[There is a description of rape in paragraph 8.] This afternoon a jury of nine Americans deliberated for less than three hours before it ordered former president Trump to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for defaming her after she accused him in 2019 of raping her in the 1990s. In May 2023 a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in an assault the judge said is commonly known as rape, and for defaming her. That jury awarded Carroll $5 million.
His comment, "Absolutely Ridiculous" is actually correct, that a "man" found guilty of the disgusting acts described in paragraph 8 was actually able to be called POTUS in the USA. But,...only once and Never again.
Yes. Spot on.That the Republican Party is trying to glom this embarrassment of a man onto the American people as their representative to the world is beyond belief.Every day I become more appalled and angry at this.If we ever rid ourselves of this lying grifter, laws must be put in place that a POTUS who has been impeached(twice)and also who has been indicted multiple times cannot run for this office again.
Victoria, I was kind of shocked, yet very pleased, when I read my senator's (Thom Tillis) statement in this letter. I have tried corresponding with him several times but have had no response.
I immediately sent an e-mail congratulating him on finally seeing the truth about Trump, and acknowledging the failure of his colleagues to recognize that truth.
We can only hope that more and more politicians, and more Trump supporters, will come to their senses and recognize the dangers that he presents if reelected.
I stay appalled and angry also, which isn't good for one's well-being. This little nugget of truth by Tillis makes me feel better.
It’s a little too little it’s a little too late. All these pearl clutching politicians and lawyers (George Conway) are all part of the reason we are here. They’ve all helped create this Frankenstein moment, they’ve all played their parts and now, just as we are at the edge of the cliff that they all helped drive to, they are desperately trying to pull the emergency brake. Yes, thank goodness they are finally doing the right thing and speaking up. If only they had that integrity long ago, we may not be on the cliffs edge.
As near as I can tell, George Conway has always been anti-Trump. Much of the blame has to go to the media, especially right wing media like Fox, for giving so much air-time to Trump and pro-Trump politicians and not nearly enough time to Conway, Michael Steele, Steve Schmidt and other critics of Trump. Almost every Sunday when I tune in to Face the Nation or Meet the Press there's another Republican lawmaker trashing Biden, Very little is said about the terrific rebound our economy has made since Covid under Biden.
Unfit is right! I realized this the first time I heard candidate Trump open his mouth, and have been incredulous for eight years that so many people don't see this.
As a citizen of North Carolina, I witnessed Thommy twice vote against impeaching the orange monster! TWICE! Recall he wins re-election because the Democratic challenger was morally bankrupt like the orange monster, had an affair with the wife of a friend!!! Until that was revealed about his opponent, Thommy was losing in the polls. He’s in the senate by default!
On several occasions Thommy has voiced against the party line, however he eventually ‘gets religion’!
Gillis was my Senator as well. His comments were a bit surprising to say the least. His petticoats must be cleaner than many R’s in Congress. He’s out of the Heritage Foundation stables so maybe he got cleaned up a bit.
Victoria we already have such laws. We just need the will to enforce them! Lets hope the Supreme Court has the courage to uphold the constitution and it's 14 Amendment.
Impeachment is the equivalent of indictment. Given the state of our politics today with the House trying to impeach Biden, conviction has to be the standard. But I am very very reluctant to restrict voters' choices. Would rather rely on the courts. Let's face it when things are this bad, process remedies are difficult..
Voters choice is restricted by age, must be 25; by birthright, founders ganged up on Hamilton who was not born in the states! A section of the 14Th Amendment prohibits insurrectionists from running for office!! Yes, part of our constitution! But then I am being silly, since the Robert’s court follows its own version of the constitution! And only the 2nd Amendment is sacred!
I believe there was actually an attempt for DT to be impeached, and he was saved from it by his followers. We don't need to be inaccurate to state all the awful acts this man has been convicted (not just accused) of. And there are more accusations which hopefully will turn into convictions since he is so obviously guilty. But ya never know. Truth is not always served.
I’m remembering a lovely couple who had stopped to take picture of a Trump meeting establishment in my town and pretty much in the center of my town! Of course I and a friend stopped to have conversation with the couple. What was a surprise was how they expressed their displeasure with the meeting place. Of course I added there is a large size elephant on wheels and expressed how sad this couple wasn’t able to see the elephant(with sarcasm in my voice which I believe we chuckled as well). They took pictures and were just in disbelief at this showing.
It’s still a meeting place but report is it doesn’t seem to be a happening place.
American culture supports and cultures white male rape at its very roots. Remember, it was Virginia that first legalized white male rape on black female slaves in order to produce more valuable slaves (half white).
Legalized rape for white men. Yep. Look it up. It is true. Think Thomas Jefferson when you think of that law.
Trump's sense of being untouchable comes from American culture PLUS a much deeper and more fierce source than just not being able to keep his hands to himself. Trump's father taught him that all things were his to have. Period.
And? For almost all of Trump's life those lessons have been reinforced by an America has been very supportive of Trump's "transgressions".
New York allowed him to run roughshod over the entire city with his father's inherited wealth.
Women also allowed Trump to do whatever for many years. Trump once gave an interview with Howard Stern about how women allowed him to do whatever he wanted in NY City, Plus the fact that Trump wanted to do his own daughter.
Trump is not the only rich, tall, white American male that feels that all things are his to have. Not even close.
Now? Why am I NOT like Trump. Well, for one, I had a minority father. For two I had a white mother who married a minority father to avoid the whole white culture thing.
So, it IS possible to be raised as a respectful man in America. BUT, one needs to be well outside the white community to get that kind of respect.
Thanks Mike, but the fact that modern rape and sexual assault laws exist at all and even get enforced , mostly put forth by the same white males you brush across the board as sexist and misogynist, renders your comments I trust a bit of an overreach. And, I certainly wouldn't overdo putting this in a race context. I certainly do agree that the heritage of slavery and its sequel has been something of an abyss terrible to behold. I get reminded of this from time to time, eg a biography of Ulysses Grant, who fought an uncivil war to overthrow slavery only to see the US south successfully reimpose its near equivalent within decades, with Grant having to cave in; Northerners had given up on it. And, btw, this wasn't about women, and the right to rape with impunity, it was about domination, pure and simple. Cultural inequality with its evils has a long human history. Hope i didn't overdo this, but i did just finish listening to the death of Reconstruction in Chernov's remarkable biography of the good General.
Ron Chernow is among my favorite authors. "Grant" was one revelation after another. Highly recommended! Especially in light of the horrific cultural heritage and "plantation DNA" flowing through the veins of millions who are still fighting that distant war.
Another book by Chernow that I read last year was "Titan". The parallels between J. D. Rockefeller's world of oligarchy, greed and dominance - and today - are chilling.
Ill keep an eye out for that. It took a while to tackle Grant, but once it got going, it is really something. I see we are virtual "neighbours". I live on the other side of the St Croix. Havent been over the border for a while, except vicariously, but i do have a new passport. You are so right about the "horrific cultural heritage". Just the same, in many ways things have moved along in a big way. Can we thank Hollywood and "Matt McConaughey" for some of that :)
Ask a 15 year old girl about rape. One who told no one. And the millions of women who suffer silently. Ask the millions whose rape kits are thrown in the trash.
I cannot disagree when it's personal, and yes, women most certainly are the main victims of rape, by a huge margin. My point though was that most men in fact do not rape. Stats are variable, likely thanks to under reporting, but the range seems to be 6% to 15% from what i can find for now. which in my mind is still huge, and considering maybe 1/5 of women testify to being raped or assaulted. I"m not congratulating anyone, Jen. Much of what i wrote then went off on another topic.
Frank, as someone who was on the "first line" of investigation of rape/sodomy/sexual abuse/child abuse investigations, the ones that actually get reported hover (at my best guess) a descending percentage of 50-40-20 respectively. Yeah, white men wrote the laws, but mostly in defense of what they perceive as their property. It is hard to get outside the paradigm of presumed white male supremacy and privilege, but that is the very foundation of all the laws in this country.
My Dad did better than chump’s father, just by being a flawed, but decent poor white man. Your observations are correct, but it is possible for little white boys to have decent dads.
Yes, you are right. But, I went to school with way too many white kids who showed up all bruised and beat up as kids to think that becoming a white man is something that results in kind, gentle, intelligent, thoughtful human filled with respect for others.
Plus Jeri, as you know, I learned to fist fight down in Texas to keep my own self and my sisters safe (from white kids). Not an easy task.
Glad I had a dad who was a flawed man, but not a brute. Sadly, working at public schools I saw much of what you did and what you went through. It gets passed on as much as genetic material. So glad you broke the chain.
We have way too many rape apologists walking the streets. As seen with the tens of thousands rape kits thrown in the trash every year. It's only going to take another 230 years for true equality. Misogyny kills women.
'No' means, I'll take what I want. I've been there. I don't know a single woman who hasn't been sexual assaulted in some way. Be it verbally, emotionally, mentally or ultimately physically. Maybe some women have been able to escape it. But, I've never met one.
Here you have a serial rapist (ex-president of US) who brags about what he feels is his privilege, grabbing women by the p****, and here's a woman who accuses him of exactly that and a jury counters his denials by holding him accountable with a verdict of making him pay an exorbitant sum of money. Isn't it glorious when the judicial system works....
One only has to listen to the grab 'em tape and hear the odious Billy Bush or whatever his name was, giggling as drumpf describes his MO. Unfortunately after E Jean Carroll's suit we are treated to that again.
Rape is a sign of "manhood" to too many men. And women. Stockholm syndrome.
Mike S, I know all about rape culture and white male entitlement, and misogyny... all have negatively impacted my life. Neither of my two sons would EVER behave in the ways that toxic Trump has flaunted.
The problem is more complex than this, since white men can be both prosocial and antisocial. White men have been in the majority in Congress, and all but one president has been a white man. Among those people many have helped the country progress. And, there are white men in every organization and agency doing the "right thing." While it's true that white men often get a pass, when it comes to boorish, antisocial behavior, many have also contributed to making improvements in our world. When we condemn a whole group, without considering how much more complex they can be, aren't we doing exactly what we are accusing them of doing?
I must disagree. Most white men, at least those alive today, do not fit your stereotype. And I suspect that most while men in America never fit your stereotype. Which doesn’t for a moment excuse those who have and do.
"it IS possible to be raised as a respectful man in America. BUT, one needs to be well outside the white community to get that kind of respect."
That's bullshit, Mr. S. That Donald Trump sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll does not means every, or even most, white men wish to do that to anyone. We do not. To suggest all white men are rapists is to suggest all black men are thugs or all Jews are clever with money or all women are helpless. It's racist and sexist AF, so please reconsider your words.
TJ promised his wife, on her death-bed, that he would never marry again. Later, in Paris, he sent for Sally (to be a maid for his daughter) and her brother (to be a chef). Sally was the half-sister of Jefferson's deceased wife. She could have stayed, free, in Paris like her brother did, but she agreed to go back with him to Virginia as his concubine.
And the economic and cultural legacy of white rape is why white men often view black women as promiscuous “ho’s” and treat black children as if they were adults. In this way, white men can blame black women for the terror they have inflicted on them throughout our nation’s history.
Carla, I agree: penises being kept in trousers instead of on display should be a parenting issue all over the world--rape and sexual assault is not only a USA problem--but the deeper roots of the problem are the continuing and apparently near universal belief that female bodies exist merely to be exploited and traumatized by males for their own entertainment, and the dearth of robust laws and a legal system that underpins and supports women's and girls' bodily autonomy. It isn't just that we need an international ERA, it is that we need everyone--and I mean EVERYONE--to stand up and challenge this universal exploitation and traumatization of females of every age, ethnicity., culture, etc. Look at the news from yesterday about the WWE guy who was FINALLY forced to resign after egregious sexual exploitation of women in his employ. This isn't "just" a Trump issue. It's a penis issue.
Having just seen "Origin", and being in the middle of reading the book 'Who Cooked the Last Supper: The Women's History of the World" by Rosalind Miles, I came here to say your comment. Rape is a method of violence (one of the pillars of Caste) used to dehumanize a person (another pillar of Caste). Historically, a woman's power of creation (once mystically worshipped) was ground into nothingness by phallic religions (claiming similar but opposite mystical powers), and by monotheistic religions, which arose with a male godhead after the phallic religions to further assert male dominance. One male God also meant that the opposite of male was assumed to be a lower caste, and for centuries there was nothing women could ever do to change their devalued status into nothing more than property, breedstock and (unclean) labor. Many religions even had to make up a virgin giving birth mythology to create a male godhead unsullied by the blood of woman (so claimed by followers of Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Plato,, Ghengis Khan, Quetzelcoatl, and Montezuma. Pg. 97 in the chapter God the Father.") On pages 98 and 99 are the Pillars of Male Supremacy
1. Women were stripped of any choice in marriage. (Just like the "Caste" Pillar of regulating marriage and sex.)
2. Women were denied security within marriage. (Only men could divorce and there was no marital rape)
3. Women were forced to live within marriage as the outside world was forbidden. (Most drastically in Chinese and Islamic society. )
4. Women were victims of patriarchal laws, losing even the rights to their own bodies. (See Dobbs)
The 2 books and the movie are hard topics, but very worthwhile challenges to the status quo. Note that when women ruled, things were not all that great for men either. So none of this should be considered a plea to return to any sort of hierarchy. HIERARCHY Is the problem...in all its formats.
The idea behind calling a man's sperm seed is that each sperm, like a seed, contains all that makes up a human being; a woman is a vessel where the seed is nourished until developed enough for birth, but no part of the woman is needed to create life.
This ia an ancient idea but still the basis for modern philosophy.
That is indeed the thought behind much current philosophy. It's also entirely false. I have read a lot of well written arguments and researched documentation on this. Woman doesn't just carry a child, she builds it, cell by cell, out of her own body. The DNA supplied by the woman is the original template for all embryos, and is the vast majority of actual genes. Male DNA is required but is an extremely small piece of the whole and tends to work by deviating the "normal" female template. The uterus is fortress designed to enable a woman to survive pregnancy as well as weed out weak embryos. You might also enjoy the recent book Eve which presents a good case for how and why human pregnancy developed into one of the most inefficient methods of reproduction and childbearing ever recorded.
In a long ago “women’s study”class in the 70s. We were told that female suppression started when the men were able to capture animals alive. Before that time sex was something enjoyed by everyone with Everyone. When you had your own little herd of ducks, geese or elephants. The male need to know that these items would be past down to his “seed “only. Women became fenced in with the other animals. I think it was just a theory, but interesting.
I never had to teach my children any of this. Somehow, they picked it up on their own....they were treated fairly at home which I think is one key to raising decent human beings.
And, will we see him back in court again because he cannot stop himself? Will he be sans his current remaining attorney Habba, since she is probably going to be investigated by the Bar Association for improper conduct in court? Will anyone else want to be his lawyer for their 15 seconds of fame, since it isn't going to be for money, since he doesn't pay them? Will the courts ask him to put up Mar-a-lago as collateral to keep in the court's trust while Trump appeals the finding? Will he be back and next time be given a higher fine that covers his remaining assets?
I’d hoped that the fine would have a continuing portion: X dollars per derogatory mention of Carroll. My idea would be $1 million per mention. And maybe, after each 10 mentions, the amount per mention would double.
Perhaps it's important to acknowledge and answer the Republican constitutional argument that the Biden administration is already failing to enforce the law and the constitution, so (they say) a new border bill isn't going to do any good. Following is the text of Texas Governor Abbott's recent press release. What is the rebuttal?
January 24, 2024
The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States. The Executive Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting States, including immigration laws on the books right now. President Biden has refused to enforce those laws and has even violated them. The result is that he has smashed records for illegal immigration.
Despite having been put on notice in a series of letters—one of which I delivered to him by hand—President Biden has ignored Texas’s demand that he perform his constitutional duties.
• President Biden has violated his oath to faithfully execute immigration laws enacted by Congress. Instead of prosecuting immigrants for the federal crime of illegal entry, President Biden has sent his lawyers into federal courts to sue Texas for taking action to secure the border.
• President Biden has instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants. The effect is to illegally allow their en masse parole into the United States.
• By wasting taxpayer dollars to tear open Texas’s border security infrastructure, President Biden has enticed illegal immigrants away from the 28 legal entry points along this State’s southern border—bridges where nobody drowns—and into the dangerous waters of the Rio Grande.
Under President Biden’s lawless border policies, more than 6 million illegal immigrants have crossed our southern border in just 3 years. That is more than the population of 33 different States in this country. This illegal refusal to protect the States has inflicted unprecedented harm on the People all across the United
States.
James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and the other visionaries who wrote the U.S. Constitution foresaw that States should not be left to the mercy of a lawless president who does nothing to stop external threats like cartels smuggling millions of illegal immigrants across the border. That is why the Framers included both Article IV, § 4, which promises that the federal government “shall protect each [State] against invasion,” and Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which acknowledges “the States’ sovereign interest in protecting their borders.” Arizona v. United States, 567 U.S. 387, 419 (2012) (Scalia, J., dissenting).
The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, § 4 has triggered Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense. For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and
protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary. The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel are acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border.
Actually, the government has a legal immigrant program. Did you know about that, or are you under the misguided belief that all immigrants to this country are here illegally? It is a program that helps keep our robust economy going. Instead of being permanently short of workers like the EU is making itself as it tries to block immigrants from coming in, who could be replacing their aging population with workers, the USA has a robust immigration system where we welcome people who can fill both high and low skilled jobs.
A year ago we had 10 million job openings for much needed employees, and only 5 million Americans who needed jobs. That leaves a need of 5 million people. Sane policy does not rely on forcing women to give birth to babies they don't want, or are unwell, and rely on child labor to fill those job openings when there are lots of people who need and want to come and live and work in the USA. Texas itself is a state where at least 1/3 of the people are immigrants. So, it is basically promoting getting rid of a third of their population. Their governor is barbaric, and is sending people to cities like Chicago where I am from to deal with the immigrants. Being blocked by Republicans, the Biden administration is not able to swiftly address whether or not people have a legal right to be in the USA, and not able to process people legally in a timely manner. Whatever plan is decided on that includes what Republicans want, it is going to take more money, and by blocking that money, for personnel and equipment, the Republicans are making it harder to control the border not better. However, controlling the border does not mean violating human rights.
Great repartee and reminder of the nuances of the immigration "problem". USA stands at virtually "full employment", thanks to post covid recovery, lots of work available in service sectors many Americans think beneath them, or they're just not up to it. This crisis has gone on for years and years, and if nothing else, it just shows what a powerhouse the American economy has been. We might, on the side, remember that Mexico is one huge trading partner of good old USA. "vermin" , honest to God!
It's complicated; no one wants to hear that and neither do congress critters of good and lawful intentions; It's all piecemeal / multifaceted, and hasn't been addressed in anything near comprehensive since 1980 or thereabouts. Fencing was addressed pre OiD and found to be impossibly expensive with little return of expected prevention; other ways were found to circumvent, as anyone of even average intelligence should easily comprehend. Because it's not resolvable it manifests as just the type of electioneering grievance for the do-nothing gop. I found wealths of info online regarding all that, and easily found.
Thank you Linda. So true. We live in Michigan where a large part of our economy is driven by fruit farming. When Drumpf started attacking immigrants (recently calling them vermin) not only couldn't people come who had worked on these farms but even if they could make it here they didn't because it was too frightening for them. White Americans don't want to pick cherries, apples, blueberries, strawberries, etc., etc. Fruit fell to the ground or rotted on the trees and bushes. Fruit prices skyrocketed due to the less being available. These people aren't coming to "steal" American jobs. Trust me, Americans don't want these jobs...they are too hard!
Colette, thanks for this story! I know agricultural workers are needed or farmers cannot survive in most cases! Several of our cousins in Germany are farmers and we know that they hire people from Romania to help them harvest. There are other things where help is needed. The idea that the farming family can do it all themselves, especially sans lots of children, is unrealistic.
I still wish folks would make this distinction. The folks breaching the border are asylum seekers. Immigrants have applied to work/ live in the country through legal means. They eventually become citizens.
Once upon a time, I lived, worked and socialized surrounded by immigrants from Mexico and Central America, many of them illegal.
It sounds like you, together with Corporate Joe Biden, want to exploit immigrants who will work at super-low wages that U.S. citizens reject. Perhaps you can refine your presentation? (Or perhaps you just said the quiet part out loud? Well-heeled readers of HCR want cheap-and-plentiful darkies to do the scut work, and flip those burgers, too. Perhaps we should change our semi-feudal income hierarchy.)
Perhaps you or someone else could rebut Governor Abbott's charge that Biden is failing to enforce the immigration laws.
People cannot BE ILLEGAL, they can be living here illegally, which means they are undocumented! I know Polish and German people who have lived in the USA in undocumented status as well as Mexican people. I assume there are undocumented people living here from all countries. There are those who are students who overstay their visas, or people who fall in love, who overstay their visas, and sometimes marriage solves that status. I live in a university community in the US that has a lot of foreign faculty members. Sometimes there is a problem with their working visa status, and under some circumstances they could be here for a period illegally while it is being sorted out. That makes them undocumented during that time. So, do not assume just low skilled people are here with undocumented status, or people from Mexico, and South and Central America. There are plenty of people from Europe living here with undocumented status, as there has been all through the time of this country. I am the child of a documented immigrant, and the wife of another documented immigrant. We have known many people to overstay their tourist and student visas for a variety of reasons, who stayed here to try to get documented status. When my mom came to the USA, it was very easy for a European to get in, and she said the questions they asked of her were really stupid. She came to the West Coast by ship to visit a pen pal, and after many adventures there, where she was exploited, she applied to graduate school and ended up in Chicago. Her sister also got in easily and legally to visit my mom, and after going back to Germany came back here to live and work. They were asked if they had a criminal background, and that was it. My husband came as a postdoc. The university has lawyers to help with visas for working there. My mother did a lot of scut work including working in the San Juan islands at a millionaire's daughter's camp, where they did not pay their mostly foreign help, at that time not Latinx or Asian, but Europeans, and my mom stowed away on a ferry to the mainland to work for a firm making topographic maps. She was also employed as child care, and as a blueberry picker. This is with a college degree from Germany. So, many people come to the USA, including in my family and work their way up. My mom and aunt worked crappy jobs until going to grad school, which they both did here, and improving their lot. After Reagan things were made harder for everyone to get ahead. Are you an immigrant or the child of a direct immigrant? In the USA I am surrounded by immigrants, who are mostly academics now, and I have a good sense of it. Right now I am living abroad, in my other country. So, I can be an immigrant/ex-pat and a citizen here too. In any way you look at it, we need to spend more money on immigration and that should be passed. I cannot change the capitalistic realities of work, but most of the immigrants I am surrounded by make far more money here than they would in their home countries, or they get to work in their field, and in their home country the are not enough jobs in their area. So, I am neither looking at immigration as supporting a semi-feudal system, although we could be providing more supports for immigrants when they come, if they do not come directly to a job. That too takes more money. My dentist is from Ghana, my primary care physician from India, and my next door neighbor on one side is from Israel, and on the other side is from Mexico. Where I live I have other neighbors from China, Israel, Finland, Germany, Egypt, Austria, and "Jordan!" All of them work for the university. Universities are communities that easily absorb immigrants. It is not feudal. I don't need to argue the Biden policies support legal immigration, and discourage people from coming in illegally because there is plenty documenting what he is doing. The reality. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/biden-three-immigration-record
I don't know what they do to round up undocumented Europeans who have overstayed their visas, or admission through tourism without a visa, but if they are not drawing government money, are committing no crimes, and are putting money into the economy, is that the direction we want to spend our hard earned tax dollars? I don't think so.
Love your informative discourse, Linda, and your personal stories. It's good to broaden the frame of reference of the overall immigration situation. Otherwise, i was gonna say it doesn't pay to take up John's bait traps. You did well! Thanks!
Well-said, Linda! I made the same point about people who overstay their visas in response to another one of Heather's posts recently. IMHO, a lot of what Republicans say about immigrants is all about racism and xenophobia.
I spent four years in Korea as an ex-pat English teacher, and then a year in Indonesia.
I used the phrase "semi-feudal income hierarchy," which means the exploited, barely-surviving low-skill workers on the bottom (often immigrants), then the eroding middle class, and corporate barons on top of the heap.
John, you were not an exploited worker, and while my mom and aunt had exploitative shitty jobs when they first came here from Germany (both are now retired), they worked their way up to good jobs. I was fortunate to be born into that set up, not my mom's low wage status or no pay, exploited jobs. It is the process, which immigrants are happy to join as long as they think they, or more importantly their children can get ahead. Everything is relative. You are talking about going from a high wage country to lower wage ones in your experience, but I do not understand the relevance to our immigration situation. I do not support exploiting workers, but the reality is that for most who come here, and that is legal immigrants, they are coming to something better than they left behind, or else they would stay at home. Now, if you want to talk about the people who are involved in slavery of immigrants, I am all for making sure that there are more checks and balances to prevent that from happening.
Your use of the word “darkies” is but one small step away from using the “N word”. I’ve reported this comment, and I urge other readers to do the same.
Bwahahahahahaaaaaaaa there you go again. I love it. You are one of the funniest guys on the Net. You actually quote Abbott's text! Now that takes balls...in front of this audience. Will you be on SNL soon...can't wait. Hilarious..!
Thank you bruce klassen for seeing the humor in this. I ask for a rebuttal of Abbott's three points (including the constitutional argument), because this will be grist for Republican talking points for months to come.
Tell us John, what did TFFG do about the millions of people here on expired student visas, or about the northern border which was crossed by 3 times as many undocumented aliens as the southern border? I actually have had both undocumented Canadians and Mexicans working on my property. Did I directly hire them? No, but this did happen when Trump was President and Bush and Obama. Why is it so much worse to have my roof replaced by undocumented roofers than American citizens or have my yard maintained?
Do you believe that Trump's wall actually prevents people from entering the US? You do know it's well documented it has been breached over 4,000 times since it was erected. And it's also documented there are active tunnels under the border wall that TFFG did little or nothing to stop.
I work with hundreds of Indians almost all of whom are here on H-1B visas or green cards. I am aware of multiple occasions that they were deported when the TFFG administration refused to renew their green cards. In fact, I was retired and received a call from a Fortune 500 company begging me to come back because TFFG's immigration people refused to renew his green card. His green card had been renewed multiple times under Obama and Bush. One other fun fact, his wife was 7 months pregnant when ICE gave him two weeks to leave the country. Seems Trump and his people didn't want another Indian US citizen born on US soil so they deported him, his daughter who was in school and his pregnant wife. And I guess this is ok with you?
And what about Devin Nunes. Did you read the Esquire story on his family hiring undocumented workers for their farm in IA, even as Devin railed against undocumented people crossing the Southern border.
Or maybe you hadn't read the stories about TFFG's ICE turning Canadians trying to enter the US from Canada being banned for life from coming to the US because they had one or two joints on them.
Or perhaps you missed the stories about Trump forging "papers" for his golf course workers so he could underpay them and overwork them. Or the fact that Trump hired H-2Bs for Mar-a-Lago because he could pay them less than American workers. But, this is just fine with you because it wasn't Biden, huh?
And your dear leader, Trump pardoned convicted felons some of them for violent crimes, fraud and other crimes. Or that he was selling pardons for $2 million a piece?
But I digress.
So until you admit that TFFG did virtually nothing to curb the flow of undocumented aliens coming into the US as well as students overstaying their visas , your whining about Biden will be ignored.
I'm guessing you have no idea what is in the immigration deal the Senate has been working on because you are too busy trying to convince an army of Biden supporters that he is doing a terrible job.
Why don't you use your time to convince Gym Jordan, MTG, Matt Goetz, Boebert, Mike Johnson, Comer and others to support the bi-partisan immigration deal the Senate has worked out?
First we would need some evidence that any of that is true. I don't trust anything Abbott says.
Second, if there is any truth to it my understanding is that the immigration system doesn't have enough resources to function well. The new legislation contains more resources. That is a problem that needs to be solved by Congress passing the bipartisan legislation.
The statement by Abbott is just more political game-playing.
It is not illegal to enter to seek asylum. There are thousands of cases awaiting hearings. I think you know very little about the current broken immigration system or its history.
Because Substack inc has contractual duties to contractually defined "Readers" & "Authors" under their chosen choice state Law which is California law with its express state Constitutional Right of Privacy, Article 1 Section 7 & developing "tort" law based on those express rights.
What is it going to take get some Federal statutory protection for our digital world? Well, perhaps Taylor Swift as the victim of malicious "deep fakes" with millions of "hits" millions of viral smears.
E. Jean Carroll just recovered money awards of substantial money for her reputation & emotional distress damages (she cannot leave home).
Punitive damages a historic amount are for the purpose of halting repeated tortious attacks. Trial Lawyer 101, emotional distress has a profound CORPOREAL element. Just read E. Jeans testimony. The Jury (majority male) heard live testimony. That's their job listen to the evidence & evaluate credibility.
Substack Inc has very competent counsel but, they are doing little to protect two (2) of their mosts successful Authors, HCR & Joyce Vance on her appropriately titled Platform "Civil Discourse"..
Platforms are not ready for 2024 digital mayhem. Thus, they will be regulated if not on the wrong end of a major contractual disputes. Casey Newton's "Platformer" has left Substack Inc. Others will follow.
Protect "Authors" & "Readers".. "We are all in this together" as Joyce says.
Helpful analysis, Bryan. Thanks. Substack could improve the experience of reading comments by adopting a display protocol that makes it easy fof readers to skip the claptrap. The NYT’s current method does a good job in that dimension. They also monitor comments, but even without monitoring, their display protocol would still greatly improve reader experience.
I am getting VERY TIRED of repeatedly reporting his comments, muting and blocking him in Substack, and repeatedly having his comments appear which soil the good discussions and take up way too much space.
Apparently, the mute and block feature options hold for ONE DAY ONLY.
I can’t blame John for trying if he felt his rights were violated. He is trying to right something using the justice system. There is probably more to the case on both sides that we don’t see. But, John, if you keep up the nutso here it’s going to keep us from getting to our daily activities that we deem productive... stuff other than commenting in this space
My two cases are both still alive, and have touched the Tennessee Supreme Court once so far, with another one coming. By all means, post the case numbers, etc., if you want.
I have to say that judicial misconduct is entrenched in Tennessee, with a growing pile of evidence for a federal civil rights case. Last year I wrote the following letter:
To the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Chief Murphy and Sheriff Hammond:
I am writing with regard to a type of collusive crime that wouldn't happen if law enforcement didn't have policies (formal or informal) of not investigating certain types of misconduct. I will provide an example that fits my own situation, in which litigation is ongoing:
1. An apartment manager collects a $100 maintenance fee every month from each of 30 renters, for a total of $3000 per month.
2. The manager "supplements" her income by hiring contractors to do unnecessary and/or imaginary work, perhaps at inflated prices, and receives a kickback.
3. A tenant catches on to this, and tries to notify the owner, but his effort fails and the manager becomes aware.
4. The manager immediately hires an attorney to draft a malicious and frivolous "14 Day Notice to Cure or Vacate within 30 Days," full of lies and misrepresentations from top to bottom, demanding $800 from the tenant for concocted, fabricated false damage to plants on the premises due to imaginary over-watering.
5. The tenant goes to the local police department and complains of extortion by the manager and her attorney.
6. The police officer, in his report, misrepresents the tenant's complaint, dismissing it as "a civil matter" while never using the word "extortion." The reason for this is the police department's policy (formal or informal) of not touching any complaint that involves an allegation of a contract violation, no matter if the allegation is maliciously false.
7. The attorney, on behalf of the apartment manager, initiates a court eviction proceeding, falsely alleging $271 (not $800) in damage to plants.
8. At the hearing before a general sessions judge, the attorney abandons any claim of damage to plants and commits aggravated perjury, falsely claiming that the tenant repeatedly threatened/taunted the manager that the police were going to come and get her.
9. The judge cuts off the tenant's defense near the beginning, and rules in favor of the apartment manager, recklessly stating that the tenant violated his lease agreement because he reported the manager's effort at extortion to the police.
10. The County Sheriff's Department refuses to investigate the tenant's complaints of aggravated perjury against the lawyer and official misconduct and official oppression against the judge. The reason for this is that the Sheriff's Department has a policy (formal or informal) of never investigating any complaint of a crime by an attorney or a judge in a courtroom, with the dubious rationale that these matters pertain to professional review organizations, as if attorneys and judges are a privileged class.
The result is that tenants, especially low-income tenants without college education, have no legal protection against avaricious managers.
Details of my own case are included in the affidavits included with this letter. These affidavits have already been submitted to the police and the sheriff's department, and have been scanned into their databases. Both the police and the sheriff's department have failed to conduct probable cause investigations, for the reasons stated in points 6 and 10 above.
I request the following:
(1) that the Chattanooga Police Department conduct a probable cause investigation regarding my complaint of extortion against the manager and the attorney identified in the relevant affidavits.
(2) that the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department conduct probable cause invesatigations into my complaints of aggravated perjury against the attorney and official misconduct (and official oppression) against the judge.
(3) that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation monitor the responses of the Chattanooga Police Department and the Hamilton County Sheriff to requests (1) and (2) above.
The U.S. Supreme Court siding with the Department of Homeland Security to allow federal border officials to cut state-installed razor wire along the Rio Grande "does not stop us from protecting our areas that we control, that are owned by Texas governments," says Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
"All they did was remove the injunction from the federal government to come onto our property and cut down wire," Paxton said Friday during an appearance on Newsmax's "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE."
"It does not stop us from protecting our areas that we control, that are owned by Texas governments, and it does not stop the state of Texas from continuing to put up fences and wire, so it doesn't do anything to change what we should be doing," he added.
"I don't think [Texas Gov. Greg Abbott] is going to stop, I don't think he should stop."
Texas has installed rows of razor wire in the park and says more is being added after the Supreme Court cleared the way for Border Patrol agents to cut or remove the sharp metal barrier. The fencing has become one of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's most visible measures to deter migrants in the border city of Eagle Pass.
Texas seized control of the park this month and began denying entry to Border Patrol agents, escalating a feud between Abbott and President Joe Biden's administration, which the governor accuses of not doing enough to curb illegal crossings. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security sent the state a letter demanding access again to Shelby Park, which is next to the Rio Grande.
I will suggest that now Governor Abbott has a modern-day "Nullification Crisis" primed and ready for whenever it seems politically convenient to provoke a constitutional crisis.
I will further suggest that Abbott's itch to "go all the way" is being tempered by his constituents' hopeful fantasy of Trump back in the Oval Office.
Mr. Abbot, in citing the Founders rather misses the point they were making when they talked of 'invasion', by which they meant military operations bent on conquest of the kind the British had launched during the Revolution. These people are not coming to conquer the US, but rather to find within its borders the kind of nation the Founders hoped to create. The immigration situation is a problem we have failed to deal with for a rather long time, but it hardly constitutes what the Founders were concerned with. Indeed, the Founders welcomed immigrants, of which Mr. Hamilton was a prime example.
Whether or not the Federal Government has been lax in enforcement, that does not mean that a state can attempt what the Constitution says is Federal jurisdiction. That also applies to the third charge. Abbot's argument is akin to that of someone has attacked or imprisoned or carried into some distant parts a beggar who accosted him on the street begging for money with the defense that he was justified in protecting himself. Such an argument might fly if the 'someone' had threatened him with a weapon, but the immigrants have threatened no one. They are only begging (for asylum).
How many people do you know that are dumb enough to go running during a thunderstorm? But Abbott got his revenge....
A 27 year old Greg Abbott was jogging in the upscale River Oaks Houston neighborhood in 1986. It was a windy day. A limb fell off of a tree and hurt him. The limb sadly crushed Greg Abbott’s spine and damaged his kidneys.
After the accident Greg Abbott sued both the homeowner and the tree care company. He won a very large settlement. He has collected $6 million so far.
So pathetic that the TX justice system awarded him this huge judgment when he was clearly at fault. It's hard to imagine a jury would have come up with a judgment that paid out for Abbott's entire life and with a 4% compounded kicker as well.
And he condemns women to death that require an emergency abortion. And puts razor wire in the Rio Grande that has already killed people.
Abbott- a man who allowed a woman and child to drown in a barbed wire fence at the border river. Disgusting. He should stand trial for his murderous actions. There is NO justification for his actions. And he claims to be “right to life”. Shame on him and you.
Have you not heard....? “Further, Congress needs to finally provide the funding I requested in October to secure the border. This includes an additional 1,300 border patrol agents, 375 immigration judges, 1,600 asylum officers, and over 100 cutting-edge inspection machines to help detect and stop fentanyl at our southwest border. Securing the border through these negotiations is a win for America. For everyone who is demanding tougher border control, this is the way to do it. “
How many did Trump prosecute? There are over 12 million undocumented here in the US millions of them illegal and many working in TX.
Trump actually paid for illegal documentation for illegals working at his golf courses. But that's ok with you isn't it John? Did he ever have them deported?
*It's a piecemeal problem, divided by 3 or more interpretation, application and enforcement departments, plus stir in court rulings. Also the flood at the border, which is being instigated, failed to be met by congress in it's failure to fund additional judges and courts for lawful processing. Read the following for just a taste sampling of complexity over time. >>
In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that immigrants cannot be held indefinitely if no country will accept them for deportation in Zadvydas v. Davis.[17] Enforcement of immigration law was reformed following the September 11 attacks, shifting focus to national security. The Immigration and Nationalization Service was split into the Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Customs and Border Protection.[2] The Real ID Act of 2005 placed restrictions on individuals applying for asylum, and the Secure Fence Act of 2006 began the process of building a fence across the Mexico–United States border.
After the failure of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, no significant immigration reform legislation has been enacted into federal law. President Obama adopted the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals in 2012, which as of 2023 is prohibited from adding new recipients but has not been struck down or repealed by President Biden due to the Supreme Court decisions in United States v. Texas (2016) and Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California (2020).
Thank you Dan. Maybe this will calm Schmeckle down for a day or two.
I don't remember the exact number, nor can it really be quantified, but something like 35% of US born Americans have never traveled outside of their state.
Besides feeling bad for these people, they don't get a chance to interact with other people to learn that we all are way more similar than we are different. I've been fortunate enough to travel to Mexico and Canada many times and love to meet the people along the way. Sure, they are one time friends for the most part, but like a picture saying 1000 words traveling says the same.
How can one help but learning when we travel? When I was a kid, my parents would save all year so that we could take a vacation in our 1962 Bel-air Chevy station wagon pulling a pop-up trailer. On one trip my mom made us tour a meat packing plan in Albert Lea Minnesota, My little sister was 6, my older sister 13 and I was 10. Our first stop on the tour was to see them kill the hogs. That's a sight one never forgets, unless they are really good at repressing memories.
There is no question but that millions of people are desperate to get into the United States where their lives will be safe. To "fix" this problem, we need to attack the cause and not the symptom. We could, conceivably, get the Organization of American States (OAS) to marshal a force to oust the thugs that are causing the problem in the first place. How else to quell this huge migration?
"On Wednesday — and as the Texas National Guard and state troopers continued to roll out the wire and prevent federal agents from accessing much of the park — Abbott continued to publicly challenge the ruling and “hold the line." He declared that Texas was under an “invasion,” giving the state the constitutional right to defend itself..."
I think that Abbott is a lousy Originalist, with his creative definition of "invasion."
Abbott is easily mockable (just think Ben & Jerry's), but his two law-and-order points threaten to help persuade concerned moderates that Biden really isn't up for four more years.
You have to remember that everything he accuses others of is actually what he himself is guilty of, so "Absolutely Ridiculous" is just another accurate description of himself.
I cannot contain my glee at yesterday's ruling--finally, accountability by this goon where it hurts--being made to part with LOTS of his money. I have prayed that he goes broke and to prison. For the record, my prayers have already begun to be answered....
The electoral college will decide who is President, and that makes me mad and sad. Every vote should count, and they don't. Because of that, he may win again.
In November of 2024 smart women who take themselves and their needs seriously will vote for Joe Biden. Smart women know that they need access to necessary medical care if they miscarry (and one in 5 pregnancies do) …..smart women who respect themselves don’t want to have a convicted rapist as president. Smart women don’t want a president who was just punished with $83.3 million dollars in punitive and compensatory damages for further defaming the woman he raped….smart women want to get about as far away as possible from that man….and that’s smart!
The $83.3million probably won’t be reversed on appeal because it fits well in ‘below the 6-1 formula’ that is the punitive damages are less than 6 times the compensatory damages…which was really wise of Kaplan….Carroll’s lawyer…another very smart woman! The corollary is also sadly true!
Agree with you, Joan. Very smart women exist everywhere but today was a real vindication for E Jean and many others who have been silenced by rape. The award is appropriate considering that the con man is still shooting off his mouth on social media.
And why in heck do we even need to stress "smart" as if there's a need to strain against negative stereotypes, i gather which still circulate. Not a complaint mind you.
We need ALL women to vote in their best interest. As Adlai Stevenson responded when told by a supported that all of the smart people she knows are voting for him, "that isn't enough, I need a majority."
I love that Hailey gets under his skin ... and won't stop and is starting to take on acolytes like Daniels and Stephanie. More they goad him, the more he has to rattle his cajonies and keep coming back at them. Hope, after the SC primary, Hailey and Liz coordinate, even maybe with Hillary, and just keep tossing kitty treats out at his head. Ladies, do that thing that only you can do so well! Music to our ears.
Fred…..this is a belated follow-up to your ‘Haley gets under his skin’ thought….she has TShirts that say “Barred Permanently” that I love and I was thinking that there might well be a broader market among the rest of us for T Shirts that say “83 million in Damages is Positively Patriotic”…(given that Trump says “it’s Not American!
Great idea, Joan. How about an entire line of shirts (or, stylish hats) withe these kinds of undercutting slices imprinted in a sophisticated script or embedded in a sewn logo of no distinction beyond the term or epithet? With, perhaps the background color in common across each series? I thought of this when I first saw this tee-shirt.
Fred, She has come out publicly and said very clearly:
“I trust the jury” and this goes to the heart of the Trump campaign..that he is the object of hated of the ‘deep state’ etc…..
She is a leading REPUBLICAN, a WOMAN , a conservative….
And I’m reasonably sure this campaign is going to be won or lost on woman’s issues…and trashing and demeaning (AFTER raping) a now, 80 year old woman is most emphatically a woman’s issue in so many ways!
I could see a variety of T Shirts….and think I may want one myself…
I think I want a “I trust the Jury” with the dollar amount below….(in green) and the remark identified as hers….
Or perhaps a I O U
E.Jean
$ 83,300,000.00
Donald
Or God knows what else…but they should ALL have the dollar amount of the damages….it is noteworthy that Trump has gone silent on his ‘defenses in this matter’….doubtless Counsel has been heard from!
Good for our Heather to quote decent adults (in U.S. Senate, from both parties) speaking decently.
These who want to enact real legislation, to take care of real problems (at the southern border) have to contend with the more-numerous Republicans who want only chaos, who haven't an ounce of adulthood in them, who only want cravenly to follow their bully, rapist, insurrectionist in his diapers.
Let's look at murderers like Putin, Kim of North Korea, Netanyahu, and the Saudi royal Mohammed bin Salman. What do they have in common with nationalists pushing tribal hatreds such as Orban, Modi, and Hamas?
Answer is simple, those who murder and bully (and rape, and push insurrection) really hate both democracy and its lynch pin, the rule of law. They hate institutions that help us live together with respect for and enjoyment of our fellows.
So thanks to our Heather today for so nicely combining as she does her fondness for our few good adults, amid the sea of chaos and tribal hatred spawned from our many too many vulgar only.
"They hate institutions that help us live together with respect for and enjoyment of our fellows."
Note the salient figures who have been particularly skilled at achieving the mission above who have been assassinated. Solidarity is the antidote for authoritarianism, and demagogues know it.
Phil, as a resident of NC, please don’t ever credit Tillis for ‘speaking decently’, or anything else. The guy is a total douche, and like Trump, would only speak decently as a ruse towards something horrific. He led the GOP takeover of the NC legislature in 2010, from which we still suffer under the oppression of until this day. He’s also a coward, running down a back stairwell in the General Assembly to avoid being questioned during the Moral Monday protests while ‘serving’ as House Speaker. This is the guy whose anti-regulatory fervor led him to denounce the signs in restaurant bathrooms reminding employees to wash their hands.
I would like to double-check the claim that Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman is a murderer. I have heard the claim that Jamal Khashoggi was secretly convicted of treason in a Saudi court, so his killing in the Saudi embassy was allegedly an execution, not a murder.
p.s. Trump murdered Qassem Soleimani in full view (a high crime) while committing the high misdemeanor of misusing the military to murder. Soleimani was on a three-way peace mission when he was killed, according to public statements by Iraq (where the murder took place), Iran and Saudi Arabia.
This murder happened right in the middle of Trump's first impeachment brohuha, but THE DEMOCRATS DID NOTHING. Bernie harrumphed a bit, but he isn't even a Democrat.
It’s been whack-a-mole with Trumps misdeeds. Democrats ,and anybody else, are exhausted by attempts to corner that crook and sociopath when the GOP aids and abets him at every turn. Except for FINALLY Judge Kaplan and Jean Carol and a jury that loudly said ENOUGH. Now the Wall Street Journal. Perhaps, finally, the Emperor has no clothes, and soon, no allies. Stay in the race, Nikki Haley.
My point is that, in the middle of the impeachment circus, the Democrats literally let Trump GET AWAY WITH MURDER.
I thought that SOMEBODY among the Democratic leaders had to stand up and publicly denounce Trump's murder, on foreign soil, of a foreign general on a peace mission. Nobody did, so I did it myself, on my Facebook page.
You know, John, recognizing that you often intentionally take the worst side of a discussion, and straying from the original TRUMP RAPE topic for emphasis, I thought you and our other friends here might find that your last name is remarkably similar to Schmekel, the Yiddish word for PENIS.
Ahead of it, let's credit Orwell (especially "Politics and the English Language") for how what he called "bad language" lets slogans, abstractions, and other tribal longings carry people away.
Nationalists, dictators, and dark money managers let demagogues do the dirty work. But they can never carry away decent souls who have language to remember those they've loved.
The rest, Victoria? They forget. And they ride along with those with the dirty diapers, the caked-on orange facial make-up of those who most volubly hate. And hate and hate.
Breathing easier after today's Letter. This is one thing I particularly enjoyed: "And, of course, he never got Mexico to pay for his wall, as he repeatedly claimed he would, while President Joe Biden, in contrast, got Mexico to invest $1.5 billion in “smart” border technology and to beef up its own border security." tfg wouldn't know what "smart" technology was, other than the bit involving his on-line self-promotion with the infantile name of "Truth Social".
“Truth social” is as much a misnomer as “Make America Great Again.” I thought both an insult to America’s intelligence. Same with Alex Jones total crap. That so many are so stupid is an indictment of our “bottom third of turds.”
Make America Great Again has evolved (or devolved) into a term used to describe the Trump base. It never really meant anything and never defined a time in American history when things were, well, great.
I am content with my life in America right now as are most of the people I know. If America being great means that we are content and happy with our lives then most of us think America is great right now.
It's a lot like asking "Who or what is God?" Even people of the same religion will describe God in different terms. What could make the US better? Many things could, but as far as this entitled white guy is concerned, the bar is pretty high right now.
What could make the US better? Not having my rights as a woman and a member of the LGBTQ+ community under attack. Not having my friends and neighbors believing the awful tripe that the MAGAts espouse.
True, but I remember a time when I felt that the melting pot was a wonderful description of what we had become, and the Statue of Liberty meant something. Also Christians were not the worse iteration of what the gospels taught
I don’t understand why news people and pollsters keep asking if voters would still choose Trump IF he’s convicted of a crime. He HAS been convicted - of sexual assault/rape, defamation of E. Jean Carroll, and fraud in the operation of his businesses in NY. Why the IF? Are those crimes not big enough?
Agent Orange is pulling the strings on his own demise. I'm trusting him to end his own political career. He's a loser. He's going to keep losing. He wants to take this country to the grave with him. He will never stop trying to lose. He can't help himself spin out of control. Hopefully, MSM won't have a pity party for him.
Danielle, technically, he has been found civilly liable for conduct that meets the statutory definition of rape in the State of New York. The statute of limitations has expired on his facing criminal charges for his conduct, therefore the adjudications are for damages incurred as a result of the conduct, not the conduct itself.
I don't think that you can have a guilty verdict in that case because he is directly charged with civil fraud. While each state is different with respect to their specific definitions, I believe that in this case the conduct being adjudicated is fraud, and that as a civil case, generally, the penalty is liability rather than guilt.
As if Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization wasn’t enough to energize widespread opposition to the Party of Trump, congressional Republicans are poised to demonstrate their opposition to critically needed border policy legislation.
This state of affairs is painful to endure, but I am a little more hopeful that Americans may wake up and vote for Democrats who are on the sensible (and popular!) side of these issues.
If more Americans were even just half better informed than they seem to be, i doubt polls would be so hard on Biden. He's been a relief to my dull ears over the past few years. Common sense, simple decency versus bombast and viciousness. Then, I'm 78! AND, i do enjoy Heather's letters and the commentators.
Jonathan- do you currently live in Nebraska? I was born and raised there and still have family and friends in Omaha and Lincoln as well as family that farms around Hastings.
Most of my family are Democrats but most of my friends are Republicans in Nebraska. Are there any good Democrat hopefuls that can replace the Republicans in 2024?
I’m glad to see Biden speaking forcefully about the hypocrisy of the GQP on immigration. I’m shocked to see the WSJ actually speak the truth about the issue.
Maybe the donor class is starting to pucker at the antics of the fanatics spewing confederate-sounding stupidity. If the business “leaders” (I.e. the millionaires & above funding the GQP) actually start to realize the damage the fanatics will do to the country and economy, they might stop or at least slow down on pumping bribes into the GQP dark money machine . .
One can dream, seems that it would have occurred to the “smartest people In The room.” Oh wait, maybe they are just rich idiots who scammed their way into money, or inherited it, like the best carnival barker.l.
George, unfortunately, the donor class epiphany will probably come too late. Lust for profit trumps (no pun intended) everything else, as does status quo inertia when it comes to changing the policy paradigm.
“The only thing more likely than more American families continuing to lose loved ones to failed and counterproductive overseas wars will be a lack of any effective congressional resistance to US Middle East policy, most urgently Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people. Likewise, the only thing more likely than the B21 being another poorly performing MIC cash cow will be the lack of meaningful political opposition to the overall MIC gravy train. The inertia of both a militarized foreign policy that, through its actions, creates a circular reality that justifies continued military action and a military-industrial complex that now says the American people don’t have the right to know how much our weapons cost demonstrate a dangerous reality of American democracy and a terrible path ahead.”
Tom, I have searched for a synonym to use for that bridge term, and have been unsuccessful. None of them quite work in all situations, but I found the synonyms and antonyms very entertaining.
It is mind-boggling to think that one narcissistic adolescent bully has been able to enthrall so many for so long and to frighten otherwise reasonable elected officials into subservience. Much as E.Jean Carroll deserves our thanks and our admiration, so does Nikki Haley. Both women are, in different ways, making it clear that the would-be emperor has no clothes.
Heather...you and Joyce Vance are so needed. I eagerly look forward, with the hope you both impart, each day, to your "Letters" and Joyce's "Civil Discourse." Thank goodness for both of you! God sent 2 angels: Heather and Joyce! God bless you!
The Republicans have aligned themselves with Putin against democracy and European allies. Doesn’t anybody remember that Hitler started grabbing land before he blitzed Poland. Also, it is clear that Republicans don’t want to solve problems (ie govern) if they think the problem helps them maintain power that they only use for self aggrandizement. I will not say here what I think they deserve, but any employer, public or private would rightly fire any employee who acted this way.
Chump has been aligned with Putin from way back. We missed the chance in the 90’s to help Russia change, thanks to DeLay, Gingrich and the Repub self-righteous cretins. Putin didn’t miss his chance and here we are.
Blaming others is the holy grail for the vote blue no matter who cult. ‘Saving democracy’ is the other side of the ‘Make America Great’ propaganda coin. Neither gets at the corporate coup, and we’re all in the toilet now.
“But since Trump steamrolled the GOP clown car in 2016, establishment politics has increasingly consolidated under the umbrella of the one party that (just barely) succeeded in fighting off its populist challenger, the Democrats. The return to the Democratic tent of once-hated neocons like Bill Kristol (who was reportedly in attendance at the anti-No Labels meeting described by Semafor) has helped revamp the blue-party institutional space into something like a permanent Washington-against-the-world war council, fueled by an aristocratic contempt whose intensity is almost beyond comprehension.
These people reordered the geography of the world, blithely moved whole manufacturing sectors from one continent to another, started moronic wars that pointlessly killed millions and created millions more refugees, bailed out corrupt banks while whole regions went into foreclosure, and failed to accomplish much but a growing sense of foreboding and decline despite decades of promises to the contrary. Still, they feel sincere rage at the idea that they should have to earn votes.
The special anger Nader inspired came from his refusal to just “send a message,” saying things like “Isn’t that what candidates try to do to one another—take votes?” when Democrats suggested he stop “taking” votes from Al Gore or John Kerry, and run in “safe” states only. Again, never mind that they could have altered their own fortunes easily by prioritizing voters over donors just a little more. In their minds, this was not Nader’s call to make. In the minds of early 2000s Democrats, voters never elected Republicans. Ralph Nader did.”
Love your insight that just as a responsible employer would terminate an employee who maliciously commits unlawful acts, the judge and jury in Carroll v. Trump acted accordingly, as we voters will surely reject Trump’s support for murderous autocrats worldwide in 2024 (assuming the Supreme Court fails its duty to exclude that insurrectionists from the ballot).
Ironic that it's possible that the E. Jean Carroll case could be appealed to the US Supreme Court.
I wouldn't be surprised if they reduced the amount of the judgment or overturned the verdict altogether. This would open the door for Rudy as well as other defamation cases against the various MAGANAZI's out there to have their cases overturned.
Currently SCOTUS is rewriting law which is outside of their scope. Nothing they do at this point surprises me. Trump has them in his pocket.
Thanks. "The will of the people,, as I heard many times from leaders trained in Russia in the '70s means nothing when "the people" are controlled by fake news and propaganda. Why don't more people realize what's going on?
Thank you, Heather, for pointing out what has been bothering me, that Trump is a private citizen and should have no influence on decisions of lawmakers. Yet, too many GOP legislators in both houses kowtow to this criminal as to a mafia don. Romney rightly calls out Trump's demands and the acquiescence of Senate colleagues as appalling. The right wing media continues to refer to TFG with the title President. He has not been such for 3 years. May it never be so again!
And Mike Johnson is openly telling all of us that he gets direction from Traitor every day. Johnson acts like this is normal, acceptable behavior. It is not! He should be called out on it every time he acknowledges it's happening.
Absolutely! It's mind boggling that they are allowed to stay while working at odds against the very oaths they took to uphold the Constitution. Does the military allow it, or Federal employees? No, they court martial or fire disloyal employees.
What magical snake oil lubricant does Johnson use to get around his oath of office?
Meanwhile in Hungary, Orban and his government have unequivocally placed all their bets on a Trump victory and, consequently, the triumph of a new US-Russian Axis, in which he, Orban, will be a kingpin.
Read today's Financial Times report in which the US Ambassador to Hungary describes the situation and Orban's fantasy-world propaganda just as it is.
All this, to say nothing of the approaching crunch in July, when Hungary is supposed to take up the EU presidency...
You're concerned that Orban seems to be the darling of the Republican Party?
But of course they love him, he's a criminal. A successful crime boss.
It took me a while in the 80s to wake up very gradually to the fact that many ordinary people adore a criminal politician, one who says what they never dared to say, one who does what they'd never dare to do, abusing power every which way, helping himself to public funds, consorting with hoodlums, holding orgies for his cronies. And getting away with it.
Their ideal hero's no longer a healthy outlaw like Robin Hood, it's the Sheriff of Nottingham. Official power held, used and abused. He sweet-talks the poor even while he's robbing them to bribe the rich. He loves and serves the tyrant King John, makes sure the Lionheart's ransom never gets paid. (He's pocketed it...) And Robin he frames, pinning onto him (and to anyone that gets in his way) his very own crimes...
And they love him, they all come crawling to him...
Time to rewrite all our folk tales. It's Ali Baba who suffers the fate of Magnitsky while the Forty Thieves, the cops-and-robbers, in and out of uniform, just keep adding to their stash.
CRIME PAYS !!!
And the 40 Thieves never tire of rubbing the message in.
When poor Navalny walked into that trap, whose portrait presided over his consignment to the Gulag of a thousand-cuts?
Why, that of NKVD boss Yagoda whose house, when the time came for Stalin to dispose of his now supernumerary butcher, was found to be bursting with gold, with cash, with jewelry, with furs, with precious wines.
Today, in our 21st Century, it's Capone for President and that zoot-suited Gotti for Veep...
HCR, Thank you! Every day, you move us incrementally closer to saving our inclusive, egalitarian democracy with accurate and hard hitting accounts of the fight. As Nelson said, “Go right at them!” And, you do.
I always wonder, something like, Joyce White Vance - what do these maga parents explain to their children that they support an insurrectionist/rapist ?
I know Nikki Haley is not my friend but I'm rooting for her, right now, to get Trump on the stage !
His comment, "Absolutely Ridiculous" is actually correct, that a "man" found guilty of the disgusting acts described in paragraph 8 was actually able to be called POTUS in the USA. But,...only once and Never again.
Yes. Spot on.That the Republican Party is trying to glom this embarrassment of a man onto the American people as their representative to the world is beyond belief.Every day I become more appalled and angry at this.If we ever rid ourselves of this lying grifter, laws must be put in place that a POTUS who has been impeached(twice)and also who has been indicted multiple times cannot run for this office again.
Victoria, I was kind of shocked, yet very pleased, when I read my senator's (Thom Tillis) statement in this letter. I have tried corresponding with him several times but have had no response.
I immediately sent an e-mail congratulating him on finally seeing the truth about Trump, and acknowledging the failure of his colleagues to recognize that truth.
We can only hope that more and more politicians, and more Trump supporters, will come to their senses and recognize the dangers that he presents if reelected.
I stay appalled and angry also, which isn't good for one's well-being. This little nugget of truth by Tillis makes me feel better.
It’s a little too little it’s a little too late. All these pearl clutching politicians and lawyers (George Conway) are all part of the reason we are here. They’ve all helped create this Frankenstein moment, they’ve all played their parts and now, just as we are at the edge of the cliff that they all helped drive to, they are desperately trying to pull the emergency brake. Yes, thank goodness they are finally doing the right thing and speaking up. If only they had that integrity long ago, we may not be on the cliffs edge.
As near as I can tell, George Conway has always been anti-Trump. Much of the blame has to go to the media, especially right wing media like Fox, for giving so much air-time to Trump and pro-Trump politicians and not nearly enough time to Conway, Michael Steele, Steve Schmidt and other critics of Trump. Almost every Sunday when I tune in to Face the Nation or Meet the Press there's another Republican lawmaker trashing Biden, Very little is said about the terrific rebound our economy has made since Covid under Biden.
So true!!
Thank-you for sharing this.It is becoming increasingly more obvious each day how totally unfit this person is to run anything let alone our country.
Unfit is right! I realized this the first time I heard candidate Trump open his mouth, and have been incredulous for eight years that so many people don't see this.
As a citizen of North Carolina, I witnessed Thommy twice vote against impeaching the orange monster! TWICE! Recall he wins re-election because the Democratic challenger was morally bankrupt like the orange monster, had an affair with the wife of a friend!!! Until that was revealed about his opponent, Thommy was losing in the polls. He’s in the senate by default!
On several occasions Thommy has voiced against the party line, however he eventually ‘gets religion’!
I think its good to recognize and acknowledge when someone shows courage in the light of backlash and criticism. He finally found some integrity.
I wish Greg Murphy would. He still claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent and voted against impeachment.
He claims to be a "christian."
I asked him about his stubborn support of Donal Trump, a man who is one of the least christian persons ever.
Thank you!
😊
Gillis was my Senator as well. His comments were a bit surprising to say the least. His petticoats must be cleaner than many R’s in Congress. He’s out of the Heritage Foundation stables so maybe he got cleaned up a bit.
Victoria we already have such laws. We just need the will to enforce them! Lets hope the Supreme Court has the courage to uphold the constitution and it's 14 Amendment.
IF "we ever rid ourselves of this lying grifter"...right, but if we don't, there won't be a country any more.
Not sure why this law has not already been enacted. We have had 7 years to do so. Oh! The do-nothing congress, our tax dollars pay, doesn't want to!
Impeachment is the equivalent of indictment. Given the state of our politics today with the House trying to impeach Biden, conviction has to be the standard. But I am very very reluctant to restrict voters' choices. Would rather rely on the courts. Let's face it when things are this bad, process remedies are difficult..
Suzanne, it would not be you restricting voter's choices, it is the constitution.
Voters choice is restricted by age, must be 25; by birthright, founders ganged up on Hamilton who was not born in the states! A section of the 14Th Amendment prohibits insurrectionists from running for office!! Yes, part of our constitution! But then I am being silly, since the Robert’s court follows its own version of the constitution! And only the 2nd Amendment is sacred!
I believe there was actually an attempt for DT to be impeached, and he was saved from it by his followers. We don't need to be inaccurate to state all the awful acts this man has been convicted (not just accused) of. And there are more accusations which hopefully will turn into convictions since he is so obviously guilty. But ya never know. Truth is not always served.
I’m remembering a lovely couple who had stopped to take picture of a Trump meeting establishment in my town and pretty much in the center of my town! Of course I and a friend stopped to have conversation with the couple. What was a surprise was how they expressed their displeasure with the meeting place. Of course I added there is a large size elephant on wheels and expressed how sad this couple wasn’t able to see the elephant(with sarcasm in my voice which I believe we chuckled as well). They took pictures and were just in disbelief at this showing.
It’s still a meeting place but report is it doesn’t seem to be a happening place.
I just affirm the truth will continue to happen!
On the mark.
This is what happens when you don’t teach your children to keep their hands to themselves and shut up if you can’t be kind #parenting
Carla,
American culture supports and cultures white male rape at its very roots. Remember, it was Virginia that first legalized white male rape on black female slaves in order to produce more valuable slaves (half white).
Legalized rape for white men. Yep. Look it up. It is true. Think Thomas Jefferson when you think of that law.
Trump's sense of being untouchable comes from American culture PLUS a much deeper and more fierce source than just not being able to keep his hands to himself. Trump's father taught him that all things were his to have. Period.
And? For almost all of Trump's life those lessons have been reinforced by an America has been very supportive of Trump's "transgressions".
New York allowed him to run roughshod over the entire city with his father's inherited wealth.
Women also allowed Trump to do whatever for many years. Trump once gave an interview with Howard Stern about how women allowed him to do whatever he wanted in NY City, Plus the fact that Trump wanted to do his own daughter.
Trump is not the only rich, tall, white American male that feels that all things are his to have. Not even close.
Now? Why am I NOT like Trump. Well, for one, I had a minority father. For two I had a white mother who married a minority father to avoid the whole white culture thing.
So, it IS possible to be raised as a respectful man in America. BUT, one needs to be well outside the white community to get that kind of respect.
Thanks Mike, but the fact that modern rape and sexual assault laws exist at all and even get enforced , mostly put forth by the same white males you brush across the board as sexist and misogynist, renders your comments I trust a bit of an overreach. And, I certainly wouldn't overdo putting this in a race context. I certainly do agree that the heritage of slavery and its sequel has been something of an abyss terrible to behold. I get reminded of this from time to time, eg a biography of Ulysses Grant, who fought an uncivil war to overthrow slavery only to see the US south successfully reimpose its near equivalent within decades, with Grant having to cave in; Northerners had given up on it. And, btw, this wasn't about women, and the right to rape with impunity, it was about domination, pure and simple. Cultural inequality with its evils has a long human history. Hope i didn't overdo this, but i did just finish listening to the death of Reconstruction in Chernov's remarkable biography of the good General.
Frank,
Ron Chernow is among my favorite authors. "Grant" was one revelation after another. Highly recommended! Especially in light of the horrific cultural heritage and "plantation DNA" flowing through the veins of millions who are still fighting that distant war.
Another book by Chernow that I read last year was "Titan". The parallels between J. D. Rockefeller's world of oligarchy, greed and dominance - and today - are chilling.
Ill keep an eye out for that. It took a while to tackle Grant, but once it got going, it is really something. I see we are virtual "neighbours". I live on the other side of the St Croix. Havent been over the border for a while, except vicariously, but i do have a new passport. You are so right about the "horrific cultural heritage". Just the same, in many ways things have moved along in a big way. Can we thank Hollywood and "Matt McConaughey" for some of that :)
Just downloaded and started the introduction to Titan. Might pick up audio on Audible. Thanks, Bill.
Said by a man.
Ask a 15 year old girl about rape. One who told no one. And the millions of women who suffer silently. Ask the millions whose rape kits are thrown in the trash.
You congratulate yourself too much.
I cannot disagree when it's personal, and yes, women most certainly are the main victims of rape, by a huge margin. My point though was that most men in fact do not rape. Stats are variable, likely thanks to under reporting, but the range seems to be 6% to 15% from what i can find for now. which in my mind is still huge, and considering maybe 1/5 of women testify to being raped or assaulted. I"m not congratulating anyone, Jen. Much of what i wrote then went off on another topic.
Frank, as someone who was on the "first line" of investigation of rape/sodomy/sexual abuse/child abuse investigations, the ones that actually get reported hover (at my best guess) a descending percentage of 50-40-20 respectively. Yeah, white men wrote the laws, but mostly in defense of what they perceive as their property. It is hard to get outside the paradigm of presumed white male supremacy and privilege, but that is the very foundation of all the laws in this country.
Rape is a male problem. It has nothing to do with skin colour or heritage.
For one example, look to India, they have had a huge rape problem there for years.
My Dad did better than chump’s father, just by being a flawed, but decent poor white man. Your observations are correct, but it is possible for little white boys to have decent dads.
Yes, you are right. But, I went to school with way too many white kids who showed up all bruised and beat up as kids to think that becoming a white man is something that results in kind, gentle, intelligent, thoughtful human filled with respect for others.
Plus Jeri, as you know, I learned to fist fight down in Texas to keep my own self and my sisters safe (from white kids). Not an easy task.
Glad I had a dad who was a flawed man, but not a brute. Sadly, working at public schools I saw much of what you did and what you went through. It gets passed on as much as genetic material. So glad you broke the chain.
We have way too many rape apologists walking the streets. As seen with the tens of thousands rape kits thrown in the trash every year. It's only going to take another 230 years for true equality. Misogyny kills women.
Absolutely true Lisa. Rape is about control and violence and many men from the beginning of time who believe it is their ‘right.’ It’s sickening.
'No' means, I'll take what I want. I've been there. I don't know a single woman who hasn't been sexual assaulted in some way. Be it verbally, emotionally, mentally or ultimately physically. Maybe some women have been able to escape it. But, I've never met one.
Here you have a serial rapist (ex-president of US) who brags about what he feels is his privilege, grabbing women by the p****, and here's a woman who accuses him of exactly that and a jury counters his denials by holding him accountable with a verdict of making him pay an exorbitant sum of money. Isn't it glorious when the judicial system works....
As evidence of slave raping is the obvious fact that most Americans of African descent have white blood pulsing through their vanes.
reading this fills me with sadness and determination
Thank you. Thank you for speaking the truth.
One only has to listen to the grab 'em tape and hear the odious Billy Bush or whatever his name was, giggling as drumpf describes his MO. Unfortunately after E Jean Carroll's suit we are treated to that again.
Rape is a sign of "manhood" to too many men. And women. Stockholm syndrome.
And thank you to your parents.
Mike S, I know all about rape culture and white male entitlement, and misogyny... all have negatively impacted my life. Neither of my two sons would EVER behave in the ways that toxic Trump has flaunted.
The problem is more complex than this, since white men can be both prosocial and antisocial. White men have been in the majority in Congress, and all but one president has been a white man. Among those people many have helped the country progress. And, there are white men in every organization and agency doing the "right thing." While it's true that white men often get a pass, when it comes to boorish, antisocial behavior, many have also contributed to making improvements in our world. When we condemn a whole group, without considering how much more complex they can be, aren't we doing exactly what we are accusing them of doing?
I must disagree. Most white men, at least those alive today, do not fit your stereotype. And I suspect that most while men in America never fit your stereotype. Which doesn’t for a moment excuse those who have and do.
"it IS possible to be raised as a respectful man in America. BUT, one needs to be well outside the white community to get that kind of respect."
That's bullshit, Mr. S. That Donald Trump sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll does not means every, or even most, white men wish to do that to anyone. We do not. To suggest all white men are rapists is to suggest all black men are thugs or all Jews are clever with money or all women are helpless. It's racist and sexist AF, so please reconsider your words.
Mike S,
The Jefferson story:
TJ promised his wife, on her death-bed, that he would never marry again. Later, in Paris, he sent for Sally (to be a maid for his daughter) and her brother (to be a chef). Sally was the half-sister of Jefferson's deceased wife. She could have stayed, free, in Paris like her brother did, but she agreed to go back with him to Virginia as his concubine.
Sally Hemings was still TJ’s slave.
Yes indeed. She enjoyed a modicum of agency denied to most slaves, together with the promise that her children would be freed.
Was it worth it? Was Jefferson good or bad as a lover/master? Should she have chosen to stay in France as a free woman?
And the economic and cultural legacy of white rape is why white men often view black women as promiscuous “ho’s” and treat black children as if they were adults. In this way, white men can blame black women for the terror they have inflicted on them throughout our nation’s history.
Carla, I agree: penises being kept in trousers instead of on display should be a parenting issue all over the world--rape and sexual assault is not only a USA problem--but the deeper roots of the problem are the continuing and apparently near universal belief that female bodies exist merely to be exploited and traumatized by males for their own entertainment, and the dearth of robust laws and a legal system that underpins and supports women's and girls' bodily autonomy. It isn't just that we need an international ERA, it is that we need everyone--and I mean EVERYONE--to stand up and challenge this universal exploitation and traumatization of females of every age, ethnicity., culture, etc. Look at the news from yesterday about the WWE guy who was FINALLY forced to resign after egregious sexual exploitation of women in his employ. This isn't "just" a Trump issue. It's a penis issue.
Exactly, but more so a penis owner's issue.
AH, I agree, but since most owners of penises think said member is actually their brain, it's kind of driving the bus . . .
We always called that "letting the little head do the thinking".
Don't forget that the anti-abortion movement has always been based in control of women and is very much within the rape culture.
Best case of parenting failure in our history.
I recommend viewing oth newly released movie "Origin". His vile behavior is not lack of self-control. It is perpetrating "caste" .
Having just seen "Origin", and being in the middle of reading the book 'Who Cooked the Last Supper: The Women's History of the World" by Rosalind Miles, I came here to say your comment. Rape is a method of violence (one of the pillars of Caste) used to dehumanize a person (another pillar of Caste). Historically, a woman's power of creation (once mystically worshipped) was ground into nothingness by phallic religions (claiming similar but opposite mystical powers), and by monotheistic religions, which arose with a male godhead after the phallic religions to further assert male dominance. One male God also meant that the opposite of male was assumed to be a lower caste, and for centuries there was nothing women could ever do to change their devalued status into nothing more than property, breedstock and (unclean) labor. Many religions even had to make up a virgin giving birth mythology to create a male godhead unsullied by the blood of woman (so claimed by followers of Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Plato,, Ghengis Khan, Quetzelcoatl, and Montezuma. Pg. 97 in the chapter God the Father.") On pages 98 and 99 are the Pillars of Male Supremacy
1. Women were stripped of any choice in marriage. (Just like the "Caste" Pillar of regulating marriage and sex.)
2. Women were denied security within marriage. (Only men could divorce and there was no marital rape)
3. Women were forced to live within marriage as the outside world was forbidden. (Most drastically in Chinese and Islamic society. )
4. Women were victims of patriarchal laws, losing even the rights to their own bodies. (See Dobbs)
The 2 books and the movie are hard topics, but very worthwhile challenges to the status quo. Note that when women ruled, things were not all that great for men either. So none of this should be considered a plea to return to any sort of hierarchy. HIERARCHY Is the problem...in all its formats.
The idea behind calling a man's sperm seed is that each sperm, like a seed, contains all that makes up a human being; a woman is a vessel where the seed is nourished until developed enough for birth, but no part of the woman is needed to create life.
This ia an ancient idea but still the basis for modern philosophy.
That is indeed the thought behind much current philosophy. It's also entirely false. I have read a lot of well written arguments and researched documentation on this. Woman doesn't just carry a child, she builds it, cell by cell, out of her own body. The DNA supplied by the woman is the original template for all embryos, and is the vast majority of actual genes. Male DNA is required but is an extremely small piece of the whole and tends to work by deviating the "normal" female template. The uterus is fortress designed to enable a woman to survive pregnancy as well as weed out weak embryos. You might also enjoy the recent book Eve which presents a good case for how and why human pregnancy developed into one of the most inefficient methods of reproduction and childbearing ever recorded.
In a long ago “women’s study”class in the 70s. We were told that female suppression started when the men were able to capture animals alive. Before that time sex was something enjoyed by everyone with Everyone. When you had your own little herd of ducks, geese or elephants. The male need to know that these items would be past down to his “seed “only. Women became fenced in with the other animals. I think it was just a theory, but interesting.
Is Orign at the movies, or on a home venue?
Limited release in theatres last evening.
Thanks Victoria
I never had to teach my children any of this. Somehow, they picked it up on their own....they were treated fairly at home which I think is one key to raising decent human beings.
And, will we see him back in court again because he cannot stop himself? Will he be sans his current remaining attorney Habba, since she is probably going to be investigated by the Bar Association for improper conduct in court? Will anyone else want to be his lawyer for their 15 seconds of fame, since it isn't going to be for money, since he doesn't pay them? Will the courts ask him to put up Mar-a-lago as collateral to keep in the court's trust while Trump appeals the finding? Will he be back and next time be given a higher fine that covers his remaining assets?
Linda,
I’d hoped that the fine would have a continuing portion: X dollars per derogatory mention of Carroll. My idea would be $1 million per mention. And maybe, after each 10 mentions, the amount per mention would double.
I read he got another high-dollar lawyer for another case. I can't keep all the indictments straight at this point!
It seems that either these lawyers want the free publicity, or have made sure to get paid.
Allegedly his PACs are paying the lawyers.
Perhaps it's important to acknowledge and answer the Republican constitutional argument that the Biden administration is already failing to enforce the law and the constitution, so (they say) a new border bill isn't going to do any good. Following is the text of Texas Governor Abbott's recent press release. What is the rebuttal?
January 24, 2024
The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States. The Executive Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting States, including immigration laws on the books right now. President Biden has refused to enforce those laws and has even violated them. The result is that he has smashed records for illegal immigration.
Despite having been put on notice in a series of letters—one of which I delivered to him by hand—President Biden has ignored Texas’s demand that he perform his constitutional duties.
• President Biden has violated his oath to faithfully execute immigration laws enacted by Congress. Instead of prosecuting immigrants for the federal crime of illegal entry, President Biden has sent his lawyers into federal courts to sue Texas for taking action to secure the border.
• President Biden has instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants. The effect is to illegally allow their en masse parole into the United States.
• By wasting taxpayer dollars to tear open Texas’s border security infrastructure, President Biden has enticed illegal immigrants away from the 28 legal entry points along this State’s southern border—bridges where nobody drowns—and into the dangerous waters of the Rio Grande.
Under President Biden’s lawless border policies, more than 6 million illegal immigrants have crossed our southern border in just 3 years. That is more than the population of 33 different States in this country. This illegal refusal to protect the States has inflicted unprecedented harm on the People all across the United
States.
James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and the other visionaries who wrote the U.S. Constitution foresaw that States should not be left to the mercy of a lawless president who does nothing to stop external threats like cartels smuggling millions of illegal immigrants across the border. That is why the Framers included both Article IV, § 4, which promises that the federal government “shall protect each [State] against invasion,” and Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which acknowledges “the States’ sovereign interest in protecting their borders.” Arizona v. United States, 567 U.S. 387, 419 (2012) (Scalia, J., dissenting).
The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, § 4 has triggered Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense. For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and
protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary. The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel are acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border.
Actually, the government has a legal immigrant program. Did you know about that, or are you under the misguided belief that all immigrants to this country are here illegally? It is a program that helps keep our robust economy going. Instead of being permanently short of workers like the EU is making itself as it tries to block immigrants from coming in, who could be replacing their aging population with workers, the USA has a robust immigration system where we welcome people who can fill both high and low skilled jobs.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate.html
A year ago we had 10 million job openings for much needed employees, and only 5 million Americans who needed jobs. That leaves a need of 5 million people. Sane policy does not rely on forcing women to give birth to babies they don't want, or are unwell, and rely on child labor to fill those job openings when there are lots of people who need and want to come and live and work in the USA. Texas itself is a state where at least 1/3 of the people are immigrants. So, it is basically promoting getting rid of a third of their population. Their governor is barbaric, and is sending people to cities like Chicago where I am from to deal with the immigrants. Being blocked by Republicans, the Biden administration is not able to swiftly address whether or not people have a legal right to be in the USA, and not able to process people legally in a timely manner. Whatever plan is decided on that includes what Republicans want, it is going to take more money, and by blocking that money, for personnel and equipment, the Republicans are making it harder to control the border not better. However, controlling the border does not mean violating human rights.
Great repartee and reminder of the nuances of the immigration "problem". USA stands at virtually "full employment", thanks to post covid recovery, lots of work available in service sectors many Americans think beneath them, or they're just not up to it. This crisis has gone on for years and years, and if nothing else, it just shows what a powerhouse the American economy has been. We might, on the side, remember that Mexico is one huge trading partner of good old USA. "vermin" , honest to God!
Actually, the largest now. China slipped to number two last month.
It's complicated; no one wants to hear that and neither do congress critters of good and lawful intentions; It's all piecemeal / multifaceted, and hasn't been addressed in anything near comprehensive since 1980 or thereabouts. Fencing was addressed pre OiD and found to be impossibly expensive with little return of expected prevention; other ways were found to circumvent, as anyone of even average intelligence should easily comprehend. Because it's not resolvable it manifests as just the type of electioneering grievance for the do-nothing gop. I found wealths of info online regarding all that, and easily found.
Thank you Linda. So true. We live in Michigan where a large part of our economy is driven by fruit farming. When Drumpf started attacking immigrants (recently calling them vermin) not only couldn't people come who had worked on these farms but even if they could make it here they didn't because it was too frightening for them. White Americans don't want to pick cherries, apples, blueberries, strawberries, etc., etc. Fruit fell to the ground or rotted on the trees and bushes. Fruit prices skyrocketed due to the less being available. These people aren't coming to "steal" American jobs. Trust me, Americans don't want these jobs...they are too hard!
There is a huge shortage of labor on farms throughout upstate New York too. They need skilled people from other countries to harvest produce.
Colette, thanks for this story! I know agricultural workers are needed or farmers cannot survive in most cases! Several of our cousins in Germany are farmers and we know that they hire people from Romania to help them harvest. There are other things where help is needed. The idea that the farming family can do it all themselves, especially sans lots of children, is unrealistic.
Beautifully written!
I still wish folks would make this distinction. The folks breaching the border are asylum seekers. Immigrants have applied to work/ live in the country through legal means. They eventually become citizens.
Once upon a time, I lived, worked and socialized surrounded by immigrants from Mexico and Central America, many of them illegal.
It sounds like you, together with Corporate Joe Biden, want to exploit immigrants who will work at super-low wages that U.S. citizens reject. Perhaps you can refine your presentation? (Or perhaps you just said the quiet part out loud? Well-heeled readers of HCR want cheap-and-plentiful darkies to do the scut work, and flip those burgers, too. Perhaps we should change our semi-feudal income hierarchy.)
Perhaps you or someone else could rebut Governor Abbott's charge that Biden is failing to enforce the immigration laws.
If left unrebutted, that one will gain traction.
People cannot BE ILLEGAL, they can be living here illegally, which means they are undocumented! I know Polish and German people who have lived in the USA in undocumented status as well as Mexican people. I assume there are undocumented people living here from all countries. There are those who are students who overstay their visas, or people who fall in love, who overstay their visas, and sometimes marriage solves that status. I live in a university community in the US that has a lot of foreign faculty members. Sometimes there is a problem with their working visa status, and under some circumstances they could be here for a period illegally while it is being sorted out. That makes them undocumented during that time. So, do not assume just low skilled people are here with undocumented status, or people from Mexico, and South and Central America. There are plenty of people from Europe living here with undocumented status, as there has been all through the time of this country. I am the child of a documented immigrant, and the wife of another documented immigrant. We have known many people to overstay their tourist and student visas for a variety of reasons, who stayed here to try to get documented status. When my mom came to the USA, it was very easy for a European to get in, and she said the questions they asked of her were really stupid. She came to the West Coast by ship to visit a pen pal, and after many adventures there, where she was exploited, she applied to graduate school and ended up in Chicago. Her sister also got in easily and legally to visit my mom, and after going back to Germany came back here to live and work. They were asked if they had a criminal background, and that was it. My husband came as a postdoc. The university has lawyers to help with visas for working there. My mother did a lot of scut work including working in the San Juan islands at a millionaire's daughter's camp, where they did not pay their mostly foreign help, at that time not Latinx or Asian, but Europeans, and my mom stowed away on a ferry to the mainland to work for a firm making topographic maps. She was also employed as child care, and as a blueberry picker. This is with a college degree from Germany. So, many people come to the USA, including in my family and work their way up. My mom and aunt worked crappy jobs until going to grad school, which they both did here, and improving their lot. After Reagan things were made harder for everyone to get ahead. Are you an immigrant or the child of a direct immigrant? In the USA I am surrounded by immigrants, who are mostly academics now, and I have a good sense of it. Right now I am living abroad, in my other country. So, I can be an immigrant/ex-pat and a citizen here too. In any way you look at it, we need to spend more money on immigration and that should be passed. I cannot change the capitalistic realities of work, but most of the immigrants I am surrounded by make far more money here than they would in their home countries, or they get to work in their field, and in their home country the are not enough jobs in their area. So, I am neither looking at immigration as supporting a semi-feudal system, although we could be providing more supports for immigrants when they come, if they do not come directly to a job. That too takes more money. My dentist is from Ghana, my primary care physician from India, and my next door neighbor on one side is from Israel, and on the other side is from Mexico. Where I live I have other neighbors from China, Israel, Finland, Germany, Egypt, Austria, and "Jordan!" All of them work for the university. Universities are communities that easily absorb immigrants. It is not feudal. I don't need to argue the Biden policies support legal immigration, and discourage people from coming in illegally because there is plenty documenting what he is doing. The reality. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/biden-three-immigration-record
I don't know what they do to round up undocumented Europeans who have overstayed their visas, or admission through tourism without a visa, but if they are not drawing government money, are committing no crimes, and are putting money into the economy, is that the direction we want to spend our hard earned tax dollars? I don't think so.
Love your informative discourse, Linda, and your personal stories. It's good to broaden the frame of reference of the overall immigration situation. Otherwise, i was gonna say it doesn't pay to take up John's bait traps. You did well! Thanks!
Frank Loomer,
"Bait trap"?
Abbott makes two particular charges for which I would like to see a good rebuttal:
Abbott accuses Biden of failing to prosecute immigrants for the federal crime of illegal entry.
Abbott also charges Biden with instructing federal agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants.
It seems that nobody around here wants to take on these Republican talking points.
Well-said, Linda! I made the same point about people who overstay their visas in response to another one of Heather's posts recently. IMHO, a lot of what Republicans say about immigrants is all about racism and xenophobia.
Calling undocumented immigrants "illegal aliens" show the "othering" by Abbot as well as this resident troll.
Linda Weide,
I spent four years in Korea as an ex-pat English teacher, and then a year in Indonesia.
I used the phrase "semi-feudal income hierarchy," which means the exploited, barely-surviving low-skill workers on the bottom (often immigrants), then the eroding middle class, and corporate barons on top of the heap.
John, you were not an exploited worker, and while my mom and aunt had exploitative shitty jobs when they first came here from Germany (both are now retired), they worked their way up to good jobs. I was fortunate to be born into that set up, not my mom's low wage status or no pay, exploited jobs. It is the process, which immigrants are happy to join as long as they think they, or more importantly their children can get ahead. Everything is relative. You are talking about going from a high wage country to lower wage ones in your experience, but I do not understand the relevance to our immigration situation. I do not support exploiting workers, but the reality is that for most who come here, and that is legal immigrants, they are coming to something better than they left behind, or else they would stay at home. Now, if you want to talk about the people who are involved in slavery of immigrants, I am all for making sure that there are more checks and balances to prevent that from happening.
Mr Schmeeckle, this reads like you haven't even read today's missive by HCR.
Clearly Mr Abbott's charge is codswallop.
Isn't that actually why the Republican freedom cacas are blocking everything? So the Abbott can spin such deceptions?
Surely? .... or have I missed something?
codswallop is my new word of the day! Thank you CC!
Christopher Colles,
Abbott makes two particular charges for which I would like to see a good rebuttal:
Abbott accuses Biden of failing to prosecute immigrants for the federal crime of illegal entry.
Abbott also charges Biden with instructing federal agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants.
Look to the mainstream press for your rebuttals. If you do not find them, they are not doing their jobs, and that is where your ire should be.
Your use of the word “darkies” is but one small step away from using the “N word”. I’ve reported this comment, and I urge other readers to do the same.
I caught that as well, even though I usually skip over his long winded blather. Not cool.
I acted. You exposed.
Bwahahahahahaaaaaaaa there you go again. I love it. You are one of the funniest guys on the Net. You actually quote Abbott's text! Now that takes balls...in front of this audience. Will you be on SNL soon...can't wait. Hilarious..!
Thank you bruce klassen for seeing the humor in this. I ask for a rebuttal of Abbott's three points (including the constitutional argument), because this will be grist for Republican talking points for months to come.
OMG three jokes in one day...Bwahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa You are just too much, Smeegol Holuum, holum my precious.
But seriously,
Abbott makes two particular charges for which I would like to see a good rebuttal:
Abbott accuses Biden of failing to prosecute immigrants for the federal crime of illegal entry.
Abbott also charges Biden with instructing federal agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants.
Tell us John, what did TFFG do about the millions of people here on expired student visas, or about the northern border which was crossed by 3 times as many undocumented aliens as the southern border? I actually have had both undocumented Canadians and Mexicans working on my property. Did I directly hire them? No, but this did happen when Trump was President and Bush and Obama. Why is it so much worse to have my roof replaced by undocumented roofers than American citizens or have my yard maintained?
Do you believe that Trump's wall actually prevents people from entering the US? You do know it's well documented it has been breached over 4,000 times since it was erected. And it's also documented there are active tunnels under the border wall that TFFG did little or nothing to stop.
I work with hundreds of Indians almost all of whom are here on H-1B visas or green cards. I am aware of multiple occasions that they were deported when the TFFG administration refused to renew their green cards. In fact, I was retired and received a call from a Fortune 500 company begging me to come back because TFFG's immigration people refused to renew his green card. His green card had been renewed multiple times under Obama and Bush. One other fun fact, his wife was 7 months pregnant when ICE gave him two weeks to leave the country. Seems Trump and his people didn't want another Indian US citizen born on US soil so they deported him, his daughter who was in school and his pregnant wife. And I guess this is ok with you?
And what about Devin Nunes. Did you read the Esquire story on his family hiring undocumented workers for their farm in IA, even as Devin railed against undocumented people crossing the Southern border.
Or maybe you hadn't read the stories about TFFG's ICE turning Canadians trying to enter the US from Canada being banned for life from coming to the US because they had one or two joints on them.
Or perhaps you missed the stories about Trump forging "papers" for his golf course workers so he could underpay them and overwork them. Or the fact that Trump hired H-2Bs for Mar-a-Lago because he could pay them less than American workers. But, this is just fine with you because it wasn't Biden, huh?
And your dear leader, Trump pardoned convicted felons some of them for violent crimes, fraud and other crimes. Or that he was selling pardons for $2 million a piece?
But I digress.
So until you admit that TFFG did virtually nothing to curb the flow of undocumented aliens coming into the US as well as students overstaying their visas , your whining about Biden will be ignored.
I'm guessing you have no idea what is in the immigration deal the Senate has been working on because you are too busy trying to convince an army of Biden supporters that he is doing a terrible job.
Why don't you use your time to convince Gym Jordan, MTG, Matt Goetz, Boebert, Mike Johnson, Comer and others to support the bi-partisan immigration deal the Senate has worked out?
First we would need some evidence that any of that is true. I don't trust anything Abbott says.
Second, if there is any truth to it my understanding is that the immigration system doesn't have enough resources to function well. The new legislation contains more resources. That is a problem that needs to be solved by Congress passing the bipartisan legislation.
The statement by Abbott is just more political game-playing.
It is not illegal to enter to seek asylum. There are thousands of cases awaiting hearings. I think you know very little about the current broken immigration system or its history.
So you kill those people, right governor? I hope I live to see you arrested and get three hots and a cot.
The other day you commented that you knew a little bit of law.
FACT CHECK TRUE. You know 'little' about the law.
You in pro per lawsuit against your CHATTANOOGA, HAMiLTON COUNTY, TENN Defendants failed. Judgment for Defendants. At least Trump had Habba.
Your "appeal" was summarily dismissed with costs to be paid by you!
Do you wish to post the case number & Appellate Court's Order? Appeal to the Tennessee Supremes?
What do the Planets say?
He hijacked the comments again..
Why do people engage?
Because Substack inc has contractual duties to contractually defined "Readers" & "Authors" under their chosen choice state Law which is California law with its express state Constitutional Right of Privacy, Article 1 Section 7 & developing "tort" law based on those express rights.
What is it going to take get some Federal statutory protection for our digital world? Well, perhaps Taylor Swift as the victim of malicious "deep fakes" with millions of "hits" millions of viral smears.
E. Jean Carroll just recovered money awards of substantial money for her reputation & emotional distress damages (she cannot leave home).
Punitive damages a historic amount are for the purpose of halting repeated tortious attacks. Trial Lawyer 101, emotional distress has a profound CORPOREAL element. Just read E. Jeans testimony. The Jury (majority male) heard live testimony. That's their job listen to the evidence & evaluate credibility.
Substack Inc has very competent counsel but, they are doing little to protect two (2) of their mosts successful Authors, HCR & Joyce Vance on her appropriately titled Platform "Civil Discourse"..
Platforms are not ready for 2024 digital mayhem. Thus, they will be regulated if not on the wrong end of a major contractual disputes. Casey Newton's "Platformer" has left Substack Inc. Others will follow.
Protect "Authors" & "Readers".. "We are all in this together" as Joyce says.
Helpful analysis, Bryan. Thanks. Substack could improve the experience of reading comments by adopting a display protocol that makes it easy fof readers to skip the claptrap. The NYT’s current method does a good job in that dimension. They also monitor comments, but even without monitoring, their display protocol would still greatly improve reader experience.
Yup. Gotta scroll. Fingers tired.
That’s all he accomplishes, he’s just a chaos stirrer
We call him sh-t disturbers where I live.
Bryan...lol~
Trumpian Republicans lack knowledge.
I am getting VERY TIRED of repeatedly reporting his comments, muting and blocking him in Substack, and repeatedly having his comments appear which soil the good discussions and take up way too much space.
Apparently, the mute and block feature options hold for ONE DAY ONLY.
I would like to hope that Miselle gets more sleep.
I can’t blame John for trying if he felt his rights were violated. He is trying to right something using the justice system. There is probably more to the case on both sides that we don’t see. But, John, if you keep up the nutso here it’s going to keep us from getting to our daily activities that we deem productive... stuff other than commenting in this space
Bryan Sean McKown:
My two cases are both still alive, and have touched the Tennessee Supreme Court once so far, with another one coming. By all means, post the case numbers, etc., if you want.
I have to say that judicial misconduct is entrenched in Tennessee, with a growing pile of evidence for a federal civil rights case. Last year I wrote the following letter:
To the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Chief Murphy and Sheriff Hammond:
I am writing with regard to a type of collusive crime that wouldn't happen if law enforcement didn't have policies (formal or informal) of not investigating certain types of misconduct. I will provide an example that fits my own situation, in which litigation is ongoing:
1. An apartment manager collects a $100 maintenance fee every month from each of 30 renters, for a total of $3000 per month.
2. The manager "supplements" her income by hiring contractors to do unnecessary and/or imaginary work, perhaps at inflated prices, and receives a kickback.
3. A tenant catches on to this, and tries to notify the owner, but his effort fails and the manager becomes aware.
4. The manager immediately hires an attorney to draft a malicious and frivolous "14 Day Notice to Cure or Vacate within 30 Days," full of lies and misrepresentations from top to bottom, demanding $800 from the tenant for concocted, fabricated false damage to plants on the premises due to imaginary over-watering.
5. The tenant goes to the local police department and complains of extortion by the manager and her attorney.
6. The police officer, in his report, misrepresents the tenant's complaint, dismissing it as "a civil matter" while never using the word "extortion." The reason for this is the police department's policy (formal or informal) of not touching any complaint that involves an allegation of a contract violation, no matter if the allegation is maliciously false.
7. The attorney, on behalf of the apartment manager, initiates a court eviction proceeding, falsely alleging $271 (not $800) in damage to plants.
8. At the hearing before a general sessions judge, the attorney abandons any claim of damage to plants and commits aggravated perjury, falsely claiming that the tenant repeatedly threatened/taunted the manager that the police were going to come and get her.
9. The judge cuts off the tenant's defense near the beginning, and rules in favor of the apartment manager, recklessly stating that the tenant violated his lease agreement because he reported the manager's effort at extortion to the police.
10. The County Sheriff's Department refuses to investigate the tenant's complaints of aggravated perjury against the lawyer and official misconduct and official oppression against the judge. The reason for this is that the Sheriff's Department has a policy (formal or informal) of never investigating any complaint of a crime by an attorney or a judge in a courtroom, with the dubious rationale that these matters pertain to professional review organizations, as if attorneys and judges are a privileged class.
The result is that tenants, especially low-income tenants without college education, have no legal protection against avaricious managers.
Details of my own case are included in the affidavits included with this letter. These affidavits have already been submitted to the police and the sheriff's department, and have been scanned into their databases. Both the police and the sheriff's department have failed to conduct probable cause investigations, for the reasons stated in points 6 and 10 above.
I request the following:
(1) that the Chattanooga Police Department conduct a probable cause investigation regarding my complaint of extortion against the manager and the attorney identified in the relevant affidavits.
(2) that the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department conduct probable cause invesatigations into my complaints of aggravated perjury against the attorney and official misconduct (and official oppression) against the judge.
(3) that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation monitor the responses of the Chattanooga Police Department and the Hamilton County Sheriff to requests (1) and (2) above.
Sincerely,
John Schmeeckle
Any thoughts, John (and others)?
Newsmax published Texas AG Paxton’s comments —-
The U.S. Supreme Court siding with the Department of Homeland Security to allow federal border officials to cut state-installed razor wire along the Rio Grande "does not stop us from protecting our areas that we control, that are owned by Texas governments," says Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
"All they did was remove the injunction from the federal government to come onto our property and cut down wire," Paxton said Friday during an appearance on Newsmax's "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE."
"It does not stop us from protecting our areas that we control, that are owned by Texas governments, and it does not stop the state of Texas from continuing to put up fences and wire, so it doesn't do anything to change what we should be doing," he added.
"I don't think [Texas Gov. Greg Abbott] is going to stop, I don't think he should stop."
Texas has installed rows of razor wire in the park and says more is being added after the Supreme Court cleared the way for Border Patrol agents to cut or remove the sharp metal barrier. The fencing has become one of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's most visible measures to deter migrants in the border city of Eagle Pass.
Texas seized control of the park this month and began denying entry to Border Patrol agents, escalating a feud between Abbott and President Joe Biden's administration, which the governor accuses of not doing enough to curb illegal crossings. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security sent the state a letter demanding access again to Shelby Park, which is next to the Rio Grande.
I will suggest that now Governor Abbott has a modern-day "Nullification Crisis" primed and ready for whenever it seems politically convenient to provoke a constitutional crisis.
I will further suggest that Abbott's itch to "go all the way" is being tempered by his constituents' hopeful fantasy of Trump back in the Oval Office.
Mr. Abbot, in citing the Founders rather misses the point they were making when they talked of 'invasion', by which they meant military operations bent on conquest of the kind the British had launched during the Revolution. These people are not coming to conquer the US, but rather to find within its borders the kind of nation the Founders hoped to create. The immigration situation is a problem we have failed to deal with for a rather long time, but it hardly constitutes what the Founders were concerned with. Indeed, the Founders welcomed immigrants, of which Mr. Hamilton was a prime example.
I like that "originalist" approach to Abbott's constitutional argument.
How about the other two?
Abbott accuses Biden of failing to prosecute immigrants for the federal crime of illegal entry.
Abbott also charges Biden with instructing federal agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants.
Whether or not the Federal Government has been lax in enforcement, that does not mean that a state can attempt what the Constitution says is Federal jurisdiction. That also applies to the third charge. Abbot's argument is akin to that of someone has attacked or imprisoned or carried into some distant parts a beggar who accosted him on the street begging for money with the defense that he was justified in protecting himself. Such an argument might fly if the 'someone' had threatened him with a weapon, but the immigrants have threatened no one. They are only begging (for asylum).
Abbott, like TFG, is a racist and another old, angry white man. Plain and simple. Whenever you see him he has a scowl on his face.
How many people do you know that are dumb enough to go running during a thunderstorm? But Abbott got his revenge....
A 27 year old Greg Abbott was jogging in the upscale River Oaks Houston neighborhood in 1986. It was a windy day. A limb fell off of a tree and hurt him. The limb sadly crushed Greg Abbott’s spine and damaged his kidneys.
After the accident Greg Abbott sued both the homeowner and the tree care company. He won a very large settlement. He has collected $6 million so far.
https://egbertowillies.com/2014/03/12/greg-abbott-lawsuit/#google_vignette
Gary, thanks for the info. Sadly, that tree limb crushed his compassion as well.
Truly!
So pathetic that the TX justice system awarded him this huge judgment when he was clearly at fault. It's hard to imagine a jury would have come up with a judgment that paid out for Abbott's entire life and with a 4% compounded kicker as well.
And he condemns women to death that require an emergency abortion. And puts razor wire in the Rio Grande that has already killed people.
I wondered how he became disabled.
If it happened more recently, one might say it was karma.
Abbott- a man who allowed a woman and child to drown in a barbed wire fence at the border river. Disgusting. He should stand trial for his murderous actions. There is NO justification for his actions. And he claims to be “right to life”. Shame on him and you.
Have you not heard....? “Further, Congress needs to finally provide the funding I requested in October to secure the border. This includes an additional 1,300 border patrol agents, 375 immigration judges, 1,600 asylum officers, and over 100 cutting-edge inspection machines to help detect and stop fentanyl at our southwest border. Securing the border through these negotiations is a win for America. For everyone who is demanding tougher border control, this is the way to do it. “
LornaM,
Abbott makes two particular charges for which I would like to see a good rebuttal:
Abbott accuses Biden of failing to prosecute immigrants for the federal crime of illegal entry.
Abbott also charges Biden with instructing federal agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants.
How many did Trump prosecute? There are over 12 million undocumented here in the US millions of them illegal and many working in TX.
Trump actually paid for illegal documentation for illegals working at his golf courses. But that's ok with you isn't it John? Did he ever have them deported?
D4N
D4N’s Substack
*It's a piecemeal problem, divided by 3 or more interpretation, application and enforcement departments, plus stir in court rulings. Also the flood at the border, which is being instigated, failed to be met by congress in it's failure to fund additional judges and courts for lawful processing. Read the following for just a taste sampling of complexity over time. >>
In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that immigrants cannot be held indefinitely if no country will accept them for deportation in Zadvydas v. Davis.[17] Enforcement of immigration law was reformed following the September 11 attacks, shifting focus to national security. The Immigration and Nationalization Service was split into the Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Customs and Border Protection.[2] The Real ID Act of 2005 placed restrictions on individuals applying for asylum, and the Secure Fence Act of 2006 began the process of building a fence across the Mexico–United States border.
After the failure of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, no significant immigration reform legislation has been enacted into federal law. President Obama adopted the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals in 2012, which as of 2023 is prohibited from adding new recipients but has not been struck down or repealed by President Biden due to the Supreme Court decisions in United States v. Texas (2016) and Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California (2020).
Thank you Dan. Maybe this will calm Schmeckle down for a day or two.
I don't remember the exact number, nor can it really be quantified, but something like 35% of US born Americans have never traveled outside of their state.
Besides feeling bad for these people, they don't get a chance to interact with other people to learn that we all are way more similar than we are different. I've been fortunate enough to travel to Mexico and Canada many times and love to meet the people along the way. Sure, they are one time friends for the most part, but like a picture saying 1000 words traveling says the same.
How can one help but learning when we travel? When I was a kid, my parents would save all year so that we could take a vacation in our 1962 Bel-air Chevy station wagon pulling a pop-up trailer. On one trip my mom made us tour a meat packing plan in Albert Lea Minnesota, My little sister was 6, my older sister 13 and I was 10. Our first stop on the tour was to see them kill the hogs. That's a sight one never forgets, unless they are really good at repressing memories.
Anyway, thanks again for your excellent post.
There is no question but that millions of people are desperate to get into the United States where their lives will be safe. To "fix" this problem, we need to attack the cause and not the symptom. We could, conceivably, get the Organization of American States (OAS) to marshal a force to oust the thugs that are causing the problem in the first place. How else to quell this huge migration?
A thoughtful answer will come as time permits...
Quoting Abbott doesn’t seem smart to me.
Rick Bonin,
I am looking for an effective rebuttal of the following (leaving aside the constitutional argument for now):
Abbott accuses Biden of failing to prosecute immigrants for the federal crime of illegal entry.
Abbott also charges Biden with instructing federal agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants.
He is a liar. Freedom Caucus maddness!
Hahahahahahahahahahaha
Better to seem a fool than prove it.
What a maroon - Bugs Bunny
...said the cackling hyena
Name calling belies thoughtful discourse.
Who “likes” your tripe
Clearly they're not censorship trolls.
Any thoughts on this, John (and others)?
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/25/greg-abbott-border-republicans-joe-biden/#:~:text=On%20Wednesday%20%E2%80%94%20and%20as%20the,the%20state%20the%20constitutional%20right
From that article:
"On Wednesday — and as the Texas National Guard and state troopers continued to roll out the wire and prevent federal agents from accessing much of the park — Abbott continued to publicly challenge the ruling and “hold the line." He declared that Texas was under an “invasion,” giving the state the constitutional right to defend itself..."
I think that Abbott is a lousy Originalist, with his creative definition of "invasion."
Not my choice for the Supreme Court.
Yes I really take issue with “refusing to enforce immigration laws”.... really??? Texas..... yeah let’s follow them into battle.... pffffttt....
Regina62,
Abbott is easily mockable (just think Ben & Jerry's), but his two law-and-order points threaten to help persuade concerned moderates that Biden really isn't up for four more years.
John, so they have stand up in the fringes? It may be your calling!
You have to remember that everything he accuses others of is actually what he himself is guilty of, so "Absolutely Ridiculous" is just another accurate description of himself.
I cannot contain my glee at yesterday's ruling--finally, accountability by this goon where it hurts--being made to part with LOTS of his money. I have prayed that he goes broke and to prison. For the record, my prayers have already begun to be answered....
The electoral college will decide who is President, and that makes me mad and sad. Every vote should count, and they don't. Because of that, he may win again.
Smart women
In November of 2024 smart women who take themselves and their needs seriously will vote for Joe Biden. Smart women know that they need access to necessary medical care if they miscarry (and one in 5 pregnancies do) …..smart women who respect themselves don’t want to have a convicted rapist as president. Smart women don’t want a president who was just punished with $83.3 million dollars in punitive and compensatory damages for further defaming the woman he raped….smart women want to get about as far away as possible from that man….and that’s smart!
The $83.3million probably won’t be reversed on appeal because it fits well in ‘below the 6-1 formula’ that is the punitive damages are less than 6 times the compensatory damages…which was really wise of Kaplan….Carroll’s lawyer…another very smart woman! The corollary is also sadly true!
Agree with you, Joan. Very smart women exist everywhere but today was a real vindication for E Jean and many others who have been silenced by rape. The award is appropriate considering that the con man is still shooting off his mouth on social media.
And why in heck do we even need to stress "smart" as if there's a need to strain against negative stereotypes, i gather which still circulate. Not a complaint mind you.
Smart women, and we number in the millions, must get out and vote in their best interest.
We need ALL women to vote in their best interest. As Adlai Stevenson responded when told by a supported that all of the smart people she knows are voting for him, "that isn't enough, I need a majority."
I guess that precludes Alina Habba….
Tens of millions.
I love that Hailey gets under his skin ... and won't stop and is starting to take on acolytes like Daniels and Stephanie. More they goad him, the more he has to rattle his cajonies and keep coming back at them. Hope, after the SC primary, Hailey and Liz coordinate, even maybe with Hillary, and just keep tossing kitty treats out at his head. Ladies, do that thing that only you can do so well! Music to our ears.
Fred…..this is a belated follow-up to your ‘Haley gets under his skin’ thought….she has TShirts that say “Barred Permanently” that I love and I was thinking that there might well be a broader market among the rest of us for T Shirts that say “83 million in Damages is Positively Patriotic”…(given that Trump says “it’s Not American!
Great idea, Joan. How about an entire line of shirts (or, stylish hats) withe these kinds of undercutting slices imprinted in a sophisticated script or embedded in a sewn logo of no distinction beyond the term or epithet? With, perhaps the background color in common across each series? I thought of this when I first saw this tee-shirt.
Fred, She has come out publicly and said very clearly:
“I trust the jury” and this goes to the heart of the Trump campaign..that he is the object of hated of the ‘deep state’ etc…..
She is a leading REPUBLICAN, a WOMAN , a conservative….
And I’m reasonably sure this campaign is going to be won or lost on woman’s issues…and trashing and demeaning (AFTER raping) a now, 80 year old woman is most emphatically a woman’s issue in so many ways!
I could see a variety of T Shirts….and think I may want one myself…
I think I want a “I trust the Jury” with the dollar amount below….(in green) and the remark identified as hers….
Or perhaps a I O U
E.Jean
$ 83,300,000.00
Donald
Or God knows what else…but they should ALL have the dollar amount of the damages….it is noteworthy that Trump has gone silent on his ‘defenses in this matter’….doubtless Counsel has been heard from!
Agree!
Perfectly said.
Good for our Heather to quote decent adults (in U.S. Senate, from both parties) speaking decently.
These who want to enact real legislation, to take care of real problems (at the southern border) have to contend with the more-numerous Republicans who want only chaos, who haven't an ounce of adulthood in them, who only want cravenly to follow their bully, rapist, insurrectionist in his diapers.
Let's look at murderers like Putin, Kim of North Korea, Netanyahu, and the Saudi royal Mohammed bin Salman. What do they have in common with nationalists pushing tribal hatreds such as Orban, Modi, and Hamas?
Answer is simple, those who murder and bully (and rape, and push insurrection) really hate both democracy and its lynch pin, the rule of law. They hate institutions that help us live together with respect for and enjoyment of our fellows.
So thanks to our Heather today for so nicely combining as she does her fondness for our few good adults, amid the sea of chaos and tribal hatred spawned from our many too many vulgar only.
"They hate institutions that help us live together with respect for and enjoyment of our fellows."
Note the salient figures who have been particularly skilled at achieving the mission above who have been assassinated. Solidarity is the antidote for authoritarianism, and demagogues know it.
Phil, as a resident of NC, please don’t ever credit Tillis for ‘speaking decently’, or anything else. The guy is a total douche, and like Trump, would only speak decently as a ruse towards something horrific. He led the GOP takeover of the NC legislature in 2010, from which we still suffer under the oppression of until this day. He’s also a coward, running down a back stairwell in the General Assembly to avoid being questioned during the Moral Monday protests while ‘serving’ as House Speaker. This is the guy whose anti-regulatory fervor led him to denounce the signs in restaurant bathrooms reminding employees to wash their hands.
I would like to double-check the claim that Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman is a murderer. I have heard the claim that Jamal Khashoggi was secretly convicted of treason in a Saudi court, so his killing in the Saudi embassy was allegedly an execution, not a murder.
p.s. Trump murdered Qassem Soleimani in full view (a high crime) while committing the high misdemeanor of misusing the military to murder. Soleimani was on a three-way peace mission when he was killed, according to public statements by Iraq (where the murder took place), Iran and Saudi Arabia.
This murder happened right in the middle of Trump's first impeachment brohuha, but THE DEMOCRATS DID NOTHING. Bernie harrumphed a bit, but he isn't even a Democrat.
It’s been whack-a-mole with Trumps misdeeds. Democrats ,and anybody else, are exhausted by attempts to corner that crook and sociopath when the GOP aids and abets him at every turn. Except for FINALLY Judge Kaplan and Jean Carol and a jury that loudly said ENOUGH. Now the Wall Street Journal. Perhaps, finally, the Emperor has no clothes, and soon, no allies. Stay in the race, Nikki Haley.
Which Nikki Haley? Trump called Nancy Pelosi and E. Jean Carroll -- Nikki Haley in the last week.
Will the real Nikki Haley please stand up?
My point is that, in the middle of the impeachment circus, the Democrats literally let Trump GET AWAY WITH MURDER.
I thought that SOMEBODY among the Democratic leaders had to stand up and publicly denounce Trump's murder, on foreign soil, of a foreign general on a peace mission. Nobody did, so I did it myself, on my Facebook page.
Khashoggi was certainly executed by the Saudis, but not for good cause.
Don't feed the troll.
Ditto what Matt said.
Matt Fulkerson, in the spirit of trollish censorship, tries to discourage others from thinking about a reasonable question.
Go kill a plant.
Um, you sound psychotic.
My understanding is that the Saudi government considered Khashoggi to be a foreign agent.
Who knows how their legal system works?
I actually lived there for six months as an English teacher: Imagine a country that NEVER has elections, so never any discordant political debate.
OMG! Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaa. Keep it coming! I can't even breath any more you are keeping me in stitches. That's the second one today.
For Christ sakes, you would defend Lenin. Lenin had a rock in his shoe and that's why he killed millions. No need to reply. I'm good.
Lisa59,
Why would I defend Lenin?
Pick a lane. You defend the defenseless.
You know, John, recognizing that you often intentionally take the worst side of a discussion, and straying from the original TRUMP RAPE topic for emphasis, I thought you and our other friends here might find that your last name is remarkably similar to Schmekel, the Yiddish word for PENIS.
D Kitterman,
You want to talk about rape, and you want to talk about penises. I hope you're not some sort of pervert.
p.s. the Schwabish "le" ending is commonly pronounced "lee" among German-American families.
"Eternal terror and brutality" is the common thread of power mongers.
Yes, Victoria. But not "the" common thread.
Ahead of it, let's credit Orwell (especially "Politics and the English Language") for how what he called "bad language" lets slogans, abstractions, and other tribal longings carry people away.
Nationalists, dictators, and dark money managers let demagogues do the dirty work. But they can never carry away decent souls who have language to remember those they've loved.
The rest, Victoria? They forget. And they ride along with those with the dirty diapers, the caked-on orange facial make-up of those who most volubly hate. And hate and hate.
Joyce did write about it anyway, because E. Jean is now such a hero for standing up that praising her could not be put off. An amazing strong woman.
She is so brave and courageous! She's my hero. I love how she bitch slapped the ex-president to his knees.
Breathing easier after today's Letter. This is one thing I particularly enjoyed: "And, of course, he never got Mexico to pay for his wall, as he repeatedly claimed he would, while President Joe Biden, in contrast, got Mexico to invest $1.5 billion in “smart” border technology and to beef up its own border security." tfg wouldn't know what "smart" technology was, other than the bit involving his on-line self-promotion with the infantile name of "Truth Social".
“Truth social” is as much a misnomer as “Make America Great Again.” I thought both an insult to America’s intelligence. Same with Alex Jones total crap. That so many are so stupid is an indictment of our “bottom third of turds.”
It's really MAHA: Make America Hate Again
Best description ever, mine from now on
Make America Great Again has evolved (or devolved) into a term used to describe the Trump base. It never really meant anything and never defined a time in American history when things were, well, great.
I am content with my life in America right now as are most of the people I know. If America being great means that we are content and happy with our lives then most of us think America is great right now.
It's a lot like asking "Who or what is God?" Even people of the same religion will describe God in different terms. What could make the US better? Many things could, but as far as this entitled white guy is concerned, the bar is pretty high right now.
What could make the US better? Not having my rights as a woman and a member of the LGBTQ+ community under attack. Not having my friends and neighbors believing the awful tripe that the MAGAts espouse.
My wife and I were talking about happiness vs contentment and she said that happiness is fleeting and yet contentment is a feeling that is long term.
But I totally agree with you about women's rights and ridiculous attacks on the LGBTQ+ community.
True, but I remember a time when I felt that the melting pot was a wonderful description of what we had become, and the Statue of Liberty meant something. Also Christians were not the worse iteration of what the gospels taught
I don’t understand why news people and pollsters keep asking if voters would still choose Trump IF he’s convicted of a crime. He HAS been convicted - of sexual assault/rape, defamation of E. Jean Carroll, and fraud in the operation of his businesses in NY. Why the IF? Are those crimes not big enough?
Agent Orange is pulling the strings on his own demise. I'm trusting him to end his own political career. He's a loser. He's going to keep losing. He wants to take this country to the grave with him. He will never stop trying to lose. He can't help himself spin out of control. Hopefully, MSM won't have a pity party for him.
“He wants to take this country to the grave with him.” ⬅️ this is what keeps me up at night.
We aren't going to let him. The loser isn't going to win in the end. It's not in the cards. Wave be damned. We will be a blue tsunami!!
Danielle, technically, he has been found civilly liable for conduct that meets the statutory definition of rape in the State of New York. The statute of limitations has expired on his facing criminal charges for his conduct, therefore the adjudications are for damages incurred as a result of the conduct, not the conduct itself.
So the civil fraud trial about his NY business practices also results in a verdict of liable, not “guilty”?
I don't think that you can have a guilty verdict in that case because he is directly charged with civil fraud. While each state is different with respect to their specific definitions, I believe that in this case the conduct being adjudicated is fraud, and that as a civil case, generally, the penalty is liability rather than guilt.
Thanks for the explanation, Ally.
I was wondering that exact same thing half an hour ago! Thanks for mentioning!
As if Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization wasn’t enough to energize widespread opposition to the Party of Trump, congressional Republicans are poised to demonstrate their opposition to critically needed border policy legislation.
This state of affairs is painful to endure, but I am a little more hopeful that Americans may wake up and vote for Democrats who are on the sensible (and popular!) side of these issues.
Just say NO to thugs.
Great bumper sticker
Yes ... and pithy too!
If more Americans were even just half better informed than they seem to be, i doubt polls would be so hard on Biden. He's been a relief to my dull ears over the past few years. Common sense, simple decency versus bombast and viciousness. Then, I'm 78! AND, i do enjoy Heather's letters and the commentators.
I hope so too.
Jonathan- do you currently live in Nebraska? I was born and raised there and still have family and friends in Omaha and Lincoln as well as family that farms around Hastings.
Most of my family are Democrats but most of my friends are Republicans in Nebraska. Are there any good Democrat hopefuls that can replace the Republicans in 2024?
With apologies to Bernie Taupin and Reginald Dwight------
"Oh my Elizabeth Jean, though I never knew you at all,
You had the grace to hold yourself while Don around you crawled;
He crawled out of the networks, and he whispered into their brains,
He set you on a treadmill, and he tried to build your shame;
But it seems to me, you won your case like a Candle in the Wind,
Always holding strong and sturdy, as the rain came in;
And he doesn't even know you, and he never did,
His bluster burned out long before, your legend ever did"
Love it!!!! I'll be singing it all day, thanks Daniel.
Ha! Thanks for that, Bruce!
Clever
Most sweet of you, Marlene
Please post that on TikTok or YouTube. Most excellent.
Ha Ha! Good one Mr. Streeter!
Daniel, great adaptation! Thanks!
Singing your words as I read them ( though not out loud.) Good job.
Thank you for summarizing a very busy day.
I’m glad to see Biden speaking forcefully about the hypocrisy of the GQP on immigration. I’m shocked to see the WSJ actually speak the truth about the issue.
Maybe the donor class is starting to pucker at the antics of the fanatics spewing confederate-sounding stupidity. If the business “leaders” (I.e. the millionaires & above funding the GQP) actually start to realize the damage the fanatics will do to the country and economy, they might stop or at least slow down on pumping bribes into the GQP dark money machine . .
One can dream, seems that it would have occurred to the “smartest people In The room.” Oh wait, maybe they are just rich idiots who scammed their way into money, or inherited it, like the best carnival barker.l.
George, unfortunately, the donor class epiphany will probably come too late. Lust for profit trumps (no pun intended) everything else, as does status quo inertia when it comes to changing the policy paradigm.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/01/26/imperial-costs-two-stories-summarize-the-cost-of-empire-to-democracy/
“The only thing more likely than more American families continuing to lose loved ones to failed and counterproductive overseas wars will be a lack of any effective congressional resistance to US Middle East policy, most urgently Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people. Likewise, the only thing more likely than the B21 being another poorly performing MIC cash cow will be the lack of meaningful political opposition to the overall MIC gravy train. The inertia of both a militarized foreign policy that, through its actions, creates a circular reality that justifies continued military action and a military-industrial complex that now says the American people don’t have the right to know how much our weapons cost demonstrate a dangerous reality of American democracy and a terrible path ahead.”
Tom, I have searched for a synonym to use for that bridge term, and have been unsuccessful. None of them quite work in all situations, but I found the synonyms and antonyms very entertaining.
https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/trump
It is mind-boggling to think that one narcissistic adolescent bully has been able to enthrall so many for so long and to frighten otherwise reasonable elected officials into subservience. Much as E.Jean Carroll deserves our thanks and our admiration, so does Nikki Haley. Both women are, in different ways, making it clear that the would-be emperor has no clothes.
Heather...you and Joyce Vance are so needed. I eagerly look forward, with the hope you both impart, each day, to your "Letters" and Joyce's "Civil Discourse." Thank goodness for both of you! God sent 2 angels: Heather and Joyce! God bless you!
The Republicans have aligned themselves with Putin against democracy and European allies. Doesn’t anybody remember that Hitler started grabbing land before he blitzed Poland. Also, it is clear that Republicans don’t want to solve problems (ie govern) if they think the problem helps them maintain power that they only use for self aggrandizement. I will not say here what I think they deserve, but any employer, public or private would rightly fire any employee who acted this way.
Chump has been aligned with Putin from way back. We missed the chance in the 90’s to help Russia change, thanks to DeLay, Gingrich and the Repub self-righteous cretins. Putin didn’t miss his chance and here we are.
I admire your tribal rigidity. As if the Dems had nothing to do with the rise of Putin.
It’s like the Israeli apologists ignoring Bibi’s role with Hamas.
Carry on, democracy warrior!
Damn, I’m old enough that I could go back and do some heavy duty blaming. Repubs would be in the toilet, or maybe in the magma…
Blaming others is the holy grail for the vote blue no matter who cult. ‘Saving democracy’ is the other side of the ‘Make America Great’ propaganda coin. Neither gets at the corporate coup, and we’re all in the toilet now.
https://www.racket.news/p/the-anti-democratic-movement-targeted?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1042&post_id=141010858&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=eov1&utm_medium=email
“But since Trump steamrolled the GOP clown car in 2016, establishment politics has increasingly consolidated under the umbrella of the one party that (just barely) succeeded in fighting off its populist challenger, the Democrats. The return to the Democratic tent of once-hated neocons like Bill Kristol (who was reportedly in attendance at the anti-No Labels meeting described by Semafor) has helped revamp the blue-party institutional space into something like a permanent Washington-against-the-world war council, fueled by an aristocratic contempt whose intensity is almost beyond comprehension.
These people reordered the geography of the world, blithely moved whole manufacturing sectors from one continent to another, started moronic wars that pointlessly killed millions and created millions more refugees, bailed out corrupt banks while whole regions went into foreclosure, and failed to accomplish much but a growing sense of foreboding and decline despite decades of promises to the contrary. Still, they feel sincere rage at the idea that they should have to earn votes.
The special anger Nader inspired came from his refusal to just “send a message,” saying things like “Isn’t that what candidates try to do to one another—take votes?” when Democrats suggested he stop “taking” votes from Al Gore or John Kerry, and run in “safe” states only. Again, never mind that they could have altered their own fortunes easily by prioritizing voters over donors just a little more. In their minds, this was not Nader’s call to make. In the minds of early 2000s Democrats, voters never elected Republicans. Ralph Nader did.”
Love your insight that just as a responsible employer would terminate an employee who maliciously commits unlawful acts, the judge and jury in Carroll v. Trump acted accordingly, as we voters will surely reject Trump’s support for murderous autocrats worldwide in 2024 (assuming the Supreme Court fails its duty to exclude that insurrectionists from the ballot).
Ironic that it's possible that the E. Jean Carroll case could be appealed to the US Supreme Court.
I wouldn't be surprised if they reduced the amount of the judgment or overturned the verdict altogether. This would open the door for Rudy as well as other defamation cases against the various MAGANAZI's out there to have their cases overturned.
Currently SCOTUS is rewriting law which is outside of their scope. Nothing they do at this point surprises me. Trump has them in his pocket.
Thanks. "The will of the people,, as I heard many times from leaders trained in Russia in the '70s means nothing when "the people" are controlled by fake news and propaganda. Why don't more people realize what's going on?
Thank you, Heather, for pointing out what has been bothering me, that Trump is a private citizen and should have no influence on decisions of lawmakers. Yet, too many GOP legislators in both houses kowtow to this criminal as to a mafia don. Romney rightly calls out Trump's demands and the acquiescence of Senate colleagues as appalling. The right wing media continues to refer to TFG with the title President. He has not been such for 3 years. May it never be so again!
And Mike Johnson is openly telling all of us that he gets direction from Traitor every day. Johnson acts like this is normal, acceptable behavior. It is not! He should be called out on it every time he acknowledges it's happening.
And all “republicans” who voted not to recognize the election of President Biden should be ousted from Congress.
Absolutely! It's mind boggling that they are allowed to stay while working at odds against the very oaths they took to uphold the Constitution. Does the military allow it, or Federal employees? No, they court martial or fire disloyal employees.
What magical snake oil lubricant does Johnson use to get around his oath of office?
Meanwhile in Hungary, Orban and his government have unequivocally placed all their bets on a Trump victory and, consequently, the triumph of a new US-Russian Axis, in which he, Orban, will be a kingpin.
Read today's Financial Times report in which the US Ambassador to Hungary describes the situation and Orban's fantasy-world propaganda just as it is.
All this, to say nothing of the approaching crunch in July, when Hungary is supposed to take up the EU presidency...
Peter, I found this article re Orban & Hungary & conflict w/in the EU interesting: https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-threatens-silence-hungary-orban-if-blocks-ukrainian-aid-funds-article-7/. I am concerned that Orban now seems to be the darling of the Republican Party.
You're concerned that Orban seems to be the darling of the Republican Party?
But of course they love him, he's a criminal. A successful crime boss.
It took me a while in the 80s to wake up very gradually to the fact that many ordinary people adore a criminal politician, one who says what they never dared to say, one who does what they'd never dare to do, abusing power every which way, helping himself to public funds, consorting with hoodlums, holding orgies for his cronies. And getting away with it.
Their ideal hero's no longer a healthy outlaw like Robin Hood, it's the Sheriff of Nottingham. Official power held, used and abused. He sweet-talks the poor even while he's robbing them to bribe the rich. He loves and serves the tyrant King John, makes sure the Lionheart's ransom never gets paid. (He's pocketed it...) And Robin he frames, pinning onto him (and to anyone that gets in his way) his very own crimes...
And they love him, they all come crawling to him...
Great analogy, Peter. The Sheriff of Nottingham, indeed.
Time to rewrite all our folk tales. It's Ali Baba who suffers the fate of Magnitsky while the Forty Thieves, the cops-and-robbers, in and out of uniform, just keep adding to their stash.
CRIME PAYS !!!
And the 40 Thieves never tire of rubbing the message in.
When poor Navalny walked into that trap, whose portrait presided over his consignment to the Gulag of a thousand-cuts?
Why, that of NKVD boss Yagoda whose house, when the time came for Stalin to dispose of his now supernumerary butcher, was found to be bursting with gold, with cash, with jewelry, with furs, with precious wines.
Today, in our 21st Century, it's Capone for President and that zoot-suited Gotti for Veep...
They must be proven wrong! We have squandered enough of our birthright already.
Oh Lord, say it isn’t so
This one sold his balls to the carnival barker
He said his wife spent a lot of time on her knees. Maybe she was looking for his balls.
May Mitt finally find his balls
HCR, Thank you! Every day, you move us incrementally closer to saving our inclusive, egalitarian democracy with accurate and hard hitting accounts of the fight. As Nelson said, “Go right at them!” And, you do.
I always wonder, something like, Joyce White Vance - what do these maga parents explain to their children that they support an insurrectionist/rapist ?
I know Nikki Haley is not my friend but I'm rooting for her, right now, to get Trump on the stage !
Habba told Trump this trial would add zero to his liability. She was right: they added a zero.
Zero to his credibility.
🤣🤣🤣