Thursday, March 14, 2024

TWIT: The Outlaw Trump

credit: J. Heller, Duluth News Tribune
Latest:  Judge Merchan in the Manhattan business records fraud case postponed the trial set for the 25th until at least mid-April.  He is asking both parties to explain the delay in receiving and reviewing new records. He will hold a hearing on March 25th to determine how much delay is justified.

More:  Judge McAfee in Georgia ruled that Fani Willis can stay on the case, but chose to chastise her for an appearance of impropriety by dating her employee, Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade.  Wade must resign for Willis to continue the prosecution to cure the impropriety.  Judge McAfee previously struck down 3 counts against Trumpilini on grounds of specificity under Georgia law, had scathing remarks for DA Willis' testimony calling it "unprofessional manner". US Person urges Ms. Willis to bite the bullet and continue prosecuting Don Legit for his attempted coup for the good of the order.

Update:  The score in favor of the rogue former president is now 4-0.  Team Trumpillini has incredibly succeeded in delaying all four criminal cases against him.  The situation is simply grotesque.  Now voters will almost certainly be denied the benefit of at least one criminal conviction before voting.  

In the Mar-a-Lago espionage case,  Aileen. Cannon, handmaiden to the demigogue, took an entire day of hearing to decide what should have been done in a written order without a hearing.  She decided, for now, that the Espionage Act is not too vague to support a constitutional prosecution.   She dismissed the motion without prejudice, indicating that the defense can bring it up at a later date. perhaps at jury selection.  Since 1917 thousands of prosecutions have occurred and been upheld on appeal for violation of the Act.  Other than dismissing the motion, everything she did was favorable to the defense. More pending motions remain undecided by her. To top it off, Don Legit was at the hearing  to remind everyone that her judicial future hangs on how she handles this case. So far she is leaning over backwards for Trump without giving the prosecution grounds for an immediate appeal to the Eleventh Circuit.  This case is another example of politics outweighing due process of law.

DA Alan Bragg has asked for a one month delay to allow examination of new evidence obtained from the Department of Justice. His case is currently the only one scheduled for trial beginning this month.  Most of the 31,000 documents are irrelevant, but some of the witness statements may be relevant.  Left unexplained is why the Justice Department took so long to turn over the information requested by the Manhattan DA a year ago.  The defense waited until January to subpoena the information.  Is this an another turf war?

{11/04/24}Perhaps the most popular since Jesse James rode the Missouri borders. The MAGA Supremes has cut Don 'Legit' enough legal slack to tie up his criminal prosecutions.  Predictably, he raised his bogus absolute immunity argument in the NY criminal fraud case to ask for a delay going to trial until the Supreme Court rules on his absolute immunity claim.  Two problems with this argument: one, the  NY criminal indictment's gravamen is his conduct before he became the forty-fifth President; and two, he waived the immunity argument in a previous appeal in the same case.  Federal judge Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York found in response to Trump's federal removal petition that immunity does not apply because he expressly waived his theory of absolute presidential immunity and that his criminal acts are not "official business" [see below]. Trump later withdrew his appeal of Hellerstein's decision.  Thus, the principle of collateral estoppel applies. 

Trump also raised evidentiary complaints related to "official acts".  Like any evidentiary objection these can be ruled on by the trial judge before the trial is scheduled to begin on March 24th.  Trump's specious circus show must be ended now for the sake of democracy and the rule of law.   But since he has a reliable five vote majority on the Supreme Court in his pocket, he may seek an emergency stay if a ruling goes against him.  


In Florida, Employee Five of the indictment, aka Brian Butler, has gone public with his participation in Don Legit's obstruction of federal authorities seeking to recover classified documents. Butler helped Walt Nauta load banker boxes (10-15) full of government documents, including classified material, onto Trump's private plane bound for his Bedminster club.  Don Legit and his lawyers at that time were negotiating with DOJ for return of the material at Mar-a-Lago.  The two-decade employee faced repeated requests to obtain an attorney paid for by Trumpworld, but he said he is willing to testify at trial, if that ever occurs.   The Mar-a-Lago Papers case is a pathetic expose of the weaknesses of our judicial system.  Politics has overtaken due process because the defendant happens to be a prominent national politician. He may not be Mussolini, but it is not from want of posing:


Maine Votes to Join Interstate Compact

The problem is the Electoral College.  It is biased in favor of small states and is anti-democratic.  It may have served once to counteract an illiterate, uniformed electorate (debatable).  But times have changed, as they often say.  Getting rid of the anachronism by constiutional amendment is highly unlikely, but another path is being pursued that has great chance of success.  The National Popular Vote Compact could allow states willing to elect the president and vice president by popular vote to pledge their Electoral College votes to whoever wins the popular vote in the state.

States with 205 electoral votes have already signed the Compact. [see map]. Maine has recently voted to pledge its 4 electoral votes to the Compact.  Maine's Democratic governor is expected to sign the bill once it gets out of the legislature where another vote is necessary to pass it. The Compact does not go into effect until a majority of the 270 Electoral College votes are committed.  The goal is getting closer; a big state like Michigan or Pennsylvania voting to join would be enough to put the agreement into effect. Admittedly the Compact is a work around, but given the current political gridlock it would work.  Thank you, founders!


Monday, March 11, 2024

Mass Salmon Death on Klamath

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that 830,000 salmon fry released in February from a new $35 million hatchery died while migrating downstream.  Officials think the cause was "gas bubble disease", often associated with internal injuries caused by extreme pressure changes.  The small fry were forced to migrate through the Iron Gate dam tunnel built in 1964.  The tunnel and the dam are scheduled to be removed from the river.  Work restoring river habitat is underway with four dams scheduled to be removed. The Department said the die off was yet another example of how man's dams have severely damaged the Klamath River for decades.   After this latest mass die-off, officials will only release salmon below the tunnel. [photo credit: CDFW]

Fish Creek hatchery still holds about 3.27 million young Chinook salmon, and there are plans to release more at various life stages later this month. The fall Chinook run collapsed in 2022 triggering a ban on commercial and recreational fishing.  Only the tribes are allowed to fish and their take is restricted to just 2,000 fish.  The Kalmath is officially in a "overfished" condition. The poor conditions are the direct result of dams constructed beginning early last century for irrigation and water storage.  It took decades of persistent conservation effort to finally get them removed and restoration to begin on the Klamath River system.  Work has begun, but not a moment too soon. In the meantime salmon seasons are likely to remain closed this year. 

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Horrendous Suffering Uncovered on British Farm

An undercover film crew has exposed horrendous animal abuse on a Devon pig farm.  The revelations have prompted demands for legal action against the owners, WJ Watkins & Son.   Pigs condemned to filthy cramped conditions resorted to canibalism of corpses to stave off starvation.  In one clip a screaming pig was trampled on an bitten by others, and apparently died in view of the crew from Glass Wall Films.  The farmer was aware of the filming on Cross Farm, Holsworthy in October.  He refused to comment to the press, but referred them to the industry's lobby group, National Pig Association (NPA).

The Farm was investigated by Animal Equity, an animal welfare group in 2017. It found unsanitary, cramped, and barren concrete pens confining an estimated 12,000 pigs. Improvements were promised.  Glass Wall decided to visit farms where improvements were committed.  It was shocked to find that conditions had actually gotten worse.  Video were made of carbon dioxide asphyxiation, used to slaughter animals.  England has some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world, and its people are known for their love of animals.  To know such barbaric conditions existing on a Denvon farm shocks the conscience.  An NPA spokesman claimed parts of the film are not authentic and do not portray actual operations at the farm, which has been found compliant with all relevant requirements.  Tell that to the pigs!

Saturday, March 09, 2024

Originalism When It Suits You

Historians filed an amicus brief in the recent Colorado disqualification case reaching the Supremes.  The Court found only Congress can disqualify a candidate for federal office. The historians, reviewing the history of the passage of Section 3 clearly disagree. Allan Lichtman at American University who signed the brief told interviewers their brief,“decisively proved not a single one of the thousands of ex-Confederates who were disqualified under section three of the 14th amendment were disqualified under an act of Congress. They were automatically disqualified, as Jefferson Davis himself recognized in his trial and the two judges in the trial agreed.”

Because Section 3 has been so rarely at issue, this fundamental misconstruction of the Constitution is likely to stand for a century unless Congress passes legislation enforcing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.  
Allowing individual states to control access to their voting ballots, which they already do when it comes to age and residency, would not have created an unmanageable patchwork of disqualifications.  The first state disqualification case to reach the Supreme Court would decide the matter, at it did with the Colorado case; Maine and Illinois promptly fell in line with Supreme Court's decision.   This is not the first time the MAGA court has perverted the historical record. They did something similar in District of Columbia v. Heller, in which the Court construed the right to bear arms as an individual right not a right of a state to raise an armed militia, a position not supported by the historical record. 

The MAGA majority will get another crack at derailing Trump's prosecution for the insurrection in a case styled United States v. Fisher, set for argument before the immunity case.  There the defendant argues that the statute (§1512) prohibiting obstruction of an official government proceeding is limited to the impairment of evidence.  If the Court decides he is correct, despite the clear legislative history to the contrary, the decision would moot the criminal obstruction counts in the indictment against Trump.

Besides speeding up decisions that favor Trump's candidacy and slowing down those that do not, this Court seems only to pay lip service to so-called "originalism" in its interpretations of the Constitution, invoking the doctrine when it gets them to the result they want. The Roberts Court will go down in history as one of the most corrupt in the nation's history.

Friday, March 08, 2024

TWIT: Cheeseburger in Paradise

credit: A. Zyglis, Buffalo News
BC Idonwanna sez: Apré
 moi, le deluge!

Don 'Legit' posted an appeal bond of $91 million in the E. Jean Carrol defamation case at the last minute, allowing him to appeal the verdict without paying her a dime.  US Person had little doubt he would be able to come up with the money.  The bond was provided by the Chubb Group of Companies. 

Readers may remember the infamous "Steele Dossier", the source of salacious allegations that Trumpilini cavorted with prostitutes while on business in Moscow. Trump sued Orbis Business Intelligence, founded by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele. His case was thrown out of court by a British judge as being "bound to fail" because it was filed outside the six year statute of limitations.   He was ordered to pay all court costs and legal fees incurred by Orbis amounting to an initial £300,000.

Other developments in the prosecution of the most dangerous man in 'Merica are also not favorable. Kenneth Chesebro, former Trump attorney, agreed to a plea deal in the Georgia election interference case, but his testimony may be discredited by new evidence revealed as part of the settlement of a Wisconsin civil suit brought against fake electors.  Chesebro maintains that the Trump electors were a legal strategy in the event a court found that their claims of election fraud were valid. But emails and text communications show the scheme was much more intentional and planned.   Chesebro began communicating with Wisconsin MAGA campaign lawyer Jim Troupis as early as November 8th, 2020 to create a fraudulent scheme claiming Trump won the Electoral College vote in Wisconsin and submitting an alternate slate of electors. “Having the electors send in alternate slates of votes on Dec. 14 can pay huge dividends even if there is no litigation pending on Jan. 6,” Chesebro said in an email.  Chesebro asked Troupis in a text to send his detailed December 6th memo on the idea to the White House.  Troupis was then in touch with Rudy Guliani and Boris Epshteyn, senior Trump aides.  Troupis spoke to Congressman Ron Johnson a full month before January 6th about the plan to submit fake electors.  A Johnson aide spoke to Mike Pence's legislative director Chris Hodgson, telling him that they had the lists for Michigan and Wisconsin.  Hodgson told him, "do not give that to him [Pence]". Keneth Chesebro texted Troupis on January 8th, two days after the insurrection, saying that the events opened more avenues for legal opinions favorable to Trump.

The new evidence confirms Chesebro always intended to sow confusion about the outcome of the electoral vote in order to throw the election into the US House of Representatives where there is a majority of Repugnant state delegations.  By now it is beyond deniability that MAGA operatives, with the approval of the deranged nascent dictator, wanted to exploit the weaknesses of the Electoral College system.  To prevent another autogolpe in the future,  the President should be elected by a binding popular vote and the College discarded as obsolete.

Alan Weisselberg, who is a witness in the business records criminal fraud case in Manhattan, has plead guilty to two felony counts of perjury.  Former CFO Weisselberg has already served time for tax evasion related to Trump Org.  He lied in the NY Attorney General civil fraud case about the size of Don Legit's apartment in Trump Tower, a major asset on his financial statements, and about his lack of knowledge of the process in which fraudulent documents were created.  His perjury conviction increases the chances of Trump being convicted of business records fraud. The judge in Trump's criminal prosecution, Juan Merchan, is the same one who sentenced Weisselberg for tax evasion.   At seventy-nine, he cannot afford to stop another bullet on behalf of the Boss.



Wednesday, March 06, 2024

Bad Air Will Increase

A new report by a climate NGO says that air pollution has increased in the US for the first time in 8 years primarily due to wildfires offsetting gains in reductions in human caused pollution achieved by the Clean Air Act.  Vast swaths of the continental US will have unhealthy air by 2054.  Now one in four Americans are exposed to unhealthy air and that is expected to grow by 50% in the next few decades.

An example of what is occurring is the Canadian wildfires of June 2023 that turned the skies of northeastern America orange and caused exposure to the worst day of polluted air since 2006.  The smoke carried tiny particulate matter called PM2.5 (microns) that can lodge deep inside a person's lungs and cross the brain-blood barrier. Prolonged exposure can cause Parkinson's Disease and dementia, as well as respiratory illness.  There is no safe exposure level to PM 2.5.  Although wildfire smoke is not counted against air quality goals by the EPA, wildfire smoke accounts for a third of all particulate matter pollution.

The number and intensity of wildfires are expected to increase as the planet warms up and vegetation drys out.  Disadvantaged populations in urban centers will be affected most since they do not have the means to ameliorate the effects of air pollution by moving or filtering in-door air.  Black children are five times more likely to suffer asthma than white children.  Outdoor workers will also be affected more.