Kenny Baker, Who Played R2-d2 In 'star Wars,' Dead At 81

Our very dear VlogFather, John Amato, lost his home in the great Palisades Fire of 2025. My house is gone. The high winds doomed our community. John Amato — (@crooksandliars.bsky.social) 2025-01-08T06:20:11.078Z He was amazing to call in to The BradCast and let us all know how he is doing. Below is a rush transcript of the show: BRAD FRIEDMAN: Welcome back to the Bradcast, Brad Friedman from bradblog.com. On Tuesday afternoon, our old friend John Amato, who you may have heard on this program over the years as the creator of the long running, notorious Crooks and Liars blog, he posted a photo on Blue Sky of encroaching black smoke that could be seen from his patio, apparently, in Pacific Palisades with the text, “Had to evacuate from the Palisades, not fun.” About seven hours later, he posted at Blue Sky again, this time to say, “My house is gone.

I keep singing to myself, "I've got one judge in my pocket." (with apologies to Alanis Morrissette). It's quite simply astounding at how Judge Aileen Cannon hops to when her master calls. When Yambo needs help, there she is. Even when she has NO LEGAL STANDING to do so. This is just plain cuckoo bananas, from a legal standpoint.

Attorney General Merrick Garland revealed that he intends to release Special Counsel Jack Smith's report on election subversion by President-elect Donald Trump but not a report on the mishandling of classified documents. In a motion filed before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, Garland opposed Trump's effort to block the release of the reports.

CNN brought Scott Jennings on so he could insult a bunch of Black women on the air, and Jasmine Crockett and Stacey Plaskett were having none of it. Jennings went after LA Mayor Karen Bass and LA fire chief Kristin Crowley and tried laying blame for the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, and both of the women on the panel along with host Abby Phillip looked like they were ready to kick Jenning's racist ass. JENNINGS: And they signal priorities because also in California you might have recall a news story from last year there was some interest in the fire departments and the firefighters in California, and the interest was was that there were too many white men who were firefighters and we need to have a program in California to make sure we don't have enough white men as firefighters.

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'Toxic' Semen Could Turn Mosquito Mating Deadly to Curb Disease Spread ScienceAlertRecombinant venom proteins in insect seminal fluid reduce female lifespan Nature.comGenetic tweak weaponizes mosquito semen for population control New Atlas'Toxic male technique' could reduce female mosquito population by poisoning them during sex ABC NewsNew genetic biocontrol offers hope against disease-carrying mosquitoes and agricultural pests Scimex