6/28/2024 - Just to go off what Sarah Longwell said: "I would be very disappointed after that, if Joe Biden decided just to continue to go on. It would be a very selfish proposition. And of course I'll back him and do everything that I can for him. But I think it's wrong. (Talking about Joe Biden continuing with his campaign) And I think there's a consensus that can be reached. And people can go out strong with a consensus candidate that they can back."
If you are wondering why The New Democrat is going with the center-right, Republican, Never-Trumper reactions to this debate, I'll tell you anyway. We''re not Republicans at The New Democrat. But we are New Democrats and we are center-right, JFK/Henry Jackson/Joe Biden even Democrats. We know what MSNBC and company is saying. You either have far-left Democrats up there saying that Joe Biden has to step down. Or Democrats trying to argue that the debate doesn't matter. I'm not interested in that. And to their credit, even left-wing, hippie, Rachel Maddow talking about what's the best move going forward, knowing that Joe Biden will most likely still be the Democrat for President. So it's not all MSNBC arguing that it's not a disaster for the President, or he should simply drop out.
And I don't think there's much point in talking about President Biden stepping down, until he actually does that, because it would be like debating what would happen if Donald Trump suddenly plead guilty to all the felonies that he's facing. There's not much point in talking about what it would be like if this happened, if there' very little, if any possibility of it happening.
If you want to defeat Donald Trump, you have to go with the best available candidate, who has their party's nomination for president, who has the best chance at defeating Donald Trump. And right now, for better or for worst, whatever you think of Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom, they're not going to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2024. So we as anti-Trump voters have to decide what's the best strategy for Joe Biden and company going forward.
I still stand by what I said about the debate yesterday. The President didn't accomplish what he had to do . And we're now even hearing discussions about whether Joe Biden should drop out or not as a result. But going forward, if you don't want Donald Trump to ever be President of the United States again, you have to develop the best strategy that can be used to defeat Donald Trump, knowing that Joe Biden is the only person who can beat Trump.
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| Source:The Bulwark talking about guess what. |
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6/27/2024 - To John King's point first about which presidential election this feels like: he said it feels like 1992. In 1992, then Governor Bill Clinton, even though the country was just recovering from a recession, dealing with a high budget deficit, high unemployment, high interest rates, high inflation, even with real 2% economic growth, but Governor Clinton needed Ross Perot's 20% of the popular vote to defeat incumbent President George H.W. Bush, whose approval rating at the time was also in the high 30s, low 40s. This is a two-man race in 2024. Robert F. Kennedy JR. can't even get into the debates right now. It's just a matter if he will be able to get enough votes to hurt either of the major candidates or not.
This feels more like 2012 for me. In 2012, 8% unemployment, the economy growing at around 1%, at least in the 1st two quarters, President Barack Obama's approval rating in the mid 40s. But, we had a Tea Party led House of Representatives and Senate Republican within position of winning back the Senate, and the Republican Party nominating someone who was basically stuck in between a Tea Party populist and a center-right, establishment Republican, leaving too many voters for Mitt Romney wondering who is this guy.
I think 2024 is different from 1992 and 2012 , at least in this sense. The country knows what it's like to have Joe Biden as President of the United States. They also know what it's like to have Donald Trump as President of the United States. And to go back to what John King said on Anderson Cooper 360 last night, where he said this election is about whether you want to keep the same car, or buy a new one, as Keisha Lance-Bottoms, who was on the same show with John King last night said: "Donald Trump is not a new car. He's a used car." Americans already know what it's like to have Donald Trump as President.
As Phill Mattingly was essentially saying on this show, American voters like Joe Biden, at least when they see him and to get to hear him speak. And as Republican political strategist Sarah Longwell, whose one of the founding members of The Bulwark Podcast said on CNN a couple weeks ago, American voters outside of MAGA do not like Donald Trump personally or as President. He was always in the upper 30s, to mid 40s in approval, only got 45% of the voter total between 2016 and 2020.
President Biden's task tonight, is to show that he's in full command, he's doing the job, he has a record to run on and this is what he wants to continue to do as President, if just given another term. While at the same time he's making the case that he's physically and mentally up for the job and doing the job, Donald Trump as the Biden Campaign has already said: "Is only in it for himself."
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| Source:CNN with a little analysis about the debate. |
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6/26/2024 - This might sound sick, so bare with me: but I don't mean to sound the death row inmate whose trying to convince his guard that he's actually innocent and shouldn't be executed tomorrow night, but I'm actually not a lawyer. I'm just going off the information from what I've read and seen from people who are not just real lawyers, but accomplished lawyers as well.
I just don't want people to take my observations here as legal observations here. They're at best like observations from legal affairs correspondents who don't have law degrees. But even there I'm relying on those folks information and observations as well.
I think the lifting of gag order could be a problem for Donald J. Trump. Why do I say that? Anyone whose watched any police documentaries, or followed any high profile case, knows the phrase: "Anything that you can say can and will be held against you in a court of law."
If Convicted Felon Don uses this order to put anyone whose involved in this case, life, or physical safety in jeopardy, either directly or indirectly, like trying to get someone else to do that for him, or reposting what one of his militants said about someone whose directly involved in this case, those words could come back in directly hurting Donald Trump here. And Judge Juan Merchan could use DJT's own words against him when rendering his sentence here.
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| Source:Talking Feds With Harry Litman talking about Judge Juan Merchan's partial lifting of Convicted Felon Don's gag order. |
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6/25/2024 - Anderson Cooper had a panel last week on CNN talking this upcoming debate as well. And Democratic political analyst Paul Begala had the perfect point here when he said Joe Biden should say: "I'm in it for you. Donald Trump is in it for himself."
And what I believe that means is Donald Trump is simply running for President again, to stay out of prison. He doesn't get his immunity from the U.S. Supreme Court, he loses the presidential election, he'll become the political and legal version of the goldfish out of water, right in front of hungry kitty cat. He'll be completely exposed and there won't be anything that anyone can do about that to bail him out, until he's convicted again, at least once, probably in 2025.
While President Biden is making this point, he can also say: "This is the situation when I became President of the United States...This is what I've done about it... And this is where we are now..."
President Biden inherited a freakin pandemic and recession, that wrecked the supply chain in the economy and the U.S. Government, starting first with then President Trump and that Congress, and then with President Biden in the next Congress in 2021-2022, and today where the inflation is now at 3%. But that's a 3rd of where it was just 2 years ago. And wages, incomes, job growth, economic growth, the budget deficit has come down by more than a trillion dollars from where it was in 2021. Housing and savings are worth a lot more than they were 3 years ago as well.
And to Shermichael Singleton's point: I'm sure that's exactly how every center-right, establishment, Republican in America, wants Donald Trump and Joe Biden to debate each other. Except for of course the center-right, establishment Republicans, who'll be voting for President Biden in November.
But Donald Trump doesn't want to talk about the issues and policy simply because he doesn't understand them and is not interested in them. And quite frankly, neither are most of the voters who'll be watching this debate.
I think with President Biden, you'll hear him talk about what a 2nd term will look like for him. But he also has to talk about what Donald Trump's 2nd term would look like (God help us, if that happens) and that he's only running for President again because as the Biden Campaign has already said: "He's only in it for himself. Not you." He accomplishes these 2 things, his vision and contrasting Donald Trump, he wins this debate going away.
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| Source:CNN political analyst & New York Times national political correspondent Maggie Haberman. |
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6/24/2024 - And I get the fact that if these Neo-Nazis who physically going after Arabs, in an Arab-American community, that most of the mainstream media would be all over that. But Jews are also an ethnic minority in America and at least CNN thought enough about that, to bring 1 of their left-wing Democratic analysts, Van Jones, to criticize these left-wing, anti-Semetic protestors, against these Jewish-American in Los Angeles. -
I completely agree with Van Jones here. 20-30 years ago, he would've been 1 of those young, hipster, left-wing, political revolutionaries, whose trying to take down "The Man". (I'm having some fun with this) But he's in his mid-50s now and I guess what comes with age, comes experience and wisdom.
I don't agree with everything that the State of Israel is doing in Gaza right now either. Yes, they need to take down Hamas and at least get them out of the Gazan Government. But they have to let the everyday Palestinians there flee from the violence and get to a safe territory, while they're taking down Hamas.
As Van Jones said: "You protest the policy. Not the people." Jewish-American have the same right to life and right to exist as every other ethnic group in America. And therefor have the same right to life and right to exist as everyone else.
6/21/2024 - I think perhaps the other major, character flaw that Donald Trump has, other than being a dictatorial narcissist who believes that he's above the law, is that he had a bad habit of talking about illegal acts and perhaps committing illegal acts, or having people commit illegal acts for him, with people who didn't actually work for him. Meaning people who don't have executive privilege. And that's probably because most of the people he hired as President of the United States, weren't willing to go to prison for him. I guess Peter Navarro is the exception to that.
Once again, I'm not a lawyer, but if you look at the Steve Bannon case here, that's why he keeps losing. He was subpoenaed by the U.S. House of Representatives to testify in front of the January 6 Committee and refused to even show up. As former Trump White House advisor Sarah Matthews told CNN a couple weeks ago, had he just shown up and plead the 5th to everything that they asked him, he's not looking at prison right now.
His case has 2 weaknesses:
He was a private citizen when the conversations that he had with President Trump happened, that the House was interested in.
And executive privilege doesn't apply to criminal acts. The House wasn't interested in what Mr. Bannon was telling the President about economic policy or anything else relating to government policy. But their discussions relating to their attempts to overthrow the 2020 presidential election. He has no privilege here.
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| Source:CNN talking about convicted felon & soon to be prison inmate Steve Bannon. |
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6/20/2024 - In case anyone is wondering why I put up a little of Ramin Steodeh's background here, I'm going to tell you anyway. It's just in case anyone who reads this (especially a MAGA person) thinks this guy is some left-wing hack from some left-wing, political rag, like Salon, The Nation, AlterNet, etc. Or some plant with the Biden Campaign out there just to try to hurt Donald Trump. Ramin Setodeh obviously has a mainstream journalistic background.
But even with what I just said, you don't have to take Ramin Seodeh's word or anyone else word about Donald Trump's mental decline. Just look at and of his recent interviews, where you have his professional bootlickers (to be kind) like Sean Hannity or Dr. Phil McGraw, try to prop him up, so he doesn't sound crazy and out of the mainstream.
Or, just look at any of DJT's recent campaign rallies where maybe half of his speeches because he's speaking off the cuff, are gibberish. Or, like in Las Vegas 2 weeks ago where he gets caught actually being honest and literally tells his melting audience in the 110 degree heat, that he doesn't care about them. He just wants their vote.
But if you are still making up your mind about who to vote for in November, or not even voting at all for President, you need to see these stories and reports. We don't want, can't afford, a mentally incompetent, crazy man, as President of the United States. The job is just too powerful and serious for someone like that.
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| Source:CNN talking to author Ramin Setodeh about Donald J. Trump. |
6/19/2024 - Just on a few personal notes first.
First Lady Jill Biden is 74 years old and if you watch the CNN video here with Jane Fonda and the First Lady and you never even heard of seen either woman before, hard to imagine that Jane is 13, almost 14 years older than Jill. That's not a shot at Jill Biden, who I think is beautiful and still is. But even at 86, Jane Fonda is still a doll face.
Another personal note: it’s rare if ever that I’ve gotten through a Wolf Blizter interview where I didn’t feel like I needed a nap either during the interview, or right after. Inmates in prison would sleep well for weeks, if not years straight, if they had to listen to him speak everyday. He usually does an excellent, if not spot-on impression of Captain Obvious, or says something that’s already been said, as if he’s making an insightful comment. But I think he did a good job here, especially about the part why Jane Fonda is supporting President Biden.
And then the other thing is actress Rosario Dawson has nothing on Jane Fonda when it comes to Hollywood, left-wing, political activism. And she supported Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders for President in 2016, perhaps in 2020 as well. And Susan Sarandon supported Socialist Bernie in 2016 as well. I mean Jane basically took the side of the Communist North Vietnamese, at least against America, if not democratic South Vietnam as well in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
My only point here is if someone like a Jane Fonda can support a Henry Jackson/John Kennedy Liberal Democrat (meaning someone who believes in liberal democracy) for President of the United States, like a Joe Biden, then so can all of these young leftists in and outside of Hollywood, who are currently debating whether to not even vote, or vote for some third-party Socialist like a Jill Stein.
Jane makes the case that America would be a lot worst off if Donald Trump returns to The White House and that everything that they're currently working for, would disappear in a new Trump Administration.
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| Source:CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer talking to Hollywood Goddess/political activist Jane Fonda. |
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6/18/2024 - You know it's a slow news day when I'm writing anything about U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz. The only 2 things that he's accomplished in the 118th Congress (if you want to call them accomplishments) are almost preventing one man from his own party from becoming Speaker of the House and getting that same man vacated as Speaker 8 months later, for simply doing his job and preventing the U.S. Government from shutting down.
Having said that, if there are 2 committees left in Congress that are bipartisan, it's the Senate Ethics Committee and the House Ethics Committee. And maybe the Joint Economic Committee between the House and Senate. And if Kevin McCarthy was smart, (which is never safe bet) he stacked the House Ethics Committee with real Republicans who support and supported him, before he was vacated as Speaker last September.
The other thing being, these rumors about MAGA Matt dealing with his sexual involvement with minors, goes back to 2018, before Democrats won back the House. The U.S. Justice Department spent 2 years investigating the Florida Representative about these allegations before deciding last year that there wasn't enough evidence to indict him. Maybe the House Ethics Committee thinks they have new and better evidence now to go forward. As they say in Hollywood: stay tuned for more.
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| Source:CNN talking about U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz (MAGA, Florida) new investigation of him by the House Ethics Committee. |
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6/17/2024 - I think the convicted felon issue is sort of like the Bill Clinton issue for Vice President Al Gore in 2000.
The Gore Campaign in the summer and fall of 2000 was debating whether or not to have President Clinton campaign for them or not in the swing states like Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Florida. And of course the Monica Lewinsky scandal was just 2 years before, President Clinton is impeached by a partisan Republican House in December, 1998, tried and acquitted in January, 1999 in a Republican Senate.
And the issue was whether or not the Gore Campaign should use President Clinton to campaign for the Vice President in those swing states, to get African-Americans and perhaps even left-wing Democrats to the polls to vote for the Vice President in the summer and fall of 2000. Vice President Gore chose not too and lost Ohio in a close race and of course barely lost Florida, but just 100s of votes.
I think 1 could assume, perhaps even an intelligent, sober, sane person, that most Americans, especially Independents are now aware that Donald J. Trump is a 34 time convicted felon. So maybe the thinking is that the Biden Campaign doesn't need to bother with this.
But, since Donald Trump always runs 21st Century of the Richard Nixon Silent Majority campaign and wants to focus on law and order and will go further with that in 2024 and try to convince Independents that crime is up now, when it's actually down, etc, how would the Biden Campaign not use the 34 felony convictions against a man who claims to be for law and order, when he was convicted of committing 34 felonies the same year he's now running for President of the United States again?
I think the worst way to lose a presidential election, is by not firing all of your good shots and leaving political ammo in that could've been the difference between a close loss and close win. Or even a narrow win where you are not sure whose going to win on election night, and a win where you look like you could win the election in an Electoral College blowout.
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| Source:CNN talking about the President & The Convicted Felon. |
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6/14/2024 - Assuming Donald Trump loses in November, (which is The New Democrat's best guess) he should consider writing a book (hopefully from a Federal prison) about how not to run for President of the United States. Hell, he could start a new reality TV show starring the worst, possible, presidential, major party, nominees, for President of the United States. With the winner being the worst, possible, major, party nominee, for President of the United States. ,
That link from CNN is important because Donald Trump got 29% of the vote in Milwaukee in 2020, compared with 69% for Joe Biden in that same election. And before you say 29% is not much, he can't win Wisconsin without at least a solid minority of the vote from the cities in that state.
Milwaukee is 560,000 people, in a metro area of 1,500,000 people. Madison is 200,000, Green Bay, 150,000 people. Wisconsin is 5,600,000 people, with a 1/4 of that state living in Milwaukee. He can't lose 80-90% of the urban, suburban, college town vote in that state, and just expect to be able to make up those votes in MAGA Farmville.
As far as whether or not Donald Trump called Milwaukee a horrible city or not: none of his allies are denying it. You are at best getting non-denial, denials, from people like Speaker Mike Johnson, who was in the meeting with House Republicans that Mr. Trump apparently made these comments and he claims he didn't hear him say that. But he didn't say that Trump didn't say it. Which is important. Perhaps the Speaker fell asleep after hearing about how much Donald Trump's life sucks. And when he got to the comments about Milwaukee, that's when the Speaker drifted off.
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| Source:CNN interviewing Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson about Donald Trump. |
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6/13/2024 - If you are a Gen-Xer like me, or are older, you remember the daily, syndicated talk show genre of the 1990s, when someone like a Geraldo Rivera or Jenny Jones, would bring on the strangest, craziest people that they could possibly find, (unless they were just actors) and they would just let those folks rant and tell their audience about everything that sucks in their world. That is what a Donald J. Trump speech is like right now.
A DJT speech is not just one of those self-interviews that you see on some so-called reality TV show, but he's like a one-man, syndicated talk show, whose given a huge platform to talk about everything that sucks in his life and the world.
And before someone gives me their impression of Captain Obvious and tries to point out that Donald J. Trump is a presumptive Republican nominee for President and perhaps I shouldn't talk about him like he's a nationally, syndicated, daily, joke, I'm just describing the way he presents himself to the public.
On a day where both House and Senate Republicans were hopefully trying to get behind some unifying, Republican, national, agenda, that he and Congressional Republicans could run together on, DJT shows them his very own nationally, syndicated, daily talk show, that's all about himself and everything that sucks in his world.
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| Source:CNN talking about 34 time convicted felon Donald J. Trump's visit to Capitol Hill. Hopefully they searched him first to make sure he wasn't packing. Even his mouth is a dangerous weapon. |
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6/12/2024 - I think the Troy Nehls comments about Paul Ryan are the most interesting, perhaps even humorous (even though I'm sure he was completely serious here) when he called Paul Ryan "a piece of garbage" for not supporting Donald Trump for President. Former Speaker Ryan said that Donald Trump is unfit for office because he believes that he's above the Constitution. And Representative Nehls basically called him a piece of garbage for that.
So according to Representative Nehls, you are a piece of garbage if you believe in the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution, and I'm sure the law and order as well. But a 34 time convicted felon, whose only running for President of the United States to stay out of prison and to lock up his political opponents, including Republicans, like Liz Cheney and I'm sure Adam Kinzinger, who knows maybe even Paul Ryan as well, is a God-like figure in the Republican Party today.
That just tells you what the MAGA movement is about and what they stand for. They're nothing but a political cult, in the business to promote Donald Trump, regardless of the costs to them or the country.
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| Source:CNN talking about former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan's latest comments on former President Donald J. Trump. |
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6/11/2024 - I think a good way to look at the NFL career of Ed Jones is to look at what defensive ends and offensive tackles were like back then. I think offensive tackles have always been bigger in the sense that they've been heavier than defense ends and perhaps taller as well. OT's tend to rely on size and strength to block DE's and rush ends. DE's and rush ends tend to rely on speed, quickness, and agility, to get past the OT whose trying to block them and get to the QB or running back running the ball.
But then ED Jones comes into the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys in 1974 in a decade where the average offensive tackle is maybe at best 260-265 pounds, 6'3, 6'4. And ED Jones is 6'9, 265-275 pounds, maybe 280, when he came back to the Cowboys, the size a big NBA power forward or center. So he's bigger, stronger, perhaps even quicker, than most of the offensive lineman, who are trying to block him. He was sort of like Reggie White, but 10 years earlier, where he's simply bigger, stronger, and quicker, than most of the offensive lineman who are trying to block him, as a defensive end, not a stud nose tackle.
NFL history fans love to talk about how great Harvey Martin was who was on the other side of those great Cowboys defensive lines in the 1970s and early 80s. But the fact there were very few, if any offensive tackles in the 11 years that Harvey Martin played from 1973-84, who were physically capable of blocking Ed Jones. Which meant Harvey was always getting one-on-one matchups. While Too Tall was getting an offensive tackle in front of him and always at least 1 tight end as well to help block him. I wouldn't say Ed Jones made Harvey Martin's career. But he sure as hell made his career, along with Jim Jeffcoat's career, who was another excellent Cowboys pass rusher, a helluva lot easier in the 1980s.
I think the reason why Ed Jones is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame today, is because you already have a lot of great Cowboy defensive players in there. Jones played with a lot of other great players including Randy White, Jethro Pugh, Larry Cole, Harvey Martin, he was somewhat quiet, so he didn't get a lot of media attention. But you watch those old Cowboy games from the 1970s and 80s, especially from CBS Sports, the sportscasters and the fans who watch those games, Ed Jones's opponents, will tell you how great he was.
Even though I'm a die hard Redskins fan and saying anything good about any Cowboy, could probably put my physical health in jeopardy, I think he's one of the best all around NFL defensive lineman ever. And he should've been in the Hall of Fame a longtime ago.
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| Source:Duke Wilson with a look at the great Dallas Cowboys DE Ed Too Tall Jones. |
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6/10/2024 - For most people, I think having to meet your probation officer, after being convicted 34 times of 34 felonies, and being in real risk of getting sentenced to probation, home confinement, perhaps even jail (the jail part is probably not likely) would be a pretty bad day. But I'm only mentioning what Donald J. Trump has apparently said about our past military veterans, because he once today again denied calling them losers, at least according to Forbes Magazine.
This is a who do you believe story because there's no video evidence that I'm at least aware of, of Donald Trump calling American military veterans losers. But it's a he-said, he-said story between a former U.S. Marine General, former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, as well as one of President Donald J. Trump's former Chief's of Staff, versus a man who got out military service because of bone sports, who struggles to get through a sentence (even an incomplete sentence) without lying, or at the very least making a complete false statement.
The fact that DJT would call a man in U.S. Naval Lieutenant John McCain, who was an American POW in Vietnam, who could've gone home a lot sooner than he did, but who stayed back because he wouldn't give the Vietcong information that would put his fellow Naval officers lives in jeopardy, a loser, gives you pretty good insight about who Donald J. Trump feels about our most distinguished Americans. As well as Donald Trump not going or attending military funerals and his own staff members begging him to even allow certain military funerals to even be held in the first place.
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| Source:The Independent talking about Donald J. Trump's past comments on American military veterans. |
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6/07/2024 - Look, if I had just been convicted of 34 felonies, and I was in over 500 million dollars in the hole, my own damn family, not even my wife and kids were speaking to me, I would probably be unhappy as well. Well, maybe not the part about the family not wanting to talk to me. (Ha, ha) Even if I knew I was guilty and knew I wasn't above the law, I would probably be very unhappy.
President Richard Nixon about 3 years after he was forced to resign as President of the United States, otherwise be impeached and convicted by Congress and perhaps face criminal prosecution after that, spoke to British journalist David Frost. Everyone who keeps up with American history, perhaps even a junky like myself, already knows about the Watergate and the Frost/Nixon Interviews.
President Nixon when talking about his political downfall with Sir David Frost, told Frost that: "I gave them the sword to stick against me and use it to bring me down." That's a paraphrase.
Since the early 1960s, Richard Nixon had complained about a media bias against him. Saying that they were all out to get him because he didn't have the right educational and cultural background for the snobby and yuppie, Democratic Eastern press. And that's not paranoia on his part. They didn't like him and did want to bring him down.
But the problem that Nixon had was that he personally gave them everything that they needed to bring him down. Starting with the Plumbers Unit in The White House in 1971, which led to Watergate in 1972, the coverup just after that, that leads to Congress stepping in with their own investigation starting in the Senate in 1973 and finishing in the House in 1974.
At least half of the country, maybe 3-5 American simply don't like Donald J. Trump and don't want him to have any power at all in America. He might still win anyway, if left-wing Democrats don't bother to vote, or don't vote for Joe Biden and Independents simply dislike President Biden more.
And Trump is smart enough to know how unpopular he actually is. And yet like a political suicide bomber pilot, he goes out-of-his-way to give more Americans, especially in the mainstream media and in the U.S. Government, as well as in Democratic led government's, like in New York City, Fulton County, Georgia, and the U.S. Government, reason after reason and he leaves evidence all over the place when he commits his crimes, that they really have know choice to use it against him, prosecute him and try to put him away, so he can't commit any more felonies in this country.
As unpopular as Donald Trump is with the mainstream media and the Democratic media, if he simply had just obeyed the law, accepted the election results, not try to overthrow elections, not try to cover up his adulterous affairs with illegal campaign contributions, not try to keep classified documents that he no longer had access to, after he left The White House, they would have no reason whatsoever to go after him the way that they have the last 8 years.
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| Source:CNN political analyst & New York Times national political reporter. |
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6/06/2024 - Fine! Representative Donalds didn't actually say that African-Americans were better off under Jim Crow. So he's not a complete idiot or complete liar. Good to know.
But, especially when you are campaigning to be the leader of the MAGA movement in America vice presidential nominee and you know that a lot of his supporters (whatever the number is) are actually supporters of the Jim Crow era and oppose all of the civil rights laws that were passed to deal with the racial discrimination that African-Americans were facing under law, from their own government, why would you enter Jim Crow in a conversation, when talking about the state and history of the African-American community?
I know all about political ambition and wanting to be Vice President of the United States and becoming the frontrunner to become the next Republican nominee for President of the United States. But my question is at what cost:
What is Representative Donalds willing to give up about himself, just for a shot at Donald Trump picking him to be his Vice President?
And what happens if he doesn't get the nomination, would all of this be worth it for him politically, if chooses to moderate in the future?
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| Source:CNN anchor Abby Phillip interviewing U.S. Representative Byron Donalds (Republican, Florida) | You can see the rest of this post on Blogger and WordPress. |
6/05/2024 - At severe risk of breaking no news whatsoever: (which is not different from when CNN announces CNN Breaking News) I'm not even a lawyer, let alone a New York City lawyer. So I'm not going to predict whether or not Judge Juan Merchan will sentence Donald Trump to jail or not, or even to home confinement. But I agree with Jim Comey that Donald Trump is begging Judge Merchan to sentenced him to jail.
Imagine someone whose been in prison for 40 years and is now getting paroled or their sentence is over. But they've been in prison for so long, never even driven a car, gotten a traditional high school education, never voted, never held a legitimate job outside of prison, and they're scared to death of being released to the outside world. So they do everything that they can to avoid being released from prison. That's kind of what now Convicted Felon Don is doing here, but in reverse:
"Judge, you have to send me to jail. Life's is too scary on the outside. I keep getting sued. I'm always at risk of bankruptcy. I keep getting charged with new crimes. I need a break from this madness. Judge, send me to jail for my own good."
Donald Trump has obviously never said what I just wrote. But, the way he keeps lying about his own case and his own guilt here and putting people who were involved in this case, lives and security at risk, by attacking them in public, sends a strong, violent message to his militants that they need to do something here to protect him. If you are Judge Juan Merchan, you have to take all of that very seriously and into account, before you impose sentence on him.
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| Source:CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins interviewing former FBI Director James Comey. |
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6/04/2024 - Just to correct one other thing that Donald Trump said: the only reason why he didn't "lock her up" when talking about Hillary Clinton, is because he couldn't get any of his attorney generals, or deputy attorney generals, and any of his U.S. attorney's to do that for him. It's one of the reasons why he fired his first Attorney General Jeff Sessions, along with Attorney General Sessions recusing himself from the Russia investigation in 2017.
Just to be clear: we're not attacking the Republican Party as a whole, here at The New Democrat. I don't think the so-called mainstream media makes that clear enough when they produce negative pieces about the Republican Party. We just go after MAGA, as well as establishment Republicans who believe their political careers are too valuable to risk offending MAGA.
And of course MAGA are registered Republicans. But they're not Republicans ideologically. They don't believe in the U.S. Constitution, rule of law, separations of powers, limited government, etc, they don't believe in the hardcore Republican principles that had guided the Republican Party, really since going back to Dwight Eisenhower, if not further.
And MAGA takes any negative news about any of their members, regardless of the facts and evidence in the story, as an attack on their movement and people they call real Americans. MAGA is a political cult. Not a political party or movement.
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| Source:CNN anchor Anderson Cooper keeping them (meaning MAGA) honest. |
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6/03/2024 - In case anyone is wondering why a blog that calls itself The New Democrat, would reference, quote, link, anything that the Washington MAGA news paper The Washington Examiner: well, as rare as it gets cold in Miami, Florida, or the sun and warm weather makes it's way to Seattle, Washington, it rains is Los Angeles, The Washington Examiner (which just happens to be one of our local newspapers) gets something right.
If anyone on the right, even the center-right, put aside MAGA for a minute, but if Senator Mitt Romney called any Democrat, especially a minority Democrat, a anything like: "Bleach Blond Bad Built Bimbo", everyone of the left would call that person a homophobe, who hates gays, especially lesbians, and especially even more, dyke-lesbians. And that's what The Washington Examiner is right about.
But since it's a fairly partisan, Texas, African-American, House Democrat, calling someone whose so far-right, that she might be able to make Liz Cheney, perhaps even Phyllis Schlafly, look like flaming moderates, Representative Jasmine Crockett becomes a political pop culture hero on the left.
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| Source:Don Lemon now also refers to U.S. Representative Marjorie T. Greene (MAGA, Georgia as the: "Bleach Blond Bad Built" |
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5/31/2024 - I'm not going top try to play mindreader and argue that Scott Jennings is lying here. He just might be complete idiot when it comes to New York State law and simply not know what he's talking about. And since I don't know if that's true or not, I'm not going to call him a liar on this. But he might a be political genius (but I have my doubts on that) when it comes to political analysis.
I think what Scott Jennings is doing here (and this is just my personal theory) is taking a page from Senator Marco Rubio's political playbook.
When Senator Rubio was running for President in 2015-16, he was almost as Never-Trump as George Conway is right now. Until it not just cost him the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, and almost cost him his U.S. Senate seat. Now, at least until he thought he might have a shot at the Republican vice presidential nomination, he's not Never-Trump or MAGA. He was Marco Rubio and his concern has been really since the 2016 presidential election has been getting through the current MAGA moment, without offending too many Independents in Florida, Or, losing MAGA voters in Florida.
Scott Jennings is a career Republican and career Republican political strategist and political analyst. He's also in his mid 40s now and is smart enough to know that whether Donald Trump wins or loses the presidential election in 2024, the Republican Party will still be here in January next year. And that's the only place for him to be, as long as he wants to continue to work in American politics. And he believes that right now for him going forward, he has to sound like the partisan Republican, whose always defending the Republican whose in trouble, at call costs.
To correct one thing that Scott Jennings said: It's illegal in New York to commit one crime to cover up another. False business records in New York is a misdemeanor. Except when you do that to hide another crime and in this case illegal campaign contributions. Which is how Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felonies yesterday, by filing false business records by claiming that they were legal expenses, when the fact is they are political contributions to his political campaign. I'm not a lawyer, but I've followed this case long enough and read enough about it, to be able to explain the crimes that Mr. Trump was convicted of.
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| Source:CNN with a George Conway vs Scott Jennings live TV debate. |
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5/30/2024 - As I'm writing this post at 5:15 PM EST, we still don't have a decision on the verdict. But my colleague Ederik Schneider will have a post about whether Donald J. Trump is judged guilty or not guilty, at around 7PM or so. Unfortunately not even The New Democrat has a time machine, or can predict into the future. So we can't talk about things that haven't happened yet. But stay tuned.
I have a prediction for you, if you want. And even if you don't want it, I'll give it to you anyway.
Again, no decision on the verdict yet, but just the way this jury is acting and what they're doing, the questions they're asking, the evidence they're reviewing, suggests to me that they've found Donald J. Trump guilty of multiple felonies:
They've reviewed David Pecker's testimony, who of course exposed (pun intended) this whole damn affair and scheme, between Trump Inc. (Let's call it)
And the two women that they paid off.
They reviewed Michael Cohen's testimony about the scheme, that was corroborated by David Pecker.
And as Harry Litman said (who is a real-life lawyer) they reviewed the Cohen-Trump phone call about how to pay off Stephanie Clifford (also known as Stormy Daniels) and Karen McDougal.
They're going through the evidence that the Manhattan DA wants them to and have focused on the evidence that they wanted them too. This looks like multiple felony convictions for Mr. Donald J. Trump.
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| Source:Harry Litman talking about Defendant Don. |
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5/29/2024 - Maybe I've thought about this for a while, but instead of creating The Apprentice 20 years ago, Donald Trump should've produced a real-life, real, reality TV show called The Trump's. Or Trump Family.Org, because that's exactly what they are.
Whatever you think of the case against Donald J. Trump (and The New Democrat has been very clear where it stands) this has been a horrible, real life, made for tabloid TV, and broadcast network TV movie of the week, from like the 1980s, nightmare for his current transactional wife Melania.
Again, I don't pretend to know this woman, but she obviously doesn't think her transactional husband is innocent. And apparently neither does Donald's kids because they only show up after being criticized for not showing up at all. And nothing yet from his oldest daughter Ivanka and her husband, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
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| Source:CNN talking about former First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump. |
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5/28/2024 - Just to go on the record on this question; even with America being addicted to new technology and always feeling the need to be seen as up to date on new technology, especially as it relates to their smartphones and feel the need to be seen holding a coffee up, especially while they're on the phone or staring at their phone and this country's addiction to celebrity culture, (perhaps all these issues can be blamed on Millennial's) there's no other time that I rather be living in America and no other country in the world that I rather live in, than America. And I'll get into why.
But before I get into why I think right now is the best time to be an American and living in America, I want to get into what this whole MAGA (or "Make America Great Again") movement is really about.
There was a time when the Republican Party was stereotyped as the American patriots, the patriotic party, the people who love America. And you still have plenty of Republicans like that. But most of them are now Never-Trump'ers.
People like:
S.E. Cupp,
former U.S. Representative's Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Charlie Dent, Ken Buck, and many others who are either still in the House, (because perhaps they're glutens for political punishment)
as well as current U.S. Senator Mitt Romney
former Republican governor's John Kasich and Larry Hogan.
But today thanks to Donald Trump and his MAGA movement, you now have 60-70% (depending on which polls you look at) of the country now saying that America is no longer a great country. And that they need to: "take back America and give it back to the real Americans" because it's now a country that they no longer recognize. And if you go with Andrew Van Dam article, it's the 1950s and even the 1940s as the two decades they point to as saying that was when America was a great country.
But if you are a woman of any ethnic or racial background, or any ethnic or racial minority, if you are gay today, would you rather be living in the 1950s or 40s in America, than right now, where you not just have the same constitutional rights and protections as Anglo-Saxon men and other Caucasians, but where those constitutional rights by an large (so system is perfect) are enforced equally under law as the Anglo-Saxons, especially Anglo-Saxon men?
I know this going to sound partisan, but what actually makes America great right now and has always made America a great country, at least since the 1960s, is what MAGA hates about our great country.
America is that one country in the world where everyone can make it in America, regardless of our race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexuality, culture, region, etc. If you have the talent and the skills, the character, you'll make it in America.
No other country in the world has created more freedom, more opportunity, for more people, as well as different kinds of people, as the United States of America. And because of all our advance freedom for more Americans and people today, no better time to be an American than right here and right now.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about when America was the greatest. |
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5/24/2024 - Nikki Haley's voters are not Nikki Haley's voters. Which I know sounds like a car is not a car, a house is not a house, etc. But what that means is they didn't vote for her by and large (exceptions to every rule) because they love Nikki Haley. They voted for her because she's a normal Republican (at least pre-Donald Trump) and she was running against Donald Trump.
The Republicans who voted for Nikki Haley this year, are center-right, fiscally and economically conservative, hawkish, pro-Constitution, rule of law, Republican voters. Not people who want to take America back to the 1950s and 40s, where it seemed very unlikely that a woman of any background, or any minority, would ever even be thinking about running for President of the United States. Nikki Haley voters are traditional, center-right, Republican voters, who many cases voted for Joe Biden for President in 2020 and did their part in costing then President Trump reelection.
I've already touched on Robert F. Kennedy JR. But as Michael Smerconish said so himself (maybe he should be working for the Kennedy Campaign with all the free publicity that he gives him on his show) both Bob Kennedy and Don Trump will be at the Libertarian Party convention this weekend.
RFK and DJT are going after the same voters. We're talking about anti-government, conspiracy minded people, who in some cases have Libertarian leanings, but in many more cases have MAGA leanings. Where at least the militants in the MAGA movement, want to take down the current U.S. Government and replace it with their own nationalistic form of government, that would be there to serve Donald J. Trump's every need and "take back America" to give it back to the "real Americans", as they see themselves.
Bob Kennedy might try to run as some whacked-out, hippie revolutionary, whose still addicted to drugs and has lost more brain cells and has more brain damage that he's even admitted too, and make Bernie and Liz, along with Alex Cortez, and the rest of the so-called Squad in the House, and Jill Stein even, look like flaming moderates. And he would do that just to take votes away from Joe Biden, if that's the campaign that he runs. But he's a MAGA man. He''ll be at the Libertarian Convention, perhaps even seeking their nomination. Not at the Green Party Convention going after the hippie-lefty vote for President.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about the news stories that he's interested in. |
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5/23/2024 - First of all, the easier and most accurate answer to where or not this Manhattan jury will convict Donald J. Trump is, no one knows. Unless you are a psychic or something and perhaps you are just keeping what they're going to do to yourself. Perhaps you are too busy at Atlantic City to share that piece of information to the public or something. Might as well do something with your psychic powers.
But Comey, whose still a lawyer, (or at least still has his law license) made the case for why this jury would convict Donald Trump, if that's what they will do:
The Manhattan DA established not just motive with Stephanie Clifford (also known as Stormy Daniels) but will all of Mr. Trump's own people testifying against him that they believed that paying off Clifford and Karen McDougal was about saving the 2016 presidential campaign. Not about keeping this information from Mr. Trump's wife or young son.
But then you have the phone call between Michael Cohen who was DJT's lawyer at the time and DJT himself, talking about the payments to Clifford before the election and how they would hide that money and prevent the public and government from finding out about it, with a shell company. I'm not a lawyer, but I think they could've charged DJT Inc. with money laundering, as well as making false business records and illegal campaign contributions.
As far as who to vote for in November: Joe Biden, Donald Trump, or someone else, perhaps not voting at all?
If you are a true patriot in the real sense, meaning someone who not just loves America and not just your corner of the store, section of the woods, your own people, (so to speak) you love America as a whole and care about it's future, there's only one choice here.
If you don't like President Biden and you don't like the job he's doing 2 years from now, you can hold him accountable during the 2026 mid-terms. Even if Democrats hold the Senate and win back the House with President Biden being reelected, the Democrats won't have large majorities in the next Congress. Republicans could still win back the House at least, especially if President Biden is still unpopular 2 years from now.
Whatever you think of Joe Biden (and I personally like, respect , the man, think he's a good President) unlike Donald Trump, Biden is not a threat to our rule of law, our form of government, check and balances, not arguing that he could stay in power after his term is over, etc, not a fan of the Third Reich, doesn't want a Fourth Reich. The choice in November for President couldn't be any more obvious.
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| Source:CNN- former U.S. Deputy Attorney General & FBI Director, and now author James Comey, talking to CNN anchor Anderson Cooper about Defendant Don. |
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5/22/2024 - Just to start off: CNN has one of their national political analysts, as well as New York Times political reporter Maggie Haberman there, to talk about Robert Costello's testimony and the impact that might have on the jury. She's a great political reporter, one of the best in the business, but she's not a lawyer.
And then CNN has one of their top legal analysts, perhaps their senior legal analyst Elie Honig there to criticize the Manhattan DA about how they're handling the jury instructions. And they sort of get into the impact of Donald Trump not testifying at his own trial, with their defense lawyer Arthur Aidala sort of spinning and arguing that it might not be so bad if he testified for himself before because he's accomplished things that no one else has before. With again political reporter (not lawyer) Maggie Habberman stating the fact that:
"The last time that Donald Trump testified for himself, it cost himself 83 million dollars. With Aidala firing back:
"But that was in front of Judge Lewis Kaplan." with Haberman saying: "But it's the jury that rewarded Jeanne Carroll the 83 million."
Again, with the legal analyst Elie Honig having nothing to say on that.
But as James Earl Jones with his great manly voice said about CNN in the 1990s: "This is CNN" well, this is CNN now. As someone whose been a regular viewer of there's since Donald J. Trump became a major political player back in the 2010s, it's hard to follow their thinking right now. And they have people do other people's jobs and why they would have a defense lawyer there to back up everything that the prosecutor said, when the prosecutor is take the defense's side, is beyond me.
Partisan Republican lawyer Robert Ray, was on Anderson Cooper 360 last night to talk about Robert Costello's testimony. Not even he could come up with a good spin and try to argue something like: "This is how Robert Costello helped the defense."
Jeffrey Toobin gave his excellent analysis essentially arguing how big of a disaster that Bad Job Bob Costello was for the defense. With Robert Ray, who used to work for Ken Starr back in the 1990s investigating Bill Clinton, but who now acts as Donald J. Trump's top defense lawyer every time he's on TV to talk about Mr. Trump's legal issues, said that he would've only asked Costello two questions relating to Michael Cohen, if he had Costello on the stand. But didn't say anything like how great and useful Costello was for the defense.
I wish I had the written text, link, or video of that Jeff Toobin-Bob Ray CNN appearance from last night. But it doesn't seem to be available online right now. But you can see Bob Ray from his MSNBC appearance last week talking about Michael Cohen. And that should give you an idea of what kind of partisan Republican defense lawyer that he can sound like. And that link is on this post.
5/21/2024 - I'm going to get into NBC News correspondent Yasmin Vossoughian's reporting here, who I think did an excellent job of showing the Manhattan ADA Susan Hoffinger's contradicting Robert Costello's own testimony with his own emails in a minute. (How did the defense not know about Mr. Castello's background here is beyond me) But I want to get to the point that Jeffrey Toobin made last night on CNN's Anderson Cooper's 360, but CNN's coverage of this trial first.
I don't know what's going on with CNN right now. During the Trump Administration, I really thought along with The Washington Post and perhaps New York Times, that they were the gold standard when it came to reporting at the Trump White House.
But if you look at Anderson's Cooper's interview of Bill Maher last night, they pretty much some up what CNN is about now. If you are familiar with CNN anchor Erin Burnett's tagline "facts matter", I they think they still matter for her and she still does an excellent job and might be their best anchor now. But with CNN has a whole I think they just want to sound like they're completely independent, right down the middle, not never taking sides, but not reporting sold information that can make one side look really bad or look really good, unless they have something that makes the other side look really bad as well, or something that suggests maybe the news for one side isn't that good after all.
When it comes to old school journalism, you are just supposed to go where the facts and evidence take you. Regardless of who it hurts. When one presidency after another from both parties think that the media coverage about their presidency was unfair, especially when most of that coverage was from mainstream news sources like NBC News, CNN, The Washington Post, etc, that generally means the mainstream media did a good job. And the same thing when one President after another from both parties thinks the coverage of their presidency was fair, that generally means they were doing a good job.
But CNN now seems to think that the way for them to get out of 3rd or 4th place in the cable news and talk ratings, is just cover both sides equally, regardless of the facts or evidence that comes out. And why CNN is doing this, they overplayed the cross-examination of Michael Cohen by reporting that defense discovered that Cohen is a liar. When the fact is the prosecution already brought that out to the jury during their direct examination. And then they barely mention the corroboration photo evidence that the prosecution brought out yesterday, as well as the video evidence that suggest that Cohen called Donald Trump around the same time that he said he did, back in October 24, 2016, to talk about the hush money payments.
But CNN still has Jeffrey Toobin as one of their legal analysts. And he's not there to tell the CNN viewers or CNN only things that can hurt or help both sides equally. To paraphrase Socialists: Toobin is not there to redistribute the facts and evidence equally. He's there to report and give his own evidence and analysis regardless of who it might hurt or help.
Jeff Toobin said last night on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 how Manhattan ADA Susan Hoffinger was going to cross-examine Robert Costello and he perfectly nailed it. And NBC News's correspondent Yasmin Vossoughian, perfectly laid out how Hoffinger did that by using Costello's own words and emails against him.
While MSNBC is reporting these new damaging facts and evidence against the Trump defense (or lack of defense) CNN has nothing on the cross-examination of Robert Costello. And they wonder why they're in 3rd or 4th place and MSNBC is a soldi 2nd place in the cable news ratings right now.
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| Source:MSNBC showing defense witness Robert Costello in the courtroom, with a cartoon. |
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5/20/2024 - Just like I don't think you have to be a doctor to know when you have a headache, or an auto mechanic to know hat your car is overheated or has a flat tire, a dentist to know that you have sore tooth, a teacher to know about the importance of education, you also don't need to be a lawyer to know that when the defense is up and is cross-examining perhaps the most witness that the prosecution has, you can't afford to exchange punches, especially jabs. (To use a boxing analogy) Especially after the incriminating case that the prosecution has already put on against their client.
The Manhattan DA has already established motive for why this hush money scheme was put together back in October, 2016 and the fact that is was still going on 2 years later. We even know who was involved in it, not just Donald J. Trump himself. We also know that it was this story and how it would affect the 2016 presidential campaign, not how it would affect Mr. Trump's wife and son, that he was worried about.
So what has the defense established? Well, they haven't established much of anything, so far, other than additional lies that Michael Cohen gave, but not to this jury. And the fact that he pocketed some of the money for himself, that was supposed to used to payoff Stephanie Clifford (also known as Stormy Daniels) and Karen McDougal.
And while the defense is establishing old facts, the prosecution has a new photo of Donald J. Trump and his bodyguard Keith Schiller, from the time that Cohen said he called Schiller to talk to Mr. Trump. As well as new corroborating witness from CSPAN (of all places) who saw them together, when Cohen said he was calling Schiller to talk to Mr. Trump. Guess what, the prosecution wins this exchange.
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| Source:Huffington Post with. agood look at Witness Mike. |
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5/17/2024 - I just want to respond to a point that Michael Smerconish made to Kasie Hunt first.
Michael Smerconish: "Donald Trump feeds off an audience. There won't be an audience for these debates."
How did that work for then President Trump in 2020? He was down even in the Electoral College polling going into the first presidential debate against Joe Biden and didn't get beat in those debates, because he was too busy beating himself. Joe Biden won both debates simply by not being Donald Trump and coming off as a normal presidential candidate. You could argue that Joe was going to win the election anyway. But those debates might have cost him Georgia, Arizona, maybe even Wisconsin as well.
As far as the Tom Brady celebrity roast: Kasie Hunt had the perfect point there: "I think he made a lot of money off it." Which is what this really about.
Brady is probably a bored celebrity, narcissistic billionaire, whose under 50 (who'l hopefully never run for President because of that) and he can just tell his kids: "Celebrity events like this and my football career, is what's putting through college and giving you hefty trust funds. So grow up and take it like a man."
If you are Joe Biden, the only thing you want to do, is beat Donald J. Trump. Who'll hopefully be Convict Don before the conventions, not just the election. The last thing you want to do is to be screwing around with Donald Trump's younger, better looking, hipper, smarter, physically stronger, little political brother, Robert F. Kennedy JR. Whose simply running for President as Donald Trump's political wingman or blocker, whose simply trying to keep Joe Biden from winning reelection. I mean Bob Kennedy isn't even qualified for the debates right now and isn't on enough state ballots to win the election. Don't give him a bigger platform than he deserves.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking to CNN anchor Kasie Hunt. You have to get up really early in the morning, or be a hardcore insomniac, to talk to Kasie Hunt on TV in the morning. |
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5/16/2024 - I'm going to get into Anderson Cooper's I guess personal analysis of Todd Blanche's cross-examination of Michael Cohen. But I want to talk about CNN legal analysts's Laura Coates analysis first, because she gets into what this case is really about and what I believe the prosecution has already proved.
What the prosecution has to prove from Laura Coates:
Intent to defraud:
Intent to commit another crime: what do you think the whole cover up by Trump Inc. to keep these affairs and payments from the public is?
Aid and conceal of commission of a crime: again, the whole coverup here that's already been established by the prosecution witnesses who are allies of Donald J. Trump.
Made and caused a false entry in the business records: Donald J. Trump said that these payments were legal expenses and categorized them that way. But what they were, were reimbursements to Michael Cohen, for paying off Stephanie Clifford (also known as Stormy Daniels) and Karen McDougal.
Documentary evidence needed to show falsified business records
As far as CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, who I think is an excellent interviewer, especially in one-on-one interviews, I think he's made a lot out of Todd Blanche catching Michael Cohen in previous lies from back in 2016.
This is Manhattan, unless you are just waking from like a 10 year coma or something, how to do you not know the fact that Michael Cohen is a well-known liar? This is a Manhattan jury, that includes two lawyers on it. Maybe during the 2nd part of Todd Blanche's cross-examination, he'll try to catch Michael Cohen making false statements to this jury during this case. But that hasn't happened yet.
The question is whether or not Mr. Cohen is telling the truth right now. And most of his testimony has already been corroborated by witnesses, who've worked for Donald Trump in the past.
Anderson Copper gave his analysis of what he saw in the courtroom. CNN legal analyst Ellie Honig asked him: "Did you notice how the jury reacted to Michael Cohen's testimony there?" Anderson Cooper said he didn't see much reaction to the testimony on their part.
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| Source:CNN taking you inside Donald J. Trump's criminal courtroom, with a cartoon. |
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5/15/2024 - Just to talk about what Michael Smerconish said for a minute, perhaps a paragraph and then I'll get into the CNN analysis as well.
Michael Smerconish is already talking like he's expecting a felony conviction here. He tries to play himself as this independent contrarian who always talks as if: "We just don't know what's going on here" and tries to argue issues from both sides. So he speaks in code a lot and you have to try to dig though that to figure what he actually thinks about these issues. But he's already saying: "Would it really matter if Donald Trump is convicted? Would that affect the presidential election at all?" I don't think he's talking like that, if he's expecting an acquittal or a hung jury.
As far as the CNN crew, Michael Moore (no, not that Michael Moore) whose a former U.S. Attorney in Georgia, is arguing that the Manhattan District Attorney hasn't proven their felony charges against Donald Trump, because they haven't proven intent on DJT's part to commit the election and business fraud crimes. But the fact is, Trump and company tried to cover up this whole scheme:
David Pecker cooperated with the Manhattan DA to avoid prison time himself.
Michael Cohen went to prison for lying about his role in this scheme.
The Manhattan DA has already established motive for this scheme which was to prevent the public from finding out about it, before the 2016 election. Not because DJT was worried about his wife and son finding out about it.
And then Donald Trump was in on all of this and not just approved of the plan, but made the payments to Stephanie Clifford (also known as Stormy Daniels) and Karen McDougal.
You can even argue that the Manhattan DA has proven money laundering on this, because DJT and company were hiding money to be used for an illegal campaign contribution to the Trump Campaign.
Anytime that you can prove that a criminal defendant was trying to cover up crimes, perhaps their own crimes, that in of itself is proof of knowledge of guilt on their part. Because you are showing to the jury that the defendant was worried about being prosecuted for what they were doing and didn't want to get caught, so they tried to cover it up. I think that this case is the perfect example of the cover up of the crime being worst than the crime itself.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about Defendant Don & his one-time lawyer for 10 years, who worked for Mr. Trump at Trump Organization, in Manhattan, New York, Michael Cohen. DJT obviously liked & trusted Cohen enough to have him as his personal attorney for 10 years. |
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5/14/2024 - Generally when high profile people become criminal defendants and are on trial, they have the support of their families. Their spouses, their children, their children-in-laws, their close friends. Even O..J. Simpson had that with his kids in the mid 1990s in Los Angeles and even freakin Italian Mafia boss John Gotti, who either ordered the hits on multiple people, or personally murdered people himself, and did both like with the Paul Castellano hit back in 1985, he had the support of his wife and kids when he was on trial in New York in 1992..
But like with every rule in life, there are exceptions to every rule. Just look at the MAGA political playbook:
Adultery is a bad thing. Except when Donald Trump does it.
Pornography is a bad thing. Except. When Donald Trump does it.
Lying is wrong. Except when Donald Trump does it.
The rule of law is a great American value that we should always cherish. Except when it threatens Donald Trump's personal freedom and political career.
Rules are meant to be broken, when Donald Trump breaks them.
And perhaps the most interesting exception here: wives stand by their criminal defendant husbands, except when they don't believe them.
I'm not going to claim that I know Melania Trump well, or even personally. Very few people do. She gives new meaning to the term human confidential. (Actually, I think I just invented that term) She's one of the most private people in the world.
But, as Melania's own former aid Stephanie Winston Wolkoff told CNN anchor Jake Tapper and SW Wolkoff does know Melania very well, I mean she worked for her in New York and at The White House, her marriage with Donald is transactional.
Every relationship that Donald J. Trump has ever had has been transactional. So why would the relationship with his youngish and still very youngish looking, gorgeous, babydoll wife, whose still better looking than his daughters, be any different? She's with Donald as long as that's good for her.
Melania has been taking a beating at her husband's criminal trial so far. It's not just his affair with Stephanie Clifford (also known as Stormy Daniels) that's now public, but the details of it. But not only that, how her husband paid her off. But add to that, she didn't seem concern by it and was behind the strategy as far as how the Trump Campaign would play the voters in the media about the Access Hollywood tape back in October, 2016.
If Melania Trump is the loving wife who stands by her man, you would think she would make a public appearance at her own criminal defendant husband's criminal trial. If for no other reason to get the media and voters to believe that she stands by her man. Even if she actually thinks he's guilty as hell publicly. Unless of course she believes the case against him and perhaps even knows her husband is guilty. And is staying away from him sort of as marital retribution.
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| Source:CNN talking about former First Lady of the United States & Defendant Don's wife, Melania Trump. |
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5/13/2024 - I agree with George Conway here and I'll explain why.
Conway is arguing that Will Scharf was arguing that unless Donald J. Trump personally ordered Michael Cohen and company to cover up his Stormy affair (pun intended) with Stephanie Clifford (also known as Stormy Daniels) and personally ordered Michael Cohen to pay her and Karen McDougal off in October, 2016, that there's no crime here.
But what Scharf and company are missing here is that Donald Trump didn't have to personally dream up this scheme to prevent the American voters from finding out about this affair before the 2016 presidential election. He just had to be aware of it, had to personally sign off on on it, and the personally paid her off with his own money.
And we'll see how the cross-examination goes this week or next week, but it looks like thanks to Michael Cohen, as well as all the phone calls, the business records, the previous witnesses who were part of Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, as well as working for him at Trump Organization, as well his allies outside of Trump Org., and of course Stephanie Clifford's testimony last week, that the Manhattan DA is well on their way now to proving their case against Donald J. Trump.
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| Source:CNN- left to right: Defendant Don legal spinmeister Will Scharf & Donald Trump hater George Conway. |
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5/10/2024 - I think what we saw yesterday is the difference between how good, experience, professional, layers, handle direct-examination and cross-examination and how Donald Trump handles those things.
As most of the CNN legal analysts said, including George Conway said, (whose the unofficial President of Hate Donald Trump For America PAC) had Donald Trump's lawyers just focused on Stephanie Clifford's (also known as Stormy Daniels) hatred and the money that she's made off of him, as well as the attention that she's gotten from him because of their relationship, they probably could've ruined her credibility. Not just have won the day, but ruined her credibility.
But with Donald Trump, everything about his is his own fictional, reality TV show. And when you work for him, he's always the boss. It's always his reputation and his favorites lies about him, this one being he never even met Stephanie Clifford, let alone had an affair with her, that he has to protect.
But also when you are Donald Trump and you are running your own show, you are basically the courtroom version of a Kamikaze pilot. You are the suicidal gunfighter, whose always got your loaded gun pointed at your foot, except when you point your gun at your chest. It's just one self-inflicted wound after another.
And because it was Donald Trump running the show yesterday for the defense, instead of his good, experienced, lawyer, Susan Necheles, they made Stephanie Clifford the star of the show yesterday, the player of the game. Because of instead of the defense going after her credibility, they basically just proved motive yesterday for the prosecution as far as why Donald Trump wanted to pay her off in October, 2016, which was to protect his presidential campaign.
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| Source:CNN talking to New York lawyer George Conway about the Stormy testimony (pun intended) at Defendant Don's Manhattan criminal trial. |
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5/09/2024 - I have to admit that I was hard on CNN legal analyst Laura Coates yesterday. (Not that I'm taking anything back) But she's damn right today. Instead of Donald Trump's lawyer making it about the fact that Stephanie Clifford (also known as Stormy Daniels) simply wants to get back at their client, they're back to making it about the affair that she had with her client and pretty much proving motive for the prosecution: They're basically saying: "Who needs prosecutors when the defense can make their case for them?"
Trump and company knew Stephanie Clifford hates him and that they need to dispose of her before her story gets out before the 2016 election.They know she's credible because the affair happened, etc. They basically just made the prosecution's case for motive for them.
As far as Ryan Goodman's commentary about how Mr. Trump's lawyers would try to handle Stephanie Clifford: he called it perfectly last night. And you can see why Erin Burnett has him on her CNN show probably at least once a week now. Because he's not there for partisan legal arguments, but to argue the facts and evidence of the law. He even said that Donald Trump has a solid case for appeal, before their cross-examination of Clifford today. But his lawyers just flushed that down the toilet.
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| Source:CNN- left to right: Defendant Don & his Stormy problem. |
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5/08/2024 - I just wanted to talk about the CNN commentary from last night first and then I'll get into Michael Smerconish's take on this, which isn't mush different from what they were saying.
If you include the anchor Anderson Cooper, they had 8 people on his main panel:
Laura Coates, Kaitlan Collins, Ellie Honig, John Berman, Abbie Phillip, Jeffrey Toobin, and Arthur Aidala. Coates, Honig, Toobin, and Aidala, are all lawyers.
Of the eight panelists and the 3 lawyers on the panel, only Arthur Aidla was arguing that the prosecution should even bring Stephanie Clifford (also known as Stormy Daniels) to the witness stand.
Laura Coates was saying: "I don't know if you either bring her up at all. Maybe in the beginning of the case. And go to the documents and the document witnesses after." Right, start this case off with the porn chick and leave the jury with her as their first impression of this case.
Arthur Aidala whose a defense attorney from Brooklyn, whose been arguing for three weeks now, that there's no crime here, was the only lawyer arguing that Manhattan had to call Stephanie Clifford up, because without her, you have no motive. And the defense could just argue that Donald Trump was being extorted by Stephanie Clifford and company.
Again, details matter. Maybe they could've brought her up after Michael Cohen, but hopefully not closed with her. But without a real reason for the hush money, as well as proving that Donald Trump knew about these payments and signed off on then and they were about protecting his 2016 presidential campaign, the Manhattan District Attorney has no case.
This jury now knows that Donald Trump had an affair with Stephanie Clifford exactly when she said they did. And their damn close to knowing and probably are already assuming, that he paid her off in 2016, to protect his presidential campaign. Which would make him guilty of 2 campaign finance felonies in New York: An illegal campaign contribution to his own campaign and failure to disclose that campaign contribution.
And to what Michael Smerconish was saying here: ( Mr. Independent, straight down the middle commentator) He was basically just backing up what CNN was saying last night. With his sidekick CC there saying: "Don't details matter? Doesn't the jury need to know about the affair and why the payments were made?" Basically contradicting her boss on his radio show.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about Defendant Don't Stormy day. If you are going to cheat on your wife, while she's pregnant with your son, why not with a porn chick?You can see why he never wanted this story to ever go out, especially during his political career. |
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5/07/2024 - Now that the Manhattan District Attorney is at let's say the 5 yard line (to use a football reference) as far as establishing that Donald Trump not only knew about the payments to Stephanie Clifford (also known as Stormy Daniels) and Karen McDougal, but why they were made, the prosecution now wants to establish the affairs actually happened as well. So the defense can't argue that their client was being extorted.
The fact that Stephanie Clifford not only said that she had an affair in 2006 with Donald J. Trump, but laid out details that only the two people involved in the alleged affair could possibly know about, helps her.
One could could say (especially a MAGA member or good defense lawyer) that this is just the word of a porn chick and reality TV star. (To put it bluntly and if they were completely honest) Who are you going to believe? A tie would go to the defendant in this case. But the fact that Donald Trump's lawyers are already calling for a mistrial because of the Stormy details, (pun intended) tells me they believe her testimony is not helpful to them and even damaging. But again, I'm not a lawyer.
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| Source:Don Lemon talking to two New York City lawyers about Stephanie Clifford's (also known as Stormy Daniels) testimony against Defendant Don. |
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5/06/2024 - Just to talk about Donald Trump's latest gag order violations and what could happen in the future: George Conway gets to that in this video around the 15 minute mark (give or take) in this video. He was talking about there''s essentially a bridge that Judge Juan Merchan could take before he throws Defendant Don (as The New Democrat as politely as we can call Donald J. Trump) in Rikers. And just doesn't settle for $1,000 fine after $1,000 fine.
If this courthouse has a holding tank (for lack of a better name) where the Judge can send unruly defendants, who are like 12 year old boys who are being told that they can't go to the ballgame or their friend's party, because they're failing English or got caught shoplifting, or something.
As far as this case, I don't know if Donald Trump is "screwed" yet, as George Conway seems to be implying. But you can see him being screwed (by someone he doesn't want to get screwed by) from where he's right now.
The jurors have Donald Trump's bank records. Thanks to Hope Hicks and David Pecker, they know that Donald Trump not only knew about the payments, knew why they were made, and Donald Trump was concern about the Stormy affairs (pun intended) coming out before the 2016 presidential election, instead of being concern about how these stories would affect his wife Melania and son Barron.
But, as a non-lawyer, I would like to see another credible witness, pre-Michael Cohen, who was close to DJT, or who still is close to DJT, take the stand and back up what David Pecker has exposed (pun intended) and what Hope Hicks said on Friday about DJT's knowledge about what was going on here and what he intended to do about it. Which was to burry the story, at least before the 2016 presidential election, by paying these women off with his money. Which was the money he paid back to his then lawyer Michael Cohen, for paying off Stephanie Clifford (also known as Stormy Daniels) and Karen McDougal, back in late 2016 before the election.
And then again as a non-lawyer, I would like the alleged affairs with Stephanie Clifford and Karen McDougal actually get established in court, so the defense can't argue that these women with their lawyer Keith Davidson, we're extorting Donald Trump.
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| Source:The Bulwark with Sarah Conwell & George Conway on Donald Trump's Manhattan trial. |
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5/03/2024 - As Kire believe already talked about and even mentioned this, Hope Hicks establishes that the Trump Campaign in 2016, including herself, were focused on not just how the Access Hollywood tape would affect their campaign, perhaps especially with Independents and Republican women. But also how the alleged affairs with Stephanie Clifford (also known as Stormy Daniels) and Karen McDougal would affect their campaign as well. Not how this affect Donald Trump's wife and son. Which really is the only reason why these payoffs were made. And I'm sure Donald didn't want Melania leaving him before the election that year. But that just might be a guess on my part.
I was watching CNN's late coverage of this trial last night. And at least one of their lawyers, I think including Ellie Honig was arguing that the prosecution doesn't need to establish that the affairs even happened. Just the payoffs and coverups. But as New York defense attorney Arthur Aidala (whose no fan of this case) argued the defense can argue that Donald Trump was being extorted by Keith Davidson and his two female clients. If they establish that the affairs actually happened and can prove that, there goes the defense's only good argument, that their client was being extorted by Davidson, Clifford, and McDougal.
Anderson Cooper said last night that Donald Trump was just trying to lay the groundwork for why he won't be testifying in his own trial. And he's basically just lying right now (unless he never took social studies and law at any point in school, or has slept his way though all his court cases) about not being allowed to testify. As New York defense attorney Arthur Aidala also said last night, we learn in grade school that we all have a constitutional right to participate in our own criminal defense and testify on our own behalf.
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| Source:CNN covering Donald Trump's longtime assistant Hope Hick's testimony. |
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5/02/2024 - McKay Coppins on Bill Barr: "I think there's this idea in both the Democratic Party and Republican Party, as bad as Donald Trump might be, as authoritarian as he might be, giving up power to the other side by not not voting for your own candidates, is even worst. There's this idea in the Republican Party right now during the Trump era, that giving up power to the other side, is even worst than voting for Donald Trump."
As authoritarian and as bad as Donald Trump might be, he's not Joe Biden, he's not a Democrat. That seems to be Bill Barr's only reason to vote for Donald Trump again.. Imagine two serial killers and one of them says something like: "I'm not as bad as the other guy. He murdered women and children. I just murdered gay men."
This justification by Bill Barr for voting for Donald Trump right now, is that Joe Biden is worst than an authoritarian or wannabe dictator. Even though its President Biden who signed off on the foreign aid package that was finally passed in Congress, that aides Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, who are fighting to prevent authoritarians from taking over their countries. While former President Trump and his MAGA cult in the House, opposed that package all the way. I mean even if Joe Biden is reelected and with a Democratic Congress, if they do a bad job, or at least are unpopular in 2025-26, they'll lose Congress, or at least the House or Senate in 2026.
The point here is that Bill Barr is more interested in the future of the Republican and how much power they'll have in Washington post-2024, then he's interested in the future of the country. I know this is easy for me to say as someone whose still a registered Democrat. Even though I'm not a left-wing Democrat. But I'm center-right probably on most issues as a JFK Democrat, who would fit in well with the Republican Party of the 1960s and perhaps even 1970s, than with the left-wing of the Democratic Party today.
Bill Barr has no credible reasons for voting for Donald Trump. But he doesn't need one either. Hell, politicians get elected and reelected all the time simply because they're up to date on pop culture and routinely drop pop culture references off the cuff, speak primarily in political pop culture sound bites and catch phrases, and own the right smart phones, etc. Meaning voters, especially young voters, think they're cool. Even if they can't even name one of their public policy positions on anything. Even to get themselves out of jail.
So why not get elected to office simply because of your party registration? Even as Bill Barr said so himself: "Donald Trump is someone who should never even be near The White House again."
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| Source:MSNBC talking to one of President Donald J. Trump's communication aides Sarah Matthews. |
5/01/2024 - We're making this point very strong about what this Donald Trump trial is about, because we don't want our readers or anyone else to think that thais trial is something that it's not. The Donald Trump Hush Money Trial (as some people call it) is not some tabloid magazine that simply makes its money by embarrassing professional celebrities, whether it's Donald J. Trump or anyone else. And Donald Trump is not even the star, let alone publisher of this fictional publication.
This trial about election interference and false business records, that Donald J. Trump is being tried for, that his colleagues have been alleged to have work with him on, to prevent two devastating stories from coming out in the public against Mr. Trump, just before the 2016 presidential election.
And according to CNN anchor Erin Burnett, who I believe is one of the 3 best anchors at CNN right now, because she is a professional reporter with both a business and Washington background in hard news, whose known Donald Trump for perhaps 20 years now, from her time covering Wall Street for CNBC in the 2000s, who knows Donald Trump about as well as any hard news mainstream journalist, she makes a very good point here about how seriously this jury is taking this case right now.
Erin Burnett gave excellent details, along with the lawyers who are covering this case for CNN, including one of their legal correspondents Paula Reid, about how seriously this jury took Keith Davidson's testimony yesterday.
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| Source:CNN- left to right: Defendant Don & CNN hard news anchor Erin Burnett. |
4/30/2024 - I have my alternative theory to why Governor Kristi Noem personally leaked this doggone (pun intended) story about herself. But I'll give you the conventional "wisdom" first.
What Michael Smerconish and company seem to believe is that Governor Noem was simply trying to get ahead of this story. Perhaps a South Dakota political reporter was about to release this story about her and maybe that reporter could back it up as well.
Another conventional theory about this story, is that Governor Noem wants to be Donald Trump's vice presidential nominee so badly, that she believes the only way to do that, is to go all in with MAGA and look like the biggest badass (or whatever the MAGA term is) to the point that she wants people to believe that she'll murder her own animals, to protect her property. Even if they're a lot more humane ways to dealing with difficult animals, especially your own pets.
When Senator Katie Britt gave her response to President Biden's SOTU back in March, one of the commentators from the center-right The Bulwark podcast, Jonathan V. Last, had an interesting theory for why Senator Britt bombed so badly. He said he thought it was intentional on her part because she doesn't want to be Donald Trump's VP nominee. But she's from Alabama, which is like a state capital in Redneckistan, the heart of the MAGA movement and she doesn't want the MAGA followers to know that.
My theory for why Kristi Noem decided to do this, is she's a much smarter politician than she seems to want anyone whose not inside of her South Dakota circle to know. I think she believes that Donald Trump is a loser, whose going down, because he's going to lose overwhelmingly with women. And even lose too many Republicans with all his legal baggage, including the fact he could be a two-time convicted felon before election day in November and that will make it too hard for him to beat President Biden in November. And she doesn't want to be part of that electoral catastrophe. And she sure as hell doesn't want to get blamed for it. But that's my theory.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about Governor Kristi Noem's "dog day afternoon". |
4/29/2024 - If anything, I and this are is more liberal than Scott Galloway when it comes to free speech. That even includes hate speech.
If these Columbia students want to hold antisemetic rallies at Columbia and get permission from the school to hold those rallies and do them peacefully, don't call for violence against Jews, simply because they're Jewish, that's their 1st Amendment right as far as I''m concern. But as Sir Issac Newton brilliantly said:
"third law of motion states that “every action has an equal and opposite reaction”.
If college leftists want to have 1st Amendment protected rallies against Jews and the State of Israel they can do that. But the reaction to that, is Columbia puts its school funding at risk because Americans aren't forced to subsidize schools that allow, if not promote antisemitism and neither are taxpayers.
But my main point from Friday about this discussion is that young people are young an inexperienced. (If you don't like young and stupid) And are overly impressionable and tend to make big mistakes. It's really just about whether or not they're smart enough not to make mistakes that are so bad that they ruin the rest of their lives. Or, do they go too far, too soon in their lives and put their futures at severe risk.
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| Source:Don Lemon talking to Clinical Professor Scott Galloway. |
4/26/2024 - I've been looking for an opportunity to get into this discussion for at least the 2nd half of this week. But David Pecker really exposed my interest (pun intended) in Donald Trump's porn star hush money case in New York.
I think Michael Smerconish hit the nail on the head when he posed the question: "Are these protests at Columbia and Southern California genuine, or is someone astroturfing them?" Meaning do these protestors really hate Israel and what Israel is doing in Gaza right now, or is someone ginning them up and getting to do these protests, to bring attention to their political movement?
Considering that Columbia University is not a school that's known for producing professional athletes. I mean the Lions football program is known for winless seasons and they compete in the Ivy League. You are talking about a lot of wealthy, overprivileged students, who are the sons and daughters of politicians, doctors, lawyers, journalists, some of the most successful and wealthy people in America.
And young people, especially overprivileged young people are very impressionable to begin with. Especially with leftists who are cool and are hipsters and know how to get young people's attention. So you have all these young overprivileged students, seeing all these people, especially children and women, suffering in Gaza, mostly because of the Hamas regime there, but also because of the Israeli military as well and the students are reacting to that.
But then the other part is, when you are young, taking a stand against the establishment and even risking your own future, is considered cool. Even if you don't know what you are doing and what you are supposed to taking a stand against.
Just being there is a social political statement for these folks and they can say: "Yeah, I'm down with Palestine. Fuck the Jews. From the river to the see, Palestine will be free." Not having any idea what that actually means. And apparently having no idea that a statement like that puts you in the same political company as Neo-Nazis.
"But hey, when you are in your early 20s, it's being cool and popular which is what counts. Not intelligent and successful."
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about the college Israel-Palestine protests. |
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4/25/2024 - If Donald Trump's lawyers were honest (and the sky was green and humans could walk on water and hold their breath for days) they would just argue at the Supreme Court that Donald J. Trump is immune to all criminal prosecutions, simply because he's Donald J. Trump. And they should just say:
"Our client is running for President of the United States. We need him back in The White House to save America and save it from Joe Biden and the Socialist Democrats. And if we lose here, he's going to prison. So you have to give him absolute immunity here, because he's Donald Trump and he can't save America, while he's in prison, or just being prosecuted."
If the John Sauer's of the world (whose one of Donald Trump's defense attorney's) were honest, that is what their argument would be. And you would probably have Justice Clarence Thomas and perhaps Justice Samuel Alito cheering them on. But perhaps just in private.
But of course the sky isn't green, (except for perhaps on St. Patrick's Day or when the Celtics win the NBA Finals) humans can't walk on water, (but Donald J. Trump gets damn close to being able to do that everyday) and no human being, perhaps especially Donald J. Trump, who probably has long, unintelligible conversations, out loud, with himself, in his asleep, (assuming he ever sleeps) can hold their breath for days.
So what you get from the Trump lawyers are all these ridiculous arguments about the President of the United States, well, probably just Donald Trump, has absolute immunity to do whatever the hell he wants to do, whenever the hell he wants to do it, because they're not honest. And has Sarah Longwell pointed out to Don Lemon, they have no shame.
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| Source:Don Lemon talking to Tim Miller & Sarah Longwell from The Bulwark. |
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4/24/2024 - Sorry for the tabloid title of this post. Actually, that's a lie. I'm definitely not sorry for the title. But what's a little lie anyway when you are talking about a tabloid publication anyway? Lies for tabloids are what food are for restaurants, gas is for cars, lawyers, politicians, fundamentalist preachers even for prostitutes, it's how they stay in business.
I think the David Pecker revelations (I'm still having a hard time writing his last name without laughing and I'm 47 years old) is a perfect example of why American voters are stereotyped as stupid. At least gullible because hear you had this well-known, national tabloid magazine, that promoted stories about Donald J. Trump back in 2015-16, to get him into The White House and you had 10s of millions of American voters, who simply bought all of those garbage stories.
10s of millions of American voters. probably mostly Independents, as well as some blue-collar Democrats, who perhaps weren't ready for a female President of the United States, bought those garbage stories, as if they were buying an 1985 Ford Escort, thinking that car was as good as a Mercedes SEL, or a Jaguar sedan, etc. Without doing any of their homework: "Hey, if The National Enquirer says that Ted Cruz's father was involved in the JFK assassination, it must be true."
And so yesterday, you have the Manhattan prosecutors laying out exactly what The National Enquirer was doing in partnership with Donald J. Trump, with the man who was in charge of this entire scheme, their publisher at the time David Pecker, exposing (pun in intended) this whole operation. And they have all the texts, the emails, the phone calls even, to back up all of Mr. Pecker's claims here on what they were doing for Mr. Trump.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish with a look at Donald Trump's tabloid political world. |
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4/23/2024 - I'm willing to bet this is not a great reference, I doubt it's even a good reference, but when I'm watching courtroom dramas, which at time can seem more like courtroom soap operas and even courtroom comedies, you see out-of-control defendants all the time. And the judge will say something like: "Mr. Jones (or whatever the name of the lawyer is) please get your client under control, or I'll hold him in contempt. And if these outbursts continue, I'll hold you in contempt as well."
Now, other than falling asleep in court and perhaps badly in need of some under armour, perhaps even taking a shower before showing up in court, perhaps even issues with flatulence, (and that's as nice as I'll be about this) Donald Trump hasn't yet been in violation of Judge Juan Merchan's rules in court yet. It's outside the court where Defendant Don has been in clear violation of the Judge's gag order.
But I'm wondering if Defendant Don keeps violating the gag order, could the Judge take that out on his lawyer and do that first, before he holds the defendant in contempt and throws him in a holding tank.
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| Source:Harry Litman- Not that I'm a psychic, but I'm thinking Judge Juan Merchan is not a fan of Defendant Don |
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4/22/2024 - Just on a personal note first and I don't mean to be overly insulting, but since we're talking about the publisher of The National Enquirer, who also happens to be one of Donald J. Trump's longest and closest former allies, I feel a little liberty to be insulting first.
If your name was David Pecker, wouldn't just at least change your last name? I mean imagine if your last name was Balls or even Balz and your parents decided to name you Harold and called you Harry, because of course they hated you as soon as you were born. Perhaps they stuck a kick me sign on your rear end without you knowing about everyday before you went to school.
David Pecker has the perfect last name for a guy who runs The National Enquirer. Whose business is to reveal the very private sex lives and affairs of some of the most famous people, at least in New York City, if not all of America. Who also just happens to be a former, longtime, very close ally, who had affairs with pornstars, while his wife was carrying his 3rd son.
The Pecker-Trump relationship almost sounds like an arraigned marriage. Hard to imagine two people who are better suited for each other, perhaps especially in Manhattan, but they would perfect for Hollywood as well.
Now having said all of that and I really don't want to sound like Donald J. Trump's defense attorney because I like getting paid for my work, but The National Enquirer, probably especially David Pecker, knows all about the affairs that Donald Trump had with Stormy Daniels and perhaps Karen McDougal as well. And because of that, he's going to tell the jury how the Enquirer covered up those affairs for Donald Trump back in 2015-16. So he's a very important witness for the Manhattan prosecutors.
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| Source:CNN- left to right: National Enquirer publisher David Pecker & and his long time business ally Donald J. Trump, who is now Defendant Don. |
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4/19/2024 - As far as Donald J. Trump's let's say stamina in court: ever since he's been running for political office, which is since the summer of 2015, one of the main talking points against his opponents, including Republican opponents, is talk about what he sees as their lack of energy and stamina.
DJT called Jeb Bush low energy and questioned whether Hillary Clinton had the stamina to be President of the United States. And almost 10 years later when he's older than his past opponents and just 3 years younger than the current President of the United States, the 77 year old, 2 months away from 78, can't stay awake in his own criminal trial, even though his personal, as well as financial freedom are both at stake.
As someone whose young enough to be Donald Trump's son, if my personal freedom and financial security were at stake in a criminal trial and if Rikers Island Jail was almost in my future if, I kept violating the rules of the court, safe bet that alone would keep me awake during the trial. But that's me.
I'm sure DJT is freaking out at home back at Trump Tower every night, because he knows what he did during the 2016 hush money scheme:
he knows he paid off Stormy Daniels, and he failed to report that and didn't want the voters to know about his affair with Stormy, just before the 2016 election.
And he knows that the prosecution has the witnesses, bank records, text messages, to prove the affair and the coverup about it. It's just a matter of the prosecutors proving that in court.
So Donald Trump is under a helluva lot of pressure right now and probably can't relax. Especially since he's currently being deprived of his daily six pack of Diet Cokes everyday. But if he thinks that's bad, wait till he goes to Rikers Island, where he might be lucky just to get clean water and hot coffee while he's there.
But the falling asleep in court goes to other issues about Donald J. Trump. It's just another example that this man is not just not morally fit to be President of the United States again, but he simply doesn't have the energy, the strength, the mental capacity as well. Which is not surprising when you are talking about man whose almost 78 years old, who has a poor diet and rarely if ever exercises, who struggles to get any sleep at night. But again, if he can't sleep now, wait till he gets to Rikers Island. He might has better luck sleeping at a NASCAR race.
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| Source:Don Lemon hosting a discussion about Defendant Don & his Manhattan, New York trial. |
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4/18/2024 - My only point about Mike Johnson back in October is, as much as the mainstream media, especially the partisan Democratic media were talking about Speaker Johnson being "MAGA Mike", we didn't know then what kind of Speaker of the House he would be.
Yes, up until February you could argue that he was MAGA Mike. (As Representative Matt Gaetz coined him) But then he was basically forced to govern:
Speaker Johnson had to work not just with The White House, but House Democrats, otherwise the government would shut down. And he had to work with Democrats again on the debt ceiling, or the U.S. Government would default.
Representative George (I can be bought at any price, as long as I stay fabulous) Santos, is not just expelled but replaced by a Democrat.
Donald Trump became the nominee of the Republican Party (not official yet, but he is) and he's still very unpopular outside of MAGA and House Republicans are going to have to run with him one way or another in 2024.
And I think now the Speaker is looking for some independence from Donald Trump and perhaps MAGA all together. Being a human puppet can be really bad for you. (Not that I know from personal experience) Not just for your head and back going up and down all the time, like you are on a school bus all the time. But it must be mentally draining as well.
Two Republican representatives not just immediately retiring, but waiting until they couldn't be replaced until next year, Ken Buck and Mike Gallagher.
And of course Ukraine being in danger of being taken over by Russia, if America doesn't act and help them out.
And all these things especially as they relate to the governing part and avoiding shutdowns and defaults, House Republicans would've taken the blame for that, especially if they simply let those things happen, because they couldn't even pass their own damn bills to deal with those issues.
The reason why Speaker Johnson is now in trouble with House MAGA, is because he's doing his job. MAGA is not there to govern. This blog has made that point several times this year alone. They are there to knock off (one way or another) as many as the real Republicans that they can and simply just take over what's left of the Republican Party all together.
And the question is will House Democrats led by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, will they give the Speaker a lifeline so he can keep doing his job, just as long as he continues to work with them. Or, will Leader Jeffries just allow for the House that they could very well be running in the next Congress, get thrown back into chaos and be ungovernable again.
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| Source:The Rick Wilson is a former Republican political strategist, who divorced himself from the party when MAGA took over the asylum and kicked the staff and the rest of the adults out. Generally when mental patients take over the asylum, they escape. (Not that I know from personal experience) But in this case, MAGA decided to just stay as close to home for them as possible. |
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4/17/2024 - First of all and on a personal note first and I excuse my fucking language, but I need to it to make this point: What's John Leguizamo fucking problem? All he does is fucking cuss and talking about fucking people? Can this guy even get though a fucking sentence without fucking cussing? (I also excuse my hypocrisy)
I guess John Leguizamo getting through a sentence without cussing, would be like Donald Trump getting through a court session without falling asleep. Or getting through a sentence without lying. Or actually speaking to the questions that he's asked. And it's way too early for Christmas, so I guess I would be asking for too much here.
On a more serious note: I'm not Latino myself. My German name I think is a pretty good clue there. But it depends on what you mean by Latinos. Because similar with Slavs, Scandinavians, Orientals, (are we still allowed to say Oriental, or will the Political Correctness Police arrest me for that?) Latino is not a race or ethnicity in of itself.
There are Spanish Latinos who are primarily, or at least partially of Spanish heritage, even if their families migrated to Latin America before coming to America, like in John Leguizano's case to Puerto Rico.
There are Afro-Latinos, Latinos who are of at least of some African descent.
Peru has a Japanese population, as well as a Spanish, and Peruvian-Indian population.
Mexico has Germans and Jews, as well as Arabs and Africans, and a lot of Spaniards. And of course Mexican-Indians, Aztecs, Yucas and other Mexican Indians.
And of course there are a lot of Latinos who are of West Indian descent, who also have at least some Spanish ancestry descent, which is the ethnic and racial background of a lot of Latino Americans.
My point here is that Latino or if you prefer Hispanic, in of itself is not a race or ethnicity.
But to go to John Leguizamo's serious point about why some Latinos are supporting Donald Trump and inflation: inflation affects Latinos the same way it affects every other group in America. And I'm sure they're tired of inflation as much as everyone else.
But the question that Latinos have to ask themselves, is the same question that every other voting bloc in America has to ask themselves: who has the better plan for America when it comes to inflation, as well as to address every other issue that America faces.
And to pick up on Mr. Leguizamo's point about Donald Trump and inflation, Mr. Trump doesn't have a plan either. It's as if he didn't even hear or understand the question that was asked to him. He was given a point blank question about inflation and his answer was: "drill, baby, drill." Which is about energy policy, not inflation. And apparently he's unaware that gas prices have come down since Joe Biden has been President. And we became an energy independent country under President Biden, not President Trump. We now produce more oil than we import.
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| Source:The Daily Show with John Leguizamo. |
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4/16/2024 - If Bob Kennedy JR. was anti-Trump, he wouldn't spend all of his opposition campaigning against President Joe Biden. U.S. Representative Dean Phillips ran against the President in the Democratic primaries. Former Democrat and 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang said that the Democratic Party needed to nominate someone other than Joe Biden for President in 2024. But there's a big difference here. Both Representative Phillips and Mr. Yang are going to vote for the President in the fall. And would probably speak in favor of him, if they were called to do that.
Unlike Bob Kennedy, who once said that he would be honored to be Donald Trump's vice presidential nominee and has flirted with running for President of the Libertarian Party, which are now filled with Libertarian populists, who are least are leaning towards Donald Trump because they share the same conspiracy theories and hatred for the "deep state." Kennedy is simply running for President to take votes away from President Biden and make it easier for Mr. Trump to win the election in November.
So if you are the Democratic National Committee, the Biden Campaign, and the Never-Trump wing of the Republican Party, who are establishment Conservative Republicans, like The Bulwark, The Lincoln Project, groups like that, your mission (if you choose to accept it) is to define Bob Kennedy, before Kennedy can define himself.
The Democrats and what's left of the center-right of the Republican Party, need to define Kennedy as the man whose opposed to all vaccines, who thinks the Jan 6. rioters are American patriots and are now political hostages, that Russia is really our friend and not enemy, etc. Before Kennedy can run like left-winger whose so far-left, that he can make Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Jill Stein, as well as "The Squad" in the House, look like flaming moderates. And he would run that far-left-wing campaign, if he even got on enough ballots, just to hurt President Biden and get Donald Trump back in The White House.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish- DJT/RFKJR 2024? Why not. They're both professional MAGA men who don't seem to believe in the rule of law or American democracy. |
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4/15/2024 - This might sound harsh. Well, perhaps just to supporters of Donald J. Trump. And I don't want to compare Mr. Trump to any real-life dictator, because that might actually be too harsh. But imagine a dictator whose been in power for 20 years for all sorts of reasons. And the new democratically elected government that comes to power decides to prosecute the former dictator of their country. I don't pretend to be a mindreader and I've never even met Donald J. Trump in real-life. But I'm guessing from everything that I know about this man, that must be how he's feeling right now and what he's going through.
When Donald Trump because President of the United States in 2017, he must have felt he would be untouchable for the rest of his life. He even flirted with the idea of running for President a 3rd time, at least if he was reelected in 2020. And just staying on as President after his lost in 2020 and his term expired in January 2021. And the only reason that didn't happen, is because the government simply wouldn't allow for it. Once your term expires in our government, you are out of office. And you either leave your office and the building voluntarily, or you are escorted out by Federal officials.
But because of our great, federal, liberal democratic, constitutional system that we have in America, no one man or woman is above the law in this country. You commit felonies in this country, you get charged and prosecuted for them and then later brought to trial. Unless you work out a plea bargain with the prosecution or plead guilty.
So right now in that Manhattan court room, Donald J. Trump even though he was once President of the United States, is now being treated like any other criminal defendant in New York. And it must be a real humanizing experience for him.
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| Source:CNN inside Donald J. Trump's courtroom. Don't worry. He doesn't actually own this room either. |
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4/12/2024 - Sometimes I really Like NBC News. Not so much MSNBC, especially their left-wing commentators/political activists like Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes. (Unfortunately just to name a few) Even though I do like Stephanie Ruhle, Katy Tur, Andrea Mitchell, and their legal affairs correspondent Lisa Rubin, but their hard news reporting from their correspondents, like Megan Lebowitz and many others, especially over at the network news division, is still very good.
It took more than a half of this Bulwark video to finally get into what's really the Manhattan and perhaps all of New York City's, 2016 election interference case.
Yes, Donald Trump paid Stephanie Clifford (perhaps better known as Stormy Daniels) 100,000 dollars to not reveal the affair that they had with each other 10 years earlier, when Donald's wife Melania, was pregnant with his son Barron.
And of course in September and October of 16, Donald Trump was running for President against Hillary Clinton. He was already bleeding support and voters to Hillary (at least according to the polling) with women. Including Republican women, at least in the cities and suburbs. And apparently Stormy told Donald and his then lawyer Michael Cohen, that she's going to release their past affair to the public, right before the election in November. Trump and company obviously didn't want that to happen, which is why he paid her off to keep her quiet.
Yes, Donald Trump paid Stormy Daniels 100 grand not to reveal their affair. And that's hush money. And yes, DJT cheated on his wife while she was pregnant with his son. But he's not being charged for adultery or even hush money. He's being charged with filing false business records in New York relating to this payment, as well as not reporting this campaign contribution that he made to his campaign, to keep Stormy Daniels quiet in this case and not cost himself more voters. Which is why this is an election interference case.
Since this case broke in the spring of 2018, Donald Trump first denied it and then lied about it, then basically admitted to not just the affair, but the payment to her to keep her quiet. But now he's treating her like a whore, gold digger, etc. A "whore" and "gold digger" that he committed adultery with, while his wife was pregnant with his son, that she can now help to prove that he's a criminal and make him a convicted criminal.
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| Source:The Bulwark with Sarah Longwell & George Conway. |
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4/11/2024 - I don't think the prosecution could rest its case on the Ford Bronco chase. But that chase alone laid out so much personal guilt that O.J. Simpson must have felt about the double murders of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman who tried to save her from being murdered. And then all the money that O.J. had one him obviously trying to get out of the country and avoid being arrested and then later prosecuted and convicted.
Just to give you a little personal background about myself in this case: I was 17 at this point and on summer vacation in Delaware with my family when this case broke. And I think I was looking forward to seeing game 3 or 4 of the 1994 NBA Finals between the Houston Rockets and New York Knicks, that NBC Sports had the coverage of. Until NBC News with Tom Brokaw broke in (this was before MSNBC) and NBC just went with this story with News covering instead of Sports. And the championship basketball game was pushed aside in favor of a tabloid true crime story. Which is another story in of itself.
Before the double murders, I wouldn't say I was a fan of O.J. Simpson, but I always saw him as tall, good looking, funny man, who was also a solid NFL analyst for NBC Sports and then later ABC's Monday Night Football. And saw him as an excellent action/comedy actor in The Naked Gun and the commercials that he did. So I wasn't one of those people who just purely hated the man and was thinking: "We finally got the nigger!" or whatever.
But other than delivering not just a confession, but a full confession and not just admitting to your murders, but exactly how you carried them out and laying the details that only the murderer could know and of course video recording your murders, I don't see how O.J Simpson could possibly look more guilty. Means, motive, opportunity, no alibi, his blood and DNA all over the crime scene, his bloody hand. I mean that jury literally saved his life, even though he was obviously guilty of both murders.
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| Source:Inside Edition with a piece about The Trial of The 20th Century. |
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4/10/2024 - Back in 2017/18, Republican political strategist Rick Wilson (whose one of the last of the Conservative Republicans) wrote a book titled: "Everything That Donald Trump Touches Dies" That's how I feel about Allen Weisselberg. And no, I don't feel sorry for the man, because he went into business with Donald Trump 10 years before DJT even ran for President the 1st time and knew enough about the man to know that he was a crook, if not a criminal, but worked for him and lied about him under oath anyway.
If Donald Trump were honest, (and New York City ran out of people and buildings all on the same day) his real immunity claim would be: "You can't prosecute me because I'm Donald J. Trump. I'm King of America (not just reality TV) and therefor I'm untouchable." But New York City will never run out of people, or buildings and never Donald J. Trump will never be honest about himself. At least he'll never admit or take any blame about something that's bad about him.
And DJT is going to get tried starting next week in Manhattan, New York. Which would be like Communist militants being tried in Wheeling, West Virginia. Not a place where the leader of the MAGA cult wants to be. Especially when you look at all the evidence, documents, and witnesses, people who know this man very well, because they've either socialized with him, had affairs with him, worked with him, or worked for this man.
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| Source:MSNBC talking about Defendant Don. |
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4/09/2024 - As someone whose never been sexually assaulted (but that might only be because I've been over 6'0 and 200 pounds for most of my adult life) I doh't know how Representative Alexandria Cortez's experience with this has affected her. Plus, I've never met the woman, I don't live in New York, I come John F. Kennedy wing of the Democratic Party, instead of the Henry Wallace/George McGovern wing of the party, which is where she's from. Other than her left-wing politics, I don't know her very well at all.
But I guess I have a few points about this:
If this had happened to Representative Lauren Boebert, (Republican, Colorado) or Representative Marjorie T. Greene (Republican, Georgia) or Representative Elise Stefanik (Republican, New York) or any other female member of the MAGA movement, would anyone outside of the MAGA movement actually care a lick (or whatever word you prefer) about this? I seriously doubt it. I know I wouldn't.
Seriously, think about this: if this had happened to the MAGA women in the House that I just mentioned, think about how pop culture and the late shows (which are overwhelmingly Democratic) would handle that. That would make fun of them over and over try to make them look like pornographic hypocrites:
"Online porn is an evil that must be wiped out and punished by God. Except when we do it. Because when we do it, Jesus wants us too."
Just as someone whose a Liberal, I've never been a fan of unenforceable laws, even if the intentions are good. If someone takes pictures of someone else without their knowledge and uses them to make them look like a pornstar or something online, we have civil courts for that.
There are a lot of challenges and a lot of things that Americans have to put up with living in this free society. Liberal democracy is never free. It always comes with a lot of risks, as well as opportunities and rewards. Which means Americans have a lot of freedom to be complete idiots with their own lives, short of hurting of hurting innocent people with what they're doing.
If someone thinks risking their paycheck at a casino or a horse track, is a good investment to pay off their mortgage, it's their money.
And if people need online porn to get off, because they can't get that any other way, so be it. Just as long as they're not violating other people's freedom and privacy with what they're doing.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about U.S. Representative Alexandria O. Cortez's plan to wipeout artificial porn. And yes, I mean to make fun of this. |
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4/08/2024 - First of all, I just want to go on the record here by saying if I'm the only one in the world, or at least in America, whose not blogging or writing in general about the solar eclipse today, I'll be very happy with that. Just to give you an idea of how uninterested I'm in it. Actually, no one from this blog will be writing about the solar eclipse today. That I can promise you.
I thought Maria Cardona had the best line in the CNN video here when Jessica Dean asked her about the Biden Campaign's fundraising numbers:
"Jessica, the Biden Campaign has raised a crazy, insane amount of money. And they're going to put that to work to prevent a crazy, insane man, from entering The White House again...
If you think about it, that's the number one job of not just the Democratic Party today, including President Biden, but everyone who still believes in American liberal democracy, the rule of law, and our checks and balances. If you do, you have to legally prevent Donald J. Trump from ever getting near the presidency again.
It's that simple. You don't have to become a Democrat, you don't have to like Joe Biden. But to keep the American republic together and our great liberal democracy together, you have to prevent someone who doesn't believe in those things, who believes he should always be unaccountable and never have any real opposition, from ever becoming President of the United States again. And if you don't like the job the President and perhaps a new Democratic Congress is doing 2 years from now, vote the Congress out and replace it with a Republican Congress.
As far as MAGA Mayor Rudy Giuliani and MAGA Mouth Marjorie T. Greene: I guess it was amateur nigh at the laugh house and they wanted to get their 2 cents (which is all their statements are worth) in. Or, they're telling the world that they need help and are begging people to commit them to the nuthouse.
Alice Stewart on Rudy Giuliani: "Rudy Giuliani has gone from America's Mayor to an asinine mayor."
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| Source:CNN- left to right: Defendant Don & Republican political strategist Karl Rove. |
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4/05/2024 - I don't like posting multiple links on a blog post that contradict each other. But this is a fast moving story. Sort of like an escaped inmate on the run for his life, escaping in a sports car. But Harry Litman seems to be a little bit behind on this story.
Donald Trump post his bond thanks to California (not New York, which a story right there) insurance billionaire Don Hankey earlier this week. But then New York Attorney General Letitia James challenged that legitimacy of that and wants to know whether or not Mr. Hankey is actually good on the bond. Does he or his company have the 175 million or not. She won that motion in New York Superior Court yesterday. But then that court sends the bond back to Mr. Trump and apparently he got it corrected.
I think MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle, who I'm quickly becoming a big fan of for her knowledge about business and economics, as well as her very quick wit, (and other personal reasons that I won't get into here) I think has had the best commentary about this story so far. Last night she said talking about Mr. Trump's bond here:
"It's not just a regular bank that's backing him (referring to Donald Trump) here. This guy (referring to Don Hankey) is in the business that he's always been in. I mean subprime auto lending, this is like the former President of the United States going to a payday lender. Like the riskiest low-end lender."
Right, I mean, Donald J. Trump still calls himself a billionaire. But of course anyone whose currently not drunk, high, insane, born without a brain, who just flew in to Planet Earth from Planet Zorton (or some other far out mad up planet) who also happens to be familiar with Donald J. Trump, knows he's not a billionaire.
You don't go to the rich man's equivalent of a payday lender, (to use Stephanie Ruhle's words) to come up with 175 million, to post a bond on a legal judgement against you, if you are a billionaire. It would be like a guy who has 100 bucks on him, who ask his buddy for 10 bucks, so he can get some lunch at some fast food joint.
When it comes to high class in America, especially in Manhattan, New York, where Donald J. Trump has always wanted to be a member of that very exclusive club of billionaires, (as much as he claims to be a populist) he's like the Goddard Bolt (played by Mel Brooks) character from the movie Life Stinks (1991) where he plays a rich man one day and he's completely broke and homeless the next day. Mr. Trump is now relying on real-life billionaires and rich people, to pay his own damn bills for him.
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| Source:Harry Litman- left to right: California insurance billionaire Don Hankey, Defendant Don & New York Attorney General Letitia James. |
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4/04/2024 - I can't emphasize this enough: it's not the 118th Congress that is a cluster flop. (To paraphrase Tim Miller from The Bulwark) Its the 118th House of Representatives that's a cluster flop. (Or whatever pejorative term that you prefer)
The Senate (which is the functioning half of Congress. Hopefully that's not a newsflash for anyone.) is a functioning institution right now:
They are confirming executive nominees and Federal judges,
Doing their oversight
Keeping the government open
They already passed an aide package for our allies like Ukraine, Israel, the refugees in Gaza, Taiwan, etc.
They're doing the things that Congress is supposed to do.
It's the MAGA controlled House, that look aliens from another planet, trying to figure out how to start a car, answer a phone, tie their shoes, blow their noses, struggling to do the basic things in life, that every competent person takes for granted, because they're so natural for them.
And I'm not saying all of this because the Senate is controlled by Democrats and the House is controlled by Republicans. Correction: the House is controlled by political militant movement group of suicide pilots and bombers, also known as MAGA. But there's evidence that Speaker Mike Johnson is willing to act like normal Republican and Speaker on issues like Ukraine and the border. But I think he would need help from House Democrats to be able to do that and keep his job.
But I'm saying all of this because over in the Senate, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who spent the previous 4-6 years as arch-rivals in the Senate, seem to have a constructive working relationship now.
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| Source:Amanpour & Company talking to Republican political analyst Charlie Sykes. |
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4/03/2024 - If you look at how Joe Biden won the presidency in 2020: he did that with a record Democratic turnout, including left-wing Democrats, the Bernie Sanders Democratic Socialists, (not Progressives) as well as African-American and Latino-American turnout in the Southwest. Which is how he won Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada.
As well as perhaps as much as 1-10 Republicans voting for him instead of Donald Trump, again in the Southwest, but Georgia, as well as the rustbelt stares that he had to win as well.
As well as dominating the cities and suburbs, and blue-collar Democrats coming back for him in Pennsylvania and Michigan. And not being Donald Trump can always help the Democrat in a general election, especially in swing states.
But go up 3-1/2 years laters and now Joe Biden is longer former Vice President Biden, he's President Biden:
Joe Biden is running for President in an election year with an approval rating in the high 30s.
Inflation because of the COVID aftermath and all the government borrowing to deal with COVID from 2020 and 21, is still a major issue, even though 3% is half of what it was in 2022.
The high interest rates, that were necessary to deal with the inflation, make it harder for people to buy homes, cars, start businesses, etc.
These are the main reasons why the President has been stuck in the 30s at least since the summer of 2021, after the failed attempt to withdraw from Afghanistan.
I understand Stephen Collison's point about abortion being a key issue for Democrats in 2024 and how that's been driving Democratic turnout, probably since 2018 after Brett Kavanaugh was appointed by then President Trump to the Supreme Court and not just with Roe V. Wade being overturned in 2022.
But if you look at Hillary Clinton's failed presidential campaign in 2016: she basically ran for President to be the 1st female President of the United States and that she wasn't Donald Trump. That was most of her presidential campaign. She didn't even bother to campaign in the states that she had to have, at least not until late in that campaign. Which is how she lost Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and didn't even come close in Georgia and Arizona, states that she played in thinking that she already had the states that he had to have.
My point here, is there isn't 1 issue that's going to get Joe Biden reelected President of the United States. If he does win in November, abortion will be just one of those issues. He has to have a united Democratic Party behind him and voting for him again. He has to lock down all those groups in the Democratic Party, before he can think about playing in Florida, Ohio, Texas, and North Carolina again. And abortion and not being Donald J. Trump is not enough to get him to the finish line and get the Democratic Party behind in huge numbers again.
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| Source:CNN talking about Donald J. Trump. |
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4/02/2024 - First of all, every time I hear Robert F. Kennedy JR. speaking about anything, my ears hurt. And it's not just because he's basically a professional conspiracy theorist at this point late in his life, after being a very successful environmental lawyer for most of his career before that and an excellent spokesman for the environment in this country.
But it's not just that and I don't want to sound like I'm making fun of the man, especially when I already feel sorry for him and his family is embarrassed by him, but he always sounds like he's got a sore throat, or he's one of those U.S. senators whose just coming off a 24 hour straight filibuster, with no water, to block an appropriations bill or something. I'm not sure how ever his audience understands him. He's very tough on the ears from a physical perspective and not just what he has to say, which he generally never even tries to back up, let alone able to.
As far as RFK JR. telling CNN anchor Erin Burnett, who I'm a fan of and think she does a great job and is an excellent interviewer and really doesn't take any junk (to put it mildly) from her guests, once again Bob JR. is just trying to blame President Biden for something that he can't even try to defend.
1st of all, Meta is a private company. If they block you, it's their choice. This has nothing to do with the U.S. Government, or any other country.
I know Bob Kennedy is new to government and politics and really has no experience whatsoever in government. But the President of the United States (regardless of who the President is) does not run private companies.
Instagram which is a division of Meta, blocked RFK JR. back in 2021, because of his conspiracy theories that he was throwing around having to do with COVID. The U.S. Government doesn't run Instagram or any other private social media network. They had nothing to do with RFK JR. being blocked.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about President Joe Biden & the 2 presidential candidates who are running to defeat him. |
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3/29/2024 - At risk of stating the obvious to the point that it would be like I'm telling people not try to cross a busy street blindfolded, because that might be dangerous: (unless of course you are suicidal. Then by all means.) professional entertainers don't like Donald J. Trump. And for obvious reasons. And there are exceptions to every rule. Like you might survive trying to cross a street blindfolded. Not something I would personally risk. But I can't make that decision for everyone else.
There are professional entertainers in MAGA Land, like the country music industry, except for the most popular singer, that being Taylor Swift. And of course NASCAR, Jon Vaught, James Woods, Kristy Swanson, and perhaps a few others in Hollywood, and professional cowboys and cowgirls.
But if you are a big city person, with a big metropolitan background, (which of course Larry David being from New York obviously is) Donald Trump to you is like The Devil. I mean for most professional entertainers, Donald Trump is like the New York Yankees for Boston Red Sox fans. The New York Giants for Philadelphia Eagles fan, etc. They hate the man as much as Jews hate Arabs in the Middle East and vice-versa.
But just for the record and no, I'm not a big Larry David fan: I agree with him on everything that I've seen so far, about what he told Chris Wallace about Donald J. Trump. DJT is like the little boy who still can't believe that he lost a one-one-one basketball game, to the new kid in the neighborhood, who looks like he gets beat up everyday, simply for being a geek and loses his lunch money and is forced to do the homework of the cool kids in school.
This is how Donald Trump views Joe Biden. As the biggest loser in the world, who shouldn't even been allowed to run for President against him, let alone beat him. And because of that attitude, he's putting at risk the future of American liberal democracy, which has kept this great country together for over 247 years now.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about the Larry David - Chris Wallace interview, with Wallace wanting to know what David thinks about Donald J. Trump. As well as a lot of other less interesting stuff. |
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3/28/2024 - The title of this CNN video was: "'Hillary was right': Lifelong GOP voter on why he is leaving the party". I don't know which exact quote from Hillary Clinton that the man who goes by Texas Trey was referring to. So I just gave you 34 of them from one of her 2016 speeches on Donald J. Trump. Happy reading.
I'm in a similar political ballpark as Texas Trey. (It's baseball season) I'm officially a Democrat, because I like my members of Congress in Maryland, my representative Jamie Raskin and my two senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen. And I at least before he was elected President, I was a fan of Joe Biden as well. And I think he's doing a good job now, but he's not a political hero of mine.
I'm not a Democrat because I think Alexandria O. Cortez, Bernie Sanders and other Socialist Democrats in Congress, are like "totally awesome rockstars" or something. I'm a Thomas Jefferson/JFK, Classical Liberal (meaning real Liberal) Democrat ideologically. And I'm still officially a Democrat, again, not because I'm some left-wing, hipster, or something, that wants to convert America into Scandinavia. But because Democrats tend to believe in progress and making things better for the country, empowering more people to be able to take control of their lives.
Whereas when Republicans are in power, they tend to just argue with each other and not just about whose the most loyal to the MAGA cult leader Donald Trump, but also what to do when it comes to policy. The 2017 ObamaCare repeal debate, where they failed both to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, is just on example of that. And now when they just barely control of the House of Representatives and have no other elected power in Washington, they're debating whether they should vacate Speaker Mike Johnson, because he wouldn't shut down the government for them.
I would probably check myself into a mental hospital, voluntarily, my idea only, before I would ever become a Republican today. Because that's what the modern Republican Party (which is really just Donald Trump's MAGA party) is, a political asylum.
So I see where Texas Trey is coming from. He's basically voting for President Joe Biden in November, because the current President isn't a dictator and doesn't want to be a dictator. And even if Democrats hold The White House and win back complete control of Congress this year, as Texas Trey said, Republicans and the country as a whole would live to fight another day politically. And there would be elections again in 2025 and 2026 to hold Democrats accountable.
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| Source:CNN anchor Laura Coates interviewing Texas Trey. |
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3/27/2024 - I really just have two points here about this myself.
1. I think you are more likely to see Communists praying, then you would ever see Donald Trump either at a church praying in private, or praying at home in private. As far Donald J. Trump is concern, he is God. And therefor doesn't have to live by or follow the same rules as us mere mortals.
And you can talk about Mr. Trump meeting with so many different religious leaders all you want. But let's keep it real: all those discussions were probably about politics and the kind of judges that he would appoint as President. I mean there are real differences between religious leaders and people who try to use religion to advance their own politics.
2. If Donald Trump were honest, (and enough money grew on trees so he could pay off all his financial and legal debts and could honestly declare himself a billionaire that way) he would probably be on truth serum, because serial liars like Donald J. Trump generally can't be honest intentionally. At least not about less than perfect issues about themselves, but he would probably be on truth serum and say something like this:
"Look, to all my MAGA faithful: I'm in a 200 million dollar plus hole here. And I know I've been telling you I'm a billionaire, but of course that's not true. Just using that to try to get you to vote for me. I need a lot of money very quickly to pay off all these legal and financial debts. Will you please buy these piece of trash, fake Bibles, so I can't get out of debt, fight all these court cases, and be able to move on with my life."
So MAGA (which actually stands for Mass Army of Gigantic Assholes) of course will buy every DJT Bible that they can possibly afford. Until it becomes a choice of buying the DJT Bible and moving out of their trailer park. or not buying another DJT bible and keeping their trailer home.
But when you part of the Mass Army of Gigantic Assholes, (also known as MAGA) you are one of the biggest assholes that's known to man and therefor so lost in space, that you would believe Donald Trump is a "recovering gay', who just successfully completed "gay conversion therapy", if he told you that. So it's hard for a mere mortal like myself, to feel sorry for suckers like that. They're getting exactly what bought into.
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| Source:The Daily Show talking about Donald J. Trump's latest grift to profit off of God. God being someone DJT knows nothing about. |
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3/26/2024 - I think the lesson here for career criminals in the future, is if you make a lot of money off of other people's backs and manage to keep a lot of it, put some of that away to cover your legal bills. That way get much better legal representation, because your potential lawyers will know that they'll at the very least get paid, even if they lose in court.
But, if you are Donald J. Trump, you live in your own world mentally. Not physically or legally, but you see yourself as King Donald of the Trump Kingdom, where the laws of mere mortals, simply don't apply to you. But not just that, you don't even have to pay your own legal bills. So King Donald gets all this legal help representation, but doesn't pay for it. Which costs him quality lawyers, because your average successful lawyer in America, is not a charity worker, at least not professionally. And they expect to get paid, especially when they're working 60-70 hours a week on behalf of their clients.
As far as Donald Trump's bond getting reduced yesterday: I'm not a lawyer. (Also in the news: I'm also not Jesus Christ) But I don't have a problem with it.
I guess there's a side of me as an American who loves liberal democracy and the rule of law and would love to see someone like Donald J. Trump get punished as much as possible, at least financially. (Perhaps not physically) Especially since Donald J. Trump represents everything that America is supposed to stand against and hates everything that America stands for, like equal rights, equal justice, the rule of law, etc.
There's a side of me that says I would like to see Trump get the most financial punishment as humanly possible, as far as I'm concern. But he lives in the same world as every other American and therefor has the same rights as everyone else. And 175 million is still a helluva lot of money. And he might be only be worth 200 million tops, as far as what he actually has in all his bank accounts right now, anyway.
As far as this club that right-wing "populist" activist Mark Levin would like to put together for Donald Trump, I guess he would call it: "Real Billionaires For Donald J. Trump", that would be in the business of paying the bills of fake billionaire like Donald J. Trump: I think George Conway had the perfect response to Mr. Levin Here:...
I guess my only responses here are: why would someone claiming to be a billionaire, worth as much as perhaps 6 billions dollars (according to Donald J. Trump. So take that for what it's worth.) need other billionaires to pay his bills for him?
And why would a multi-millionaire like Mark Levin, be going out-of-his-way to back a professional deadbeat like Donald J. Trump?
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| Source:The Bulwark talking about Donald Trump's small victory that he had on Monday in New York. |
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3/25/2024 - I think most people who are following these two cases, the Manhattan hush money case and the New York State fraud case against Donald Trump, before they went to bed last night, thought Monday would be Black Monday for Donald J. Trump. He would not only be looking at bankruptcy in New York, which might have been his biggest problem here, as well as Manhattan criminal case getting a start date today.
Well, half of that is right. DJT won his appeal with the New York Court of Appeals and got his bond caught by almost 2/3 to 175 million and now has 10 days to post that bond.
But Mr. Trump is now going to trial and will be stuck in Manhattan for probably a month dealing with his trial there. And not only that, but he'll probably be convicted in Manhattan because the evidence there against him is overwhelming. With the only witness there that could even make an attempt to try to contradict that evidence and the witness testimony, is Donald J. Trump himself.
But Donald Trump testifying for himself, is a like football team at the Super Bowl that forfeits the game, during the pregame show. Nothing good can happen for Donald Trump when he tries to testify for himself. Donald Trump testifying for himself is like a serial liar on trial, whose on truth serum, but doesn't know it, who takes the stand for himself. He ends up incriminating himself almost every time he tries to defend himself.
So DJT's NYC criminal trial should be real-life, reality TV, where Donald Trump will be like an alien visiting another planet for the very first time.
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| Source:ABC News with a look at Donald Trump's Manhattan, New York hush money case involving Stormy Daniels. |
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3/22/2024 - I probably agree with Dennis Prager more than Reza Aslan when it comes to the Israeli war on Hamas, But Mr. Prager saying to Reza Aslan: "You want to destroy western civilization", even though he was born in Iran and emigrated along with his family to America, right after the Islamist, theocratic, revolution in 1979, I find that pretty interesting, if not hilarious.Perhaps not laugh out loud (or LOL, as the young people say) hilarious. More like: "This guy can't be that stupid. Can he?"
I find Mr. Prager's comment about Reza Aslan interesting, because Dennis Prager backs Donald J. Trump most of the time, perhaps not 100%. But damn near 100%. I mean you could see 100% support for Donald Trump, by Mr. Prager, from where he stands in relationship to Mr. Trump.
Donald J. Trump of course is the leader of the political movement MAGA, which is really just a political cult, that wants to take America back to the 1950s, if not further back, culturally, politically and everything else. Which would destroy modern western civilization, or at least modern American civilization. So I find Mr. Prager's comment here about Reza Aslan, interesting, if not comical. Again, not laugh out loud (or LOL) comical. But more like: "This guy can't be that stupid. Can he?"
What I also find comical, is American leftists (who I agree with Dennis Prager) are not Liberals) who claim to be in favor of minority rights, women's rights, gay rights, etc, any group that represents a minority or a group of people that have been oppressed in America, except when it comes to Jews. Which is like someone claiming to be a vegan, because the only meat that they eat is chicken. The person who says that they never drink alcohol because they only drink beer, etc.
Leftists, or at least militant leftists, seem to have no issues with ethnicism, when it comes to Jews. But if you hate African-Americans because they're African-American, or any other non-European racial group, or you hate Arabs and other Middle Easterners, simply because they're Arab or from some other Middle Eastern ethnic group, you hate Asian-Americans, simply because they're Asian, or Latinos because they're Latino, you are a racist or ethnicist.
But, in the Pluto size world of the Far-Left, it's perfectly acceptable to hate Jews. Someone who claims that they're not a racist or ethnicist, simply because they only hate Jews and Europeans, is like someone who claims to be an Atheist, while saying that Jesus Christ is the son of God. I mean you are, begging people to laugh at you, when you make statements like that.
If you call Hamas freedom fighters, then you don't believe in women's rights, gay rights, minority rights, etc. But instead you probably just hate Jews, simply because they're Jewish, because you support Hamas.
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| Source:Piers Morgan Uncensored trying to moderate a "debate" between Reza Aslan & Dennis Prager. |
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3/21/2024 - Just for the record: Michael Bloomberg is a real-life billionaire, unlike Donald J. Trump. Mr. Bloomberg has the financial statements to prove that. And he's a lifelong New Yorker. Again unlike Donald J. Trump, who now makes his home in primary in Florida.
I think that Mark McKinnon quote or paraphrase is critical here. Had Donald Trump never even ran for President of the United States, maybe he is an actual billionaire today because he wouldn't be so buried in debt. And maybe Manhattan, New York is still is main home today.
But, with Mr. Trump's business background, combined with his own political philosophy, that's really just completely centered around himself and obtaining as much political and governmental power for himself, he's pissed off so many people, in so many different jurisdictions, including a lot of very smart and well-accomplished prosecutors, like New York Attorney General Letitia James, (just to name one) his whole political and business background, are now not just in the spotlight, he can't make a move, or say a word without bringing public scrutiny to himself.
And Mr. Trump is going to be paying for all his bad business and political decisions for the rest of his life. Unless he can pardon himself and get someone else to bail him out financially.
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| Source:Forbes Magazine with a look at the self-proclaimed King of Debt, Donald J. Trump. |
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3/20/2024 - I agree with Michael Smerconish that Donald Trump didn't actually say that Prince Harry (from the United Kingdom) should be deported from America. However, the fact that someone like Nigel Farage, whose basically the Donald Trump, or Pat Buchanan of Britain, ideologically, but even less popular than Donald Trump, could use Mr. Trump this way, just feeds into the whole theory of how U.S. National Security Council and other American national security and intelligence professionals, that Donald Trump is just a useful tool (or useful idiot) for the authoritarian world. As well as wannabe authoritarians in the developed world, like British Nationalist leader Nigel Farage.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about Nigel Farage's interview for former U.S. President Donald J. Trump. |
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3/19/2024 - I guess my first reaction to this is that it's so fun to make fun of Donald J. Trump, to take him out and just give him a verbal beatdown and then just invite others to join in and pile on, with this man having no ability whatsoever to even try to come up with an honest defense to defend himself. So we might as well jump in and join the party and get started.
It would be one thing if Donald Trump was a good man. Hell, it would be one thing if he was a decent man. But if you give out grades for being human beings and I don't see how Donald Trump even gets a d.
Everyone who disagrees with DJT or tries to get in his way and hold him accountable or even prevent him from obtaining absolute power, he puts their physical life in jeopardy. Don't believe me, just ask his own Vice President.
DJT's own former personal attorney Michael Cohen who went to prison for lying for DJT and then he gets out, he finally starts speaking out against him, DJT calls him a traitor.
You agree with Donald Trump 100% of the time, or you are a traitor whose physical safety is put at risk. Not by DJT himself, who probably couldn't physically defend himself, at least at this point. But one of his MAGA militants with cues from their cult leader, will do that for DJT.
And then the fact that DJT lies about practically everything and all the time. The man can't even be honest about his own height and weight. If Donald J. Trump is 6'3 and weighs 215 pounds, then Santa Clause (whose not even a real person) is the King of Saudi Arabia. We are talking about a man who claimed at one point to be worth 6-10 billion dollars. Even with his his net worth and physical properties, he can't cover his 500 million dollar New York State Bond.
So, no, I realize that Donald J. Trump is a huge and still tall (even though he's not 6'3) target, not just for the political world, but in pop culture right now. But because who he is personally and how he treats other people, having no feeling whatsoever for anyone whose not Donald J. Trump, I would have an easier time feeling sorry for serial killers who turned their lives around in prison, then a man who cares about no one other than himself and can't even be honest about his own height and weight, let alone net worth.
As far as Mark Levin: to pick up on what Michael Cohen said about him: Mark Levin should be one of the first people to try to help raise the money for Donald Trump. But he's not going to do that, because when Mr. Levin is being honest, (even if it's just in private and with himself) he knows that Trump is not worth the financial risk. And Mark Levin is not a billionaire anyway. Maybe in the 10s of millions of dollars. And besides, it's Donald J. Trump who claims to be a billionaire. So why does he need other wealthy people to bail him out?
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| Source:CNN talking to Michael Cohen who used to be Donald J. Trump's personal attorney. |
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3/18/2024 - This might not be a perfect analogy, (actually, I'm sure this is an imperfect analogy) but Donald Trump as a New York businessman, is like the shopaholic, who manages to buy everything they want on other people's credit, as their credit cards are already taken from them and then finally gets caught and is now stuck with this huge bill to that he's never intended to pay at all. He's run out of credit:
DJT's word is as useless as spitting on your burning house, after it just caught on fire, just to put out the fire.
Or, driving a car without tires.
Or, trying to fly a plane from the roof of the plane.
Or, making a sandwich without bread,
Drinking water with a fork.
Try to walk without legs and feet.
Donald Trump has essentially made his career and whatever money he still has left, off the backs and with other people's money. To paraphrase the character Gordon Gecko from the movie Wall Street: "I create nothing. I sell nothing." And now he's finally been caught and he's not only not a billionaire, but the only way he can the loans and the bond that he needs to to avoid losing his real estate empire, which at this point is just the properties that he still owes, is putting all that up for collateral.
The problem with DJT putting up collateral is, that he doesn't want to do that because he's Donald Trump. And because of that, Donald Trump believes that he's entitled to live off of other people's money and never ever be forced to pay for the consequences of his own decisions.
The problem with DJT's above the law attitude, well, just one problem with that attitude, is that banks and insurance companies, are in the business to make money. Not to lose money. And before they can give people loans, regardless of the amount of money that the potential borrower needs, they have to be assured that the potential borrower can and will pay them back. Donald Trump can't and won't give them that assurance.
And as a consequence, Donald Trump will probably now, or in the next few months, will have to file for bankruptcy just to pay off the 500 million dollar judgements against him.
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| Source:Harry Litman talking about Defendant Don. |
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3/15/2024 - The old expression two things can be right at the same time comes into play here. A woman can be both beautiful and adorable (take Christina Randall, just to use as example) at the same time. She can be gorgeous and intelligent. She can be a homemaker and a career woman. Someone (man or woman) can be a victim like in this case of her husband being a workaholic, as well as his adultery. But then she can take it too far and not just intentionally murder her cheating husband, but murder his wife, while they're asleep in bed. Which is what Betty Broderick did to her husband Dan and his new wife Linda.
If you watch the literal beginning of Christina Randall's video here, you see a clip of Betty Broderick testifying for herself at her trial and she literally says: "Things just started coming down on me. And I couldn't stand it for another minute."
I'm not a police detective, not a prosecutor, not a psychiatrist, but that sounds more like a suicide note, than justification for breaking into someone else's home, in the middle of the night, go upstairs in Dan and Linda's bedroom, while they're sleeping and shoot them in bed, with her own gun until they're both dead.
This is not just a clear case of murder one, but a double homicide here. She planned the murders of two people and then murdered them all. by herself. It's one thing she comes home or goes to his office and she finds her husband having sex with another woman. And then she freaks out and goes crazy with whatever is around her and uses that to murder both Dan and Linda. That would be a clear case of murder 2. And she's probably out of prison right now. But she planned the murders of two innocent people, who represented no threat whatsoever to her physical well-being, her life, or anyone whose around her.
If America was some theocracy or this case happened down in Mississippi or some other Bible Belt state and adultery was illegal, Dan Broderick is not just guilty here, but he's also guilty and of being a bad husband to her wife. And not talking financially or physically, but emotionally. But America is not Iran or Saudi Arabia and adultery is not illegal anywhere in America. (As far as I know) And besides, this happened in California, where adultery and free love, are actually promoted, or at least encouraged. At least in hippie San Francisco, or Berkeley, or Los Angeles. (Ha, ha)
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| Source:Christina Randall with a look at he Elisabeth Broderick story. |
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3/14/2024 - When I first saw this story, my first reaction is how the hell did Aaron Rodgers ever even get into California Berkeley, let alone graduate from there. I know Cal Berkeley is home to radicals, along with the rest of the City of Berkeley, and the entire San Francisco area for that matter. But those folks are left-wing, hippie radicals, who in some cases still think it's 1968 or 69, and they're still trying to take down the man. Because they're so high, they're simply lost in space and perhaps not just mentally.
What Aaron Rodgers and Robert Kennedy JR. represent, are MAGA radicals. People who think that every school shooting, is an inside job by the deep state or something. Or as Mr. Rodgers put it: "All those kids who died we're just acting." He would be perfect for RFK JR. for the simple fact that they think alike. (And calling that thinking is very generous) As well as having no qualifications to even serve as a baggage handler for the Vice President of the United States, let alone actually being Vice President of the United States.
I already made my point about RFK JR., but he represents the Donald Trump voters who are still in love with Donald Trump, but simply believe that Donald Trump can't get elected again because he''ll either lose, or Democrats will still steal the election. MAGA voters are not what you would call Ivy League graduates. To them, the Ivy League is just a football division or something. But these voters want an alternative to Donald Trump, because they don't think Trump will beat Joe Biden in November.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish- just to correct the record: Aaron Rodgers has never actually played an NFL game for the New York Jets. He broke his foot during the preseason last year. So maybe he should trade his NY Jets cap, for a MAGA hat. And maybe wear a t-shirt that has a picture of Alex Jones or Donald Trump screaming at someone. Because that's who he & RFK JR. represent. |
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3/13/2024 - I guess I agree with everything that Maggie Haberman said here. I would just add a couple of things...
My other point here is about Donald Trump using his Manhattan trial (if there ever is a Manhattan trial and conviction before the election) has to do with the old legal advice that defendants should never speak publicly about their ongoing court case, without that advice from their lawyer. Meaning they shouldn't speak to the public about their ongoing court case, without their lawyer agreeing that is even a good idea. Why? Because anything that a defendant says publicly about their own court case, can come back and be used against them in their case by the prosecution.
If you are familiar with Donald Trump, you know that he can sound like an inmate in jail, waiting on his trial, whose so proud of his crime or crimes, that he either doesn't believe he should even be charged at all, or he simply doesn't care what happens to him as a result. So as a result, this jail inmate, blabbers to other inmates about the crimes he's committed, before he's actually convicted of anything. He gives away his store, before there's any offer to even buy his store. Imagine jail inmate whose also a nihilist. He simply doesn't care what happens to him.
Donald Trump has a bad habit for himself, but great for the public, at incriminating himself, simply because he lacks all self-discipline and believes he's above the law. So Donald Trump speaking in public about his own criminal trial, with all that evidence and all those witnesses, who either used to work for him, or had an affair with him, should be welcome news to the Manhattan District Attorney and perhaps the Biden White House as well.
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| Source:CNN political analyst & New York Times national political reporter/Donald Trump whisperer Maggie Haberman. |
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3/12/2024 - As far as President Joe Biden's state of the union speech: if you were to see a preview of the speech, you might think that President Biden would've been rewarded and given credit for just showing up to the right room where the speech was given, or even getting to the right building, not tripping over his own feet as we walked through the House chamber and up to the Speaker's podium. I mean, if you watched the mainstream media pre-coverage of this speech, you might think that Joe Biden was a walking comatose patient, who was ready to have a heart attack or something.
But instead as Donald Trump is confusing his wife with other women, or claiming that he just wants to be a dictator, but just for one day, (which would be too long) or apparently slipping on the golf course, or having an accident in his pants there, (at least from the photos I've seen) President Biden not just gives the speech of his life, but perhaps the most memorable State of the Union since President Bill Clinton's 1998 address, which was just a. month after the Monica Lewinsky affair broke out.
As far as Senator Katie Britt's opposition response to the State of the Union: you can see what I've already said about that right here...
For any MAGA people who might read this: you are welcome. And here's a chance for you to leave your national cult of misery and destruction and finally give up your addiction to Donald Trump. But, if you actually want to know what patriotism really is...
Patriotism is about love of country. Not about love of people who look, talk, act, like, or believe what you believe, who share your ancestry, etc. To put in a way perhaps MAGA people would understand: it's not about loving your corner of the store, or your section of the woods. It's about loving the country as a whole and what your country stands for, the values the country holds, etc.
MAGA people who claim to be American patriots because they're devoted to Donald Trump, are not patriots. They are cult followers. This is what a cult is...
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| Source:The Daily Show With Jon Stewart with a look at the State of the Union. |
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3/11/2024 - I don't think that Governor Rockefeller was speaking out so much against Senator Barry Goldwater here, as he was speaking out against the far-right, or what would be called the alt-right, or the nationalist-right, that you see in America, especially in the Republican Party. If this speech was about Senator Goldwater, who was Jewish, (by the way) and Jews being people that the far-right has always hated, then the Governor obviously didn't know the Senator very well.
What Nelson Rockefeller was really doing here, was taking one last stand for the Progressive Republicans. I know Progressive Republican sounds like someone who calls themself a Libertarian Communist, or a a wingless airplane, or looks like a goldfish with feet, walking on the beach. But, if you are a political history junky such as myself, you what that what's called the modern Republican Party today, (what some people call the MAGA Party) was not the Republican Party 60 years ago. or even 40 years ago.
Pre-Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party had two dominant factions in it: Progressives from the Northeast and West Coast. And I'm not talking about hippie-leftists from Vermont, Greenwich, Manhattan, in New York, or San Francisco. But people who believed in progress and that government could play a limited role in seeing that as many Americans as possible, of all backgrounds, could succeed in America, if only given the the opportunity. That the private market couldn't take care of everybody, or that it could be unregulated. That's the wing of the Republican Party that Nelson represented, as well as Dwight Eisenhower and Tom Dewey before him and many others.
So in 1964, sort of in response to the Democratic Party not just being in complete charge in Washington, with not just The White House, but the entire Congress, Supreme Court, they controlled most of the states as well, the right-wing of the party, including the populist-right, that part of Barry Goldwater's movement, but who even to the right of him politically, took over the party. And in 1964, this new, emerging, right-wing movement in he Republican Party, now controlled the Republican Party.
And at the 1964 RNC, Governor Rockefeller stood up and gave one last attempt during the election, to speak out for the Progressive elitists in the Republican Party, that he was part of, to try prevent this right-wing takeover of the Republican Party.
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| Source:Enemy Nation- Governor Nelson D. Rockefeller (Republican, New York) speaking at the 1964 Republican National Convention, at the San Francisco Cow Palace. |
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3/08/2024 - First of all, before I might sound overly insulting, (perhaps to some) I don’t want to sound too insulting in the beginning. I mean giving the opposition response to the State of the Union speech, just after the President of the United States spoke not just to the entire Congress, but a lot of the country as well, and you are a freshman U.S. Senator, as well as member of Congress, (which is what Senator Katie Britt is) can be like performing on a concert stage, just after the main event is over and leaves, while the fans are exiting the arena. Imagine being a high school band, that takes the stage just after the Rolling Stones (or whatever band you prefer) but you are still trying to keep what’s left the audience’s attention anyway.
The SOTU opposition response, is not even a warmup act. It’s more like the closing credits and music to a film at a movie theater. Even though you are trying to represent the opposition party as far as what they think about what the President just said and the current State of the Union. As Tim Miller said, at best one of these speeches is an opportunity for an unknown politician, to get some national attention and a chance to hit on some key talking points. And during a presidential election year, a chance to tryout for the vice presidential nomination on national TV.
Now having said on that, either Senator Britt got some really, horrible advice, but she took it anyway, or she’s simply not ready for prime time. Donald Trump and the rest of the MAGA wing of what’s left of the Republican Party, is getting buried by Democrats when it comes to female voters. As much as MAGA wants people to think it’s still the 1950s, or they want to take us back there, the average American woman today works out of the home.
So what does Senator Britt do here? She gives her speech not just from her Alabama home, but from her kitchen. And as Olivia Troye said, who worked for Vice President Mike Pence in the Trump White House, the kitchen: “Representing exactly where many of these men in the GOP think all women belong…
As far as the performance itself: was I watching CNN, or Bravo TV? Perhaps a block of not just soap operas and reality TV shows, but that they were showing the tryouts for these shows and giving people and idea of what their cast members go through before they pick their cast.
This speech didn’t even look like good acting on Senator Britt’s part. More like a high school sophomore whose never even being in a community play, let alone a high school play, trying out for the very first time in a high school play. But instead of reading from a script on a piece of paper, she’s reading from a teleprompter. The speech just didn’t look real.
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| Source:The Bulwark- Tim Miller talking about U.S. Senator Tim Miller (Republican, Alabama) |
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3/07/2024 - Even with all the personal and legal baggage that is surrounding Donald Trump, if his likely bankruptcy wasn't one of those issues and he was actually the billionaire that he's been claiming to be really his whole entire business career, or at least time as a professional celebrity, instead of someone who can't even come up with 83 million dollars on his own, (which is actually just a chunk of change for an actual billionaire) Donald Trump could close his financial gap with President Biden fairly easily. He could write his campaign a check for 100 million, or whatever he needed to make up the financial hole that he has with the Biden Campaign.
But, since we now know that Donald Trump is not only not a billionaire, but someone who before all these financial and legal problems, was worth maybe 200 million dollars, instead of the 6 billion that he's been claiming for at least the last 8 years and he has over 550 million dollars in judgements, that he either has to pay, or go bankrupt, (unless a real billionaire bails him out) as well as the fact that Mr. Trump is really just running for President to stay out of prison and get back at the people who've been doing their jobs reporting the actual facts about him, really since he was President, if not before, Donald Trump's personal life and lack of personal discipline, has been writing checks, that he'll probably never have the money to pay for.
By May of 2024, one of the major political party presidential nominees, will be a bankrupt, convicted felon. And I'll give you a clue: it won't be the current President of the United States. And for Donald Trump to even keep his presidential campaign going, while struggling to keep his legal pacs going to fight all the cases against him, he's going to have to rely on a national suckers convention (also known as MAGA) to pay his bills for him. And most of his political base, are hard-working, blue-collar, small town, workers and voters, who work hard just to pay their own bills. Who don't have unlimited funds, especially to try to pay the bills of someone who claims to be a billionaire.
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| Source:CNN talking to New York Times national political reporter Maggie Haberman. |
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3/06/2024 - As an at best Independent Democrat at this point, whose not in love with the Democratic Party politically, or really anything else, for that matter, I would love to see Robert F. Kennedy JR. run for President as a Libertarian. Why? Because it would just confirm what I, what this blog, and what a lot of other Democrats believe about RFK JR. that he's simply a MAGA man, who at the very least doesn't want Joe Biden to be reelected and perhaps even wants Donald Trump back in The White House, where all their MAGA conspiracy theories and avenues to financially profit for them, would open up.
The Libertarian Party, even though they still have some real Ron Paul get government out of our personal and economic affairs, classical Libertarians in it, like Reason Magazine and other classical libertarian publications, along with the MAGA movement in what's left of the Republican Party, the Libertarian Party today is the home right-wing conspiracy theorists and conspiracy theories.
The LP is the home of people who think that Joe Biden didn't actually win the 2020 presidential election.
The LP is the home of the deep state conspiracy theorists who think that COVID was created to get Joe Biden into The White House and defeat Donald Trump.
The LIP is the home for people who believe the U.S. Department of Justice, is simply prosecuting Donald Trump, simply to prevent him from returning to The White House.
The LP is the home as well for the antisemites, the Holocaust deniers, at least on the Far-Right in America.
No better home or place for someone like a Robert F. Kennedy, whose publicly claimed at the CIA murdered his uncle President John F. Kennedy back in 1963, then the Libertarian Party.
This whole speculation of RFK JR. running for President in the Libertarian Party, is why I believe he's a bigger threat to Donald Trump than President Biden. But he can't run interference for DJT, unless he at the very least is on all the swing state ballots in November.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish & company talking about a possible RFK JR. Libertarian presidential campaign. |
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3/05/2024 - I think perhaps the thing I love the most about this film, other than it being a 75 minute film that flies by and not just because it's so short. But it's so exciting, where you really don't have an opportunity to take a break, other than waiting for a commercial or hitting pause. But the thing that I really love about this film is that it doesn't have a lot of do's and don't's. It just has a lot of don't's. Which I'm going to explain to you.
The IMDB description is pretty good. But there's a lot more to it. Ruth Stanton (played by the beautiful and too cute Jeanne Crain) just lost her father, who she still misses terribly. And she falls in love with John Bowman (played by Carl Betz) pretty much right after she loses her father. Ruth's father had a business that he left to her daughter, as well as good deal of money.
So now Ruth Stanton is pretty vulnerable because Bowman knows all about this, but his brand new wife doesn't know him. Which comes back to be a big problem for her after he ditches her just after they arrive on the boat together. Because she can not only not find him, but has no idea what happened to him, and she has a helluva a story to try to explain to the ships's crew, who simply thinks that he got off the boat because there's no sign of him and perhaps he just ditched her.
So now Ruth is in a situation where the only person on the boat whose willing to try to believe her and help her figure out what happened is the ship's doctor. (Played by Michael Rennie) While the rest of the ship is thinks she's going crazy, or simply making all this up. Not knowing that there's a whole plan here that was put together by her husband to make it look like she's going crazy and he has one of the ship's stewardess's in on the scheme with him.
The don't of this story I think are pretty obvious:
Don't fall in love with people you barley know.
Don't go on a cruise with someone you barely know.
Don't marry people you barely know.
But if Ruth Stanton played it straight and smart, there wouldn't have been this great and exciting film noir, that I've seen maybe 10 times in the last 8-9 years. And I wouldn't be writing about it today.
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| Source:Brian F- sometimes a picture actually does say it all. |
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3/04/2024 - I give you part of Tom Dewey's speech here, because I want to give you an idea of how different the Republican Party of the late 1940s and really into the 1950s and perhaps even 1960s, when they really were the Grand Ole Party, a party that I probably could've been a member of back then, ideologically and how the MAGA Party (which is supposed to be the Republican Party today) is today.
Back then, when talking about religion and government, you didn't hear people like Mike Flynn and Jack Posobiec, say that for America to be a nation under god, we can only have one religion. Or that we need to replace American democracy and the Constitution, with their interpretation of the Bible. And we need to become a Christian Nationalist State, instead of the federal liberal democratic republic that we are today.
I don't mention any of these things to sound partisan, or sound like I hate Republicans, or I hate the Republican Party. I do hate the MAGA movement and what it stands for. I mention these things to point out that what's supposed to pass as the Republican Party today, is not even Republican, let alone conservative.
The MAGA Party doesn't even believe in Republicanism, let alone conserving the American Republic. They believe in what they call Christian Nationalism or Trumpism. Which is very anti-conservative, anti-Republican, anti-constitutional, and even Un-American. At least when you consider what they believe in and how their values goes against almost everything that America is supposed to stand for. As the great Ronald Reagan said: "The city on a shinning hill."
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| Source:CSPAN- Governor Thomas E. Dewey (Republican, New York) 1948 Republican nominee for President. |
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3/01/2024 - No offense, but George Conway predicted back in December, I believe, when Special Counsel Jack Smith moved to go past the Court of Appeals and straight to the Supreme Court. And of course SCOTUS denied that as well. And then he predicted in February, that the Supreme Court wouldn't even take this case because the Court of Appeals opinion was strong and correct. And of course on Wednesday, that the Supreme Court decided to take the case. I still think he's an excellent legal analyst, but he's had two major mistakes here.
Again, I'm not a lawyer and I predicted that this would be 8-1 or 8-0 against Donald Trump, with perhaps just Justice Clarence Thomas ruling in favor of Trump. As I wrote on The New Democrat on Tuesday...
So, I've been wrong about this as well. I think it's all about when the Supreme Court decides this case. I think it's an easy case because there's no one whose above the law in America, including the President of the United States and that includes former President's. So theoretically, SCOTUS could listen to the arguments in late April and then maybe rule on that 4 weeks later, because it's hard to imagine how there's 5 votes on SCOTUS who thinks that anyone in America is above the law.
If the Court ruled in favor of Donald J. Trump on presidential immunity, it would literally be saying that the Constitution doesn't really exist and neither does the rule of law. At least for politicians that they're more willing to vote for. And that would put the Court's future in jeopardy.
If Joe Biden wins reelection anyway and Democrats win back the House and not just hold but add in the Senate, the next Congress and a reelected President Joe Biden could come back and say: "Now it's time to expand the Supreme Court, because they now have a major credibility and trust issue." And they would have a good case to make there. So I think it's clear Donald Trump will lose on this. The question is how bad will the loss be for him.
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| Source:The Bulwark with Sarah Longwell & George Conway. |
2/29/2024 - I think to understand someone like Tom Dewey's politics, you also have to understand the politics of the Republican Party back in the 1940s and 50s. And not just in New York, but the entire country as well.
In Tom Dewey's time, being a Republican was about being in favor of the rule of law, strong national security, strong economy that benefited both workers and management, the U.S. Constitution, equal rights, equal justice, individual rights for everyone. That was what the Republican Party by en-large, before Richard Nixon's silent majority movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, that was made up of Dixiecrat Democrats who moved into the Republican Party in the 1960s and 70s.
In Tom Dewey's time, the Republican Party had a conservative wing that believed in conserving our form of government, our Constitution, national security, the American way of life for everyone. But it wasn't an authoritarian wing who believes the U.S. Constitution is outdated and that not every American in equal, or that not every group in America is equal.
And this is going to sound as strange as sunbathers spotted in the North Pole, or people spotted going ice fishing in the desert or something, but the Republican Party also had a progressive wing that believed in the same values as the Conservative Republicans. But that government could be used to help create progress. But that if had to be efficient. And that the best government especially as it related to safety net and social policies, was the government that was closest to home. Which is where Tom Dewey fitted in to what today would be called a Progressive and perhaps even a Liberal Republican.
And when I say Progressive or Liberal, even in a Republican sense, I'm not talking about left-wing, revolutionary, hipsters, who want to change the world and try to eliminate everything that actually makes America great. And try to replace the American form of government with some type of socialist state. Those are actually the false stereotypes of what it means to be a Liberal or Progressive.
Progressive or even Liberal in the Republican sense, still sounds pretty conservative. Government should conserve, government should move cautiously when it comes to reform, government should be fiscally responsible, which means pay as you go. And when government helps people, it helps them get on their feet and expects people to do as much for themselves as they can.
That's the kind of Republican that Tom Dewey was, along with Dwight Eisenhower, Nelson Rockefeller, even Richard Nixon, at least on national security, foreign, and even economic policy, and even George H.W. Bush, at least when he was in the House of Representatives in the late 1960s and even as President. Today, Senator Mitt Romney fits in that wing of the old Republican Party. But the Progressives are obviously not what's called the Republican Party today.
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| Source:Library of Congress with a short bio of Governor Thomas E. Dewey (Republican, New York) |
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2/28/2024 - I guess another good way to describe Crazy People At A Convention, (also known as CPAC) is with a hypothetical:
Imagine if there were let's say 100, maybe a 1,000 people, whoever showed up at CPAC last weekend, who not just got our prison, perhaps a mental hospital, but just got out of solitary confinement either in prison, or at a secure forensic hospital, (which is a prison for mentally ill criminals) and they've been institutionalized for a very longtime and perhaps were just released because of prison overcrowding.
So now these folks our out of the institution, they've been out of society for a very longtime, the world even in real life, doesn't look the way it did lets's say 20-30 years ago, before they were institutionalized.
So now you have all these career criminals and career mental patients, who decide to invade Washington, for let's say their annual get together. That's what CPAC looks like, at least in a political sense. You have a lot of people there who look and act like they're from not even the 1950s, but perhaps even in the 1920s, and still think that's what America is culturally, ethnically, racially, religiously. And they just get out of the institution and see this new country that's also called America and feel the need to fight back and "take back America" and return America to the "real Americans" as they see themselves.
MAGA doesn't live in the same country as everyone else. This is not the Conservative Political Action Conference. This is as one of the CPAC speakers said Jack Posobiec, this is a movement that wants to not end American democracy, but American liberal democracy and replace it with some type of Christian Nationalist government, where life for Americans who aren't Northern European, who aren't Protestant, who aren't male, would very different from the way it is today.
To the outside world, MAGA looks like a bunch of escaped mental patients. The problem is, they're big enough, they're crazy enough, they're violent enough, to take down the American form of government and all our individual rights, if the real American patriots don't stand up, fight back, and prevent these folks from ever getting any real power in this country.
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| Source:The Lincoln Project- U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik (Republican, New York) was one of the original Never-Trumpers, at least in the House, before she decided she want to be Vice President of the United States. |
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2/27/2024 - No offense to Harry Litman: but there's only one interesting story here, because the rest of these stories are fairly well-known as far as Donald Trump's potential bankruptcy, if he can't meet the bond payment on his New York State judgment against him. As well as what's going in Atlanta, Georgia right now, with Trump's lawyers trying to get the District Attorney there, Fani Willis, removed from the case, for having an adulterous affair with her lead prosecutor in that case and being inaccurate about the timeline there.
The interesting story here, the newsworthy story here, is Harry Litman's theory for why the Supreme Court is taking so long to either grant or deny Donald Trump's stay on his immunity claim. Litman believes that they've already decided this case, but the Chief Justice, John Roberts, is simply waiting for the dissent opinion from either Justice Clarence Thomas or Samuel Alito. Meaning the Supreme Court will deny Trump's request for a stay. But they're simply waiting on the dissenting opinion from Justice Thomas or Justice Alito, perhaps they'll write a joint dissent in this case.
I have my own theory here. Justice Thomas seems even more partisan than Justice Alito. We saw that during Donald Trump's appeals to deny Joe Biden the election back in late 2020. He simply turned away a big case that then President Trump had and simply didn't take that case and let the lower court ruling stand. Also, Justice Thomas's wife Ginni, is all in when it comes to MAGA. She was part of the "stop the steal movement" in late 2020 and perhaps one of the organizers 2021 insurrection attempt.
My theory is that the Court has already ruled against Donald Trump. But they're waiting on whether Justice Thomas will either vote no and go down 8-1 in one of the biggest cases in the history of the Court and be remembered as the one U.S. Justice who believes Donald Trump is above the law. And risk looking pretty bad, perhaps even corrupt and looking like a partisan politician, instead of a judge. Or, will he juste recuse himself and not vote at all and save himself from a little historical embarrassment. But that's my theory as an outsider in this case, whose not even a lawyer.
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| Source:Harry Litman talking about Defendant Don. |
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2/26/2024 - I can’t repeat this enough, but I’m not a lawyer. But what Donald Trump wants is his friendly judge in Miami, Judge Aileen Cannon, to go first and then delay that trial as much as possible, so he’s not only not convicted there before November, but Judge Tanya Chutkan’s trial in Washington wouldn’t even be able to get started before the election.
But there’s one glaring weakness to this latest Trump strategy. If the Supreme Court throws out both Donald Trump’s stay when it comes to his presidential immunity claim, that the Washington case goes back to Judge Chutkan and then she can put that trial back on her calendar and it could be ready by let’s say May, but the time the Manhattan trial with Donald Trump should be over.
So if everything goes the way it should here, Donald Trump is tried and convicted probably by late April, or early May in Manhattan, New York and then he goes back to Washington to be tried there in May, maybe June and that case is finish by the end of the summer.
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| Source:CNN looking at Defendant Don's criminal cases. |
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2/23/2024 - Former U.S. Representative Charlie Dent (Republican, Pennsylvania) talking to Brianna Keilar and John Berman on CNN:
"CPAC has always been an odd gathering. But now it's been taken over by radicals, anti-vaxers. It's a land of misfits, toys, it's a political freaks show. It's the Star Wars bar, it's bizarre... Serious people are not showing up to this thing. They had their stupid straw poll, its rank choice now. They're not serious and one doesn't know if they should laugh or they should cry about what they're watching and witnessing at these CPAC gatherings."
I'm well aware that CPAC stands for: "Conservative Political Action Conference", but come on, is this really a conservative event anymore?
If you look at the American political spectrum as far as where Americans are politically as far as which party that they're registered with: Democrats are at around 30%, Republicans are at around 30% and then you have that 40% that aren't either and in many cases are registered Independents.
There's always been a hardcore, far-right in America, as well as far-left, that doesn't register with either party, for the simple reason that they don't believe either party is radical enough for them.
The so-called Republican Party today, has what's left of the center-right in that party, the Adam Kinzinger's, the Liz Cheney's, the S.E Cupp's, the Charlie Dent's, the Nikki Haley's. But their far-right is the party now primarily, because those far-right Independents and former far-right 3rd party people, who again always believed that that the Republican party was too establishment, too mainstream for them, are now also members of the Republican Party. Ot as I like to call the Republican Party today: Republicans in Name Only. Why? Because they don't even believe in the concept of the republic, let alone Republicanism.
You think Jack Posobiec is a far-right radical? Well, he is, but not in the modern Republican Party, that's more willing to believe Russian political and intelligence operates, than own country's intelligence community. And that's not just today. That was back in the Trump Administration as well.
Russia didn't interfere into the 2016 presidential election, because Vladimir Putin said so. (According to these far-right RINOS) Even though the entire American intelligence community said that of course Russia interfered into the 2016 elections. Including people that President Donald Trump appointed, like Mike Pompeo, Chris Wray, Nikki Haley, Marx Esper, Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr, and many others. But Russia said no, so that's who these RINOS believe.
CPAC today is really just: Crazy People At a Convention. And I mean that in a political sense. Before these escaped political mental patients accuse me of slander or defamation. As Charlie Dent said, this is not a serious group. Or as I would like to put it, they're the American political version of a Star Trek Convention, except that these folks aren't loyal to Star Trek. They're loyal to Donald J. Trump.
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| Source:CNN- far-right, Christian Nationalist speaker Jack Posobiec. Apparently the woman behind him can't even take him seriously. |
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2/22/2024 - To look at the MAGA House investigation of President Biden and his son Hunter, I think the best way I can do that is through a hypothetical:
Imagine if there was a crooked DA, who only has his law license, because he was the hottest man in law school, who banged every women there (especially the female law professors) over and over, getting incredible reviews about his performances in bed. Whose father is an alum at that university and law school, who also happens to be a billionaire, who can personally finance that law school all by himself, or put it out of business.
Now, this hotshot, (pun intended) cooked lawyer, is now a municipal prosecutor, who hates the current Mayor of this town, because he put his father in prison for embezzlement. And now sees it as is number one priority to put the Mayor in prison, as retribution for what the Mayor did to his father when he was the DA.
To get into the crooked DA's case against the Mayor: the only witness that this DA has, is a pathological liar, whose done time in prison for perjury. Who also happens to be a major political operative in the Mayor's main opponent in the upcoming Mayor's race for this city. That's what House Judiciary Republicans were relying on here. A known liar, a known Russian government operative, who hates Joe Biden, as their key witness to take down the President of the United States.
So all this comes out and the chief media opponent of the Mayor's goes on his local TV show, who previously was relying on known perjurers to make their case against the Mayor, not even bothering to try to offer even any additional witnesses against the Mayor, let alone any documents that backs up this professional liar's claims against the Mayor. So what does this TV host do? Of course he doesn't apologize, even to himself. He just makes up from the top of his head, new garbage claiming that the Mayor is simply locking up his political opponents, to stay in power. That's Fox News host Jesse Walters.
As far as Senator Tim Scott: I guess when your future, your credibility, your integrity, is worth as much to you, as week's old bread found by the local homeless person, in a dumpster, you have the freedom to make a complete asshole out of yourself and treat Donald J. Trump as God, or at least the son of God. Because he and his followers are all you care about anyway.
DJT was actually caught being honest (which happens as often Iceland gets heatwaves) in this Laure Ingraham, Fox News townhall when he was talking about Tim Scott: "He's been much better for me than he has for himself." DJT perfectly summed up Tim Scott right there.
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| Source:The Daily Show anchor Desi Lydic talking about Fox News MAGA propagandist Jesse Walters. Perhaps you can tell for yourself who is who. |
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2/21/2024 - I haven't read Coleman Hughes book, yet, but based on this interview with Piers Morgan and what he's saying here, I completely agree with him as a Liberal. (Meaning someone who believes in liberal democracy, not total equality at all costs)
We would literally have to be physically blind to ever have a totally, colorblind, or race blind, or ethnic blind country. I see race, ethnicity, and color, in every person I've ever seen, as well as when I look in the mirror. But as Coleman Hughes said, that's not the point.
What people like myself and others believe when we're talking about a non-racial and non-ethnic America, has to do with law and how we treat each others as human beings. Not to act like we don't see European, African, American-Indian, Middle Eastern-American, or Asian-Americans. But that we instead look and treat each other as human beings, as individuals. Instead of treating each other as members of teams or groups.
The only team that each of us as American citizens should be cheering for and promoting when it comes to America, is America itself as one country. Not our particular race or ethnicity.
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| Source:Piers Morgan Uncensored talking to conservative writer Coleman Hughes. |
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2/20/2024 - I talked about this back in October, when Bill Maher was basically trying to make Joe Biden look like the presidential version of deceased U.S. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who stayed in too long and then ends up dying, when the Republican Party still had The White House and Senate back in 2020. And then the country goes to hell, etc, because Justice Ginsberg stayed in too long and was replaced by a Conservative Republican.
And now what those bedwetters are arguing is that if President Biden runs for reelection, he'll lose to Donald Trump, even if Donald Trump is a two-time convicted felon by the time the presidential election comes around. So again we would have a MAGA White House and a MAGA Congress, with Republicans holding and adding to the House and winning back the Senate.
But, as time goes on, things tend to change in American politics. Back in October, it didn't look like Donald Trump might even get one trial and conviction before presidential election. The economy wasn't looking very good, with weak economic and job growth, inflation was still a problem.
But guess what, 5 months later, Donald Trump is now looking at the possibility of bankruptcy, unless he can meet the premiums on those two New York civil judgements against him and even if he does that, he still might be looking at bankruptcy.
Mr. Trump will now have to go trial in Manhattan in March, be looking at felony convictions, just from that case. And it looks like the Supreme Court will not just allow for the Washington case against Trump will be tried and decided before the presidential election as well, but his immunity could be tossed by Chief Justice John Roberts and that case gets sent back to Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington. And the economy moving really well right now, with both strong economic and job growth, rising wages, and even inflation is coming down now.
I think David Axelrod nailed it last night when he said:
"And his attitude is always people underestimate me in there. I'm sure his attitude is they're underestimating me now. So I just, you know, I read Ezra's piece. He said a lot of things that I had said previously, but I don't think that's where we're going to end up.
Well, I think it's true. I mean, listen, Anderson, the body of work that he's done, the things that he's accomplished, the bills that he's passed on a bipartisan basis against all odds, the coalitions he's forged globally and so on, those things don't happen by accident.
He's clearly doing the job and you speak to people around him and they say that. You know, they say he's sharp in meetings and so on. He is not good in front of a camera anymore. I mean, that's pretty clear. And he has trouble with that. And that's how most Americans see him.
And worse than that, that's how social media sees him. They, you know, he can give a brilliant speech and have nine bad seconds, and that becomes a -- it's part of the mean, and that gets, you know, circulated to millions of people on TikTok, particularly younger people. And that's, you know, that has been a real problem for him.
So, yes, no, I do accept that he has governed very, very competently. And Anderson, people -- you spent some time with him for your podcast. You know, I'm sure he was very cogent when he...
Let's face the facts: in a perfect world, at least from a Democratic perspective, we wouldn't have an 81 year old Democratic President of the United States right now. In that world, that President would be in his mid to late 50s right now, with the same economy that President Biden has, but perhaps without a trillion-dollar deficit and 3% inflation. So of course the President has some real reelection challenges that are mostly about his age and how people view his competency. But those problems are easily correctable.
The way President Biden deals with the weaknesses of his reelection campaign, is to take Nate Silver's advice. Do a series of national TV news interviews and not with just the friendly Democratic news sources like MSNBC. But talk to the network news divisions, including FOX News, someone like a Shannon Breem or even Brett Baier wold give President Biden a fair interview and let the President speak and answer the questions.
President Biden should also talk to CBS News, ABC News, NBC News, the PBS NewsHour, CNN, or if The CW Network wants to have a prime time special with President Biden, do that as well.
And then the President should also do some swing state townhalls, where he's talking to mostly Independent voters, as well as blue-collar Democrats and African-American Democrats, who aren't in love with either Joe Biden and Donald Trump and looking for an alternative instead.
To paraphrase David Axelrod, Joe Biden is no longer a good political campaigner in the sense that he can do one campaign event after another and look good in front of the camera, without making any serious mistakes. But he's good with live interviews and he's still very good at the townhalls and talking to people one-on-one.
If President Biden solves the age and competency issues, his approval rating gets up to around 50% or better. He doesn't do that, it will remain in the high 30's. But considering who his likely opponent is in the fall, that might be good enough to get the President reelected anyway.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about President Joe Biden's reelection campaign. |
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2/19/2024 - Just to try to back up what Michael Cohen said here about Donald Trump's finances:
the self-proclaimed billionaire, Donald J. Trump on Friday, created a Go Fund Me account to help him meet the 355 million dollar judgment against him, from the New York fraud case that he lost.
Go Fund Me is sort of like the private sector's version of a Welfare account. Its one's personal charity account, that people can contribute to help someone who otherwise can't pay their bills, or raising money that they don't have for something else. And that's assuming the person with the Go Fund Me account is even legitimate. Last I saw that was reported, Mr. Trump was at around 350 thousand dollars, with like 4,000 contributions.
Mr. Trump has to raise at least a certain percentage of the 355 million and only has a couple weeks to do that, as well as the 83 million from the Jean Carroll cases against him, just to be eligible to file an appeal in both cases. It's sort of like a bond or collateral that he has to put up, before he can even file appeals in both cases.
Even Donald Trump himself is no longer talking like he even believes that he's a billionaire. He's saying and publications have reported that he personally has 600 million dollars on hand as far as his own personal wealth. But even if that's true, what's the Go Fund Me account for?
Donald Trump's days as a Manhattan, New York businessman, could be coming to end, if not over right now. He doesn't meet the premiums on the two civil judgments against him to even file his appeals, he loses his New York State business license immediately for 3 years. And then he's into the criminal trials in Manhattan and Washington, where then his personal freedom is in serious jeopardy as well, because he'll be convicted overwhelmingly in both cases.
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| Source:CNN talking to former Donald J. Trump Manhattan lawyer Michael Cohen. |
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2/16/2024 - Judge Juan Merchan literally just put it all out there and on the line and completely blew up Trump lawyer Todd Blanche, after Blanche literally argued that this trial should be delayed, because his client is running for President of the United States.
Just think about that for a second: future criminal defendants, perhaps just not in New York City, but perhaps around the country, could get out of criminal prosecution, if they're running for President of the United States. But take that a step further and perhaps they could decide to run for President, after they're already indicted. This about what that argument could sound like in court:
"Judge, my client doesn't have the time or money to be here in court. He has to be out on the campaign trail raising money for his presidential campaign and campaigning for President.
If this trial goes further while my client is still running for President, that would take away from his ability to raise money and campaign for President.
Plus, with all this physical evidence, paperwork, and all these witnesses who are testifying against him, who were one time friends and associates, (perhaps relatives) my client is going to look like a criminal on the campaign trail. You have to dismiss this case, because it could hurt my client politically. Or at least put it off until he's elected, so he can dismiss the case after he's in office."
Now, of course Todd Blanche and company didn't use those words exactly. I'm just giving you a hypothetical of what a future criminal defense for postponement or dismissal could sound like, from future criminal defendants, if they also happen to be running for President of the United States, the same year that they're goin to trial.
Blanche and company are literally arguing that Donald Trump should be immune from criminal prosecution, simply because he's running for President of the United States. With Judge Merchan giving the perfect response to that argument: "That's not a legal argument. That's a political argument."
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| Source:Harry Litman- left to right: NYC Judge Juan Merchan & Defendant Don. |
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2/15/2024 - I'm not actually saying that Crystal Harris is some money grubbing, whore, whose trying to make money off her dead husband. I don't know that, but I think someone could argue that. But, if you don't know Hugh Hefner is and what he represented, what his Playboy Mansion and Empire represented, before you get your photo taken before you try to get permission to enter the Playboy Manson to meet Hugh Hefner, then you are literally from another planet, whose spending your first moments on Planet Earth, at the Playboy Mansion.
I mean Crystal Harris said so herself, she got her photo taken to try to get permission to enter the Playboy Mansion in 2008. She marries Hugh Hefner 4 years later. Was she on drugs the whole time? Was she sleepwalking the whole time that she was involved with Hugh Hefner?
Hefner was a billionaire, obviously one of the most famous men in the world, anything that she writes about him, especially in a book, is bound to make a lot of money for herself, even if it's all garbage. In the celebrity TV/reality TV, pop culture world, people make money off of other people, especially people who are lot wealthier than them, all the time. Anyone is free to read her book. But she need to know these things and the her potential motives, before she read her book.
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| Source:Piers Morgan interviewing Hugh Hefner's widow Crystal Harris. |
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2/14/2024 - OK, to explain why Representative Marjorie T. Greene's point about Hollywood making George MAGA right-wingers: (I'm not going to give them the credit of being either Conservatives or Republicans)
It's not Hollywood that makes MAGA people look like rednecks, dipshits, assholes, uneducated, fools, etc. When someone shoots themself in the foot over and over, it's either because they're suicidal, or they simply don't know how to handle a gun, maybe they have bad eyesight, whatever the case. You can't blame the gun manufacturer for the idiot who keeps shooting themself in the foot.
MAGA members get presented as rednecks, because that's how they present themselves to the outside world. And the outside world to MAGA, is the most of the country. Most Americans now live in or around major cities. Most MAGA people live in either rural America, or in small towns that hours away from a major city.
A major part of the outside world to MAGA, is in Georgia. Georgia is a big state of 11 million people. 6 million Georgians live in either Atlanta, or the rest of the Atlanta metro area. Which is how Joe Biden won Georgia back in 2020, along with center-right Republicans not bothering to vote for Donald Trump, or voting for Joe Biden.
Most MAGA members, don't live in or around Atlanta, because they view big cities and metros, like Atlanta, as Communist cells. That should give you a little idea about how stupid and crazy MAGA (which actually stands for Mass Army of Gigantic Assholes) looks and sounds outside of their movement.
And to Marjorie T. Greene's point about Hollywood Communists: To the Mass Army of Gigantic Assholes (also known as MAGA) anyone whose not in their world, is basically an Un-American, Communist, or some other type of Socialist, or Islamist. Basically anyone who believes in modernism, diversity, individualism, individual freedom, free choice, equal justice, equal rights, rule of law, the U.S. Constitution, etc, is a Communist or Islamist, to your average MAGA militant.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish- talking about U.S. Representative Marjorie T. Greene (MAGA, Georgia) & comedian Larry David. |
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2/13/2024 - With all due respect to Donald Trump's Washington lawyers: they're referencing the wrong case here and it's not going to help them. The Supreme Court back in 1982 ruled that President's are immune from prosecution and civil liability, from their official acts as President. They can't be sued or prosecuted because of executive orders that they right, treaties and trade deals that they sign, budgets that they propose, etc.
But Donald Trump is not being prosecuted for official actions that he took as President of the United States. He's being prosecuted for alleged criminal actions that he took as candidate for reelection as President of the United States. Doing your job as s President of the United States and campaigning for the presidency, are two different things.
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| Source:CNN- former Richard Nixon White House Counsel John Dean, talking about Defendant Don. |
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2/12/2024 - I'll take these Bill Maher stories one at a time.
The so-called Progressive whose running for the state House of Representatives in New Hampshire:
She said she needs to "get the fuck out of this country" (meaning America) even though she's running for the state House of Representatives in New Hampshire. I guess she plans on campaigning and governing for New Hampshire, from Canada or oversees. I guess she would be an exiled state representative from New Hampshire.
I think her video and story speaks for itself. She doesn't know what she's talking about. You don't try to run for office in a country that you say, "you need to get the fuck out of" just like you don't fly to Hawaii, to take your vacation in Puerto Rico. (Unless the pilot of your plane is blind, drunk, and high, all at the same time) You don't drink beer, to give up alcohol. You don't smoke pot to give up cigarettes. If America is the hellhole (to keep it clean) as you say it is, why are you saying you need to "get the fuck out of here" while you are running for office here? Are you on the run from the law and hope to get elected to something, so you can pardon yourself? Perhaps you read Donald Trump's book on how to stay out of jail.
As far as Donald Trump saying that he's committing a huge sacrifice by running for President of the United States: "hard to write that without laughing" If he moved to France tomorrow, which is a country that seems to think is better than America, millions of Americans would volunteer to pack his bags for him and give him a kick on the ass as she boards his plane to leave America for France. Not only that, but the Federal charges would be dismissed, just as long as he doesn't run for President again and doesn't come back.
But come on, most of the times that Donald Trump speaks about anything, especially relating to himself, he doesn't even believe what he's saying. The only reason he's running for President again, is to stay out of prison. That's literally the only reason why he's running for President again. Along with locking up anyone whose ever worked against him the last 8 years.
And as far as the so-called left-wing or liberal celebrities who claim that America sucks so much and they'll move, if Donald Trump is elected President again:
there's no other place in the world where they would have it better than America. No other country where they would be as free, as rich, where the market for their brand of entertainment (if you want to call it entertainment) would be as big, as wealthy, as loyal to them, as America. And of course they already know all of this.
But when you are a professional celebrity, whether it's Miley Cyrus, George Lopez, Alec Baldwin, or anyone else, it's your personal popularity and your brand that you care about the most. And talking like a whacked-out, hate America leftist, sounds cool to young Americans. Even if no one actually believes you when you say anything. It's sounding and looking cool, style over substance, is what counts in the world of pop and celebrity culture, including politics and social media. Not what you actually believe and who you actually are.
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| Source:Real Time With Bill Maher telling American leftists to grow up. |
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2/09/2024 - First of all, I'm not going to play the MAGA game of what about and say something like: :"Oh yeah! What about all the time Donald Trump made a fool of himself and all the negative reports about him? How come Michael Smerconish is not talking about that?"
Smerconish did say that the best case and the case where Donald Trump has no defense for himself, is the classified documents case and he said that on his show today. But, we only have Robert Hur's word on this and we only have his report.
Robert Hur who just happens to be a career Republican lawyer, including someone who just recently worked in President Donald Trump's Justice Department. Release the transcripts of the interviews that Mr. Hur did of President Biden and I'll give them more credibility. Till then, we just have a the word of a career Republican lawyer, going after a Democratic President.
I mean if Eric Holder was assigned by Attorney General William Barr back in let's say 2020, as special counsel investigating something that might be going on with President Trump, would even center-right Republicans, not just MAGA Republicans, automatically take the word of Eric Holder, after he released a report arguing that Donald Trump is an old man, whose basically mentally incompetent at this point, with no third-party and no evidence to back it up, other than his own word? Of course not. That's just where we are politically as a country.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur as Special Counsel in the classified documents case, involving former Vice President Joe Biden's mishandling of classified documents, from back in 2017. He's not a psychologist or a psychiatrist. He wasn't assigned to give a report on the mental competency of the President of the United States.
Also, between the two major party presidential candidates, the two aging Baby Boomers running for President, only one of them is currently under indictment for mishandling of classified information. Do you you want to guess who that person is? Perhaps you are just waking up from a coma, coming back from a long vacation from Planet Mars, or some other place. Not even Robert Hur recommended that President Biden be indicted for his mishandling of classified documents.
Having said all this, just because I and other voters can see this report for what it is, doesn't mean people who don't follow government and politics as closely as myself, especially Independent voters who don't do this for a living will, simply because they don't have the time or interest. And yeah, this report doesn't make Joe Biden look very good. But, this is not an October surprise.
If this report, or something like this, regardless of the credibility of it, came out against Joe Biden in October, that would be a major problem for him, even if he has a clear lead over Donald Trump at that point. And perhaps the former President is now a two-time convicted felon and not just one-time and not only the economy is booming, but now most Americans are feeling that boom, unlike now. But it's still February and we still have a long way to go.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about Special Counsel Robert Hur's report on President Joe Biden. |
2/08/2024 - I guess my first response to what Jon Stewart is arguing here, is about Jon Stewart himself.
Jon Stewart is now 60 years old and yet he sounds like one of those New-Left, change the world hippies, from the late 1960s, who thought they could do and accomplish anything and believed that government could solve any problem known to man and perhaps even solve problems that no one has even heard of. Even though Jon Stewart is not even old enough to remember and understand that movement from back then, at least when it was going on.
Stewart is arguing that government can do this, that, the other thing, and something else after that, and all our gun-related problems would be solved overnight, or overtime. Our form of government simply doesn't work that way. We're not that idealistic, that majoritarian, that partisan, at least in the sense that one political party can tend to pass major reforms all by themselves.
We are supposed to get wiser, more experienced, more realistic, as we get older. Not believe that hatred and bigotry will simply disappear, if you are simply nice to everybody. Or that war will disappear, if you simply stop attacking people and you don't even defend yourself when you are under attack. As we get older, we tend to drink less alcohol, smoke less pot (well, most of us anyway) and are better able to keep both feet on Planet Earth. Or at least in America, which I know at times can seem like another planet all to itself.
I think what Stewart is really taking about here, is why won't the right-wing, (if not Far-Right) especially the rural and small town right-wing in America, the MAGA movement and to a certain extent Libertarians of all culture, regional, racial, and ethnic backgrounds, why won't these folks come to their senses about guns and the need for gun reform in America.
If you think about it, Southern-Anglo-Saxon, rural Americans, have really been losing ever since the end of the Civil War. They no longer own or run America and are shrinking as a percentage of America. This is no longer even the 1950s, let alone the 1850s, when America was completely dominated by Americans of English and other Northern European stock. And they think they're losing America and see guns as they're last hope to try to keep what's left of the America that they grew up with, who their ancestors created. And they're not going down without a fight, And so far they're winning.
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| Source:The Daily Show back with Jon Stewart. |
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2/07/2024 - Michael Smerconish and TC Scornavachi talking about whether Smerconish would interview President Vladimir Putin, the dictator of the Russian Federation. And Smerconish saying he would do it. He defended that by saying he's interviewed a lot of controversial people in the past, like Bill Cosby, Bill O'Reilly, Kari Lake, etc. And this is how TC Scornvachi, who is the producer of this show responded.
TC Scornavachi: "But isn't there a difference between politicians or personalities who have controversial views or have done something possibly criminal, versus a world dictator whose like killing people? I'm just asking."
Michael Smerconish: "I'm not on team Putin. I'm not on any of those teams. I'm on team Independent and critical thinking."
I swear that Michael Smerconish is a walking, human, bulletin board, for himself. He goes out-of-his-way to try to convince people that he's not a Democrat, or a Republican, Liberal, Conservative, etc. I believe generally when people go out-of-their-way to try to convince people that they are something, or believe something, they think that it's not obvious enough. And maybe the message is not getting out enough. Or maybe they're not as they advertise themselves.
Would I interview Vladimir Putin? My answer would be conditionally. I would go in with the questions that I want to ask him and the points I would make and tell the President this is what I want to talk to you about. And if he tried to veto that, I would say no. The man is evil as far as I'm concern and deserves to be held accountable for that.
As far as Tucker Carlson interviewing Vladimir Putin: Tucker is on team MAGA and whatever the Russian version of this far-right, nationalist movement of culture warriors and right-wing militants, who perhaps have all done time in prison (like now) or in mental hospitals. Who think they're losing their country and it's time to take it back. Or, Tucker could be on Team Tucker and believes this is how he stays in business by going all in on this right-wing culture war propaganda.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about Vladimir Putin & Tucker Carlson. Perhaps you can tell for yourself which one is which. |
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2/06/2024 - At risk of putting this in real, dramatic terms: this is what every American (Democrat, Republican, Independent, Liberal, Conservative) who believes in the rule of law, equal justice, equal rights, the U.S. Constitution, has been waiting for.
Which is that the Federal Appeals Court simply not just state the obvious here, that no American is above the law, including the President of the United States, but the former President of the United States is not above the law and once he leaves office, can be tried for crimes that go beyond his duties as President, but could also be tried for crimes that he may have committed, once he leaves the presidency.
As the appeals court ruled: Donald Trump is now citizen Trump, with the same rights and responsibilities as every other American citizen.
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| Source:CNN- Defendant Don does not have presidential immunity. |
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2/05/2024 - I guess my first points would be a response to Harry Litman's last point when he said if the trial were to happen in the summer, in the heat (no pun intended) of the presidential election, Donald Trump could claim election interference against him and that this is somehow unfair to force him to sit in court, while he's running for President.
1, no one is forcing Donald Trump to run for president in 2024.
2, no one forced him to incite an insurrection against the U.S. Capitol in 2021. He could’ve just accepted the obvious that he lost in 2020 and just moved on with his life. after his legal appeals were over.
3. Donald Trump is intentionally delaying the start of this trial, in order to not be convicted before the presidential election.
If we don't get a ruling from the appeals court this month, we might be looking at a summer start of this trial. But, if we not only just get a ruling from the appeals court, but it's not just unanimous, but the ruling itself is delivered by the Chief Judge and it's also a unanimous ruling, (which I believe is reason for the delay here because they want a a unanimous ruling and opinion on that ruling) I think we're looking at an April or May start of this trial and it would take 3-4 months.
But even so, while we're waiting for the appeals court to make a final decision here, Manhattan, New York could go ahead and start their trial against Donald Trump and he could get convicted up there in the 2016 hush money case involving Stormy Daniels, to prevent her from going public about their affair from 10 years earlier, right before the 2016 election.
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| Source:Harry Litman talking about U.S. Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan. |
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2/02/2024 - As I argued last Friday in my post about Liberals and Conservatives on The New Democrat, for political labels to mean anything and not just be verbal darts that people throw at each other, almost as political insults, or attempts for one to hide their own real politics, they have to be used correctly.
Bill O'Reilly is not actually talking about Progressives or Liberals here. Even though he uses both of those labels to talk about radical leftists...
To their credit, (and I give MAGA credit for anything positive as often as Seattle runs out of coffee or Detroit runs out of automobiles) MAGA and all their media outlets, including their cult leader Donald Trump, doesn't describe radical leftists (Socialists and Communists) as Liberals or Progressives anymore either. They call them radical leftists or extreme leftists. It's really just the mainstream media, the network news divisions, as well as CNN and MSNBC on cable, the national, mainstream newspapers, that still call these hardcore leftists, Progressives and in some cases Liberals.
But to Bill O'Reilly's point about not being able to be friends with any radical leftists, (my words, not his) I actually agree with him. I would have a helluva hard time, don't even think it would be worth the effort to have a friendship, with someone who thinks Israeli civilians, or any civilians, from any other country, are the real terrorists and HAMAS are the freedom fighters. Or that the Houthi terrorists in Yemen, are the real victims and the American military are the real terrorists.
Just like I would have a hard time being friendly with people who think that the Ku Klux Klan or Nazis are freedom fighters, and civil rights marchers and organizers, are the real terrorists and criminals. But that's me.
Now, I might have a conversation (especially on social media) with these folks, if I didn't think they're were drunk or high on drugs, escaped mental patients, or something. But that would probably be mostly for my own personal entertainment. Because they're so hard to take seriously and simply can't handle contradicting facts, to their own fringe ideology. They live in their own little world when it comes to facts and evidence.
If you are actually interested in knowing what a real Progressive is and what they're about, I tell you anyway: Progressives are people who believe in progress, pure and simple. Not people who believe in government totalization and who see that individual freedom and personal choice are threats to society. Or anyone whose from any minority group, has some constitutional right to never be criticized, or to be made fun of, or face any legal sanctions anytime that there's evidence that they're responsible for any serious crime...
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| Source:News Nation- left to right: Chris Cuomo & Bill O'Reilly. Yes, that Chris Cuomo & Bill O'Reilly. |
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2/01/2024 - I heard a similar opinion last week on MSNBC with Stephanie Ruhl, where she was interviewing a legal affairs reporter. And that reporter said that the reason for the delay on Donald Trump's immunity claim is that even though they're already 3-0 on whether Donald Trump is immune from criminal prosecution, simply because he was once President of the United States. But they're working out a final, unified ruling, so there isn't any dissent in their final opinion, so the the Supreme Court wouldn't even have to take this case up and could just dismiss Donald Trump's appeal there.
Ty Cobb thinks the Washington appeals court will rule 3-0 against Donald Trump on his immunity as well, but maybe they'll go 2-1 on whether they even have jurisdiction on this appeal or not, before conviction. I'm hoping and just based on evidence of the case and how all 3 judges presented themselves, that they go 3-0 both on jurisdictional and immunity grounds, so the Supreme Court wouldn't need to take this case up at all. And they can go straight to trial and Donald Trump can feel like any other criminal defendant in America, when the evidence and his own witnesses are stacked against him, but for some reason he decides to go to trial anyway and takes his chances.
As far as what Ty Cobb said about Alina Habba: well, if you've been following The New Democrat since November, you know what this blog thinks about her. I mean MAGA militants/conspiracy theorists/escaped mental patients, are already trying to argue that Alina was simply a Joe Biden or DOJ plant into Donald Trump's legal world to sabotage his cases. And that's why he lost his New York fraud case and his case against E. Jean Carroll. So even if MAGA is smart and honest enough to know how big of a loser, at least as a lawyer, that Alina Habba is.
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| Source:CNN- left to right: ex-Donald Trump lawyer Ty Cobb & perhaps Trump University law graduate Alina Habba. |
1/31/2024 - When I think of this story, I think about all the money that Donald Trump claims to have, as well as the fact that I'm old enough to remember when Republicans used to talk about the need for personal responsibility. That when you get in trouble, when you run up debt, that you shouldn't expect, especially with tax dollars, for others to bail you out.
And I know Donald Trump really isn't a Republican, at least ideologically. (And I'm not talking about party registration) He obviously doesn't believe personal responsibility. He's always blames someone else when something goes wrong in his life, or on his watch. The man has even claimed that he didn't take an oath to the Constitution, when he was sworn in as President in 2017. He doesn't believe in the rule of law or the Constitution.
Think about that: the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for President, who doesn't believe the oath to the Constitution applies to him, who doesn't believe in the Constitution, or the rule of law. The Republicans called and they want their party back, would be my reaction to that.
So why would it surprise anyone that even Donald Trump, who still claims to be a billionaire, even though he's talking about not even being able to afford the 83 million judgement against him, from the defamation case, that E. Jean Carroll won against him, would now expect others to pay off his own debts, that he's personally responsible for, with all the bad business decisions that he's made in his life?
And the other question would be: why would people who work very hard for a living, for 50-60 thousand-dollars a year, who work 50-60 hours a week, who don't live in major cities or metro areas, who have kids to raise, and their own bills to pay, that they work very hard to just to be able to afford to pay their own bills, be willing to give their hard-earn money to a man, who claims to be a Manhattan, New York billionaire?
Donald Trump's supporters literally think that Donald Trump is Jesus Christ's long lost son or something. The man can do no wrong in their little world. And every time he gets into trouble, it'a always someone else's fault. And when that happens, they pony up to make sure that their cult leader is always taken care of. Because again this is not really the Republican Party anymore. This is the MAGA Party and personal responsibility for their fellow members, is simply not in their playbook.
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| Source:CNN- New York Times national political reporter & CNN Donald Trump whisperer, Maggie Haberman. |
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1/30/2024 - To be very frank here: unless you are some whacked-out, MAGA militant, who thinks that anyone who opposes you, your movement, and Donald Trump himself, is either some plant from the U.S. Department of Justice, The White House, or the mainstream media, the case against Donald Trump and his Jan. 6 militants is pretty obvious.
The entire case against Donald Trump in Washington is on video and all the witnesses against former President Trump, are members of his administration. Like Attorney General Bill Barr, his Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, his Vice President Mike Pence, and at least two other of his White House staffers, like Cassidy Hutchinson, who was one of Mark Meadows assistants, and Alyssa Farrah Griffin, who was part of his communications team.
As well as as all these Conservative Republicans in Georgia like the Secretary of State Brad Raffensburger, or Gabriel Sterling. Go to Arizona with the Republican Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers.
Assuming that Donald Trump loses his presidential immunity appeal at the Washington Federal appeals court, (which I believe is a safe bet) he's going on trial perhaps at the latest in the late spring this year, in Washington, with all this video evidence, all the phone calls, the text messages, all the Donald Trump Republican testimony against him, etc. With the Trump team having very little if anything to do to either prevent all this evidence coming in against their client. Or be able to contradict any of the evidence that will be shown against their client.
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| Source:Amanpour & Company talking to filmmaker Michael Kirk. |
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1/29/2024 - I guess my serious response to Bill Maher here, is anytime you have a country as large and free, as well as diverse as America is, you are going to have a lot of crazy people in it. Let's face it, we're don't even do a good job at the funding and managing the mental hospitals that we still have, let alone want to build more. And because of this, we have a lot of people who if they lived in a perfect world, (even in a perfect world that still has crazy people in it) these folks would probably be confined to mental hospitals.
Anytime you think that Hamas are freedom fighters and the people who were murdered in Israel back in October simply because they're Jewish, not because they're actually guilty of anything, but they're the real terrorists, or the king of reality TV assholes, is a major party presidential frontrunner, you are obviously in a short supply of sanity.
But in a country 320 million people, that's in between two of the largest oceans in the world, that's bordered by two of the largest countries in the world, there's only so much sanity to go around. But the need for it in America is still there. The question for it is how we as a country get enough of it, so at the very least America doesn't look like the world's largest outdoor insane asylum, where the patents are in control of the institution and the staff at the asylum is confined to the rubber rooms.
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| Source:Real Time With Bill Maher arguing for sanity in America. On next week's show. Bill Maher will argue for ice skating in the middle of the desert. |
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1/26/2024 - Because it looks like it could be a very slow news day here, what I'm going to do with this post, is something that I simply haven't had the time to do, for really since the summer with Donald Trump's legal and political issues essentially taking over the American news cycle, is pushback on a lot of the mainstream stereotypes of what it means to be a Liberal and a Conservative and pushback a lot on what Frank DiStefano is saying here.
If you were landing on Planet Earth today from another planet, from some other galaxy, that no human being is even aware of yet and landed in America and for some reason you were interested in American political philosophy, but all the information that you gathered, was based on what the American mainstream media tells you, you would have a lot of false misconceptions of what it means to be a Liberal and Conservative, not just in America, but the rest of the world.
If you just went off the misconceptions of liberalism today, you would think a Liberal simply wants the national government to take as much money as it can get away with, from the individual, to spend on the people's behalf for them. Because the supposed liberal government believes that individuals are essentially morons, who can't think for and govern themselves and they need a big government to make those decisions for them. And you would also think that the supposed Liberal wants to regulate the hell out of individuals (except for gays and women's health care) because the supposed Liberal sees individual freedom as essentially immoral and dangerous.
There are also lot of other garbage (to be kind) social stereotypes of what it's supposed to mean to be a Liberal. Liberals are supposed to be left-wing hippies, who think America is the real evil empire and that communism is not just cool, but should be tried here.
And if you look at the situation in Israel right now between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, according to the so-called Liberal, Hamas are the real freedom fighters and the Jews are the terrorists and racists.
As well as Liberals are supposed to be weak and dovish, who wouldn't even defend themselves, let alone their own country, even when under attack and that they believe that any form of humor or criticism against any minority in America, is bigoted, even if it's accurate (unless it's aimed at a right-wing minority) and that all men are pigs are women should rule the world.
If you just landed on Planet Earth in America from Planet Zoltron (or some place) and you were interested in learning about American conservatism and you just went of the mainstream stereotypes of what it means to be a Conservative, you would think that all Conservatives are just Southern or rural, or Southern-rural, fundamentalist, blue-collar, rednecks, who think America has been going to hell since the1960s thanks to the immigration and civil rights laws, as well as women's liberation and that America is being taken over by women, gays, and minorities.
And, you would think that now it's time for the supposed man (meaning the Southern, Anglo-Saxon-Protestant-blue collar man) to pushback and take back America. Which is what Donald Trump's MAGA movement is about. But if they're Conservatives, then the Libertarian Party in America is actually a Socialist party and the Green Party is the real Libertarian Party. Again, you would have be from another planet just arriving in America today (like an illegal alien) to even consider taking that seriously.
And the Frank DiStefano's of the world contribute to the political ignorance when it comes to American politic, especially when it comes to liberalism and conservatism. He argued that since 1932 when Franklin Roosevelt ran for and won the presidency from Herbert Hoover, that the Democratic Party was now this supposed New Deal Liberal party. When the fact is FDR didn't run on any New Deal. His New Deal agenda wasn't put together until after he becomes President in 1933 and all of those programs were really put together in mid 1930s.
Also, the Democratic Party in the 1930s, was a southern-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant based party, with Neo-Confederates, the Dixiecrats, being a major part of FDR coalition. Frank DiStefano seems to want his viewers to think that it's 1932 when the Democratic Party became the liberal (his idea of liberal) party in America.
Frank DiStefano also want you to believe its 1932 when the Republican Party became the conservative (DiStefano's idea of conservative) party in America. When the fact is President Roosevelt needed Progressive Republican votes for most of, if not his entire agenda, passed in Congress (House & Senate) and that it was the Dixiecrats in the Democratic Party that killed a lot of other things that FDR wanted to do, like his Economic Bill of Rights. Any decent book or documentary about FDR's presidency, would make that very clear to you.
As a political and political history blogger, I believe words and labels not only matter, but they have to matter. You need to know what terms like liberal, conservative, progressive, libertarian, socialist, nationalist, actually mean, before you try to label someone's politics. Otherwise, you will look like a political idiot or bullshitter. (To be Frank)
The definition of what I'm about to give you of what actual Liberals believe in America, is going to look pretty conservative, at least in the 1960s, 70s, or 80s sense, and perhaps libertarian today. But these are the true liberal values and if you are familiar with liberal democracy as well, you what the true liberal values are...
Again, to my point about words and political labels having to matter: a conservative is someone whose: "averse to change or innovation and holding traditional values."
Conservatives believe, in well, conserving. (Hopefully that doesn't sound like Chinese or Greek to anyone) Conservatives believe in conserving and moving cautiously. They tend to be slow when it comes believing that there's a need for new public policy and government actions to try to make the society better. Here's a pretty good definition of conservatism...
When you listen to mainstream political pundits, or historians talk about American political philosophy, you would think that America really only has two major political philosophies: liberalism and conservatism. That liberalism represents everything on the left, including not just socialism, but militant socialism, as well as militant feminism. And that conservatism represents everything on the right, including Protestant Nationalism or Theocracy, as well as all the ethnic and racial philosophies that comes from Northern-European-Americans that the mainstream media likes to label as White Nationalism.
But the fact is, mainstream political journalists, tend to be overworked and in a lot a of cases are overworked by choice and get lazy. Yes, we have Liberals and Conservatives in America. But we also have Socialists, we have Libertarians, we have Communists even, we have Progressives in true sense as people who simply believe in progress through government action. Not government totalization of society.
And the fact is Liberals and Conservatives actually have a lot in common with each other, at least when you look at them in a classical sense (which is the real sense) and they shouldn't be mixed up with every other political philosophy in America because of how different all these political philosophies are.
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| Source:Frank DiStefano with an inaccurate look and contribution to the false stereotypes of American liberalism & conservatism. |
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1/25/2024 - I give you all of this background about Liz Cheney because supporters like to call any Republican who doesn't support their cult hero (my words) Donald Trump 100% of the time, a RINO.
The Tea Party now MAGA (but it's the same political coalition) definition of RINO, is someone whose a Republican in Name Only. And that includes any Republican who doesn't agree with them 100% of the time, including pro-constitution, pro-business, pro-national security hawk, pro-rule of law, Republicans, like Liz Cheney.
The Tea Party, now MAGA, has been trying to eliminate the traditional, center-right, elitist, Republican Party, that was the Republican Party really all the way up to 2009 when George W. Bush left The White House and replace it with a populist, blue-collar, new-constitutional, (if not anti-constitutional) political, anti-rule of law, nationalistic, party. And the way for them to do that as they see it, is to primary all the traditional, center-right, elitist Republicans, and replace them with populist Tea Party/MAGA members.
But, going back to Abraham Lincoln, at least, the Republican Party has always been a pro-wealth, pro-property rights, pro-business, pro-constitution, pro-rule of law, pro-hawk, pro-individual rights, political party. They've always had a fringe movement, a populist movement. that looks very different from traditional Republicans. And so does the Democratic Party with it's Far-Left.
But the Liz Cheney's of the world (who The New Democrat calls the American Iron Lady) just represents traditional Republicanism, traditional Conservative Republicanism. It's Donald Trump and his MAGA movement, who are the true RINOS, who are trying, if they haven't already succeeded, to take over the Republican Party and turn it into a new political party, based on the right-wing-populist values, that I've already laid out.
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| Source:The 92nd Street Y- Jonathan Karl & Liz Cheney. |
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1/24/2024 - Joe Biden needs to young voters to vote for him in big numbers in 2024. There's no question about that. I don't think he can rely on Independents and mainstream adult Democrats, (my words) as well as a certain chunk of center-right Never-Trump Republicans to either vote for him, or vote for someone besides Donald Trump, or not vote at all, to defeat Donald Trump. This election is too important and he needs to go after as many voters and get them to the polls as possible.
The problem here is that there's only so much that Joe Biden can do for young voters, who tend to be very left-wing and inexperienced as far as how the real world works, and tend to be way too idealistic to look at these issues objectively.
"Give peace a chance" is not a foreign policy. President Biden is not going to cut off Israel. I think what the President can at most right now, is keep giving speeches on the importance of Israel defending itself and eliminating the Hamas threat to the Jewish State, while at the same time arguing that Israel needs to evacuate as many Gazan civilians as possible and get those folks to safe areas, as they're eliminating the Hamas terrorist threat against the Jewish State. And hope these young voters get introduced to reality and start living in the real world.
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| Source:CNN- President Joseph R. Bidden (Democrat, Delaware) at a political rally in Virginia. |
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1/23/2024 - I'm not one of these anti-Trumper's who argue that Donald Trump is an idiot. I think there's a real level of street intelligence and even education as far as how laws works in America and how can take advantage for them. His whole career in business and using the tax code to his own advantage are perfect examples of that.
Donald Trump knows that if he's not reelected in President in 2024, he's going to prison because he'll be convicted this year, if the Supreme Court simply declares the obvious here and that no American, including sitting President's, as well as former President's, are above the law and are bound to follow the same laws as the average Joe or Mary citizen on the street.
The only reason why Donald Trump as a 77 year old man is running for President again at all, instead of trying to enjoy his golden years in private life, is because his golden years are over. He stays as a free man as President for 4 years, or goes to prison after conviction, barring some future Republican President pardoning him perhaps in the early 2030s, which is down the road and perhaps too late for him.
As far as why Donald Trump's loyalists never leaving him: (and I'm talking about his loyalists on the street. Not politicians who kiss his ass for their own political futures) it's because Donald Trump represents basically the old America. The America that was dominated by blue-collar, Anglo-Saxon Protestants and other Northern European Americans, who come from small towns and other rural areas in America. Who believe that their America is disappearing and has been going downhill since the 1960s with the civil rights laws, the new immigration laws, that allowed people who weren't just from Canada, or the United Kingdom, or Northern Western Europe, to immigrate to America.
The MAGA movement sees a man whose from Queens, New York, who made his career in Manhattan, New York, is about as yippie and white-collar a place that you'll ever see anywhere in the world, who claims to be a billionaire, as their blue-collar hero, who who will bring their old America back and take the power away from the new Americans, who are people who didn't come here on the Mayflower. That's all their support is about.
This has nothing to do with defending individual freedom, because they don't believe in that. Or defending the U.S. Constitution, because they don't believe in that either. This is not about defending the rule of law, obviously, because their cult hero has 91 indictments against him and plenty of evidence to convict him on everything. This is about taking down the new America bringing their America back. And they see Donald Trump and his MAGA movement as the people to accomplish that for him.
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| Source:Amanpour & Company talking to Washington Conservative lawyer George Conway. |
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1/22/2024 - I'll just take one issue at a time here.
As far as the inflation: both the Trump and Biden administration's poured a lot of money into the economy in the early 2020's to deal with COVID and the recession that followed. And when that happens, at least when stimulus bills are done right and you don't pull that spending back when the economy starts moving again, you get a lot of inflation as a result. Because all that government borrowing leads to a weaker currency.
I thought Andrew Sullivan had the perfect response here to deal with inflation. We should just be enforcing our antimonopoly laws and antitrust laws and breaking those cartels. Or tell them to start lowering prices, if they want to stay as big as they are. Real deficit reduction that actually doesn't hurt people who need that public assistance, or weakens our infrastructure system, with things like work requirements, the expanding the child tax credit, but just for full-time workers, would be good ways to deal with the deficit and help to bring down prices.
As far as masturbation: Thank God for Bill Maher, because without him, where could we go to hear about this in a political discussion. I have a hard time believing that God (even though I'm not religious) would punish people for feeling good, especially when they're not hurting people. Or being involved in consensual activities, like sex, that lead to expanding human life. But that's me.
As far as Nikki Haley for Vice President: even if she were to make a good choice for Donald Trump, she and Senator Tim Scott have a big question to ask themselves: is Donald Trump worth giving up your self-respect and perhaps even career as a possible future presidential candidate and in Nikki Haley's case, her whole political career.
Donald Trump is not just looking at bankruptcy, at least in New York but being a convicted felon, who might be remanded after he's convicted in Washington this summer. And guess who MAGA will blame when The Donald goes down in flames, assuming he loses? I'll give you one big clue: it won't be their cult leader.
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| Source:Real Time With Bill Maher and Conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan. |
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1/19/2024 - I'll get into Nikki Haley's comment about pardoning Donald Trump and then her comment about "America never being a racist country."
If Nikki Haley were to somehow not just win the Republican nomination for President, (which would be like winning a million dollar lottery in all 50 states, on the exact same day, at this point) and then goes on to win the presidency as well, and now Donald Trump is already convicted in Washington, perhaps has already been sentenced, but is now in Atlanta to face his trial there, and now President Haley decides to just throw out former President's Trump's January 6 conviction and pardon him, that would be a big problem. Not just for her, but the American justice system and our system of rule of law, even if he gets convicted in Atlanta as well.
But as good politician that Nikki Haley sometimes is and what she's really just saying here is that she wouldn't just pardon Trump, but instead commute his sentence, so he doesn't have to serve his sentence in a Federal prison, but instead of given home confinement for the rest of his sentence, that not only makes sense from an American justice perspective because you are showing compassion who would be in his 80s while serving his sentence, perhaps even into his 90s. But he's still in Federal custody and no longer a free man in America. But she didn't say this, or really come close to it. What she's talking about is just letting the judicial process against Donald Trump go forward and then she'll pardon him after he's convicted.
If I were a professional political spinster and was asked to translate what Nikki Haley is saying about racism in American right now in it's history, I would say what she's really saying here, is that she doesn't believe America is a racist country right now and it wasn't a racist country when she was growing up in South Carolina in the 1970s and 80s. Which might be fine and you might be able to make a decent case for that. The problem that she has, that's not the question that she was asked.
What Jake Tapper actually said to Nikki Haley and then asked her, was this...
I can understand Nikki Haley not really wanting to talk about this at all. Think about it, she's an East-Indian woman, running for President of the United States, in Donald Trump's far-right, MAGA party. It's easy to see why she would just try to duck this and try to talk about other issues, or try to change the subject and try to make the case that it wasn't our Founding Father's intent for America to be a racist country and try to forget the fact that America was founded with one race of people being slaves to another race in this country.
But, Nikki Haley been asked a very simple question for 3 weeks now and has failed to give a credible response to the obvious question: "Has America ever been a racist country?" Even though she wants to be President of the United States and not just MAGA.
1/18/2024 - I could see why a MAGA voter wouldn't want President Joe Biden do denigrate the MAGA movement or Donald Trump. I could also see why Libertarians wouldn't want Republicans and Democrats to denigrate Ron Paul. I could see why Socialists and even Communists, wouldn't run mainstream Democrats to denigrate Bernie Sanders. I could also see why fish wouldn't want to give up water and why tax drivers wouldn't want to give up driving, why lawyers wouldn't want to give their law licenses, etc. But I don't think this is the point.
MAGA is not going to vote for anyone whose not in their movement. And when Donald Trump is not on the ballot, they don't vote that much at all anyway, at least in swing states and districts. Or at the very least, they hurt either mainstream Republicans who either feel the need to appeal to MAGA, even to win in swing districts or states. Or just hurt the Republican Party in general, when a MAGA candidate wins the Republican nomination to run statewide in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and other states and districts in the U.S. House and at the legislative level, where mainstream Republicans normally win, but where the Republican Party has lost in recent years, because their candidate was a MAGA member.
MAGA is not going to vote for President Biden and probably any Democrat whose up for reelection in Congress in 2024. That shouldn't be breaking news to anyone. The Biden Campaign and their supporters in Congress, are going to run against Donald Trump and MAGA movement, but not in the Hillary Clinton way where you just call them losers and horrible people.
The Biden Democrats are going to run against MAGA as threats to American democracy and the rule of law and try to make the case for that. While trying to appeal on policy grounds, as well as American democracy grounds, to Democrats, Independents that they have to have. As well as mainstream Republicans who want MAGA to go to way so they can take their party back from MAGA.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish- The Jamie & The Donald. |
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1/17/2024 - Nikki Haley is not a MAGA candidate. (Also in the news: Wisconsin doesn’t get hurricanes in January) All you have to do is to look at her to see that. Plus, her political background suggests that she’s not even a Trump voter, let alone a MAGA political activist. And yet she feels the need to try to politically play to people that probably would deport her (even though she was is an American citizen who was born in America) instead of voting for her for President.
Nikki Haley to Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade: “We’re not a racist country, Brian. We’ve never been a racist country. Our goal is to make sure that our day is better than yesterday. Are we perfect? No.”
Nikki Haley’s attempted cleanup of her political oil spill on Fox News: “America has always had racism, but we’ve never been a racist country. The liberal media always fails to get that distinction.”
We’ve never been a racist country? Did Nikki Haley learn anything about American history growing up on South Carolina? Is American history even a requirement to graduate high school there? Africans were brought over here like animals as slaves, to serve Anglo-Saxon men from Britain, who were now in America. African-Americans were segregated by law in America, simply because of their race. As well as denied the ability to get an education, get loans, own homes, and even vote.
She’s right that America is not a racist country. The country itself is not racist. But, to argue that America has never been a racist country, is to also deny that Planet Earth is round, or that water is wet, fire is hot, etc. You would either have to be coming to America from another planet, knowing nothing about this country, and spending your first day here, or just be a total moron who knows nothing about American history. And perhaps those are the voters she’s trying to play too: illegal aliens from other planets and total morons.
I’ll just close this with what Conservative Republican political strategist Shermichael Singleton said about Nikki Haley’s civil war comments from back in December:
“As an African-American who happens to be a Conservative, I thought her answer was quote despicable and embarrassing
Whatever bump that she could’ve received from John Sununu, whatever bump that she could’ve received from the last several weeks now, I think that’s all gone, I think it’s over for her. You have a presidential candidate whose unable to answer a complicated question because they’re trying to placate to a base who in my opinion wouldn’t vote for her anyway. So why be so uncomfortable telling the truth? The Civil War was about slavery and any comparisons that one would like to make about tradition, is odious to me. If you can’t be factual about history, I question your judgment to make decisions about the present that would ultimately make the future.”
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| Source:CNN- Nikki Haley needs to stop walking around with her own political gun. She own has so many toes that she can shoot off in this campaign. |
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1/16/2024 - CNN legal correspondent Paula Reid referring to Alina Habba: "She has a duel role. She is Trump's attorney on the record, she worked for him on his civil cases. But she's also his spokeswoman. You can see her working in both of those roles today."
Just to give you one more example of why the MAGA movement is only not conservative, but is actually anti-conservative and they believe in the opposites of what even fundamentalist religious Conservatives, or Constitutional Conservatives believe in and this dealing with legal cases:
Led by their leader Donald Trump, (I at least would argue cult leader) they believe that the rules of society simply don't apply to them. And that even though they physically live in a civil society, a constitutional republic, based on both individual rights, as well as equal rights, and the rule of law, they believe those civil and constitutional values simply don't apply to them.
So what MAGA basically does is whatever they want, not seeming to care even if they lose in court, let alone get caught, because they believe at the end of the day, they'll win the publication relations battle and the charges against them will be dropped. Or hold out for a pardon, or win appeals based on their public relations battles. That's what you see with Alina Habba today, whose more of a legal political activist for Donald Trump's MAGA movement, that a legitimate, credible, serious, practicing attorney.
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| Source:CNN- left to right: Defendant Don & one of his MAGA propagandists, acting as legal counsel, Alina Habba. |
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1/15/2024 - I think Ron Brownstein hit the nail on the head (to use an old cliche) about Nikki Haley when he said that:
"I think she's on track to being the one, viable, alternative, to Donald Trump after Iowa and New Hampshire. But if she doesn't develop a stronger rationale for Republican voters for why they should leave the former President (meaning Donald Trump) who may be generally favorable to him, but who are open to an alternative, she's going to run out of room not long after Ron DeSantis. A decent showing here (meaning Iowa) and a decent showing in New Hampshire, sets herself up for a shot in her home state of South Carolina. But she's going to have to broaden her coalition to put Donald Trump at real risk."
Nikki Haley politically has basically been running for President in the Republican Party, as a high school student running for class president, on just her personal popularity and hoping people will vote for her, because they personally like her, because she's popular, has the right friends, throws the cool party's, maybe one of her parents is a popular celebrity, etc. And not bothering to get into what Haley presidency would look like and why she should be President of the United States. Because details like that tend to bore high school voters.
Back in the summer, Ambassador Haley was running for President of the United States, against Vice President Kamala Harris, as if the Vice President was actually running for President. And then against President Biden, as if she already had the Republican nomination locked up. And then we get into the fall, the debates start happening and she turns her attention to Governor Ron DeSantis, perhaps forgetting the fact that he was buried in the polls with her in the teens, when it came to Republican support, behind of course Donald J. Trump.
The only person that Nikki Haley doesn't seem to want to run for President against, is Donald Trump. I think that's why she screwed up the civil war question so badly and that perhaps it was attentional. She doesn't want to do anything that can either offend him, or his supporters, as if someone who thinks slavery wasn't that bad of a thing in America, might even consider voting for someone who happens to be East Indian, a woman, a gen-xer, daughter of immigrants, highly educated, very intelligent, well-spoken, etc, all characteristics that MAGA voters don't like in a presidential candidate.
At some point if Nikki Haley even gets past New Hampshire and is able to even get into the race in South Carolina, she's going to have to start running against the one man, that she really has to defeat, (if Ron DeSantis is no longer in the race at that point) and that of course is Donald J. Trump. She obviously thinks that she's more qualified to be President of the United States and would make a better President than Donald Trump. Otherwise she's wasting a helluva lot of time running for President against him. And perhaps she owes her financial backers a huge refund.
As far as Ron DeSantis, he's the only Republican candidate whose still in the Republican race, whose actually running against Donald Trump for President. He's had two excellent weeks back to back in Iowa and two excellent Republican debates back to back, making the case against Nikki Haley by arguing that Republicans don't actually know what she believes and why she's running for President at all, other than that she wants to be President of the United States.
While Governor DeSantis has gone after Nikki Haley, at the same time, making the case against Donald Trump by not just pointing out his failures to deliver on his promises like eliminating the national debt and deficit in 4 years, the border wall, and even mentioning the fact that Donald Trump will probably lose his presidential immunity claim, but will probably be a convicted felon and be convicted in Washington this summer, and perhaps still be the Republican nominee for President. As well as talking about what he's already accomplished as Governor of Florida and essentially calling himself the Conservative with results.
Iowa is roughly 30% German-American and 60% Protestant and overwhelmingly blue-collar, especially outside if it's major cities like De Moines. These are obviously Donald Trump voters. But, what we're seeing now in the Republican polling, is even a state like Iowa that's so rural and blue-collar, even these voters are looking for a serious alternative to Donald Trump.
I think to be the Trump alternative, you have to show why you are not just Donald Trump, but why you would make a better Republican nominee and President than Donald Trump. I think if there's any real surprise on Monday night, it's that Ron DeSantis has a big night. I'm not talking about winning the caucus. I'm talking about emerging as the main alternative to Donald Trump and maybe taking 30% of the vote and beating Nikki Haley by 10 points or something like that and perhaps even coming within shouting distance of Donald Trump.
For reasons that I already mention, I think this could happen with DeSantis locking in what's left of the alternative vote to Donald Trump and those Iowa Republicans saying that DeSantis is the real Conservative in the race and the real anti-Trump candidate, whose already delivered as Governor of Florida and could deliver as President of the United States as well.
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| Source:CNN- the big 3 in the Republican race. |
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1/12/2024 - I think we knew even before Mike Pence announced his presidential campaign last year, that then Vice President Mike Pence told then President Donald Trump, that there's nothing that the Vice President could do according to the Constitution, to unilaterally reverse the 2020 presidential election result in favor of President Trump, or unilaterally just go past Congress, to send the election back to the states. But like every other time that Donald Trump gets bad news about himself, he ignores that and looks for another option.
The advice of counsel defense can only be used when you are completely reliant on bad legal advice and lawyers who are either crooked or incompetent. The problem that Donald Trump has here, is that his own Attorney General Bill Barr (who also happens to be a lawyer) told President Trump in December, 2020, that there was no real election fraud in the 2020 presidential election and the President ignored that as well. Along with a team of lawyers working for Donald Trump on his 2020 appeals telling the President that they are out of legal options and that he lost. Which is what one of Donald Trump's co-defendants Ken Chesebro, has already told Special Counsel Jack Smith.
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| Source:Harry Litman- former Vice President of the United States Mike Pence (Republican, Indiana) 2017-2021. |
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1/11/2024 - Going into this debate, Nikki Haley had a great opportunity, especially with Chris Christie dropping out on that very day of the race, to lock up what's left of the center-right of the Republican Party (who now are like goldfish swimming for their lives in a shark tank, politically) and lock down what's left of the Conservative Republican vote behind her and combine those voters with New Hampshire Independents and perhaps center-right Democrats in that state (the live free or die state) and knock Ron DeSantis out of the race or at least in Iowa.
Going into the debate Ron DeSantis I believe was fighting for the rest of his 2024 presidential campaign. We're talking about a guy (again, to go back to football ) who was down 21 points going into the 4th quarter, with the ball and with the last opportunity of the game, just to get back into the game and tell voters that he's not just still in the race and but there's reason for not just Iowa voters, but perhaps with the center-right of the New Hampshire Republican Party, to look at his campaign and. make him the clear alternative to Donald Trump.
To go back to the WION quote of Governor DeSantis, he just didn't win the debate last night, but you could argue that he won the debate with that one line right there. If there in one weakness with the Haley presidential campaign, is that Nikki Haley has this habit of trying to speak to very different political factions of the modern Republican Party (Conservatives and Nationalists) at the same time, without trying to offend either.
This all goes to Ron DeSantis's quote about Nikki Haley trying to be everything to everyone and saying one thing and doing another. It's not just that DeSantis presented himself as the only Conservative Republican in the race, but he even went after Donald Trump not just on the racial riots in the summer of 2020, where then President Trump did almost nothing about them, he even predicted that Trump would not just lose his presidential immunity appeal, but will be tried and convicted in Washington this year before the presidential election, while he's still running for President.
What you got with Ron DeSantis, is him saying that he was a Conservative with results. Just look at his record in Florida and the economic success that his state has had since he's been Governor. While at the same time arguing why he's more Conservative than Donald Trump as it relates to both fiscal responsibility, economic and job growth, fiscal responsibility, and even things like the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution.
Ron DeSantis presented himself as the real Conservative Republican in the race. While Nikki Haley spent most of the debate just trying to defend herself and getting flustered and instead of responding to DeSantis's attack against her, she promoted some website about his supposed lies about her.
If there's any surprise whatsoever in Iowa on Monday night, it's that Ron DeSantis has a strong showing in Iowa and becomes the only alternative to Donald Trump going forward. He's had two excellent weeks back-to-back now. The question is it enough for him to even get back in the race now. We'll see next week.
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| Source:CNN- left to right: Governor Ron DeSantis (Republican, Florida) & former U.N. Ambassador & Governor Nikki Haley (Republican, South Carolina) |
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1/10/2024 - Just to go back to what George Conway said: "GEORGE CONWAY, CONSERVATIVE LAWYER: Well, the short answer is what they were doing there, was taking a bad argument, their immunity argument, and conflating it with another bad argument, which is something based upon the impeachment judgment clause, and mixing them all together, in the hope of getting a stronger argument.
And what happened was the Trump attorney, Sauer, set a trap for himself that Judge Pan just completely, completely closed off. And she was -- it was an intellectual tour de force by Judge Pan. Not only did she highlight the extreme nature of their position that a president might not be prosecutable, for assassinating political rivals, she did something else."
To put this very simply: Donald Trump's legal team doesn't have a case. Yesterday in court, Donald Trump's lawyers were trying to swim up stream, with just one arm and a leg. And that arm and leg was probably broken, just like their arguments and whatever case that they tried to argue in court yesterday.
Donald Trump is an American citizen just like everyone else. And like with everyone else, when there's strong evidence that just didn't break the law, but broke multiple laws, but just didn't break multiple laws, but committed multiple felonies, even while as President of the United States, under Federal law and according to the U.S. Constitution as it relates to the rule of law and equal justice under law, you are supposed to be prosecuted.
If Donald Trump actually thinks that he's innocent, or he knows he is guilty, but he thinks he can beat the case anyway, (perhaps simply because he's Donald J. Trump) he gets prosecuted and has his day in court. And of course he can always plead guilty, or cooperate with the prosecutors to get a lighter sentence. But you don't walk away from all of this simply because you were President of the United States, or your crimes were committed while you were President of the United States. Because that would be inconsistent with our system of rule of law, equal justice under law, and checks and balances.
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| Source:CNN- The Source With Kaitlan Collins & George Conway. Perhaps you are up to telling for yourself who is who. |
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1/09/2024 - Temidayo Aganga-Williams talking about Donald Trump's lawyer John Sauer: "I think he's really making the argument for Jack Smith. This is exactly what Jack Smith has been worrying about: are we a country of president's, or a country of king's? And I think what Trump's lawyer effectively argued is that we are a country of king's.That the President can act as he wants, as he chooses, that we can have violence. You know, we had violence on January 6, he's saying that the President could take it a lot further. Himself could direct that violence openly using official government sources and that's fine. He establishes how dangerous this presidential immunity argument is."
I think pretty much everyone whose not in the MAGA movement in America, (which is about 70% of the country) has predicted that Donald Trump would not lose his presidential immunity claim at the appeals court.
I think the only question here is how big of a loss would it be. Would it be 2-1, with perhaps Judge Karen Henderson voting no and expressing a strong dissent to the decision. Would she vote no, but without giving an official dissent to the decision. Or would it be a strong 3-0 decision against the former President, with a strong, unified opinion against the former President's immunity claim, giving the Supreme Court some cover here and raising the possibility that they wouldn't even take Donald Trump's appeal here, because no new ground had been raised here and they know he would definitely lose. But perhaps the Trump's Justices don't want to make that official decision against him.
Based on Judge Henderson's questioning of Donald Trump's lawyer John Sauer, I think we're looking at a strong 3-0 decision against the former President (not former King) and they'll have a strong, unified opinion against the former President's presidential immunity claim. But as I keep saying, I'm not a lawyer.
Just to correct the record on something that John Sauer said: his client Donald J. Trump, is not being prosecuted for official acts that he did when he was President. He's being prosecuted for criminal acts that Special Counsel Jack Smith believed he committed when he was President. As well as criminal acts that Jack Smith believes he committed since leaving the presidency.
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| Source:CNN- Donald Trump is the reason why we have president's & not king's. |
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1/08/2024 - So again, if you want to look at Donald Trump's presidency and compare it Richard Nixon's and look at in in Nixonian terms and look at Donald Trump's 2020-21 campaign to overturn American democracy and just automatically declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 presidential election, just because he's Donald Trump and compare that scandal with Watergate and the other scandals that plagued the Nixon Administration in the early 1970s, (even Donald Trump is not even qualified to tie Richard Nixon's shoes) this is how Richard Nixon went down as well.
President Nixon's own people delivered the goods against him and gave the prosecutors, as well as Congress, the information that they needed to force Richard Nixon out of office. Or in Donald Trump's case, the evidence that prosecutors will need to convict the former President in court.
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| Source:CNN- Defendant Don I believe campaigning in Iowa. |
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1/05/2024 - Along with Nikki Haley saying that she had "Black friends growing up in South Carolina", the other thing that I take away from Nikki Haley's response here, is her responding to what Chris Christie said and just trying to put him off that he's from New Jersey and of course it's easy as a Republican to politically be against slavery and acknowledge that of course the Civil War was about slavery, when you are from New Jersey or some other big, blue state. But he should try walking in her political shoes as a South Carolina Republican. She's basically saying that she's from South Carolina and you can't afford to be politically tough on the Confederacy and Confederates, when you are a South Carolina Republican. I think that's what she's saying politically here, if I were to try to translate her response politically.
Yes, she cleaned up her response and had a more intelligent and stronger answer. But when a drunk driver gets into an accident, the easy thing to do is to come to the realization that you shouldn't driven drunk in the first place. The point is that you shouldn't have made that colossal mistake in the first place. A strong, honest, and, moral, political leader, who wants to be President of the United States, doesn't shoot her foot off, when asked a basic question like what was the American Civil War about.
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| Source:CNN- Former U.N Ambassador and Governor of South Carolina and now Republican presidential candidate, Nikki Haley. |
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1/04/2024 - Seeing and hearing about Fox News's coverage of Jeffrey Epstein's little black book suggests to me that their audience might be getting smaller. Because they're only going after people in America who simply hate Democrats, especially Bill Clinton and his allies because of what they represent in America, which is the new America, the free America, the diverse America, etc, everything that the Far-Right in America (which is now Donald Trump's MAGA movement) hates about America. Fox News concentrates on people for their audience who are more likely to believe that Bill Clinton ordered the hit on Vince Foster back in the early 1990s, then that Donald Trump ever lost a popular vote for anything in his entire life.
I say all of this because Bill Clinton hasn't been President of the United States for 23 years now. He's never run for another public office, or will he ever run for public office again. He's never done anything illegal in his life, never been charged with doing anything illegal in his life. Being under investigation for potential bad behavior has never been the same as even being charged for illegal behavior.
And yet with all the other associates and social acquaintances that Jeffrey Epstein had in his life, both with Democrats and Republicans, mainly wealthy Democrats and Republicans, including Bill Clinton, but Donald Trump as well, as well as the foreign government officials like Prince Andrew of the United Kingdom, Fox News only concentrates on Bill Clinton's alleged relationships, as well as the bogus (to be real kind) rumors without even trying to back them up, or even find the source for them, that Bill Clinton likes young women like some type of pervert or something.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about Jeffrey Epstein's little black book. |
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1/03/2024 - CNN Democratic political analyst Christine Quinn on Senator Menendez:
“He’s a very arrogant guy whose gotten away with it. And when you’ve gotten away with it, you think you are going to get away with it again. And if he had any concern for himself, his wife, and the United States Senate, he would step down today.” She also called him a criminal, but the way.
Christine Quinn is a New York City, left-wing Democrat. Not exactly a Billy Bob, redneck, MAGA Republican, from Mississippi or some place. (Excuse my language) But someone whose about as blue as people can get politically.
Just in case anyone is wondering whether or not The New Democrat is so partisan, that we just attack Republicans, especially MAGA Republicans, especially Donald Trump and his allies: we don’t attack anyone, including MAGA members. We point about serious, negative facts, about people, when they screw up, act irresponsibly, especially when they act like they’re above the law, regardless of what political party or political philosophy they’re part of. It just so happens that Donald Trump because of his legal issues, has dominated the news for really six months now and that’s just going to continue, regardless of what happens to Senator Menendez.
I predicted back in September that Senator Menendez would resign from Congress by the end of 2023. That obviously didn’t happen since he’s still there. But I also predicted that the legal case against him would just get stronger and be a lot worst for him. That has come true. And if cares about anyone other than what’s left of his Congressional career now in it’s 32nd year in Congress, he would resign immediately and concentrate on his legal case full-time.
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| Source:CNN- U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (Democrat, New Jersey) could be drowning in political hot water very soon. I think Bought Off Bob, or Paid For Bob, have real rings to them. |
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1/02/2024 - When I first heard about this, I was thinking as a non-lawyer that this would just add to the delay of the Trump trial in Washington Federal Circuit Court, because I'm thinking now the appeals court would not only have to deal with Donald Trump's claim of presidential immunity, but have to deal with this amicus brief first.
But you listen to Harry Litman, he says that the appeals court would take this first and then rule on that and if American Oversight wins, the case goes back to Judge Tanya Chutkan's circuit court in Washington and that trial gets back on track. And of course if Donald Trump loses on this as well, his lawyers would of course appeal that to the appeals court, but as they're doing that, Judge Chutkan's case would continue to move forward and the stay would end at that point.
And then Trump would have to win on the amicus brief appeal, before the stay would come back. But American Oversight apparently has the case and precedent that you need to win their case.
So Donald Trump's game of delay, stonewall, and obstruct, could be ending this month, with his case Washington case getting back on course and perhaps that trial starting in late March.
12/29/2023 - Shermichael Singleton: "As an African-American who happens to be a Conservative, I thought her answer was quote despicable and embarrassing.
Whatever bump that she could've received from John Sununu, whatever bump that she could've received from the last several weeks now, I think that's all gone, I think it's over for her. You have a presidential candidate whose unable to answer a complicated question because they're trying to placate to a base who in my opinion wouldn't vote for her anyway. So why be so uncomfortable telling the truth? The Civil War about slavery and any comparisons that one would like to make about tradition, is odious to me. If you can't be factual about history, I question your judgment to make decisions about the present that would ultimately make the future."
There are times in every successful leader's career where they are tested and you know right there how strong of a person and leader that they are and how good their character is. The old expression you: "You never have a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression", is how I look at Nikki Haley right now.
I wasn't going to vote for her anyway, if it was a choice between her and Joe Biden. But she just reenforced not just to Democrats, but Independents, as well as Conservative Republicans, (you know, normal Republicans) who are suffocating in Trumpland right now, hoping for hope that there's any shot in hell, that they'll be able to vote for anyone other than Donald Trump or Joe Biden for President in 2024, that she's still a late night TV host, looking for a prime time spot, but simply isn't ready big leagues yet.
Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton had the perfect comment here about Nikki Haley: "You have a presidential candidate whose unable to answer a complicated question because they're trying to placate to a base who in my opinion wouldn't vote for her anyway. So why be so uncomfortable telling the truth?
Does Nikki Haley really think that even in her home state of South Carolina, that that the far-right, is going to vote for a South Asian, as well as East Indian-American woman, a gen-xer, a daughter of immigrants, for President of the United States? Of course not. So why does she feel the need to try to get those folks who live in Fantasy Land ideologically and culturally?
I agree with Shermichael Singleton that this disqualifies her as a serious presidential candidate now. Maybe Nikki and Ron DeSantis can run for President together as a duo now.
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| Source:CNN- former U.N. Ambassador, as well as Governor of South Carolina, and 2023 Republican presidential candidate, Nikki Haley. |
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12/28/2023 - Just for the record: I sure as hell hope that David Frum is right here.
The only pushback I have to what Frum is arguing here, is that we went through this in late 2015 and the most of 2016 with Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton.
During the 2016 election cycle, Trump was considered so damaged for the Republican Party, that not only would Trump lose, but he would lose Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, maybe Indiana as well, to go along with Florida, Ohio, and the rest of the states that HRC had to win to the that election. Plus, Republicans were supposed to lose Congress as well (House & Senate) because with Donald Trump on the top of the ballot, Congressional Republicans wouldn't be able to hold the House and Senate, because they would be tied to Donald Trump, etc. Anyone whose old enough to remember the 2016 general election, knows what happened during those elections.
Now the pushback to what I just said and I agree with this, is we already know what Donald Trump is like as President and he's even more unpopular and in more legal, as well as financial trouble today, Joe Biden already beat him in 2020, and Republicans had a bad year in 2022 because of Donald Trump and his MAGA followers. And despite President Biden's unpopularity, the economy is improving with not just high economic and job growth, as well as low unemployment, but wages are now rising faster than prices again, as David Frum also mentioned.
The only real prediction about this that I have myself, is I think Donald Trump's legal situation is biggest achilles heel here. He can't afford any convictions before the 2024 presidential election. There's polling out there right now that even 2/3 of the Republican Party would not vote for Donald Trump for President, if he's a convicted felon before election day 2024. And if his Washington trial goes to trial by let's say the spring or late spring of 2024, he'll probably lose that case by some point during that summer and perhaps be remanded into custody as well, which would officially end his presidential campaign.
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| Source:Harry Litman from talking to David Frum from The Atlantic. |
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12/27/2023 - Just to pushback on what Scott Jennings said here, who I do respect as a Republican political analyst for his honesty and political intelligence, but who I'm going to quote here and then pushback here on him.
Scott Jennings: "Donald Trump is going to try to make this election a referendum on Joe Biden. If we have a referendum on Joe Biden and hold him to his promises. Joe Biden's promises were I'm (meaning Joe Biden) going to calm every down, I'm going to have a boring presidency, I'm going to be an adult. That is how Trump wants to win the race.
If I'm Joe Biden, I'm going to try to remind people that the Trump years weren't all that calm, they were chaotic as well. The problem is if you look at the polling, a lot of people are having nostalgia for the Trump years, particularly on the economy. So that's Biden's challenge that this is not as good as you remember."
I think if Scott Jennings was Donald Trump's presidential campaign manager and he was like the only person in the world that could get Donald Trump to take advice from anyone not named Donald Trump and he could get Donald Trump to discipline himself, (and pigs flew over the Atlantic Ocean and Mojave Desert was flooded with rain tomorrow) that might be the presidential campaign that Donald Trump would run. Assuming that little scenario about DJT being convicted and remanded into custody at the some point during the summer of 2024, wasn't hanging over their heads. Don't bet your paycheck on that not happening. Especially if you need your paycheck.
I think what Scott Jennings is laying out his preferred presidential campaign against Joe Biden. And saying this is how he would run that campaign and perhaps lending advice to Nikki Halley, if she were to somehow defeat DJT for the Republican nomination.
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| Source:CNN going inside the mind of Donald J. Trump. I guess they missed the warning sign. |
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12/26/2023 - Since this is the holiday season, I'm going to have a little fun with this Donald Trump post and let people imagine what would American politics be like with the same economic and foreign affairs circumstances, had Donald J. Trump had just decided to go home and retire from American politics all together. If that happen, imagine what Joe Biden's political situation would be right now.
As someone who was born when Jimmy Carter became President of the United States in 1977, I think that's the best way to look at Joe Biden's political situation right now. It's the all chaos of the Carter years, in the Democratic Party, facing a normal, center-right, Republican Party, led by Ronald Reagan, in 1979-80.
I'm old enough to remember when most Republicans didn't like dictators, or say that maybe we should have a dictator in America, or the Constitution is outdated and we need to throw it out and govern through Martial Law, or immigration is Un-American. Anyone whose in the mid or late 40s right now, or older, remembers that Republican Party as well.
But that's not the political situation today. Americans aren't happy with the economy and aren't feeling the growth in it and they think prices are too hight today. But we don't have 7-8% unemployment like we had in 1979-80, Unemployment is less that half today, what it was 44 years ago. Inflation and interest rates were more than double 44 years ago, from where they now. Real American personal income is actually rising today.
But the problem that President Biden had today, is that Americans aren't feeling that economic growth, because interest rates are still too high for them and inflation even at 3%, is still 3 times as high as it was even in late 2020.
So you are President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as Senate Majority Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats, who want to at least keep control of the Senate for the next Congress, or House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and the House Democrats, want to be in control of the House in the next Congress, you have to convince American voters, especially the core Democratic voting groups, as well as Independents who don't want to take another long shot on Donald Trump, whose only running for President again to stay out of prison and punish his political opponents, you have to convince these voters, that Democratic Party not only feels their pain, (to paraphrase Bill Clinton) but that things are going to get better if the Democratic Party is able to stay in power.
The Democratic Party needs a plan to empower more Americans to take control over their own lives and where they'll be able to afford to live in America comfortably again and not have to worry about how they're going to be able to pay the rent or mortgage, or is driving now too expensive for them, or how they going to afford just to pay for groceries, etc.
As bad a human being as Donald Trump is, (and to me, he's the definition of human garbage) running against him in 2024, even if he's personally bankrupt and not just convicted but then remanded into custody of the U.S. Marshals before the 2024 election, won't be enough.
Hillary Clinton and the Democrats simply tried running against the Donald Trump and company in 2024, because they knew she wasn't a popular leader at that point and it didn't work, because Democratic turnout was too low and she lost too many Democrats to Donald Trump.
So what Democrats needs in 2024 is of course make the case for why America can't afford a President Donald Trump again, but what would a 2nd term for President Biden look like and how things would get better in his 2nd term as President.
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| Source:CNN- Donald J. Trump representing The Devil this holiday season. |
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12/22/2023 - I put in the quote having to do with double jeopardy because that's one of the claims the Donald Trump's Washington lawyers are making for why the former President shouldn't even be tried at all for his role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection. They're arguing that President Trump was already impeached, tried, and acquitted in Congress. The House of Representatives impeached President Trump and then the Senate acquitted him.
But once again I'm not a lawyer. And if you are taking the time to count how many times I've said that in just the last 6 months, I suggest you get a life. But double jeopardy only apples to civil and criminal cases, not Congressional. After DJT loses on presidential immunity, (and I believe he will for reasons I've already given) he'll lose on double jeopardy as well and will head to trial in Washington in the spring of 2024.
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| Source:Amanpour & Company interviewing Professor of Law Stephen Vladek. |
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12/21/2023 - For the 100th time, perhaps just in 2023 alone, I'm not a lawyer, but I agree with George Conway who is a longtime Washington lawyer in the Republican Party. The Supreme Court will take Donald Trump's immunity case and perhaps rule on it in February.
I think the question in Donald Trump's immunity case is where do any former U.S. President has presidential immunity from prosecution in criminal cases, even for actions that they committed while they were President.
I think the answer to this presidential immunity question is obviously no, for the simple fact that we are a constitutional, federal republic and we have a liberal democratic, federal form of government. And a big part our our constitutional system is that no one is above the law, no one is below the law, including the most powerful people in the country, including the most powerful person in the country, the President of the United States.
And I'll give you another prediction as a non-lawyer. The Supreme Court will rule against Donald Trump's immunity claim, but as Joan Biskupic said in the CNN video, they'll allow for Donald Trump's lawyers to ,make other defenses in his Washington trial.
The reason why I believe the U.S. Supreme Court will rule against Donald Trump's immunity claim and I don't think it will be close, perhaps just Clarence Thomas rules in favor of Trump, if he doesn't recuse himself from the case, but the reason why I believe this, is I have a hard time believing that there are 5 Republicans on the Supreme Court, who believe that Joe Biden, or any other future Democratic President, should have presidential immunity from criminal prosecution, which is exactly what will happen if DJT wins this.
The other reason why I believe SCOTUS will rule against DJT is a practical one. If DJT were to get immunity here, the President and future President's would just be able to order his cabinet members and other executive officials to take actions that he knows are illegal and unconstitutional, knowing that he can't be prosecuted and telling his people essentially, don't worry about it, he'll pardon them, even if they're caught.
12/20/2023 - I would ask what were Mark Meadows and company thinking when they went through this whole overturn the 2020 presidential election scheme, just because their candidate Donald Trump lost. But it's obvious they weren't thinking at all.
I mean to try to corrupt state elections officials, that you don't even know, at lost not well, who are literally in the business to supervise state elections, like in Georgia, but Arizona, and other states as well, thinking that of course they would do that for them, is not thinking at all. It's like being in debt for over a million dollars, when you only make 30 thousand-dollars a year, thinking that you can pay off your debt by winning the lottery or robbing a string of convenient stores, or something.
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| Source:Harry Litman- left to right: Defendant Don & Defendant Mark. Also known as the Chief & Deputy Chief of the Keystone Kops of American politics. |
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12/19/2023 - The term slam dunk, especially since the days of the Iraq War back in the early 2000s, gets thrown around a lot. Sort of like the football in the modern NFL, (to use a modern sports reference) but slam sunk is appropriate in the Mark Meadows case and I'll explain why.
I guess it's legal to be both a campaign official and a U.S. Government official at the same time. (But you might want to consult a lawyer on that) You just can't do both jobs at the same time.
There's no statue or law in the U.S. Government that allows for one of their government official to interfere in democratic elections, especially to try to benefit one particular candidate or another. Which is what then White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was trying to do back in late 2020 in Georgia, to get that presidential election thrown out and just automatically declare Donald Trump the winner of the Georgia election.
Mark Meadows wasn't acting as White House Chief of Staff when he was trying to get Georgia state officials to reverse the election there and just automatically declare President Trump the winner there. He was acting on behalf of his de-facto client Donald Trump, as a campaign employee for the Donald Trump presidential campaign. Which is why he lost back in October and lost yesterday and will keep losing, as long as keeps fighting the charges against him.
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| Source:CNN- former White House Chief of Staff & current Fulton County, Georgia defendant Mark Meadows, getting is mug shot taken back in August. |
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12/18/2023 - As far as Nikki Haley: I could just say: "Only time will tell. Back to you Bob in the studio" as far as whether she has any realistic shot at knocking off Donald Trump (you know, politically) before the Republican Party gets to Super Tuesday. But since I'm a blogger, I have to come up with something even more substantial then:"Only time will tell. Back to you Bob..."
Nikki Halley's best shot here, is to do well in Iowa and that means finishing a strong second to Donald Trump and then perhaps Chris Christie gets the wakeup call that center-right (you know, normal Republicans) are waiting for and drops out of the Republican presidential race all together.
If Chris Christie drops out, then maybe Nikki can win New Hampshire. If she does that, we might see a real race in the Republican Party, at least for a few months. The problem that Nikki has, is she's not really playing in Iowa. Here whole strategy right now is somehow winning New Hampshire, even in the current Republican field.
As far as Rudy Giuliani, I completely disagree with Michael Smerconish here, at least when it comes to free will. We all make our own decisions and are held accountable for them. Otherwise, we would just be human robots.
No one forced Rudy Giuliani to get into bed with a man like Donald Trump and become his personal propagandist. Rudy now lies for a living on behalf of DJT and perhaps other MAGA members and all those checks that he's written with his mouth, at other people's expense, the debts are now due and they're going to ruin him professionally and financially, regardless of what the final penalty is going to be for him.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about Nikki Haley, Donald Trump, and Rudy Giuliani. |
12/15/2023 - I'm showing you Geraldo Rivers'a response and opinion on Donald Trump's immunity claim, because he was on CNN's Newsnight With Abby Phillip last night, essentially trying to make Trump World's (or what's left of Trump World) argument for why Donald Trump shouldn't be tried at all right now, at least until he's President again and can just unilaterally throw all these Federal cases out that are against him.
I think what Geraldo is really doing here, is campaigning to be Donald Trump's attorney attorney, similar to what Alan Dershowitz was doing on his podcast a couple months ago, by making the garbage argument that Donald Trump is immune to all prosecutions against him, simply because he's currently running for President right now. I'm not a lawyer, but I love to see the statue or the section in the U.S. Constitution where it says that presidential candidates are immune from prosecution, or even about the law, simply because they are presidential candidates.
But with Geraldo Rivera, unlike most of his other lawyers like Alina Habba and others, at least he tries to sound intelligent and put a real argument together, unlike Trump's Washington lawyers right now who are literally arguing that there should be a delay here, because it's the holiday season and they need to spend time with their families. Apparently they were asleep in law school on the day when they were told that bering a lawyer, especially a criminal defense lawyer and prosecutor, involves a lot of hard work and personal sacrifice.
I agree with Harry Litman that this delay with the Trump appeal on immunity, will probably delay the Washington trial by a month or so. But DJT will lose that as well, simply because their argument is ridiculous, (and that might be putting it mildly) because no one is above the law in this country, including former President's and presidential candidates. And that this trial will probably start in April or May, maybe June and DJT will be convicted by the end of the summer 2024.
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| Source:Harry Litman- U.S. Federal District Judge Tanya Chutkan, for Washington, D.C. |
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12/14/2023 - Not only I'm not a lawyer, but I'm also not a psychologist, not even a political psychologist. So what I'll be doing here is just theorizing and sort of using New York Times national political reporter and CNN political analyst Maggie Haberman as my source here.
I would have to assume that you would have to be a world champion narcissist to believe that you are always right and will always win everything to be Donald Trump. And I'm talking about him in his last two months of his presidency, where he's desperate to remain as President of the United States, even though it's clear he just lost reelection in November, 2020.
So on one side, President Trump has a team of lawyers and advisers from Wisconsin, who are essentially stating the obvious to him and telling him that it's basically over. He's not only lost Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, which clinched the election for Joe Biden. So now we know that Joe Biden will become the next President in January 2021.
But President Trump has this other lawyer who just happens to be one of his co-defendants in Georgia, Ken Chesebro, telling the President that he still has one more option in Arizona. But even if President Trump wins that legal case in Arizona, he's still lost the presidential election and will legally be out of office in January, 2021.
And even after knowing all of this now knowing he'll no longer be President, because he's lost the Electoral College, President Trump still fights on because he's being told by Ken Chesebro that he can win in Arizona. Even Arizona alone with all the other losses in the swing states that he had to win, to get reelected, won't give him reelection.
I'm not saying the Ken Chesebro testimony about Arizona is not important. I'm just saying that we now know that Donald Trump knew he would be no longer be President of the United States by January 20, 2021. But he still went ahead with his illegal election interference campaigns, as well as inspired his MAGA followers, to try to take over the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, the day that Congress made it official that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and would become the next President of the United States, on January 20, 2021.
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| Source:CNN- left to right: Defendant Don Trump & New York Times & CNN Donald Trump Whisperer Maggie Haberman. |
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12/13/2023 - Just a few points about what they were talking about here and then I'll save you from hearing everything else that I think and know, for now.
As far as Hunter Biden, Bill Maher made the best point here. Actually, he made two great points. Maher said that there is one party that not only believes in the rule of law, but believes in it more than the other party.
Going back to the 1960s, at least, it's the Republican Party that's been stereotyped as the tough, law and order, rule of law party. But then the right-wing cult hero of right-wing cult heroes, took over what used to be the Grand Ole Party and what I at least would even argue use to be the Republican Party, in 2016 and is now just Donald Trump's MAGA Party, where their policy when it comes to the rule of law is: "It's not illegal when we do it. It's only illegal when Democrats and real Republicans who oppose us, do it."
John Avlon made an excellent point about that as well, where he said the indictment of Hunter Biden (whose just happens to be President Joe Biden's son) proves that we have the rule of law in America. We have a Democratic President and a Democratic run Department of Justice, that just indicted Hunter Biden on tax evasion and having illegal possession of firearms. And he looks pretty guilty on both counts and was even willing to plead guilty this summer, in exchange for a lighter sentence.
Bill Maher went onto say how these MAGA members (not real Republicans) are now comparing Hunter Biden with Donald Trump. With Maher making the quick comeback (and I'm paraphrasing) that you don't see mainstream Democrats defending Hunter Biden, or Senator Bob Menendez, for that matter and he's not the Democrat's hero.
As far as Vivek Ramaswamy, this is the first and hopefully the only time that I talk about him ever, at least until he grows up and perhaps takes and passes a course in social studies, as well as government and politics.
I think the only thing that explains his so-called presidential campaign (which is really just a poorly managed spinoff to Donald Trump's hit reality TV show Who Wants To Be President?) is that he's campaigning to be Donald Trump's Vice Presidential nominee. He's basically telling DJT: "I'm a bigger dick than you, even, and I know even less about government and public policy, than you, even. You have to pick me because we would be perfect together." And we'll see if that campaign works or not.
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| Source:Real Time With Bill Maher going into overtime. |
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12/12/2023 - Just to be completely honest and accurate: (not that I'm ever not completely honest and accurate) we don't know what a 2nd Donald Trump presidency would look like. And besides that, he would have to get reelected first. And he might have to do that as a bankrupt and convicted felon, whose currently confined in prison, waiting on his sentence, after being remanded by Judge Tanya Chutkan. You can look at the polls all you want, but Donald Tump has a long, uphill, road to climb, before he even gets reelected again.
Having said all of that, I don't want to wait and find out what a 2nd Donald Trump presidency could look like. I don't think America can afford to take chance on him, because of what Jeffrey Goldberg and others have said. Which is why the U.S. Government, as well as American voters who love not just love America, but want to preserve and defend our liberal democracy, rule of law, and checks and balances, need to legally do whatever we can, to prevent Donald Trump from getting anywhere near The White House ever again.
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| Source:Amanpour & Company talking to The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg. |
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12/11/2023 - Just a few points about former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy.
Yes, House Republicans won back the House last year. But they started off with 2012 seats and finished with 222 seats and now looks like they're down to 220 seats, maybe 2019 in early 2024. Imagine investing 20 bucks in a lemonade stand and you net 40 cents back for your investment. That's what you get with Kevin McCarthy in charge.
I think it was Representative Patrick McHenry (whose also returning from the House after next year) who said that Kevin McCarthy was one of the most effective Speaker's that House Republicans have ever had. (Hard to write that down with a straight face) My question for Representative McHenry would've been: compared to who? And the list of possibilities at least in recent memory would be John Boehner, who did know how to manage his far-right and work with Democrats, to at least get the basics right when it came to government. But in recent years, I guess the other option would be Paul Ryan, who didn't seek reelection in 2018, after only being Speaker for 3 years.
One of the panelists on this CNN show, Marianna Sotomayor said that Kevin McCarthy really knew how to recruit certain Republicans to run for certain House districts. Well, if Kevin McCarthy is actually a Democratic political operative undercover in the House, she has a point.
Again, House Republicans only picked up 10 seats last year, when they could've had 40, considering President Joe Biden's un-favorability, the situation with the economy as far as inflation and high interest rates, the fact that the Democratic Party had complete control of Congress (House & Senate) in 2021-2022, as well as The White House.
But House Republicans have as much as 90-220 MAGA members. Some of those folks are perhaps even militant members of that movement, who aren't opposed to using violence to accomplish their political objectives. Good thing Mr. McCarthy and the rest of the country that he isn't a military recruiter.
What House Republicans got with Kevin McCarthy, was someone who wanted to Speaker of the House and perhaps do great things with his House majority. But I'm still trying to figure out how that benefits the House Republican Conference, the broader House of Representatives, the Republican Party, and the country in general.
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| Source:CNN- left to right: former Donald Trump puppet Kevin McCarthy & Defendant Don Trump. |
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12/08/2023 - The New Democrat talks about free speech a lot because we're Liberal Democrats and one of, if not the biggest liberal value, along with freedom of choice and the belief in personal autonomy, and property rights, is the belief in freedom of speech.
So of course Americans not have a constitutional right to free speech, but that even includes hate speech. We have a right to even believe that Jews, along with every other ethnic group in America, are subhuman (as nasty as that sounds) who don't even deserve to live and breath on Planet Earth. But we don't have a constitutional right to act on those genocidal and bigoted views. We don't have a right to call in public for Jews, or any other ethnic group in this country, to be murdered simply because they're Jewish, because of their ethnicity.
Both the University of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, are private institutions. But there's a big catch here, they both receive Federal tax dollars. And if they want to continue to receive those tax dollars, they have to show that this money is not going to support genocidal propaganda against any ethnic group in this country, including at their own institutions, or in the rest of the country.
I don't agree with most of what the MAGA run U.S. House of Representatives has done this year, including Representative Elise Stefanik, who had her own issues dealing with genocide last year when she endorsed a Republican House candidate who praised Adolf Hitler. A man who murdered not just Jews because they were Jewish, but Poles, because they're Polish, back in the 1930s and 40s, (Elise Stefanik is Polish-American) but they were damn right in bringing these college president's to U.S. Capitol this week, to testify about the genocidal rhetoric against their Jewish students. And those presidents for college president's, look pretty braindead and tone death.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about the University of Pennsylvania President. |
12/07/2023 - As Jill Lepore already mentioned in this video, Jefferson Davis wasn't tried for treason against the United States of America, because he renounced his American citizenship, when he became the President of the Confederate States, which of course was at war with the U.S. Government in the 1960s during the American Civil War.
That's not the case with Donald J. Trump, who obviously is still an American citizen (as much as lot of Americans hate that fact and consider him an embarrassment to the country) and therefor is eligible to be tried for treason and insurrection, for his role in overthrowing the democratically, certified 2020 presidential election.
I don't think there's any question that Donald Trump has to be tried for his role in the 2021 insurrection, both in Washington and Atlanta, at least. Apparently Michigan, Nevada, and perhaps Pennsylvania, are considering their own prosecutions against the former President as well.
The reason why Donald Trump has to be tried for his role in January 6, 2021, is because if he weren't at least tried, (and I'm very confident he'll be convicted in Washington, at least) it would send a horrible signal to the rest of the far-right in America, that they could do this again in the future. As well as the militant far-left, who aren't exactly in love with American liberal democracy either.
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| Source:Amanpour & Company talking to New Yorker columnist Jill Lepore. |
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12/06/2023 - As Liz Cheney said about Speaker Mike Johnson and the House videotapes on Jan. 6, 2021: "The Department of Justice already has the tapes of that day." What I would add is that people have already been arrested, prosecuted, and even testified in court, in exchange for lighter prison sentences, about their role in this attempted insurrection of 2021.
And as Liz Cheney would go onto say: "Speaker Johnson seems to be suggesting that there's something in these tapes that could change what has already happened."
So the Speaker is just lying about this since he knows that DOJ already has all of this evidence. But apparently Speaker Johnson thinks these MAGA members are too dumb to find their own hands, perhaps even spell their own names, and don't already know this and that the Speaker can use this to try to keep their support.
But apparently Speaker Johnson is simply worried about keeping the support of the MAGA base of the Republican Party, and will claim that he's with holding evidence that DOJ already has, in order to keep more of these people from having to go to prison, for their role in Jan 6. 2021. Even though several of the members are in prison today, or have just been released from prison, for their role in Jan 6. 2021.
Which tells me that the so-called establishment leaders of the Republican Party, like the freakin Speaker of the House of Representatives, (just to use as an example) doesn't have a lot of respect for the intelligence of these right-wing, MAGA militants.
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| Source:CNN- former U.S. Representative (Republican, Wyoming) and now author Liz Cheney, talking about Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (Republican, Louisiana) |
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12/05/2023 - I think we now need to get into what Donald Trump is actually doing here and why he's even running for President, because it's not the job that he wants again, just the power, and the added power that he would try to give himself, if there are enough Americans on Election Day 2024, who are too drunk and blind, to make the right decision 11 months from now and Donald Trump becomes President again.
Donald Trump's 2024 election campaign and theme is essentially this:
"You have to reelect me, so I can stay out of prison. If I get reelected President, I could then end all the Federal trials and investigations against me and my allies and we can then go about our business and back to business as usual, with no one around to hold me and and my people accountable. But, if I don't get back to The White House, I'm going to prison for at least the rest of my political career and I'll be 78 in 2024."
That's what al these bogus (to be too kind) political motions that his lawyers are making in Washington and Atlanta, for their client Donald Trump. They're essentially telling a very competent, responsible, and sober U.S. Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan and a very competent, responsible, and sober Fulton County, Georgia Judge Scott McAfee, that their client is immune from prosecution and trial, simply because he's running for President again.
Forget about all the evidence against DJT in Washington and Atlanta, Donald Trump (according to his lawyers) is immune from prosecution and trial, simply because he's running for President again.
Forget about the fact that DJT is running for President again. DJT's lawyers might as well just say that Donald Trump can't be prosecuted, because he's Donald Trump and he's the King of the United States (not reality TV) and therefor has the right to live and operate above the law. Because that argument makes as much sense as what they're saying now.
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| Source:Harry Litman- left to right: (flor all you blind, insane, drunk, and high people out there, just waking up from a coma) Fulton County, Georgia Judge Scott McAfee & Defendant Don Trump. |
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12/04/2023 - As far as the Far-Right in America, (I'm tired of calling people who aren't religious Christian Nationalists) we can joke about them as much as we want and make fun of them all we want. Like the fact that they're from the 1800s culturally and as far as their mindset and got caught in some political, cultural, and national time machine and found themselves in the 21st Century, where it suddenly occurred to them that not all Americans are even Anglo-Saxon-Protestants, and they have some problem with that, along with all the other races, cultures, religions, and other ethnicities that make up America.
But, when political jokes get elected to high office in America and you have a party of political jokes not only getting elected to Congress, but The White House as well, but in such big numbers that now they're in charge of the national government, no decent, intelligent, sane, and sober American would still be laughing.
The old joke: "The problem with political jokes, is that they get elected." Once they're elected and in office and now have power to rule over people who are no longer laughing at them and now are thinking: "If only I had voted during that last election, I could've been laughing at this asshole on election night" it's no longer funny, because now you have all these mentally out of this world people, who not only have the power to govern, but to rule over other people.
MAGA, even the militant wing of the movement, is no real threat to America, as long as they're just getting elected in West Virginia and the rest of Redneckistan. (To keep it real) But once they start getting elected in places where not just mainstream Democrats should win, but win going away, like in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc, and in places where center-right Republicans should be getting elected, like in Arizona, Nevada, Ohio, New York State, etc, that's when MAGA becomes a threat to the rest of the country.
Outside of Redneckistan, (to keep it real) MAGA is just a small part of a much larger Republican Party. But once they start winning in the rest of America, where the rest of the country lives, like in cities, and metros, that's how they become a problem for the rest of the country. Because now they have the numbers to at least be in charge of the House of Representatives, but perhaps win back the Senate, and even The White House.
My point here is for every intelligent, responsible, sober, and sane American, who really loves America and our great liberal democracy and republic, make fun of MAGA all you want. But on election day make sure you are at least serious and sober enough to get out and vote and vote for the pro-American, anti-MAGA candidates, even if they're not from your political party. Because that's how we really "save America" and our republic and keep our great country from going back to the 1950s where MAGA wants to take us back.
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| Source:Real Time With Bill Maher- left to right: The Rajin Cajun James Carville& The Liberal Jew David Rubin. (Not to get too ethnic) |
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12/01/2023 - If you were to look at the January 6, 2021 case like it was a murder cases involving multiple defendants, with the person or people who actually physically committed the murder or murders, and the person who organized the murder or murders, the person who hired the people to murder the person or people that they wanted killed and told them when to do it, perhaps even provided the plan, the access, the financing for the murder or murders:
Of course Donald Trump didn't actually walk down to Capitol Hill on that horrible day in January, 2021, with a team of thugs to physically take over the Congress, to stop the House and Senate from certifying the 2020 presidential election. But he knew who was in his crowd as far as the type of people that he was dealing with, which were his hardcore, militant supporters, some of those folks who are now in Federal prison for the role in this attempted insurrection. And he probably knew what they were willing to do for him as well.
As Harry Litman said himself, what U.S. President's do on the job, on the clock (so to speak) and what they do as politicians, as political candidates, are two different things. (That's a paraphrase) Donald Trump is not being personally sued for his policy on China or Russia, his stance on the Affordable Care Act, etc. He's being sued for his role in the January 6, 2021, attempted insurrection, of the U.S. Government and attempt to violently throw out the 2020 presidential election results. And the decision by the Federal Court in Washington was correct.
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| Source:Harry Litman talking about no Jan 6. 2021 immunity for then President Donald J. Trump. |
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11/30/2023 - The guess the only thing I would add the Wikipedia definition of fascism, is that Communists, or at least Communists leaders at least practice fascism as well. They go by the policy that you either agree with the Communist State on everything, or they'll lock you up, or perhaps just murder you before they lock you up. The People's Republic of China, the Communist Republic of Korea, are excellent examples of that. The Communist Republic of Cuba, still has a lot of political prisoners as well.
I disagree with Tom Nichols, at least a little bit on this. I agree with him that political labels like liberal, which is now used by the mainstream media, at least, to describe every radical movement on the Left, when actual Liberals believe in liberal democracy, which is a center-right form of government, fascist gets thrown around too much as well. Tom Nichols, who was a longtime Republican, is basically a Liberal or Classical Liberal Republican, at least ideologically.
But I'm not sure there's any real political ideology that defines Mr. Trump individually. He governed as a right-wing, alt-right, Northern European, Nationalist in America, who wanted to return America to the people that this movement believes are the real Americans, which are Northern European-Americans, especially Anglo-Saxons and other Northern-European Protestants. But that's how he got elected in 2016 and the philosophy that he stuck with as President.
But Donald Trump is so narcissistic, that he only cares about himself and sees himself as a king or some other type of dictator, who shouldn't be held accountable to anyone but himself. Which is the only reason why he's running for President again, which is to stay out of prison and keep his allies out of prison. So with his background as both a businesses (and soon to be bankrupt businessman) and now political activist/politician, I think again if there's any real political philosophy that could be used to define Donald Trump's political philosophy, Oligarch might be the best...
But again, I'm not sure there's any real political ideology that I believe could be sued to define Donald Trump's politics. If he thought socialism was the best way to give him absolute power as an individual, he would be a Socialist. Or the same thing with liberalism, or conservatism in its real forms, not how liberalism and conservatism are misdefined today.
Donald Trump believes in Donald Trump and no one, or anything else. As long as you are on Team Trump, he's loyal to you. But when you do or say anything that goes against him, regardless of whatever your previous relationship was with him, he throws you out like a bag of garbage.
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| Source:Amanpour & Company talking to The Atlantic Magazine editor Tom Nichols. |
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11/29/2023 - As my colleague Kire Schneider pointed out a couple about 3 weeks ago on The New Democrat:
"I don't want to make light of Judge Aileen Cannon or the case that she's presiding over, because we're talking about what could possibly be a treason case against The Donald J. Trump. But of the 3 felony cases against Donald Trump, this is 3rd most important.
We know that Judge Cannon is friendly towards Donald Trump. We know of all the 3rd judicial districts that Trump is being tried in, Miami, Florida and Dade County, is the most friendly to him, of that 3. The other two cases against him, are in Washington and Atlanta, which are both, big cities, in big metro areas, that are overwhelmingly Democratic and anti-Donald Trump.
So unless Judge Cannon holds to her May 2024 deadline for her trial to begin, even with all the discovery, motions, and appeals that will be brought in her trial, the Washington case and the Atlanta case, might already be underway. And her case might have to be the 3rd one anyway, because of all the classified material and security clearances that will have to be made in her trial.
And Donald Trump could already be headed for conviction both in Washington and Atlanta, by the time Judge Cannon's Miami case is underway. Or perhaps because she gets removed from her case because of how friendly she is to Donald Trump and his lawyer and how bias she is towards Jack Smith's Special Counsel lawyers in this case."
We're not even lawyers here at The New Democrat, but we called this almost 3 weeks ago.
Now, I'm going off of what Harry Litman is saying here, but he's a career lawyer and Federal prosecutor. If it's August that Judge Scott McAfee wants his trial to be held and gives that order, it will be early 2025 at the earliest, probably middle 2025 (and this is based on whether Donald Trump wins the 2024 presidential election) before Judge Aileen Cannon gets her cased tried in her Federal court, in Miami, Florida. Because her case has the most evidence, especially classified evidence, and all the security clearances that people involved in the case are going to have to go through and get approved, before that trial can happen.
The Federal case in Washington and the Fulton County case in Atlanta, are lot more simpler, at least in sense there's not a tone of classified information and security clearances that are going to have to be processed, before those trials can happen. So Judge Cannon can try to cover Donald Trump's tail (to put it mildly) all she wants. But he'll probably be a two-time convicted felon and bankrupt man, before she gets to see him. Assuming he doesn't win the presidency next year.
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| Source:Harry Litman- Fulton County, Georgia Judge Scott McAfee. |
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11/28/2023 - Whether then Vice President Mike Pence told then President Donald Trump that either he (meaning Mike Pence) didn't believe that he had the authority as Vice President of the United States to either throw out the 2020 presidential election results and just declare Donald Trump the winner of that election, or that he (meaning Donald Trump) knew that the Vice President of the United States doesn't have that authority, it's clear that the Vice President was simply doing his job and trying to do it the best that he can. And that Donald Trump simply wanted to take an extra legal, as well as an extra constitutional move, to simply rewrite at least part of the U.S. Constitution, to save President Trump from losing the presidency.
But not only are commas important, but so are trials, as well as witnesses, and testimony. And early next year, Mr. Pence will have the opportunity to clear this up for the American people under oath whether he was saying that he as Vice President, didn't have the authority to just automatically declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Or, he was saying that Mr. Trump knew that his Vice President didn't have that authority. Perhaps he was saying that they both knew that the Vice President doesn't have that authority, regardless of what party that they're a member of.
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| Source:CNN- then Vice President Mike Pence, talking to then President Donald Trump, perhaps in late 2020. |
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11/27/2023 - Talk about your slow news days: here I'm writing about the latest Hollywood conspiracy theory about "who really assassinated President John F. Kennedy".
I want to be careful here, because similar to Rob Reiner's father Carl Reiner, I have a lot of respect for him as an actor, comedian, director. I think he's one of the best entertainers of his generation, similar to how his father was one of the best entertainers of his generation. But that pretty much ends my level of respect for him.
In this so-called interview that didn't even last 5 minutes, where the supposed interviewer just let Rob Reiner talk and didn't ask him any followup questions, where Mr. Reiner spent maybe half that time just talking about where he was on that horrible, November day, in 1963 and what he was doing etc, Mr. Reiner doesn't bother to offer any evidence for why he believes someone other than Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President Kennedy.
But, if you go to the News Nation article about this story, (which is linked on this post) you'll see them suggesting that then Vice President Lyndon Johnson and the CIA, were involved in taking out the President.
So we're just back to one of those left-wing conspiracy theories about who really assassinated President John F. Kennedy, because Socialists still can't live with the fact that one of their own took out one of the most personally popular, and perhaps most pop culture relevant President that we've ever had in America.
Mr. Reiner did say that 4 men supposedly assassinated President Kennedy. But where's the beef on that? And then he admitted that we'll never have the smoking gun on who really assassinated John F. Kennedy. The only accurate statement that he's made about this story. So admitting that there's no smoking gun on who really murdered John F. Kennedy, Mr. Reiner is admitting that he has no proof on really assassinated JFK.
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| Source:News Nation- Hollywood actor, director, and comedian Rob Reiner. Not investigative reporter, documentarian, or detective Rob Reiner. Unless he played those roles on TV, in his films. |
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11/22/2023 - As my colleague Kire Schneider said on The New Democrat last week:
"As far as Donald Trump co-defendant Harrison Floyd: not claiming I'm the first person to give him the Dirty Harry nickname, but he's classic mob thug, that the boss (in case Donald Trump) uses to do his dirty work so the boss can stay out of trouble.
At least Dirty Harry in the movies (played by Clint Eastwood) got that nickname, for being a hard-ass cop, who took the toughest cases as a San Francisco police inspector. But in Dirty Harry Floyd's case, he's just a wannabe mob thug whose going to pay a helluva price in Dixie Georgia, for being a dirtbag. Or in his case, a Dirty Harry Bag."
So this is who Harrison Floyd is, Donald Trump's social medial enforcer and henchman.
As far as this ruling, as a Liberal, I'm as strong as a proponent for free speech in America and the First Amendment, as anyone you'll ever meet, short of Anarchists and Libertarians. The First Amendment, as much as leftists hate this, even protect dirtbags (to be frank) like Dirty Harry Floyd, just as long as they're not promoting violence against other people, or inciting violence against other people. And apparently Judge Scott McAfee believes the same thing. But perhaps would use different language.
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| Source:CNN- the one & thank God only Donald J. Trump. |
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11/21/2023 - Assuming that Judge Tanya Churkan's gag order is reinstated (and I'm not a lawyer) Donald Trump will not only violate it, but then be fined and probably violate it multiple times and be fined multiple times and perhaps his lawyers will be fined as well for not being able to control their own client. And yes, if the fines don't work, I believe Judge Chutkan will send Donald J. Trump to jail for contempt of court. Talk about real reality TV: who would miss seeing Donald J. Trump being sent to a real jail to serve time there?
Ty Cobb obviously knows Donald Trump better than me, as well as Erin Burnett and knows what it's like to try to work for that man and he's saying that his former client when DJT was President, will not only lose this appeal, but then violate the gag order.
I don't get any pleasure in comparing a former President of the United States, even a failed and bad President, a President that only managed to get 46% of the vote in two, two-way-races in 2016 and 2020, to a mobster. But I think you have to look at Donald Trump with all the cases and all the evidence that's against him, a man who views himself as unaccountable and above the law, in that way.
Donald Trump knows what happened as well, if not better on January 6th, 2021, better than everyone else. Or at least no one knows that day better than him. He knows about his own activity today, he knows what the people around him know about that day. He knows what he told them and what he told them to do. And now most if not all those people, including his own Vice President Mike Pence, his own Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, will be testifying against him.
When you are a mobster and you know your guilty, at least under law and you know what's against you as far as the evidence and the witnesses against you, but you still don't want to go to prison anyway, your only real play here is to try to make the case against the prosecutors, instead of the case against you and try to prove your innocence. As well as try to intimidate witnesses who will testify against you. Perhaps try to incite violence against the witnesses against you, since there's no evidence that Donald Trump has ever personally directed someone to take out or beat up a witness against him.
That's why this gag order will be imposed against him because that's how DJT will try to win the case, by trying to poison the jury pool so the jury simply won't believe their own ears and eyes in this case and ignore all the evidence and witnesses against the former President of the United States.
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| Source:CNN- former Donald J. Trump lawyer Ty Cobb. |
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11/20/2023 - There's not much here to go with, but there are a few points that were made in this segment that might keep people awake long enough to read this, which is what I'll talk about.
Adam Kinziner, whose one of the last of the true Conservative Republicans, (which is why I guess he's no longer in the U.S. House of Representatives) made an excellent point about Governor Ron DeSantis and predicting that Governor DeSanitis would be the next Republican to drop out of the Republican presidential race.
Kinzinger's argument is that Ron DeSantis's play was that Donald Trump would fall because of all the legal baggage and that even some MAGA Republicans (who aren't really Republicans, but that's a different story) would think that Trump can't win the general election, because of all the legal cases, the baggage, and evidence against DJT and that DeSantis would inherit those voters from Trump.
But as Kinzinger said (and they served in the House together in the 2010s) Ron DeSanitis is like the most boring person that you could possibly ever dream of meeting. No personality, not likable, etc. You can't win in Iowa, New Hampshire, probably South Carolina as well, which isn't as rural as the other states, but you can't win in those states if you are boring and unlikable.
The main problem that Ron DeSantis seems to have is that his message is basically: "I'm as interesting as a phonebook, I'm also an asshole, but I would make a good President." Which seems to be Ron DeSantis's message to the early Republican voters right now. Along with since Donald Trump has taken over the Republican Party, they've been losing, which is why they need a change. He's right about that, but he hasn't made the case for why he should be the next leader of that party.
Bill Maher's point about Joe Biden being that he's not too old to be President. He's just too old to get reelected President and its perception that voters care about and not reality. As I said on The New Democrat back in October: "It's one thing to say that Joe Biden shouldn't run for reelection. But I didn't hear Bill Maher mention anyone who should run for President as the Democrat in the President's place. You can quote James Carville all you want, but Carville doesn't have a Democratic alternative to Trump either."
The only thing that I have to add to what I said back in October about Joe Biden's reelection possibilities is, to beat somebody, you have to have somebody or be somebody yourself.
If the Democratic Party really believed that Joe Biden is either too old to get reelected or too old to beat Donald Trump again, (even though he's still the only person whose ever beaten Donald Trump in any election) you would see a boatload of mainstream Democrats running against the the President right now.
What we have instead are just these boring, middle of the road Democrats, who don't really believe in anything, who are probably just trying to get more attention for themselves, raise more money for a future campaign, or just perhaps just secretly trying to sabotage the President because they don't like him. Or, professional conspiracy theorists, who aren't really Democrats or Republicans ideologically and don't know what else to do with their time right now.
I think people like David Axelrod, who really does believe that Joe Biden is a in political trouble right now, with concerns about his age and how low approval rating, really believe that Joe Biden could definitely lose right now and perhaps is even the underdog going in 2024.
But who beats the President a year from now? Some might say Nikki Haley, but she has to defeat Donald Trump 1st and get his voters behind her. Some might say Donald Trump, but he'll be a convicted a felon a year from now and probably bankrupt as well.
Are American voters (and I'm talking about Democrats, Independents, and center-right Republicans) who truly believe that Donald Trump, who a year from now will be a bankrupt, convicted felon, who is a real threat to American democracy, freedom, and the republic, really want for President again, especially over someone who believes in those values that Donald Trump would try to destroy, if given the chance? I seriously doubt that because there's no evidence of that.
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| Source:Real Time With Bill Maher- left to right for people who are hard of seeing: Donna Brazile & Adam Kinzinger. |
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11/17/2023 - George Carlin really makes my whole point about Representative George Santos and I could rest my case here, but I'll explain anyway how the Carlin point about politicians, makes my point about George Santos.
We get the government that we deserve, we get the politicians that we deserve, democracy has consequences, etc. But what does that mean? What we're now learning about George Santos in 2023, was available more than a year ago. His own people were resigning from his campaign and trying to get him to drop out of his U.S. House race because they saw him as a fraud.
George Santos makes the whole case about the importance not just of opposition research, but political self-examination, doing an intelligence report about yourself and seeing how the other side and media are going to try to hit you. Then seeing if there is anything in your background that can hurt you. As well as is there too much that can hurt you and is it even worth running for office at all.
The opposition research is your own campaign doing an intelligence report on your opponent and seeing if there are any real ethical problems with your opponent and not just the partisan attacks that campaigns throw back at each other, but real ethical problems with your opponent that could make that person really unfit for elected office.
Robert Zimmernan who was George Santos opponent in that 2022 New York House race, was on CNN last night pretty much blaming everyone else for why we didn't know about George Santos before he was elected to the House last year. He said it was the job if the Democratic Campaign Committee and the media to get and report all the information about Santos that he was a fraud, and conman, crook, and even criminal.
Robert Zimmernan also said that his campaign did do some opposition research on Santos and got a lot of it right. Well, if that's the case, how come the Zimmerman Campaign didn't bother to report any of that information? Maybe they actually didn't want to win, or something, I don't know. Just because someone runs for office, doesn't prove that they actually want to win.
Everything that we know about George Santos today, was available 13 months ago. But the media and and the Zimmernan Campaign didn't bother to report it. Or, the voters in that House district simply didn't care. Maybe their attitude was, George Santos can't be any more crooked than the average politician. Maybe they decided they don't like Robert Zimmerman. Maybe their attitude was: "George Santos is a lying sleazebag and conman. But at least he's not Robert Zimmerman."
Or, to go by the George Carlin rule, they decided that they get the politicians that they deserve and decided that they deserve a man who lives off the backs of others, including people who work hard for a living and struggle just to get by, even in an era of high inflation and interest rates. Why not vote for someone who lives off of them not just for the luxuries in life, but to pay for their own rent, food, the basic necessities in life.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about soon to be former U.S. Representative George Santos (Republican, New York) |
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11/16/2023 - I don't have much to add here. (Which might be relief to some people) I guess this is just a slow news day. But I can't see Mark Meadows making it through a trial. He'll be 65 next year, he's guilty of clear Georgia state felonies, as well as Federal felonies.
The Meadows book deal where he wrote a book that he now admits is bullshit (to call it like it is) is probably the only thing that he has to finance his defense here. So he really needs to be thinking about whether he wants to go to prison and be in there well into his 70s. Even if somehow Donald Trump wins the presidential election next year, (and stranger things have happened in America) Mark Meadows would still have to go to trial in Atlanta in 2025, if not before that. With no one waiting around to pardon him. If he went to trial, he would get convicted, especially with all the evidence that's now against him, plus more that will come out against him before the trial, and of course during the trial.
As far as Rudy Giuliani: even if he does have something that District Attorney Fani Willis doesn't have against Donald Trump and his co-defendants, as Harry Litman and other had said, he's a horrible witness because he's a compulsive liar. Which can happen to you when you spend a lot of time with Donald Trump, Trump infects you with his bullshit. So Rudy might be in a situation where he would have to just plead guilty and allocute to his crimes and hope for a lighter prison sentence in exchange.
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| Source:Harry Litman- left to right: former Donald Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows & and his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Dumb & Dumber might be too harsh (key word being might) but these are perhaps the two main architects of Donald Trump's scheme to throw out the 2020 presidential election and just automatically declare Biggest Loser Don the winner of the presidential election. |
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11/15/2023 - Imagine being a member of a frat house in college and one of the conditions of being a member of that house, is that you have to drink alcohol all day, or smoke pot all day. So now you've been a member of this frat house for a month, drinking nothing but alcohol, at every meal, smoking pot all day, perhaps eating marijuana brownies when you are actually hungry.
Or, you are just a confined mental patient who sees flying tomatoes with wings and killer ants killing bears while you are awake. I think this is what your mental state would have to be for you to actually believe that you can just stay in office after your administration just lost an election and nothing would happen to you as a result for trying to just stay in office after your term expired.
I just don't see how an intelligent, moral, sane, sober, person, could actually believe what the Trump White House was contemplating after they lost all of their 2020 election cases in December that year. What would they have done on January 21, 2021, after Joe Biden has just been sworn in as President and now is the President and Kamala Harris has just been sworn in as Vice President?
Now on January 21, 2021, the Biden's with their staffs are headed to The White House and arrive at The White House, but the Trump team is still there like it's just another day.
I know what would've happened . The Secret Service or FBI would've stepped in, knowing that the Trump people are still there and haven't even started packing up and getting ready to go home and enter the private sector. They would've been kicked out and escorted off The White House property and perhaps even arrested for literally overstaying their welcome at The People's House.
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| Source:Harry Litman- anytime you are actually guilty, but you don't want to plead guilty or give up your co-conspirators, make sure you are not drunk or high when you are hiring your lawyers, because you might hire Sidney Power and Jenna Ellis by accident and end up doing 20 to life for speeding. |
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11/14/2023 - Just to answer the question whether or not Jacob Chansley (better known as QAnon Shaman should be eligible to vote and run for office as a convicted felon: I believe as a Liberal Democrat (meaning someone who believes in liberal democracy) once you've paid your price and have done your time, especially when you've pleaded guilty for your crime or crimes, yes, you should not only be eligible to vote, but also run for Federal office.
American convicted felons are American citizens as well and once they're out of prison and have fully paid their price to society, they should get their democratic rights back. Especially felons who've pleaded guilty and have taken responsibility for their crimes. Even for people who don't believe in democracy, (and when you are an insurrectionist , you obviously don't believe in democracy) you still have the same democratic rights as people who not just believe in democracy, but love democracy, and vote whenever they can. And this apples to Communists in America who don't believe in democracy, as well as the far-right in America who don't believe in democracy either.
As far as QAnon Shaman: I guess he's having a hard time finding a job right now, even with the unemployment rate under 4% in this country. Maybe he's just looking for a way to get onto the taxpayer funded payroll and is looking for cushy job that pays in the 6 figures, where he only has to show up to work 6-8 months out of the year, but gets paid a full-time salary for less than part-time work. Which might be why he's running for the U.S. House of Representatives, which is a perfect place for people who don't want to work, at least not very much, but who make good money and get to talk a lot and not even have to make sense while they're speaking.
I'm not worried about an insurrectionist serving in the House of Representatives. Why? Because they're already there? As many as 80-90 House Republicans are still officially denying that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election. If Shaman gets elected to the House from Arizona, he would probably just be replacing another far-rightist, or get defeated by a mainstream Democrat in a 3-way race.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish talking about QAnon Shaman. |
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11/13/2023 - At risk of sounding like I'm not the President of the Ted Cruz Haters of America, (I don't know whose the most unpopular member of Congress right now: Ted Cruz or Marjorie T. Greene) I've never liked the man, but when he was first elected to the Senate and perhaps during his first 4 years in the Senate, I thought to myself, Ted Cruz is a real Republican.
Pre-Donald Trump, Ted Cruz was somebody who believed in both civil liberties and property rights, as well as a limited foreign policy that wasn't designed to use the American military and tax dollars to try to police the world by ourselves. In the early and mid 2010s, pre-President Donald Trump, Ted Cruz was basically post-George W. Bush Neoconservative and post-Tea Party-Christian Nationalist. He was basically a Gen-X version of Barry Goldwater, a true constitutional Conservative.
But then Senator Cruz runs for President, essentially gets crushed by Donald Trump (just like everyone else in the Republican field) but does better than everyone else other than Trump. And after DJT becomes President, I guess to finally occurred to Senator Cruz that he's not just a Senator from Texas, but a Republican Senator from a Texas, in a party that no longer even believes in Republicanism, let alone the U.S. Constitution and that this is now the MAGA Nationalist party of America.
After DJT is elected President fairly and squarely (to use a 1950s phrase) Ted Cruz figures out that he needs to now get inline to kiss Donald Trump's ass in public and then pay him for giving the pleasure of kissing Donald Trump's ass, or go back to Texas work as lawyer for the rest of his career, because his political career would then be over.
In just 6 years, Ted Cruz goes from a Barry Goldwater constitutional Conservative, to an Alex Jones wannabe to makes his living, keeps his political career going as a political entertainer, who writes books, gives speeches, perhaps even writing articles, promoting pure bullshit.
We're talking a about a man in Ted Cruz whose a Harvard Law School grad, who also graduated from Princeton, who once worked for the Solicitor General of the United States, who perhaps was beaded to becoming a U.S. Federal Judge himself, perhaps Attorney General or U.S. Justice, who now promotes the idea that Joe Biden didn't win the 2020 presidential election. I mean if Ted Cruz was ever sued for defamation, he would probably admit under oath that he's an entertainer, who doesn't believe in most of the conspiracy theories that he promotes. Which is exactly what Alex Jones did last year in his lawsuit.
We're not talking about a dumb man or a crazy man, in Ted Cruz. The opposites are true. But what we're talking about is a professional bullshitter. The Alex Jones of Congress, at least in the Senate. They're plenty of Alex Jones wannabes in the House as well.
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| Source:Real Time With Bill Maher -U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (Republican, Texas) visiting Planet Earth (for a change) to get some Real Time With Bill Maher. |
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11/10/2023 - As Kire Schneider wrote yesterday on The New Democrat:
"So to put this in more street or in hipper terms: NYAG has the goods on Ivanka Trump. At least in the sense they know about her involvement in the Trump Organization, especially during the mid 2010s and they know what she knows about her role in the Trump Hotel in Washington. She was only on the stand to confirm what she knows for the court record and get all of this information in the court record.
Imagine if this was a well-known murder case and everyone even on the jury, knows that the defendant is guilty, or at least committed the killing or killings, but the prosecution presents the video tape of the defendant doing the killings and present all the DNA evidence, fingerprints, that the defendant left at the crime scene, no alibi, reason, motive, opportunity, ability, anyway, has all the witnesses testifying, etc.
All the prosecutors are doing in the Trump fraud case is entering into the record for the judge, what they already know for the judge. You know, just in the off chance that one of the jurors just happened to be out of the country and doesn't have any access to any technology what soever, don't even subscribe to a newspaper or magazine, lives and works alone, no friends, or family, etc. Perhaps this one juror is an urban Amish person or something. "
If you were expecting Ivanka Trump on the stand yesterday to get up there under oath and call the judge's wife a whore, or Letitia James some evil, crazy, bitch, or something, or say that her father Donald Trump is an American hero, whose being persecuted by left-wing, Un-American, lawyers, because he's wealthy and is a candidate for President again, you are so mentally high right now, that you could reach out and kiss the moon.
As a lot of other people have already said, including Harry Litman, Ivanka is not just the smartest and most disciplined of Donald Trump's children, (at least the adult children) but she's probably smarter, more disciplined than her father. I know right, being smarter and more disciplined than Donald Trump, is like being more moral and having more integrity then your average mobster. (Which seems to be Donald Trump's dream job anyway) Why even mention that?
Ivanka is smart enough to know that this is not trash/tabloid TV, (what some people call reality TV) this is real life. And when you are either under investigation or being prosecuted yourself, or just a witness to someone else's crimes, what you say in public, can come back and bite you.
Ivanka was under oath, she knew about Trump Org's Deutsche Bank loans and the Washington hotel project from 2015-16, all the paperwork about these facts were presented to her, including the false statements. She knew it was her job (assuming she wants to stay out of prison) was to simply acknowledge the facts about her involvement in her father's company and what she knew about her father's involvement in the company.
Ivanka wasn't in court yesterday to perjurer herself, or to create some new so-called reality TV moment for herself, to drive up her ratings, like physically assaulting the prosecutor and being carried out of the courtroom, while she's calling everyone a whore or a bitch, or something. She's smart enough to know the difference between what's called reality TV and what is actually real life. And in real life, we are all held accountable for our bad behavior and decisions.
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| Source:Harry Litman- Donald Trump's 1st daughter Ivanka Trump. |
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11/09/2023 - If I had to sum up the Republican Party's underperformance in 2023, I would say this: it's the culture war, stupid. Stupid being the MAGA wing, which is the Far-Right of the Republican Party,. Which actually isn't very religious, (at least not in any traditional, classical, or American sense) but who base their politics around region, culture, class, and unfortunately, even race and ethnicity.
When MAGA candidates run in general elections, they run their campaigns as if they're in some ruby red state or district, when the fact is, they might be running in a district or state that's actually more 50-50 as far as Republican and Democrats, or perhaps even leans Democratic, but maybe leans Republican, but is more of a white-collar, center-right community. Communities where the people there, including the Republicans, don't push the culture and social issues, but instead are more interested in the economics, crime, and national security. Not whether there are gays in schools, or too much non-Northern European immigration, too many Democrats voting, too many people who are voting, period, etc.
Yes, Virginia leans more Democratic now because the state is more urban and suburban now. But urban and suburban voters are the voters than even Ronald Reagan was competitive and won over back in the 1960s and 70s as Governor of California and in the 1980s as President of the United States. They used to be solid, center-right, Republican voters.
And when you have Republican candidates thinking they can just win elections with rural voters, in rural communities, and just win with blue-collar, Anglo-Saxon-Protestant, male and older female voters, they're going to lose in states like Virginia and even Kentucky today, where half of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, lives in Louisville, which is one of the biggest cities in America today.
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| Source:Amanpour & Company- New York Times national political reporter Astead Herndon. |
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11/08/2023 - As I wrote on The New Democrat yesterday:
“Ivanka was involved in the financing of a major Washington hotel project that the Trump Organization was putting together in in 2015/16. She knows about Trump Org’s finances, at least during that period before her father was elected President and she moved to Washington to work in his White House.
So Ivanka could act like a comatose patient whose just waking up, or someone whose suffering from a concussion. But unless she has a doctor’s note that says she’s too sick to speak truthfully about what she knows, she’s going to have to answer questions about her involvement in the Trump Organization, or plead the 5th.
I guess Ivanka could refuse to answer NYAG’s questions truthfully, or plead the 5th, and be held in contempt. But can you really see Ivanka Trump in an orange, jail suit? I doubt that would be good for her brand either. Again, as they say in reality TV/celebrity TV world. Not my words, necessarily.”
To sum this up and career prosecutor Nick Ackerman already talked about this during the CNN video: NYAG already knows what Ivanka Trump knows about the Trump Organization’s financing of their Washington hotel back in 2015-16, that she apparently made 4 million dollars from and they have the paperwork and documents to prove that.
This is just a matter if Ivanka will acknowledge that under oath, or play braindead, maybe she forgot to bring her memory to the courtroom, etc. But NYAG will have the paperwork with her signature on it, making it clear that she signed off on that paperwork, since she was in charge of that project. And it’s just a question whether or not she honestly acknowledge that under oath, which her brothers already did for their role in Trump Org’s financing, or risk perjuring herself under oath.
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| Source:CNN Donald J. Trump's 1st daughter Ivanka Trump. |
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11/07/2023 - I think if Ivanka has her way, she won't say much if anything tomorrow that could possibly hurt her brand (as they say in reality TV/celebrity TV world) or her father Donald. But she's not going to be in control of the hearing tomorrow. Judge Arthur Engeron and NYAG prosector Kevin Wallace will be in charge here. And prosecutor Wallace will decide what questions are asked of Ivanka and like with her brothers, she'll have a choice here: answer all the questions as truthfully and honestly as she can, or plead the 5th.
Ivanka was involved in the financing of a major Washington hotel project that the Trump Organization was putting together in in 2015/16. She knows about Trump Org's finances, at least during that period before her father was elected President and she moved to Washington to work in his White House.
So Ivanka could act like a comatose patient whose just waking up, or someone whose suffering from a concussion. But unless she has a doctor's note that says she's too sick to speak truthfully about what she knows, she's going to have to answer questions about her involvement in the Trump Organization, or plead the 5th.
I guess Ivanka could refuse to answer NYAG's questions truthfully, or plead the 5th, and be held in contempt. But can you really see Ivanka Trump in an orange, jail suit? I doubt that would be good for her brand either. Again, as they say in reality TV/celebrity TV world. Not my words, necessarily.
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| Source:CNN political analyst & New York Times national political reporter Maggie Haberman, talking about Donald Trump's 1st daughter, Ivanka Trump. |
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11/06/2023 - I guess the two biggest stories, or two to biggest stories this week, (I don’t have a list of the all the big stories this week) have to do not with Hamas so much, as they’re getting their asses handed to them in Gaza by the Israeli military, but the fact that these 15th Century, murderous assholes, who have no respect for women, gays, minorities of all kinds, have an actual base of support from people in America and Europe, by people who claim that they care about women, gays, and minorities.
Imagine someone who says that they’re a vegan, but they eat fish, they don’t drink any alcohol, but, they drink beer, love and respect women, but they support organizations that they don’t and the same thing with gays and minorities: how drunk, high, how crazy, how big of a coma would have to be, to even try to take those folks seriously?
Speaking of 15th Century “freedom fighters”: how about the new Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson. I know I wrote that piece last week on the The New Democrat arguing that it’s way too early to decide what kind of Speaker MAGA Mike, I mean Speaker Mike Johnson is going to be and we’re only a week later from that.
Every new story so far, (he might be moderating on Ukraine) suggest that MAGA Mike is a freedom fighter from the Civil War or Jim Crow era, who wants to hire a Federal police squad, to lock people up for having consensual sex with someone from the same sex.
MAGA Mike doesn’t even have a bank account, that anyone knows about, at least. What does he do with his taxpayer funded pay checks, that are worth around 5,000 dollars a week? Is this guy the Speaker of the House, or the gen-x version of Reverend Charles J. Southall, who was just convicted of money laundering, who only presides over the House as a 2nd job and career?
11/03/2023 - I have another theory here. (And once again, I'm not a lawyer) I'm thinking that Mark Meadows gave the Jack Smith prosecutors enough information, for them to justify them granting him immunity. But then Meadows said he wouldn't tell them anything else and got the immunity anyway. But now the Jack Smith team can't use what Meadows told them against him, but everything that he hasn't already admitted and all the other evidence that they have against him, they can still use against him going forward.
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| Source:Harry Litman- talking about former Donald Trump Chief of Staff and presidential campaign employee, Mark Meadows. |
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11/02/2023 - Speaking of avatar's of liberalism: I don't think anyone supports the First Amendment more than I do. Almost no one is more liberal when it comes to free speech than I do. Except for people who believe that we have a right to lie under oath, commit false advertising for profit, defaming people for profit, or ordering or inciting violence against other people. And there are people who puts no limits on free speech in America and I don't doubt that. But even our constitutional rights have some limits, to protect the rights of the innocent in this country.
If you live in Donald Trump's world, (as of right now, only one person lives on that planet) you believe that you have a right to do anything you want, because in your narcissistic, little, mind, you believe you are above the law, simply because you are Donald J. Trump and the rest of us are just American citizens and mere mortals.
The problem that DJT has, is that he doesn't operate on his own planet and comes down to Planet Earth everyday to do his business and to operate. Which means that he's legally obligated to follow the same rules and has the same rights as every other American citizen. And when he violates those rules, he has to pay the same price as everyone else.
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| Source:Harry Litman talking about judge's Tanya Chutkan & Arthur Engeron. |
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11/01/2023 - Elie Honig being a New York lawyer, resident of New York and former prosecutor for the U.S. DOJ Southern District of New York, obviously knows this better than me, since I'm not even a lawyer, let alone a New York lawyer. But I believe under New York law, (unless this has been changed) New York prosecutors can unilaterally grant witnesses immunity, when they plead the 5th. And if that's the case both Don JR. (also known as Junior Mint) and his sister Ivanka, would be forced to testify, if they're granted immunity, because neither one of them are defendants in this case.
If I'm right about this, (and I always emphasize that I'm not a lawyer) this could be an option that the NYAG, or the prosecutor that's managing this case for Attorney General Letitia James, could use to force Don and Ivanka to testify against their father and brother Eric. Unless NYAG believes that both Don and Ivanka are guilty of something that's so serious, that it would be an injustice to grant them immunity.
But the only thing that Don JR. might be guilty of, other than being a drug addict, (if you saw his appearance on Newsmax the other night) is a New York skyscraper sized asshole. (To be frank) But being an asshole in itself, is not illegal, even in New York. Wait, New York City jails are fulled with assholes, so maybe Don JR. more at risk than I originally thought.
10/31/2023 - I agree with Mike Murphy that if we ever got into a one-on-one matchup between President Joe Biden and former Ambassador Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley has the best shot at beating the President. I don't she automatically beats him, because the Democratic Party still looks determined defend American democracy, the Constitution, rule of law, and now abortion rights, etc. And that alone will get then to turn out and vote for President, to protect their democratic values.
Also, between Joe Biden and Nikki Haley, would Trump voters turn out and vote for her? They tend not to turn out and vote in big numbers, when they're cult leader (sometimes you have to be frank) isn't on the ballot. And would they vote for someone whose not just a woman, but a Never-Trumper, whose also not from their race, ethnicity, generation, culture, etc?
And if she goes out-of-her-way for their vote and just tries to appeal to those voters, would that turn Independents off for her and also turn out more Democrats against her?
Also, the Democratic Party is still bigger than the Republican Party, so in a heavy turnout election, especially on the Democratic side and in a one-one-one election between the Republican and Democrat, the Democrat wins. Unless the Republican wins the Independent votes solidly, which is one way that George W. Bush beat Al Gore in 2000. But that's assuming the Trump voters bother to vote for anyone other than Donald John Trump. When The Donald is not on the ballot, Trump voters tend not to turn out and vote in big numbers. We saw that in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, last year, etc.
In a perfect world and in a normal Republican Party, (and if we had that today, poverty would also be wiped out and Israel and Palestine would also be best friends) with someone like Donald Trump running for President in the Republican Party, with base and ability to raise money for himself as Donald Trump has, with him already being President and now being the big loser that he's been for himself, as well as the Republican Party, since he became President in 2017, the number one goal of the Republican Party would simply be to defeat the former President.
In a normal Republican Party, you wouldn't have 7-10 establishment, center-right Republicans running for President right now. You would have 3, at most 5, with half of those folks already packing it in and endorsing someone not named Donald Trump for President right now.
I think the best case scenario for anyone whose still a Republican today and still cares about the Republican Party, perhaps the best case scenario for any American who still believes in American democracy and the two-party system, is that by December or January, there at best only 3 Republicans left to challenge Donald Trump, that everyone else is out before Iowa.
But as unpopular as Governor Ron DeSantis is because of his unique talent to piss off practically everyone he ever talks too, he's still raising a lot of money. And as long as he's doing that, he's going to stay in the race, because the future of the Republican Party or even the American republic is not what he cares about. He's only interested in being President of the United States and he thinks 2024 is his best shot at doing that.
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| Source:Michael Smerconish- interviewing longtime Republican political consultant and pundit Michael Murphy. A chance to like Mike, or like the Mike's right here. |
10/30/2023 - I hate to sound like a traffic cop whose always telling people to slow down, or even a political traffic cop, whose telling people they need to think about this and hold off a little bit, before reaching a final conclusion on this, because that's like considered so old school in today's modern 24 hour, pop political culture, where everything is about trending on social media and so-forth, but we don't know who Speaker Mike Johnson is.
We should wait on him and see what his Speakership will be like, a few months even, before we decide to call him MAGA Mike, or just plain Speaker Mike Johnson, because he's actually doing the job as Speaker and not trying to act like the next lord and savior of the MAGA movement, perhaps even replacing their national cult hero, also known as Donald J. Trump.
We know who U.S. Representative Mike Johnson is, before he became Speaker of the House. And to paraphrase former U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger, who is now a political commentator for CNN, Mike Johnson when they were in the House together during the last decade, he would tell you that Representative Johnson was a center-right, establishment Republican, who would work others in order to pass positive legislation.
But then Superstorm Donald hit the Republican Party and it just occurred to Johnson, that he represents Shreveport, Louisiana in the House, which is one of the state capitals of the MAGA movement and he figured he needed to be The Donald of Shreveport, to keep his job and to advance in the Republican Party. Which is exactly what he did when he personally represented former President Trump when Trump got impeached for the 2nd time in 2021 and he represented Trump at the 2nd Senate trial. And of course was personally involved in the Trump's Campaign to try to overturn the certified 2020 presidential election as well.
I'm not saying that Speaker Mike Johnson is not MAGA Mike, because he could very well be MAGA Mike, which is what Representative Matt Gaetz (whose not as politically braindead, as he seems to want people to believe) calls him. I'm just saying that there are other things and possibilities that people need to think about here and also take a lesson from fairly recent political history and at least consider this before making up their minds on the new Speaker.
Go back to the mid 1990s and the House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich, when he was campaigning for House Republicans to win back the House in 1994. Newt was as wildcard, and right-wing populist as Matt Gaetz is today. Most establishment Republicans didn't like Newt either.
But then Newt becomes Speaker and realizes that there's still a Democratic President and for him and House Republicans to get anything done, for any of their agenda, their Contract With America to actually become law, they would not just have to be able to work with President Bill Clinton, but have to work with Senate Republicans, who tend to be more moderate anyway, because they represent entire states and not just gerrymandered House districts. And he might have to work with at least some so-called moderate House Democrats, just to get their bills out of the House. And look at the results of the Gingrich Speakership, at least from a Republican perspective:
Welfare To Work
Balanced budgets
Entitlement reform
Tax cuts
Line item veto
All of these proposals were part of the Gingrich Contract With America from 1994 and all of them became law, by the time that Newt Gingrich left the House by the end of 1998. And none of this happens, if he doesn't work with not just so-called moderates in the House Republican Conference, but Senate Republicans, as well as President Clinton.
I'm just saying there's another road for Speaker Johnson to take, that he could take, if he wants to be remembered as a Speaker who did something besides become the highest ranking member of the MAGA movement, in the Republican Party, as well as the 3rd ranking officer in the entire U.S. Government.
If Mike Johnson is just MAGA Mike, that's all he'll be and we can expect another year of:
government shutdowns
government defaults
no appropriations bills
no budgets being passed
the House almost in complete gridlock, because of how tight the Republican majority still is, and with their inability to even work with their own members, let alone House Democrats,
with House Republicans, especially the 20-30 House Republicans who'll have nothing positive to run for reelection on, who are endangered of losing their House seats next year to Democrats
and Democrats winning back the House as a result, because American voters are fed up with the gridlock and want their government working and representing their interests again.
Or we could see Mike Johnson become Speaker Johnson and decide to work with what's left of the center-right in his own conference, as well as Senate Democrats, and The White House, to keep the government running and operating as it's supposed to be and create some real positive change in a bipartisan way. Or he could decide after he becomes Speaker of the House, that he's nothing but another MAGA soldier, but who now has a speaker's gavel. But it's too early for this. Let's see where the House is in a few months from now.
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| Source:Real Time With Bill Maher- FNC anchor Jessica Tarlov. |
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10/27/2023 - Once again, I’m not a lawyer. Also, water is still wet and fire is still hot. In case there are any doubts about that as well.
But getting back to this story: this can’t be good for Donald J. Trump. If there was anyone that Mr. Trump ever trusted in his life, before he became President of the United States, other than perhaps his former fixer/lawyer Michael Cohen, it was his 1st daughter Ivanka Trump. His two sons Donald Jr. and Eric, ran his company (at least as far as we know) when he was President. But no one knows as much about the Trump Organization and its finances, like where they were getting the finances for their projects, including in Washington right before Mr. Trump became President, then his 1st daughter Ivanka Trump.
Assuming Ivanka loses her appeal, which she might just be doing to try to delay her testimony as long as possible, similar to her testifying in front of the House Jan 6. Committee, she going to be forced to testify truthfully under oath about her involvement in the Trump Organization and what she saw there while she was working there full-time. And she might just be granted immunity by NYAG automatically, to prevent her from pleading the 5th. Which would mean she testifies truthfully at this trial, or risk being held in contempt by the Judge Arthur Engoron.
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| Source:CNN- Ivanka Trump and her father Donald when they were still at The White House. Thank God that's over. |
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10/26/2023 - Considering that we're now in a 24 hour news cycle, (thanks to cable, but now social media as well, thanks to the internet) Donald J. Trump storming out of a New York courthouse, where he's currently on trial for what might be his financial life, would seem like a King Kong jumping off the Empire State Building, sized story. But this happened 21 hours ago and in today's media, that's an old story. But what do you want? It's slow news day, (at least so far. Tune in later to see more) and quite frankly I don't have anything else to write about now.
If Michael Cohen is all that the New York State Attorney General (Letitia James) has against The Donald of Manhattan, then they wouldn't even be at this point. Cohen's job in court is essentially just to back up what NYAG already has against the former President. As well as to explain what he personally knows about the former President's businesses and personal finances, when he was Mr. Trump's personal lawyer, just 6-7 years ago.
Again, of course Michael Cohen is a convicted liar and the Trump legal team can use that against him. But similar to Mark Meadows, his job is really just to confirm what others in this case have already said, what the documents in this case say as well. He's not the difference between Trump winning or losing this case.
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| Source:CNN- former President Donald J. Trump & now New York State defendant Donald J. Trump. |
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10/25/2023 - Imagine a man trying to walk a tightrope to try to get to Paradise. He makes just one little slip or loses his balance (perhaps he drank too much before he got on the tightrope) he's doomed and will probably fall to his death. And in Mark Meadows case, that will be his political death, meaning his career in elected public office is now over. Because either he works with the prosecutors and tells them everything that he knows about his last 3 months as White House Chief of Staff that the prosecutors want to know, about what he knows, or he ends up in state or Federal prison as a 64-65 year old man, perhaps looking at 10 years in prison.
Again I'm not a lawyer, (also in the news: it gets cold at the North Pole) but as Ellie Honig whose a career prosecutor will tell you, prosecutors don't give out immunity like its Halloween candy. And I would add that prosecutor offices are not supermarkets, looking to get rid of their Halloween candy in November, selling everything at half price.
Mark Meadows wants to stay out of prison, which seems to be more valuable to whatever political future that he might still be contemplating. Which is very understandable, since he's a man whose now in his mid 60s. And apparently he has what it takes to stay out of prison, by telling the prosecutors what he knows about the Trump White House's and Trump Campaign's attempt, to overturn the 2020 presidential election, as if it didn't happen and just declare Donald Trump the winner.
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| Source:CNN- New York Times national political reporter Maggie Haberman. |
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10/24/2023 - I don’t have much to add here (which might come as a relief for some people) because I think most of everything about this story has been said. Jenna Ellis is guilty of giving false information about the 2020 presidential election, to Georgia state officials. Information that she says came from people that she also said knew more about the 2020 presidential election, at least in Georgia, than she did. And what she says she’s guilty of, is essentially not doing her homework and research about the information that she was given by Rudy Giuliani and others.
I think this is going to be a common them for most of the Fulton County defendants. Most of them are career lawyers with no criminal histories. None of them even want to give up their law licenses, let alone go to prison, especially for someone like Donald Trump whose probably going to fight to the bitter end and hope he can find one MAGA holdout on the jury or just win the presidential election, before he ends up in prison in Georgia. But the rest of them seem to be decent, moral people, who don’t want to go to prison, especially for a career conman, like Donald Trump.
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| Source:CNN- former Donald Trump 2020 campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis pleading guilty on Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. |
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10/23/2023 - I'm just glad that Bill Maher called these Ivy League schools (which is another way of saying Communist training camps) illiberal, (which means not liberal) because that's exactly what they are.
To put all of this in English: with a liberal education, you are taught how to think and how to obtain facts and information. You are not taught what to think, but instead taught about the important facts and subjects, including history (a word that young people today might not even be able to spell, let alone define) but you are not taught to think what those facts mean. You are instead given the freedom to think for yourself.
If you are someone like me or are older, (and I'm a gen-xer) you are least remember the last 10-15 years of the Cold War. I only mention that because during the American-Russian Cold War we got to hear about Communist indoctrination camps, where people were grabbed up like Russia, China, North Korea, and other Communist states during the Cold War and taught not just how to think and what to think. Like America and it's western, democratic, developed, allies being the real Evil Empire and not the Soviet Union. They were taught how to be Communists and learned about the opposites being the real facts in life.
I'm not calling all Ivy League and other elite Northeast and West Coast college professors Communists, for the simple fact that I believe a lot of them are just professional bullshitters, who don't believe most of their propaganda. Who think that it's cool to talk down to America, especially when they're with young people and believe teaching people the opposites of life, makes them cool.
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| Source:Real Time With Bill Maher- going after illiberal (not liberal) education in America. |
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10/20/2023 - So what is this fake electors plot?
Kenneth Chesebro was responsible for appointing fake electors in the Electoral College, to represent Georgia and declare that Donald J. Trump won Georgia in the 2020 presidential election.
The Trump Campaign wasn't just trying to get the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, and the Republican controlled State Legislature (House & Senate) in Georgia, to throw out Democratic votes and just automatically declare that then President Donald Trump won Georgia in 2020, because they like his hair or something.
The Trump Campaign was trying to replace the legally elected Georgia electors in the Electoral College, with fake, pro-Trump electors, that would just declare Donald Trump the winner in Georgia, because they voted for him. And Mr. Chesebro knows all about this and knows what Donald Trump wanted from him and what he was doing for him. Another Black Friday (pardon the expression) for Mr. Donald J. Trump.
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| Source:CNN- former Donald J. Trump Kenneth Chesebro pleading guilty in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia |
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10/19/2023 - As I wrote on The New Democrat back in September:
"We're just starting to see the evidence and the case that the DOJ Southern District of New York has on Senator Menendez. Next could be the documents, phone calls, text's, email, banking records, that link his co-defendants with Senator Menendez."
Harry Litman and Jennifer Rodgers aren't MAGA, partisan, political activists. They're both Democrats and former U.S. Attorney's. Senator Menendez can't claim political bias here from them, or the Democratic appointed U.S. Attorney in New York City and New Jersey. They now have text messages from Senator Menendez, to Egyptian officials, to what information these Egyptians could get, in exchange for Egyptians financially compensating Senator Menendez and his wife. And as Jennifer Rodgers said, this looks like a clear case of bribery.
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| Source:Harry Litman- U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (Democrat, New Jersey) |
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10/13/2023 - I’m sure that this has been said before, but this is Israel’s Pearl Harbor and 9/11, 2001. Imagine if Cuban terrorists who were sent not just from from Cuba, but the Cuban Communist State there, to bomb innocent Floridians, perhaps ex-Cuban nationals who fled Cuba, to escape the Communist State there and then successfully executed that bombing, of course America would respond not just with a full attack against the Communist State there, but perhaps even to take out the Communist State and then occupy Cuba, till a responsible government could be formed there.
The old cliche that war is hell, but sometimes it’s also a necessary evil to prevent further murders and to protect your own people. I don’t think Israel, regardless of what you think of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nationalist government there, has no choice but to knock out the Hamas Government in Gaza, not just for the good of his own people in Israel, but for the good the Palestinians who are living in Gaza. (If you want to call that living)
After the Hamas regime is eliminated in Gaza, then Israel should set up a temporary, responsible, hopefully Palestinian led government in Gaza, that could govern Gaza, until the Palestinians are ready to set up their own government there, that is accountable and responsible to their own people, that’s friendly to Israel and the Jewish people there, that can all govern and defend Gaza, in a responsible way.
At risk of sounding like a Neoconservative: I don’t make these arguments as a Neoconservative, but as as an actual Liberal Democrat (meaning someone who believes in liberal democracy and the protection of innocent lives) who believes people shouldn’t be murdered simply because of their ethnicity. And while Israel is taking down Hamas in Gaza, they need to see that as many Palestinian innocent civilians as possible in Gaza, are allowed to leave Gaza temporarily to a safe place where they could stay, until Gaza is safe for them to return and live.
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10/12/2023 - I'm not very comfortable, not saying I'm not comfortable at all, but I'm not very comfortable with comparing Donald Trump with a mobster simply because Mr. Trump has never ordered the assassination of anyone, or an physical assault, or destruction of someone else's property against anyone else. But the way prosecutors or going after him and in this case his entire business empire, at least in Manhattan, New York, this is the exactly the same way that prosecutors go after mobsters.
The way prosecutors go after mobsters is that they have one target in mind and they go after everyone else first, not to put them away, necessarily, even though a lot of cooperating witnesses who once worked with or for the target, end up in prison themselves, but what prosecutors tell theses folks that if they work with them and tell them everything that they honestly know about the target and even do that in court under oath, they'll either receive a reduced penalty for their crimes, or get immunity and get no prison time whatsoever.
That's what we're seeing here against Allen Weisselberg. The man is 73 and the idea that he could spend the rest of his life in a New York State prison, or even 10 years of that, even in a minimum security facility, can't be attractive to him. Unless he's completely high or drunk and that obviously could change everything.
So Mr. Weisselberg is telling the New York State Attorney General, this is what he knows about how the Trump Organization led by Donald Trump does business, to save his own life, or at least well-being. And that can't be good for Mr. Trump, because his former CFO probably knows everything about Trump Org.'s business and finances.
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| Source:Harry Litman- former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg. |
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10/06/2023 - 4-5 years ago, longtime Republican strategist and now political filmmaker Mark McKinnon, who served for both President George W. Bush and then Senator John McCain, was on CNN Tonight with Don Lemon. And they were talking about the current investigations into Donald Trump dealing with the 2016 presidential campaign and potential investigations that could be facing then President Trump, once he’s no longer President, whether he’s not reelected in 2020, or leaves office after his 2nd term would’ve been over in 2025.
Mark McKinnon told Don Lemon that the biggest personal mistake that Donald Trump ever made in his life, was getting elected President of the United States. The 2nd biggest mistake that he made, according to Mark McKinnon, was running for President of the United States. Why? Because now that Mr. Trump is in the public eye full-time, all these new investigations not just about his presidency, his business career, or personal life, but how his business and personal affairs affect his presidency, will be under public scrutiny.
I’m sure New York City and the State of New York pre-2016 knew or suspected how big of a fraud and crook that Donald Trump really is. But they never went after him, because they probably thought he had too much money and they couldn’t convict him in court.
But with the Trump presidency and now we know what kind of President he was and what kind of President he would be if God (if there is one) really hates America and somehow Mr. Trump becomes President again and with all the private investigations into his personal and business affairs that David C. Johnston and others have done about him and we know about how much debt he’s in and what his personal wealth might actually be, all the losses that he reported on his own personal tax returns, the State of New York and New York City feel that they now have no choice but to expose and convict Donald Trump, for the good of the country.
There was once a real, real-life, true crime, reality TV show, from Investigation Discovery, called “I Almost Got Away With It”. Not saying that Donald Trump ever appeared on that show, at least not as an ex-fugitive. But Mr. Trump’s whole career has been about getting way with it and screwing innocent people for his own personal profit. (Not in a sexual way, that we know of)
But now that the light is on and we know not just what kind of person Donald J. Trump is, but what kind of businessman he is, his days as a fraud, at least in the State of New York, Florida might be different for him, but his days as The Don of Manhattan, look like they’re coming to an end. But only because he decided that he wanted to be President of the United States and got himself elected.
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| Source:Amanpour & Company talking to business journalist & author David C. Johnston. |
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10/05/2023 - Representative Nancy Mace represents perhaps the only Democratic leaning seat in the State of South Carolina, at least on the Republican side. Every other South Carolina Republican in the House, represents right-wing, Republican, heavy, districts. I’m just saying this because she’s a vulnerable House Republican both with Republicans and Democrats in that district.
Having said all of that, she makes a very good case for why she voted to vacate Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The style of leadership that Kevin McCarthy had as Speaker, was doing exactly what Nancy Pelosi did when she was Speaker, which was to right the bills that made it to the House floor, from the House Republican Leadership office and the try to round up enough Republican votes to pass the bill.
Perhaps Speaker McCarthy would consult both center-right Republicans like Representative Mace, as well as MAGA Republicans like Matt Gaetz first and try to find something that they both could support. But his style of legislating, was doing exactly what he criticized Speaker Pelosi for, which was backroom deals, last minute pieces of legislation, where perhaps even the handful of people who wrote the bill, didn’t even read the bill. (Go, figure. Welcome to Congress.)
What Representative Mace who is a center-right, Conservative Republican is saying, along with even the MAGA Republicans are saying, is that they want the whole House to be able to write, amend, and read the bills, before they have to vote on them. Which is apparently what Speaker McCarthy promised them, as a condition for becoming Speaker of the House back in January. And they make great points here.
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| Source:CNN- U.S. Representative Nancy Mace (Republican, South Carolina) |
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10/04/2023 - I’m not a religious at all obviously as an Agnostic, even though I believe in freedom of and from religion for everyone, as well as the separation of church and state. So I’m some what reluctant in using religious rhetoric to make political arguments.
But what the Evangelical-Right is going through in America right now, with being so political, especially in a partisan way and so invested in one political party, where now it’s their politics and what they want to accomplish politically, is more important to them, then their own actual religious values, is not new for them.
To put it bluntly: the Evangelical-Right sold their soles to The Devil Donald Trump, a man whose not even religious at all, as much as he might claim to be Presbyterian, he’s guilty of violating perhaps at least 5 of the 10 Commandants everyday.
The Trump movement is not a religious movement, or even a conservative movement. It’s a nationalistic, hyper-partisan, and at times very militant, political movement of cultural warriors. Not American patriots who want the best for America, who’ll defend America and the U.S. Constitution, and republic.
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| Source:Amanpour & Company- interviewing Russell Moore. |
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10/02/2023 - Imagine if we lived in a perfect world and while you are at that, also imagine that you have your own personal time machine, that you didn’t even have to order online, or even pay for a shipping charge, let alone have to pay for the time machine itself. Wait, you now you live in a perfect world, so you no longer need a time machine. But if you live in a perfect world, everything that Bill Maher said about it’s time for Joe Biden to go, might not only make sense, be believable, but he might even be correct. But Bill Maher would be one of the first people (at least on Planet Earth) to tell you that we don’t live in a perfect world.
You can show me all the polls in the Democratic Party that suggest that President Biden shouldn’t run for reelection and that Donald Trump might actually beat him. But for me at least to even take those polls seriously, you need someone besides a professional conspiracy theorist, whose in the same age range and generation as both Donald Trump and Joe Biden, to not only announce their own presidential campaign, but show polling that suggests that they could not just beat Joe Biden, but then beat Donald Trump next year as well.
Some might say that well no one else besides Robert F. Kennedy JR. (who struggles just to put words together, let alone sentences) has announced their own campaign against President Biden, someone who struggles just to get on the state ballots, in Democratic states, of all places, let alone struggles to get 15% of the vote against Joe Biden, because they don’t want to divide the Democratic Party. Well if that’s the case, then why are they talking about Joe Biden needs to step down, so some other Democrat can step up. Joe Biden us still around 90% in the Democratic Party and in the low 40s nationally, as well has a coalition of Republican voters who once again would vote for him against Donald Trump.
You can’t think that all the new legal cases, the indictments, all the financial trouble that Donald Trump is facing, is helping him with Independents, a group that he lost overwhelmingly to Joe Biden in 2020. As Max Boot said on CNN last week (and I’m paraphrasing) the choice is not between the perfect and imperfect. The choice here is between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The choice is between a good, honest, man, who believes in the United States, believes in liberal democracy, believes in the rule of law, and our checks and balances, versus someone whose running for President simply to get himself out of legal jeopardy and clear is allies that are also in legal jeopardy as well, who wants to operate and live about the law.
It’s one thing to say that Joe Biden shouldn’t run for reelection. But I didn’t hear Bill Maher mention anyone who should run for President as the Democrat in the President’s place. You can quote James Carville all you want, but Carville doesn’t have a Democratic alternative to Trump either.
What we learned during the Barack Obama years is that the Democratic Party is not good at developing its bench or its farm system, at least at the national level. They’re not good at grooming people to take over and become the next leader of the Democratic Party, let alone the next President of the United States. And if you look at approval ratings even in the Democratic Party of Vice President Kamala Harris, someone who I do personally approve of and think she’s been good for President Biden, as far as running his administration, but perhaps not politically, the Democratic Party still doesn’t have any alternative to President Biden.
So it’s either stick with Joe, or Joe drops out and we see a Democratic free for all, between left-wing Democrats who’ll promise the world to everybody and tell everyone it won’t cost anything. Versus center-right Democrats who will try to run a general election campaign during the Democratic primaries, but when they think they need more Democrats, while try to talk like they’re actually leftists, leaving everybody to believe who is this person and why do they actually believe. Versus The Devil in Donald Trump, with American voters probably choosing The Devil that they already know, over the Democrat.
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| Source:Real Time With Bill Maher- saying that Joe Biden is now Ruth Bader Ginsberg. |
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9/27/2023 - Just the fact that not just people who worked for Donald Trump, but some of the closest people to Donald Trump, at least in the sense of people that have worked for Donald Trump, are the people who are speaking out against Donald Trump (at least in the Republican Party) and are testifying against Donald Trump, should tell you everything that you need to know about Donald Trump and how he does business and governs. (If you want to call that governing)
Mark Meadows, wasn’t a coffee boy. He wasn’t a runner, the guy who took and delivered messages or answered the door when the food arrived. He was the White House Chief of Staff for President Donald Trump. The only two people that could have more information about how the U.S. Government works when they were in power, would be Donald Trump and then Vice President Mike Pence. Mark Meadows job at the White House, was to supervise the entire presidential staff there. And Cassie Hutchinson was basically his deputy who was in on almost everything that her boss was involved in.
Also, a lot of the people who are speaking out against Donald Trump, are not in current legal jeopardy. People like Alyssa Farrah Griffin, who was on the President’s communications staff, Ty Cobb, who was the President’s private lawyer in Washington, Vice President Pence’s Chief of Staff Mark Short, and the President’s last White House Press Secretary (even though she never held press conferences) Stephanie Grisham.
So these are the people who know Donald Trump very well, if not the best and they’re now telling America how big of a threat that the former President is to the country. Which is why at the very least they need to be listened too and taken very seriously.
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| Source:CNN- former Donald Trump White House Chief of Staff deputy and now author Cassie Hutchinson. |
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9/26/2023 - As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, the only reason, perhaps more like an excuse for why Donald Trump is running for President again, is so he can get himself out of all his legal jeopardies, as well as his co-defendants. And if he does get convicted in Atlanta, Georgia, before the 2024 presidential election, he’s thinking that DOJ or the Department of Homeland Security, wouldn’t turn him over to the State of Georgia, if he’s elected President again.
Normally when someone is innocent of the crime or crimes that they’re being prosecuted for, they let their lawyers handle their case or the cases. Because they can either say the prosecution has nothing, they’re completely innocent and will prove that in court. But, if your Donald J. Trump, you obviously don’t play by the same rules as everyone else because you think that you are above the law.
But as long as Mr. Trump is just private citizen/wannabe President again Donald Trump, he’s subjected to the same legal system as everyone else. Meaning that if there’s evidence against him that he committed real crimes, (and both Fulton County DA and DOJ have plenty evidence against him that he committed multiple felonies) they’re required to prosecute him the same way that they would prosecute Joe or Jane Average on the street (who whoever the people are) if they had the same evidence against them. That’s how the rule of law, accountability, and personal responsibility works in America.
Donald Trump hasn’t acted like an innocent man in any of the cases that have been brought agains him. If anything, the opposite is true. You don’t try to run for President simply to avoid legal sanctions against you, unless you are not innocent. And you also don’t try to poison jury pools and try to harass prosecutors, when you are innocent, because that just makes you look even more guilty. Which is why Jack Smith and company is try to get at least a limited gag order against the former President, so they can continue to do their jobs.
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| Source:CNN- left to right: Donald J. Trump & Special Counsel Jack Smith (in case anyone is just waking up from a coma who sees this) |
9/25/2023 - First of all, Senator Memendez’s reason for having all that cash in his personal home, because he always wanted to have extra money around, to send to Cuba, to help his friends or relatives, doesn’t pass the bullshit test. (I have to be frank here) I mean if that’s the real reason, why wouldn’t he just disclose that to the Department of Justice. DOJ doesn’t raid or investigate someone’s home, because that person has a savings account in their home.
Once again, I’m not a lawyer and I don’t think I can say that enough. But I doubt he’s still a U.S. Senator by the start of next year. A few things could I believe will happen here:
We’re just starting to see the evidence and the case that the DOJ Southern District of New York has on Senator Menendez. Next could be the documents, phone calls, text’s, email, banking records, that link his co-defendants with Senator Menendez.
Next, he’ll probably have multiple primary challengers for his seat in the Democratic primary next year. and they could either all be well-funded, especially if they’re coming from the U.S. House, with New Jersey House Democrats who want his Senate seat.
3rd, even if Senator Menendez perhaps survives his primary challenge, with all the evidence, along with the additional evidence that will come out against him, New Jersey voters are going to have a real hard question that they’re going to have to deal with. Not hard in the sense that the answer is not obvious, but hard in the sense of do you really want to have to answer this question:
Do you really want one of your members of Congress, you senior U.S. Senator, whose apparently now a national security leak, whose financially personally profited off his status as not just a U.S. Senator, but Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, by doing favors with his position in Congress, in exchange for lots of cash? I know what my answer would be to that and I think every honest, intelligent, sane, and sober, (hopefully that’s not a unique distinction) knows what their answer to that would be as well.
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| Source:CNN- U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (Democrat, New Jersey) now facing the political battle and trial of his life. |
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9/20/2023 - Again, another example of a longtime Donald Trump official, whose cooperating against a man who she served loyally, for years, who had an important job with him, for years.
We don’t have any independent information that this is exactly what happened, that Donald Trump told this woman to obstruct justice. But if you were on trial for your life and freedom, who would you rather be and have to believe: a loyal, honest, public servant, or a professional reality star, whose literally lied for profit his entire professional career, whose lied to just to be able make money, who can’t even be honest when he’s talking about his height and weight.
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| SourceCNN- former U.S. President Donald J. Trump (Republican, Florida) "It's not illegal, when I do it." Not a direct quote obviously, but you get the idea. |
9/19/2023 - If you watch the first 10-20 seconds of this CNN video (that’s linked just above) you’ll hear Representative Mike Lawler (Republican, New York) make my entire point in just 20 seconds and what I’m arguing here.
Representative Mike Lawler: “This is not Conservative Republicanism. This is stupidity. They don’t know how to take yes for an answer. It’s a clown show. If you want a stronger hand, run better candidates and win more elections.You keep running lunatics, you are going to be in this position.”
Last year at this time, then House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy already had 212 Republican seats in the House, because even though President Donald Trump lost reelection in 2020 and Republicans lost the Senate, House Republicans picked up 10 seats in that same election. Why? Because even though President Trump lost 10-15 percent of the Republican Party to either Joe Biden, or Republicans not even bothering to vote for President, those same Republican voters still voted for Congress and voted for Congressional Republicans, both for House and Senate.
Go up 2 years later, now House Republicans just need to pick up 6 seats to win back the House and 1 seat to win back the Senate, in a mid-term election with a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress. House Republicans picked up just over the bare minimum to win back technical control of the House. Yes, we have a Republican House of Representatives right now. But they only have 222-435 seats. Which means Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Majority Leader Steve Scalise can only afford to lose 3 votes out of 435 on anything, assuming every House Democrat votes and doesn’t vote for whatever partisan legislation that House Republicans want to pass by themselves.
In a mid-term election where House Republicans could’ve picked up 30-40 seats in the House, with an unpopular Democratic President in Joe Biden, and an unpopular Democratic Congress, with rising interest rates and high inflation, Republicans only picked up 10 seats in the House in 2022, lost another seat in the Senate, lost two more governorships, lost more state legislatures and state legislative seats.
So what Representative Mike Lawler is saying here, is that if Kevin McCarthy or whoever the Republican Speaker or House Republican Leader wants more power in the House and be able to govern and be able to accomplish great things, they need better candidates and to win more elections. Which means fewer MAGA members and other members of the broader American Far-Right, that’s invaded the modern Republican Party. And get back to the center-right, Conservative Republicanism of Ronald Reagan.
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| Source:CNN- U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (Republican, California) I’m very tempted to say Speaker of the Nuthouse, with 100 or MAGA members in the House Republican Conference, where even Representative Marjorie T. Greene is starting to look somewhat sane and responsible (but only in comparison) but I have too much respect for the office that Mr. McCarthy currently holds. Even if it’s just for a very short time. |
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9/18/2023 - I really don’t have much to add to what attorney Gene Rossi told CNN anchor Sara Sidner here. Once again, I’m not a lawyer (and if you think you’ve heard this too many times, I’m getting through) but it’s one thing to listen to and take the bad advice of counsel and then be prosecuted later on for something illegal and then just say you were just listening to your lawyers. But it’s another to ignore your lawyers, especially when they’re telling you the truth (like you just lost the presidential election) and then say that you didn’t care what your lawyers told you. You are going to keep doing what you are doing anyway.
If Donald Trump has a campaign theme for 2024 it’s basically this: you have to elect him President again, so he can get himself and his allies who are being prosecuted, out of legal trouble. That’s the only reason why he’s running for President again, which is to be completely immune from the laws and rules of the United States, that every other American has to follow. And I’m sure he wants the title, the power, and want to personally financially profit over being President again.
Since being indicted in Atlanta last month, Donald Trump’s has had 3 defenses, so far:
he’s entitled to say and do whatever he wants under the First Amendment, including lobbying government officials to overturn free and fair elections that he’s lost, as well as try to intimidate prosecutors, witnesses that would testify against him, and poison the potential jury pool against him. That was Mr. Trump’s first defense.
Mr. Trump’s 2nd defense has been that he’s immune from any legal prosecution because he was not only a Federal official, when his own personal election interference was going on in late 2020 and in January 2021, but that he was President of the United States.
Mr. Trump’s 3rd defense, was that he was just listening to his lawyers. But he just threw that in the trash by admitting on national, broadcast, network television, when he talked NBC Meet The Press anchor Kristen Welker on Sunday and said that he didn’t respect his lawyers when they told him that he lost the 2020 election and still went ahead with his election interference campaign.
Perhaps Donald Trump’s next defense will be that he’s an idiot and simply didn’t know what he was doing at the time. And perhaps he’ll plead not guilty by reason of stupidity. I wouldn’t put it pass him. After all, he’s is the king of reality TV.
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| Source:CNN- President Donald J. Trump (Republican, Florida) 45th President of the United States (2017-21) the man who personally makes the case for just 1 4yr term as POTUS. |
9/15/2023 - I said back in 2017 (and I just wish I had written this down and made it public) that Donald Trump picked the wrong country to run for President and be its head of state. Why? Because our governmental system that’s built around checks and balances, accountability, the rule of law, is not suited for someone of Donald Trump’s mindset and personality. He believes he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants to, that rules and laws that apply to everyone else, don’t apply to him.
I make this point because it’s obvious that just in the first 2 years of the Trump presidency, how about the 1st year, when he didn’t have a Democratic House of Representatives that he had to do deal with, when he had a Republican Congress (House & Senate) that he wanted to use the Federal Government to go after and investigate his political opponents, like Hillary Clinton, as well as the media that reporter negative stories about him.
Within the 1st month of the Trump presidency, he’s already calling for NBC News’s license to be repealed by the Federal Communication Commission, because he didn’t like a story that they reported about his administration and he wanted people in his own White House arrested for leaking negative stories about him as well.
I have no doubt that if Donald J. Trump becomes President of the United States (and our endless, national nightmare reappears) that he’ll want to use the government to go after the people who investigated him, go after anyone who might present to his presidency politically, as well as pardon himself for everything that he’s involved in and currently being prosecuted for, as well as all of his allies that are also being prosecuted.
The question is will Mr. Trump be able to. He wasn’t when he was President the 1st time because the Department of Justice, including his own Attorney General told him that they can’t go after people simply because President Trump doesn’t like them and sees them as threats to him.
I don’t want Donald Trump anywhere near government office ever again, for reasons I’ve already laid out. But I don’t think we know for sure that even if he wanted to use the government to completely clear himself of everything and be able to operate above the law, as well as go after everyone that he sees as political threats to him, people who threaten his own freedom, will he even be able to do that, or will our system of checks and balances and rule of law, once again serve as the check against him. I don’t want to take that risk.
Hopefully a year from now, there’s so much evidence against him in court, that no Independent in their right mind would ever even consider voting for him again, for anything, and every Democrat alive gets out and votes for the Democratic nominee for President, if for no other reason, that they see Donald Trump as the true threat to American democracy and freedom that he represents.
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| Source:CNN- New York Times national reporter Maggie Haberman. |
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9/14/2023 - For any left-wing conspiracy theorists out there (and I know there are at least a few) who think that Judge Scott McAfee is simply trying to do Donald Trump a favor here: keep in mind, this is the same judge who ruled that Mark Meadows won’t be tried in Federal court and ruled against him last Friday.
And once again I’m not a lawyer, (and if you weren’t a lawyer either, you would probably feel the need to keep mentioning that when you were writing about legal issues also) but the Judge’s ruling here is just being realistic. There’s so much evidence against all these defendants, all 16 of them, that the court, as well as the defense lawyers are going to have to go through and prepare for and will have many motions to file, that no way all 16 of them could be tried next month. Probably next spring at the earliest. And this case will probably go after Jack Smith’s case in Washington next year anyway.
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| Source:CNN- former President Donald J. Trump (Republican, Florida) and perhaps I should thank God, that he's the former President. |
9/12/2023 - The political phrase payback comes to mind when I listen to Speaker Kevin McCarthy here. House Republicans and really Congressional Republicans in general, when you consider the fact that Senator Ted Cruz was talking about impeachment and a criminal trial in the Senate, after Joe Biden was elected President almost three years ago.
Another thing to think about as far as motivations here: Speaker McCarthy is a handful of Republican votes away from losing his job. The Far-Right of the party in the House has a leash on him that’s so tight, that they could probably strangle Godzilla with it.
The Speaker knows that he has to work with not just The White House and Senate Democrats, but House Democrats, to keep the government from shutting down this fall and House Republicans getting blamed for that. And he knows that the Far-Right MAGA Caucus in the House, doesn’t want the Speaker to work with Democrats on anything.
One more thing to think about: Speaker McCarthy has previously said that that House should vote to approve an impeachment inquiry of President Biden, before the House moves to do that. He also knows that probably not a single House Democrat would vote for that. He also knows that there are already a few Republicans talking about how risky it would be and perhaps bad judgment, to try to impeach President Biden now, especially based on the fact that there’s no evidence that the President has done anything illegal here. Maybe House Republicans should try to impeach Joe Biden’s son Hunter instead. Ha, ha.
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| Source:CNN- Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (Republican, California) |
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9/11/2023 - If Tom Landry had a basic defense philosophy and strategy as a defense head coach, which is how he started out as a defender when he played and as a defense coordinator with the New York Giants, before he became head coach of the expansion Cowboys in 1960, it was to make opposing offenses one-dimensional. His goal was to force the opposing offenses to throw the football all the time against his pass rushers and secondary, by taking away the other team’s running game.
Pre-1984 and starting in the mid 1960s, the base defense of the Cowboys was the flex defense:
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| Source:The Logical Cowboy with a look at Tom Landry's 4-0 defense. |
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9/08/2023 - I don’t want to sound like I’m kissing my own ass: (which would be impossible for me to day anyway, at least physically) but for anyone who predicted that Mark Meadows was actually going to win this, perhaps also believes in Santas Clause as well.
It’s clear that what Mark Meadows was doing post-2020 election day, after President Donald Trump had already lost to Joe Biden, (and that’s according to the 50 United States, including Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan) he was working on behalf of his de-facto client Donald J. Trump, to overturn that presidential election and just automatically declare President Trump the winner of that state. Even though it was clear that the President lost that election by 12,000 votes. Mr. Meadows wasn’t acting as White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, on behalf of the U.S. Federal Government, which is why he lost today.
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| Source:CNN- former President Donald J. Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. |
9/08/2023 - At risk of beating a dead horse beyond recognition: I’m not a lawyer. I’m going off on what I read and what I’m seeing online and TV with these legal issues. But I’m with Shan Wu whose a career lawyer on this.
I think Senator Lindsey Graham wasn’t charged by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, because he cooperated with them and her grand jury, after fighting his subpoena and trying not to testify at all, with this bogus (to be kind) claim that sitting members of Congress can’t be forced to testify under oath, especially to non-Federal grand juries and prosecutors.
So I think now the questions now are what did Senator Graham tell the Fulton grand jury and how cooperative with Fulton and Fani Willis was the Senator, and what if anything will we ever learn about what Senator Graham told this grand jury. Along with the facts that the District Attorney already has a lot of evidence and great cases against the major players in trying to illegally overturn the 2020 Georgia presidential election.
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| Source:CNN- U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican, South Carolina) |
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9/07/2023 - I guess I would respond to what Vice President Mike Pence told CNN this way, which is what Phil Mattingly also talked about.
Donald Trump wasn’t a Conservative when he announced his presidential campaign in 2015 and didn’t run as a Conservative for President in 2016. Pre-Barack Obama birtherism, Donald Trump was a New York City Democrat. Perhaps a Northeastern Republican. He wasn’t very ideological at all.
If there is anything that’s ever been consistent about Donald Trump’s politics is that he’s an opportunist who reads political polls and moods very well. He got on board with the right-wing populists (whether you want to call them the Christian-Right, Tea Party, Christian Nationalists, or MAGA) in the Republican Party in 2011-12 and saw that as his opening to run for President someday himself as a registered Republican, but certainly not a Republican ideologically.
Vice President Pence is not a Ronald Reagan Republican either. Ronald Reagan was always part of the Calvin Coolidge, Robert Taft, Barry Goldwater, Everett Dirksen, classical conservative wing of the Republican Party. The wing of the Republican Party who believes it’s the job of government to conserve American’s individual rights and freedom, to defend the country, keep taxes, spending, regulations, deficits down.
The Reagan Conservative wing is not:
“This is what it means to be a real American. And anyone who disagrees with us, is Un-American or immoral. And it’s the job of government to enforce our religious values on everyone else.”
If you think about it, Mike Pence when he was in the U.S. House in the 2000s and as Governor of Indiana before he became Vice President in 2017, that’s the kind of Republican Pence was. He probably had a 90% approval rating with the right-wing religious populists of the Republican Party, before he turned against Donald Trump in late 2020 and early 2021.
I think the real difference between Mike Pence and Donald Trump’s MAGA followers, is not very ideological, except perhaps when it comes to trade, national security, and foreign policy. But they share the same religious and cultural values. I think the real ideological difference between Vice President Pence and Donald Trump’s followers, has to do with the U.S. Constitution, American democracy, and rule of law.
We have 2 1/2 years of evidence that backs up the fact that Mr. Pence believes in the rule of law and American democracy. At least enough, that he believes no one is above the law and is entitled to public office, especially after they just lost a free and fair election. Meaning you have to win elections to get into and stay in public office. Mr. Pence also believes no one is above the law. Donald Trump and his followers don’t believe in those American values.
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| Source:CNN- former Vice President of the United States Mike Pence (Republican, Indiana) and 2020 presidential candidate, talking to CNN. |
9/06/2023 - I guess it’s easy to say from the outside, especially if you are not a lawyer (like myself) that of course Donald Trump’s co-defendants should cooperate with the Feds and the Fulton County prosecutors, because DJT is the top dog, top target, the guy that the Fulton County and DOJ wants the most. But, I think you could see why an insider in Trump World might say:
“Why should I cooperate? I did nothing wrong. The laws don’t apply to me like they do to Joe and Jane Average. Besides, our cult leader will get reelected and will pardon me. All I have to do is to try to delay my trial and convictions as long as possible and wait to January, 2025.”
Plus, they still believe that might be able to get their case into the Federal court and get it thrown out there and get just one MAGA person on their jury and get their case thrown out that way.
But returning to Planet Earth: (if only for a moment) Trump’s co-defendants right now are in a burning house, with just one way out. Sure, they could light another cigarette, perhaps throw some more oil on the fire and try to drag out their cases, for reasons I already laid out. But on Planet Earth, when there’s only one escape from a burning house, without getting burned yourself, intelligent, sane, and sober, people find that one door or window that they can get through and escape the burning house.
That one door or window for the Trump co-defendants, is cooperating with Fulton County and DOJ and telling them exactly what they did and everything they know about what other people did during this 2021 coup attempt, including the former President Donald J. Trump.
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| Source:CNN talking to Michael Cohen about Donald Trump. |
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9/05/2023 - This is from a follow piece that I wrote about Randy White, from 2017, on The New Democrat.
I just want to correct what sounds like a minor point that the narrator of this video made, but is actually pretty important when you are talking about the the greatness of Randy White, because it goes to why he was so good and almost un-blockable for about a 10 year period in the NFL, from 1976-85.
When Randy White was drafted in 1975 as a linebacker by the Dallas Cowboys, he was already 6’4, 265 pounds, benched 450 pounds, ran a 9.6 100 and ran a 4.6. If that’s undersize for a 1970s NFL linebacker, then both Kareem-Abdul Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain were too short to play the center position in the NBA and Dallas is a small city, Texas Stadium was too small for the NFL, and Texas is one of the smallest states, at least in the Southwest.
By 1977, Randy White is playing DT full-time and becomes the best all around defensive lineman, at least in the second half of the 1970s and perhaps the entire NFL in the 1980s. You could argue Randy White or Howie Long from the Los Angeles Raiders as the best all around defensive lineman in the NFL, at least in the 1980s.
Back in the 1970s, if you were 265 pounds, you were considered to be a normal, if not good sized NFL offensive lineman. And again., White starts off at outside linebacker, before Tom Landry moves him to DT full-time in 1977.
By the early or mid 1980s, When Randy was probably the best all around defensive lineman, certainly defensive tackle in the NFL, he was 270-275 and still had the same upper body strength, as well as the same speed and quickness, at least for a NFL defensive lineman.
So we’re talking about an NFL defensive lineman. who was simply to quick, too strong, and too big, for most if not any offensive lineman, (Gene Upshaw from the Oakland Raiders and John Hannah from the New England Patriots, being exceptions to that) to be able to block one-on-one in the 1970s. (Russ Grimm from the Washington Redskins being an exception to that in the 1980s) Which is why he was such a damn good defensive tackle in the NFL, because he was simply un-blockable, at least one-on-one, for reasons that I gave out, during the period that he played.
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| Source:The Logical Cowboy- with a profile of Dallas Cowboys DT Randy White. |
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8/28/2023 - Of course I’m not a lawyer (if you are just reading my blogging for the very first time) but here’s my argument for why Mark Meadows case shouldn’t be in the Federal court system and why it should say in Fulton County, Georgia.
The Meadows legal team is going to have to answer the question where is it in the interest of the United States and under Mark Meadows job description, for the White House Chief of Staff, to try to convince the Secretary of State of Georgia, to throw out enough legal votes, for then President Donald Trump to win that election in 2020. Which is what Meadows was trying to do on behalf of then candidate Trump in 2020, so the President could overturn the 2020 election and be declared the winner and be able to stay in office.
The Meadows legal team is not going to be able to do that because Meadows was clearly acting as a Trump campaign official, not as Federal Government official. And so was President in November or December of 2020, when he was trying to do the exact same thing, when he was talking to the Georgia Secretary of State as well.
George Conway already explained in this video (that’s linked on this post) about the Hatch Act. If Meadows is making a free speech argument by saying that he was advocating for the President of the United States in Georgia, when he was trying to convince the Secretary of State to overturn the election there and declare President Trump the winner, he would be in violation of the Hatch Act, which is a Federal felony.
Under Federal law, Federal officials, who are not elected officials, meaning they don’t serve in Congress or are not President or Vice President, are barred from weighing in on and contributing to political campaigns and elections. Legally, they’re supposed to be above politics. So which felony does Mr. Meadows want to plead guilty to: the Federal Hatch Act, or the Georgia RICO ACT?
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| Source:CNN- left to right: (for anyone whose just waking from a coma) former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Conservative Washington political lawyer George Conway. |
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8/22/2023 - If I was under the legal pressure that Donald Trump was:
multiple jurisdictions
multiple felonies
I also happened to be 77 years old, with the last place that I would ever want to spend my golden years, would be in a state or federal prison (or perhaps a state or federal hospital, where Donald Trump could finally get a head examination)
I was obviously guilty, based on the evidence that was against me, the fact I don’t seem to have any credible defense, (free speech is not unlimited and Donald Trump is not above the law)
the last thing I would do, would be to personally incentivize people who are around me, like my co-conspirators, to talk to law enforcement and prosecutors about me, especially what they know about me and my role in this conspiracy against me. But that’s me.
Donald Trump’s co-conspirators are not rich. At least based on the legal bills that they’re now pilling up and the fact that they work for someone who doesn’t pay them meaning Donald Trump.
The Donald’s co-conspirators may not have any choice but to become rats against The Donald, because they run out of money, are not just looking at being convicted, but multiple convictions against them, perhaps 10-20 years in a state or federal prison, perhaps both prisons.
If Donald Trump is the billionaire that he says he is and is not buried in debt, he can afford to cover the legals fees of his co-conspirators out of his own pocket, or raise the money from his cult followers.
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| Source:CNN- former Donald Trump Manhattan attorney Michael Cohen, talking to CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins. |
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8/21/2023 - This is follow up piece that I wrote about the decline for Tom Landry’s Dallas Cowboys, from last week on The New Democrat.
Just to start on a personal not first: when I think of Danny White's Dallas Cowboys, I think of him in Tom Landry's shotgun formation, throwing post passes down to the field to either WR Tony Hill or TE Doug Cosbie, against the excellent pass rush that the Redskins had with Dexter Manley, Dave Butz, and Charles Mann, right in Danny White's face, if White doesn't get rid of the ball very quickly. And despite being under that pressure, still able to not just get the ball off, but make a perfect throw down the field, to either Tony Hill or Doug Cosbie, for either a big gain or TD pass against the Redskins.
I think Danny White when he had time to throw the ball, was one of the most accurate and best QB's in the entire NFL. He didn't have a cannon like Gary Hogeboom, but he had a strong arm. He was 6'2, 200 pounds or so, he was very mobile, made plays on the run or scramble. I think he had the same physical skills as the legend that he replaced, which was Roger Staubach, who I still consider to be the best QB in Cowboys history. (Sorry, to any Troy Aikman fans who may read this)
But the problems that were around Danny White, even though they weren't problems that he created, he still had to try to deal with them and make the best of them.
Danny White was replacing the best all around QB of the 1970s in Roger Staubach.
White's Cowboys were in decline, at least in the sense that they were no longer dominating the NFL.
The rule changes of the 1970s had weaken their defense, especially their secondary.
The Cowboys didn't have the same depth in the 1980s, that they had in the 1970s.
The Cowboys starters were still some of the best players in the NFL, but their backups weren't ready to start and when they suffered key injuries, they became an ordinary NFL team.
The rest of the NFL, at least in the NFC had not just caught up with the Cowboys, but became better, like the Redskins, San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants, and Chicago Bears.
And perhaps the worst problem of all for Danny White, he played for a head coach who didn't appreciate him, who blamed him personally for the 3 NFC Championship losses in the early 1980s. And as a result tried to replace White with an inferior QB in Gary Hogeboom, before he realized that he made a big mistake and put White back in as the starting QB.
Danny White was a very good, Pro Bowl caliber NFL QB, who just happened to play for the Dallas Cowboys, when the Cowboys were transitioning to one of the top 2-3 franchises in the entire NFL, to becoming am ordinary playoff team, where making winning your division or just making the playoffs, was a good year. And he gets way too much blame for the decline of Tom Landry's Dallas Cowboys.
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| Source:The Logical Cowboy- Dallas Cowboys starting QB Danny White (1980-88) |
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8/17/2023 - Again, I’m not a a lawyer, but it seems to me that Rudy Giuliani (unless he’s already done this ) could sue Donald Trump for not paying him the money that Trump owes him for the work that Rudy has done for The Donald in the last 6-8 years.Which is what Michael Cohen did successfully against President Trump, when he got out of prison a few years ago.
I almost want to feel sorry for Rudolph Giuliani, because of the public service that he gave America the previous 20 plus years, before leaving the New York Mayor’s office in 2001. But I simply can not. When you make your own meals and there’s no one left to eat your food, you got to eat them yourself. You are responsible for your own actions for good and bad.
Rudy Giuliani is a lifelong New Yorker, someone who built his professional career in Manhattan. No one knows Donald J. Trump better than Rudolph Giuliani, other than perhaps Michael Cohen. Rudy knew exactly who he was going to work for and be doing business with, when The Donald hired him to assist his presidential campaign back in 2015 and they went into business together.
And like with what former Attorney General William Barr told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins last week, you need to have legal protection and insurance when you go into business with Donald Trump, because you are going to be involved in, witnessing, and even doing illegal activities, when you work for that man.
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| Source:CNN- former "America's Mayor" and now street beggar, Rudolph Giuliani. |
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8/16/2023 - PBS made a documentary about Richard Nixon in 1990 and they talked to Richard Nixon’s White House counsel John Dean and they were talking about Watergate. One of the things that Dean told PBS about working at The White House during Watergate that even though he was a lawyer, he wasn’t a criminal lawyer. And that he didn’t know that he needed to be a criminal lawyer in order to work for President Richard Nixon.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins interviewed President Donald Trump’s Attorney General William Barr last week and he said that one of the things that you need to have when you work for Donald Trump, is a legal insurance policy. That you better have a good lawyer working for you before you work for President Trump.
What Attorney General Barr was basically saying here, is that when you work for someone like Donald Trump, you are going to be involved in things and doing things that at the very least, could make a witness against someone else, like your boss, or someone else who works for your boss, in a criminal case, or a criminal defendant yourself. Of the 18 other criminal defendants in the the Fulton County case, 1/3 of those folks, are either Donald Trump’s lawyers or people who served Donald Trump as his lawyer in the past.
As far as Rudy Giuliani: who is this man? What the hell have they done with Rudy Giuliani? And where is he? It’s like he’s been kidnapped and was replaced by some clone or someone impersonating the man, but doing it with a completely different character and personality. Pre-Donald Trump, he was a very successful and wealthy Manhattan, New York lawyer. Now, he’s looking to sell his New York apartment, just to pay his current legal bills.
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| Source:CNN- New York Times political reporter Maggie Haberman. |
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8/15/2023 - I guess the way I would respond to Donald J. Trump’s last indictment, is similar to how Republican political strategist and now political media celebrity Ana Navarro responded to his 3rd indictment on Instagram a couple weeks ago.
Ana Navarro had a photo with a picture of the 45th President with the caption: “I’m not indicted, I just can’t hide it.” With the only thing that I would add to that is: “I just want you to know I think I hate it. Except that it helps me in the Republican Party.”
For any of you who read this, who aren’t familiar with the 20th Century or don’t have memories of it, (perhaps both) this is a parody from The Pointer Sisters song “I’m So excited.”
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| Source:CNN- Donald J. Trump: "I'm still the king of political reality TV, bigly." |
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8/14/2023 - This post isn’t so much about this actual game, then it really is about the last years of Tom Landry as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. The Anaheim Rams (as I called the Los Angeles Rams back then, who played 36 miles south of Los Angeles, in a city of 300,000 people) absolutely dominated the Cowboys. The Cowboys offense accomplished almost nothing, got shut out, and their defense just played well enough to keep it a 20-0 loss, instead of losing 35 or 42-0. This is really about the 85 Cowboys being the last winning team that Tom Landry had.
I think a lot of people, including professional NFL historians, when they’re look at the 1980s Cowboys, say that the 80s was a bad decade for the Cowboys, when the NFL was prospering and really took off and became the number one pro sports league in America. But the Cowboys played in 3 NFC Championships, won 2 NFC East titles, made the NFC Playoffs 5 times, had 6 winning seasons. That’s a very good decade for just about every other NFL franchise. But we’re talking about Tom Landry’s Dallas Cowboys and simply winning, is not the standard that he and the Cowboys were judged by back then.
Tom Landry set the standard for how judge the greatest NFL head coaches. It’s not about winning, but winning championships and not division titles, which almost get taken for granted when you are the level of Tom Landry, Don Shula, Chuck Noll, and the other great coaches in the NFL in the 1970s and 80s. It’s about winning Super Bowls and conference championships.
When you don’t win conference championships and Super Bowl for a few years and you start looking like a normal NFL franchise, people around the league and your own fans start asking questions like: “What’s wrong with the Cowboys?” Because 9-7 or 10-6 and even winning making the playoffs and winning your division, is not good enough, when you reach the level of a Tom Landry and the other great coaches from his era.
It’s not like the Cowboys became the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Kansas City Chiefs or Buffalo Bills, or other franchises that struggled in the 80s, at least not right away. From 1980-83, the Cowboys played in 3 NFC Championships, lost all 3, but no one else made it to 3 straight from 1980-82, won the NFC East in 1981, a win away from winning the NFC East again in 1983.
The 83 Cowboys were 12-4 and were considered 1 of the 3 best teams in the entire NFL for most of that season.
The 84 Cowboys were 9-7 and had they beat the Miami Dolphins during week 16 and almost won that game, they’re back in the NFC Playoffs and would’ve eliminated the New York Giants.
The 85 Cowboys were 10-6 and won the NFC East, swept the Washington Redskins and New York Giants, who were also 10-6 that year.
I think the main difference between Tom Landry’s `1970s Cowboys and the 80s Cowboys, has to do with depth. You look at the Cowboys starters from 83-85 and even 86 and perhaps 87, they match up very well as far as the talent that they had and what those players accomplished during those careers, both on offense and defense. But when QB Danny White goes down, or Landry decides simply not to play him, because he’s anxious to get back to another Super Bowl and thinks Gary Hogeboom is his ticket back to the Super Bowl, or the Cowboys lose another key starter, they go from looking like a Super Bowl contender, to a very ordinary team.
The other problem that the Cowboys of the 80s had, was consistency. They would sweep the Redskins and Giants, but get destroyed by a 7-9 Cincinnati Bengals team, or get hammered at home by the 85 Bears, one of the best teams in the history of the NFL. But when you win as long as Tom Landry did and won as many games and championships as Landry did, 9-7-10-6, is simply no good enough based on how you are judged by the rest of the league and your own fans.
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| Source:NFL- Eric Dickerson runs all over the Cowboys. |
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8/11/2023 - I agree with Judge Michael Lutting in this sense: there is no active, political Republican Party. Meaning, there is no political party in America that is simply dedicated in preserving the American federal republic, which is and was the original purpose of the Republican Party and why it was created in the 1850s.
Of course there are people in the Republican Party that are still ideologically Republicans and even Conservative Republicans and represent what’s left of the center-right in the Republican Party. But there is no longer a whole Republican Party that’s dedicated to preserving the American federal republic.
The 2nd largest political party in America, is still called the Republican Party, but it’s not a Republican party ideologically. It’s now lower educated, lower class, less religious (at least in the classical and official sense) party, that believes in strongmen and cult figures, that’s more likely to take the word of dictators, then Americans, including Republicans, that they tend to disagree with ideologically. You could also get into to racial and ethnic composition, as well as culture of what’s called the modern Republican Party today. But I’ll leave that to leftists, who are a lot more partisan than me.
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| Source:CNN- ex-U.S. Federal Judge Michael Luttig. |
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8/10/2023 - What Frank DiStefano seems to be talking about here is that the Republican Party post-FDR, the Eisenhower faction versus the Taft faction, followed by the Rockefeller faction versus the Goldwater faction in the 1960s, wasn't arguing or competing with each other over political philosophy as far as what the Republican Party should stand for going forward, but what they were really just debating each other over tactics. That every major Republican basically shared the same political and government philosophy, but differed on how best to sell that philosophy to American voters and how to defeat Democrats.
To know that Frank DiStefano is simply wrong here, all you have to do is look at Dwight Eisenhower's presidency in the 1950s and look at Richard Nixon's presidency in the 1i970s, at least as it related to economic philosophy, then look at the civil rights movement and agenda and the laws that came from that movement in the 1960s.
Dwight Eisenhower didn't run for President and govern as President in the 1950s, to reverse the New Deal. He didn't believe he had that votes to do that in Congress or the authority to repeal it by himself, and he didn't believe in that either. If he was a Robert Taft Conservative Republican as far as political philosophy, he would've ran for President in 1952 to repeal the New Deal and go back to the Calvin Coolidge philosophy of individual freedom, personal responsibility, and fiscal conservatism, of the 1920s.
President Eisenhower simply wanted to hit pause on the New Deal and make those programs as fiscally sound as possible. He was also the first great civil rights President, at least post-Abraham Lincoln, by integrating schools in the South in the 1950s.
The civil rights laws in the 1960s, don't pass without Republican votes both in the House and Senate. After 1960, Democrats controlled both Congress, with huge majorities both in the House and Senate and The White House for the rest of the 1960s, until Richard Nixon is elected President in 1968 and inaugurated in January, 1969.
If you are pretty familiar with Richard Nixon's presidency in the 1970s, besides Watergate, his secret, personal, national, security, unit, his resignation in 1974, thanks to Watergate and other criminal activities on his part, as well as his opening to Russia and China in 1972, and ending the Vietnam War, you know that President Nixon was a pretty Progressive President, at least as it related to economic policy and even foreign affairs.
President Nixon introduced what he called The New Federalism. Again, not looking to reverse the New Deal or Great Society of the 1960s, but decentralized those programs and turn them over to the states to them.
President Nixon's Family Assistance Plan of 1969, became Welfare To Work in 1996.
President Nixon's health care plan in 1974, became the Affordable Care Act of 2010.
The Republican Party, at least until the Christian-Right and now Christian Nationalists took over the party 5-10 years ago, has always been a center-right party. They just have always have had two center-right establishment factions in it.
The Conservative Republicans, or Constitutional Conservatives, Conservative Libertarians even, on the right of the party, and the Progressive Republicans on the left of the party, but people who are definitely to the right of the FDR/LBJ Progressive Democrats, have been for most of the history of the Republican Party, the two competing factions in it. And these two competing factions have been competing with each other, at least since the Progressive Era of 100 years ago.
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| Source:Frank DiStefano talking about the Republican Party post-FDR. |
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7/28/2023 - Again, I'm not a lawyer. And this sounds like a broken record, then that means I'm getting through. But I think it's obvious why I guess Donald Trump's new personal fixer and co-defendant Walt Nauta has kept quote and put his own future and personal freedom at risk, with the U.S. Department of Justice.
The co-defendants in this case know everything that they've done and what they are legally responsible for, what they have done and don't want to cooperate, until everything gets out and they know exactly what's against them. When all the dominos have fallen and the whole case against them is out and DOJ has everything,
I think that's when Walt Nauta and company might start cooperating. But if they give it up now and then face new charges later, they would lose whatever leverage that they have to use to save themselves. Of course that strategy comes with a big risk. DOJ could tell them that they don't need their cooperation by that point to convict either of them or even Donald Trump, since none of these men are professional criminals (at least outside of politics) and don't know how to cover their own tracks.
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| Source:CNN- former personal attorney & fixer for Donald Trump, Michael Cohen. |
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7/27/2023 - Before I really get started here, I must really confess and say that I've had a long distance crush on Ruth Roman for literally ten years now, July or August of 2013. I got FIOS-TV at home and my TV package expanded and METV became part of that package and I caught here on an episode of The Untouchables, from I think the 3rd season. A year or so later, I see her in the film Love Has Many Faces on TCM.
I've always thought Ruth Roman was beautiful, very cute, adorable, really, with those eyes, cheeks, facial expressions, sexy voice, shape, she reminds me a taller, sexier, Elizabeth Taylor, but not quite as adorable, but almost no one is.
Similar to Kim Novak, Ruth has always been underrated and under appreciated, maybe that's because she's a very cute, beautiful, brunette, instead of a beautiful, overly adorable, immature blond. And when you are from the World War II Generation, especially in Hollywood, it's Hollywood blonds that get the most attention, not the brunettes, even when the brunettes are built like Ruth Roman.
As far as Love Has Many Faces and this scene: Margo (played by Ruth Roman) and Irene (played Virginia Grey) are a couple of middle aged, perhaps early middle aged, single, wealthy, boy hungry women, who I guess are vacationing in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico. They look like easy targets for Hank (played by Hugh O'Brien) and Chuck. (Played by Ron Husmann)
Margo might be love starved and perhaps even lonely, but she's not stupid or immature or naive. When they meet, Hank calls her and Irene: "Vagabundos en la ciudad en Mexicana(feminine)" which translates into tramps on the town in Mexican Spanish. But he says it like it's a complement.
Margo responds by saying: "Irene, he just called us tramps"
with Hank saying: "I thought you don't speak Spanish"
with Margo replying: "Why, because I said so?"
Hank and Chuck are career gigolos who are down in Acapulco looking for wealthy, single women, who are lonely and tare here to make them feel good and give them a good time. There's another line where Irene asks Margo: "What do you think they're saying about us?" with Margo replaying: "Unfortunately, something like, take your pick."
This is a really good film for Ruth Roman because she's on the beach and you see how beautiful, cute, and sexy she is, but the role she's playing as an independent woman, who loves her freedom and is not going to let anybody, especially a 40 year old gigolo, who lives in shack and has a 30 gigolo as his roommate, take that away from her. And she doesn't an excellent job.
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| Source:The Film Experience- left to right: Ruth Roman & Virginia Grey. |
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7/26/2023 - When we're talking about William Jennings Bryan and populists, I think we need know what it means to be a populist and what populism is. Populist is not a separate political faction and populism is not a separate political ideology, similar to nationalist and nationalism. You can't label someone a populist like you would be calling someone a liberal, conservative, progressive, socialist, etc.
A populist is just someone who speaks to ordinary Americans who have to work hard to support themselves, who come from ordinary communities, have ordinary backgrounds, and have ordinary income, etc.
The Democratic Party has or had a populist wing of blue-collar workers, who were very pro-labor. Most of those folks had just a high school diploma as far as education and needed their union job to support themselves and their families and be able to help their kids go to college, if that's what they wanted to do.
The Republican Party has had, really since the late 1960s, a populist wing primarily of very fundamentalist religious voters, who have similar education and work employment backgrounds as the populist Democrats, but tend to differ with those Democrats on social issues.
The populist Democrats are primarily just interested in economic issues and being able to save their jobs and keep their jobs in America, but generally don't push the social issues.
What William Jennings Bryan was 130 years ago, was basically a Populist-Progressive Democrat. And what that means, is that he's someone who represented and spoke to populist Democrats, but had a Progressive agenda to help people who were struggling, just to be able to continue to survive, but also to help them move ahead. America as a country in the 1890s and 1900s, was moving from being almost an exclusively rural and blue-collar country, to an industrialized country, with more big cities and metro areas and bigger big cities and metros, where in many cases you needed more than high school diploma to succeed in America and make it in America on your own. That's what William J. Bryan's 1896 presidential campaign was about.
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| Source:Frank DiStefano talking about Populist Democrat William J. Bryan. |
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7/25/2023 - I think there are a few interesting points here:
Poppy Harlow asked Donald Trump essentially whose worst: Donald Trump or Joe Biden as President. And Chris Christie ducked it like someone was firing a machine gun at his face (I guess the Governor has great political reflexes, even for a big man) and basically said: "That's like asking me would I rather drown or be strangled" after she kept pushing him on that.
Just the way Governor Christie has been attacking former President Trump and President Biden, makes it pretty obvious that Christie thinks Trump is a bigger threat to the country and I'm sure the Republican Party, than the current President. He attacks Trump on issues of the former President's character, (or lack of character) or honesty, (or lack of honesty) or the fact that he believes that Donald Trump believes that he's not accountable to anyone. But he attacks President Biden based on policy and not calling the President a liar, bad man, etc.
Chris Christie has the reputation as being straight-forward, honest, holds no punches, you know, things that Americans say that they want in politicians, but then vote for and reelect people who lie about their height, shoe sizes, what they like to eat, as well as what they do in office and try to cover up whatever trouble that they may get in while in office and before in office. And during this interview, Governor Christie comes off more as the former politician whose trying to get back into power, then the guy whose running to shake things up in Washington.
Senator Mitt Romney (who I like a lot more than presidential candidate Mitt Romney) wrote an article arguing that Republican donors should essentially make a decision and just give money to the most electable Republican presidential candidates (who are not named Donald J. Trump) and try to narrow the Republican presidential field that way and get it down to 3-5 Republican candidates against Trump by Iowa, instead of 10-15, so the 2023-24 Republican presidential primary season, doesn't look like Donald Trump's latest political reality TV show: Who Wants to Replace Donald Trump.
I think Senator Romney is right here. The problem is how do you do that. How do you convince 5-7 Republican presidential candidates who are at 3-5% in the Republican polls, that they're simply not ready for national prime time and they should just get out and leave it up to Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, and maybe Mike Pence, to try to take down Donald Trump, or at least severely weaken him in Iowa and New Hampshire. Once a career politician has the presidential political bug, it might take an army of exterminators to get rid of that bug.
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| Source:CNN- former Governor of New Jersey and 2024 Republican presidential candidate, Chris Christie. |
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7/24/2023 - America has never really had what the rest of the developed world calls a welfare state, even today, Since the 1930s, we’ve always had what we call a public safety net, which is an economic insurance system that we all pay into and then take out when we fall on hard times and can’t survive financially any other way, unless we get this public assistance.
During President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1st new term, (1933-37) the Roosevelt Administration and Congress created what would be called the New Deal, which essentially was the creation of the American public safety net. Programs like Unemployment Insurance and Social Security. And even though President Roosevelt was a Progressive on economic policy, he was getting political heat from the left-wing of the Democratic Party on economic policy. Like from people like Senator Huey Long, for not going further left and creating more economic programs for people who were struggling and not going after individual wealth in America.
To put this in modern terms: if you are familiar with President Donald Trump’s presidency, (how could you not be, unless you were vacationing on the moon or living in a coma) especially the last 2 years of the Trump presidency, but even go back to the presidential election of 2016 and the campaign that started in the Democratic Party in 2015, you know that there was a reemergence of the left-wing of the Democratic Party, closeted Socialists who in some cases were no longer closeted with their political ideology and label and if anything were proud to be called Socialists, even though they preferred to be called Democratic Socialists.
Go up to 2019 when the Democratic Party wins back the House of Representatives, now you have Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders in the Senate, as well as closeted Socialist Senator Elizabeth Warren, who both ran for President as Democrats in 2019-20 and you had this growing left-wing in Democratic Party in the House, to go along with the so-called Congressional Progressive Caucus (who in actuality are Democratic Socialists of America in the House) and now you have all these new and in some cases self-described Democratic Socialists in the House, like Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and the so-called left-wing Squad in the House, to go along with the Bernie Sanders in the Senate and you have these left-wing members of Congress who are not just Socialists, but self-described Democratic Socialists.
The agenda that these left-wing members of Congress were pushing in the House in 2019-20, that both Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders ran on for President in that same election cycle, looks very similar to what then Senator Huey Long was pushing in Congress in the 1930s and had hope to run on himself for President in 1936:
A wealth tax to eliminate private wealth in America
A so-called free college plan (that wasn’t free for anyone)
A new government-run pension plan. The Squad in the House and Senators Sanders and Warren were instead talking about doubling Social Security
A government works program to put unemployed workers to work for the government
A guaranteed basic income for every American
The Bernie Bros and Squad in House wanted a government-run national health care plan, to replace private health insurance in America
What the so-called Bernie Bros and the Squad were talking about in Congress and what Senator Sanders ran for President on in 2015-16 and 2019-20, is not new. Senator Huey Long ran on that in the 1930s, when he was in Congress as well. The mainstream media (and perhaps Frank DiStefano is a member of that media as well) can call this economic liberalism all they want, but that’s not what is.
Supporters of this populist economic philosophy go way further than Liberals and Progressives, including Franklin Roosevelt, on economic policy, at least pre-1936 and are no longer talking about opportunity and responsibility for all, which is really what economic liberalism is about and not economic guarantees.
What American leftists back in the 1930s and today are really talking about, is what the rest of the developed world calls social democracy or just socialism. And what out-of-the-closet American leftists call democratic socialism. The idea that everyone in America is entitled to a quality life, simply for just being alive in America, regardless of what they bring, if anything, to the broader economic pie of the country.
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| Source:Frank DiStefano talking about the so-called 2nd New Deal. |
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7/21/2023 - I just have to push back here against Frank DiStefano:
Franklin Roosevelt didn't create the modern Democratic Party or even the liberal wing. Anyone who knows their political history, knows that the right-wing Dixiecrat (Neo-Confederate Democrats) were still not just a major part of the Democratic Party, but a major part of FDR's political coalition. He doesn't get elected President in 1932 and then reelected President 3 times, without the Dixiecrats.
The liberal wing of the Democratic Party was already there before FDR even becomes Governor of New York in 1929. Wendell Willkie who was the Republican Party presidential nominee, was a Liberal Democrat (or Classical Liberal Democrat, if you prefer) in the 1920s.
Willkie was more liberal (meaning a real liberal) than FDR on all sorts of issues, including civil rights and civil liberties. And left the Democratic Party (not his liberal values) in the 1930s, because he thought FDR was going too left and centralizing too much power with the Federal Government, with his New Deal. Willkie was worried that FDR was turning America into a socialist state.
The Democratic Party has never been a left, right, or center party. It's always been a party, at least since the 1930s under FDR, that's had a center-right, a center-left, and even a left-wing in it. But a party that when it's successful, has been able to come together on Democratic values like free speech, personal freedom, free press, and even property rights, opportunity and responsibility for all, and even civil and equal rights, thanks to the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
As Frank DiStefano said himself, Franklin Roosevelt wasn't very ideological. He was very pragmatic, like a true Progressive. He wanted to know what the problems were and what were the best policies to try to solve those problems. The New Deal is a perfect example of that which created the modern safety net (not welfare state) designed to help people who were struggling with the Great Depression, to try to help them get through the depression. But not with all sorts of new government programs to try to run their lives for them.
What Frank DiStefano is really doing here, is representing most of the false stereotypes of what it means to be a Liberal Democrat in America, as well as the stereotypes of Franklin Roosevelt. Who was very liberal on foreign policy and national security (just look at World War II with his defense of liberal democracy and fight against fascism) but very pragmatic (like a true Progressive) when it came to economic policy.
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| Source:Frank DiStefano with an inaccurate look at Franklin Roosevelt and the Democratic Party. |
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7/20/2023 - I guess just to play devil's advocate here (perhaps just because I'm not a very partisan Democrat) I could say that if President Biden needs MAGA spokeswoman and leader Marjorie Taylor Greene, (who technically doesn't serve in the nuthouse, just lives there mentally, but serves in the U.S. House) then the President is in a lot of trouble.
Imagine being buried in debt: you just just lost your job, you've been living paycheck to paycheck because you've been overspending, even when you were working and now you are about to lose your house and car, no one is even talking to you about giving you a job interview. Sounds pretty desperate, doesn't it. But wait.
Joe Loanshark (a made up character) says he has a great deal for you. He'll pay off all your debt for you and even give you a job, but you have to pay 100% interest on all your debt for the next 20 years. Otherwise he'll take your house, car, fire you from your new job, as well as your arm and leg, literally. Again, I'm playing devil's advocate here as a nonpartisan Democrat, I could see President Biden using Representative Marjorie T. Greene supposed support here, as an act of desperation.
But what this commercial here really is, is catching a hyper-partisan, far-right, firebrand, from rural Georgia, who can only get elected to even the U.S. House, in a very far-right, Republican, gerrymandered district, essentially on a hot mic. Or to put in legal terms: catching the defendant on tape, using her own words against her and then presenting it to the jury to convict her. And it's brilliant, because the Biden Campaign can say: "See, if even the Marjorie T. Greene's of the world approve of what we're doing, then we must be doing something right."
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| Source:CNN- Marjorie T. Greene is President Biden's new spokeswoman. No, not really. But that's what she sounds like in this commercial. |
7/19/2023 - Instead of wasting your time and more importantly mine (at least to me) talking about the French Revolution, (something I know as much about as your average auto mechanic knows about astronomy) I'm just going to talk about the American political spectrum and try to give you an idea who is on the right ideologically, whose on the left ideologically and how far right or left certain political factions are.
According to the mainstream media, as well as people are who are closeted political factions and not politically comfortable admitting who they are ideologically, (sort of like escaped prison inmates who are worried about being recaptured) the more conservative someone is, the more right-wing (lets say) and the more left-wing someone is (lets say) the more liberal they are.
So according to this most ridiculous political theory, the most conservative people in the world, or at least in America, are racist, nationalistic terrorists, who murder people that they don't like ethnically, racially, religiously, and culturally.
And according to the so-called mainstream political theory, the most liberal people in the world, or at least in America, would be Communists, because Communists believe in the most government and least amount of freedom of all the political factions, including nationalist-religious-theocrats. Because Communists want a huge national state, that clamps down on both personal and economic freedom.
I could give political cultural stereotypes about who the most conservative and liberal people in the world, or at least in America are as well.
The most conservative person in the world, or at least in America, (according to the so-called mainstream media) are basically right-wing, fundamentalist rednecks, who come from and live in smallest towns possible, that are dominated by one particular ethnic and racial, as well as religious group, whose families have been in America since before the American Revolution. (A revolution I know a little more about than the French Revolution) And the only time that they're ever in a big city, or even a midsize city, is when they're serving in public office. Because you really couldn't operate a state capital or the Federal capital in a town of 10,000 people or less, because it wouldn't have the infrastructure for that.
And the most liberal person in the world, or at least in America, (according to the so-called mainstream media:
is basically an urban, antiestablishment, hipster, revolutionary.
This really liberal person, (according to the mainstream media) who if he's a man, rarely if ever shaves or gets a haircut, but if the person is a man or woman, they wear military fatigues, (while claiming to be antimilitary)
who claims capitalist is a racist economic system, (while taking advantage of everything that American capitalism and liberal democracy has to offer and not just the coffee house coffee and new technology, high-end fashions and food, etc)
who says that free speech is bigoted, (while taking advantage of everything that the First Amendment has to offer and not just on social media and political rallies and attacking people that they disagree with)
who says that personal freedom is dangerous and just leads to bad choices that the rest of society has to pay for, (supporters of the nanny state) while taking advantage of all the personal freedom that they can get their hands on and making on the personal choices for themselves that they can
and who claims to be a pacifist, but willing to use violence to achieve their political objectives
who says that eating meat, is animal cruelty, while wearing a leather jacket, boots and perhaps other leather clothing
who claims to be spiritual, but not religious (trying wrapping your brain around that one)
who says that America a racist, evil empire, and the real terrorist state in the world. (Yet there is no other country in the world that they rather live in)
My larger point here, is that you have left and right, liberal and conservative. But left doesn't equal liberal and right doesn't equal conservative. If political definitions still mean anything, (and I mean anything in the world) if you are actually a Liberal, you believe in liberty. Two words that actually come from liberal, are liberty and liberate. That doesn't sound communist or socialist. Now does it?
If you are actually a Conservative, even in a political sense, you believe in conserving, you believe in tradition, you believe in conserving what works and protecting what works in the economy and country at large. Where do you see blowing up the system and establishment and locking people up who disagree with you, or whose lifestyle that you don't approve of, in the word conservative?
If you want to go left and right to talk about political factions, I'm fine with that in order to try to distinguish all the political factions, not just in America, but in the world as well.
Just don't use liberal as another way of saying left or left-wing, because liberal in actuality, is on the opposite side of communist and socialist, on most issues. Socialists and Communists are always looking to expand the size of the national state, to do more good for the people. (At least that's what they say) Liberals are always looking to expand freedom for more people and that generally doesn't involve expanding government to do that.
And don't use conservative as another way of saying right or right-wing, because again conservatism is about conserving, pure and simple. It's not about blowing up the establishment and reforming the way society, the country, and the way the government is supposed to work. But instead conserving what already works.
If you think about it, Donald Trump and his followers, are probably the least conservative people in America, because they're always looking to blow up the establishment and centralize more authority for themselves, even as it relates to the U.S. Government.
And Socialists and Communists are the most illiberal (meaning not liberal) people in the world because of all their crackdowns on property rights, personal freedom and free speech.
But according to the so-called mainstream media, the most anti-conservative people, are the most conservative. And the most illiberal (meaning not liberal) people, are the most liberal. Th perfect examples of how left doesn't equal liberal and right doesn't equal conservative.
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| Source:Frank DiStefano talking about the American political spectrum. |
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7/18/2023 - As I mentioned yesterday on The New Democrat, Theodore Roosevelt was a true Progressive. Which means means he wasn't a Socialist or some other type of leftist (democratic or otherwise) who just calls himself a Progressive, because Socialist and even Democratic Socialist, and especially Communist, is simply not viable for them politically, for all sorts of reasons. The Woodrow Wilson House has an excellent definition of Progressive:
"The term “Progressive” was broadly defined, encompassing a wide array of policies and ideologies – often in contradiction with one another – which sought to mitigate social and economic inequalities at the turn-of-the-20th century."
I call myself a Liberal (or Classical Liberal if you prefer) because even though I believe in limited government, property rights, (both economic and personal) personal and economic freedom, I'm not a Libertarian because I'm not antigovernment. Which is basically what Libertarians are today. And because I believe in moving forward, like a true Progressive. That's what I like and respect most about the progressive ideology (if you want to call it an ideology) because it's about moving forward and making things better and using a limited government to help create that progress.
Today's definition of Progressive, is basically about how mush one believes in government, especially the national government. The more government, especially national government that you believe in, the more Progressive you're supposed to be, even if all that government and spending doesn't actually lead to progress and actually leads to regression. Like clamp downs on property rights, prohibiting language or personal activities that might be offensive to others, or comes with real risks.
As far as Woodrow Wilson, I don't think you can define either as a Progressive, Liberal, or Conservative, even though he had things in common with all 3 of those political factions.
Woodrow was progressive on economic policy like with new regulations to help workers and calls for Unemployment Insurance for workers when they lose their jobs, the women's right to vote happened on his watch.
Woodrow was liberal when it came foreign policy when it came to his push for the League of Nations, which was 30 years before its time and push for America to work with its allies to prevent dictators from coming to power in Europe.
But Woodrow Wilson is basically the father of Jim Crow, at least at the Federal level, with his push to segregate by race the Federal agencies and those policies got pushed to the state level as well.
I hate to say this as a Democrat, but Woodrow Wilson's allies today, if he was a politician a 100 years later, would be part of the MAGA Nationalist movement, at least the alt-right, militant wing of that movement. That movement would rip up the civil rights laws, if they got the chance and seriously weaken the Equal Protection Clause and our Right to Privacy, probably weaken the free press in this country, and try to consolidate the American presidency and make our Federal departments and agencies a lot of independent of The White House.
But Teddy Roosevelt, was a true Progressive and a great Progressive and represented perhaps half of the Republican Party when it was the Grand Ole Party, that had two, strong, center-right factions in it: the TR Progressive wing and a conservative wing, that was led by people like Robert Taft and Barry Goldwater and later Ronald Reagan.
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| Source:Frank DiStefano on Theodore Roosevelt & Woodrow Wilson. |
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7/17/2023 - The Khan Academy definition of progressive and progressivism is very close to what I believe are the real definitions of that faction and political philosophy. My official definition of Progressive is someone who believe in progress (which is where progressive comes from) but also someone who believes in progress through government action.
Real Progressives (or Classical Progressives, if you prefer) do not believe in total equality at all costs, including at the expense of individual freedom and individual rights and incentivizing government dependence over individualism and independence. Which is what today's Social Democrats or Democratic Socialists tend to believe, that somehow individual independence is not a good thing and leads to things like materialism and inequality. And what you need to do instead is to discourage economic independence through high taxes, high regulations, and a big national government.
If you look at the word progress, it means to move forward, make things better than they were better, at least in a political and governmental sense. Again, I'm not talking about total equality or perfection, but very practical way of governing and being able to bring people together and make the society freer for more people.
Contrary to what a lot of hyper-partisan right-winers, including Libertarians, but let's say populist Republicans today say, Progressives actually do believe in the concept of a free society and most if not not all the liberal values that America was founded on. Like the right for individuals to be left alone and be able to live their own life and not be harassed by government because they believe big government knows what's best for everyone.
The difference between the Progressive (Republican or Democrat) and a Conservative and Libertarian, is the Progressive believes that individual freedom should be for everyone. Not just for people who are born to wealth and have great parents. And that government has a role to see to it that every American has the opportunity to live in a free society as well.
This is why Progressives believe in public education, public infrastructure, a regulatory state to protect consumers and workers, but not to run businesses, and a public safety net for people who truly need it and fall through the cracks of the capitalist economy, to help people get back on their feet or on their feet for the first time, but not to try to run their lives for them.
If Theodore Roosevelt was a Republican in the 1940s, he would've been a Tom Dewey Republican or Tom Dewey would've been a Teddy Roosevelt Republican.
If Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican in the 1950s, he would've been a Dwight Eisenhower Republican, or Ike would've been a Teddy Roosevelt Republican.
If Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican in the 1960s, he would've been a Nelson Rockefeller Republican, or Nellie would've been a Teddy Roosevelt Republican.
If Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican in the 1970s, Teddy would've been a Richard Nixon Republican, at least in an economic and foreign policy sense, nothing to do with Watergate or the other abuses of power from the Nixon Administration. Or, Dick Nixon would've been with Teddy in the Republican Party on economic and foreign policy. Teddy Roosevelt was actually a political hero or both Richard Nixon and John McCain. Something for political junkies and partisans to think about.
It's hard to come up with many if any solid Roosevelt/Eisenhower national Republicans of the 1980s and 90s, because the Conservative Libertarians and Christian-Right started taking over the Republican Party by then. But Bob Dole and George H.W. Bush, at least when Herbert Walker was not Vice President of the United States and when Bob Dole wasn't running for President in 1996, they were both Progressive Republicans. People who could work very well with Conservative Republicans and Progressive Democrats to accomplish great things.
I guess my broader point here is, Progressive, Socialist, Social Democrat, Democratic Socialist, Communist, and Neo-Communist, don't all mean the same thing. They're not all part of the same political philosophy, with multiple labels. Real Progressives, like Teddy Roosevelt, but his cousin Franklin, Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s, actually look pretty liberal, (at least in the classical sense) meaning they are to the right (not to the left) of the Bernie Sanders of the world and his left-wing colleagues in Congress today.
Progressives aren't looking for utopia, but simply create a society where as many Americans as possible can have the same freedom and be able to live their lives freely and not be dependent on public assistance. Not to be completely taken care of and never have to worry about having to do anything for themselves. Which again, which is what Socialists tend to believe that real progress is not good enough and you need a government big enough to create that utopia for everyone.
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| Source:Frank DiStefano talking about The Progressive Movement. |
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7/14/2023 - I’ll put it this way, Larry Bird was better than everyone in this video. I didn’t see Earvn Johnson or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Michael Jordan in it. I got Kareem down as the NBA GOAT and then I would let Larry, Earvin, Michael, and Wilt Chamberlain, battle it out for 2nd place.
As I explained on The New Democrat on Monday, what made Larry Bird better than practically everyone else, including Michael Jordan, is he dominated the game mentally and through preparation. He was always a step ahead of everyone else, including his own freakin head coach K.C. Jones, whose in the Hall of Fame, the best coach that Larry ever played for, one of the best head coaches ever, probably a top 10.
I didn’t see the Charles Barkley comment on Larry Bird that matches up with anything in the caption in this photo, but he did have this to say to sports talk show host Dan Patrick about Larry Bird:
“Am I better than Bird? Man, that’s a great question. I’m a better rebounder. I’m probably a better defender. He’s a better shooter, obviously…It’s a team game…I do things better than him. If you give me Parish, McHale, and DJ imma be alright.”
From the Basketball Network
With all due respect to Charles Barkley, Sir Charles knows a helluva lot better. Of course Larry played for better teams, but that’s not the point. It’s what you do with the team that you play for and how you make them better and what you personally accomplish yourself.
Barkley is one of the best offensive players in NBA history, but probably not even one of the 50 greatest NBA players ever because he wasn’t a great NBA defender and was a liability defensively as a forward because he couldn’t guard the 3 or 4 very well.
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| Source:Basketball Time Machine- Sir Charles Barkley on Larry Legend Bird. |
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7/13/2023 - Dennis Rodman: “If Larry Bird Played In This Era, I Think He’d Be In Europe” Dennis Rodman doesn’t think Larry Bird would excel in today’s NBA.” That from Sports Illustrated.
With all due respect to Dennis Rodman, who I consider to be the greatest NBA outside defender ever and perhaps the greatest all around defensive player in the NBA history, (who I don’t respect much as a person) he’s dead wrong about Larry Bird and he probably knows that. Maybe he just made that statement because he’s having a hard time dealing with the fact that a good ole boy, the so-called hick from French Lick, a “white boy, cracker, honkey, etc” routinely embarrassed him on the court and maybe he’s just saying that to appease the so-called brothers and his fans.
Dennis Rodman could guard Earvin Johnson, Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, James Worthy, Adrian Dantley, Mark Aquirre, Charles Barkley, if he played Dr. J Julius Erving, he could’ve guarded Doc very well in his prime as well. But Larry Bird lit up Dennis his first four seasons in the NBA, except for 1989 when Bird missed most of that season because he broke his foot and the last two season’s of Bird’s career, he was dealing with a bad back.
Something you have to know about entertainers, athletes, and politicians: (and Dennis Rodman’s case, who qualifies for all three) what they say publicly, is not always what they say and believe privately. Publicly, if their fans and popularity are very important to them financially, they’ll speak a different game than what they actually believe. And I think that’s the case with Dennis Rodman. But I’m not a mindreader.
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| Source:Basketball Time Machine- The Worm Dennis Rodman on Larry Legend Bird. |
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7/12/2023 - I guess my first reaction to the release of Leslie Van Houten, is that only in hippie, left-wing California, can a two-time convicted murderer, walk away from prison. But that’s not completely accurate. You might have a shot at that, if you are a two-time murderer, if you committed your murders in Oregon or the State of Washington, perhaps Vermont. But in the real world, including a lot of deep blue states, like Maryland, which is my state, if you are a two-time murderer, hell, if you murdered one person, you are looking at life without, or the death penalty in prison.
Pamela Smart, who I talked about last month, is still serving life without even the possibility of parole, even though she didn’t actually physically commit her murder, but the two accomplishes that she hired did, but now they’re both free men. But Leslie Van Houten, whose physically and mentally responsible for murdering two people, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, gets to walk away from prison, even after 53 years, which is more than almost 2 times the years that she lived as a free person, before her murders, but her victims are still dead.
I think sparing the life of Leslie Van Houten was a good thing. She obviously became a good, intelligent, responsible person, these last 53 years. But if you are old enough, strong enough, and mentally capable enough, to murder not one, but 2 people, in the prime of their lives, you are old enough to spend the rest of your life paying for your murders.
My response to what Leslie Van Houten’s lawyer, Nancy Tetreault, who was on CNN last night talking to John Berman, she tried to argue that since Leslie was 19 at the time of her two murders in 1969, that she shouldn’t be held completely responsible for her crimes, because the brain of the 19 year old, isn’t as developed as someone whose in their 20s. Only in Hollywood, California could that argument hold. Well, the rest of Hippieland, California, as well.
But again, if you are old enough, strong enough, mentally competent enough, to murder not one, but two people in the prime of their lives, you are old enough to pay the price for your crimes, for the rest of your life, regardless of how old you were when you committed your murders.
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| Source:CNN- convicted two-time murderer Leslie Van Houten, will get to walk away from prison as a free woman. Even though her victims are still dead. |
7/11/2023 - As I talked about yesterday on The New Democrat: Larry Bird dominated the NBA mentally. And add his hand-eye coordination as well, I think only Magic Johnson comes close as far as eye-hand coordination in the NBA.
And yes, Larry Legend had great size, 6’9, some people say 6’10, 230 pounds of muscle. The Boston Celtics always undersized him and said that Bird was 215-220 pounds. Maybe in his first few years, but not by the mid and late 1980s. But it’s Bird’s basketball intelligence, his homework and I’m sure being 6’9 helped him see very well, because he was generally so much bigger and stronger, as well as taller, than most of the small forwards back then that tried to cover him. James Worthy and Dominique Wilkins being the exceptions to that.
Why would Larry Bird destroy the NBA today?
There are several reasons and one of the main ones is that NBA is so much different now. A lot more teams, a lot more games on cable, including the NBA Finals, instead of on broadcast network TV, a lot more players, and just to be real frank about this, the players and teams just aren’t as good as even in the 1990s, when the quality of play, teams, and players started to decline, from the 1980s, when the NBA was at it’s peak as far as the quality of players and teams. But again, the style of play and the culture of the NBA is so much different now.
When Larry Bird played, it was a big man’s league and he was this 6’9 big man, who played like a great NBA guard, not just small forward. Because the NBA is so perimeter oriented today, where the power forward and center positions, have all been eliminated, where every NBA player now who is 6’8 or taller, wants to be the next great point forward, instead of power forward or center. Even if they are 6’11 or 7’0 and have good strength as well, they still want to be the next great point forward, not big man. Larry Legend could or would be a center today, because of his size and the style of play today. Or, you would need your center to try to cover him, because your small forward is just too damn short and small to try to match up with him.
Plus, the fact that NBA defense is not emphasized nearly as much today, as even 30 years ago, where players are like: “I’ll try to stay with him and perhaps even put my hands up, but I don’t want to get into foul trouble and I want to conserve my energy for offense, especially 3-pointers.”
But nothing to fear, because Larry Bird is 66 today and he probably wouldn’t want to play in today’s NBA anyway, because it would be way too easy for him. And he would feel guilty about destroying young NBA players who simply aren’t good enough to play with or against him.
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| Source:Youn Gala- left to right: the 2nd greatest forward in NBA history and the great guard in NBA history, talking about the greatest forward in NBA history, Larry Bird.No one wanted to beat Larry Bird, more than Julius Erving & Earvin Johnson. |
7/10/2023 - I think Michael Jordan has the best quote that I’ve ever heard about Larry Bird. He said that he played against Larry Bird for 8 seasons and still to this day, doesn’t know what position that Bird played, because Bird made so many plays and so many key plays. Bird would make the long range jump shot, get the key drive to the basket, get the key bucket in the post, make the great assist, lead and run the fast break, key rebound, key steal, etc. He would make all the plays that a point guard, off-guard, small forward, power forward, and center would make. So what position did Larry Bird play? And he could defend all 3 positions up front as well.
For the sake of this post, I got Larry Bird down as the greatest forward of all-time and I also believe that. To me, Larry Bird and Julius Erving are the two greatest NBA forwards ever. If I had to put an all-time NBA team together, they would be my two starting forwards. But why is Bird the greatest forward and arguably the greatest player in NBA history? He wasn’t fast, didn’t jump very well, not overly bulky, but certainly strong.
I think the best way to look at Larry Bird, is to look at him the way you would look at Wayne Gretzky in hockey or John Unitas in football. And if you don’t know who those two other players are, this post is not going to help you that much and I’m not going to tell you who they are. Bird, Gretzky, and Unitas, all have the ability to see things happening that have haven’t happened yet, simply by paying attention to the entire game and what’s going on.
The perfect example for Bird, is that great defensive play that he made against Isiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons during game 5 of the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals. If Isiah just calls timeout or waits a second and passes the ball to his center Bill Laimbeer, game over and the Pistons win. They’re already up 1 and either the time runs out or Laimbeer goes to the other side of the court and shoots 2 three throws even if he misses both of them, not enough time for the Celtics, even with Larry Bird, to come back and win the game. But as always, Bird can see exactly what was going on.
All the Pistons had to do here was to successfully inbound the ball and the game is probably over. So Bird completely paying attention to what Isiah is doing and Isiah gives Bird a gift not even knowing that Bird is even in play, because he’s rushing when he didn’t need to and throws a lazy pass, that Bird picks off, Dennis Johnson is following the whole play the whole time as well, cuts to the basket, where Bird hits him with perfect pass, after making the perfect steal and the Celtics win the game.
I think the greatest play that Larry Bird ever made, at least in the postseason, was a defensive play. And it wasn’t even a great athletic play, Bird was simply completely aware of what was going on, could see what was developing, and had the perfect reaction and execution to what was going on. And was a play that I believe no other player whose ever played professional basketball before, could’ve made, certainly in that position and under those conditions.
I might be in the minority on this, but I think what separates Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, even from Michael Jordan, is that Legend and Magic could dominate the game, win the game, be the best player in the game, by not scoring, because they could do so many other things both offensively and defensively. And if you don’t believe me, just a solid highlight package of all three of those great players will make my point for me.
A typical highlight package of Larry Bird, you’ll see a lot of great baskets, but also a lot of great rebounds, assists, and steals. Same thing with Earvin Johnson. With Michael Jordan, most of his highlights will be great baskets, with a lot of great athletic ability involved with those baskets. Larry Bird dominated by the NBA by doing everything and he did that by being smarter than everyone else on the court and whose ever played basketball.
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| Source:Basketball Time Machine- Los Angeles Lakers defender Michael Cooper talking about the great Larry Bird. |
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7/07/2023 - When I first heard this story yesterday, my first gut reaction was that the so-called House Freedom Caucus (which is really just the House MAGA Caucus) was kicking out Representative Marjorie T. Greene, because she was too crazy, even for them. Perhaps House MAGA only has so much medication for their more mentally challenging members and they felt the need to ration their medication, by kicking out one of, if not their most mentally challenging members, in Representative Greene.
But, apparently, at least according to CNN (so take it for what it’s worth) Marjorie Taylor was kicked out, because she’s not crazy enough for them. So maybe if she attempted to skydive from the U.S. Capitol, while the House was in session, they would’ve promoted her to Chairman of the Nuthouse, I mean MAGA Caucus (slip of the tongue) instead of kicking her out. Had she claimed she was the long lost love child of Jesus Christ and is having an affair with Donald Trump, then maybe that would get her a lifetime membership of the MAGA Caucus.
But no, House MAGA kicks out one of their most interesting (to be too kind) members, because she’s not insane enough. They kicked her out, because she helped get Kevin McCarthy elected as Speaker of the House, to prevent the U.S. Government from shutting down and not defaulting on it’s debt, as well to help the government reduce it’s deficit and try to get the national debt under control. You know, things that any sane, rational, intelligent, god fearing, American patriot would do. Which is considered sins by House MAGA.
I guess if you are not at risk of being committed by the outside world to a real mental institution, (not the U.S. House of Representatives) House MAGA doesn’t want you, even if you are also a crazy Republican, who has a tendency to shoot your toes off (with a real gun) every time you open your mouth.
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| Source:CNN- U.S. Representative Marjorie T. Greene (Christian Nationalist, Georgia) is more qualified to be Speaker of the Nuthouse (even though she would have son real competition there) than to even be a back-benching member of the U.S. House of Representatives. |
7/06/2023 - A lot of Democrats, perhaps especially partisan Democrats, talk about Donald Trump’s supporters as if they are cult members and Donald Trump is their cult leader, their hero, their idle, etc, as someone whose never wrong or guilty about anything. A man who can do no wrong and is always right, there’s always a good reason for why whose doing anything and justification for him doing that. And to be frank, I’ve done that myself and still do that because there are a lot of Donald Trump’s supporters who talk and act like they are part of his national political cult known as Trumpism.
But we’re are all obviously human beings who are free to make mistakes and then to learn from them and try to correct our past mistakes and not repeat them. But sometimes it’s that really big mistake, that really cost us, like our freedom and perhaps costs our family and friends as well, that gets people to (to be frank) wake up and smell the coffee, get that kick in the ass (again, to be frank) that gets our attention.
I obviously don’t know Pam Hemphill personally, just hearing about her and her story today. But perhaps it was a few months in a Federal prison, as well as Donald Trump calling for the Jan 6, 2021 insurrectionists to be pardoned, that finally woke her up to everything that she lost in the last 2 years, partially because of Donald Trump, but also because of her actions on that horrible January day in Washington.
I’m not a psychologist, not an astronaut either, (in case there’s any doubt left about that) I’m obviously not an expert on what’s called brainwash and brainwashing. But unless someone is actually on drugs that changes their behavior, similar to let’s say the Manson Crime Family from the late 1960s, or The People’s Temple that was led by Jim Jones in the 1970s, I don’t believe in brainwashing.
We’re all human beings with the ability to act and think for ourselves, unless we’re suffering from some type of brain damage or something. Pam Hemphill by most accounts is an intelligent and educated person. She was those things pre-Donald Trump. She went to prison for her role in the 2021 insurrection and now is apparently very ashamed of what she did.
Donald Trump obviously had a major role in Jan. 6 as well and I would argue the biggest role. But if any of his co-defendants were brainwashed for their actions on that horrible day, they could probably plea not guilty by reason of insanity, which is a legitimate defense, if the defendant or defendants can prove they were mentally incompetent or insane at the time of their crimes. But you can’t plead not guilty by reason of stupidity. All these Jan. 6, 2021 insurrectionists are personal responsible for their own actions and crimes on that horrible day, including Pam Hemphill.
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| Source:CNN interviewing former Donald Trump supporter Pam Hemphill. |
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7/05/2023 - Lindsey Graham reminds me of a the guy in high school (if your memory goes back that far) whose the wannabe hipster. Not quite part of the hipster clique in school, but just on the outside looking in hoping that one day he’ll be part of that elite clique in school. Doesn’t get invited to the parties, but perhaps crashes them and perhaps even allowed to stay. Lindsey Graham is the American political version of the high school wannabe.
You could say that Lindsey is the perfect example of why Americans say they hate politics and politicians, (even though they keep electing and reelecting the same politicians over and over) because he seems to do whatever he thinks he needs to do at any given moment, to help or save himself politically.
When George W. Bush was President in the 2000s, Lindsey was the hardcore Neoconservative, who would could camp out for days like Millennials waiting for the opportunity to buy the latest smartphone, but Lindsey would be waiting for an opportunity to kiss President Bush on the face, because at that point, the President was very popular in the Republican Party. (But perhaps nowhere else)
When the Neoconservatives go out-of-style in the Republican Party in the mid-2010s and the Christian Nationalists come in, all the sudden Lindsey is now a cultural warrior, who’ll do everything that he can to preserve what they call traditional America, including getting line to kiss Donald Trump’s (who goes against everything that Christian Nationalists claim to be in favor of, at least in his own personal life) face and act like they’re now best friends. Even though when Lindsey was running for President in 2016, he said that The Donald would be bad for America as President.
My point is, South Carolina, which just happens to be Lindsey Graham’s home state, a place where Lindsey can sound and act as down home and the biggest good ole boy in the history of the world, (or at least in South Carolina) a place that Lindsey has represented in Congress since 1995. sees right through him. They know he’s not really one of the them, but the ultimate wannabe, outsider, looking in, hoping to be part of their clique, if he thinks that would help him politically. That’s how you get booed at your own political rally, in your own state.
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| Source:CNN- U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican, South Carolina) not popular in his own room, let alone state. |
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6/30/2023 - Before I tell you what I think of the student loans decision from SCOTUS, I’m going to give you a couple of ways that people could look at it.
If you look at SCOTUS decisions as a hyper-partisan, especially when it comes to executive orders, to cut to the chase (to put it cleanly) you would probably say something like: “It’s perfectly legal and constitutional when our side does it. But when the other side does it, it’s completely illegal and unconstitutional and the President should be impeached for that.”
To give you an example of that from the Democratic Party: when President Donald Trump back in 2018-19, tried to appropriate money by himself and go around Congress on that, even though Congress (House & Senate has the sole authority or appropriate under the U.S. Constitution) Democrats, especially partisan Democrats, called that illegal and unconstitutional. And of course they’re right about that. But Republicans said that President Trump had the authority to do that under some made up emergency power of the President.
To give you a Republican example: when President Joe Biden tried to unilaterally wipe out student debt and just write it off the Federal Government’s book and declare that all these Americans who are buried in government student loans, no longer have to pay any of that back, Republicans said that was illegal and unconstitutional and perhaps some Republicans not just Representatives Lauren Boebert and Marjorie T. Greene, we’re calling for President Biden’s impeachment on that. While Democrats said that of course President Biden has the constitutional authority to legislate from The White House on this.
I mean if you are an Independent today or even just an Independent Democrat or Republican whose a member of one party, perhaps simply because you dislike the other party a little more, it’s easy to see why Americans hate politicians and politics today, even if they overwhelmingly reelect their own U.S. Representative over and over again.
There’s just too much partisan, political, garbage (to be kind) for any honest American to try to have to put up with. Washington already gets too much hot air from its own summers, because of all the heat and humidity it gets. But add Washington politicians to the environment and it makes breathing in Washington a luxury for too many Washingtonians.
As far as student loan forgiveness or what I prefer to call college affordability: there’s a New York Times (of all newspapers) opinion piece from 2016 called: “Why Free College is Not Free” I only mention that to state the obvious.
There are very good reasons why a good, 4 year college education, can cost the average American 150,000 dollars, for four years. What you can learn from college (if you bother to pay attention and can put your phone down long enough and stay out of off the coffee house long enough) lasts and benefits you for a lifetime. You can get the skills and knowledge that you need there to put yourself in position to never have to worry about finding a good job and earning a good living in America. Of course that shouldn’t be free, because it takes so much money to teach and train all those young Americans.
President Biden would be smart to take this SCOTUS decision and use it as a very good lesson. You want to make college affordable for every American, regardless of their income level, their parents income level, their race, ethnicity, gender, etc, you have to work with Congress on that.
President Biden could start with the Senate when it comes to things like personal college accounts, that people could set up for their kids the day that their kid is born, that could be matched by their employer and perhaps even the Federal Government and make those accounts free for low-income parents. And then see if you can find some reasonable Republicans in the House and try to work with them on this issue as well. But only Congress can legislate, not the President, it’s in the Constitution.
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6/29/2023 - If the Equal Protection Clause, equality, equal justice, equal rights, if every American regardless of racial, ethnic, gender, has the same individual rights and responsibilities as everyone else, then affirmative action had to be thrown out, because it violates all of those great, American, liberal values, that most Americans believe in, but too many of take for granted.
I understand the importance of building a society where everyone can succeed. Not only do I understand that, but I actually believe in that as a Liberal. (Meaning real Liberal) But you don’t create that free society for everybody by denying people access in America, like with education, simply because too many members of their race or ethnicity, are already doing well in America.
What a lot of supporters of so-called affirmative action laws have never understood, is that affirmative action just doesn’t hurt European-Americans, especially European-American men, (which affirmative action supporters don’t seem to have a problem with) but it hurts Asian-Americans as well, it hurts Latino-Americans who are primarily of Spanish or other European descent, it hurts Middle Eastern-Americans, it hurts Jewish-Americans. Why? Because these folks are already doing well in America and aren’t from the right racial or ethnic background, according to supporters of affirmative action.
Again, if you want that free society where everyone can make it in America, you don’t do that penalizing Americans who are already doing well, especially because of their race, ethnicity, or gender. But instead create a society where everyone has a quality opportunity, regardless of where they’re from, the income level of their parents, or their race, ethnicity, or gender.
To create that free society for every American, that gets to things like education where every American is entitled to a quality education, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or gender, again the income level of their parents.
As well as empowering low-skilled, low-income adults, who were denied access to a good education growing, either because of mistakes that they made growing up, or mistakes that their parents made, or the fact that they came from a low-income community and empower them to finish and further their education, so they can make it in America as well.
You don’t create that American free society by saying that since these groups were discriminated in the past and in African-Americans, case were kidnapped and forced to come to America as slaves, what we’re going to do now to try to correct that, is punish Americans who are already doing well, including Asian-Americans, but Spanish-Latinos, Middle Eastern-Americans, and Jewish-Americans, so more African-Americans can get a good education and a good job, even if they’re not academically and financially ready to do well in college.
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| Source:CNN- welcome to the United States Supreme Court. |
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6/28/2023 - I guess there are two Kevin McCarthy’s. One of them sort of sounds like he’s on truth serum and the next time he ever lies, he’ll go to prison for the rest of his life. Perhaps he just graduated from Liars Anonymous. Which is an organization that might be able to do Donald Trump some good. And the other Kevin McCarthy, sounds like he gets in line to pay Donald Trump a 1000 bucks everyday (money that Trump might actually need) to get on his feet and kiss The Donald’s feet (to be clean) everyday and wouldn’t do anything that perhaps would even risk offending Donald Trump.
The real Kevin McCarthy, is a guy who has a tendency to shoot his mouth off. And in Washington speak, that means speaking the truth, or at least being honest. The bad Kevin McCarthy, is a guy that would deny that it’s hot in Arizona on a July day in Phoenix, if he thought it would help him politically. He would claim that he could jump into a lake and not get wet, if he thought he needed to that to help him politically. He would claim that Donald Trump is actually Jesus Christ, if he thought he needed to do that to save him politically.
The real Kevin McCarthy, did a solid impersonation of Captain Obvious yesterday. He was asked by NBC News whether Donald Trump, after the indictment and the new tape that was released about him, where Trump admits that he has illegally obtained classified information in his private possession, if Donald Trump based on all of that, is still the strongest Republican presidential candidate in a general election in 2024. And Speaker McCarthy said perhaps not.
McCarthy didn’t tell NBC News that Donald Trump is definitely not the best Republican presidential candidate, or of course not, don’t be silly, etc, of course Trump would lose to Joe Biden. He just said that Trump might not be the strongest Republican candidate in a general election right now. Which is what got him into trouble with the Far-Right of his own party yesterday.
Bad Kevin McCarthy, at around 4PM yesterday, told Breitbart News (which is basically the state newspaper of MAGA) did a clean up on isle seven (and in Washington speak, that means taking back any negative facts and candor that you might have been caught expressing) basically said that of course Donald Trump is the best Republican presidential candidate right now.
Part of me understands Kevin McCarthy’s dilemma right now. He isn’t just Speaker of the 435 member House of Representatives, but leader of a 222 member Republican conference, where maybe half of those members aren’t real Republicans anyway, at least not ideologically. But instead members of a national political cult known as MAGA, who are all looking to be the next Donald Trump, the next great, authoritarian leader of the West.
But the other part of me, the more direct, honest, and candid, a lot less diplomatic, part says that no one kidnapped Kevin McCarthy (that anyone knows about) and forced McCarthy to first become House Minority Leader in 2019 and then Speaker of the House 4 years later. McCarthy isn’t as braindead as he might appear. He knows exactly the people that he has to try to lead and knows that maybe 1/2 of them don’t belong in government at all, expect that they were elected to the House of Representatives, because they won right-wing gerrymandered House districts.
McCarthy could always go home and get a real job in Washington and make a lot more money actually working for a living and not feel the need to sell his credibility, legacy, and sole to the Devil (also known as Donald Trump) every time that he speaks about the former President.
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| Source:CNN- left to right: Speaker Kevin McCarthy & former President Donald Trump. |
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6/27/2023 - I think most people who don't live in MAGA world (meaning everyone whose not confined to a mental institution right now or a political cult right now) has always known, or at least highly suspected, that Donald J. Trump has never taken. national security information very seriously, at least in the sense of treating like the value government, national security property that it is, that needs to be protected and kept away from anyone who doesn't have a national security clearance. Like a former President of the United States, political advisers who aren't currently working for the U.S Government, members of the media, etc.
President Trump's own National Security Adviser John Bolton (no left-winger or Democrat) has already said that the only time that President Trump was never interested in national security intelligence, unless it was something that could benefit him politically, or something that he could use to hurt his political opponents.
But with this tape that CNN obtained, (perhaps now CNN is no longer unwatchable) we now know that is the truth and that Donald Trump saw the papers and information that he received as President, as if it was his own personal property. Like his golf clubs or something and not the classified, national security, information that it is, where you have to have a U.S. national security clearance, just to be near it, let alone be able to see it. And being one of Donald Trump's most loyal supporters, doesn't count as a U.S. national security clearance.
We learned something very valuable about Donald J. Trump, not just last night, but in the last few months: he knows that he's no longer President of the United States. He also knows that he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. And he can say it was rigged all he wants, but all those Republican legislatures, governor's, and secretary of state's, all disagree with him. All those folks also voted for him in 2016 and 2020 as well.
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| Source:CNN- former President Donald J. Trump (Republican, Florida) |
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6/26/2023 - If you like crime TV and fictional, Hollywood, crime shows, I think you’ll really like this episode of Dan August and perhaps the rest of this series from 1970. It was only one season on ABC, but there’s enough good TV and excellent supporting actors, as well as having Burt Reynolds, (yes, that Burt Reynolds) Norman Fell, and Richard Anderson, as the lead actors and a whole host of excellent supporting actors and guest stars, that I think you’ll like this series, especially the When The Shouting Dies episode with Vera Miles and Mike Henry.
Mike Henry plays a former high school football star in this fictional, Southern California town of Santa Luisa, that’s near Santa Barbara and Oxnard, who never quite made it in pro football (as they say) and instead is a local businessman, who seems to be loaded financially. But what most of the people in this town don’t know, he’s actually broke. It’s his wealthy wife Carla (played by the gorgeous and adorable Vera Miles) who owns these businesses and his company, it’s just in Heap Canfield’s (played by Mike Henry) name.
Heap Canfield is basically an 18 or 19 year old mentally and personally, in the body of a 34-35 football player. He cheats on his wife Carla but she knows and doesn’t care. She doesn’t respect him and just sees him as a boy toy that she uses to pleasure him. But Heap’s latest affair with a young woman named Jenny Bowman (played by Donna Garrett) goes too far. She has blackmail on him and threatens to expose him as the immature, loser that he actually is. Heap can’t handle that and beats her to death, actually she gets thrown out of her own apartment. (So to speak) The question is did Heap intentionally throw her out the window, was it unintentional, or did she accidentally fall out the window.
Santa Luisa Police Detective Lieutenant Dan August (played by Burt Reynolds, yes that Burt Reynolds) just happens to be Heap Canfield’s old friend and football teammate from high school. August’s whole unit, including his partner Sergeant Charlie Wilentz (played by Norman Fell) and perhaps the whole police department, including the Chief (played by Richard Anderson) believes that Heap is guilty. Motive, means, opportunity, no alibi, he had the time to pull off the murder and get away with it. But Dan August knows that Heap is not a murderer. (At least not normally) And he’s really just a big, teddy bear of a guy, who wouldn’t intentionally hurt anybody.
I love this episode for all the reasons that I just laid out. But most importantly because of Vera Miles. But 1970, she’s in her early 40s (if I have her bio right) and no longer ,making movies for the most part and instead making a lot of important and starring guest appearances on fictional crime shows, like Dan August, 3 appearances on Cannon in the early and mid 1970s, Hawaii 50 in 1973, Barnaby Jones in 1977.
Vera had a tendency to play women who were a lot tougher and sharper than they appeared. And in Dan August, she plays a gorgeous and yet pussycat looking sweetheart, who happens to also be very wicked, who knows what she wants and how to maintain it, which is Heap Canfield, her boy toy husband and gives a great performance.
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| Source:IMDB- Hollywood Goddess Vera Miles. |
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6/23/2023 - I’m sure I heard about the Casey Anthony story breaking (if you want to put it that way) back in 2008, (I wasn’t vacationing in Afghanistan or some place) but it’s only in the last few years when I’ve been blogging anything about true crime, that I’ve following this case and looking into it myself. So no, I’m not an expert on it, I’m not a lawyer, not a detective, not even a true crime reporter, but I can give you what I know about the case and what I think about it, from what I’ve seen about it.
Just looking at it from the outside, I think Casey Anthony is guilty of something horrible here, in the death of her daughter Caylee. And it looks like her parents and brother believe that as well. And it might just be she knows what happened to her daughter, but is protecting the person whose actually responsible for the death of her daughter. Which is bad enough, but that alone doesn’t make you a murderer.
My own theory is that that the baby died accidentally, Casey freaked out about that and instead of acting like a mature, responsible, adult (which she’s never been) she freaked out and decided to try to cover it up, even though she didn’t personally murder her baby, but perhaps didn’t want to be blamed for the murder of her baby.
I believe that Casey is responsible for the accidental death or saw her daughter die, perhaps found her dead, but doesn’t know how she died, because there’s no absolutely convincing evidence that she murdered her daughter. Just a lot and I mean a truck load (to be clean) of and perhaps just as much circumstantial evidence to suggest that O.J. Simpson murder Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman, just 14 years earlier in 1994.
Then you just look at how Casey was acting after the baby died like she was almost relieved by it and partying heavily like her social life just returned, because she no longer has a baby to take care of. The fact that Casey waited 20 days to report her daughter missing, or the trunk of her car smelling like a dead body, motive, means, opportunity, etc.
As far as the Casey Anthony trial: again, I’m not a lawyer, but to not just go for murder 1, but for the death penalty, I know this is Florida, but it’s always useful to live in the real world and when you can’t prove 1st degree murder, I think the death penalty is the last thing you should be looking at. I think the prosecution lost this case just based on the punishment that they were seeking. And that might be why the jury acquitted her and nothing else. I think if the prosecution goes for manslaughter and child endangerment or just child endangerment, Casey Anthony is probably still be in prison today.
As I said, I think Casey Anthony at the very least knows what happened to her daughter, but doesn’t want to give the person up, like herself, if she’s actually responsible here. But we may never know, unless Casey comes clean, how her daughter died on that horrible day in 2008.
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| Source:Sundance Indefensible Casey Anthony. |
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6/22/2023 - When MAGA Republicans tell you that they believe in fiscal responsibility, or even fiscal conservatism, family values, integrity, the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution, personal responsibility, tradition, you know things that seem like old school values today, but were what defined the Republican Party up until, I don't know the Tea Party years, let's say, ask then if they also have an oceanfront beach house in South Dakota that they would like to sell you. As well as next week's lotto number in all 50 states, (or at least in every state that has a state lottery) because you would have to be President of Suckers United, to even consider taking them seriously on any of that.
The old school values that I mentioned before, are the values of the Republican Party that S.E. Cupp comes from. The values of :"We need to get them, because they're against Donald Trump." are the values of the MAGA wing of the country.
I mean, let's face it, MAGA people aren't really Republicans, at least not ideologically. They are registered Republicans in ordered to get elected to high office, like the U.S. House of Representatives. And most of their districts are right-wing gerrymandered districts anyway.
As far as the censure of Representative Adam Schiff: I really don't have anything to add to what S.E Cupp said here. They censured him (which is not even worth a ticket for jaywalking) simply because he's a Democrat, who opposes Donald Trump (the leader of the MAGA Cult) and he's a Democrat.
If Representative Schiff supported Donald Trump 100% of the time, he could be a serial rapist, as well as murderer and no one in MAGA would oppose him for anything. Just as long as he supports Donald J. Trump 100% of the time.
Hell, President Trump would probably pardon Representative Schiff (God save America, if Donald Trump ever becomes POTUS again) just as long as Schiff supports him 100% of the time, all the time, no breaks, no holidays.
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| Source:CNN political commentator and real-life Conservative Republican, S.E. Cupp. Not someone who pretends to be a Conservative, unlike MAGA Republicans. |
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6/21/2023 - Maggie Habberman as usual put the nail on the head here. I mean if you were a lawyer who worked 70-80 hours a week, making 6 or 7 figures a year, working and living in Washington or New York, would you want to do that free, regardless of who your client was? Because that's probably what you would be doing, if your client was Donald J. Trump.
This just adds to the speculation that former President Trump doesn't pay his lawyers, simply because he can't afford too and not just of all the cases that have snowballed on hm the last 2 years and even longer than that, but because of all the debt he piled up, even before he became President of the United States, as well as the debt he piled up as President, which the net worth of his businesses plummeting because of his unpopularity as President.
But also and I got into this yesterday and last week, Donald Trump doesn't pay people who work for him, because he doesn't think he has to. He sees himself as some type of an American king, that everyone around should feel lucky just to be in the same room as him. And therefor, he's never obligated to pay for any of the services that he ever receives.
And the other reason why Donald Trump struggles to obtain and retain quality counsel for him, because he's a horrible client! If you wanted to come up with a fantasy or nightmare about the worst possible legal client, in the history of the world, perhaps (there might be worst legal clients then Donald Trump) I think Donald John Trump would certainly be on the list.
So now you are not even getting paid by your client, even after all the work and research that you put in to give him a sound defense, but your client is a compulsive liar, who talks way too much (as most compulsive liars do) and can't stick to the same story (or piece of garbage) for 5 minutes, let alone an entire day, who literally makes things (to be kind) up on the fly to try to get through the latest crisis, or day, really, that he created for himself. Which just creates more work for you that you are probably doing for free, because now the prosecution can use what your client just said against him.
I mean with a client like Donald J. Trump, you must feel like you just checked into Hell, with a room on the top floor, with no escape, other than jumping out your window. And you might be wondering how many people you just murdered, to have to be going through this experience, or when will this nightmare be over.
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| Source:CNN & New York Times Donald Trump whisperer Maggie Haberman. |
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6/20/2023 - Let's say that the boxes that Donald Trump went through just after getting back home in Florida, after least The White House in early 2021, was actually just items and gifts that he picked while as President, like golf shirts, pants, etc, but nothing that is classified, like, I don't know, intelligence about Iran's nuclear program (just to use as an example) and while we're assuming that, let's assume that Saudi Arabia runs out of oil, gas, dirt, and sand, tomorrow and we've already seen our last violent crime in America, and politicians, especially Donald Trump, never lie.
To take Donald Trump seriously on this, we would not only have to admit that we're total morons, but were running for President of Suckers of America, who wait in line everyday to get screwed by the latest scam artist. We would have to assume a lot here that's obviously factually false, before we could assume that President Trump is either attempting to tell the truth here, let alone just purely bullshitting (to be frank) someone who at least at one point, was very friendly to Donald Trump, FOX News anchor Brett Baier.
I mean Brett Baier was real time fact-checking a Republican President during this interview, which gives you an ides that he wasn't swallowing the bullshit (again, to be frank) that President Trump was trying to feed him. Baier, was literally reading off the indictment against Trump, as he was trying to question the former President, to counter what Trump was trying to feed him.
But again, just for the hell of it: what are gifts that President Trump received, doing in boxes with all sorts of classified documents in them? Who does that, especially a government official?
I think what this gets down too (and again, I'm not a lawyer) is that Donald Trump never expected to lose reelection, because he knew what and who were coming for him, once he was a private citizen and was caught completely off guard by his election lost and hasn't figured out how to handle that, other than to run for President again, pray (even though he's not religious) to God that he's elected again and can pardon himself.
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| Source:CNN- former President Donald J. Trump (Republican, Florida) getting a real interview (for a change) from FOX News. |
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6/192/023 - Just to give you a little personal background about me regarding this episode first:
Late 2017 and early 2018, I was still an insomniac and I was flipping around one night and saw this episode of Cannon on MeTV. Actually, I saw several Cannon episodes from season 5 as well before the Fall Guy episode and most if not all of them were very good.
I don't think Cannon was a great detective series, but some of the episodes, especially from the 1st half of the last season, are some of the best private eye TV episodes that I've ever seen, to the point I have a lot of them on DVD now and seen them all several times. But the Fall Guy episode, especially with Vera Miles, whose gorgeous and yet absolutely adorable and sexy in everything that she's ever done, is the episode in the entire 5 seasons of the Cannon TV series.
Before I saw Vera Miles on Cannon, I heard the name before, but I didn't have much of an idea who she was. After seeing her on Cannon several years ago, I developed a crush on her. She was also the pilot film of this series in 1971 and made another appearance on during season 1 as well. But didn't come back again until the last season, playing another difference character in late 1975.
To give you an idea what the Fall Guy episode is like: if you are a fan of soap operas, especially soap operas that lets say involve criminal activity, or at the very least immoral, but not criminal behavior, I think you'll love the Fall Guy. Think about a great episode of The Young & The Restless.
In Fall Guy, you have two competing corporate executives, the two highest ranking people in this Anacott Oil Company based in San Diego, California, the President of the company played by Vera Miles and essentially the Executive Vice President played by Alan Feinstein, the CEO and COO of the company.
Vivian Cabe (the President of Anacott Oil) simply doesn't like Mike Marsh (played by Alan Feinstein the Executive Vice President of Anacott Oil) to the point she no longer wants to work with him and has come up with this plan to get rid of him, either by having him arrested or finding a way to fire him, without being in breach of his contract.
Vivian's plan to get Mike fired, is to accuse him of fraud, embezzlement, and even money laundering. Even though it's Viv that has the so-called clean slush fund, which is like having a clean dumpster. The only way that is even possible, is to have nothing in the slush fund or in the dumpster.
Mike Marsh (played by Alan Feinstein) knows that Mrs. Cabe wants his neck (to be clean) and wants him out, but I guess is too much of a man (again, to be clean) and won't go down without a fight, especially when he's innocent. Well, innocent of what she's accusing him of and doesn't go down without a fight. And hire private eye Frank Cannon, to come down to San Diego from Los Angeles to clear him.
What I think this is really about is Vivian is jealous that Mike Marsh is dating her daughter and not her. Think about it, Mike Marsh is 6'2, well-built, handsome, 34 at this point and is already executive vice president of a major California oil company. And Vivian is left with a cuck (to be frank) or a wimp (if you prefer) whose basically living off his wife.
There's a line in the show where Vivian is trying to talk her daughter out of seeing Mike and she basically offers to pimp her out. And tells her that she would be happy to underwrite another young, good looking man, who looks good in tight pants, but only if her daughter dumps Mike.
Again, this looks like a great soap opera episode to me. You have the great storyline, the great directing, the episode flies by, because it has a great start to it with one of the people that Anacott does business with and get their oil from, being murdered and it just takes off with one big scene after another. Which is one reason why Mike Marsh hires Frank Cannon, because he doesn't wan't to be framed for that murder, to go on top of everything else that he's facing.
In Fall Guy, you also has the great insults between Viv and Mike, with Mike calling her the witch of the world (1970s TV lingo) and Viv calling him a cheap-chaser.
You also have a scene in the end when Vivian whose made up with Mike. to the point that she agrees to pick of the costs of Frank Cannon's (played by William Conrad) investigation and agrees to pay his bill for him, but then tries to get out of it by mentioning Cannon's extra legal tactics that were used in his investigation. And then he mentions about her so-called laundered clean slush fund (which is like having a clean dumpster or clean toilet that's currently in use) so, they both have something on the other, which is how he gets her to cover his expenses for this trip.
Vera looks great in it and gives a great performance and Alan Feinstein showing some excellent comedic timing, especially when he's angry and frustrated. One of my favorite TV episodes.
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| Source:IMDB- William Conrad as former LAPD detective & current Los Angeles private eye Frank Cannon. |
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6/16/2023 - I think this whole discussion about race in America in the African-American community, is the perfect example of why no racial or ethnic group is monolithic.
You have a left-wing and far-left-wing in the African-American community, you have a Black Nationalist wing in the African-American community, you a center-left-wing in the African-American community, but you also have a center-right-wing in that community as well, that Senator Tim Scott represents, whose been in Congress since 2011.
African-Americans get stereotyped as left-wing Democrats, or at least as Democrats, who always vote for Democrats and always want more government and more government spending in their communities, more Welfare, etc. And of course there are leftists in that community, but there are leftists in every racial and ethnic community.
One's political philosophy is not determined by race, ethnicity, or color. It's determined by one's own upbringing and own personal experiences and what they personally go through in their own lives. Not. because of their DNA or complexion.
So you look at Senator Tim Scott who was part of the Tea Party wave in the House of Representatives, who was elected to the House in 2010 and then appointed to the U.S. Senate a couple years later and won election statewide in South Carolina (by the way) as an African-American Republican, whose saying what African-Americans, what all Americans who are struggling in America, need, is an opportunity to achieve their own American dream. Not a handout, not affirmative action, not more welfare, but a good education, a chance to get themselves the skills that they need to make it in America.
While everyone else on The View, except for Alyssa Farah Griffin, whose also a Conservative Republican, essentially saying:
"It's the whole racist system in America that's holding African-Americans down, not the lack of opportunity. And we need to take down the whole racist system and replace it with something more equal and just." Which has always been the left-wing view about race and inequality in America.
And then President Obama saying, who don't think he agrees with Senator Scott on this, saying that we (meaning the left in America) shouldn't put down people as bad and as bigots, simply because they say things that we don't like and don't put everything exactly the way we want them to, or don't completely agree with us (meaning the left) on everything, especially when it comes to race in America.
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| Source:CNN- President Barack H. Obama (Democrat, Illinois) 44th President of the United States (2009-17) |
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6/152023 - Let's say John Kelly is right and Donald Trump is "scared shitless" about the indictment and the evidence that's against him, why don't we try to figure out why that is.
Even if Donald Trump has a message for becoming President again, even if it's just a private message, it's basically this: "I need to become President again to pardon myself and the people around me." Because of you at all the cases and all the evidence against the former President, he's going to not just be convicted, but he's going to get convicted multiple times, of multiple felonies and all these convictions will happen before the November, 2024 elections.
What does this all mean? It means that Donald Trump is headed for jail and his political career and probably business career will be over. He turns 77 this month, he'll be 78 before the 2024 elections, even if he just gets a total of 10 years in prison, that's a death sentence for his career. And then he's probably looking at more civil lawsuits, even after U.S. DOJ, Fulton County, and Manhattan are done with him.
So that is why, assuming John Kelly a man I've never even met before and have never met Donald Trump either, is right that Trump is "scared shitless" because he knows what going to happen to him, if he never becomes President before these convictions go through and now he has to try to appeal them. Assuming he never cooperates with any of these jurisdictions that are prosecuting him.
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| Source:CNN- John Kelly was President Donald J. Trump's 2nd Chief of Staff in 2017. |
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6/14/2023 - What I’m about to do might sound dangerous, especially considering that I’ve never even been at the same place, at the same time, as Donald J. Trump, let alone seen him in person, know the man, or have even met him. But I’m going to try to get into his head (and hope I can get out of it) and try to give you can idea of what he’s going through and how he’s looking at this case.
Imagine if you can that you are Donald John Trump, (as terrifying as that may sound) you see yourself essentially as an American king, (even though America is a republic) who has to answer to know one and doesn’t have to live by any rules.
I’m thinking that President Trump is basically saying to himself: “They can’t arrest me, because when I do it, it’s not illegal, because I’m Donald Trump and I don’t have to answer to any rules, let alone the rules of any ordinary American (like his voters) and everyone should just thank God that I let anyone else share my country with them and let them live here, let alone have to be accountable to any law, that’s not written by me. (Or his ghostwriter)”
You can talk about the fact that Hillary Clinton was never arrested for using an un-secure email server for her government emails and that Joe Biden and his President Trump’s former Vice President were also not arrested for having classified documents in their private possession. Three different cases:
Trump DOJ said themselves that they didn’t have enough evidence to prosecute Hillary Clinton and President Biden and Vice President Pence cooperated with DOJ immediately after it was known that they had the documents. But that’s not what is making Donald Trump mad right now, it’s something else.
What’s driving Trump crazy today and this whole week, is just the very fact that anyone would ever have the character, courage, and judgement, to officially charge him with anything. Because we’re talking about a man whose never believed in the rule of law, especially for himself and who sees himself as someone whose so special, that he should never be held accountable to anyone, for anything.
6/13/2023 - As Bill Moyers (who is no right-winger) said in his own documentary, Gary Gilmore was a loser. There's nothing in his life that warrants a documentary made about him. The only thing that he ever accomplished in life (if you want to call murder an accomplishment) is murdering multiple people.
I only mention this because no one should weep or feel sorry for Gary Gilmore. He did have a rough childhood, but had opportunities to get himself an education, including while in prison where he spent as much time in prison as an adult, then as a free man. But he chose to be a career criminal who murdered people to cover up his other crimes.
Whatever you think of the death penalty, Gary Gilmore was sentenced to death in October, 1976 and chose not to either fight his conviction or even his sentence.
I can understand being against the death penalty when there's reasonable doubt or even the possibility that the defendant might not have committed the murder and he just gets life without instead of the death penalty. Or just being against the death penalty all together which a lot of Catholics and other Christians are.
But don't be against the death penalty because of Gary Gilmore and his case. He's not worth and certainly doesn't deserve your sympathy.
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| Source:Hezakya Newz- CBS Reports Gary Gilmore. |
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6/12//2023 - John Bolton is obviously not just a lawyer, but an accomplished lawyer both in the U.S. Government and in the private sector, so he would know this better than me. But from what I'm hearing, it might a year from now at the earliest, that Special Counsel Jack Smith and company, would be ready to prosecute former President Donald J. Trump and perhaps July next year, would be the earliest that there would be a conviction.
Again, I''m not a lawyer, but a full-time blogger, but the case looks fairly obvious here. President Trump obviously never declassified the documents, otherwise we (meaning the public) would already not just know about that, but we would know what documents that President Trump declassified. And we would know which documents that he took from The White House, down to Mar-E-Lago. Which means he had them in his possession illegally. Also, people who worked for him, who don't have security clearances, we're allowed to look at those documents, because of Donald Trump.
Assuming the Donald Trump's lawyers (and he seems to be running out of them) aren't able to make a case other than process and trying to argue that DOJ is just going after their client, because they don't like him, even with all the hard evidence against their client, all the documents, witnesses, including people who currently work for President Trump, or were working for him after he left The White House, as well as Tump's own words against him on tape, I think this is a fairly easy case.
And because of this is a fairly simple case, DOJ should move as soon as they can to get the trial started as soon as possible. And even to all the discovery that the defense team wants, because that will just bring out more hard evidence agains their client and make him look even worst and more criminal. But again, I'm not a lawyer.
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| Source:CNN- Keep in mind, John Bolton was President Donald J. Trump's National Security Adviser, from 2017-18. |
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6/09/2023 - If it’s not obvious enough why Donald Trump’s own lawyers, never want him testifying for himself, especially under oath or never even talking to any media about his own legal issues, then you obviously don’t know the man and haven’t been following him at all the last 8 years.
The reason why Donald Trump’s lawyers don’t ever want him speaking on his own behalf, especially under oath, about his own legal issues, because he’s the worst possible witness that you could possibly dream up of, for himself.
Donald Trump is a:
compulsive liar
he can’t stick to the same story, like with most compulsive liars
he rarely, if ever puts any thought behind what he’s about to say before he says it and generally is just trying to get though the latest criss that he created for himself
and when he thinks he’s off the record and there’s no one around him that he believes could hurt him and speak out against him, he tends like with a lot of career criminals, to speak in the most damning ways about him, that if he what he ever said got out, would make him look very guilty.
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| Source:CNN- Donald J. Trump (Republican, Florida) former President of the United States (2017-2021) |
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6/08/2023 - Just a couple things from this video and then I’ll get into how I personally feel about The Great Patrick Ewing.
Shaquille O’Neal saying that Patrick Ewing is not only a top 5 NBA center of all-time, but that Ewing is better than him. I have heard Shaq say that Pat was the toughest center that he ever had to play against, but not that he was a better player than him. I think this says a lot because even though I think Shaq is overrated myself, he’s still a top 10-15 centers of all-time and he’s one of the smartest and honest men, whose ever played in the NBA.
As far as Pat Ewing and what I feel about him: imagine the last 25 years of the NBA is really just the longest national nightmare in pro sports history and the game today is still basically the same today as it was, let’s say pre-2000s:
centers are real centers, not beefed up small forwards, trying to play center or even natural power forwards, trying to play center
point guards were expected to run the offense, not sport up for 3’s every chance that they get.
power forwards run the wings on the break looking for a slam dunk or a layup, not spotting up for 3’s on the fast break and they have inside responsibility on offense, not running screens to free themselves up for a 3-pointer
the center position was still around, instead of big, tall, strong, guys, thinking they could be the next great point forward.
Imagine the NBA today was basically the same league today, as it was in the late 1980s, as far as the quality of teams, players, the style of play and you are looking for the next great center and have this guy whose 7’0, 255 pounds of all muscle, who runs like a horse, can block jump shots, who can hit a 20 foot jump shot, who doesn’t even know how to take a play off and rest, who went to and graduated from Georgetown, so you know he’s smart and was coached by John Thompson and you are tying to win a championship. You are tying to knock off the Boston Celtics or Los Angeles Lakers to do that, maybe you are Pat Riley running this team, after leaving the Lakers. You would be braindead not to draft Pat Ewing, if he’s available when your pick comes up.
In the 1990s, there were really only 3 centers in the NBA who were good, strong, big, and disciplined enough to play Shaquille O’Neal on defense, not really stop him for the most part, but make him have to work hard on offense, so he couldn’t just be able to dominate you.
Shaq said Ewing was the toughest player that he ever had to play against, because he made him work for position in the post and then was able to make Shaq work on defense, even in the post, because Ewing had the size, the strength, the quickness, the footwork, etc, to score against Shaq. Even though Ewing even in his prime, was probably giving up 40-50 pounds to Shaq, he still had the upper body and leg strength to play Shaq on defense and not get dominated and score against him on offense, even in the post.
The other two centers in the 1990s that had these qualities to play Shaq well, were Hakeem Olajuwon and Alonzo Mourning. In case anyone wanted to know.
The reason why Patrick Ewing doesn’t get more respect and recognition as being one of the top 10 NBA centers ever, even though he is a top 10 center, because he didn’t win an NBA championship.
The New York Knicks probably had the better team in 1994 and should’ve beaten the Houston Rockets, probably could’ve done it in 6 games. And I understand all of that. But the fact that the Knicks were even in a game 7 in the NBA Finals in that era, is because of Pat Riley and Pat Ewing, the co-MVP’s of the New York Knicks Organization.
Ewing played with a lot of good players, a lot of very good players. He never played with another great player, another Hall of Fame player.
You go try to win an NBA Finals in the 1990s with Charles Smith, whose a center and you are trying to make him your small forward.
You try to win the NBA Finals in the 1990s with John Starks, who would’ve been a 3rd guard, someone who could play the 1 and 2 equally as well, but he would’ve been a 3rd guard on most NBA championship teams, maybe even the 4th guard and he’s just starting 2-guard, who misses 14-17 jump shots in game 7 of the NBA Finals.
I think Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason, Derek Harper, and Herb Williams, were the right pieces for a good NBA championship team:
But where is Michael Jordan without Scottie Pippen today?
Where would Shaquille O’Neal be today without Kobe Bryant?
And you could go on. The 90s Knicks were probably 2 players short and one of those players being a great player, from winning an NBA championship in during that decade.
If you want my all-time NBA center list: I’ll give it to you anyway:
1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2. Wilt Chamberlain
3. Bill Russell
4. Hakeem Olajuwon
5. Moses Malone
6. Patrick Ewing
OK, that’s just 6 and hopefully you get the idea. I have Pat Ewing at 6, because if you look at the 6 best centers ever and what they brought to the game and what they could do and did do personally, I don’t think there are 5 better NBA centers ever. Guys who won more championships, more MVP’s, etc, sure. But if you look at the center position and what centers are supposed to be able to do, there aren’t 5 better offense or defensive centers better than Patrick Ewing. And that’s where I come down.
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| Source:Youn Gala- Shaquille O'Neal on Patrick Ewing. |
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6/07/2023 - The Fugitive is not a TV series that I can watch all the time or am interested in every episode. I think it got off to a great start with the pilot film and with this pilot episode and it closed with what I would say perfectly with the movie at the end, where the one-armed man is finally caught in Stafford, Indiana. And in-between the pilot film and the series finale, there are episodes that really do stand out, with excellent plots, writing, and guest stars. This episode is a perfect examples of that.
Most of the cast members in this episode either had major movie or TV careers or both. We’re talking about excellent character actors, as well as lead actors and actresses, who all had major TV and film careers. I think that’s one way you can tell if a show is not just an excellent show, but a memorable show, something that’s shown over and over and has a long run either in syndication or in cable. Shows like that, are shows that people want to work on because they know they’re working with great people both actors and writers, as well as directors. The Fugitive was one of those shows.
Just look at the cast of Fear in a Desert City:
David Janssen – Richard Kimble
Vera Miles – Monica Welles
Brian Keith – Edward Welles
Barry Morse – Phillip Gerrard
Harry Townes – Sergeant Burden
Barney Phillips – Cleve Brown
William Conrad – the narrator
The Fugitive was not some TV series that starts out in syndication and then struggles just to get through one season, with most of the cast just looking for any break that leads them to something big and better. This was a show that good, successful, intelligent, people in Hollywood, wanted to part of and work on.
Vera Miles as usual, plays the beautiful pussycat, who seems too cute to scare a fly. But as usual, she plays a woman whose a lot tougher than her adorable disposition. And unlike from the Columbo episode, she really is too cute to kill a fly.
Richard Kimble (played by David Janssen) of course is The Fugitive whose simply trying to survive on the run and avoid capture, who simply wants a job to support himself in the latest town that he’s hiding in. But as most things in life, it’s never as easy as someone might want it to be. He meets Monica Welles (played by Vera Miles) a co-worker of his at this casino bar, who has her own problems and he falls in love with her and helps her out.
The pilot film where the murder and trial goes down, where everyone actually gets to meet Dr. Kimble’s wife, is a great way to start off a TV series. But this episode just keeps that ball moving and you see why this series was as good as it is and why the reruns are still on cable today.
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| Source:IMDB- Vera Miles and David Janssen. Perhaps you don't need Superman's vision to see who is who. |
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6/06/2023 - In one of these photos the caption coming from Viveca Scott (played by Vera Miles) is: “I couldn’t kill a fly.” That’s not completely true. More like Viveca Scott (played by Vera Miles) couldn’t scare a fly. She’s so cute and sweet and to a certain extent charming on this show, that you would think that she would be one of the last people in the world, (or perhaps just one of the last people in Los Angeles) who could kill anyone.
But Vera’s adorableness in this film is one thing that makes her a perfect murderer suspect, if not murderer, because no one would expect that 5’3, maybe 110 pound babydoll like Vera Miles, (even though she’s 44 at this point) could murder anyone. For that reason alone, Vera would’ve made a great CIA assassin, a TV vice detective, perhaps a detective sergeant with her own crew, similar to Angie Dickinson on Police Woman in the mid 1970s.
I got into this episode of the Columbo series 4-5 years ago and was blown away by the fact that Vera Miles was on it. And thanks to Sundance and COZI-TV, probably seen this film 10 times now and even have it on DVD. Only 70 minutes, not a dull moment in it and that plus Vera’s presence and her being so cute and beautiful on it and just comes off as a total sweetheart on it, (at least for a two-time murderer) I can see it over and over again, to the point that I wanted to write about it.
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| Source:Columbo Phile- left to right: Vera Miles & Sian Barbara Allen. |
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6/05/2023 - I was in junior high when this story broke in early 1990. Actually, I just a few years younger than William Flynn, who Pamela Smart hired to kill her husband. I might have heard a little something about this story when he broke in 1990, but it's really the last 5-10 years when a real effort on her part has been made to get herself a sentence reduction and give her a chance at freedom on the outside again, that I've been following this story closely.
I guess it's her guilt that's never been a question for me. I think she's definitely guilty as far as I'm concern and has even finally admitted that the last few years. It's her sentence that I've always had a problem with. Her accomplices are currently free, even though they're the ones who actually killed Greg Smart (Pamela's husband) and did it in first degree and killed him simply because Pamela wanted them to and perhaps promised sex in exchange.
I think had Pam Smart just confessed and to her part in the crime which was hiring the boys to murder her husband, she might not be a free woman right now, (and I'm not a lawyer) but I doubt she would've received life without the possibility of parole. Maybe 25-30 years to life and have a real shot at freedom, especially with the life that she's had in prison and what she's done with her time the last 30 plus years or so.
I think even if she never confessed to the crimes, since her accomplices who actually murdered her husband are currently free, life without no possibility of parole, especially in a state like New Hampshire, which obviously doesn't have a lot of murderers in it, that's known as the live free or die state, I think 30 to life would've been more acceptable. And then the parole board could say: "We appreciate everything that you've done with your time in prison. But if you want to get out, you have to pay full responsibility for your role in this crime."
Pam Smart has really been her own worst enemy in this case, staring with hiring teenage boys to murder her husband. And then denying her involvement in the crimes the last 30 years and trying to get released and off free for them.
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| Source:Oxygen- showing a dateline piece about the case of Pamela Smart. |
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4/17/2023: I know I'm not a lawyer and if that is not a newsflash for anyone, you really do have no idea who I am. But, you have a U.S. Congressional committee, in this case, the House Judiciary Committee, led by Representative Jim Jordan (Republican, Ohio) trying to interfere, with American tax dollars, into a municipal criminal investigation, against one of their own residents, who also happens to be a private citizen as well, in Donald J. Trump.
Where's the jurisdiction here? What standing does a Federal institution, (in this case the U.S. House of Representatives) have to investigate into the affairs of a municipal investigation? (Meaning the Manhattan, New York District Attorney's Office) I'm not qualified to give out legal advice, but I think that's what would be the argument for Manhattan DA, against the House Republicans.
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6/10/2018 - I'm not from Alabama and have never even actually spent a day in Alabama, but I get two things out of this story. One, that this behavior (assuming Roy Moore is guilty) is actually normal and if Roy Moore wasn't running for the U.S. Senate, maybe it wouldn't have become news. I mean, you had Republican leaders in that state saying what Moore is accused of are gifts from Good and natural acts. I'm paraphrasing, but thats pretty close.
11/26/2017 - I'm not from Alabama and have never even actually spent a day in Alabama, but I get two things out of this story. One, that this behavior (assuming Roy Moore is guilty) is actually normal and if Roy Moore wasn't running for the U.S. Senate, maybe it wouldn't have become news. I mean, you had Republican leaders in that state saying what Moore is accused of are gifts from Good and natural acts. I'm paraphrasing, but thats pretty close.
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