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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 1 year

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On the first day of the new Congress, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) delivered one of the nominating speeches for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who was seeking the House Speakership. Jordan bemoaned a “government that has been weaponized” against the American people and called for greater accountability. The next day, during a second round of failed votes for McCarthy, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), the leader of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, voiced a similar sentiment but in opposing McCarthy: “Washington is broken… We have an administration that has contempt for the American people.” Though the two men were on different sides in this battle royal, they were united in hypocrisy, for each of these decriers of abusive power had been collaborators in Donald Trump’s public crusade to promote the lies about the 2020 election that led to the January 6 insurrectionist attack on the Capitol and in Trump’s devious plotting to overturn the election and upend American democracy.

Their roles in the House GOP’s crapshow illustrated a profound fact largely overlooked in this hullabaloo: The political chaos that brought the House of Representatives to a standstill was being perpetuated by a party that two years earlier had tried to sabotage the republic and had championed falsehoods and conspiracy theories that led to seditious violence in the very chamber where the Speakership fight was now occurring. Of the 222 Republicans currently in the House GOP caucus, 119 had on January 6, 2021, after the Trump-incited riot, affirmed the false charge of a stolen election by voting to block certification of Joe Biden’s victory. This group included most of the anti-McCarthy bloc, among them Reps. Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, and Ralph Norman, who in January 2021 texted then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that Trump should consider “Marshall Law” to remain in office. And this group included McCarthy.

The GOP civil war in the House was being fought over whether to elevate an election denier who had helped spread the Big Lie that spurred violence to a position that is second in the line of presidential succession. Yet McCarthy’s participation in that assault on democracy was not an issue. For Republicans, it was a prerequisite.

Though most Republicans elected to the new Congress share culpability for January 6 and the failed effort to blow up the 2020 election, Perry and Jordan stand out for their significant participation in Trump’s anti-constitutional and arguably criminal caper.

The House January 6 committee’s report details Perry as a key conspirator in one of Trump’s plots to reverse the election. After the 2020 election was called, Perry was a prominent cheerleader of Trump’s fraudulent claim the election had been stolen from him. He was one of 27 Republican House members who signed a letter requesting that Trump “direct Attorney General Barr to appoint a Special Counsel to investigate irregularities in the 2020 election.” He attended a December 21 Oval Office meeting with at least 10 other congressional Republicans to discuss a strategy for objecting to the electoral college votes on January 6. And with 125 other House Republicans, he supported Texas’ lawsuit that called for throwing out the votes of Pennsylvania and three other states.

But Perry outdid other GOP election deniers with his behind-the-scenes scheming to corrupt the Justice Department.

In late December 2020, after Barr resigned (having told Trump privately and stated publicly there was no evidence of any significant electoral fraud), Trump relentlessly leaned on the Justice Department—mainly, Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and his deputy, Richard Donoghue—to affirm his baseless assertion that the election had been rigged. They resisted and repeatedly told Trump the allegations of fraud were untrue. Trump was not getting what he wanted from the department.

This is where Perry came in. He found a Justice Department official named Jeffrey Clark who was running the Environment and Natural Resources Division. Clark had nothing to do with investigating the allegations of election fraud, but he was willing to echo and legitimize Trump’s false charges. Perry introduced Clark to Trump, arranging a meeting between the two in the Oval Office on December 22. As the January 6 Committee noted, “Clark’s contact with President Trump violated both Justice Department and White House policies designed to prevent political pressure on the Department.”

Perry also sent numerous text messages to Meadows urging that Clark be promoted within the department, presumably to a position in which he could compel the Justice Department to assist Trump’s bid to retain power. In one message, Perry referred to the upcoming certification of the electoral vote and declared, “11 days to 1/6… We gotta get going!”

Though Rosen and Donoghue ordered Clark to have no further contact with Trump, Clark continued to meet with Trump and Perry. Perry also directly confronted the Justice Department about its refusal to back up Trump’s false allegations. He called Donoghue on December 27 and assailed the FBI and the department for not finding evidence of election fraud. He added that “Clark would do something about this.”

That night, Perry emailed Donoghue material alleging that election authorities in Pennsylvania had counted 200,000 or so more votes than had been cast—a claim that he and Trump raised publicly. No such thing had happened. Perry was spreading disinformation in an attempt to disenfranchise the voters of his own state.

Meanwhile, Clark—Perry’s man at the Justice Department—was pushing an underhanded plan to keep Trump in power. This included proposing to send a letter to the state legislature of Georgia—and those of other swing states—that falsely declared that the Justice Department had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia.” The letter recommended that the state legislature call a special session to evaluate potential election fraud. The draft of this letter referred to the fake electors that Trump and his campaign had organized.

When Rosen and Donoghue refused to sign this letter, Trump moved to boot Rosen and replace him with Clark. At a combative Oval Office meeting on January 3, Rosen, Donoghue, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and others strenuously opposed Clark’s appointment and told Trump it would lead to massive resignations at the department. Only then did Trump retreat on appointing Clark acting attorney general. This attempt to enlist the Justice Department for a coup was over.

The Trump-Clark scheme, in which Perry was a major plotter, was cited by the House January 6 committee in its final report as one basis for its criminal referral of Trump and others. And apparently Perry had some concerns for his own legal safety. According to the committee, after January 6, he reached out to White House staff and asked to receive a presidential pardon. (He did not receive one.)

In August, the FBI seized Perry’s cell phone, presumably as part of its investigation of the Trump-Clark operation. Perry claimed he was told he was not the subject of an investigation. The January 6 committee subpoenaed Perry, but he refused to show up for a deposition, and the committee subsequently referred him to the House Ethics Committee for sanction for failing to comply with the subpoena.

As for Jim Jordan, the January 6 committee declared he was “a significant player in President Trump’s efforts.” It noted:

"He participated in numerous post-election meetings in which senior White House officials, Rudolph Giuliani, and others, discussed strategies for challenging the election, chief among them claims that the election had been tainted by fraud. On January 2, 2021, Representative Jordan led a conference call in which he, President Trump, and other Members of Congress discussed strategies for delaying the January 6th joint session. During that call, the group also discussed issuing social media posts encouraging President Trump’s supporters to ‘march to the Capitol’ on the 6th."

The committee’s report points out that Jordan was in touch with Meadows and Trump in the days before the January 6 riot. On January 5, he texted Meadows that Vice President Mike Pence should “call out all the electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all.” That is, Jordan was urging an unconstitutional action to achieve a Trump power-grab that would thwart the peaceful transfer of power.

On January 6, Jordan spoke with Trump at least twice, and, according to the committee, “he has provided inconsistent public statements about how many times they spoke and what they discussed.” He also spoke to Rudy Giuliani at least twice in the hours after the riot, as Giuliani continued to encourage members of Congress to block the certification of the election. In the following days, the committee noted, Jordan discussed with White House staffers the prospect of presidential pardons for members of Congress.

Like Perry, Jordan was subpoenaed by the January 6 committee and refused to cooperate, earning a referral to the House Ethics Committee—as did McCarthy. The committee wanted information from McCarthy regarding his conversations with Trump and Pence on and about January 6. He, too, would not cooperate.

As the McCarthy drama has played out, critical participants have been election deniers who not long ago sought to undermine democracy and whose actions led to the domestic terrorism of January 6. McCarthy’s foes, his defenders, and McCarthy himself all were part of the efforts to subvert the Constitution following Biden’s victory. Moreover, whatever happens with McCarthy, these enemies of democracy will end up with important positions in the House. Jordan is expected to become chair of the Judiciary Committee. Perry will likely remain chair of the House Freedom Caucus, which will continue as a band of extremists and plague whichever Republican becomes speaker. This absurd speakership fight is a reminder that Republicans who tried to annihilate the constitutional order and who bolstered conspiracy theories and lies that ignited violence have attained power and influence. The guilty have been rewarded.

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trmpt · 9 months

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Jeffrey Rosen

“The allegations in the indictment of Donald Trump for conspiring to overturn the election of 2020 represent the American Founders’ nightmare. A key concern of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton was that demagogues would incite mobs and factions to defy the rule of law, overturn free and fair elections and undermine American democracy. “The only path to a subversion of the republican system of the Country is, by flattering the prejudices of the people, and exciting their jealousies and apprehensions, to throw affairs into confusion, and bring on civil commotion,” Alexander Hamilton wrote in 1790. “When a man unprincipled in private life, desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper…is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity,” Hamilton warned, “he may ‘ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.’”’

#trump #dangerous lunatic holds country hostage #crook #liar

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davematthews · 2 years

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paulinedorchester · 2 years

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Jewish singers of Western classical music

Compiling this list — the last in this series for the foreseeable future, although I’m well aware that there are others that I could do — has been a frustrating experience.

What I’m looking for, ultimately, is self-identification, which isn’t always forthcoming. And you can’t always trust Encyclopedia Judaica, which follows Israeli policy in determining Jewish status, i.e., one Jewish grandparent makes you Jewish, no matter what. (This is settled law in Israel, and it’s caused no end of trouble.)

Also, I’m not willing to knowingly include here the likes of Alma Gluck, who was a practicing Christian Scientist for most of her adult life, nor Richard Tauber, a life-long, if largely nominal, Roman Catholic who was bewildered to learn, in 1933, that he did in fact have a Jewish grand-parent. Since I’ve tended to err on the side of caution, there may be artists who should be on this list but aren’t.

You also won’t find here a number of artists whom my instincts tell me must be Jewish, but who are being, or were in their time, insufferably coy about it. (Jake Arditti, Beniamino Gigli, Jonas Kaufman, Selma Kurtz, Margarete Matzenauer, Jakub Józef Orliński, Annie Rosen, Regina Sarfaty: I’m looking at all of you.)

I’ve had to be vague about birthplaces in some cases, because some of these singers were born in jurisdictions that either no longer exist or whose names have changed. (Poland didn’t exist as a nation when Rosa Raisa was born there, and I don’t know what part of Poland — Austrian, German, or Russian — she came from.)

What applies to the earlier lists also applies here: I’ve included many of the younger ones solely on the basis of reputation, without having heard them. Not all are or were A-listers, but they are all people who sing or sang Western classical music for a living, or taught others to do so, or a combination of the two.

And finally, I should point out that while stage names are now a rare phenomenon in classical music, they were fairly common in the past — especially for singers! (Richard Tucker was born Reuben Ticker, for example.)

Mario Ancona (1860-1931), baritone, Italy

Rafael Arie (1922-1988), bass, Bulgaria

Sharon Azrieli, soprano, Canada

Richard Bernstein, bass, USA

Rachel Blaustein, soprano, USA

John Braham (ca. 1775-1856), tenor, UK

Lucienne Bréval (1869-1935), soprano, Switzerland

Katharine Carlisle (Kitty Carlisle Hart; 1910-2007), soprano, USA

Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, counter-tenor, USA

Netanya Davrath (1931-1987), soprano, USSR

Shannon Delijani, mezzo-soprano, USA

Jeanne Diamond, soprano, USA

Pauline Donalda (1882-1970), soprano, Canada

Edis de Philippe (1918-1978), soprano, USA

Daryl Freedman, mezzo-soprano, USA

Rachel Frenkel, mezzo-soprano, Israel

Blake Friedman, tenor, USA

Allan Glassman, tenor, USA

Hannah Goodman, soprano, USA

Oren Gradus, bass, USA

Sheri Greenawald, soprano, USA

Hermann Jadlowker (1878–1953), tenor, Latvia

Cheri Rose Katz, mezzo-soprano, USA

Solomon Khromchenko (1907-2002), tenor, Russia

Alexander Kipnis (1891–1978), bass-baritone, Russia

Nina Koshetz (1894–1965), soprano, Russia

Isa Kremer (1887-1956), soprano, Russia

Maya Lahyani, mezzo-soprano, Israel

Evelyn Lear (1926-2012), soprano, USA

Adèle Leigh (1928-2004), soprano, UK

Samuel Levine, tenor, USA

Brenda Lewis (1921-2017), soprano, USA

Assaf Levitin, baritone, Israel

Estelle Liebling (1880-1970), soprano, USA

Emanuel List (1888-1967), bass, Austria

George London (1920-1985), bass, Canada

Channa Malkin, soprano, Netherlands

Jeffrey Mandelbaum, counter-tenor, USA

Mikhail Medvedev (1852-1925), tenor, Russia

Robert Merrill (1917-2004), baritone, USA

Ottilie Metzger (1878-1943), contralto, Germany

Rinnat Moriah, soprano, Israel

Andrew Morstein, tenor, USA

Rosa Pauly (1894–1975), soprano, Austro-Hungarian Empire

Jan Peerce (1904-1984), tenor, USA

Roberta Peters (1930-2017), soprano, USA

Ian Pomerantz, bass-baritone, USA

Rosa Raisa (1893–1963), soprano, Poland

Miriam Rap-Janowska (also known as Miriam Janowsky; 1891-1992), soprano, Latvia

Judith Raskin (1928-1984), soprano, USA

Spencer Reichman, baritone, USA

Chen Reiss, soprano, Israel

Regina Resnik (1923-2013), mezzo-soprano, USA

Neil Rosenshine, tenor, USA

Aaron Marko Rothmuller (1908-1993), baritone, Yugoslavia

Charlotte de Rothschild, soprano, UK

Arieh Sacke, tenor, Canada

Gidon Saks, bass-baritone, Israel

Dalia Schaechter, mezzo-soprano, Israel

Doron Schleifer, counter-tenor, Israel

Joseph Schmidt (1904-1942), tenor, Romania

Friedrich Schorr (1888–1953), bass-baritone, Austro-Hungary

Rinat Shaham, mezzo-soprano, Israel

Neil Shicoff, tenor, USA

Beverly Sills (1929-2007), soprano, USA

Julia Sitkovetsky, soprano, UK

Wiliam Socolof, bass-baritone, USA

Daniel Sutin, baritone, USA

Jennie Tourel (1910-1973), mezzo-soprano, Canada

Richard Tucker (1913-1975), tenor, USA

Sandra Warfield (1921-2009), mezzo-soprano, USA

Nofar Yacobi, soprano, Israel

Jennifer Zetlan, soprano, USA

#classical vocal music

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yourreddancer · 2 years

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HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

June 23, 2022 (Thursday)

Then-president Trump’s demand of Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen on December 27, 2020 was simple: “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen." But the election wasn’t corrupt, and Rosen wouldn’t do as Trump asked.

Today’s fifth public hearing of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol was a barnburner. It explored Trump’s attempt to pervert the Department of Justice (DOJ), whose mission is “to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States…and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans,” to the service of Trump alone.

By now, the committee has firmly established that there was no evidence for Trump’s insistence that the election was stolen from him. Instead, recounts, court cases, and investigations all showed that Biden was the true victor by more than 7 million votes in the popular count, and by 306 to 232 votes in the Electoral College, the same count by which Trump won in 2016 and which he called a “massive landslide.” There was no evidence for his claims, and Trump knew that. His own appointees, including his attorney general William Barr, had told him repeatedly that the incidents he cited as proof were not, in fact, real. Barr called his arguments “bullsh*t.” But Trump continued to push them, quite possibly simply to lay the groundwork for keeping control of the government by force.

Led by Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), the committee members today questioned officials who served in the Trump administration at the end of his term: Jeffrey Rosen, who replaced Barr as acting attorney general in December 2020; Richard Donoghue, acting deputy attorney general and also a 20-year military veteran; and Steven Engel, assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel during Trump’s administration. Engel helpfully explained that the Office of Legal Counsel is essentially the lawyer for the attorney general and the president.

Rosen told the committee that Trump repeatedly pressured him and Donoghue to say that the 2020 election had been marred by fraud. But while they investigated his accusations, they found no evidence to support them. So Trump began to pressure them through public statements, telling television viewers as early as November 29, 2020, that the DOJ was “missing in action,” its leaders refusing to do their job. Members of Congress, who knew the allegations were false, echoed him. They included Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Mo Brooks (R-AL).

On December 21, a number of members of Congress met with Trump. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was the only newly elected member; she would not be sworn in until January 3. The rest appeared to be members of the far-right so-called Freedom Caucus, formed in 2015 by Mark Meadows, then a congress member from North Carolina, and Mick Mulvaney, then a representative from South Carolina. (Both Meadows and Mulvaney would serve as Trump’s chief of staff during his presidency.) Jordan was the caucus’s first chair; Meadows was its second; Biggs was its third. Scott Perry (R-PA), who was there, is close to Jordan and Meadows.

Meadows, then White House chief of staff, tweeted that they had met to fight back against “voter fraud.” The next day, Perry went back to the White House with an environmental lawyer from the DOJ, Jeffrey Clark.

On December 24, Trump mentioned Clark to Rosen in passing. On December 26, Rosen asked Clark why Trump knew him. Clark admitted that he had met with the president when Perry took him—unexpectedly—to the White House. Clark was defensive, in part, perhaps, because there are strict guidelines to keep the DOJ and the White House separate to make sure there is neither impropriety nor the implication of impropriety when the DOJ investigates crimes. Clark promised Rosen it would not happen again.

And yet, Perry continued to text Meadows to urge him to put Clark at the head of the DOJ in place of Rosen. Trump told Perry to call Donoghue to push Clark’s elevation, saying Clark would get into the job and, unlike Rosen, “get in there and do some stuff.”

As Trump continued to press, he called Rosen and Donoghue at their homes late on December 27. Donoghue took notes. When Donoghue said the "DOJ can't and won't snap its fingers + change the outcome of the election," Trump replied it didn’t have to. "Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen."

On December 28, Clark emailed to Rosen and Donoghue a letter alleging that the DOJ had “significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States.” It urged state legislatures to “consider objections” to the certified ballots and “decide between any competing slates of elector certificates.” The allegations in this letter were straight up false, but Trump wanted the Department of Justice to give them credence. Clearly, there was no time to actually conduct another investigation into the election before January 6; the letter was designed simply to justify counting out Biden’s ballots or, failing that, to create popular fury that might delay the January 6 count.

This attempt to use an investigation to corrupt politics echoed Trump’s attempt to get Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky to announce an investigation into the actions of Hunter Biden in 2019 to seed the idea in the U.S. press that Biden was corrupt. It also recalled the 2016 drumbeat of an investigation into Secretary of State and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Indeed, the Republicans have deliberately used “investigations” to convince the public of things that are not true since 1994 investigations of “voter fraud” that elected Democrats, and even back to Senator Joe McCarthy’s “investigations” of communists in the government in the 1950s. In each case, the goal was not actually to find the truth; it was to plant in the public mind the idea that there were crimes being committed…for why would anyone investigate if something wasn’t amiss?

Clark wrote the letter on official DOJ letterhead and left places for Rosen and Donoghue to sign it. Both of them rejected it out of hand, in strong language. Clark continued to push, and then to call witnesses and start his own investigation. Clark was working with Ken Klukowski, who arrived at the DOJ on December 15 and who was working with John Eastman, the lawyer pushing the idea of Pence counting out the Biden electors in states Trump wanted to win, suggesting that Trump had installed a conspirator directly in the DOJ to work with Eastman on the project.

On December 31, Trump asked both the DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security to seize voting machines that he insisted had shifted votes; Rosen said they had investigated and the machines were fine. At the end of that meeting, Trump warned that he thought he should just get rid of Rosen and Donoghue and put Clark in charge because then things would get done.

Rosen continued to debunk the election claims Trump and his allies were sending and tried to stop Clark from egging Trump on; Clark doubled down and demanded they sign the letter. On January 3, Clark told Rosen that Trump had offered him the job of attorney general, replacing Rosen, and that he would decline the job if Rosen signed the letter.

Rosen asked for a meeting with Trump, Engel, and White House counsel Pat Cipollone. At that point, only four people knew what Clark and Trump were up to, but Rosen now included the assistant attorneys general, all of whom said they would resign if Trump replaced Rosen with Clark. Both Rosen and Donoghue vowed to quit, too. But White House call logs—which the Trump administration tried to keep private—show that Trump and Clark had been in constant contact, violating official policy, and by 4:19 that afternoon, Trump was already referring to Clark as the attorney general.

“What have I got to lose?” Trump demanded. In a meeting of more than two and a half hours, Rosen, Donaghue, and all the other lawyers present except Clark warned Trump that there would be mass resignations from the DOJ if he went through with his plan, and that his decimation of the DOJ would overshadow all of his claims about the election. Cipollone called the idea a “murder-suicide pact.” Trump backed down then, but at the Ellipse three days later, he repeated all his debunked claims about the election.

Trump called neither Rosen nor Donoghue on January 6, although they spoke to all other top lawmakers, including Vice President Mike Pence.

After the attack on the Capitol, the congress members who had participated in the December 21 planning meeting asked for presidential pardons. Those members included Biggs, Greene, Brooks, Gaetz, Gohmert, and Perry. (Gaetz is under investigation for sex trafficking a minor; presumably a blanket pardon would have covered that issue, too.) Biggs, Gaetz, and Gohmert sit on the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees the DOJ.

Jordan asked more generally about pardons for members of Congress who had worked with Trump to overturn the election. Trump awarded Jordan the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, on January 11, 2021. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) initially named Jordan, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, to serve on the January 6th committee and withdrew the other Republicans when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rejected Jordan and Jim Banks (R-IN).

And Brooks wrote to Trump’s executive assistant Molly Michael, saying “President Trump asked me to send you this letter…. I recommend that President give general (all purpose) pardons to…[e]very Congressman and Senator who voted to reject the electoral college vote submissions of Arizona and Pennsylvania.”

When interviewed about the letter, Clark repeatedly took the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination and invoked executive privilege. Yesterday, federal investigators executed a search warrant on Clark’s home in suburban Virginia. They seized his electronic devices.

At the end of today’s hearing, Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY), the January 6 committee’s vice chair, directly addressed Trump supporters: “It can be difficult to accept that President Trump abused your trust, that he deceived you. Many will invent excuses to ignore that fact. But that is a fact. I wish it weren’t true, but it is.”

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news-of-the-day · 2 years

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6/28/22

At least 16 are dead from the missile attack on the shopping center in the Ukraine yesterday, but there are still many missing. Russia is denying responsibility for the attack.

Here's an example on why it's hard to isolate Russia: Sri Lanka is quite simply completely screwed. It’s an island nation that can't provide for itself so it needs to import, but it has no money to buy stuff. They're running out of fuel. Well, Russia is willing to sell fuel for cheap, and now it has a customer.

It's the primaries today in NY, the biggest one being Governor Hochul defending her seat. Today is solely for the governor and state assembly, but the House had to be rescheduled to August because the Democrats gerrymandered the districts, which a judge later struck down and they had to scramble to remake it and allow time for campaigning.

Louisiana and Utah passed laws a long time ago to ban abortion that would enact the moment Roe v. Wade was overturned, but the courts blocked it.

You may recall a few weeks ago I mentioned a lawyer by the name of John Eastman, who is accused of knowingly giving false legal counsel to Trump about negating the 2020 results. The FBI seized his phone as well as searched the house of Jeffrey Clark. Trump pressured then acting Attorney General Rosen to declare election fraud and urge states to overturn the results, to which Rosen refused. Clark, a lawyer in the Justice Department, approached Trump and seemed amenable to doing that, and Trump mulled over firing Rosen and replacing him with Clark. However many lawyers in the Justice Department stated there would be another Saturday Night Massacre if Trump did that, so he held off.

46-50 people are dead after being crammed in a truck in Texas to cross the border. It's currently over 100° there. A little over dozen people survived and are hospitalized.

49-51 prisoners died during a riot in Colombia. It seems fires were set and many died from smoke inhalation.

1) The Guardian 2) WSJ 3) Politico, NPR 4) NYT 5) Washington Post, Axios 6) Reuters 7) Reuters

Someone asked me about perhaps a ratifying a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights, and it’s pretty much impossible. There are two methods of making an amendment: Step one is either two-thirds of both congressional chambers agree on it, or two-thirds of the state legislatures call for a national convention to make it. (The latter has never happened.) Considering Republicans control 50 seats in the Senate and 210 seats in the House, that’s not happening.

Regardless of whatever method you choose for step one, step two is three-quarters of the state legislatures have to ratify it. Here’s a map of the state legislatures:

Source: Wikipedia

Clearly three-quarters of the country is not going to approve of an amendment promoting abortion.

#news #ask #war in ukraine #roe v wade #abortion

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mourning-again-in-america · 2 years

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Jeffrey Rosen: Was Scalia close with the liberal justices?

Interviewer: Yes, of course, he cut short a trip to Europe and flew back to the States to be with RBG when her husband was dying, he taught Elena Kagan how to duck-hunt, and he considered Sotomayor to have a New York point of view like his, blunt and to the point, and she even came to his daughter's wedding.

#notice the omission of breyer #im paraphrasing but lightly

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 2 years

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

June 23, 2022

Heather Cox Richardson

Then-president Trump’s demand of Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen on December 27, 2020 was simple: “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.” But the election wasn’t corrupt, and Rosen wouldn’t do as Trump asked.

As Trump continued to press, he called Rosen and Donoghue at their homes late on December 27. Donoghue took notes. When Donoghue said the ��DOJ can’t and won’t snap its fingers + change the outcome of the election,” Trump replied it didn’t have to. “Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.”

This attempt to use an investigation to corrupt politics echoed Trump’s attempt to get Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky to announce an investigation into the actions of Hunter Biden in 2019 to seed the idea in the U.S. press that Biden was corrupt. It also recalled the 2016 drumbeat of an investigation into Secretary of State and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Indeed, the Republicans have deliberately used “investigations” to convince the public of things that are not true since 1994 investigations of “voter fraud” that elected Democrats, and even back to Senator Joe McCarthy’s “investigations” of communists in the government in the 1950s. In each case, the goal was not actually to find the truth; it was to plant in the public mind the idea that there were crimes being committed… for why would anyone investigate if something wasn’t amiss?

Trump called neither Rosen nor Donoghue on January 6, although they spoke to all other top lawmakers, including Vice President Mike Pence.

—

Notes:

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2022/06/23/presidential-pardons-sought-for-arizona-u-s-house-republicans/7717255001/

Glenn Kirschner @glennkirschner2Wow! It looks like Trump/Eastman installed an apparent co-conspirator, Ken Klukowski, in the DOJ just one month prior to 1/6 to work with Jeff Clark to corruptly overturn the election results. Breathtaking criminality.

5,509 Retweets16,522 Likes

June 23rd 2022

Robert Costa @costareportsRep. Mo Brooks just texted this document to @CBSNews

3,717 Retweets9,851 Likes

June 23rd 2022

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-rewards-gop-ally-rep-jim-jordan-with-medal-of-freedom

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/stunning-details-missed-thursdays-jan-hearing-trumps-pressure/story?id=85607045

https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/January-6-Clearinghouse-Jeffrey-Clark-emails-and-rejected-draft-letter-to-stop-Georgia-certification-december-28-2020.pdf

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[from comments]

TCinLA

Writes That's Another Fine Mess

“Consider a congressman, then consider an idiot. Ah, but I repeat myself.” -Mark Twain

I don't know why it is so many "lessers" get elected to Congress while so few "betters" do.

Trump didn't pardon the congresscritters because when you get a pardon, it has to list the specific crimes you are being pardoned of, and your acceptance of the pardon is the equivalent of a guilty plea. And if you are later questioned about the crimes of which you were pardoned, you do not have a 5th Amendment protection to keep from having to testify. Trump knew listing what they were being pardoned for would expose his treason, and then they could be forced to testify against him. So he'd rather have them "take the 5th" as "jumped-up dweeb" Jeffrey Clark did. But I think Clark will be the first one to flip on Trump. Arrest him on a Friday afternoon and let him sit in prison for the weekend, scared shitless somebody's going to rip his pants off, bend him over a bunk bed and "initiate his ass" (literally) and he'll be squealing like a piglet come Monday morning.

And anyone who thinks "Rusty Bowels" is an honorable man after his testimony on Tuesday needs only to listen to him yesterday say that even knowing everything he knows and having experienced what happened to him, he would still vote for the traitor in 2024 "because he did so much good for the country" can now see that President Truman was right 74 years ago when he said: "the only 'good Republicans' are pushing up daisies."

#Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #January 6 2021 #January 6 Commission #DOJ #criminal conspiracy #history #Corrupt GOP #criminal GOP

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meret118 · 2 years

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Hearing 2, June 13 is aimed at showing “Trump engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information” despite the fact that he knew that he had lost the election. Former Fox News staffer Chris Stirewalt will testify.

Hearing 3, June 15 will target Trump’s alleged plot to influence and possibly replace the U.S. Attorney General in order to further false election claims. Set to testify are Jeffrey Rosen, who was then acting attorney general, his deputy Richard Donoghue and Justice Department official Steve Engel. The Post says their testimony will take place in the morning.

Hearing 4 is intended to outline Trump’s efforts to pressure VP Mike Pence to stop the electoral count. There is some indication this hearing will take place Thursday, June 16. Greg Jacob, the former chief counsel to the vice president will reportedly testify.

Hearing 5, June 21 will trace the then-president’s alleged efforts to unduly influence state legislators and election officials. Brad Raffensperger, secretary of state of Georgia and Gabriel Sterling, one his top aides, have been subpoenaed to testify.

Hearings 6 & 7 are meant to detail how “Trump summoned a violent mob and directed them, illegally, to march on the U.S. Capitol” and how he failed to act to stop those same people as they invaded the Capitol building. No date is yet set for these proceedings.

#Coup

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count-demonlord-of-decadence · 21 days

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Fortress Decadence

“Welcome to Inqaba Ukuwohloka.” said a man and woman in Elizabethan era butler outfits as you entered the lavish mansion designed by Kazuyo Sejima as a love song to Giyōfū architecture, the mansion was completed on August 10, 2019. The main entrance hall is a beehive of social activity with people in and out of dress, in and out of costume mingling, flirting and otherwise interacting. Several celebrities are within your sight, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy introduces herself to you, as do Jamie Marchi, Vince McMahon, Jacinda Ardern, Jeffrey A. Rosen, Rose Montoya and Jay-Z. Ellen DeGeneres, Jake Busey, Meghan Markle, Anita Sarkeesian, Keanu Reeves, Megan Thee Stallion, Prince William, Greta Gerwig and Tucker Carlson do not. The further in you go the more casual the attire becomes as does the atmosphere. You bump fists with Joe Rogan, Tom Kenny, Joseph Buttafuoco and Cynthia Erivo. A very drunk Kim Tok Hun bumps into while putting his tie on his head, prompting you to bump into Samia Suluhu Hassan who introduces herself but doesn't recognize you and quickly walks away. A crying Dak Prescott dashes past you, a midget dressed as He-man offers you a cup of applesauce and Ke$ha, looking like Amélie, sprays you with Obsession for men. A tray of Angels on horseback is presented to you just before a man who looks a lot like Claudio Castagnoli wearing a lot of makeup kisses you on both cheeks and is off into the crowd before you can react. A person that can only be described as Tipper Gore cosplaying as Pizzazz, the main vocalist, rhythm guitarist and leader of the fictional rock band The Misfits, apologizes and hands you a pink bellini, which is taken away by someone in a black and white Korean girl’s high school uniform with a gray horse head mask on who directs you to the bar upstairs while dodging a plate of Tokwa’t baboy being offered to you. A dashing Frenchman in an all shark skin gray three piece suit helps you avoid a glass of champagne spilt by Mahdi al-Mashat, only to be separated from him by Elon Musk laughing hysterically. A man clearly older than your father, wearing nothing but a reddish pink feather boa and a matching bandana in his gorgeous hair, gently pinches your bottom and scampers off before you can protest, he is caught and beaten by the crowd, which he rather enjoyed. A tray of Bakwan is offered to you but knocked over as a brawl erupts between rather large men dressed in ill fitting tuxedos yelling at each other in Greek. Katerina Sakellaropoulou said they were fighting over her, while wearing an all too revealing desert brown dress. She takes two of the Rumaki on a tray being offered to you when you are intimately greeted by Mosch. No age, no race, no gender, no labels, no touching; just Mosch. The Dalton Castle entrance attire, bronze tan, make up, flamboyant gesticulations and platinum blonde 1980’s rock god hair gave away nothing.

Mosch takes you to an elevator with six other people in it. One was a priest who looked exactly like the American Gothic painting. One was actor Billy Campbell, trying not to get noticed. Three are dressed as businessmen who are snickering whilst playing a game of who can release the worst fart. The last is a Palestinian man enjoying the farts. Only you and Mosch exit to the second floor, which is more of a nightclub setting which Mosch laments, then has a mood swing after spotting a young lad in tight Lederhosen and drags you to the bar. He orders, “A Zima for my friend and a martini for me. Three measures of Tanqueray Rangpur, one of Ciroc, half a measure of La Quintinye Extra Dry Vermouth. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add three speared pimento stuffed olives. Got it?”

After correcting your drink order, Dillon Francis’ “I.D.G.A.F.O.S.” came on much to Mosche’s excitement and you two dance, never once touching. By the song’s end your drinks are served by a woman in a violet niqāb. Mosche hands you yours after looking at it with dismay, Mosche tips her a fifty dollar bill and you can't help but notice Mosche has no pockets and carries no purse as you're led to an elevator where a man, woman and a nonbinary person were all over each other. Kissing, licking, groping, feeling, biting, wanting. Two of the three invite you to join them but Mosche declines on your behalf while taking in their sight, sounds, aroma and aura.

The third floor is a hookah bar and smoke lounge with terrible tiki lounge decor and a terrific live band. Mosche walks the room, takes a random hit from a hookah, introduces you to Kevin Spacey, takes another random hit, is waved off by Seth Rogan, briefly makes out with a waitress and you're back in the elevator before finishing your drink. You ride with a woman who looks like Megan Merkel trying hard not to get noticed. The Gull Terrier sniffing up her skirt made it impossible. Mosche informs you out of respect the two of you are going to exit at the next floor.

The music of Phinehas 12 decibels too loud, as the doors open to reveal a bondage dungeon. Nothing but leather and steel visible between the bodies. While dragging you to the bar, Mosche stops to introduce you to Joe Biden, who is wearing only a diaper and being walked on a leash by Mistress Rouz. Rouz is 30 years old, 1.77 meters tall and weighs 73 kg. She was born, raised and usually resides in Port Louis, Mauritius. She speaks with a heavy Mauritian Creole accent as she exchanges pleasantries with you and Mosch. She wears a black leotard with far too many accessories to be considered tasteful. She is accompanied by Zelmire, a 14 year old Austrian girl with charming features and curly hair. She is dressed as a bunny girl. Mosche asks Joe where their Lord is but Biden responds but he only barks, as Rouz had commanded. Rouz then says, “But if I were looking for anyone, I’d check the observation lounge.” Mosche thanks her and drags you to the bar where you’re served by a Papuan lad clearly too young to be serving drinks. Mosche orders a dirty version of the drink from before and a light beer for you. Mosche vows not to linger but is distracted by Taylor Swift riding Robert Kraft side saddle, allowing you to correct your drink order and catch a breath. What can only be described as a young Arsenio Hall with stunning golden brown Farrah Fawcett hair, wearing a red leather dominatrix outfit and far too much makeup, stands next to you and says, “I hope you don't mind me coming over, but I've been watching you all evening.” They pause to suggestively eat a speared cherry from their Mojito, “And I want to tear you apart. Your friend as well.”

Before they could move in for the kiss, Mosche pulls you hastily to the elevator where two midgets dressed as cupids are smoking massive cigars, and verbally degrading a red headed obese woman who is loudly masturbating with a Bratz doll.

“The next floor is the S & M suite.” Mosche laments, “I’ve no need to go in, do you? Well we can always come back. I can say the same thing about the Sanguine Suite above us. Let us move on to the school. That’s where our Lord and Master awaits.”

The elevator ride was a bit cramped with Polish strong man Andrzej Zieleniecki and a constantly performing mime joined the five of you in the elevator. The doors open to reveal a hallway filled with lockers and classrooms. All the other occupants exit and a rubenesque Samoan woman in a black and yellow Korean high school uniform beckons the two of you to the first classroom on the right. Her black hair is worn in curled pigtails and side-swept bangs. She smells like ripe cloudberries. Through the window you see what appears to be Bill Cosby giving a lecture about jazz to a class of teenagers. She takes you to the classroom diagonal to the first where R. Kelly is teaching an all girls choir to sing. Moving diagonally again, the next room reveals Kevin Spacey reading to an all boys class. He was wearing nothing but a velour silk robe that clearly wasn't tied. Mosche introduces her, “This is Sophia Wind. She's mute but not deaf. She gets off on showing people things.” Sophia bows and Mosche asks her, “We're looking for our Lord and master, have you seen him?” Mosche doesn't understand her sign language but you correctly guess the library based on her gestures. Mosche is impressed by your cleverness and escorts you back to the elevator where a guy who looks like Skipp Sudduth cosplaying as Jalen Hurts was trying to persuade a cheerleader who favored Madison Curry to give him a blow job. You ride the elevator down back to the smoke lounge so you can use the bathroom purposely designed and decorated with a cold, mechanical feel. Like the kind one would expect to find on a WWI battleship. When you’re finished, Mosche is waiting with drinks. Your’s appears to be what your previous drink was, garnished with an added speared cherry, olive and lime wedge.

Mosche escorts you to the elevator where four guys who resemble Beavis, Butthead and their fathers are standing in the now smoke-filled elevator giggling at each other

You feel a touch light headed as the doors open and the four morons rush out saying, “We’re gonna tip over a cow,”

You’ve entered a stable with the obvious hay, smells and noises, some of which were clearly human. Mosche simply mutters, “Oh no, the dierentuin. We don’t want to be here.” and takes one step before a high pitched voice squeals, “Mosche! Thank God you’re here! I need your help to settle something.”

The voice belongs to a blonde woman with big blue eyes and a model’s figure dressed in an all too sexy cowgirl outfit. The kind only a stripper would wear.

“Please Judy, I'm working.” Mosche laments, gesturing at you.

“What? Oh Hi! I’m Judy Punch, nice to meet you.” She squeaks at you and shakes your hand. Before you can respond she’s back to Mosche, “So I have a problem and you’re the first person I thought of.”

“But Judy, I’m busy.”

“But, you’re already here.”

Mosche dramatically laments before pulling you along while being dragged by Judy. She leads you past three sheep, two horses, two cows and a man fucking a goat while she explains the problem.

“So Viktor and Arse Splitter were arguing about who had the largest dick. I offered to measure for them but I couldn't make Arse Splitter hard.”

“Of course my dear, you're much too old and the wrong gender for that.”

“And now they're trying to fight.” Judy lamented with her squeaky voice.

Viktor, no surname, hails from South Sudan and is very tall at 224 cm. He possesses a hulking, muscular build at 130 kg. His hands are massive enough to close around the entire head of many of his opponents. He is bald and wearing nothing but tape around his hands and feet to protect his knuckles and shins. The man known only as Arse Splitter is 28 years old and hails from Sheffield, England. He has the look of a satyr. He wore a short sleeveless tunic that revealed his genitals.

“I think I understand Judy.” Mosche giggled and took the tape measure before handing you an empty glass. Mosche then whispered sweet nothings into Arse Splitter’s ear all the while making sure not to touch him. And it worked, after 222 seconds he was fully aroused, displaying a penis that is bent saber fashion, it’s head, or glans, is enormous, it is 21 cm in circumference and the shaft 20 cm length. A fine curve to this majestic prick. Viktor’s measured three cm longer but four less in circumference. Judy tips you both twenty dollars after thanking you at a pitch no one would find pleasant. Mosche mutters, “Stupid bitch tipping me like I'm part of the help, what's wrong with her. I hope she gets pregnant and fat.” Mosche concealed the twenty despite having no pockets and escorts you back to the elevator where the red headed obese woman is loudly masturbating while an effeminate anorexic man verbally degrades her. He looks at the two of you and says, “She's not the one who should skip dessert.” And the look Mosche shoots him would've backed down Mike Tyson. He exits as soon as the doors are open wide enough and enters Barack Obama, a young Caucasian man and an older black woman. Mosche introduced you to Lady Eloise Gripenasty, 68 years old and wearing a gold and black Chong sim that revealed her lack of underwear. Christof Select, the youngest capo in the syndicate, wearing a white Armani tuxedo. And the former president is wearing a tuxedo by Versace. Christof is going on about how he can't get a giraffe here on the ride down to the dierentuin, so you don't have an opportunity to chat with Obama before they exit. The elevator stops at the lobby and four elderly white business men enter having a loud discussion about the stocks of aerospace companies and defense contractors. They exit at the club, Mosche calls them perverts and enters a 183 cm tall female bodybuilder from Romania making out with a Mexican boy who was 152 cm tall on his toes and weighed 50 kg at max. Mosche is intrigued and participates as only Mosche can, taking in the sights, smells, sounds and aura, but never touching. The couple exits and Mosche exclaims, “Oh, I’d forgotten about the preschool prostitute ring, shall we indulge? Oh, but I need to introduce you to our Lord and Savior, one more floor up.”

The next floor is the observation lounge which has monitors everywhere displaying the other floors from multiple angles. Everyone who exits is wearing a gray trench coat and matching fedora. Mosche introduces you to TJ Whittenhouse, a man who looks and dresses like a cliched ISTJ. Mosche has him confirm Lionel Virtanen is indeed in the library before heading there. When the elevator arrives a skinny white twink is getting quadruple penetrated by four big buff sweaty black guys vigorously, while they shout every epithet and slur possible. You silently agree when Mosche suggests waiting for the next one, which arrives 100 seconds later with a fresh batch of voyeurs looking to not be noticed. The two of you enter along with a dead ringer for Timothée Chalamet dressed as Raggedy Andy, a 222 kg French chef, the constantly performing mime and Honey Boo-boo. The elevator stops at the S&M suite where the chef exits and three softball players in full West Texas A&M uniforms enter, gossiping about who could fit a bat up their cunt like the whore they did it to. They and Timothée Chalamet exit at what looks and sounds like a gymnasium and a Pakistani couple enters, arguing loudly. This doesn't deter the mime one bit and in fact he incorporates them into the act, which causes them to yell at him and each other. The couple exits at the dierentuin and enters Crown, you know because Mosche gasped his name. Crown is 200 cm tall and a muscular 147 kg. He has long black hair spilling out of his purple and black lion mask and light brown skin. He’s wearing a light blue cowboy jacket with a dark blue poncho, white pants, a black belt, brownish gray shoes and white fingerless gloves. His presence is so commanding it was easy to miss the three other people who entered with him. An Armenian woman in a cute pink Loza Maléombho dress, a Libyan man in a Thebe Magugu tuxedo and a small man in a green screen suit who were clearly intimidated. The mime on the other hand tries to get Crown into his act, to which he respnds, “Déjame en paz antes de que te rompa.” The mime expresses a lack of understanding but continues the act, seeking an explanation from the other passengers. Crown then says, “¡Fuiste advertido pendejo!” and hits the mime with an uppercut that bounces his head off the doors just before they open revealing the Sanguine Suite and its cliche vampire decor. Crown then body slams the mime, mounts him and punches him in the face four times before transitioning to an armbar. The mime’s scream is drowned out by the sound of his ulna breaking then the doors closed. Clearly frazzled, Mosche drags you out of the elevator and into the triage ward, one of the few areas without a full service bar. Mosche is on the verge of a panic attack when a voluptuous woman in a black dress that showed a lot of leg approached. Her steel blue eyes meet yours, she gives you a wink and a smile, then a whorl of curly black hair as she approaches Mosche. And like that, you know everything is going to be alright.

“You’re looking a little ragged right now.” She says in a deep, breathy voice, “Anything I can do to help?”

“Oh Raven!” Mosche laments and hugs her, which shows clear indifference to. “Oh Raven,” Mosche pauses to sob, “I’m just trying to take this one to meet Lionel Virtanen for the first time.”

She pulls a cigarette and a lighter from god knows where and lights it, prompting one of the orderlies to shout, “No smoking in here!”

“Relax sugar, we were just leaving.”

She leads you to the elevator, followed by a man 1.2 meters tall and dressed like an accountant from the 1920s. He was trying desperately to get her attention.

“You know what they say Mosche: The harder the journey, the better the destination.”

The elevator doors opened and four orderlies moved a gurney out. On it, you couldn’t help what appeared to be a mime with a face of pureed beef on it, followed by a skipping Anita Sarkeesian. The green screen suit guy was break dancing to DeBarge was inside as was

Jacinda Ardern, who no one recognized. The three of you, Sendhil Ramamurthy in blood stained scrubs and WNBA star Brittney Griner with a heavily taped left knee enter the elevator. The accountant tries to dash in as the doors close but Raven kicks him in the chin to stop him.

The elevator doors open to a lobby decorated to look like the street front of a discreet Jakarta bar with a half moon rising. There were three people standing outside chatting; Vince McMahon, former president Donald Trump and Kim Belair. Inside is a very classy and impressie decor guarded by two men so large Mosche verbally assumes they were bred for security. But they look at Raven and say, “Welcome back boss.” then eye the rest of you menacingly. Raven turns around with her hands on her ample hips and says, “Mosche and guest. And…” You turn around to see the options only to see everyone followed you out of the elevator and joined the trio standing outside, but they were joined by a cowboy, a female construction worker, a biker, a female GI, a Tsuutʼina Nation chief, a Chinese admiral, a female British cop, three non-discript straight white men and what appeared to be a Syrian gigolo; all wanting the same thing, admittance. “...Jacinda Ardern.” Raven pauses to laugh in a manner uncharacteristic of her look and voice and adds, “And the green man.” There is audible disappointment from those not admitted as they return to whence they came.

“Welcome to the VIP lounge.” Raven breathes as the green man clears the metal detector. In the first booth was a man in a gold lion mask surrounded by a harem of girls far too young to be in such an establishment. They were eating from a cuminall five gallon bucket of neapolitan ice cream. The second was a man in a black bull mask surrounded by a harem of boys far too young to be in such an establishment. They were wrestling for his amusement. A woman in a taxidermy deer mask was choking and cursing at a server in Chinese accented English. The next booth had a man in a yellow panther mask and a man in a polar bear mask smoking massive cigars and casually chatting until they saw you looking at them. You look away but they continue to stare until you’re out of sight. A woman in a gold eagle mask is in the next booth beating a dark skinned man wearing only a loincloth with her fan. Her profanities flow from English to French and back again. The next booth is empty and Raven invites you all to sit as a classical jazz version of What’s Goin’ On plays. Raven takes everyone’s order and is the only one not shocked when the green man speaks in a deep voice with a heavy Welsh accent when ordering a pint of Newcastle. Raven is only gone for 90 seconds before the man in the polar bear mask approaches the table. He is wearing a shiny purple sequined sports coat with a black button up shirt, black slacks with violet pinstripes and the 1994 Nobel Economics prize on a gold chain around his neck. He says, “What kind of rabble are they letting into the VIP lounge these days?” like he’s impersonating Jack Nicholson.

“I know, right?” Mosche laments with a limp wristed dismissal. The man folds his arms, poorly pretending not to be agitated and says, “Seriously, I want to know who you people are and what gives you the right to be in my presence?”

“Who the fuck is this cunt?” Jacinda Ardern asked. The man attempted to strike her but the blow was intercepted by the shin of Baek Hae-Ryeong the rising star in the Taekwondo world. Mosche recognized him and remarked how handsome he was. You notice he’s wearing a loincloth and remember seeing him on the way in. The man in the yellow panther mask was trying to console the man in the polar bear mask who clutches his arm like it’s broken.

“Gāolí bàngzi!” he hisses, “Do you know who I am, how much money and power I have?” he doesn't pause as Raven returns with the drinks and a wink that tells you to let the man finish.

“Of course you don’t and I like it like that! I have enough money and influence over this world to keep my name out the mouths of you people who jumped a border to sell drugs, hijack planes and not speak English as they’re getting railed up the ass by some twink in a turban that jumped another border to escape the Jihad or their corrupt government or some sort of ethnic cleansing or cartels or whatever abomination the Cafri want to infect the rest of the civilized world with!”

A blonde middle aged woman in a gray pants suit that showcased her flat ass, with a white blouse that showcased her flat chest silently stepped from behind the ranting man and asked Mosche, “Mr. Virtanen was expecting 20 minutes ago, what is the delay?”

“This man here said he was more important than anybody else and insisted he had to listen to him.” Mosche blurted out.

“Is this true?” she asks, ignoring her tablet for the first time.

“Yes Ms. Prentiss.” Raven replied. Prentlss looks at the rest of the table and all you can do is nod along with them. Prentiss then turns to the masked man, who only now noticed his friend was nowhere to be seen. “You’re the reason for their delay?” she asked while backing him up by advancing.

“Delay?” At this point he’s backed up to the bar, “Okay look I may have had some choice words for…”

“Save it.” she cut him off, her attention back on her tablet, “You and Hae-Ryeong will accompany us. Mr. Virtanen awaits.”

Mosche urges you to finish your drink while not doing the same and rises, silently urging you to follow.

“And we’ll take the stairs so no one gets lost.” Prentiss says leading the group. The man in the mask tried to protest, but after two words Prentiss stopped walking and sternly asked, “Do I need someone to carry you there?” and continued walking before he actually said, “No.”

The stairs were old stone work. It was up to flights before a heavy wooden door opens to the library. The stone walls were seven meters tall with bookshelves three meters high on every wall. Above those were two meter tall windows that revealed a windy moonlit night. But you recall it being daylight when you arrive. It smells exactly as it looks.

Lionel Virtanen is standing in the middle of the library wearing blue gray slacks and a matching button up shirt and a navy blue vest and tie. His height, hair, weight and face are unremarkable, plain and average. He’s reading an old copy of The Odyssey.

“Mosche and your guest sir.” Prentiss announces. “They were delayed by this man Simon Javier Malhotra born the 20th of January 1963. He is the global chairman, CEO and controlling shareholder of Metal Mammoth Mining and the founder, chairman and largest shareholder of FirstOrder Corporation. In 2022, Malhotra was named to Forbes' annual list of the world's billionaires. Wife, Barbara. Children…”

“We get the point you fucking bitch, you know who I am. You can shut the fuck up now. Goddamn stupid cow wasting everybody’s goddamn time running off at the mouth with all the yakety yak yak.”

Lionel threw the copy of The Odyssey so the corner hit Malhotra on his penis. He then choked him into a standing position and said, “That’s enough out of you! I know everything! You disrespect my guests, my staff, in front of me, but the most grievous thing you did? Telling that private eye about this place. And why? Because you raped your son's wives on their wedding night and blackmailed you!”

He released Malhotra and a pair of obvious sicario pick him up after playfully kicking him. Lionel slaps the mask off Malhotra, thrusts his middle and ring fingers up Malhotra’s nostrils and said,

“Low order scum. Prince, pauper, president, pawn, no one is beyond my reach.” He removed his fingers and gut punched Malthora who fell to his knees. The sicario held him up, pressing their crotches into his face. Lionel then looks into your eyes and says, “He’s all yours, what will you do with him?”

#fiction #bad fiction #my fiction #amateur fiction

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