A stunning coda to that notorious teen sexting case where police sought a warrant to medically induce an erection in one of the suspects and photograph it for comparison purposes.
Nate Cohn has a good piece in the Times today looking at the reasons why Donald Trump probably won’t be the nominee. And there are very solid arguments ranging from recent history – Newt Gingrich was killing it right now in 2012 – to various more granular arguments about the polls. I confess I’ve struggled with this question a lot – not anything about Trump himself but the predictive question, can he win and do I think he will win? In general, I’ve got a decent record of predicting these things. And that’s mainly because, like a good pilot, when you’re in bad or uncertain conditions, you need to watch your instruments rather than what you see out the window or what you feel.
TPM is pleased to announce that we will be awarding our Ninth Annual Golden Dukes on December 31st, in recognition of the year’s best purveyors of public corruption, outlandish behavior and The Crazy.
The awards are named in honor of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who epitomizes the iconic modern scandal. Each year we single out those practitioners of scandal who through their own unmatched bumbling, shameless behavior, criminality or mere derp have set new standards for public corruption, betrayal of the public trust and general ridiculousness.
And now for the esteemed judges and proud nominees…
From my morning inbox …
Dear Joshua,
With the nation still struggling to come to terms with the San Bernardino massacre, gun control is a hot topic across the country. According to a new report from the FBI, Americans have been buying a record number of guns in 2015. But purchasing a gun is only half the battle. When faced with an active shooter situation, or confronted by an intruder, would the average gun owner know what to do?
Retired Navy SEAL Instructor Chris Sajnog trained the world’s deadliest snipers, writing the manual that trained Chris Kyle. Now, he’s using his groundbreaking training program to teach everyday citizens how to protect themselves and their families.
In a telling development, Donald Trump has finally gone too far for Rush Limbaugh and Marc Levin: he’s attacking Ted Cruz.
We’re closing on our TPM Prime 2015 sign up drive. We have just 397 new memberships to go by December 31st, a tall order but doable. If you haven’t signed up yet and you’re a regular reader, please take a moment to join us. Just 14 cents a day. Click here to join us. And thanks.
Before launching off on this discussion, let me say that I realize that many people will say that my premise is simply wrong. The country is so scared about terrorism today because the objective conditions have become more threatening. There’s certainly some evidence for that. We just saw a major, well-planned terror attack in Paris, followed only a couple weeks later by a smaller but still very lethal attack in San Bernardino, California. Some of the reaction is feeding off heat spun off by the GOP primary battle, with each candidate vying with his rivals for a more terrifying and apocalyptic version of the terrorist threat, with Fox News chiming in with an almost constant mix of scare stories, fabulism and incitement. Today Rick Santorum’s PAC put out an ad warning that bands of radicals are waging “world war III” against us. But let me just suggest that these events alone don’t fully explain the climate of something bordering on panic that is abroad in the country today.
Trump storms ahead to his biggest lead yet. 41% support nationwide.
Can Paul Ryan break the stranglehold House conservatives have on the legislative process in Congress? We may find out this week, and the initial inklings suggest he’s having a tough time bringing them to heel.