When a Feller Needs a Friend: The Birthday Present

by Clare Briggs · August 21, 2019

Tags: 1923 Bicycles

Clare Briggs

Clare Briggs is a famous cartoonist who lived from 1875 to 1930.

Ten Second News

Video: Blagojevich Is A Natural

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Video: Blagojevich Is A Natural

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I thought Rod Blagojevich's presser was insanely Lynchian, so here you go pic.twitter.com/2uq8SUBalS
— Vic Vaiana (@vicvaiana) February 19, 2020

thanks @lilyslynch for flagging this bizarre moment.
It keeps going btw... pic.twitter.com/lh1D1t2qRw
— Vic Vaiana (@vicvaiana) February 19, 2020

Fortunately, because it was a commute and not a pardon, Blagojevich is not to be president. Otherwise, I would be concerned.

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Voter ID Law Blocked in North Carolina Before March 3rd Primary

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Voter ID Law Blocked in North Carolina Before March 3rd Primary

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No law is really law in the Tarheel State until it's been ruled on by at least three judges. Or so it seems. This time, it's the state's latest version of a voter ID law that has been blocked from implementation.

CNN:

North Carolina's Court of Appeals on Tuesday blocked the state's new voter ID law from taking effect, a move that will likely prevent it from being in place in time for the 2020 elections.
The ruling, coming two weeks before the Tarheel State holds its presidential primaries on March 3, is a victory for civil rights groups and advocates who have argued the law would disenfranchise poor and minority voters. A separate ruling in federal court has already issued a block of the voter ID law through the state's primaries, and Tuesday's decision all but ensures a block through the general election in November until another ruling.
In Tuesday's decision, the court said voter ID provisions "likely will have a negative impact on African Americans because they lack acceptable IDs at a greater rate than white voters."
The North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley called the voter ID ruling "ridiculous" and said the opinion was "invalidating the votes of more than 2 million North Carolinians who voted for a constitutional amendment in 2018."
"The opinion, issued by the North Carolina Court of Appeals, ignores the fact that more than 30 other states have enacted similar laws which have been upheld by federal courts," Whatley said in a statement on Tuesday. "An overwhelming percentage of North Carolinians of every demographic support voter ID and we are very disappointed to see a panel made up of three Democratic judges overturning their votes by judicial fiat."

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President Trump Commutes Blagojevich Sentence, Pardons Others

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President Trump Commutes Blagojevich Sentence, Pardons Others

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President Trump got busy with his pen today, commuting and pardoning several people including former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and former NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik.

Via the New York Times:

President Trump commuted the 14-year prison sentence of former Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois, the Democrat who was convicted of trying to essentially sell Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat for personal gain, and pardoned the financier Michael R. Milken and Bernard B. Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, the president announced on Tuesday.
“Yes, we commuted the sentence of Rod Blagojevich,” Mr. Trump told reporters just before boarding Air Force One for a four-day trip to the west coast where he is scheduled to hold three campaign rallies. “He served eight years in jail, a long time. He seems like a very nice person, don’t know him.”
Mr. Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, was convicted of tax fraud and lying to the government. And he said he had also pardoned Mr. Milken, the investment banker who was known in the 1980s as the “junk bond king” and who has fought for decades to reverse his conviction for securities fraud.
Mr. Trump commuted the former governor’s sentence on Tuesday after saying for years that he was considering intervening in Mr. Blagojevich’s case. By commuting the sentence, the president would free Mr. Blagojevich from prison without wiping out the conviction. Republicans have advised the president against it, arguing that Mr. Blagojevich’s crime epitomizes the corruption that Mr. Trump had said he wanted to tackle as president.
The president’s decision came the same day that he pardoned or commuted the sentences of eight others including Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., a former owner of the San Francisco 49ers who pleaded guilty in 1998 to concealing an extortion attempt and eventually surrendered control of his team.

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Michael Avenatti Convicted

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Michael Avenatti Convicted

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An appropriate ending to one of the strangest political through lines of the last year or two.

A federal jury in Manhattan has convicted attorney Michael Avenatti of trying to extort Nike.
Avenatti, the California lawyer who gained fame representing adult film star Stormy Daniels, was found guilty Friday afternoon of honest services wire fraud, extortion and transmitting a threat in an interstate communications charges.
He could face up to 42 years in prison.

There are other trials still awaiting him for defrauding multiple clients, including Stormy Daniels. It's not clear if any of his clients will or can ever be made whole for the money he (allegedly) took from them. From Hero of the Resistance to possible Presidential candidate to convicted felon, it's been a long and awful fall from grace.

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Colorado Passes CROWN Act

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Colorado Passes CROWN Act

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I admit. I saw the headline and got excited:

From KVDR:

DENVER (KDVR) — A measure to ban hair discrimination by employers has passed the Colorado House of Representatives.
The CROWN Act is a nationwide movement to stop employers from telling employees their natural hair isn’t appropriate for the workplace.
The bill does not apply to hair color but rather to styles.

(Featured image is "Barber Shop" by voteprime. Used under creative commons license.)

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