Ron Crooks

In 2023, the most recent year with available data, there was a gun suicide every 19 minutes. If that's not an epidemic, I don't know what is. Tragic.

A thousand words.

Southern Baptists Endorse Effort to Overturn Same-Sex Marriage

Somewhat under the fold in last week's news: The latest from The Church of Holy Exclusion - the one that supported racial segregation and the Confederacy, and denounced interracial marriage as an "abomination." Now, the hate is focused on the ten-year-old legal right to marriage for all people.

Brilliant.

OMG. I can't even.

Ugh. The worst. Which, living in Missouri as I do and completely aware that Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt represent me in the US Senate? Quite a statement.

Joni Ernst. Active in electoral politics at local, state and national levels. Over and over again. How?

Only two mules, and yet, a total of three asses.

Co-signed.

"Stage 9?" We're focusing on the wrong guy.

In the CWE? No.

So, DJT's next spectacularly incompetent proposal for DC US attorney is Fox false news peddler Jeanine Pirro.

Did I say "odious?" Yes. That.

Loathsome (and reliably unelectable even in his red home state) Ed Martin is getting dropped as Trump’s nod for DC US attorney. There is, I’m sure, a cavalcade of odious alternates but it’s at least nice that for this one shining moment, everyone can agree that Martin is a feckless invertebrate.

Designers Do a Double Take at the Lettering on Pope Francis’ Tombstone (Gift Article) Irregularly spaced letters spelling “F R A NCISC VS” have caused a stir among typography nerds who specialize in spacing and fonts. One called them “an abomination unto design.”

Dropped the b a ll.

Extremist House Candidate Charges Podium At Texas Capitol Muslim Event And Screams About Pedophilia - Joe.My.God. “Islam is the religion of rape, incest and pedophilia where they bow down to a stupid rock and a false prophet. I will never let sharia law take over Texas.” – US House candidate Valentina Gomez, afte...

If you live in St. Louis and have been wondering what ever happened to village nutbag and MO Secretary of State wannabe Valentina Gomez? She seems to be running for a US house seat in Texas now, and true to form, is raging against blah blah blah. Gurrrrl, I wanna miss you but you won't go away.

Brilliant.

47 keeps going back to Macomb County (the reddest place in the Detroit metroplex and, predictably, chock full of rabid DJT enthusiasts) over and over again. I wonder if he realizes that Michigan has 82 other counties? 🤔

Good.

Understatement as headline: "Musk's role in the Trump administration turned off some car buyers."

Outrageous.

Earlier today, Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg told the Department of Justice he has found that the government showed a 'willful disregard' for his orders regarding deportation flights. Also, "willful disregard" pretty much characterizes this president in one precise little nutshell.

The Oval Office

A screenshot from Alibaba

A comparison of the photo from the Oval Office and an item on Alibaba.

The Oval Office

Noticed a bunch of these ornate gold medallions slapped all over the Oval Office. We found em on Alibaba. “High-density Home Decoration Polyurethane Appliques Ornament PU Foam Veneer Accessories” from seller Guangzhou Homemax Decorative Material Limited.

sherwood.news/power/shop-t...

The mention of Eric Prince makes an already disturbing letter from Dr. Richardson even more horrifying. When the far-right opportunist and Betsy DeVos sibling (and, but of course, Hillsdale College alumni) Prince appears, you know something bad is about to get worse.

I really liked it. Surprisingly poignant (considering the talent involved). I have a helluva lot of respect for Harper Steele...or anyone who has the courage to follow their heart in the current political climate.

To a prosecutor, credibility is vital. The heaviest burden of proof is on you. You ask juries and judges to believe you and take away someone’s liberty based on your arguments. Courts look to you to provide truthful and complete information about everything relating to your cases. *When a prosecutor has no credibility, a judge is more inclined to grant relief to the defense, engage in more detailed oversight, exclude evidence, require burdensome and potentially embarrassing disclosures of internal deliberations, and even throw out charges.* Thus far in Martin’s short tenure, he has shown himself willing to force investigations without any basis and beyond his authority, publicly hurting his office’s credibility. When prosecutors attempt to execute his orders, defense attorneys will have a leg up when we argue that, yet again, Martin has overreached.

This is fucking brilliant.

Former Proud Boys prosecutor Alexis Loeb talks abt the ways Eagle Ed Martin will make her job as defense attorney easier, including the risk that his lack of credibility will invite scrutiny from judges.

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

From the NYT: Senator Mark Warner tells US trade rep [and professional sycophant] Jamieson Greer in today's senate hearing that even if markets are up today, it’s like “a good day in hospice.” Since the President took office, more than $11 trillion has vanished from the stock market, Warner says.

Attempting to avoid White Lotus spoilers this morning is nearly impossible. People, please!

I expect dramatic turnouts for Hands Off protests in NYC, San Francisco, and Seattle. And, yay for those folks! The real surprises, though, are the protests in Casper, WY and in Marshfield, MA. Folks turning out in Haywood County, NC and in Sioux Falls, SD. It's all over the country! Amazing.

Despite terrible weather, St. Louis area folks SHOWED UP in Brentwood, MO; got in good trouble. Necessary trouble.

The NYT delivers former Treasury secretary Larry Summers' zero-f**ks-given comparison of DJT's tariff policy to “what creationism is to biology, astrology is to astronomy, or RFK thought is to vaccine science,” he said, describing the policy as "totally ungrounded in serious analysis."