Reddit IPO has many "interesting" issues

Nine months or so after the Reddit "strike" (and ensuing hypocrisy by the moderators at r/NBA and perhaps elsewhere) over Reddit putting the dinero squeeze on third-party mobile apps in lead-up to a pending (and hinted at for YEARS) initial public offering ...

The IPO is here.

Per Hollywood Reporter, the filing reveals that recently departed and returned OpenAI jefe Sam Altman is one of the biggest shareholders — third overall. It confirms that the Newhouse family's Advance media company, one of the earliest "race to the bottom" newspaper companies on gutting days of print newspapers, and China's Tencent are second and third. (Advance used to own NOLA, the Times-Picayune, before wrecking it so badly that the Baton Rouge Advocate started a New Orleans edition and Advance ultimately sold. In addition, Advance also wrecked the Cleveland Plain Dealer, in part by making the Cleveland dot com website entirely nonunion.) So, there you go; you have Advance as a pre-Alden Capital version of Alden, Sam Altman's murkiness, and Tencent probably looking to start Reddit gaming or something.

That all probably says a variety of things about the post-IPO Reddit that aren't that good.

If that wasn't enough, Google announced a deal with Reddit to be able to scrape it more.

That's not good in another way. The insufferability of older-usage diehard Redditors about how it's the "front page of the Internet" will probably only double down. In reality, though not as bad as it once was, nonetheless, it's still about as much "the front page of Quora" as it is "the front page of the internet."

Actually, the biggest cesspool is the #BlueAnon at r/politics. There's lesser cesspools (setting aside the racism and sexism cesspools for which Reddit was once known), mainly, per the top link and later, additional thoughts, involving moderators that are favorites-players at minimum, Nazis at max. Finally, there's the chuddery of downvoting.

Related? We know Google "returns" promoted listings, as in, people who pay Google money, more and more at the top of search feeds. We also know that it's more and more returning more and more SEO garbage. We also also know that more and more of that SEO garbage is AI generated.

Will Altman in the future work on bots for Reddit to double down on this? Will he get it to partner with Google on training Google's own AI? Wonder what the likes of a Cory Doctorow might say on this?

Let's also remember that Reddit is still losing money. Typical tech site, but yet, big money tech bros have their boners out. Probably for tax writeoff reasons if nothing else.

Meanwhile, don't you have to be desperate or addicted to pay $50 a year for Reddit Premium? "Ads-free Reddit"? Woo-hoo! I already have AdBlockPlus for free, plus Ghostery. "Exclusive avatar gear"? Even more desperate. "Members' lounge"? WTF. The "coins and trophies"? Per Business Insider, sounds like a "I'll scratch your back you scratch mine" form of karma laundering.

==

Also, me no like Reddit's new layout. Dunno if the change is in connection with the IPO or not, but in any case, I don't like it.

==

Update, March 15: Wired has an in-depth piece, looking mainly at the IPO, but dropping back to look at Reddit from the beginning. It confirms some things I suspected on my own, such as rings of spambots, which still exist, obviously. It confirms just how craptacular the API is in many ways, as well as the amount Huffman has done since his return, as well as the amount of heavy lifting that's left. Frankly, per one of the piece's angles, yes, like a typical tech-world IPO, but complicated by deep Redditors' level of fandom (which Wired doesn't really address whether or not it lasts that many years) I think the IPO is overvalued.

Jeff Goodell hits a bit of a foul ball on handling the high Heat

I wound up being somewhat disappointed by Jeff Goodell's new-of-2023 book "The Heat Will Kill You First."

I'd read "Big Coal" years ago and thought it was great. I'd heard some good reviews about "Heat."

The reality, in precís form, before an expanded version of my Goodreads review?

The anecdotal parts of the book, about individual people struggling with, and sometimes dying in and from, the heat? Great.

The actual science? The sea level rise was mainstream. The effect of heatwaves was mainstream.

But, the biggie of "where are we headed"? To take 2100 as a break point, is it 2.5C? 3C? 4C? Even higher? Goodell makes no projection of his own, nor does he ask any climate scientist to make one.

Then, the what do we do? part is half nothingburger, half non-reality.

The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet by Jeff Goodell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

OK, first the best.

The best part on the science side is the chapter on Friedericke Otto and extreme event attribution. Personalized stories, such as the migrant dead at the Willamette Valley nursery, are a solid second, and first on the narrative.

Back to the "where are we headed"? Is it 2.5C or so (we're using the metric here, contra the book), like "climate change neoliberals" such as Michael Mann and Katharine Hayhoe? (I think that's where they'd sit if you forced them to pick a number, but, to be honest, I think they'd do their damndest to avoid picking a number in the first place.) Or 4C by the end of this century, as James Hansen said recently, if you do his math, and with whom I very much agree? See how easy that was, Jeff?

Goodell pulls punches and won't tell us anything.

To put it another way, in terms of the different temperature possibilities per the above?

Is he a Michael Mann/Katharine Hayhoe climate change Obamiac? Is he Hansen? Is he James Kunstler or beyond, if you think 5C or even a "runaway" is possible?

He gives every appearance of being a climate change Obamiac.

Then, the what do we do? part is half nothingburger, half non-reality.

The non-reality part is the issue of how much, or how little, can we really "harden" cities that are already in hot climates. Goodell listens to a person from Phoenix, Mark Hartman, the city's "chief sustainability officer," but neither in the interview, nor on his own afterward, does he say that the correct answer is: "move away." Just like "move away" rather than blow money on it is the right answer for the Salton Sea. (I said a dozen years ago that, rather than HARP, HAMP and all the other subprime bubble-bursting reinflation, Dear Leader should have told the recent moves to Phoenix that their in arrears mortgages would be ripped up if they'd move back to Cleveland, Des Moines or whatever. He would also have told developers and mortgage originators that they would be made whole IF IF IF they cut their home building and home sales in Phoenix by 10-20 percent for the next decade, otherwise, no Fannie or Freddie help on future mortgages.)

The nothingburger? Since he won't plump for a 2100 temperature point, he won't tell us about carbon taxes and tariffs or other actions we should be taking. No bueno. 

Related? Those "vaunted" Paris accords? You mean the totally voluntary Jell-O, made so by Dear Leader Obama and Xi Jinping? The accords that stayed voluntary at the 2019 global climate summit and the just-completed one in 2023? And, no, Goodell tells you none of that, Dear Reader.

(This is also a good spot for a reminder that the real, true divide on taking climate change seriously is not between Republicans and Democrats, nor is it between fundagelicals and more liberal Christians, but it's between secularists and everybody else.)

I felt Goodell had a chance for more outreach, and fell short. (And so, contra others, I did NOT think this was "doom porn." If only it hit people that much over the head.) If you think we're going to be at 2.5C at the end of the century, then this book is OK. If 4C, then it's not. Those polar bears are doomed to death, zoos or inbreeding with grizz. The pikas are trapped. Etc., etc.

Where's it not so good otherwise?

Couple of science errors, first.

There are four normal jet streams, two in each of the northern and southern hemispheres, not “the jet stream.”

Great Barrier Reef is 1,400 miles long, not 14,000. That one was glaring.

More to the point?

Narrative issues, maybe?

Lesser ones first.

I don't think the A/C chapter was totally off point, because Goodell talks about how it has killed off, or nearly so, in many parts of the world, old-style ways of constructing buildings to keep them cooler. Other than the carbon-boosting energy costs, if AC is not powered by renewables, there's the added issue of CFC leaks from refrigerant lines and pumps. And, these CFCs, differing among themselves, are also greenhouse gases.

The Arctic and Antarctic visits, though? Both interesting. Both certainly connected to climate change and to the global warming part of them. But, Goodell doesn't really tie either one into global warming that much, especially not the Arctic visit. For instance, we're not told how much sea ice has decreased in the last 30 years. 

Also, like another 3-star reviewer, I noted that (outside of AUS/NZ) there's little Global South here, especially on urban adaptations. Pakistan does get play in the non-developed Global North, but because of the extremes it faces. And, as far as solutions, the Global North is asking the Global South to suck it. So far, low-carbon developmental help has been all hat on promises, no cattle on actual help. Goodell doesn't discuss that, either.

Finally, on the personal side, he says that getting outside more in hot weather (while being smart about it, of course) increases one's adaptability to the heat, and thus lessens the need for AC. I'm not sure how much he practices what he preaches. I'm not in Austin, but I am in North Tex-ass, and I exercise by powerwalking in 100°F or hotter temperature.

View all my reviews

America as failed/-ing state: Cheap political gotchas by alleged leftists

First, the America as failed/-ing state is, I think, going to become a semi-regular, occasional, series of blogging.

Second, as is my wont, it will look beyond twosiderism to some degree. It will this time for sure.

The part of the header after the colon was inspired by two items on Twitter Feb. 13, both of which were actual/alleged leftists doing gotchas on BlueAnon/BlueMAGA Democrats.

The first, was from one of my email alerts. Randy Credico prasing by quote-tweet Marjorie Taylor Greene's attack on the "Super Bowl Sunday warhawk bill."

Reality, Randy? MTG (Trevor Lawrence in drag and yes I went there and take a look at her and agree) voted for all of Trump's tax cuts that created a huge amount of that $34 trillion in debt she professes to hate. Reality No. 2? She only hates the Russia-Ukraine proxy war because it's Biden's war. If Trump gets re-elected and wants more bombs and drones for Ukraine, she'll be down with it. Reality No. 3? She's pushing the Israel button no matter what.

The second was lefties laughing (and Blue MAGA was trending on Twitter because of this) at Blue MAGA getting butt-hurt because Jon Stewart was bagging on Biden. Reality? First, it's low-hanging fruit. Second, Blue MAGA can be craptacular while Stewart is just about as craptacular himself. He's yesterday's news, and frankly, compared to old backup man Stephen Colbert, never had as much zing on his fastball at his peak, and certainly doesn't now. Anybody who's watched him over the past 2-3 years before he decided to relaunch his show knows that in today's political world, he should be called "No Labels Jon Stewart."

Jon Stewart is every white man in America that thinks he is irreplaceable. He saw black, brown, yellow & women doing his old job better & expanding the platform & got mad & decided to come back due to his ego. pic.twitter.com/LV6ZBHoruX

— Sons of Killmonger & Disciple of Dark Brandon (@2Strong2Silence) February 13, 2024

I repeated the "No Labels" observation to this guy and one other commenter to him. I said I thought it was just a case of a rich man with big ego refusing to accept he's behind his sell-by date.

This type of stuff, as much as the "I'm rubber, you're glue" between Blue MAGA and MAGAts, is what makes many Europeans shake their heads.

The US didn't want a peace deal at the Maidan; Ukrainian fascists still don't

More incomparable work by Ivan Katchanovski, this time in the German mag Junge Welt, or Young World.

I offer Google Translate's English, in full:

Headline: "False flag action by Ukrainian fascists"

Subhed: Shots in the back: evidence speaks against government massacre on Kiev Maidan in 2014 

At the end of January 2014, the "Euromaidan" on Kiev's Independence Square seemed to be running out of steam. The square and the streets leading to it were lined with military tents in which sinister figures slept with machetes strapped to their belts. “Ask for donations for cigarettes and ammunition,” wrote the “Volhynian Detachment of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army” on a cardboard sign in front of their tent. So they must have already had the weapons back then. None of the respondents knew what their political goals were.

Anyone you met on Khreshchatik Boulevard was a member of the infantry, recruited for $20 a day from the unemployed in western Ukraine. The strings behind it were pulled by oligarchs competing with President Viktor Yanukovych for access to the national economy, who also ensured that the tent camp was supplied with food and firewood. Middle-class women from “civil society” spread bread and distributed soup. In the evening they went home again. The police remained strangely passive - there were obviously sympathizers of the other option even in Yanukovych's circle. There was hypocritical excitement in January when the government issued a ban on arming and masking for demonstrations, as has been standard in Germany since the 1970s and was never enforced anyway.

In mid-February, activists trained in hand-to-hand combat began attacking police barriers between the Maidan and the government district with incendiary devices. Mixtures with phosphorus were also used. The first shots were fired around eight o'clock on the morning of February 20th. They first encountered police officers stationed around Independence Square; there were dead and injured among them. It has now emerged that the shots came from several buildings controlled by Maidan activists. In particular, the Hotel “Ukraina,” where the fascist Svoboda party was staying, and the adjacent conservatory, which was controlled by Yulia Tymoshenko’s “Fatherland Party.”

In the confusion and the beginning of panic, the direction on stage called on the demonstrators to move towards the government district via Institutska Street. Dozens of demonstrators were killed or injured by gunfire here. But the bullet channels and the type of wounds quickly indicated that they could not have been fired from the front - by the police, who were holed up behind a chain of trucks - because the whole thing took place in a blind spot.

Rather, the fire came from behind again, again from the Hotel "Ukraina" and the conservatory as well as the trade union hall, where the "Right Sector" had its headquarters. The Ukrainian-Canadian political scientist Ivan Katchanovski has researched this meticulously over the years from hundreds of timecoded video reports and other sources. He cites strong evidence that Western politicians were also informed in advance about the planned storm and the use of firearms. The perpetrators were covered up and disappeared without a trace; not a single police officer has been convicted to date. The official legend of the Yanukovych massacre was apparently impossible to prove, even for the Ukrainian justice system.

But the facts were established. Yanukovych fled, and the entire West immediately recognized the regime that emerged from Maidan, even though three EU foreign ministers - Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Radosław Sikorski and Laurent Fabius - had negotiated an early resignation with Yanukovych the day before the massacre. But a compromise was no longer desired by the USA (“Fuck the EU”) and the Ukrainian fascists.

==

More detail on who was firing, and scheming, from an old Junge Welt piece by Moss Robeson, talking about the role of the Bandera group within the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists:

The Bandera faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B) played a central role in the “Revolution of Dignity,” also known as “Euromaidan.” Trisub, the former paramilitary wing of the OUN-B, which had cooperated closely with a nationalist faction of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) since its founding in 1993, spearheaded the Right Sector. This collective movement of fascist and other ultra-right organizations led the violent street battles on the Maidan.

The OUN-B played a more direct role in the lesser-known but important “civil sector of the Maidan,” which, according to the primarily US government-funded NGO Freedom House, “formed the protest camp into a socially sustainable organism for many weeks.” ... The OUN-B also had some high-ranking members in the fascist Svoboda party, including its ideologue Olexander Sitsch, who became Ukraine's first deputy prime minister in 2014.

Andriy Levus, who publicly announced in 2022 that he is vice-chairman of the international OUN-B, was for many years assistant to the commander of the “Maidan Self-Defense Forces”, Andriy Parubiy, who was also one of the co-founders of the Social-National Party, forerunner of Svoboda , belonged. In 2013, Lewus worked closely with the politician and ex-SBU official Sergij Bondarchuk, who announced the "beginning of 'Euromaidan'" at the beginning of November. ... During the mysterious February 20, 2014 sniper massacre that made the coup possible, Andriy Levus negotiated a ceasefire with a government official. He told the New York Times that he was prepared for a much bloodier confrontation. After the "Revolution" he was appointed deputy director of the SBU.

On November 22, 2013, the day after the first "Euromaidan" protest, a meeting of the World Council of Ukrainian Statehood Organizations, formerly known as the World Ukrainian Liberation Front, took place at the OUN-B headquarters in Kiev. This is the international coordination body for the façade structures of the OUN-B, which received orders from Munich during the Cold War. The diaspora leaders of the OUN-B came to this Banderist conclave and also formed the front of the “Holodomor” memorial march alongside future Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Vitaly Klitschko, who became mayor of Kiev in May 2014.

After the change of power, the Banderists took over the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance in Kiev, as well as the Ministry of Education and Health. The “Civil Sector of the Maidan,” which was permeated by the Banderists, created the Western-financed “Resuscitation Package of Reforms,” which pushed forward the Banderization of the state’s official Ukrainian memory policy. In the 2014 elections, OUN-B leaders Oleg Medunitsya and Andriy Levus, who ran on Arseniy Yatsenyuk's nationalist Popular Front list, were elected to the Verkhovna Rada. Five years after the coup, the OUN-B threatened another “revolution.” This time against the newly elected President Volodymyr Zelensky - in the event that he would keep his promise and end the civil war raging in the East with a negotiated solution. The “surrender resistance movement” was led by Andrij Lewus. ... When Russian troops invaded Ukraine in 2022, the Banderists took credit for provoking the government in Moscow and declared: "Our victory is the victory of our ideas."

Highlight on last paragraph mine.

Texas Progressives talk Christofascists, climate change

Just in time for primary season, in the Monthly, Russell Gold profiles Christofascist Tim Dunn. One thing new to me? He's on the board of directors of the company that runs the Ballotpedia website. I'll no longer be using it. (PR Watch documents how many of the funders of the Lucy Burns Institute have Koch ties or are otherwise general wingnuts.)

SocraticGadfly from his recent vacation, talks climate change and the future of the Salton Sea even as global warming gets more and more locked in.

SB4 appears to be in trouble in federal court. The Trib's story is OK; KUT's is better in some ways; the radio discussion was much better, as they noted on Texas Standard that Judge Ezra said that if Texas were able to deport, all 50 states could start their immigration enforcement, which would cause "chaos" and be a "confederation." Gus Bova has that quote at the Observer. His story also notes that under SB4, Texas would send arrested migrants over the border to Mexico, even though an increasing number of Ill Eagles coming THROUGH Mexico are NOT FROM Mexico, or even from the countries of Central America to its south. For good measure, all the stories have Judge Ezra mocking Texas' claim of an "invasion." My legiscritter, David Spiller, the guy who sponsored this and a lawyer, still claims it's constitutional.

Final note on this issue: Ezra said he will NOT stay his ruling, whenever it comes, but almost certainly before the March 5 date of effectiveness (shockingly, Texas primary day). He noted that whatever his ruling is, it will be appealed post-haste to the Fifth Circuit anyway.

Something I never thought I'd see: TEA finally letting go of Marlin, or at least starting the process. Should inspire Houstonians, and cut off the idea that the TEA takeover there is part of some plot to privatize public education. (That said, some Marlin parents want the TEA to stay in charge.)

More and more Houston Dems hate Harris DA Kim Ogg. Can it be enough for Sean Teare to knock her off?

Off the Kuff interviewed a couple of candidates who deserve support in their primaries to take on terrible Republicans, Nasir Malik in SD07 and Marquette Greene-Scott in CD22.

Stace tells us about his COVID-19 experience. He offers tips and advice for those who are about to experience it.

There's a colorful history behind the Texas telecom company accused of making robocalls telling Dems not to vote in the New Hampshire primary.

As I said on Twitter, James M. Dorsey, on my blogroll for years, is often an insightful independent voice on Middle East geopolitics. At the same time, he has, since Oct. 7, 2023, pulled his punches more than once on Gaza-related issues. Recently, he talked about Biden's push to link a Palestine (Gaza IS part of the state of Palestine)-Israel ceasefire to broader issues, without considering the possibility that this is really a Biden stall-out, which I think it is.

Related: #AbadonBiden considers Michigan Dem primary protest vote? And/so?

Long COVID can apparently cause brain injury. Skeptical Raptor has the details.

Neil at the Houston Democracy Project said Judge Natalia Cornelio is on target helping organize a block walk despite having no primary or November opponent. May other Democratic office holders follow her example as we face an authoritarian threat.  

Therese Odell would like for Tucker Carlson to stay right there in Russia.  

Allyn West shows why one of Houston's iconic thoroughfares really needs some upgrades. 

 Jeff Balke argues that "public safety" needs to extend to cyclists and pedestrians.  

Your Local Epidemiologist addresses the leaked new COVID guidance proposal from the CDC. 

The TSTA Blog reminds us of the perpetual dishonesty of voucher proponents. 

 Reform Austin reminds us who the real threats to children are.

#AbandonBiden ponders Michigan protest vote; And?

#AbandonBiden is the hashtag that started trending late last year among Muslim-Americans, especially those of the Democratic donor class. See the background in this post.

And now we're going beyond dinero, of which Biden will get more elsewhere.

#AbandonBiden is gaining momentum for a protest vote in the Michigan Dem primary next Tuesday. So? What's the plan for November among Michigan Arab-Americans? After all, many of you thought he was insincere with his advisors' apology for him a couple of weeks ago. A leader in promoting this is Our Revolution, which at least at the national level, is a bunch of Berniecrats. 

And, that "and" is the key to the whole thing. I don't know when was the last time that at least a sliver of more committed Democrats sat out. Let alone pulled the non-duopoly trigger.

And, will Genocide Joe roll out his non-Muslim Lebanese-American butt-kisser, St. Ralph of Nader, to try to counteract this?

Josh Marshall trying to spin a fantasy world of a Russiagate 2.0?

Josh Marshall, as all the #BlueAnon vervently faithful know, as well as leftists like me, is proprietor of Talking Points Memo, one of the top Blue MAGA go to sites for news analysis.

Well, they've got a doozy.

First, the author, because that gets us to the header of this piece.

Josh Kovensky. But, we need his tagline:

Josh Kovensky is an investigative reporter for Talking Points Memo, based in New York. He previously worked for the Kyiv Post in Ukraine, covering politics, business, and corruption there.

There you go.

The TL/DR of the piece is that Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro had a Plan B for after Jan. 6, 2021 to try to extend the vote count past that date. The Electoral Count Act time-limits challenges to prevent an actual, or threatened, filibuster and the goal was to get around that.

Options?

1. Have Pence say he would actually count votes himself;
2. Have Pence recuse himself on conflict of interest grounds to Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Grassley.
3. Try to filibuster anyway.

Option 1 was never happening. 

Option 2? No vice president presiding over his own or his team's defeat — Tricky Dick and Dan Quayle being the two most recent, and with Nixon having better grounds than Pence to be asked to recuse — has ever done so.

Option 3? In comments to Trump, TPM says Chesebro suggested multiple lines to try to trigger it:

• Mike Pence could decline to open Biden electoral votes — it would be a “fairly boss move,” as Chesebro put it in one email — likely delaying the certification of Biden’s win while posing a core challenge to the ECA. 

• A “test case” could be filed before SCOTUS aimed at invalidating the law. It would be filed by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) acting in Pence’s place as President of the Senate. 

• The Senate filibuster could be used as a blunt instrument to block the ECA from either being followed or being implemented on Jan. 6.

Even though people like former Trump chief of staff Rinse Penis told Chesebro not to get Trump's hopes up too much, he apparently at least talked around the edges of this.

And .... nothing happened.

Trump instead incited a riot at minimum, insurrection at maximum. If he knew the details of the Chesebro plan, he ignored them.

That said, as Chesebro, and Rudy Giuliani, and gazillions of other lawyers who have worked for Trump should know, he's generally really good at ignoring advice from lawyers.

And, Kovensky should know that, too. That said, with Trump's recent NATO comments, it's a "good" time for angles like this.

More presidential briefs roundup

Independent Political Report says a new "Liberal Party" is forming. It's some state parties from the old Libertarian Party, pre-Mises Mice takeover. Per the piece, and contra what the founder declares as their intent, since two of the four state parties forming the new one have the official Libertarian Party ballot access line in their states, I think it's dumb to pass on fielding a presidential candidate this year.

And, take a look if "Doh" has actually decided to comment there after all or not. His stated reasons are weaselly, but perhaps deliberate, as he knows George Phillies, Thomas Knapp and others are old-time Libertarians and will probably roast him if he does comment. (I've never seen either comment at Ballot Access News.) It's four days later and they have yet to respond.

==

Genocide Joe can breathe a bit easier, as Yachtsman Joe announced last week he would not run for president. Will anybody run on the No Labels line? The party's head organizational cheese promises an announcement in a couple of weeks. Larry Hogan's been silent, until deciding to run for the Senate instead. The Fat Bastard of New Jersey has had his staff exonerated over Bridgegate and has made an occasional noise; would Christie jump in? His past Trump ties make him less than pristine. What about Liz Cheney?

==

Cornel West has a new low in egocentric teh stupidz.

==

The RFK Jr. campaign is imploding. And, given discussions late late year, how a strong Bob Jr. campaign would hurt Trump more than Biden, this means he can't relax very much.

Judge Beall tells Kenny Boy Paxton he's not an orphan

Judge Andrea Beall rejected Kenny Boy Paxton's "I murdered my parents, now I'm an orphan" claim that his constitutional right to a speedy trial in his security fraud case had been violated by the prosecution and so charges should be dropped.

Too bad she didn't add some snark about moving his trial UP from April to March if he really wanted to get this out of hte way.

Sidebar: One of the prosecutors in the case had a deal, reportedly, with Kenny Boy's attorneys. No trial, no time, no fines. If lead prosecutor Brian Wice scuttled that deal, good on him. If now former co-prosecutor Kent Schaffer worked on that deal and called it a win-win, fuck him. If he's now leaving the prosecuting team because he's butt-hurt, good for We the People of Tex-ass. 

"To me, that was worse than a slap on the wrist. That was, 'gee, let's get you a cocktail, a hot meal and a breath mint.' And that wasn't going to happen on my watch,” Wice said.

Let's have an actual trial in April, not a sham plea deal that, for all of us.

Sidebar: I've asked Lauren McGaughy on Twitter, trying to figure out just how much a sham this was, if it even involved an actual guilty plea vs a nolo or even a deferred adjudication.

RFK Jr campaign imploding

RFK Jr.'s SuperPAC blew $7 million on that controversial Super Bowl ad (I wasn't watching, but heard about it), only to piss off his own family. We probably should say "piss off his own family more," given that his years of antivaxxering have long ago pissed off large chunks of the Kennedy clan.

More Bob Jr. bad news. His campaign is leaking oil, in the form of staffers deserting a possibly sinking ship. The hilarious part is that this is blamed on two people. One of them is Bob Jr.'s daughter-in-law, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy. Her presence as campaign manager is the focus of a Federal Election Commission investigation (that's separate from Democrats wanting the FEC to investigate possible improper coordination between campaign and Super PAC) as to whether she's being paid correctly related to her job position and other factors, or whether, as many suspect, this is simple nepotism. The other reason many are leaving is connected to one of Bob Jr.'s signature campaign positions, and that is that antivaxxer nutter Del Bigtree is his communications director.

(A) source described Fox Kennedy and Bigtree as “self-serving” operatives who were “making decisions based on their own personal advancement opportunities, and not acting in the best interest of the candidate.”...

“Del is running around spending money lavishly,” another source said. “He’s doing Zoom calls from the slopes with champagne while many people are volunteers and not getting paid.”

Fox Kennedy, meanwhile, “hired her nanny” Brigid Rasmussen as chief of staff, which was seen internally as a sign of incompetence for the director of a presidential campaign.

Rick, I am SHOCKED there is gambling going on here!

Besides the old but good punch line, it seems clear that, as outside analysts told Mediaite, in the top link in this subsection, that this is amateurish. Bobby his own self told one departing staffer, in response to a letter of hers with the airing of grievances, that he took the allegations seriously.

Finally, if any of these now-departed staffers joined his campaign in part over antivaxxer issues, I hope there's a silver lining of Bigtree's grifting disabusing them.

He does not. He wouldn't have hired either one of the pair in the first place if he did, and he's not cutting them loose now.

Oh, and hypocrisy alert? For all of Bob Jr's Trumpian-like bitching about the "deep state," it's funny as hell and hypocritical as fuck that his daughter-in-law is (there's no "ex" with them) a CIA officer.