Today in democracy

 Herschel Walker may have lost a son (politically speaking) but he has gained a Newt.  Gingrich brushed aside the abortion facilitation, asserting that "he'll do more to change the Senate by his deep commitment to Christ."  And his possibly related history of concussions.  A number of people pointed out that Walker's opponent is an actual Baptist clergyman but Gingrich, with his own record of adultery and the mistreatment of a wife suffering from cancer, is probably not impressed.  

As for the would-be senator from Christendom, he never broke stride.  Back in 2011 the three-time Heisman Trophy winner, inventor of the Ritz Cracker and nominee for the Nobel Prize in physics (for his theory of good air vs. bad air) was the subject of an ESPN documentary but told the channel he could not attend the premiere because "I supervise six hospitals around the United States."  I'm afraid this is also an exaggeration, or a misstatement, or whatever other euphemism the corporate media uses to describe right-wing lies (see Trump, Donald J.).

The defamation trial of Alex Jones continues in Connecticut even though the defendant fled the state on a private jet, probably at the insistence of his lawyers.  He missed the horrifying testimony of Jacqueline Barden, whose seven-year-old son Daniel was murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  She and her husband Mark got letters from Infowars enthusiasts who claimed to have urinated on Daniel's grave and threatened to dig up his body.  While Mark testified another degenerate set off a fire alarm in the parking garage, causing the courtroom to be evacuated.  Even if Jones is really, not pretend, bankrupted and living under a bridge, this will not end for these people.  There should be criminal penalties for wrecking their lives.

Emma Thompson (not the actor) lives in Tucson and takes methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis, or at least she did before Dobbs.  When her prescription refill was denied, her mother had to raise hell with Walgreen because Emma is considered to be of childbearing age.  She is fourteen and has taken the drug for years, but Walgreen didn't bother to check that.  This is happening all over.  Of course no fourteen-year-old boy is being denied medication.  The misogyny is the point.

More than a hundred people died in Hurricane Ian and the search continues, but Ron "Kinky Boots" DeSantis decided it was time to denounce the real culprit -- not climate change but "national regime media" who were hoping the storm would devastate Tampa instead of a lot of poor and working people in Lee County.  "That's how these people think," he told January 6 seditionist Brendon Leslie, who now works for something called Florida's Voice.  Whatever our "political agenda" is, somehow a destructive storm will advance it.  I guess he heard Empty Greene telling the risibly small crowd at the Michigan Trump rally how Democrats are actually killing Republicans.  Sadly it's as true as everything else that emerges from her HRT-baked brain.  

We weren't just rooting for Ian, we started it, according to a couple of QAnon delusives.  Lauren Witzke, who ran for the Senate in Delaware, is sure the government has the capability to create giant storms.  She said this to another loser, Deanna Lorraine, while a chyron declared "Biden Builds Transhuman Cyborg Army Using Immigrants," and all to "punish" Florida for its triumphantly transphobic legislation.  So why not target Tallahassee, where the crackpots gather to craft their hate laws?  I want to learn more about those cyborgs.  Can I subscribe to your newsletter? 

That subpoena that the repeatedly indicted AG of Texas fled last week?  Judge says he has to testify.  Suck it up, Ken.

Houston Tipping was killed in a training exercise allegedly because he was investigating a gang rape carried out by four of his fellow LAPD officers.  I can't tell if this is an upcoming episode of Law & Order or one from twenty years ago.

As he prepares to become the president-for-life of Twitter, Elon Musk has spent his spare time working out a peace deal for Russia and Ukraine.  But when he put it up to a "vote" the result, he says, was "the biggest bot attack I've ever seen!"  The creepiest thing the Leakeys unearthed in Africa is very much on Russia's side, you won't be surprised to learn.  Meanwhile Putin admitted in a video call with teachers that the occupied provinces he proclaimed "Russian forever" are far from stabilized, in fact, downright restive about the results of the phony referendum.  

Hundreds of Americans, of whom Malcolm Nance is only the most prominent, have been fighting for Ukraine since the invasion, perhaps the most significant international force of volunteers since the Spanish Civil War.  As Russia is clearly on the ropes, I'm surprised its American supporters have not done something similar.  How about it, Tucker?  Put your money where your irritatingly high-pitched voice is.  Reports indicate that this party is very much bring-your-own-gun, not to mention ammo, body armor, footwear (there are stories of Russian soldiers in flip-flops), food, radiation badge, and maybe some winter underwear.  What do you say, Marge?  Want to meet hot Russian men?  Tom Massie, I've seen your Christmas card -- you've already got an arsenal.  Louie Gohmert, you'll soon be unemployed, why hang around the house (not the House)?  Lauren Boebert, I know you're always packing heat, round up Chip and Matt and Clay and grab a flight to Moscow.  And Gosar DDS -- those conscripts are bound to need a scrape and polish.  It's the chance of a lifetime.  Won't your constituents be impressed if you win the Order of Lenin with bronze oak-leaf palm?