09/07/23
Good morning! It’s Thursday, September 7th.
National Beer Lover’s Day.
Lol when isn’t it national beer lover’s day?
Unless you don’t drink. Or just don’t like beer. Then I guess… then it’s Thursday. And Thursdays are still, scientifically speaking, excellent.
And now, the news.
PA Manhunt Continues
-via CNN
Let’s start with an update on the Pennsylvania manhunt for escaped murderer Danelo Cavalcante.
He’s still, ya know, out and about. So… continue being safe. Everyone.
Couple updates. Since his escape, witnesses as well as security and trail camera footage of him on the move, have noted that he’s obtained a few things – including a backpack and hoodie – and it’s unclear where he got that from. No one thinks he has someone helping him as he moves, but it’s possible that he either stole those items from a car or house, or just found them (and stole them – taking things that weren’t offered to you is stealing, regardless of where you got it from).
Also, there’s footage of him making his escape from the prison. Which brings up a pretty clear question… was no one watching the monitors? The video shows him literally standing there, by the door, looking around and the crab walking up the walls to get on the roof.
Side note – we need a new term for crab walking. We can use it sometimes, but not when we’re talking about the means by which a murderer escaped from prison.
Hunter Biden to be Indicted
-via NBC News
David Weiss, the special counsel appointed in the Hunter Biden federal investigation intends to indict Hunter before the end of the month.
As a reminder, the plea deal for the gun and tax evasion charges was almost all buttoned up, before it fell apart after the judge had some questions and then Republicans were like – great! Now we can really make some headlines out of this private citizen whose dad we hate because we… um… well we don’t know why yet, but once we figure it out… ohhhhh buddy! Then you’re in trouble.
There’s really not much more to this story than that. Just a heads up that this is coming down the line.
Judge Orders Texas to Remove Floating Border Barriers
-via AP News
A federal judge has ordered Texas to remove the floating border barriers from the Rio Grande, which were installed as part of Governor Abbott’s deadly, and racist!, Operation Lone Star.
The 1,000 foot long, spiked, orange buoys must be removed by September 15th.
Abbott will appeal, saying he will take this all the way to the Supreme Court if needed.
Ugh. Abbott.
Jenni Hermoso Accuses Rubiales of Sexual Assault
-via AP News
Jenni Hermoso, the star forward for Spain’s World Cup winning national team, has accused suspended Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales of sexual assault, after he forcibly kissed her, on world television, after Spain’s World Cuppa win.
Hermoso has maintained that the kiss happened without consent, despite pressure from the federation, which even put out a bogus statement on her behalf saying it was consensual, as well as pressure from Rubiales himself and his mom – who went on a three-day hunger strike.
If he’s found guilty, he faces a fine or up to four years in prison. A new law in Spain, which passed last year, has eliminated the difference between sexual harassment and sexual assault, putting all unconsented sexual acts into the same class of crime.
Mexico’s Supreme Court Decriminalizes Abortion
-via NY Times
Here’s something cool – on Wednesday, Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalized abortion nationwide, deeming it unconstitutional and making it legal in all federal health institutions across the country.
Bodily autonomy. What a concept!
Trump Crime Update Time
-via CNN
And finally….
Trump Crime Update Time!
(first day of school, edition)
The first hearing in the Georgia Election Stealing Crimes Case was held on Wednesday, for a little over an hour.
And it was… boring.
With two funny things. But otherwise boring.
The hearing was over whether Kenneth Chesebro (or Chesebro – no one quite knows how to pronounce this dude’s name) and Sidney Powell can sever their cases from the other 17 defendants, and also from each other. Their lawyers argued a few different reasons, including that they don’t know each other or many of the other defendants.
As a reminder, that’s a key part of RICO cases – they don’t need to know each other, to all be taking part in a crime. So the judge ignored that pretty easily.
They also tried the approach of “hey! All they were doing was trying to get Trump elected. If that’s a crime, then millions of others also committed crimes.”
Okay well there’s a big difference between casting a ballot and doing everything these folks did, including after Election Day. So that didn’t move the needle either.
The only part that the judge really seemed to care about was that both Powell and Chesebro filed for speedy trials.
However, while the judge (like all of us, frankly) is skeptical that a speedy trial is super possible, he did deny the requests to sever their cases. So, as of now, all 19 defendants will move forward together.
As a reminder, if any of those 19 defendants would like to plead out, I have a fun little thing I’ll do for Canary Watch.
We did learn though, that the Fulton County DA’s office plans to call more than 150 witnesses, with the cases expected to take four months.
Soo…. Buckle up.
The only two funny things were – 1: no one knows how to say Chesebro’s name.
Also, his lawyer, in an attempt to sever his case, said “before this 99.99999 (did you get all those nines, judge?) didn’t know who this guy was.”
And that’s true, and I love it. But like I always say – if you don’t want the entire country to know who you are but not care enough about you to learn how to pronounce your name, don’t work with a failed-steak-salesperson-turned-lame-reality-star in an attempt to burn democracy to that ground.
And I’ve ALWAYS said that.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of… books. Still. Again. It’s also national book buying day.
I literally don’t have any room on my bookshelves for more books, or more room in my apartment for more bookshelves. So… I guess I’ll just only buy two or three books today.
But more than books, if you can even believe it which I can’t because even my little buddy used to say my favorite toy was books… because we love a nerd… I’m proud of you.