Two claims tonight that are demonstrable lies: (1) that Project Veritas infiltrated any “organized”… anything (who cares? Wohl is a criminal himself!) — no, he hung out with some stupid ass-hats (and filmed some of it — no surprise there!); and perhaps more importantly (2) that Trump is allowed to designate this a terror organization. He isn’t. To do so, by law, he must prove it has significant foreign ties. He can’t.
John’s going… senile, obviously.
But I’ll just use my graphics space tonight to post what the morons at Fox (or some likely 22 year old white guy in their graphics department) thinks is “Financial News”:
That’s the false notion — dressed up as a chart — that would claim racial attacks In the US are… wait for it!… bullish for the NYSE and S&P averages. See graphic at right. Longer term data contradicts this; it’s available on request….
Yep… deplorable(s) — one and all.
Out. But grinning, just the same… be excellent to those you love, and those you’ve not yet met.
…And immensely… deceptive. So… of course, John Hinderaker obliges — and suggests this means Trump will win in November. How very… precious.
For his part, Trump just tweeted that “We Are No. 1!” [Slaps forehead… for dramatic effect.]
By that, I take it he means… First, in reaching 39 million unemployed — highest in US history (with higher US population than in the Great Depression);
UPDATED: First president (ever!) to suggest, in live remarks on video, that a man lynched by police in Minneapolis last week (by name!) would be “smiling down” on Trump, and happy with him, for delivering “such a great” jobs report. . . [It. Is. Unfathomable — even for him. OMFG. End update.];
First, in total COVID deaths in the entire world, at nearly 110,000 — more than double all those American soldiers killed in the Vietnam War (over a decade, vs. only four elapsed months);
First — in maintaining the highest overall levels of unemployment, since the Great Depression. . .
First, in reaching a $3.5 trillion deficit;
FIRST, in barricading himself inside 1600 Pennnow renamed, officially as 1600 Black Lives Matter Plaza, DC (FDR did not place barricades or tanks outside the White House — despite his advisers’ suggestions, for his safety — in 1941, right after Pearl Harbor, as he said the nation should not fear that we were “under siege“);
[First president (almost trivially, in light of the rest, but still a first — in history) to this week have two of his campaign videos removed from Twitter, for copyright violations — using respected artists’ images, songs and music, without permission — and without paying any royalties];
FIRST, in using federal troops to gas, and pummel peaceful protesters on public DC property, in order to instantly, and violently clear Lafayette Park, and stage a hallowed-out, 30 second “upside down bible” photo op, one that looked decidedly more like a Satanic ritual, than anything else — in front of St. John’s — a church that had not invited him. He did not pray; he did not read from the bible… he simply held it overhead, like a trophy. P I G.
Oh, and FIRST to have the sitting Mayor of DC authorize the painting of 16th Street (near the White House) — with an entire block-length message, in giantic yellow bold lettering — for “Black Lives Matter” — all to officially (and poetically) oppose his attempted military occupation of our capital district, while the joint chiefs indicated they would recall almost all federal troops as early as today, to their home bases, against 45’s wishes — as this is no “general insurrection” whatsoever.
…The unemployment rate for blacks increased one-tenth of a percentage point to 16.8%. In contrast, the jobless rate for whites fell to 12.4% from 14.2% in April. Economists believe the unemployment rate peaked in May, but see it remaining above 10% when Americans head to the polls on Nov. 3….
Anyone (else) as tired as I am… of all his… “winning“?
This very afternoon, the last REAL President of these United States very publicly put forward very cogent ideas from his (former) Administration to address the current crisis of confidence in the racial dynamics of local policing.
This drives John (and Trump) crazy (he projects so).
But rather than accept that Atlanta will follow Mr. Obama’s leadership tonight, Hinderaker attacks a false argument. One no serious policy expert will ever support. We will never abolish the local police. But John devotes about twelve paragraphs to it. Precious.
Why? Because he has no answer — for what the 44th President proposed (again) today, and John well-knows many many larger US cities are very likely to adopt it, in whole or in part.
And that brings into ever-starker relief the Trumpian ineptitudes — no plan; no view; no philospophy — in sum, no proposal for any policy at all, other than… a Third Reich-like martial law. Moron.
No matter. He and John will be on the outs, on November 4, 2020 — as it ought to be.
The semi driver sure was driving too fast, for the hundreds of protestors in three lanes ahead — in plain sight — on a sunny day.
Even so, he may deserve to be defended. We shall see if his claims hold up. There will be dozens of cellphone video feeds eventually, from many angles — of that frightening moment. So I’ll reserve judgment.
It is quite telling however, that John hasn’t defended Barr/Trump — for gassing indisputably peaceful protesters at Lafayette Park, all so Trump could hold a bible upside down, without an invitation from the Episcopal church.
We saw it unfold live on CNN’s split screen: it was an intentional attack against their bodily safety, and clear first amendment rights.
“…I would love to believe that the Left’s righteous uprisings, against racist cops violent rampages will help to re-elect President Trump, and I am pretty sure — having been there — that the riots of 1968 helped Nixon. But there is one fundamental difference between then and now: Nixon wasn’t the incumbent. 2020 is shaping up as an absolutely terrible year, with the COVID epidemic, the stock market decline, the shutdowns and resulting economic devastation, and now race riots across America….
Any president wants to run for re-election on a platform of peace and prosperity. Until early this year, Trump had that platform in spades a decent con working. No longer. I question whether any development that makes voters think things are going badly can be good for an incumbent president….”
This evening — in real time, as CNN covered it with a split screen video, America saw that Trump had federal forces fire rubber bullets, and tear gas canisters — on completely non-violent protesters just beyond the White House… and then the forces bodily slammed into them — driving them back from St. John’s Episcopal church square.
Trump then promptly waddled, as his sycophant entourage marched (including Billy Barr!) over to the steps of St. John’s — for a 30 second photo op, with the bible held overhead [and… upside-down, ironically!], to say he would re-open St, John’s “very soon.” [He’s never been to church there, in three and a half years, BTW.]
America saw him brutalize peaceful protesters, on federal public property, for a 30 second photo op, on the Faux News… in the process, he claimed to invoke an 1807 act, but forgot to mention that the way it was amended in 2007 (after some abuses post 9/11)… means that he needs the state governors’ permission, in order to roll military troops, or federal forces, into any state.
That is an invitation he will not receive in Illinois or California or New Jersey or Oregon or Colorado or New York.
To sum up, then — this fake tiny handed dictator fired on his own citizens (there peaceably assembled, on public property — to redress grievances)… to fake concern about a… church. A building.
The Pastor of that church, an earnest young white guy, on a split screen on Fox News… during the prime time evening “news segment” said while he appreciated the exposure Trump’s 30 second visit brought, “let’s not forget this is a building — the church is the people — and this whole moment is about racism in America….”
Fox immediately cut away — from him.
Yes, John — Trump lost the election tonight. Right there — on national television — on CNN.
Judge Sullivan would be permitted to do his job, under the applicable trial court rules. But these are. . . strange times. So this very capable brief was… required. Do read it all, but here is a bit:
…The unique facts of this case warrant evaluation by the trial judge before any review by this Court.
It is unusual for a criminal defendant to claim innocence and move to withdraw his guilty plea after repeatedly swearing under oath that he committed the crime. It is unprecedented for an Acting U.S. Attorney to contradict the solemn representations that career prosecutors made time and again, and undermine the district court’s legal and factual findings, in moving on his own to dismiss the charge years after two different federal judges accepted the defendant’s plea.
These reversals presented Judge Sullivan with several substantial questions. Was he required to grant the government’s post-plea motion to dismiss, and reverse his findings that Mr. Flynn’s false statements to the FBI about his contacts with Russia were material, without any inquiry into the facts set forth in, and surrounding, the government’s filing? What implications would dismissal have on Mr. Flynn’s separate false statements to the Department of Justice about his work for Turkey, which were part of his plea agreement but not addressed in the government’s motion? Do the facts here provide reason to question the “presumption of regularity” that ordinarily attaches to prosecutorial decisions, United States v. Fokker Servs. B.V., 818 F.3d 733, 741 (D.C.Cir. 2016)?
And what, if anything, should Judge Sullivan do about Mr. Flynn’s sworn statements to the court, where he repeatedly admitted to the crime and to the voluntariness of his guilty plea, only to now claim that he never lied to the government and was pressured and misled into pleading guilty? Because the parties before him now support the same relief, Judge Sullivan turned to an approach used by federal courts across the country, as well as district courts in this Circuit: He appointed an amicus to present counterarguments, and set a briefing schedule giving the government and Mr. Flynn the last word….
Mandamus is an extraordinary remedy that should be denied where the district court has not actually decided anything. The government’s motion is pending before Judge Sullivan and could well be granted, so Mr. Flynn can obtain the exact relief he seeks through ordinary judicial process….
Mr. Flynn’s case has garnered considerable attention. But that is no reason to resolve it outside the normal judicial process. This is a “court of review, not of first view.” Cutter v. Wilkinson, 544 U.S. 709, 718 n.7 (2005). The questions presented should be resolved by the district court in the first instance….
Flynn will lose — justice will… prevail, and he will go to jail, for lying. But it may all take beyond November 2020. Buckle-up.
Back from cleaning up damaged businesses, on Chicago’s west side, with a grass-roots community activists’ group. Video on request… smile. Chicago is a very fine city — her “big shoulders” can, and will, recover — and admit… that we need fundamental policing change, nationwide.
America needs to hear from people whose experience validates what the protesters are feeling. And Merck’s wise Chairman and CEO delivers — again.
You’ll recall he was the first CEO to stand up for humanity, after Trump’s “very fine people” defense of the white supremacists / killers who attacked peaceful demonstrators in Charlottesville, in August of 2017. He’s again put his reputation on the line, to speak up for people who’ve been without a voice. He correctly said that the Minneapolis officer would never have been charged, absent the protests. It is sad — but it is true. Here’s the whole article — and a bit:
. . .Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier told CNBC on Monday that George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died at the hands of Minneapolis police, could have been him.
“What the African American community sees in that videotape is that this African American man, who could be me or any other African American man, is being treated as less than human….
Frazier also said business leaders can be a “unifying force” in helping to calm a nation convulsed by protests over police brutality and economic destruction from the coronavirus….
“What the community saw was, until they went out into the streets, this officer — much less even the other officers — was not even going to be arrested for what was clearly inhumane treatment of a citizen,” Frazier said.
He noted racial inequities across U.S. society, from education to health care to the criminal justice system.
“Even though we don’t have laws that separate people on the basis of race anymore, we still have customs, we still have beliefs, we still have policies and practices that lead to inequities,” Frazier said….
Do go read it all. He is right — just as he was in 2017. It is BEYOND time… that white people, PROACTIVELY, take ownership of, and aggressively advocate against the system that treats people of color as less than white ones. Join him, in trying to be more visible in your efforts to resist the old ways of doing things. Please….
There are more and more judicial/legal heavyweights weighing in, against Barr / Flynn / Trump, here on a Friday night.
Brevity is said to be… the soul of wit. If so, Bill Barr is in deep trouble, in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. That’s the upshot.
And these more than two-dozen retired jurists have absolutely hit it — right out of the park — in just a single sentence (below). Here’s the concluding bit, from the perfectly pitched 24 page brief of the distinguished amici:
…To find that the district court somehow abused discretion BEFORE exercising it would deviate from established practice and procedure to a degree that amici have never encountered. Whatever this Court may ultimately decide, hearing this case prematurely would undermine “necessary confidence in the criminal justice system.” Marinello, 138 S. Ct. at 1109….
Time for the odious Michael Flynn to prepare to be charged and tried for perjury — on the Distict Court’s own motion. Onward — but that is where this one is headed… you may bank on it. [Housekeeping note: We will be on SpaceX launch watch — by noon, tomorrow… so we may be scarce here.]
The phrase he used was more notoriously used in Miami, in 1967 — by a racist police chief, to violently put down student protests — about the Vietnam War… [and of course, this is all — he hopes — to be used to turn the page, lead the media coverage away from his fecklessly malignant non-responses to the current 100,000 dead — from an entirely predictable pandemic’s path of destruction… and yet the death toll is rising, daily].
Indeed — Trump has, with his purported EO, finally taken on a foe that will “push back“. One he needs, desperately — if he is to have any chance at a social media campaign heading into November.
The moron has burned… his only remaining bridge. A bridge not so much for his “safe retreat” — but his last hope at influencing the over 72 per cent of America not at all enthused by his vitriolic hatred of all things he is uncomfortable with. Oh… and I think he is influencing them — but not quite in the way he might imagine.
That’s… just as irony would have it.
OTOH, I guess it is catchier than his old line — from the same Vietnam era: “When some shooting occurs, I’ll pretend I have… bone spurs….”
Updated: Late on the 28th, John Hinderaker has offered some pretty stupid observations (from the perspective of any comprehension of the applicable law, here). He doesn’t seem to understand that the FCC’s charter was granted by an Act of Congress; it is tightly constrained, both by that act, and the first amendment. More to the point, he seems blithely unaware that this “EO” — purporting to rewrite Congress’s definitions of what is covered by the FCC’s jurisdiction… is plainly beyond the reach of 45’s tiny… hands, as a matter of constitutional law.
John intones, insipidly, thus “if Twitter wants to be a far-left platform, it has that right. But if that is the path it has chosen, it can’t expect to be granted the same legal immunity that federal law extends to ISPs that have nothing to do with the content of the web sites that they host….” Um. No… Just. Nope.
Literally every clause of those two sentences… gets the facts all wrong; and mis-states both the ordinary law, and the constitution’s commands. Amendment, first protects Twitter and all others from state actors — like Trump and the FCC, absent a very specific grant from Congress (tested and refined by countless US Supreme Court cases, over sixty years, now). This [“airwaves regulation“] is an area where governments have very tightly proscribed boundaries — as to public speech, on matters of substantial concern. No such regulating grant, from the Congress, exists… to move against private parties (like Twitter) that foster speech.
The animating Congressional concern (which created the FCC) was that “broadcasts, over airwaves” were by their very nature… monopolistic. Only three channels existed, and in some sense they were public goods. Not so a Twitter platform: no “broadcast” — unlimited fora; and literally ANYONE may “publish” there. In sum, the predicate for Congressional regulation… is wholly-absent, from the social networks. And that is in the face of an express constitutional command that “Congress shall make no law… restricting the freedom of speech.” [End, sermon. Trump loses… and his own EO means he personally will be subject to a myriad of new lawsuits, for his own false statements. Hilarious.] End, update.
Whenever he finally puts the supposed EO out, it will be… DOA. Of that you may be certain.
If the FCC decides to rule-make (in supplication to Trump), it is likely beyond the charter Congress granted the agency. It will fail, in the courts, predicts Condor.
Me? I’ve long thought of Twitter [and internet interactions, more generally] as Georg Christoph Lichtenberg has famously said of books, as mirrors — of our souls: “If an ass peers into one, we ought not expect… an apostle will peer back out at [us/her/him]….” See at right. Here’s the latest, and a bit, from Jack, defending an individual employee that Trump singled out by name, in a Tweet — for derision:
…Dorsey tweeted Wednesday night that “there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that’s me. Please leave our employees out of this….”
Indeed. Onward, grinning… the graphic is in specific response to another moron — who is ignorant of how our system of self-governance really works, and is today claiming (falsely) that George Soros is “paying outside agitators” to drive to Minneapolis, and burn and loot that city. Rubbish. Now you are on blast, Ms. Owens-Farmer. Ditch the antisemitism.
Two claims tonight that are demonstrable lies: (1) that Project Veritas infiltrated any “organized”… anything (who cares? Wohl is a criminal himself!) — no, he hung out with some stupid ass-hats (and filmed some of it — no surprise there!); and perhaps more importantly (2) that Trump is allowed to designate this a terror organization. He isn’t. To do so, by law, he must prove it has significant foreign ties. He can’t.
Yep… deplorable(s) — one and all.
