Yesterday on the social media site X, formerly Twitter, Miles Taylor wrote: “After 2016, I helped lead the US gov[ernmen]t response to Russia’s election interference.
As Trump is Reagan writ large and writ vulgar. Taylor Greene is Newt Gingrich writ large and writ vulgar. The difference is that for all their specious rhetoric and fallacious assertions, Reagan and Gingrich understood that their agenda required a functioning government and a United States 'on its feet.'
Trump and Taylor Greene are either taking 'government is the problem' entirely literally. Or are entirely taking their marching orders from Moscow. Or both.
Lin, if they believe government is the problem, Empty Green and the Defendant should not be a part of it. But in fact they do take orders from Putin and spread disinformation.
Some sort of de facto governance exists even in a failed state, even if it's only unstable rule by bandits, or even worse, Republicans. There is good government and bad government. There are nice people and evil people and in between. There are good ideas and very bad ideas. Bad government is a problem. Corruption is a problem. Misplaced priorities are a problem.
Government of the people, by the people, for the people is supposed to be as good as it gets, but that exactly the sort that Reagan and his patrons despised.
The 2020 presidential election had the highest voter turnout of the 21st century, with 66.8% of citizens 18 years and older voting in the election, according to new voting and registration tables released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. These data come from the 2020 Current Population Survey Voting and Registration Supplement for the November 2020 presidential election, which surveyed the civilian noninstitutionalized population in the United States.
More voters (154.6 million) turned out for the presidential election in 2020 than in 2016 (137.5 million), the largest increase between consecutive presidential elections since the inception of the CPS voting supplement in 1964.
Honestly, though, 66.8% is still pretty low. What's the percentage for registered voters who actually cast a vote in 2020? We obviously need to register more citizens 18 years and older, and get them to the polls!
Many people are unaware of the threat to life as they know; thinking there’s nothing they can do! It’s true that it tAkes time to understand the issues and act! I recommend voting by mail!
When my sons were teenagers, I made sure that they understood the importance of registering to vote when they turned 18. I told them and other young people
babababaaabaaaBAABOOM...KABOOM...train (boat)-wreck! It's what you get. The freighter ramming the "Key" bridge serves as a perfect backdrop of where we are as a nation. The 'cargo' which is now in legal-limbo, thanks to the Captain declaring "General Average", is representative of where all our Allies sit. We're not at the bottom yet though. But, when we finally hit it, there will only be one way to go, and that's "UP". We'll get it together.
Parts of this remind me of the Pirate Kingdom and how Privateers turned to Pirates electing Edward Teach (Blackbeard), their magistrate, for example.
A few chance encounters with interesting people sparked a little more interest in pirates and their rules of governance. One was a co-founder(?) of ESRI who had brought his daughter to the Loma Linda emergency room (close to ESRI headquarters in Redlands, CA). We met in the emergency room waiting area and somehow started discussing involvement with satellites and my considering taking courses related to ESRI. I had worked in the Air Force providing weather support to the unit that recovered satellite film capsules in Hawaii, but was at the time working at a local community college as an Aeronautics Lab assistant. He had spent time at a manned space flight tracking station in the Turks and Caicos
The typical Pirates seemed much more equal opportunity but I do wonder if anyone would now want their elected leaders’ “pirate healthcare plans,” especially compared to how they treated the local non-pirates. I imagine some made out rather well if they benefitted the pirates, and not so well if they didn’t. I don't know how the ESRI veteran compared to the multi billions Jack Dangermond acquired but it was interesting to me that we were both in an emergency room that still had plenty of the healthcare workers we both needed at the time.
I was a bit busy back when it came out, sometimes teaching 12 hours a day in the Space Systems Command and Control School DMSP courses when they needed an instructor in the A shift 3-level class as I also taught the B shift 5-level course. I'll have to see if a few others want to watch it with me.
They hope to cripple this government and replace it with an authoritarian one controlled by billionaires both foreign and domestic. The miracle is that DJT is standing trial at all, for anything. Trump dozes on Center Street while Garland has yet to emerge from his semi-comatose state.
"Trump dozes on Center Street while Garland has yet to emerge from his semi-comatose state."
From Day 1, many on the Left have used Merrick Garland as a punching bag. Maybe they expected their own Bill Barr.
Their disparagement is unwarranted.
For instance.
Garland appointed the impeccably conservative Hur, who then so spectacularly jumped the shark, that he entirely failed in his GOP mission to fatally wound Biden.
Garland also appointed the extraordinary Jack Smith - whom it is taking a concerted effort of the entire Federalist Society bench -from the lowly Canon to the high court - to derail.
Garland is grace under pressure testifying before Congress. Try CSpan.
For over 18 years, Garland has tutored DC Public School children. As a DCPS parent, that also counts.
Yes, Lin. And the primay reason there are not hordes of MAGAtes protesting outside trump's courtrooms is because DOJ's Garland supervised the systematic identification and prosecution and incarceration of over 1000 of their insurrectionist leaders. Justice has been and is being done.
It is Pat. And those on the receiving end of "justice" aren't being put away for life by alongshot, etc, but they are darn-sure having their lives impacted by their actions. Sadly, many will just be bitter and pass that bitterness on. Sorry. That's the way it's got to be. Call it: A stitch in time, saves nine. We need to market civility. Let's be a "civil" Nation.
Uhm no, I don't expect a Bill Barr, but an RFK would be nice. Garland wasted 18 months, until Biden officially announced he was running again, giving him an excuse to finally appoint a special counsel. a good appointment, but time matters.
Jack, I have zero insight into AG Garland's work ethic or determination to advance the cause of justice. What I hope is that he is a careful, if not meticulous, planner. At the risk of using a firearms aphorism, referring back to the days of flintlock muskets, I think the AG wants to avoid "going off half-cocked".
There is certainly no danger that he will make any sudden moves. I give him credit for appointing Jack Smith but he should have done that a year sooner. He has said that all will be held accountable without fear or favor. Too many seem to fear Trump and he has gotten favors that no other defendants get. Experienced federal prosecutors say the same and since I am not an attorney , I tend to agree with them. Most amazingly he is running again! The whole system is broken, is all I can say.
Just kidding. A little bit. But then there was AG RFK's sweetheart deal to return IG Farben's General Aniline and Film Corp. (seized as a Nazi asset) to IG's Swiss holding company Interhandel.
"I.G. Farben's main American asset was General Aniline and Film Corporation (GAF). A Swiss company, Interhandel, nominally owned it. Interhandel was originally established before World War II by I.G. Forben to conceal its foreign assets, evade German taxes and raise capital abroad. In 1942, however, the U.S. government considered GAF to be enemy property and seized it.
After the war, Interhandel sought to regain GAF but no U.S. attorney general would allow it until 1963. In that year, Interhandel’s head, Alfred Schaefer, was introduced to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy through Prince Radziwill, Jacqueline Kennedy’s brother-in-law. Under an arrangement worked out with Kennedy, reports, the U.S. government released GAF and sold it through an investment banker for $329 million, of which $124 million was paid to Interhandel.
Joseph P. Kennedy, the father of the President and Attorney General, had an interest in GAF and persuaded his sons to go through with the transaction. Five previous attorneys general had refused to do it, although influence on the U.S. government to restore GAF’s assets to its German and Swiss owners had been strong for years. "
"What [Joseph] Kennedy learned best from Hollywood, however, was the importance of branding and myth-making: he was an early manipulator of the cult of personality. His talent for pious façades camouflaging covert manipulation only came to fruition with his sons' political careers, as he instructed them: "It's not what you are, but what people think you are that is important."
Thank you, lin. My father-in-law was a pilot in the Air Force One cadre during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. He hated what Bobby Kennedy stood for and did.
The G man certainly has his strong points, but he was a ‘day late and a dime short’ in initiating the investigation of the amoral orange convicted fraud for inciting the insurrection of Jan 6!
When the Congressional investigation into Jan6 ‘cerimoniously dropped the Mike’ concluding their excellent report, The G man should not have ‘let it hit the floor’!
Supreme stench court ruled in trumps favor on the insurrection provision of the 14Th amendment because he has not been convicted of that heinous crime!
I look at and listen to Merrick Garland and think his mission in life is to take care of everyone and everything within his purview. He doesn’t sleep, he muses, an infrequent activity, very useful in this crazy world.
Thank you for telling us about his work with school children. Not surprising and it tells me that my assessment from seeing him on TV is likely correct.
Garland is knowledgeable, cautious and methodical. Judicious. Keeping Garland off the Supreme Court is one of Mitch McConnell's many misdeeds which will continue to harm the nation.
Re: "musing". When Hannah Arendt wrote of 'the banality of evil' she was explicating how thoughtless actions do harm. How the harmful effects of one person's blinkered self interested acts, damage society and hurt people. (Many misread her as meaning evil has become commonplace.)
Thank you, Lin. I read Arendt years ago, but without the understanding I might bring to her work now. Your description of Garland is what I could have written, but the culmination of that description came to me as the gentle “musing.” Never mind Mitch. He is doing all the damage to America that he can inflict. (Did you see him yesterday trying to be certain that Majorkas was impeached?) A combination of meanness and stupidity typical of nouveau riche Republicans in Congress.
Garland is PERSONALLY responsible for the UNCONSCIONABLE delay in appointing special prosecutors for the document theft and January 6 insurrection cases. That made it inevitable that the cases would run into the election cycle. He will go down in history for THAT, not so much for the tutoring DC school kids, important as that may be.
In your telling, Federalist Society judges and the entire GOP apparatus have no role in obstructing the law - and Garland's enforcement of it. Your story is merely the flip side of Taylor Greene's false claims against Garland.
It is exhausting to read negative and subjective statements about our leaders in the Democratic Party. It weakens our position and gives even more ammunition to our enemies. I don't criticize our Democratic leaders on matters of law, foreign policy, economics etc. simply because I don't have any expertise or insider information on these matters.
For some reason AG Garland and Secretary Mayorkas have become favorite punching bags. Perhaps it is because our society no longer appreciates mild mannered, careful people.
We weaken our positions when we don't throw our support behind this Administration. We are at critical times.
Ever wonder at the number of people who "religiously" follow the reality shows? They appear to love arrogant, bombastic lying corrupt humans - and since most on these shows appear to be financially well-off - therefore somewhat powerful - I guess it makes them believe mild-mannered & careful people are weak. I mean look at TFFG!
Garland never should have waited so long. In trying to appear neutral, he just fed into the trump machine. We could have had these trials done before the election knowing that trump would appeal, appeal, delay, delay (funeral and graduation of people I doubt he cared (s) very much about.)Barron is basically eye candy right now.
Garland has been busy but his delay in going after the only President who would not accept the valid election results, pump up a crowd on Jan. 6 to encourage violence, refuse to call off the mob and urge them to stand down, leave Washington before the inauguration while taking classified with him, never greeting the president elect at the White House, continue to spread false chargers of voter fraud at his hate rallies and after all that, there was no evidence of any investigation of the former president for a long time afterward. It was a crime wave driven by a sore loser and left many wondering what happened to justice. The bully has been allowed to continue with no consequences, until now. The world has been baffled about all this and so have I. We are under threat of losing our democratic republic, and We keep getting the wrong signals from those who should be able to stop that threat. We must satisfy ourselves with the hush money/ election interference trial. Good grief.
The spoil sport wouldn't even unveil Obama's portrait. Biden had to do it.
The only other reason I could see for this delay is that the prosecutors wanted to make sure they were not going off unprepared for the legal wriggling trump's lawyers were going to do. They wanted FACTS to present. I hope the jurors realize that they are facts and physical proof of trump's misdemeanor.
DJT has no choice as .uch of his current and future loan money come direct from Russia. Theirpurse strings are tied right to his apron strings. Jump? Yessir, how high. Talk about a stretch. Couldn't I just shuffle, Vlad.?
Or they are both the useful idiots that Putin loves to play with, the bad boy that he is. This is our world. Our beautiful world that we could help flourish or destroy, or, if Mother Nature gets pissed enough, destroy us. Autocrats contribute nothing to order. They command but do not govern. It is up to all of us to defeat them.
Under Trump, the Republican Party has shown a dangerous tilt towards authoritarianism, blatantly spreading Russian lies, attacking democracy, and blocking vital support. His aim for dictatorship undermines America’s democratic values, bordering on treasonous behavior.
Democracy? Democracy? Where's that? I see only oligarchy.
Chances are DT will bankrupt oligarchy, as he's bankrupted all he touches, and try for the only thing he (thinks he) understands: dictatorship.
But will the Republic survive the attempt?
*
Syria—Dress Rehearsal?
*
It all began, not with an armed uprising, but with protest demonstrations. As in Russia in 1905, it was the regime’s violent response that set fire to the powder keg.
Now here’s the question: is this war the dress rehearsal for what will befall whoever dares resist oligarchy?
When you refer to dress rehearsal, Peter, you reveal something about yourself.
You think in terms of arts, of humane things such as theater. The world of artists lives encapsulated in your vocabulary.
Putin? His thug fellow oligarchs? His bearded, long-skirted, mega-bejeweled, hate-spewing Orthodox priests? His fellow money-corrupted U.S. Republicans?
The vulgar, dear Peter, might be able to name a theater play, a novel, brooding work of history, or maybe some other work of art -- but intelligently apply it to relevant context? For them -- the oligarchs, the bejeweled priests, the Republicans -- vulgarity is its own universe.
How to entertain dress rehearsals, Peter, when most of the world's school systems, including most all in the U.S., so basely but evidently only serve the worst of our billionaires, autocrats, and dehumanized elites haplessly in thrall to group stupidities?
Vulgarities? Theatre? How does this script sound: The villian, a real-life muthaf---er suffers a heart-attack "on stage" while in Manhattan, and his "family" can't locate the 'Do Not Resuscitate' paper. And the curtain draws to a close. Any takers?
His aim for dictatorship indeed undermines America’s democratic values but there’s no bordering on treasonous behavior, it has clearly crossed that line long ago and we must stop it
That Joe Biden is old, is clear. That he continues to have the right attitude, values, and actions is clear to this observer. The closing paragraph of Heather’s note today is an important example.
“The House must pass the package this week and the Senate should quickly follow. I will sign this into law immediately to send a message to the world: We stand with our friends, and we won’t let Iran or Russia succeed.”
I had read recently that the House was due to adjourn today. Again. So are we to understand that Johnson has decided to keep it in session until Saturday night, when there will be a robo-vote on all these separate bills and the amendments he is allowing ?
If so, I expect that many members will have decided to skip out and go on vacation as originally planned. There may even be quorum calls.
This seems deliberate. Johnson has had six months to bring forward these measures. And no doubt could do so today at the end of regular business.
I wonder how this might affect results. It seems problematic from all angles.
Your point that he has had more than adequate time to bring legislation to the floor is correct. Now he is faced with abiding by the rule that members be given 72 hours for review leading to a Saturday vote. Yet another example of failure to perform on one side of the house.
Bottom line is the House of Representatives is the problem. There’s nothing problem”atic” about it. They have hijacked our governance right before our eyes
The GOP villains of the past had at least some education and a little depth. A wee bit.
Reagan was a misguided "B" actor. He was a fool and a bigot, but had a well intentioned soft side as well. Trump was a pathetic reality TV "star" who has no redeeming qualities at all - except he hasn't shot anyone on 5th Avenue. Yet.
Gingrich was a nasty self absorbed SOB. But he had an education and a functioning brain. He was clever. MTG? an empty vessel taking in polluted water.
The comparisons remind me of the film "Idiocracy". It was prescient.
To me the real villains are the ones you don't see. The ones who know exactly what they're doing, and encourage dancing clowns like Green and Trump. The big donors and political operatives who are smart enough to know that they are pushing for the end of Democracy. They are the real ghouls.
Today Trump met with the Polish President at Trump Tower. Trump ally Putin has said in essence, Ukraine first, Poland next. Most Polish Americans supported Trump (as did Ukrainian Americans). IMHO Trump's "government in exile" is a violation of the Logan Act. which criminalizes negotiation by unauthorized American citizens with foreign governments having a dispute with the United States. The intent behind the Act is to prevent unauthorized negotiations from undermining the government's position. This is another group, that to support Trump is like chickens supporting Colonel Sanders.
Meanwhile, I still think we have the means to sweep. 13 million unregistered people trend heavily Democratic. Register Democrats - save democracy.
Why then has no criminal charge been registered against trump for openly violating the Logan Act? Seems pretty straight forward to me. After all, he has once again provided all the evidence.
Chump has violated every law, tradition, and expectation of our government. That any support him is a shock to me. But then Rupert has skewed our communication system so that good is bad, bad is awesome and we are fools.
Well, slight correction . . . she is from northWEST GA, the 14th district. That's a whole different level of "crazy", as opposed to "Deliverance" country, which is northEAST Georgia, my district! One can only wonder how much longer they'll put up being embarrassed by her. So far, the Democratic opposition to her has been fairly weak, IMO. That might change one day.
My feeling is that it will take a centrist Democrat to make inroads in this district. Shawn Harris has garnered the most funding, but I'm not familiar with his positions. I REALLY hate that I have to make the following statement in the Year of Our Lord 2024, but I have my doubts a Black candidate can score big in this district. (There, I said it.) I could be wrong, but unless he can gather broad appeal among disgruntled Republicans in this very red district, something a centrist can best do, I don't see him making much of a dent in Greene's lead. Still, strange things can happen and this seems to be the year where up is down and black is white.
I just highlighted the text and did a google search (name and title), Took me right to it. I found it hilarious that MTG is being called out by someone who is using every rightwing talking point possible whether relevant to the subject or not.
Does Justice Dept know WHO in U.S. Congress are pushing Putin's Agenda? It sure looks like Trump & the MAGAs are! It needs to be investigated as a violation of Oath of Office - perhaps Treason. It's certainly NOT just Politics. Too much anger & hate...
DOJ also needs to investigate the “faux” WH dealings being done by tfg. Meeting with the Rightwing Polish president this weekend 🙄 what is he promising?!?
Yes,I agree.This is a clear violation of the Logan Act and needs to be quashed pronto.Imagine a private US Citizen doing business as an effed up State department! Stop this bs.
No it is not too late. And many have realized this early on in trump's "installation" as president. Rachel Maddow did deep dives into the connections of Russia, oligarchs and their goals of toppling our democracy. Internet cyberwarfare has been targeting Americans intensely since 2016. Owners of Fox, Brietbart, etc. target our democracy and sanity. And all the tactics being used against us are straight out of authoritarian handbooks. Trump is being coached by authoritarians and now he is a complete, barking madman struggling for a dollar hawking gold shoes and $2 bills.
Nov. 6 will be too late to put some skin in the game. Renew your spirit and cure despair - support voter activism now in your state and all the swing states to get the out the vote for Biden.
I agree on that point, Tom I was referring to the fact that many of us were informed by good journalists about the depths of hostile influence and brainwashing.
Activism and voting is our best bet this this moment. It worked before!
Please remember that tRump is a showman. Anything to put and keep him in the spotlight. He’s NOT and never has been a politician in the best or worse sense of the word. He doesn’t read anything relevant to governing and doesn’t listen to anyone giving him “facts” or information necessary to understand and interpret a complex or difficult situation. Just look at who he appointed in his cabinet and other folks who have influenced or presaged his actions as president. He’s also greedy as heck. So any country or government or faction that wants to manipulate him has their work cut out for them. I wish it were possible to make use of these observations if correct to give him the hook not to mention lock him up along with his cronies instead of having to go through such agony to get this guy off the public stage for once and all. I do celebrate that he’s showing some cracks and even more obvious weakness as the pressure mounts against his getting another term in the white house. Maybe Trumpty Dumpty will finally suffer a similar great fall as that long ago other Carroll penned. Or the Rethugs will come to some senses and find a white (likely) knight to dislodge the MAGA maniacs controlling the spotlight and get us back to teal constructive business in our lifetimes. And for anyone who reads this please forgive all the mixed metaphors. I just had to get some recurring thoughts out this morning. Thanks all for providing what seems like a safe space to do it.
Pensa, the first of Maddow's books that I read was "Blowout" which very clearly detailed the Russian influences running amok in the early years of fpotus's presidency. I think it also exists as a podcast.
Is it not obvious? I know that I skewer the MSM often, but I know stuff thanks to them. They just don’t blast it non-stop like Fox does. They move on to the latest pile of Schitt. And the pile gets mountainous. Journalism is challenged like never before. Reagan’s wet dream.
I hope the Justice Dept is following the money! It needs to be revealed if those who are pushing Putin's agenda are being compensated in some way. Talk about Treason!!!
As MTG becomes more strident, it sounds as if fewer Republican'ts are willing to follow her extremist positions. There needs to be votes NOW. While I'm in favor of support for Ukraine, humanitarian aid for Gaza, and no new money to Netanyahu, if all three need to be funded simultaneously, so be it. If the funding is separated, Ukraine and Gaza must be voted on and passed first and second, so that that that support will be assured.
MTG must be defeated! How in the world has she gained so much power over Republicans? The orange sleeper needs to spend a night or two in a jail cell for his muttering during jury selection. And who is “Sleepy” now?
It not the coverage so much, as the kind of coverage; the lack of context; the normalizing of criminally inappropriate behavior; the lack of balance, not just of who said what but the evidence based extended consequences of dysfunctional and corrupted governance. The notion that everyone in a truly self-determining society (of, by and for) has a job to do as a share of responsibility for the fate of our society. No? It more than just grab as much money as possible.
Nixon's every word got plenty of attention in the Watergate investigation, but the role of press was way different.
Margarita.., are you kidding? MT (empty) Greene, has been given a "pulpit" by Big Media (BM) and the (R)ssNC. She's making them and #45 a ton of money. Look at what happened down at the (cess)pool party - million$$ brought in. And, #45 is looking for a VP, but I would suspect that having her down there it was just the blond hair and milf-factor. Boburt has lost most of her "pulpit" attraction with BM, for the 'tabloid moment' at least. So pathetic.
Dr. Richardson has laid out the Israel, Ukraine, Gaza situations perfectly where it’s easily understandable, even by any MAGA living idiot, that we, the United States, must support these countries in all the aid we can possibly provide. If we don’t, we are giving in to Putin, and Trump.
That, we cannot do.
Marjorie Taylor Greene has proven she’s working closely with Trump in pushing the Russian propaganda and in an attempt to take this nation over. She MUST be stopped!
She, Gaetz, Jordan, and Comer, to name just a few MUST be removed from office. Expelled if necessary. Lord knows they have enough evidence to do this. This group has s a total embarrassment to the House of Representatives, Congress, and the United States.
If they wish to live the Russian way, move to Russia. Putin will love it!
Yep, as long as they made the promise that they will never set foot on any soil of the United States, or any of our allies.
Better yet, we can send them over the same way Putin wants to send his here. Put them in a shipping crate on a cargo ship. Let them try to survive that trip. It’s high time these people learn what real living, survival, is all about. We need to take them out of their multimillion dollar homes, out of their expensive chauffeur driven vehicles, and put their asses under a bridge, in the woods, with nothing but the clothes they have on their backs. Have them live that way through the winter, or the dead heat of the summer. Have them be forced to beg for absolutely everything they need to survive. Wonder where their next meal will come from, or even if they will survive the night.
Not one of these bastards would survive this. Does anyone believe Comer would last a week being homeless?
Hey we could ship them to Ukraine, where they could be useful as mine clearing implements. They would finally have a purpose in life, they would solve 2 problems at once.
Marjorie Taylor Greene and the others are acting as Russian operatives. I called my reps about this yesterday and I suggest that we all try to let them know that we are NOT ok siding with Putin and Russia.
Why should they have to wait until then. I’d be happy if they all were loaded on a slow boat right now. That would make our next July 4th holiday so much more meaningful.
There are flashing red lights at this intersection of history, and yet many Americans believe it's ok to ignore them, or consider such warnings "fake news" or alternative facts. They are either victims of or willing participants in this Russian campaign to alter geopolitics in their favor, and against the West's interests. If the battle to preserve democracy is won, and the U.S. comes to its collective senses and turns out trompy, Empty Greene, Comer, Massie, Jordan, Cruz, etc etc. then history will regard these sorry MAGA broken toys as names that live in infamy.
Michael Johnson seems chilled by his briefings on Ukraine, enough so to call a vote. As mentioned, Democrats will support the measure, as will no doubt many Republicans. Indeed, Johnson's position as Speaker may be saved by Democrats -- whodathunk that?
Let's hope Prof Richardson is correct, in that Republicans are fed up with their party. If Johnson survives, with a blue tide in November he'll hand the gavel over to Hakeem Jeffries early next year.
Gangrene Greene is a cancer in American politics. She plays bass to Trumpet Trump and Jackal Johnson. The morality hymn is led by Gym Jordan, with Putin serving vodka during intermission.
“It is the press, above all, which wages a positively fanatical and slanderous struggle, tearing down everything which can be regarded as a support of national independence, cultural elevation, and the economic independence of the nation.”
― Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
Today, The Editorial Board of The New York Times provided it readers with a strong example of the freedom of the press in the United States of America.
The New York Times
OPINION By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Donald Trump and American Justice
April 17, 2024, 5:02 a.m. ET
The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.
The former and possibly future president of the United States is now on trial in Lower Manhattan, the first criminal prosecution of an American elected to the nation’s highest office. Donald Trump, who relentlessly undermined the justice system while in office and since, is enjoying the same protections and guarantees of fairness and due process before the law that he sought to deny to others during his term.
A jury of Americans will ultimately decide Mr. Trump’s legal fate. It may be the only one of the four criminal cases against the former president that comes to trial before the November election. Though the election interference charges are not the most serious of those he faces, the case will determine whether 12 of his fellow Americans find him guilty of a felony — a result that most voters say they would consider to be serious.
In the first two days of this trial, Mr. Trump has offered a defense of himself to the public, in brief appearances between his courtroom table and the television cameras: He portrays himself as a victim of an unfair and politically motivated prosecution. That defense is built on lies. Mr. Trump is no victim. He is fortunate to live in a country where the rule of law guarantees a presumption of innocence and robust rights for defendants.
A guiding principle of the American experiment is that the law applies to everyone equally. At the same time, prosecuting any current or former elected official requires vigilance against bias and awareness about how the case will be perceived by the public. For this reason, judges and prosecutors have an obligation to hew to stringent standards of fairness, to reduce the risk that they appear to be interfering in electoral politics by using criminal cases to damage or favor one candidate over another.
The former president refers to the four prosecutions he faces as “witch hunts” motivated by partisanship and part of a nefarious scheme to keep him from returning to the White House. He has repeated this narrative even though the prosecutions have been brought by different prosecutors around the country, and even though different grand juries, each composed of a random selection of regular citizens in different states, handed up indictments that now total 88 felony charges against him.
In the weeks leading up to the start of this trial, Mr. Trump has argued, dishonestly, that the judge and the prosecutor have treated him unfairly, and that it will be impossible for him to get a fair trial in Manhattan because New Yorkers are biased against him. But the opening days of the trial, devoted to jury selection, have already demonstrated the great care and respect with which everyone involved in the trial, except for Mr. Trump, has treated the process. Joshua Steinglass, a member of the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, told potential jurors on Tuesday that the case “has nothing to do with personal politics.”
“We don’t suggest you need to have been living under a rock for the last eight years, or the last 30 years,” he said. “We don’t expect you not to have heard about this, or not to have discussed this case with friends. What we do need is for you to keep an open mind.”
Dozens of potential jurors took those instructions seriously and admitted they could not be impartial. One man was excused from service after telling the judge that it was “going to be hard for me to be impartial,” since many of his family members and friends were Republicans. Justice Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing the trial, excused him, as other potential jurors stepped up. So far, seven jurors have been seated. At least two potential jurors were dismissed by the judge because of social media posts.
If anything, Justice Merchan has exhibited an extra degree of tolerance for Mr. Trump’s strategy of systematically attacking the legitimacy of the courts and court officials through repeated verbal outbursts and countless legal motions and other attempts to delay his trials. In the New York case, Mr. Trump received a short extension last month when federal prosecutors found a tranche of documents that had not been turned over to the defense team. In the week before the start of the trial, he filed three emergency appeals in three days, as The Times reported, including a civil action against the judge, which were quickly rejected by an appeals court.
The fact that he was able to have each of these motions fully considered is evidence of the justice system operating as it should, with deliberation and due process. Especially in criminal prosecutions, courts take the legal rights of litigants very seriously, to ensure that defendants receive fair trials. An appeals court is still considering Mr. Trump’s request to throw out a gag order that prevents him from verbally attacking witnesses, prosecutors or the judge’s family, but it will not delay the trial before the ruling. (Mr. Trump is not prevented from publicly criticizing the judge.)
In the other criminal cases against him, Mr. Trump has also been able to take full advantage of every legal protection available to him as a defendant.
He appealed his federal prosecution related to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol on the grounds that he enjoys absolute immunity for actions he took as president. This argument has been rejected by every judge to consider it. Still, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal later this month, delaying the start of his trial in that case indefinitely, and possibly until after the election. While the Supreme Court weighs his immunity claim, the trial judge in the federal Jan. 6 case, Tanya Chutkan, put the proceedings on hold. In the other federal prosecution, on charges of illegally withholding highly classified national-security documents, Mr. Trump has had numerous favorable rulings from the judge handling that case.
The election-interference case out of Georgia was delayed by an extensive hearing on a possible conflict of interest for the lead prosecutor, Fani Willis, who had been in a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, an outside prosecutor she hired to lead the case. After taking testimony from a series of witnesses, the judge decided Ms. Willis could remain on the case, but not with Mr. Wade. (Mr. Wade ultimately withdrew.) Mr. Trump appealed that decision, which the Georgia Court of Appeals is now considering.
The ability to file such appeals, successful or not, is essential to how the law functions in the United States. Despite having benefited from its protections, to Mr. Trump, the rule of law is nothing more than an obstacle to be overcome, an instrument of power to use at will.
Mr. Trump’s vision of an American legal system that protects his interests goes beyond his trial, of course, and extends in particular to the Justice Department. He has been explicit about his desire, if elected in November, to bring the Justice Department more fully under his control, to use it to protect his friends and, more important, punish his enemies. As president, Mr. Trump had an unparalleled record of abusing presidential pardons, and if he is re-elected, he appears likely to order the Justice Department to drop the criminal cases against him or to try to pardon himself for potential crimes. To Mr. Trump, independent prosecutors and Justice Department officials are precisely the problem. They will say no to him when he wants to do things that are illegal or unconstitutional, choosing to be faithful to the Constitution rather than to him. This Mr. Trump cannot abide. (The New York Times Editorial Board Opinion) See gifted link below.
I was thrilled to read The New York Times, Editorial Board's Opinion 'Donald Trump and American Justice'. It would be icing on this Opinion for Rachel Maddow to read it on her show and or a beloved athlete, singer...It is a strong piece that shrinks the devil (DJT) as no other efforts have, so far
Thank you once again Fern! I have come to think of Heather Cox Richardson's Letters From An American as ..."annotated by Fern McBride." Often long, but always detailed, informative and well and thoroughly referenced.
Steve, did you intend to write 'conscience'? You are asking me? I think having an Opinion may have been covered by $$$, before blatant fascism whispered it away.
Fern, thanks for sharing this editorial. A good supplement to today's LFAA. We can only hope more and more Americans will understand this message, that even though imperfectly, our justice system works, and that TFG appears before the courts because of criminal acts he committed.
Given that the courts have and are (correctly)ngiving Trump's defense every opportunity to question the process, we face the real possibility of delays on three of the trials. Those delays could put them after the election and, should he win, after the inauguration, which in turn would give him the opportunity to use his control of DOJ and his power to pardon and kill any processes he finds unfavorable. The problem is exaggerated by the Supreme Court's unnecessary decision in the insurrection case that only Congress can determine that an insurrection occurred and that he would be disqualified to serve in any federal office. Maybe the Court can reconsider that error as they examine the immunity issue.
How will the poison pills I'm sure the MAGATs inlcuded in these packages be neutralized?
I'm by no means sharp enough to spot all the little toxic shards that will be scattered throughout the bills - I just know they're there, and that the repubs think they're being clever by withholding aid to these desperately needy countries unless they get their way.
“Nonetheless, Greene greeted Johnson’s bills with amendments requiring members of Congress to “conscript in the Ukrainian military” if they voted for aid to Ukraine.”
Perhaps democrats can add an amendment calling for those who vote against these bills to conscript in the Russian military. Wait, they already are working for Russia…
The history books will remember the current congress with a single sentence; "A highly dysfunctional Republican Congress delayed military aid to Ukraine for over 6 months resulting in the loss of thousands of additional lives amongst Ukrainian civilians and soldiers".
This congress has made it's mark in what it did not do and could not do on account of being beholden to the radical fringe and that fringe's allegiance to the would-be emperor who is, God willing, going to rot in jail for a significant interval before this decade is out. In the annals of history, it may also be recorded that this is the first time in history that the US Congress was controlled by an unelected private citizen who threatened political and even judicial retribution for any representative who opposed his will with their vote.
History will remember Trump's decisive defeat in 2024, the beginning of the end of Trump's pathological politics, and, if we are wise, constructive work by all of us to reunite.
History will also remember the United States in no small part to Putin's hold on Trump's hold on MTG's hold on the GOP's hold on the House's hold on Congress's hold on Biden’s attempts to save it.
And Biden’s fecklessness in standing by letting it happen as it passes the critical stage. If it’s really that serious, waiting for all the system’s gears and cogs to turn (gunked up with thick Russian grease) is not going to end well. He really doesn’t want to become a left wing Trump, by declaring emergency powers, but any other path may be a disaster for the West.
I met Miles Taylor at Cooper Union at an all day symposium on Trump. Real smart and real everyday guy. He is correct. I’m less sanguine about our success electing a Biden for too many reasons to present here. But he brings up the social media angle. Folks are getting hard wired to believe the lies. And I can’t reason with them. I will add that we all are doing something wrong. I think we are too locked in a self righteousness about our side and this is blinding us to an ability to respond.
Bill, Erika Etels in her book Beyond Contempt argues against showing disdain if you want to change someone’s mind. Look at how many people rush to defend an abusive spouse rather than admit that they made a bad choice. Her advice—listen carefully for something that you can agree with and go from there.
Excellent advice if you’re trying to change someone’s mind. Use that strategy and invest about a hundred hours of patient discussion and you might succeed half the time. Invest the same hundred hours in a well organized get-out-the-vote project and you have a good chance of getting five Democrats to cast votes who would otherwise have stayed home. That’s ten times more efficient. It is to late to change minds. We have the votes we need if we get them to cast votes. Work the hearts and minds angle when it’s not an emergency.
Rex, I didn’t suggest wholesale trying to change minds—I only bother talking to people who seem genuinely interested in voting for Democrats. My point is that if we treat them with contempt or disdain when they are open to change, we’ve lost a possible voter (or a good relationship with a family member). These books uncovered sneaky ways that contempt/disdain creep into a discussion when we believe that we are on the right side of history (ex. “Bless their hearts”)
By the way, if you genuinely change one person’s mind and they change one person’s mind and… you have the possibility to garner many more likely voters than the 50% of 10 registered people.
Changing minds? I hardly think this election is about changing minds. Rather, I think it's about convincing those outside of the MAGA cult to show up and vote. All it will take is a big turnout of Democrats and Never-Trump independents; the numbers don't lie. GOTV is where it's at. Let the cultists go down with their captain.
I think that's good advice, Mary. Clearly, a lot of people who would even consider voting for Trump are somewhat less than the most perceptive among us. But it is unfair to say that is the majority. I think we need to turn up the positive persuasiveness up at least a notch or two. The problem, among many, is that way too many people get their daily news and/or information from highly suspect and polarizing, right wing sources that drip, drip, drip into the collective brainstem. So many may be too far gone to pull back in
Daniel, Sharon Strand Ellison’s book Take the War Out of Our Words gives examples of discussions gone wrong and how to fix them. I’ve found it invaluable.
What is now buried in the rubble of the Senate version of border reform was what I thought immediately was a kill switch attached to the legislation. It required or stated that only if 4 or 5 thousand crossed the border on any given week (or day can’t remember) only then could the president close it. I thought this number was designed to kill the legislation which it did.
The whole reason the US is obsessed with its southern border is that it views the countries to the south not as equals and allies but as semi-adversarial inferiors trying to stage a slo-mo invasion.
“ The “trigger” authority—called the “Border Emergency Authority”—would enable the administration to summarily deport migrants who enter between ports of entry without permitting them to apply for asylum.
The new emergency authority could be activated if border “encounters” reach a daily average of 4,000 over a period of seven days and would become mandatory once border encounters reach over 5,000 over a period of seven days or 8,500 over a single calendar day.”
Except say it nicely: "I had no idea how much trump hates dogs and how much money he stole from the children's cancer fund, did you?. He's clearly NOT the man we thought he was." Let them off the trump hook gently. Then suggest they write in Nikki Haley who loves dogs and children.
Bill, that is what I see in my MNJ friends. They hold fast and hard to the garbage that is funnelled to them on their social media accounts. Any presentation of rebuttal to the disinformation is met with "nuh-uh" or "that's not what I believe." It is depressing.
That "hard wiring" comes from RUssia's propoganda machimne which is besed on the principles of classical Pavlovian conditioning, which has been the basis of thie approach to paychology for over a hundred years. They have perfected the use of elicited emotions to produce conditioned associations that falsify the impressions that people have on a vast array of subjects.
As Trump is Reagan writ large and writ vulgar. Taylor Greene is Newt Gingrich writ large and writ vulgar. The difference is that for all their specious rhetoric and fallacious assertions, Reagan and Gingrich understood that their agenda required a functioning government and a United States 'on its feet.'
Trump and Taylor Greene are either taking 'government is the problem' entirely literally. Or are entirely taking their marching orders from Moscow. Or both.
Lin, if they believe government is the problem, Empty Green and the Defendant should not be a part of it. But in fact they do take orders from Putin and spread disinformation.
Some sort of de facto governance exists even in a failed state, even if it's only unstable rule by bandits, or even worse, Republicans. There is good government and bad government. There are nice people and evil people and in between. There are good ideas and very bad ideas. Bad government is a problem. Corruption is a problem. Misplaced priorities are a problem.
Government of the people, by the people, for the people is supposed to be as good as it gets, but that exactly the sort that Reagan and his patrons despised.
When more than half the population can't be bothered to vote, and half the rest elect morons, what do we expect?
The 2020 presidential election had the highest voter turnout of the 21st century, with 66.8% of citizens 18 years and older voting in the election, according to new voting and registration tables released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. These data come from the 2020 Current Population Survey Voting and Registration Supplement for the November 2020 presidential election, which surveyed the civilian noninstitutionalized population in the United States.
More voters (154.6 million) turned out for the presidential election in 2020 than in 2016 (137.5 million), the largest increase between consecutive presidential elections since the inception of the CPS voting supplement in 1964.
Source: US Census Bureau
Honestly, though, 66.8% is still pretty low. What's the percentage for registered voters who actually cast a vote in 2020? We obviously need to register more citizens 18 years and older, and get them to the polls!
Registration should be automatic upon one's 18th birthday and election day should be a national holiday.
Many people are unaware of the threat to life as they know; thinking there’s nothing they can do! It’s true that it tAkes time to understand the issues and act! I recommend voting by mail!
When my sons were teenagers, I made sure that they understood the importance of registering to vote when they turned 18. I told them and other young people
It is 66.8%. That is the percentage of registered voters who voted in the 2020 election.
babababaaabaaaBAABOOM...KABOOM...train (boat)-wreck! It's what you get. The freighter ramming the "Key" bridge serves as a perfect backdrop of where we are as a nation. The 'cargo' which is now in legal-limbo, thanks to the Captain declaring "General Average", is representative of where all our Allies sit. We're not at the bottom yet though. But, when we finally hit it, there will only be one way to go, and that's "UP". We'll get it together.
Sometimes I'm an optimist too.
So true, J L, and flawed Dems try. Repubs gave up that effort when the $ beckoned.
Do we not see another vulgarian -- Steve Bannon -- as the puppet master behind this "Tear it all down" strategy?
And Manafort — who will hire on to servve any monster who vomits up the gold to pay him.
One of the worst of the worst. Is he still working for Yanukovych? Or just anybody with a ruble or two.
And Stephen Miller?
What a Devil’s list of horrors! And yet they remain to do his work.
Was separating children from their families the brain child of Miller?
of course, there are no shortages of vulgarians
Nor of puppeteers.
Parts of this remind me of the Pirate Kingdom and how Privateers turned to Pirates electing Edward Teach (Blackbeard), their magistrate, for example.
A few chance encounters with interesting people sparked a little more interest in pirates and their rules of governance. One was a co-founder(?) of ESRI who had brought his daughter to the Loma Linda emergency room (close to ESRI headquarters in Redlands, CA). We met in the emergency room waiting area and somehow started discussing involvement with satellites and my considering taking courses related to ESRI. I had worked in the Air Force providing weather support to the unit that recovered satellite film capsules in Hawaii, but was at the time working at a local community college as an Aeronautics Lab assistant. He had spent time at a manned space flight tracking station in the Turks and Caicos
The typical Pirates seemed much more equal opportunity but I do wonder if anyone would now want their elected leaders’ “pirate healthcare plans,” especially compared to how they treated the local non-pirates. I imagine some made out rather well if they benefitted the pirates, and not so well if they didn’t. I don't know how the ESRI veteran compared to the multi billions Jack Dangermond acquired but it was interesting to me that we were both in an emergency room that still had plenty of the healthcare workers we both needed at the time.
Why does all of this about pirates remind me of “Yellow Beard”?
I was a bit busy back when it came out, sometimes teaching 12 hours a day in the Space Systems Command and Control School DMSP courses when they needed an instructor in the A shift 3-level class as I also taught the B shift 5-level course. I'll have to see if a few others want to watch it with me.
They hope to cripple this government and replace it with an authoritarian one controlled by billionaires both foreign and domestic. The miracle is that DJT is standing trial at all, for anything. Trump dozes on Center Street while Garland has yet to emerge from his semi-comatose state.
"Trump dozes on Center Street while Garland has yet to emerge from his semi-comatose state."
From Day 1, many on the Left have used Merrick Garland as a punching bag. Maybe they expected their own Bill Barr.
Their disparagement is unwarranted.
For instance.
Garland appointed the impeccably conservative Hur, who then so spectacularly jumped the shark, that he entirely failed in his GOP mission to fatally wound Biden.
Garland also appointed the extraordinary Jack Smith - whom it is taking a concerted effort of the entire Federalist Society bench -from the lowly Canon to the high court - to derail.
Garland is grace under pressure testifying before Congress. Try CSpan.
For over 18 years, Garland has tutored DC Public School children. As a DCPS parent, that also counts.
Yes, Lin. And the primay reason there are not hordes of MAGAtes protesting outside trump's courtrooms is because DOJ's Garland supervised the systematic identification and prosecution and incarceration of over 1000 of their insurrectionist leaders. Justice has been and is being done.
And may Garland have done this so thoroughly that the USASupreme Court not screw it up.
It is Pat. And those on the receiving end of "justice" aren't being put away for life by alongshot, etc, but they are darn-sure having their lives impacted by their actions. Sadly, many will just be bitter and pass that bitterness on. Sorry. That's the way it's got to be. Call it: A stitch in time, saves nine. We need to market civility. Let's be a "civil" Nation.
Uhm no, I don't expect a Bill Barr, but an RFK would be nice. Garland wasted 18 months, until Biden officially announced he was running again, giving him an excuse to finally appoint a special counsel. a good appointment, but time matters.
Jack, I have zero insight into AG Garland's work ethic or determination to advance the cause of justice. What I hope is that he is a careful, if not meticulous, planner. At the risk of using a firearms aphorism, referring back to the days of flintlock muskets, I think the AG wants to avoid "going off half-cocked".
There is certainly no danger that he will make any sudden moves. I give him credit for appointing Jack Smith but he should have done that a year sooner. He has said that all will be held accountable without fear or favor. Too many seem to fear Trump and he has gotten favors that no other defendants get. Experienced federal prosecutors say the same and since I am not an attorney , I tend to agree with them. Most amazingly he is running again! The whole system is broken, is all I can say.
Here is an exhaustive list of what cases the DOJ under AG Garland has been prosecuting.
https://www.justice.gov/civil/current-and-recent-cases#
The worry here is he waited too long to take the shot. To use another aphorism, he should have "struck while the iron was hot.
RFK? You mean the
Carpetbagging •
NepoBaby •
Senior Staff Member for Joe McCarthy •
Son of Hitler fanboy Joseph Kennedy?
Just kidding. A little bit. But then there was AG RFK's sweetheart deal to return IG Farben's General Aniline and Film Corp. (seized as a Nazi asset) to IG's Swiss holding company Interhandel.
"I.G. Farben's main American asset was General Aniline and Film Corporation (GAF). A Swiss company, Interhandel, nominally owned it. Interhandel was originally established before World War II by I.G. Forben to conceal its foreign assets, evade German taxes and raise capital abroad. In 1942, however, the U.S. government considered GAF to be enemy property and seized it.
After the war, Interhandel sought to regain GAF but no U.S. attorney general would allow it until 1963. In that year, Interhandel’s head, Alfred Schaefer, was introduced to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy through Prince Radziwill, Jacqueline Kennedy’s brother-in-law. Under an arrangement worked out with Kennedy, reports, the U.S. government released GAF and sold it through an investment banker for $329 million, of which $124 million was paid to Interhandel.
Joseph P. Kennedy, the father of the President and Attorney General, had an interest in GAF and persuaded his sons to go through with the transaction. Five previous attorneys general had refused to do it, although influence on the U.S. government to restore GAF’s assets to its German and Swiss owners had been strong for years. "
"What [Joseph] Kennedy learned best from Hollywood, however, was the importance of branding and myth-making: he was an early manipulator of the cult of personality. His talent for pious façades camouflaging covert manipulation only came to fruition with his sons' political careers, as he instructed them: "It's not what you are, but what people think you are that is important."
https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_igfarben02i.htm
Morals and Money: Ideology and Pragmatism in the Kennedy Administration’s Settlement of the Interhandel-General Aniline &Film Case 1962-1965
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345181824_Morals_and_Money_Ideology_and_Pragmatism_in_the_Kennedy_Administration's_Settlement_of_the_Interhandel-General_Aniline_Film_Case_1962-1965
https://dra.american.edu/islandora/object/pearson%3A6857/datastream/PDF/download
Thank you, lin. My father-in-law was a pilot in the Air Force One cadre during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. He hated what Bobby Kennedy stood for and did.
"Maybe they expected their own Bill Barr."
Thank you, lin.
Lin, Garland may move slowly like the race between a turtle 🐢 and a hare:
By moving steadily the turtle wins over the self confident but stop & go careless hare:-)
The G man certainly has his strong points, but he was a ‘day late and a dime short’ in initiating the investigation of the amoral orange convicted fraud for inciting the insurrection of Jan 6!
When the Congressional investigation into Jan6 ‘cerimoniously dropped the Mike’ concluding their excellent report, The G man should not have ‘let it hit the floor’!
Supreme stench court ruled in trumps favor on the insurrection provision of the 14Th amendment because he has not been convicted of that heinous crime!
I look at and listen to Merrick Garland and think his mission in life is to take care of everyone and everything within his purview. He doesn’t sleep, he muses, an infrequent activity, very useful in this crazy world.
Thank you for telling us about his work with school children. Not surprising and it tells me that my assessment from seeing him on TV is likely correct.
Garland is knowledgeable, cautious and methodical. Judicious. Keeping Garland off the Supreme Court is one of Mitch McConnell's many misdeeds which will continue to harm the nation.
Re: "musing". When Hannah Arendt wrote of 'the banality of evil' she was explicating how thoughtless actions do harm. How the harmful effects of one person's blinkered self interested acts, damage society and hurt people. (Many misread her as meaning evil has become commonplace.)
Thank you, Lin. I read Arendt years ago, but without the understanding I might bring to her work now. Your description of Garland is what I could have written, but the culmination of that description came to me as the gentle “musing.” Never mind Mitch. He is doing all the damage to America that he can inflict. (Did you see him yesterday trying to be certain that Majorkas was impeached?) A combination of meanness and stupidity typical of nouveau riche Republicans in Congress.
Garland is PERSONALLY responsible for the UNCONSCIONABLE delay in appointing special prosecutors for the document theft and January 6 insurrection cases. That made it inevitable that the cases would run into the election cycle. He will go down in history for THAT, not so much for the tutoring DC school kids, important as that may be.
In your telling, Federalist Society judges and the entire GOP apparatus have no role in obstructing the law - and Garland's enforcement of it. Your story is merely the flip side of Taylor Greene's false claims against Garland.
Of course other forces were and are at work, but whether or not to appoint special counsels was Garland's call, and no one else's.
Speaking of Bill Barr, have you seen his recent declaration saying that he will vote for Trump? What does he expect to be pardoned for, one wonders?
It is exhausting to read negative and subjective statements about our leaders in the Democratic Party. It weakens our position and gives even more ammunition to our enemies. I don't criticize our Democratic leaders on matters of law, foreign policy, economics etc. simply because I don't have any expertise or insider information on these matters.
For some reason AG Garland and Secretary Mayorkas have become favorite punching bags. Perhaps it is because our society no longer appreciates mild mannered, careful people.
We weaken our positions when we don't throw our support behind this Administration. We are at critical times.
Personally, I think Secretary Mayorkas has done an excellent job under very trying circumstances--as has President Biden.
100% agree.
Ever wonder at the number of people who "religiously" follow the reality shows? They appear to love arrogant, bombastic lying corrupt humans - and since most on these shows appear to be financially well-off - therefore somewhat powerful - I guess it makes them believe mild-mannered & careful people are weak. I mean look at TFFG!
Garland never should have waited so long. In trying to appear neutral, he just fed into the trump machine. We could have had these trials done before the election knowing that trump would appeal, appeal, delay, delay (funeral and graduation of people I doubt he cared (s) very much about.)Barron is basically eye candy right now.
Garland has been busy but his delay in going after the only President who would not accept the valid election results, pump up a crowd on Jan. 6 to encourage violence, refuse to call off the mob and urge them to stand down, leave Washington before the inauguration while taking classified with him, never greeting the president elect at the White House, continue to spread false chargers of voter fraud at his hate rallies and after all that, there was no evidence of any investigation of the former president for a long time afterward. It was a crime wave driven by a sore loser and left many wondering what happened to justice. The bully has been allowed to continue with no consequences, until now. The world has been baffled about all this and so have I. We are under threat of losing our democratic republic, and We keep getting the wrong signals from those who should be able to stop that threat. We must satisfy ourselves with the hush money/ election interference trial. Good grief.
The spoil sport wouldn't even unveil Obama's portrait. Biden had to do it.
The only other reason I could see for this delay is that the prosecutors wanted to make sure they were not going off unprepared for the legal wriggling trump's lawyers were going to do. They wanted FACTS to present. I hope the jurors realize that they are facts and physical proof of trump's misdemeanor.
Yes
DJT has no choice as .uch of his current and future loan money come direct from Russia. Theirpurse strings are tied right to his apron strings. Jump? Yessir, how high. Talk about a stretch. Couldn't I just shuffle, Vlad.?
Trumpster’s in my view want to make it appear that our government doesn’t work anymore so therefore let’s except a dictatorship.
Or they are both the useful idiots that Putin loves to play with, the bad boy that he is. This is our world. Our beautiful world that we could help flourish or destroy, or, if Mother Nature gets pissed enough, destroy us. Autocrats contribute nothing to order. They command but do not govern. It is up to all of us to defeat them.
Under Trump, the Republican Party has shown a dangerous tilt towards authoritarianism, blatantly spreading Russian lies, attacking democracy, and blocking vital support. His aim for dictatorship undermines America’s democratic values, bordering on treasonous behavior.
Bordering? Bordering?
Two diary entries from November 2016:
*
Great again?
*
Democracy? Democracy? Where's that? I see only oligarchy.
Chances are DT will bankrupt oligarchy, as he's bankrupted all he touches, and try for the only thing he (thinks he) understands: dictatorship.
But will the Republic survive the attempt?
*
Syria—Dress Rehearsal?
*
It all began, not with an armed uprising, but with protest demonstrations. As in Russia in 1905, it was the regime’s violent response that set fire to the powder keg.
Now here’s the question: is this war the dress rehearsal for what will befall whoever dares resist oligarchy?
When you refer to dress rehearsal, Peter, you reveal something about yourself.
You think in terms of arts, of humane things such as theater. The world of artists lives encapsulated in your vocabulary.
Putin? His thug fellow oligarchs? His bearded, long-skirted, mega-bejeweled, hate-spewing Orthodox priests? His fellow money-corrupted U.S. Republicans?
The vulgar, dear Peter, might be able to name a theater play, a novel, brooding work of history, or maybe some other work of art -- but intelligently apply it to relevant context? For them -- the oligarchs, the bejeweled priests, the Republicans -- vulgarity is its own universe.
How to entertain dress rehearsals, Peter, when most of the world's school systems, including most all in the U.S., so basely but evidently only serve the worst of our billionaires, autocrats, and dehumanized elites haplessly in thrall to group stupidities?
Vulgarities? Theatre? How does this script sound: The villian, a real-life muthaf---er suffers a heart-attack "on stage" while in Manhattan, and his "family" can't locate the 'Do Not Resuscitate' paper. And the curtain draws to a close. Any takers?
Always possible.
Snoring or talking in sleep more likely...
Shorthand response, nothing else works: Stalin and Bulgakov.
Cat and mouse games, yet the dictator went time and again to see the adaptation for theater of The White Guard...
As for Orthodoxy, there are also exemplary priests... not in good odor with Patriarch and Chekist hierarchy...
With support from some of the super rich, like Musk and Rupert, Republicans may succeed in bringing Authoritarianism to our land of the free.
I hope I am proven wrong: https://yadontknow.blogspot.com/2022/02/a-gloved-fist.html
I wonder if a congressional resolution would help: https://yadontknow.blogspot.com/2023/11/be-it-resolved.html
It is treasonous it doesn’t just appear to be treasonous.
His aim for dictatorship indeed undermines America’s democratic values but there’s no bordering on treasonous behavior, it has clearly crossed that line long ago and we must stop it
Under T the Republican party has exposed itself, blatantly.
That Joe Biden is old, is clear. That he continues to have the right attitude, values, and actions is clear to this observer. The closing paragraph of Heather’s note today is an important example.
“The House must pass the package this week and the Senate should quickly follow. I will sign this into law immediately to send a message to the world: We stand with our friends, and we won’t let Iran or Russia succeed.”
I had read recently that the House was due to adjourn today. Again. So are we to understand that Johnson has decided to keep it in session until Saturday night, when there will be a robo-vote on all these separate bills and the amendments he is allowing ?
If so, I expect that many members will have decided to skip out and go on vacation as originally planned. There may even be quorum calls.
This seems deliberate. Johnson has had six months to bring forward these measures. And no doubt could do so today at the end of regular business.
I wonder how this might affect results. It seems problematic from all angles.
Your point that he has had more than adequate time to bring legislation to the floor is correct. Now he is faced with abiding by the rule that members be given 72 hours for review leading to a Saturday vote. Yet another example of failure to perform on one side of the house.
Bottom line is the House of Representatives is the problem. There’s nothing problem”atic” about it. They have hijacked our governance right before our eyes
Will Biden's support help or stoke the ashes of extremist animus? Which piece(s) will Trump require a nay vote on?
Good question.
Both. And worse.
The GOP villains of the past had at least some education and a little depth. A wee bit.
Reagan was a misguided "B" actor. He was a fool and a bigot, but had a well intentioned soft side as well. Trump was a pathetic reality TV "star" who has no redeeming qualities at all - except he hasn't shot anyone on 5th Avenue. Yet.
Gingrich was a nasty self absorbed SOB. But he had an education and a functioning brain. He was clever. MTG? an empty vessel taking in polluted water.
The comparisons remind me of the film "Idiocracy". It was prescient.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/
To me the real villains are the ones you don't see. The ones who know exactly what they're doing, and encourage dancing clowns like Green and Trump. The big donors and political operatives who are smart enough to know that they are pushing for the end of Democracy. They are the real ghouls.
Yes.
Putin’s Most eager fools
8.81 million self-identified Polish Americans.
Today Trump met with the Polish President at Trump Tower. Trump ally Putin has said in essence, Ukraine first, Poland next. Most Polish Americans supported Trump (as did Ukrainian Americans). IMHO Trump's "government in exile" is a violation of the Logan Act. which criminalizes negotiation by unauthorized American citizens with foreign governments having a dispute with the United States. The intent behind the Act is to prevent unauthorized negotiations from undermining the government's position. This is another group, that to support Trump is like chickens supporting Colonel Sanders.
Meanwhile, I still think we have the means to sweep. 13 million unregistered people trend heavily Democratic. Register Democrats - save democracy.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Why then has no criminal charge been registered against trump for openly violating the Logan Act? Seems pretty straight forward to me. After all, he has once again provided all the evidence.
And so it goes....
Chump has violated every law, tradition, and expectation of our government. That any support him is a shock to me. But then Rupert has skewed our communication system so that good is bad, bad is awesome and we are fools.
Time for "TRUMP PUTIN" 2024 bumper stickers?
I shudder to think which of Trump's and Greene's [honorifics omitted for neither one has any honor] three skewed cues are skewing us.
Capitalization of their names gives them too much honor, Ned! 🌝
you mean screwing us?
Yes, by skewing our politics over the edge.
Simple…and CLEAR, lin+
Trump and Taylor Greene are carrying water for Putin, whether they intend to, or they’re too stupid to know they’re doing it …
Add a congenial lack of intelligence which impairs any capacity for rational reasoning!
Well put. But we would not be in this crisis if it weren’t for what Gingrich and Reagan began.
Well said
lin, your last sentence is the truth. Both.
Both.
Lin - OMG
They prove that crass stupidity is as dangerous as cunning.
How about cunning stupidity.
Well said and chillingly so
"Marjorie Taylor Greene is an idiot." Finally, the truth on Fox News!!
Exactly!
Next, someone should call the Gazpacho Police to round her up
OOOh, that was cold.
Ha! Cold soup!
Had to look that one up. Touché Daniel! Nice jab!
“…now we have Nancy Pelosi's gazpacho police spying on members of Congress”
-EmTG
🤣🤣🤣
And yet the people from her "Deliverance" district in Georgia keep reelecting her. What does that say about them?
Well, slight correction . . . she is from northWEST GA, the 14th district. That's a whole different level of "crazy", as opposed to "Deliverance" country, which is northEAST Georgia, my district! One can only wonder how much longer they'll put up being embarrassed by her. So far, the Democratic opposition to her has been fairly weak, IMO. That might change one day.
Ignorance rules the fools. And yes, anybody who buy’s Greens Russian position is a fool.
https://ballotpedia.org/Georgia%27s_14th_Congressional_District_election,_2024
These Democratic candidates look pretty good. Let's help them out on May 21.
My feeling is that it will take a centrist Democrat to make inroads in this district. Shawn Harris has garnered the most funding, but I'm not familiar with his positions. I REALLY hate that I have to make the following statement in the Year of Our Lord 2024, but I have my doubts a Black candidate can score big in this district. (There, I said it.) I could be wrong, but unless he can gather broad appeal among disgruntled Republicans in this very red district, something a centrist can best do, I don't see him making much of a dent in Greene's lead. Still, strange things can happen and this seems to be the year where up is down and black is white.
True. Actually, I think she also doesn’t even live in that district, which also says something.
Is that where she's from? In the land of the blind...
It's got to be a trick? Next pigs will fly.
I’d like to read Liz Peek’s article on Fox but the link isn’t live. Of course finding anything meaningful on Fox is next to impossible anyway.
Found it…https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/marjorie-taylor-green-idiot-wreck-gop
This article is full of MAGA lies.
I just highlighted the text and did a google search (name and title), Took me right to it. I found it hilarious that MTG is being called out by someone who is using every rightwing talking point possible whether relevant to the subject or not.
I did just that…thanks for your help.
And the article confrms that36% support for Republicans has been stable for many years now.
I am totally gobstopped!
Does Justice Dept know WHO in U.S. Congress are pushing Putin's Agenda? It sure looks like Trump & the MAGAs are! It needs to be investigated as a violation of Oath of Office - perhaps Treason. It's certainly NOT just Politics. Too much anger & hate...
DOJ also needs to investigate the “faux” WH dealings being done by tfg. Meeting with the Rightwing Polish president this weekend 🙄 what is he promising?!?
Yes,I agree.This is a clear violation of the Logan Act and needs to be quashed pronto.Imagine a private US Citizen doing business as an effed up State department! Stop this bs.
Arrest him already.
Or straitjacket him.
It really is a bit too late to be realising all this. I despair.
I think most in America still don't believe it...... because it is horrifying beyond mundane exprerience.
No it is not too late. And many have realized this early on in trump's "installation" as president. Rachel Maddow did deep dives into the connections of Russia, oligarchs and their goals of toppling our democracy. Internet cyberwarfare has been targeting Americans intensely since 2016. Owners of Fox, Brietbart, etc. target our democracy and sanity. And all the tactics being used against us are straight out of authoritarian handbooks. Trump is being coached by authoritarians and now he is a complete, barking madman struggling for a dollar hawking gold shoes and $2 bills.
Nov. 6 will be too late to put some skin in the game. Renew your spirit and cure despair - support voter activism now in your state and all the swing states to get the out the vote for Biden.
I agree on that point, Tom I was referring to the fact that many of us were informed by good journalists about the depths of hostile influence and brainwashing.
Activism and voting is our best bet this this moment. It worked before!
It is late, but it will only get later. Do it now.
Please remember that tRump is a showman. Anything to put and keep him in the spotlight. He’s NOT and never has been a politician in the best or worse sense of the word. He doesn’t read anything relevant to governing and doesn’t listen to anyone giving him “facts” or information necessary to understand and interpret a complex or difficult situation. Just look at who he appointed in his cabinet and other folks who have influenced or presaged his actions as president. He’s also greedy as heck. So any country or government or faction that wants to manipulate him has their work cut out for them. I wish it were possible to make use of these observations if correct to give him the hook not to mention lock him up along with his cronies instead of having to go through such agony to get this guy off the public stage for once and all. I do celebrate that he’s showing some cracks and even more obvious weakness as the pressure mounts against his getting another term in the white house. Maybe Trumpty Dumpty will finally suffer a similar great fall as that long ago other Carroll penned. Or the Rethugs will come to some senses and find a white (likely) knight to dislodge the MAGA maniacs controlling the spotlight and get us back to teal constructive business in our lifetimes. And for anyone who reads this please forgive all the mixed metaphors. I just had to get some recurring thoughts out this morning. Thanks all for providing what seems like a safe space to do it.
Indeed Pensa, thus speaks the informed.
Russian disinformation targets (long before 2016) the uninformed and the gullible - and they are many, and they don't like Rachel Maddow
I remember that garbage showing up on my Facebook feed during the Obama administration.
Pensa, the first of Maddow's books that I read was "Blowout" which very clearly detailed the Russian influences running amok in the early years of fpotus's presidency. I think it also exists as a podcast.
And we are addicted to mundane experience.
I agree… so many think it is too horrifying to be true, so they think it is made up.
I hear lots of, “ Oh, that can’t happen here!”
I wonder if Johnson believes this and that is why he came around to do the right thing to find Ukraine?
I think they can see Trump gping down, Paul.
Hes losing his influence.
He sure is now Christopher.
General / President Grant referred to Northerners "talking treason" by supporting the slavocrats in the South.
Is it not obvious? I know that I skewer the MSM often, but I know stuff thanks to them. They just don’t blast it non-stop like Fox does. They move on to the latest pile of Schitt. And the pile gets mountainous. Journalism is challenged like never before. Reagan’s wet dream.
I hope the Justice Dept is following the money! It needs to be revealed if those who are pushing Putin's agenda are being compensated in some way. Talk about Treason!!!
Thanks for trudging through the mud to inform us of all that’s happening, don’t know how you keep your sanity.
As MTG becomes more strident, it sounds as if fewer Republican'ts are willing to follow her extremist positions. There needs to be votes NOW. While I'm in favor of support for Ukraine, humanitarian aid for Gaza, and no new money to Netanyahu, if all three need to be funded simultaneously, so be it. If the funding is separated, Ukraine and Gaza must be voted on and passed first and second, so that that that support will be assured.
Quickly approving lethal aid to Ukraine is primary. Everything else can come along for the ride.
just a shrill attention-getting b*tch as Gaetz is a shrill attention-getting macho-mouth.
No one with hair like Gaetz’s is macho!
Laugh out loud
And I did!
MTG must be defeated! How in the world has she gained so much power over Republicans? The orange sleeper needs to spend a night or two in a jail cell for his muttering during jury selection. And who is “Sleepy” now?
It would help if the media didn’t cover her every rant and stupid stunt. Same reason we ended up with Trump as president in 2016.
It not the coverage so much, as the kind of coverage; the lack of context; the normalizing of criminally inappropriate behavior; the lack of balance, not just of who said what but the evidence based extended consequences of dysfunctional and corrupted governance. The notion that everyone in a truly self-determining society (of, by and for) has a job to do as a share of responsibility for the fate of our society. No? It more than just grab as much money as possible.
Nixon's every word got plenty of attention in the Watergate investigation, but the role of press was way different.
Leslie Moonves on Donald Trump: “It May Not Be Good for America, but It’s Damn Good for CBS” https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/leslie-moonves-donald-trump-may-871464/
Very true!
DS for Don Snoreleone
His Royal Somnolence?
Does this mean that, with his being royalty, we need to address him as sir?
Good one!
Kakistocracy.
Margarita.., are you kidding? MT (empty) Greene, has been given a "pulpit" by Big Media (BM) and the (R)ssNC. She's making them and #45 a ton of money. Look at what happened down at the (cess)pool party - million$$ brought in. And, #45 is looking for a VP, but I would suspect that having her down there it was just the blond hair and milf-factor. Boburt has lost most of her "pulpit" attraction with BM, for the 'tabloid moment' at least. So pathetic.
Dr. Richardson has laid out the Israel, Ukraine, Gaza situations perfectly where it’s easily understandable, even by any MAGA living idiot, that we, the United States, must support these countries in all the aid we can possibly provide. If we don’t, we are giving in to Putin, and Trump.
That, we cannot do.
Marjorie Taylor Greene has proven she’s working closely with Trump in pushing the Russian propaganda and in an attempt to take this nation over. She MUST be stopped!
She, Gaetz, Jordan, and Comer, to name just a few MUST be removed from office. Expelled if necessary. Lord knows they have enough evidence to do this. This group has s a total embarrassment to the House of Representatives, Congress, and the United States.
If they wish to live the Russian way, move to Russia. Putin will love it!
Putin wouldn’t give them the time of day. They are merely “useful idiots”.
Useful idiots: https://www.arcamax.com/politics/editorialcartoons/drewsheneman/s-3116144
Yes as is TFG.
With gerrymandering, we couldn't remove some of them if we tried.
Vote BLUE.
That is one thing, like the EC and Citizens United that needs to be removed along with all the useful idiots for russia.
Vote BLUE in ‘24, ‘26, ‘28, ‘30, all in between and beyond. This current MAGA Trumpublican Party must be totally eliminated!!!
Vote BLUE in local, state, and federal elections. It’s a MUST!!! We MUST cleanse the entire system!!!
Voting! That's the way to do it. Let's hope the Administration has the pieces in place to keep the lid on this time around.
This was too true in a recent VA Senate race. The “art” of Gerrymandering makes me sad and MAD!
Let's give them all a one way ticket.
Yep, as long as they made the promise that they will never set foot on any soil of the United States, or any of our allies.
Better yet, we can send them over the same way Putin wants to send his here. Put them in a shipping crate on a cargo ship. Let them try to survive that trip. It’s high time these people learn what real living, survival, is all about. We need to take them out of their multimillion dollar homes, out of their expensive chauffeur driven vehicles, and put their asses under a bridge, in the woods, with nothing but the clothes they have on their backs. Have them live that way through the winter, or the dead heat of the summer. Have them be forced to beg for absolutely everything they need to survive. Wonder where their next meal will come from, or even if they will survive the night.
Not one of these bastards would survive this. Does anyone believe Comer would last a week being homeless?
Hey we could ship them to Ukraine, where they could be useful as mine clearing implements. They would finally have a purpose in life, they would solve 2 problems at once.
Amen! The Russian assets need to go where their alliances lie! Then, maybe our system will be cleansed!
They want our nukes
Marjorie Taylor Greene and the others are acting as Russian operatives. I called my reps about this yesterday and I suggest that we all try to let them know that we are NOT ok siding with Putin and Russia.
Go on July 4th. We won ‘t miss you.
Why should they have to wait until then. I’d be happy if they all were loaded on a slow boat right now. That would make our next July 4th holiday so much more meaningful.
I agree with every iota of my energy
Today would be too late!
I fear you are right
There are flashing red lights at this intersection of history, and yet many Americans believe it's ok to ignore them, or consider such warnings "fake news" or alternative facts. They are either victims of or willing participants in this Russian campaign to alter geopolitics in their favor, and against the West's interests. If the battle to preserve democracy is won, and the U.S. comes to its collective senses and turns out trompy, Empty Greene, Comer, Massie, Jordan, Cruz, etc etc. then history will regard these sorry MAGA broken toys as names that live in infamy.
Michael Johnson seems chilled by his briefings on Ukraine, enough so to call a vote. As mentioned, Democrats will support the measure, as will no doubt many Republicans. Indeed, Johnson's position as Speaker may be saved by Democrats -- whodathunk that?
Let's hope Prof Richardson is correct, in that Republicans are fed up with their party. If Johnson survives, with a blue tide in November he'll hand the gavel over to Hakeem Jeffries early next year.
Gangrene Greene is a cancer in American politics. She plays bass to Trumpet Trump and Jackal Johnson. The morality hymn is led by Gym Jordan, with Putin serving vodka during intermission.
what a colorful posting Keith! I'm still laughing as I type.
Well said, Keith.
Got it
Been waiting, on with it, please
As always, thank you Heather for keeping us abreast of current affairs.
Is that the sound of the GOP crumbling I hear in the background?
We can only hope.
I agree with you Bob!!!I would love to see and hear Magas wall crumbling down!!!
According to Project 2025, what the GOP has in store for us if they take control will make East Germany look like Haight-Ashbury in 1967.
“It is the press, above all, which wages a positively fanatical and slanderous struggle, tearing down everything which can be regarded as a support of national independence, cultural elevation, and the economic independence of the nation.”
― Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
Today, The Editorial Board of The New York Times provided it readers with a strong example of the freedom of the press in the United States of America.
The New York Times
OPINION By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Donald Trump and American Justice
April 17, 2024, 5:02 a.m. ET
The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.
The former and possibly future president of the United States is now on trial in Lower Manhattan, the first criminal prosecution of an American elected to the nation’s highest office. Donald Trump, who relentlessly undermined the justice system while in office and since, is enjoying the same protections and guarantees of fairness and due process before the law that he sought to deny to others during his term.
A jury of Americans will ultimately decide Mr. Trump’s legal fate. It may be the only one of the four criminal cases against the former president that comes to trial before the November election. Though the election interference charges are not the most serious of those he faces, the case will determine whether 12 of his fellow Americans find him guilty of a felony — a result that most voters say they would consider to be serious.
In the first two days of this trial, Mr. Trump has offered a defense of himself to the public, in brief appearances between his courtroom table and the television cameras: He portrays himself as a victim of an unfair and politically motivated prosecution. That defense is built on lies. Mr. Trump is no victim. He is fortunate to live in a country where the rule of law guarantees a presumption of innocence and robust rights for defendants.
A guiding principle of the American experiment is that the law applies to everyone equally. At the same time, prosecuting any current or former elected official requires vigilance against bias and awareness about how the case will be perceived by the public. For this reason, judges and prosecutors have an obligation to hew to stringent standards of fairness, to reduce the risk that they appear to be interfering in electoral politics by using criminal cases to damage or favor one candidate over another.
The former president refers to the four prosecutions he faces as “witch hunts” motivated by partisanship and part of a nefarious scheme to keep him from returning to the White House. He has repeated this narrative even though the prosecutions have been brought by different prosecutors around the country, and even though different grand juries, each composed of a random selection of regular citizens in different states, handed up indictments that now total 88 felony charges against him.
In the weeks leading up to the start of this trial, Mr. Trump has argued, dishonestly, that the judge and the prosecutor have treated him unfairly, and that it will be impossible for him to get a fair trial in Manhattan because New Yorkers are biased against him. But the opening days of the trial, devoted to jury selection, have already demonstrated the great care and respect with which everyone involved in the trial, except for Mr. Trump, has treated the process. Joshua Steinglass, a member of the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, told potential jurors on Tuesday that the case “has nothing to do with personal politics.”
“We don’t suggest you need to have been living under a rock for the last eight years, or the last 30 years,” he said. “We don’t expect you not to have heard about this, or not to have discussed this case with friends. What we do need is for you to keep an open mind.”
Dozens of potential jurors took those instructions seriously and admitted they could not be impartial. One man was excused from service after telling the judge that it was “going to be hard for me to be impartial,” since many of his family members and friends were Republicans. Justice Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing the trial, excused him, as other potential jurors stepped up. So far, seven jurors have been seated. At least two potential jurors were dismissed by the judge because of social media posts.
If anything, Justice Merchan has exhibited an extra degree of tolerance for Mr. Trump’s strategy of systematically attacking the legitimacy of the courts and court officials through repeated verbal outbursts and countless legal motions and other attempts to delay his trials. In the New York case, Mr. Trump received a short extension last month when federal prosecutors found a tranche of documents that had not been turned over to the defense team. In the week before the start of the trial, he filed three emergency appeals in three days, as The Times reported, including a civil action against the judge, which were quickly rejected by an appeals court.
The fact that he was able to have each of these motions fully considered is evidence of the justice system operating as it should, with deliberation and due process. Especially in criminal prosecutions, courts take the legal rights of litigants very seriously, to ensure that defendants receive fair trials. An appeals court is still considering Mr. Trump’s request to throw out a gag order that prevents him from verbally attacking witnesses, prosecutors or the judge’s family, but it will not delay the trial before the ruling. (Mr. Trump is not prevented from publicly criticizing the judge.)
In the other criminal cases against him, Mr. Trump has also been able to take full advantage of every legal protection available to him as a defendant.
He appealed his federal prosecution related to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol on the grounds that he enjoys absolute immunity for actions he took as president. This argument has been rejected by every judge to consider it. Still, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal later this month, delaying the start of his trial in that case indefinitely, and possibly until after the election. While the Supreme Court weighs his immunity claim, the trial judge in the federal Jan. 6 case, Tanya Chutkan, put the proceedings on hold. In the other federal prosecution, on charges of illegally withholding highly classified national-security documents, Mr. Trump has had numerous favorable rulings from the judge handling that case.
The election-interference case out of Georgia was delayed by an extensive hearing on a possible conflict of interest for the lead prosecutor, Fani Willis, who had been in a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, an outside prosecutor she hired to lead the case. After taking testimony from a series of witnesses, the judge decided Ms. Willis could remain on the case, but not with Mr. Wade. (Mr. Wade ultimately withdrew.) Mr. Trump appealed that decision, which the Georgia Court of Appeals is now considering.
The ability to file such appeals, successful or not, is essential to how the law functions in the United States. Despite having benefited from its protections, to Mr. Trump, the rule of law is nothing more than an obstacle to be overcome, an instrument of power to use at will.
Mr. Trump’s vision of an American legal system that protects his interests goes beyond his trial, of course, and extends in particular to the Justice Department. He has been explicit about his desire, if elected in November, to bring the Justice Department more fully under his control, to use it to protect his friends and, more important, punish his enemies. As president, Mr. Trump had an unparalleled record of abusing presidential pardons, and if he is re-elected, he appears likely to order the Justice Department to drop the criminal cases against him or to try to pardon himself for potential crimes. To Mr. Trump, independent prosecutors and Justice Department officials are precisely the problem. They will say no to him when he wants to do things that are illegal or unconstitutional, choosing to be faithful to the Constitution rather than to him. This Mr. Trump cannot abide. (The New York Times Editorial Board Opinion) See gifted link below.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/17/opinion/donald-trump-trial.html?unlocked_article_code=1.lU0.5xUq.l_qW0IrHiQWj&smid=url-share
Thank you, Fern. I am relieved to read such clarity from the NYT and will share. Not only is the editorial clear, it is instructive.
I was thrilled to read The New York Times, Editorial Board's Opinion 'Donald Trump and American Justice'. It would be icing on this Opinion for Rachel Maddow to read it on her show and or a beloved athlete, singer...It is a strong piece that shrinks the devil (DJT) as no other efforts have, so far
Finally, there is no false equivalence or apologizing for him, either!
Thank you once again Fern! I have come to think of Heather Cox Richardson's Letters From An American as ..."annotated by Fern McBride." Often long, but always detailed, informative and well and thoroughly referenced.
Agreed! Excellent way to put it.
Thank you Fern
When did the NYT editorial board grow a conscious?
When their list of subscribers and ad revenue declined would be my guess.
Spot on Marj!
Steve, did you intend to write 'conscience'? You are asking me? I think having an Opinion may have been covered by $$$, before blatant fascism whispered it away.
Fern, thanks for sharing this editorial. A good supplement to today's LFAA. We can only hope more and more Americans will understand this message, that even though imperfectly, our justice system works, and that TFG appears before the courts because of criminal acts he committed.
Thank you Fern for the information from The NY Times👍!!!
Given that the courts have and are (correctly)ngiving Trump's defense every opportunity to question the process, we face the real possibility of delays on three of the trials. Those delays could put them after the election and, should he win, after the inauguration, which in turn would give him the opportunity to use his control of DOJ and his power to pardon and kill any processes he finds unfavorable. The problem is exaggerated by the Supreme Court's unnecessary decision in the insurrection case that only Congress can determine that an insurrection occurred and that he would be disqualified to serve in any federal office. Maybe the Court can reconsider that error as they examine the immunity issue.
Phew! What a swirling morass of stupidity and ignorance is the MAGA wing of the Trumpist GQP.
How will the poison pills I'm sure the MAGATs inlcuded in these packages be neutralized?
I'm by no means sharp enough to spot all the little toxic shards that will be scattered throughout the bills - I just know they're there, and that the repubs think they're being clever by withholding aid to these desperately needy countries unless they get their way.
Like the TikTok ban... it's been wrapped up in the aid for Ukraine & Israel bill.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/tiktok-ban-measure-attached-to-house-foreign-aid-bill-boosting-odds-of-passage-7a946470?reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
“Nonetheless, Greene greeted Johnson’s bills with amendments requiring members of Congress to “conscript in the Ukrainian military” if they voted for aid to Ukraine.”
Perhaps democrats can add an amendment calling for those who vote against these bills to conscript in the Russian military. Wait, they already are working for Russia…
lol ...
The history books will remember the current congress with a single sentence; "A highly dysfunctional Republican Congress delayed military aid to Ukraine for over 6 months resulting in the loss of thousands of additional lives amongst Ukrainian civilians and soldiers".
This congress has made it's mark in what it did not do and could not do on account of being beholden to the radical fringe and that fringe's allegiance to the would-be emperor who is, God willing, going to rot in jail for a significant interval before this decade is out. In the annals of history, it may also be recorded that this is the first time in history that the US Congress was controlled by an unelected private citizen who threatened political and even judicial retribution for any representative who opposed his will with their vote.
History will remember Trump's decisive defeat in 2024, the beginning of the end of Trump's pathological politics, and, if we are wise, constructive work by all of us to reunite.
I feel i my bones that you are right. My fear lies in Yogi's truism, "it aint't over unitil it's over."
History will also remember the United States in no small part to Putin's hold on Trump's hold on MTG's hold on the GOP's hold on the House's hold on Congress's hold on Biden’s attempts to save it.
And Biden’s fecklessness in standing by letting it happen as it passes the critical stage. If it’s really that serious, waiting for all the system’s gears and cogs to turn (gunked up with thick Russian grease) is not going to end well. He really doesn’t want to become a left wing Trump, by declaring emergency powers, but any other path may be a disaster for the West.
I met Miles Taylor at Cooper Union at an all day symposium on Trump. Real smart and real everyday guy. He is correct. I’m less sanguine about our success electing a Biden for too many reasons to present here. But he brings up the social media angle. Folks are getting hard wired to believe the lies. And I can’t reason with them. I will add that we all are doing something wrong. I think we are too locked in a self righteousness about our side and this is blinding us to an ability to respond.
My opinion for whatever it is worth.
Bill, Erika Etels in her book Beyond Contempt argues against showing disdain if you want to change someone’s mind. Look at how many people rush to defend an abusive spouse rather than admit that they made a bad choice. Her advice—listen carefully for something that you can agree with and go from there.
Excellent advice if you’re trying to change someone’s mind. Use that strategy and invest about a hundred hours of patient discussion and you might succeed half the time. Invest the same hundred hours in a well organized get-out-the-vote project and you have a good chance of getting five Democrats to cast votes who would otherwise have stayed home. That’s ten times more efficient. It is to late to change minds. We have the votes we need if we get them to cast votes. Work the hearts and minds angle when it’s not an emergency.
I want to give your comment 3 red hearts.
I am sick to death of this 'when they go low, we go high' rhetoric.
That ship has sailed.
Rex, I didn’t suggest wholesale trying to change minds—I only bother talking to people who seem genuinely interested in voting for Democrats. My point is that if we treat them with contempt or disdain when they are open to change, we’ve lost a possible voter (or a good relationship with a family member). These books uncovered sneaky ways that contempt/disdain creep into a discussion when we believe that we are on the right side of history (ex. “Bless their hearts”)
By the way, if you genuinely change one person’s mind and they change one person’s mind and… you have the possibility to garner many more likely voters than the 50% of 10 registered people.
Changing minds? I hardly think this election is about changing minds. Rather, I think it's about convincing those outside of the MAGA cult to show up and vote. All it will take is a big turnout of Democrats and Never-Trump independents; the numbers don't lie. GOTV is where it's at. Let the cultists go down with their captain.
Just Sayin’, For family discussions, I still recommend the two books—sometimes it’s about more than politics.
Sometimes it’s about history. My sibs know my politics, they also know my heart. No blather, just what is.
"let the cultists go down".... amen
@ Just. Start with registrations. Register Democrats -- save democracy. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
I think that's good advice, Mary. Clearly, a lot of people who would even consider voting for Trump are somewhat less than the most perceptive among us. But it is unfair to say that is the majority. I think we need to turn up the positive persuasiveness up at least a notch or two. The problem, among many, is that way too many people get their daily news and/or information from highly suspect and polarizing, right wing sources that drip, drip, drip into the collective brainstem. So many may be too far gone to pull back in
Daniel, Sharon Strand Ellison’s book Take the War Out of Our Words gives examples of discussions gone wrong and how to fix them. I’ve found it invaluable.
Thanks, Mary!
Just focus on getting out the vote. I'm also trusting with all the fund raising success Dems will properly extra focus on swing states.
What is now buried in the rubble of the Senate version of border reform was what I thought immediately was a kill switch attached to the legislation. It required or stated that only if 4 or 5 thousand crossed the border on any given week (or day can’t remember) only then could the president close it. I thought this number was designed to kill the legislation which it did.
The whole reason the US is obsessed with its southern border is that it views the countries to the south not as equals and allies but as semi-adversarial inferiors trying to stage a slo-mo invasion.
So true.
“ The “trigger” authority—called the “Border Emergency Authority”—would enable the administration to summarily deport migrants who enter between ports of entry without permitting them to apply for asylum.
The new emergency authority could be activated if border “encounters” reach a daily average of 4,000 over a period of seven days and would become mandatory once border encounters reach over 5,000 over a period of seven days or 8,500 over a single calendar day.”
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/analysis-senate-border-bill
Exactly. Even I might have voted against such faulty legislation.
I do this with some members of my MAGAt family often. With others, not so much.
@Bill Katz. 1. When you meet MAGATs up close and personal say the magic words, "Trump hates dogs" and "Trump stole from kids with cancer."
2, You need a dose of Hopium, as administered by Simon Rosenberg. https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/
Except say it nicely: "I had no idea how much trump hates dogs and how much money he stole from the children's cancer fund, did you?. He's clearly NOT the man we thought he was." Let them off the trump hook gently. Then suggest they write in Nikki Haley who loves dogs and children.
School board candidate, "My opponent supports someone who stole from kids with cancer."
Post on charity sites and see the responses. https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2019/donald-j-trump-pays-court-ordered-2-million-illegally-using-trump-foundation
Yep, I am self-righteous when the alternative is cult imbecility
Bill, that is what I see in my MNJ friends. They hold fast and hard to the garbage that is funnelled to them on their social media accounts. Any presentation of rebuttal to the disinformation is met with "nuh-uh" or "that's not what I believe." It is depressing.
That "hard wiring" comes from RUssia's propoganda machimne which is besed on the principles of classical Pavlovian conditioning, which has been the basis of thie approach to paychology for over a hundred years. They have perfected the use of elicited emotions to produce conditioned associations that falsify the impressions that people have on a vast array of subjects.
We need to vote out, if possible, the members of the House and Senate that parrot Russian disinformation.
Some in the House have seats that are safely gerrymandered in.
Vote BLUE.
grrrrrrrrrrr