Finally Friday Reads: Crime and Punishment

Posted: May 10, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Republican politics, Trump Krewe Crime and Punishment, U.S. Politics | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The smell of fear begins to bubble up through all the other odors. John Buss @repeat1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

These are days when you have to hold on to every instance where Justice and the Rule of Law stand firm.  The small victories come when an insurrectionist gets jail time. Today, we learned that Steve Bannon is headed to Jail.  Peter Navarro started his sentence in March.”Ex-Trump aide Peter Navarro begins serving prison sentence after historic contempt prosecution.”  This event was reported by CNN.  (Note:  BB reminded me that one of the last things Donald did in office was to pardon Bannon for fundraising for a border wall that never happened.)

His conviction was a rare example of a member of Trump’s inner circle being held accountable by the criminal justice system for their resistance to scrutiny. Navarro’s stint in prison comes as Trump himself has yet to face criminal consequences for the various crimes he’s been accused of committing.

“It’s historic, and will be to future White House aides who get subpoenaed by Congress,” Stanley Brand, a former House general counsel who now represents Navarro as one of his defense lawyers, said on Monday.

Navarro’s punishment for evading a House probe will boost the leverage lawmakers will have – under administrations of both parties – to secure cooperation in their investigations.

CNBC reports on Bannon’s next stop.  “Trump White House aide Steve Bannon loses appeal of contempt of Congress conviction.”

A federal appeals court on Friday unanimously upheld the criminal contempt of Congress conviction of former Trump White House senior aide Steve Bannon for refusing to testify and provide documents to the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.The appeals court rejected Bannon’s argument that he was not guilty because his attorney had advised him not to comply with a subpoena from the House committee.

The ruling by a three-judge panel on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit makes it more likely that Bannon will soon have to begin serving a sentence of four months in jail for his conviction of two counts of contempt.

Bannon could ask the full judicial line-up of the D.C. Circuit to hear his appeal again, which might postpone his jail term. He also could ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take an appeal of Friday’s ruling.

But such requests typically face very long odds of success.

CNBC has requested comment from Bannon’s appellate lawyer on the ruling. The decision was written by Judge Bradley Garcia, who was appointed to the D.C. Circuit appeals court last year by President Joe Biden. The other two judges on the panel were Justin Walker, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, and Cornelia Pillard, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama.

In March, Peter Navarro, another ex-adviser to Trump, began serving a four-month federal jail sentence after the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of his conviction for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 House committee. Pillard also was a member of the three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit that upheld Navarro’s conviction.

Bannon will also spend 4 months in jail. This is from the New York Times.  “Federal Appeals Court Upholds Bannon’s Contempt Conviction. Stephen Bannon, a longtime ally of Donald Trump, had been found guilty of defying a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 committee. He now faces a four-month prison sentence.

The decision by the court means that Mr. Bannon could soon become the second former Trump aide to be jailed for ignoring a subpoena from the committee. The House panel sought his testimony as part of its wide-ranging investigation into Mr. Trump’s efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election, and its explosive hearings two years ago previewed much of the evidence used against Mr. Trump in a federal indictment filed last summer accusing him of plotting to overturn his defeat.

In March, Peter Navarro, who once worked as a trade adviser to Mr. Trump, reported to federal prison in Miami to begin serving his own four-month prison stint after a jury found him guilty of contempt of Congress for ignoring one of the committee’s subpoenas.

The judge who oversaw Mr. Bannon’s trial had allowed him to remain at home during the appeal of his conviction and is now in a position to force him to surrender.

You may also remember that there were major indictments in the Georgia case, even though the case itself was stalled.  John Eastman surrendered at a Georgia jail 8 months ago. He was released pending trial.  Three Trump lawyers–Sidney Powel, Kenneth Cheesebro, and Jenna Ellis–pleaded guilty.  Rudy Guilliani and Mark Meadows are also considered co-conspirators.

Paul Manaford got his pardon ticket punched. He’s looking to be a repeat offender.  This is from the Washington Post. “Paul Manafort, poised to rejoin Trump world, aided Chinese media deal.  The former Trump campaign chairman, likely to help manage this summer’s GOP convention, resumed consulting after being pardoned in 2020.”

After pleading guilty to money laundering and obstruction of justice, Paul Manafort, the globe-trotting political consultant and former campaign chairman for Donald Trump, asked for leniency in his sentencing, telling a federal judge five years ago that he was nearly 70 years old, struggling with health concerns and remorseful for his actions.

The judge rejected his entreaties in the spring of 2019, ordering Manafort to remain behind bars for more than seven years.Less than two years later, however, Manafort’s criminal record was wiped clean when Trump pardoned him. He was among the dozensof allies, extended family members and former campaign staffers allowed to walk free.

With his freedom, Manafort hardly retired to a quiet home life. Instead, the longtime power broker — briefly brought low by the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election — reengaged in international consulting, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post and people familiar with his activities who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.

Manafort has been assisting an effort to launch a Netflix-like mobile streaming and entertainment platform in China that, according to corporate documents, has the endorsement of the Chinese government. In an email to The Post, Manafort said he was “not involved with China” and has “had nothing to do with China, including Chinese businesses, government, individuals, or anything else,” but acknowledged that he “was asked to make introductions to U.S. studios and potential U.S. partners in the venture.”

Manafort, now 75, also sought to advise political figures in Japan and South Korea, according to a person who was approached by party officials in those countries checking on the consultant’s reputation. Manafort has roamed widely, traveling to Guatemala last year on the invitation of a migrant advocacy group called Proyecto Guatemala Migrante. The group’s leader, Verónica Pimentel, said she and a colleague discussed Latin American politics and the Latino vote with Manafort and introduced him to a Guatemalan presidential candidate, Ricardo Sagastume, who confirmed the meeting.

Emails, documents and interviews fill in details of Manafort’s life and work between 2020, when he swapped prison for home confinement owing to the coronavirus pandemic and then landed a pardon from Trump, and this election cycle, as he prepares to reenter Trump’s orbit. Advisers say Trump is determined to hire Manafort, likely handing him a substantial role at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, because he appreciates that his onetime campaign chairman has remained loyal to him even while serving in prison.

The fake elector arrests in Arizona might just interfere with all the Trump repeat offenders, including the Donald up there at the top of the offensive list.  Christina Bob and Rudy Guiliani are defendants also. With its dalliance on Presidential Immunity, it looks like the Supreme Court could stall any or all of these.  Hillary Clinton was on Morning Joe on Thursday.  She made stern mention of the Court and its actions. This is from The Hill.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton knocked the Supreme Court on Thursday for delaying its ruling on former President Trump’s presidential immunity claim in his federal election interference case.

“The other point I would quickly make is that the Supreme Court is doing our country a grave disservice in not deciding the case about immunity,” Clinton, the 2016 Democratic nominee for president, said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Clinton said some Supreme Court justices were seemingly trying to find loopholes for the former president during arguments before the court late last month.

“I read the excellent decision by the court of appeals, and the judges there, I think, covered every possible argument,” Clinton said, “and what we heard when this case was tried before the Supreme Court — to my ear at least — were efforts to try to find loopholes, to try to create an opportunity for Trump to have attempted to overturn an election, to have carried out hundreds and hundreds of pages of very highly classified material for his own amusement, interest, trading — we don’t know what.”

“These are very serious charges against any American, but someone who’s both been a president and wants to be a president again — that should cause any voter to think not twice, but many, many times over, about whether we should entrust our country to him,” Clinton added.

Late last month, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Trump’s presidential immunity claim and seemed poised to grant him at least some protections from criminal prosecution after hearing two hours of arguments.

The court still has not made a decision on the question of immunity, but the justices’ lengthy discussion of how to create guardrails between official versus personal conduct suggested they may ask the lower court to revisit its decision. Doing so would almost certainly delay Trump’s numerous legal proceedings.

The court delayed Trump’s election interference case just by taking up the immunity claims rather than letting the appeal court decision stand. Any further decision at the lower court might be appealed, a process that could again send the case to the high court.

Clinton said Wednesday that the American people ought to have an answer about whether Trump is guilty in the federal election interference case and in the other cases before they head to the polls in November to decide whether to send him back to the White House.

“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Clinton said. “And the people in our country, it looks as though will most likely go to vote without knowing the outcome of these other very serious trials.”

The Supreme Court is at the end of the term and still has some pretty significant cases to decide. This is reported by CBS News‘ Melissa Quinn.  “The Supreme Court is nearing the end of its term. Here are the major cases it still has to decide.

 The Supreme Court has wrapped up arguments for its current term and until around the end of June, it will be handing down opinions for the remaining cases, among them, over a dozen involving hot-button issues including abortion, guns, homelessness, Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy plan and the prosecution of former President Donald Trump.

This term, which began in October 2023, follows two in which the Supreme Court handed down consequential decisions unwinding the constitutional right to abortion and bringing to an end affirmative action in higher education. The justices kicked off this latest slate of cases with several involving administrative law and online speech. But it was a pair of disputes involving Trump that captured widespread attention and thrust the justices into the center of legal battles with high stakes for the former president as he mounts a bid to return to the White House.

The court has already decided one of the cases involving the presumptive Republican presidential nominee: whether Colorado could keep him off the 2024 ballot using a Civil War-era provision of the 14th Amendment. The high court ruled in March that states cannot disqualify Trump from holding the presidency under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment and allowed him to stay on the ballot.

“It’s the most consequential term of my lifetime,” said Victoria Nourse, law professor at Georgetown University, “because they’re covering a gambit of things from guns to abortion to presidential power.”

So, we’ve seen what happens when courts do their job and when they try to do something entirely different.  This is an Op-Ed from MSNBC’s Hayes Brown. “Judge Aileen Cannon set herself up for failure. Donald Trump’s classified documents case could prove difficult for even the most experienced judge. Judge Cannon is not exactly handling herself well.”

It’s entirely possible that a more experienced judge would be facing similar problems. But that Cannon is even in a position to make these decisions is due to an almost literary twist of fate. There are more than two dozen federal district judges in the southern district of Florida. Cases are assigned at random among them. It is only through the luck of the draw that Trump would see his classified documents case fall before Cannon. With the shadow of the special master case looming over her, she’s opted to take her time to get things right. Yet that has opened her up to an entirely different set of criticisms. That includes her frankly bizarre decision to have the prosecution and defense spend time on crafting potential jury instructions and arguments regarding the Presidential Records Act rather than deal with the more pressing issues on her plate.

Unfortunately for everyone who isn’t a co-defendant in this case, Cannon’s careful treading fits perfectly with Trump’s preferred strategy of delaying his court appearances for as long as possible. The trial had originally been scheduled to begin on May 20 — though given that Trump is in the middle of a separate criminal trial in New York, that was clearly not going to happen. Both Smith, who brought the charges against Trump last year, and the former president’s lawyers agreed that a delay would be necessary. Smith’s team argued that a summer trial was still possible, while Trump naturally pushed for a trial date after Election Day. Since a hearing on the matter in March, Cannon had only given hints at when a rescheduled trial would take place, the last of which was Monday when she bumped back a key CIPA-related filing deadline.

Again, the evidentiary role of classified material would likely slow down any criminal trial, let alone one involving a former president. But given the clear evidence that Trump was in possession of the documents seized despite a subpoena to return them and attempted to foil the government’s efforts to recover them, this should be an open and shut case once it gets before a jury. Instead, Cannon has only painted herself into a corner, overcorrecting from her past mistakes in a way that has only exacerbated her subsequent follies.

Well, enough of that!  At least I have an excuse to use one of my favorite Warren Zevon songs today!

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

Thursday Cartoons : No More tRump

Posted: May 2, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: 2024 presidential Campaign, A thread for Ranting, abortion rights, Bodily Autonomy, Corrupt and Political SCOTUS, Donald Trump, Fascist Florida, fetal personhood, fetus fetishists, Florida, health, MAGA Assholes, morning reads, open thread, Planned Parenthood, PLUB Pro-Life-Until-Birth, Political and Editorial Cartoons, Psychopaths in charge, Reproductive Health, Reproductive Justice, Reproductive Rights, Republican politics, the GOP, tRump threat to society, Vagina Republicans | 4 Comments

Good morning…so true…

Well, I can’t take that orange turd anymore. He has truly taken over our lives, if you ask me…the damage is already done.

And for a discussion on what is to come:

By the way…you can read the entire transcript of the Time Magazine interview here:

Click on image to get to the link.

Now, some cartoons via Cagle:

Oh yeah…one more thing:

This is an open thread.

Mostly Monday Reads: Dangerous Don’s Dirty Dance of Theocratic Fascism

Posted: April 1, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Republican politics, U.S. Politics, Women's Rights | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

I wish the media would not confuse traditional conservatism with theocratic fascism. This country has had its share of offbeat religions doing offbeat things, starting with the so-called Pilgrims.  There were so many forms of it in the colonial US that the first Continental Congress couldn’t even develop an opening prayer to please everyone.  The March 2021 edition of Church and State published “A Word From John Adams: A 224-Year-Old Treaty Says The U.S. Was Not Founded As A Christian Nation.” It’s an excerpt from Solemn Reverence by Randall Balmer. 

John Adams had considered entering the ministry before opting to study law. Educated at Harvard, he served in the Continental Congress, as ambassador to Britain, and as Wash­ing­ton’s vice president before his election as president in 1796. He served a single term, losing the 1800 election to Thomas Jefferson.

Though reared a Congregationalist, Adams became a Unitarian. He did not believe in the Trinity – the Christian doctrine, defined in the Nicene Creed, that God exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

“My religion you know is not exactly conformable to that of the greatest part of the Christian World,” Adams acknowledged in a letter to his wife, Abigail, in 1799. “It excludes superstition. But with all the superstition that attends it, I think the Christian the best that is or has been.”

Adams understood the value of religion. “I have attended public worship in all countries and with all sects and believe them all much better than no religion,” he wrote to Benjamin Rush, “though I have not thought myself obliged to believe all I heard.” The second president’s most candid remarks about faith appeared in a letter to his son, John Quincy Adams, in 1816, long after the elder Adams had left office. “An incarnate God ! ! ! An eternal, self-existent, omnipresent omniscient Author of this stupendous Universe, suffering on a Cross! ! ! My Soul starts with horror, at the Idea, and it has stupified [sic] the Christian World. It has been the Source of almost all the Corruptions of Christianity.”

Perhaps Adams’s most enduring contribution to the conversation about church and state in the United States is the Treaty of Tripoli, negotiated during the Washington administration but ratified during Adams’s presidency.

That treaty negotiation contains the most significant indicator of what the founding fathers intended, which eventually became embedded in the U.S. Constitution: the separation of church and state. Its first was written in that Treaty.

The Senate ratified the Treaty of Tripoli unanimously, without debate, on June 7, 1797.

The language of Article 11 is pretty clear – “the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion” – so anyone arguing that the United States is a Christian nation would need to explain away both Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli as well as the Senate’s unanimous ratification of the treaty. Clearly, those who constituted the government in the early years of the new nation – the executive and legislative branches – had no quarrel with the statement that the United States was not founded on Christianity.

The rebuttals of the Christian nation crowd are tortured, but they seem to rely on quoting the entirety of Article 11 (reproduced above in its entirety), not merely the opening phrase: “As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion . . .” Fair enough. Context is always important. It’s not clear to me, however, how the full article in any way changes the plain meaning of the phrase. The treaty makes the case that the United States has no “enmity” against Islam or Muslims. The treaty does not assert that the United States is a Christian nation; it states the opposite: “the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.”

You may continue to read the excerpt of that book at the link.  The book is still in print.  You know me and my rabbit holes.  You also know six of my direct ancestors ratified that Treaty. I feel like I have a lot of skin in this game.  We all should have a lot of skin in this game. David Kurtz at Talking Points Memo has just published this. “The Easter Madness Of Donald J. Trump. INSIDE: Alvin Bragg … Wes Moore … Ammon Bundy.”

Trump’s Messianic Complex

I trust that most of you were offline celebrating the holiday, warming to the Spring, welcoming baseball back, or watching college basketball. Congrats on missing another unhinged online weekend for Donald Trump.

Over the course of 70+ posts Easter morning, Trump vilified and attacked a wide range of his antagonists in ALL CAPS zeal. At the same time, he reposted articles declaring himself to be “The Chosen One.”

The contrast between the irreligious candidate embracing Christian nationalism and the lifelong Irish Catholic was, shall we say, striking:

It’s all so infantile and incredibly ridiculous that you can hardly be blamed for not wanting to be bothered about it over the weekend.

The New York Times’s Michael Bender wrote this today. “The Church of Trump: How He’s Infusing Christianity Into His Movement Ending many of his rallies with a churchlike ritual and casting his prosecutions as persecution, the former president is demanding — and receiving — new levels of devotion from Republicans.” I’m sorry, but watching all of this just makes me ill.

Mr. Trump has long defied conventional wisdom as an unlikely but irrefutable evangelical hero.

He has been married three times, has been repeatedly accused of sexual assault, has been convicted of business fraud and has never showed much interest in church services. Last week, days before Easter, he posted on his social media platform an infomercial-style video hawking a $60 Bible that comes with copies of some of the nation’s founding documents and the lyrics to Lee Greenwood’s song “God Bless the U.S.A.”

 …

Mr. Trump’s braiding of politics and religion is hardly a new phenomenon. Christianity has long exerted a strong influence on American government, with most voters identifying as Christians even as the country grows more secular. According to Gallup, 68 percent of adults said they were Christian in 2022, down from 91 percent in 1948.

But as the former president tries to establish himself as the one, true Republican leader, religious overtones have pervaded his third presidential campaign.

Benevolently phrased fund-raising emails in his name promise unconditional love amid solicitations for contributions of as little as $5.

Even more than in his past campaigns, he is framing his 2024 bid as a fight for Christianity, telling a convention of Christian broadcasters that “just like in the battles of the past, we still need the hand of our Lord.”

On his social media platform in recent months, Mr. Trump has shared a courtroom-style sketch of himself sitting next to Jesus and a video that repeatedly proclaims, “God gave us Trump” to lead the country.

The apparent effectiveness of such tactics has made Mr. Trump the nation’s first major politician to successfully separate character from policy for religious voters, said John Fea, a history professor at Messiah University, an evangelical school in Pennsylvania.

“Trump has split the atom between character and policy,” Mr. Fea said. “He did it because he’s really the first one to listen to their grievances and take them seriously. Does he really care about evangelicals? I don’t know. But he’s built a message to appeal directly to them.”

I’m going to share Jennifer Ruben’s response to this with you.

The bigger problem is the Trump Snake Oil show has emboldened local theocratic fascists at all levels.  Again, I dealt with them back in 1992 when the cry against anyone who wasn’t white and their brand of Christian was considered to be a multiculturist.  They were as rabid back then as now against women’s Reproductive Rights and the GLBT community.  I fled Nebraska for the safety of the French Quarter because of them. They’re insane.    This is insane.  This is from Piper Hutchinson, who is writing for the Louisiana Illuminator. “Ultra-conservative lawmakers target Louisiana libraries as culture war rages on.” This is radicalism. It’s theocratic fascism! The men who voted for that Treaty would be appalled; many were clergy.

With veto-proof majorities in both legislative chambers and the backing of a new governor, some Louisiana Republicans are taking aim at public libraries with legislation that could criminalize librarians.

Four conservative lawmakers have filed five bills that play off the library culture war currently raging across the nation, including in Louisiana.

Upset with what they view as sexually explicit materials in libraries and the “Marxist” American Library Association, far-right activists have filed thousands of book challenges in the past few years and pushed libraries to disaffiliate with the ALA. In Louisiana, public library oversight boards have mostly resisted calls to restrict book content, but some, including the State Library, have ended their ALA memberships.

The issue has captured the interest of Republicans in Louisiana, including Gov. Jeff Landry.

As attorney general, Landry set up a tip line to field complaints against libraries that he said failed to protect children from “early sexualization, as well as grooming, sex trafficking, and abuse.” Landry later drafted a “Protecting Innocence” report on libraries and supported legislation to restrict minors’ access to certain library materials.

Three bills filed could lead to criminal punishment for librarians.

House Bill 777 by Rep. Kellee Dickerson, R-Denham Springs, would prohibit any public employee from spending public funds with the American Library Association. Anyone who does would be subject to up to two years in prison or a fine of up to $1,000.

The bill would force public libraries, including parish and university libraries, to sever their memberships with the association and would prohibit libraries from sending their librarians to ALA conferences and other continuing education events.

Dickerson said in an interview she filed the bill because she wants money to be spent locally, rather than with a national organization.

The villainization of the American Library Association is something that perplexes most librarians.

“I’m not sure exactly what these people think go on at ALA conferences,” Suzanne Stauffer, an LSU library and information science professor said in an interview. “It’s workshops about how to better meet the needs of their community.”

“Frankly, the conferences are dull,” Stauffer added, laughing.

Michael Lunsford, a conservative activist who frequently targets the ALA, thinks otherwise. Lunsford, executive director of Citizens for a New Louisiana, a Lafayette-based advocacy group, has been on the frontlines of the library battle in Louisiana. He and his organization have been involved with attempts to restrict books before multiple parish library boards of control. The appointed volunteer boards oversee libraries and have the final say over what books are removed from the shelves

Lunsford described the American Library Association as a “Marxist” organization out to fundamentally change U.S. society.

“We’ve had an organization that comes out and says, ‘You have to have these erotic books in your children’s section or you’re a Nazi,’” Lunsford said.

Lunsford claimed he found a copy of “Let’s Talk About it” in the children’s section of the Lafayette Public Library. The graphic novel is a nonfiction young adult book that contains depictions of genitalia and descriptions of sex acts. The book is billed as a guide to coming of age, puberty, consent and sexuality and is targeted at readers 14 and older.

The books Lunsford and other ultra-conservative activists have targeted are primarily those with LGBTQ+ themes and those with sexual content are classified as young adult or adult books. Louisiana also recently adopted an extensive tiered card system that gives parents control over what types of books their children can check out.

Attendees at a Livingston Parish Library Board of Control meeting on July 19, 2022, show their opposition to a member who had submitted a list of books that she deemed inappropriate for children and young adult readers. Five of the books contained LGBTQ themes. (Piper Hutchinson/Louisiana Illuminator)

The weirdest temper tantrum this weekend is the conspiracy around the lunar calendar’s choice of Easter this year and the coincidence that it happened on Trans Day of Visibility. “Trending: Easter Controversy,” or: How little lies pave the way for the next big lie. No-News Weekend Internet is stupid-dangerous in the Trump era — as this weekend’s attack on the Transgender Day of Visibility shows.” This is from the Law Dork’s Chris Geidner.

This weekend’s gaslighting from the right around Easter falling on the same day as Transgender Day of Visibility is a stark sign of how empty the Republican Party has gotten — and how dangerous Donald Trump is, not only to transgender people, but to America.

If you, blessedly, have no idea what I am talking about, congratulations, you live a life free from what I think is best thought of as “No-News Weekend Internet.” In short, when nothing is happening, something must happen. It will always be stupid, but, in the past, sometimes that meant stupid-fun. Now, it means stupid-dangerous.

This time, it was two things. Easter moves around because it falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21. Transgender Day of Visibility, which was founded in 2009, takes place on March 31.

This year, again, BECAUSE OF THE MOON, Easter is on March 31.

For a group of Republicans looking to demonize Joe Biden and transgender people, this was all that they needed to start a weekend of hate. Then, for kicks I guess, they added in an attack on the “new rules” for the White House children’s egg decorating contest — specifically, that submissions can’t be overtly religious — as a second anti-Christian thing that Biden has done despite the fact that the Biden administration didn’t change the rules.

It’s disgusting and done in extremely bad faith — but also dangerous.

Because of that danger, I’m going to go through what happened in detail and discuss why it’s so disturbing.

And, of course, the deplorable Caitlyn Jenner had to come join the gaslighting.  This is from HuffPo.  I really feel like I should drag out all the dumb jock jokes we used to tell in junior high school. It’s on that level.

Caitlyn Jenner, a trans woman, wrote on social media Saturday that she is “disgusted” Transgender Day of Visibility is on Easter this year. The annual event has been held on March 31 since its inception in 2009. Easter is a different date each year, however.

“I am absolutely disgusted that Joe Biden has declared the most Holy of Holy days – a self proclaimed devout Catholic – as Transgender Day of Visibility,” Jenner wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “The only thing you should be declaring on this day is ‘HE is Risen.’”

Tom Toles Editorial Cartoon

The last thing I will share with you is my absolute delight in having a new case study for my Graduate Students in Derivatives. This is from CNBC. “Trump Media plunges more than 20% after company reports net loss of $58 million in 2023.” So, the stock has a negative Price/Earnings ratio, which is incredible it even got listed in that situation. It’s the most shorted stock in history, which means people were paying a lot of money to bet it would crash. I’ve been carefully watching for a sign of a gamma squeeze.  Also, its sponsor barely got out of serious hot water with the SEC before it could launch shares of JDT.

The share price of Trump Media fell sharply Monday morning after the social media app company closely tied to former president Donald Trump reported a net loss of $58.2 million on revenue of just $4.1 million in 2023.

Trump Media & Technology Group shares were trading down by more than 20% as of 12:30 p.m. ET.

Despite that plunge, the company’s market capitalization was still more than $6.8 billion after its 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed the loss for last year.

Much of the net loss appears to come from $39.4 million in interest expense, according to the filing.

A spokesperson for the company did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the new filing.

The filing shows that in 2022, Trump Media had a net profit of $50.5 million and total revenue of only $1.47 million.

The company ended 2023 with just $2.7 million in cash on hand, the filing said.

The losses last year by Trump Media — the owner of the Truth Social app routinely used by the former president — could continue for some time, according to the company.

“TMTG expects to incur operating losses for the foreseeable future,” says the filing, which came a week after the company began trading under the ticker DJT on the Nasdaq.

The filing also warns shareholders that Trump’s involvement in the company could put it at greater risk than other social media companies.

TMTG also disclosed to regulators that the company had identified “material weaknesses in its internal control over financial reporting” when it prepared a previous financial statement for the first three quarters of 2023.

As of Monday, Trump Media said these “identified material weaknesses continue to exist.”

That’s what we in the business like to call the discipline of the market.  You may follow those links if you want to get into the weeds.

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

Finally Friday Reads: Right-Wing Media’s Ghoulish Conspiracy Fixations

Posted: March 29, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Foreign Affairs, just because, Republican politics, U.S. Economy, U.S. Politics | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

I’m always astounded by the difference in coverage of national tragedies by traditional media and the new outlets created to make stupid people more stupid. This is the same media that schoolmarm us about how not to politicize mass shootings.  The horrific collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore is a textbook example of news turned into hate speech and lies. This is from Forbes Magazine.  The analysis was written by Janice Gassam Asare, an expert on DEI. “Baltimore Bridge Collapse Creates More DEI Attacks: How Allies Can Push Back.”

Amidst the horrific news of the bridge collapse, some chose to focus on Mayor Scott’s age and race and proceeded to blame DEI for the bridge collapse. Utah state Rep. Phil Lyman along with Florida congressional candidate Anthony Sabatini were among those blaming the incident on DEI. One X user tweeted that Mayor Scott was “Baltimore’s DEI mayor,” with that tweet garnering nearly 6,000 reposts at the time of this article, while another user tweeted that the mayor “looks like a teen.” The creator behind the Darkest Hue, a platform created as a safe space for dark-skinned Black girls, women, and femmes wrote in an Instagram post “It is becoming increasingly clear that DEI is being used as a dog whistle for Black people, as if to substitute racial slurs.”

DEI is a term that has become increasingly more polarizing. An acronym created to highlight the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion has been warped and distorted by DEI critics. The same way that terms like woke and critical race theory (CRT) have been hijacked, morphed, and mutilated, the term DEI is experiencing a similar fate. There is an increasing phenomenon where individuals who have very little understanding of DEI are critiquing its utility and effectiveness.

What follows is several points that include actual data debunking the right-wing screeds. This is the first point just for reference.  You may learn more about it at the like to Forbes.

Those who understand the value of DEI and recognize how it can be a tool to fight against oppression and injustice can counteract the anti-DEI sentiment in a few ways.

1. Numbers don’t lie. One popular DEI myth is that it promotes the hiring of unqualified non-white job candidates. But what does the data say? Looking specifically at different industries will reveal prevalent racial disparities. If DEI was increasing the representation of non-white candidates, this would be reflected in the numbers but many industries, like the media and artificial intelligence, remain overwhelmingly white. The data will expose the anti-DEI myths for what they are, so those fighting DEI propaganda should lean on the data to combat DEI misinformation.

Arianna Coghill writes about the conspiracy theories adopted by the usual news outlets for lies and conspiracy theories at Mother Jones.  “A List of Weird Stuff the Right Connected to the Baltimore Bridge Collapse.”  Coghill compiled a short list of Twitter offerings showing responses from the usual suspects and Republicans running for high office.  They’re ugly.

Aaron Rupar shows us  “Matt Schlapp on Newsmax admits he’s “no expert” but tries to blame the Baltimore bridge collapse on “drug-addled” employees and covid lockdowns.”

In an interview with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fl.), Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo appeared to suggest a “wide open” immigration policy at the border could be a factor here. Her rationale? The cargo ship had been flying under a Singaporean flag.

Over on Newsmax, Conservative Political Action Conference chairman Mike Schlapp invoked everything from “drug-addled employees” to Covid lockdowns while discussing the collapse. “We have to wake up as a country and realize that we have too many people who aren’t ready to do these jobs,” Schlapp, who conceded that he was not an expert on the situation, said.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has even been accused of being an unqualified DEI hire. Secretary Buttigieg gave an interview to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins this morning and slammed the conspiracy theories and lies concerning the bridge’s collapse.  This is from  The Independent. “Pete Buttigieg slams conspiracy theories about Baltimore bridge collapse. ‘Unfortunately, it’s a fact of life in America today,’ Mr Buttigieg said about the prevalence of conspiracy theories.”

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins pointed out there have been “wild conspiracy theories” about what caused the disaster, ranging from a cyberattack, the captain having side effects from a Covid-19 vaccine, and blaming the Obamas.

She asked Mr Buttigieg whether he thought he would have to combat these conspiracy theories in the midst of a crisis?

“We’re in the business of dealing with roads and bridges and sometimes ships and trains,” he said. “So we are not in the habit as a Department of Transportation, of being in the business of dealing with conspiracies, or conspiracy theories or that kind of wild thinking. But unfortunately, it is a fact of life in America today.

“What’s really upsetting is when misinformation or disinformation circulates, that is not without victims.

“This is a human tragedy,” Mr Buttigieg said, adding that six men lost their lives.

While two workers were rescued from the immediate aftermath, six others went missing. They were all presumed dead after 17 hours of searching.

Two bodies were pulled from a submerged pickup truck the following morning, while four others have still not been found.

His department needs “good, factual information” into how that happened to make effective future decisions, like bridge design and shipping policies.

Policies based on “good, factual information” are not what the Republican Party is about these days, even though this is nothing new.  The New Republic has this think piece by Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling. “The Insanely Racist Conspiracy Theory on Baltimore Key Bridge Collapse. Fox News is amplifying a racist conspiracy on the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse. Because of course it is.”

At about 1:40 a.m. EST on Tuesday, a 1,000-foot cargo ship careened past large concrete obstacles ahead of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, colliding with one of its structural pillars and toppling it into the Patapsco River. Mere hours later, conservatives were already hurling their racist conspiracy theories against the wall to see what sticks.

In an early morning broadcast, Fox Business attempted to tie the horrific situation—which was deemed a developing mass casualty event by the Baltimore City Fire Department—to the “wide-open border.” Via a clumsily worded, cross-wired question, Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo connected the catastrophic collapse to President Joe Biden’s immigration policy.

“Let me also get your take on what’s going on in terms of world affairs. The White House has issued a statement on this saying that ‘there’s no indication of nefarious intent in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge,’” started Bartiromo. “The ship involved in the collapse of the bridge is 948 feet long, called The Dali, a Singaporean-flag container, but of course you’ve been talking a lot about the potential for wrongdoing or potential for foul play given the wide-open border. That is why you have been so adamant.”

Fortunately, we do have rational people in the West Wing at the moment to deal with what may be a significant disruption to supply chains.  This is from Heather Cox Richardson, writing in her Substack Letters from an American.  Thank goodness we have adults in the Executive Branch today.

Yesterday the National Economic Council called a meeting of the Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force, which the Biden-Harris administration launched in 2021, to discuss the impact of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and the partial closure of the Port of Baltimore on regional and national supply chains. The task force draws members from the White House and the departments of Transportation, Commerce, Agriculture, Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Energy, and Homeland Security. It is focused on coordinating efforts to divert ships to other ports and to minimize impacts to employers and workers, making sure, for example, that dock workers stay on payrolls.

Today, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg convened a meeting of port, labor, and industry partners—ocean carriers, truckers, local business owners, unions, railroads, and so on—to mitigate disruption from the bridge collapse. Representatives came from 40 organizations including American Roll-on Roll-off Carrier; the Georgia Ports Authority; the International Longshoremen’s Association, the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots; John Deere; Maersk; Mercedes-Benz North America Operations; Seabulk Tankers; Under Armour; and the World Shipping Council.

Today the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration announced it would make $60 million available immediately to be used as a down payment toward initial costs. Already, though, some Republicans are balking at the idea of using new federal money to rebuild the bridge, saying that lawmakers should simply take the money that has been appropriated for things like electric vehicles, or wait until insurance money comes in from the shipping companies.

One piece of really great news today.  Orlando Mayorquin writes this in The New York Times.  “Woman Who Received 5-Year Sentence in Voter Fraud Case Is Acquitted. A Texas appeals court reversed its earlier opinion that had upheld the conviction of Crystal Mason, who was found guilty of illegally casting a provisional ballot in 2016, even though she claimed she hadn’t known she was ineligible to vote. ”

In its decision to reverse her conviction and acquit her, the Second Court of Appeals said that the prosecution did not have enough evidence to prove that she knew.

A copy of the ruling was provided by the A.C.L.U. of Texas and the Texas Civil Rights Project.

“I was thrown into this fight for voting rights and will keep swinging to ensure no one else has to face what I’ve endured for over six years, a political ploy where minority voting rights are under attack,” Ms. Mason said in a statement Thursday. “I’ve cried and prayed every night for over six years straight that I would remain a free Black woman.”

Thomas Buser-Clancy, a lawyer with the A.C.L.U. of Texas who represented Ms. Mason, called her victory a win for democracy.

“We are relieved for Ms. Mason, who has waited for too long with uncertainty about whether she would be imprisoned and separated from her family for five years simply for trying to do her civic duty,” he said.

A Texas appeals court reversed its earlier opinion that had upheld the conviction of Crystal Mason, who was found guilty of illegally casting a provisional ballot in 2016, even though she claimed she hadn’t known she was ineligible to vote.

Today, we found out that one of Hollywood’s greats has passed.  Lou Gossett has passed.

 Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal TV miniseries “Roots,” has died. He was 87.

Gossett’s first cousin Neal L. Gossett told The Associated Press that the actor died in Santa Monica, California. A statement from the family said Gossett died Friday morning. No cause of death was revealed.

Gossett’s cousin remembered a man who walked with Nelson Mandela and who also was a great joke teller, a relative who faced and fought racism with dignity and humor.

“Never mind the awards, never mind the glitz and glamor, the Rolls-Royces and the big houses in Malibu. It’s about the humanity of the people that he stood for,” his cousin said.

Rest in Power, Chappy.

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

Mostly Monday Reads: More Court Room Drama

Posted: March 25, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: U.S. Politics, Republican politics | Tags: , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

“New York Attorney General Letitia James makes a statement.” John Buss, @repeat1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

Well, it’s another Monday, another Trump court appearance, and more drama. I’m wondering what all those TV court lawyers would do with all these cases! Trump has already tweeted that he’s like Jesus with a Psalm reference that predates the story of Jesus by about 600 years. I haven’t been a Christian for about 30 years, so please refresh my memory. Isn’t blasphemy a big deal? So, today’s courtroom drama is about the bond to be posted to secure the Trump family’s fraud verdict and the Hush Money. There’s just so much criming with these people that it’s hard to keep up. Anyway, the Jesus comparison came up during the Stormy Daniels case. The trolling on the social media platforms is epic.

He took to his social media platform to share a post an unidentified person sent him comparing him to Jesus in relation to his separate civil business fraud case, sharing the Bible verse, Psalm 109:3–8.

“Received this morning — Beautiful, thank you! ‘It’s ironic that Christ walked through His greatest persecution the very week they are trying to steal your property from you. But have you seen this verse…?'” he wrote.

Trump faced a Monday deadline to pay the $454 million fine or post bond in his business fraud case after Judge Arthur Engoron in February ordered him to pay $355 million after siding with New York Attorney General Letitia James in a civil suit. The payment shot up past $450 million with interest.

James accused Trump and top executives at the Trump Organization of conspiring to increase his net worth by billions of dollars on financial statements provided to banks and insurers to make deals and secure loans. Trump maintains that he did not engage in any wrongdoing, accusing James of targeting him for political purposes.

Trump received some good news from an appeals court on Monday, which reduced his bond to $175 million dollars, substantially lower than the $454 million bond ordered by Judge Engoron, and gave him 10 more days to pay those funds. Trump has not yet commented on the ruling.

He previously faced an end of the day deadline to pay the larger bond or James could have started seizing his properties and assets. The former president has been sharply critical of her handling of the case, on Monday releasing several statements on Truth Social accusing her of election interference.

Would you see this in a Perry Mason episode or a Matlock script? No crime writer would even dream up these storylines. David Cay Johnson wrote this today for The New Republic. “GAME OVER. Today Is the Day That 50 Years of Grifting Finally Comes to an End. Unless Donald Trump comes up with $454 million, he’s in deep doo-doo. But will his backers ever wake up to reality?” You’d think getting a break on this bond would hurt the brand more than the case itself. His big enterprise is unbondable!

Have you ever seen a millionaire begging for $5? Me neither. Yet I just watched Donald Trump in an internet video pleading for $5, or $10, or “even $25” from his supporters. That’s a pitch aimed at the people Trump says he loves, “the poorly educated,” who, after all, don’t have much money.

The supposed business genius with the Midas touch looked desperate—a better-dressed version of one of those troubled souls hanging out near traffic intersections hoping to cadge a dollar or two from people waiting for the light to turn green.

After more than 50 years of grifting, Trump has reached the end of his faux-gold brick road. Today, unless Trump somehow produces the cash to cover his bond, Letitia James, the elected New York State attorney general, is going to start grabbing up Trump properties like she landed on his Monopoly squares. That will constitute a kind of end, although Trump’s journey is never finished. He still enjoys solid support from malefactors of power who openly declare their intent to rend our Constitution and end our freedoms. Incredible as it seems, he still could move back into the White House.

Think of James as Dorothy, whose little dog Toto pulls back the curtain on the Wizard of Oz. There’s another cinema analogy that’s even more on point, which we’ll get to shortly. But with respect to Oz, the script from that delightful 1939 classic perfectly describes the con job Trump has pulled off for a half-century—until now. Millions of Americans—like the naïvely happy-go-lucky residents of the mythical Emerald City—believe he has godlike powers, so we should fear him and submit to his whims. “Do not arouse the arouse the wrath of the great Oz,” the magical image proclaims to Dorothy and her three friends amid smoke, lights, and loud noises.

Eventually, of course, Toto pulls back the curtain and reveals the traveling snake oil salesman from Kansas, who continues dissembling even when the fraud is uncovered. “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain,” he says, trying to cover his naked lies before admitting, yes, it’s true. “I’m a humbug,” he acknowledges, a pure fraud through and through.

Trump will never admit he’s a fraud. His mentor, the notorious lawyer Roy Cohn, taught him never to give an inch. When challenged by law enforcement or anyone else, Cohn taught Trump, attack them as corrupt, dishonest, and jealous enemies of an honest and successful man.

For nearly a month, Trump has been trying everywhere to get someone with deep enough pockets to cover the roughly half-billion dollars he needs to post to prevent the seizure of his bank accounts, real estate, and other assets to pay the judgment against him for persistent fraud.

Meanwhile, we have this Washington Post Live Coverage over the Trump N.Y. Hush money case.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan appeared deeply skeptical during a hearing Monday morning about claims by Donald Trump’s defense lawyers in his hush money criminal trial.

Trump’s lawyers said a late release of more than 100,000 pages of potential evidence should delay the case significantly, and they asked that the prosecutors be sanctioned. Merchan admonished Trump’s attorneys for making what he called very serious allegations and questioned why the defense did not seek the records from federal officials sooner.

A key question for Monday’s hearing is whether the judge will set a new trial date, after delaying jury selection until at least mid-April. The hearing stopped for a break shortly before 11:15 a.m. and is expected to resume around noon.

Trump’s physical and mental issues continue to attract the attention of professionals in the area. “Forensic psychiatrist on physical signs of Trump’s mental decline: “Changes in movement and gait” “His walk appears wide-based,” Dr. Elizabeth Zoffman notes of Trump. “He has developed a swing of his right leg.”” This article is in Salon, and the interview was conducted by Chauncy DeVega.

In an attempt to better understand what we are witnessing with Donald Trump’s behavior, I recently spoke with Dr. Elizabeth Zoffman, a forensic psychiatrist and an Associate Clinical Professor of Forensic and General Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Zoffmann shares her evidence-based preliminary conclusion that Donald Trump is displaying a range of behaviors that suggest cognitive challenges if not impairment. The former president appears to be suffering from Behavioral Variant Fronto-Temporal Dementia, Dr. Zoffmann concludes, and needs to be evaluated by neurologists who specialize in the condition.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity:

What do you see when you look at Donald Trump through a clinical lens?

My observations are garnered from viewing the phenomenon of Mr. Trump for the past decade. Also, observations from viewing old videotape interviews and coverage of Mr. Trump as a younger man form part of my impression that Mr. Trump might benefit from a thorough evaluation by a neuropsychiatrist with expertise in neurodegenerative disorders.  My observations are as follows:

  • Changes in speech patterns with many fewer and simpler words (decline in vocabulary) with fewer adjectives and adverbs.
  • A decline in cognitive focus on speech subjects with incomplete sentences and an inability to focus on a topic long enough to complete a sentence when not reading from a teleprompter.
  • Difficulty pronouncing words, word substitution and nonsense words – known as paraphasia
  • Tangential thinking where the topic switches mid-sentence to some unrelated topic.
  • Frequent repetition of words and phrases as if his mind is stuck in a loop.
  • Disinhibition and an inability to control verbal outbursts.
  • Socially inappropriate behavior – mocking a man with muscular dystrophy, disrespecting fallen soldiers as losers.
  • Lack of self-awareness in that he apparently cannot see how inappropriate his behavior has become and use his judgment to stop himself.
  • Changes in movement and gait. His walk appears wide-based and he has developed a swing of his right leg. He appears glued to the floor when he “dances” for his audience. If caught on camera standing still, he appears unnaturally immobile.
  • The changes in judgment and impulse control have uncovered and perhaps worsened underlying personality traits that others have characterized as narcissistic and antisocial. The changes have led some experts to suggest a diagnosis of “malignant narcissism.”

Mr. Trump has stated that he passed a cognitive that he described in terms that suggested either the Mini-Mental Status Exam (MMSE) or the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) scale. These are both simple screening tests for suspicions of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Democratic Women in Louisiana are about troll James Carville just the way LSU evidently did when he quit his job. Mr Carville appears to have a woman problem. He wants them to shut up.   Perhaps he should take it up with his wife, Mary Matalin. “James Carville ended LSU teaching gig after souring on campus culture, he tells New York Times.”

James Carville, the outspoken, ever-entertaining political consultant known for his love of New Orleans and his LSU Tigers, ended a teaching gig at his alma mater after souring on a campus culture that made him “scared to death in my job.”

The Ragin’ Cajun, who rose to fame as a top aide to President Bill Clinton during his 1992 campaign, told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd that complaints from a student about an off-color joke in his class a few years ago earned him a visit from a dean — and prompted him to take it up a notch by reciting the famously raunchy “Aristocrats” joke.

The experience led him to step back from teaching, he said.

This was L.S. freaking U., not Oberlin,” Carville told the New York Times. “It was terrible. I wouldn’t take the coeds to dinner after class. I would take the male students. I was scared to death in my job. I was like: ‘I don’t need L.S.U.’s money. I don’t need to drive up there and listen to that crap.’ I just said: ‘That’s it. I’m done. This is not for me.’”

Moving forward to this week’s weirdness as reported at The Hill. “Carville: ‘Too many preachy females’ are ‘dominating the culture of the Democratic Party.‘ James Carville needs to STFU and sit his ass permanently in Mississipi. He hasn’t been relevant since 1992.

BY MIRANDA NAZZARO – 03/24/24 5:35 PM ET

https://twitter.com/DarrigoMelanie/status/1772233615318937915

Democratic strategist James Carville argued “too many preachy females” in the Democratic Party could be to blame for President Biden’s bleeding support from key voters.

In an interview published Saturday with New York Times opinion columnist Maureen Dowd, Carville voiced concerns about the culture of the Democratic Party and how it could be impacting Biden’s support among voters, especially those that are male.

“A suspicion of mine is that there are too many preachy females … ‘Don’t drink beer, don’t watch football, don’t eat hamburgers, this is not good for you,’” he said. “The message is too feminine: ‘Everything you’re doing is destroying the planet. You’ve got to eat your peas.’”

Carville, who was a strategist for former President Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, argued this culture and rhetoric is not addressing the concerns of male voters.

“If you listen to Democratic elites — NPR is my go-to place for that — the whole talk is about how women, and women of color, are going to decide this election. I’m like: ‘Well, 48 percent of the people that vote are males. Do you mind if they have some consideration?” Carville said.

When it comes to Biden’s low approval ratings, Carville quipped, “When I look at these polling numbers, it’s like walking in on your grandma naked. You can’t get the image out of your mind.”

Carville in recent weeks has also expressed concerns about Biden’s falling support among voters of color and called it a “problem” for the incumbent last week.

Like Carville, Ronna Romney McDaniel has that sweet gig with MSNBC/NBC. Maybe it’s time for the company to take a big brand hit. We were a Huntley Brinkley family when I was a kid, but this is ridiculous. She appeared on Meet the Press yesterday, and Kristen Welker and Chuck Todd apologized for the appearance. It’s an odd day when Chuck Todd is the stand-out guy.

This is Philip Bump’s analysis from today’s Washington Post. “Ronna McDaniel quickly demonstrates that her view isn’t worth the cost.”

There’s not a lot of value for journalists in interviewing an echo. Instead of standing inside a canyon trying to ask follow-up questions of the words bouncing off the walls around you, better to just go to the source.

Ronna McDaniel’s tenure as chair of the Republican Party unfolded in the Donald Trump era of American politics. She assumed the position a day before Trump was inaugurated in 2017 and remained there until Trump decided it was time for her to go. As the titular head of a party actually led by the former president, McDaniel’s Linda Yaccarino-like role was largely centered on having the party do the things it normally does and then appearing at news conferences to nod along with the things Trump was saying.

He’d shout; she’d echo. But last week NBC News decided it was worth paying her money to hear what she had to say.

McDaniel debuted her role as a contributor to the network on Sunday’s episode of “Meet the Press.” She tried to explain to host Kristen Welker that she did have a point of view that did extend beyond serving as Trump’s hypeman.

The article continues to cite example after example, ending with this thought.

(Among the social media posts identified as misinformation — unfairly, according to Jordan — was one from Newt Gingrich. It used the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision that signature-matching could be set aside to argue that “Pennsylvania democrats are methodically changing the rules so they can steal the election.” Untrue then, untrue now — and an obvious contributor to the false idea that the 2020 results should be considered suspect.)

Not only was Jordan’s interview recorded, allowing for corrections, he was treated as someone who could not be relied upon to offer unbiased information. He’s a politician, acting politically. McDaniel, in theory, is a private citizen free to speak her mind. But her debut on NBC News still resulted in familiar echoes of Trump. Viewers were presented with McDaniel doing what she has done for seven years, making Trump’s approach more palatable.

At one point, Welker asked McDaniel whether she’d facilitated Trump’s lies about the 2020 election. McDaniel claimed that her support for the nonsense that emerged in the wake of the election was simply her doing due diligence about the claims being elevated by Trump’s allies.

“So [from] where I was in 2020, and the quotes that are being taken from a very long time ago,” she said, “three and a half years ago, to where I am today, you’ve got to allow that process to play out.”

Less than a minute before, she had claimed that the results in Pennsylvania that year were dubious, which they weren’t. This is what NBC News is paying for.

This has been a challenging political environment for all of us. It does not help that all forms of media do not self-regulate themselves and question their role in our democracy. I can only hope the NBC family of companies and its stock takes a huge hit. For most of these businesses owned by billionaires, market discipline is the only thing that cleanses the rot. The justice system appears to have taken on the same stench of too much money and not enough justice. To watch yet another white man commit crime after crime and dodge it with the same ease as he did the draft back in the Vietnam War days is appalling.

Too many billionaires with only money on their minds own huge businesses, big politics, and the justice system these days. It’s time to make them pay.   Pitchforks anyone? Guillotines?

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

This is for my blogging buddy and RL friend Adrastos, whose wonderful cats have names from the show. Perry is cute. I miss Della Street and Paul Drake. My mother watched this show like a pious church lady going to church on Sunday.

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