Senator Sinema has been a top recipient of lobbyist (Big Pharma) money for years. Makes you wonder who Sinema's constituency actually is — lobbyists or Arizonans?https://t.co/otE1xT2uNT

— Republican Party of Arizona (@AZGOP) October 21, 2021

Politico Playbook:  “Joe Biden is going to be relieved his mom didn’t read this edition of West Wing Playbook.  Behind closed doors, the former Catholic school boy is quite profane, according to several current and former aides.

“’When he gets going he definitely gets going,’ said one White House official.  In meetings with aides, Biden’s vulgarities include but are not limited too: ‘Fuck them,’ ‘What the fuck are we doing?’ ‘Why the fuck isn’t this happening?’ ‘bullshit,’ ‘dammit,’ or just simply: ‘fuck,’ according to several current and former aides.

“When pushing aides for better answers, he will sometimes say, ‘don’t bullshit a bullshitter.’  Some say they find Biden’s foul mouth endearing — a part of his everyman appeal that made him president. One former aide noted that’s true just as long as you’re not on the receiving end of it.

“By contrast, Vice President Kamala Harris’ favorite swear word is ‘motherfuck-ah,’ [emphasis on the ahhhhh] according to someone who worked closely with her. She also alluded to this preference in a past interview. Her office did not respond.”

From Kristin Wilson of CNN:  “Drama on the House floor developed when Marjorie Taylor Greene confronted Reps. Jamie Raskin and Liz Cheney as the House was voting on the criminal contempt resolution for Steve Bannon.  The conversation between Greene [and the two other members] devolved to Jewish space lasers, while Greene accused Raskin of not investigating the violence of Black Lives Matter protests.

“‘This is a joke,’ Greene said in a raised voice to Raskin and Cheney, engaging in an altercation with the pair in the middle of the House floor.  Then Greene walked closer and said directly to Raskin, ‘Why don’t you care about the American people?’  Raskin replied ‘you represent the American people.’

“Video of the House floor documents Greene approaching Raskin and Cheney without audio.  Greene waves her hands in the air, and at one point Cheney points her finger in the air back at Greene before turning her back.  A row of seats separated the three for the majority of the spat.

#UPDATE: On October 21, 2021, a comparison of dental records confirmed that the human remains found at the T. Mabry Carlton, Jr. Memorial Reserve and Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park are those of Brian Laundrie. @FBITampa pic.twitter.com/ZnzbXiibTM

— FBI Denver (@FBIDenver) October 21, 2021

Podcast host, Trump advisor and collared shirt aficionado Steve Bannon has been held in contempt of Congress, by a 229-202 vote, for refusing to respond to a subpoena issued by a House committee investigating the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol.  That’s great, but what does that really mean?

Well, first, nine Republican members of the House who voted with Democrats to hold Bannon accountable–Liz Cheney (Wyom.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Penn.), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), Jaime Herrera Beutler (Wash), John Katco (NY), Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), Nancy Mace (S. Car.), Peter Meijer (Mich.), and Fred Upton (Mich.)–will likely face a massive influx of cash to far-right opponents in the GOP primaries for the midterms.

After Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi signs the referral, it for will go to the Department of Justice, which will decide how to proceed.  The two most obvious options are that the DOJ could do nothing with the referral, or they could charge Bannon criminally.  But a third option also exists. 

“The Justice Department has added two top prosecutors from Washington to the child sex trafficking investigation of Representative Matt Gaetz, according to two people briefed on the matter, a sign of the complex and high-stakes nature of the inquiry into Gaetz, a Florida Republican who is one of former President Donald J. Trump’s closest congressional allies. The prosecutors – one a public corruption investigator with an expertise in child exploitation crimes, and the other a top leader of the public corruption unit – have been working on the Florida-based investigation for at least three months, the people said. It is not unusual for prosecutors from the Justice Department in Washington to be added to local teams of federal investigators in high-profile cases that require a deep and specific expertise like sex crimes. The Washington prosecutors have joined a group of federal authorities in Florida who have been investigating accusations of sex trafficking, fraud and corruption by several people connected to Republican politics in Florida, including Gaetz.”

“The authorities have been examining whether Gaetz violated a federal child sex trafficking law by providing goods or payments to a 17-year-old girl in exchange for sex. Despite the wide-ranging nature of the case, only one person has been publicly charged, a former local tax collector named Joel Greenberg. He has pleaded guilty to sex trafficking the same 17-year-old girl and other corruption and fraud charges. Greenberg agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation, telling authorities that he saw Gaetz and others have sex with the girl. In a sign of the ongoing nature of the investigation, the judge overseeing the case granted a motion on Monday filed by Greenberg’s lawyer to have his client’s sentencing delayed until March” – New York Times.

Wall Street Journal: “Investors on Thursday piled into shares of the special-purpose acquisition company taking former President Donald Trump’s new social-media platform public, igniting a buying frenzy reminiscent of the SPAC craze from early this year. Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp. more than quadrupled to $45.50 in the first trading session following the deal announcement. Trump Media & Technology Group said late Wednesday it would combine with the SPAC and soon launch a new social network called Truth Social. The deal values the Trump media company at about $875 million, including debt. The unveiling of the new company comes after Trump’s access to several social-media platforms including Twitter and Facebook was restricted following the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. He held discussions with a number of different platforms throughout the year to find a new online megaphone. Trump had nearly 89 million followers on Twitter.”

“Digital World Acquisition and its stock ticker, DWAC, were trending on some social-media platforms Thursday, with traders rushing to buy the shares. Also called a blank-check company, a SPAC such as Digital World Acquisition is a shell company that raises money and trades on a stock exchange to merge with a private firm such as Trump’s and take it public. The private company then replaces the SPAC in the stock market. SPAC mergers have become popular alternatives to traditional initial public offerings, especially for startups that can make business projections. Those aren’t allowed in typical IPOs. Still, many stocks that soared after deals were announced or even completed have since tumbled, sticking individual investors with losses while many company insiders are protected through unique incentives.”

The initial procedural vote to open debate was 221 to 205 with only two Republicans joining Democrats to vote to refer a criminal contempt of Congress charge to the Justice Department for Satanic alcoholic political criminal mastermind former Trump White House advisor Steve Bannon over his refusal to answer a subpoena to testify to the Capitol riot committee for his involvement.

UPDATE 10/21/21 4:47 PM: Per Politico “Nine House Republicans voted Thursday to hold Steve Bannon, major ally of Donald Trump, in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena in a House committee’s Jan. 6 investigation… Peter Meijer (Mich.), Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Liz Cheney (Wyo.), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), Fred Upton (Mich.), Jaime Herrera Beutler (Wash.), John Katko (N.Y.) and Nancy Mace (S.C.). Seven of those members voted to impeach President Donald Trump following the insurrection – except Mace and Fitzpatrick. Rep. Greg Pence (R-Ind.), the brother of former Vice President Mike Pence, did not vote.”

Contempt goes both ways. pic.twitter.com/Ia4aQ31BQm

— Paul Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) October 21, 2021

NBC News:  “A Tufts University lacrosse player died after she choked during a hot dog eating contest for charity, officials said.  Madelyn “Madie” Lee Nicpon, 20, of Suffern, New York, was involved in an accident Saturday afternoon at an off-campus house in the small city of Somerville, just 3 miles northwest of Boston, Massachusetts, the university said in a statement. At the time of the incident, Nicpon was participating in a hot dog eating contest as part of a charity fundraiser and choked, according to authorities, the Rockland/Westchester Journal News reported.

“A Somerville police spokesperson did not confirm that detail when contacted Thursday by NBC News.  ‘After first responders performed life-saving procedures on site, Madie was transported to Mt. Auburn Hospital and subsequently transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital, where she passed away on Sunday afternoon,’ the university said.

“Nicpon was a junior majoring in biopsychology and a member of the Tufts women’s lacrosse team, the university’s daily newspaper reported. Nearly 3,000 students attended a candlelight vigil for her Sunday evening, according to the newspaper.  In a lengthy Instagram post on Tuesday, Tufts’ lacrosse team wrote: ‘Madie will be remembered as a bright light, a social butterfly, an amazing teammate, a kind and generous person, a wonderful sister and daughter and a Jumbo that we can all aspire to emulate.'”

Associated Press:  “A man being booked into an Alabama jail wound up at a hospital rather than behind bars after a scan revealed a shotgun shell in his abdomen.  Prisoners entering the Morgan County Jail routinely undergo a body scan when being admitted, and a recent image showed what appeared to be a shell from a .410-gauge shotgun that had been swallowed inside a person, spokesperson Mike Swafford said Thursday.

“’He was never booked in,’ Swafford said. ‘When our medical staff saw that, they said, “He has to go to the hospital”.’  The man, who had been arrested by another law enforcement agency in the county, was later released on his own recognizance, Swafford said, and it was not clear what happened to the shell. Authorities did not release the person’s name or the reason for the arrest.

“The Sheriff’s Department posted an image of the scan on its social media account to let people know about the screening process at the jail, Swafford said. While baggies or other containers holding drugs are sometimes uncovered inside prisoners, he said, finding ammunition was unusual.  ‘We don’t see a shotgun shell very often,’ he said. ‘We speculate it had drugs in it but we don’t really know.’”

In a court filing opposing the Supreme Court taking up a Department of Justice emergency motion to stay the state’s vigilante abortion law, lawyers from Texas explicitly state that the law is targeting Roe v. Wade:

If the Court decides to construe the federal government’s application as a cert petition, it may also construe this response as a conditional cross-petition on the question whether the Constitution recognizes and protects a right to abortion and whether the Court should reconsider its decision in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey.

Republican Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan states definitively that Thomas Jefferson stated, “Tyranny is when the people fear the government.” Unless Jefferson lived into the 20th Century, he never said that. The first time that quote appears in print is 1914, attributed to John Basil Barnhill, an ardent opponent to giving women the right to vote.

CBS News:  “A former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an unarmed woman in 2017 was sentenced to 57 months in prison on a lesser charge Thursday after his murder conviction was overturned earlier this year. Mohamed Noor was initially convicted of third-degree murder and manslaughter in the 2017 fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a 40-year-old dual U.S.-Australian citizen and yoga teacher who was engaged to be married.

“Last month, the Minnesota Supreme Court tossed out Noor’s murder conviction and 12 1/2-year sentence, saying the third-degree murder statute doesn’t fit the case. The justices said the charge can only apply when a defendant shows a ‘generalized indifference to human life,’ not when the conduct is directed at a particular person, as it was with Damond.

“Damond called 911 to report a possible rape happening behind her home. Noor testified at his 2019 trial that he and his partner were driving slowly in an alley when a loud bang on his police SUV made him fear for their lives. He said he saw a woman appear at the partner’s driver’s side window and raise her right arm before he fired a shot from the passenger seat to stop what he thought was a threat.”

Chair Jerry Nadler calls out Matt Gaetz and Marge Greene (who can spend time watching hearings because she doesn’t sit on any committees) specifically in the gallery for failure to wear a mandatory facemask during the House Judiciary Committee meeting.

Spotted by New York Times reporter Shane Goldmacher.

Texas Tribune: “Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday appointed John Scott – a Fort Worth attorney who briefly represented former President Donald Trump in a lawsuit challenging the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania – as Texas’ new secretary of state. As secretary of state, Scott would oversee election administration in Texas – a task complicated in recent years by baseless claims of election fraud from Republicans in the highest levels of government, fueled by Trump. The former president has filed a flurry of lawsuits nationwide and called for audits in Texas and elsewhere to review the results of the 2020 presidential elections. Trump’s own attorney general, Bill Barr, said there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud nationwide, and in Texas, an official with the secretary of state’s office said the 2020 election was ‘smooth and secure.'”

“On Nov. 13, Scott signed on as counsel to a lawsuit filed by Trump attempting to block the certification of Pennsylvania’s election. A few days later, Scott filed a motion to withdraw as an attorney for the plaintiffs. Scott’s motion also asked to withdraw Bryan Hughes, a Texas state senator from Mineola who works for Scott’s law firm, as an attorney for the case. Scott will eventually have to be confirmed by the Legislature, which is not scheduled to meet again until 2023. Until then, he’ll serve as interim secretary of state. Abbott’s announcement of Scott’s appointment did not mention Scott’s work for Trump – even as Abbott has endured mounting pressure from Trump supporters to call for audit elections.”

Senator Joe Manchin clarified in an interview with The Hill’s Scott Wong that he was not planning to nuke the Dems’ tenuous Senate majority but simply become a nominal independent in the mold of Angus King and Bernie Sanders “if it is ‘embarrassing’ to [Biden and Schumer] to have a moderate, centrist Democrat in the mix and if it would help them publicly, I could become an Independent – like Bernie – and then they could explain some of this to the public saying it’s complicated to corral these two independents, Bernie and me” which would’ve been effectively meaningless…

If @Sen_JoeManchin changes parties, he will be a national hero for saving America.

Do what’s right, Senator and put America First!

— Amy Kremer (@AmyKremer) October 20, 2021

…but still been funny as hell if only to see people like the Women for Trump founder get their hopes up and then immediately crushed once the finer details were explained to them.

“European Union leaders pressured a defiant Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki Thursday to fall back into line on recognizing that EU law trumps national decision-making, hoping that dialogue will stave off a fundamental crisis in the bloc. Morawiecki instead painted a picture of an overbearing union treating its 27 member nations as mere provinces, usurping ever more powers and feeling free to impose its values at will against the wishes of sovereign peoples.”

“Facing the threat of losing out on tens of billions of EU funds because of his stance, he countered that Poland ‘will not act under the pressure of blackmail.’ Almost all other countries countered that respecting common rules and values is essential in a bloc if it is not to unravel and lose political and economic clout in the world. ‘If you want to be part of a club and have the advantages of a club, you must play by the rules,’ said his Belgian counterpart Alexander De Croo. ‘A red line has been breached and we cannot accept that.’ Beyond holding up Poland’s access to billions of euros in help revive its economy in the wake of the pandemic, the EU’s executive arm can also start infringement procedures, or activate a mechanism allowing the suspension of other EU payments to a member country breaching the principles of the rule of law” – AP.

Dallas Morning News: “Nearly a year after offering up a hefty bounty for evidence of voter fraud in the wake of Donald Trump’s loss, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has handed out his first reward. But instead of going to an informant who smoked out fraud by Democrats, Patrick’s five-figure payout went to a progressive poll worker in Pennsylvania whose tip led to a single conviction of illegal voting by a registered Republican. The unexpected outcome reveals the political dangers of cash bounties. With few strings attached, and more cases of alleged GOP voting fraud still in Pennsylvania courts, Patrick may be asked to shell out even more cash to his opponents.”

“This case also undercuts unsubstantiated GOP concerns that widespread voter fraud helped hand the White House to Joe Biden, political experts said. In Pennsylvania, a state that was central in Trump’s attempts to overthrow the election, around five cases of voter fraud from last year’s election have been prosecuted, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer — four involved Republicans. In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, tipster Eric Frank said he would have turned in anyone he saw voting illegally regardless of party. But as the scion of a family of Democratic operatives, he also acknowledged the irony of the situation. This week, Frank deposited $25,000 of Patrick’s campaign cash into his bank account. ‘It’s my belief that they were trying to get cases of Democrats doing voter fraud. And that just wasn’t the case,’ Frank said. ‘This kind of blew up in their face.’ Patrick’s spokesman Allen Blakemore declined to comment.”