To constitute depraved indifference, the defendant’s conduct must be ‘so wanton, so deficient in a moral sense of concern, so lacking in regard for the life or lives of others, and so blameworthy as to warrant the same criminal liability as that which the law imposes upon a person who intentionally causes a crime. Depraved indifference focuses on the risk created by the defendant’s conduct, not the injuries actually resulting.
By Jace, a Trail Mix Contributor
It is well understood by now that Donald Trump lacks any sort of a moral compass. He lacks the requisite empathy and understanding required of a leader. In his world, bluster, deceit and vindictiveness substitute for insight, compassion and vision.
In his world those less fortunate are less fortunate because they deserve to be.
In his world there is always an opportunity to blame the victim. We have seen it countless times. Be it hurricane relief, wild fire devastation or children dying while in custody at the boarder. There is always a callous disregard for human suffering that would shame the most corrupt third world dictator but which Trump wears like a badge of honor.
So it is really no surprise that our current government shutdown is going on with no end in sight.
Once again Trump has found a vehicle that allows him to display his warped world view and create a new set of victims not worthy of his attention. In so doing he is intentionally putting Americans at risk. Airline safety, food safety, sanitation and the Coast Guard just to name a few. As for the suffering of government workers and the people affected by their lay offs. Trump sees it as nothing more than a fund raising opportunity, and the reddest of red meat for his ever restive and demanding base.
Depraved indifference is now the official policy of this White House. Perhaps the question should be is depraved indifference an impeachable offence?
More Posts by Jace
jace, add mitch mcconnell to the depraved indifferent for he is trump’s comrade in “intentionally putting Americans at risk. Airline safety, food safety, sanitation and …. the suffering of government workers and the people affected by their lay offs.”
mitch mcconnell plays Pontius Pilate washing his hands of responsibility, shifting it to the dems and trump; but he is really lady Macbeth trying to wash out stains of the suffering he is causing and could cure by allowing the senate to vote on the house bills to open government.
meanwhile other countries in chaos, from The Scotsman:
The Brexit chaos engulfing Britain makes the case for Scottish independence “increasingly clear”, Nicola Sturgeon said.
The First Minister, who headed to London on Wednesday morning ahead of the no confidence vote in Theresa May’s Government, said it was “not obvious” that the PM “has any real idea what to do next”.
The SNP leader spoke after the Prime Minister suffered a historic defeat in the House of Commons, with MPs rejecting the withdrawal agreement she has negotiated by a majority of 230.[…]
Ms Sturgeon’s SNP, as well as the Liberal Democrats, are calling for the issue to be put to the people again in a second referendum, but Labour favours a general election.[continues]
well here’s some good news…
White non-college Americans move away from Trump during shutdown…
Since Mitch seems incapable doing his job, is there a way to eliminate his title before the next year’s election of Senate leaders?
Speaker Pelosi is inside SFB skull and knocking around in there. She sent a letter to the WH suggesting the SotU should be delayed or that he send a letter instead. Funny! I can just imagine Big Mac sauce spewing from the fish mouth as he turns flame red-orange in rage.
Nancy P reads Trailmix
KGC – she has good taste in reading material.
The Constitution, Article II, Section 3, does not require the president to go to the Congress. “He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient;” The first century of the U.S. saw few presidents trundling on over to the Capitol to deliver the SotU in person. A written letter was sufficient to do the job. It was Wilson who messed up and did the change.
I think Wilson was correct in his personalizing the delivery of his message. The changes in Our Union brought about through Our participation in WW-I coupled with Our industrialization argued for the more formal approach that has endured since then. That is until now. Trump has sent Us his message. I wave a single middle finger in response.
Can there be much doubt that the most powerful person in government is currently Nancy Pelosi?
since the twit only plays to adoring audiences and since the SOTU audience will be less than that, he may just well take her up on sending the letter… via twitter no doubt
business insider:
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Wednesday said President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address “is off.”
“The speaker is the one who invites the president,” Hoyer told CNN, adding, “The State of the Union is off.”
Earlier Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to Trump telling him to either postpone the annual address — set to be delivered before a joint session of Congress on January 29 — or submit it in writing, citing security concerns linked to the government shutdown.
“Sadly, given the security concerns and unless government re-opens this week, I suggest that we work together to determine another suitable date after government has re-opened for this address or for you to consider delivering your State of the Union address in writing to the Congress on January 29th,” Pelosi said.
“The U.S. Secret Service was designated as the lead federal agency responsible for coordinating, planning, exercising, and implementing security for National Special Security Events by Public Law 106-544, December 19, 2000,” Pelosi added. “However, both the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security have not been funded for 26 days now — with critical departments hamstrung by furloughs.”
A representative for Hoyer told INSIDER he had “not read Speaker Pelosi’s letter and mischaracterized it” when he told CNN that the State of the Union address “is off.”
The government shutdown, the longest in US history, is a product of Trump’s insistence on obtaining funding for a wall he wishes to build along the US-Mexico border. Democrats have refused to grant the funding.
If Trump were to deliver the State of the Union address on January 29 amid the impasse, it would be the first to occur during a government shutdown.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from INSIDER.
I agree with steny that it’s either off or postponed based upon this part of nancy’s “invitation” :
“unless government re-opens this week”
[Pelosi letter re SOTU – letter otherwise referred to and labeled as STFU message]
Whatever happened to the old republican project to force drug testing on federal employees ? Did they ever pass that one for cabinet members ?
The following is the text of Ms. Pelosi’s letter, as released by her office.
____________
Dear Mr. President:
On January 3rd, it was my privilege as Speaker to invite you to deliver the State of the Union address on January 29th. The Constitution calls for the President to “from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union.” During the 19th Century and up until the presidency of Woodrow Wilson, these annual State of the Union messages were delivered to Congress in writing. And since the start of modern budgeting in Fiscal Year 1977, a State of the Union address has never been delivered during a government shutdown.
In September 2018, Secretary Nielsen designated State of the Union Addresses as National Special Security Events (NSSEs), recognizing the need for “the full resources of the Federal Government to be brought to bear” to ensure the security of these events. The extraordinary demands presented by NSSEs require weeks of detailed planning with dozens of agencies working together to prepare for the safety of all participants.
The U.S. Secret Service was designated as the lead federal agency responsible for coordinating, planning, exercising, and implementing security for National Special Security Events by Public Law 106-544, December 19, 2000. However, both the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security have not been funded for 26 days now — with critical departments hamstrung by furloughs.
Sadly, given the security concerns and unless government re-opens this week, I suggest that we work together to determine another suitable date after government has re-opened for this address or for you to consider delivering your State of the Union address in writing to the Congress on January 29th.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
NANCY PELOSI
Speaker of the House
Now midge mcconnell will invite the antichrist to give the State of the Universe speech in the Senate Chamber. Senate Dems, except possibly manchin, will stay in their offices and dial for dollars.
nytimes:
[…]
While she couched her request in logistical concerns, Ms. Pelosi’s proposal served as a reminder to Mr. Trump that, with Democrats in control of the House, she has the power to frustrate his agenda and upend his plans amid a prolonged stalemate over his demands for a wall on the southwestern border. It intensified the pressure on the president as a group of centrist House Democrats and Republicans headed to the White House for talks with Mr. Trump in the Situation Room aimed at resolving the impasse.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, called the meeting “constructive,” and said, “They listened to one another, and now both have a good understanding of what the other wants.”
During the meeting, lawmakers told Mr. Trump that he must abandon his demand for funding for a border wall in exchange for reopening the government, said Representative Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, one of seven Democrats who attended the meeting, in a statement.
A separate group of Republicans and Democrats in the Senate were circulating a letter calling on Mr. Trump to drop his demand that wall funding accompany any bill to end the shutdown, urging him to agree to sign a three-week stopgap government funding measure to allow time to forge a “broad bipartisan agreement” on border security spending.
“We commit to working to advance legislation that can pass the Senate with substantial bipartisan support,” said the letter, which is being spearheaded by Senators Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, and Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware. “During those three weeks, we will make our best efforts following regular order in the appropriate committees and mark up bipartisan legislation relating to your request.”
The letter has support from several other Republican senators, including Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Susan Collins of Maine and Rob Portman of Ohio, as well as centrist Democrats including Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, according to several officials familiar with it who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the effort. But the idea is identical to one the president has ruled out both publicly and privately, saying he would not reopen the government without first securing funding for the wall.
[…]
Still, a growing number of senators in both parties argue that if they demonstrate that there is enough support in the Senate to force consideration of such a plan, Mr. Trump might reconsider.
“If we can show a critical mass of folks that think we should reopen the government and then allow us the regular process to work, where a group of folks would come forward with ideas, I think we’ve got to do something,” Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, said on Tuesday. “No one is going to negotiate while the government’s shut.”
Neither the White House nor the Secret Service, the lead agency coordinating security for the speech, had an immediate comment on Ms. Pelosi’s letter. But Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican, said on Twitter that her decision “makes clear what we already know: Democrats are only interested in obstructing @realDonaldTrump, not governing.”
[continues]
Oh lord, wont you buy me a color tv?
Dialing for dollars is trying to find me.
I wait for delivery each day until three,
So oh lord, wont you buy me a color tv?
Mr C, I dropped a topic in the draft box for your approval.
I really miss Pearl. When she sang that she loved me, schee-yit, I felt her desperate yearning for me all the way down into the black depths of my filthy, cheatin’, no good heart.
sigh
Anywhat, thanks, Ms Renee.
sob
Jace too much analysis for me. Besides,
Why bother with depraved indifference when you’ve got depraved intentional criminal acts?
Did I forget to say that Steve Scalise is an idiot?
Little mentioned is the effect of a powerful woman, with high approval by the public, who is dominating SFB. I saw one little blurb about emasculating him, but I don’t think this goes to that action. He has spent his life bullying, harassing, destroying, cheating and outright being a giant horses rectum. Now he, a misogynist, is looking down the street at a woman his Constitutional equal, but more than his equal, making him kowtow to her commands. She has no need to be afraid of him, as many others are.
The reason I do not think emasculating is the correct term, his hiring pro women for sex shows being less than a strong man (IMHO). He has his little hands problem. I have to state that I have not read any of the Steele document because I heard it has some level of classification, and because I do not have access to it I will not read the public version. That means I only know what talking heads have stated which is probably cleaned up for television, but what I heard sounds like a man who would wear a leather hood with a ball stuffed in his mouth.
I do think Speaker Pelosi is making SFB play a game of Twister, but by himself. She just keeps calling the dots he has to twist onto. Also, her office door has more smarts than the simpleton. She is probably planning on what to do with the guy come the Fourth of July. The fireworks should be wonderful.
The ripoff party is down on representative steven king for saying what they, except for senator scott, all believe.
AOC AOC #where’smitch
She is the best
Steve King. ?
AOC is growing on me. Pretty, intelligent, uninhibited, what’s not to like?
Poobah, what is this
bullshit? Goddam it I can’t post a comment. Someone please post something so I’m not locked the fuck out.
we want Pogo! No censorship! Pogo Pogo Pogo
aoc has the touch – she is good
That’s what happened to Sturg — he still hasn’t been set free
Today Ocasio-Cortez overcame 90% of my antipathy for her.
#where’s midge
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on w/Maddow, wearing widow’s weeds.
No thanks. Too much finger in the wind for me. And, although I do not like Al Franken personally, he was a damn’d fine Senator. Gillibrand led the charge to toss Al out, on a childish charge of sexual abuse.
I’m certainly not unhappy with Tina Smith, but it will take a couple of years for her to claim some turf in mcconnell’s kennel. I’m not unhappy with Tina, but I still feel that Gillibrand crusaded against Franken as part of her grandstanding, signaling that she should be the lead feminist in the race for the White House.
I could be wrong, it’s happened before, but no thanks, Kirsten.
pogo, I too have encountered the deadly soul stealing dementer message
“You are posting comments too quickly. Slow down.”
several times. but, not to worry, it is possible to out smart it… by being patient, sharing your trail toys with others and NOT posting too quickly
x-r,
gillibrand is coming across like the left’s version of ted cruz personality wise. I agree with you that she shot herself in the foot using al as the bullet.
on the subject of the 2020 wannabes, unseemly for senators (dems or reps) to be doing anything other right now than their job getting the government back in business fulltime. don’t waste breath and airtime on themselves. rally ’round the flag and take back the reins from mitch and the twit.
from axios:
Christie asserts that Trump has a “revolving door of deeply flawed individuals — amateurs, grifters, weaklings, convicted and unconvicted felons — who were hustled into jobs they were never suited for, sometimes seemingly without so much as a background check via Google or Wikipedia.”