Weekend Open Thread

Welcome to your weekend open thread. So far it looks like it’s going to be a great weekend. I hope you’re enjoying the weather.

TPM brings us a really bizarre story out of Missouri. A GOP candidate for the state Senate is being accused of threatening the campaign manager of his primary opponent in a disturbing way:

Bell alleges that, on his way home to Jefferson City on August 4th, he happened by Nieves’ campaign office and noticed the car of Nieves’ campaign treasurer, Dave Bailey, parked outside. Not seeing Nieves car, Bell told police he decided to stop to congratulate Bailey. But no sooner did he offer his congratulations to Bailey than he was surprised by Nieves. Bell says that Nieves called him a “little fuck” threw him across the room as Bailey closed the blinds. When Bell reminded him that they both were Republicans, he got an unexpected response.

then pulled out a black gun out [sic] of his pocket and made sure that I saw it and set it on a table. He told me he was going to kill me. I began to curl up into a ball and break down in fear and was yelling for help. He asked if I was wearing a wire and I told him NO; that I didn’t come to bring harm. He felt my chest, stomach and back to feel for a wire. He was still yelling at me and saying how back he was going to fuck me up. He head butted me on my forehead and It hurt but it wasn’t full power. I have had a headache ever since. He also slapped me across the face several times (at least twice, maybe more) but also not to his full potential He then drug [sic] me into the next room that appeared to be a kitchen area with a fridge, tile floor, and a sink. He still insinuated that I had a wire and made me take off my shirt.

After that, Bell says Nieves mocked his weight and then forced him first to get on his knees to beg forgiveness and then to lie on the floor.

As I was laying down looking up at him, he began to talk about when he was in the Navy. He asked me if I had ever had the absolute shit kicked out of me and I told him no. He asked if I had ever been in a fight and I told him once when in college. He said that he grew up in the projects and that “niggers” used to jump him and kick and beat the shit out of him relentless. He said everyone needs a theaurapeutic [sic] ass kicking in their life and that he was about to give me one.

Bell said that Nieves told him Bailey wouldn’t back him up in court, told him he was sick of looking at his chest and allowed him to get dressed. Nieves then reportedly told Bell to come into his office, where he demanded to know whether Bell had been the opposition researcher behind some of the allegations during the campaign. Bell told police he denied it, but that Nieves then went through the text messages in his phone and began writing some of them down, and then accused Bell of “flipping off [Nieves’] family while they were in the car on Sunday.”
When Bell denied it, Nieves accused him of calling Nieves’ family liars. Then Nieves reportedly threatened Bell’s boss James Harris, and told Bell that Harris was the adulterer. Finally, Nieves demanded that Bell apologize to Nieves’ wife over the phone. After the phone call finished, Bell said Nieves asked for explanations of who certain people in Bell’s phone were and said, if Bell lied, “he would fuck me up like the little pussy bitch I am.” Nieves reportedly discovered Bell had asked people to “mess with” Nieves’ Faebook page or call into his radio show as part of the campaign.

I don’t even know what to say about this incident except that paranoid crazy people act crazy.

In California, the Prop 8 case keeps moving. Opponents of same sex marriage asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the ruling while appeals occur (remember Judge Walker says they might lack standing to appeal) but the state of California is asking that the stay be lifted permanently.

State Attorney General Jerry Brown filed documents late Friday urging a federal appellate court to allow same-sex marriages to go forward in California on Wednesday, saying there is “overwhelming evidence” that a voter-approved ban on such marriages is unconstitutional.

Brown’s filing comes as same-sex marriage opponents have asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to halt implementation of a landmark ruling from Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker until a full appeal is heard.

If you want to read the actual filings by the state of California and the city of San Francisco, you can read them at the Prop 8 Trial Tracker. I guess we’ll have to wait until Wednesday to find out if the 9th Circuit will continue to stay the ruling. If the 9th Circuit denies, the Prop 8 defenders can still appeal to SCOTUS.