:
‘But…his emails!!!’
hueyplong
If we’re lucky, no judge will throw out Jefferson Nathan Bedford Forrest Sessions’ conviction next year.
The Pale Scot
I’m confused. Playing STNG on Ntflix in the background, Wharf is sitting down to dinner with his son; and the plates are covered with Veggies?
I thought Cling-ons ate live worms and shit. How disappointing.
rikyrah
Topher Spiro
✔
@TopherSpiro
Now they’re attacking Kasich. That should go over well. They’ll do anything to lie this bill into law. https://twitter.com/darreldrowland/status/885964109531025409 …
4:21 PM – 14 Jul 2017
hovercraft
Smeagle is funny looking, so I can’t blame her for laughing.
If anything she should be rewarded for being the only person to react honestly to Shelby’s bullshit.
Lapassionara
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Hang in there. I am bigly introverted, and when I find myself in this kind of situation, I try to listen to the conversations of people near me, and I sympathize with their problems and contemplate little ways their lives could be better. This makes me think about something other than my own self. Please let us know how the evening turns out.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
@Omnes Omnibus:
It all seems so quaint.
??? Martin
@hovercraft: I think it’s a missed opportunity. That laugh merely illustrates the earning potential should he resign and become the new Col Sanders.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Lapassionara: So far, the friends are no shows. A total asshole I know came in a few minutes ago, thoughm
Omnes Omnibus
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Total win//
Yarrow
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Can you text them or contact them in some way to see if they’re coming. If they aren’t you could go do what you want to do.
Sorry your friends aren’t being good friends.
Lapassionara
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Then run with it, and think of the story you will have to tell later. You are the story teller of the evening. Rock on.
sdhays
@efgoldman: Common sense and ethics aren’t required to be worried about making sure you don’t leave anything off, just a healthy understanding that you’re not untouchable. The Trump crowd is absolutely sure that they’re untouchable masters of the universe, so…
Miss Bianca
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: I feel you. : )
efgoldman
@sdhays:
Oh, sure. It goes along with skating right along the edge, or just over it, and screwing the other guy as a business way of life that sooner rather than later bleeds over into the rest of their lives. Things like a “billionaire” real estate developer screwing small contractors out of a few thousand dollars.
ETA: Everybody knew/knows that Evil Leprechaun is an evil, nasty, racist son of a bitch. They just thought he was a Sam Ervin type honest evil, nasty, racist son of a bitch.
Yarrow
@Lapassionara: Yeah, maybe he can entertain us with descriptions and possible back stories of the various people he’s observing. It’s not a bad way to flex the storytelling muscle.
Yarrow
@efgoldman: Hey, how are you feeling? Hope things are moving along well with no unexpected returns to the hospital.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Yarrow: In fairness, I never told anyone I was coming, so it’s not like they’ve blown me off. I was just relying on them having said that they were coming.
As for going ahead and plunging in without them, no. There will be no fun stories to tell about that, only misery. Trying to interact with a crowd of strangers is beyond me.
Omnes Omnibus
@sdhays: Real estate assholes from Queens aren’t untouchable. Trump has always known that that the real WASP families and other mega-wealthy family’s despise him.
sdhays
@efgoldman: Yep. It’s still kind of breathtaking how Kushner’s own father went prison and yet he didn’t learn that people at “his level” can indeed be caught and punished. Hopefully he’ll get his own personal lesson soon.
Yarrow
Those Mercers have their tentacles in everything. Any recent word on challengers to Paulie Blue Eyes?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Yarrow: I’m sorry, but just stop. You don’t seem to be trying to understand what I’m saying.
Kirk
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: First, all advice on this is stupid – having been there I know it’s almost impossible to do the next step till you’re ready.
On the off chance you’re ready, though, I’ll add my stupid advice – something I wish I’d known sooner.
Look around and spot the other people in your shoes. The other introverts who are trying to be social but are barely managing to be present. Look for the people who look like you – sitting by themselves either near the walls or at distant orbit from but not in things going on. Now mentally toss the dice, pick one, and go say hi. The script is “I saw you were sitting looking ignored and I thought I’d say hi. I’m [tissue thin pseudonym]. May I join you for a bit?” Provided they say yes, have three conversational openers ready. Not “are you having a good time.” Likewise avoid any opening that starts with “I”. Variations on “What do you think of [focus of event]” is my standard. Then hush, listen, and think about what they said before you reply.
And if it dies off, thank the person for their time, return to your table, and toss the die again.
Do this three times. I’ve bombed three times, but most of the time one of the three turns into a fascinating conversation with people i’m glad I’ve met.
=edited to add=
but not till you’re ready. And if when you’re ready to just try one, that’s ok too. Just keep it in mind for when the time comes.
Good luck to you regardless.
sdhays
@Omnes Omnibus: You don’t go all in on laundering Russian mafia money and treason without a sense of your own invincibility (real or imagined). Although if you want to play arm-chair psychologist, you could connect that sense of not being one of the highfalutin set in NYC with a pathological need to demonstrate that he is indeed as untouchable as they are.
efgoldman
@Yarrow:
Like shit, thanks. I’ll continue to feel like shit until the dialysis actually starts, in 10 days-2 weeks. Which means after our kids have come and gone next weekend. (*)
The healing part is going properly and nicely. Itches like crazy.
(*)SIL may actually not be coming. Apparently something in North Carolina law requires him to go back to Wilmington within 30 days of his mother’s death, and next week is probably the only opportunity he has.
I tried to look up NC small estates law. I used to have a bookmarked page at work. But there’s a whole long page of opaque references.
Mike J
@Yarrow: The ass army vet and union guy Randy Bryce?
Omnes Omnibus
@sdhays: Okay. And?
sdhays
@Yarrow: If the stories about Russian funding of Republican (Ryan’s) SuperPACs are true, I’ll just be gobsmacked. There are already so many FSM-damned rotten billionaires funding these cockroaches and yet they STILL need to get money from foreign fascists? WTF??
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Kirk: One of the problems is that I’m autistic and have a very hard time reading nonverbal communication. So trying to identify other people’s situation or state of mind isn’t something I’m good at or trust myself to do.
Along with that, and ewlazed to the autism, is that I have a strong and *irrational* level of fear about imposing on people. One of the reasons I have ao much trouble interacting with strangers is a eigid aversion to making them express that they don’t want to talk to me, and a fear that I won’t recognize the nonverbal cues to that effect.
efgoldman
@sdhays:
Money is its own reward, or something.
Yarrow
Edited.
sdhays
@efgoldman: I can’t top that. :-)
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Yarrow: Unfortunately, people watching just makes me feel lonelier.
Yarrow
@efgoldman: I’m sorry you’re not feeling well, but at least the healing is moving along. That’s something, I guess. Better than what you had to deal with before. Sorry about your SIL. That’s a lot for him to have to deal with. I hope your daughter is doing okay with everything.
Frankensteinbeck
@sdhays:
The war to save the white race is not cheap.
…that is being unfair to Ryan. As near as I can tell, he’s not a racist like McConnell. He’s just such a smug self-satisfied asshole that he believes hurting people is cool, and condemning millions to misery and death makes him a total badass.
tobie
@Yarrow:
Randy Bryce’s campaign to unseat ZEGS started with much fanfare after his web ad was released. If I recall correctly, in the ad we hear from his mother and see quite a bit of him in his hard hat talking about fighting for regular people in Kenosha over lobbyists in DC. Many, including BJs very own DougJ, thought the ad was great. Hard for me to say. He seemed very earnest and could well be a fighter but I’m just tired of the fact that in our new-found populist age you need to be a blue collar guy wearing a hardhat to be a champion of progressive causes. That said, I hope his campaign is drawing attention to ZEGS coziness to lobbyists and, more recently, his refusal to say whether it’s appropriate for candidates to meet with foreign govt representatives to get dirt on their opponents.
Frankensteinbeck
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
My personal advice: Don’t waste your life doing what other people think you should enjoy. If this isn’t doing it for you, leave, and go have your kind of fun.
efgoldman
@Frankensteinbeck:
Yeah, he’s an equal opportunity killer.
He would have made a great SS head.
Not hyperbole, not joking.
Fucking Randians all ought to be given to Villago to play with.
Yarrow
@Mike J: Yeah, I just wondered if there was anything recent on them. I saw the union guy’s video when he announced his run but haven’t heard much since. Not that I would, since it’s a local race, but it’s somewhat nationalized because of Ryan.
@sdhays: I won’t be surprised. They just do not behave like people who aren’t compromised.
I do think it might have been sort of gradual. Not like some Russian oligarch called up Ryan and said, “Hey, let me donate millions of dollars to your SuperPAC.” and Ryan said, “Okay! Great! Here’s the account number.” But more that some people were cultivated and compromised and along the way Ryan and Priebus and others got involved in it as well. I’d like to know what the Mercers’ connection to Russia is. There has to be one.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Not racist like McConnell, but still the self-satisfied, blinkered and incurious adolescent he was the first time he finished whichever ponderous tome made him see Ayn Rand as a great thinker. An upper-middle class white boy of forty-something, from a very white place who hasn’t seen fit to question any idea he already formed since he was (I’m guessing) 16 or so
and this is where I wish I could point out to Ryan and those who take him seriously that, if I remember 2012 accurately, he has never had any kind of meaningful, full time job as an adult in his beloved private sector. And he married a trustfunder.
Frankensteinbeck
@efgoldman:
I 100% agree. Ryan is a man who, if ordered to set up death camps, would wonder if the body parts could be harvested for money, and if there was any way to make the killing ironic, like telling the victims they were going to take a shower.
@Yarrow:
You’re probably right, but if a Russian agent straight-up showed up in Ryan’s office and offered him reelection fund money to betray the US, I can’t imagine Ryan doing anything but haggling for the best price he could get.
efgoldman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
In fact his whole fucking miserable life, since his father died, has been funded by taxpayers, starting with survivors’ education benefits.
Every.
Fucking.
Thing.
I G M F Y!
Just pull up that fucking ladder behind you, blue-eyed boy.
Yarrow
@Frankensteinbeck: I think McConnell would do that. He’s a much better negotiator. Ryan would would have to figure out which Ayn Rand character the oligarch was so he could cosplay his way into accepting it according to objectivist principles.
jeannedalbret
@Yarrow:
Here ya go BY KATE BRANNEN ON 5/23/17
http://www.newsweek.com/did-russians-target-dem-voters-kushners-help
SFBayAreaGal
I haven’t seen Corner post in a while. Is Corner okay?
Frankensteinbeck
@Yarrow:
You… might be onto something there, actually. Ryan is EXACTLY that kind of deluded, self-absorbed dipshit. He’s a weenie pushed into power by other people. He’s never earned anything, so he’s convinced he’s a living legend, a demigod striding the earth on an epic adventure.
efgoldman
@Frankensteinbeck:
Who has no humility and has never read any US history, so he hasn’t got the first fucking idea what a real “speaker” is supposed to do.
OK, it’s not Sam Rayburn’s time anymore, and the actual rules are different, but still….
BBA
@Frankensteinbeck: McConnell isn’t a racist, that would require him to believe in something. If he thought it would keep him in power he’d be the wokest bae in all of Kentucky. Pure cynicism to the core.
Nunca El Jefe
@Omnes Omnibus: you’re describing the Meyers Briggs descriptions of extrAverts and intrAverts. It’s differently defined than extroverts and introverts. At least, that’s what was explained to me in a training I took.
Frankensteinbeck
@BBA:
McConnell is a Southern aristocrat. I promise you, he is racist to his core. Note that he lost his shit and went into ‘blow up everything’ mode not at a threat to his personal power, but when a black man became president. Since Obama left, the only things McConnell has put any effort into are attempts to spite Obama’s legacy. Having lived IN Kentucky, I’ve watched him wield the hatchet of racism to keep his position with the kind of skill that comes from a believer. Just because he’s not wearing a MAGA hat doesn’t mean he isn’t Hell bent on maintaining white power. That it overlaps with his personal power is icing on the cake.
mainmata
@TenguPhule: Oh more than that. Sessions directed the whole Carter Page transfer of the “tape” from Trump to Putin promising release of sanctions in return for Ratfcking HRC and all of this was recorded by various intelligence communities not just the NSA/CIA. I imagine Mueller’s biggest problem is deciding which mountains of data are admissible in a court. Not that anything will be until we have a Democratic Congress. GOP stopped being patriots a long time ago.
efgoldman
@mainmata:
If its admissible in court, its admissible. Congress can bleat and stamp their wittwe feet all they want. Means shit.
ETA: Mueller’s problem may not be having enough evidence, but being able to use it without burning one or more foreign intelligence service.
Ruckus
@efgoldman:
They didn’t all think that. He hasn’t got the class that Sam had. Of course Sam didn’t have the class of a terminally rabid dog.
Steeplejack (phone)
@jeannedalbret:
Bad link. Fixed here.
Steeplejack (phone)
@SFBayAreaGal:
I believe he has been away on vacation.
Yutsano
@tobie:
To be fair, the labour/progressive movements in this country started with blue collar workers wearing hard hats. It’s just when the racism kicked in that all got flipped on its head.
No One You Know
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: I experience this situation. I am grateful to you for sharing this part of yourself. Sometimes I feel the same way about commenting. There was a terrible day when a regular here went after me and I had no idea why what I said was wrong. Similarly struggle with ‘dead thread’ comments. I don’t understand how anyone knows a thread is dead. Or whether a well-intended offer of comfort gets to a person. Sometimes I just comment anyway, just to get the words out.
Anyway. Thank you for sharing.
WaterGirl
@Frankensteinbeck: You are such a good writer. I love both of your replies in your comment.
Steeplejack (phone)
@No One You Know:
I wouldn’t worry about “dead” threads. People seem to say a thread is dead when there hasn’t been a comment for a (little) while or they don’t get any response to their comment after a (short) time.
But a thread’s not over until it’s over. Quite often I will check back way later before closing the tab (like now), and I suspect there are many others who do the same.
As for someone “going after” you, don’t assume it’s something you did. Sometimes people just vent, or something triggers them, or they’re just being a dick.
Steeplejack (phone)
@WaterGirl:
What are you doing commenting in this obviously dead thread?
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack (phone): Sometimes I forget to look! I don’t feel bad until I post my third comment in a row at the end of a dead thread and then realize I have been unknowingly talking to myself. Sigh.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
Now I feel compelled to answer to let you know I saw this, but I should just let this thread really die in peace.