13430

I was sure that was an Onion headline before I checked the source.

13431

They’re exporting the grift!

13432

So about that Tennessee child marriage thing.

13433

That’s what we would call tacky. She was getting married at 22 to a 46 year old, which is way outside of culturally accepted norms, but far from child marriage.

13434

They apparently met because she was in a school youth organization that he was partly in charge of. An organization that grooms young leaders. So to speak.

13435

I’m familiar with the FFA, and that second article she has already graduated (for whatever reason) so likely 18. I don’t know if it’s still the case, but back in the 80s we had multiple pregnant girls in school. Middle school. 8th grade. That’s the sort of thing I think about when I hear “child marriage.”

13436

Yes, he would have been 42. No crime here, but certainly creepy. Regardless of her age, that newspaper photo is of a child.

13437

Also that 2008 article isn’t necessarily when they met but just indicates likely how. He was the director of a student organization and ended up marrying one of the students in it. It’s just so creepy. Especially given the moralizing of the GOP and the constant accusation that Democrats are and/or support pedophiles.

13438

They are recruiting Alabama’s Roy Moore?

13439

No argument that it’s super, super creepy. Also it reminds me that all the “high schoolers” on TV shows are in their mid-20s, she looks like she’s too young to drive in that photo even if she’s 18.

13440

Okay, that’s it, I’m shutting down the writer’s room for the day! Between this:

…and this:

…no one is ever gonna believe this timeline if you guys keep it up. Go home, get some rest, and come back tomorrow when you’ve got some credible ideas that don’t demand so much willing suspension of disbelief. Sheesh.

-Tom

13441

How do you feel about Josh Mandel whitesplaining MLK Jr.'s stance on the 2nd amendment to, checks notes, MLK Jr.'s daughter.

13442

The best comment I saw on that Mandel tweet was from Kevin Kruse, who points out that Mandel is actually making an explicit Critical Race Theory claim: that government denied King a gun permit for racist reasons.

13443

It’s all projection.

We found the voter fraud!

13444

Weird, projection again! Who woulda thought.

13445

If the other side is frauding, surely it’s permission for our side to fraud harder. GOTO 10.

13446

I kind of feel it’s the inverse
“if good people like us are doing this imagine what those awful Dems must be doing!”

13447

And also:

“We must destroy democracy to save it from Democrats.”

13448

What a maroon

13449

IANAL, but I feel like there is probably more than one federal crime entailed in carrying out this order.