IN THE NEWS: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard line on rooting out Hamas, despite the massive suffering of Palestinian citizens in Gaza, is driven, in part, by self-preservation of the political kind. In order to stay in power, Netanyahu has allied himself with the most militant political factions in his country, and that makes scaling down attacks on Gaza politically risky.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, two extremists in the Israeli cabinet, are threatening to blow up Netanyahu’s governing coalition if he does not move forward with military operations in Rafah, despite pleas from President Joe Biden to back off from another offensive. If the coalition falls apart, new elections will be held and, with his poll numbers in the toilet, Netanyahu would likely lose.
Medical experts believe the worm that burrowed into RFK Jr.’s brain is a pork tapeworm larva, Nikki Haley took over 20% of the GOP primary vote in Indiana, a live-action video explaining cicadas has gone viral, and New York governor Kathy Hochul made a terrible comment about her constituents in The Bronx.
WAPO weighs in Biden says he will cut off offensive weapons if Israel invades Rafah It’s the first time Biden has threatened to withhold U.S. military aid and the most direct warning he has issued to Israel in the Gaza war. President Biden said Wednesday that he would halt the shipment of U.S. offensive weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if the country moves ahead with a long-planned ground invasion of the city of Rafah — the first time he has threatened to withhold U.S. military aid and the most direct warning he has issued to Israel in the seven-month war. “Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden told CNN, referring to 2,000-pound bombs supplied by the United States. “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically … to deal with the cities.” Biden added that the United States would continue to provide Israel defensive weapons, including those for the Iron Dome anti-missile system, so it can protect itself from attacks like the one launched by Iran last month. But he made it clear that supplying offensive weapons for a major incursion into the civilian areas of Rafah was off the table. “It’s just wrong. We’re not going to — we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used,” Biden said. “I’ve made it clear to Bibi and the war cabinet — they’re not going to get our support, if in fact they go on these population centers.” Bibi is the nickname of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose relationship with Biden has become testier as the Gaza conflict has unfolded. Biden’s statements were a remarkable shift for the president, who has long had a visceral attachment to Israel and has resisted mounting pressure from prominent Democrats and key parts of his base to impose conditions on U.S. military aid to… Read more »
I’m no fan of Mike Johnson but I’m really not a fan of Marjorie T Greene and really relish her clownish antics taking her down in flames, like yesterday. From WaPo:
The House overwhelmingly voted to kill a move by Republican hard-liners aimed at removing Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), saving an unlikely leader of an unruly House six months after GOP lawmakers moved to oust his predecessor.
Only 11 Republicans opposed the move to “table” a measure by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), while 196 Republicans embraced keeping Johnson in the speaker’s job. Democrats also overwhelmingly voted to save the GOP speaker, 163 in support of keeping him and 32 against. The overall vote was 359-43, with seven Democratic lawmakers voting present.
After the House clerk read Greene’s motion Wednesday afternoon, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) officially moved to kill it. The chamber overwhelmingly yelled “yea” in almost unanimous agreement, while Greene and Massie were the only two heard saying “nay.” The chamber erupted in laughter.
In the run up to her resolution to declare the speaker chair vacant she and sidekick Massie laid out their demands to avoid a vote.
The pair of hard-liners demanded that Johnson no longer send aid to Ukraine this year; only put bills on the floor that a majority of Republicans agree with; move to defund any Justice Department investigation into Trump; and pass a dozen individual spending bills or institute a 1 percent cut across government agencies.
Guess those demands weren’t taken very seriously by Johnson.
And of course Dumbass had to put his 2 cents worth in.
“We’re not in a position of voting on a Motion to Vacate. At some point, we may very well be, but this is not the time,” Trump said, while praising Greene as someone with “Spirit” and “Fight.”
Wanting to have it both ways, and waiting until after the vote to take a position. Wuss.
“196 Republicans voted to protect Speaker Mike Johnson. Notable names from that group include Lauren Boebert, Tim Burchett, James Comer, Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Cory Mills, Troy Nehls, and Elise Stefanik. Some MAGA folks will not be happy with them.”
These worms always find new ways to turn on each other.
But come to think of it, does it really matter if a worm has turned?
It’s a worm…..who cares which way it turns?
WOW, Part 1 — Trump Seeks $1 Billion In Oil Industry Donations To Scrap Biden’s Energy Agenda What Trump promised oil CEOs as he asked them to steer $1 billion to his campaign: He pledged to scrap President Biden’s policies on electric vehicles and wind energy, and other initiatives opposed by the fossil fuel industry. https://wapo.st/3UBf4Fy
WOW, Part 2 — Ann Coulter’s Bluntly Racist Admission To Vivek Ramaswamy We know racism drives MAGA, and sometimes we get proof:
“I agreed with many, many things you said … when you were running for president, but I still would not have voted for you because you’re an Indian,” Coulter declared on Ramaswamy’s “Truth” podcast.
Coulter: “There is a core national identity that is the identity of the WASP. And that doesn’t mean we can’t take anyone else in ― a Sri Lankan or a Japanese, or an Indian. But the core around which the nation’s values are formed is the WASP.”
Ramaswamy appeared unruffled by her remarks and noted that they shared an opposition to dual citizenship. He then asserted that the child of immigrants would have greater loyalty to the country than disgruntled seventh-generation WASPs.
Can a House Democrat bring about a motion to vacate?
(old Berman says he can’t hear “motion to vacate” without thinking of it in its Gasto-intestinal sense.)
The irony of MTG and her idiot sidekick Massie bringing a Motion to Vacate to the floor with the support of only 32 Republicans – which runs directly counter to their demand that Johnson only bring bills to the floor that have a majority of Republicans in support – is probably lost on the bubble head.
Even more than I expected Necheles’s cross of Stormy is getting so heavily into trying to challenge the veracity of Story’s account of having sex with Trump, it’s opening the door to more extensive redirect on the sex. This seems nuts to me, probably driven by Trump himself.
Yep I’m sure they’re losing the jury with this wide ranging irrelevant effort to discredit an unfazed Stormy. His lawyer is performing just for Trump, who surely directed them to savage her.
Trump lawyer asked about how the plots in the sex films Stormy has made and written weren’t real.
Stormy: “The sex in the films was real. Just like the sex with Trump. And if I had written the story about me and Trump, it would have been a much better story.”
Necheles goes in for the kill: “Isn’t the reason you changed your story many times is because you never had an affair with President Trump, and that you’ve been making money off that story for 12 years?”
On re-direct prosecutors have lots of fodder to show jury that defense attorney misled them by omitting key facts in her hostile questioning — that is a hallmark of Trump’s style of deceit, lies of omission.
Here’s how you get a jury to like you if you’re on the stand being grilled by Dumbass’ attorneys”: (Wapo)
Daniels drew some laughter when Necheles asked if she knew about what the criminal indictment against Trump entailed.
“There’s a lot of indictments,” Daniels responded.
Necheles clarified that she was referring to the New York indictment and not the three other pending criminal indictments against Trump.
An old saying about testifying – if you’re explaining you’re losing. It’s not supposed to apply to the lawyers, but in this case…
The Post said that Dumbass fist pumped when he left the Courtroom for the morning break. Based on the reporting about what went on in the courtroom I can’t imagine why he would think anything good occurred for him.
It’s part of the bluff, he’s now a prisoner of the bluff. He HAD to fist-pump.
Not much more pitiful than a guy being stuck in the bluff long after everyone knows he’s bluffing.
“All he cares about is his election. So he is, we’ve got a pro-Hamas group of the Democrat Party, and he’s part of it now,” Sen. Rick Scott on ‘Fox & Friends’
Rick Scott: Biden now part of “pro-Hamas group” of Democratic Party
Case closed on whether Trump scripted this cross. It’s classic Pumpkin Head. His ego needs to be stroked by everyone around him, including his lawyers at his criminal trial. After confirming that celebrities like Aaron Rodgers, Charles Barkley, and Ben Roethlisberger were at the golf tournament where Trump met Stormy Daniels, Trump’s lawyer asked Daniels to confirm that Trump was the most famous celebrity there. She then asked Daniels to confirm that Trump did very well at that golf tournament. Only Trump would be petty enough to try to get evidence of his fame and golf prowess admitted as evidence at his criminal trial!!!
Bink, substantively Daniels’ credibility doesn’t mean much, but prosecutors spend a great deal of time trying to make it seem that their witnesses are believable. Reasonable doubt can arise about the prosecution and their case from the jury taking a dim view of the prosecution’s witnesses’ truthfulness. I can’t say why, other than background for the jury going to the element of intent, Stormy was all that important a witness. Only the staunchest MAGATs would believe Dumbass’ denial. If you want to see who Dumbass thinks will hurt him, look for the motions to exclude witnesses – Karen McDougal for instance. No way in hell he wants her on the stand. I think Bragg’s team is trying to goad Dumbass to take the stand, and I think with any other defendant, that would be exceedingly unlikely. I’d say no way in hell do his attorneys want him to testify, but as arrogant as he is, it could happen.
Polluting the discourse is a time honored criminal defense strategy – confuse the jury and they will think confusion = reasonable doubt. But, I’m not really talking about the trump team as much as I’m talking about the trump team’s client.
“At a Mar-a-Lago meeting in April, oil executives complained that despite pouring hundreds of millions into lobbying the government, the Biden administration had pursued stronger environmental regulations.”
Trump’s response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: “You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House,” the Post reports. In exchange, Trump vowed to roll back current regulations and freeze future ones. He told them that, given the savings, a billion bucks would be a “deal” for them.”
“What Trump was offering is entirely legal and absolutely corrupt. (Or to borrow a phrase: very legal and very uncool.) Thanks to Trump’s bluntness, there can be no hair-splitting about what’s going on here, and that’s good for public understanding. Trump asked special interests for an eye-popping fee in exchange explicit favors.”
By his pretzel logic, I guess Rick Scott thinks Bernie Sanders is “pro Hamas.”
This is what Republican-MAGAt-Siths don’t understand. You can be against Israel bombing and starving Palestinians and not be “pro Hamas” at the same time.
It’s like mTg wrongly thinking democrats will be mad at House Dems for saving MAGAt Mike Johnson. Nuance is lost on these folks.
In denying motion to dismiss the judge just pointed out to Trump lawyer their complete denial of a sexual encounter in opening statement to jury opened the door to detailed Stormy testimony. That’s how an appeals court will likely see it too.
Here’s how their appeal on this point could fail (plus their lack of objections).
Judge Merchan in denying motion to dismiss:
“Going back to opening statements, Mr. Blanche, in your opening statement, you denied there was ever a sexual encounter between your defendant and Stormy Daniels. Your denial puts the jury in a position of having to choose who they believe: Donald Trump, who denies that there was an encounter, or Stormy Daniels, who claims that there was. In other words, the more specificity Daniels provides the better they can weigh her credibility.”
Author of the Day:
John Updike Rabbit, Run is a 1960 novel by John Updike. The novel depicts three months in the life of a 26-year-old former high school basketball player named Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, who is trapped in a loveless marriage and a boring sales job, and attempts to escape the constraints of his life. It spawned several sequels, including Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest, as well as a related 2001 novella, Rabbit Remembered. In these novels, Updike takes a comical and retrospective look at the relentless questing life of Rabbit against the background of the major events of the latter half of the 20th century.
Dr David Listig
Considering that Donald Trump served as U.S. President, it may indeed be possible that someone whose brain has been eaten away by worms could be more effective than Trump was.
“That’s kind of that. I’ve been amazed that everybody is just kind of learning about this now,” he added. Claims around the former president’s alleged odour erupted last week when the former Illinois Republican representative tweeted: “I’m genuinely surprised how people close to Trump haven’t talked about the odor. It’s truly something to behold. Wear a mask if you can.”
Comedian Kathy Griffin can then be heard saying, “The Donald has a distinct smell. It’s like body odour with a scented makeup product.”
Bink – The farting may be Ozempic, but Adolf has been a stinker for a long time. Like, back in his Apprentice days.
“Oh, God, I was never contestant,” she wrote in a tweet viewed by Newsweek. “However, I did participate in two challenges. One I did because of my dear departed, beloved Joan Rivers. The other one I did because Trump paid me a bunch of money to spend the day with Liza Minnelli and host a challenge. Liza and I tried to ignore him, but he does smell really bad.”
“Barron Trump, 18, to make political debut as Florida delegate to the Republican convention”
“Republican Party of Florida chairman Evan Power said the 18-year-old high school senior will serve as one of 41 at-large delegates from Florida to the national gathering, where the GOP is set to officially nominate his father as its presidential candidate for the November general election.”
Nah, the kid isn’t going to turn out right. He’s being groomed, just like the others. He looks like an unhappy kid and maybe on the spectrum.
according to Noel Casler,( who used to work on “The Apprentice”) them ain’t just farts…….they got plenty of gravy in ‘em.
As in diapers. If you’re walking around with doo-doo in yer pants people are bound to notice.
“Real men respond to testimony by being sworn in and taking the stand in court. Oh…wait. Nevermind,” she wrote in a post on X — a taunting reference to Trump not testifying in the case and using his own social media accounts to rail against the proceedings.
The zinger came after Trump’s lawyers unsuccessfully requested a mistrial based on Daniels’ testimony.
Netanyahu’s war of self-preservation | The Seattle Times
IN THE NEWS: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard line on rooting out Hamas, despite the massive suffering of Palestinian citizens in Gaza, is driven, in part, by self-preservation of the political kind. In order to stay in power, Netanyahu has allied himself with the most militant political factions in his country, and that makes scaling down attacks on Gaza politically risky.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, two extremists in the Israeli cabinet, are threatening to blow up Netanyahu’s governing coalition if he does not move forward with military operations in Rafah, despite pleas from President Joe Biden to back off from another offensive. If the coalition falls apart, new elections will be held and, with his poll numbers in the toilet, Netanyahu would likely lose.
Why didn’t Israel take this week’s temporary ceasefire for hostages?
Why did they attack Rafah and cut off the aid route?
Medical experts believe the worm that burrowed into RFK Jr.’s brain is a pork tapeworm larva, Nikki Haley took over 20% of the GOP primary vote in Indiana, a live-action video explaining cicadas has gone viral, and New York governor Kathy Hochul made a terrible comment about her constituents in The Bronx.
WAPO weighs in Biden says he will cut off offensive weapons if Israel invades Rafah It’s the first time Biden has threatened to withhold U.S. military aid and the most direct warning he has issued to Israel in the Gaza war. President Biden said Wednesday that he would halt the shipment of U.S. offensive weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if the country moves ahead with a long-planned ground invasion of the city of Rafah — the first time he has threatened to withhold U.S. military aid and the most direct warning he has issued to Israel in the seven-month war. “Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden told CNN, referring to 2,000-pound bombs supplied by the United States. “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically … to deal with the cities.” Biden added that the United States would continue to provide Israel defensive weapons, including those for the Iron Dome anti-missile system, so it can protect itself from attacks like the one launched by Iran last month. But he made it clear that supplying offensive weapons for a major incursion into the civilian areas of Rafah was off the table. “It’s just wrong. We’re not going to — we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used,” Biden said. “I’ve made it clear to Bibi and the war cabinet — they’re not going to get our support, if in fact they go on these population centers.” Bibi is the nickname of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose relationship with Biden has become testier as the Gaza conflict has unfolded. Biden’s statements were a remarkable shift for the president, who has long had a visceral attachment to Israel and has resisted mounting pressure from prominent Democrats and key parts of his base to impose conditions on U.S. military aid to… Read more »
I’m no fan of Mike Johnson but I’m really not a fan of Marjorie T Greene and really relish her clownish antics taking her down in flames, like yesterday. From WaPo:
In the run up to her resolution to declare the speaker chair vacant she and sidekick Massie laid out their demands to avoid a vote.
Guess those demands weren’t taken very seriously by Johnson.
And of course Dumbass had to put his 2 cents worth in.
Wanting to have it both ways, and waiting until after the vote to take a position. Wuss.
“196 Republicans voted to protect Speaker Mike Johnson. Notable names from that group include Lauren Boebert, Tim Burchett, James Comer, Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Cory Mills, Troy Nehls, and Elise Stefanik. Some MAGA folks will not be happy with them.”
These worms always find new ways to turn on each other.
But come to think of it, does it really matter if a worm has turned?
It’s a worm…..who cares which way it turns?
WOW, Part 1 — Trump Seeks $1 Billion In Oil Industry Donations To Scrap Biden’s Energy Agenda
What Trump promised oil CEOs as he asked them to steer $1 billion to his campaign: He pledged to scrap President Biden’s policies on electric vehicles and wind energy, and other initiatives opposed by the fossil fuel industry. https://wapo.st/3UBf4Fy
WOW, Part 2 — Ann Coulter’s Bluntly Racist Admission To Vivek Ramaswamy
We know racism drives MAGA, and sometimes we get proof:
“I agreed with many, many things you said … when you were running for president, but I still would not have voted for you because you’re an Indian,” Coulter declared on Ramaswamy’s “Truth” podcast.
Ramaswamy appeared unruffled by her remarks and noted that they shared an opposition to dual citizenship. He then asserted that the child of immigrants would have greater loyalty to the country than disgruntled seventh-generation WASPs.
Can a House Democrat bring about a motion to vacate?
(old Berman says he can’t hear “motion to vacate” without thinking of it in its Gasto-intestinal sense.)
The irony of MTG and her idiot sidekick Massie bringing a Motion to Vacate to the floor with the support of only 32 Republicans – which runs directly counter to their demand that Johnson only bring bills to the floor that have a majority of Republicans in support – is probably lost on the bubble head.
Even more than I expected Necheles’s cross of Stormy is getting so heavily into trying to challenge the veracity of Story’s account of having sex with Trump, it’s opening the door to more extensive redirect on the sex. This seems nuts to me, probably driven by Trump himself.
They risk turning her into a sympathetic figure. Stormy: “You are trying to trick me into saying something that is not entirely true”
Jake Tapper in courtroom doing his own sketches
Yep I’m sure they’re losing the jury with this wide ranging irrelevant effort to discredit an unfazed Stormy. His lawyer is performing just for Trump, who surely directed them to savage her.
Stormy: I AM the storm.
I’ll predict NY Daily News headline:
A PERFECT STORM
With a photo of Bump.
Or
A Perfect Stormy
Trump lawyer asked about how the plots in the sex films Stormy has made and written weren’t real.
Stormy: “The sex in the films was real. Just like the sex with Trump. And if I had written the story about me and Trump, it would have been a much better story.”
Boom!
Necheles goes in for the kill: “Isn’t the reason you changed your story many times is because you never had an affair with President Trump, and that you’ve been making money off that story for 12 years?”
Objection—sustained. Sidebar.
On re-direct prosecutors have lots of fodder to show jury that defense attorney misled them by omitting key facts in her hostile questioning — that is a hallmark of Trump’s style of deceit, lies of omission.
Here’s how you get a jury to like you if you’re on the stand being grilled by Dumbass’ attorneys”: (Wapo)
An old saying about testifying – if you’re explaining you’re losing. It’s not supposed to apply to the lawyers, but in this case…
The Post said that Dumbass fist pumped when he left the Courtroom for the morning break. Based on the reporting about what went on in the courtroom I can’t imagine why he would think anything good occurred for him.
It’s part of the bluff, he’s now a prisoner of the bluff. He HAD to fist-pump.
Not much more pitiful than a guy being stuck in the bluff long after everyone knows he’s bluffing.
There’s another name for the “uniparty” that the dumbest Congressional Reps keep mentioning:
”Americans”
This is obscenely ridiculous..
“All he cares about is his election. So he is, we’ve got a pro-Hamas group of the Democrat Party, and he’s part of it now,” Sen. Rick Scott on ‘Fox & Friends’
Rick Scott: Biden now part of “pro-Hamas group” of Democratic Party
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4653781-rick-scott-biden-pro-hamas-group-democratic-party/
Case closed on whether Trump scripted this cross. It’s classic Pumpkin Head. His ego needs to be stroked by everyone around him, including his lawyers at his criminal trial. After confirming that celebrities like Aaron Rodgers, Charles Barkley, and Ben Roethlisberger were at the golf tournament where Trump met Stormy Daniels, Trump’s lawyer asked Daniels to confirm that Trump was the most famous celebrity there. She then asked Daniels to confirm that Trump did very well at that golf tournament. Only Trump would be petty enough to try to get evidence of his fame and golf prowess admitted as evidence at his criminal trial!!!
Rick Scott? Dirt.
This harsh Stormy cross exam reminds me of the “nuts and sluts” defense that worked so well in rape cases 30 years ago. Blame the victim!
You already made the point: why does Stormy’s credibility on the stand matter if Trump paid her off to keep quiet?
No man in history has ever paid a woman off to keep quiet about not having sex with him, that would be absurd
Yep, that’s a buncha questions from Dumbass. I’m surprised Nicheles didn’t make her admit he won.
Bink, substantively Daniels’ credibility doesn’t mean much, but prosecutors spend a great deal of time trying to make it seem that their witnesses are believable. Reasonable doubt can arise about the prosecution and their case from the jury taking a dim view of the prosecution’s witnesses’ truthfulness. I can’t say why, other than background for the jury going to the element of intent, Stormy was all that important a witness. Only the staunchest MAGATs would believe Dumbass’ denial. If you want to see who Dumbass thinks will hurt him, look for the motions to exclude witnesses – Karen McDougal for instance. No way in hell he wants her on the stand. I think Bragg’s team is trying to goad Dumbass to take the stand, and I think with any other defendant, that would be exceedingly unlikely. I’d say no way in hell do his attorneys want him to testify, but as arrogant as he is, it could happen.
i appreciate you pretending team trump has a greater logic than just polluting the discourse 🫡
Polluting the discourse is a time honored criminal defense strategy – confuse the jury and they will think confusion = reasonable doubt. But, I’m not really talking about the trump team as much as I’m talking about the trump team’s client.
The crime was not having sex with her. Does his base understand that? It’s the financial cover up.
He can testify. Does his base understand the gag order has nothing to do with that?
So, he gets on the stand and bloviates about his fame and his golf score, and lies about sex with Stormy. That doesn’t negate the financial trail.
Wait, does he understand what he’s on trial for?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_the_well
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/05/trumps-legal-corrupt-offer-oil-executives/678333/
“At a Mar-a-Lago meeting in April, oil executives complained that despite pouring hundreds of millions into lobbying the government, the Biden administration had pursued stronger environmental regulations.”
Trump’s response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: “You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House,” the Post reports. In exchange, Trump vowed to roll back current regulations and freeze future ones. He told them that, given the savings, a billion bucks would be a “deal” for them.”
“What Trump was offering is entirely legal and absolutely corrupt. (Or to borrow a phrase: very legal and very uncool.) Thanks to Trump’s bluntness, there can be no hair-splitting about what’s going on here, and that’s good for public understanding. Trump asked special interests for an eye-popping fee in exchange explicit favors.”
By his pretzel logic, I guess Rick Scott thinks Bernie Sanders is “pro Hamas.”
This is what Republican-MAGAt-Siths don’t understand. You can be against Israel bombing and starving Palestinians and not be “pro Hamas” at the same time.
It’s like mTg wrongly thinking democrats will be mad at House Dems for saving MAGAt Mike Johnson. Nuance is lost on these folks.
There were many, but Stormy’s best line on cross: “If that story was untrue, I would’ve written it a lot better.”
The way he directed this Stormy cross examination it won’t surprise me if Trump testifies
In denying motion to dismiss the judge just pointed out to Trump lawyer their complete denial of a sexual encounter in opening statement to jury opened the door to detailed Stormy testimony. That’s how an appeals court will likely see it too.
BTW, for what it’s worth, the NYT coverage of the hearing goings on is much better than WaPo’s.
Here’s how their appeal on this point could fail (plus their lack of objections).
Judge Merchan in denying motion to dismiss:
Author of the Day:
John Updike
Rabbit, Run is a 1960 novel by John Updike. The novel depicts three months in the life of a 26-year-old former high school basketball player named Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, who is trapped in a loveless marriage and a boring sales job, and attempts to escape the constraints of his life. It spawned several sequels, including Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest, as well as a related 2001 novella, Rabbit Remembered. In these novels, Updike takes a comical and retrospective look at the relentless questing life of Rabbit against the background of the major events of the latter half of the 20th century.
He had a way with words.
Chief among them: letting their client run the show.
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/05/09/trump-hush-money-criminal-trial/judge-dresses-down-trumps-lawyers-00157187
What, you think, are the chances that pumpkin kid turns out to be a decent human?
Is he even got a chance?
Ponderous.
Well, I guess if he could talk to Mary some, that might help.
Dr David Listig
Considering that Donald Trump served as U.S. President, it may indeed be possible that someone whose brain has been eaten away by worms could be more effective than Trump was.
dipstick’s got ozempic face, would explain the gas
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-smells-kinzinger-armpits-ketchup-b2471229.html
‘It’s not good. The best way to describe it… take armpits, ketchup, a butt and makeup and put that all in a blender and bottle that as a cologne,’ Adam Kinzinger said
“That’s kind of that. I’ve been amazed that everybody is just kind of learning about this now,” he added.
Claims around the former president’s alleged odour erupted last week when the former Illinois Republican representative tweeted: “I’m genuinely surprised how people close to Trump haven’t talked about the odor. It’s truly something to behold. Wear a mask if you can.”
Comedian Kathy Griffin can then be heard saying, “The Donald has a distinct smell. It’s like body odour with a scented makeup product.”
Bink – The farting may be Ozempic, but Adolf has been a stinker for a long time. Like, back in his Apprentice days.
https://www.newsweek.com/kathy-griffin-says-donald-trump-smelled-really-bad-apprentice-1798597
“Oh, God, I was never contestant,” she wrote in a tweet viewed by Newsweek. “However, I did participate in two challenges. One I did because of my dear departed, beloved Joan Rivers. The other one I did because Trump paid me a bunch of money to spend the day with Liza Minnelli and host a challenge. Liza and I tried to ignore him, but he does smell really bad.”
https://apnews.com/article/election-president-republican-barron-trump-247bc0c794e262a0cc66904ce653b7ce
“Barron Trump, 18, to make political debut as Florida delegate to the Republican convention”
“Republican Party of Florida chairman Evan Power said the 18-year-old high school senior will serve as one of 41 at-large delegates from Florida to the national gathering, where the GOP is set to officially nominate his father as its presidential candidate for the November general election.”
Nah, the kid isn’t going to turn out right. He’s being groomed, just like the others. He looks like an unhappy kid and maybe on the spectrum.
according to Noel Casler,( who used to work on “The Apprentice”) them ain’t just farts…….they got plenty of gravy in ‘em.
As in diapers. If you’re walking around with doo-doo in yer pants people are bound to notice.
“Real men respond to testimony by being sworn in and taking the stand in court. Oh…wait. Nevermind,” she wrote in a post on X — a taunting reference to Trump not testifying in the case and using his own social media accounts to rail against the proceedings.
The zinger came after Trump’s lawyers unsuccessfully requested a mistrial based on Daniels’ testimony.
NEW THREAD by Craig our fearless leader