Attribution: Living under a rock by John Darkow, Columbia Missourian
Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
late night comics’ theme last night seems to be “snooze it, you lose it”
Stephen has a new accountant, the former president’s criminal trial kicked off in New York City, and Billy Joel fans were left in shock when a broadcast of the artist’s concert came to an abrupt end on Sunday night.
and
The first criminal trial against Donald Trump is underway, he is trying every way he can to get out of it including his son Barron’s High School graduation, he appeared to be sleeping in the courtroom, he was in Shnecksville, PA on Saturday where he gave a broken-headed interpretation of what happened at Gettysburg during the Civil War, Jimmy breaks down his speech using the chalkboard, thirteen minutes after his trial started he posted several different videos boasting about winning his own golf tournament, the Golden Bachelor and his bride are headed for divorce after just three months of marriage, and in honor of Tax Day it’s time for our second annual “Last Minute Tax Day Deduction Parade.”
peer as in one’s own peers
Webster’s def. 1
Olbermann:
Don Snoreleone
…don’t need an OJ trial-style media blitz over this, gonna keep my eyes on the prize
(much more interested in this DWAC chicanery, guy can’t not break the law 😆)
vote blue, bring so many friends
Slava Ukraine
Word on the street is that the kid’s graduation is May 17 and court won’t be in session
Trump is whining about missing his son’s graduation. It would have been the first time he attended any of his kids’ graduations.
He actually skipped high school graduations for all of his children:
“Who will explain for me, to my wonderful son…”
I think that’s The Prosecution’s job, right? They’re pretty good at explaining things like that.
My first read of the day: This paragraph is spot on, about how today’s Republican Party is all about power over persuasion:
A whole slew of Gallup polls … Some are even interesting:
Commander-in-Character: Biden vs. Trump (gallup.com)
Perfect line I just saw on X:
Above is from a Trump email claiming he “stormed out” of the courtroom. I guess this lie is his way of countering reports he actually fell asleep.
John Cleese
@JohnCleese (X)
I am puzzled
Some days ago I saw a part of a very recent Trump speech, when he rambled on about Cary Grant in a swimsuit. Then I saw him wittering on about Gettysburg, without uttering a coherent thought. Why are the media not discussing the fact that he has completely lost it?
8:40 AM · Apr 16, 2024
Ok, if “waddled” equals “stormed”.
Mel Brooks tells the Cary Grant story.
He does! Jails are full of people who exercised that right.
The world is not interested in the storms you encountered, but did you bring in the ship?”
— William McFee
There’s bound to be at least one corrupt juror, just like there was bound to be one corrupt judge.
This again. Judges are not buying the “President Trump” title.
DAY TWO begins:
Lawyer intro’s his client Trump as “President Trump”
Judge interjects: “Mr. Trump”
We are not afraid of storms. We are the storm. — Women voting in ROEvember
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/prosecutors-ask-judge-to-fine-trump-3000-over-social-media-posts-calling-out-witnesses
“Prosecutors have asked Judge Juan M. Merchan to fine Donald Trump $3,000 over three social media posts they say violated a gag order that bars Trump from commenting on witnesses.”
“Last week, Trump used his Truth Social platform to call two important witnesses — his former lawyer Michael Cohen and the adult film actor Stormy Daniels — “two sleaze bags who have, with their lies and misrepresentations, cost our Country dearly!”
“Prosecutors also called for Trump to be ordered to take down the “offending” posts.”
oops, forgot jon stewart’s take
Jon Stewart unpacks Iran launching missiles at Israel and resident Civil War historian Donald Trump claiming to be the solution. Plus, with Trump’s criminal trial beginning, Desi Lydic, Ronny Chieng, and Josh Johnson go head-to-head to decide which persecuted martyr he resembles most.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/15/trump-truth-social-hush-money-trial
“Trump’s Truth Social page keeps on posting as ex-president appears in court”
“His Truth Social page is putting up new posts minute by minute, full of boasts about Trump or complaints about the charges he faces in this case and others.”
It sounds like a new gag order is needed, to prevent Adolf’s assistant(s) to shut up.
I knew there was something off about those posts sometimes. We just discussed this last week.
if the value of trump stock is based at least partially on the perception that it is an outlet for that person’s unique voice, how will an intern posting on his personal account effect share price? 🤔
…and i wonder if any investors were presented with statements that aligned value with such a feature 🤔 🤔 🤔
Prosecutors file motion to hold Trump in contempt for allegedly violating gag order – live (theguardian.com)
TRUMP MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY GROUP CORP (DJT)
$24.01 (-9.77%)
Just 2 more potential jurors needed for the 18 to begin lawyer questioning. Fast-moving day so far
World’s cleanest nations
Cleanest Countries in the World 2024 (worldpopulationreview.com)
today’s meme….
One more reason women will cost him another election
Another courtroom reporter today: “Trump’s head slowly dropped, his eyes closed. It jerked back upward. He adjusts himself. Then, his head droops again. He straightens up, leaning back. His head doops for a third time, he shakes his shoulders. Eyes closed still. His head drops. Finally, he pops his eyes open.”
sturg, your 6:25 – Ba Dop Bop. You’ve got a million of ’em.
Now 22.73. Down 14.69% today so far. Getting close to foreclosing that $1B “bonus” he’s supposed to get if the stock stays above $14.70. Scam.
LOL, Renee‼️
“Bull-dozing” his way through jury selection?
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/16/politics/takeaways-supreme-court-january-6-rioters/index.html“The Supreme Court’s conservative majority indicated Tuesday that it may toss out a charge prosecutors have lodged against hundreds of people who took part in the January 6, 2021, riot on the US Capitol, a decision that could force the Justice Department to reopen some of those cases.”
“During over 90 minutes of arguments, most justices signaled concern with how the Justice Department is using the law enacted by Congress more than two decades ago in response to the Enron accounting scandal. Critics claimed the felony charge, which carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years, was intended to prevent evidence tampering – not an insurrection in support of a president who lost reelection.”
“The court’s decision, expected by July, could have significant ramifications for some 350 people who were charged with “obstructing” an official proceeding for their part in the Capitol attack – including more than 100 people who have already been convicted and received prison sentences.”
“The high court’s ruling could also affect the federal election subversion criminal case pending against former President Donald Trump, who was also charged with the obstruction crime.”
“The appeal was brought by a former Pennsylvania police officer, Joseph Fischer, who was charged with multiple crimes for pushing his way into the Capitol after attending Trump’s rally outside the White House on January 6. Fischer’s attorney told the justices that prosecutors overstepped by charging his client with what critics previously framed as an anti-shredding law.”
“Mostly absent from oral arguments Tuesday was recognition of the traumatic and deadly turn of events that took place just across the street from the Supreme Court three years ago after Trump ginned up a crowd with false claims of fraud and encouraged them to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell.”
Instead, the discussion turned largely on a technical and legalistic debate about the meaning of the words in the law – in particular the word “otherwise.”
“That 2002 law makes it a felony to “corruptly” alter, destroy or mutilate a record with the intent of making it unavailable for use in an “official proceeding,” or to “otherwise” obstruct, influence, or impede such a proceeding. Fischer argued that, taken together, the law was geared toward prohibiting records destruction.”
Oh, FFS!
“or to otherwise obstruct, influence, or impede”
SCOTUS is a sham because tRUMPsky infected it, and Putin is laughing!
Biden campaigning in PA today: “If Trump’s stock in his Truth Social company drops any lower, he might do better under my tax plan than his”
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/16/investing/trump-stock-djt-truth-social-streaming/index.html
“Trump’s stock tumbles again after Truth Social announces it’s getting into streaming”
“The streaming initiative didn’t give investors any reason to get enthused about the company. Truth Social said it spent the past six months testing its web, iPhone and iPad apps for live TV streaming, and it hopes to launch a content delivery network to stand up streaming apps for phones and tablets — and eventually smart TVs.”
“Truth Social suggested its streaming network could host live news, religious programing and family-friendly shows, movies and documentaries that “has been cancelled, is at risk of cancellation, or is being suppressed on other platforms and services.”
“.. TMTG CEO Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman for California in a statement. “There is a lot of great content that simply can’t find an audience for unjust reasons..”
Nobody wants what you’re selling, Comrade Nunes.
Streaming, now lessee, who else does that? Oh, wait, every media provider in the world. OK, according to Wiki (fount of all knowledge)
Now Dumbass got 74 million votes in 2020. Now if he has 4 million TS followers, that represents 5% more or less of the number of people who voted for him, and 4% of the number of Twitter followers he had. Looks like he’s got a soft underbelly when it comes to online support.
Judge telling seated jurors to return 9:30am Monday. Sounds like he expects to finish this week.
6 jurors now seated
Opening statements expected Monday, Justice Merchan says.
Tossing the Civil War chess set from a game table I salvaged. I turned Jeff Davis & General Lee into a pumpkin head & a poopyhead.
Media pool report: “Foreperson will be Juror B400, who lives in West Harlem but is originally from Ireland. Works in sales, previously as a waiter, some college education. Married. Spouse is in school. No children. Outdoorsy in spare time. Gets news from NYT, Daily Mail, some Fox and some MSNBC”
Oh good, judge is going to allow all the evidence of National Enquirer conspiracy with Trump, including the bogus articles that Cruz father involved in JFK assassination, and much more, such as the photoshopped bogus pictures of Hillary to make it look like she was sick and reporting she only had six months to live (which I well remember New York Post and FOX using but never retracting when it came out they were fake pics)
you should replace it with a Freedom Caucus vs. McCarthy Allies set
Take that chess set out to the firing range, It will give you some practice for the next civil war. Also you can sell the half you don’t use to some of your fellow Texans. Just pop a cap on ole Marse Robert’s head then start the bidding.
Jack
Jurors so far:
— Salesman with some college (watches Fox &MSNBC)
— Oncology nurse (watches MSNBC)
— Corporate lawyer (NYT, WSJ)
— IT business owner, Puerto Rican, finds Trump “fascinating, mysterious”
— Teacher, young African American woman, masters degree, did not know Trump faces other criminal charges
— Software engineer, recent college grad (Facebook, TikTok)
— Civil litigator
Okay, I am watching the briefer of a couple hours ago. The Governor of Maryland Wes Moore is doing the job. He is hitting everything out of the yard. Could a black man, who is bald naturally, win nationally?
Two of 7 are lawyers? Stop the presses.
I’d bet that anyone who says they watch Fox and MSNBC ten to one just watches Fox.
One is a corporate lawyer who isn’t really familiar with the charges? ~Yeah, right~
https://www.marketplace.org/2024/04/16/texas-electric-grid-is-feeling-the-strain-and-its-not-even-all-that-hot-yet/
“ERCOT, the Texas grid operator, is already worried about keeping the lights on.”
“The agency, formally the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, asked electricity suppliers not to schedule maintenance Tuesday for fear that temps in the 80s would strain the grid.”
“The issue, he said, is that power plants do annual maintenance in April. That takes thousands of megawatts offline, making it harder for the grid to handle a burst of heat.”
“Rhodes said climate change is shrinking those maintenance windows. “So that puts an additional strain on the system because these power plants, they do need to take these outages,” he said.
“That extra solar supply, which, of course comes when it’s sunny and when our air conditioners are running most, that provided the difference last summer,” said Daniel Cohan with Rice University.
“But the sun doesn’t always shine, and Texans’ energy demand keeps growing. Thanks to crypto mining, data centers, electric vehicles, manufacturing and more people moving to the state, energy consultant David Blackmon worries about having the right mix of sources.
“We don’t really have adequate battery capacity to store the wind and solar electricity when it’s generated midday,” he said.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/16/politics/trump-surrogates-vp-defense/index.html
“In recent days, the Trump campaign has circulated a document of talking points, obtained by CNN, to his allies, as well as directly booked surrogates on television as part of its effort to have the former president’s top allies “blanketing the airwaves,” as one senior Trump adviser described it.”
“Trump has told his advisers that he wants as much media coverage of his court appearances as possible – including having his supporters defend him on TV, sources familiar with the conversations told CNN.”
“Some of Trump’s prospective VP picks are taking their own initiative, without urging from the former president’s campaign, to defend him, according to sources familiar with their tactics.”
“It urges Trump surrogates to paint the trial as “a full-frontal assault on American Democracy and the Constitution” and a “witch hunt” designed by the Biden campaign to hurt the former president’s 2024 White House bid – despite it being a state case brought by Manhattan’s top prosecutor.”
“It also directs supporters not to refer to the case as a “hush money case,” instead labeling it as being “entries in the company’s records,” and claiming Trump “did not control the books.”
Hush, hush, keep it down, down, Donny’s sleeping. 🎶
Hush, hush
https://www.npr.org/2012/06/28/155804965/the-curious-fate-of-stonewall-jacksons-arm
“About an hour outside Washington, near Chancellorsville, Va., lies one of Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s graves.”
“A major Civil War battle was fought here in 1863. That’s when Jackson was accidentally shot by his own Confederate troops.”
“As Park Ranger Chuck Young tells a group of visitors, Jackson didn’t die here — but his left arm was amputated.”
“Jackson’s arm was about to be tossed on the pile of limbs outside the medical tents — until his military chaplain decided to save it.”
“Remembering that Jackson was the rock star of 1863 — everybody knew who Stonewall was, and to have his arm just simply thrown on the scrap pile with the other arms, Rev. Lacy couldn’t let that happen,” Young says.
“So the arm was buried in a private cemetery at Ellwood Manor, not far from the field hospital where it was amputated.”
“Soon after, Jackson died of pneumonia, and his body was sent to his family in Lexington, Va.”
“When Mrs. Jackson is informed that the arm was amputated and given a full Christian burial,” Young says, “they will ask her if she wants it exhumed and buried with the general. She will decline, not wishing to disturb a Christian burial.”
“Despite Mrs. Jackson’s wishes, the general’s arm was not left alone. Union soldiers dug it up in 1864. They said they reburied it; no one knows where.”
“In 1903, one of Jackson’s staff officers set up a granite stone in the small cemetery. It’s unclear if the stone marks the exact location of the arm, or if it indicates that the burial happened somewhere in the area.”
“The National Park Service won’t disturb the burial site in Chancellorsville. But people from all over come to visit where the famous limb is, or was.”
Trump was asked on Tuesday by a reporter, “What kind of juror in your mind is an ideal juror in this trial?” “Anybody that’s fair,” the former president said.Trump was then asked, “Do you believe that the jury, the jurors seated today can be fair?”“I’ll let you know after, after the trial, depending on what happens,” he said.
“Fair” doesn’t mean you won’t be found guilty and escape consequences for your actions, Adolf.
Author of the Day:
Friedrich W. Nietzsche
Books:
BEYOND GOOD OR EVIL
ON THE GENEALOGY OF MORALS
THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY Out of the Spirit of Music
ECCE HOMO
THE ANTICHRIST
THE GAY SCIENCE
THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA
THE CASE OF WAGNER
HUMAN, ALL TOO HUMAN
UNTIMELY MEDITATIONS
Wiki
He became the youngest person to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of 24, but resigned in 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life; he completed much of his core writing in the following decade. In 1889, at age 44, he suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties, with paralysis and probably vascular dementia.
Most of the things people think about him and his work are not right.
…still need to finish “Thus Spake” 😑
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/16/politics/bob-graham-dies/index.html
“Bob Graham, longtime US senator and 2-term Florida governor, dies”
NEW THREAD