Midday open thread: Bridgegate trial—whee! 'Super owners' have 17 firearms each
Today’s comic by Jen Sorensen is The bright side of a Trump victory:
• Oh, the Bridgegate trial was expected to be interesting. But so soon?
David Wildstein, the attorneys told jurors in their opening statements, might be one of the darkest, most calculating and untrustworthy people planet earth has ever conjured. One of the lawyers said prosecutors “made a deal with the devil.”
That Wildstein is the one accusing their clients — Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff — seems outrageous, the lawyers said.
“David Wildstein is a vicious guy,” Michael Baldassare, Baroni’s lawyer, said during his opening remarks, referring to comments he said had been made by former coworkers about Wildstein. “He’s a bully. I’m sorry, judge, everyone — he’s an asshole. He’s a horrible person. He’s the most complicated person I’ve ever met. He is a vindictive individual who would destroy your life.”
• George Bush Sr.’s spokesperson isn’t saying whether he really will vote for Hillary: But Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a daughter of Robert Kennedy, said Monday that the former 92-year-old president informed her that he is. Ever since Jeb Bush dropped out of the presidential race, the Bush family has remained silent about their choice for 2016.
• In their second loss on Monday, a Venezuelan soccer team left barefoot in robbery: In the north-eastern state of Anzoategui, theTrujillanos were driving back after losing Sunday's away game when their team bus was stopped and boarded by six men. The robbers stripped the players and staff of their mobile phones, wallets, shirts and shoes.
• Juvenile injustice system locks up thousands of girls for talking back or staying out late.
• Check out the latest in head transplant news: Three new papers have been published claiming to have achieved partial regeneration of function of severed spinal cords in mice and rats and dogs. But credible scientists don’t believe it. And PZ Myers at Pharyngula calls it outright fraud.
• Want to meet some of America’s super gun-owners courtesy of The Guardian? They average 17 firearms each. And some of them embrace the term “gun nut.”
• On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Don, Jr. vies for the “Dumbest Trump” title. Greg Dworkin provides an even keeled polling update. Armando adds still more insight into Cuban-American voters. A Bush tells a Kennedy he’ll vote for Clinton. Freedom Caucus impeachment bid blocked.
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