Glenn Kirschner – Donald Trump posts that he’s fighting “7” cases? Are more state indictments on the way?
Thom Hartmann – Trump’s Most Dangerous Crimes You Don’t Know About…!
Joe Biden – Fought Back
Farron Balanced – Trump Lawyer Yells At Fox Host For Not Loving Trump Enough
Tiny Dogs Who Were Chained Up Insist On Getting Adopted Together
Beau – Let’s talk about government shutdowns, continuing resolutions, and more….
[I think Glenn means “in to” rather than “into” – and hope that gives you a chuckle. It did me.]
Glenn Kirschner – Trump to turn himself into GA authorities. Here’s how DA Fani Willis CAN give Trump a speedy trial.
PoliticsGirl – This Must Stop
VoteVets – AWOL
Armageddon Update – Year Of The Weasel!
Tiny Stray Kitten Follows Guy Home And Never Leaves
Beau – Let’s talk about Santos, fundraising, and another indictment….
Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s lawyers make ABSURD request – ask Judge Chutkan set an April 2026 trial date in DC case!
The Lincoln Project – Roger Stone on November 5, 2020
Thom Hartmann – U.S. Rep. Vows To Use Force To Achieve Far Right Takeover…
Puppet Regime – Vladimir Putin, film critic
This Dog Stared At The Wall For Hours Until Finally Realized He Was Home
Beau – Let’s talk about Colorado, Alabama, and a General’s house….
Glenn Kirschner – Rudy Giuliani, now both an indicted AND un-indicted Trump co-conspirator, would make a POOR witness
The Lincoln Project – Uh Oh, Donald (Georgia Remix)
Farron Balanced – Tommy Tuberville May Be Serving In The Senate ILLEGALLY
Scared Ketchup – AI MAGA’s NEW Health Supplement: “Trump’s Tiny White Balls”
Matted Dog Who Lived On The Street For Years Gets Her First Haircut
Beau – Let’s talk about Fulton County, Trump, and warming up….
[They could conceivablly be fighting over his corpus – consider the Andrew Weiss statement quoted in yesterday’s open thread intro.]
Glenn Kirschner – Trump tells a witness ‘not to testify’ in Georgia grand jury. Time to detain Trump pending trial.
MSNBC – Jack Smith uses Trump lawyer John Lauro’s words against him in court
Farron Balanced – Trump’s Lawyer Keeps Admitting His Client Committed Crimes
Parody Project – Corruption: Parody of Truckin’ (This really is unfair to Democrats, both in the White House and Congress, who are working so hard to keep democracy.)
Pretty Leopard Gets Stuck In Tight Spot
Beau – Let’s talk about 2 things falling in Russia….
Yesterday, it was still cool – a high of 73F. It’s supposed to be warmer today, but still only in the high 80s. Also yesterday, Andrew Weissman said this on MSNBC: “The exact words because this is the provision that the court has to find to release someone on bail in Georgia, is that the defendant poses no risk of intimidating witnesses.” The reference is to the specific lehal language used in the Georgia criminal code. Federally and in most states, the burden of proof is on the government, but Georgia is different. I can tell you this caused a virtual party at Democratic Underground, with a plethora of jokes of various degreess of taste. And also yesterday – last night, really – after 9 p.m. my time – an alert came in that Trump** and 18 others had been indicted by a grand jury in Georgia. (I had heard earlier that they didn’t keep a 5:00 quitting time, but sent everyone to dinner and then re-convened into the night.) The alert didn’t name the 18 others, nor were they listed in the linked story at the time, but Axios usually develops these stories, so they may (or may not) be there now.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
CNN – Exclusive: Georgia prosecutors have messages showing Trump’s team is behind voting system breach
Quote – Investigators in the Georgia criminal probe have long suspected the breach was not an organic effort sprung from sympathetic Trump supporters in rural and heavily Republican Coffee County – a county Trump won by nearly 70% of the vote. They have gathered evidence indicating it was a top-down push by Trump’s team to access sensitive voting software, according to people familiar with the situation. Trump allies attempted to access voting systems after the 2020 election as part of the broader push to produce evidence that could back up the former president’s baseless claims of widespread fraud.
Click through for details. The nitty-gritty details of evidence are almost never anywhere near as much fun as the sweeping descriptions of the crime. But in order to prove stuff- prosecutors must dig through them.
Daily Kos (MargaretPOA) – Of Course Republicans are Angry. They Have Been Out Gamed… AGAIN.
Quote – As usual, Republicans acted on the assumption that Democrats would behave as dishonestly and unethically as they, themselves and so would never in a million years appoint a Special Counsel, even though the Democrats are as aware as anybody else that there is no evidence of wrongdoing because there was no wrongdoing. Republicans thought that they were safe to loudly and publicly demand a Special Counsel because they would never get one because they, themselves would never grant that if their positions were flipped. The fact that Republicans have long used a partisan DOJ to do their dirty work means that they can’t imagine an independent DOJ.
Click through for all the reasons – the quote is the first one. I like it because we all know it’s so, but it’s said so concisely and still in enough detail to be satisfying.
Food For Thought
Yesterday, the radio opera was “La Sonnambula,” by Vincenzo Bellini. Bellini, along with Donizetti was at the top of composers working in the bel canto style, and this is an opera full of beautiful ornaments, and beloved by both Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland – both of whom had ranges which included solid low ranges, which is the kind of singer for whom the star role was written (when it’s sung by those who basically just sing soprano, some of the low notes are adjusted a bit.) I’m not familiar with the soprano in this production, which was recorded in Liège, Belgium; the only name I recognize is that of René Barbera, whom I heard in Santa Fe years ago – maybe as many as ten years ago. The story is easier to wrap your head around if you can get into the frame of mind at the time – sleepwalking? What’s that? The plot turns on the heroine sleepwalking into and collapsing in the hotel room of a man not her fiancé, being found there by her fiancé’s jealous ex-fiamcée, and almost losing him as a result. But it does end happily. A phrase from this opera is the epitaph of Bellini, who died young: “Oh, lovely flower, I did not think that you would fade so fast” (but in Italian.) Off to see Virgil now, will let y’all know when I get back.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
SPLC – Florida sets up formerly incarcerated people to vote, then arrests them
Quote – [John Boyd Rivers] was among 41 formerly incarcerated people, also known as returning citizens, who were arrested in 2022 and 2023 for voter fraud in Florida following the 2020 election. Nearly half took plea deals, fearful of facing the unknown of a jury trial and guilty verdict. To date, only Rivers and one other have been tried in court. He drew a split verdict: not guilty of knowingly registering to vote while ineligible but guilty of willful, fraudulent voting.
Click through for story. Administrative incompetence is one thing. A deliberate set-up is quite another. As always, the cruelty is the point.
Robert Reich – Donald Trump, Samuel Bankman-Fried, and the rule of law
Quote – A prominent billionaire is arrested on criminal charges. At his arraignment, the presiding judge releases him pending trial on condition he not to try to influence potential witnesses and orders him not to speak with the media about the pending trial. He repeatedly violates the order. Eventually, the judge has had enough. He revokes bail and orders him jailed pending trial. I’m not referring to Donald J. Trump…. No, the person I’m referring to is Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Bankman-Fried — whose wealth had soared to $28 billion before the collapse — had been under house arrest at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California since his arrest in December on fraud charges stemming from FTX’s implosion.
Click through for full article. Yes, I realize if Trump** is put into pre-trial detention, there will likely be some violence. And I’m in favor of preparing for that as much as necessary to minimize the damage. I’m not in favor of just letting it go. Letting it go would be neither just nor prudent.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Trump arguably violates conditions of pretrial release AND tries to insult his way out of a DC trial
The Lincoln Project – Special Counsel Jack Smith on Trump’s Third Indictment
Robert Reich – Why Thousands of Workers Are on Strike
The Ring of Fire – Police Killings Set Record High In 2022 & Arizona’s Secret Surveillance Program
Lion Dog Was Invisible To Everyone
[This is kind of the opposite of a shaggy dog story. It doesn’t build expectations in a certain direction. But it does have a punch line.]
Beau – Let’s talk about Finland, Russia, and David….