Monday
Apr152024
The Conversation -- April 16, 2024
It's Day 2 at the Trump Sleepy Time Day Care Center in lower Manhattan, and New York Times reporters are here to keep us abreast of developments:
Kate Christobek: "Jury selection is off to a slow start this morning. One of the prospective jurors who was next to answer questions was experiencing flu-like symptoms and was sent home. Two other jurors, who answered questions yesterday, are running late. Justice Merchan has decided to proceed without them for now but will keep them in the larger jury pool."
Jonah Bromwich: "Prosecutors have now filed court documents claiming that Trump violated the gag order barring him from attacking witnesses. They are asking that he be fined $1,000 for each violation, so $3,000 in all. It will be some time before the motion is decided."
Maggie Haberman: "We have reached a new part of the process, called voir dire. The lawyers for the defense and the prosecution will begin to ask questions of prospective jurors."
Bromwich: "This will be the first time the trial lawyers directly address the prospective jurors. It's their moment to make a first impression. Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor, is doing his best right now, asking prospective jurors to 'resist the urge to flee the courtroom' and give the most honest answers they can."
Bromwich: "And Justice Merchan is now scolding [Trump attorney Todd] Blanche [-- who questioned a prospective juror whose 2020 Facebook post suggested she was happy to see Trump lose the election --] because Trump was muttering. 'I won't tolerate that,' Merchan says, raising his voice. 'I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom.' Blanche responds 'Yes, your honor,' quietly, when he is asked to speak to Trump." ~~~
~~~ Bromwich: "Justice Merchan says he doesn't 'want a juror on this panel who lies to us.' But he says that the Facebook posts are not offensive, and that he found the prospective juror credible. He is not allowing the defense to dismiss her for cause. Trump squints up at Justice Merchan incredulously as the judge reads the relevant case law."
Bromwich: "As the lawyers discuss yet another prospective juror, who posted a meme about Trump captioned, 'I don't think this is what they meant by 'Orange Is the New Black,' Trump himself appears to be studying the meme on a printed-out sheet of paper. He does not look amused at all."
Bromwich: "After that round of questioning, the first three jurors have been selected. And just like that, we are a quarter of the way to a full panel." [MB: Really? Don't they need to select alternates?]
Bromwich: "After a few more peremptory challenges -- which the judge cannot deny -- we have three more jurors, bringing us to six in all."
Bromwich: "We have a seventh juror, a lawyer and civil litigator who in his spare time likes to spend time outdoors and with his two children. That may be it for the day."
Marianna Sotomayor & Leigh Ann Caldwell of the Washington Post: "Two far-right members are now threatening to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson just as the embattled Republican leader has introduced a complex plan intended to fund key foreign allies during wartime. Johnson (La.) introduced a four-part proposal Monday night to decouple aid for Israel, which faced a barrage of missiles and drone threats from Iran over the weekend, and help for Ukraine in its fight against Russia, along with two other measures. But his right flank is also vowing to sink a procedural vote allowing any of the measures to be considered on the floor. During a weekly Republican meeting Tuesday morning, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) stood up and called on Johnson to resign after signing on to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Ga.) plan to depose him, known as a motion to vacate. That means that if Democrats choose not to rescue Johnson, Republicans would need just a simple majority to oust their second speaker in six months...."
** Thom Hartmann on Republicans' weird antipathy to relieving student debt: "Forgiving student debt is ... righting a moral wrong inflicted on millions of Americans by Ronald Reagan and his morbidly rich Republican buddies. Student debt is evil. It's a crime against our nation, hobbling opportunity and weakening our intellectual infrastructure. It maintains and in many cases rigidifies the racial and class caste systems today's Americans inherited from our eras of slavery and indenture. Combine this decision with the six Republicans on the Court ending affirmative action and legalizing discrimination and it's clear this is exactly what the rightwing billionaires who put them on the Court and support their lavish vacations and lifestyles want." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See also his commentary below.
Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "The states' rights case for determining abortion access -- let the people decide -- falters on the fact that in many states, the people cannot shape their legislature to their liking. Packed and split into districts designed to preserve Republican control, voters cannot actually dislodge anti-abortion Republican lawmakers."
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Zach Montague of the New York Times: "President Biden and Jill Biden, the first lady, reported earning roughly $620,000 in 2023, releasing their joint tax return for the third straight year of Mr. Biden's presidency and the 26th time throughout his political career. The couple's tax return, released on Monday evening by the White House, showed that Mr. Biden and Dr. Biden paid just over $181,000 in state and federal taxes, with an effective federal income tax rate of nearly 24 percent. Their federal gross income in 2023 was nearly 7 percent higher than the $580,000 they reported in 2022, largely a result of increased taxable interest income this year stemming from higher interest rates. The bulk of their income came from the $400,000 salary that Mr. Biden earned as president, and Dr. Biden's salary of $85,985 from Northern Virginia Community College, where she is an English professor....
"In releasing his tax return this year, Mr. Biden once again sought to contrast himself with ... Donald J. Trump, who resisted releasing his returns throughout his tenure as president. Mr. Trump's returns were made public at the end of 2022 by the House Ways and Means Committee after a protracted legal battle. They showed that he paid a total of $1.1 million in federal income taxes during the first three years of his presidency, but paid no tax in 2020. The New York Times obtained tax documents of Mr. Trump's in 2020, which revealed that he paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency and again during his first year as president. They also showed that Mr. Trump had paid no income tax in 10 separate years because of tax write-offs and large business losses he declared." ~~~
~~~ Fritz Farrow of ABC News: "The White House on Monday released the 2023 tax returns for President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses.... Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff reported a combined federal adjusted gross income of $450,299 in their 2023 tax filings and they paid $88,570 in federal income tax, in line with the previous year." ~~~
~~~ The Bidens' 2023 return is here, via the White House. Emhoff & Harris' return is here. A White House statement on the release of the returns is here.
Catie Edmondson, et al., of the New York Times: "Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday said he planned this week to advance a long-stalled national security spending package to aid Israel, Ukraine and other American allies, along with a separate bill aimed at mollifying conservatives who have been vehemently opposed to backing Kyiv. Mr. Johnson's announcement, coming after he has agonized for weeks over whether and how to advance an infusion of critical aid to Ukraine amid stiff Republican resistance, was the first concrete indication that he had settled on a path forward. It came days after Iran launched a large aerial attack on Israel, amplifying calls for Congress to move quickly to approve the pending aid bill." ~~~
~~~ Marie: It seems Mikey just may have a decent bone in his body. It's a tiny bone, he took a long time searching for it, but Ezekiel connected dem bones, dem bones dem dry bones. Oh, hear the word of the Lord. ~~~
Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "The opening day of Donald Trump's criminal trial delved deep into his tabloid-fodder sex life, as lawyers and the judge debated how many salacious details jurors should eventually hear as they decide whether he broke the law to cover up hush money payments.... The dry rituals of court only made the proceedings more surreal, as New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan warned Trump he could be removed or sent to jail if he disrupted the trial or failed to appear, and prosecutors said they would seek to hold Trump in contempt even before a single potential juror had been questioned. Trump ... was openly contemptuous of the trial when he spoke to reporters at the end of the day in the courthouse hallway. 'We are not going to be given a fair trial,' he said, calling the prosecution 'a scam.'" Here's an NBC News story.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Trump's 2016 election interference trial are here. I copied down some of them for yesterday's thread.
I JUST STORMED OUT OF BIDEN’S KANGAROO COURT!... What I've been FORCED to endure would make any patriotic American SICK. -- Donald Trump, toward the end of Day 1 of his first criminal trial ~~~
He did not storm out (he was still in the courtroom when the message went out); it is not "Biden's court" by any stretch of the imagination (it is county court}; it is not a "kangaroo court" (Michael Cohen has already been to federal prison for participating in the same crime); what Trump was "forced to endure" is merely less restrictive than what most criminal defendants bring upon themselves. -- Marie
Kyle Cheney of Politico: Trump complained that Justice Merchan was disinclined to let him gallivant off to more fun venues during the trial. "'He won't allow me to leave here for a half a day to go to D.C. and go before the United States Supreme Court, because he thinks he's superior,' Trump told reporters outside the courtroom." MB: Well, Donaldo, the judge overseeing a trial of a criminal defendant temporarily out on bail would hold a position "superior" to the defendant's for the purposes of the trial. The fact that the criminal defendant was previously fired from a high-ranking job is immaterial. BTW, the last time the Supremes held a hearing on one of Trump's shaky appeals, Trump could not be bothered to attend.
Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "The beginning of the first criminal trial of a former American president drew intense security, loud demonstrations and smothering media coverage to a dingy Lower Manhattan courthouse that will be the unlikely center of American politics for the next six weeks.... The day's jury selection did not actually begin until midafternoon, but cable news was on the air before dawn."
Nap Time for Donnie. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Even as a judge was hearing arguments on last-minute issues in a criminal case that centers on salacious allegations and threatens to upend his bid for the presidency, Mr. Trump appeared to nod off a few times, his mouth going slack and his head drooping onto his chest. The former president's lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, passed him notes for several minutes before Mr. Trump appeared to jolt awake and notice them." The Guardian's story is here.
No, the system did not hold during Donald Trump's first presidency*. Donald Trump & Bill Barr broke it to make sure Trump could not be charged for the crime(s) he committed in squelching Stormy Daniels right before the 2016 election. You've read all this before, but it's a stark reminder and an obvious omen of things to come should Trump be re-elected:
Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "The share price of Trump Media closed trading down more than 18% on Monday after the company disclosed plans that would allow existing investors to exercise stock warrants. DJT shares closed at $26.61. Trump Media, which created the Truth Social app and trades on the Nasdaq, fell nearly 20% last week.... Since it began public trading on March 26, Trump Media's share price has fallen more than 62%, from an opening price of $70.90 that day down to around $27 on Monday. As a result, its market capitalization has been slashed by nearly $6 billion, leaving it at around $3.7 billion as of Monday."
Presidential Race
Maine to Join National Popular Vote Compact. Miranda Nazzaro of the Hill: "Maine will become the latest state to join an interstate effort to elect the nation's president by a popular vote, Gov. Janet Mills (D) announced Monday. Mills said she will allow the legislation to become law without her signature, paving the way for Maine to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, a proposal aimed at guaranteeing the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Under the proposal, each state would give all its electoral votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote for president, no matter how the individual states voted in an election. The compact, however, is on hold and will not come into play for this November's election, The Associated Press (AP) reported. The proposal must receive state pledges that equal at least 270 electoral votes, the number needed to elect a president, Mills said. Sixteen states and Washington, D.C., have already joined the compact, and with the addition of Maine, the law has 209 electoral votes so far, the governor added." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I have bad news for all the well-meaning people who think this compact is a good idea. Should the results of the popular vote differ from those of the Electoral College results and one or more states decided to abide by the contract and change their electors to those who supported the candidate who won the popular vote, who do you think would decide who won the presidency? Yes, you got that right: the Clarence Thomas Court.
Donald Trump Has Been Asking, "Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?" Let's Check. Top News in the NYT, April 16, 2020. Nicholas Kristof: "Thousands of Americans would be alive today if President Trump had spent more time listening to the World Health Organization instead of trying to destroy it."
The Pro-Corruption Supremes Promote More Corruption. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court seemed ready on Monday to limit the reach of a federal statute that makes it a crime for state and local officials, along with institutions that receive federal money, to accept gifts and payments meant to influence or reward their actions. In a lively argument..., a majority of the justices seemed persuaded that the government's interpretation of the law was too broad. Before the argument, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. announced that Justice Clarence Thomas would be absent but would participate in the case by reading the briefs and the transcript of the argument. The chief justice did not say why."
We should not forget this: "In 2020, the court unanimously overturned the convictions of two defendants in the so-called Bridgegate scandal, in which associates of Chris Christie, a Republican who was the governor of New Jersey, closed access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in 2013 to punish one of the governor's political opponents. That was an abuse of power, the court ruled, but not a federal crime."
And this: "Similarly, the court in 2016 unanimously overturned the conviction of Bob McDonnell, a former governor of Virginia. Mr. McDonnell, a Republican, had accepted luxury products, loans and vacations from a business executive."
Nina Totenberg & Elissa Harwood of NPR: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday granted Idaho's emergency request to temporarily revive a state law banning gender-affirming care for children under the age of 18. The law, which makes it a felony for doctors to medically treat gender dysphoria in minors, will now go into effect except in the case of two anonymous plaintiffs who have until now been treated with hormones and may continue to receive treatment. In the Idaho case, the state was not asking the court to address transgender rights head-on. Instead, the state asked the justices to consider whether the scope of the lower court's order blocking the law was appropriate. Idaho argued that the district court judge only had authority to stop the law from applying to the two plaintiffs in the lawsuit, not to prevent its enforcement throughout the state." MB: Yeah, I figure nobody knows better how to care for young patients than a bunch of yahoo legislators unless it's the brilliant doctors on the Supreme Court who don't know squat about a few kids in Idaho but may have some Spanish Inquisition luminaries as their guides.
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Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "As Israel weighs its response to Iran's unprecedented attack, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said 'Iran will face the consequences for its actions,' without providing further details. The Biden administration said the United States would not participate in any Israeli reprisal, while world leaders urged Israel to exercise restraint.... Israel's war cabinet reconvened Monday to discuss its response to the Iranian attack, government spokesman David Mencer said, adding that 'Israel retains all its options.' Halevi said Israel was closely assessing the situation and 'will choose our response accordingly.' [U.S.] National Security Council spokesman John Kirby described speculation that Iran's attack was meant to fail as 'categorically false' and 'malarkey,' in a White House news briefing. 'This attack failed because it was defeated by Israel [and] the United States,' Kirby said. He also denied that Iran had given Israel or the United States advance warning of its attack." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Tuesday are here. CNN's live updates are here.
Ukraine, et al. AP: "President Joe Biden urged the U.S. House to immediately take up Senate-passed supplemental funding for Ukraine and Israel on Monday as he hosted Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala in the Oval Office. The visit came as Biden aimed to highlight the efforts other nations are making to support Ukraine. It followed the Czech government's announcement that it is sending 1 million rounds of artillery ammunition to Ukraine, which Kyiv says is badly needed on the battlefield against Russia's invasion."
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Reader Comments (13)
Coke Can Clarence blows off hearing a presentation to the Supreme Court on corruption? What a shock. Meh, been there, done that, know all about it.
Other "justices" thought a rule about receiving corrupt cash payments, gifts, gratuities, or other considerations was a bit of a joke. They likened a bribe to getting a piece of cheesecake and laughed it off. Beery Bart thought the word "corruptly" was "too vague". He couldn't understand it. Wow. Crack another one, Bart. Maybe you'll figure it out in your cups. But probably not.
Corrupt is as corrupt does. This court might pretend not to know what corruption is, but for them, it's such a routine thing they can just blow off a law designed to defend against it. Playing fair is for suckers. The traitors know how it works.
Like Justice Potter once said about pornography: "I'll know it when I see it". Look at this Supreme Court. What do you see? Is the corruption too vague? Why, you could even see it from a private jet on the way to some billionaire's private island for a $3,000 bottle of wine.
It's bad enough for them to pretend the concept of corruption is "too vague". It's much more insulting that they laugh about it as if it were a fucking joke. But to them, it is. Cheesecake, my ass.
Just disgusting.
Thom Hartmann has an excellent piece on why Republicans are so dead set against Biden's student debt relief efforts:
For one thing, hate educating students they think might turn out to be critical thinkers, which in their estimation equals "liberal".
At one point, you could get an education in this country without going into debt for decades. Most of us here, at least of a certain age, know about that. The other day, I read somewhere that some colleges are heading for $100,000 a year price tags.
That would be like forking out enough for, at least in some parts of the country, a starter mansion.
The trend toward making sure students get less and less help began, as so many terrible things did, with Reagan.
"Student debt also largely didn’t exist in America before the Reagan Revolution. It was created by Republicans here in the 1980s — intentionally — and if we can overcome Republican opposition, we can intentionally end it here and join the rest of the world in once again benefiting from an educated populace.
Forty years on from the Reagan Revolution, student debt has crippled three generations of young Americans: over 44 million people carry the burden, totaling a $2+ trillion drag on our economy that benefits nobody except the banks earning interest on the debt and the politicians they pay off.
But that doesn’t begin to describe the damage student debt has done to America since Reagan, in his first year as governor of California, ended free tuition at the University of California and cut state aid to that college system by 20 percent across-the-board.
After having destroyed low income Californians’ ability to get a college education in the 1970s, Reagan then took his anti-education program national as president in 1981.
When asked why he’d taken a meat-axe to higher education and was pricing college out of the reach of most Americans, he said, much like Ted Cruz might today, that college students were 'too liberal' and America 'should not subsidize intellectual curiosity.'"
But guess who we do subsidize? The very same assholes who now scream about how awful it is to forgive back-breaking student debt:
"Republican members of Congress, in fact, seem to be among those in the front of the debt-forgiveness line with their hands out, even as billionaires bankroll their campaigns and backstop their lifestyles.
As the Center for American Progress noted on Twitter in response to a GOP tweet whining that, “If you take out a loan, you pay it back”:
Member —— Amount in PPP Loans Forgiven
Matt Gaetz (R-FL) - $476,000
Marjorie Taylor Greene - $183,504
Greg Pence (R-IN) - $79,441
Vern Buchanan (R-FL) - $2,800,000
Kevin Hern (R-OK) - $1,070,000
Roger Williams (R-TX) - $1,430,000
Brett Guthrie (R-KY) - $4,300,000
Ralph Norman (R-SC) $306,250
Ralph Abraham (R-AL) - $38,000
Mike Kelly (R-PA) - $974,100
Vicki Hartzler (R-MO) - $451,200
Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) - $988,700
Carol Miller (R-WV) - $3,100,000"
Gee...loan forgiveness is terrible.
It's a long article but worth a look. Hartmann goes into detail about the benefits of cheaper education and the affect student loan forgiveness has on the economy. He takes the postwar GI Bill as an example:
'In 1952 dollars, the GI Bill’s educational benefit cost the nation $7 billion. The increased economic output over the next 40 years that could be traced directly to that educational cost was $35.6 billion, and the extra taxes received from those higher-wage-earners was $12.8 billion, both in 1952 dollars.
In other words, the US government invested $7 billion and got a $48.4 billion return on that investment, about a $7 return for every $1 invested."
But if snooty brats want to become critical thinking liberals, fuggedaboutit. Loan forgiveness is for Party of Traitor moochers.
And guys like Donald Trump, who take the money and run, then declare bankruptcy.
Thanks to Marie for that Delta Rhythm Boys clip. Great stuff. The DR Boys weren't as famous as groups like the Mills Brothers, but their brand of close harmony became extremely influential.
In their career, they sang with superstars like Mildred Bailey and Ella Fitzgerald (can't get much better than Ella). They were in tons of movies and were regulars on the Amos N Andy radio show in the forties (making them the only real African Americans on the show).
Listen to their arrangement of Duke Ellington's Take the A Train and you'll hear the sort of vocalizing that was made popular once again by Manhattan Transfer. Those 9th and 11th chord harmonies aren't easy to do but they sound great.
If you want to hear just how good these guys were, listen to the "Dry Bones" clip. At one point they go up, then later, back down in half step modulations. This is real pro singer stuff.
A nice way to round off the edges of all the horrible Trumpy-Party of Traitor-Corrupt Supreme Court news.
I STORMED OUT!
Yeah, sure. That rotund blob doesn't "storm" anywhere. He waddles. It would have been more like "I soggy rain clouded out". Keep up the twaddle. And the waddle. And after the guilty verdict, you can twaddle, waddle, and hit the bottle, then, don't dawdle, hobble off to a brothel. Oh, wait. Maybe nottle.
You'll be in jail. But not a probable prisoner model.
What are the chances that the Supremes give Bob Menendez his gold bars back in the end?
Vox
"The Supreme Court effectively abolishes the right to mass protest in three US states
It is no longer safe to organize a protest in Louisiana, Mississippi, or Texas.
The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will not hear Mckesson v. Doe. The decision not to hear Mckesson leaves in place a lower court decision that effectively eliminated the right to organize a mass protest in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
Under that lower court decision, a protest organizer faces potentially ruinous financial consequences if a single attendee at a mass protest commits an illegal act.
It is possible that this outcome will be temporary. The Court did not embrace the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s decision attacking the First Amendment right to protest, but it did not reverse it either. That means that, at least for now, the Fifth Circuit’s decision is the law in much of the American South."
Desperate for something new to say about the Pretender, I asked Google for all the words that describe someone who causes his own problems and then blames someone else for them, but alas, all I got were the old standards of scapegoating, projection and narcissistic personality disorder. Very disappointing, it was. You'd think Google would be smarter than that.
Poor Pretender. Can't go to his son's graduation because he's being tried as a criminal....
But I didn't give up. I then asked Google what to call people who admire such an obviously sad sack of, uh, protoplasm enough to listen to him whine and ramble for hours and even send him money?
Google had no printable answer....unless, unless they're bleeding heart liberals who feel so sorry for the porf they will do anything to make him feel he's loved. Even wear his silly hats.
Speaking of Reagan, his kicking off the great regression has hurt so many.
Politico
"Trump trade advisers plot dollar devaluation
Advisers close to the former president — particularly his former trade chief Robert Lighthizer — are considering policies that would weaken the dollar relative to other currencies, which could juice U.S. exports but also fuel inflation."
Ken, how about angashore, or whinger. Reprobate.
After we're gone, when someone is known as a "trump" and is "trumping", that will be the word you are looking for. Momma always says eponymous is as eponymous does.
Patrick,
The Irish "angashore" is new to me. Thanks. Always regretted my Irish grandmother, as wonderful as she was, didn't use much of the old tongue.
Whinging came to me nearly twenty years ago when a good friend took a high profile government job in New Zealand and began using the word. I assumed it was a Britishism.
No matter how you say it, it all comes down to some form of poor little rich boy, oh, poor me. And I can't for the life of me understand why in their land of stand on your own feet independence any of the MAGAs finds that pose the least bit attractive.
Does that mean all the MAGAs are frauds, too?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/16/supreme-court-jan-6-obstruction-case-trump-rioters
Seems our Supremes are uncertain how free we should be to be destructive idiots.
Or, referencing Marie's note above, how free we should be to be corrupt.
So tough to be a Supreme these days.
In court today, the Orange Criminal is back at it,
attempting to intimidate potential jurors.
Judge Merchan read this fat fuck the riot act about such outrageous and illegal behavior. But here’s the thing. This is day one of voir dire, and this whiny infant can’t control himself for just a few hours.
I’m guessing his lawyers don’t care. They know what an out of control, colicky infant he is. They also know that no one ever makes him pay. The question now is, will Judge Merchan act accordingly to silence this mouthy, election screwing, hate spewing, disrespectful douchebag.
During the Chicago 7 trial, defendant Bobby Seale was bound to his chair and gagged for talking out of turn in the courtroom. This is routine for Fatty. Will he be bound and gagged?
Never. First, they’d have send someone out for an extra 100 ft of clothesline to wrap all the way around this fat blowhard. But more importantly, he’s white and rich (sort of). Also, Seale was black.
This evil prick should be tied up, bound, and forced to watch the proceedings in a Hannibal Lector/piratical gibbet. But that’ll never happen. This flabby, death dealing cancer cell gets more breaks than the Banzai Pipeline at Oahu.