The Conversation -- April 10, 2024

To the Moon, Fumio! Peter Baker & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan announced a range of moves on Wednesday to further enhance military, economic and other cooperation between the two longtime allies as part of the president's efforts to counter China's aggressive actions in the Indo-Pacific region. During a pomp-filled state visit honoring the visiting Japanese prime minister, the president said the United States and Japan would create an expanded defense architecture with Australia, participate in three-way military exercises with Britain and explore ways for Japan to join a U.S.-led coalition with Australia and New Zealand. Mr. Biden also announced that the United States would take a Japanese astronaut to the moon as part of NASA's Artemis program, which would be the first time a non-American has set foot on the moon."

No, Mike, Donald Trump is not your friend. He is not anybody's friend. ~~~

~~~ Luke Broadwater & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: “Right-wing House Republicans on Wednesday blocked legislation to extend an expiring warrantless surveillance law that national security officials call crucial to gathering intelligence and fighting terrorism, dealing Speaker Mike Johnson a stinging defeat after ... Donald J. Trump urged lawmakers to kill the bill. In an upset on the House floor, the measure, which would extend a section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act known as Section 702, failed what is normally a routine procedural test. On a vote of 228 to 193, 19 House Republicans, most aligned with the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, joined Democrats in opposing its consideration. Such defections were once considered unthinkable but have become increasingly common as the hard right has rebelled against G.O.P. leaders. It was unclear how Republicans would attempt to move forward.... Complicating matters, Republicans had bundled a procedural measure to open debate on the bill with an unrelated resolution condemning President Biden's border policies, all but ensuring that no Democrats would vote to advance the package."

Because Trump, Weisselberg Headed Back to Rikers. Kate Christobek, et al., of the New York Times: "Allen H. Weisselberg, Donald J. Trump's longtime financial lieutenant, was sentenced Wednesday to five months in the Rikers Island jail complex for perjury, capping a legal saga that has now landed him behind bars twice. The sentence, handed down by a state court judge in Manhattan, came just five days before Mr. Trump is to go on trial in the same courthouse on accusations that he covered up a sex scandal. Mr. Weisselberg was not charged in the same case as Mr. Trump, but he would not be headed to jail if not for his former boss's own troubles: Prosecutors set their sights on Mr. Weisselberg after he refused to turn on Mr. Trump." The AP story is here.

Steve Contorno & Kate Sullivan of CNN: "Donald Trump said Wednesday he would not sign a national abortion ban if elected president, reversing a promise the former president made as a candidate in 2016 and stood by during his first term in the White House. His latest shift on abortion is a remarkable position for a Republican presidential nominee and it is illustrative of Trump's desire to make one of his greatest political liabilities disappear. It follows a lengthy statement released Monday in which Trump expressed states and voters should decide how and when to restrict abortion but left unclear how far he would take that approach. Appearing on a tarmac in Atlanta ... [and] asked if he would sign a national abortion ban if it passed Congress, Trump shook his head. 'No.'... 'Donald Trump owns the suffering and chaos happening right now, including in Arizona, because he proudly overturned Roe -- something he called "an incredible thing" and "pretty amazing" just today,' Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said. 'Trump lies constantly -- about everything -- but has one track record: banning abortion every chance he gets.'" MB: You just gotta trust in Trump.

Arizona GOP State Legislators Block Bills to Repeal Abortion Ban. Jack Healy of the New York Times: "Democrats, who have criticized the decision resurrecting a 160-year-old abortion ban that has no exceptions for rape or incest, quickly tried to push bills through the Republican-controlled state Legislature that would repeal the ban.... But Republican leaders in the Senate removed one bill from the day's agenda on Wednesday.... In the other chamber, a Republican House member who has done a political about-face and called for striking down the law made a motion to vote on a Democratic repeal bill that has sat stalled for months. But Republican leaders quickly put the House into recess before any vote could be held. Democrats on the Senate floor jeered as their Republican colleagues filed out of the chamber." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Watch what they do, not what they say.

Arizona Senate Race. Another Say-Anything GOP Candidate. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "Kari Lake, the leading Republican candidate for Senate in Arizona, was quick to denounce the state Supreme Court's ruling upholding an 1864 law banning nearly all abortions in the state. The law is 'out of step with Arizonans,' she said in a statement. She called on state lawmakers to 'come up' with a 'solution that Arizonans can support.' But Ms. Lake, an ally of ... Donald J. Trump and a 2020 election denier, had voiced enthusiastic support for the law less than two years ago, when she was in the midst of a scorched-earth campaign for the Republican nomination for governor. Asked then what she thought of the ban, she said she was thrilled it existed and called a 'great law.'"

Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "George Riley Jr., a Republican Party of Florida executive director, issued an apology this week after it was revealed that he trashed a hotel room after an employee there observed him 'under the influence.' The Tampa Bay Times revealed that Riley Jr. last week was reported missing by his family after he had seemingly disappeared without notice. It turns out that Riley was staying at the Hampton Inn in Kissimmee, Florida, where he would be kicked out of his room for 'excessive drinking and damage caused to the room' during his stay. In particular, employees said they found the room in total disrepair upon inspecting it as Riley had 'urinated and vomited throughout,' which required the hotel to pay for a deep cleaning.... After being ousted from the hotel, Riley went missing for another two days before he was finally picked up this past Friday by the Osceola County Sheriff's Office."

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Sam Fossum, et al., of CNN: "President Joe Biden hosts Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio for a state visit Wednesday, including a crucial Oval Office meeting, reinforcing his commitment to bolstering vital partnerships in the Indo-Pacific amid a militarily and economically resurgent China. Over 70 items covering a wide array of critical sectors are expected to be announced as part of the bilateral meeting between Biden and Kishida.... All of the deliverables on the agenda are part of a concerted military, diplomatic and strategic effort to try and 'flip the script' and counter Chinese efforts to isolate American allies like the Philippines and Japan, according to one senior administration official.... Later this week..., the first-ever leaders' summit between the US, Japan and the Philippines [will take place] with Biden working to draw Pacific allies and partners closer as the region grapples with China's aggression and nuclear provocations from North Korea."

Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "More than 200 chemical plants across the country will be required to curb the toxic pollutants they release into the air under a regulation announced by the Biden administration on Tuesday. The regulation is aimed at reducing the risk of cancer for people living near industrial sites. This is the first time in nearly two decades that the government has tightened limits on pollution from chemical plants. The new rule, from the Environmental Protection Agency, specifically targets ethylene oxide, which is used to sterilize medical devices, and chloroprene, which is used to make rubber in footwear. The E.P.A. has classified the two chemicals as likely carcinogens. They are considered a top health concern in an area of Louisiana so dense with petrochemical and refinery plants that it is known as Cancer Alley." (Also linked yesterday.)

Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "The Pentagon has provided Ukraine with thousands of Iranian-made weapons seized before they could reach Houthi militants in Yemen, U.S. officials said Tuesday. It's the Biden administration's latest infusion of emergency military support for Kyiv while a multibillion-dollar aid package remains stalled in the Republican-led House. The weapons include 5,000 Kalashnikov rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, along with a half-million rounds of ammunition. They were seized from four 'stateless vessels' between 2021 and 2023 and made available for transfer to Ukraine through a Justice Department civil forfeiture program targeting Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East." (Also linked yesterday.)

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has agreed to Senate conservatives' request that he delay sending two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas until next week. The House had been slated to send the articles to the Senate on Wednesday.... Senate Steering Committee Chairman Mike Lee (R-Utah) told reporters Tuesday afternoon that he was 'very grateful to Speaker Johnson for his willingness to delay this.'... Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) responded to the revised timeline by announcing that Senate Democrats will move quickly to quash the impeachment charges whenever they arrive from the House."

The Trials of Trump, Ctd.

Kara Scannell, et al., of CNN: "An appeals court judge has denied ... Donald Trump's request to delay the start of his New York hush money trial so he can challenge the gag order imposed by Judge Juan Merchan. New York Associate Justice Cynthia Kern denied the application for an interim stay just minutes after hearing arguments on the matter Tuesday. A full appeals court panel will still consider Trump's petition, though it will not delay the start of the trial. Motions are due on Monday, the day the jury selection is scheduled to start. The panel of judges will rule on whether to stay the trial after they receive briefs that day, and will decide about the gag order after April 29, when submissions are due. The panel will rule on the written papers; there will be no oral arguments." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Granting a request by federal prosecutors, the judge overseeing ... Donald J. Trump's classified documents case ordered his lawyers on Tuesday to redact the names of about two dozen government witnesses from a public version of one of their court filings to protect them against potential threats or harassment. In a 24-page ruling, the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, told Mr. Trump's lawyers to refer to the witnesses in their filing with a pseudonym or a categorical description -- say, John Smith or F.B.I. Agent 1 -- rather than identifying them by name. The special counsel, Jack Smith, had expressed a deep concern over witness safety, an issue that has touched on several of Mr. Trump's criminal cases. Among the people prosecutors were seeking to protect were 'career civil servants and former close advisers' to Mr. Trump, including one who had told them that he was so concerned about potential threats from 'Trump world' that he refused to permit investigators to record an interview with him." ~~~

     ~~~ Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Special counsel Jack Smith has been arguing since January to keep the names of government agents redacted ahead of trial[.... Judge Aileen Cannon's] order was the second time this month she has criticized Justice Department lawyers while ruling mostly in their favor.... Initially, Cannon ruled against Smith, but on Tuesday she relented, saying she would agree to keeping the names and identifying information under seal. It was not a total victory for Smith, however, because the judge also ruled that the substance of the witness statements can be made public in filings, so long as the material did not identify the witnesses or other people who are mentioned.... The judge ... chided Smith for what she said were poorly made legal arguments in the early stages of the discussion. She said his later efforts offered better reasons to keep the names out of the public eye." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Cannon, of all people, has a lot of chutzpah to complain about poorly made legal arguments. She's 0 for 2 with the 11th Circuit in her legal reasoning vs. Smith's.

Rob Wile of NBC News: "Shares of Trump Media have erased all their gains since they began trading under the ticker DJT last month. The stock closed down more than 8% Monday at $37.17 after falling about 11% earlier in the day. It had traded above $79 a share on March 26, the day of its debut. But experts say it's hard to draw any firm conclusions about what the stock price's movement means. That's because so many available shares -- about 12%, one of the highest ratios of any active stock listing -- reflect traders' bets that the stock will fall, said Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director at S3 Partners, a data and predictive analytics company." (Also linked yesterday.)

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Two right-wing political operatives must pay up to $1.25 million in fines after they were found liable for launching a robocall campaign designed to keep Black New Yorkers from voting in the 2020 election, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Tuesday. Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, who have a history of concocting conspiracy theories to try to smear Democrats, were found liable last March of orchestrating a robocall campaign that reached about 5,500 predominantly Black New Yorkers in the summer of 2020. Targeted voters received automated calls -- purportedly from a 'civil rights organization' founded by Wohl and Burkman called 'Project 1599' -- that sought to dissuade them from mail-in voting. The messages included false warnings that mail-in voting would cause their personal information to be given to police departments and credit card companies." The AP's story is here.

Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Manhattan sentenced a Florida woman on Tuesday to one month behind bars for her role in a brazen scheme to steal the diary of President Biden's daughter and sell it to a right-wing group in the hope of disrupting the 2020 election. The conduct of the woman, Aimee Harris, 'was despicable and consequently very serious,' Judge Laura Taylor Swain of Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York said before handing down a punishment. Ms. Harris, 41, tested the patience of prosecutors and the judge overseeing the case, missing repeated sentencing dates and jeopardizing what otherwise appeared to be a likely path to probation. In August 2022, she pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport the stolen diary to New York, where she met with employees of the group, Project Veritas, and sold it for $40,000 just weeks before the election. The judge also sentenced her to three years' probation, along with three months of home confinement, and ordered her to pay back the money she earned from the sale." A CNBC story is here.

Presidential Race

Zachary Leeman of Mediaite: "President Joe Biden named former President Donald Trump as the 'primary threat' to 'freedom and democracy' in the United States. Biden sat down with the Spanish language Univision channel for an interview that will air in full on Tuesday evening. In one clip from the show, he's asked about threats to the United States 'at home' and he's quick to go after his likely competition in November's presidential race." More on the interview linked under Israel/Palestine.

Mike Cason of AL.com: "Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen has notified the state and national Democratic parties that the scheduled date of the Democratic National Convention is a few days after the deadline for the party to put its nominees for president and vice president on the ballot for the general election in November. Allen, who is a Republican, said state law requires parties to provide a certification of nomination for president and vice president no later than Aug. 15.... Alabama code section 17-14-31(b) says parties must certify their candidates 'no later than the 82nd day preceding the day fixed for the election.' With this year's election on Nov. 5, that makes Aug. 15 the 82nd preceding day, Allen said in [a] letter ... to Randy Kelley, Chair of the Alabama Democratic Party.... Four years ago, when Republicans held their convention Aug. 24-27, the Legislature passed a bill to make a one-time change in the deadlines and accommodate the GOP." ~~~

     ~~~ The same deadline dilemma is taking place in Ohio, where a Republican secretary of state also runs elections.

Frances Langum of Crooks & Liars: "Continuing our series regarding 'are you better off today than you were four years ago,['] here's the Velveeta Vulgarian recommending zinc as a Covid remedy. John Amato wrote the post ... [on] April 9, 2020: 'Trump stunned the medical community yesterday when he claimed they are saying "to add zinc" as a coronavirus treatment.'"

Rachel Sharp of the Independent: "Seven years on from the notorious moment where he stared directly at the sun during the last solar eclipse over the US, [Donald Trump] is jumping on the sungazing bandwagon yet again. On Sunday night, Mr Trump posted a bizarre campaign ad on Truth Social where his own head takes on the role of the moon -- blocking out the sun and plunging America into total darkness." (Also linked yesterday.)

Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of the Oxford, Mich., school shooter, were sentenced Tuesday to 10 to 15 years each after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in separate trials.... Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald had sought a total of 10 to 15 years for each parent in a sentencing memo last week that detailed the trauma, terror and devastation caused by what she said was the Crumbleys' gross negligence that resulted in their son Ethan Crumbley killing Hana St. Juliana, 14; Tate Myre, 16; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; and Justin Shilling, 17, while wounding others at Oxford High School." (Also linked yesterday.)

Edward Moreno of the New York Times: "Norfolk Southern announced on Tuesday that it agreed to pay $600 million to settle a class-action lawsuit stemming from a February 2023 derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials in East Palestine, Ohio. The settlement, which must be approved by U.S. District Judge Benita Y. Pearson, includes payments to residents and businesses within 20 miles of the derailment. It also resolves personal injury claims within a 10-mile radius of the derailment." (Also linked yesterday.)

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Arizona. It was 1864. Arizona would not become a state for more than half a century. Phoenix had fewer than 250 residents. Abe Lincoln was president. The Civil War was raging. Slavery was legal. The gunfight at the O.K. Corral was decades away. Women could not vote and would have no say in governance for 54 years. And a guy named William Thompson Howell would travel to the newly-created Arizona Territory where he found "two out of every three people in the area were barefooted" and he was obliged to write the territory's first legal code. The code included a ban on abortion:

[E]very person who shall administer or cause to be administered or taken, any medicinal substances, or shall use or cause to be used any instruments whatever, with the intention to procure the miscarriage of any woman then being with child, and shall be thereof duly convicted, shall be punished by imprisonment in the Territorial prison for a term not less than two years nor more than five years: Provided, that no physician shall be affected by the last clause of this section, who in the discharge of his professional duties, deems it necessary to produce the miscarriage of any woman in order to save her life. ~~~

~~~ How "Leave It to the States" Works. Cindy Von Quednow of CNN: "In a historic decision Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled the state must adhere to a 123-year-old penal code barring all abortions except in cases when 'it is necessary to save' a pregnant person's life. The law, which can be traced to as early as 1864, also carried a prison sentence of two to five years for abortion providers.... Last week, Arizona for Abortion Access, a group of abortion rights organizations, announced it had gathered enough signatures for a November 2024 ballot measure that would ask voters to enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ President Joe Biden's statement on the Arizona ruling, via the White House. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Eugene Daniels of Politico: "Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Tucson, Arizona on Friday just days after the state's Supreme Court upheld one of the nation's most far-reaching abortion bans.... The campaign trip, which was already in the works prior to the court decision, will likely take on a heightened focus on abortion rights and access." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Biden campaign aides and allies on Tuesday wasted little time tying an Arizona court ruling effectively outlawing abortion in the state directly to former President Trump and his call for abortion policy to be decided by the states. 'This is what leaving it to the states looks like,' Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa wrote on the social platform X. 'This is what Donald Trump endorsed yesterday,' Kate Bedingfield, a former top aide on the Biden 2020 campaign and in the Biden White House, posted on X. 'An abortion ban from 1864... that's what Trump supports,' wrote Kevin Munoz, another Biden campaign aide.... The ruling came one day after Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for November's presidential contest, issued a video statement in which he said states will be allowed to determine abortion law either by legislation or by vote.... In the same statement, Trump said he was 'proudly' responsible for bringing about the end of Roe v. Wade through the appointment of three conservative justices." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "It took little more than a day for Donald Trump's political gambit on abortion to come undone.... Trump had said let the states handle the issue. The Arizona court showed the full implications of that states' rights strategy.... All abortion politics are national, not local. Abortion developments -- new laws, new restrictions, new stories of women caught up in heart-wrenching and sometimes life-threatening decisions -- are no longer confined to the geography where they take place. They are instantly part of the larger debate.... There is no safe harbor for Trump and the Republicans at this point."

Michigan Senate Race. Carl Gibson of Alternet, republished by the Raw Story: "Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) is running in the Republican U.S. Senate primary on his local roots.... In a tweet, Rogers -- who represented Michigan's 8th Congressional District between 2001 and 2015 -- wrote, 'I'm proud to be born and raised right here in Michigan. And I will be proud to serve my home in the U.S. Senate.' This prompted Austin Cook, the communications director for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), to tweet a screenshot of Rogers' voter registration record that shows a Florida ZIP code and a voter status of 'active.'... A 4,751 square-foot five-bedroom, four-bathroom house in Cape Coral[, Florida] valued on Zillow at nearly $1.7 million matches the address shown on Rogers' voter registration in Florida. And according to Lee County, Florida property assessment records, that home is in the name of Rogers, his wife and their family trust." As long as Rogers moves back to Michigan by election day, he can legally run for the state's Senate seat. ~~~

     (~~~ Last August we learned that Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville's main residence is in Florida, and he does not own a home in Alabama. Now that is illegal, but apparently Alabama doesn't care.)

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Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Wednesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "President Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's approach in Gaza a 'mistake,' and reiterated the U.S. call for a cease-fire for at least six weeks to allow for the delivery of food and medicine to Palestinians. Biden's sharp criticism, in an interview recorded earlier with Univision that aired Tuesday night, comes at a time of growing global pressure on Israel following the deaths of seven aid workers in a strike by its military and over severe delays in the delivery of aid to the besieged enclave.... Vice President Harris on Tuesday met with family members of American hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and underscored that the Biden administration was prioritizing the hostages] release and the return of the remains of those confirmed killed, according to the White House.... The World Health Organization and U.N. partners supported the Gaza Health Ministry in organizing burials of unidentified bodies found at al-Shifa Hospital, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday. The hospital was the site of a days-long raid by Israeli forces, which left it in ruins." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's live updates for Wednesday are here. The New York Times' live updates are here.

News Lede

CNBC: "The consumer price index accelerated at a faster-than-expected pace in March, pushing inflation higher and likely dashing hopes that the Federal Reserve will be able to cut interest rates anytime soon. The CPI, a broad measure of goods and services costs across the economy, rose 0.4% for the month, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 3.5%, or 0.3 percentage point higher than in February, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a 0.3% gain and a 3.4% year-over-year level."

Comments

[Akhilleus]

Henry Ford would approve.

More copycat chicanery from the Party of Traitors. Ohio’s sneaky bullshit scheme to make sure the sitting president’s name is kept off the general election ballot in Ohio has been quickly adopted by that hotbed of honest democracy, Alabama, which elected a racist football coach with a two ounce brain as senator who doesn’t even live there.

Look for other red states to do try the same anti-democratic party trick. Then look for some “hold my beer” moves as they find similar ways of deleting the names of down ballot Democratic candidates.

These monkey see, monkey do jamokes will try anything to steal an election. Whatever happened to “let the people decide”? Nope. They’re taking the Henry Ford approach to democracy: you can vote for any candidate. As long as they’re Republican.

[Akhilleus]

Good news, bad news.

“The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday issued the first-ever national rule to limit the presence of highly toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water.

Why it matters: The new rule is expected to reduce drinking water exposure to the dangerous chemicals for about 100 million people and prevent thousands of related illnesses and deaths.
The chemicals are considered especially harmful because they don't degrade in the environment.”

So that’s the good news. Reducing toxic “forever chemicals” from drinking water sounds like a great idea, right?

Now the bad news. The “Forever Assholes” on the Supreme Court are likely to say to the EPA “Not on our watch, you don’t!”

As they’ve already done before, the PoT Supremes have another opportunity to rule that the EPA does not have the power to tell giant, chemical spewing corporations not to poison Americans.

Another chance to stick it to their hated enemy, and the enemy of their guv’mint hatin’ pals at Heritage and the Federalist Society, the administrative state.

I will bet you good money they take this up in the next session and slap it down. Cuz that’s how Johnny and the Dwarfs roll.

[Akhilleus]

Arizona Supremes have taken a tip from Medieval Sam Alito. Something you want to rule against? Find some obscure precedent from hundreds of years ago.

The Arizona Supremes dug back as far as they could (the place wasn’t even a state back then!) but next time around, they’ll probably get up the gumption to go back even further in time, like ol’ Medieval Sam. Maybe next time they can reference some runes carved in stone by the first humans to visit the area, sometime around the last ice age.

The runes, from 15,000 years ago (%^*+=#}{<>€£¥}) will be interpreted as “Donald Trump must rule. Oh yeah, Kari Lake too.”

Whooo. Imagine that!

[Akhilleus]

Trump and Jesus. The inseparable pair.

[NiskyGuy]

Yeah but.

Who are the numnuts on the DNC who didn't look at the ballot eligibility laws on the books before scheduling the friggin' convention? Maybe this is a power play beyond my strategy understanding, but being left off the ballot in Ohio seems like a swift end to democracy.

[Akhilleus]

NiskyGuy,

I get your point. I think however that if these constraints about dates appeared on anyone’s radar, the idea was that, given the facts (ie, it’s not like the convention would return a different result), such minor quibbles over whether it happened on this date or two weeks later, no one would actually think of trying to force the issue.

I mean, it’s kind of like jaywalking. Yeah, there are laws purporting to address the actions of pedestrian scofflaws, but having lived in big cities with lots of foot traffic, I have never in my life seen anyone arrested for this transgression. Were it routinely enforced, I personally could have spent years in lock up.

And about this date thing…I have never heard of this being a problem, which leads to one of two conclusions. First, if such a constraint has always been on the books, it’s never been enforced (trying to subvert a presidential election because of some piddling local calendar rule would be ridiculous), or Ohio traitors took a look at the date of the Democratic convention and rushed through this “law” just to screw with Biden.

What the DNC officials overlooked was the propensity on the part of Party of Traitor anal cysts for endemic rat fucking.

No dirty trick is beyond the pale for these enemies of democracy. Can’t forget that.

[Ken Winkes]

Why should the Originalists deep diving into history stop at the American Civil War?

The Code of Hammurabi has some interesting things to say about social arrangements they might want to work into their legal reasoning.

The status of woman bears special attention.

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldcivilization/chapter/hammurabis-code

[Patrick]

Who says the OT is rough on women. This shows the height of forbearance of the law:

“If two men, a man and his countryman, have a fight [h]with each other, and the wife of one comes up to save her husband from the hand of the one who is hitting him, and she reaches out with her hand and grasps [i]that man’s genitals, 12then you shall cut off her [j]hand; [k]you shall not show pity."

Deuteronomy 25

Note that this applies if the two guys are in the same tribe. Two different tribes, meh, if her husband wins give her a medal, if he loses kill her.

[Ken Winkes]

Another not surprise:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2024/04/10/arizona-abortion-law-1864-william-claude-jones/

Jones was a real fine guy.