On this date in 1876, William “Boss” Tweed, who had stolen between $25 and $200 million in his corrupt years at the head of New York City’s government and then fled to Spain to escape prison, was delivered up to authorities and sent back to jail. One hundred and forty-five years later, the law is in the news again.
Heather got a big shout out from Glenn Kirschner on his Justice Matters YouTube channel. He began today's segment by recommending everyone read her Letter daily (Amen!), then quoted part of today's missive. It made me smile. Seeing credit given where due always makes me smile. 😁😁
Thank you, Professor Richardson. I hold your three letters this Thanksgiving week as touchstones of gratitude. There is the obvious…stating of facts and events. And there is the weaving of the web that you do so masterfully….exploring the underbelly of the autocratic motivation to bring down a democracy. Tying current events to past events that reminds us it’s not the first rodeo to preserve and/or fight for our rights and the pursuit of life, liberty and the homeostasis of our human condition. Your use of the prounouns “we” and “us” always strike a chord and remind me….”We are all in this together. There is enough to go around.” What better time to focus on our togetherness, not our separate existence. What better time to be reminded of the rule of law, whether criminal or civil, that metes out justice regardless of wealth, fame, race, or any characteristic that serves to divide or elevate one citizen above another. Because that is what our democracy is. And it will not tolerate obstructing or fleeing from that law. What better time to be reminded that even though we are constantly taught to acquire more to get ahead because the one with the most wins, know that no one wins the game unless the needs of the whole of the People are met.
I choose to not wonder what the “other side” might or might not do this week or next. What I feel is the tide shifting and propelling the groundswell of the voice of people rooted in Light. There is no opposite. The darkness that threatens is nothing compared to the Light that finds every nook and cranny and illumines our goodness. Let us be the muscle behind that groundswell. And the very best thing? Light does not require violence to overcome darkness. The power of it enlightens the mind of all creatures if we trust it to do so. And it follows Love which fills our very heart and soul.
I thank you, Heather, as a compatriot and salute you with gratitude. March we shall. Prevail we shall. Heal we shall. Love we shall. And we are not afraid even though the darkness feels scary.
Happy Thanksgiving! The turkey is a totem of the “Give-Away Eagle” of many native peoples. It is the acknowledgement that what you do for others, you do for yourself. Doing unto others and feeding the people, acting and reacting on behalf of others, is the message of all true spiritual systems. May our spirits feel generous this season. Honor Turkey. From the book Medicine Cards by Jamie Sams and David Carson…
“Ho, Brother Turkey! So freely you give. Of everything that you are, So others may truly live.”
I doubt if it really matters, because the guys who got nailed with this $26 million judgment are unlikely to have any disposable income in what's left of their wretched lives. Also, needless to say, none of that judgment that is dischargeable in bankruptcy. On the other hand, a massive civil judgment against them offers possibilities for suing their financial backers, and those who sought to profit off the chaos that they were out to commit. There is a lot of dark money out there that's been funding Far Right causes, some of which money found its way into the hands of the guys who got nailed in this lawsuit. They, too, could be sued as co-conspirators and aiders and abettors of the Charlottesville riot. Under those circumstances, each of the defendants can be hauled into court, placed under oath, and forced to disclose where they got their money, and from whom. Technically, the procedure is called 'an examination of the judgment debtor', and the penalty for lying is prosecution for perjury. Even if there is no positive nexus between the guilty defendants and the moneymen, the fact that they served a common purpose might offer some opportunity for retribution against them, on the grounds that withholding those funds, whether they were independent expenditures or otherwise solicited funds, could expose them to financial liability for having offered aid and comfort to the men who were sued. It's always fun to turn over a large rock to see what is on the underside. If any of these people who aided and abetted the riot contributed as much as a dollar, the amount that they might have to pay down the road my turn out to be far more than the single dollar. Under the law, joint and several liability means that any one of them would be responsible for paying the entire judgment, the whole enchilada. All $26 million of it. When you start to bankrupt the guys with trust funds and independent sources of income, that's when you make big inroads into the entire movement, not just the petty criminals who were their public face.
The civil judgment against the Charlottesville rioters is heartening and probably will cause some difficulties for these defendants. But like Boss Tweed, what they really fear, and what the big guns (Jones, Stone, Bannon, etc, and especially Trump) teally fear is prison time. It killed Tweed and might well kill any of the big guns, especially the owl-eyed orange. To make the rule of law discourage insurrection, criminal convictions and prison sentences are necessary. At least some of the big guns must be taken down.
"Since it was a civil and not a criminal trial, they needed only to find 'a preponderance of the evidence,' rather than guilt 'beyond a reasonable doubt' as in criminal trials." The Not Guilty verdict of Kyle Rittenhouse notwithstanding, it is my hope that he will be charged in a wrongful death lawsuit in the coming days.
The attorneys who represented the plaintiffs in the case tonight stated on The Rachel Maddow Show they expect a significant portion of the judgment will be paid. Yay! They offered no details but added that the plaintiffs wanted to bankrupt the organizations involved, and of course they succeeded!
The interview tonight on Maddow’s show with Hillary Rodham Clinton was fabulous! HRC would’ve been an amazing president.
I recall a situation in Coeur d’Alene Idaho some years ago. A neo-Nazi group was raising hell. A national group (SPLC?) pursued them with a civil suit, got a judgment, and bankrupted the scum bums. Remember, Al Capone eventually was jailed on tax fraud. There is hope, especially when scum bum organizations can be bankrupted! Of course I prefer criminal charges and the slammer.
A ray of hope as court cases are settled, the Jan 6 committee forges onward and new information comes to light. The fate of our democracy feels like it comes down to a race between the courts and the election cycle.
The parallels HCR has established between “Boss” Tweed and TFG (who bossed "The Apprentice" and so many failed and corrupt enterprises), AND the news that the Rule of Law prevailed in the Charlottesville case, are cause for great optimism!
May the DOJ be able to prosecute those who have committed crimes against our nation and its democracy, and against the civil rights of its people. May Damian Williams, the new attorney general for New York’s Southern District, also be able to lawfully deliver a jail sentence to TFG.
I hope they go after the Nazis and take every fucking penny. Turn them into homeless people and let the people they denigrated enact a little justice on them.
Today, as civil rights lawyer Scott Hechinger said: “There is no ‘bail reform’ in Wisconsin. There has been no significant change to bail laws in Wisconsin in a decade. Bail was set in this case. Yet still, prosecutors, police, & right wing politicians are convincing everyone ‘bail reform’ is to blame. And media amplifies the lie.” That last sentence--once again, explains a lot about why division keeps going in this country.
Even though iDJiT was apparently enamored of the writings of Hitler, but took no warning from the end of that one's life, perhaps he should be looking at what happened to "Boss" Tweed to get a clue as to what juggernaut is heading for him...the USS Merrick Garland. Sadly I don't think the GOP even really need him except as window dressing, they have time and again proved themselves to be totally capable of heinous actions without him.
May all of you have a grand day/s of celebrating the joyousness of family, friends, remember those who are in need and shine the light of truth ever brighter.
In the years before Boss Tweed's downfall, New York's 'better' newspapers wrote about his corruption in many thoughtful and outraged editorials. Boss Tweed couldn't have cared less; most of his Tammany Hall constituents couldn't read anything at the reading level of those fancy publications, but cartoons were another matter. Thomas Nast's cartoons in Harper's Weekly were a torment because he recognized their simple power. At one meeting with his circle, he reportedly yelled, "Stop the damn pictures!" Soon afterwards, Tweed's operatives offered Nast the incredible sum of $20,000 (about $420,000 in today's dollars) "to study art in Europe." Nast declined the offer, and in the end it was Tweed who wound up in Europe as a hunted fugitive.
Moral: if you want to bring down political villains, keep your messages simple and emotionally compelling. And keep using the damn pictures.
Heather got a big shout out from Glenn Kirschner on his Justice Matters YouTube channel. He began today's segment by recommending everyone read her Letter daily (Amen!), then quoted part of today's missive. It made me smile. Seeing credit given where due always makes me smile. 😁😁
Thank you, Professor Richardson. I hold your three letters this Thanksgiving week as touchstones of gratitude. There is the obvious…stating of facts and events. And there is the weaving of the web that you do so masterfully….exploring the underbelly of the autocratic motivation to bring down a democracy. Tying current events to past events that reminds us it’s not the first rodeo to preserve and/or fight for our rights and the pursuit of life, liberty and the homeostasis of our human condition. Your use of the prounouns “we” and “us” always strike a chord and remind me….”We are all in this together. There is enough to go around.” What better time to focus on our togetherness, not our separate existence. What better time to be reminded of the rule of law, whether criminal or civil, that metes out justice regardless of wealth, fame, race, or any characteristic that serves to divide or elevate one citizen above another. Because that is what our democracy is. And it will not tolerate obstructing or fleeing from that law. What better time to be reminded that even though we are constantly taught to acquire more to get ahead because the one with the most wins, know that no one wins the game unless the needs of the whole of the People are met.
I choose to not wonder what the “other side” might or might not do this week or next. What I feel is the tide shifting and propelling the groundswell of the voice of people rooted in Light. There is no opposite. The darkness that threatens is nothing compared to the Light that finds every nook and cranny and illumines our goodness. Let us be the muscle behind that groundswell. And the very best thing? Light does not require violence to overcome darkness. The power of it enlightens the mind of all creatures if we trust it to do so. And it follows Love which fills our very heart and soul.
I thank you, Heather, as a compatriot and salute you with gratitude. March we shall. Prevail we shall. Heal we shall. Love we shall. And we are not afraid even though the darkness feels scary.
Happy Thanksgiving! The turkey is a totem of the “Give-Away Eagle” of many native peoples. It is the acknowledgement that what you do for others, you do for yourself. Doing unto others and feeding the people, acting and reacting on behalf of others, is the message of all true spiritual systems. May our spirits feel generous this season. Honor Turkey. From the book Medicine Cards by Jamie Sams and David Carson…
“Ho, Brother Turkey! So freely you give. Of everything that you are, So others may truly live.”
Love and Light! 🦃🌈🌟
I doubt if it really matters, because the guys who got nailed with this $26 million judgment are unlikely to have any disposable income in what's left of their wretched lives. Also, needless to say, none of that judgment that is dischargeable in bankruptcy. On the other hand, a massive civil judgment against them offers possibilities for suing their financial backers, and those who sought to profit off the chaos that they were out to commit. There is a lot of dark money out there that's been funding Far Right causes, some of which money found its way into the hands of the guys who got nailed in this lawsuit. They, too, could be sued as co-conspirators and aiders and abettors of the Charlottesville riot. Under those circumstances, each of the defendants can be hauled into court, placed under oath, and forced to disclose where they got their money, and from whom. Technically, the procedure is called 'an examination of the judgment debtor', and the penalty for lying is prosecution for perjury. Even if there is no positive nexus between the guilty defendants and the moneymen, the fact that they served a common purpose might offer some opportunity for retribution against them, on the grounds that withholding those funds, whether they were independent expenditures or otherwise solicited funds, could expose them to financial liability for having offered aid and comfort to the men who were sued. It's always fun to turn over a large rock to see what is on the underside. If any of these people who aided and abetted the riot contributed as much as a dollar, the amount that they might have to pay down the road my turn out to be far more than the single dollar. Under the law, joint and several liability means that any one of them would be responsible for paying the entire judgment, the whole enchilada. All $26 million of it. When you start to bankrupt the guys with trust funds and independent sources of income, that's when you make big inroads into the entire movement, not just the petty criminals who were their public face.
The civil judgment against the Charlottesville rioters is heartening and probably will cause some difficulties for these defendants. But like Boss Tweed, what they really fear, and what the big guns (Jones, Stone, Bannon, etc, and especially Trump) teally fear is prison time. It killed Tweed and might well kill any of the big guns, especially the owl-eyed orange. To make the rule of law discourage insurrection, criminal convictions and prison sentences are necessary. At least some of the big guns must be taken down.
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!!
"Since it was a civil and not a criminal trial, they needed only to find 'a preponderance of the evidence,' rather than guilt 'beyond a reasonable doubt' as in criminal trials." The Not Guilty verdict of Kyle Rittenhouse notwithstanding, it is my hope that he will be charged in a wrongful death lawsuit in the coming days.
The attorneys who represented the plaintiffs in the case tonight stated on The Rachel Maddow Show they expect a significant portion of the judgment will be paid. Yay! They offered no details but added that the plaintiffs wanted to bankrupt the organizations involved, and of course they succeeded!
The interview tonight on Maddow’s show with Hillary Rodham Clinton was fabulous! HRC would’ve been an amazing president.
I recall a situation in Coeur d’Alene Idaho some years ago. A neo-Nazi group was raising hell. A national group (SPLC?) pursued them with a civil suit, got a judgment, and bankrupted the scum bums. Remember, Al Capone eventually was jailed on tax fraud. There is hope, especially when scum bum organizations can be bankrupted! Of course I prefer criminal charges and the slammer.
A ray of hope as court cases are settled, the Jan 6 committee forges onward and new information comes to light. The fate of our democracy feels like it comes down to a race between the courts and the election cycle.
The parallels HCR has established between “Boss” Tweed and TFG (who bossed "The Apprentice" and so many failed and corrupt enterprises), AND the news that the Rule of Law prevailed in the Charlottesville case, are cause for great optimism!
May the DOJ be able to prosecute those who have committed crimes against our nation and its democracy, and against the civil rights of its people. May Damian Williams, the new attorney general for New York’s Southern District, also be able to lawfully deliver a jail sentence to TFG.
DOJ is slowly slowly working their way up the food chain. Seems inevitable that TFG will be subpoenaed.
I hope they go after the Nazis and take every fucking penny. Turn them into homeless people and let the people they denigrated enact a little justice on them.
Roberta Kaplan
Karen Dunn
Today, as civil rights lawyer Scott Hechinger said: “There is no ‘bail reform’ in Wisconsin. There has been no significant change to bail laws in Wisconsin in a decade. Bail was set in this case. Yet still, prosecutors, police, & right wing politicians are convincing everyone ‘bail reform’ is to blame. And media amplifies the lie.” That last sentence--once again, explains a lot about why division keeps going in this country.
Even though iDJiT was apparently enamored of the writings of Hitler, but took no warning from the end of that one's life, perhaps he should be looking at what happened to "Boss" Tweed to get a clue as to what juggernaut is heading for him...the USS Merrick Garland. Sadly I don't think the GOP even really need him except as window dressing, they have time and again proved themselves to be totally capable of heinous actions without him.
May all of you have a grand day/s of celebrating the joyousness of family, friends, remember those who are in need and shine the light of truth ever brighter.
In the years before Boss Tweed's downfall, New York's 'better' newspapers wrote about his corruption in many thoughtful and outraged editorials. Boss Tweed couldn't have cared less; most of his Tammany Hall constituents couldn't read anything at the reading level of those fancy publications, but cartoons were another matter. Thomas Nast's cartoons in Harper's Weekly were a torment because he recognized their simple power. At one meeting with his circle, he reportedly yelled, "Stop the damn pictures!" Soon afterwards, Tweed's operatives offered Nast the incredible sum of $20,000 (about $420,000 in today's dollars) "to study art in Europe." Nast declined the offer, and in the end it was Tweed who wound up in Europe as a hunted fugitive.
Moral: if you want to bring down political villains, keep your messages simple and emotionally compelling. And keep using the damn pictures.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ink-clink-cartoons-send-boss-tweed-jail-article-1.2463810
"The Wheels of Justice turn slowly but exceedingly fine." - Sun Tzu
I hope justice will prevail.