Linkee-poo Thursday

Alligators, what can you do. For big project at work I am literally 1 screw short. It's a metaphor, and the truth.

NPR's "Code Switch's 2018 Book Guide."

You may have heard that PM May survived her no-confidence vote. Why? Because as the other ministers harrumph and bluster, they all know that they would then have to come up with someone else to pilot Brexit… and that's exactly how May got the job in the first place. All the Brexit leaders headed for the exists once it became real. That's because they know exiting the EU is a shit sandwich with a side-order of diarrhea (c-diff diarrhea, the worst kind). What I think is hilarious is I keep hearing about how the UK will still need to follow the EU customs and regulatory scheme with the new Brexit. I got news for ya, England, if you want to sell product to the EU, you'll have to follow all their regulations anyway (no, really, at my last job we made product for the UK and the EU, we had to be certified to sell there). The only thing Brexit gets you is passport control and you no longer need to send tax dollars to the EU parliament. If you want to sell product there, you still have to follow their regulations and controls. Oh, and you have the added costs of customs control.

"Donald Trump's longtime 'fixer' and personal attorney has been sentenced to to 36 months (3 years) in federal prison, plus an additional 3 years of supervised release, in a case in the Southern District of New York." Plus fines and restitution. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)

"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had a warning for his colleagues: You may have to work between Christmas and the New Year to accomplish all of our goals." One of those goals is confirming justices. Which seems odd because even with the new Democratic majority in the House, the Senate is still the body that confirms justices, the House plays no part. In fact, they could now lose 3 GOP Senators' votes and still be able to confirm a justice (with the help of the VP, as happened this past week). Although (I'd have to check the rules) because of seating a new Congress, all the existing nominations would have to be renominated… but so what? And even if the House would pass Articles of Impeachment, and the unlikely event the Senate would hold a trial and remove Trump from office, a president Pence wouldn't nominate any differently (heck, they might even be more despicable, just so long as they'll vote to roll back Roe v Wade and other conservative bugaboos). The only way it makes sense is if McConnell expects to be forced to hold trials of both Trump and Pence (and sees little chance of winning, basically if McConnell is forced to hold the trials by circumstance, public sentiment and his own leadership would pretty much demand a removal of both, leaving : ta-da /jazz hands : president Pelosi).

"But amid all the detail and alleged corruption in the indictment, one name is conspicuously absent: Andrew Gillum, who was Tallahassee’s mayor at the time and who was accused repeatedly on the gubernatorial campaign trail this year by Republican opponent Ron DeSantis — and even President Donald Trump — of being tied to the suspected wrongdoing the FBI was investigating." Funny that.

"The Trump administration is resuming its efforts to deport certain protected Vietnamese immigrants who have lived in the United States for decades—many of them having fled the country during the Vietnam War." What an asshole. No, seriously, these people were fleeing the fucked-up hellhole we helped create, including those who by the fact they they helped the US had the threat of sudden death if they stayed or returned to their homeland. (Grokked from Chang Terhune)

"The publisher, American Media Inc., will avoid prosecution by stipulating that it worked with Trump's campaign to buy the silence of women — who have identified themselves as adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal — ahead of the vote two years ago, prosecutors said." Payment was made "in concert" with a presidential campaign. Oh look, a new rabbit hole. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)