When Chris Christie Occupies A Territory, He Really Occupies A Territory

The bigger they are, the harder they fail:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie apologized to casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, a major GOP donor, for referring to the “occupied territories” in a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition.

Christie met with Adelson privately on Saturday afternoon in Adelson’s Las Vegas office in the hotel which hosted the RJC meeting, Politico reported, citing an unnamed source.

During his speech on Saturday, Christie spoke of his family’s trip to Israel in 2012. “I took a helicopter ride from the occupied territories across and just felt personally how extraordinary that was to understand, the military risk that Israel faces every day,” he reportedly said.

Several news outlets reported that the crowd of Jewish Republicans at Christie’s speech noticeably gasped at Christie’s use of the loaded term.

Politico reported that the unnamed source, which it called “familiar with the conversation,” said that Christie made clear “that he misspoke when he referred to the ‘occupied territories.’ And he conveyed that he is an unwavering friend and committed supporter of Israel, and was sorry for any confusion that came across as a result of the misstatement.”

Big Pussy also personally apologized to Adelson for not referring to online gaming as "the Second Holocaust" during his speech.

Grand Old Police Blotter Meets Republican Family Values: Crossover Special Edition

From the heart of Cheney Country comes news of a Republican Priest:

RED LODGE — State Sen. Jason Priest pleaded not guilty Thursday to four criminal charges, including an allegation that he attacked his wife, who states in court records that her husband’s abuse has been going on since before he took office four years ago.

Priest, 45, appeared before Judge Blair Jones in Carbon County District Court and denied a charge of felony assault on a minor and misdemeanor counts of partner or family member assault, assault and resisting arrest.

Those charges stem from an incident outside Priest’s home in Red Lodge on Feb. 1.

Prosecutors say the Republican senator threw his 4-year-old daughter, shoved his estranged wife, Anna Priest, and broke her boyfriend’s rib before struggling with a police officer who witnessed the incident and intervened.

Court records state that Priest’s daughter sustained a 1-inch bump after landing on her head, and that Jonathan Trapp, Anna Priest's boyfriend, was treated at a hospital for a broken rib.

Trapp and Anna Priest both filed for and received orders of protection against the senator in the days after the incident.

More here.

Priest's defense is apparently that his wife was acting like "white trash" in front of the children.  You just have to beat racial superiority into some people.

The alleged crime happened two months ago, and the defeaning chorus of wingnut bloggers' condemnation of Priest has slowly abated (hint: it's non-existent), but the case came up on Romenesko because the documents depicted brutality too heinous to post online. Now a one-inch bump doesn't sound like a serious injury for a four year old, so why is the paper which reported that detail refusing to link to the report? Well, according to the rag's incoherent editor, a child was involved, but, 

More importantly, I believe the court documents could paint Priest in a harsh light. And, just as much as I am a fervent supporter of the First Amendment, I am also a big believer in the due process that says it’s up to the courts to decide Priest’s innocence or guilt.

Priorities!

Well, throwing a small child across a room onto her head, shoving white trash an ex-spouse, breaking a guy's rib and resisting arrest tend to expose one to a harsh light.  Apparently the editor "routinely post[s] court documents online," but only when those docs portray the accused in a flattering light. 

Priest should be bathed in the harsh flourescent light of a maximum security prison, if convicted. The editor should just be flushed.

Perhaps the sanitzing editor is afraid of Tea Party thuggery. From 2010:

Jason Priest, a Republican legislative candidate for Senate District 30, was caught on video calling the voters of Red Lodge “insane.”

Speaking to a group of Tea Party followers, apparently unaware of a running camera, Priest said, “I live in Red Lodge where I’m that guy that nobody agrees with, and I don’t mind. I have to talk to them about things that are important to them in ways that aren’t offensive to them. That’s a good lesson to learn. I would rather tell them they’re insane… Is that camera on?”      

...

In that posting, Priest wrote, “Keynes was a big homo if he’s fondling your balls it probably means you’re getting a reach around which is way better than what Obama is giving America. We are all getting the dry thumb.”

Beat down good, reach around bad. By the time of trial, we can expect the white-trash defense to morph into the guardsman's defense.

Everybody's So Different, I Haven't Changed

Talking Points Memo has started publishing sponsored content. From this we learn that Scientology is much worse than Big PhRMA, hoo ha-wise. At Crooked Timber, P. O'Neill remembers in a comment when those disco hotspots still held some charm from us:

I know there’s going to be a Dylan goes electric vibe to all the complaining, but aren’t things getting a bit weird with all the bloggers we grew up on? … Ezra Klein now seeming to want his own version of Politico, TPM doing this Impact thing with lobby money and the first article being the developing country toilet thing that’s been done to death already, Nate Silver in whatever (hopefully) teething problems he’s got, and Slate collecting bloggers while simultaneously chasing some of those Daily Mail eyeballs with screaming headlines. Maybe when Josh Marshall gets some reader feedback he’ll see the light.

Of course, Roger Ailes has been compromised editorally since Jim Capozzola bought out its banner ad back in the day, so I'm reserving judgment until all the bids are in.

Although frankly, I'm surprised B Ph. didn't go for The Dish -- must be a why buy the cow scenario.

Christie Pays Law Firm $1 Million Dollars to Vindicate Himself

Just think how much they'll charge when he's indicted.

It's good to know that you can still pay someone a million dollars of public money to get a positive reference.

The report says it did not interview the staffers allegedly involved. New Jersey lawmakers and the U.S. Attorney's office in New Jersey are undertaking parallel investigations into the traffic tie-up.

The 344-page report said the two-month internal investigation involved 250,000 documents and 70 interviews, but excluded some of the main players in the scandal, such as Bridget Anne Kelly, the governor's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Stepien, Christie's former campaign manager.

The internal report has no legal weight and is eyed with suspicion by many critics because it was ordered by Christie, who in January fired the staffers and denied any involvement.

"Governor Christie's account of these events rings true. It is corroborated by many witnesses, and he has conducted himself at every turn as someone who has nothing to hide," the report said.

Every time an account rings true, a morbidly obese angel gets his wings.  And you thought Johnnie Cochran, Robert Kardashian, Alan Dershowitz and Gerry Uelmen were the Dream Team!

Here's the real test of this report. Since the good burghers of New Jersey paid over a million for this report, they are Gibson, Dunn's client. Which means that Big Pussy cannot claim attorney-client privilege as to Gibson's communications or work product. Which means that the people are entitled to review every interview transcript, document, note, e-mail, communication between attorneys, billing statement, &c. in Gibson's clutches. And "how soon will those materials be turned over" should be the first and last question asked by reporters of the shysters in charge of Big Pussy's dog and pony show.

I won't hold my breath.

Another Tea Party Champ

The G.O.P. has found its ideal candidate  for California governor, especially since Robert "Mickey" Kaus is still pretending to be a Democrat:

[Glenn] Champ said the assault case "was just for picking up some underage prostitutes" and resulted in a 90-day jail sentence. He said he turned his life around after the incident.

"I found the Lord when I got arrested for picking up the prostitutes," Champ said. "I was like most people, ignorant in the darkness, in the very dark. I had no peace, had no love, had no joy. And now I do. Praise God for that…. I've grown considerably since I met Christ."

He called the voluntary manslaughter case a "tragic accident."

Ever notice how most people who find the Lord after just picking up underage prostitutes do it after they've been arrested?  The Lord must leave a card with His address on it in the back of squad cars.

This next bit of news will knock you over with a feather:

GLENN CHAMP’S political philosophy is a T.E.A. (tax enough already) partier. He believes in Biblical rights, constitution of our founding fathers state rights, liberty and Justice to use your gun rights!

From T.E.E.N. partier to T.E.A. partier.  What a short, strange trip.

Like Rush Limbaugh, Champ is a self-professed gift from God:

Q/A you may ask yourself why a man of God to be Governor of California?

God has heard your cries and sent a deliverer, “Champ”.

And God and "Champ" -- a "former G-man, welder, mechanic and contract firefighter" -- have had it with RINOs:

Feeling that it’s time to bring a fighter to the Republican Party and move away from lawyer candidates. Einstein said, “That if you keep using the same ingredients and expect different results - that is the definition of insanity” , like we have in the land of fruits and nuts.

On the other hand, the California G.O.P. knows better than the tea off the Tea Party, per the L.A. Times:

"We're not in the business of vetting candidates, and we don't pick winners and losers," [California Republican Party chairman Jim] Brulte said. "Republican voters should get to decide who runs against Jerry Brown."

So, no Brulte call is what you're saying, eh, Champ ... er ... Slugger? 

Update (11/23):  The story of Tea Party Predator Glenn Champ has not gotten much covered since your pal, Roger, broke cut-and-pasted with value added the story from the L.A. Times.  Rick Moran over at P.J. Tattler has also reported on linked to the story, but failed to inform his readers of Glenn's Tea Party bona fides.  Proving once again that your pal Roger is the only source for fearless and unbiased reporting on the internet, when he can get around it.  

Update 2 (11/23):  This will also come as no surprise.

Get Fucked

Meanwhile, in traditional marriage news:

LAS VEGAS — The wedding was a modest affair, held in a reception hall overlooking an artificial lake tucked behind a suburban strip. But just minutes after it ended, the bride and groom hurriedly scurried past dozens of protesters here who were chanting “Bigamist!” and “Shame on you!”

...

Meir Kin, the new husband, has been divorced for more than seven years, under California’s civil law. But he has refused to give his previous wife the document known as a “get,” as required by Orthodox Jewish law to end a marriage. In the eyes of religious authorities, the woman he married in 2000 is what is called an agunah — Hebrew for chained wife. Without the get, the woman, Lonna Kin, is forbidden under Jewish law to remarry.

Jewish law prohibits men from taking multiple wives. But Mr. Kin, according to several rabbis here, apparently relied on a legal loophole, which says that if a man can get the special permission of 100 rabbis to take a second wife, he is able to do so.

The article further reports that the git wil give his first wife a get in exchange for sole custody of their 12 year old son (who apparently was three when they split) and half a million dollars.

Yes, that does sound like blackmail, even if the only threat is religious bullshit.  

I don't know anythiung about this practice, but apparently it has led to circumstances where vicrims of such blackmail hired other rabbis to kick their husbands' asses.

I blame all of this on homosexuals.

Roll, Tide

Another legal victory for marriage equality, in a decision by a Reagan appointee from the Eastern District of Michigan:

In attempting to define this case as a challenge to “the will of the people,” Tr. 2/25/14 p. 40, state defendants lost sight of what this case is truly about: people. No court record of this proceeding could ever fully convey the personal sacrifice of these two plaintiffs who seek to ensure that the state may no longer impair the rights of their children and the thousands of others now being raised by same-sex couples. It is the Court’s fervent hope that these children will grow up “to understand the integrity and closeness of their own family and its concord with other families in their community and in their daily lives.” Windsor, 133 S. Ct. at 2694. Today’s decision is a step in that direction, and affirms the enduring principle that regardless of whoever finds favor in the eyes of the most recent majority, the guarantee of equal protection must prevail.

Bonus fun:

And the University of Texas took the extraordinary step of disavowing the testimony of sociology professor Mark Regnerus, who was a witness for Michigan.

See more here.

Back to the decision:

The Court finds Regnerus’s testimony entirely unbelievable and not worthy of serious consideration. The evidence adduced at trial demonstrated that his 2012 “study” was hastily concocted at the behest of a third-party funder, which found it “essential that the necessary data be gathered to settle the question in the forum of public debate about what kinds of family arrangement are best for society” and which “was confident that the traditional understanding of marriage will be vindicated by this study.” See Pls.’ Motion in limine to Exclude Testimony of Mark Regnerus, Ex. 9....

While Regnerus maintained that the funding source did not affect his impartiality as a researcher, the Court finds this testimony unbelievable. The funder clearly wanted a certain result, and Regnerus obliged. Additionally, the NFSS is flawed on its face, as it purported to study “a large, random sample of American young adults (ages 18-39) who were raised in different types of family arrangements” (emphasis added), but in fact it did not study this at all, as Regnerus equated being raised by a same-sex couple with having ever lived with a parent who had a “romantic relationship with someone of the same sex” for any length of time. Whatever Regnerus may have found in this “study,” he certainly cannot purport to have undertaken a scholarly research effort to compare the outcomes of children raised by same-sex couples with those of children raised by heterosexual couples. (pages 13-14.)

That's gonna leave a Mark ... unemployable.