Archives for August 2023

Monday, August 7, 2023

I remember reading a book about a father and son cruise around the world. Two things stuck out in my mind. One, when you pass into the southern hemisphere you have to adjust your compass. This is done by moving magnets that are around the ship’s compass. The other was the description of the Straits of Magellan. This is near the tip of South America. It’s not the actual tip. I guess ships don’t go out into the open oceans (plural) to get around because the waves are huge and unpredictable. When engineers were designing oil rig platforms they had to take into account once-in-a-century waves. After a survey of the oceans they found that those sort of waves happen quite regularly and typically in places like the tip of South America. The father and son had to wait, like Magellan did, for the conditions to be right for them to make the passage. When they did it was gray and gloomy. The fog and the mist hung about the barren rocks. As if the Sirens of Circe had been asleep. They passed in quiet, holding their breath until they were through. (Okay, it’s a long passage – 350 miles, and they didn’t do the pass-the-graveyard thing, but they were quiet.)

I think that is what we are going to see and have reported about Trump. At some point the hammer comes down. Will it be this case, or the other one? Or the one not yet brought? Maybe, all of them. 

But like the Straits of Magellan will it be a quiet, gloomy time when the hammer comes down?

Saturday, August 5, 2023

Saw the Barbie movie yesterday, still trying to process what I saw. It’s very campy, as in “camp.” Is that still a term that it used? Do people under 30 even know what that means? So many questions…

Also, trying to figure out what is annoying the right wing about this movie. They have such fragile egos… Was it that Barbie said, in reference to Ken, that he doesn’t have any genitals? I dunno. 

The movie is about female empowerment – maybe that’s it. I mean, that’s one of the themes. It is also full of women I’ve seen before in movies or shows. Women whom I’ll recognize from something, somewhere, and say, “Isn’t that the woman who was in that show about …?” Kate McKinnon is in it. She’s weird Barbie. No surprise there. Margot Robbie is Classic Barbie. No surprise there either. She’s knock out gorgeous. In the credits it said Dua Lipa was in it. Where was she? I dunno. I get her mixed up with the other one. You know. The black one.

Good movie. Worth seeing. Still confused. Ryan Gosling is good as Ken, as is the Asian guy as – bad Ken? Evil Ken? Asian Ken? What was he in before? I know I’ve seen him before…

Donald got indicted the other day. Maybe, you didn’t hear. But that was yesterday, or the day before. Next up – Georgia. Where the betting is on racketeering. Maybe twelve others including Lindsay Graham? Lindsay said Trump’s a fun guy. Wonder how much fun it will be under the bus?

It’s also been mentioned that none of Trump’s family has been with him at the various arraignments. Guess they’re busy.

Moving on to the really big news – the truth is out about the Biden crime family and all their corrupt business dealings. This due to the tireless work of Jim Jordan and his weaponizing of the investigative tools of government probe. After issuing his report and getting some of his Republican pals to help him reveal all a la Bill Barr Mueller Report style, he only made one small mistake. He released the actual transcript – 141 pages. Whoops.

If you read the actual transcript none of the claims he is making are backed up by the facts. Weird huh? Did Joe Biden call his son? Yes! They have proof that he did at least twenty times! They’ve got the conversations on tape. Ah ha. What did they talk about? The weather. Oh oh also, geography as in, “Where are you now?” and “How’s the weather there?” Also, a former business associate of Hunter’s testified to the committee. He heard the calls, often on speakerphone. He never heard any untoward stuff, nor did he have any knowledge of any wrongdoing by Joe Biden.

It may be hard for Jim Jordan to fathom that a father would call his son to see how he is doing. Especially, knowing his son was going through difficult times. In fact, it is reported that father and son spoke everyday. Proof! They have it. Shady behavior? Even a whiff of it? No.

I mean it’s not like the son held a position in the White House or was given a bunch of tasks to do, like take care of the Middle East, and set up a secret back channel to Russia or anything like that. That was someone else. Who was that? Maybe Mr. Jordan should look there?

Oh and before I leave the Donald. He was miffed that he was called Mr. Trump by the magistrate judge and not Mr. President. I guess this is more evidence that he doesn’t realize he’s not the President? Wait til they shave his head. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I also read an interesting article in Politico that gave some answers to why people will follow an authoritarian figure even when the facts don’t back up the rhetoric. This is something I have wondered about for a long time. Here goes: We are fight or flight wired. If a person instills fear in us then whatever follows bypasses the logic circuits in our brain and goes to a more primal place (ie fight or flight.) The speaker primes the audience by dehumanizing the people being attacked using words like: dirt, scum, Nazis, immigrants, and saying they will do terrible things: bring disease, crime, take your jobs, etc. Then when the really idiotic stuff is said the audience is ready for it to bypass any logic or critical thinking. At least, I have some understanding of what is going on.

I’ve got to wonder what kind of book reports Jim Jordan turned in as a kid. Also Bill Barr. I bet they were doozies. 

In Tay-Tay news, I knew she had given all her truck drivers $100,000 bonus for doing the Eras Tour. I didn’t know there were fifty of them! She also wrote each one a note and her dad delivered the note and the checks. What a class act.

Friday, August 4, 2023

I’m not a lawyer. I don’t pretend to be one, but I think it is not a good legal strategy, tactic, or idea as a defense lawyer to publicly describe the criminal conduct of your client. Just saying.

So when one of Trump’s lawyers went on NewsMax and said, “All he did was … option D” which was the idea of halting the counting of electoral votes the lawyer was saying Donnie T had committed the crime of interfering with a Congressional proceeding.

In the case of Donald Trump this kind of behavior is usually left up to Donald to do. Who can forget the many quoted line of, “All I want … which is one more than … Give me a break.”

Typically what the Trump strategy has been is to delay. Unfortunately for him, many of the claims he will make as to the reasons for delay have already been hashed out in the earlier Mar-a-Lago documents case. 

The defense lawyers did try to get more time by saying that the 70 day for a speedy trial wasn’t enough and they needed an exception, ie more time. According to the legal experts listening to this they explained that the time to make that argument would be not at the indictment but at the August 28th meeting where the trial date will be set. Seems they are a little antsy.

Thursday, August 3, 2023

I had a dream, in the room where it happened. (Sorry, for the smooshed quote)

The proceeding of the indictment of Donald Trump had several unusual things. At least, that’s what some of the pros said.

1. The warning to not commit any crimes.

2. Specifically, not to talk to any of the potential witnesses. (and I assume co-defendants, and jurors.)

Andrew Weissmann said in his 21 years as a prosecutor and five years as a defense attorney he had never heard such a warning from a judge.

It was at that moment that I started to have a dream…

I dreamed that Donald threw a gum wrapper on the floor in the hallway as he left the courtroom, and that he got immediately arrested, hauled back into the same courtroom and thrown in jail.

But it was only a dream. A fleeting moment…

But in reality, at the hearing, sitting in the back of the room were the other judges. You know it’s bad when the rest of the bench is there to see you indicted.

Over at Fox some guy from North Dakota who is running for President was criticizing Biden because he’s letting the Russians sell oil to China. What? (letting?) I guess he liked Trump cow towing to Putin. He also seemed to be going on about our poor economic situation. I guess he doesn’t look at the economic stats. Then he said he’d cut out paper work in the government and that would reduce 400,000 jobs. Great economic plan? I don’t think so. And the Fox folks are saying this is all a distraction from what Biden is really doing. Yeah, I mean we have a former president who for the first time in our history tried to seize power and now justice is being served and they say Biden is doing it. Do they forget what Trump did? Using the levers of power to humiliate, badger, and go after people he didn’t like? I think it will be a great wake up for many Fox viewers to hear what Donald did. They’ve never heard it because Fox turned the audio off when the Jan 6th Committee was holding hearings. 

What I keep waiting to hear when someone says Trump did a great job is what exactly are they talking about?

55 Years here, 80 somewhere else. It adds up. Trump is what? 77 years old? 77+55+80 = 212 years? he’ll be out in 2158. Seems too soon.

Thursday, August 3, 2023

Well, if you haven’t do so. I’m half way through it, but that’s enough to point out a few things:

1. This is the case of the year, and probably the century. It’s up there with OJ and Lindbergh. 

2. The facts and the law are clear. 

3. The defense will be a Freedom of Speech argument, which this case is not about, and something about executive privilege, which, again, it is not. But there will be a lot of shouting about those things.

Also, it will be called a political case, which it is not. All the people mentioned in the indictment are Republicans. They were working for, or on the behalf of then President Trump. This after he had been twice impeached, and had lost the election. A third defense is being suggested – that Donald got bad advice from at least two of the co-conspirators. Nice. Throw ‘em under the bus. That’s what you get for being loyal to Trump.

In ancillary news and rumor:

A. Melania, Baron, and her parents may have gone back to her country of origin. Other reports say she is cloistered in one of her three houses and goes out only to see her hairdresser, and occasionally to have Friday night dinner with whatshisname.

B. Ivanka has taken her husband’s last name in publicity. She would rather be known, for the moment, as Kushner, not Trump. This may change if Jared gets handed a subpoena. Who knows?

Breaking News!

George Santos is playing for Brazil in the Women’s World Cup!

No one should be shocked as he was already a volleyball star, and had dual citizenship. My question is, “What will his Republican colleagues do?” Will Jim Jordan investigate? Will Nikki Haley be outraged? So many questions.

For me, I have one, “How can he be playing for Brazil this morning when they got eliminated last night?”

Breaking News Update:

George Santos  is playing for Columbia, not Brazil!

(The previous reporting was inaccurate. Who knew two teams in the World Cup had yellow jerseys? To quote Sean Hannity, “honest mistake.”)

This raises yet more questions, for instance, “Does George Santos have triple citizenship?” “Are the shoes being worn in the game ones that he possibly recovered from the robber who took them from him on 5th Avenue?”

There is another possibility, and I would be remiss to not mention it, “Maybe, there is someone else named Santos?”

From South America? Naw. Maybe? You be the judge.

Lastly, both Germany and Brazil are out. Amazing. Unseated by countries that our former president would describe as … I don’t want to say it. Wouldn’t be prudent.

Jamaica is in, which is amazing, given that it is an island surrounded by water.

Speaking of our former president. Al Sharpton had an interesting comment. He said when he was growing up in Brooklynn he would pass by guys on the street who would say – they got a case dropped on them. But three? Three cases at once? He’d never heard of such a thing. Our former president is breaking new ground.

And lastly Morocco beat Columbia. One of the Moroccan players was wearing a hijab. Only one. Wow. If this was Iran the rest of the team wouldn’t be able to return home. Iran is not at the games, as far as I know. How could they be? The Mullahs are busy rounding up the women and putting them in prison. The Iranian world champion rock climber decided not to return to her home country after her hijab fell off in a competition.

For some reason, the young women of the world don’t want stinky old men with beards telling them what  they should and should not be doing.