User-Supported News Commentary Hosted by Craig Crawford
No Clothes
Even a cursory reading of the Constitution shows the presidency’s power is technically ephemeral. Trump no longer even has a claim on that.
Author: craigcrawford
Trail Mix Host. Lapsed journalist, author & retired pundit happily promoting nothing but the truth for Social Security checks.
View all posts by craigcrawford
Constitution aside, he got beat by a girl. Of course it’s not just any girl. I can’t imagine that he can reconcile that any way but denying that he got beat. I’d suggest he get used to it. After all, Nancy has his balls in her hand.
The Post’s view:
The shutdown was proof of Trump’s stark incapacity for leadership
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S temper tantrumover Congress’s refusal to fund a border wall paralyzed much of the government for five weeks, sapped the morale and wallets of hundreds of thousands of federal workers and low-wage contractors, left millions of Americans disgusted and dismayed, and diminished the United States in the eyes of the world. The impasse was proof of the president’s stark incapacity for leadership, which he reconfirmed Friday by threatening to re-shutter the government in three weeks.
In announcing his non-deal with Congress — in fact, it is more cease-fire than solution — Mr. Trump rehashed his tired and truth-free arguments, asserting against logic and evidence that building a massive new border wall, to supplement hundreds of miles of barriers already in place along high-trafficked segments of the border, would cause crime to plummet and drug trafficking to dry up.
He has lost that argument with the American people, a majority of whom oppose building the wall and blame him and Republicans in Congress for the shutdown, according to the latest Post-ABC News poll. Mindful of that, of the cascading economic costs related to the government closure and of the latest shutdown-related calamity — Friday’s massive flight delays along the Eastern Seaboard owing to a shortage of air traffic controllers — the president agreed to reopen the government until Feb. 15, with no new funding for a border wall for now. Score one for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), though no one is going to celebrate a national debacle such as this.
…. wapo.
wapo:
Another Pulitzer-winning cartoonist has been shown the door.
Steve Benson was laid off Wednesday by his longtime employer, the Arizona Republic, as part of larger cuts by the Gannett company. He had been at the paper nearly four decades, winning the Pulitzer in 1993 and being named a finalist for the prize four times.
The layoff represents the latest spasm of shrinking among staff editorial cartoonists — who numbered in the hundreds several decades ago, but now have dwindled to dozens.
[…]
“This is a worrisome trend,” Benson told The Washington Post on Friday. “Cartoonists are canaries in the coal mine — and we draw darned good canaries. This is a foreshadowing of more to come.”
Salt Lake Tribune cartoonist Patrick Bagley, Benson’s former Brigham Young University classmate, issued a strong response to the layoff.
“Steve’s dismissal is not only a crime to journalism and Arizona, but to the future viability of the Republic,” Bagley wrote in a statement, speaking as president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, adding: “The Gannett newspaper chain just shot itself in the foot.”
(Gannett did not respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment.)
On Thursday, the Arizona Republic published an op-ed — written by the paper’s editorial page director, executive editor and a news director — celebrating Benson’s long and illustrious career there and suggesting some of the paper’s leaders didn’t necessarily agree with Gannett’s decision. “Editorial cartoonists are increasingly rare in American newsrooms; those with the punch and talent of a Benson are still rarer,” they wrote.
Their send-off notes that Benson sparked controversies through his cartoons, first making a name for himself in the 1980s by lampooning former Arizona governor Evan Mecham, a prominent Mormon. (Benson is a grandson of former Mormon Church president Ezra Taft Benson.)
Benson, who began his post-college career drawing for a Republican Party publication, had especially pilloried Trump and Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh in more recent months, the piece noted.
[continues]
could this be one of the reasons?
or this maybe?
another benson masterpiece
Goodness, Maher is so gratuitously gross
flatus, sorry, meant to warn y’all about that.
maher also had coulter on but I was reluctant to post the interview and provoke the ire of the trail by compounding dislike of him with her twattle too.
When it comes to Coulter, one can only tolerate just so much of the anorexic evil babble.
ny times:
During the 2016 presidential campaign and transition, Donald J. Trump and at least 17 campaign officials and advisers had contacts with Russian nationals and WikiLeaks, or their intermediaries, a New York Times analysis has found. At least 10 other associates were told about interactions but did not have any themselves.
Knowledge of these interactions is based on New York Times reporting, documents submitted to Congress, and court records and accusations related to the special counsel investigating foreign interference in the election.
Among these contacts are more than 100 in-person meetings, phone calls, text messages, emails and private messages on Twitter. Mr. Trump and his campaign repeatedly denied having such contacts with Russians during the 2016 election.
The special counsel has also investigated connections between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks, which released thousands of Democratic emails that were hacked by Russia before the election.
[large chart compiling all contacts]
Donald J. Trump at least 6 contacts [chart]
Aras Agalarov, a Russian billionaire who hosted a Miss Universe pageant with Mr. Trump in Moscow, and the billionaire’s son, Emin, reached out to Mr. Trump several times. (Separately, both men helped arrange the now-famous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-linked attorney about getting information that could be damaging to Hillary Clinton.) Mr. Trump was also pursuing a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Michael D. Cohen at least 17 contacts [chart] Mr. Cohen was deeply involved in the plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. His partner in the effort was Felix Sater, a Trump business associate with deep contacts in Russia. Mr. Cohen admitted lying to Congress about the duration of the project’s discussions and the extent of Mr. Trump’s involvement in them. And Mr. Cohen is also now known to have met with a Russian oligarch on a separate matter.
Donald Trump Jr. at least 17 contacts [chart] Mr. Trump Jr. had various contacts with Russians and a Russian intermediary regarding the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, as well as the possibility of setting up a campaign page on a Russian social media site. He also exchanged private messages with WikiLeaks.
George Papadopoulos at least 12 contacts [chart] Mr. Papadopoulos had multiple contacts with Russian operatives who said they wanted to arrange meetings between Mr. Trump, or his campaign, and Mr. Putin, or Mr. Putin’s staff members. He frequently told campaign officials about these conversations. He pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about these contacts.
Paul Manafort at least 6 Russian contacts [chart] Mr. Manafort had multiple contacts with Konstantin V. Kilimnik, a longtime business associate tied to Russian intelligence, during the period of time he served on the campaign. He had political polling data shared with Mr. Kilimnik and told him he could offer private campaign briefings to a Russian oligarch. He also attended the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting.
Michael T. Flynn at least 5 contacts [chart]
During the transition, Mr. Flynn had several conversations with Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States at the time, about Russian sanctions and about blocking an impending United Nations vote criticizing Israeli settlements.
Jared Kushner at least 6 contacts [chart] Mr. Kushner met with Mr. Kislyak during the transition and discussed opening a communications channel with Russian officials. He also attended the Trump Tower meeting.
Roger J. Stone Jr. at least 18 contacts [chart]
Mr. Stone sold himself to the campaign as a conduit of inside information from WikiLeaks. In an indictment unsealed on Jan. 25, the special counsel disclosed evidence that a top campaign official dispatched Mr. Stone to get information from WikiLeaks about the thousands of hacked Democratic emails.
Pat, your unremitting campaign in sharing knowledge among us mere mortals brings calls for hosannas, never reproach.
I thought Coulter was kinda tame compared to her usual antics. Rick told me he really didn’t want to watch her… but did because I did. He usually gets upset by her. This time he said she was just a clown. I said… yes, but a toothless clown… he agreed.
Last week Maher had on Eric Erickson of The Red State blog. He’s usually aggressively defending the gop… but last week he obviously didn’t like trump and had little to say.
Methinks the gop defenders know their party is in trouble and they don’t quite know what to do about it.
i come for the patd, and stay for the xrep.
i could go for some sturgeone or Blonde Wino, also, but if they’re happy not participating, then i’m happy that they’re happy.
Bianca, the dog.
this villainy will surely cause outrage. woe is he who threatens the innocent, the cute and elderly dog.
business insider:
Roger Stone allegedly threatened to kidnap a witness’s therapy dog
[…]
In April 2018, communication between the two escalated. “You are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends — run your mouth. My lawyers are dying,” Stone wrote to them, according to the indictment. “Rip you to shreds.”
According to the indictment, Stone continued, saying he would “take that dog away from you,” which the indictment notes was “referring to Person 2’s dog.”
“I am so ready,” Stone said. “Let’s get it on. Prepare to die [expletive].”
daily beast:
On April 9, 2018, Roger Stone sent an email that would play a role in his future arrest. Though it wasn’t the only reason he was hauled into a Florida courtroom on Friday morning, Special Counsel Robert Mueller quoted portions of it in his indictment of the Trump ally—an indictment that shook Washington and added an absurdist edge to the Mueller probe.
The email, which The Daily Beast obtained before a grand jury indicted Stone on several charges, shows just how irate Stone was about an acquaintance, Randy Credico. The exchange began when Credico emailed a group of people on the evening of April 9, 2018, about what he called an upcoming “media tour.”
“It’s the “RANDY IS FULL OF SHIT “ tour Co- sponsored by Jack Daniels and Pablo Escobar,” Stone replied.
In another email, about an upcoming Credico appearance on MSNBC, Stone speculated that he would be able to sue Credico over comments he might make.
“Send me your address,” Stone wrote. “I bet I can get you served in a lawsuit the very next morning.”
“Remember to bathe,” he added.
Another email included more invective.
“When I wipe my ass what’s on the toilet paper is worth more than You are,” Stone wrote.
“Your threats are a violation of state and federal law,” Credico replied.
Then Stone sent the email Mueller would quote portions of.
“I know u are a dumb shit but read the Constitution,” he wrote.
I have a constitutional right to call you a lightweight pantywaist cocksucker drunk asshole piece of shit and I just did
You are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends-run your mouth my lawyers are dying Rip you to shreds
I’m going to take that dog away from you. Not a fucking thing you can do about it either because you are a weak broke piece of shit
I will prove to the world you’re a liar
“You don’t have a constitutional right to threaten me and especially not threaten my dog… you crossed a red line,” Credico retorted. Stone had threatened to steal his service dog.
“Rot in hell,” Stone replied.
A month later, they had another semi-incomprehensible exchange that included accusations of drug abuse and financial problems. Stone emailed Credico, “I will piss on your grave.”
A few weeks after that later, Stone and Credico had another dramatic exchange.
“You are a pathetic loser,” Stone wrote on May 21. “Let’s see who’s around a year from now and who isn’t cocksucker”
“Another one of your threats,” Credico replied.
“Not a threat. A prediction. How you feeling champ ?” Roger replied.
The Daily Beast shared screenshots of the emails with Stone’s lawyer, Grant Smith. When asked if he had any comment, Smith replied, “No.”
After publication, Smith said Mueller was misusing the emails.
“You are presenting things that are completely out of context with a decades long relationship,” he texted. “These two people talk like that to one another for years and years, it is nothing unusual and it certainly does not rise to the level of what the special counsel’s office charged.”
Martin Stolar, a lawyer for Credico, declined to comment. “Randy will make public statements concerning the indictment if and when he’s called to testify.” he said.
[…]
As those probes unfolded, Stone grew increasingly agitated. He told reporters he expected to be charged, and he lambasted Mueller for running a witch hunt. A few days before his indictment, he texted The Daily Beast to say he would expose monstrous misconduct by Mueller’s team if indicted.
On Friday morning, it was clear Stone’s actions after Mueller’s probe started had created his most immediate legal problems. The indictment alleges that he lied to Congress about his communications with Credico and another associate, Jerome Corsi; that he obstructed an official proceeding; and that he tampered with an unnamed witness, known to be Credico. And it cites the email printed above as one example of a statement “intended to prevent Person 2 from cooperating with the investigations.”
That’s how a foul-mouthed exchange that reads like it’s written on the wall of a dive-bar bathroom found its way into what’s arguably the most geopolitically consequential criminal investigation in decades.
Looking forward to Cohen’s testimony before Congress
Well, day one of being on duty to be paid, the previous days I was on duty to be recalled to work without pay, the idea to keep us from drifting off to remote locations with little communications or airports. I looked over the maps and checked my cellphone, and I was there, but at least in the US not somewhere in Kenya.
A major change in attitude has occurred with a few of the republican right, they learned that if the government is shutdown they can get most things done during the first week. Less each week, and after a month the place starts to close. Want to fly, sorry. Want your tax return, sorry. Also, those who watched channels other than faux snooze, learned that TSA agents are poorly paid, unable to pay for gas to go stand for hours trying to keep bad things from happening in the skies.
The far right trumpists still want a huge massive wall to keep the rabid caravan from invading. Where I was in NE Virginia suggested these people think the caravan will build a caravan to sail up the Chesapeake Bay.
BB, as I said before I’m prepared to tighten my belt to keep you fed or protected from losing assets that you worked years to procure and make serviceable.
Thank heaven our national nightmare is over, for now.
But, who knows what evil lurks within the heart of trump, miller, and putin.
Their best may be yet to come.
Btw, my tolerance for clichés and wildly mixed metaphors is eroding under a constant bombardment by CNN and MSNBC gusty guests.
Mr Bink, I am honored to be one of the attractions here. I like you, too.
My take on stone’s email to randy is that roger needs a therapy dog. Or maybe, a vast herd of therapy maggots.
Another mass shooting took place in Florida last week, though the story was a relative blip in the national news stream.
Apparently, bigger things were happening.
Trump and Pelosi were fussing about his State of the Union speech. Rudy Giuliani was blubbering like your confused uncle who keeps misplacing his meds.
And one of the freakishly fertile Kardashians announced that – brace yourself — she’s preggo again.
Mass shootings occur so often that it’s hard to keep up. Is it still major news when a whack job with a gun walks into a small-town bank and executes five innocent people?
God help us if this is what we’ve become — numb to homegrown slaughter, unless the body count hits double digits.
[…]
We know the basic script, always baffling and infuriating. The key variable is the number of victims — the higher the death toll, the longer we pay attention.
That’s how the media play mass-shooting stories these days, by the numbers. It both reflects and reinforces a collective state of resignation, as if we’re all too weary to be outraged.
Unless you happen to know someone who gets murdered.
Last summer, my brother Rob was killed on the job, at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland. Some guy with an old grudge against the paper charged into the newsroom with a shotgun and started firing.
Including Rob, the final death count was five — the same toll as the Sebring killings last week. However, the Capital Gazette tragedy got much more time on cable news and the networks because the shooter had targeted journalists.
My brother would want me to write, in the strongest words, that what happened at the SunTrust bank is every bit as horrifying, heartbreaking and newsworthy as what happened in his newsroom in Annapolis.
[…]
True, it’s just one more replay of a familiar societal horror, a prelude to the inevitable next mass shooting.
Yet even though the toll this time didn’t reach double digits, every crime like this deserves more than a resigned shrug or a grim shake of the head. Ask the many families, including mine, who will be haunted by these headlines forever.
The story isn’t the number of coffins. The story is the monstrous act itself, and why it keeps happening over and over.
XR, brush-up on your selective hearing. I’ve sat in command pose environments with their constant drivel/dribble of insignificant ‘noise’. My attention would instantly gain full focus when something of significance would cross the wire or be brought in by courier. Same thing happens here. I’m doing the laundry, typing, have msnbc on, and listening to La Traviata. I know instantly when the dryer turns-off—simultaneously grieving for Kumcho.
Pat, profound condolences to you at Rob’s loss. People here in Columbia, home of the University of South Carolina, were both outraged and saddened by Annapolis. Sebring’s rapid police response with an armored vehicle attracted a different audience. My focus was on the senselessly cruel murder of the five women.
Mr Flatus,
Damn, I wish I could multi-task the way you do. Once again, I am amazed and awed.
Flatus – thank you. I expected this type of event and planned for it, actually planned for at three months out. My only concern would be recalled to work in the office without pay. That eats up a lot on fuel costs. The only good thing for those who had to drive in is that the economy is slowing down and the price of petrol was low.
BB, Somehow, this music seems appropriate:
flatus, passing your condolences on to carl hiaasen for the loss of his brother rob.
thanks for your kind words earlier re the posts. glad they are of value or at least entertaining.
speaking of entertaining or at least informative (especially the cuckolding episode), earlier this month from vanity fair:
“It Was Camelot on Steroids”: Trump, Marla, the Beach Romp, Anti-Semitism, and the Epic Battle for Mar-a-Lago
–Back in the mid-90s, Trump was a nearly bankrupt grifter who fell in love—with a beachfront resort. In order to save Mar-a-Lago, he took on Palm Beach, went to war with the National Enquirer, and race-baited. It was the fight of his life, according to the author of Mar-a-Lago: Inside the Gates of Power at Donald Trump’s Presidential Palace, and it may have informed everything that came after.–
During the 1980s,Donald Trump had strutted across the American landscape, boastful, flamboyant, the Liberace of real estate. But by the early 90s, he was so over-leveraged that when one piece after another of his holdings did not perform at a high enough level to service his massive debt, the whole jerry-built empire began to totter. He bankrupted both Trump’s Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City and the Plaza Hotel in New York, and was close to losing the heavily mortgaged Mar-a-Lago.
“Trump loved Mar-a-Lago so much that he was willing to do almost anything to hold on to it,” says his former Palm Beach lawyer Paul Rampell. [continues]
pogo, tho’t you’d find the bishop’s anti-trump take interesting. maybe mrs. pogo would even more so.
the hill: Kentucky bishop argues wearing MAGA hats not ‘pro-life’
A Kentucky Catholic bishop argued that the Covington Catholic high school students at the center of a recent viral controversy after their confrontation with a Native American activist sparked outrage cannot be “pro-life” while supporting a president “who denigrates the lives of immigrants.”
Lexington Bishop John Stowe wrote in an op-ed this week that as the leader of the Catholic Church in the 50 counties of Central and Eastern Kentucky he joins “the Diocese of Covington and other Catholic leaders in apologizing” for the actions of the group of Catholic students over the viral confrontation following their involvement with the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.
“I am ashamed that the actions of Kentucky Catholic high school students have become a contradiction of the very reverence for human life that the march is supposed to manifest,” he continued. “As such, I believe that U.S. Catholics must take a look at how our support of the fundamental right to life has become separated from the even more basic truth of the dignity of each human person.”
Stowe went on to say, without trying to place “blame entirely on these adolescents” involved in the viral controversy, that he was astonished to see that “any students participating in a pro-life activity on behalf of their school and their Catholic faith could be wearing apparel sporting the slogans of a president who denigrates the lives of immigrants, refugees and people from countries that he describes with indecent words and haphazardly endangers with life-threatening policies.”
“We cannot uncritically ally ourselves with someone with whom we share the policy goal of ending abortion,” he continued. “I doubt that it is only these students who are not aware that the pro-life movement got its start among peace activists who saw their opposition to abortion as a natural extension of opposition to all forms of violence.”
“The pro-life movement claims that it wants more than the policy change of making abortion illegal, but aims to make it unthinkable,” Stowe added. “That would require deep changes in society and policies that would support those who find it difficult to afford children. The association of our young people with racist acts and a politics of hate must also become unthinkable.”
[continues]
wapo:
Trump’s golf course employed undocumented workers — and then fired them amid showdown over border wall
OSSINING, N.Y — They had spent years on the staff of Donald Trump’s golf club, winning employee-of-the-month awards and receiving glowing letters of recommendation.
Some were trusted enough to hold the keys to Eric Trump’s weekend home. They were experienced enough to know that when Donald Trump ordered chicken wings they were to serve him two orders on one plate.
But on Jan. 18, about a dozen employees at Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, N.Y., were summoned, one by one, to talk with a human resources executive from Trump headquarters.
During the meetings, they were fired because they are undocumented immigrants, according to interviews with the workers and their attorney. The fired workers are from Latin America.
The sudden firings — which were previously unreported — follow last year’s revelations of undocumented labor at a Trump club in New Jersey, where employees were subsequently dismissed. The firings show Trump’s business was relying on undocumented workers even as the president demanded a border wall to keep out such immigrants.
[…]
The mass firings at the New York golf club — which workers said eliminated about half of the club’s wintertime staff — follow a story in the New York Times last year that featured an undocumented worker at another Trump club in Bedminster, N.J. After that story, Trump’s company fired undocumented workers at the Bedminster club, according to former workers there.
[…]
The firings highlight a stark tension between Trump’s public stance on immigration and the private conduct of Trump’s business.
In public, Trump has argued that undocumented immigrants have harmed American workers by driving down wages. That was part of why Trump demanded a border wall and contemplated declaring a national emergency to get it.
But, in Westchester County, Trump seems to have benefited from the same dynamic he denounces. His undocumented workers said they provided Trump with cheap labor. In return, they got steady work and few questions.
“They said absolutely nothing. They never said, ‘Your social security number is bad’ or ‘Something is wrong,’ ” said Margarita Cruz, a housekeeping employee from Mexico who was fired after eight years at the club. “Nothing. Nothing. Until right now.”
[…]
To document the firings at the golf course, The Washington Post spoke with 16 current and former workers at the course — which sits among ritzy homes in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., 27 miles north of Manhattan. Post reporters met with former employees for hours of interviews in a cramped apartment in Ossining, N.Y., a hardscrabble town next door, whose chief landmark is the Sing Sing state prison.
[…]
The interviews were organized by an attorney, Anibal Romero, who is also representing undocumented workers from Trump’s club in Bedminster.
The Trump Organization has shown “a pattern and practice of hiring undocumented immigrants, not only in New Jersey, but also in New York,” Romero said. “We are demanding a full and thorough investigation from federal authorities.”
The workers were largely from Mexico, with a few from other countries. Most said they crossed the United States’ southern border on foot and purchased fake immigration documents later. Many bought theirs in Queens, N.Y.
They said Trump Organization bosses did not seem to scrutinize these documents closely when they were hired.
[continues]
Question for the lawyers (xrep, pogo):
What would be the time-frame for charges to be brought against someone who commits witness-intimidation who isn’t the POTUS?
I ask because we all saw Trump threaten and intimiadate Michael Cohen, explicitly, on Twitter, a couple of weeks ago. Will he ever be charged?
You’re an inspiration, Flatus- here’s to you and the Mrs.
Bink, the statute of limitations for federal felonies is 5 years from the date of the offense.
Btw, that info about the trump courses- when they filed the W-3 or 1096 – if they did not report the wages paid or taxes withheld the employer committed a felony. Probably too much to hope for.
Flatus – a love that lasts forever is a great love. I am so happy to know you and your love for Kumcho.
Patd, good to see at least on member of the Catholic hierarchy call out the fundamental contradiction between SFB and the Catholic Church. The pro life angle- aside from the anti-abortion issue- is just one inconsistent position between Catholic teaching and trump doctrine. The priest who ok’d Mrs. P’s re-entry into the church following her foray through the Presbyterian church and divorce from a non Catholic used to piss off the well heeled church members regularly with his admonitions against the trappings of wealth, failure to follow the teachings of Jesus and the like. He was a good guy.
“the statute of limitations for federal felonies is 5 years from the date of the offense.” -pogo
Thanks for that, good to know. I understand there is probably no awswer, but i’m wondering how long before a typical offender of witness intimidation would be processed and charged.
Dude commited a crime, in plain sight, on a public forum. Impeach, censure, exile.
Bink, the answer to that question would vary from crime to crime and criminal to criminal based on the FBI focus on them.
In an emailed statement, Eric Trump said, “We are making a broad effort to identify any employee who has given false and fraudulent documents to unlawfully gain employment. Where identified, any individual will be terminated immediately.”
He added that it is one of the reasons “my father is fighting so hard for immigration reform. The system is broken.”
Eric Trump did not respond to specific questions about how many undocumented workers had been fired at other Trump properties and whether the company had, in the past, made similar audits of its employees’ immigration paperwork. He also did not answer whether executives had previously been aware that they employed undocumented workers.
It’s taken them 15 years and disclosure of their obvious hypocrisy, along with a realization that they can inflict more pain on more brown people to cause them to try and correct their illegal hiring practices. I say “campaign ad.”
See, Bink, the question that comes to my mind is under what circumstances the statute of limitations can be tolled. Although I think it gets more and more unlikely that SFB will ever serve a 2nd term, if it does occur that question will become critical – as will the issue of sealed indictments.
The Post article continues.
This Trump golf club does not appear in the government’s list of participants in the E-Verify system, which allows employers to confirm their employees are in the country legally. Eric Trump did not answer a question about whether the club would join the system.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.
The firings highlight a stark tension between Trump’s public stance on immigration and the private conduct of Trump’s business.
In public, Trump has argued that undocumented immigrants have harmed American workers by driving down wages. That was part of why Trump demanded a border wall and contemplated declaring a national emergency to get it.
But, in Westchester County, Trump seems to have benefited from the same dynamic he denounces. His undocumented workers said they provided Trump with cheap labor. In return, they got steady work and few questions.
“They said absolutely nothing. They never said, ‘Your social security number is bad’ or ‘Something is wrong,’ ” said Margarita Cruz, a housekeeping employee from Mexico who was fired after eight years at the club. “Nothing. Nothing. Until right now.
Now about that statute of limitations…
I was a criminal investigator, not an attorney. I wasn’t much interested in civil or administrative law in my youth. For instance, contracts put me to sleep.
While I never worked on presidential crimes, I think that some of the trump crimes have already been indicted and placed under seal. Theoretically the statute of limitations clock would stop during trump’s term of office and ‘immunity from prosecution’, if one believes in executive immunity, as soon as the indictment came down from the Grand Jury.
I don’t believe in executive immunity. MY theory demands that the statute of limitations clock continues to run until 5 years have elapsed from the discovery of the crime. At that time, the criminal president is freed from the threat of prosecution. Theoretically.
Thank you, gentlemen.
x-r, yeah, those contracts treatises were better than counting sheep. by selecting the most boring 100 pages of legalese assigned each night to bedtime reading, I never suffered insomnia during those otherwise stressful and perturbing 3 years. a lot of weekend drinking helped too.
https://youtu.be/IQIR2hIjCLs
Constitution aside, he got beat by a girl. Of course it’s not just any girl. I can’t imagine that he can reconcile that any way but denying that he got beat. I’d suggest he get used to it. After all, Nancy has his balls in her hand.
The Post’s view:
The shutdown was proof of Trump’s stark incapacity for leadership
wapo:
Another Pulitzer-winning cartoonist has been shown the door.
Steve Benson was laid off Wednesday by his longtime employer, the Arizona Republic, as part of larger cuts by the Gannett company. He had been at the paper nearly four decades, winning the Pulitzer in 1993 and being named a finalist for the prize four times.
The layoff represents the latest spasm of shrinking among staff editorial cartoonists — who numbered in the hundreds several decades ago, but now have dwindled to dozens.
[…]
“This is a worrisome trend,” Benson told The Washington Post on Friday. “Cartoonists are canaries in the coal mine — and we draw darned good canaries. This is a foreshadowing of more to come.”
Salt Lake Tribune cartoonist Patrick Bagley, Benson’s former Brigham Young University classmate, issued a strong response to the layoff.
“Steve’s dismissal is not only a crime to journalism and Arizona, but to the future viability of the Republic,” Bagley wrote in a statement, speaking as president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, adding: “The Gannett newspaper chain just shot itself in the foot.”
(Gannett did not respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment.)
On Thursday, the Arizona Republic published an op-ed — written by the paper’s editorial page director, executive editor and a news director — celebrating Benson’s long and illustrious career there and suggesting some of the paper’s leaders didn’t necessarily agree with Gannett’s decision. “Editorial cartoonists are increasingly rare in American newsrooms; those with the punch and talent of a Benson are still rarer,” they wrote.
Their send-off notes that Benson sparked controversies through his cartoons, first making a name for himself in the 1980s by lampooning former Arizona governor Evan Mecham, a prominent Mormon. (Benson is a grandson of former Mormon Church president Ezra Taft Benson.)
Benson, who began his post-college career drawing for a Republican Party publication, had especially pilloried Trump and Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh in more recent months, the piece noted.
[continues]
could this be one of the reasons?
or this maybe?
another benson masterpiece
Goodness, Maher is so gratuitously gross
flatus, sorry, meant to warn y’all about that.
maher also had coulter on but I was reluctant to post the interview and provoke the ire of the trail by compounding dislike of him with her twattle too.
When it comes to Coulter, one can only tolerate just so much of the anorexic evil babble.
ny times:
During the 2016 presidential campaign and transition, Donald J. Trump and at least 17 campaign officials and advisers had contacts with Russian nationals and WikiLeaks, or their intermediaries, a New York Times analysis has found. At least 10 other associates were told about interactions but did not have any themselves.
Knowledge of these interactions is based on New York Times reporting, documents submitted to Congress, and court records and accusations related to the special counsel investigating foreign interference in the election.
Among these contacts are more than 100 in-person meetings, phone calls, text messages, emails and private messages on Twitter. Mr. Trump and his campaign repeatedly denied having such contacts with Russians during the 2016 election.
The special counsel has also investigated connections between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks, which released thousands of Democratic emails that were hacked by Russia before the election.
[large chart compiling all contacts]
Donald J. Trump at least 6 contacts [chart]
Aras Agalarov, a Russian billionaire who hosted a Miss Universe pageant with Mr. Trump in Moscow, and the billionaire’s son, Emin, reached out to Mr. Trump several times. (Separately, both men helped arrange the now-famous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-linked attorney about getting information that could be damaging to Hillary Clinton.) Mr. Trump was also pursuing a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Michael D. Cohen at least 17 contacts [chart]
Mr. Cohen was deeply involved in the plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. His partner in the effort was Felix Sater, a Trump business associate with deep contacts in Russia. Mr. Cohen admitted lying to Congress about the duration of the project’s discussions and the extent of Mr. Trump’s involvement in them. And Mr. Cohen is also now known to have met with a Russian oligarch on a separate matter.
Donald Trump Jr. at least 17 contacts [chart]
Mr. Trump Jr. had various contacts with Russians and a Russian intermediary regarding the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, as well as the possibility of setting up a campaign page on a Russian social media site. He also exchanged private messages with WikiLeaks.
George Papadopoulos at least 12 contacts [chart]
Mr. Papadopoulos had multiple contacts with Russian operatives who said they wanted to arrange meetings between Mr. Trump, or his campaign, and Mr. Putin, or Mr. Putin’s staff members. He frequently told campaign officials about these conversations. He pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about these contacts.
Paul Manafort at least 6 Russian contacts [chart]
Mr. Manafort had multiple contacts with Konstantin V. Kilimnik, a longtime business associate tied to Russian intelligence, during the period of time he served on the campaign. He had political polling data shared with Mr. Kilimnik and told him he could offer private campaign briefings to a Russian oligarch. He also attended the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting.
Michael T. Flynn at least 5 contacts [chart]
During the transition, Mr. Flynn had several conversations with Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States at the time, about Russian sanctions and about blocking an impending United Nations vote criticizing Israeli settlements.
Jared Kushner at least 6 contacts [chart]
Mr. Kushner met with Mr. Kislyak during the transition and discussed opening a communications channel with Russian officials. He also attended the Trump Tower meeting.
Roger J. Stone Jr. at least 18 contacts [chart]
Mr. Stone sold himself to the campaign as a conduit of inside information from WikiLeaks. In an indictment unsealed on Jan. 25, the special counsel disclosed evidence that a top campaign official dispatched Mr. Stone to get information from WikiLeaks about the thousands of hacked Democratic emails.
Pat, your unremitting campaign in sharing knowledge among us mere mortals brings calls for hosannas, never reproach.
I thought Coulter was kinda tame compared to her usual antics. Rick told me he really didn’t want to watch her… but did because I did. He usually gets upset by her. This time he said she was just a clown. I said… yes, but a toothless clown… he agreed.
Last week Maher had on Eric Erickson of The Red State blog. He’s usually aggressively defending the gop… but last week he obviously didn’t like trump and had little to say.
Methinks the gop defenders know their party is in trouble and they don’t quite know what to do about it.
i come for the patd, and stay for the xrep.
i could go for some sturgeone or Blonde Wino, also, but if they’re happy not participating, then i’m happy that they’re happy.
Bianca, the dog.
this villainy will surely cause outrage. woe is he who threatens the innocent, the cute and elderly dog.
business insider:
Roger Stone allegedly threatened to kidnap a witness’s therapy dog
[…]
In April 2018, communication between the two escalated. “You are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends — run your mouth. My lawyers are dying,” Stone wrote to them, according to the indictment. “Rip you to shreds.”
According to the indictment, Stone continued, saying he would “take that dog away from you,” which the indictment notes was “referring to Person 2’s dog.”
“I am so ready,” Stone said. “Let’s get it on. Prepare to die [expletive].”
daily beast:
On April 9, 2018, Roger Stone sent an email that would play a role in his future arrest. Though it wasn’t the only reason he was hauled into a Florida courtroom on Friday morning, Special Counsel Robert Mueller quoted portions of it in his indictment of the Trump ally—an indictment that shook Washington and added an absurdist edge to the Mueller probe.
The email, which The Daily Beast obtained before a grand jury indicted Stone on several charges, shows just how irate Stone was about an acquaintance, Randy Credico. The exchange began when Credico emailed a group of people on the evening of April 9, 2018, about what he called an upcoming “media tour.”
“It’s the “RANDY IS FULL OF SHIT “ tour Co- sponsored by Jack Daniels and Pablo Escobar,” Stone replied.
In another email, about an upcoming Credico appearance on MSNBC, Stone speculated that he would be able to sue Credico over comments he might make.
“Send me your address,” Stone wrote. “I bet I can get you served in a lawsuit the very next morning.”
“Remember to bathe,” he added.
Another email included more invective.
“When I wipe my ass what’s on the toilet paper is worth more than You are,” Stone wrote.
“Your threats are a violation of state and federal law,” Credico replied.
Then Stone sent the email Mueller would quote portions of.
“I know u are a dumb shit but read the Constitution,” he wrote.
I have a constitutional right to call you a lightweight pantywaist cocksucker drunk asshole piece of shit and I just did
You are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends-run your mouth my lawyers are dying Rip you to shreds
I’m going to take that dog away from you. Not a fucking thing you can do about it either because you are a weak broke piece of shit
I will prove to the world you’re a liar
“You don’t have a constitutional right to threaten me and especially not threaten my dog… you crossed a red line,” Credico retorted. Stone had threatened to steal his service dog.
“Rot in hell,” Stone replied.
A month later, they had another semi-incomprehensible exchange that included accusations of drug abuse and financial problems. Stone emailed Credico, “I will piss on your grave.”
A few weeks after that later, Stone and Credico had another dramatic exchange.
“You are a pathetic loser,” Stone wrote on May 21. “Let’s see who’s around a year from now and who isn’t cocksucker”
“Another one of your threats,” Credico replied.
“Not a threat. A prediction. How you feeling champ ?” Roger replied.
The Daily Beast shared screenshots of the emails with Stone’s lawyer, Grant Smith. When asked if he had any comment, Smith replied, “No.”
After publication, Smith said Mueller was misusing the emails.
“You are presenting things that are completely out of context with a decades long relationship,” he texted. “These two people talk like that to one another for years and years, it is nothing unusual and it certainly does not rise to the level of what the special counsel’s office charged.”
Martin Stolar, a lawyer for Credico, declined to comment. “Randy will make public statements concerning the indictment if and when he’s called to testify.” he said.
[…]
As those probes unfolded, Stone grew increasingly agitated. He told reporters he expected to be charged, and he lambasted Mueller for running a witch hunt. A few days before his indictment, he texted The Daily Beast to say he would expose monstrous misconduct by Mueller’s team if indicted.
On Friday morning, it was clear Stone’s actions after Mueller’s probe started had created his most immediate legal problems. The indictment alleges that he lied to Congress about his communications with Credico and another associate, Jerome Corsi; that he obstructed an official proceeding; and that he tampered with an unnamed witness, known to be Credico. And it cites the email printed above as one example of a statement “intended to prevent Person 2 from cooperating with the investigations.”
That’s how a foul-mouthed exchange that reads like it’s written on the wall of a dive-bar bathroom found its way into what’s arguably the most geopolitically consequential criminal investigation in decades.
Looking forward to Cohen’s testimony before Congress
Well, day one of being on duty to be paid, the previous days I was on duty to be recalled to work without pay, the idea to keep us from drifting off to remote locations with little communications or airports. I looked over the maps and checked my cellphone, and I was there, but at least in the US not somewhere in Kenya.
A major change in attitude has occurred with a few of the republican right, they learned that if the government is shutdown they can get most things done during the first week. Less each week, and after a month the place starts to close. Want to fly, sorry. Want your tax return, sorry. Also, those who watched channels other than faux snooze, learned that TSA agents are poorly paid, unable to pay for gas to go stand for hours trying to keep bad things from happening in the skies.
The far right trumpists still want a huge massive wall to keep the rabid caravan from invading. Where I was in NE Virginia suggested these people think the caravan will build a caravan to sail up the Chesapeake Bay.
BB, as I said before I’m prepared to tighten my belt to keep you fed or protected from losing assets that you worked years to procure and make serviceable.
Thank heaven our national nightmare is over, for now.
But, who knows what evil lurks within the heart of trump, miller, and putin.
Their best may be yet to come.
Btw, my tolerance for clichés and wildly mixed metaphors is eroding under a constant bombardment by CNN and MSNBC gusty guests.
Mr Bink, I am honored to be one of the attractions here. I like you, too.
My take on stone’s email to randy is that roger needs a therapy dog. Or maybe, a vast herd of therapy maggots.
this time a very serious carl Hiaasen:
Another mass shooting took place in Florida last week, though the story was a relative blip in the national news stream.
Apparently, bigger things were happening.
Trump and Pelosi were fussing about his State of the Union speech. Rudy Giuliani was blubbering like your confused uncle who keeps misplacing his meds.
And one of the freakishly fertile Kardashians announced that – brace yourself — she’s preggo again.
Mass shootings occur so often that it’s hard to keep up. Is it still major news when a whack job with a gun walks into a small-town bank and executes five innocent people?
God help us if this is what we’ve become — numb to homegrown slaughter, unless the body count hits double digits.
[…]
We know the basic script, always baffling and infuriating. The key variable is the number of victims — the higher the death toll, the longer we pay attention.
That’s how the media play mass-shooting stories these days, by the numbers. It both reflects and reinforces a collective state of resignation, as if we’re all too weary to be outraged.
Unless you happen to know someone who gets murdered.
Last summer, my brother Rob was killed on the job, at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland. Some guy with an old grudge against the paper charged into the newsroom with a shotgun and started firing.
Including Rob, the final death count was five — the same toll as the Sebring killings last week. However, the Capital Gazette tragedy got much more time on cable news and the networks because the shooter had targeted journalists.
My brother would want me to write, in the strongest words, that what happened at the SunTrust bank is every bit as horrifying, heartbreaking and newsworthy as what happened in his newsroom in Annapolis.
[…]
True, it’s just one more replay of a familiar societal horror, a prelude to the inevitable next mass shooting.
Yet even though the toll this time didn’t reach double digits, every crime like this deserves more than a resigned shrug or a grim shake of the head. Ask the many families, including mine, who will be haunted by these headlines forever.
The story isn’t the number of coffins. The story is the monstrous act itself, and why it keeps happening over and over.
XR, brush-up on your selective hearing. I’ve sat in command pose environments with their constant drivel/dribble of insignificant ‘noise’. My attention would instantly gain full focus when something of significance would cross the wire or be brought in by courier. Same thing happens here. I’m doing the laundry, typing, have msnbc on, and listening to La Traviata. I know instantly when the dryer turns-off—simultaneously grieving for Kumcho.
Pat, profound condolences to you at Rob’s loss. People here in Columbia, home of the University of South Carolina, were both outraged and saddened by Annapolis. Sebring’s rapid police response with an armored vehicle attracted a different audience. My focus was on the senselessly cruel murder of the five women.
Mr Flatus,
Damn, I wish I could multi-task the way you do. Once again, I am amazed and awed.
Flatus – thank you. I expected this type of event and planned for it, actually planned for at three months out. My only concern would be recalled to work in the office without pay. That eats up a lot on fuel costs. The only good thing for those who had to drive in is that the economy is slowing down and the price of petrol was low.
BB, Somehow, this music seems appropriate:
flatus, passing your condolences on to carl hiaasen for the loss of his brother rob.
thanks for your kind words earlier re the posts. glad they are of value or at least entertaining.
speaking of entertaining or at least informative (especially the cuckolding episode), earlier this month from vanity fair:
“It Was Camelot on Steroids”: Trump, Marla, the Beach Romp, Anti-Semitism, and the Epic Battle for Mar-a-Lago
–Back in the mid-90s, Trump was a nearly bankrupt grifter who fell in love—with a beachfront resort. In order to save Mar-a-Lago, he took on Palm Beach, went to war with the National Enquirer, and race-baited. It was the fight of his life, according to the author of Mar-a-Lago: Inside the Gates of Power at Donald Trump’s Presidential Palace, and it may have informed everything that came after.–
During the 1980s, Donald Trump had strutted across the American landscape, boastful, flamboyant, the Liberace of real estate. But by the early 90s, he was so over-leveraged that when one piece after another of his holdings did not perform at a high enough level to service his massive debt, the whole jerry-built empire began to totter. He bankrupted both Trump’s Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City and the Plaza Hotel in New York, and was close to losing the heavily mortgaged Mar-a-Lago.
“Trump loved Mar-a-Lago so much that he was willing to do almost anything to hold on to it,” says his former Palm Beach lawyer Paul Rampell. [continues]
pogo, tho’t you’d find the bishop’s anti-trump take interesting. maybe mrs. pogo would even more so.
the hill: Kentucky bishop argues wearing MAGA hats not ‘pro-life’
A Kentucky Catholic bishop argued that the Covington Catholic high school students at the center of a recent viral controversy after their confrontation with a Native American activist sparked outrage cannot be “pro-life” while supporting a president “who denigrates the lives of immigrants.”
Lexington Bishop John Stowe wrote in an op-ed this week that as the leader of the Catholic Church in the 50 counties of Central and Eastern Kentucky he joins “the Diocese of Covington and other Catholic leaders in apologizing” for the actions of the group of Catholic students over the viral confrontation following their involvement with the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.
“I am ashamed that the actions of Kentucky Catholic high school students have become a contradiction of the very reverence for human life that the march is supposed to manifest,” he continued. “As such, I believe that U.S. Catholics must take a look at how our support of the fundamental right to life has become separated from the even more basic truth of the dignity of each human person.”
Stowe went on to say, without trying to place “blame entirely on these adolescents” involved in the viral controversy, that he was astonished to see that “any students participating in a pro-life activity on behalf of their school and their Catholic faith could be wearing apparel sporting the slogans of a president who denigrates the lives of immigrants, refugees and people from countries that he describes with indecent words and haphazardly endangers with life-threatening policies.”
“We cannot uncritically ally ourselves with someone with whom we share the policy goal of ending abortion,” he continued. “I doubt that it is only these students who are not aware that the pro-life movement got its start among peace activists who saw their opposition to abortion as a natural extension of opposition to all forms of violence.”
“The pro-life movement claims that it wants more than the policy change of making abortion illegal, but aims to make it unthinkable,” Stowe added. “That would require deep changes in society and policies that would support those who find it difficult to afford children. The association of our young people with racist acts and a politics of hate must also become unthinkable.”
[continues]
wapo:
Trump’s golf course employed undocumented workers — and then fired them amid showdown over border wall
OSSINING, N.Y — They had spent years on the staff of Donald Trump’s golf club, winning employee-of-the-month awards and receiving glowing letters of recommendation.
Some were trusted enough to hold the keys to Eric Trump’s weekend home. They were experienced enough to know that when Donald Trump ordered chicken wings they were to serve him two orders on one plate.
But on Jan. 18, about a dozen employees at Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, N.Y., were summoned, one by one, to talk with a human resources executive from Trump headquarters.
During the meetings, they were fired because they are undocumented immigrants, according to interviews with the workers and their attorney. The fired workers are from Latin America.
The sudden firings — which were previously unreported — follow last year’s revelations of undocumented labor at a Trump club in New Jersey, where employees were subsequently dismissed. The firings show Trump’s business was relying on undocumented workers even as the president demanded a border wall to keep out such immigrants.
[…]
The mass firings at the New York golf club — which workers said eliminated about half of the club’s wintertime staff — follow a story in the New York Times last year that featured an undocumented worker at another Trump club in Bedminster, N.J. After that story, Trump’s company fired undocumented workers at the Bedminster club, according to former workers there.
[…]
The firings highlight a stark tension between Trump’s public stance on immigration and the private conduct of Trump’s business.
In public, Trump has argued that undocumented immigrants have harmed American workers by driving down wages. That was part of why Trump demanded a border wall and contemplated declaring a national emergency to get it.
But, in Westchester County, Trump seems to have benefited from the same dynamic he denounces. His undocumented workers said they provided Trump with cheap labor. In return, they got steady work and few questions.
“They said absolutely nothing. They never said, ‘Your social security number is bad’ or ‘Something is wrong,’ ” said Margarita Cruz, a housekeeping employee from Mexico who was fired after eight years at the club. “Nothing. Nothing. Until right now.”
[…]
To document the firings at the golf course, The Washington Post spoke with 16 current and former workers at the course — which sits among ritzy homes in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., 27 miles north of Manhattan. Post reporters met with former employees for hours of interviews in a cramped apartment in Ossining, N.Y., a hardscrabble town next door, whose chief landmark is the Sing Sing state prison.
[…]
The interviews were organized by an attorney, Anibal Romero, who is also representing undocumented workers from Trump’s club in Bedminster.
The Trump Organization has shown “a pattern and practice of hiring undocumented immigrants, not only in New Jersey, but also in New York,” Romero said. “We are demanding a full and thorough investigation from federal authorities.”
The workers were largely from Mexico, with a few from other countries. Most said they crossed the United States’ southern border on foot and purchased fake immigration documents later. Many bought theirs in Queens, N.Y.
They said Trump Organization bosses did not seem to scrutinize these documents closely when they were hired.
[continues]
Question for the lawyers (xrep, pogo):
What would be the time-frame for charges to be brought against someone who commits witness-intimidation who isn’t the POTUS?
I ask because we all saw Trump threaten and intimiadate Michael Cohen, explicitly, on Twitter, a couple of weeks ago. Will he ever be charged?
You’re an inspiration, Flatus- here’s to you and the Mrs.
Bink, the statute of limitations for federal felonies is 5 years from the date of the offense.
Btw, that info about the trump courses- when they filed the W-3 or 1096 – if they did not report the wages paid or taxes withheld the employer committed a felony. Probably too much to hope for.
Flatus – a love that lasts forever is a great love. I am so happy to know you and your love for Kumcho.
Patd, good to see at least on member of the Catholic hierarchy call out the fundamental contradiction between SFB and the Catholic Church. The pro life angle- aside from the anti-abortion issue- is just one inconsistent position between Catholic teaching and trump doctrine. The priest who ok’d Mrs. P’s re-entry into the church following her foray through the Presbyterian church and divorce from a non Catholic used to piss off the well heeled church members regularly with his admonitions against the trappings of wealth, failure to follow the teachings of Jesus and the like. He was a good guy.
“the statute of limitations for federal felonies is 5 years from the date of the offense.” -pogo
Thanks for that, good to know. I understand there is probably no awswer, but i’m wondering how long before a typical offender of witness intimidation would be processed and charged.
Dude commited a crime, in plain sight, on a public forum. Impeach, censure, exile.
Bink, the answer to that question would vary from crime to crime and criminal to criminal based on the FBI focus on them.
WAPO has a very good article about the trump properties hiring & firing of undocumented workers.
Sez Eric:
It’s taken them 15 years and disclosure of their obvious hypocrisy, along with a realization that they can inflict more pain on more brown people to cause them to try and correct their illegal hiring practices. I say “campaign ad.”
See, Bink, the question that comes to my mind is under what circumstances the statute of limitations can be tolled. Although I think it gets more and more unlikely that SFB will ever serve a 2nd term, if it does occur that question will become critical – as will the issue of sealed indictments.
The Post article continues.
Now about that statute of limitations…
I was a criminal investigator, not an attorney. I wasn’t much interested in civil or administrative law in my youth. For instance, contracts put me to sleep.
While I never worked on presidential crimes, I think that some of the trump crimes have already been indicted and placed under seal. Theoretically the statute of limitations clock would stop during trump’s term of office and ‘immunity from prosecution’, if one believes in executive immunity, as soon as the indictment came down from the Grand Jury.
I don’t believe in executive immunity. MY theory demands that the statute of limitations clock continues to run until 5 years have elapsed from the discovery of the crime. At that time, the criminal president is freed from the threat of prosecution. Theoretically.
Thank you, gentlemen.
x-r, yeah, those contracts treatises were better than counting sheep. by selecting the most boring 100 pages of legalese assigned each night to bedtime reading, I never suffered insomnia during those otherwise stressful and perturbing 3 years. a lot of weekend drinking helped too.