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. In 2024, foreign interference will be *worse.* Tech[nology is] more powerful. Adversaries more brazen. American public more susceptible. Political leaders across party lines MUST UNITE against this.”
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.
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...
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?
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!
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
"Marjorie Taylor Greene is an idiot." Finally, the truth on Fox News!!
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...
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.
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?
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!
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.
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?
“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
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.
“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.
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.
We need to vote out, if possible, the members of the House and Senate that parrot Russian disinformation.