Congrats to Fulton County (Georgia) District Attorney Fani Willis who just won the Democratic primary for her current position by a 7 to 1 margin. Ms. Willis is the prosecutor behind the indictment of Donald Trump and a number of other GOP miscreants in the 2020 election interference case in Georgia.

Fani Willis's Republican opponent in the November election, interestingly, will be a former intern at the Trump White House.

Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, easily defeated Democrat Christian Wise Smith. Willis and Smith, whom she also beat in the 2020 primary, both worked in the district attorney’s office under former District Attorney Paul Howard. [ ... ] Willis is now set to face Republican lawyer Courtney Kramer in November. Kramer, who interned in the Trump White House, ran unopposed Tuesday. Willis is considered the heavy favorite for the general election in Fulton County, which includes Atlanta. Willis brought charges against Trump last year for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election results, as well as co-conspirators, which include Georgia GOP state legislators and the former head of the state Republican Party.

If you really like the current direction of the US Supreme Court, then vote for a third-party presidential candidate who has ZERO chance of winning and therefore no chance of ever nominating a SCOTUS justice.

How many Nazi and Hitler references do Trump and his supporters have to make before some people start to see a pattern? These are neither isolated nor rare occurrences.

This goes back to before Trump even took office.

And there were those "very fine people" in Charlottesville the following year.

And since he lost in 2020, he hasn't gotten any better.

Trump Apparently Has a List of Things He Loves About Adolf Hitler

And who could possibly forget Trump's dinner with a Nazi?

‘Huge Victory’: Trump’s Neo-Nazi Dinner Guest Praises Charlie Kirk For Becoming a ‘White Supremacist’

At the very least, Trump is a Nazi sympathizer. Most Republicans know this but still hitch their wagons to his brand in the hope of furthering their personal advancement.

Today is Day 817 of Vladimir Putin's 3-day "special operation" in Ukraine. Just to provide context, 817 days after Hitler's invasion of Poland was 26 November 1941; the US had yet to enter World War II.

So no matter how much Russia tries to hide its warships, Ukraine keeps finding them and destroying them.

The latest Russian warship to sleep with the fishes is the Kovrovets (Ковровец).

Ukraine’s Navy said on May 19 that it had “destroyed” Russian sea minesweeper Kovrovets overnight, refuting Moscow’s earlier claims of having repelled strikes on occupied Crimea. The report comes amid Ukraine’s ongoing campaign targeting the Russian Black Sea Fleet, inflicting damage on warships one after another. In April, Ukraine’s Navy had said that it struck Kommuna, a salvage ship that was launched in 1915 and is the oldest ship still in service in the Russian Navy. Earlier on May 19, Moscow claimed that it had shot down nine U.S.-provided long-range ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles, and a drone over Crimea. Ukraine’s Navy has not elaborated on how the reported strike was carried out. Russian proxy official in Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said at around midnight that the air defense was working in the city. He said no damage to civilian infrastructure was recorded. The sea minesweeper Kovrovets, with a crew of 68 people, belongs to the Project 266 Akvamarin class, known in NATO as the Yurka class. This Soviet-origin class detects mines up to 150 meters deep and has two 30mm AK-230M naval guns with a high-resolution Lynx radar installed.

Here is Jordan Klepper's entire special on how the GOP became the Party of Putin.

Brace yourself in that vid for another display of MAGA ignorance and stupidity.

The Kremlin is still using unmoderated social media and fake news sites to push disinformation and propaganda into the conspiracy-loving minds of Trump supporters. GOP members of Congress are among them.

The MAGA love for Putin is not due only to media manipulation. Putin's domestic policies closely mirror how the far right would govern in our country: official homophobia, greater income inequality, special treatment for billionaire oligarchs, rigged elections, a de facto official religion, poor consumer protection, censorship, restrictions on abortion, assassination of political opponents, and a lot more. What's not to like in Russia for a US far right fundamentalist? The fringe right pines for the days when women were in the kitchen, Jesus was in the classroom, gays were in the closet, and blacks were completely out of sight.

To truly understand Russia, it's absolutely necessary to talk with its neighbors – not with Tucker Carlson. So Jordan visited Estonia and met with Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.

IMHO, part of the Putin love by some Americans stems from an almost pathological ignorance of Eastern Europe. After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, some idiots began proclaiming "the end of history" and whatever little learning about Eastern Europe which may have taken place in K-12 education then vanished totally.

Putin, a former officer in the Soviet secret police, wants to revive the Soviet Union in all but name. And imperialism is part of that plan.

People in the US who cheer Putin are like the Americans who applauded Hitler in the 1930s. As long as there is substantial support for Putin here we should worry about such people trying to make the US more like totalitarian Russia.

Donald Trump has a gag order placed on him by the judge in his Stormy Daniels hush money trial. So to get around the gag order various Trump lickspittles make pilgrimages to the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse to say stuff to the media which Trump himself is not allowed to say. Past Trump mouthpieces have included pseudo-hillbilly fascist Sen. J.D. Vance and House Speaker "MAGA Mike" Johnson.

Monday's Trump mouthpieces were a quintet of MAGA C-listers: Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA-09), ex-NYC police commissioner Bernie Kerik, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, Trump campaign aide Jason Miller (not related to Stephen Miller), and Kash Patel - a onetime deputy director of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

While Trump has been beseeching his followers to show up outside the courthouse to demonstrate support for their Dear Leader, on Monday it was pro-democracy Trump opponents who were there in greater numbers.

A cadre of MAGA loyalists who had gathered to show their support for Donald Trump during his hush-money trial was shouted down by a bevy of cowbell-clanging anti-Trump protesters on Monday when they tried to speak outside of a lower Manhattan courthouse. [ ... ] The group that flanked the twice-impeached ex-president this time around included South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, former New York police commissioner Bernie Kerik, ex-Trump administration official Kash Patel, Trump senior advisor Jason Miller, and Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA). All but Patel, meanwhile, were customarily decked out in Trump’s standard red tie and navy suit combo.

Yep, four of the five designated Trump lickspittles were dressed in Trump uniforms. Did he dress them himself over at Trump Tower?

Alan Wilson got an earful when he tried to spew the Trump line.

With boos raining down on Wilson, one demonstrator could be heard shouting “go home you carpetbagging fools.” Another protester who camped out behind the pro-Trump speakers with a large “Bootlickers” sign relentlessly blew a whistle while ringing a cowbell. According to independent reporter Jacqueline Sweet, the man was given a citation by law enforcement for “too much cowbell.” Patel, who is expected to take a senior White House role if Trump returns to power, portrayed the ex-president as a victim of an “unconstitutional weaponization of justice.” It was difficult to hear what he had to say as the crowd chanted: “Kash Patel, Go To Hell!” Kerik was also subjected to targeted insults when he spoke, with protesters calling him a “bald-headed bigot” throughout his comments. According to New York Magazine correspondent Oliva Nuzzi, the Trump-hating crowd also took aim at the speakers for dressing just like the former president, prompting them to call the MAGA group “red tie terrorists.” She added that the demonstrators even got a laugh from Miller, who chuckled when one protester wondered if they had bought their suits at “Dictators R Us.”

To use a favorite Trump word, Monday's Trump mouthpieces were real losers.

Rep. Andrew Clyde's rise to fame in Georgia was as a prominent gun store owner. One wonders how many of his guns make it up to NYC to be used illegally.

Bernie Kerik is a convicted felon for tax fraud who was later pardoned by Trump. He served several years behind bars for his crimes.

Alan Wilson has made false election fraud claims even before the Trump presidency and is a serial litigator for far right causes.

Kash Patel once served as an aide to Devin Nunes – the former House member who unsuccessfully sued a cartoon cow.

Jason Miller admitted to hiring prostitutes and having extramarital affairs with two campaign staffers. Republican family values – just like Trump.

Meidas Touch has a video report on Monday's scene outside the courthouse. (never mind the plant commercial in the middle).

If you're anywhere near NYC, visit the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse area on a day that the hush money trial is in session. There's a lunch break starting roughly at 11:30 AM and court is recessed for the day in the afternoon before the building closes at 5:00 PM. Bring your own cow bell and sign.

Court is in session this week on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Next Monday court is closed for Memorial Day but should be in session on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. The case may go to the jury sometime late next week.

The Manhattan courthouse is at 100 Centre Street; take the 4, 5, or 6 subway trains to the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station and walk about four blocks north. The crowds and the Trump bootlickers seem to be directly across the street from the courthouse at Collect Pond Park.

EDIT: If Trump toadies had a bad day outside the courtroom, the one and only defense witness for Trump seems to have had an even worse one in court.

Memorial Day is next Monday. Trump is already making plans. No president have ever shown such disrespect for veterans.

‘God help us’: Former chief of staff says Trump insulted wounded veterans, called dead soldiers 'suckers'

Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly confirmed for the first time the accuracy of reports that his old boss, former President Donald Trump, repeatedly insulted wounded veterans, dead American soldiers who fought in World War I and U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Kelly’s statement backed up years of reporting in outlets like The Atlantic and books by New Yorker and New York Times journalists. One story, reported by The Atlantic in 2020, described an incident in 2018 when Trump, while visiting France, said he didn’t want to visit the graves of American soldiers buried outside Paris because they were ‘losers.’ Kelly’s statement confirmed the reporting on Monday. “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers,” Trump reportedly said according to The Atlantic, later calling the 1,800 Marines killed during the bloody Battle of Belleau Wood “suckers” for dying in action. Before serving in the Trump administration, Kelly was a general in the Marine Corps. The Battle of Belleau Wood is considered to be a foundational chapter in Marine mythology.

The real suckers are those veterans who foolishly support Trump.

I hope Biden asks Trump at the debates whether his bone spur has been acting up lately.

There are a number of threats to the LGBTQ+ community around the world. And with Pride Month on the horizon, federal law enforcement in the US is urging people to be more alert.

Authorities warned US citizens abroad to "exercise increased caution". "Stay alert in locations frequented by tourists, including Pride celebrations," a warning issued by the state department said. The advisory came on Friday, a week after a similar alert issued by US law enforcement agencies. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said: "Foreign terrorist organizations or supporters may seek to exploit increased gatherings associated with the upcoming June 2024 Pride Month." Although no specific gatherings or locations were mentioned in the warnings, the law enforcement agencies noted that messages from the Islamic State (IS) group distributed in English in February 2023 included rhetoric against LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and intersex) events and venues.

Being concerned about anti-LGBTQ+ violence is not paranoid even during "normal" times. Remember the Pulse massacre in 2016?

During Pride Month in June 2016, a man inspired by IS ideology shot dead 49 people and wounded 53 more at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The FBI and DHS warning also noted that three IS sympathisers had been arrested for attempting to attack a Pride parade in Vienna, Austria in 2023. The Counter Extremism Project, a New York-based non-profit group, noted that anti-LGBTQ ideas had been taken up by both Islamist and far-right extremists. "It is no surprise that neo-Nazis and jihadis often express mutual admiration for their shared anti-gay visions," Mark D Wallace, the project's chief executive, said in a statement.

The narrowly averted attack on a Pride march in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho in 2022 was a close call. A heads up by a concerned citizen prevented violence.

The 31 people arrested in Idaho have ties to a White nationalist group and planned to riot at a Pride event, police say. Here’s what we know

After an alarmed 911 caller reported a group dressed like a “little army” getting into a moving truck, police in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, arrested 31 men believed to be linked to a White nationalist group, who had plans to riot at a weekend Pride event, authorities said. The large group – which police believe was affiliated with Patriot Front – was seen at a hotel piling into a U-Haul with riot gear, the caller told a 911 dispatcher. They were later pulled over and arrested, Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White said.

When becoming aware of an immediate threat inside the United States, call 911. If you discover credible evidence of anti-LGBTQ+ violence being planned for some future time, call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). Hate crimes are against the law. All threats of violence should be taken seriously.

If you're abroad, remain alert and pay attention to local advisories and those from embassies.

There's an axis of homophobia which includes Russia, Iran, Uganda, and the far right in the West. Islamic State and (so called) Patriot Front are essentially on the same side. It's sad, but such threats, regardless of source, cannot be ignored.

Pardon me for not shedding tears over the death of the misogynistic theocratic thug Ebrahim Raisi.

As a strong supporter of Ukraine, I note that Iran under Raisi has supplied Russia with Shahed drones which have murdered or maimed thousands of Ukrainians.

Of course Raisi, first and foremost, has repressed and killed countless Iranians over the span of his brutal career.

Iran’s hardline President Ebrahim Raisi — once seen as a potential successor to 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — died after his helicopter crashed into trees in a mountainous northwestern region of the Islamic Republic on Sunday.  The Iranian branch of the Red Crescent humanitarian network said on Monday its search and rescue teams had reached the crash site and “found no signs of the helicopter’s occupants being alive.” The discovery of the burned-out wreckage of Raisi’s helicopter among blackened trees — with seemingly only the tail surviving the crash — followed hours of searches in the fog-bound mountain valleys of Dizmar forest near the border with Azerbaijan.  [ ... ] Raisi, 63, was a conservative cleric and former judiciary chief who was responsible for decades of vicious crackdowns against his own people’s aspirations for greater personal freedoms and democracy, arresting, torturing and executing tens of thousands of the Islamist regime’s opponents.  Educated in the seminary city of Qom and dubbed “the butcher,” he was alleged to have been involved in the execution of thousands of political prisoners in the late 1980s, according to Iran’s opposition. As judiciary chief, he was also directly responsible for the wave of arrests and executions that followed massive anti-regime protests in 2019-2020.  As president, he oversaw the iron-fisted repression of the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Tens of thousands were arrested, and the death toll is estimated at more than 500. 

Raisi was a way bad person – even by the standards of the ruling theocratic mafia in Iran.

As for the helicopter crash that killed Raisi, look to Iran's terrible air safety record.

Iran's poor aviation safety record

The cause of the helicopter crash is not yet known - but Iran has a poor air transport safety record. This is at least partly the result of decades of US sanctions, which have severely weakened its aerial fleet. President Raisi was on board a Bell 212 helicopter, state news agencies said. The model was made in the US and could not have been sold to Iran since the 1979 revolution. Previous ministers of defence and transport, as well as commanders of Iran’s ground and air armed forces, have died in plane or helicopter crashes. When reformers led Iran's government, they aimed to modernise the country's fleet of aircraft by negotiating a deal with the West that would see sanctions lifted in return for limiting Iran's sensitive nuclear activities and allowing in international inspectors However, these efforts stalled when President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal and reimposed sanctions. Reformers were subsequently opposed and mocked by hardliners, who insisted that Iran could rely on its domestic industries and foreign allies to improve aviation safety.

Iran has been devoting more attention to building killer drones than to maintaining its own aircraft. The helicopter crash is poetic justice of sorts.

« I can attest to the idea that tech companies behave nothing like traditional journalism outlets. They’re run by engineers who might as well be wiring your house for cable or fixing your water main for all they care about the quality of information you consume online. »

— Columnist Matt Bai at the Washington Post. (archived)

Good analogy. No matter how good your electrician or plumber may be, would you consider them regular and reliable sources for news outside their professional fields?

Facebook and the others make money by sharing your eyeballs with advertisers – not by providing trustworthy information.

A disproportionate percentage of Republicans get their news primarily from social media. That tells us a lot about how they form their worldviews.

We need to support credible free news media like public broadcasters NPR, the BBC, the CBC, or Australia's ABC.

At one time most people got reasonably accurate news from free media on TV and radio. The internet has scrambled the media landscape – so far in a chaotic way.

People who spend lots of time on free social media are having their views shaped by digital oligarchs who have no interest in accuracy or responsibility. Indeed, some of those oligarchs have political agendas which are self-serving and promote fringe worldviews.

So support for remaining free credible news media is essential as they navigate their way through the changing informational terrain.

For now, question the credibility of dubious items which people tell you about which they see on social media. Successfully debunking something provides you with credibility you can then use to cast doubt on additional dubious items.

Trump's offer to kill climate protection measures in return for about $1 billion in support from Big Oil has gotten little coverage in local media in swing states.

Make sure that people who care about climate change are aware of Trump's corrupt deal with already filthy rich fossil fuel industry. Don't assume people about Trump's deal with Big Oil.

Trump turns to oil industry for $1bn towards campaign as they draft executive orders for him to sign

If somebody says he's going to be a dictator – believe him.

Trump at NRA convention floats a three-term presidency

The only way to keep Trump from having a third term is to defeat him in his attempt to have a second term. It's always easier to prevent a dictator than to get rid of one.

Make sure everybody you know who isn't a MAGA zombie is registered to vote. Be a precinct captain to people you know in real life and online. Polite persistence will pay off.

Be a voter | Vote Save America 🇺🇸

Don't wait for the next person to stop totalitarianism.

^^^ They aren't casting "protest votes" for third parties that can't win.

Even if Trump is convicted in the hush money trial, it's doubtful that he will go directly to prison immediately after the verdict; there are always appeals. But he would be a convicted felon – a first in a presidential debate.

The hilarious thing about the upcoming debates is that TRUMP TOTALLY CAVED to the Biden campaign's demands on the debate format. It will be a lot closer to the no nonsense Kennedy-Nixon debates than anything since 1960. Among other things, there will be no audience for Trump to play off of. Presumably it will just be journalists, technicians, security, and (maybe) some close family members.

Trump's followers claim he's a shrewd businessman. But he got totally rolled in the debate negotiations.

And because Trump constantly belittles Biden, so as long as Biden avoids any truly major screw-ups it will be regarded as an outrperformance and therefore a Biden win.

Biden and Trump will debate in June and September. But the terms have changed

Biden's campaign also objects to the audiences — which it described as "raucous or disruptive partisans and donors, who consume valuable debate time with noisy spectacles of approval or jeering." "As was the case with the original televised debates in 1960, a television studio with just the candidates and moderators is a better, more cost-efficient way to proceed," O'Malley Dillon said. Other terms include having microphones open only when it is the candidates turn to speak. Biden's campaign ruled out other candidates in the debates.

Yep, Trump's microphone will be off whenever it is not his turn to speak. 😁

It's clear that Biden has already won the debate on debates.

When Trump tells you that crime is rampant, he's talking about his own personal ongoing crime wave.

Regardless of emoluments, Justice Alito has shown that he's the most fervent MAGA justice on the US Supreme Court. He now even beats out Justice Thomas.

Samuel Alito Can’t Even Lie Properly About That Upside-Down Flag

At the very least, Alito needs to recuse himself from all Trump-related court cases. Though frankly, he should be impeached.

Alito was appointed to SCOTUS by George W. Bush. Bush won the 2000 election after the Supreme Court stopped vote recounting in Florida as Democrat Al Gore was closing the gap with Bush. And we remember that Alito wrote the majority opinion in the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Think of Alito when you're tempted to waste a vote on an impotent third party candidate who has no chance of getting elected president and appointing Supreme Court justices.

Jordan Klepper is doing a special next week on how the Party of Reagan became the Party of Putin.

He spoke about it with CNN's Abby Phillip.

Here is what Ronald Reagan was saying about the Evil Empire in 1981 when Vladimir V. Putin was an officer in the Soviet secret police there.

Change a few words and it could sound like Reagan is describing today's MAGA Republican Party.

So fast forward about 40 years and this is what some people are wearing to Trump rallies.

Anti-vax nut Aaron Rogers, in that clip at the top, praised Putin for the way he "talked about the history of his country". Rogers apparently doesn't know the difference between history and disinformation. Rogers wants people to think he's really bright but he demonstrates again what a brainless dupe of Putin he really is.

The US Embassy in Kyiv published this funny but historically accurate meme which people should keep in mind when Putin claims that Russia is historically the mother (or whatever) of Ukraine.

The lines at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse.

The Trump hush money trial has become a public grovelling pit for Republicans wishing to be Trump's running mate. These people have lost any remaining dignity they might have still had.

VP wannabees: Be careful what you ask for.