Nowhere in the email discussions by Eastman et al did anyone mention hard evidence, real or manufactured, proving or even just indicating election fraud. It was a bald-faced, overt attempt at a coup to overthrow the legitimate government of the United States. It was treason. It was sedition. It was conspiracy.
And that is the Achilles heel of Trump’s attempt to undermine the rule of law. Fabricate or deny the facts. Then throw in a legal argument to delay or deny justice. Examples? Lose an election? Claim election fraud, fabricate claims of voter fraud. Attempting to defraud creditors by transferring assets in the dark of night? Deny the facts and claim judicial bias and corruption. Our legal system, however, is devoted to sorting out the facts. When facts are fabricated or wrongly denied, the rule of law rightly calls out the lawyers. Trump lawyer Sidney Powell asserted widespread, election-outcome-changing voter fraud to support John Eastman’s legal theory. Neither believed it but saw this fib as the means to delay certification of the electoral vote, a legal strategy of justice delayed is justice denied running decidedly in Trump’s favor. Powell now argues in defending a multi-billion dollar law suit by a voting machine maker that no one should have reasonably believed her. Eastman didn’t, but decided it was all he. needed to support a legal point in want of a factual predicate. The rule of law (in the form of professional ethical rules) provides the legal basis to disbar such lawyers. That process is underway for lawyers Eastman, Powell, Giuliani and others. Fear of such action may be driving others to testify against Trump after years of supporting acquiescing to his many fabrications and denials.. Witness Michael Cohen and arguably Pat Cippolone. For the rule of law, only the facts matter.
I caught onto that act long before TFG became POTUS. All ya had to do was look at the lawsuits filed against him. Just keep filing appeals till the other side runs out of money. Old tactic. Appeal your way out of a lawsuit. He has a long disgusting record of business practice abuses. Since we’ve connected the dots from Federalist “Society” to Clarence Thomas and the TFG judges, to Citizens United cash bash for the wealthy, to the Civil War we never quite finished cleaning up that mess has come back to haunt us.
It took confederates 167 years, but they’re closer to taking our country out from under us than ever before. And they’re using a black man to do it. How stupid do we have to be?
I think the SCOTUS overplayed their hand when the overturned the Dobbs decision. It will cost the party of white supremacy votes. They’re in the red, the house (voters) are calling in all bets. Anything they did or plan to do from 6/24/2022 pales in comparison to the damage SCOTUS brought to the Republican Party. Taking away a constitutional right from half the voting public does not bode well for MAGA, no it does not.
I'm sure you noticed the smirk on Bannon's face when, after being sentenced to prison for contempt, the judge delayed execution of the sentence pending appeal. He's no doubt convinced that he'll never have to go to prison. And even if he does, he'll come out of a short stay at Club Fed richer than before. (Damn, I've become too cynical, but it's hard to keep up.)
No you are not too cynical Dirk. Theses guys and their council have our legal system figured out to a tee. Every legal move they make no matter how frivolous seems to add another month to the process (sometimes less, sometimes more). They are all trying to run out the clock and get rescued by a Republican government they figure is coming into power. DOJ and the courts are being played, and I fear it is going to work. It's fuc_ing excruciating to watch this happening right in front of my eyes.
Aye. That's how any disease overwhelms its host, by moving faster than the defending immune system. That's one of the many reasons Republicans want to underfund and cripple government, starting with regulatory agencies, then the courts -- our social immune system becomes ever weaker and slower.
I know it seems that way. But, our justice system is working. I think it’s the other way around, the Dept of Justice is letting the appeals run their course. When they’ve cleared their own paths of appeals, stays, and any other legal mechanism to block indictment, then the DOJ will make the moves necessary for a swift conviction. Definitely a F_ck Around and Find Out situation. Bannon is a putz. We see that. He can smirk all he wants, he’s another who’s holding a losing hand.
Boy I sure hope you are right. I guess partly, this hiatus of legal activity WRT Maralago and 1/6 due to the election has made me nervous. Delays in the midst of the 24 hour news cycle sometimes makes things go stale. "Old News". Hopefully the long arm of the law and the long memory of the law are still intact.
They are using another black man, Hershel Walker. It is infuriating to me to see that he appears to have cognitive difficulties and he is being egged on by white male politicians, using him to do their will. I have no regard for Walker personally, but I despise when people who are not able to defend themselves are bullied by others---and I feel the same about this. Reminds me of my junior high school years when I first encountered a child who was what now would be termed "on the spectrum". She had a lot of strange actions that I didn't understand, I admit I was afraid, avoided her. The clique in charge there "befriended" her briefly, just to get her to a sleepover party (I obviously was not included) where the following weekend, as fodder for the talk of the schoolyard about all the "weird" things she did. Then she was promptly dropped from the clique, no longer of use.
Yeah, it was. Even my 12 y/o self knew there was something wrong about them using her. I recall overhearing the stories about how they "styled" her hair (think back of the days of 3" curlers) and them laughing about how "dirty and greasy" her hair was.
I feel badly now that I didn't befriend her. In all honesty, I was happy enough to fly below the radar of the clique, myself, and I honestly had never seen anything like the behavior she exhibited.
Wish that were always true, but it is true only some of the time. Witness cases of death row inmates in which it is clear that they are almost certainly innocent, but where prosecutors—often backed by judges—cling to any threadbare theory in an attempt to get the person killed.
The Republicans biggest problem is that they can't produce evidence of all their claims because there isn't any. All the attorney generals, secretary of state, Guiliani, pillow man and others yelling about voter fraud have so far prosecuted not enough fraudulent voters to effect a local election in Left Overshoe, Maine (population 9).
And OUR problem as citizens of a country we want to maintain as a democracy is that Trump, Flynn, Bannon, et al. have raised an army of true believers who don't require proof.
Ralph, "It was treason". Yes, you could not be more correct.
As Dr. Richardson notes: "This call for violence echoes the former president’s calls to stop the counting of the certified electoral votes on January 6, 2021, and it illustrates why it is so important for the Department of Justice to enforce the laws. If there is no penalty for lawbreaking, there is no deterrent from breaking laws going forward."
However, Trump, today, like yesterday, and the day before and EVERY day since he moved to Mara Lago, will be golfing, ripping out nutty social media calls to his blind followers and keeping his ongoing attempt to overthrow the US government going and going and going.
Trump is proving Dr. Richardson's statement above. Nobody has ever applied any negative consequences to Trump, so Trump keeps doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants.
I am now 2/3 through the seminal book: The 1619 Book Project, and I have a clearer picture of America every day. Trump is just one of thousands of white men who have sponsored violence against American institutions, Americans and Democracy and "gotten by with it scott free".
Just one of many is Trump. Just the latest bloom on a tree that is old, healthy and growing. Springtime all day every day for Trump and his ilk.
Right here in America since the day Europeans began killing the natives for their land.
The other 2 books to read that shine a lot of light on this subject are 1491 and 1493 by Charles C Mann that explain what the world was like pre and post Columbian. Both are very readable and absolute eye-openers for anyone educated by the American school system (with its de-emphasis of slavery, POC, etc)
Thank you so much for the book titles. I am beginning 1619 which I have had but have not begun. I just ordered 2 of Heather's books and will order these two suggested by William and LeMoine as well. Should keep me busy and out of trouble for quite a while!!!
But unless I am completely missing some major piece of information, no one in a position to enforce them has mentioned treason, or sedition, or conspiracy. I understand and admire the kind of caution and care with which people like Garland and Mueller approach their work. I understand the potential danger of taking a step too far or too fast. But I also understand, from a childhood watching my father fly casting into a white water stream, dropping that fly on a dime, and with equal mindfulness playing the line toward shore, that the moment comes when you bring that old trout home.
"watching my father fly casting into a white water stream, dropping that fly on a dime, and with equal mindfulness playing the line toward shore, that the moment comes when you bring that old trout home."
Brilliantly written as an allegory for bringing Trump to Justice. But, Dean, you know it is vastly more complex than fly fishing, as complicated as fly fishing can be.
In America, it has been, and, to a large degree, remains, taboo to land the "white" fish.
Correct? I mean, it was not so long ago when laws on the books in all 13 colonies made it legal for a white man to rape a black woman and then sell the progeny for profit thereby making rape profitable. (Reference, the 1619 Book Project).
In a country where that can happen? Trump is a small fish fry indeed.
Good morning, Mike, and yes I know that Trump is a small fish but my goodness he's making a racket flopping around over at the edge of the creek, caught in the underbrush, trying to get loose. And all that noise is distracting us from the deep poison in the water. When we moved into those north Georgia woods, the first thing Daddy saw was that the creek was badly polluted. You could see soap suds on top of the water from the plants in town dumping waste. Well, he pitched a fit, sued the city, and the water got cleaned up, but you know they just dumped the filth somewhere else. Meanwhile, the reality is the poison down at the bottom of the deepest pools, the poison we can't clean up because we can't bring ourselves to look. I'm mixing my metaphors here (OH, NO !!) but, yes, in a country where what you describe can happen, all bets really are off
I saw a documentary recently, somewhere, on the widespread use of black neighborhoods as chemical dumps and landfills.
I mean, I just keep learning more and more about an America that I like less and less.
I look back at my run through the guantlet and marvel at how lucky I am, even though I did work, no joke, from age 14 until age 60, 12-16 hour days.
I managed to get through the gauntlet. However, I am now convinced, that I ran it sucessfully because of my lighter skin and lighter colored hair.
I used to give some credit to myself. All that work. But, now?
I think I was just lucky to be white enough.
In my long run through engineering in American corporations? I saw exactly two black engineers. TWO. In three corporations and in roughly 9 different jobs within them.
TWO black engineers. Hundreds and hundreds of white engineers.
Yes, thank God at least we still keep learning. White as can be, we lived in the middle of the Black rural South, so after what you've said, of course it makes perfect sense that the creek was polluted. We weren't anything resembling a "neighborhood," just because it was deep woods everywhere, but most of that property all around us was owned by Black families. It all seems almost surreal when I look back on it. There was a wonderful kind of quiet at the center, like we had somehow--mostly, I suspect, because of my father--made this good world. But, of course, whatever we had or hadn't made, just outside it was the hideous grinning, gibbering demon of southern racism and violence.
You two have made some interesting points about what "real" America is. I've also come to realize I was incredibly naive. As a 1951 model (paint is peeling and suspension creaks) I was raised on school mornings that started with the Pledge of Allegiance and history classes that skipped any mention of "unpleasantries." Like sending smallpox-laden blankets to Indians. Black voters having to guess how many jellybeans were in a jar. Internment of Japanese citizens - CITIZENS - (which I first heard of when I was 22!)
With everything going on, I've come to question everything. How my pale-as-veal complexion has given me advantages I didn't recognize as white privilege. Hell! Had never even heard the term.
There were NO students of color in my nursing school class. Why didn't this occur to me until now? There are no Black families on my street. I've lived my whole life in a white bubble and didn't realize it.
Until this country acknowledges its foundation based on the enslavement of Blacks and the genocide of and land theft from the Indigenous population, we will never move forward into what we could be if we were truly exceptional.
Indeed, Mike! Small, slimy and spineless as a hagfish (https://g.co/kgs/tiKkLr)—not to mention they both prey and feed “on small invertebrates living in the mud.” Hmmm… remember him pledging to “drain the swamp”?
I love this conversation! When my father was trying to teach me, he always cast first, to remind me how it should look. He would point to a small, partially hidden spot across the creek. He would close his eyes for a minute or two before he lifted the rod just high enough and, almost before you knew it had happened, he would flick his wrist, and the line would float out in an arc and land precisely where he had aimed. I never quite mastered it.
And I'm not sure I have gotten very good at this political reality that requires so often--either in action or in the way I think about it--the same attention to pacing.
I don't know about fabulous but I was in love with the literature and in love with the students and, as you can see, sometimes I can't resist the urge to go out into the back yard and just wallow in words.
But we on this side of the fence trying to keep a rational view of the events are barely aware of the complexity of the writhing mass of Conspiracies from which the DOJ is forced to surgically derive demonstrable slides of criminal activity.
Just to day HCR moves her incredible scrutiny from Miami to NYC to Ohio and across America pursuing just the legal side of the Eastman/ coup efforts.
The monstrous Trump/ Republican machine active in SCOTUS Relations, Legislative co-conspiracies and myriad associated Voter Fraud Conspiracy groups is similar to infectious disease by producing new cellular forms as soon as the old ones are identified.
Work and Pray for a continued Democratic Presence or be fearful.
On the few occasions when I've had the chance to discuss this with someone who believes the lie, I have tried to remind them that there is NO EVIDENCE. NONE of the fraud claimed has produced ANY evidence at all. Sometimes that makes just a little dent in their argument.
Another day of as the bizarre world turns here in the US.
I feel as though we have been living our lives with the check engine light on for the last few years. We know something is very wrong but if we look the other way everything will be fine.
Yesterday, while watching BBC news, the reporter who has been canvassing re the election, said that she heard exactly the same warnings from Democrats and Republicans about the threat to democracy. Having been inexplicably put on a Republican supporter list, I know this to be true. I get crap from them with the exact same verbiage as from the Democrats. EXACTLY. Like ads are written by the same hired trolls. No wonder the cult is confused. Well no, the cult is not confused. They are hard wired. Confused are the morons who listen to the cult nuts. And they are legion. The men in my family, educated or not, they buy the bull Schitt. The accomplishments of the democrats, not even on their radar. Just an update from the bowels of Texas and NC.
Mike S, I was just describing Dr. Richardson’s wonderful interview with President Biden to a young friend of mine. I was making the point of how knowledgeable and articulate he was, one on one, but I also stressed the point that Heather was wearing black slacks and comfortable shoes. I think he got the point.
My wife was talking yesterday with an affable, upper-middle class, educated, life-long Republican who despises Trump and deplores Walker. But when asked what he thought of Liz Cheney, he responded, quite seriously, "Who's she? Didn't she used to be a Republican?" He's not paying attention. I'm sure that many Democrats are much the same way, despite the endless cacaphony we HCR-Letters types immerse ourselves in.
Thank you for this summary of the various legal proceedings. It would be a huge help to Americans if newspapers, tv, cable, and social media kept a running tally of trials and verdicts in Trump world, including the insurrectionists, and featured it prominently daily - just as they did w/ Olympic medalists, Covid deaths, etc. People need to see that the rule of law holds, and that traitors, cheats, and other perpetrators actually face justice and get punished. Why do we need to rely on Dr. RIchardson to keep us updated?
Thank you for this info, Lynn. Unfortunately, Democracy Docket and Marc Elias are not as well-known to most Americans as the WaPo and the NYTimes. Those are newspapers of record and, along w/ other papers across the country, could be prioritizing coverage of these legal issues, but are not.
Honestly, I read Heather daily for her synthesis, her providing of historical context, and her amazing ability to extract and aggregate the news in a satisfyingly readable form. She conducts a daily master class on historical journalism. Most of the news she reports, I’ve already read in that day’s media reporting in NYT, WAPO, MSNBC, and on other sites via Twitter, but she helps me understand it’s significance, in the proper context.
Context wedded to detail is the mother of meaning. Fools can't see the trees for the forest, nor the forest for the trees. The particulate language of a computer is binary, connect or not-connect, off or on. Perhaps that is true of all logic, perhaps even quantum mechanics; the character of the elements depend on bonds (or not) between protons.
I believe that wisdom seeks to identify connections and distinctions, and because they are effectively endless, which most matter to sentient beings. The word "articulate" means to separate into joints. This happens to describe the structure of the human hand, that can execute symphonies, repair damaged living brains, go to the moon.
Deceivers omit, distort, distract from, and manufacture both essential detail and context.
After this election I’d like to see a movement by the consumers of ‘news’ to make the MSM rethink their role in our society and even their contribution to the Repub shitshow by their relentless focus on tfg and the repubs’ antics day after day after day. No objectivity, bothsidesism that should have been calling out the ridiculousness of one side, the constant hunt for clicks, etc., etc. They have not only dropped the ball of professional journalism, they keep kicking it into the other side’s net for them.
The Fairness Doctrine, codified in 1954, required "equal time" for opposing political views on TV networks. By the 1970s, the FCC called the doctrine the “single most important requirement of operation in the public interest". The following information is from (yes, really) the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library:
"The doctrine stayed in effect, and was enforced until the Reagan Administration. In 1985, under FCC Chairman, Mark S. Fowler, a communications attorney who had served on Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign staff in 1976 and 1980, the FCC released a report stating that the doctrine hurt the public interest and violated free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.
"Fowler began rolling the application of the doctrine back during Reagan's second term - despite complaints from some in the Administration that it was all that kept broadcast journalists from thoroughly lambasting Reagan's policies on air. In 1987, the FCC panel, under new chairman Dennis Patrick, repealed the Fairness Doctrine altogether with a 4-0 vote
"The FCC vote was opposed by members of Congress who said the FCC had tried to "flout the will of Congress" and the decision was "wrongheaded, misguided and illogical." The decision drew political fire and tangling, where cooperation with Congress was at issue. In June 1987, Congress attempted to preempt the FCC decision and codify the Fairness Doctrine, (Fairness in Broadcasting Act of 1987 S. 742).
"The bill passed but the legislation was vetoed by President Ronald Reagan. Congress was unable to muster enough votes to overturn the President's veto".
So we have Reagan to thank for both the ever-widening breach between the billionaires and everyone else, plus the end of political balance by news reporting on TV networks.
Probably none of them. He was just a pretty face. Not particularly bright, just good at smiling and waving. (B-grade actor, remember?) Made a great puppet for the Evil ones behind the throne.
MSM has definitely scored an "own goal" with this, and sealed their own fates. Newspapers are done for, sadly. Television is simply propaganda unless you go to some very specific sites. Journalistic integrity is gone.
In other news, today's GOP Corruption Index has risen to a hefty 10,413: a 200 point rise on the day, reflecting further release of racist adverts and smears.
Our local newspaper is independent, not owned by Hearst or any of the other big media organizations. But even they bury these important stories on page 7. Grrr.
Ellen, Do they print Letters to the Editor? You have something important to write about. "Grrr" is my default response to lots of news these days. If it's not "aaarrrggghhh."
A front page running tally of Trump trials and verdicts -- what an excellent idea. Sadly, our major newspapers are too busy reporting on meaningless polls and Trump rallies.
“So we seem to have a deliberate attempt to throw a court case to Justice Clarence Thomas, whose wife was urging the overthrow of the election, and to pressure the Supreme Court to act by creating chaos in the streets, all in order to keep former president Trump in the White House.”
What’s obvious is that we have a SC justice who is as crooked as they come!
There is not nearly enough discussion of conflicts of interest in politics. I know that proscribed conflicts of interest, not just actual malfeasance, but just the conflict, can get you fired. Politicians don't seem to experience the same sorts of restriction, and yet they can do so much, much, more damage.
Katanji Brown Jackson recused herself on the affirmative action case involving Harvard because she attended there. None of the other Harvard-affiliated Justices recused themselves.
And he’s not the only one. We now know for a fact that 5 of the 9 justices gained their positions illegitimately and/or through lying to Senators. 18 year terms! Rebalance the Court!
Oprah likely has been gnashing her teeth. I know I have. He was a big help to me early on. It took me a while to see the dark side. (Impressed with his own celebrity.). Damn, it’s hard to see smart as stupid as the ignorant. In his case, the deliberately ignorant. Would rather have a struggling stroke survivor than a soulless ignoramus.
Oprah has been vilified by the republicans since the tea party crap. Went from admired to despised almost overnite, thanks to Rupert’s propaganda machine. Sort of like HRC. From most admired woman to the devil in female form. Such is the power of propaganda, Goebbels knew that, so do republicans
Probably due to her being a single white woman! Time and again I saw article suggesting that she was in some illicit relationship with Gayle King and Stedman was her beard. Good grief! Who cares IF she was! And while I do not believe it for a moment, I found it it strange that anyone could not recognize a true deep friendship between two minority women, both helping each other rise in a world very much stacked against them.
IDK. I was disappointed she didn’t say anything at first. Perhaps she had a strong friendship with him and struggled with that. But in the end decided to put Country over the relationship.
How many endless words have been written and spoken claiming the election was stolen? Yet, not a shred of credible proof produced. I keep thinking of the millions upon millions of deluded Americans obsessed with a lie that has torn the nation apart. I imagine chance encounters, or even confrontations, with some of them, and demanding indisputable proof. Or asking if the election was stolen, why didn't Trump's lawyers ever introduce proof of fraud in the some 60 court cases?
Nothing I would say would change a single mind. It's all tragic and sad. Not just for those of us who believe in democracy and the rule of law — but also the Big Lie fanatics. They's been brainwashed, intentionally manipulated by those who want a dictator, but have no clue. They believe they're patriots but are quite the opposite.
I first encountered the effect of belief, umm, inside myself in rural East Texas where (a long, long list of things) can send one to hell. I was raised to believe the white man at the front of the church, and, although I did read the New Testament, it took quite a while to filter into my mind through the propaganda presented on Sunday morning.
Today, I see Americans everywhere starry eyed in fixed belief states. Belief states having been created by the same processes used by the white man at the front of a Baptist Church.
Loud and vociferous oral demonization of (put anything here) and the claims of great bad things that will occur (if you do this or that).
MANY Americans are already normed to this process and Fox News figured it out that all they had to do was mimick that and add a few fake blondes to keep the old men from falling asleep and bingo!!
No evidence is needed, Michael, in order to BELIEVE.
If we are to self-govern, we vote to protect the whole of society, and these days, the general welfare of the whole world; not just to register a personal preference. Ideally we vote for the future of humanity, not just parochial "issues". Those who already suffer the most suffer even more when we fail to make wise choices.
And they think the same about us, how do I know? My bro is believing them instead of me. Who he has known to be a compassionate, loving person since grade school. He will say as much, but hatred/fear of the other runs deeper than any familial alliance, no matter how long standing. It’s why the “brother against brother” is a trope we all recognize in these harrowing days.
The brainwashing is complete. At least my experiences in this regard are with friends and not family. I am so sorry that your brother has fallen into that pit.
His illness hasn’t transformed our society. The sickness in our society made him possible. Trump is a symptom. The American experiment has been decaying for decades.
Not Samantha, but you do make me think. Our nation was founded and flourished on the backs of slave labor and by the theft of land of our Indigenous population. I think that at the end of WWII, we had a glimpse of what evil could befall us, and started to take some actions to address that; the Civil Rights movement of the mid 1960's are a stellar example of that. We have backslid so far from that goal since Nixon's administration that I don't think the decay was ever gone.
I also would note that we cannot pass the Equal Rights Amendment. More than 50% of our population has been granted the right to vote via amendment to the Constitution. The decay has been here from the beginning, and (to my mind) the Civil Rights era was a band-aid over the festering wound of racism. The election of Barak Obama ripped the band-aid off, pulled off the scab of a badly healed wound, and has allowed the pus to run free.
What you say is true. I was hoping for a values revolution (we’ve had agricultural, industrial, information) with the health crisis and societal reckoning of the past few years, but it seems like it’s going to get worse before it gets better. We seem to prefer distraction rather than to soberly face the fact that we need a global paradigm shift in how we live, produce, consume, relate to each other and the planet.
Let’s say there’s been decay all along, but I think the advent of Reaganomics was the beginning of a virulent capitalist strain that for 40 years has chipped away at the welfare state. See Mariana Mazzucato (progressive economist) for more on this and solutions!
Go back to public high school to gauge the ratio of purposeful vs aimless citizens. There was a certain percentage of strivers, the valedictorians, the kids who excelled in different fields, went on to college or vocational school. Then there's the crowd who partied hearty, treated education as a joke, showed up for reunion years later still boasting about how much alcohol they consume. Lots of generalizing here but high school as a template? Maybe...
Perhaps we should go back earlier. We don't teach civics in school and civics can begin in 5th grade. By the time students reach high school they should be well-versed and engaged with the political process. Not everyone will take to it, of course, but we need education to focus on what it means to be a citizen. How can we expect to protect and defend 'democracy' without creating an engaged responsible citizenry?
Michael, you are spot on. No amount of factual information that runs counter to their beliefs will ever be accepted. They believe so hard, and sadly do not realize they have been manipulated to within an inch of their lives. Sadly, they believe the same thing about us.
Great letter today. In my country - South Africa (which has its own problems with corruption) Clarence Thomas would never b able to get away with what he is doing. I presume that impeachment of a judge requires some sort of super majority but if the Democrats hold congress they should move for Thomas’ impeachment - win or lose they will make an important point about gross judicial corruption
Kash Patel gets immunity and it is offered to Trump's lawyers who STUPIDLY decline it, they do not understand the completely different world of criminal law. Point is, DOJ is offering everyone a 'Get out of Jail Free' card for documents at Mar-a-Lardo to make the case against Trump airtight. Absent a Judge 'Loose Cannon' type ruling from a Circuit or Supreme Court, seems first case against Trump will be the documents case and there is a high probability he gets convicted. Trump's only defense is jury nullification, finding 1 MAGA to hang the jury. DOJ would rather have case filed in D.C. and it would appear jurisdiction lies both there and Palm Beach (where Trump would rather pick a jury), does the intricacies of charged statutes speak to one location being determinative and undermine the other? All the crimes this Orange Clown commits with regularity, this one was self-inflicted, merely for purposes of vanity and will be his first 'hit'. Incredible! Like Erich Fromm says, sadomasochism and masochism underpin the authoritarians.
Counsel for either side get to do that - or, to be more accurate, during jury selection, counsel for each side have the right to question jurors and to reject a certain number of them without specifying a reason for the rejection.
A judge ordered Dutchess County, New York to open a polling place on Vassar College's campus for the 2022 midterm elections after a lawsuit argued that the county failed to comply with its legal duty to designate an on-campus polling location.
The Michigan Supreme Court paused a lower court's decision to block Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's (D) rules regulating the behavior of partisan election challengers. Benson's guidance is back in effect.
A judge approved an agreement between CASA, a nonprofit civil rights organization focused on Pennsylvania’s immigrant and Latino communities, and the board of elections in York County, Pennsylvania to expand Spanish-language election materials and assistance for the midterm elections.
A Nevada judge denied a request from the Republican National Committee to compel the Clark County Board of Elections to add more Republicans to its poll worker roster.
Heather, thank you for bringing together all the threads of the judicial cases against TFG and his company. I especially like Judge Engoron’s requiring a monitor to prevent siphoning assets from Trump Corporation to Trump Corporation II.
Every time I see Fatso climb aboard TrumpForce One, I hope that some "untoward event" will occur at Flight Level 250 enroute to the destination, with a subsequent "unfortunate" meeting of airplane and terra firma.
What are your thoughts about the processes necessary to work through the legal issues and cases concerning Trump and the march of time with reference to the midterm election results and presidential election in 2024? It feels to me as though Democracy is on the clock, on the people and on our 'rule of law'.
I used to work with a woman that hoped that as exiting the plane, he trips down the stairs, breaking his neck on the way and landing with a (very loud) thud, lifeless, on the tarmac. Perhaps Melania pretends to swat his sweaty hand away and gives him a lil' push?
HCR has it right, Kash Patel has already appeared before the sitting Grand Jury (that was quick). Check out commentary from Professor Joyce Vance if you want to learn more about the legal strategy of "use immunity" by someone who has actually granted such qualified immunity to BOTH defandants & separately to witnesses. I think of "use immunity" as being caught between a rock & a hard place. It can get very lonely on the stand under oath at a Grand Jury proceeding.
Bryan, I asked TC about how time figures into our ability to protect democracy and given your legal background, I am curious about your opinion, too. So, to repeat: How do you think the legal procedures necessary to work through the issues and potential court cases concerning Trump and the march of time with reference to the midterm election results and presidential election in 2024 affect our ability to deal with the challenges to our democracy? It feels to me as though Democracy is on the clock, on the people and on our 'rule of law'.
Good Evening FERN. Good questions. Yes, the clock is ticking & Midterms have arrived. The 2024 Election offers plenty of time to complete the DOJ-Merrick Garland active prosecutions. We also have STATE Prosecutions in the following: (1) In GA the work is methodical & Lindsey must testify at the Grand Jury per SCOTUS' remand Order; (2) In NY Letitia is disabling the Trump Organization & she just got a big motion win yesterday; (3) The SF district Attorney is moving very fast on the Canadian Perp and Brooke is coordinating with the smart Federal claims in the interest of BOTH Paul & Nancy designed likely NOT to trigger a mental capacity defense.
I'm satisfied, however ... (there is always a "however") ... Regular folks can pursue their own claims without being dependent on Federal or State authorities. I have long been an advocate of pursuing civil torts for damages meaning common law torts with Centuries of precedent. For example, Defamation (both personal & commercial), False Light, Fraud (many varieties) & other claims. I note the 49 Million dollar Verdict from a Texas Jury against Alex Jones. Better yet is the 965 Million Verdict against Alex Jones & his corporate shell (FSS LLC) for vile calumny & misinformation for profit.
Is it too slow? Yes! I note the rapid work of the San Francisco DA, BROOKE JENKINS? The Perp will be back in Court tomorrow. Carole D. Leonnig/WAPO has advised there is plenty more to report out from about the time period 1:50 am or so to 2:37 am, Pacific. I have already posted the 911 Operator, HEATHER GRIMES, is my candidate for Person of the Year. She has acute situational awareness and understood the urgent need for a RAPID response. Paul is back at home tonite before the Midterms.
Thank you, Bryan and Fern. Such great information to chew on. So happy to hear Paul Pelosi is back home and YES the 911 operator must be Person of the Year.
Lots of thanks for laying out legal matters, Bryan. As for 1/6 Investigative Hearing Report, which could dent some fenders or more, is there any sense of a timetable for that? If the Republicans take the House and the Senate and expand control of state legislatures, governorships, etc., can we expect a whole lot of messing around with our so-called rule of law? In what ways might they gum up legal matters and then there is the Supreme Court -- is it the US's Papacy?
Messing around with the Rule of Law has been going on for years & is getting quite intense. Yes, it is on the Ballot, a slow putsch. I understand there will be two (2) J6 Select Committee Reports one Interim Report before December 1 and the Final Report before a new Congress assuming the worst. More revelations are coming regardless.
I thought of proposing marriage Bryan, but you're already taken. Actually, I'm more than happy with our LFAA partnership. You are a swell Advocate. Thank you.
Bryan, you are spot on in your accolades for Dispatcher Heather Grimes. As someone who depended on competent dispatching for 26.5 years on the streets, and another 7 years in courthouse security, I know the difference between an adequate dispatcher and one of the really good ones. Ms. Grimes should be given national level awards for her acumen and her assessment of that situation, along with her coordination of the police response.
Yes! Heather Gtimes was ready around 2 am. My sister in-law was a Captain in Courthouse Security. My younger brother,Jon, now deceased, was also an officer running mobile digital communications in "mass casualty events" & raging SoCal fires. It is not easy to remain clear & calm when everyone else is going bezerk. Jon was skillful at that stressful task.
Rapid response, yes, but by officers who inexplicably did not take control of the hammer themselves. Paul P was hit in the head AFTER the police were there.
While I understand where you're coming from here, I also have to note that law enforcement training universally begins with commands before action is taken. Compliance with "drop the weapon" is about 97% universal. In this case it wasn't.
I know you had mentioned that in a post a day or so ago, but I think -- and I realize those decisions are split-second -- that seeing two people holding a hammer (one with a hand on the other's arm) and expecting them to drop it simultaneously was a big mistake.
I respect that to your eyes, that is what it looks like. As someone who has literally had to stop the hammer from falling forward on their firearm when the subject (in this case, a fellow wielding a knife about 15 feet away from me who did drop the weapon, thus preventing his own death), I respectfully say that the police responded correctly in this case.
I can see why Merrick Garland has not yet had the head moron arrested and held for questioning, but as soon as the midterms have happened -- the outcome should be clear by, say, next Friday -- he needs to do it. He has several open/shut cases to throw at him, and additional evidence pouring in daily (as in Heather's letter today). The longer he waits the harder it will become to achieve multiple life sentences.
David, tad to early for Trump, wouldn't be for other citizens, given President's special status with these papers. Garland is giving immunity to everyone so there is no 'wiggle room' or scapegoat. The case will be together sooner rather than later. It's a simple case albeit lots of witnesses that need to be pinned down. The noose is tightening. "When you strike at a king, you must kill him."
That describes it really well... how it all happens. Not sure there's really anything we can do. The stage has been set. We already too far down that road is how it's seemed to me for a good while. I sincerely hope that Michael Moore is correct this time.
I am so very worried about what Tuesday will bring. We are at a crossroads and I need to believe that ‘good’ will prevail. Clarence Thomas also needs to be censured if possible by his fellow SCOTUS justices. Hoping and praying for good news next week.
I thought C Thomas was a bit of a lone wolf in the SC in one sense, but hearing there was a row among the justices makes me ‘concerned,’ to quote Susan Collins.
Instead of being worried, be ready. If the outcome disappoints, regroup and plan your next steps, ways to get involved locally and support the institutions (schools, libraries, etc) that will likely be targeted. Four organizations here combined forces to publish a full page ad in our local paper, condemning and naming individuals attacking our school boards, identifying the lies, the organizations funding the attacks. Democracy is hard, relentless work before and after Nov 8.
Nowhere in the email discussions by Eastman et al did anyone mention hard evidence, real or manufactured, proving or even just indicating election fraud. It was a bald-faced, overt attempt at a coup to overthrow the legitimate government of the United States. It was treason. It was sedition. It was conspiracy.
And that is the Achilles heel of Trump’s attempt to undermine the rule of law. Fabricate or deny the facts. Then throw in a legal argument to delay or deny justice. Examples? Lose an election? Claim election fraud, fabricate claims of voter fraud. Attempting to defraud creditors by transferring assets in the dark of night? Deny the facts and claim judicial bias and corruption. Our legal system, however, is devoted to sorting out the facts. When facts are fabricated or wrongly denied, the rule of law rightly calls out the lawyers. Trump lawyer Sidney Powell asserted widespread, election-outcome-changing voter fraud to support John Eastman’s legal theory. Neither believed it but saw this fib as the means to delay certification of the electoral vote, a legal strategy of justice delayed is justice denied running decidedly in Trump’s favor. Powell now argues in defending a multi-billion dollar law suit by a voting machine maker that no one should have reasonably believed her. Eastman didn’t, but decided it was all he. needed to support a legal point in want of a factual predicate. The rule of law (in the form of professional ethical rules) provides the legal basis to disbar such lawyers. That process is underway for lawyers Eastman, Powell, Giuliani and others. Fear of such action may be driving others to testify against Trump after years of supporting acquiescing to his many fabrications and denials.. Witness Michael Cohen and arguably Pat Cippolone. For the rule of law, only the facts matter.
I caught onto that act long before TFG became POTUS. All ya had to do was look at the lawsuits filed against him. Just keep filing appeals till the other side runs out of money. Old tactic. Appeal your way out of a lawsuit. He has a long disgusting record of business practice abuses. Since we’ve connected the dots from Federalist “Society” to Clarence Thomas and the TFG judges, to Citizens United cash bash for the wealthy, to the Civil War we never quite finished cleaning up that mess has come back to haunt us.
It took confederates 167 years, but they’re closer to taking our country out from under us than ever before. And they’re using a black man to do it. How stupid do we have to be?
100%! And Thoms claims he doesn't know what " diversity" means?! SMH
He’s only where he is because of affirmative action; what a HYPOCRITE!!!
I think the SCOTUS overplayed their hand when the overturned the Dobbs decision. It will cost the party of white supremacy votes. They’re in the red, the house (voters) are calling in all bets. Anything they did or plan to do from 6/24/2022 pales in comparison to the damage SCOTUS brought to the Republican Party. Taking away a constitutional right from half the voting public does not bode well for MAGA, no it does not.
NYers tried to warn y'all 🙄
I'm sure you noticed the smirk on Bannon's face when, after being sentenced to prison for contempt, the judge delayed execution of the sentence pending appeal. He's no doubt convinced that he'll never have to go to prison. And even if he does, he'll come out of a short stay at Club Fed richer than before. (Damn, I've become too cynical, but it's hard to keep up.)
No you are not too cynical Dirk. Theses guys and their council have our legal system figured out to a tee. Every legal move they make no matter how frivolous seems to add another month to the process (sometimes less, sometimes more). They are all trying to run out the clock and get rescued by a Republican government they figure is coming into power. DOJ and the courts are being played, and I fear it is going to work. It's fuc_ing excruciating to watch this happening right in front of my eyes.
Aye. That's how any disease overwhelms its host, by moving faster than the defending immune system. That's one of the many reasons Republicans want to underfund and cripple government, starting with regulatory agencies, then the courts -- our social immune system becomes ever weaker and slower.
I know it seems that way. But, our justice system is working. I think it’s the other way around, the Dept of Justice is letting the appeals run their course. When they’ve cleared their own paths of appeals, stays, and any other legal mechanism to block indictment, then the DOJ will make the moves necessary for a swift conviction. Definitely a F_ck Around and Find Out situation. Bannon is a putz. We see that. He can smirk all he wants, he’s another who’s holding a losing hand.
Boy I sure hope you are right. I guess partly, this hiatus of legal activity WRT Maralago and 1/6 due to the election has made me nervous. Delays in the midst of the 24 hour news cycle sometimes makes things go stale. "Old News". Hopefully the long arm of the law and the long memory of the law are still intact.
They are using another black man, Hershel Walker. It is infuriating to me to see that he appears to have cognitive difficulties and he is being egged on by white male politicians, using him to do their will. I have no regard for Walker personally, but I despise when people who are not able to defend themselves are bullied by others---and I feel the same about this. Reminds me of my junior high school years when I first encountered a child who was what now would be termed "on the spectrum". She had a lot of strange actions that I didn't understand, I admit I was afraid, avoided her. The clique in charge there "befriended" her briefly, just to get her to a sleepover party (I obviously was not included) where the following weekend, as fodder for the talk of the schoolyard about all the "weird" things she did. Then she was promptly dropped from the clique, no longer of use.
how cruel ... tho i wouldn't compare her to HW who seems well aware of what he's doing and saying.
Yeah, it was. Even my 12 y/o self knew there was something wrong about them using her. I recall overhearing the stories about how they "styled" her hair (think back of the days of 3" curlers) and them laughing about how "dirty and greasy" her hair was.
I feel badly now that I didn't befriend her. In all honesty, I was happy enough to fly below the radar of the clique, myself, and I honestly had never seen anything like the behavior she exhibited.
His obvious abuse by MAGA infuriates me.
Wish that were always true, but it is true only some of the time. Witness cases of death row inmates in which it is clear that they are almost certainly innocent, but where prosecutors—often backed by judges—cling to any threadbare theory in an attempt to get the person killed.
"A coup in search of a legal theory".
A coup in search of a cover story.
The Republicans biggest problem is that they can't produce evidence of all their claims because there isn't any. All the attorney generals, secretary of state, Guiliani, pillow man and others yelling about voter fraud have so far prosecuted not enough fraudulent voters to effect a local election in Left Overshoe, Maine (population 9).
You do not need evidence William.
You only need to generate "belief".
Which, is more powerful for many Americans than reality and facts anyway.
... just as it was more powerful for many Germans.
Just as Goebbels said. 😪
And OUR problem as citizens of a country we want to maintain as a democracy is that Trump, Flynn, Bannon, et al. have raised an army of true believers who don't require proof.
And none of this gang of criminals has been prosecuted. That's the real problem.
I hope that is coming soon!
It doesn’t seem like a problem for them since it seems to be working as planned: stall, obfuscate, deny. Rinse, repeat.
Why do you call that a problem. It looks to be working to me. If the polls are right, then it did indeed work.
Ralph, "It was treason". Yes, you could not be more correct.
As Dr. Richardson notes: "This call for violence echoes the former president’s calls to stop the counting of the certified electoral votes on January 6, 2021, and it illustrates why it is so important for the Department of Justice to enforce the laws. If there is no penalty for lawbreaking, there is no deterrent from breaking laws going forward."
However, Trump, today, like yesterday, and the day before and EVERY day since he moved to Mara Lago, will be golfing, ripping out nutty social media calls to his blind followers and keeping his ongoing attempt to overthrow the US government going and going and going.
Trump is proving Dr. Richardson's statement above. Nobody has ever applied any negative consequences to Trump, so Trump keeps doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants.
I am now 2/3 through the seminal book: The 1619 Book Project, and I have a clearer picture of America every day. Trump is just one of thousands of white men who have sponsored violence against American institutions, Americans and Democracy and "gotten by with it scott free".
Just one of many is Trump. Just the latest bloom on a tree that is old, healthy and growing. Springtime all day every day for Trump and his ilk.
Right here in America since the day Europeans began killing the natives for their land.
The other 2 books to read that shine a lot of light on this subject are 1491 and 1493 by Charles C Mann that explain what the world was like pre and post Columbian. Both are very readable and absolute eye-openers for anyone educated by the American school system (with its de-emphasis of slavery, POC, etc)
Also Howard Zinn's People's History of The United States - 1492 to Present, which should be the basic American History book used in high schools.
And "Lies My Teacher Never Told Me", a high school history textbook by James W Loewan.
William,
Thank you for the references. Once I recover from my little 1619 Book Project reality check, I will take these books up.
Not easy reading, but, should be required reading by all.
(update: I just ordered the book...thanks for the pointer. )
Thank you so much for the book titles. I am beginning 1619 which I have had but have not begun. I just ordered 2 of Heather's books and will order these two suggested by William and LeMoine as well. Should keep me busy and out of trouble for quite a while!!!
Loooove those books!
Right both very good.
Ralph, those are all punishable by LAW. They must be enforced against the seditious traitors asap.
But unless I am completely missing some major piece of information, no one in a position to enforce them has mentioned treason, or sedition, or conspiracy. I understand and admire the kind of caution and care with which people like Garland and Mueller approach their work. I understand the potential danger of taking a step too far or too fast. But I also understand, from a childhood watching my father fly casting into a white water stream, dropping that fly on a dime, and with equal mindfulness playing the line toward shore, that the moment comes when you bring that old trout home.
"watching my father fly casting into a white water stream, dropping that fly on a dime, and with equal mindfulness playing the line toward shore, that the moment comes when you bring that old trout home."
Brilliantly written as an allegory for bringing Trump to Justice. But, Dean, you know it is vastly more complex than fly fishing, as complicated as fly fishing can be.
In America, it has been, and, to a large degree, remains, taboo to land the "white" fish.
Correct? I mean, it was not so long ago when laws on the books in all 13 colonies made it legal for a white man to rape a black woman and then sell the progeny for profit thereby making rape profitable. (Reference, the 1619 Book Project).
In a country where that can happen? Trump is a small fish fry indeed.
Good morning, Mike, and yes I know that Trump is a small fish but my goodness he's making a racket flopping around over at the edge of the creek, caught in the underbrush, trying to get loose. And all that noise is distracting us from the deep poison in the water. When we moved into those north Georgia woods, the first thing Daddy saw was that the creek was badly polluted. You could see soap suds on top of the water from the plants in town dumping waste. Well, he pitched a fit, sued the city, and the water got cleaned up, but you know they just dumped the filth somewhere else. Meanwhile, the reality is the poison down at the bottom of the deepest pools, the poison we can't clean up because we can't bring ourselves to look. I'm mixing my metaphors here (OH, NO !!) but, yes, in a country where what you describe can happen, all bets really are off
Dean,
I saw a documentary recently, somewhere, on the widespread use of black neighborhoods as chemical dumps and landfills.
I mean, I just keep learning more and more about an America that I like less and less.
I look back at my run through the guantlet and marvel at how lucky I am, even though I did work, no joke, from age 14 until age 60, 12-16 hour days.
I managed to get through the gauntlet. However, I am now convinced, that I ran it sucessfully because of my lighter skin and lighter colored hair.
I used to give some credit to myself. All that work. But, now?
I think I was just lucky to be white enough.
In my long run through engineering in American corporations? I saw exactly two black engineers. TWO. In three corporations and in roughly 9 different jobs within them.
TWO black engineers. Hundreds and hundreds of white engineers.
TWO black engineers.
Yes, thank God at least we still keep learning. White as can be, we lived in the middle of the Black rural South, so after what you've said, of course it makes perfect sense that the creek was polluted. We weren't anything resembling a "neighborhood," just because it was deep woods everywhere, but most of that property all around us was owned by Black families. It all seems almost surreal when I look back on it. There was a wonderful kind of quiet at the center, like we had somehow--mostly, I suspect, because of my father--made this good world. But, of course, whatever we had or hadn't made, just outside it was the hideous grinning, gibbering demon of southern racism and violence.
TWO BLACK ENGINEERS. Yep.
Mike S and Dean Robertson
You two have made some interesting points about what "real" America is. I've also come to realize I was incredibly naive. As a 1951 model (paint is peeling and suspension creaks) I was raised on school mornings that started with the Pledge of Allegiance and history classes that skipped any mention of "unpleasantries." Like sending smallpox-laden blankets to Indians. Black voters having to guess how many jellybeans were in a jar. Internment of Japanese citizens - CITIZENS - (which I first heard of when I was 22!)
With everything going on, I've come to question everything. How my pale-as-veal complexion has given me advantages I didn't recognize as white privilege. Hell! Had never even heard the term.
There were NO students of color in my nursing school class. Why didn't this occur to me until now? There are no Black families on my street. I've lived my whole life in a white bubble and didn't realize it.
I'm afraid it's not the country, Dean. It's the species.
Until this country acknowledges its foundation based on the enslavement of Blacks and the genocide of and land theft from the Indigenous population, we will never move forward into what we could be if we were truly exceptional.
Indeed, Mike! Small, slimy and spineless as a hagfish (https://g.co/kgs/tiKkLr)—not to mention they both prey and feed “on small invertebrates living in the mud.” Hmmm… remember him pledging to “drain the swamp”?
:-)
A snake who has lived in the swamp his entire life should be fairly familiar with the processes associated with said swamp, indeed!!
Thanks Dean!! That’s a metaphor I can hang my hat on.
Sometimes the line snaps before you can land the fish. It is necessary to use the correct line weight., and flick of the wrist.
I love this conversation! When my father was trying to teach me, he always cast first, to remind me how it should look. He would point to a small, partially hidden spot across the creek. He would close his eyes for a minute or two before he lifted the rod just high enough and, almost before you knew it had happened, he would flick his wrist, and the line would float out in an arc and land precisely where he had aimed. I never quite mastered it.
And I'm not sure I have gotten very good at this political reality that requires so often--either in action or in the way I think about it--the same attention to pacing.
Wonderful images and allegories, Dean. You must have been a fabulous English teacher!
Wonderful memories as well; thank you for sharing them here.
I don't know about fabulous but I was in love with the literature and in love with the students and, as you can see, sometimes I can't resist the urge to go out into the back yard and just wallow in words.
👍
❗️ ❗️ ❗️
If there is any law that cover rich, white men…
Exactly correct Jeri.
Not in America.
THAT is the real question!
But we on this side of the fence trying to keep a rational view of the events are barely aware of the complexity of the writhing mass of Conspiracies from which the DOJ is forced to surgically derive demonstrable slides of criminal activity.
Just to day HCR moves her incredible scrutiny from Miami to NYC to Ohio and across America pursuing just the legal side of the Eastman/ coup efforts.
The monstrous Trump/ Republican machine active in SCOTUS Relations, Legislative co-conspiracies and myriad associated Voter Fraud Conspiracy groups is similar to infectious disease by producing new cellular forms as soon as the old ones are identified.
Work and Pray for a continued Democratic Presence or be fearful.
And should be treated as such! Jail is the only acceptable outcome!
On the few occasions when I've had the chance to discuss this with someone who believes the lie, I have tried to remind them that there is NO EVIDENCE. NONE of the fraud claimed has produced ANY evidence at all. Sometimes that makes just a little dent in their argument.
Belief is all that matters to them. Evidence? If i believe it, that's the evidence.
What is their response?
Short, sweet, and to the point!
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you Heather.
Another day of as the bizarre world turns here in the US.
I feel as though we have been living our lives with the check engine light on for the last few years. We know something is very wrong but if we look the other way everything will be fine.
The engine is now starting to sputter.
Be safe. Be well.
Yesterday, while watching BBC news, the reporter who has been canvassing re the election, said that she heard exactly the same warnings from Democrats and Republicans about the threat to democracy. Having been inexplicably put on a Republican supporter list, I know this to be true. I get crap from them with the exact same verbiage as from the Democrats. EXACTLY. Like ads are written by the same hired trolls. No wonder the cult is confused. Well no, the cult is not confused. They are hard wired. Confused are the morons who listen to the cult nuts. And they are legion. The men in my family, educated or not, they buy the bull Schitt. The accomplishments of the democrats, not even on their radar. Just an update from the bowels of Texas and NC.
Hi Jeri,
My own update from folks in Texas: Biden wants to turn the US into a communist state and no matter what we cannot let that happen.
No lie. The process of induction into the Reich is nearly complete.
And, the saddest part of all of this: Fake Blondes on Fox Propaganda made it all happen.
Now, Jeri, what does that say about the people of the United States today?
Here, we have Dr. Richardson, presumably a natural brunette, writing history and truth all day ever day and?
Americans run after the fake blondes with too short dresses on Fox Propaganda.
Pretty sad.
Mike S, I was just describing Dr. Richardson’s wonderful interview with President Biden to a young friend of mine. I was making the point of how knowledgeable and articulate he was, one on one, but I also stressed the point that Heather was wearing black slacks and comfortable shoes. I think he got the point.
Those "sincerely held beliefs" that are out and out propaganda.
Mike, you and I share the same opinion about what the problem is with America.
Thanks Ally.
My wife was talking yesterday with an affable, upper-middle class, educated, life-long Republican who despises Trump and deplores Walker. But when asked what he thought of Liz Cheney, he responded, quite seriously, "Who's she? Didn't she used to be a Republican?" He's not paying attention. I'm sure that many Democrats are much the same way, despite the endless cacaphony we HCR-Letters types immerse ourselves in.
Hahaha ... Right? They may actually have lives and families... who knows?
Or, they are paying attention to the wrong influencers.
Linda, your comment is exactly what I’m thinking too. Thank you, Heather.
Yes.
Great analogy. This time, it isn't that the gas cap isn't on right. She's about to blow, and that ain't gonna be pretty.
Ally, you've got that right. That damn check engine light is flickering and the car wants to stall.
Thank you for this summary of the various legal proceedings. It would be a huge help to Americans if newspapers, tv, cable, and social media kept a running tally of trials and verdicts in Trump world, including the insurrectionists, and featured it prominently daily - just as they did w/ Olympic medalists, Covid deaths, etc. People need to see that the rule of law holds, and that traitors, cheats, and other perpetrators actually face justice and get punished. Why do we need to rely on Dr. RIchardson to keep us updated?
Democracy Docket headed by Marc Elias does just that, Laurie!
Click on each headline to get the "excruciating" details. The website has 84 pages of litigation that has been ongoing across the country.
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/?emci=e0463e0c-ca5b-ed11-819c-002248258d2f&emdi=d2e7b66f-cf5b-ed11-819c-002248258d2f&ceid=17269876
Fantastic website! Thank you Lynell!
Morning, Elisabeth!
THANK YOU, Lynell!
Morning, Rose!
Good morning, Lynell!
Thank you for this info, Lynn. Unfortunately, Democracy Docket and Marc Elias are not as well-known to most Americans as the WaPo and the NYTimes. Those are newspapers of record and, along w/ other papers across the country, could be prioritizing coverage of these legal issues, but are not.
Understood, Laurie. But we can spread the information as well. I'm all about if I can reach one or two, that's one or two more than who knew before.
I'm in the process of collecting new news sources because the standard ones are too broken or too inadequate.
Thanks for the link, Lynell!
Morning, Ally!
Agree, and you can donate to help mark and his team.
Honestly, I read Heather daily for her synthesis, her providing of historical context, and her amazing ability to extract and aggregate the news in a satisfyingly readable form. She conducts a daily master class on historical journalism. Most of the news she reports, I’ve already read in that day’s media reporting in NYT, WAPO, MSNBC, and on other sites via Twitter, but she helps me understand it’s significance, in the proper context.
As well as comments from her readers for further context and relevance
Context wedded to detail is the mother of meaning. Fools can't see the trees for the forest, nor the forest for the trees. The particulate language of a computer is binary, connect or not-connect, off or on. Perhaps that is true of all logic, perhaps even quantum mechanics; the character of the elements depend on bonds (or not) between protons.
I believe that wisdom seeks to identify connections and distinctions, and because they are effectively endless, which most matter to sentient beings. The word "articulate" means to separate into joints. This happens to describe the structure of the human hand, that can execute symphonies, repair damaged living brains, go to the moon.
Deceivers omit, distort, distract from, and manufacture both essential detail and context.
After this election I’d like to see a movement by the consumers of ‘news’ to make the MSM rethink their role in our society and even their contribution to the Repub shitshow by their relentless focus on tfg and the repubs’ antics day after day after day. No objectivity, bothsidesism that should have been calling out the ridiculousness of one side, the constant hunt for clicks, etc., etc. They have not only dropped the ball of professional journalism, they keep kicking it into the other side’s net for them.
The Fairness Doctrine, codified in 1954, required "equal time" for opposing political views on TV networks. By the 1970s, the FCC called the doctrine the “single most important requirement of operation in the public interest". The following information is from (yes, really) the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library:
"The doctrine stayed in effect, and was enforced until the Reagan Administration. In 1985, under FCC Chairman, Mark S. Fowler, a communications attorney who had served on Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign staff in 1976 and 1980, the FCC released a report stating that the doctrine hurt the public interest and violated free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.
"Fowler began rolling the application of the doctrine back during Reagan's second term - despite complaints from some in the Administration that it was all that kept broadcast journalists from thoroughly lambasting Reagan's policies on air. In 1987, the FCC panel, under new chairman Dennis Patrick, repealed the Fairness Doctrine altogether with a 4-0 vote
"The FCC vote was opposed by members of Congress who said the FCC had tried to "flout the will of Congress" and the decision was "wrongheaded, misguided and illogical." The decision drew political fire and tangling, where cooperation with Congress was at issue. In June 1987, Congress attempted to preempt the FCC decision and codify the Fairness Doctrine, (Fairness in Broadcasting Act of 1987 S. 742).
"The bill passed but the legislation was vetoed by President Ronald Reagan. Congress was unable to muster enough votes to overturn the President's veto".
So we have Reagan to thank for both the ever-widening breach between the billionaires and everyone else, plus the end of political balance by news reporting on TV networks.
Reagan was the worst president, but he didn’t think of the policy changes all by himself.
Probably none of them. He was just a pretty face. Not particularly bright, just good at smiling and waving. (B-grade actor, remember?) Made a great puppet for the Evil ones behind the throne.
Interesting. Again, something I never knew.
MSM has definitely scored an "own goal" with this, and sealed their own fates. Newspapers are done for, sadly. Television is simply propaganda unless you go to some very specific sites. Journalistic integrity is gone.
Right on! The media is the funnel for the news. They are playing it too safe They are playing it too safe.
I've been following them pretty closely and even with this newsletter it's hard to keep track of since there's so many.
We are few, the uninformed are many.
In other news, today's GOP Corruption Index has risen to a hefty 10,413: a 200 point rise on the day, reflecting further release of racist adverts and smears.
Our local newspaper is independent, not owned by Hearst or any of the other big media organizations. But even they bury these important stories on page 7. Grrr.
Ellen, Do they print Letters to the Editor? You have something important to write about. "Grrr" is my default response to lots of news these days. If it's not "aaarrrggghhh."
They do -- and the paper has received a LOT of responses from readers like me who were shocked about their endorsement.
A front page running tally of Trump trials and verdicts -- what an excellent idea. Sadly, our major newspapers are too busy reporting on meaningless polls and Trump rallies.
“So we seem to have a deliberate attempt to throw a court case to Justice Clarence Thomas, whose wife was urging the overthrow of the election, and to pressure the Supreme Court to act by creating chaos in the streets, all in order to keep former president Trump in the White House.”
What’s obvious is that we have a SC justice who is as crooked as they come!
Has there every been a clearer conflict of interest?
There is not nearly enough discussion of conflicts of interest in politics. I know that proscribed conflicts of interest, not just actual malfeasance, but just the conflict, can get you fired. Politicians don't seem to experience the same sorts of restriction, and yet they can do so much, much, more damage.
Katanji Brown Jackson recused herself on the affirmative action case involving Harvard because she attended there. None of the other Harvard-affiliated Justices recused themselves.
Nope!
corruption up to his eyeballs
And he’s not the only one. We now know for a fact that 5 of the 9 justices gained their positions illegitimately and/or through lying to Senators. 18 year terms! Rebalance the Court!
Can we make that eight or ten year terms with the possibility of one additional term?
why not?
True, true!!!
Yes, and just HOW did Eastman know about the wrangling going on behind closed doors at SCOTUS? Maybe he learned of it over wine at the Thomas' home?
I’ve been wondering why Oprah kept quiet for so long. Better late than never?
Oprah likely has been gnashing her teeth. I know I have. He was a big help to me early on. It took me a while to see the dark side. (Impressed with his own celebrity.). Damn, it’s hard to see smart as stupid as the ignorant. In his case, the deliberately ignorant. Would rather have a struggling stroke survivor than a soulless ignoramus.
I assume that people are talking about the great Lizard of Oz. How was he a help to you, if you don't mind my asking?
I liked him at first too Jeri. I felt he was giving good information. He really went into quack mode and I lost interest in his show.
I wondered the same thing, evelyn. What took her so looooooong???
Yes especially when many have already cast their votes
Playing both sides and hedging her bets???
Oprah has been vilified by the republicans since the tea party crap. Went from admired to despised almost overnite, thanks to Rupert’s propaganda machine. Sort of like HRC. From most admired woman to the devil in female form. Such is the power of propaganda, Goebbels knew that, so do republicans
Probably due to her being a single white woman! Time and again I saw article suggesting that she was in some illicit relationship with Gayle King and Stedman was her beard. Good grief! Who cares IF she was! And while I do not believe it for a moment, I found it it strange that anyone could not recognize a true deep friendship between two minority women, both helping each other rise in a world very much stacked against them.
Miselle, Oprah as "single white woman?" I guess I don't understand who you are talking about.
I don’t get that part either but agree with the rest. She does say two minority women later so maybe a joke we just didn’t get.
IDK. I was disappointed she didn’t say anything at first. Perhaps she had a strong friendship with him and struggled with that. But in the end decided to put Country over the relationship.
How many endless words have been written and spoken claiming the election was stolen? Yet, not a shred of credible proof produced. I keep thinking of the millions upon millions of deluded Americans obsessed with a lie that has torn the nation apart. I imagine chance encounters, or even confrontations, with some of them, and demanding indisputable proof. Or asking if the election was stolen, why didn't Trump's lawyers ever introduce proof of fraud in the some 60 court cases?
Nothing I would say would change a single mind. It's all tragic and sad. Not just for those of us who believe in democracy and the rule of law — but also the Big Lie fanatics. They's been brainwashed, intentionally manipulated by those who want a dictator, but have no clue. They believe they're patriots but are quite the opposite.
Michael,
I first encountered the effect of belief, umm, inside myself in rural East Texas where (a long, long list of things) can send one to hell. I was raised to believe the white man at the front of the church, and, although I did read the New Testament, it took quite a while to filter into my mind through the propaganda presented on Sunday morning.
Today, I see Americans everywhere starry eyed in fixed belief states. Belief states having been created by the same processes used by the white man at the front of a Baptist Church.
Loud and vociferous oral demonization of (put anything here) and the claims of great bad things that will occur (if you do this or that).
MANY Americans are already normed to this process and Fox News figured it out that all they had to do was mimick that and add a few fake blondes to keep the old men from falling asleep and bingo!!
No evidence is needed, Michael, in order to BELIEVE.
And BELIEF is FAR more powerful than truth.
Those "sincerely held beliefs" that outweigh* the truth or facts.
*I used to use a word from the card game of Bridge to describe this, but I hate using that word that is the surname of fpotus.
Michael, you just can’t fix stoopid. We must vote in huge, unstoppable numbers: the Blue Tsunami. We are STILL a democracy….
If we are to self-govern, we vote to protect the whole of society, and these days, the general welfare of the whole world; not just to register a personal preference. Ideally we vote for the future of humanity, not just parochial "issues". Those who already suffer the most suffer even more when we fail to make wise choices.
And still in the majority.
And they think the same about us, how do I know? My bro is believing them instead of me. Who he has known to be a compassionate, loving person since grade school. He will say as much, but hatred/fear of the other runs deeper than any familial alliance, no matter how long standing. It’s why the “brother against brother” is a trope we all recognize in these harrowing days.
The brainwashing is complete. At least my experiences in this regard are with friends and not family. I am so sorry that your brother has fallen into that pit.
All in service to the delusion of one man, whose illness compels him to soothe himself by lying to himself. His illness has transformed our society.
His illness hasn’t transformed our society. The sickness in our society made him possible. Trump is a symptom. The American experiment has been decaying for decades.
There are various narratives of when it started to decay....some say McCarthy. What say you? Just curious.
Not Samantha, but you do make me think. Our nation was founded and flourished on the backs of slave labor and by the theft of land of our Indigenous population. I think that at the end of WWII, we had a glimpse of what evil could befall us, and started to take some actions to address that; the Civil Rights movement of the mid 1960's are a stellar example of that. We have backslid so far from that goal since Nixon's administration that I don't think the decay was ever gone.
I also would note that we cannot pass the Equal Rights Amendment. More than 50% of our population has been granted the right to vote via amendment to the Constitution. The decay has been here from the beginning, and (to my mind) the Civil Rights era was a band-aid over the festering wound of racism. The election of Barak Obama ripped the band-aid off, pulled off the scab of a badly healed wound, and has allowed the pus to run free.
What you say is true. I was hoping for a values revolution (we’ve had agricultural, industrial, information) with the health crisis and societal reckoning of the past few years, but it seems like it’s going to get worse before it gets better. We seem to prefer distraction rather than to soberly face the fact that we need a global paradigm shift in how we live, produce, consume, relate to each other and the planet.
Let’s say there’s been decay all along, but I think the advent of Reaganomics was the beginning of a virulent capitalist strain that for 40 years has chipped away at the welfare state. See Mariana Mazzucato (progressive economist) for more on this and solutions!
Go back to public high school to gauge the ratio of purposeful vs aimless citizens. There was a certain percentage of strivers, the valedictorians, the kids who excelled in different fields, went on to college or vocational school. Then there's the crowd who partied hearty, treated education as a joke, showed up for reunion years later still boasting about how much alcohol they consume. Lots of generalizing here but high school as a template? Maybe...
Perhaps we should go back earlier. We don't teach civics in school and civics can begin in 5th grade. By the time students reach high school they should be well-versed and engaged with the political process. Not everyone will take to it, of course, but we need education to focus on what it means to be a citizen. How can we expect to protect and defend 'democracy' without creating an engaged responsible citizenry?
Michael, you are spot on. No amount of factual information that runs counter to their beliefs will ever be accepted. They believe so hard, and sadly do not realize they have been manipulated to within an inch of their lives. Sadly, they believe the same thing about us.
Great letter today. In my country - South Africa (which has its own problems with corruption) Clarence Thomas would never b able to get away with what he is doing. I presume that impeachment of a judge requires some sort of super majority but if the Democrats hold congress they should move for Thomas’ impeachment - win or lose they will make an important point about gross judicial corruption
Kash Patel gets immunity and it is offered to Trump's lawyers who STUPIDLY decline it, they do not understand the completely different world of criminal law. Point is, DOJ is offering everyone a 'Get out of Jail Free' card for documents at Mar-a-Lardo to make the case against Trump airtight. Absent a Judge 'Loose Cannon' type ruling from a Circuit or Supreme Court, seems first case against Trump will be the documents case and there is a high probability he gets convicted. Trump's only defense is jury nullification, finding 1 MAGA to hang the jury. DOJ would rather have case filed in D.C. and it would appear jurisdiction lies both there and Palm Beach (where Trump would rather pick a jury), does the intricacies of charged statutes speak to one location being determinative and undermine the other? All the crimes this Orange Clown commits with regularity, this one was self-inflicted, merely for purposes of vanity and will be his first 'hit'. Incredible! Like Erich Fromm says, sadomasochism and masochism underpin the authoritarians.
Where is Judge Loose Cannon these days? Is she still in play?
where he'd rather pick a jury??? who gets to do that???
Counsel for either side get to do that - or, to be more accurate, during jury selection, counsel for each side have the right to question jurors and to reject a certain number of them without specifying a reason for the rejection.
okay... the attorneys pick them... yes. both sides. not what i took from this. thanks!
You're most welcome, Suz-an.
His lawyers, Suz-an. That is how it works…
This just in from Democracy Docket:
Here are some updates from today.
A judge ordered Dutchess County, New York to open a polling place on Vassar College's campus for the 2022 midterm elections after a lawsuit argued that the county failed to comply with its legal duty to designate an on-campus polling location.
The Michigan Supreme Court paused a lower court's decision to block Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's (D) rules regulating the behavior of partisan election challengers. Benson's guidance is back in effect.
A judge approved an agreement between CASA, a nonprofit civil rights organization focused on Pennsylvania’s immigrant and Latino communities, and the board of elections in York County, Pennsylvania to expand Spanish-language election materials and assistance for the midterm elections.
A Nevada judge denied a request from the Republican National Committee to compel the Clark County Board of Elections to add more Republicans to its poll worker roster.
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/?emci=e0463e0c-ca5b-ed11-819c-002248258d2f&emdi=d2e7b66f-cf5b-ed11-819c-002248258d2f&ceid=17269876
Thank You Lynell.
Morning, MaryPat!
Thanks, and good morning!!
Heather, thank you for bringing together all the threads of the judicial cases against TFG and his company. I especially like Judge Engoron’s requiring a monitor to prevent siphoning assets from Trump Corporation to Trump Corporation II.
CURSES!
Foiled again.
Every time I see Fatso climb aboard TrumpForce One, I hope that some "untoward event" will occur at Flight Level 250 enroute to the destination, with a subsequent "unfortunate" meeting of airplane and terra firma.
What are your thoughts about the processes necessary to work through the legal issues and cases concerning Trump and the march of time with reference to the midterm election results and presidential election in 2024? It feels to me as though Democracy is on the clock, on the people and on our 'rule of law'.
running out the clock is one of the oldest legal strategies... and seems like one where he's used to taking as much advantage as he can
Root for Col. Sanders to deliver.
Also Ronald McDonald.
Except none of the other people on that plane should suffer any bad conditions.
Unless its the spawn
I used to work with a woman that hoped that as exiting the plane, he trips down the stairs, breaking his neck on the way and landing with a (very loud) thud, lifeless, on the tarmac. Perhaps Melania pretends to swat his sweaty hand away and gives him a lil' push?
That'd work!
The more &&&& Republicans have got away with, the nastier and more lawless they have become.
…and social disorder grows.
like a runaway train
HCR has it right, Kash Patel has already appeared before the sitting Grand Jury (that was quick). Check out commentary from Professor Joyce Vance if you want to learn more about the legal strategy of "use immunity" by someone who has actually granted such qualified immunity to BOTH defandants & separately to witnesses. I think of "use immunity" as being caught between a rock & a hard place. It can get very lonely on the stand under oath at a Grand Jury proceeding.
Bryan, I asked TC about how time figures into our ability to protect democracy and given your legal background, I am curious about your opinion, too. So, to repeat: How do you think the legal procedures necessary to work through the issues and potential court cases concerning Trump and the march of time with reference to the midterm election results and presidential election in 2024 affect our ability to deal with the challenges to our democracy? It feels to me as though Democracy is on the clock, on the people and on our 'rule of law'.
Good Evening FERN. Good questions. Yes, the clock is ticking & Midterms have arrived. The 2024 Election offers plenty of time to complete the DOJ-Merrick Garland active prosecutions. We also have STATE Prosecutions in the following: (1) In GA the work is methodical & Lindsey must testify at the Grand Jury per SCOTUS' remand Order; (2) In NY Letitia is disabling the Trump Organization & she just got a big motion win yesterday; (3) The SF district Attorney is moving very fast on the Canadian Perp and Brooke is coordinating with the smart Federal claims in the interest of BOTH Paul & Nancy designed likely NOT to trigger a mental capacity defense.
I'm satisfied, however ... (there is always a "however") ... Regular folks can pursue their own claims without being dependent on Federal or State authorities. I have long been an advocate of pursuing civil torts for damages meaning common law torts with Centuries of precedent. For example, Defamation (both personal & commercial), False Light, Fraud (many varieties) & other claims. I note the 49 Million dollar Verdict from a Texas Jury against Alex Jones. Better yet is the 965 Million Verdict against Alex Jones & his corporate shell (FSS LLC) for vile calumny & misinformation for profit.
Is it too slow? Yes! I note the rapid work of the San Francisco DA, BROOKE JENKINS? The Perp will be back in Court tomorrow. Carole D. Leonnig/WAPO has advised there is plenty more to report out from about the time period 1:50 am or so to 2:37 am, Pacific. I have already posted the 911 Operator, HEATHER GRIMES, is my candidate for Person of the Year. She has acute situational awareness and understood the urgent need for a RAPID response. Paul is back at home tonite before the Midterms.
Thank you, Bryan and Fern. Such great information to chew on. So happy to hear Paul Pelosi is back home and YES the 911 operator must be Person of the Year.
Lots of thanks for laying out legal matters, Bryan. As for 1/6 Investigative Hearing Report, which could dent some fenders or more, is there any sense of a timetable for that? If the Republicans take the House and the Senate and expand control of state legislatures, governorships, etc., can we expect a whole lot of messing around with our so-called rule of law? In what ways might they gum up legal matters and then there is the Supreme Court -- is it the US's Papacy?
PS I loved you award to 911 operator!
Messing around with the Rule of Law has been going on for years & is getting quite intense. Yes, it is on the Ballot, a slow putsch. I understand there will be two (2) J6 Select Committee Reports one Interim Report before December 1 and the Final Report before a new Congress assuming the worst. More revelations are coming regardless.
I thought of proposing marriage Bryan, but you're already taken. Actually, I'm more than happy with our LFAA partnership. You are a swell Advocate. Thank you.
Bryan, you are spot on in your accolades for Dispatcher Heather Grimes. As someone who depended on competent dispatching for 26.5 years on the streets, and another 7 years in courthouse security, I know the difference between an adequate dispatcher and one of the really good ones. Ms. Grimes should be given national level awards for her acumen and her assessment of that situation, along with her coordination of the police response.
Yes! Heather Gtimes was ready around 2 am. My sister in-law was a Captain in Courthouse Security. My younger brother,Jon, now deceased, was also an officer running mobile digital communications in "mass casualty events" & raging SoCal fires. It is not easy to remain clear & calm when everyone else is going bezerk. Jon was skillful at that stressful task.
Rapid response, yes, but by officers who inexplicably did not take control of the hammer themselves. Paul P was hit in the head AFTER the police were there.
While I understand where you're coming from here, I also have to note that law enforcement training universally begins with commands before action is taken. Compliance with "drop the weapon" is about 97% universal. In this case it wasn't.
AND HAVING NOTHING TO DO WITH 911 Operator, HEATHER GRIMES!
Fern, my comment was in no way disrespecting Heather Grimes, who acted quickly and appropriately.
I know you had mentioned that in a post a day or so ago, but I think -- and I realize those decisions are split-second -- that seeing two people holding a hammer (one with a hand on the other's arm) and expecting them to drop it simultaneously was a big mistake.
I respect that to your eyes, that is what it looks like. As someone who has literally had to stop the hammer from falling forward on their firearm when the subject (in this case, a fellow wielding a knife about 15 feet away from me who did drop the weapon, thus preventing his own death), I respectfully say that the police responded correctly in this case.
Thank You.
MPS, I am still donating to Dr. Bob.
THANK YOU BRYAN!!!!
me, too!
THANK YOU FERN!!!!!!
MaryPat. How are you?
I can see why Merrick Garland has not yet had the head moron arrested and held for questioning, but as soon as the midterms have happened -- the outcome should be clear by, say, next Friday -- he needs to do it. He has several open/shut cases to throw at him, and additional evidence pouring in daily (as in Heather's letter today). The longer he waits the harder it will become to achieve multiple life sentences.
David, tad to early for Trump, wouldn't be for other citizens, given President's special status with these papers. Garland is giving immunity to everyone so there is no 'wiggle room' or scapegoat. The case will be together sooner rather than later. It's a simple case albeit lots of witnesses that need to be pinned down. The noose is tightening. "When you strike at a king, you must kill him."
Exactly.
A fine summation of current political news. I would suggest a read from yesterday’s Thom Hartmann report. Quite sobering.
https://hartmannreport.com/p/its-critical-to-see-what-a-fascist
That describes it really well... how it all happens. Not sure there's really anything we can do. The stage has been set. We already too far down that road is how it's seemed to me for a good while. I sincerely hope that Michael Moore is correct this time.
Update me on Michael Moore please.
https://www.michaelmoore.com/s/mikes-midterm-tsunami-of-truth
I can’t begin to articulate how this Thom Hartman report makes me feel because there are no words that capture it.
OMG. Shared.
Thanks Jeff. This is chilling, but oh so believable.
I am so very worried about what Tuesday will bring. We are at a crossroads and I need to believe that ‘good’ will prevail. Clarence Thomas also needs to be censured if possible by his fellow SCOTUS justices. Hoping and praying for good news next week.
I thought C Thomas was a bit of a lone wolf in the SC in one sense, but hearing there was a row among the justices makes me ‘concerned,’ to quote Susan Collins.
Instead of being worried, be ready. If the outcome disappoints, regroup and plan your next steps, ways to get involved locally and support the institutions (schools, libraries, etc) that will likely be targeted. Four organizations here combined forces to publish a full page ad in our local paper, condemning and naming individuals attacking our school boards, identifying the lies, the organizations funding the attacks. Democracy is hard, relentless work before and after Nov 8.