Martell Spy

DeSantis allies earn big paychecks on the front lines of his culture fights https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/29/politics/ron-desantis-florida-allies-big-paychecks/index.html

Just going to tuck this away until the next time some moronic right-wing President invades some random country.

Pence suspends presidential campaign The former vice president announced his decision to audible gasps at a Jewish forum in Las Vegas. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/28/pence-suspends-presidential-campaign-00124097

Yes.

White House hits Johnson over claiming gun violence was a matter of the ‘heart’ The first punches are thrown between the two leaders. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/27/white-house-johnson-gun-violence-00124001

Chad Stahelski’s Henry Cavill-Led ‘Highlander’ Reboot Gets a Big Update https://collider.com/highlander-reboot-henry-cavil-chad-stahelski-update/

Opinion: When it comes to remote work, Stephen Schwarzman doesn’t get it https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/27/opinions/stephen-schwarzman-remote-work-alaimo/index.html

Rep. Dean Phillips files paperwork for presidential bid against Biden The Minnesota Democrat is making his long-teased run official. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/26/rep-dean-phillips-files-paperwork-for-presidential-bid-against-biden-00123923

‘Get the right cases to the supreme court’: inside Charles Koch’s network Billionaire’s web of rightwing groups works to bring cases to court that could undermine core functionings of the US government https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/26/charles-koch-us-government-rightwing-supreme-court

New speaker of the House Mike Johnson once wrote in support of the criminalization of gay sex https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/25/politics/mike-johnson-gay-sex-criminalization-kfile/index.html

How the ‘uniparty’ myth shut the House down https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/24/politics/republicans-house-uniparty-what-matters/index.html

Who will litigate then when they try to steal future elections?

Nevermind. Got ninjaed.

Possibly Romney can self deport. Mitt Romney criticizes Fox News and right-wing media for warping Republican Party https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/19/media/mitt-romney-right-wing-media-republican-party-reliable-sources/index.html

There was also claims of them doing things like texting spouses. And it was said that all these hardball tactics actually backfired.

Jordan’s floor failure strengthens private push to empower McHenry A bipartisan group is advocating for more powers for the acting speaker, possibly as soon as a second failed ballot. https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2023/10/17/congress/mchenry-backers-gain-traction-00122037

It's not their job to assist Republicans and that's not the same thing as saying they never will. Democrats (and their voters) are very policy driven. Saying we will never make a deal isn't how they operate. McCarthy is a special case because he's long catered to the far right. He's despised so making any deal with him would definitely cause a lot of calls from unhappy constituents. It sounds like there are going to be talks, possibly for someone with limited powers to get the House moving again. But first Jordan is taking his shot.

Senior House Republican says GOP members ready to block Jordan https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/15/politics/jim-jordan-house-republicans-speaker/index.html

Alabama library mistakenly adds children’s book to “explicit” list because of author’s name https://apnews.com/article/alabama-childrens-book-banned-f5179e7fb9c523b84e901453e07cfb5d

A very common situation here. I currently have no health insurance. I remember her, pretty shocking considering how famous she is. Kind of like hearing about those writers for acclaimed TV series like "Orange is the New Black" were getting paid almost nothing. Makes me wonder if she's in a state without Medicaid expansion, too.

Stumbled on "The Ruin of Kings" by Jenn Lyons recently. It was on the local library rec shelf. Looks great so far, I'm only about 60 pages in. I wish I had more reading time. It's more high magic than I usually think of myself liking which made me skeptical, but it seems to work so far better than I expected. There's a lot of powerful wizard characters, but so far they aren't the protagonist and they all have mysterious, possibly sinister agendas. The book starts out in a memorable manner.

Revealed: Amazon linked to trafficking of workers in Saudi Arabia https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/oct/10/amazon-trafficking-links-claims-saudi-arabia-workers-abuse

Also, there's Adama's, "Sometimes, you have to roll the hard six." Yeah, that was Amaresu. Amazon gives both actor and character for the people on screen recently, at least on my TV, and I was looking for who that was. Looking forward to Elayne and Mat scenes with Birgitte.

Trump Falsely Claims Forbes ‘Attacked’ Him After He Falls Off 400 List https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/10/09/trump-falsely-claims-forbes-attacked-him-after-he-falls-off-400-list/?sh=2b183b017968

Angus Deaton on inequality: ‘The war on poverty has become a war on the poor’ The Nobel prize winner and author of new book Economics in America argues economists must get back to serving society https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2023/oct/07/angus-deaton-interview-book-economics-in-america