Decompression Wednesday

 Today we take a deep breath and a couple of slow stretches while surveying the wreckage.  It's not all bad.

In a CNN interview with Pamela Brown, James Comer used up lot of time to admit that his House Overlook Committee found no wrongdoing by President Biden or his family.  So far, because they're really going to keep looking.  Maybe a grandchild copied someone else's paper during a French test, you never know.  Of course, said the chairman, they found "a lot that should be illegal," but nothing to approach the career of, say, Clarence Thomas.  (He didn't mention Harlan Crow's pet justice.)  It's the fault of the laws for not specifically prohibiting everything Democrats do, but they'll get to work on that.  Harumph.

Kevin Monahan was charged with second-degree murder for shooting Kaylin Gillis with a shotgun from the porch of his Hebron, New York, home.   His lawyer described him as "an elderly gentleman who had an elderly wife" who was naturally alarmed when a car pulled into his driveway.  (He is 65 and arguably not a gentleman.)  He is also a constituent of Rep. Elise Stefanik but she has been too busy to comment.

Meanwhile in Kansas City, Andrew Lester pleaded not guilty to shooting Ralph Yarl when the sixteen-year-old rang his bell by mistake.  Yarl was coming to collect his younger brothers so they wouldn't have to walk home at night through Lester's neighborhood, which could have resulted in Trayvon Martin x 2.  Lester, 84, remains free on bail.  Hundreds of Yarl's fellow students at Staley High School walked out to show their support, joined by several members of the faculty.  

In Elgin, Texas, Payton Washington and Heather Roth were on their way home from cheerleading practice when Roth began to climb into a car which resembled hers.  Seeing a man behind the wheel she apologized and went back to Washington's car.  At that point Pedro Tello Rodriguez, Jr., emerged from the car, walked over to Washington's and shot twice through the window, wounding both girls.  He was charged with deadly conduct but since it happened in Texas, he was probably standing his ground.  

Last Friday in Nashville a Walgreen security guard suspected two women of shoplifting cosmetics.  He followed them into the parking lot and accused them of stealing and Travonsha Ferguson pepper-sprayed him, whereupon the security guard -- excuse me, "team leader" -- shot her; a witness reported hearing seven shots, "a full clip."  Ferguson was seven months pregnant; she and the baby, delivered by C-section, are still hospitalized.  As of this writing Mitarius Boyd has not been charged, but police took his gun away.  

With so much gunplay I nearly missed the mass shooting in Dadeville, Alabama, at a birthday party last weekend.  Two suspects, Ty Reik McCullough and Travis McCullough, neither old enough to vote, have been arrested.  Four people were killed, four are still in the hospital.

What could have convinced so many, varied Americans that they're in constant mortal danger, that the only possible answer is to shoot first?  Let me think about that.

Dominion Voting Systems settled its lawsuit against Fox News for $787.5 million, which only sounds like a lot of money, I guess.  Fox was not required to admit to its audience that it lied its ass off, about Dominion and about the 2020 election generally.  It wasn't even required to cover the settlement of the lawsuit.  A good thing, because there was a lot of breaking news to cover.  Did you know Monday was tax day?  Hannity's audience does, even if they don't pay taxes.  Baby Tuckoo scored a major interview with Elon Musk, who is, as Woody Allen would say, densely populated.  Over two nights they lamented the failure of (white) people to breed like crazy, a shared obsession.  Musk is "worried if we don't make enough people to at least sustain our numbers, maybe increase a little bit, then civilization's going to crumble."  There are eight billion humans on this increasingly watery planet, but "civilization" is what white people do.  Musk grew up in apartheid South Africa; Carlson just acts as if he did.

Tucker didn't even have to explain why he loved Trump and hated Trump and loved Trump more depending on who he was texting.  I would have given a lot to hear that, preferably under oath.  Thanks, Dominion.

Having survived a stroke and clinical depression, John Fetterman is back and wants it known that he does not have a body double.   I so want this man to be president one day.

In Georgia, Trump's fake "electors" are fighting among themselves.  Fani Willis is listening.

On a roll after outing Lindsey Graham, Margie Greene is promoting the lie that Eric Swalwell had an affair with a Chinese spy named Christine Fang.  This one is so old even QAnon has given up on it.  It was the opening of her super-grilling of Alejandro Mayorkas before the Homeland Security Committee.  But when she started screaming at Mayorkas and calling him a liar, Daniel Goldman (D-NY) invoked a House rule to shut her up.  The Republican chairman Mark Green asked her to retract her words and then had her rant stricken from the record.  Cancelled!  Now he appreciates the wisdom of Nancy Pelosi in kicking this nightmare off all committees.  Listen, Margie, it's like this:  Ted Cruz and Gym Jordan and Josh Hawley can pound the desk and yell but you're too shrill.  "Welcome to my world," said Hillary Clinton, opening another bottle of Chardonnay.  "You should smile more."

The voting age was lowered to 18 in 1971 in part because the Vietnam War was raging and people thought Americans who were old enough to be drafted should be old enough to vote.  Now that kids from 14 to 17 can serve liquor in Iowa (among other jobs), will they be lowering the drinking age?  I have many such questions.  Another is, "Hey, Mississippi, what's the holdup?  You usually lead in every category of 'What the fuck is wrong with this country?'"

Disneyland announced its first official LGBTQ Pride Night in response to the Governissimo's latest threats.  I think we know who's going to win this in the end.