01/17/24

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, January 17th.

National Lose the Jet Lag Day.

Ya hear that? Let alone the fact that it’s literally science, just get over it. Have you tried not thinking about it? This one’s silly.

And now, the news.

Trump’s Defamation Case

-via AP News

Let’s start with Trump’s defamation case. As a reminder, this does not fall under Trump Crime Update Time because while he, himself, is a buffoon and we bully the bullies, this is a defamation case rooted in sexual assault allegations, for which he was found liable.

So today was the first day of court for round two of the defamation case. He was already found liable, but now this is to find out how much he owes.

He stuck around just long enough to watch jury selection before heading out to a rally in New Hampshire, which is just wild.

Even more wild, or maybe not more but certainly in the arena… while in court to find out how much he owes for a case where he’s already been found liable, this absolute doofus continued to post on his ultra-lame Truth Social site about how this was an attempted extortion and accused the judge of having “absolute hatred” for him.

This fraction of a human has truly never learned a lesson.

Last week he told reporters that his courtroom hijinks could be considered “part of the campaign.”

He thinks this is good for him! Really think about that. Let that sink it. However you feel about the politics, this is a man who believes that going to court in cases where he has already been found guilty, as in the civil money crimes case in New York, or liable, as in this defamation case, and he thinks that’s good for him.

And he’s the leading Republican candidate.

This is the Bad Place.

Hunter Biden

-via NBC News

After two House committees voted last week to hold Hunter Biden in contempt for kind of defying a subpoena in Congress, the House has hit pause of that contempt vote after some back-and-forth letters between Hunter’s lawyers and the House committee chairs. But don’t worry, it’s not because anyone thinks they shouldn’t be dragging a private citizen through a political sideshow because House Republicans don’t want to do anything else.

It's because Hunter’s lawyer told the chairs that the subpoenas were legally invalid, since they were issued before the House voted last month to authorize the Biden impeachment inquiry. Hunter’s lawyer added that, if the committees issued new subpoenas, his lawyer would accept on Hunter’s behalf. To which Hunter said “wait, what? No no no, that’s… that sucks.”

No no, he didn’t say that. I don’t know what he said. That’s what I would have said, that’s for sure.

Anyway, so the committees agreed to issue new subpoenas and will hold off on the contempt vote if Hunter for real cooperates and sets a date for a closed-door deposition.

So we’ll see. The closed-door deposition is specifically what he didn’t want, but you know… I’m not a part of this at all. We’ll see, I guess.

This is all so silly.

Update on Gaza

-via CNN

On Tuesday Qatar said it has brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas, which will allow for the delivery of medicines to the more than 100 Israeli hostages in exchange for medicine and humanitarian aid to be delivered into Gaza.

Although it’s unclear when the medicines will reach Gaza, they are expected to begin the journey to Egypt before continuing into Gaza today.

In Gaza, an estimated 1.9 million people, or about 85% of the population, have been displaced in the last three months. On Tuesday, the number dead in Gaza was also updated – more than 24,000 Palestinians, including more than 10,000 children, have been killed since Israeli troops began their attack in retaliation for Hamas’ October 7th attack.

Club Q Shooter Charged

-via Washington Post

Anderson Lee Aldrich, who is responsible for last November’s Colorado LGBTQ+ club shooting that left 5 dead and more than a dozen injured, was charged with fifty hate-crime accounts by the state’s attorney general on Tuesday.

Aldrich is currently serving the first of their five consecutive life sentences.

Putin Has… Thoughts

-via Yahoo! News

And finally, here’s… something.

Russia’s president Putin, you remember that guy right? The one that invaded another country and continues, to this day, an unethical onslaught of death and destruction in Ukraine because he saw a map of the world from the 80s and thought – let’s do that again.

That guy, who only knows democracy as that thing he avoids harder than anything, said on Tuesday that our elections are rigged. Adding “and I would know. Wink.” No no, but he did say that they were rigged specifically by mail-in ballots.

So if you’ve ever wondered whether voting by mail was shady at all… one, don’t. It’s never been an issue. And two, this should really seal the deal about how legitimate mail-in ballots are. Because if Putin hates it… it’s probably actually good.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of… voting by mail. Fraud free since the 17th century.

For real, voting absentee has always existed. Anyone that’s trying to tell you not to do it, is just trying to get you not to vote. And we don’t like that!

I’m also proud of people who just lean into the jet lag. It’s a great excuse for a nap, why fight it?

But more than that… because you’ve got the sweet sweet energy (sometimes)… I’m proud of you.