I can't quite be entertained by this story because of the underlying alleged abuse at the center of it. But god this is the most idiotic and absurd nonsense imaginable. washingtonexaminer.com/news/documents…
2/ It's not even really clear that this is an extortion attempt, even assuming this Signal screen caps. If I'm understanding this these two gimbuses approach Matt's dad. Best part is they don't want to deal with Matt, though they Matt is welcome to come to the meetings if ...
3/ interested. Remember, Matt is a 38 year old man and elected official. They treat him like a minor. Maybe that will be Matt's defense. I'm 38 but most people think of me as having the maturity fo a teenager. So it was legit me sleeping with a 17 year old. In any case, if I'm...
4/ understanding this these goobers approach Pops Gaetz and says, Matt's going down hard in this federal investigation. But if you fund our completely bonkers plan to free this guy in Iran who is actually probably dead we'll give the credit to Matt and he'll become ...
5/ a national hero and no one will think of charging him with child sex trafficking. We'll even put in a word with Biden who will certainly be happy to pardon Matt because he spearheaded our Space Cowboys reboot. That *is* ridiculous. But I'm not sure it's extortion or ...
6/ blackmail. They don't seem to be threatening him with anything. They're offering him an admittedly absurd plan to beat the rap. I'll leave it to prosecutors to tell me just what kind of crime that might be. But again, even on its face it really doesn't seem like ...
7/ blackmail to me. What it seems like is that the Gaetzes thought it was a different way to get Matt out of his jam. They decided to retcon this into an extortion attempt and were bringing in the feds thinking that this would get Matt off the hook for having sex with ...
8/ 17 year old. I'm not saying this makes any sense. But that seems to be the idea. But the problem is that whatever group of Feds were going to work with them on this needed Pops Gaetz to admit in the sting operation that Matt was guilty as shit and that's why they ...
9/ were going to go alone with this absurd plan. But they didn't want to do that since this is supposed to help spring Matt. Again this whole story is so completely absurd it defies belief.

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More from @joshtpm

2 Apr
If I'm reading this article right it sounds like Gaetz and his indicted friend Greenberg were cruising Sugar Daddy websites looking for women to pay for sex. They were geniuses enough to make payments with digital payment apps. Many encounters, lots of drugs.
2/ Most of these women appear to have been 18 or over. But at least one was 17. Both Gaetz and Greenberg seem to have had sex with her for money. That is needless to say quite illegal. From separate reporting and Greenberg's indictment it appeared Greenberg ...
3/ used his access to the state driver's license system to stalk, or monitor the women they were paying for sex. They seem to have possibly generated fake IDs for them. At one point at least Gaetz reportedly looked at the license info with Greenberg (big mistake).
Read 5 tweets
1 Apr
The other fascinating part of this story is Gaetz and Pops Gaetz thinking any of this bullshit matters. The federal law enforcement process just doesn't care how many libs you own. That doesn't mean it's righteous or not righteous. It's just that it moves forward with a ...
2/ a mechanical and relentless force once it gets started. Of course Trump really did create the appearance of this other model. Various crooks were invited play out these sagas, arguments, stunts in public. And in a way it was reality because Trump could and DID ...
3/ jump in and shortcircuit the whole process with pardons in a number of cases. But absent that none of this shit matters. And obviously we are absent that. Normal Presidents don't that except in very rare cases (I'm thinking of Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby.) And in ...
Read 5 tweets
30 Mar
i get the sense Gaetz's ties to this County tax chief who got charged with sex trafficking and other corruption and is also buds with roger stone may be a bigger problem for him than the 17 yr old. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/nyt-matt-… via @TPM
2/ not that it's either/or. but this seems tied to something broader and perhaps with more extensive criminal activity than sexual encounters with a single underaged woman.
3/ here's the guy whose investigation matt got sucked into. sounds like a bad set of facts for a congressman to be near to. orlandosentinel.com/news/seminole-…
Read 5 tweets
29 Mar
Latest vax data suggests deliverance is at hand. But lax behavior and variants may get us a 4th wave while we're getting everyone vaccinated. Latest numbers suggests this is likely. Mortality shldnt be nearly as high. But many will sicken and die just weeks before the end.
2/ Now we have one of the first strong studies suggesting mRNA vax protects against infection not just disease. So broad vaccination should slow spread to a trickle. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-big-b…
3/ But cases are starting to trend up in most of the country. And we're still under 20% of the pop fully vaccinated. Even with disease-acquired immunity in the tens of millions that still leaves a big population for COVID to run free in.
Read 4 tweets
28 Mar
I did a deep dive into this ‘substack controversy’ and the whole thing seems like nonsense to me. The claim seems to be that the people running substack are choosing some kinds of writers and not others to not only pay but give the exposure substack makes possible.
2/ This is pretty clearly nonsense. Theyre not bringing audiences to anyone. They’re paying some people to bring their audiences to them. Or considered from another angle, it’s the equivalent of giving a big advance to someone you’re very confident will produce a book that sells.
3/ Lots of platforms try to purchase buy-in to their platforms in the early days of their operation. Platforms require a critical mass of buy-in to start getting the kinds of economies of scale and a loose sort of path dependence to make everything work.
Read 9 tweets
20 Mar
As a comic relief after thought to the monarchy thread, I notice there's a controversy in the UK today about the Union Jack. Basically traditionalists who revere it and more cosmopolitan types who find it a bit much. It's comparable though not quite the same as debates ...
2/ we have about the flag in the USA. In any case, critics say the UK flag is a symbol of colonialism, racism and essentially all the historical baggage of the British Empire. Which is a lot of baggage! But for me it's basically a positive symbol. Why? Well, basically ...
3/ because for me I associate with 'Swinging 60s' culture and the way it was embraced by various UK rock acts and then later Ska and mod groups. Which is to say my association is largely post-Imperial and to extent ironic. And that's definitely not what these types are ...
Read 4 tweets

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