My Neighbor, the Presidential Candidate.
My Neighbor, the Presidential Candidate.
Plus, Why Is France Having a Cow Over Meat?
Recently at The Bulwark:
CHARLIE SYKES: A Risible Ruling.
JVL: Liar’s Poker. 🔐
THE NEXT LEVEL: Persuasion. 🔐 (Watch it here.)
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New from Me: My Neighbor, the Presidential Candidate.
I was pulling into a parking lot in front of a Food Lion when I saw the first sign. In large block letters, it proclaimed, “Jay Torres for President, 2024.”
President of what, I thought, his HOA? Confused but intrigued, I took a picture and googled him later.
It turns out that local man Jesus “Jay” Torres is running for the office of president of the United States.
And as it happens, I drive by the candidate’s house every day. Torres’s property, on a corner in a middle-class neighborhood in Woodbridge, Virginia, is decorated with a big-ass yard sign for his campaign—I’m surprised I missed it before—plus an American flag, a Puerto Rican flag, and a Cambodian flag.
Flying the flag of your own country at your home can be an expression of simple patriotism; for some, it is barely a political act, akin instead to standing for the national anthem at a baseball game.
But raising the Stars and Stripes alongside two other flags, plus a giant yard sign—that’s different. I had to discover what Jay Torres was all about.
August polling is not a guarantor of November results. And in a nation of grumpy voters, why are Dems not running offense on the CHIPS act? It’s bringing good-paying manufacturing jobs and a new plant to Ohio, and most Republicans voted against it. Mike Murphy joins Charlie Sykes today.
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MONA CHAREN: Why Is France Having a Cow Over Meat?
A French politician has ignited a fracas, or should I say, contretemps, over men barbecuing meat. Lest you think culture wars are an exclusively American preserve, leading members of the French political establishment have been exchanging barbs over whether the French male’s attachment to his sizzling steak must be abandoned for the sake of the planet.
Sandrine Rousseau, a member of the Green Party, rose to her feet in parliament to declare that “we have to change our mentality so that eating a barbecued entrecôte is no longer a symbol of virility.”
Hoo boy. The land that gave us the terms “steak frites” and “boeuf bourguignon,” to say nothing of “filet mignon,” erupted. “When the grotesque reaches its climax” exclaimed Gaullist Eric Ciotti on Twitter, begging to “Stop the madness!” French talk shows and headlines are buzzing about l’affaire barbecue, reports the New York Times, with some political alignments you wouldn’t necessarily have predicted. Fabien Roussel, the general secretary of the French Communist party (yes, inexplicably, it still exists) offered that: “Meat consumption is a function of what you have in your wallet, not in your panties or your underpants.” He had previously courted controversy during the presidential campaign by saying “A good wine, good meat, good cheese, that is French gastronomy.” He was accused of xenophobia.
CHRIS TRUAX: Let Donald Trump Have His Special Master.
Former President Donald Trump’s legal action in federal court complaining about the search of Mar-a-Lago has been the legal equivalent of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride: a constantly moving target of screwups, strange arguments, and eye-popping judicial actions. On Monday, however, Judge Aileen Cannon issued an order that brings a little clarity to the situation—though certainly not closure.
The whole lawsuit got off to a rocky start. Trump’s Florida attorney, Lindsey Halligan, mostly practices property insurance law and apparently doesn’t practice much in federal court. Two pro hac vice motions (which allow attorneys who aren’t a member of a particular court’s bar to make appearances in a specific case) were rejected for failure to follow the local rules. The court directed Halligan to a sample motion on the court’s website to show her how to do it properly. Ouch.
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
Happy Wednesday! Kari Lake is proposing cameras in classrooms. Could anyone have predicted this? I did. BRB, petitioning JVL for my t-shirt in the store. What would an Overtime t-shirt say? Respond with your best ideas.
Dr. Oz steps in it again. Warning, you might be dumber after watching this.
Laugh of the day… QAnon Anonymous.
Lesson of the day: Don’t call your significant other a moron. It could lead to prison, that is, if you’re an insurrectionist. Meanwhile, this one is on the run and the FBI has a reward for information that could lead to his capture.
36% of GOP candidates in the midterm elections are election deniers. And one of them might be in charge of elections in Pennsylvania, should she win this fall.
‘Don’t Vote’: A Look At Blake Masters’ Emails To His Vegan Co-op At Stanford University.
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