This morning the Supreme Court handed down a decision in Allen v. Milligan, a case that challenged the Alabama legislature’s redistricting of the state after the 2020 census on the grounds that the new districts had been configured to pack the state’s growing numbers of Black voters into a single district and thus dilute their vote. Such discrimination based on race, plaintiffs charged, violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA).
Jack Smith's indictments of trump are historic and momentous. When the initial reactions have settled, I hope we still keep our eyes on the current awfulness of Republicans in the House, the other frightening Republican candidates for President and what is occurring in the States for the 2024 elections. Here is one thing to keep our eye on. It is a dangerous and frightening new tool of the far right.
David Brooks yesterday in the NYT was speaking of the No Labels Party as if it were a viable, credible political party. It is not. The No labels Party is an ultra-right endeavor designed to siphon votes from Biden. It is backed by such people as Harlan Crow and is being billed as a Centris Party. Please take every opportunity you can to smash this so-called political Party.
This hits differently. The federal indictments, I mean.
Sure, porn star hush money was a nice hors d'ouerve. But any privileged Manhattan sleazebag could end up as tabloid fodder for that. Multiple Espionage Act violations, straight from DOJ? That just seems far more *uniquely fitting* for the monster who tried to end democracy, doesn't it? Our federal government was attacked by this virus in human form, and after a prolonged fever, is beginning to expectorate. Reassuring! And there is most likely more to come.
Look, I wrote here a while back that I was refusing to get caught up in Cheeto-Behind-Bars fantasies, as I think that the battle for the health of our nation is larger than Von Tweeto himself, and there are more productive places for me to put my mental energies. I stand by that fully. Today, there are tens and tens of millions of people we are sharing our country with, that are having the inverse reaction to those on this board. They are frightened and furious at what they see as the unraveling of our laws, the dawning of a frightening new era of bureaucratic weaponization, the crushing of national morale, etc. If the Never-Popularly-Elected Former Guy is convicted, they will likely go to their graves insisting that was the day America died by the hands of the elite liberal mob. Today, with regards to this state of affairs I can only say...
Screw 'em.
Sorry, but I'm not Ghandi. I have dug deep into my pockets, searching for a single crumb of a remaining f#ck to give, and have come up with nothing but lint. These folks have bought into their doomsday cult of choice despite all opportunities to correct their willful ignorance, and held us captive for years in their twisted alternate reality. Those of us with any sense of principle or decency or actual patriotism have had to live with the wonderment of if anything really mattered anymore. As a younger person, would I have a future? A country? A livable planet? We don't know for sure yet, but things are looking up, today especially. Let the cultists rage. They will anyway.
Justice has reasserted itself. The law has reasserted itself. REALITY has reasserted itself. Because, first and foremost, the reality-based majority of voters reasserted itself. Let us be proud. Let us keep vigilant and keep going. Let the DOJ keep going, too. Let the juries decide.
"If the people in power can jail their political opponents at will, we don’t have a republic."
—Josh Hawley
"If a sitting US Senator describes a federal criminal grand jury investigation with hundreds of witnesses and tens of thousands of documents as “at will,” that Senator is a MORON and an embarrassment to the republic. Then again, that has been Hawley’s reputation for years."
—David Shuster
"By statute, Jack Smith serves as a special prosecutor who is not a Biden Administration political apointee.
Predictably, the right-wing outrage machine will now crank out the disinformation and innuendo aimed directly at the former guy's poorly educated base."
As an author and as a reader, I am bowled over by HCR's masterful weaving of today's most important breaking news into a single factual narrative indicting the Republican Party for this horrific precipice they've brought the US to. A rollercoaster of terror - and hope.
So now the Rubicon has been crossed with Trump's Federal indictment at just the moment that the House has been gridlocked by the ultra right wing. Heather's lead here is telling--that the shadow docket stay may have been the crucial factor in the Republican's gaining the majority in the House.
What this shows is that the stacked SCOTUS has beome not a part of a system of checks and balances in our government but the most powerful, just as Netanyahu is trying to make it in Israel and Orban in Hungary and Polands Law and Justice Party has been trying to reshape the courts there. This is a key element in the Chirsto-Facist long game around the world.
It will be critical to see what SCOTUS does in the myriad cases that will get generated surrounding the Trump federal indictment.
Trump bleeding out – the phrase conjures images of the Wicked Witch of the West who shriveled in agony as water poured over he, her power over her army dwindling as she shrank, her power ending in a steaming pile at their feet.
But they were not believers, Trump’s followers are, and as encouraging as the prospect of Trump’s demise may be, unlike the Wicked Witch of the West, he has spawned and army of believers. The politicians may wish to move on, but the Trump base may not be so keen to do so, and so the politicians will continue to pander to them.
Today’s news of Trump’s indictment is very encouraging, but we are a long way from ridding the nation of his poison.
'As The Guardian’s David Smith puts it, “he really might be going to jail.” '... it is hard to figure out what is important and what is not in the general drama around the former president, but this indictment is “genuinely monumental.” (Letter)
It was genuinely monumental when voters elected Donald J. Trump to be president or did the Supreme Court do that? Oh, excuse me, The Supreme Court decided Bush v. Gore. Wasn't that enough proof in the pudding or was it when Ronald Reagan was elected to a second term or Gerald Ford pardoning Nixon? What did we learn after Vice President Agnew cheated the Government of $13,551.47 on his Federal income tax payment?
He's their very special barker. They've been at it for a long time. Look at the state legislatures. We just weren't paying attention.
"The extremism of today’s Republican Party grew in large part from the work of televangelist Pat Robertson, who died today at age 93. The son of a segregationist southern Democratic senator, Baptist minister Robertson urged evangelical Christians to vote and made them a core constituency of the Republican Party."
Let's not overlook the role of Jerry Falwell and his "Moral Majority" that emerged full force in time for the 1980 election. And Newt Gingrich who set the precedent for the confrontational style we now have in DC.
Please do not forget Lee Atwater (of How to Be a Racist Without Sounding Like a Racist, infamy) who honed specious GOP rhetoric, Newt Gingrich who put party officials in rhetorical lockstep messaging, and Ralph Reed who mass marketed the weaponization of religion as a Republican political wedge issue.
The Roberts Court has shown such a penchant for racist religious extremism that state Republicans understandably thought they did not have to bother to craft their bigotry to comport to some resemblance of constitutionality. At least on the level of language if not of substance.
America, despite its raft of serious problems, is a nation still based on the rule of law. But successfully prosecuting and putting a former president behind bars for the rest of his life – in a deeply divided country no less – loom as the ultimate challenge.
Dark forces will seek to thwart the justice Trump badly deserves.
Coming from my “Sweet Home Alabama”, I am devastated to learn that the outcome of the 2022 Election might have gone more fully Democratic to the House had the “Shadow Docket” used in recent times by SCOTUS not supported the racist gerrymandered electoral maps used in that election and later overturned as unconstitutional in regular full session. This is outrageous by the Supreme Court of our land and demands oversight, transparency, accountability.
Justice John Roberts, get your court in order now. Where are your ethics I so admired during your confirmation hearings? This may have altered the nightmare we are living now. Biden may have been able to pass more of his climate agenda, among other very important diluted bipartisan compromises. And MAGA McCarthy may never have negotiated deals for his tenuous, troubled Speakers gavel that are paralyzing forward action in his quest for power at any cost. “Weaponization “ may never have been a part of our conversation. The decisions that seem so small......but if that were so, why was this case ever taken to the “shadow docket” initially? Where did the money originate? It’s always the money that corrupts. Who collected? I am no conspiracy theorist but this smells like dead fish to me.
The good news is the Florida Federal courts are a "rocket docket" and the trial could start by this fall. And the 11th circuit knows his delay appeals, which he lost 2x last year. He could be wearing orange before the Iowa caucuses.
Good morning Dr. Richardson, Thanks for a well organized and clear explanation of what happened yesterday. Between the SCOTUS and the DOJ, our country’s institutions showed us that they know what they are doing despite all the distractions. Few people reading today’s news understand the significance of Pat Robertson’s place in the development of the current right wing of the Republican party. The FPOTUS doesn’t know what Robertson contributed to his becoming POTUS. Instead of historical reflection, the FPOTUS is very busy trying to find competent trial attorneys who will represent and defend him in the Miami federal courtroom where he’s going to face charges of espionage and other serious violations of the law. Yesterday will be on the list of important dates in the history of American jurisprudence.
I hope Trump’s rivals are right and that he and his jackals bleed out soon or go to jail. Let’s hope indictments follow for Jan 6 and
the Georgia election crimes. McCarthy’s unhinged attack
In defense of Trump is further proof of his threat to democracy. These (expletives deleted) “Freedom Caucus” idiots all should go to jail for violating their oaths of office and conspiracy to overthrow government. I respect and welcome debate over how to best govern, but those who advocate tyranny and oligarchy should be expelled and bared from participation.
Jack Smith's indictments of trump are historic and momentous. When the initial reactions have settled, I hope we still keep our eyes on the current awfulness of Republicans in the House, the other frightening Republican candidates for President and what is occurring in the States for the 2024 elections. Here is one thing to keep our eye on. It is a dangerous and frightening new tool of the far right.
David Brooks yesterday in the NYT was speaking of the No Labels Party as if it were a viable, credible political party. It is not. The No labels Party is an ultra-right endeavor designed to siphon votes from Biden. It is backed by such people as Harlan Crow and is being billed as a Centris Party. Please take every opportunity you can to smash this so-called political Party.
@luellajschmidt on Twitter:
1. $25 million for running a fraudulent trump university
2. 17 count criminal conviction on trump org for tax fraud
3. 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in NY
4. Guilty of sexual assault & defamation by a jury of peers
5. Oct trial date for manipulating valuations
6. Under investigation in GA for attempting to steal an election
7. Under investigation by DOJ for same
8. Indicted for obstruction, espionage act crimes, and conspiracy with chief of staff given limited immunity
And yet none of this has any impact upon 30% of US voters. There is no reasoning with delusions, and no end to grifters feeding them.
This hits differently. The federal indictments, I mean.
Sure, porn star hush money was a nice hors d'ouerve. But any privileged Manhattan sleazebag could end up as tabloid fodder for that. Multiple Espionage Act violations, straight from DOJ? That just seems far more *uniquely fitting* for the monster who tried to end democracy, doesn't it? Our federal government was attacked by this virus in human form, and after a prolonged fever, is beginning to expectorate. Reassuring! And there is most likely more to come.
Look, I wrote here a while back that I was refusing to get caught up in Cheeto-Behind-Bars fantasies, as I think that the battle for the health of our nation is larger than Von Tweeto himself, and there are more productive places for me to put my mental energies. I stand by that fully. Today, there are tens and tens of millions of people we are sharing our country with, that are having the inverse reaction to those on this board. They are frightened and furious at what they see as the unraveling of our laws, the dawning of a frightening new era of bureaucratic weaponization, the crushing of national morale, etc. If the Never-Popularly-Elected Former Guy is convicted, they will likely go to their graves insisting that was the day America died by the hands of the elite liberal mob. Today, with regards to this state of affairs I can only say...
Screw 'em.
Sorry, but I'm not Ghandi. I have dug deep into my pockets, searching for a single crumb of a remaining f#ck to give, and have come up with nothing but lint. These folks have bought into their doomsday cult of choice despite all opportunities to correct their willful ignorance, and held us captive for years in their twisted alternate reality. Those of us with any sense of principle or decency or actual patriotism have had to live with the wonderment of if anything really mattered anymore. As a younger person, would I have a future? A country? A livable planet? We don't know for sure yet, but things are looking up, today especially. Let the cultists rage. They will anyway.
Justice has reasserted itself. The law has reasserted itself. REALITY has reasserted itself. Because, first and foremost, the reality-based majority of voters reasserted itself. Let us be proud. Let us keep vigilant and keep going. Let the DOJ keep going, too. Let the juries decide.
"If the people in power can jail their political opponents at will, we don’t have a republic."
—Josh Hawley
"If a sitting US Senator describes a federal criminal grand jury investigation with hundreds of witnesses and tens of thousands of documents as “at will,” that Senator is a MORON and an embarrassment to the republic. Then again, that has been Hawley’s reputation for years."
—David Shuster
"By statute, Jack Smith serves as a special prosecutor who is not a Biden Administration political apointee.
Predictably, the right-wing outrage machine will now crank out the disinformation and innuendo aimed directly at the former guy's poorly educated base."
—Roy Cuellar
As an author and as a reader, I am bowled over by HCR's masterful weaving of today's most important breaking news into a single factual narrative indicting the Republican Party for this horrific precipice they've brought the US to. A rollercoaster of terror - and hope.
So now the Rubicon has been crossed with Trump's Federal indictment at just the moment that the House has been gridlocked by the ultra right wing. Heather's lead here is telling--that the shadow docket stay may have been the crucial factor in the Republican's gaining the majority in the House.
What this shows is that the stacked SCOTUS has beome not a part of a system of checks and balances in our government but the most powerful, just as Netanyahu is trying to make it in Israel and Orban in Hungary and Polands Law and Justice Party has been trying to reshape the courts there. This is a key element in the Chirsto-Facist long game around the world.
It will be critical to see what SCOTUS does in the myriad cases that will get generated surrounding the Trump federal indictment.
Trump bleeding out – the phrase conjures images of the Wicked Witch of the West who shriveled in agony as water poured over he, her power over her army dwindling as she shrank, her power ending in a steaming pile at their feet.
But they were not believers, Trump’s followers are, and as encouraging as the prospect of Trump’s demise may be, unlike the Wicked Witch of the West, he has spawned and army of believers. The politicians may wish to move on, but the Trump base may not be so keen to do so, and so the politicians will continue to pander to them.
Today’s news of Trump’s indictment is very encouraging, but we are a long way from ridding the nation of his poison.
'As The Guardian’s David Smith puts it, “he really might be going to jail.” '... it is hard to figure out what is important and what is not in the general drama around the former president, but this indictment is “genuinely monumental.” (Letter)
It was genuinely monumental when voters elected Donald J. Trump to be president or did the Supreme Court do that? Oh, excuse me, The Supreme Court decided Bush v. Gore. Wasn't that enough proof in the pudding or was it when Ronald Reagan was elected to a second term or Gerald Ford pardoning Nixon? What did we learn after Vice President Agnew cheated the Government of $13,551.47 on his Federal income tax payment?
He's their very special barker. They've been at it for a long time. Look at the state legislatures. We just weren't paying attention.
"The extremism of today’s Republican Party grew in large part from the work of televangelist Pat Robertson, who died today at age 93. The son of a segregationist southern Democratic senator, Baptist minister Robertson urged evangelical Christians to vote and made them a core constituency of the Republican Party."
Let's not overlook the role of Jerry Falwell and his "Moral Majority" that emerged full force in time for the 1980 election. And Newt Gingrich who set the precedent for the confrontational style we now have in DC.
Please do not forget Lee Atwater (of How to Be a Racist Without Sounding Like a Racist, infamy) who honed specious GOP rhetoric, Newt Gingrich who put party officials in rhetorical lockstep messaging, and Ralph Reed who mass marketed the weaponization of religion as a Republican political wedge issue.
The Roberts Court has shown such a penchant for racist religious extremism that state Republicans understandably thought they did not have to bother to craft their bigotry to comport to some resemblance of constitutionality. At least on the level of language if not of substance.
Wait- Donald Trump is indicted AND Pat Robertson is dead? All I need is for Leonard Leo to finish melting and I win the trifecta!
“...he might really be going to jail.”
America, despite its raft of serious problems, is a nation still based on the rule of law. But successfully prosecuting and putting a former president behind bars for the rest of his life – in a deeply divided country no less – loom as the ultimate challenge.
Dark forces will seek to thwart the justice Trump badly deserves.
Coming from my “Sweet Home Alabama”, I am devastated to learn that the outcome of the 2022 Election might have gone more fully Democratic to the House had the “Shadow Docket” used in recent times by SCOTUS not supported the racist gerrymandered electoral maps used in that election and later overturned as unconstitutional in regular full session. This is outrageous by the Supreme Court of our land and demands oversight, transparency, accountability.
Justice John Roberts, get your court in order now. Where are your ethics I so admired during your confirmation hearings? This may have altered the nightmare we are living now. Biden may have been able to pass more of his climate agenda, among other very important diluted bipartisan compromises. And MAGA McCarthy may never have negotiated deals for his tenuous, troubled Speakers gavel that are paralyzing forward action in his quest for power at any cost. “Weaponization “ may never have been a part of our conversation. The decisions that seem so small......but if that were so, why was this case ever taken to the “shadow docket” initially? Where did the money originate? It’s always the money that corrupts. Who collected? I am no conspiracy theorist but this smells like dead fish to me.
The good news is the Florida Federal courts are a "rocket docket" and the trial could start by this fall. And the 11th circuit knows his delay appeals, which he lost 2x last year. He could be wearing orange before the Iowa caucuses.
Good morning Dr. Richardson, Thanks for a well organized and clear explanation of what happened yesterday. Between the SCOTUS and the DOJ, our country’s institutions showed us that they know what they are doing despite all the distractions. Few people reading today’s news understand the significance of Pat Robertson’s place in the development of the current right wing of the Republican party. The FPOTUS doesn’t know what Robertson contributed to his becoming POTUS. Instead of historical reflection, the FPOTUS is very busy trying to find competent trial attorneys who will represent and defend him in the Miami federal courtroom where he’s going to face charges of espionage and other serious violations of the law. Yesterday will be on the list of important dates in the history of American jurisprudence.
I hope Trump’s rivals are right and that he and his jackals bleed out soon or go to jail. Let’s hope indictments follow for Jan 6 and
the Georgia election crimes. McCarthy’s unhinged attack
In defense of Trump is further proof of his threat to democracy. These (expletives deleted) “Freedom Caucus” idiots all should go to jail for violating their oaths of office and conspiracy to overthrow government. I respect and welcome debate over how to best govern, but those who advocate tyranny and oligarchy should be expelled and bared from participation.