The past two days of former president Trump’s criminal trial for falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, to silence her before the 2016 election have been illuminating in different ways.
Judge Cannon's favoritism for Trump is evident, and honest judges must be angry about her egregious behavior. More irony as Judge Cannon proves the MAGA contention that the system is rigged. Shouldn't someone be trying to disbar her by now? It shouldn't be up to just Jack Smith to save us and the judicial system from this wretched judge.
Cannon's behavior is more disturbing than anything else I've read this morning. With so much of our national security at stake, she seems very nonchalant about postponing this trial indefinitely. She should be removed from her clearly biased position.
"It shouldn't be up to just Jack Smith to save us and the judicial system from this wretched judge."
It shouldn't be up to just Jack Smith to save us and the constitutional system from this wretched GOP. It's up to our fellow Americans - on juries and in the election. And it's a great leap of faith. The Founders had qualms about democracy. But as the Wyoming case demonstrates, - as do Charles Koch, Leonard Leo, Mitch McConnell, and Trump himself - government cannot be better trusted to White men of property than to anyone else.
What made Daniel's testimony compelling are the details. She expected to meet Trump as entertainment business people. When he opened the door in pajamas, she got him to go get dressed. They talked business. When he got out of line, she threatened to discipline him. He handed her a rolled magazine and dared her - she smacked his butt and he behaved. (Until she came out of the bathroom and saw him posed on a bed in his undies. And she went into a dissociative state, as who wouldn't.) My take away - whoever moderates the presidential debates should have a rolled magazine prominently in sight.
Lin -- Better yet, Stormy and Jean Carrol should have front row seats, the way trompy had a couple former paramour of Bill Clinton at one of the debates trompy had with Hillary. Rolled-up magazines would be good props if allowed.
And all the other women who have come forward to assert they'd been abused by him - all those women who, as teens, had participated in one of his so-called "pageants", really just an excuse for his voyeurism. And Marla and Melania.
Here it is the day after (June 28th), and "that" surely did not happen. In fact we were forewarned that fact-checking woud be impossible with the time constraints. Even though Joe Biden knew the facts, he was placed in an untenable position to defend the onslaught of unrelenting Trumpian lying.
Makes me wonder if she wants to be removed. Maybe from her thinking in the dark with her head on the pillow, that being removed is the safest option she faces?
Joan, I think you bring up a good point. If she recused herself, she would suffer the wrath of T and his cronies. She obviously sides with T. If she were removed, she could say it was beyond her control. Just a thought.
Joan and Randall, the pillow comment made me think of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, in the reign of Elizabeth I. When asked about his attempts to marry Mary, Queen of Scots, he said he would never want to put his head on her pillow. Turned out he still did and then lost his head to the executioner. I would just like Loose Cannon to lose her judgeship and then be disbarred.
I agree about her being permanently removed from the bench, Michele, but I'm against disbarment... only because I'd break out the popcorn to see her lose case after case because she doesn't know the law or how to deal with evidence.
I'm in the middle of moving, Michele, with painters in the place I'm leaving (which entails keeping la perrita shut up in my office). I'm just downing coffee #3, and have yet to go arrange internet service for the new place. It's hard enough in English, but I'm terrified of trying to get it right in Spanish! Wish me caffeinated luck.
I've been thinking the same thing about Cannon for some time - she wants to be removed from the case. More and more I believe that wiser heads on the 11th Circuit don't want to remove her, because whatever verdict is reached will be appealed and if the verdict favors tRump then her clear expressions of bias in this trial will make it far harder for tRump to prevail before a higher court.
And I'm becoming less concerned about the trials being pushed back after the election. Lazy pundits and scaremongers have been saying for months that if Trump wins in November he can just wave his magic mushroom and make all these prosecutions disappear.
1) He can't make Georgia disappear, nor any of the other state fake elector cases still being developed in which tRump is a presently-unindicted co-conspirator.
2) tRump may believe he can slow the roll of the DOJ on the federal criminal cases, but he can't make the extensive case fact records, and the grand jury indictments handed down on the basis of these facts, just disappear.
3) Not to jinx anything but increasingly it looks to me that tRump and the GOP can't win in 2024 unless they actually manage to pull off election fraud on a scale far more massive than what they falsely accused Democrats of in 2020. They've shown us their playbook. In their arrogant stupidity, they've actually written it down. They're explicitly saying "this is what we're going to do." And it seems they actually believe that the majority in this country are just going to let them get away with it
Last night, Neal Katyal said on MSNBC that there aren't many options that Jack Smith has to either compel her to act, or to have her removed for slow-walking the case. He is the former acting assistant Solicitor General. He said that the Dept of Justice is loath to replace judges, and expressed dismay that she's chosen to further delay the trial.
However, on the plus side, Katyal said that this opens a spot for Defendant donny's Jan 6 trial, which he believes is still possible to conduct before the election.
Depends on SCOTUS doing the right things, Doug, i.e., finding against the all of the immunity argument and ruling before this session ends. From the tenor of their questions, they seem to be leaning toward defining personal vs official acts and sending the matters back to Chutkin to sort out. Even as efficient as she is, that could delay the start of her trial. And SCOTUS might choose to hold their ruling over to the next session. I wouldn't put it past Roberts.
I think Neal is smoking something WRT the 1/6 trial. The Supreme Court has made it pretty clear (the right wing of it) that they do not want to see this trial go forth before the election. Who knows how long they sit on this latest ruling, and who know what delays that ruling, when it comes, will cause.
We shall see, but (and I'm not a lawyer or legal scholars, but follow several who are, so take this with a grain of salt) I suspect that a ruling somewhat splitting the baby will be issued before the end of this SCOTUS session, and Jack Smith will be able to proceed.
Even apart from her bias, she has proven herself to be ignorant of important laws and the proper conduct of a trial. She also appears incompetent in reading and responding to critical docs, like motions and briefs. She's a fucking disaster and ought to be removed from the bench permanently, not just from joyboy's case.
Why should these Trump people adhere to any rule or law. They believe they are untouchable. And they are convinced that WHEN Trump returns to the White House, he will pardon all his supporters.
And that he would…the autocratic playbook has been and still currently is on display…don’t stand next to a window on the 5th floor in Russia just 1 needs mentioned) if you ‘disapprove’ . ‘You’re Fired’ was a clear indicator here..the roll changes ad infinitum were bold print clues.
We really need to remember how important Mitch McConnell has been in turning the courts into a wholly owned subsidiary if the RNC. His refusal to let any of Obama's nominees come to a vote so that a theoretical republican successor stack the courts as the Republicans saw fit is on him, not on Trump.
Lewis your anger is understandable. But don't condemn all historians. We are more than a racist nation, the word is xenophobic. A fear of strangers not like "us". Florida is trying to disenfranchise Chinese. How American Back people like Tim Scott could align themself with trump is very puzzling. The coming election frightens me also. How can so many people be oblivious to the dangers that trump is openly revealing is what is most disturbing. It can not be ignorance but raw hatred.
Mr. Baum, I do not condemn all...try 99%. Exception, Historian Tim Snyder. BUT it is COLOR... it is HAIR... it is RACE... and we Americans are daft... as for Dear Heather... and Boston College... read WHITE on WHITE, AFRAID, DENIAL, and BLIND.
I'm sure the deleted comment innocently listed the address of the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines instead of the White House by mistake, but now that I found the White House listed in Zillow, it inspires consideration of it being for sale.
We are the real owners, though, and are supposed to have a fair choice in, at least, who the tenants are .
Zillow often shows inaccurate information. In this listing, their claim that the property is not for sale is clearly wrong, and has been for some years.
I do agree about the reaction of a lot of people to having Obama in the White House. T just made it a sign of 'proud to be not-woke' and to say it out loud.
There is no longer any denying the forest from the trees , on so many avenues/paths. The American Dream is done , few see the puzzle coming together/connections weak/dancing all around the corpse. John Stewart’s cry comes closest to nailing it. The circus of traitors insidiously beat the last vestige rhetorically. Cannon is the canary.
Metaphors?
A change of unequalled challenge is upon the World. There are no winners, only survivors on the last boat.
We are truly all in this together, Joyce, the visionary…. correctly.
Eloquent writing, laid out meticulously, shouted the warning well in some circles, lies and ridicule in others, designed from histories downfalls, the playbook of the coal mine or the cold mind counted and calculated .
I think the overturning of Roe was also a canary (can we have 2?). I think it pointed us right back to the Declaration which says all men are created equal. Put us women right back in our place to be only protected as property, not as human beings. We would be better off arguing our property rights were violated with the overturning of Roe because that’s how we were regarded when the Declaration was penned…as property.
And property is that over which you have control. You get to eat YOUR sandwich. You get to drive YOUR car. The idea that people can be property is tyrannical. The concept of universal equality means that no person can be property. We have rights and responsibilities, but are subject to no autocratic whim. The tension between those who would be masters and those they would regard as slaves is as old as humanity.
It also seems to me that there is strong tie-in to notions of supremacy, racial, religious, gender, financial, etc. that posits narcissistic privilege over others. That's the tragic flaw that could bring down our species. No? Noem felt justified in killing an adolescent dog that failed to acknowledge her presumed superiority. For centuries, those impulses have left a wake of blood.
Realty always has the last word, and it's not like we have had no opportunities to learn of where tyranny leads. Sufficient votes for sanity can stop the spread of madness.
"It is not a joke and when this goon is president he will you this info for his own power. Poor pitiful America. What a great idea it was"
The odd 'typos' and degrading sentiment make this comment suspect. But on face value. The United States of America was a great idea. And overall it has proven a great form of government. A democratic republic founded on a declaration of equality and constituted by coming to consensus through reasoned debate of empirical evidence. Enduringly making progress towards fulfilling these aspirations. Repurposing it as a corporate clerical fascist state, a la the GOP is a very bad idea. As shown by Russia.
I'm not throwing in the towel, Peter, and neither should any of us. Totalitarianism depends on us being disheartened. Courage, mes braves, et aux barricades.
If you mean Trump, then I wouldn't bet on him never being elected again. But I'm certainly working to keep Trump from being elected again. By those on the right and the left.
In 2016 everyone was saying "He can't win." From field work, by early Summer, I was certain that he would win. So it inordinately worries me when people say that - I miss any nuance.
Laurie, sometime ago I came across an interesting post about Judge Cannon. I had a very dim view of her actions to date and wondered if she were partisan. This piece added some nuance to the situation and made me step back from my initial assessment…seems things truly are more complicated than they seem on the surface. Eventually I hope the truth will be revealed and justice will prevail. See the link here: https://davidlat.substack.com/p/clerking-for-judge-aileen-cannon-why-clerks-quit
Barbara, kind of you to be so non-judgemental, but Lat is full caca. He is playing 'intellectual Zamboni' for the indefensible Cannon. (Note he was VP Federalist Society at Yale, grew up as neighbor of Nixon). Cannon isn't stupid, she is just incredibly biased for Trump. Her rulings on co-defendants show no such sympathy. Her rulings are absurd. ABSURD! She takes every opportunity to bad mouth Jack Smith even when she needs to reverse herself because her previous ruling is soooo egregiously wrong. Listen to podcast JACK, by former FBI Director McCabe, for better info.
Opps, my comment posted twice (why?) and when I tried to delete just one, they both disappeared. Oh well. So shall try again.
Basically I commented that I realized this was a one-and-only article of its kind—delving into her background, etc. & want to be open to various opinions & not siloed into like-think. That said, it will be interesting how this plays out….is it more to her inexperience or, perhaps, partisan views coloring her decisions? I dunno, but it’s not going well in any case…my focus is on that old adage “justice delayed is justice denied”. She may end up being a footnote in history books….
As a peon in the peanut gallery and viewing from far away, anyone who watched 6Jan live with horror and deep dismay knows Trump is a sleazy Putin puppet who should be stripped of his citizenship and deported permanently. This case should be the deciding factor in that event. This case will separate the men from the boys as far as lawyers go, and may make the difference between the USA's demise or survival as a democracy
I agree with you, Barbara, that it's a good thing to review alternate points of view. Nonetheless, regardless of how overworked and/or inexperienced Cannon may be, her opinions and rulings in both cases have been way off mark. It doesn't matter to me if her problem is bias, stress, or incompetence; she ought to be taken off this current case and, imho, removed from the bench permanently. Without scolding or prejudice, but outta there.
Lauren, I was recently listing to NPR whilst driving on errands & the subject matter was “management” positions. My takeaway (and that I have experienced in my working life) some folks really DO have the chops to do it well, and others, as the Peter Principle posits, rise to the level of their incompetency. She sure does seem way way way over her head & for that I have some sympathy. IF she realizes this, IMHO, she should seek wise counsel on how to step up or to step away, unless personal hubris is playing a role. Some folks are thrown in the deep end unprepared (think Zelensky) and rise to, even surpass, the occasion….others, like TFFG, it just amplifies their lack of fitness (or, indeed, profound harm) for the role.
Thanks, Barbara. If nothing else, the author is trying to put the humanity back in Cannon, a hard sell for many, to be sure. Being on the outside of it, I have a hard time seeing the complexity that the author is trying to convey this case is. How hard could it be to determine that boxes and boxes of documents that belong to the National Archives are instead in someone's bathroom?
Morning, Lynell. I agree that this should be a real open and shut case: You had 'em and weren't supposed to. Period.
Cases are usually tried (at least at my level of expertise) where the crime took place, in this case, Washington, D.C. However, the crime of possession of stolen property took place in Florida. I do not understand the nuance of filing in Florida rather than D.C. I can only assume that there is one.
Lastly, the opinion I have of Judge Cannon is something that I'd let loose with on TAFM, but not here. Suffice to say that lack of knowledge, lack of qualifications, lack of judicial temperament, and lack of judicial experience are paramount in my opinion.
I am still of the opinion that the documents case is the most important of them all. The damage to our national security to give the trump family more money and bolster trumps image of himself is the worst thing imaginable. I feel
Certain some of them have been sold and some still in hiding! This person and his gang of traitors should be jailed for life, every last one of them. Including the judge!
Susan, it is also appalling to hear accounts (from the person he spoke to!!) of what he would discuss with random folks…seems to me as a way to “puff up” his importance and impress them…so immature. Seems to me the whole documents case is a no-brainer & he was caught red-handed & flat footed….or maybe bone spurs were involved.
It's pretty cut and dried, as you say, Lynell. I'm personally more concerned that Cannon doesn't seem to know enough pertinent law or proper trial procedure to be at this particular helm. I wish she'd realized it herself and recused, but she didn't, and none of us know why. For that huge misjudgment on her part, I say take her off the bench forever.
TCinLA, I’m not a fan of Judge Cannon and I agree with your general reaction. However, I do not appreciate your reference to her using a slur based on her gender (bimbo). Wouldn’t your opinion of her work as a judge be the same if she was male? By referring to her as a bimbo you imply otherwise. How would you refer to her if she were male?
An interesting article, Barbara. Thanks for the link. Given the connections Judge Cannon has to right-wing funders and causes, I wonder if some of the problems in her office reflect her desire to please those folks, so she must come up with more reasons to delay the actual trial. Perhaps her clerks are doing lots of case history research to that end, rather than actually dealing with the paperwork and evidence in the Trump case itself. If she's truly overwhelmed by the demands of this case, I imagine that other judges would be able to appropriately mentor/guide her as needed, assuming that's allowed. She doesn't seem to be concerned about the damage she's causing to her own reputation.
Personally, I think it's pretty clear that she's gambling on a Trump re-election to save her butt and, possibly as a reward for the delay, an appointment to the Supreme Court. After all, everything IS transactional in Trumpworld.
Yeah, Laurie, I wondered how she is reflecting on all of this, and wondering if an unseen hand (influence from ???) is affecting her. Hopefully, someday, all will be revealed and she will take her place as a footnote to history.
Barbara, somehow I can't picture her reflecting on the rule of law or the moral obligations of a judge. She might be reflecting on her future and must know that if she tires of being a judge, she'll have a good gig on Fox or other right-wing media, or teaching at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.
I'm 78 now, so I'd love to come back in about 30-40 years to see what happens re: Trump, American populism, the embrace of authoritarianism, etc. - and to see what historians have to say about this wild, scary, unreal period.
LOL…Laurie…I’ve often said the only reason I want to live forever is to find out how it all turns out! [and that applies to many issues that would take us to Earth’s end in some 5 billion years, give or take a day or so….think I’d be WAY too tired to hang on that long!]
Oh my gosh, Barbara, imagine if George Washington or Ben Franklin or Jane Austen or Elizabeth I could drop in now. I wonder what they'd say about us and the world.
Just my two cents--I feel like this same 25-35% of the population that has always been with us--slavers, KKK, Nazis, racists, authoritarians, MAGA--I don't think this era we're in is particularly unusual. We're just more aware of them, because our news comes from more heterogeneous sources.
Please include Nation of Islam leaders Elijah Muhammad and Louis Farrakhan who amplified the antisemitism of the Christian Gospels and whose bigotry against White people is the ideological flip side of KKK bigotry against Black people. (Ideological, although obviously without the practical impact.) Although, Farrakhan is a dominant Black leader and his antisemitism has seeped into Left wing activism. And has now tragically shifted the focus on recent protests - away from the abuses of the Netanyahu regime onto the antisemitism of a vehement minority of the protestors.
The hands are not unseen. They are Charles Koch's, Leonard Leo's, the foreigner Elon Musk, the men, always men,behind the investment banks, the Russian oligarchs. The hands are myriad. They play the puppet strings while we just want to mow our lawns, play with our kids, and maybe buy an electric vehicle so the planet doesn't roast.
I caught part of an MSNBC show last weekend, Ayman’s, where he was interviewing someone in the financial world, I believe, who when asked who he would be voting for (this after some laughing over Trump’s antics) said Trump. Why? Because STOCKHOLDERS are the most important people and them keeping their money is the most important issue. I have been appalled ever since, even though I know many who vote their portfolios and not their love of country. To just say that out loud and for the interviewer, on a network I like, not to challenge him but seem amused left me infuriated. I’ve thought about it these past few days. How do we get to these people who have placed what they have over what the nation needs?
Barbara, this was fascinating. Thank you. I wish more people would encourage us to be less one dimensional. Cannon is more than an obstacle to justice.
Based on this author's research, she is quite bright and under other circumstances could be a fine judge and mentor of clerks. But it appears she is way over her head. And as a result, accountability for one of the most obvious and most egregious acts by an American president is being bogged down.
Doesn't Cannon appreciate the monstrosity of the deed in question? Doesn't she get what a traitorous act the theft of documents represents? Of course she does. If she is so smart, she must. Therefore, she is a puppet or a member of the extremist MAGA right.
By delaying the trial, she is indeed an obstacle to justice and therefore, essentially, an accessory to the crime.
I applaud learning that she is a more complex person than portrayed. I actually have some sympathy for her plight. But if she were to act responsibly, she would make one of two choices NOW. Set a court date ASAP for well before the election. Or step back from the case - send her clerks with all their developed research to the next judge.
If only she could have asked for help. But at this stage in her career, that would stain her reputation for years. There is no forgiveness or empathy for people whose competence is overwhelmed by logistical and emotional distress.
Barbara, Thank You for the link to David Lat's article.
TFFG ruins everything he touches. He has cast a pall on our legal system. Now we have been retrained to doubt everything that comes out of our courts. I am skeptical about everything to some degree anyway, so it doesn't bother me that David Lat might be spinning his own bias in his writing. But after reading his story about Judge Cannon's struggles with her clerks, and her thinking like an appellate judge when she needs to be thinking like a trial judge, etc, I find that I prefer that version, instead of casting her as a partisan hack.
I hate the idea that she is merely a partisan hack.
Similarly, I hate the idea that several members of the US Supreme Court will probably never be able to write a soaring opinion that advances the cause of justice well into the distant future. I wish there were some way that we could all work together to persuade Chief Justice Roberts to get in touch with his conscience, and begin to attempt to restore the dignity of the Court. And does Judge Cannon need more resources from DoJ, or whoever, to help with her workload on such an important case?
As I wrote earlier today, the case of the mishandled classified documents is too important to be allowed to fall by the wayside.
David, I believe that David Lat has possibly damaged his back by twisting himself into a pretzel to defend Cannon. What I see is yet another person seduced by the power around 45. She could have recused herself, but chose to stay on, not realizing how difficult it would be to try a widely publicized trial with a defendant whose business model is “never pay what is owed” and “delay until your opponent is broken and you never have to pay the full price”. A judge used to dealing with criminal sociopaths would have recognized the tactics; Cannon seems to have fallen for them. Jack Smith should appeal to the Appeals Court and they should rescue her before she drowns and rescue the American people from her bad decisions. This isn’t a hypothetical case in moot court; this is a fight for accountability to prove that this a nation of laws.
Once you are in Trump’s pocket (or Putin’s) there is no safe way out. But you might not know that until it’s too late. It doesn’t matter how smart you are or the school you graduated from or even if you can barely read at all, you know that he can,and will, reach in and squash you like a bug if you fail to praise him.
Terribly Faustian, and yet I have no sympathy. The moral of that story is that we should have NO truck with the devil... he's a liar and a cheat and will always find a way to make you regret your deal just before you roast in hell forever.
David H: I think it’s possible to think that both are true - she’s in over her head and she’s biased. These two “explanations “ aren’t mutually exclusive. I reacted to Lat as you did. As someone who remembers how it feels to face a bigger project than I could then handle competently…. And BTW, I don’t know anyone who could decline or recuse an assignment based on work overload.
While I don't think this article excuses Judge Cannon's decisions....it does share an overview of her issues. Right or wrong. Of course her chaotic management of her cases...shows her inexperience...and poor management. Not everyone manages work properly....or well. Unfortunately, her mismanagement looks pro-Trump....and probably defaults to a pro-Trump basis.
Thanks for the link. It does help to know the behind the scenes issues. It's sad that the pressure of being assigned the documents case did so much damage to her as a manager and that she's now got staff who lack the experience -- and possibly the clearance -- to be of real service to her and to justice.
Barbara, David, Emily and MisTBlu, "I came across an interesting post about Judge Cannon. I had a very dim view of her actions to date and wondered if she were partisan. This piece added some nuance to the situation and made me step back from my initial assessment…seems things truly are more complicated than they seem on the surface."
Perhaps the best thing to emerge from getting a look behind the scenes does 2 things: 1) to restore some semblance of respect for a legal system and those on whom we rely to make it work which, on the whole, has served us relatively well through the past 2 centuries despite the deviance evident in a small minority of those judges;
2) the look behind the scenes helps remind us that "the truth" is ALWAYS more complicated than the headlines and summary judgments we make which allow us to proceed without having to think our way through the complexity or to simultaneously hold two different feelings about the same issue - a very human experience!
With absolute respect for the nuances of what is preventing Cannon from managing her trial correctly, or even adequately, the fact remains that she isn't.
I don't need to bad-mouth the woman or the judge, I just want to see justice done, and if she can't deliver for any reason or set of reasons, she should step down. A well-educated, intelligent, 40 year old person should have the self-awareness to know when s/he's failing at an important task and get help or get off it.
Barbara, I don't have quite the same take as you after reading this article by Lat. He seems to say that she's inexperienced (though smart), is overwhelmed by it all, and leans toward the Defendant in this case.
She has slow-walked bringing this case to trial, which is now delayed without a date. Neal Katyal made the point last night on MSNBC that the docs case isn't complicated. As comparison, he said that Sam Banks-Friedman, the bit coin fraud, was charged in Nov '22 and was found guilty in Aug '23, in a much more complex case.
Putting Lat's opinions together, it leads to my conclusion that Cannon is over her head and incompetent due to inexperience, with a strong bias for the Defendant. She should have recused herself, given her situation in general.
Meanwhile, national security remains at risk due to the theft of documents, and who knows how many classified docs yet are unaccounted for?
I'm going to make a comparison here between Attorney General Merrick Garland and Judge Aileen Cannon: Garland is an experienced Judge now having the role of the nation's top prosecuting attorney, a role he filled well at the national level. Cannon is young lacks experience, and is a former appellate judge now serving as a district trial judge. Both of these individuals may well be great people, and have experience and/or temperament to do these jobs, but each are ill-suited for their current roles.
Mr. Garland still thinks too much like a judge, and lacks the prosecutorial fire that let him successfully prosecute the Murrah Building attack. He needed to have that same prosecutorial fire to address the Insurrection of January 6, 2021 rather than the slow, methodical approach he has taken thus far. Judge Cannon has almost no trial experience, and is responsible for handling the first case ever of a former president who stole classified documents and stored some of them in a bathroom off of a common access area to a swimming pool at a golf resort. She may be giving more weight to what she has 2 previous years experience with (Appellate Judge) than what is normal for a trial judge, but that does not address her obvious bias.
Good comparison, Ally. I'm withholding judgment on Garland even though his molasses in January approach to his role is interfering badly with the US getting back on track post-TFG and post-Covid (although both are still in our air supply). I get the justice delayed is justice denied thing, and still if he nails them all firmly and finally at the end of his plod, I'll be happy. Meanwhile, whether Garland is temperamentally unsuited to be top cop, or if he's just bad at it, it's up to us to keep our democracy. No heroes coming to the rescue, just voters.
Same for Cannon - who she is in all her complexity and why she's screwing up her trial aren't important except as thought exercise. What is salient is that she is screwing it up. The difference is that we have no power to vote her out - maybe just endless postcards to the 11th Circuit to get her off the case for cause. We can deconstruct later at leisure.
Ally, you expressed so well what I’ve been thinking for months!
It’s a shame about Garland; I believe that he would have been lauded as a great Supreme Court justice. Instead, his choice to examine every case from all sides and from every possible permutation has hogtied him in a job that requires action, not deliberation.
Recovering lawyer here. Thank you for the article, Barbara.
Clerking for a federal court judge is a plum, reserved for the very best newly-trained lawyers. Most judges are demanding, because adjudication is demanding. Any court case involves at a minimum an enormous amount of time and personal (I'd say "psychic", or "spiritual", but those seem too crunchy granola) investment by the litigants, to say nothing of the expense, all of which will inevitably affect all their futures in one way or another. In a case involving national security, it also requires an enormous investment of time and effort on the part of the lawyers and judiciary as well. No wonder this inept, inexperienced judge has had trouble keeping or even hiring clerks; the atmosphere in Chambers must be deadly. Clerking for Cannon would besmirch anyone's reputation and resume, unless they just want to go to work for Kacsmaryk, of course. And because of her ineptitude in this specific case and the effects on her chambers of that ineptitude, to say nothing of her bias, the American people are denied the effective and timely prosecution of a person who is an obvious threat to national security.
Thanks, Lynn, for your “inside” perspective. She sure is making a name for herself and not in a good way unless, perhaps, Project 2025 comes to pass IF that’s her schtick. Can’t really be in another’s head and can only base opinions on one’s words and deeds….IMHO she’s falling short especially for such a critical once-in-a-lifetime (or, so far, a nation’s) case. Like others, perhaps she shall one day write a tell-all book and we can find out, you know, when her words/actions no longer could have any impact.
I'm not a lawyer but suspect that disbarring a sitting judge in the middle of hearing one of the most consequential cases in US history would be, for all intents and purposes, impossible. And even if it weren't, the process would likely not even begin until the trial in question had concluded and would surely take until long after the November election to complete. Consider, for example, how long Eastman's disbarment is taking -- years -- and even now his disbarment is actually a temporary license suspension, and the wrangling goes on and on.
More to the point is the issue of getting relief from the 11th Circuit, perhaps in the form of a writ of mandamus, or perhaps as an order to recuse. As has been pointed out elsewhere (see the Joyce Vance column HCR cites today, including the comments), Judge Cannon in her machinations and maneuverings has cleverly avoided doing anything appealable, leaving Smith stymied no matter how bizarre Cannon's moves (or failures to move) have been and how blatant her pro-Trump bias appears to be.
That has led in turn to conversation about whether Cannon, who has shown herself to be inexperienced as a judge if not outright incompetent, is receiving lots of coaching from somewhere, holding her hand as she takes the steps needed to ensure the trial won't happen before the election.
If Cannon is getting coaching, which one can't help but suspect, you can bet it ain't coming from the ACLU. :-)
Judge Cannon is a member of the Federal Judiciary, and as such is subject to the ethics rules that are in place. The recent exposure of her failure to report a luxury resort trip appropriately should have some merit in assessing her fitness.
I’m wondering if she doesn’t see the coaching (which I also suspect she is getting from the Right) as the only lifeline she’s got. And if she’s overworked and her clerks aren’t up to speed, delay would seem like the only way to catch up. Not to mention it keeps the MAGAs happy.
I doubt this is all a simple good vs evil situation.
Also not a lawyer, pts, but I don't see why the 11th Circuit can't pull her off the case for the counter-legal rulings she's made. I'll go read the Vance article, and maybe then I'll see what I'm missing.
A good question that's way above my pay grade; I don't know for sure but don't think an appeals court can act sua sponte (if that's the correct use of that term), that is, without having received some sort of formal request or appeal. Would be great to hear from a qualified lawyer on this, and also on how Jack Smith might go about finding out whether or how Judge Cannon may have been improperly advised.
We all knew this was coming. After all, according to TFG, Aileen Cannon is a fantastic judge.
It’s time for Jack Smith to file for her removal. But that will take months. The strongest case against him will be torpedoed by his accomplice. The only chance for this case to go to trial is the re-election of Joe Biden.
He can't file for her removal until she does something, makes a decision, that he can appeal. She is being advised by someone who knows well how to do what's happening here, because she has avoided any of those decisions (and is obviously too incompetent to be doing this without direction).
TCinLA is 'spot on'. I also suspect Jack Smith bangs his head against the wall every morning when he looks into the mirror and says 'Why...WHY did I file this case in So. Dis. of Florida rather than D.C.?' SMACK!
TCinLA, I am thinking, after NYC verdict and SCOTUS ruling on immunity and judge in D.C. case determines if a trial is possible prior to election, IF Florida case is only one that could possibly go trial before election, THEN Jack Smith might 'push his luck' with a Mandamus motion in 11th Cir. to try and push the case to trial. What do you think TCinLA?
Actually, Jack Smith had a choice. At the time a SCOTUS case was pending that could have tipped the scales to one jurisdiction or the other. Smith chose the 'safest' but 'slowest' route. With Trump, and Trump only, Cannon has a 'Turtle Docket' instead of a 'Rocket Docket'.
Yes, TC, do wonder who has her ear and is whispering into it….seems like there is a very powerful shadowy “back-bench” influencing our judiciary at the highest levels. This is our country’s “ice bucket” challenge…hope we are shocked awake and rise to the occasion and keep our democratic republic. Time will tell.
Barbara, given your earlier very thoughtful DavidLa post, it would be both useful to our belief in a basically just legal system as well as entirely plausible that Judge Cannon had reverted to her earlier mode of functioning as an appellate lawyer (judge?) that she is actually trying to think through the prodigious complexities of this highest of profile cases with new, overworked and micromanaged clerks before issuing any rulings.
Maybe someday the truth & strategy will be known, high road or low…. I know our country professes “equal justice for all”, but come on, we all know despite that aspiration we haven’t really met that mark by a long shot. That this kerfuffle (large picture) is unique in our history, and involves so so so many players at different strata (regular Joe’s to members of Congress to former Cabinet members to a former POTUS…just to list some), will be a real test of our Judiciary and is being played out on a stage where all (globally) can see it.
Barbara I agree that we have seen various depradations of and by our legal system which demonstrate where we have missed the mark, depradations Joyce Vance, HCR, and Rachel Maddow have illuminated for us going back at least to WWII trials of how many congressmen (dozens?) regarding their conspiring with the Hitler regime yet a trial which ended up in a circus leaving no-one legally accountable yet none of them was re-elected. That these betrayals of and by our legal system remain so visible seems a commentary on the majority of the system which works sufficiently that we still recognize when it doesn't provide "equal justice for all." I have seen reporting about several efforts by various law schools to reconsider and retry the gravest miscarriages of justice for defendants on death row who have received inadequate defense council. No the system isn't perfect yet I'd ask which country's legal system would you trade ours for?
You said a mouthful there, and who better to advise her than the co-conspirators at the Federalist Society, who placed her there. And of course, TFG, the king of deny , deceit, and delay himself. Sad.
It all goes to Mitch McConnell, the handmaiden of the Heritage Foundation and every dark money billionaire (Murdoch, Leo, et al) He is the real chess player extraordinaire. Now that he’s no longer the Lion King of the Senate Republicans, it’s chaos and Trump has now taken over the party for MAGA and the Heritage Foundation—the entity that handpicked every one of the candidates that Trump put forth for judgeships including Cannon. These are not our brightest and best legal minds. These are mostly hacks, as evidenced by Cannon and Kavanaugh. They know enough to gum up the works and be dangerous. Like Trump.
@TCinLA IMHO Jack Smith blew a chance to force Cannon to recuse. Got to remember this is her second Trump case. In the first case the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reprimanded her twice. Although there were disqualification complaints filed through the Judicial Conference system, which is parallel to but not part of the first case on its merits, Judge Prior, the CJ of the circuit, dismissed them.
The 11th Circuit found that Cannon “improperly exercised equitable jurisdiction” in hearing the case and that the entire proceeding should be dismissed. Notably, the court also found that regardless of the status of a document in question (personal or presidential), the government maintains the authority to seize it under a warrant supported by probable cause. The panel wrote, “The law is clear. We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so.” https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23323385/trump-ca11-2022-12-01.pdf
There was some question whether she should have accepted the appointment after the second case was filed. Here's the procedure: 28 USC 144:
Whenever a party to any proceeding in a district court makes and files a timely and sufficient affidavit that the judge before whom the matter is pending has a personal bias or prejudice either against him or in favor of any adverse party, such judge shall proceed no further therein, but another judge shall be assigned to hear such proceeding.
The affidavit shall state the facts and the reasons for the belief that bias or prejudice exists, and shall be filed not less than ten days before the beginning of the term at which the proceeding is to be heard, or good cause shall be shown for failure to file it within such time. A party may file only one such affidavit in any case. It shall be accompanied by a certificate of counsel of record stating that it is made in good faith.
Smith could have made the motion. The standard is the appearance of impropriety.
28 U.S. Code § 455 - Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate judge
(a)Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
(b)He shall also disqualify himself in the following circumstances:
(1)Where he has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding;...
There are new facts surrounding bias. Did she conspire with the SDFL Clerk to get the 2nd case? Is the clerk biased? Is Cannon's husband tied to Trump?
None of this has anything to do with the merits of the documents case, or her lousy rulings.
Maybe it's a good thing that this trial is postponed, even until after the election.
Although an avid Trump support Cannon may be watching the NY case very closely and she sees how damaging the testimony is to the TFFG campaign.
Assuming Biden wins reelection, Trump will be likely be tried several more times.
The Party of Trump SC justices have already forced at least a 6 month delay due to their mishandling of immunity. If TFFG is found guilty in NY he may be incarcerated for his next trial. Do you think they will allow him two hours each day before court to do his hair and makeup?
Since my last job involved teaching human service staff about the impact of stress overload, let me throw in a couple of possible scenarios. There’s no question that the characteristics of her current situation meet all the criteria for stress overload (significant issues, lasting more than thirty days, with the feeling of loss of control). Stress overload neurohormones generally cause the amygdala to override the prefrontal cortex. So she would likely be dealing with flight, fight or freeze. She would be angry with her staff, unable to adequately use executive function - ie management skills like planning, control of emotions, etc etc. She would also see coaching and delay as a temporary relief from the stress and anxiety. It’s hard to overstate the impact of stress overload. It’s easy to think she might be using alcohol and/or prescription medications to dampen the symptoms - which would not help.
Stress overload is under-recognized and can even be mistaken for a mental illness (not a psychosis, but many other diagnoses).
Of course I don’t know Judge Cannon, but the article certainly fits.
And in such an obvious case as the theft of the classified documents. How much more criminal does something have to get. Claimi g, without any evidence as usual, that these 1000s of documents were declassifieds and just souvenirs is beyond beyond credible especially when the archival process is clear and in writing. This phony should be yanked off the bench and tried herself and disbarred permanently.
I don't think federal judges get disbarred. Impeached, yes, but the likelihood of that happening in the current political environment is highly unlikely. I think the only hope is that she screws up bad enough that Smith could get her kicked off this case.
Sometimes I feel like my voice is but a whisper in the wilderness. The case of the mishandled classified documents makes me want to shout. In 1969 and '70 I was an Army soldier working for the National Security Agency, doing signals intercept. Before going to the war, we spent a year in language school in Monterey, California, learning the northern dialect of the Vietnamese language. We spent another two months or so in San Angelo, Texas at Goodfellow Air Force Base, learning how important it is to keep secrets safe from discovery. The mantra I learned was that if you keep a secret in your mind, nobody can get it out of you. But as soon as you give it physicality in the outside world, it becomes discoverable. The Defense establishment in general goes to great lengths to maintain secrecy. The old joke about "NSA" is that is stands for No Such Agency.
The people who worry about guarding classified information worry about one little piece of information getting out -- much less a trove of documents kept outside a secure area, available to who knows what sorts of people might be actively looking for such things in a former president's residence.
For anyone who was formally trained to maintain security, the former president's handling of classified information is outrageous. I can only begin to say what a big deal it is. It is such a big deal that I doubt that Judge Cannon understands how big a deal it is. I hope that the AG will not allow this case to just shuffle quietly off the stage, never to be heard from again. This is a BFD.
Being a retired civil servant for DOD Army I know of which you speak. Maintaining proper procedures was something even the lowliest clerk knew about. What tfg did is a blatant disregard of protocol and more importantly National Security. Souvenirs of his time in office…WTF!!!! To let this issue languish is criminal for all involved.
A BFD, indeed! Thanks for your perspective. It adds to my fury. This theft is a betrayal of America. It should have gone to trial quickly. Trump should be behind high security bars right now. If ANYONE other than Trump had perpetrated such a crime they would be splitting rocks as we speak. He has been charged. He should be in no bail jail!
So with all due respect, and thank you again for the comment, it doesn't take a veteran of intelligence work or a rocket scientist to understand that hiding Top Secret government documents in a bathroom available to the public is so obviously criminal as to be worthy of SNL skits and makes us a laughing stock on the international stage.
David, I have no military or DoD experience. I know first hand as a street cop the importance of the "chain of evidence" and the requirements there for recordkeeping, prosecution, and appellate retention of materials.
To see those images from Mar a Lardo chilled me to the bone. That isn't just mishandled evidence (in my career, such a violation would have been grounds for termination and prosecution), that is OUR NATIONAL SECRET DOCUMENTS lying next to a gold plated commode. The number of National "assets" that have been killed since fpotus left office is high, and I am sure there are more that have not been made public. The impacts on our national security cannot be understated.
[Edit 11:03 PM CDT] We have not yet heard any allegation that the former president sold top secret information, or traded secrets for future considerations, or any other act besides the careless and probably illegal handling of classified documents. But what we don't know might hurt us. If he had handled the documents in a different way, for example by keeping them in a secure facility, with continual surveillance, armed guards, and other standard national security protocols, we still would not know whether or not he sold national security information to the Soviets, I mean Russians, or anybody else. If he wanted to sell a particular juicy bit of intel to Russia, he probably would have been unable to do it from the White House, due to security protocols in place there. The only way he could accomplish it would be to take a bunch of stuff home with him, scatter it all over the place, to make it look like he was just a hoarder, and then hand over the particular thing he was selling to an individual during a business trip, or some spy-type scenario. Determining which thing was compromised would be like searching for a needle in a haystack, or worse. It would be a bad, suspicious look for anyone, but way worse with this guy. [end edit:11:33 pm CDT, 8 May 2024]
Ally, I would like to believe that most people, upon being briefed about the importance of careful handling of sensitive information, would take it seriously and follow the stated protocols. However, the tffg tornado does not care about the destruction it leaves in its wake. So, two things: he should be punished because he violated critically important rules pertaining to national security; and he should be punished to make it clear to everyone that this is very serious business.
I suspect you and I were in the same part of the army, an 'agency' which no longer exists but whose shoulder patch included a large predatory bird and a lightening bolt which we generally referred to by a nickname I won't repeat here.
I was just two years ahead of you at Monterey (lord, what a lovely site it was!) and Goodfellow, (not so much) training in another far eastern language but getting the same sort of security training. We probably made much the same tired jokes about codewords and levels of security and all the rest, but I completely agree with you in the main.
As we both probably understood, security can become it's own reason for being, sometimes quite apart from the actual need for it, but such decisions are best made by leaning toward caution. Donald Trump clearly had no conception of any of that. And we both probably ran into those with the same sort of mentality during our tours - the guy who tried to boost his standing and making social hay by forever coyly hinting at all the critical secrets he knew. This is, at bottom, a very little man with no concern for anyone but himself.
James, I confess that I still have my Class A uniform hanging in my clothes closet, complete with the patch to which you referred, depicting the "Lightning Fast Chicken Plucker" or something like that.
There is a book about our "agency", "Unlikely Warriors" by Blackburn and Long, which tells part of the story of ASA in Vietnam. I contributed stories and photographs for two of the chapters. And they wrote another book, "More Gentle Heroes", with more stories. My picture is on the cover.
As far as I know, everything revealed in their books was declassified long ago. My working assumption was that would come as no surprise that we were doing signals intercept. There are books about signals intercept in WWII. I didn't write anything about our state-of-the-art technology, which probably would seem ancient compared to what's going on these days.
Surely at least one person would have briefed the former president on protocols for handling classified materials. But 45, being an egomaniac, and a sociopath (at best), would dismiss such instruction because he thinks those rules are for other people, but not him. He's special, a legend in his own mind. For the good of all, his punishment would serve as a lesson on how not to handle classified material.
There's at least one novel I know of on the topic entitled 'One to Count Cadence' by James Crumley. There's also another about our outfit on Okinawa, but I forget the name, and the book itself was eminently forgettable. I will look for yours. We were primarily Mandarin Mary's
On Okinawa we replaced 'Plucker' with a very similar word one letter shorter.....I served my last year in Colorado with a couple of great guys who'd been based at Phu Bai.
Since the judge involved seems to be interested only in putting the trial off as long as she can, I'm not sure Trump will ever be brought before the bar on this one, but one can hope.
James, we are indeed speaking the same language, from the same (former) organization.
The full title of the book to which I referred is "Unlikely Warriors: The Army Security Agency's Secret War in Vietnam 1961-1973". It is not a novel, it is a history of ASA in Vietnam, told by people like me, in my own words. I was not paid for my writing or my photographs, so I feel free to cite the work in this space, as there is no pecuniary interest in sales on my part.
Back to the topic at hand, my growing complaint is that our system of jurisprudence is so highly politicized that it is more interested in the flavor of the day, as it were, instead of reaching for the noble aspirations of our founding authors, toward liberty and justice for all, or some apt description of what all of us wish for. We have oceans of dark money sloshing around, trying to buy influence. We have unethical behavior on the part of Members of the Court going unchecked. Our judicial system should be above reproach, not just seen to be ethical and learned, but actually striving to improve our lives by making our system more fair, more just. And as I'm writing this I'm thinking that maybe I'm suffering from the same things they are suffering from, because I have a sense of what a more just and more fair system would look like, but it's difficult to describe it. Like, did the founding authors consider including their wives in the new democratic system. I think Abigail Adams, among others, made that argument. Can the judicial establishment rise above the political fray and lead the way toward a more perfect union?
The words of Judge Roy Bean comes to mind: "You'll get a fair trial, followed by a first class hanging". But I jest.
chào tạm biệt, roughly, iirc, farewell -- been more than half a century now, eh?
Forgive me if I seemed to imply that the book you mentioned was a work of fiction - I only meant to note the two I mentioned were. Indeed, I now have your book on my Kindle.
As to secrecy, I have an anecdote from a school mate of mine, also an Agency linguie who served in Germany. One Christmas the Russians sent him and his 'chicken plucker' colleagues personalized Christmas cards.
As one who taught American history for just over 40 years, a subject I took up in part because of the kinds of experiences we clearly shared, I do have my own take on the Founders and their legacy.
First, of course, Abigail Adams's letter to John is as you believe, in which she noted that all men would be tyrants if they could. To which John apparently replied with a bit of a chauvinistic chuckle, but no concession to her argument.
Unfortunately, though they clearly realized the danger of polarization inherent in political parties (which they called factions), they went ahead and started the process anyway. Not that it matters; basic human nature would have done so even without their help. They were, after all men of their time, but they also understood that the blueprint they were creating might well have to be amended in the face of future alterations in circumstance. For me, that understanding, and the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment are among the most important pieces of the Constitution. Unfortunately too many Americans, including some prominent members of the judiciary seem to be unaware of or ignoring both.
For all that they could not have foreseen all the forces that their document would face in the future, and that they failed to create the nation without slavery, to me the Founders did do something quite extraordinary. They created the first nation on earth to define itself at it's inception as one in which 'we the people' could together find enough of the courage, the honesty, the understanding, the tolerance, the compassion, the wisdom, the humor, the hope, and the sheer common sense to rule ourselves from the bottom up after four thousand years of the reverse. For myself now, as I peruse our political debates, the notable lack of most of those characteristics is the most dispiriting.
Forgive me for going on! As you clearly do, I have some pretty strong feelings on the subject.
Imagine a democratic nation where a former president steals reams of top secret documents that are recovered and he’s charged with felonies. Then the vastly inexperienced judge he appointed repeatedly bungles and delays the trial, likely until after that former president runs for re-election.
And there’s no corrective recourse? Something is seriously amiss in the court system beyond the grotesque corruption of the Supreme Court. Whether Cannon is inept, corrupt, or both, she’s made a mockery of the rule of law and increased Trump’s re-election chances - and chances to sell secrets to America’s enemies, likely again.
If the Supreme Court rules that Trump has immunity from prosecution for crimes committed during his Presidency and/or after the courts become irrelevant.
Trump pardoned 143 convicted criminals, 4 of whom bilked over $1.4 billion from Medicare/Medicaid and were convicted of fraud. Will we ever find out what the quid pro quo was for any of these pardons.
Trump has already promised to pardon all of the January 6th rioters.
And who would be able to overturn his executive orders even if they were illegal?
Absolutely — democracy can't function without an independent judiciary. But judges must be ethical, and requirements are too lax and not aggressively enforced. And how is a judge so lacking in experience assigned to one of the most serious espionage cases in the nation's history? The judicial system needs reform.
Cannon's problem is not inexperience, it is bias. Totally agree, enforceable written higher standards. Now it is left to the Roberts to supervise court system and he is 'part of the problem and not the solution'. Term limits, a written ethics book, an independent enforcement-investigative arm that is independent of all branches of government, like the Federal Reserve.
Seeing those signed checks this week might have been more beautiful than my front yard garden full of sunflowers. Prosecutors are doing a great job of adding context and back-up to show it was impossible for tRumPf not to know what he was signing...love they are using his own words against him from those silly books he "wrote".
My guess is that if anybody without Trump's political protection had clearly endangered US National Security to even a fraction of the extent that Trump has done, the would not now be outside walking around.
I was especially impressed by Guardian reporting in the run up and execution of Bush II's Iraq War. The Guardian released stories that that were insightful, accurate, and prescient while our domestic press led cheers. A lot of stuff that mattered was ignored or slow on the uptake at home.
I remember the taped Deposition of Jared Kushner shown at the J6 hearings, when he said he was so busy dealing with the pardons, he wasn’t paying attention to anything else.
OMG, I didn't see that. 143 pardons in the last month. I don't know if it's true or not, but I heard Guiliani and Trump were selling pardons for $2 million a piece.
4 of those he pardoned bilked Medicare/Medicaid out of $1.4 billion at least. But I'm sure there was no quid pro quo there.
I seems to me that executive pardon is monarchical anachronism that has proved to be a major security bug in rule of law; a profound and unaccountable end run around due process. Pardon can serve justice, but should rest in individual whim. By promising pardon for requested breaches of laws, Trump expanded the a vulnerability into gaping wound in our system of accountability. The core MO of the present day "GOP" is centered on this strategy. The only antidote is public awareness and resistance. The Redhats are coming! the Redhats are coming!
The media is all aflutter about Daniel's testimony, claiming it opens the door to an appeal. But he would appeal anyhow. And this just puts before the world exactly what he is. Again. Truth is truth.
I would not worry about an appeal. Rule #1: an issue can not be appealed unless it is preserved with an objection. Judge's ruling: 'You failed to object to most of the testimony, so mistrial denied'.
Although I prefer not to picture it, TFG greeted Daniels in either silk satin pajamas or satin pajamas woven from some other fiber. There is no such thing as "silk or satin pajamas." Silk is a fiber and satin is a weave. Yes, I know this is the least important thing for me to fixate on. But it's today's Textile PSA from me, the Textile Pedant. You're all welcome.
It's a mental image I'm not comfortable with either. A pair of tubby Donny's pajamas would require so much satiny material it'd resemble the tent of a Sultan.
Jack Smith needs to get Cannon booted from this case NOW. The unqualified partisan hack is clearly compromised, and delay is no longer relevant since she has no plans to hold a trial.
I hope anyone who is undecided on presidential candidates pay attention to Cheetolini’s trial. His utter scumbaggery is clearly on display.
Once again, he cannot make an appeal to the 11th circuit to have her removed until she makes a decision he can appeal. She very carefully (probably under direction from someone far more competent than she is) has not made any of those appealable decisions. Joyce has explained this more than once for those who need to repeat 1st year law school.
Trump's tactics to deny, then delay, delay, delay, have rewarded him throughout his lifetime. As 'Judge' Aileen Cannon continues to act as an unofficial member of Trump's defense team, even if the prosecution was successful in having her removed by the 11th Circuit, it would likely be too late for Trump to be held accountable for betraying the national security interests of the United States and its allies, prior to the November election cycle. Furthermore, the unfortunately titled, 'Supreme' Court has created substantial delay in the other Federal cases pending against, in the improbable case that justice is served, the future 'Prison Apprentice'.
The stakes in DA Bragg's prosecution are now incredibly high. And even in the event of a conviction, Trump will continue to exhaust the justice system with appeal after appeal.
It has been said that every society gets the government they deserve. We did not listen to Anita Hill and the corrupt 'Justice' Thomas is an outcome. We quietly let the outcome of Bush v. Gore be decided -instead of demanding every Florida vote be properly counted, and chaos in the Middle East and the trillion dollar taxpayer bailout of Wall Street was the result.
We did not listen to Hillary Clinton and the Trump crime wave was an outcome. We did not listen to Christine Blasey Ford and 'Justice' Kavanaugh is the result. We were silent when McConnell blocked Garland to the Supreme Court and Gorsuch was the outcome. We were temporarily disturbed when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away and was rapidly replaced with 'Justice' Barrett, however that passed into our short-term societal memory.
I never thought I would live to see the events that are hapening worldiwide. How naive I was! It's a time of hearts being broken at every corner, every turn. And it's a time of ;people coming together with others who'd they never anticipated standing with. I'm currently writing a post on the extarordinary story of Tokitae and the Lummi Nation in the PNW. Tokitae, who brought together an extarordinary cast of characters. Who, in the end mourned together and are now rebulding together. In the Pacirfic Northwest,as elsewhere, I feel and sense the sounds of mourning. The sounds, of hearts being broken. At the same time, I believe in the Buddhist principle that there is great wisdom to be found in our wounds. We are on the edge of a cliff.. rife with possiblities for heasling. Maybe I sound naive, simple minded even. But I fervently, actively, whole bodied believe that we get what we turn our attention to. Now is the time to gather together to mend, to build and to heal. I can't yet forsee the outcome, but I can and do resonate with the vision of healing hearts and minds. Healing. Pachamama and her millions of living creatures, humans included are calling us. A ho. A term that comes from the Kiowa language. It means Thank you.
Thanks for this, Sam. Such a tragic life for Tokitae, and the Lummi Nation. We must all come together, else we will perish. (After typing that, the words of Benj. Franklin echoed "We must all hang together or we will surely all hang separately." A ho.
OMG, Ben Franklin. Wish I could have met him! Brilliant, witty, a gourmet and lady's man..Did you know he established, among other amazing things a fire dept and set it up with funds that are still being paid to this day. He started writing at 15, using a woman's name and sneaking the articles under the door of his brother's newspaper.
Now take Donald Trump….please! If only a judge would put him in jail for even a day. We must be aware that when he loses in November, that won’t be the last we will hear of him. Dangerous Don.
Eric Adams, NYC mayor, promises that the Rikers Island prison is ready for Trump. I'm guessing that the incarceration will not be televised, so I'm not holding my breath, but I've got some popcorn ready, just in case...
Oh, I guess you haven't heard. Rikers isn't posh enough for him. They'll be sending him to some place in the Midwest for elite criminals such as him and you will be paying for it. You'd be paying for Rikers too. Talk about the ladt laugh.
Is there a golf course at Club Fed? I had to laugh at a pundit commenting the other day on TFFG’s contempt issues & that maybe the judge would give him community service & have him in an orange jumpsuit picking up litter/garbage along the roadways….now THAT made me chuckle!
Let's not put the cart before the horse. First, Trump needs to push Merchan beyond the limits of just adding fines. Then, the judge needs to sentence him to prison. I don't know if that's immediate, or if there can be appeals. So be patient, but as I said above, it doesn't hurt to get your popcorn ready...
He cheats constantly. He lies constantly. Covers up, deceives constantly.
Elsewhere, Rachel Maddow and Nicole Wallace today also marvel at the extent, the pervasiveness of his sleaze:
Maddow on Stormy Daniels' graphic testimony: ‘None of us will ever get this case out of our mouth’ (youtube.com)
They also talk of how his base just laughs this off, denies everything true.
How does one get so far from the truth, so insistently, regularly?
Let’s first review its opposite -- how we get fit for the truth. And for this, some fundamental skills to see truly: we learn to rely on nouns aptly detailed, and we learn to wed them to specific, active verbs.
Trump has neither. His entire view of life (lying, falsifying) devolves to the labeling, non-action verbs called copulative: “is,” “was,” “are,’ “were” serving only barrages of epithets, insults, adjectives.
Take a look, by contrast, at God. When he made the world, he specified his nouns and delivered them by energetic, active verbs. Only when he finished all his good activity -- apt, specific nouns, active verbs -- did he stand back and permit himself his one copulative: “It was good.”
So let's keep this in mind, too: anyone can, will sink in, wallow in vulgarity assuredly as does the fat orange guy -- sordid use of language guarantees this vulgarity
Except, too, I hope that reliance on, trust and delight in regular use of good, active verbs -- the active voice -- will in that proportion preclude passive voice.
One area where the passive voice gloriously has its uses: science. In places other than that -- in any bureaucracy -- passive inevitably serves as cover for liars, evaders, dissemblers, and all our various garden variety as well as most shrill dishonest (as doomed a situation as wherever cluster to each other those who hurl copulatives).
I hadn't planned on commenting tonight, but Sarah's having brought up the use of active vs passive verbs has encouraged me to talk about the use of active vs passive voice when people write. It's a bugbear of mine - incorrect verb use displays either ignorance or lazy writing, while use of the passive voice is another animal entirely.
The use of passive voice evades ownership and responsibility. Have you ever noticed in Russian news statements how often the passive voice is used? That isn't unintentional. It's also frequently seen in police reports ("The gun went off, and the neighbor's dog was shot." ). Here's a favorite quote of mine about that:
"A mind can be overthrown by words... What is happening to the brain of a person who uses the passive, who writes,'Delay should not be allowed to take place' instead of 'Hurry'? The user of the passive verb doesn't want a universe in which responsible agents do their acts. You see? Bad language ultimately is IMMORAL."
I had a job in the army once where everyone in the office was expected to use passive voice.
(As you can see, Gary, I just did, too, above.)
Trouble is, this was the U.S. Army Vietnam war era. And every army office had lots to hide, at all bases around the world. I happened to be at a division HQ in southern Germany (its artillery units on the West German / Czech border). All funds were diverted to Nam (yes, another passive by me). Roofs were leaking so G.I.'s would wake up mornings with snow on their cots. Plumbing broke. Electrical lines fizzed out. Certain supplies never got replenished. Morale tanked as guys with more than six months active duty remaining after Nam tours were sent to kill time in these European units.
I newly was in the office of congressional correspondence. The three guys who'd long been there were all ETS'ing out of the army in short time -- but they'd never had to go to Nam, and had good duty all during their service.
Only hitch, all the problems about which Congress people inquired were real problems. We'd send out for background from the actual locations and could see that the problems were not being addressed (yes, another passive). But it was army policy to cover up all problems, to put a positive spin on everything. So letters went back to the Congress people saying such-and-such had been investigated, such-and-such was found, and so-and-so was being "taken care of" (the army also loved euphemism).
Lies. All lies.
I refused to write boilerplate. So my C.O. sent me to join some idiot NATO field exercises in Denmark. I knew it was just to get rid of me. But I enjoyed Copenhagen. And when I returned, the other three guys had all shipped out, back to the U.S., all replaced by private E-1s. And the office was empty -- the new guys in a giant other office, now with a one-star general signing all the cover-up letters they'd write. And I had no job.
I'd done nothing wrong in any way anyone ever wanted to discuss. So I went to the post library. Walked around the beautiful Swabisch villages. Drew my pay. Ate at the mess hall.
Phil, you were doing so well there. Then, in my opinion, you took a left turn and went right off a cliff with your assumption that God writes books, or scriptures. I'm fairly certain that is not true. The founding fathers spoke of a creator. Our revolution was built on religious freedom. So unless you were using writer as a metaphor for creator, or I missed something else, then I must respectfully disagree.
Many friends of ours whose names we'll never know, Justin.
Plus several of their weird uncles into food fetishes. And their younger brothers and some sisters who wrote the killing and mayhem scenes, not having video games in those days.
I want everyone to be fully aware of how Fraud Criminal Scum Trump’s MAGAts are going to steal the upcoming election for Trump. In the six or seven swing states, there will, starting one month before Election Day, be voter intimidation beyond your wildest imagination. Armed MAGAts will be OUT in force and there will be no one to stop them a) from preventing voters from visiting ballot collection boxes, and b) from scaring voters away from voting sites These MAGAt thugs will be active in districts that traditionally vote Democrat. This type of massive voter intimidation, vote suppression action has happened in other countries! Contact your state and county and city law enforcement officials and ask them what they are going to do to ensure that this isn’t going to be allowed to happen in your voting district!!! Don’t wait, do it now!!!
No .... This intimidation has never materialized over the past six election years!
The MAGAT crowd has NOT come to the election, street presence that trump has requested. Not now, or ever ( the 1.6.2021 debacle was a post election rally which had no influence on voter turnout))
In ALL of the key states, Democrats run the elections from the Sec of State's offices
trump's nose dive in popularity exhibits again with the feeble candidates for Senate in AZ, OH, WI, PA, MI, and even TX, where Cruz is in serious jeopardy.
The turn of hue from red-to-blue in both AZ and GA (via statewide elections for Senator and AZ Gov as well) portend the growing force of the progressive vote, ie., democracy advocates, womens' vote, minority vote and even the youth vote.
The state-wide referenda on women's access to reproductive health care in AZ, FL, MO and OH will drive even further the progressive vote of young people AND women!
Truly, there is ample evidence that the opposite is happening, and North Carolina WILL BE the next 'conservative' state to come to its senses, following GA and AZ. The poster child MAGAT gubernatorial candidate in NC is already behind by large single digits. His campaign is a total wreck in their lack fundraising, and other NC conservative candidates have to run away from his comments
The following is a list of the most recent Senate elections, compiled by Simon Rosenberg at hopiumchroicles.org. In every instance, the Democrat leads:
• WI Baldwin 48% Hovde 41% CBS News/YouGov
• PA Casey 46% McCormick 39% CBS News/YouGov
• NV Rosen 47% Gunter 33% The Hill/Emerson
• Rosen 45% Brown 37% The Hill/Emerson
• AZ Gallego 45% Lake 43% The Hill/Emerson (other recent polls show Gallego further
• NC Stein 48% Robinson 41% Quinnipiac (Governor)
In all of these core state, the overwhelming presence of democracy advocates will AGAIN protect the 2024 vote, as we have seen in every election since 2017 ....
There is NO evidence that the MAGAT threat is real, or even exists, to the extent you proclaim.
To protect American democracy, reach out to millions of unregistered likely Democrats using a dedicated database using every outreach method possible (phone and text, postcard, email and targeted ad, and in-person too), where new Democratic voters will make the most impact – in the most flippable states and districts.
YES, I've been busy writing post cards --- and I call into radio shows, like the Thom Hartmann Program, and local NPR call in shows as well, when the topic is relevant
The Sherrod Brown race has me concerned. But the Rick Scott/ Debbie Musceral-Powell race could be interesting. He is just a big a scumbag/criminal as Trump and DeSantis.
They both seem to be very down to earth, humble caring Senators. If they lose, reelection after all they've accomplished, it doesn't speak well for Ohio (or Montana).
Focusing on jurists, I saw this link to a substack story about Merrick Garland on Joyce Vance's substack the other day. Thanks to the reader who posted it.
Many people have been critical of AG Garland for his slow walk toward prosecuting the MAGA crowd. This piece by Mueller She Wrote (someone I have casually followed for a few years) says it isn't so.
"Two months later, June 2021, Garland was growing frustrated with the slow pace of the investigation. The FBI trump allies were refusing to execute search warrants, so Merrick garland called a meeting and set up a task force to investigate Trump called the “investigations unit”. But they didn’t yet have Biden’s DC US Attorney to assist and provide resources. The agency was still filled with Trump holdovers and Jim Jordan allies, so the amount of people investigating was relegated to a small group of people Garland could trust. What was taking the Senate so long to confirm the new DC US Attorney?"
Read on to find out who actually was doing the slow-walking.
Judge Cannon's favoritism for Trump is evident, and honest judges must be angry about her egregious behavior. More irony as Judge Cannon proves the MAGA contention that the system is rigged. Shouldn't someone be trying to disbar her by now? It shouldn't be up to just Jack Smith to save us and the judicial system from this wretched judge.
Cannon's behavior is more disturbing than anything else I've read this morning. With so much of our national security at stake, she seems very nonchalant about postponing this trial indefinitely. She should be removed from her clearly biased position.
"It shouldn't be up to just Jack Smith to save us and the judicial system from this wretched judge."
It shouldn't be up to just Jack Smith to save us and the constitutional system from this wretched GOP. It's up to our fellow Americans - on juries and in the election. And it's a great leap of faith. The Founders had qualms about democracy. But as the Wyoming case demonstrates, - as do Charles Koch, Leonard Leo, Mitch McConnell, and Trump himself - government cannot be better trusted to White men of property than to anyone else.
What made Daniel's testimony compelling are the details. She expected to meet Trump as entertainment business people. When he opened the door in pajamas, she got him to go get dressed. They talked business. When he got out of line, she threatened to discipline him. He handed her a rolled magazine and dared her - she smacked his butt and he behaved. (Until she came out of the bathroom and saw him posed on a bed in his undies. And she went into a dissociative state, as who wouldn't.) My take away - whoever moderates the presidential debates should have a rolled magazine prominently in sight.
Lin -- Better yet, Stormy and Jean Carrol should have front row seats, the way trompy had a couple former paramour of Bill Clinton at one of the debates trompy had with Hillary. Rolled-up magazines would be good props if allowed.
Perfect, Doug Gagne. Too many have forgotten that moment.
And all the other women who have come forward to assert they'd been abused by him - all those women who, as teens, had participated in one of his so-called "pageants", really just an excuse for his voyeurism. And Marla and Melania.
Doug, also brilliant
HaHaHa! Still laughing! Great comment.
Here it is the day after (June 28th), and "that" surely did not happen. In fact we were forewarned that fact-checking woud be impossible with the time constraints. Even though Joe Biden knew the facts, he was placed in an untenable position to defend the onslaught of unrelenting Trumpian lying.
Makes me wonder if she wants to be removed. Maybe from her thinking in the dark with her head on the pillow, that being removed is the safest option she faces?
Joan, I think you bring up a good point. If she recused herself, she would suffer the wrath of T and his cronies. She obviously sides with T. If she were removed, she could say it was beyond her control. Just a thought.
Thanks for breaking it down into logic— it’s true to the image I had of her being between a rock and a hard place.
Where you state “her head on the pillow” I’m thinking some where else 😡
Joan and Randall, the pillow comment made me think of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, in the reign of Elizabeth I. When asked about his attempts to marry Mary, Queen of Scots, he said he would never want to put his head on her pillow. Turned out he still did and then lost his head to the executioner. I would just like Loose Cannon to lose her judgeship and then be disbarred.
I agree about her being permanently removed from the bench, Michele, but I'm against disbarment... only because I'd break out the popcorn to see her lose case after case because she doesn't know the law or how to deal with evidence.
That would be terrible for her unwitting clients, so no, disbar her.
Where the sun don’t shine?
😂😂🤣
No, she is on the payroll, one way or another. Maybe a SC seat down the line.
Jeri, please, I have not finished my am coffee, but glad i have not started my breakfast. My reaction to that idea is gag me.
I'm with you, Michele. Heading for cup number 2 right now. Glad that nothing more is on board.
I'm in the middle of moving, Michele, with painters in the place I'm leaving (which entails keeping la perrita shut up in my office). I'm just downing coffee #3, and have yet to go arrange internet service for the new place. It's hard enough in English, but I'm terrified of trying to get it right in Spanish! Wish me caffeinated luck.
There was ink that she was promised s spot on the short list for SCOTUS. Was that ever confirmed? Could it be?
Bite your tongue, Marge, and don't give them any ideas.
Never saw that but some machinations in the works. overworked doesn't explain it.
I've been thinking the same thing about Cannon for some time - she wants to be removed from the case. More and more I believe that wiser heads on the 11th Circuit don't want to remove her, because whatever verdict is reached will be appealed and if the verdict favors tRump then her clear expressions of bias in this trial will make it far harder for tRump to prevail before a higher court.
And I'm becoming less concerned about the trials being pushed back after the election. Lazy pundits and scaremongers have been saying for months that if Trump wins in November he can just wave his magic mushroom and make all these prosecutions disappear.
1) He can't make Georgia disappear, nor any of the other state fake elector cases still being developed in which tRump is a presently-unindicted co-conspirator.
2) tRump may believe he can slow the roll of the DOJ on the federal criminal cases, but he can't make the extensive case fact records, and the grand jury indictments handed down on the basis of these facts, just disappear.
3) Not to jinx anything but increasingly it looks to me that tRump and the GOP can't win in 2024 unless they actually manage to pull off election fraud on a scale far more massive than what they falsely accused Democrats of in 2020. They've shown us their playbook. In their arrogant stupidity, they've actually written it down. They're explicitly saying "this is what we're going to do." And it seems they actually believe that the majority in this country are just going to let them get away with it
Doubt it
Probably would have recused herself if that were the case.
Last night, Neal Katyal said on MSNBC that there aren't many options that Jack Smith has to either compel her to act, or to have her removed for slow-walking the case. He is the former acting assistant Solicitor General. He said that the Dept of Justice is loath to replace judges, and expressed dismay that she's chosen to further delay the trial.
However, on the plus side, Katyal said that this opens a spot for Defendant donny's Jan 6 trial, which he believes is still possible to conduct before the election.
Pray this be so!!
Depends on SCOTUS doing the right things, Doug, i.e., finding against the all of the immunity argument and ruling before this session ends. From the tenor of their questions, they seem to be leaning toward defining personal vs official acts and sending the matters back to Chutkin to sort out. Even as efficient as she is, that could delay the start of her trial. And SCOTUS might choose to hold their ruling over to the next session. I wouldn't put it past Roberts.
The not so Supremes need to rule first tho
I think Neal is smoking something WRT the 1/6 trial. The Supreme Court has made it pretty clear (the right wing of it) that they do not want to see this trial go forth before the election. Who knows how long they sit on this latest ruling, and who know what delays that ruling, when it comes, will cause.
We shall see, but (and I'm not a lawyer or legal scholars, but follow several who are, so take this with a grain of salt) I suspect that a ruling somewhat splitting the baby will be issued before the end of this SCOTUS session, and Jack Smith will be able to proceed.
Quite obviously she is a Trumper. Therefore, she should never have taken the case and has amply displayed why she should be disbarred.
Aileen Cannon should be impeached and removed from the bench.
We will get to that…😉
Even apart from her bias, she has proven herself to be ignorant of important laws and the proper conduct of a trial. She also appears incompetent in reading and responding to critical docs, like motions and briefs. She's a fucking disaster and ought to be removed from the bench permanently, not just from joyboy's case.
Why should these Trump people adhere to any rule or law. They believe they are untouchable. And they are convinced that WHEN Trump returns to the White House, he will pardon all his supporters.
And that he would…the autocratic playbook has been and still currently is on display…don’t stand next to a window on the 5th floor in Russia just 1 needs mentioned) if you ‘disapprove’ . ‘You’re Fired’ was a clear indicator here..the roll changes ad infinitum were bold print clues.
We really need to remember how important Mitch McConnell has been in turning the courts into a wholly owned subsidiary if the RNC. His refusal to let any of Obama's nominees come to a vote so that a theoretical republican successor stack the courts as the Republicans saw fit is on him, not on Trump.
Well, damn his eyes, Rich, and his decaying mind. At least Obama managed to get Sotomayor and Kagan onto the high bench.
Lewis your anger is understandable. But don't condemn all historians. We are more than a racist nation, the word is xenophobic. A fear of strangers not like "us". Florida is trying to disenfranchise Chinese. How American Back people like Tim Scott could align themself with trump is very puzzling. The coming election frightens me also. How can so many people be oblivious to the dangers that trump is openly revealing is what is most disturbing. It can not be ignorance but raw hatred.
Mr. Baum, I do not condemn all...try 99%. Exception, Historian Tim Snyder. BUT it is COLOR... it is HAIR... it is RACE... and we Americans are daft... as for Dear Heather... and Boston College... read WHITE on WHITE, AFRAID, DENIAL, and BLIND.
No need to dis Heather while truth telling. It does feel like we are sleepwalking to Armageddon
I think you meant this house, believe it or not, listed on Zillow at
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1600-Pennsylvania-Ave-NW-Washington-DC-20500/84074482_zpid/
I'm sure the deleted comment innocently listed the address of the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines instead of the White House by mistake, but now that I found the White House listed in Zillow, it inspires consideration of it being for sale.
We are the real owners, though, and are supposed to have a fair choice in, at least, who the tenants are .
We do. We'll make that choice on November 5th.
Zillow often shows inaccurate information. In this listing, their claim that the property is not for sale is clearly wrong, and has been for some years.
HAHAHA! It's just down the road from me.
I do agree about the reaction of a lot of people to having Obama in the White House. T just made it a sign of 'proud to be not-woke' and to say it out loud.
It seems to me that the improprieties of this arrangement go well beyond appearances. Were it only hypothetical it would be a joke.
There is no longer any denying the forest from the trees , on so many avenues/paths. The American Dream is done , few see the puzzle coming together/connections weak/dancing all around the corpse. John Stewart’s cry comes closest to nailing it. The circus of traitors insidiously beat the last vestige rhetorically. Cannon is the canary.
Metaphors?
A change of unequalled challenge is upon the World. There are no winners, only survivors on the last boat.
We are truly all in this together, Joyce, the visionary…. correctly.
Eloquent writing, laid out meticulously, shouted the warning well in some circles, lies and ridicule in others, designed from histories downfalls, the playbook of the coal mine or the cold mind counted and calculated .
Mom Nature may have the last laugh.
I’m voting 💙
I think the overturning of Roe was also a canary (can we have 2?). I think it pointed us right back to the Declaration which says all men are created equal. Put us women right back in our place to be only protected as property, not as human beings. We would be better off arguing our property rights were violated with the overturning of Roe because that’s how we were regarded when the Declaration was penned…as property.
Well stated! As was the way there were lots of canaries, I’m sure the blue 💙 will be the popular vote by far…but that doesn’t mean a win anymore !
Lot of historical canaries going way back, including slaves owned by presidents.
No need for two, Mary Ellen. The first one choked to death on Dobbs.
And property is that over which you have control. You get to eat YOUR sandwich. You get to drive YOUR car. The idea that people can be property is tyrannical. The concept of universal equality means that no person can be property. We have rights and responsibilities, but are subject to no autocratic whim. The tension between those who would be masters and those they would regard as slaves is as old as humanity.
It also seems to me that there is strong tie-in to notions of supremacy, racial, religious, gender, financial, etc. that posits narcissistic privilege over others. That's the tragic flaw that could bring down our species. No? Noem felt justified in killing an adolescent dog that failed to acknowledge her presumed superiority. For centuries, those impulses have left a wake of blood.
Realty always has the last word, and it's not like we have had no opportunities to learn of where tyranny leads. Sufficient votes for sanity can stop the spread of madness.
Oh I so hope 🙏🤞
It is not a joke and when this goon is president he will you this info for his own power. Poor pitiful America. What a great idea it was
"It is not a joke and when this goon is president he will you this info for his own power. Poor pitiful America. What a great idea it was"
The odd 'typos' and degrading sentiment make this comment suspect. But on face value. The United States of America was a great idea. And overall it has proven a great form of government. A democratic republic founded on a declaration of equality and constituted by coming to consensus through reasoned debate of empirical evidence. Enduringly making progress towards fulfilling these aspirations. Repurposing it as a corporate clerical fascist state, a la the GOP is a very bad idea. As shown by Russia.
America is STILL a great idea, and a great Country! Use your towels to dry off after a bath or shower - not to throw-in on the playing field or floor!
Peter, beautifully expressed. Our democracy is not Past Tense! (Capital Letters for emphasis!)
I'm not throwing in the towel, Peter, and neither should any of us. Totalitarianism depends on us being disheartened. Courage, mes braves, et aux barricades.
Indeed! Be courageous and brave!
He’ll never be elected President again.
"He’ll never be elected President again."
If you mean Trump, then I wouldn't bet on him never being elected again. But I'm certainly working to keep Trump from being elected again. By those on the right and the left.
lin: I am certainly no seer,
it was just my fervent refrain….
Mine too.
In 2016 everyone was saying "He can't win." From field work, by early Summer, I was certain that he would win. So it inordinately worries me when people say that - I miss any nuance.
Laurie, sometime ago I came across an interesting post about Judge Cannon. I had a very dim view of her actions to date and wondered if she were partisan. This piece added some nuance to the situation and made me step back from my initial assessment…seems things truly are more complicated than they seem on the surface. Eventually I hope the truth will be revealed and justice will prevail. See the link here: https://davidlat.substack.com/p/clerking-for-judge-aileen-cannon-why-clerks-quit
Barbara, kind of you to be so non-judgemental, but Lat is full caca. He is playing 'intellectual Zamboni' for the indefensible Cannon. (Note he was VP Federalist Society at Yale, grew up as neighbor of Nixon). Cannon isn't stupid, she is just incredibly biased for Trump. Her rulings on co-defendants show no such sympathy. Her rulings are absurd. ABSURD! She takes every opportunity to bad mouth Jack Smith even when she needs to reverse herself because her previous ruling is soooo egregiously wrong. Listen to podcast JACK, by former FBI Director McCabe, for better info.
Opps, my comment posted twice (why?) and when I tried to delete just one, they both disappeared. Oh well. So shall try again.
Basically I commented that I realized this was a one-and-only article of its kind—delving into her background, etc. & want to be open to various opinions & not siloed into like-think. That said, it will be interesting how this plays out….is it more to her inexperience or, perhaps, partisan views coloring her decisions? I dunno, but it’s not going well in any case…my focus is on that old adage “justice delayed is justice denied”. She may end up being a footnote in history books….
As a peon in the peanut gallery and viewing from far away, anyone who watched 6Jan live with horror and deep dismay knows Trump is a sleazy Putin puppet who should be stripped of his citizenship and deported permanently. This case should be the deciding factor in that event. This case will separate the men from the boys as far as lawyers go, and may make the difference between the USA's demise or survival as a democracy
I agree with you, Barbara, that it's a good thing to review alternate points of view. Nonetheless, regardless of how overworked and/or inexperienced Cannon may be, her opinions and rulings in both cases have been way off mark. It doesn't matter to me if her problem is bias, stress, or incompetence; she ought to be taken off this current case and, imho, removed from the bench permanently. Without scolding or prejudice, but outta there.
Lauren, I was recently listing to NPR whilst driving on errands & the subject matter was “management” positions. My takeaway (and that I have experienced in my working life) some folks really DO have the chops to do it well, and others, as the Peter Principle posits, rise to the level of their incompetency. She sure does seem way way way over her head & for that I have some sympathy. IF she realizes this, IMHO, she should seek wise counsel on how to step up or to step away, unless personal hubris is playing a role. Some folks are thrown in the deep end unprepared (think Zelensky) and rise to, even surpass, the occasion….others, like TFFG, it just amplifies their lack of fitness (or, indeed, profound harm) for the role.
And thank you for your reference to the podcast!
love that podcast!!
Thanks, Barbara. If nothing else, the author is trying to put the humanity back in Cannon, a hard sell for many, to be sure. Being on the outside of it, I have a hard time seeing the complexity that the author is trying to convey this case is. How hard could it be to determine that boxes and boxes of documents that belong to the National Archives are instead in someone's bathroom?
Morning, Lynell. I agree that this should be a real open and shut case: You had 'em and weren't supposed to. Period.
Cases are usually tried (at least at my level of expertise) where the crime took place, in this case, Washington, D.C. However, the crime of possession of stolen property took place in Florida. I do not understand the nuance of filing in Florida rather than D.C. I can only assume that there is one.
Lastly, the opinion I have of Judge Cannon is something that I'd let loose with on TAFM, but not here. Suffice to say that lack of knowledge, lack of qualifications, lack of judicial temperament, and lack of judicial experience are paramount in my opinion.
Excellent rejoinder, Ally. Nothing more for me to say except to wish you a hearty morning!
We all saw it, and anybody who has had clearances knows the rules. But rules to chump are just annoyances
I am still of the opinion that the documents case is the most important of them all. The damage to our national security to give the trump family more money and bolster trumps image of himself is the worst thing imaginable. I feel
Certain some of them have been sold and some still in hiding! This person and his gang of traitors should be jailed for life, every last one of them. Including the judge!
Susan, it is also appalling to hear accounts (from the person he spoke to!!) of what he would discuss with random folks…seems to me as a way to “puff up” his importance and impress them…so immature. Seems to me the whole documents case is a no-brainer & he was caught red-handed & flat footed….or maybe bone spurs were involved.
It's pretty cut and dried, as you say, Lynell. I'm personally more concerned that Cannon doesn't seem to know enough pertinent law or proper trial procedure to be at this particular helm. I wish she'd realized it herself and recused, but she didn't, and none of us know why. For that huge misjudgment on her part, I say take her off the bench forever.
Basically, she's an ignorant, incompetent bimbo.
Please don't down talk about bimbo's! She is worser than that! For shame!
As always, TC, you gave me reason to laugh this morning. Thanks for that.
Living proof that one can be simultaneously corrupt and incompetent. Cannon for Disbarment 2025!
TCinLA, I’m not a fan of Judge Cannon and I agree with your general reaction. However, I do not appreciate your reference to her using a slur based on her gender (bimbo). Wouldn’t your opinion of her work as a judge be the same if she was male? By referring to her as a bimbo you imply otherwise. How would you refer to her if she were male?
You've never met male bimbos? I have, many times here in Okeefenokee West.
Thanks for the clarification
An interesting article, Barbara. Thanks for the link. Given the connections Judge Cannon has to right-wing funders and causes, I wonder if some of the problems in her office reflect her desire to please those folks, so she must come up with more reasons to delay the actual trial. Perhaps her clerks are doing lots of case history research to that end, rather than actually dealing with the paperwork and evidence in the Trump case itself. If she's truly overwhelmed by the demands of this case, I imagine that other judges would be able to appropriately mentor/guide her as needed, assuming that's allowed. She doesn't seem to be concerned about the damage she's causing to her own reputation.
Personally, I think it's pretty clear that she's gambling on a Trump re-election to save her butt and, possibly as a reward for the delay, an appointment to the Supreme Court. After all, everything IS transactional in Trumpworld.
Yeah, Laurie, I wondered how she is reflecting on all of this, and wondering if an unseen hand (influence from ???) is affecting her. Hopefully, someday, all will be revealed and she will take her place as a footnote to history.
Barbara, somehow I can't picture her reflecting on the rule of law or the moral obligations of a judge. She might be reflecting on her future and must know that if she tires of being a judge, she'll have a good gig on Fox or other right-wing media, or teaching at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.
I'm 78 now, so I'd love to come back in about 30-40 years to see what happens re: Trump, American populism, the embrace of authoritarianism, etc. - and to see what historians have to say about this wild, scary, unreal period.
LOL…Laurie…I’ve often said the only reason I want to live forever is to find out how it all turns out! [and that applies to many issues that would take us to Earth’s end in some 5 billion years, give or take a day or so….think I’d be WAY too tired to hang on that long!]
Oh my gosh, Barbara, imagine if George Washington or Ben Franklin or Jane Austen or Elizabeth I could drop in now. I wonder what they'd say about us and the world.
Just my two cents--I feel like this same 25-35% of the population that has always been with us--slavers, KKK, Nazis, racists, authoritarians, MAGA--I don't think this era we're in is particularly unusual. We're just more aware of them, because our news comes from more heterogeneous sources.
And more propaganda that competes favorably in some quarters
I refer to them as the folks who wonder where the sun goes at night.
They seem also to be the mindlessly religious, in that they've never read the book.
"slavers, KKK, Nazis, racists, authoritarians, MAGA"
Please include Nation of Islam leaders Elijah Muhammad and Louis Farrakhan who amplified the antisemitism of the Christian Gospels and whose bigotry against White people is the ideological flip side of KKK bigotry against Black people. (Ideological, although obviously without the practical impact.) Although, Farrakhan is a dominant Black leader and his antisemitism has seeped into Left wing activism. And has now tragically shifted the focus on recent protests - away from the abuses of the Netanyahu regime onto the antisemitism of a vehement minority of the protestors.
I’m old but I’ve seen enough
The hands are not unseen. They are Charles Koch's, Leonard Leo's, the foreigner Elon Musk, the men, always men,behind the investment banks, the Russian oligarchs. The hands are myriad. They play the puppet strings while we just want to mow our lawns, play with our kids, and maybe buy an electric vehicle so the planet doesn't roast.
I caught part of an MSNBC show last weekend, Ayman’s, where he was interviewing someone in the financial world, I believe, who when asked who he would be voting for (this after some laughing over Trump’s antics) said Trump. Why? Because STOCKHOLDERS are the most important people and them keeping their money is the most important issue. I have been appalled ever since, even though I know many who vote their portfolios and not their love of country. To just say that out loud and for the interviewer, on a network I like, not to challenge him but seem amused left me infuriated. I’ve thought about it these past few days. How do we get to these people who have placed what they have over what the nation needs?
Pretty much, Jen.
She sees rewards, pardons, as do all chump followers. My view anyway.
Not only her reputation, but more importantly, the country
Barbara, this was fascinating. Thank you. I wish more people would encourage us to be less one dimensional. Cannon is more than an obstacle to justice.
Based on this author's research, she is quite bright and under other circumstances could be a fine judge and mentor of clerks. But it appears she is way over her head. And as a result, accountability for one of the most obvious and most egregious acts by an American president is being bogged down.
Doesn't Cannon appreciate the monstrosity of the deed in question? Doesn't she get what a traitorous act the theft of documents represents? Of course she does. If she is so smart, she must. Therefore, she is a puppet or a member of the extremist MAGA right.
By delaying the trial, she is indeed an obstacle to justice and therefore, essentially, an accessory to the crime.
I applaud learning that she is a more complex person than portrayed. I actually have some sympathy for her plight. But if she were to act responsibly, she would make one of two choices NOW. Set a court date ASAP for well before the election. Or step back from the case - send her clerks with all their developed research to the next judge.
Justice delayed is justice denied. Enough!
If only she could have asked for help. But at this stage in her career, that would stain her reputation for years. There is no forgiveness or empathy for people whose competence is overwhelmed by logistical and emotional distress.
I think she's getting *lots* of help.
Barbara, Thank You for the link to David Lat's article.
TFFG ruins everything he touches. He has cast a pall on our legal system. Now we have been retrained to doubt everything that comes out of our courts. I am skeptical about everything to some degree anyway, so it doesn't bother me that David Lat might be spinning his own bias in his writing. But after reading his story about Judge Cannon's struggles with her clerks, and her thinking like an appellate judge when she needs to be thinking like a trial judge, etc, I find that I prefer that version, instead of casting her as a partisan hack.
I hate the idea that she is merely a partisan hack.
Similarly, I hate the idea that several members of the US Supreme Court will probably never be able to write a soaring opinion that advances the cause of justice well into the distant future. I wish there were some way that we could all work together to persuade Chief Justice Roberts to get in touch with his conscience, and begin to attempt to restore the dignity of the Court. And does Judge Cannon need more resources from DoJ, or whoever, to help with her workload on such an important case?
As I wrote earlier today, the case of the mishandled classified documents is too important to be allowed to fall by the wayside.
David, I believe that David Lat has possibly damaged his back by twisting himself into a pretzel to defend Cannon. What I see is yet another person seduced by the power around 45. She could have recused herself, but chose to stay on, not realizing how difficult it would be to try a widely publicized trial with a defendant whose business model is “never pay what is owed” and “delay until your opponent is broken and you never have to pay the full price”. A judge used to dealing with criminal sociopaths would have recognized the tactics; Cannon seems to have fallen for them. Jack Smith should appeal to the Appeals Court and they should rescue her before she drowns and rescue the American people from her bad decisions. This isn’t a hypothetical case in moot court; this is a fight for accountability to prove that this a nation of laws.
I like your assessment here, Mary. This isn't a hypothetical, it is the first of its kind and will have lasting impact on the future of this country.
Once you are in Trump’s pocket (or Putin’s) there is no safe way out. But you might not know that until it’s too late. It doesn’t matter how smart you are or the school you graduated from or even if you can barely read at all, you know that he can,and will, reach in and squash you like a bug if you fail to praise him.
Terribly Faustian, and yet I have no sympathy. The moral of that story is that we should have NO truck with the devil... he's a liar and a cheat and will always find a way to make you regret your deal just before you roast in hell forever.
David H: I think it’s possible to think that both are true - she’s in over her head and she’s biased. These two “explanations “ aren’t mutually exclusive. I reacted to Lat as you did. As someone who remembers how it feels to face a bigger project than I could then handle competently…. And BTW, I don’t know anyone who could decline or recuse an assignment based on work overload.
All the same. Marge, she could recuse herself based on not having the experience to hear this case correctly. And agreed that she may also be biased.
While I don't think this article excuses Judge Cannon's decisions....it does share an overview of her issues. Right or wrong. Of course her chaotic management of her cases...shows her inexperience...and poor management. Not everyone manages work properly....or well. Unfortunately, her mismanagement looks pro-Trump....and probably defaults to a pro-Trump basis.
Thank you — interesting insight to judges and clerks.
Thanks for the link. It does help to know the behind the scenes issues. It's sad that the pressure of being assigned the documents case did so much damage to her as a manager and that she's now got staff who lack the experience -- and possibly the clearance -- to be of real service to her and to justice.
Barbara, David, Emily and MisTBlu, "I came across an interesting post about Judge Cannon. I had a very dim view of her actions to date and wondered if she were partisan. This piece added some nuance to the situation and made me step back from my initial assessment…seems things truly are more complicated than they seem on the surface."
Perhaps the best thing to emerge from getting a look behind the scenes does 2 things: 1) to restore some semblance of respect for a legal system and those on whom we rely to make it work which, on the whole, has served us relatively well through the past 2 centuries despite the deviance evident in a small minority of those judges;
2) the look behind the scenes helps remind us that "the truth" is ALWAYS more complicated than the headlines and summary judgments we make which allow us to proceed without having to think our way through the complexity or to simultaneously hold two different feelings about the same issue - a very human experience!
With absolute respect for the nuances of what is preventing Cannon from managing her trial correctly, or even adequately, the fact remains that she isn't.
I don't need to bad-mouth the woman or the judge, I just want to see justice done, and if she can't deliver for any reason or set of reasons, she should step down. A well-educated, intelligent, 40 year old person should have the self-awareness to know when s/he's failing at an important task and get help or get off it.
Barbara,
Many thanks. I was judging the scheiße out of that judge. Nice to read a perspective that tempers the reaction. Thank you for that.
Ned.
Barbara, I don't have quite the same take as you after reading this article by Lat. He seems to say that she's inexperienced (though smart), is overwhelmed by it all, and leans toward the Defendant in this case.
She has slow-walked bringing this case to trial, which is now delayed without a date. Neal Katyal made the point last night on MSNBC that the docs case isn't complicated. As comparison, he said that Sam Banks-Friedman, the bit coin fraud, was charged in Nov '22 and was found guilty in Aug '23, in a much more complex case.
Putting Lat's opinions together, it leads to my conclusion that Cannon is over her head and incompetent due to inexperience, with a strong bias for the Defendant. She should have recused herself, given her situation in general.
Meanwhile, national security remains at risk due to the theft of documents, and who knows how many classified docs yet are unaccounted for?
I'm going to make a comparison here between Attorney General Merrick Garland and Judge Aileen Cannon: Garland is an experienced Judge now having the role of the nation's top prosecuting attorney, a role he filled well at the national level. Cannon is young lacks experience, and is a former appellate judge now serving as a district trial judge. Both of these individuals may well be great people, and have experience and/or temperament to do these jobs, but each are ill-suited for their current roles.
Mr. Garland still thinks too much like a judge, and lacks the prosecutorial fire that let him successfully prosecute the Murrah Building attack. He needed to have that same prosecutorial fire to address the Insurrection of January 6, 2021 rather than the slow, methodical approach he has taken thus far. Judge Cannon has almost no trial experience, and is responsible for handling the first case ever of a former president who stole classified documents and stored some of them in a bathroom off of a common access area to a swimming pool at a golf resort. She may be giving more weight to what she has 2 previous years experience with (Appellate Judge) than what is normal for a trial judge, but that does not address her obvious bias.
Good comparison, Ally. I'm withholding judgment on Garland even though his molasses in January approach to his role is interfering badly with the US getting back on track post-TFG and post-Covid (although both are still in our air supply). I get the justice delayed is justice denied thing, and still if he nails them all firmly and finally at the end of his plod, I'll be happy. Meanwhile, whether Garland is temperamentally unsuited to be top cop, or if he's just bad at it, it's up to us to keep our democracy. No heroes coming to the rescue, just voters.
Same for Cannon - who she is in all her complexity and why she's screwing up her trial aren't important except as thought exercise. What is salient is that she is screwing it up. The difference is that we have no power to vote her out - maybe just endless postcards to the 11th Circuit to get her off the case for cause. We can deconstruct later at leisure.
Ally, you expressed so well what I’ve been thinking for months!
It’s a shame about Garland; I believe that he would have been lauded as a great Supreme Court justice. Instead, his choice to examine every case from all sides and from every possible permutation has hogtied him in a job that requires action, not deliberation.
Recovering lawyer here. Thank you for the article, Barbara.
Clerking for a federal court judge is a plum, reserved for the very best newly-trained lawyers. Most judges are demanding, because adjudication is demanding. Any court case involves at a minimum an enormous amount of time and personal (I'd say "psychic", or "spiritual", but those seem too crunchy granola) investment by the litigants, to say nothing of the expense, all of which will inevitably affect all their futures in one way or another. In a case involving national security, it also requires an enormous investment of time and effort on the part of the lawyers and judiciary as well. No wonder this inept, inexperienced judge has had trouble keeping or even hiring clerks; the atmosphere in Chambers must be deadly. Clerking for Cannon would besmirch anyone's reputation and resume, unless they just want to go to work for Kacsmaryk, of course. And because of her ineptitude in this specific case and the effects on her chambers of that ineptitude, to say nothing of her bias, the American people are denied the effective and timely prosecution of a person who is an obvious threat to national security.
Thanks, Lynn, for your “inside” perspective. She sure is making a name for herself and not in a good way unless, perhaps, Project 2025 comes to pass IF that’s her schtick. Can’t really be in another’s head and can only base opinions on one’s words and deeds….IMHO she’s falling short especially for such a critical once-in-a-lifetime (or, so far, a nation’s) case. Like others, perhaps she shall one day write a tell-all book and we can find out, you know, when her words/actions no longer could have any impact.
Seems more confusing than clarifying
I'm not a lawyer but suspect that disbarring a sitting judge in the middle of hearing one of the most consequential cases in US history would be, for all intents and purposes, impossible. And even if it weren't, the process would likely not even begin until the trial in question had concluded and would surely take until long after the November election to complete. Consider, for example, how long Eastman's disbarment is taking -- years -- and even now his disbarment is actually a temporary license suspension, and the wrangling goes on and on.
More to the point is the issue of getting relief from the 11th Circuit, perhaps in the form of a writ of mandamus, or perhaps as an order to recuse. As has been pointed out elsewhere (see the Joyce Vance column HCR cites today, including the comments), Judge Cannon in her machinations and maneuverings has cleverly avoided doing anything appealable, leaving Smith stymied no matter how bizarre Cannon's moves (or failures to move) have been and how blatant her pro-Trump bias appears to be.
That has led in turn to conversation about whether Cannon, who has shown herself to be inexperienced as a judge if not outright incompetent, is receiving lots of coaching from somewhere, holding her hand as she takes the steps needed to ensure the trial won't happen before the election.
If Cannon is getting coaching, which one can't help but suspect, you can bet it ain't coming from the ACLU. :-)
Must be recused from the case! Period.
Fernanda, this case will never see the light of day. Jack Smith needs to pack his bags and move on.
Judge Cannon is a member of the Federal Judiciary, and as such is subject to the ethics rules that are in place. The recent exposure of her failure to report a luxury resort trip appropriately should have some merit in assessing her fitness.
Cannon herself should be indicted for obstruction of justice.
You Fight the law and the law Wins. No longer a given. Chump has stymied the law at every turn.
I’m wondering if she doesn’t see the coaching (which I also suspect she is getting from the Right) as the only lifeline she’s got. And if she’s overworked and her clerks aren’t up to speed, delay would seem like the only way to catch up. Not to mention it keeps the MAGAs happy.
I doubt this is all a simple good vs evil situation.
Also not a lawyer, pts, but I don't see why the 11th Circuit can't pull her off the case for the counter-legal rulings she's made. I'll go read the Vance article, and maybe then I'll see what I'm missing.
A good question that's way above my pay grade; I don't know for sure but don't think an appeals court can act sua sponte (if that's the correct use of that term), that is, without having received some sort of formal request or appeal. Would be great to hear from a qualified lawyer on this, and also on how Jack Smith might go about finding out whether or how Judge Cannon may have been improperly advised.
I think su esponte is correct, pts, but what do I know of Latin or law?
Disbarment requires a higher burden of proof, but I’d be filing a motion to remove Judge Cannon from Trump’s case.e
Loose cannon is there only because of the republican leadership in the senate.
Indeed....
I wonder what Allen Weisselberg thinks of all this "getting away with murder"
For all the noise from Trump about the corrupt justice dept, Cannon’s the one who should be looked at for corruptibility.
This what I was going to say. Who do we need to put pressure on? This judge needs to be removed!
Is impeach and removal possible?
We all knew this was coming. After all, according to TFG, Aileen Cannon is a fantastic judge.
It’s time for Jack Smith to file for her removal. But that will take months. The strongest case against him will be torpedoed by his accomplice. The only chance for this case to go to trial is the re-election of Joe Biden.
He can't file for her removal until she does something, makes a decision, that he can appeal. She is being advised by someone who knows well how to do what's happening here, because she has avoided any of those decisions (and is obviously too incompetent to be doing this without direction).
TCinLA is 'spot on'. I also suspect Jack Smith bangs his head against the wall every morning when he looks into the mirror and says 'Why...WHY did I file this case in So. Dis. of Florida rather than D.C.?' SMACK!
Act in haste; repent at leisure.
TCinLA, I am thinking, after NYC verdict and SCOTUS ruling on immunity and judge in D.C. case determines if a trial is possible prior to election, IF Florida case is only one that could possibly go trial before election, THEN Jack Smith might 'push his luck' with a Mandamus motion in 11th Cir. to try and push the case to trial. What do you think TCinLA?
That's as informed a guess as any I could make.
TC, perhaps "Act in haste; repent at leisure" is judge Cannon's motto as well?
I wonder the same. You file charges in the jurisdiction where the theft occurred, not where the goods are discovered, I assume.
Actually, Jack Smith had a choice. At the time a SCOTUS case was pending that could have tipped the scales to one jurisdiction or the other. Smith chose the 'safest' but 'slowest' route. With Trump, and Trump only, Cannon has a 'Turtle Docket' instead of a 'Rocket Docket'.
Yes, TC, do wonder who has her ear and is whispering into it….seems like there is a very powerful shadowy “back-bench” influencing our judiciary at the highest levels. This is our country’s “ice bucket” challenge…hope we are shocked awake and rise to the occasion and keep our democratic republic. Time will tell.
She's doing the bidding of those who put her on the court.. Leo Leonard and the billionaires who fund the Federalist Society.
Like the shadow docket in the SC??? Too many shadows to count
Definitely a film noir!!
Wish it were fiction
Barbara, given your earlier very thoughtful DavidLa post, it would be both useful to our belief in a basically just legal system as well as entirely plausible that Judge Cannon had reverted to her earlier mode of functioning as an appellate lawyer (judge?) that she is actually trying to think through the prodigious complexities of this highest of profile cases with new, overworked and micromanaged clerks before issuing any rulings.
Maybe someday the truth & strategy will be known, high road or low…. I know our country professes “equal justice for all”, but come on, we all know despite that aspiration we haven’t really met that mark by a long shot. That this kerfuffle (large picture) is unique in our history, and involves so so so many players at different strata (regular Joe’s to members of Congress to former Cabinet members to a former POTUS…just to list some), will be a real test of our Judiciary and is being played out on a stage where all (globally) can see it.
Barbara I agree that we have seen various depradations of and by our legal system which demonstrate where we have missed the mark, depradations Joyce Vance, HCR, and Rachel Maddow have illuminated for us going back at least to WWII trials of how many congressmen (dozens?) regarding their conspiring with the Hitler regime yet a trial which ended up in a circus leaving no-one legally accountable yet none of them was re-elected. That these betrayals of and by our legal system remain so visible seems a commentary on the majority of the system which works sufficiently that we still recognize when it doesn't provide "equal justice for all." I have seen reporting about several efforts by various law schools to reconsider and retry the gravest miscarriages of justice for defendants on death row who have received inadequate defense council. No the system isn't perfect yet I'd ask which country's legal system would you trade ours for?
Can't think of another repub action since the 80's that took the high road. Always aiming for the trip to China, as my Mom used to say.
You said a mouthful there, and who better to advise her than the co-conspirators at the Federalist Society, who placed her there. And of course, TFG, the king of deny , deceit, and delay himself. Sad.
It all goes to Mitch McConnell, the handmaiden of the Heritage Foundation and every dark money billionaire (Murdoch, Leo, et al) He is the real chess player extraordinaire. Now that he’s no longer the Lion King of the Senate Republicans, it’s chaos and Trump has now taken over the party for MAGA and the Heritage Foundation—the entity that handpicked every one of the candidates that Trump put forth for judgeships including Cannon. These are not our brightest and best legal minds. These are mostly hacks, as evidenced by Cannon and Kavanaugh. They know enough to gum up the works and be dangerous. Like Trump.
@TCinLA IMHO Jack Smith blew a chance to force Cannon to recuse. Got to remember this is her second Trump case. In the first case the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reprimanded her twice. Although there were disqualification complaints filed through the Judicial Conference system, which is parallel to but not part of the first case on its merits, Judge Prior, the CJ of the circuit, dismissed them.
The 11th Circuit found that Cannon “improperly exercised equitable jurisdiction” in hearing the case and that the entire proceeding should be dismissed. Notably, the court also found that regardless of the status of a document in question (personal or presidential), the government maintains the authority to seize it under a warrant supported by probable cause. The panel wrote, “The law is clear. We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so.” https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23323385/trump-ca11-2022-12-01.pdf
There was some question whether she should have accepted the appointment after the second case was filed. Here's the procedure: 28 USC 144:
Whenever a party to any proceeding in a district court makes and files a timely and sufficient affidavit that the judge before whom the matter is pending has a personal bias or prejudice either against him or in favor of any adverse party, such judge shall proceed no further therein, but another judge shall be assigned to hear such proceeding.
The affidavit shall state the facts and the reasons for the belief that bias or prejudice exists, and shall be filed not less than ten days before the beginning of the term at which the proceeding is to be heard, or good cause shall be shown for failure to file it within such time. A party may file only one such affidavit in any case. It shall be accompanied by a certificate of counsel of record stating that it is made in good faith.
Smith could have made the motion. The standard is the appearance of impropriety.
28 U.S. Code § 455 - Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate judge
(a)Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
(b)He shall also disqualify himself in the following circumstances:
(1)Where he has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding;...
There are new facts surrounding bias. Did she conspire with the SDFL Clerk to get the 2nd case? Is the clerk biased? Is Cannon's husband tied to Trump?
None of this has anything to do with the merits of the documents case, or her lousy rulings.
11th Circuit : Judicial conduct: https://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/judicial-conduct-disability
Maybe it's a good thing that this trial is postponed, even until after the election.
Although an avid Trump support Cannon may be watching the NY case very closely and she sees how damaging the testimony is to the TFFG campaign.
Assuming Biden wins reelection, Trump will be likely be tried several more times.
The Party of Trump SC justices have already forced at least a 6 month delay due to their mishandling of immunity. If TFFG is found guilty in NY he may be incarcerated for his next trial. Do you think they will allow him two hours each day before court to do his hair and makeup?
Joe is walking too many tightropes, nothing is even remotely equal. Evil neck and neck and has the wind
Since my last job involved teaching human service staff about the impact of stress overload, let me throw in a couple of possible scenarios. There’s no question that the characteristics of her current situation meet all the criteria for stress overload (significant issues, lasting more than thirty days, with the feeling of loss of control). Stress overload neurohormones generally cause the amygdala to override the prefrontal cortex. So she would likely be dealing with flight, fight or freeze. She would be angry with her staff, unable to adequately use executive function - ie management skills like planning, control of emotions, etc etc. She would also see coaching and delay as a temporary relief from the stress and anxiety. It’s hard to overstate the impact of stress overload. It’s easy to think she might be using alcohol and/or prescription medications to dampen the symptoms - which would not help.
Stress overload is under-recognized and can even be mistaken for a mental illness (not a psychosis, but many other diagnoses).
Of course I don’t know Judge Cannon, but the article certainly fits.
He can however unseal more indictments and take them to a different court. I'm not sure that Cannon is bright enough to out-wit Jack Smith.
It is well orchestrated, chump has the worshippers/puppeteers with myriad skills.
And in such an obvious case as the theft of the classified documents. How much more criminal does something have to get. Claimi g, without any evidence as usual, that these 1000s of documents were declassifieds and just souvenirs is beyond beyond credible especially when the archival process is clear and in writing. This phony should be yanked off the bench and tried herself and disbarred permanently.
THIS AIN'T RIGHT!!!!!
I don't think federal judges get disbarred. Impeached, yes, but the likelihood of that happening in the current political environment is highly unlikely. I think the only hope is that she screws up bad enough that Smith could get her kicked off this case.
Vote blue
Sometimes I feel like my voice is but a whisper in the wilderness. The case of the mishandled classified documents makes me want to shout. In 1969 and '70 I was an Army soldier working for the National Security Agency, doing signals intercept. Before going to the war, we spent a year in language school in Monterey, California, learning the northern dialect of the Vietnamese language. We spent another two months or so in San Angelo, Texas at Goodfellow Air Force Base, learning how important it is to keep secrets safe from discovery. The mantra I learned was that if you keep a secret in your mind, nobody can get it out of you. But as soon as you give it physicality in the outside world, it becomes discoverable. The Defense establishment in general goes to great lengths to maintain secrecy. The old joke about "NSA" is that is stands for No Such Agency.
The people who worry about guarding classified information worry about one little piece of information getting out -- much less a trove of documents kept outside a secure area, available to who knows what sorts of people might be actively looking for such things in a former president's residence.
For anyone who was formally trained to maintain security, the former president's handling of classified information is outrageous. I can only begin to say what a big deal it is. It is such a big deal that I doubt that Judge Cannon understands how big a deal it is. I hope that the AG will not allow this case to just shuffle quietly off the stage, never to be heard from again. This is a BFD.
Being a retired civil servant for DOD Army I know of which you speak. Maintaining proper procedures was something even the lowliest clerk knew about. What tfg did is a blatant disregard of protocol and more importantly National Security. Souvenirs of his time in office…WTF!!!! To let this issue languish is criminal for all involved.
A BFD, indeed! Thanks for your perspective. It adds to my fury. This theft is a betrayal of America. It should have gone to trial quickly. Trump should be behind high security bars right now. If ANYONE other than Trump had perpetrated such a crime they would be splitting rocks as we speak. He has been charged. He should be in no bail jail!
So with all due respect, and thank you again for the comment, it doesn't take a veteran of intelligence work or a rocket scientist to understand that hiding Top Secret government documents in a bathroom available to the public is so obviously criminal as to be worthy of SNL skits and makes us a laughing stock on the international stage.
Good grief. Treason can't be any more obvious.
David, I have no military or DoD experience. I know first hand as a street cop the importance of the "chain of evidence" and the requirements there for recordkeeping, prosecution, and appellate retention of materials.
To see those images from Mar a Lardo chilled me to the bone. That isn't just mishandled evidence (in my career, such a violation would have been grounds for termination and prosecution), that is OUR NATIONAL SECRET DOCUMENTS lying next to a gold plated commode. The number of National "assets" that have been killed since fpotus left office is high, and I am sure there are more that have not been made public. The impacts on our national security cannot be understated.
[Edit 11:03 PM CDT] We have not yet heard any allegation that the former president sold top secret information, or traded secrets for future considerations, or any other act besides the careless and probably illegal handling of classified documents. But what we don't know might hurt us. If he had handled the documents in a different way, for example by keeping them in a secure facility, with continual surveillance, armed guards, and other standard national security protocols, we still would not know whether or not he sold national security information to the Soviets, I mean Russians, or anybody else. If he wanted to sell a particular juicy bit of intel to Russia, he probably would have been unable to do it from the White House, due to security protocols in place there. The only way he could accomplish it would be to take a bunch of stuff home with him, scatter it all over the place, to make it look like he was just a hoarder, and then hand over the particular thing he was selling to an individual during a business trip, or some spy-type scenario. Determining which thing was compromised would be like searching for a needle in a haystack, or worse. It would be a bad, suspicious look for anyone, but way worse with this guy. [end edit:11:33 pm CDT, 8 May 2024]
Ally, I would like to believe that most people, upon being briefed about the importance of careful handling of sensitive information, would take it seriously and follow the stated protocols. However, the tffg tornado does not care about the destruction it leaves in its wake. So, two things: he should be punished because he violated critically important rules pertaining to national security; and he should be punished to make it clear to everyone that this is very serious business.
It is THE MOST IMPORTANT of all the indictments against trump. It endangers every one of us, including our allies.
I suspect you and I were in the same part of the army, an 'agency' which no longer exists but whose shoulder patch included a large predatory bird and a lightening bolt which we generally referred to by a nickname I won't repeat here.
I was just two years ahead of you at Monterey (lord, what a lovely site it was!) and Goodfellow, (not so much) training in another far eastern language but getting the same sort of security training. We probably made much the same tired jokes about codewords and levels of security and all the rest, but I completely agree with you in the main.
As we both probably understood, security can become it's own reason for being, sometimes quite apart from the actual need for it, but such decisions are best made by leaning toward caution. Donald Trump clearly had no conception of any of that. And we both probably ran into those with the same sort of mentality during our tours - the guy who tried to boost his standing and making social hay by forever coyly hinting at all the critical secrets he knew. This is, at bottom, a very little man with no concern for anyone but himself.
James, I confess that I still have my Class A uniform hanging in my clothes closet, complete with the patch to which you referred, depicting the "Lightning Fast Chicken Plucker" or something like that.
There is a book about our "agency", "Unlikely Warriors" by Blackburn and Long, which tells part of the story of ASA in Vietnam. I contributed stories and photographs for two of the chapters. And they wrote another book, "More Gentle Heroes", with more stories. My picture is on the cover.
As far as I know, everything revealed in their books was declassified long ago. My working assumption was that would come as no surprise that we were doing signals intercept. There are books about signals intercept in WWII. I didn't write anything about our state-of-the-art technology, which probably would seem ancient compared to what's going on these days.
Surely at least one person would have briefed the former president on protocols for handling classified materials. But 45, being an egomaniac, and a sociopath (at best), would dismiss such instruction because he thinks those rules are for other people, but not him. He's special, a legend in his own mind. For the good of all, his punishment would serve as a lesson on how not to handle classified material.
There's at least one novel I know of on the topic entitled 'One to Count Cadence' by James Crumley. There's also another about our outfit on Okinawa, but I forget the name, and the book itself was eminently forgettable. I will look for yours. We were primarily Mandarin Mary's
On Okinawa we replaced 'Plucker' with a very similar word one letter shorter.....I served my last year in Colorado with a couple of great guys who'd been based at Phu Bai.
Since the judge involved seems to be interested only in putting the trial off as long as she can, I'm not sure Trump will ever be brought before the bar on this one, but one can hope.
Yi Lu Ping An - "A good road to you!"
James, we are indeed speaking the same language, from the same (former) organization.
The full title of the book to which I referred is "Unlikely Warriors: The Army Security Agency's Secret War in Vietnam 1961-1973". It is not a novel, it is a history of ASA in Vietnam, told by people like me, in my own words. I was not paid for my writing or my photographs, so I feel free to cite the work in this space, as there is no pecuniary interest in sales on my part.
Back to the topic at hand, my growing complaint is that our system of jurisprudence is so highly politicized that it is more interested in the flavor of the day, as it were, instead of reaching for the noble aspirations of our founding authors, toward liberty and justice for all, or some apt description of what all of us wish for. We have oceans of dark money sloshing around, trying to buy influence. We have unethical behavior on the part of Members of the Court going unchecked. Our judicial system should be above reproach, not just seen to be ethical and learned, but actually striving to improve our lives by making our system more fair, more just. And as I'm writing this I'm thinking that maybe I'm suffering from the same things they are suffering from, because I have a sense of what a more just and more fair system would look like, but it's difficult to describe it. Like, did the founding authors consider including their wives in the new democratic system. I think Abigail Adams, among others, made that argument. Can the judicial establishment rise above the political fray and lead the way toward a more perfect union?
The words of Judge Roy Bean comes to mind: "You'll get a fair trial, followed by a first class hanging". But I jest.
chào tạm biệt, roughly, iirc, farewell -- been more than half a century now, eh?
Forgive me if I seemed to imply that the book you mentioned was a work of fiction - I only meant to note the two I mentioned were. Indeed, I now have your book on my Kindle.
As to secrecy, I have an anecdote from a school mate of mine, also an Agency linguie who served in Germany. One Christmas the Russians sent him and his 'chicken plucker' colleagues personalized Christmas cards.
As one who taught American history for just over 40 years, a subject I took up in part because of the kinds of experiences we clearly shared, I do have my own take on the Founders and their legacy.
First, of course, Abigail Adams's letter to John is as you believe, in which she noted that all men would be tyrants if they could. To which John apparently replied with a bit of a chauvinistic chuckle, but no concession to her argument.
Unfortunately, though they clearly realized the danger of polarization inherent in political parties (which they called factions), they went ahead and started the process anyway. Not that it matters; basic human nature would have done so even without their help. They were, after all men of their time, but they also understood that the blueprint they were creating might well have to be amended in the face of future alterations in circumstance. For me, that understanding, and the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment are among the most important pieces of the Constitution. Unfortunately too many Americans, including some prominent members of the judiciary seem to be unaware of or ignoring both.
For all that they could not have foreseen all the forces that their document would face in the future, and that they failed to create the nation without slavery, to me the Founders did do something quite extraordinary. They created the first nation on earth to define itself at it's inception as one in which 'we the people' could together find enough of the courage, the honesty, the understanding, the tolerance, the compassion, the wisdom, the humor, the hope, and the sheer common sense to rule ourselves from the bottom up after four thousand years of the reverse. For myself now, as I peruse our political debates, the notable lack of most of those characteristics is the most dispiriting.
Forgive me for going on! As you clearly do, I have some pretty strong feelings on the subject.
Imagine a democratic nation where a former president steals reams of top secret documents that are recovered and he’s charged with felonies. Then the vastly inexperienced judge he appointed repeatedly bungles and delays the trial, likely until after that former president runs for re-election.
And there’s no corrective recourse? Something is seriously amiss in the court system beyond the grotesque corruption of the Supreme Court. Whether Cannon is inept, corrupt, or both, she’s made a mockery of the rule of law and increased Trump’s re-election chances - and chances to sell secrets to America’s enemies, likely again.
As of now, none! "And there’s no corrective recourse?"
An independent judiciary is critical to democracy, THAT is why there is no immediate 'corrective recourse'.
If the Supreme Court rules that Trump has immunity from prosecution for crimes committed during his Presidency and/or after the courts become irrelevant.
Trump pardoned 143 convicted criminals, 4 of whom bilked over $1.4 billion from Medicare/Medicaid and were convicted of fraud. Will we ever find out what the quid pro quo was for any of these pardons.
Trump has already promised to pardon all of the January 6th rioters.
And who would be able to overturn his executive orders even if they were illegal?
King chump
Absolutely — democracy can't function without an independent judiciary. But judges must be ethical, and requirements are too lax and not aggressively enforced. And how is a judge so lacking in experience assigned to one of the most serious espionage cases in the nation's history? The judicial system needs reform.
Cannon's problem is not inexperience, it is bias. Totally agree, enforceable written higher standards. Now it is left to the Roberts to supervise court system and he is 'part of the problem and not the solution'. Term limits, a written ethics book, an independent enforcement-investigative arm that is independent of all branches of government, like the Federal Reserve.
Does independent mean slow track, or the nazification of the judiciary?
And what about the documents that haven't been recovered? Will they ever turn up?
Maybe Trump already sold them to our enemies meaning his mentor and boss, Putin.
The Party of Trump is all in on supporting the brutal dictator Putin.
I wouldn't doubt that, Gary.
They're on the first hole at Bedminister. In a casket.
That’s still my favorite theory.
I am not usually a conspiracy type person but could the former first “lady” father be relaying the information to his buddies overseas?
I continue to believe that the former first lady works for Putin. The whole story of how she came here and met Trump is too bizarre.
Where is anarchy when we ACTUALLY need it?
Seeing those signed checks this week might have been more beautiful than my front yard garden full of sunflowers. Prosecutors are doing a great job of adding context and back-up to show it was impossible for tRumPf not to know what he was signing...love they are using his own words against him from those silly books he "wrote".
My guess is that if anybody without Trump's political protection had clearly endangered US National Security to even a fraction of the extent that Trump has done, the would not now be outside walking around.
Except the ones he paedoned that ARE out there walking around and still committing crimes and causing chaos like Roger Stone, Bannon etal.
Here's the list from the Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/20/trump-pardons-and-commutations-the-full-list
US president has pardoned 70 people and commuted the sentences of a further 73 people
Holy s@&t!
Yeah. How many stories by the MSM have you seen on this? And why does The Guardian have the best reporting on this?
I was especially impressed by Guardian reporting in the run up and execution of Bush II's Iraq War. The Guardian released stories that that were insightful, accurate, and prescient while our domestic press led cheers. A lot of stuff that mattered was ignored or slow on the uptake at home.
mo
I remember the taped Deposition of Jared Kushner shown at the J6 hearings, when he said he was so busy dealing with the pardons, he wasn’t paying attention to anything else.
OMG, I didn't see that. 143 pardons in the last month. I don't know if it's true or not, but I heard Guiliani and Trump were selling pardons for $2 million a piece.
4 of those he pardoned bilked Medicare/Medicaid out of $1.4 billion at least. But I'm sure there was no quid pro quo there.
I seems to me that executive pardon is monarchical anachronism that has proved to be a major security bug in rule of law; a profound and unaccountable end run around due process. Pardon can serve justice, but should rest in individual whim. By promising pardon for requested breaches of laws, Trump expanded the a vulnerability into gaping wound in our system of accountability. The core MO of the present day "GOP" is centered on this strategy. The only antidote is public awareness and resistance. The Redhats are coming! the Redhats are coming!
The media is all aflutter about Daniel's testimony, claiming it opens the door to an appeal. But he would appeal anyhow. And this just puts before the world exactly what he is. Again. Truth is truth.
I would not worry about an appeal. Rule #1: an issue can not be appealed unless it is preserved with an objection. Judge's ruling: 'You failed to object to most of the testimony, so mistrial denied'.
Truth, they'd say but what about the "alternative facts.". There's a typical Trumpism.
With his son there listening to the first hand story about his dear father! What a perfect day for him to show up.
What a week… and it’s only Tuesday. Thanks Heather! 💙
Although I prefer not to picture it, TFG greeted Daniels in either silk satin pajamas or satin pajamas woven from some other fiber. There is no such thing as "silk or satin pajamas." Silk is a fiber and satin is a weave. Yes, I know this is the least important thing for me to fixate on. But it's today's Textile PSA from me, the Textile Pedant. You're all welcome.
It's a mental image I'm not comfortable with either. A pair of tubby Donny's pajamas would require so much satiny material it'd resemble the tent of a Sultan.
Exactly why I'd prefer not to picture it! I'm longing for the day when I don't have to see any images of him anywhere, in any garment whatsoever!
How appropriate! Fits his self-image to a T
👍 exactly…as a textile enthusiast you are spot on!
It's a nightmare in any case.
Jack Smith needs to get Cannon booted from this case NOW. The unqualified partisan hack is clearly compromised, and delay is no longer relevant since she has no plans to hold a trial.
I hope anyone who is undecided on presidential candidates pay attention to Cheetolini’s trial. His utter scumbaggery is clearly on display.
Once again, he cannot make an appeal to the 11th circuit to have her removed until she makes a decision he can appeal. She very carefully (probably under direction from someone far more competent than she is) has not made any of those appealable decisions. Joyce has explained this more than once for those who need to repeat 1st year law school.
One more time: 11th Circuit : Judicial conduct: https://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/judicial-conduct-disability
Thank you Professor Richardson.
Trump's tactics to deny, then delay, delay, delay, have rewarded him throughout his lifetime. As 'Judge' Aileen Cannon continues to act as an unofficial member of Trump's defense team, even if the prosecution was successful in having her removed by the 11th Circuit, it would likely be too late for Trump to be held accountable for betraying the national security interests of the United States and its allies, prior to the November election cycle. Furthermore, the unfortunately titled, 'Supreme' Court has created substantial delay in the other Federal cases pending against, in the improbable case that justice is served, the future 'Prison Apprentice'.
The stakes in DA Bragg's prosecution are now incredibly high. And even in the event of a conviction, Trump will continue to exhaust the justice system with appeal after appeal.
It has been said that every society gets the government they deserve. We did not listen to Anita Hill and the corrupt 'Justice' Thomas is an outcome. We quietly let the outcome of Bush v. Gore be decided -instead of demanding every Florida vote be properly counted, and chaos in the Middle East and the trillion dollar taxpayer bailout of Wall Street was the result.
We did not listen to Hillary Clinton and the Trump crime wave was an outcome. We did not listen to Christine Blasey Ford and 'Justice' Kavanaugh is the result. We were silent when McConnell blocked Garland to the Supreme Court and Gorsuch was the outcome. We were temporarily disturbed when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away and was rapidly replaced with 'Justice' Barrett, however that passed into our short-term societal memory.
Are we listening yet?
Thank you George!!I agree 👍!!!!!!!
Thank you.
We listened, we heard, and we whined about it in echo chambers like this. We did nothing.
I never thought I would live to see the events that are hapening worldiwide. How naive I was! It's a time of hearts being broken at every corner, every turn. And it's a time of ;people coming together with others who'd they never anticipated standing with. I'm currently writing a post on the extarordinary story of Tokitae and the Lummi Nation in the PNW. Tokitae, who brought together an extarordinary cast of characters. Who, in the end mourned together and are now rebulding together. In the Pacirfic Northwest,as elsewhere, I feel and sense the sounds of mourning. The sounds, of hearts being broken. At the same time, I believe in the Buddhist principle that there is great wisdom to be found in our wounds. We are on the edge of a cliff.. rife with possiblities for heasling. Maybe I sound naive, simple minded even. But I fervently, actively, whole bodied believe that we get what we turn our attention to. Now is the time to gather together to mend, to build and to heal. I can't yet forsee the outcome, but I can and do resonate with the vision of healing hearts and minds. Healing. Pachamama and her millions of living creatures, humans included are calling us. A ho. A term that comes from the Kiowa language. It means Thank you.
Thanks for this, Sam. Such a tragic life for Tokitae, and the Lummi Nation. We must all come together, else we will perish. (After typing that, the words of Benj. Franklin echoed "We must all hang together or we will surely all hang separately." A ho.
OMG, Ben Franklin. Wish I could have met him! Brilliant, witty, a gourmet and lady's man..Did you know he established, among other amazing things a fire dept and set it up with funds that are still being paid to this day. He started writing at 15, using a woman's name and sneaking the articles under the door of his brother's newspaper.
Your voice here is important, at least to me. Thank you!
It's good to make a connection! Thank you for taking the time to connect.. Your words soothe my savage soul!
Thank you Sam.
thank you.
'The sound of hearts breaking...." thank you.
thank you. I hear them everyday, from all directions, young and old. I hear the earth..which is calling for us join in creating a shared love story.
Now take Donald Trump….please! If only a judge would put him in jail for even a day. We must be aware that when he loses in November, that won’t be the last we will hear of him. Dangerous Don.
Eric Adams, NYC mayor, promises that the Rikers Island prison is ready for Trump. I'm guessing that the incarceration will not be televised, so I'm not holding my breath, but I've got some popcorn ready, just in case...
Oh, I guess you haven't heard. Rikers isn't posh enough for him. They'll be sending him to some place in the Midwest for elite criminals such as him and you will be paying for it. You'd be paying for Rikers too. Talk about the ladt laugh.
Is there a golf course at Club Fed? I had to laugh at a pundit commenting the other day on TFFG’s contempt issues & that maybe the judge would give him community service & have him in an orange jumpsuit picking up litter/garbage along the roadways….now THAT made me chuckle!
He deserves to go to the Gulag.
There has to be CCTV inside the prison doesn't there? Can't wait to see it when it's released. 👿
Let's not put the cart before the horse. First, Trump needs to push Merchan beyond the limits of just adding fines. Then, the judge needs to sentence him to prison. I don't know if that's immediate, or if there can be appeals. So be patient, but as I said above, it doesn't hurt to get your popcorn ready...
A man can dream can't he? 👍
I’m sad that the Tombs has been shut down. That would have been the perfect spot. TBH, Rikers is too nice for him.
He cheats constantly. He lies constantly. Covers up, deceives constantly.
Elsewhere, Rachel Maddow and Nicole Wallace today also marvel at the extent, the pervasiveness of his sleaze:
Maddow on Stormy Daniels' graphic testimony: ‘None of us will ever get this case out of our mouth’ (youtube.com)
They also talk of how his base just laughs this off, denies everything true.
How does one get so far from the truth, so insistently, regularly?
Let’s first review its opposite -- how we get fit for the truth. And for this, some fundamental skills to see truly: we learn to rely on nouns aptly detailed, and we learn to wed them to specific, active verbs.
Trump has neither. His entire view of life (lying, falsifying) devolves to the labeling, non-action verbs called copulative: “is,” “was,” “are,’ “were” serving only barrages of epithets, insults, adjectives.
Take a look, by contrast, at God. When he made the world, he specified his nouns and delivered them by energetic, active verbs. Only when he finished all his good activity -- apt, specific nouns, active verbs -- did he stand back and permit himself his one copulative: “It was good.”
So let's keep this in mind, too: anyone can, will sink in, wallow in vulgarity assuredly as does the fat orange guy -- sordid use of language guarantees this vulgarity
As a retired English teacher, I love your active and passive verb use -
Thank you, Sarah.
Except, too, I hope that reliance on, trust and delight in regular use of good, active verbs -- the active voice -- will in that proportion preclude passive voice.
One area where the passive voice gloriously has its uses: science. In places other than that -- in any bureaucracy -- passive inevitably serves as cover for liars, evaders, dissemblers, and all our various garden variety as well as most shrill dishonest (as doomed a situation as wherever cluster to each other those who hurl copulatives).
I hadn't planned on commenting tonight, but Sarah's having brought up the use of active vs passive verbs has encouraged me to talk about the use of active vs passive voice when people write. It's a bugbear of mine - incorrect verb use displays either ignorance or lazy writing, while use of the passive voice is another animal entirely.
The use of passive voice evades ownership and responsibility. Have you ever noticed in Russian news statements how often the passive voice is used? That isn't unintentional. It's also frequently seen in police reports ("The gun went off, and the neighbor's dog was shot." ). Here's a favorite quote of mine about that:
"A mind can be overthrown by words... What is happening to the brain of a person who uses the passive, who writes,'Delay should not be allowed to take place' instead of 'Hurry'? The user of the passive verb doesn't want a universe in which responsible agents do their acts. You see? Bad language ultimately is IMMORAL."
-- Richard Mitchell
I had a job in the army once where everyone in the office was expected to use passive voice.
(As you can see, Gary, I just did, too, above.)
Trouble is, this was the U.S. Army Vietnam war era. And every army office had lots to hide, at all bases around the world. I happened to be at a division HQ in southern Germany (its artillery units on the West German / Czech border). All funds were diverted to Nam (yes, another passive by me). Roofs were leaking so G.I.'s would wake up mornings with snow on their cots. Plumbing broke. Electrical lines fizzed out. Certain supplies never got replenished. Morale tanked as guys with more than six months active duty remaining after Nam tours were sent to kill time in these European units.
I newly was in the office of congressional correspondence. The three guys who'd long been there were all ETS'ing out of the army in short time -- but they'd never had to go to Nam, and had good duty all during their service.
Only hitch, all the problems about which Congress people inquired were real problems. We'd send out for background from the actual locations and could see that the problems were not being addressed (yes, another passive). But it was army policy to cover up all problems, to put a positive spin on everything. So letters went back to the Congress people saying such-and-such had been investigated, such-and-such was found, and so-and-so was being "taken care of" (the army also loved euphemism).
Lies. All lies.
I refused to write boilerplate. So my C.O. sent me to join some idiot NATO field exercises in Denmark. I knew it was just to get rid of me. But I enjoyed Copenhagen. And when I returned, the other three guys had all shipped out, back to the U.S., all replaced by private E-1s. And the office was empty -- the new guys in a giant other office, now with a one-star general signing all the cover-up letters they'd write. And I had no job.
I'd done nothing wrong in any way anyone ever wanted to discuss. So I went to the post library. Walked around the beautiful Swabisch villages. Drew my pay. Ate at the mess hall.
Passive voice, Gary.
So you're just the man to ask - is it true about the saltpeter in the mashed potatos?
I got KP duty sometimes, then Gary. Peeled hundreds of potatoes.
By hand.
If anyone had come along to add any additives, it was after I'd stolen a pie or two and returned to barracks.
Phil, you were doing so well there. Then, in my opinion, you took a left turn and went right off a cliff with your assumption that God writes books, or scriptures. I'm fairly certain that is not true. The founding fathers spoke of a creator. Our revolution was built on religious freedom. So unless you were using writer as a metaphor for creator, or I missed something else, then I must respectfully disagree.
Actually, Justin, it was Orwell who said these things -- said them to God.
I do agree with your conclusion, but Orwell notwithstanding, one question remains; who wrote the Bible?
Many friends of ours whose names we'll never know, Justin.
Plus several of their weird uncles into food fetishes. And their younger brothers and some sisters who wrote the killing and mayhem scenes, not having video games in those days.
Turn on Fox or a clone and watch how they present these cases.
Sorry, this is off topic.
I want everyone to be fully aware of how Fraud Criminal Scum Trump’s MAGAts are going to steal the upcoming election for Trump. In the six or seven swing states, there will, starting one month before Election Day, be voter intimidation beyond your wildest imagination. Armed MAGAts will be OUT in force and there will be no one to stop them a) from preventing voters from visiting ballot collection boxes, and b) from scaring voters away from voting sites These MAGAt thugs will be active in districts that traditionally vote Democrat. This type of massive voter intimidation, vote suppression action has happened in other countries! Contact your state and county and city law enforcement officials and ask them what they are going to do to ensure that this isn’t going to be allowed to happen in your voting district!!! Don’t wait, do it now!!!
No .... This intimidation has never materialized over the past six election years!
The MAGAT crowd has NOT come to the election, street presence that trump has requested. Not now, or ever ( the 1.6.2021 debacle was a post election rally which had no influence on voter turnout))
In ALL of the key states, Democrats run the elections from the Sec of State's offices
trump's nose dive in popularity exhibits again with the feeble candidates for Senate in AZ, OH, WI, PA, MI, and even TX, where Cruz is in serious jeopardy.
The turn of hue from red-to-blue in both AZ and GA (via statewide elections for Senator and AZ Gov as well) portend the growing force of the progressive vote, ie., democracy advocates, womens' vote, minority vote and even the youth vote.
The state-wide referenda on women's access to reproductive health care in AZ, FL, MO and OH will drive even further the progressive vote of young people AND women!
Truly, there is ample evidence that the opposite is happening, and North Carolina WILL BE the next 'conservative' state to come to its senses, following GA and AZ. The poster child MAGAT gubernatorial candidate in NC is already behind by large single digits. His campaign is a total wreck in their lack fundraising, and other NC conservative candidates have to run away from his comments
The following is a list of the most recent Senate elections, compiled by Simon Rosenberg at hopiumchroicles.org. In every instance, the Democrat leads:
• WI Baldwin 48% Hovde 41% CBS News/YouGov
• PA Casey 46% McCormick 39% CBS News/YouGov
• NV Rosen 47% Gunter 33% The Hill/Emerson
• Rosen 45% Brown 37% The Hill/Emerson
• AZ Gallego 45% Lake 43% The Hill/Emerson (other recent polls show Gallego further
• NC Stein 48% Robinson 41% Quinnipiac (Governor)
In all of these core state, the overwhelming presence of democracy advocates will AGAIN protect the 2024 vote, as we have seen in every election since 2017 ....
There is NO evidence that the MAGAT threat is real, or even exists, to the extent you proclaim.
Plus, we have the capacity to sweep.
To protect American democracy, reach out to millions of unregistered likely Democrats using a dedicated database using every outreach method possible (phone and text, postcard, email and targeted ad, and in-person too), where new Democratic voters will make the most impact – in the most flippable states and districts.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/actions
YES, I've been busy writing post cards --- and I call into radio shows, like the Thom Hartmann Program, and local NPR call in shows as well, when the topic is relevant
The Sherrod Brown race has me concerned. But the Rick Scott/ Debbie Musceral-Powell race could be interesting. He is just a big a scumbag/criminal as Trump and DeSantis.
I think Sherrod Brown is very popular in OH, much like John Tester in MT
They both seem to be very down to earth, humble caring Senators. If they lose, reelection after all they've accomplished, it doesn't speak well for Ohio (or Montana).
They will surely try, make no mistake. All evil options should be anticipated and dealt with.
Oh hell no. Voters will not stand for it, and with rare exception Meal Team 6 won’t get off the couch.
Couple this with no mailed-in ballots.
Focusing on jurists, I saw this link to a substack story about Merrick Garland on Joyce Vance's substack the other day. Thanks to the reader who posted it.
Many people have been critical of AG Garland for his slow walk toward prosecuting the MAGA crowd. This piece by Mueller She Wrote (someone I have casually followed for a few years) says it isn't so.
"Two months later, June 2021, Garland was growing frustrated with the slow pace of the investigation. The FBI trump allies were refusing to execute search warrants, so Merrick garland called a meeting and set up a task force to investigate Trump called the “investigations unit”. But they didn’t yet have Biden’s DC US Attorney to assist and provide resources. The agency was still filled with Trump holdovers and Jim Jordan allies, so the amount of people investigating was relegated to a small group of people Garland could trust. What was taking the Senate so long to confirm the new DC US Attorney?"
Read on to find out who actually was doing the slow-walking.
The Facts About Merrick Garland:
https://muellershewrote.substack.com/p/the-facts-about-merrick-garland
Thank you
Thanks for the link, Lynell. I hadn't realized what he was dealing with; the leftovers from the previous administration.
And very bad leftovers they were, IMO!
They are everywhere. Dark state holdovers, indeed
Wow. Thanks Lynell.