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Sorry for the silence. Have been feeling bad. Will return.
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Most Supreme Court Justices take gifts. A steak here, a bottle of wine there, and a comfortable bed in a luxury resort to rest after the excess. But they are playing in the lower minors of the bribery leagues. The All-Star pig at the trough is a man…
— Read on www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/6/2245168/-Clarence-Thomas-pockets-4-million-from-his-close-dear-friends -
NEWS NOTES:
- Biden is releasing a new policy on immigration. Reportedly he is limiting the number of immigrants who can request amnesty at any one time, ceasing people coming over the border when there are over a certain number of people requesting amnesty. Fox News is blaring out that Biden is granting blanket amnesty to “millions.” Decency is never going to win as long as Fox is blaring blatant lies 24 hours a day.
- The other astounding coverage on Fox News is Trey Goudy and at least one other lawyer arguing that the Hunter Biden trial should have never happened. Goudy actually said that when he was working as a prosecutor, there were perhaps a dozen prosecutions, nationwide, for the offense Biden is accused of. When Fox news is showing opposition to the prosecution of Hunter Biden, you know you got a problem.
- When the Israelis took over the border with Egypt in Rafah, they closed off millions of dollars of income to corrupt Egyptian officials. There are scores of tunnels between Rafah and Egypt and those tunnels represent an enormous amount of trade in weapons, food, building supplies which are trafficked in with the tacit approval of Egyptian officials, who then pay off higher-ups.
- OMG, I forgot about the presidential debates. Jesus, what a horror show that is going to be.
- “snapped” Adrienne Elrod.
- Rick Wilson
- Beaten at the ballot box – David Jolly
- It’s 30 years before we can change the Supreme Court.
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As we reflect on the outcome of the New York trial, we should pause to acknowledge that history was tragically derailed by Trump’s felonious conduct.
— Read on www.democracydocket.com/opinion/donald-trump-is-plotting-his-next-crime/ -
AFTERNOON NEWS NOTES: Israel, Rap Stars Supporting Trump
ISRAEL
- The Israeli strikes in Rafah continue. There is widespread condemnation of the attacks.
- There is a cease-fire proposal written by Israel.
THURSDAY 30 MAY 2024
AFTERNOON NEWS NOTES
- (Note: It is the second day of jury deliberations in the Trump election interference trial. The corporate news anchors are not very bright people as a group, and they are having a difficult time coming up with anything interesting to talk about. Mostly they are repeating the same information over and over again. It makes me want a news channel for people who actually follow the news rather than people who walk through the room every once in a while. If they are not repeating the same information, for example, Jake Tapper interrupted an attorney commentator this morning to explain to the audience what “catch and kill” was. Jesus Christ, if you don’t know what catch and kill is by now, you might as well give up. I think I even heard Kasey Hunt wonder to the panel about what they were going to talk about all day. Given the limited participation she has had in these panels, I think she must be bored out of her mind. Of course, with dangerous right-wing movements active all over the world, corporate news might cover some international news, but that would be too much to ask, and too expensive. There are two major wars going on in which the United States is heavily involved. But, you wouldn’t guess it from watching corporate news. Podcasts are a much more fruitful source of information for those who actually think. Oh, over on Fox News, they are telling their listeners that the judge will not allow the jury to have a copy of the jury instructions. This is a lie. New York law does not allow them to have a copy of the instructions, or a copy of the testimony for that matter. When the jury wants to hear testimony, a court reporter reads it back to them. Apparently, there is a way in which the instructions can be sent back with the jury, but it would have to be first brought up and second approved by both sides. That hasn’t happened.)
Random Notes of Interest
- Charles Blow, NYT, has an article about how those two rap stars became Trump evangelicals. Both rappers are facing felony charges. Of course, Trump pardoned another rapper (who had plead guilty to a federal gun charge) after he appeared for Trump just before the 2020 election. During what is called the “get money” phase of hip-hop, Trump was often name checked in songs. Blow notes the misogynistic nature of hip-hop and Trump. “But it was the hustler-cum-gangster vibe of Trump, particularly with his ostentatious displays of wealth, that endeared him to many in the rap community.” In apparent response to another pardon, Snoop Dogg said: “I have nothing but love and respect for Donald Trump.” Blow, notes: “The way Trump uses the pardon power reduces our conception of justice to capricious acts of forgiveness, not so much bestowed as traded for loyalty, creating unwritten indentureship for the recipients.” “…Trump believes in an inherent and endemic link between Blackness and criminality.” “the testimonials that Trump buys with his pardons matter — not because people take direct voting advice from musicians but because these musicians quite literally have the mic and what they say can soften the ground in the culture, making support of Trump for some feel less like treachery and more like rebellion.”
- Excerpts from Charles Blow’s column (3/13/24). “Some black voterd are souring on Democrats. It may be part of a natural drift.”
- “Trump used us, and at the same time bamboozled us by his charm and his humor and his straightforward talk. Not that it’s all true, but he just didn’t bite his tongue about certain things. And a lot of people want to see someone down to earth.” This was said by a black voter in Georgia that Blow interviewed.
- According to Pew, in 2020, 95 percent of Black women and 87% of Black men voted for Biden.
- Blow notes the stimulus checks that went out in 2020 with Trump’s name on them. He notes that many people believe that the business environment was better under Trump.
- “Biden has done a better job than he’s being given credit for, but he’s done a bad job of selling it.” Trump, however, like all con men, “knows how to message.”
- Blow also notes the religiosity of Blacks and the opposition to LGBTQ rights, and the tendency of the religious to believe that whoever wins it will be part of God’s plan.
- Really, what’s happening is that Blacks are becoming more like other voters.
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The survival instinct and the lust for power have forced members of the ruling Israeli coalition to close ranks, while the opposition cannot even agree who will lead the anti-Netanyahu bloc – which enjoys the support of most Israelis and which has the power to oust the government
The conscription law, which the opposition has exploited with all its might, appears to be a political obstacle that Netanyahu should be able to overcome. His use Gantz’s conscription bill, a relic from the days of the Bennett-Lapid government that no one believes will lead to drafting of a single ultra-Orthodox man, is intended, among other things, to show the High Court of Justice that the government was working on a plan to reduce the shameful injustice on the issue of recruitment and service.
after the massacre and the most painful national humiliation in Israel’s history, a war that has been poorly managed and has failed to meet its goals and his failure to give them the transfer and genocide they want so badly, no one on the Kahanist and Bibist right is questioning Netanyahu’s leadership of Binyamin Netanyahu. After a few weeks of confusion, they had Bibi’s back.
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TRUMP TRIAL NOTES
2:40 PM CNN
- The prosecution is trying to take Cohen’s character and transfer it over to the man who hired him, Donald Trump.
- (Note: Well, everything here came to a crashing halt. There was an Eastern Bluebird on the feeder. You might think that they would be common, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one at our feeder, in eleven years. What a truly beautiful bird. Donald Trump is incapable of seeing or appreciating the beauty of anything. What a loathsome human being.)
- Prosecutor agrees about Cohen “stealing” from the Trump Company. Note: I’m not sure you can even talk about stealing from a stealing, lying operation.)
- Prosecutor: “It’s not a defense” to false business charges if “one of the conspirators is also guilt of stealing from another.” (Note: YA THINK?)
- OMB Elie Honig is on again about Cohen stealing from Trump. Jesus. These guys just CANNOT STAND TO BE WRONG about something. Honig and Tapper have spent hours and hours arguing that the “Cohen is a thief” is a deal breaker and a “bombshell.”
- Honig is saying that the fact that Cohen could steal from Trump means Trump didn’t know what was going on with his finances. This, of course, leaves out all the information about owing somebody (the other company) and Cohen skimming off the top. These guys.
- Now, Honig is blathering on and on about how the prosecutors didn’t charge Cohen with the crime of skimming off a skimmer and criminal who stole an election. This is like whining and whining about not prosecuting Sammy the Bull for skimming The Teflon Don. Jesus H. Christ.
- Prosecutor making the point that Cohen is making money off Trump and it’s one of the only thing he has left to make money off of.
- Trump’s case is that everybody is lying except Trump (who isn’t taking the stand.)
- The prosecutor is pointing out that Cohen lied to congress about the number of dealings Trump had with Russia over the Trump Moscow Hotel (instead of 10 Cohen said 2, for example).
- (Note: Why did Trump not satisfy Cohen and keep him within the fold? I don’t get it.)
- The prosecutor just did what I did for myself – acted out a brief conversation in which Cohen could have asked for Secret Service protection from calls and also acknowledged that he had taken care of the Daniels affair.
- (Note: Great, another Trump ex-attorney on CNN).
- (Note: I want all the time back I have spent listening to people thank MSM hosts “for having” them. It is just so unnecessary, time wasting, sucky behavior.
- Prosecutor: Trump chose Cohen for the same qualities that his attorneys now urge you to reject his testimony because of.”
- “…literally a mountain of evidence of corroborating testimony that tends to connect the defendant to this crime.” (Note: “tends to connect?” What? That’s a pretty wimpy statement.)
- Prosecutor talking about federal election law. Prosecutor is saying what Blanche told the jury about “catch and kill” was not true. They talked about it, just didn’t use that term.
- The Trump tower meeting was “subversion of democracy.” Prosecutor.
- CNN commentator says that the picture of Trump and Schiller was admitted into evidence.
- CNN commentator says that time in the Trump white house, affected Ivanka and Jared’s social life. They had to move to Florida to get a fresh start. Good lord, these people.
- These are unlawful campaign contributions (possibly the most valuable contribution ever made).
- This behavior could well be what got Trump elected.
- (Note: Thank God Jake Tapper is not on CNN).
- (Note: Trump doesn’t care about the verdict because they will try to appeal to the Supreme Court and he has already stacked that court due to illegal campaign activity.(
- Once it was discussed that money would change hands to help protect the campaign, that becomes a campaign finance issue.
- Jury doesn’t have to be unanimous about what the underlying crime was.
- Falsifying the records to conceal what crime? New York state eletion law is what was evaded.
- Prosecutor: It’s no wonder the pay off occurred 10 years after the affair. He wasn’t concerned abut protecting his family, but his election.
- (Under the category: “I don’t know why I keep watching corporate news because they are just propagandists.” MSNBc’s Ari Melber is now acting like it’s a big deal that Pecker was willing to sacrifice the company’s “bottom line,” for Trump. What he is not mentioning is how much money Pecker was anticipating to make from his association with Trump if Trump became president. The office of the presidency has become an enormous money-spinning nexus. Pecker was just doing good speculative investing.)
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MORNING NEWS NOTES: TRUMP TRIAL
- Trump is evidently not feeling very confident about his acquittal. He is making a statement outside the court while the jury deliberates.
- “Mother Teresa couldn’t beat these charges.”
- “These charges are rigged. The whole thing is rigged. The whole country is a mess.” “
- “Fake elections” “The judge is so convicted he can’t breathe.” “It’s a disgrace.”
- “Every single legal scholar said that there was no case here.”
- “weaponization at a level nobody has seen before, ever.”
- “from jails from prisons from insane asylums…drug dealers…Venequela’s crime statistics are down…Robert DeNiro, broken down fool…unfair trial. It should have never happened…”
- This judge wouldn’t let s use the election expert in the country ready to testify. Another gentleman…the worst I’ve ever seen treated on the standl, Bob Costello…they wouldn’t let him talk about the hundreds of emails he was sent by another gentleman who I can’t mention cause I’m gagged…serious problem. Our country’s going bad…they’re ruining our country.”
- “it’s all because of Joe Biden.”
- The judge is “very conflicted” and “corrupt.”
- “I’m gagged.”
- “Our country’s going bad.”
- “fascists” “thugs” “Communists”
- “The most important day in the history of our country.”
- “inflation” “millions of people into our country.”
- “This trial is rigged.”
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TUESDAY 28 MAY 2024
TUESDAY MORNING NEWS NOTES
TRUMP TRIAL: CNN
- The defense is saying they are going to do a 4.5 hour closing. All the commentators on TV say this is crazy. The jurors have already made up their minds by this time.
- Trump has been fuming over the weekend about not being able to use the legal advice argument. Trump wanted to argue that he was at the mercy of lawyers telling him this was oK.
- (Note: The titmice are having a good breakfast. The squirrel girls haven’t shown up yet this morning. The cats (8 of them) are back iside from their morning walk all except Errol Flynn who is sitting on the front porch with his dad having guy time. This happens every morning. Mike has a great deal more appreciation for their obsession with schedule than I do. I tend to not be a scheduled person. Cats don’t like deviation from routine.)
- There is a psychology to closing arguments. If you go on too long, it appears that you don’t have confidence in your case. You hit the points and get out.
- (Note: Well the first of the squirrel girls has shown up. We have the best fed squirrels in the country. I think every squirrel identifies our squirrels: “Look at her. she must be one of those Johns/Duggan squirrels. Just look at that coat, shiny and the curves, oh my. And, the Johns/Duggan squirrels have no parasites. They have great immune systems cause they eat all the time.” “I also heard that their next-door neighbors just throw seeds on the ground.” “You’re kidding.”
- Blanche is arguing that what Trump was doing was “standard operating procedure.” (Note: Of course it was. It’s what Trump has been doing all his life, lying, cheating, and getting away with it.)
- Blanche: “This is an election. This is not a crime.”
- What you are doing in closing is “arming the jurors,” you are providing them with arguments they can use in argument in the jury room. (Note: If you are providing so much detail, no juror can remember it to use in the jury room. I think these jurors do not have exhibits in the room with them. If they ask for them, the documents or the testimony is read to them?)
- Blanche: “It’s how you try to win elections.” (Note: Jesus, what an argument.)
- Blanche: “Again, not a conspiracy, no criminal intent. It’s AMI doing what they do and what they’ve been doing for decades.” This is not about protecting Melania (Note: I’ve heard not one ounce of evidence of that even though every media outlet keeps repeating it over and over, it’s about elections.) this is just about how politics work.
- (Note: Ohhhhh, the cardinal and his wife are at the feeder.)
- Blanche: “The idea ‘sophisticated people’ like Trump and Pecker thought positive NATIONAl Enquirer stories could influence the 2016 election is preposterous.” (Note: But wasn’t Blanche just arguing that they did and that it was politics as usual?)
- Even Ted Cruz felt that the lies published by the National Enquirer affected his campaign numbers.
- Blanche is using a somewhat patronizing argument that the National Enquirer just didn’t have that big a circulation and to think that anything the NE could do or not do would have an impact on the election.
- Blanche is also using the argument that “catch and kill” was not used in a certain meeting, or that Pecker hadn’t heard of it, as if that means they didn’t do it.
- Blanche is making inconsistent arguments, I suppose to give any juror, any juror, any argument to use.
- Blanche is raising his voice saying: “That is not a catch and kill. It’s just not.” (That’s his dramatic point? Folks I think Blanche’s competence has been way overblown by the media.)
- Blanche is trying to capitalize on the argument that everybody is doing this, that it is normal.
- AMI had a non-prosecution agreement. Blanche says this is evidence that Cohen is a liar. (Note: How?)
- (Note: I think Blanche is trying to flood the jury with so much information, so much detail, that they don’t even consider the facts that pertain to the charges.)
- (Note: Trump doesn’t really care about the verdict here. Nothing is going to happen to him and all that matters is the wider political situation.)
- (Note: If you assume that people’s reasoning is not logical, why would you give them a logical closing argument?)
- Jury Consultant Linda Moreno: Thou shalt not bore the jury. Research indicates that much of the jury has made up its mind after opening arguments.
- (Note: The chickadees are outside)
- “Blanche is raising his voice, pacing in circles, raising his arms as he appears exasperated before the jury.” (Note: Seriously? This works for him? Sounds pathetic to me.)
- Trump came up with the idea to bring the Clinton accusers to the debate per Scaramucci. Trump knew about the payment and how that was going to go through the system to create business fraud.
- Merchan admonishes Blanche for purposefully implying that a guilty verdict meant Trump would go to jail. (Note: Oh, how scary, Mercan admonished him. Jesus. What else does the defense and Trump have to do? I am so tired of watching the “Chickenshit Club.”)
- Blanche doews what Trump and his ilk always do, cheats.
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TUESDAY 28 MAY 2024
TUESDAY MORNING NEWS NOTES
TRUMP TRIAL: CNN
- The defense is saying they are going to do a 4.5 hour closing. All the commentators on TV say this is crazy. The jurors have already made up their minds by this time.
- Trump has been fuming over the weekend about not being able to use the legal advice argument. Trump wanted to argue that he was at the mercy of lawyers telling him this was oK.
- (Note: The titmice are having a good breakfast. The squirrel girls haven’t shown up yet this morning. The cats (8 of them) are back iside from their morning walk all except Errol Flynn who is sitting on the front porch with his dad having guy time. This happens every morning. Mike has a great deal more appreciation for their obsession with schedule than I do. I tend to not be a scheduled person. Cats don’t like deviation from routine.)
- There is a psychology to closing arguments. If you go on too long, it appears that you don’t have confidence in your case. You hit the points and get out.
- (Note: Well the first of the squirrel girls has shown up. We have the best fed squirrels in the country. I think every squirrel identifies our squirrels: “Look at her. she must be one of those Johns/Duggan squirrels. Just look at that coat, shiny and the curves, oh my. And, the Johns/Duggan squirrels have no parasites. They have great immune systems cause they eat all the time.” “I also heard that their next-door neighbors just throw seeds on the ground.” “You’re kidding.”
- Blanche is arguing that what Trump was doing was “standard operating procedure.” (Note: Of course it was. It’s what Trump has been doing all his life, lying, cheating, and getting away with it.)
- Blanche: “This is an election. This is not a crime.”
- What you are doing in closing is “arming the jurors,” you are providing them with arguments they can use in argument in the jury room. (Note: If you are providing so much detail, no juror can remember it to use in the jury room. I think these jurors do not have exhibits in the room with them. If they ask for them, the documents or the testimony is read to them?)
- Blanche: “It’s how you try to win elections.” (Note: Jesus, what an argument.)
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MONDAY 27 MAY 2024
NEWS NOTES: VIOLENCE IN MEXICO (Al Jazeera Podcast)
Carlos Bravo Regidor, Political Analyst
- Crime and insecurity is of the most concern.
- Cash transfers, however, by this government are approved.
- Lopez Obrador has built a reputation with the lower classes. The traditional political parties are discredited.
- There is a lot of anger about the past against these parties.
- The base of the outgoing president is fed up with the right wing, they are willing to forgive him for a lot of things. His likely successor is Claudia Sheinbaum.
- The level of crime is very high. Politically motivated crime is high.
Falko Ernst, International Crisis Group
- Criminal groups are getting involved in local control. They have expanded their institutional control.
- Promises to do something about crime and insecurity is a risky business because there have been so many promises and failures.
- Criminal networks are moving into licit endeavors. They have made a deal with politicians to decrease the public and sensational crime and in exchange work their way into more and more areas of the economy.
- There are at least 200 criminal groups, high homicide rates.
Maureen Meyer, Washington Office on Latin America
- “Hugs not bullets” is a policy of Obredor. Saying we need social welfare programs.
- Obredor promised to shift away from enforcement tactics to relief to the poor. But there has been an extreme expansion of the military and the creation of other law enforcement groups.
- What has been lacking is addressing impunity. 9 out of 10 crimes go uninvestigated. The system is incapable of holding people accountable.
- It became “hugs and bullets and impunity.”
Carlos Bravo Regidor
- People have other grievances and this high level of crime has become normalized.
- Campaigns to uphold democracy failed and didn’t appeal to the populace. People didn’t understand or didn’t care.
- Democracy is under threat.
Maureen Meyer
- Citizens can’t vote for the candidate of their choice, but candidates imposed upon them by criminal groups. Their candidates may have been killed, or they stay at home out of fear.
- What does it mean when criminal organizations control local politics.
- You cannot denounce a crime if the people committing the crime are in charge. To whom do you report.
Falko Ernst
- Within communities controlled by organized crime, Michoacan, cradle of organized crime.
- You can tell people who to vote for.
CNN
- The foreign agent’s bill has been passed. The president vetoed the bill, but it is now law.
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SUNDAY 26 MAY 2024
Morning News Notes
MSNBC
- Nicki Haley has no political future.
- Simone: referring to Trump’s “antics” (Note: They should never never refer to Trump’s behavior as less than serious, less than disastrous.)
- “They want somebody punching people they don’t like.” Referring to Trump’s supporters.
MONDAY 27 MAY 2024
(Note: Holidays are hard for news junkies.)
NYT
- There is an interesting article about a dentist who saved Yahya Sinwar’s life when Sinwar was in an Israeli prison.
- Netanyahu calls civilian deaths in Rafah attack a “tragic accident.”
- Byron Donalds, a potential vp pick, made his reputation in Florida as a charter school advocate. He and his wife made a name and a business out of charter schools. They fought to push public money into private schools. Trump has promised to close the Department of Education if elected. Ms. Donalds is on the advisory board of the Heritage Foundation. Ms. Donalds ran a company that managed charter schools. The company took in public money and returned some of it to the schools. The amount the company kept has become a controversy and caused the ending of some of the contracts.
- The Truth and Liberty Coalition is a group that pushes to inject Christianity into public schools and other institutions.
Notes:
- There is widespread condemnation of the Israeli killing of civilians in Gaza.
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Seventy years ago, in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that overturned state laws that required racially separate schools. That …
Justice Clarence Thomas Attacks Brown Decision
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Law, Power, and Justice 