The Conversation -- May 17, 2024
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times recounts the news from Thursday's meeting of the House Oversight Committee and Select Fight Club, a clip of which is embedded below. My favorite part of the exchange of ideas -- which you can hear in the video -- is this: "The fighting continued, but Ms. Crockett was not about to allow Ms. Greene's original insult to go unanswered. Couching her own jab in a procedural question allowed under committee rules, Ms. Crockett inquired of Mr. Comer: 'I'm just curious, just to better understand your ruling: If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody's bleach-blonde, bad-built, butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?' 'A what now?' Mr. Comer said."
Marie: Did Michael Cohen lie in his testimony this week as Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche tried to show? According to this analysis by Aaron Blake of the Washington Post, it doesn't look that way to me. Cohen, in direct testimony, had relied on reconstructions -- based on phone logs, texts and documents -- that prosecutors had presented to him during interviews & trial prep. If the conversation he recalled in direct testimony took place at a different time or was very brief, it really doesn't matter. Moreover, as Blake notes, "The importance of the Oct. 24 phone call is debatable." Of course it will be up to prosecutors to rehabilitate Cohen on this point, and it does seem the possible error might have been at least partially their faults. But it wasn't a lie, IMO, and it wasn't a knockout punch, either. Prosecutors should be able to clean up Cohen's testimony in redirect.
Danny Hakim & Rowan Gerety of the New York Times: "John Eastman, a lawyer who advised Donald J. Trump's 2020 election campaign, was arraigned in Phoenix on Friday on state criminal charges that he helped try to keep Mr. Trump in power after he lost the last presidential election. Mr. Eastman is the first of 18 defendants to come before a judge in the Arizona case, which was brought by Kris Mayes, the state attorney general. Mr. Eastman faces charges of fraud, forgery and conspiracy.... In Phoenix, Mr. Eastman appeared in a cramped basement courtroom with a glass-walled holding cell on one side, where defendants awaiting arraignment in other cases wore shackles and orange jumpsuits. The arraignment of Mr. Eastman, who wore a blue suit, lasted less than three minutes. A judge read him his rights, and state prosecutors, citing his compliance, did not ask for any conditions to be imposed on his release pending trial." Eastman pleaded not guilty.
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Glenn Thrush & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "President Biden has asserted executive privilege to deny House Republicans access to recordings of his interview with a special counsel investigating his handling of government documents, Justice Department officials and the White House counsel said on Thursday. The move is intended to shield Attorney General Merrick B. Garland from prosecution if House Republicans succeed in their effort to hold him in contempt for refusing to turn over audio of Mr. Biden's conversations with the special counsel, Robert K. Hur.... 'It is the longstanding position of the executive branch held by administrations of both parties that an official who asserts the president's claim of executive privilege cannot be prosecuted for criminal contempt of Congress,' Carlos F. Uriarte, the assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, wrote in a letter to Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio ... and Representative James R. Comer of Kentucky...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The story has been updated: "Later on Thursday, two House committees voted along party lines to recommend holding Mr. Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with their subpoenas demanding the recordings. The Judiciary Committee approved its resolution against Mr. Garland first, 18 to 15. The Oversight Committee postponed its own vote until the evening because so many of its members had traveled to New York to support Mr. Trump at his criminal trial there. After a lengthy night session marred by an unusually high volume of personal attacks and other antics, the Republican-led panel voted 24 to 20 to join the Judiciary Committee in recommending a contempt charge.... Approval [by the full House] is not certain, given Republicans' narrow majority and intraparty divisions, congressional aides said." ~~~
~~~ Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "The usually raucous House Oversight Committee managed to outdo itself on Thursday night, as members got personal with one another.... During the hearing, trouble began when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) asked if any Democratic committee members employ the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over former President Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York. Merchan's daughter works for a political consulting firm whose services Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) -- who sits on the committee -- has enlisted. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) asked Greene what relevance her question had. After some crosstalk, Greene commented about Crockett's 'fake eyelashes,' which ignited the tinderbox and prompted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to demand Chairman James Comer (R-KY) order Greene's words be 'taken down,' or expunged from the record[.]... Comer ruled that Greene's words would not be taken down. Greene also attacked Ocasio-Cortez, calling her 'not intelligent.'" MB: All in all, I'd say Miss Margie bit off more than she could chew. ~~~
GOP House Members Take a Field Trip to the Courthouse. Annie Karni of the New York Times: "The House was in session at the Capitol on Thursday, but thanks to the latest procession of Republicans reporting for duty in front of a Manhattan criminal courthouse to show support for ... Donald J. Trump at his trial, the party risked ceding its control of the floor. Almost a dozen House Republicans showed up at the courthouse on Thursday, including hard-right rabble rousers like Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida; Anna Paulina Luna of Florida; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; and Bob Good of Virginia. They said they were there to speak on behalf of Mr. Trump because a gag order had barred him from speaking for himself.... Paul Kane, a reporter for The Washington Post, posted on social media that the large number of Republican absences could allow Democrats to 'pull some hijinks,' such as calling a motion to adjourn and shutting down the chamber all together.... Top Republicans had already changed at least one element of the House schedule to accommodate the G.O.P. field trip. The Oversight Committee postponed a meeting scheduled for Thursday morning to vote on holding Merrick B. Garland, the attorney general, in contempt of Congress, rescheduling it for 8 p.m." ~~~
~~~ Oh, the Irony. Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post : "... as Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and James Comer (R-Ky.) pilloried the White House and the Justice Department [for politicizing the justice system], their committees were hobbled by attendance problems: At least five members were in New York on Thursday morning, standing behind ... Donald Trump at his criminal trial and inserting themselves, and their political views, into the same justice system the two chairmen claimed to be defending from politicization.... The band of pro-Trump lawmakers held an impromptu news conference on the steps of the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, where they criticized New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan and other participants in the proceedings." MB: But IOKIYAR.
Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's lawyers on Thursday took their best shot at Michael D. Cohen, the star witness in the former president's criminal trial in Manhattan, grilling Mr. Cohen about a medley of misrepresentations, manipulations and outright lies. Seeking to destroy Mr. Cohen's credibility, a defense lawyer, Todd Blanche, portrayed him as an unrepentant criminal and a serial deceiver who took the stand only to exact revenge on Mr. Trump.... While [Mr. Blanche] did not call into question key elements of the prosecution's case, he wearied Mr. Cohen.... Mr. Cohen, a self-described former 'thug' for Mr. Trump who oscillates between defiance and charm, bent on the stand, but did not break.... Some of Mr. Blanche's attacks meandered, and some Mr. Cohen easily turned aside. The questioning drew more than a dozen prosecution objections that the judge sustained and prompted a handful of sidebar conferences at the judge's bench. The interruptions gave a disjointed feeling to a high-stakes confrontation."
Texts, Lies and Videotape. Devlin Barrett & Perry Stein of the Washington Post pose some takeaways from yesterday's cross-examination of Michael Cohen.
We were back in downtown Manhattan Thursday with New York Times reporters who liveblogged the proceedings in the Manhattan District Attorney's criminal case against Donald Trump. For details, see yesterday's Conversation.
Elsewhere in Downtown Manhattan. Benjamin Weiser & Maya Coleman of the New York Times: "With the corruption trial of Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey underway on Thursday, a prosecutor handed a juror in the first row of the jury box a plastic bag containing an object at the heart of the government's case: a gold bar that glinted under the courtroom lights. One by one, jurors held the bag, turning it over in their hands and feeling its weight before passing it to their neighbor.... The prosecutor, Lara Pomerantz, soon handed jurors another bag containing several gold bars. But before she could hand over a third, the judge, Sidney H. Stein, said the jury 'has gotten a feel for the weight of gold.'... On Thursday, the senator revealed that [his wife, who is also charged but is being tried separately,] was being treated for breast cancer and was preparing to undergo a mastectomy and possible radiation treatment.... On Thursday morning, lawyers for the senator's co-defendants [who are being tried with Mr. Menendez]..., portrayed their clients as friends of the couple whose innocent acts of generosity were being unfairly cast by prosecutors as criminal." A related NJ.com story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I suppose those of us who don't have friends who give us gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash just don't have very good friends.
Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "In one of its biggest steps yet to keep fossil fuels in the ground, the Biden administration announced Thursday that it will end new coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, which produces nearly half the coal in the United States. Climate activists have long pushed the Interior Department to stop auctioning off leases for coal mining on public lands, and they celebrated the decision. It could prevent billions of tons of coal from being extracted from more than 13 million acres across Montana and Wyoming, with major implications for U.S. climate goals. A significant share of the nation's fossil fuels come from federal lands and waters. The extraction and combustion of these fuels accounted for nearly a quarter of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions between 2005 and 2014, according to a study by the U.S. Geological Survey." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. NPR's story emphasizes the controversy over the move.
Molly Nagle & Luke Barr of ABC News: "The Biden administration announced Thursday that it's officially moving forward with a proposal to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. The Justice Department submitted the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to the Office of the Federal Register and, if approved, the rescheduling would limit the punishment for those who are in possession of marijuana when it comes to a federal crime. The proposal is subject to a 60-day public comment period. After that, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration can assign an administrative law judge to consider the evidence and make a final scheduling recommendation[.]
** Alito Denigrates U.S. Flag, Violates Ethics Code, Blames Wife. Jodi Kantor of the New York Times: "After the 2020 presidential election, as some Trump supporters falsely claimed that President Biden had stolen the office, many of them displayed a startling symbol outside their homes, on their cars and in online posts: an upside-down American flag. One of the homes flying an inverted flag during that time was the residence of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., in Alexandria, Va., according to photographs and interviews with neighbors. The upside-down flag was aloft on Jan. 17, 2021, the images showed.... Donald J. Trump's supporters, including some brandishing the same symbol, had rioted at the Capitol a little over a week before. Mr. Biden's inauguration was three days away. Alarmed neighbors snapped photographs, some of which were recently obtained by The New York Times. Word of the flag filtered back to the court, people who worked there said in interviews.
"While the flag was up, the court was still contending with whether to hear a 2020 election case, with Justice Alito on the losing end of that decision. In coming weeks, the justices will rule on two climactic cases involving the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, including whether Mr. Trump has immunity for his actions. Their decisions will shape how accountable he can be held for trying to overturn the last presidential election and his chances for re-election in the upcoming one.... Judicial experts said in interviews that the flag was a clear violation of ethics rules, which seek to avoid even the appearance of bias.... The court has also repeatedly warned its own employees against public displays of partisan views, according to guidelines circulated to the staff...." Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) A derivative AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: As is the fashion these days among Washington's elite (alleged!) corrupt criminals, Alito blamed the Little Missus: He emailed the Times: "I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag. It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs." And it does seem the Times obtained corroborating evidence that Sam is telling the truth: "Interviews show that the justice's wife, Martha-Ann Alito, had been in a dispute with another family on the block over an anti-Trump sign on their law." For decades, I've felt sorry for Martha-Ann for having hitched her wagon to Insufferable Sam. I don't feel sorry for her anymore.
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court rejected a challenge on Thursday to the way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded, one that could have hobbled the bureau and advanced a central goal of the conservative legal movement: limiting the power of independent agencies. The vote was 7 to 2, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing the majority opinion.... The central question in the case was whether the way Congress chose to fund the bureau had violated the appropriations clause of the Constitution, which says that 'no money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law.' Justice Thomas said the mechanism was constitutional.... Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., joined by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, dissented." MB: Because of course they did. (Also linked yesterday.) Tje ABC News report is here. ~~~
~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox explains: "The Supreme Court delivered a firm and unambiguous rebuke to some of America's most reckless judges on Thursday, ruling those judges were wrong to declare an entire federal agency unconstitutional in a decision that threatened to trigger a second Great Depression." ~~~
~~~ Matt Naham of Law & Crime: Sam "Alito appealed to English history and the American founding to buttress his conclusion that majority strayed from the proper path at the expense of the legislative branch.... Alito, who recently wondered during Donald Trump's 'immunity' arguments whether a president has the power to issue a self-pardon, asserted it was reasonable to say that the agency has powers that would make 'a Stuart king' envious. 'It is not an exaggeration to say that the CFPB enjoys a degree of financial autonomy that a Stuart king would envy,' Alito wrote, arguing that the funding mechanism 'blatantly attempts to circumvent the Constitution.'" MB: Not sure why Alito disparages the Stuarts when he's such a fan of witch-hangin' Sir Matthew Hale, knighted & made Lord Chief Justice by Charles II, a Stuart king.
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Alabama. Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: "Not content to prevent women from obtaining abortions in his own state, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is doing his best to prevent them from traveling to states where the procedure remains legal. Fortunately, a federal judge just ruled that the Constitution won't let him. Unfortunately, we might have more of this kind of zealotry heading our way. Marshall's antiabortion fervor illustrates one of the many shortcomings of the leave-it-to-the-states approach endorsed by, among others..., Donald Trump.... Marshall threatened to prosecute anyone who helped Alabama women obtain abortions elsewhere, asserting that could amount to a 'criminal conspiracy' under state law.... In a ruling on May 6..., U.S. District Judge Myron H. Thompson, a Jimmy Carter appointee, declined Marshall's bid to ... [prosecute] organizations and individuals who provide funding and advice to women seeking abortions out of state..., saying the threat violated the constitutional rights to travel and to freedom of speech."
California. Praveena Somasundaram of the Washington Post: "The president of a public university in California was placed on administrative leave, officials said Wednesday, one day after he'd sent a message announcing that the school had promised pro-Palestinian protesters a review of its investments and an 'academic boycott' of educational programs connected to Israeli institutions. Sonoma State University President Ming-Tung 'Mike' Lee did not have 'appropriate approvals' to send the campuswide message outlining the agreement with students who had been protesting at a pro-Palestinian encampment, Cal State Chancellor Mildred García said in a statement." Politico's story is here.
Florida. Ian Livingston of the Washington Post: "Scorching temperatures set numerous records across South Florida on Wednesday, and historically hot conditions for mid-May will persist through the weekend. On Wednesday, Key West ... register[ed] a heat index of 115 -- matching the highest mark on record for any time of year. The record heat comes after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Wednesday signed a bill scrubbing most references to climate change from state law. Critics say the measure, which will take effect July 1, ignores the threats Florida faces from extreme heat as well as powerful hurricanes and worsening toxic algae blooms.... This brutal combination of heat and humidity has little precedent in May."
New York. Daniel Douglas-Gabriel & Susan Svrluga of the Washington Post: "A group of undergraduate faculty members at Columbia University declared with a vote on Thursday that they have no confidence in President Minouche Shafik, accusing her of violating academic freedom and students' rights in her handling of pro-Palestinian protests on campus. While the action has no legal impact, it signals to trustees, who have voiced strong support for Shafik, that the university leader has lost the support of some professors. The faculty who voted are in the school of Arts and Sciences, which is the largest of Columbia's 21 schools and serves the most students. The motion was introduced by faculty who serve on the board of Columbia's chapter of the American Association of University Professors. Of the 709 faculty who cast a vote, 65 percent supported the motion, 29 percent were against it and 6 percent chose to abstain."
North Carolina. Makiya Seminera of the AP: "Republican lawmakers in North Carolina are pushing forward with their plan to repeal a pandemic-era law that allowed the wearing of masks in public for health reasons, a move spurred in part by demonstrations against the war in Gaza that have included masked protesters camped out on college campuses. The legislation cleared the Senate on Wednesday in a 30-15 vote along party lines despite several attempts by state Senate Democrats to change the bill. The bill, which would raise penalties for someone who wears a mask while committing a crime, including arrested protesters, could still be altered as it heads back to the House. Opponents of the bill say it risks the health of those masking for safety reasons.... Legislative staff said during a Tuesday committee that masking for health purposes would violate the law." Thanks to RAS for the lead.
Texas. They Shoot Protesters, Don't They? David Goodman of the New York Times: "Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas on Thursday pardoned a man who was convicted of fatally shooting a protester during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in the summer of 2020, fulfilling a promise he made last year amid pressure from conservatives. The decision immediately followed a pardon recommendation from the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles, whose members are appointed by the governor. Lawyers for the man, Daniel S. Perry, argued that he had acted in self-defense against the protester, who was carrying an AK-47-style rifle. Mr. Perry was sentenced to 25 years in prison in an emotional hearing last year in which prosecutors presented evidence of racist online comments he had made and said that psychological experts had found him to be 'basically a loaded gun.' As the pardons board considered the case, lawyers with the Travis County district attorney, José Garza, met with the board to argue against a pardon." The Texas Tribune story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: According to a facsimile of the pardon itself, which accompanies the Times story, Abbott granted "a full pardon and restoration of full civil rights of citizenship." I assume that means that the "basically loaded gun" -- a/k/a Daniel Perry -- will be able to wield his firearms again today.
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Israel/Palestine, et al.
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "U.S. military personnel have begun moving aid to Gaza using a makeshift pier afloat off the Palestinian territory's coastline. U.S. Central Command said aid trucks started moving into the Palestinian enclave early Friday using a temporary pier, adding that no U.S. troops went ashore to Gaza. It said the effort to deliver supplies through a maritime corridor 'will involve aid commodities donated by a number of countries and humanitarian organizations.'... At the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Israel is set to respond to South Africa's accusations that the Israeli assault on Rafah and closure of key crossings into Gaza aim to destroy 'the essential foundations of Palestinian life.' South Africa asked the court to order Israel to cease all military operations there, while Israel's Foreign Ministry called South Africa's claims 'biased and false.' Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that additional troops will join Israel's operation in Rafah and that it would 'intensify.' Nearly 600,000 people have fled Rafah in southern Gaza, according to the United Nations, including about 150,000 in the past few days."
Annie Karni of the New York Times: "The House on Thursday passed a bill that would rebuke President Biden for pausing an arms shipment to Israel and compel his administration to quickly deliver those weapons, in a largely symbolic vote engineered by the G.O.P. to spotlight the left's divisions over Israel's conduct of its offensive against Hamas. The legislation has no chance of moving ahead. White House officials said the president would veto it, and Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said it was 'not going anywhere' in the Senate. But it had its intended effect of splintering Democrats: 16 of them joined Republicans in favor of legislation that condemned their own president's administration. The measure passed 224 to 187." Reuters' story is here.
News Lede
AP: "Fast-moving thunderstorms pummeled southeastern Texas for the second time this month, killing at least four people, blowing out windows in high-rise buildings, downing trees and knocking out power to more than 900,000 homes and businesses in the Houston area."
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Reader Comments (17)
How did it take 3 Years for the picture of Alito's upside down flag to become public?
Erik Loomis
"Biden’s labor report card: Historian gives ‘Union Joe’ a higher grade than any president since FDR
Based on my research regarding the history of organized labor in America, I would give Biden an A-minus for his record on workers rights. In my view, the man dubbed “Union Joe” has lived up to the claim, with one notable error."
Washington Post
"A group of billionaires and business titans working to shape U.S. public opinion of the war in Gaza privately pressed New York City’s mayor last month to send police to disperse pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, according to communications obtained by The Washington Post and people familiar with the group.
Business executives including Kind snack company founder Daniel Lubetzky, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, billionaire Len Blavatnik and real estate investor Joseph Sitt held a Zoom video call on April 26 with Mayor Eric Adams (D), about a week after the mayor first sent New York police to Columbia’s campus, a log of chat messages shows. During the call, some attendees discussed making political donations to Adams, as well as how the chat group’s members could pressure Columbia’s president and trustees to permit the mayor to send police to the campus to handle protesters, according to chat messages summarizing the conversation.
One member of the WhatsApp chat group told The Post he donated $2,100, the maximum legal limit, to Adams that month. Some members also offered to pay for private investigators to assist New York police in handling the protests, the chat log shows — an offer a member of the group reported in the chat that Adams accepted. The New York Police Department is not using and has not used private investigators to help manage protests, a spokeswoman for City Hall said."
Nothing Doing
Irony can take the day off. The GQP can take it from here. It’s a veritable layer cake of irony.
So…here we have do-nothing whiners, Jim and Gym, trying yet another tactic in their “We got nothin’, but watch us juggle plates!” carnival act. They went after Hunter Biden. They looked stupid. Tried impeaching Joe Biden. Nothing. So now…Merrick Garland. But, oops! Not enough do-nothings to do something, which would really be nothing. Why? They’re in New York showing the Dear Leader that they’ll kiss his fat ass all the way to Riker’s. So Trump, King of the Do-Nothings, once again, as he did for four historically unproductive years, improves the chance that nothing gets done.
So…Do-Nothings get better at doing nothing because the King of Doing Nothing helps them to do nothing.
Got that?
Meanwhile, we learn that a Supreme Court “Justice”, supports lawlessness, and a Do-Nothing governor does nothing about a black man being murdered. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. He did nothing about the murdered guy (black), but he pardoned the murderer (white, natch), and gave him his gun back.
I liked it better when they did nothing.
Where’s Zeno when we need him?
This might be a question for old Zeno.
If doing something, for you, means doing nothing, can you get better at doing nothing? Is there a zero more (or less?) zero than zero? We’re not talking negative integers here, because that would be something. If doing nothing is the complete absence of doing anything at all, can you get better at it? I dunno, but the GQP will sure give it the old college try. Or maybe that should be the old Trump University try. Now you really got nothing. Ain’t that something?
Um…
So…Medieval Sam seems to hold the Stuart monarchs up as avatars of privilege and ease.
He should buy a history book.
Robert II was kicked by a horse and never recovered. He suggested he be buried in a rubbish heap. Fun, like you read about.
The next guy, James I, not a very nice man, had a few of his enemies beheaded. Friends of those guys crashed one of his parties and beat him to death. Buh-bye, Jimmy.
James II was blown up by one of his own cannons. He liked cannons. Go figure. His son, James III, not exactly Bill Shoemaker, fell off his horse. A priest was called. The priest (or someone pretending to be one) stabbed him through the heart. Because why not?
James IV went to a battle. Decided to attack going down a steep slope. Slipped in the mud and was killed. Great idea! James V was a weird kid who grew up to be a weird and greedy tyrant. He lost a battle, had a nervous breakdown and croaked. Another dim Jim.
Next in line, Mary Queen of Scots. Ah-yeah… we all know about Mary…beheaded. Nuff said.
Now a later James, who became king of Scotland and Britain, had it a little better, but conspiracy minded guys tried to blow him up in the Gunpowder Plot.
All in all, fun times for the Stuarts. Good pick for examples of unbridled privilege, Sammy.
By the way, speaking of the Gunpowder Plot, the people involved (Guy Fawkes, and company) were condemned as traitors, and since Sammy is such a fan of medieval English jurisprudence, he should know that traitors (who fly the flag upside down in support of treason) were hanged, drawn, and quartered.
Lookin’ at you, Traitor Sam.
The murderee in Texas was also white.
And while we're Zenoing to zero, it's worth considering that halfway between infinity and zeros is ... also infinity. So you only need half as many monkey typists to create Shakespeare's compleat werks, as you thought you needed. Only half of infinite. And now you can set those monkeys to work as, say, legislators, where infinite monkeys equals zero, same as 218 monkeys.
@Akhilleus: Reading the history of the British monarchy makes you wonder why it took so long for Europeans to come up with a better system of government.
As a person of Northern European stock myself, I can't help but think that the real reason Trump, and all the other like-minded white people so bent on Making America White Again, is that they're suffering from deep-seated inferiority complexes, rooted in their embarrassment over the incompetent nincompoop stock whence they (and I) came. It's much easier to puff up your heritage and design your own fancy heraldry and uniforms and such if you don't have to compare yourself to folks from other cultures.
The idea that Northern Europeans are more "civilized" than others is a downright hoot.
"Lincoln's warning
He cautioned against activist Supreme Courts like the Roberts Court.
As he was being sworn into office at the outset of the Civil War in 1861, Abraham Lincoln warned of the danger that an overreaching Supreme Court posed to the nation.
Lincoln, a longtime trial lawyer, had the utmost respect for the role of courts in adjudicating “ordinary litigation between parties.” But, he cautioned, if the “policy of the Government upon vital questions affecting the whole people … is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court … the people will have ceased to be their own rulers.”
As Lincoln demonstrated during his debates with Stephen Douglas soon after Dred Scott was handed down, apart from being morally obtuse, Chief Justice Taney’s effort to write Black persons out of the Constitution was shoddily reasoned and based on a false account of history and precedent [sounds familiar]. Northern resistance to the Supreme Court’s ruling played a large role in both Lincoln’s own election to the presidency several years later, as well as the Confederacy’s formation and declaration of war."
Patrick,
Thanks for that correction about the murdered man in Texas. I misheard a report about that. It was a BLM protest. Still, I’m sure the Abbott white supremacists don’t cotton to anyone supporting Black Lives.
All thirteen original colonies shared the same Northern European origin and heritage and seem to be on the same path from barbarism to decadence without a pause for civilization.
On Cohen seeking revenge…..numerous quotes, in both print and verbally, have already been read into the record, by the prosecution, expressing Trump’s philosophy on revenge. A lot of yada yada about an eye for an eye; if you come for me, I’ll come harder for you…etc. It’s the culture of the Trump org. Repetition works. The prosecution should read Trump’s words, yet again, for the jury. Shouldn’t be too hard to neutralize the revenge angle.
Mrs. Alito had me grinding my teeth and gagging way back during the confirmation hearings for her husband. She fled, crying from the room, when Lindsay Graham apologized to her for Dems questioning Alito about potential bigotry. If memory serves, distraught, was the word of the hour then too. I also wonder, given Alito’s exalted position, that he has so few conflict resolution skills that he was unable to mediate the situation. Or they could have refrained from engaging in the 1st place. But then, Alito has always struck me as way short of minimal legal scholarship or self awareness. He mostly relies on his own rigid white man rules and biblical dogma.
@Anonymous: Yes to all that. Let's say we believe Insufferable Sam's blame-the-wife defense. Are we then supposed to believe he was too busy sitting in his basement poring over the "Medieval Times" to notice the inverted flag in his front yard? I don't buy it.
I find it pretty astounding that anyone would think that the best way to respond to a neighbor's offensive yard sign (or at one that you find offensive) is to desecrate the flag by using it to show solidarity with traitors. For a Supreme Court "justice" (or, if you believe Sam, his "distraught" wife), who is supposed to be at the pinnacle of American jurisprudence, to overtly display a symbol of violent defiance of the "rule of law" should disqualify him not just from ruling on cases related to January 6 but from sitting on any U.S. court, much less the Supreme Court.
Sam and his pal Clarence have already perverted the course of justice. As Dahlia Lithwick suggested today on MSNBC, since the secretive Supremes won't tell us who-all granted cert on Trump's "immunity" case, we can assume that these two old boys were in the mix. It's possible that cert would not have been granted without their putting their thumbs on Lady Justice's scale. And Andrew Weissmann pointed out that it is likely these two miscreants who are holding up the decision on Trump's claim so as to make it impossible for the lower court to hear the insurrection case against Trump.
John Roberts, our illustrious Chief Justice, should spearhead a full investigation. An email to the NYT is not enough. It's not illegal to lie to the New York Times. Put Sam under oath. Put the missus under oath. Scour the neighborhood. Did anyone see who raised the flag? Who lowered it? And if Sam's defense doesn't hold up, demand that he GET OUT.
Amen Marie. Preach!
It would give me tiny bit if heart if one of the liberal justices actually spoke up and called out Alito and Thomas by name. Make some actions that show they care about the law, the constitution and most importantly the people. But going along with the Trump case with Thomas sitting on the bench as if it was business as usual and giving the sham legitimacy showed that they are not at a point they think they need to step up and speak out. Sotomayor is going on a buddy tour with Coney Barrett to give the impression of camaraderie. Roberts is just Sam and Clarence with a veneer of congeniality. The insider mentality means that no alarms will be raised by anyone on the court. And we have already seen what ethics and accountability looks like on the current court.
RAS,
Yup. Ethics and accountability on the Roberts Court is guaranteed by Johnny’s “Pinky Swear” ethics code (wink-wink).
Ergo, two Trump treason supporters will refuse to recuse themselves in his Total Immunity case, the same as they did in the 14th amendment challenge to allowing an insurrectionist on the ballot.
It’s not just Okay if you’re a Republican to be corrupt, unethical, immoral, and authoritarian; it’s required.