MINIATURE GOLF DAY UPDATES
It Refers To Putt-Putt, But If All You Have is Computer Golf, Oh Well ...
-The Republican House continues to hurtle the country into a financial/judicial/ political/procedural crisis - or as the UltraMAGAts call it, Heaven in Their Americka - by continuing to struggle to find a way to pass any kind of budget with a September 30 deadline while haranguing Attorney General Merrick Garland in a contentious hearing yesterday. The clown show, featuring a continued battle between hapless Kevin McCarthy (SINO) and designated attack perv Matt Gaetz, held McCarthy's coveted speakership at bay over a series of measures in a resolution that is widely known to be DOA in the Senate (including Republican opposition) not to mention the White House. A compromise to allow for an extension to October 31 (insert joke here) is allegedly ready to be voted on today, though multiple such votes have either had to be cancelled or lost as UltraMAGAts continue to demand unattainable concessions - the latest involving a dictum from Dear Leader Ex-President Trump XCI to stop funding in order for the multiple prosecutions of Trump to stop (all such prosecutions are unaffected by any government shutdown, womp womp).
-Those prosecutions continue afoot, with court filings and reports indicating there could be three high-profile January 6 conspirators either already co-operating with or giving indications that they are cooperating with Jack Smith, Fani Willis, and company. Attorneys Jeffrey Clark, Jenna Ellis and Lin Wood are the three in question, with Wood named specifically in a court filing by Willis naming him as a cooperating witness (Wood oddly denies he is cooperating, but whatever) - and Wood would be an important 'get,' as his involvement includes a series of pre-January 6 meetings with everyone from already-convicted Proud Boys (and their buddies like Michael Flynn and Roger Stone) to central plotters including Ken Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and Trump himself.
-As for Rudy ... oh, Rudy ... as if impending bankruptcy, one of his attorneys suing him for nonpayment, and a $100,000 per plate benefit for his defense fund that raised all of $1.3 million (you do the math!), a new allegation reveals yet more unwanted activity generated by him on January 6, 2021. Former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson alleges in a book excerpt (of course) that on that date, Rudes (who married his second cousin, is currently embroiled in a harassment suit from a former aide-turned-alleged-coerced-lover, and was seen laying on his back with his fingers going down his pants in front of a twentysomething actress the 78-78-year-old thought wanted to get it on with him in Sasha Baron Cohen's latest BORAT movie) made a crude verbal pass at her, then groped her through and under her blazer and skirt. Naturally, Rudy and whoever is still representing him denied the allegations - because would America's Mayor really do that?!
-Go ahead and answer that!
-Democrats fretting over President Biden's sluggish polling numbers (which reveal that story after story after story after story after story pointing out how old Biden is has created a fear about Biden's age) may want to look beyond polling to actual election results, which continue (as they have done since 2017) to show strong overperformance and an electorate shifting to them. Special elections in NH and PA went the Democrats' way, with the NH results especially encouraging - that was a district that voted for Trump twice that flipped to the Democrat by 12% - and the pattern of Democratic overperformance in the wake of the Trump presidency and the Dobbs decision continues.
-That pattern is being noticed by the GOP and Trump, particularly the weight the overturning of Roe continues to rightfully place on the party who centered an end to abortion rights on their identity. Party officials are reportedly testing words and phrases to use in place of "right to life," which they now see as an albatross on their electoral goals. Trump as well, as the man who has proudly crowed about appointing the SCOTUS justices that killed Roe attempted to pivot (with the help of new MEET THE PRESS host fluffer Kristin Welker) and now claim that a six-week ban on abortion is more appropriate. Never Trumpers fret that Trump is now about to do what they see as the thing he does best: reframe himself into something he is not but sell that to gullible people willing to buy the bunkum. We shall see ...
-The Writers Guild and representatives from Hollywood's major movie studios - including, at least to the Hollywood Report, most of the CEOs of those studios - meet for a second day amidst rumblings that a deal might - MIGHT - be close. The fact that October 1 is an apparent deadline to make a deal in order to salvage a 2023-24 television season might be the motivation for this push, along with a near-total news silence about the negotiations - but other reports note that if this effort falls through, the strike lasting until the end of 2023 is likely (not to mention a second deal needing to be made with the Actors unions). The world waits ...
-SOLIDARITY to those and the auto workers, who may be on the brink of expanding their strike in the next 48-72 hours despite the UAW coming to tentative agreements with the Big Three auto makers in Canada.
-On this date in 1780, Benedict Arnold offered West Point to British forces in exchange for a payoff, making him the biggest traitor to the United States until January 6, 2021. On this date in 1823, a vision described by John Smith as an angel asking him to restore God's church on Earth appeared to him - which is the origin story of the Mormon Church. Premieres and releases on this date: THE HOBBIT in 1937, PERRY MASON in 1957, George Clooney as a janitor on THE FACTS OF LIFE in 1985, Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT in 2004. And on this date in 1982, NFL players went on strike for 57 days for higher pay (which they more or less got).
-Happy Birthday to H.G. Wells, Chuck Jones, Dawn Addams, Larry Hagman, Leonard Cohen, Henry Gibson, Bill Kurtis, Jerry Bruckheimer, Fannie Flagg, Hamilton Jordan, Steve Beshear, Richard Childress, Don Felder, Marsha Norman, Stephen King, Artis Gilmore, Bill Murray, Bruce Arena, Shinzo Abe, Rick Aiello, Marta Kauffman, Ethan Coen, Rob Morrow, Cecil Fielder, Faith Hill, Ricki Lake, Trugoy the Dove, Samantha Power, Alfonso Riberio, Luke Wilson, Jon Kitna, and Jason Derulo.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Virgil, Jacqueline Susann, Walter Brennan, Jaco Pastorius, Florence Griffith Joyner, Alice Ghostley, Troy Davis, and Melvin Van Peebles.
-Feed the Worms: Right-wing Trump radio and TV sycophant with a voice of a tomcat in heat getting tazed in the balls while sitting on an electric fence getting hit by a lightning bolt in a thunderstorm Mark Levin, NBA thug Rick Mahorn, and Oasis lead whiner Liam Gallagher entered Earth on this date.
-David Coulier, beloved FULL HOUSE actor who is also allegedly the person Alanis Morrisette sang about in "You Oughta Know," was born on this date. You decide if he gets a Happy Birthday or if he Feeds the Worms.