
Republicans Tell Supreme Court to Rule Against Donald Trump
To tell the story, you go through Trump’s record:
- convicted on 34 felony counts
- determined by a court to have raped a woman and ordered to pay her $83 million
- found by a court to have overvalued his assets and ordered to pay $364 million
- ordered to pay a $2 million settlement after admitting that he misused his charity, which the state of New York shut down
- found by the Justice Department to have refused to rent apartments to Black applicants; settled out of court
- sued by the Justice Department for violating proper procedures in the purchase of stock; paid $750,000 in civil fines
- charged by the New York State Lobbying Commission with violating state lobbying laws while purchasing a casino; paid $250,000 to settle fines
- found by the courts to have grossly defrauded students at the so-called Trump University and ordered to pay them $25 million in restitution
This list isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. It’s the tip of the tip. Trump has spent four decades being sued for something or other, typically not paying his bills, like those famous cases where he stiffed the poor vendors for his casinos, filing his own ridiculous countersuits and libel suits, and paying fines to make things go away. If indeed he actually paid the fines. I wonder if anyone has ever really gotten to the bottom of that. And I haven’t even mentioned the current charges around January 6 and the stolen classified documents because, so far, they’re just charges. But whatever the courts end up saying on those two matters, we’ve all seen with our own eyes the insurrection that he obviously incited (as of this January, 718 rioters had pleaded guilty to various federal charges, and 139 had been found guilty in court) and the photos of the boxes of documents at Mar-a-Lago that he refused for months to turn over to the FBI.
Another important point: The criminality around Trump isn’t limited to Trump. Eight Trump associates were sentenced to prison time
The fallacy of the ‘wrong side of history’ narrative
Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, and all of those responsible for the ever-rising death toll in Palestine are relying on the uncomfortable fact that when it comes to killing done in service of American interest, many in the West have very short memories.
Expecting history to hold these individuals accountable for actions they committed in service of a system of oppression is useless. It may bring temporary relief of anxiety, but ultimately, it paralyses us at a time when urgent action is needed.
Injustice is not naturally remedied by history. It is challenged and fought by people who mobilise to dismantle systems of oppression.
Trump loyalist pushes ‘post-constitutional’ vision for second term
This is mostly crazy stuff, but it’s a dime a dozen among Federalist Society types these days. Still, maybe Vought goes a little further than most. Here he is explaining why it’s OK for states to take control of the border:
We have looked to the Constitution for what the Founders would do if one was a current governor of a border state, and lo and behold, we found Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3, articulating that states cannot engage in war making unless invaded. And in our research, we found that they did not mean threats from foreign nation states, but rather smugglers, militias, Indian tribes, etc.
This is ridiculous. “Invasion,” both then and now, refers to an organized force attacking the country with violence and malice. Individuals acting independently with no intent to conquer or kill do not constitute an invasion under any plausible interpretation.
Open Letter to Joe Biden on Behalf of Jewish Americans: Stop Sending Israel Offensive Weapons
Trump wants the power to slash the budget. He won’t get it.
Texas library must reinstate books with ‘butts and farts,’ court says (Llano)
Impartial Scotus? Samuel Alito-Surely you jest about this corrupt son of a gun Justice Alito Caught on Tape Discussing How Battle for America ‘Can’t Be Compromised’
Video edited to make it appear Biden tried to sit down when there wasn’t a chair
Republican Extremism on Abortion
One more thing in Republican extremism: Donald Trump is still out there pretending to be “moderate” on abortion. And mainstream media continues to help him. After the disgraced former president gave an interview to Sean Hannity at Fox News, the takeaway at other outlets was that Trump said Republicans’ extremism and inability to talk about abortion had hurt the party. But in the same interview, Trump also made the claim that Democrats are “passing legislation where you can execute the baby after birth.”
That’s hardly a ‘reasonable’ or ‘moderate’ stance
Speaking of Alito – Ted Kennedy Warned Us About Samuel Alito. He Was Ignored.
Early in the Alito nomination fight, Democrats uncovered a memo the judge wrote while he was working for the Reagan administration in 1985 that articulated his opposition to legal abortion. He advised against waging a “frontal assault on Roe” only because such a maneuver would prove politically unpopular, and instead advocated for a steady demolition of access to reproductive health care at the state level. Until the 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe, the Alito playbook is exactly what many Southern and heartland states followed to make abortion all but impossible within their borders.
The memo did not stop Alito from lying to the late Senator Edward Kennedy, whose diary revealed that, while meeting privately in Kennedy’s office, Alito assured him that he would never vote to overturn Roe. Unlike Republican Senator Susan Collins, who believed the same lie from Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, Kennedy was not gullible enough to vote in favor of Alito’s confirmation.
Oh, no surprise this is from Lyin Ted Cruz Republican TV Ad Would Like To Remind Texas Voters That Colin Allred Is Black
It Was 80-Years Ago This Month: A Hideous Crime
Many Christian brands willingly embrace the wrathful god of the Old Testament, and there are plenty of texts in the New Testament as well that endorse this anger: the coming of this god’s kingdom will bring extreme suffering. Other Christian brands downplay this concept of god, preferring to stress their god’s love and compassion. These clergy promote a warmer, fuzzier concept of god, e.g., what a friend we have in Jesus. Your sins will be forgiven if you ask for mercy: god wants to welcome you to eternal life.
Challenges to this view of god are commonly deflected. The clergy don’t want their parishioners to ponder the devastating implications of horrendous suffering. How could a good, caring, powerful god allow the Holocaust to happen? Or the Black Plague? And what a tragic irony that Christian extremism brought so much suffering during the Inquisition, the violent Crusades, and the Thirty Years War.
But there is one event especially that the devout should try to align with their beliefs about god. On 6 June 1944, the Allies launched the Normandy Invasion, with the intention of pushing the German army out of France. On 10 June 1944, German soldiers surrounded a village in rural France, Oradour-sur-Glane. They forced the men into barns, which they set on fire. The women and children were herded into the church, into which the soldiers threw fire bombs—and then they machined gunned everyone. Only one woman managed to escape: 452 women and children were murdered in the church. I wonder if they felt safe and secure because they were in God’s House? How well does faith hold up when people think hard about this crime? Mass murder in the church. Author Sarah Farmer, in her book, Martyred Village: Commemorating the 1944 Massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane, commented: “…the fact that God permitted women and children to die in a church caused a crisis and even loss of faith among many believers who lived in Oradour.” (p. 103, Martyred Village)
Devout Christians who muster the courage to think about this crime should resist the clichés they hear from the clergy, such as “god works in mysterious ways, god has a bigger plan we’re not aware of.” I recently saw this comment on social media: “A god that works in mysterious ways bears a suspicious resemblance to shit just happening.” Both these clichés are a confession: “We have no clue why our god allows such evils, and we’re making totally uneducated guesses.” How could these phony excuses bring any comfort to those whose relatives were murdered in the church? People go to church on the assumption that there, more than anywhere else, god is paying attention to them, god is aware of their presence and prayers.
As a convicted felon, Trump isn’t fit to lead America’s military as commander in chief
Joe Biden calls out ‘desperate and delusional’ Trump’s ‘blatant lie’ about cost of insulin
Investors Are Angry About Trump Media Stock and They Let the SEC Know It
Trump compares misleading claim about migrant children with ‘Holocaust’ that murdered millions
Sex abuse survivors dispute Southern Baptist leadership and say federal investigation is ongoing
Elon Musk Accused of Massive Insider Trading at Tesla
Musk tried to ‘punish’ critics, judge rules, in tossing a lawsuit (SLAPP suit)
Women give birth: how they do it is no one else’s business
Voucher programs are expanding, propping up religious schools with tax dollars
Second Circuit: Yeah, You Can’t Arrest Someone For Asserting Their Fourth Amendment Rights
Divergent responses to judge-shopping claims paint a disturbing picture
Fifth Circuit blocks religious-liberty training order in Southwest Airlines case