Today, President Joe Biden signed into law the now-bipartisan Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022. It will expand medical coverage for veterans exposed to burn pits during their service. This law is named for Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson, an Ohio Army National Guardsman who was diagnosed with a rare cancer after his service, during which he was exposed to toxic substances in the burn pits. He died in 2020, leaving behind his wife and his 8-year-old daughter.
NYTimes - August 9th - ATLANTA — "Rudolph W. Giuliani, the lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and a central figure in the investigation into election interference in Georgia, has been telling prosecutors that he cannot travel to the state to appear before a special grand jury because he is not healthy enough to fly."
"But on Tuesday, a judge in Fulton County, Ga., said that Mr. Giuliani, who had two coronary heart stents implanted in early July, could travel from New York to Atlanta some other way, and tentatively ordered him to show up to deliver in-person testimony on Aug. 17."
"'On a train, on a bus or Uber, or whatever it would be,'” he said, adding, “'New York is not close to Atlanta, but it’s not traveling from Fairbanks.'”
New York to Atlanta is 12 hours 23 minutes by car at 70 mph. C’mon, Rudy, you can swig a bottle of wine, watch some tv and take a nap. You’ll be fresh and ready for the Grand Jury questioning you about your treasonous behavior.
Hmmm, I had no idea that Rudy is that delicate. I have a friend who underwent a stent procedure, then proceeded with a long-planned trip to Italy the following day. Her doctor advised her not to fly, but she wasn't going to miss the trip to Positano.
That was 12 years ago, and she (and her heart) are just fine. I found it amusing that Judge McBurney suggested a bus as an alternative to air travel - and kept a straight face.
He is!!!! Didn't you see the video (maybe a month ago?) where some guy in a grocery store clapped him on the back while he campaigned for his... son? (OMG... he has a son who's campaigning?) Rudy acted like he nearly died from that incident... only store security video showed it... too too funny and phony!!
Yes, I saw the clip. Couldn't decide whether his reaction was something physical, or just caused by damage from his consumption of alcohol. As for his son, can you imagine his political and character capabilities considering his genes?
Suz, His son has been a spoiled brat in the public eye since childhood when RG was mayor of NY. Rudy announced at a PRESS CONFERENCE that he was divorcing the son’s mother, a famous broadcaster in nYC. So the son is a dysfunctional mess of a dysfunctional mess of a father.
Here is the 1994 clip of Andrew Giuliani at Rudy's mayoral inauguration. I remember being absolutely appalled at the kid's behavior as well as the parents for not dragging him off the stage. What we couldn't have possibly known at the time, this was just the beginning of how things would roll for Rudy.
My brother-in-law, who has stents installed, has taken two flights to Italy in the past couple of years. It's an excuse, not a reason. Yes, send him tickets for Greyhound or Trailways.
If they cared about justice, any number of CEOs could send their private jets to whisk Rudy to Atlanta--but of course they won't and he will do his darndest not to show up.
I have zero hopes that he'll ever see the inside of prison. I have high hopes that he'll be on home detention with no golf and his communications monitored like all imprisoned felons.
I think he will end up at home under house confinement. Will they post police or allow him to still have secret service detail? Will he be allowed visitors? Family? Home cooked meals?
Will Melania stay or will she go? Will he even still own a home? I'm betting the wife asks for a divorce before he goes to trial.
If Melania wants to collect on that prenup that she reportedly had amended as a condition of moving to the White House in 2016, she needs to make the move now. The coffers are dwindling quickly. Meanwhile, she can provide the home cooked meals.
If I'd been her advisor, I would have warned that there is not enough money in the world to justify her (or anyone else) marrying him, with the possible exception of Marjorie Taylor Greene. Perhaps she's holding on until she can share a gravesite with Ivana.
The Secret Service detail is the primary reason he'll never see the inside of a prison. Unless Congress enacts a law removing the Secret Service protection from former presidents who are in federal prison, he's got a real get out of jail free card.
Well, he makes vertical lines with sharpies. Not sure if anyone has ever deciphered if they are actually words...or his name? Thinking maybe I will change my image of his prison outfit to be be black and white vertical lines.
Yup. I mentioned that above in my dream punishment: house arrest, preferably in NY, where he knows he's hated, no golf, all communications monitored as they are for those imprisoned.
I think as positively as I can and envision him in a dank prison cell with no mirror, no electronics, MacDonalds, hairdresser or tanning machine. Alternatively, deportation to any country that will have such a braggart and corrupt piece of...baggage. Loss of all government benefits paid by Americans and permanent loss of citizenship. Forbiddance to touch American soil ever again would be a lot cheaper for us in the long run. But then he would have access to electronics and that would tick of the entire world...so I guess we are stuck with him incarcerated. He should be the only one in prison forced to wear black and white stripes, for visibility purposes.
Pensa, Why don’t we send him to Hungary? A good metaphor for the voracious appetite to achieve unbridled power? Orban loves him, has been in power since May 2010 and is a Strongman, as described by Ruth Ben-Ghiat. His newest bromance…..
Hmmm.... We don't want to send him anywhere that he is loved...geez! So where can we send him? Maybe he should be sent Haiti to work on the farm? Any farm... If he has any energy left he could do something good for the world,...?
Now a vegan diet would be against the 8th amendment, cruel and unusual punishment. /s (I'm a carnivore, no insult to Vegan intended). If this happened he might die before it reached the SC.
What is the effing deal about Cracker Barrel having a vegan version of something? I am gluten intolerant and wish I could go out to eat and have GF options on the menu.
The Cracker Barrel has some kind of veg option burger or something. When they announced this, the MAGA crowd had a fit....accused CB of being woke. So no big deal really except these people love to carp about everything when all they have to do is not order that option.
Bankruptcy is his go to move to get out of fixes. There's a disagreement about how many but there have been at least four and what they end up doing is screwing over his vendors. I vaguely recall that you can't declare bankruptcy to get out of paying court-ordered fines. penalties. What the court can do is seize assets. A fire sale of all his holdings would be very sweet. I'll bet a video of his name being obliterated from that damn plane would earn a lot of money on YouTube.
That would be perfect. I wish for him a comfy cot in a cell lined with history books and a cafeteria chef who is a vegetarian evangelist. Kale smoothie for breakfast, roasted turnip burgers for lunch and dinner will be chopped greens - anything green that is available tossed with Russian dressing.
Only time yesterday, TC, that I had a terse laugh while reading the news. Talk about something biting one on the ass. ‘Dat will be some poetic justice when applied.
Trump has been able to buy his way out of any consequences for his mischief for all of his life. In that respect, he is iconic of the attitudes of his party; the assumption of total impunity no matter what they decide to do, even throw an election. The more they get away with the worse they get. Maybe this time, just brazening it out won't make the liability go away.
And don't forget, Leonard Leo fresh from packing the judiciary -under the guise of for god and guns, but serving unregulated greed - now funneling dark money through dirty trick shell corporations to the dubious cause of severely limiting access to trial by jury, effectively throwing the innocent until proven guilty on the mercy of wolves of Wall Street in judges' robes.
Bullying and corruption is abuse pf power, from mean kinds in schoolyards around the world to mass theft, slavery, genocide and most of the other horrors of history and now. It even manged to greatly worsen the death toll of a virus-caused pandemic. Obama's attorney general Eric Holder worried;
" I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy. "
And he pussyfooted around (certainly in sharp contrast to the "Savings and Loan" crash years earlier) deep investigation and prosecution of the subprime Ponzi crash. Key to the government's remedy was making "so large" even larger and "settlements" that were mild enough to cause a company's stock price to rise when levied. The real question is what befalls us when we don't hold big money (or anyone) accountable? When political and legal consequences can be bought, what befalls "rule of law" and democracy? Recall that in '30s some prominent 1%ers favored Hitler.
There just should not be such a thing as "shell corporations". The press always claims but never explains how they have "legitimate uses", but the potential for criminal abuse is self-evident, as troves of leaked of documents, such as "Panama Papers" confirm. We are strangely indifferent or distracted while bullies come to own the place. Orwellianly named "Citizens United" is about as antidemocratic as it gets, without totalitarian control; and Republicans are working on it.
That's just par for the course, TC. I wonder what crimes he will commit between now and when the prison door slams shut behind him. This may be a wild ride.
I think he is a traitor (duh). Espionage is potentially very profitable and has the temporary power of control. The reason that I can think of is that these very interesting documents must be very valuable important documents are value to a variety of potential bidders.
If he’s confined to being at home, I hope he has an ankle monitor.,… like other folks. Wouldn’t that be great???? And then he tries to saw it off!😂😂😂 Hey, MTG… no one is above the law! No One!
I wonder if he realized what he was signing as that makes no sense. He never treated the office with respect and behaved like it was all for him, personally.
Knowing how diabolical the inner circle of the neo-fascists are, we can assume that somehow classified records were going to be planted on a key Democrat as punishment and to take them out of the game. How do we know this? Because Republicans always give themselves away by falsely accusing others of what they themselves are guilty of. Always! As usual, Trump could embrace this kind of nasty business and signed on.
I was thinking recently about how petty and vindictive Republicans have become over the last 30 years, really since Gingrich. How is it possible that we allow spoiled rotten children to serve in Congress? No wonder this country is self-destructing.
You are probably right but to me there was a sea change when Gingrich pushed out Bob Michel and took over as a firebrand. Gingrich was ruthless and vindictive to a fault. He wore it as a badge of honor. That man was truly a wrecking ball in Congress and was the precursor to today.
Newt Gingrich broke American politics starting in 1995: the Contract for America; his GoPAC list of positive adjectives for Republicans and negative ones for Democrats; the turning of collegiality and compromise into sins. It was Robert Livingston he pushed out of the Speakership, good thing too as Bob had to resign in disgrace (thanks to Larry Flint). I thought we'd never hear from Gingrich again after he too had to resign in disgrace when it was learned that he was boinking an aide (now his 3rd wife, who was Trump's ambassador to the Vatican) while impeaching Clinton for a minor indiscretion. But no. He's still at it. Still trying to destroy democracy by any means necessary.
You may want to recheck your correction of me. Robert Livingston had to resign, Bob Michel was his replacement and Gingrich pushed him out with impunity. It was disgraceful and as I said a sea change in the Republican Party and a precursor to what they have become today. It should have been a wake-up call for the Democrats, but they kept thinking that the Republican Party was more like Bob Michel than Newt Gingrich. A huge mistake and one we are really paying for today.
Thank you for prodding me to do some research rather than rely on my memory. I had my timeline wrong. Livingston was elected as Speaker of the House after Gingrich resigned in disgrace but never served because he had to resign in disgrace. That's how we got Dennis Hastert for 8 years. Turns out he was also a disgrace. He's the highest-ranking elected official in U.S. history to serve a prison sentence -- to date.
Bob Michel was the House Minority Leader for 14 years.
Weeelllll...let's see if that penalty is carried out for him as well. You know that statement he put out yesterday about the FBI possibly "planting" evidence is exactly what his base wanted to hear. And he is a master at playing them; they are just too blind to see it. I think 5 years in the pen would be a fabulous way for him to lose some weight.
Karma is such a bitch. And the mobster death star takes the 5th...no surprise and I hope the NY AG uses that against him since it's a civil case. And Heather's observation at the end...the first time any president....death star is the first time we've had this kind of monster occupying the WH.
The most striking thing about Biden’s speech as he signed the PACT bill was how he credited so many people for working to promote its passage. He shared credit. What a welcome, refreshing relief to hear acknowledgment of democratic (small d) collaboration towards a needed benefit now available to all veterans.
Your comment is going to get buried by the banter I fear, but I also delight in how Biden shared the credit. It’s so meaningful to see after so long watching credit being stolen, passed or ignored for so long.
Maigen, it is truly wonderful. Mr. Biden is gracious and generous. I really appreciate what he has done in lightening time this month. Thanks for reminding us.
Just what is needed from the President of the United States at this time. A President that represents the best of our Democracy. And one that honors the will and voice of the people.
One glaring difference between the former and now…President Biden made excellent decisions on appointments. Especially his cabinet posts and attorney general. We the People do not have to check Twitter to see who he is firing. For me, that is now reserved for watching the governor of Florida who walks the same “be loyal to me or you are out” policy that trump followed every minute with his chosen minions.
So grateful, Daria, for Professor Richardson and other Substack authors this week. They are hard at it keeping us informed. The script has been swift this week.
Add to that Politics Girl, Leigh McGowan, in sharing her podcast time this week with Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Subject? Strongmen in America. Ben-Ghiat gives profile on Trump and like authoritarians not willing to give up power. Give a listen. Knowledge is our strategic power in this moment in history.
The Politics Girl with Ruth Ben-Ghiat was magnificent: clear, and scarily urgent. We must get everyone we know to vote in November. Heather says it is up to US and it is!
What a difference a month makes😁. Until recently naysayers, including Democrats, were down on President Biden, the paucity of recent Dem legislation, and the prospects of Dems in the November elections.
Now President Biden has been effective, bold new legislation has been passed over the lock-step Republican opposition, Trump is flailing and Fifthing, and his sycophants are shooting themselves in the foot.
It ain’t over ‘til the fat lady (or fellow) sings, but I’m BIDENING my time.
Indeed, Keith. Some days I'd need to take a break from reading the comments because it would move me to despair. I'm grateful for Sandy Lewis, just a few weeks back whilst many were hand wringing, he'd daily post "Trump will be charged, convicted and jailed".
I just added this comment (below). I generally don't get to the end of the comments every day, so I thought "David Carroll" was gone, but apparently not. So out comes my evil twin.
David Carroll
7 hr ago
You fail to mention, the progressive leftist Letitia James ran on a platform of “ getting Trump”. All she needed was a crime yet determined. As for the “weaponized” DOJ and FBI again you fail to mention the multiple occasions they ignored or participated in covering up by the Biden family and Hillary Clinton’s Russian hoax. Apparently when the facts check in, but not for you, you don’t check them out. Typical of an elitist class. A rather dubious position I might add for a “tenured” Professor. To give the big guy a hall pass on everything from open borders, inflation, surrender in Afghanistan, Wild spending and divisive identity politics might be why you see half the country as Deplorable.
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Miselle
just now
Generally, "David" I just ignore you. But now I am LOOKING for your posts because they are getting more and more crazed!! I LOVE how upset you are!! It is truly making my day!! Your attempts to inflame your betters are HILARIOUS!! I love to wonder who is paying you to do this and whether you are afraid they'll run out of money!! HOO HOO THIS IS GOOD!!
Oh well, SOME of us have a life and important tasks to do, so I'm signing off. Sorry, I check the comments once and done. You are SURE to want to earn your pay by thinking real hard to come up with some snappy response, I probably won't see it, but IF I do, it just serves to prove my point!! THANK YOU DAVE!!
Miselle Warm thanks for David’s doggerel which provided my guffaw for today. I presume that he is q charter member of the False Facts Society with links to the Flat Earth Club. He makes clear that he is not a member of the ‘elite or tenured’ folks.’ Sounds like he could be a Proud Boy.
As Senator Moynihan phrased it “You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.” David, are you listening?
“ It is an astonishing thing to see that a former president, the person who was responsible for faithfully executing the laws of our nation, has ….”
yep - you Dr Richardson, with your Letters from an American, have filled in that blank - for my wife and me, for neighbors, and friends across the country, by writing the truth. You have reported on the direction our country has been taken, on daily events of outrageous proportions, giving them a relationship to an educated, historical context. In my opinion, you write clearly, purposely exalting the best of the American experiment - ideals of humanity itself. For me, Letters from an American, is a simple but profound daily guide of hope showing through a storm of malfeasance. It’s visible like Portland Headlight in a January nor’easter. We, here in our little Maine home, nominate you for the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Just another set of rules for him to break. That “most powerful man in the world” moniker hooked him forever. And, boy, did he know how to use it, with a crooked republican majority, it was my wish is your command and vice versa. And Rupert had greased the path. We are so lucky to have survived to this point. The work continues, as does the evil, sad to say.
And, in a civil case, taking the 5th can be used against him . . . "adverse inference". Does not apply to criminal cases. However, since defendants usually do not take the stand in criminal cases, the point is moot.
It's only Wednesday and Trump has achieved two firsts for a former U.S. president: had his home searched by the FBI based on a search warrant granted on grounds that there's probable cause of a crime, and he refused to answer any questions under oath in a civil suit stemming from the financial operation of his company.
Welcome to the record books, Donald. Something tells me there will be more entries that will make you even more infamous.
"Last September, when three of Hillary Clinton’s IT specialists took the Fifth during a congressional probe of her private server, Trump railed on the stump: “So there are five of them taking the Fifth Amendment, like you see on the mob, right? The mob takes th Fifth Amendment. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” (Just to be consistent, he should ask Flynn the same thing.)
Also last September, Kellyanne Conway was equally incensed about the decision to take the Fifth. She called Hillary’s people “a basket of liars.” Clearly it all depends on whose team is taking the Fifth, because back in 2013, when IRS executive Lois Lerner took the Fifth in a GOP congressional probe of the Obama administration, Sean Spicer, in his capacity as a party spinner, tweeted: “Why do u take the 5th if you have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide?”
A basket of liars? Some colourful collective nouns are coming out of this. Today I read that Trump's intimates are like "a bucketful of crabs". Someone else preferred "a sockful of scorpions". Has everyone seen the new Lincoln Project ad? It's deadly.
LP video is wicked funny. For someone as paranoid as he is, it'll push him right over the edge. Wonder if they make Depends in an extra, extra large size?
MSNBC's Deadline Whitehouse hosted this week by John Heileman showed the Lincoln Project newest and it's a doozie. He then interviewed Rick Wilson, founder of the LP. He admitted that they love "getting inside tRump's head", and this one should do that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcVSC-BgTww. And these two coined the other quotes you mention, Anna-Louise
Hoo hoo hoo! Deadly indeed!! I’m going to have to send them a donation today - best entertainment I’ve had in a looong time! Karma’s a b$tch, ain’t it?
It is hard to not have a big cheshire-cat smile about the notion that what may ultimately scuttle the Orang's chances for future public office is his own hubris in walking out the door with 'library books.' While that is a gross-oversimplification, it is, essentially that: he took property of the United States without permission and refused to give it back. So the librarians asked the FBI to go get it and a Judge agreed. This is very consistent with a man who has always thought and felt that nothing should apply to him in terms of the law that does not benefit him, but the hubris of walking out the front door with, in some cases potentially top-secret material(s) is the height of the concept.
I hope he heeds his own words, when on the campaign trial he bloviated nee lectured his base that because of Ms. Clinton's 'unauthorized' use of an email-server and potential for there being items of National Security on it, she was 'unfit and disqualified' to be president, and that he hold himself to that standard. I'm skeptical he will. :)
I'll be enjoying the continuing references to the 'nazi-state' and other hews and cries about the injustice of it all. But at the end of the day we should all take a step back and ask whether this is a political exercise or a simple enforcement matter. Put another way: if Obama had walked out of 1600 with 15 boxes of material, unaccounted for, and the Gropenfuerher was incoming; what, dear-readers, do you think would have been the result? I KNOW what the Orang would have 'directed' "his" DOJ to do... in this case there is no evidence that the current president directed or even knew what was going down...nor should he...this is a simple enforcement action driven by a Federal Agency with the assistance of another, run by a T-appointee and signed-off-on by a Federal Judge. Seems pretty tight to me. At the end of the day: don't mess about with the Librarians; fuck-around and find out. My Mom, a school-librarian, agrees. :)
For the record: if you failed to return one of Shel Silverstein or Beverly Cleary's books, you were 'fined' .25 USD (fwiw, my mom rarely enforced the rule). My how times and situations have changed. Perhaps if 45 had ever checked out (much less read) and not returned a book, he would have that cautionary tale under his belt already. :) Alas...
He had Mien Kampf on his bedside table, so I hear. No need for more. Likely the only book he ever read. He did know that Hitler’s generals were loyal to him, with a few notable exceptions. And wanted the same. Glad General Michael Flynn wasn’t in charge.
As a librarian with 50+ years of experience with 'archival tendencies', I'd like to clarify for the record that Archivists are not simply Librarians. They are different from and far more than librarians. They deserve to be referred to as Archivists.
https://www.archives.gov/about/info/whats-an-archivist.html "Archivists are specially trained in preserving the original material and helping people obtain it. Archivists work with paper documents, photographs, maps, films, and computer records. Many begin their careers as historians and then attend classes to learn from experienced archivists. Archivists possess broad, deep knowledge about records and are involved in many, if not all, phases of the records life cycle. Their extensive research and analysis skills help in serving records to the public."
What lovely news, Heather! Our former president spends his day taking the fifth while his political party begins digging its own hypocritical grave defending a mob boss. Now if the MSM would stop referring to the execution of a search warrant as a "raid"....
Indeed, and blathering on about how unprecedented it is, without mentioning how unprecedented it is to have had a crook for president. Did I say that…. However, he was the first career crook??
Here is a link to the Pod Save the World podcast. Between about mins. 4:50 and 10:40 there is an interesting conversation about how strange it is that Trump would even have paper documents, since the daily briefings were conducted on iPads and, in Obama's case, any binders shown to the President would be returned to the person who delivered it. Ben Rhodes suggests, essentially, that for Trump to have any paper document, he would have had to make a point of getting it to keep.
QUESTION: Once Trump is convicted for the first time, let's say for a lesser crime like taking Archival Records or inflated real estate values on loans, much lesser than his his panoply of criminal ant-democratic crimes, is the appetite for more convictions satiated for the public or its appetite merely whetted? Does it depend on whether conviction is for felony or misdemeanor? (I suspect for readers here whetted, but I'm talking public consensus here.)
We can snack on tmfg's fear of testifying to lesser crimes in anticipation of bingeing on his multiple long sentences for the really traitorous stuff. Yum, yum.
The NY AG`s case is a civil case not a crminal case. That is why adverse inferences are allowed for " taking the 5th". Clearly, tfg is willing give up his corporation just like he permitted his"charity" to be permanently shut shut down in NY. Regardless, criminal exposure for the land valuation scams has not been eliminated.
Brought down Al Capone. I'd settle for conviction on just that. So much easier to prosecute than treason. In cooking the books, he cooked his own goose.
It would help to see, given his behavior, that he is not held entirely above the law. Nevertheless prosecutions set boundaries and the more abuses Republicans and others get away with, the more corrupt and sociopathic they have become. There a lines that should never be crossed and things that should never be for sale.
I'd be thrilled if he just couldn't run for office ever again. Although that part of the punishment might be contested on constitutional grounds. Seems like if people's right to vote can be taken away for felons, then why not keep them from holding any office ever again. But then, I don't agree that felons should lose their right to vote so maybe I'm making a circular argument here. So that leaves me with wanting to see an orange jumpsuit.
A president who destroys any records made during his term in office, cannot run for any office again. I think that is fine. Felons should be able to vote, I totally agree, just not Felon President. His new name: Felon President.
I hope they all go to jail. They are real traitors to each and every one of us who love our country and our fellow men and women. What happened to the “pursuit of happiness’ for those idiots? They have so created their own misery and foisted it on us.
Well, Suz, with 400 million guns, many of them “weapons of war”, we are all at risk from the alt right. It’s not just “crazies” anymore, though there are plenty of them for random, heartbreaking mass killings. Our neighbors may have these weapons, people who are in militias have them, and others who are mislead and uninformed. If you haven’t listened to the Ruth Ben-Giat’s podcast on Strongmen or her newsletter Lucid, I strongly suggest it. She is like Heather, incredibly clear, supportive and so intelligent. She keeps me going, as does this group and Heather’s daily wisdom. It’s my oxygen.
100, may i call you that?, Dump is 76. If we add up all the sentences for all the crimes, be they felony or misdemeanors or just plain WRONG, he will be in prison until he dies. Are you a lawyer?
If he did time for a misdemeanor he might not make it out of prison given his health...oh wait, he is the most fit President in history according to his doctor so he can do plenty of time. Public Opinion goes a long way in determinations of Prosecutorial Discretion. It's both sentence and conviction and for what that I think important to Public Opinion. Lawyer, yes.
See today's Lawfare article today on the warrant and related law ( 18 U.S.C. § 2071). The legal consensus is that a conviction will not disqualify tfg from running for public office as the only qualifications for the office of president (or congress) are those stated in the US Constitution, not withstanding other state or federal laws. Any test of that hope would likely fail before the present Supreme Court.
Right wing media is stirring fear - still -- in Republicans around the economy by predicting next year or so we'll have hyperinflation. They're also saying there will be food shortages because farmers can't get enough fertilizer because you need natural gas for that...? And that the shortage of fertilizer also means a shortage of CO2 needed to make beer. What will Justice Kavanaugh do without his beer!
Jeri, I’m with Suz! They are all reptilian dinosaurs, incapable of anything “human”. Alito has emerged, in my mind, as the biggest shit of them all. Well, yeah…..and apologies to dinosaurs and reptiles….
Suz, In India, where I live and work, snakes (Cobras especially) are very holy creatures and are worshipped by many Hindus. Yes, never include snakes when speaking of the human trash we have to observe…
how cool! i like snakes, actually... think cucarachas fit the bill... how bout you, Elisabeth? i think we have a full nest of them crawling around... yuck
The claim that the price of natural gas plays a major role in the price of fertilizer has been challenged by a study out of Texas A&M: see https://www.farmprogress.com/farm-policy/higher-fertilizer-prices-not-linked-natural-gas. As for beer, I'll amplify Hugh Spencer's comment: beer that's worth actually tasting owes its fizz to yeast, not natural gas.
And Trump hit a bump because he's the one who increased the penalty for violating the records act from a one year misdemeanor to a five year felony.
The economic news makes me happy, but this makes my evil twin happy.
Sometimes my evil twin becomes my primary twin :)
NYTimes - August 9th - ATLANTA — "Rudolph W. Giuliani, the lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and a central figure in the investigation into election interference in Georgia, has been telling prosecutors that he cannot travel to the state to appear before a special grand jury because he is not healthy enough to fly."
"But on Tuesday, a judge in Fulton County, Ga., said that Mr. Giuliani, who had two coronary heart stents implanted in early July, could travel from New York to Atlanta some other way, and tentatively ordered him to show up to deliver in-person testimony on Aug. 17."
"'On a train, on a bus or Uber, or whatever it would be,'” he said, adding, “'New York is not close to Atlanta, but it’s not traveling from Fairbanks.'”
New York to Atlanta is 12 hours 23 minutes by car at 70 mph. C’mon, Rudy, you can swig a bottle of wine, watch some tv and take a nap. You’ll be fresh and ready for the Grand Jury questioning you about your treasonous behavior.
Hmmm, I had no idea that Rudy is that delicate. I have a friend who underwent a stent procedure, then proceeded with a long-planned trip to Italy the following day. Her doctor advised her not to fly, but she wasn't going to miss the trip to Positano.
That was 12 years ago, and she (and her heart) are just fine. I found it amusing that Judge McBurney suggested a bus as an alternative to air travel - and kept a straight face.
He is!!!! Didn't you see the video (maybe a month ago?) where some guy in a grocery store clapped him on the back while he campaigned for his... son? (OMG... he has a son who's campaigning?) Rudy acted like he nearly died from that incident... only store security video showed it... too too funny and phony!!
Yes, I saw the clip. Couldn't decide whether his reaction was something physical, or just caused by damage from his consumption of alcohol. As for his son, can you imagine his political and character capabilities considering his genes?
Suz, His son has been a spoiled brat in the public eye since childhood when RG was mayor of NY. Rudy announced at a PRESS CONFERENCE that he was divorcing the son’s mother, a famous broadcaster in nYC. So the son is a dysfunctional mess of a dysfunctional mess of a father.
Here is the 1994 clip of Andrew Giuliani at Rudy's mayoral inauguration. I remember being absolutely appalled at the kid's behavior as well as the parents for not dragging him off the stage. What we couldn't have possibly known at the time, this was just the beginning of how things would roll for Rudy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re_wo_Bl9Uc
My brother-in-law, who has stents installed, has taken two flights to Italy in the past couple of years. It's an excuse, not a reason. Yes, send him tickets for Greyhound or Trailways.
If they cared about justice, any number of CEOs could send their private jets to whisk Rudy to Atlanta--but of course they won't and he will do his darndest not to show up.
Why isn't #45 sending his jet to help his co-conspirator?
Because he DOESN"T want him to testify. It not in his favor.
Because he most surely doesn't want Rudy to testify in Georgia, lol
That occurred to me also, but I think his airline went bankrupt, like the rest of his so-called life.
Get your butt, here. Is it too soon after the surgery because lots of people with stents fly.
Karma is a b*tch with pointed teeth and this makes me ever so happy
And a big badass grin.
Jim, you have a lot of Evil Twins…..lol!
Mine too.
Thank you for the best LOL I have enjoyed in quite a while. My evil twin is delighted to join yours!!!!
Good, more jail time for Dump. Those are tax dollars I don’t mind spending, though he may be put in a for-profit prison, wouldn’t THAT be fun…..
I have zero hopes that he'll ever see the inside of prison. I have high hopes that he'll be on home detention with no golf and his communications monitored like all imprisoned felons.
I think he will end up at home under house confinement. Will they post police or allow him to still have secret service detail? Will he be allowed visitors? Family? Home cooked meals?
Will Melania stay or will she go? Will he even still own a home? I'm betting the wife asks for a divorce before he goes to trial.
If Melania wants to collect on that prenup that she reportedly had amended as a condition of moving to the White House in 2016, she needs to make the move now. The coffers are dwindling quickly. Meanwhile, she can provide the home cooked meals.
SHE can provide the home cooked meals?!?!?
LOLOLOLOLO YOU'RE KILLIN' ME, Nancy!!
Well, SHE might have some special recipes - maybe incorporating ground glass?
Yum on those “home cooked meals”……I hope you are her advisor, Nancy.
If I'd been her advisor, I would have warned that there is not enough money in the world to justify her (or anyone else) marrying him, with the possible exception of Marjorie Taylor Greene. Perhaps she's holding on until she can share a gravesite with Ivana.
Is his third wife even there ?!
The Secret Service detail is the primary reason he'll never see the inside of a prison. Unless Congress enacts a law removing the Secret Service protection from former presidents who are in federal prison, he's got a real get out of jail free card.
Eliminating access to internet; provide stamped postcards.
Can he write?
Well, he makes vertical lines with sharpies. Not sure if anyone has ever deciphered if they are actually words...or his name? Thinking maybe I will change my image of his prison outfit to be be black and white vertical lines.
He will need several cases of sharpies. And I think horizontal lines would be nice because they would make him look even more broad.
I cannot seem to heart this, but I’m laughing.
Someone told me that you can go out of the site and then return and the heart will show up. I've done that on occasion.
He's not really an internet guy. The worst punishment for him would be losing access to television.
No I think golf. He can cheat and no one cares
Yup. I mentioned that above in my dream punishment: house arrest, preferably in NY, where he knows he's hated, no golf, all communications monitored as they are for those imprisoned.
And sharpies . . . 🤣
Dull sharpies required in prisons.
I think as positively as I can and envision him in a dank prison cell with no mirror, no electronics, MacDonalds, hairdresser or tanning machine. Alternatively, deportation to any country that will have such a braggart and corrupt piece of...baggage. Loss of all government benefits paid by Americans and permanent loss of citizenship. Forbiddance to touch American soil ever again would be a lot cheaper for us in the long run. But then he would have access to electronics and that would tick of the entire world...so I guess we are stuck with him incarcerated. He should be the only one in prison forced to wear black and white stripes, for visibility purposes.
Pensa, Why don’t we send him to Hungary? A good metaphor for the voracious appetite to achieve unbridled power? Orban loves him, has been in power since May 2010 and is a Strongman, as described by Ruth Ben-Ghiat. His newest bromance…..
Hmmm.... We don't want to send him anywhere that he is loved...geez! So where can we send him? Maybe he should be sent Haiti to work on the farm? Any farm... If he has any energy left he could do something good for the world,...?
That would be very dangerous with both of them together plus Puntin!
He should be incarerated in solitary confinement! He is one of the most dangerous known humans in the USA.
Yes
I want to see him shaved bald!
No, that would defeat seeing his hair in it's "natural" state.
LOL!!
My lord, that's exactly what I thought. And let's make sure he's on a vegan diet!
... and no ketchup!
Now a vegan diet would be against the 8th amendment, cruel and unusual punishment. /s (I'm a carnivore, no insult to Vegan intended). If this happened he might die before it reached the SC.
Dave, Hope leaks eternal…..
no fine WH china
Except, on a vegan diet he may live another 30 years.
Haha!
Some of that stuff now being served at Cracker Barrel.
What is the effing deal about Cracker Barrel having a vegan version of something? I am gluten intolerant and wish I could go out to eat and have GF options on the menu.
The Cracker Barrel has some kind of veg option burger or something. When they announced this, the MAGA crowd had a fit....accused CB of being woke. So no big deal really except these people love to carp about everything when all they have to do is not order that option.
Do they even make an ankle bracelet big enough for his bloated legs…?
And on an enforced vegan diet with no television.
And let's not forget a monitor on his ankle at all times. Yes!
Bankruptcy is his go to move to get out of fixes. There's a disagreement about how many but there have been at least four and what they end up doing is screwing over his vendors. I vaguely recall that you can't declare bankruptcy to get out of paying court-ordered fines. penalties. What the court can do is seize assets. A fire sale of all his holdings would be very sweet. I'll bet a video of his name being obliterated from that damn plane would earn a lot of money on YouTube.
Yes! And those red double-decker tour buses will surround the joint!
that will really piss off Melania....
That would be perfect. I wish for him a comfy cot in a cell lined with history books and a cafeteria chef who is a vegetarian evangelist. Kale smoothie for breakfast, roasted turnip burgers for lunch and dinner will be chopped greens - anything green that is available tossed with Russian dressing.
Bill, I like your culinary fantasies….the salad dressing being my fave.
This one really made me LOL. Thank you Bill.
If only.
I see Democracy on the cross and Republicans screaming 'give us Trump.'
I found that hilarious. What goes around comes around...!
The fates are a dancing....
Only time yesterday, TC, that I had a terse laugh while reading the news. Talk about something biting one on the ass. ‘Dat will be some poetic justice when applied.
🗽
Ironic poetic justice I was just saying and, wow. It’s simply masterful how it all played out. DJ Khalid was right, “you played yourself.”
Trump has been able to buy his way out of any consequences for his mischief for all of his life. In that respect, he is iconic of the attitudes of his party; the assumption of total impunity no matter what they decide to do, even throw an election. The more they get away with the worse they get. Maybe this time, just brazening it out won't make the liability go away.
Hope and pray you are right, the MAGAts can blather on, not just chump, the “republicans” need their comeuppance. May Nov deliver
MAGATs is good. Thanks
And don't forget, Leonard Leo fresh from packing the judiciary -under the guise of for god and guns, but serving unregulated greed - now funneling dark money through dirty trick shell corporations to the dubious cause of severely limiting access to trial by jury, effectively throwing the innocent until proven guilty on the mercy of wolves of Wall Street in judges' robes.
Grrrr! Leo continues to make a mockery of Juris Prudence in the name of same.
Nominal "Conservatives" seem to make a mockery (and act to sabotage) so many things they claim to be defending. Orwell had their number.
Bullying and corruption is abuse pf power, from mean kinds in schoolyards around the world to mass theft, slavery, genocide and most of the other horrors of history and now. It even manged to greatly worsen the death toll of a virus-caused pandemic. Obama's attorney general Eric Holder worried;
" I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy. "
And he pussyfooted around (certainly in sharp contrast to the "Savings and Loan" crash years earlier) deep investigation and prosecution of the subprime Ponzi crash. Key to the government's remedy was making "so large" even larger and "settlements" that were mild enough to cause a company's stock price to rise when levied. The real question is what befalls us when we don't hold big money (or anyone) accountable? When political and legal consequences can be bought, what befalls "rule of law" and democracy? Recall that in '30s some prominent 1%ers favored Hitler.
There just should not be such a thing as "shell corporations". The press always claims but never explains how they have "legitimate uses", but the potential for criminal abuse is self-evident, as troves of leaked of documents, such as "Panama Papers" confirm. We are strangely indifferent or distracted while bullies come to own the place. Orwellianly named "Citizens United" is about as antidemocratic as it gets, without totalitarian control; and Republicans are working on it.
sounds like Colbert's windup intro to MEANWHILE!!!!
It’s a beautiful thing!
Indeed!
That's just par for the course, TC. I wonder what crimes he will commit between now and when the prison door slams shut behind him. This may be a wild ride.
I think he is a traitor (duh). Espionage is potentially very profitable and has the temporary power of control. The reason that I can think of is that these very interesting documents must be very valuable important documents are value to a variety of potential bidders.
Very!
David, again we are laughing. Me and the dog. You might just be the “Stephen Colbert” of the Heather Cox Richardson world.
Elisabeth, surely you exaggerate! But thanks anyway.
If he’s confined to being at home, I hope he has an ankle monitor.,… like other folks. Wouldn’t that be great???? And then he tries to saw it off!😂😂😂 Hey, MTG… no one is above the law! No One!
Pretty sure those short arms and tiny hands couldn't get the job done.
MTG in “jail” @ CPAC. Starts ~ 7 minutes..
https://www.thedailybeast.com/daily-show-mocks-marjorie-taylor-greenes-hilarious-jan-6-cpac-performance-art
Wooo I did not know that...maybe karma does exist?! :-))
TCinLA How so? Should take an act of Congress. Trump I guess could have proposed it, signed it? Please cite.
The Republican congress increased the penalty per Trump's request in 2018 and he signed it. It's all over the net today.
You are correct. The law you mention relates to Classified documents as opposed to archival records, thus I could not readily find.
https://www.businessinsider.com/law-trump-signed-2018-may-punish-him-classified-info-2022-8?op=1
What does a fella have to do to get put in jail around here?
No fucking kidding, GG.,
❤️
I think he signed it because he thought it made him more powerful. He planned to use it against his enemies (Hillary, Comey, etc).
Now it will be used against his number one enemy. His narcissistic ego.
🗽
Lotta good that does him NOW!
Sewing the seeds of your own destruction, it's so... karmic.
💝
I wonder if he realized what he was signing as that makes no sense. He never treated the office with respect and behaved like it was all for him, personally.
He was probably hoping to get Hillary.
He was telling everyone it was so he could go after Hillary and "put her away."
Knowing how diabolical the inner circle of the neo-fascists are, we can assume that somehow classified records were going to be planted on a key Democrat as punishment and to take them out of the game. How do we know this? Because Republicans always give themselves away by falsely accusing others of what they themselves are guilty of. Always! As usual, Trump could embrace this kind of nasty business and signed on.
I was thinking recently about how petty and vindictive Republicans have become over the last 30 years, really since Gingrich. How is it possible that we allow spoiled rotten children to serve in Congress? No wonder this country is self-destructing.
Since Lee Atwater in the Nixon Administration.
You are probably right but to me there was a sea change when Gingrich pushed out Bob Michel and took over as a firebrand. Gingrich was ruthless and vindictive to a fault. He wore it as a badge of honor. That man was truly a wrecking ball in Congress and was the precursor to today.
Newt Gingrich broke American politics starting in 1995: the Contract for America; his GoPAC list of positive adjectives for Republicans and negative ones for Democrats; the turning of collegiality and compromise into sins. It was Robert Livingston he pushed out of the Speakership, good thing too as Bob had to resign in disgrace (thanks to Larry Flint). I thought we'd never hear from Gingrich again after he too had to resign in disgrace when it was learned that he was boinking an aide (now his 3rd wife, who was Trump's ambassador to the Vatican) while impeaching Clinton for a minor indiscretion. But no. He's still at it. Still trying to destroy democracy by any means necessary.
You may want to recheck your correction of me. Robert Livingston had to resign, Bob Michel was his replacement and Gingrich pushed him out with impunity. It was disgraceful and as I said a sea change in the Republican Party and a precursor to what they have become today. It should have been a wake-up call for the Democrats, but they kept thinking that the Republican Party was more like Bob Michel than Newt Gingrich. A huge mistake and one we are really paying for today.
I'm on board with everything else you wrote.
Thank you for prodding me to do some research rather than rely on my memory. I had my timeline wrong. Livingston was elected as Speaker of the House after Gingrich resigned in disgrace but never served because he had to resign in disgrace. That's how we got Dennis Hastert for 8 years. Turns out he was also a disgrace. He's the highest-ranking elected official in U.S. history to serve a prison sentence -- to date.
Bob Michel was the House Minority Leader for 14 years.
It's been going on a long time. Back in 1873, Mark Twain wrote "Consider a congressman, then consider an idiot. Bah! I repeat myself."
How I wish Mark Twain, or some other witty sage was with us today. Twain was irrepressible and unshakable.
I also wish I had the ability to convey so much in so few words.
Yes indeed.
We do... his name is Jon Stewart
Weeelllll...let's see if that penalty is carried out for him as well. You know that statement he put out yesterday about the FBI possibly "planting" evidence is exactly what his base wanted to hear. And he is a master at playing them; they are just too blind to see it. I think 5 years in the pen would be a fabulous way for him to lose some weight.
The comedic film adaptation will be called The Hillary Trap.
Wow, I did not know that! And of course he's the one who said, "If you plead the fifth, you've go something to hide." (something like that).
Always remember that the MAGA/GOP party is the party the screams, "don't do as I do, but do as I say."
There you go - he did manage a good deed during his time in office (inadvertently, of course).
HA!!! You're right, Nancy!!! Just made my evening... thank you!!
This last week or so has raised my spirits, too. Let's just hope the momentum keeps building. Thanks, Suz!
glad for you, Nancy! i'm way too skeptical... withholding till more comes out
Chin up, Suz. I think we'll make it.
Karma is such a bitch. And the mobster death star takes the 5th...no surprise and I hope the NY AG uses that against him since it's a civil case. And Heather's observation at the end...the first time any president....death star is the first time we've had this kind of monster occupying the WH.
I'm sure that's because he thought he could catch Hillary Clinton with it!
😉🙄🤤🙄😉
The most striking thing about Biden’s speech as he signed the PACT bill was how he credited so many people for working to promote its passage. He shared credit. What a welcome, refreshing relief to hear acknowledgment of democratic (small d) collaboration towards a needed benefit now available to all veterans.
"he credited so many people for working to promote its passage"
Adult in the room.
Your comment is going to get buried by the banter I fear, but I also delight in how Biden shared the credit. It’s so meaningful to see after so long watching credit being stolen, passed or ignored for so long.
Maigen, it is truly wonderful. Mr. Biden is gracious and generous. I really appreciate what he has done in lightening time this month. Thanks for reminding us.
Just what is needed from the President of the United States at this time. A President that represents the best of our Democracy. And one that honors the will and voice of the people.
One glaring difference between the former and now…President Biden made excellent decisions on appointments. Especially his cabinet posts and attorney general. We the People do not have to check Twitter to see who he is firing. For me, that is now reserved for watching the governor of Florida who walks the same “be loyal to me or you are out” policy that trump followed every minute with his chosen minions.
🗽
PACT bill is a blessing. You all should watch Jon Stewart commenting on the tragic impact of the Republican stall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pkst5fYDPs&t=7s
Does anyone know if the military has ended the burn pit practice?
Great question. I couldn't find an answer.
Thank you for posting the link. I enjoyed every minute of it.
https://luciantruscott.substack.com/p/what-is-a-burn-pit
Thanks, MaryPat. Vivid eye witness description but no indication they've stopped the practice.
Yes, yes, yes.
Heather, so glad to see you're finished early. Thanks for today's news digest.
The world just keeps on spinning, doesn't it? Sleep well.
So grateful, Daria, for Professor Richardson and other Substack authors this week. They are hard at it keeping us informed. The script has been swift this week.
Add to that Politics Girl, Leigh McGowan, in sharing her podcast time this week with Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Subject? Strongmen in America. Ben-Ghiat gives profile on Trump and like authoritarians not willing to give up power. Give a listen. Knowledge is our strategic power in this moment in history.
https://youtu.be/-3yAKh54CXA
🗽
The Politics Girl with Ruth Ben-Ghiat was magnificent: clear, and scarily urgent. We must get everyone we know to vote in November. Heather says it is up to US and it is!
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is brilliant. Sleep well, Christine, we need to stay strong and alert.
Thank you. Christine for the link to this politics Shirley podcast. It is inspiring!
The world and my head keep spinning with the flood of news daily. I'm waiting for the ultimate headline...."Trump arrested."
Then, "Trump Convicted" with the finale of "Trump Sentenced to ____Years in Jail". I'll settle for convicted :)
Thee and me!
Pam, As Dorothy Parker said, “The two greatest words in the English language….”.
What a difference a month makes😁. Until recently naysayers, including Democrats, were down on President Biden, the paucity of recent Dem legislation, and the prospects of Dems in the November elections.
Now President Biden has been effective, bold new legislation has been passed over the lock-step Republican opposition, Trump is flailing and Fifthing, and his sycophants are shooting themselves in the foot.
It ain’t over ‘til the fat lady (or fellow) sings, but I’m BIDENING my time.
Indeed, Keith. Some days I'd need to take a break from reading the comments because it would move me to despair. I'm grateful for Sandy Lewis, just a few weeks back whilst many were hand wringing, he'd daily post "Trump will be charged, convicted and jailed".
I just added this comment (below). I generally don't get to the end of the comments every day, so I thought "David Carroll" was gone, but apparently not. So out comes my evil twin.
David Carroll
7 hr ago
You fail to mention, the progressive leftist Letitia James ran on a platform of “ getting Trump”. All she needed was a crime yet determined. As for the “weaponized” DOJ and FBI again you fail to mention the multiple occasions they ignored or participated in covering up by the Biden family and Hillary Clinton’s Russian hoax. Apparently when the facts check in, but not for you, you don’t check them out. Typical of an elitist class. A rather dubious position I might add for a “tenured” Professor. To give the big guy a hall pass on everything from open borders, inflation, surrender in Afghanistan, Wild spending and divisive identity politics might be why you see half the country as Deplorable.
Reply
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Miselle
just now
Generally, "David" I just ignore you. But now I am LOOKING for your posts because they are getting more and more crazed!! I LOVE how upset you are!! It is truly making my day!! Your attempts to inflame your betters are HILARIOUS!! I love to wonder who is paying you to do this and whether you are afraid they'll run out of money!! HOO HOO THIS IS GOOD!!
Oh well, SOME of us have a life and important tasks to do, so I'm signing off. Sorry, I check the comments once and done. You are SURE to want to earn your pay by thinking real hard to come up with some snappy response, I probably won't see it, but IF I do, it just serves to prove my point!! THANK YOU DAVE!!
Miselle Warm thanks for David’s doggerel which provided my guffaw for today. I presume that he is q charter member of the False Facts Society with links to the Flat Earth Club. He makes clear that he is not a member of the ‘elite or tenured’ folks.’ Sounds like he could be a Proud Boy.
As Senator Moynihan phrased it “You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.” David, are you listening?
Sounds like two sides of a t-shirt. Fats Sings His Last (front) and I'm Biden My Time (back). Go too (two) it, Keith.
Fred BINGO!
“ It is an astonishing thing to see that a former president, the person who was responsible for faithfully executing the laws of our nation, has ….”
yep - you Dr Richardson, with your Letters from an American, have filled in that blank - for my wife and me, for neighbors, and friends across the country, by writing the truth. You have reported on the direction our country has been taken, on daily events of outrageous proportions, giving them a relationship to an educated, historical context. In my opinion, you write clearly, purposely exalting the best of the American experiment - ideals of humanity itself. For me, Letters from an American, is a simple but profound daily guide of hope showing through a storm of malfeasance. It’s visible like Portland Headlight in a January nor’easter. We, here in our little Maine home, nominate you for the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
I would support renaming Portland Headlight as The Heather Cox Richardson Beacon of Truth.
He took the 5th 440 times! I must remind myself to keep breathing!
And yet, tfg himself has ranted numerous times that people pleading the 5th do so because they are guilty. It’s laughable!
Now he's saying he had no choice, as this is all a Witch Hunt. Pronounced "witchunt".
Wish he'd keep women out of it. It's a Warlock Hunt.
Modern witches don't use that term anyhow as it literally translates as "oath-breaker". (Although come to think of it...)
Like the one he took to uphold the Constitution? ...
Just another set of rules for him to break. That “most powerful man in the world” moniker hooked him forever. And, boy, did he know how to use it, with a crooked republican majority, it was my wish is your command and vice versa. And Rupert had greased the path. We are so lucky to have survived to this point. The work continues, as does the evil, sad to say.
Fingers crossed behind his back.
Lindsay West turned this phrase on its head way back in 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/17/opinion/columnists/weinstein-harassment-witchunt.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuonUktbcrIhlSFUaBCbSRdkhrxqAwvPIxKE5gH7lMDPSVjtDyf8JDomGvkfEf6N4fN4-2SjeW95dO78yQuA0zvNaOwYlbTiUlaa-ucZPJTQp-8X0V3kq3pnJUPdmrGfkYmS1caIjmOPh-k_bbDX1UPbf2Gkldwxg85VgfFih0XwY1-ySRL4Or9p51PwhBJt8QC5RJ3XZ-qm1VGgtfYmOfRre6QIpWuBGWTm1nN6U7roIcA86GkuRBTokoj56sIUATYtRaKXvLBcge978iKERDgFqJISvB54yRevEhmQRzqBXiZITUNgKMkJnlt8&smid=nytcore-ios-share
Of course it is….and he’s the witch!
As with all republicans, when something bites them in the arse, they feel it, otherwise they are numb to the trials and tribulations of others.
Oh, we need to find a video clip of that!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKe7eS5xXSg
Here's another good one. Very clear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjeMgJ2MUaQ
(10 minutes watching time).
Thank you!
https://youtu.be/yp_l5ntikaU
He gets a A (440 Hz) for hiding everything.
His comment...."That's what the mob does."
And, in a civil case, taking the 5th can be used against him . . . "adverse inference". Does not apply to criminal cases. However, since defendants usually do not take the stand in criminal cases, the point is moot.
It's only Wednesday and Trump has achieved two firsts for a former U.S. president: had his home searched by the FBI based on a search warrant granted on grounds that there's probable cause of a crime, and he refused to answer any questions under oath in a civil suit stemming from the financial operation of his company.
Welcome to the record books, Donald. Something tells me there will be more entries that will make you even more infamous.
May same be true of all MAGAts and the sympathetic republican “lawmakers.” The latter should be as infamous as chump
"Last September, when three of Hillary Clinton’s IT specialists took the Fifth during a congressional probe of her private server, Trump railed on the stump: “So there are five of them taking the Fifth Amendment, like you see on the mob, right? The mob takes th Fifth Amendment. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” (Just to be consistent, he should ask Flynn the same thing.)
Also last September, Kellyanne Conway was equally incensed about the decision to take the Fifth. She called Hillary’s people “a basket of liars.” Clearly it all depends on whose team is taking the Fifth, because back in 2013, when IRS executive Lois Lerner took the Fifth in a GOP congressional probe of the Obama administration, Sean Spicer, in his capacity as a party spinner, tweeted: “Why do u take the 5th if you have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide?”
https://whyy.org/articles/team-trump-suddenly-thinks-that-taking-the-fifth-is-awesome/
They all live in the Land of Do as I Say Not As I Do.
"It's OK (for us) if we do it." And yeah, they are big on telling others to do as they say. It's a theme that runs though everything they say and do.
Indeed. It is the apex of hypocrisy.
It is their name
A basket of liars? Some colourful collective nouns are coming out of this. Today I read that Trump's intimates are like "a bucketful of crabs". Someone else preferred "a sockful of scorpions". Has everyone seen the new Lincoln Project ad? It's deadly.
It’s a doozy. Thank you for mentioning it, Anne-Louise. Here’s a link. https://youtu.be/GcVSC-BgTww
🗽
Wow
LP video is wicked funny. For someone as paranoid as he is, it'll push him right over the edge. Wonder if they make Depends in an extra, extra large size?
Wow. That's brutal.
Repubs sure know how to cut to the bone, ye hear that, Dems…
MSNBC's Deadline Whitehouse hosted this week by John Heileman showed the Lincoln Project newest and it's a doozie. He then interviewed Rick Wilson, founder of the LP. He admitted that they love "getting inside tRump's head", and this one should do that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcVSC-BgTww. And these two coined the other quotes you mention, Anna-Louise
His brain is squirming like a toad.
A toad that's been pounced on by a cat.
Hoo hoo hoo! Deadly indeed!! I’m going to have to send them a donation today - best entertainment I’ve had in a looong time! Karma’s a b$tch, ain’t it?
Fairly certain coined but Rick Wilson and John Heilemann, respectively.
I'm sure the Lincoln Project is assembling the montage for their next ad.
Brilliantly creative and skilled.
The Man Who Lived to Talk didn't have anything to say. This is a Precious Moment. Let us savor it.
LOL and too true.
🤣
It is hard to not have a big cheshire-cat smile about the notion that what may ultimately scuttle the Orang's chances for future public office is his own hubris in walking out the door with 'library books.' While that is a gross-oversimplification, it is, essentially that: he took property of the United States without permission and refused to give it back. So the librarians asked the FBI to go get it and a Judge agreed. This is very consistent with a man who has always thought and felt that nothing should apply to him in terms of the law that does not benefit him, but the hubris of walking out the front door with, in some cases potentially top-secret material(s) is the height of the concept.
I hope he heeds his own words, when on the campaign trial he bloviated nee lectured his base that because of Ms. Clinton's 'unauthorized' use of an email-server and potential for there being items of National Security on it, she was 'unfit and disqualified' to be president, and that he hold himself to that standard. I'm skeptical he will. :)
I'll be enjoying the continuing references to the 'nazi-state' and other hews and cries about the injustice of it all. But at the end of the day we should all take a step back and ask whether this is a political exercise or a simple enforcement matter. Put another way: if Obama had walked out of 1600 with 15 boxes of material, unaccounted for, and the Gropenfuerher was incoming; what, dear-readers, do you think would have been the result? I KNOW what the Orang would have 'directed' "his" DOJ to do... in this case there is no evidence that the current president directed or even knew what was going down...nor should he...this is a simple enforcement action driven by a Federal Agency with the assistance of another, run by a T-appointee and signed-off-on by a Federal Judge. Seems pretty tight to me. At the end of the day: don't mess about with the Librarians; fuck-around and find out. My Mom, a school-librarian, agrees. :)
Trump would have had a noose ready for Obama. That’s what he would’ve done. Yep our best archivists of history are librarians, so kudos to your mom.
For the record: if you failed to return one of Shel Silverstein or Beverly Cleary's books, you were 'fined' .25 USD (fwiw, my mom rarely enforced the rule). My how times and situations have changed. Perhaps if 45 had ever checked out (much less read) and not returned a book, he would have that cautionary tale under his belt already. :) Alas...
He had Mien Kampf on his bedside table, so I hear. No need for more. Likely the only book he ever read. He did know that Hitler’s generals were loyal to him, with a few notable exceptions. And wanted the same. Glad General Michael Flynn wasn’t in charge.
I heard it was Hitler's speeches. Less dense, more fun, ultimately most useful.
except that H's 'loyal' generals tried to kill him a few times...
❤️❤️
George W. Bush found that out the hard way, too!
As a librarian with 50+ years of experience with 'archival tendencies', I'd like to clarify for the record that Archivists are not simply Librarians. They are different from and far more than librarians. They deserve to be referred to as Archivists.
https://www.archives.gov/about/info/whats-an-archivist.html "Archivists are specially trained in preserving the original material and helping people obtain it. Archivists work with paper documents, photographs, maps, films, and computer records. Many begin their careers as historians and then attend classes to learn from experienced archivists. Archivists possess broad, deep knowledge about records and are involved in many, if not all, phases of the records life cycle. Their extensive research and analysis skills help in serving records to the public."
I was not aware that a jury in a civil case may infer guilt from pleading the Fifth in a civil case. Interesting fact.
Nor did I, but hallelujah
What lovely news, Heather! Our former president spends his day taking the fifth while his political party begins digging its own hypocritical grave defending a mob boss. Now if the MSM would stop referring to the execution of a search warrant as a "raid"....
Indeed, and blathering on about how unprecedented it is, without mentioning how unprecedented it is to have had a crook for president. Did I say that…. However, he was the first career crook??
Nixon, as I recall, was NOT a crook.
😂😂
Who told you that, MaryPat?! Hahahah!
I don’t know how to do this with a glass of wine, not a cup of coffee. What a bizarre few days! Is the dam broken? See y’all in the morning!
😂😂😂
Here is a link to the Pod Save the World podcast. Between about mins. 4:50 and 10:40 there is an interesting conversation about how strange it is that Trump would even have paper documents, since the daily briefings were conducted on iPads and, in Obama's case, any binders shown to the President would be returned to the person who delivered it. Ben Rhodes suggests, essentially, that for Trump to have any paper document, he would have had to make a point of getting it to keep.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW5eTCysR_U
QUESTION: Once Trump is convicted for the first time, let's say for a lesser crime like taking Archival Records or inflated real estate values on loans, much lesser than his his panoply of criminal ant-democratic crimes, is the appetite for more convictions satiated for the public or its appetite merely whetted? Does it depend on whether conviction is for felony or misdemeanor? (I suspect for readers here whetted, but I'm talking public consensus here.)
We can snack on tmfg's fear of testifying to lesser crimes in anticipation of bingeing on his multiple long sentences for the really traitorous stuff. Yum, yum.
I am laughing out loud. Me and my dog sitting on the couch together, just laughing. Thank you, David.
I knew dogs could smile, but I have never heard one laugh. You're most welcome, Elisabeth. Now I'm laughing too.
The little dog laughed to see such sport...
She voted for Biden!
Hope my long life doesn’t end before I taste of that.
The NY AG`s case is a civil case not a crminal case. That is why adverse inferences are allowed for " taking the 5th". Clearly, tfg is willing give up his corporation just like he permitted his"charity" to be permanently shut shut down in NY. Regardless, criminal exposure for the land valuation scams has not been eliminated.
I smell tax evasion.
The odor wafts over everything he’s ever done.
He has claimed that shows that he is "smart", but I think it is really to power of money to corrupt. Besides his money pouring in from Russia, he hob-nobbed with the mob: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-mob-organized-crime-213910/ Little wonder he fiercely fights disclosure of his tax claims.
Brought down Al Capone. I'd settle for conviction on just that. So much easier to prosecute than treason. In cooking the books, he cooked his own goose.
It would help to see, given his behavior, that he is not held entirely above the law. Nevertheless prosecutions set boundaries and the more abuses Republicans and others get away with, the more corrupt and sociopathic they have become. There a lines that should never be crossed and things that should never be for sale.
I'd be thrilled if he just couldn't run for office ever again. Although that part of the punishment might be contested on constitutional grounds. Seems like if people's right to vote can be taken away for felons, then why not keep them from holding any office ever again. But then, I don't agree that felons should lose their right to vote so maybe I'm making a circular argument here. So that leaves me with wanting to see an orange jumpsuit.
A president who destroys any records made during his term in office, cannot run for any office again. I think that is fine. Felons should be able to vote, I totally agree, just not Felon President. His new name: Felon President.
I hope they all go to jail. They are real traitors to each and every one of us who love our country and our fellow men and women. What happened to the “pursuit of happiness’ for those idiots? They have so created their own misery and foisted it on us.
indeed... tho in light of newer info... that's not likely sufficient to secure us. not sure anything is. wow
Well, Suz, with 400 million guns, many of them “weapons of war”, we are all at risk from the alt right. It’s not just “crazies” anymore, though there are plenty of them for random, heartbreaking mass killings. Our neighbors may have these weapons, people who are in militias have them, and others who are mislead and uninformed. If you haven’t listened to the Ruth Ben-Giat’s podcast on Strongmen or her newsletter Lucid, I strongly suggest it. She is like Heather, incredibly clear, supportive and so intelligent. She keeps me going, as does this group and Heather’s daily wisdom. It’s my oxygen.
100, may i call you that?, Dump is 76. If we add up all the sentences for all the crimes, be they felony or misdemeanors or just plain WRONG, he will be in prison until he dies. Are you a lawyer?
If he did time for a misdemeanor he might not make it out of prison given his health...oh wait, he is the most fit President in history according to his doctor so he can do plenty of time. Public Opinion goes a long way in determinations of Prosecutorial Discretion. It's both sentence and conviction and for what that I think important to Public Opinion. Lawyer, yes.
Well, I believe Public Opinion will support the Prosecutorial Discretion of throwing his ass in jail and permanently losing the key. Just sayin’….
Trump's doctor was Ron "The Magic Pill Man" Jackson
Another doc gone wrong, not many are immune from the lure of power and greed. The siren’s song of destruction, sooner or later..l
See today's Lawfare article today on the warrant and related law ( 18 U.S.C. § 2071). The legal consensus is that a conviction will not disqualify tfg from running for public office as the only qualifications for the office of president (or congress) are those stated in the US Constitution, not withstanding other state or federal laws. Any test of that hope would likely fail before the present Supreme Court.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-we-do-and-dont-know-about-fbis-mar-lago-search?utm_campaign=Brookings%20Brief&utm_medium=email&utm_content=222472745&utm_source=hs_email
Ah, shit.
Right wing media is stirring fear - still -- in Republicans around the economy by predicting next year or so we'll have hyperinflation. They're also saying there will be food shortages because farmers can't get enough fertilizer because you need natural gas for that...? And that the shortage of fertilizer also means a shortage of CO2 needed to make beer. What will Justice Kavanaugh do without his beer!
Kavanaugh can go to rehab to learn to be a human, like Alito and Thomas., for starters.
??? Alito and Thomas?? human???
Jeri, I’m with Suz! They are all reptilian dinosaurs, incapable of anything “human”. Alito has emerged, in my mind, as the biggest shit of them all. Well, yeah…..and apologies to dinosaurs and reptiles….
thank you, Elisabeth... for apologizing to dinosaurs and reptiles... even snakes oughta not be included!
Suz, In India, where I live and work, snakes (Cobras especially) are very holy creatures and are worshipped by many Hindus. Yes, never include snakes when speaking of the human trash we have to observe…
how cool! i like snakes, actually... think cucarachas fit the bill... how bout you, Elisabeth? i think we have a full nest of them crawling around... yuck
Guess they better bone up on basic fermentation biology!
The claim that the price of natural gas plays a major role in the price of fertilizer has been challenged by a study out of Texas A&M: see https://www.farmprogress.com/farm-policy/higher-fertilizer-prices-not-linked-natural-gas. As for beer, I'll amplify Hugh Spencer's comment: beer that's worth actually tasting owes its fizz to yeast, not natural gas.