Finally Friday Reads: FARTUS gets Away with It

“If you tune into the alien drone invasion, it is possible to prognosticate.” John (repeat1968) Buss @johnbuss.bsky.social

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

The Felon, Adjudicated Rapist, and Traitor (FARTUS) has secured a Get out of Jail Free Card. This morning, Justice Juan Merchan went through the motions of affirming the 34 Felony criminal counts as affirmed by a Jury, but that was the extent of the punishment.  This Politico headline says it all. “Trump receives no punishment for hush money conviction. A New York judge declined to impose a penalty for the president-elect at his long-awaited sentencing hearing.”

Donald Trump was not punished for his criminal conviction in the Manhattan hush-money case, bringing a lackluster end to the legal saga that will make him the country’s first felon-turned-president.

At a sentencing hearing on Friday, a New York judge declined to sentence the president-elect to prison time or impose fines after a jury found him guilty of 34 felony counts of business fraud in connection with a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 presidential election.

“This court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of judgment of conviction without encroachment on the highest office of the land is a sentence of unconditional discharge,” Justice Juan Merchan told Trump.

While acknowledging the “extraordinary legal protections” Trump is set to enjoy as president, Merchan emphasized that “they do not reduce the seriousness of the crime or justify its commission in any way.”

Friday’s sentencing, however inconsequential in terms of punishment, caps a remarkable chapter in Trump’s tangles with the justice system. At one point battling four simultaneous criminal indictments, he emerged with a single conviction last May that didn’t obstruct his path to reelection and will likely linger as little more than a stigma.

Though Trump’s felony conviction allowed Justice Juan Merchan to send Trump to prison for up to four years or impose other penalties, the judge said in court papers prior to the sentencing that he wouldn’t do so, writing that incarceration was not “practicable” given Trump’s imminent return to the White House.

Instead, Merchan imposed the sentence of “unconditional discharge” on Trump, which carries no punishment. The president-elect appeared virtually from Florida, his image presented via a video feed on large monitors in the Manhattan courtroom as the judge announced his decision. Prosecutors from the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, as well as Bragg himself, attended in person.

Trump displayed his typical scowl throughout the proceedings, defending himself by saying he’s “totally innocent.”

U. S. President Donald Trump is depicted beheading the Statue of Liberty in this illustration on the cover of a 2017 issue of German news magazine Der Spiegel. Spiegel/Handout via REUTERS

Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen were the only ones punished for this. The third would be the U.S. system of Justice. I just hope Stormy is some place safe right now.

In remarks to the court before Merchan delivered the sentence, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said his office endorsed the sentence of unconditional discharge because of the circumstances of the case. But he warned that Trump has been a destructive force toward law enforcement.

“Put simply, this defendant has caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has placed officers of the court in harm’s way,” Steinglass said.

Steinglass also disclosed that Trump’s probation report noted that he “sees himself as above the law and won’t accept responsibility for his actions.”

After the sentencing, Trump posted on social media that he will appeal. “Today’s event was a despicable charade, and now that it is over, we will appeal this Hoax, which has no merit, and restore the trust of Americans in our once great System of Justice,” he wrote on Truth Social.

A sentence of “unconditional discharge,” though not uncommon in low-level cases, is rare in felony cases, according to legal experts.

This still means he’s considered a convicted Felon, so he wants to appeal again. It certainly didn’t hurt his brand during the election, seeing that his cult could care less about any behaviors as long as they are accompanied by a spoonful of vitriol and bigotry that justifies their pitiful existence.

While we heard this week about his plans for Panama, Greenland, and Canada, we’ve not heard much about how he plans to improve the economy. It’s likely because, in the case of his first term, the economy is just fucking fine.  It’s his to wreck again.  The price of eggs is likely to rise, though, because of the Bird Flu.  Fortunately, Trump picked someone who knows his business to head the FDA.  There’s also a vaccine for humans for this flu if RFK, Jr. doesn’t tank it somehow, or Elonia and Viv don’t go after the FDA or the CDC.

So, there are a lot of headlines and links in that paragraph.  Let’s start at the very beginning. I’ve heard it’s a very fine place to start.

CNBC has this headline on the stellar job market performance at the end of last year. “U.S. payrolls grew by 256,000 in December, much more than expected; unemployment rate falls to 4.1%.” This is reported by Jeff Cox. Any president in the 70s or 80s would’ve been a hero if they found a way to reach these numbers.

• Nonfarm payrolls surged by 256,000 for the month, up from 212,000 in November and above the 155,000 forecast.

• The unemployment rate edged down to 4.1%, one-tenth of a point below expectations. A broader jobless measure moved down to 7.5%, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point and the lowest since June 2024.

• Average hourly earnings increased 0.3% on the month, which was in line with forecasts, but the 12-month gain of 3.9% was slightly below the outlook.

• Stock market futures plunged after the report while Treasury yields soared as traders price in a lower probability of Fed rate cuts this year.

Job growth was much stronger than expected in December, likely providing the Federal Reserve less incentive to cut interest rates this year

The current egg shortage is likely to get worse.  So, if we’re speaking in terms of getting a guy who everyone thought would lower their egg prices, entire villages of idiots are about to get a surprise.  This is from ABC News.  “What experts want shoppers to know about egg prices amid new bird flu implications. Shoppers have flocked to social media showing stores in short supply.” Kelly McCarthy has the story.

Rising cases of avian influenza — commonly referred to as bird flu — have continued to impact egg laying flocks in the U.S. forcing egg suppliers to cut production and in turn causing shortages nationwide, skyrocketing prices.

Almost all confirmed cases in humans involve direct contact with infected cattle or infected livestock and the CDC says there is currently no evidence of human-to-human transmission and the risk to the general public is low.

Brooke Jones, who first shared her own experience on TikTok, told “Good Morning America” that she visited three grocery stores in the Dallas area in search of eggs recently.

“We decided to go out and actually check some different egg sections at stores. And so that’s how we came across empty shells, high prices, sign,” she said of the placard on the refrigerated case.

According to the latest USDA market data, egg prices are up nearly 38% in the past year with prices spiking 8% just in November due to the high-demand of holiday baking season.

On average, a dozen eggs will cost people $3.65 right now, compared to $2.14 one year ago. Prices have been the cheapest in the south averaging $3.40 per carton and most expensive on the West Coast at $4.20 per carton.

And at the wholesale side of the equation, retailers are buying eggs in California for nearly $9 per carton, according to the USDA report.

This link to the CDC has information on the vaccine and includes one Louisiana family where the flu jumped from animals to people. “Genetic Sequences of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Viruses Identified in a Person in Louisiana.”

CDC has sequenced the influenza viruses in specimens collected from the patient in Louisiana who was infected with, and became severely ill from HPAI A(H5N1) virus. The genomic sequences were compared to other HPAI A(H5N1) sequences from dairy cows, wild birds and poultry, as well as previous human cases and were identified as the D1.1 genotype. The analysis identified low frequency mutations in the hemagglutinin gene of a sample sequenced from the patient, which were not found in virus sequences from poultry samples collected on the patient’s property, suggesting the changes emerged in the patient after infection.

I’m not sure why, but FARTUS has picked a John Hopkins Doctor to head the FDA that criticized his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and believes in vaccines. Let’s just hope that no one crazy notices him.  RFK, jr comes to mind there.  This is from HealthCare Dive.  He was actually picked around Thanksgiving last year. “Johns Hopkins surgeon Makary is Trump’s pick to lead FDA. A prolific medical researcher and author, Marty Makary criticized the FDA and CDC for their decision-making during the pandemic, although he describes himself as pro-vaccine.”  But there’s a bit more to that story.

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday named Johns Hopkins University surgeon Marty Makary to lead the Food and Drug Administration, choosing a prolific medical researcher who bucked consensus on the necessity of frequent vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As FDA commissioner, Makary would oversee an agency of some 18,000 employees who assess new drugs and devices, review the performance of approved medicines and monitor food quality and safety. The agency typically evaluates and makes decisions on more than 50 new drug and biological products each year. The FDA also regulates medication abortion, including mifepristone, which was at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court case earlier this year. In June, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously to preserve access to the medication.

Makary, whose specialty is pancreatic surgery, is something of a more traditional health nominee than Trump’s controversial picks of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and Mehmet Oz to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Both the FDA and the CMS are overseen by HHS, giving Kennedy, who has alarmed many in the medical community with his views on vaccines, substantial power over the two agencies and Trump’s healthcare agenda. And in naming all three, Trump emphasized their willingness to take on industry and shake up the agencies he’s selected them to lead.

This last story I want to look at takes us back to the loon in the Pizza Gate shooting.  I wonder if Hillary can sleep better now.   This is from the AP. “‘Pizzagate’ gunman killed by police in North Carolina after traffic stop, authorities say.” 

A man who fired a gun inside a restaurant in the nation’s capital after a fake online conspiracy theory called “Pizzagate” motivated him to do so nearly a decade ago was shot and killed by North Carolina police during a weekend traffic stop.

Edgar Maddison Welch was a passenger in a vehicle stopped by officers in Kannapolis on Saturday night, according to a Kannapolis Police Department news release. One of the officers recognized the SUV as one he’d seen Welch drive before, police said. The officer had arrested Welch before and knew he had an outstanding warrant for a felony probation violation at the time, according to authorities.

When the officers approached the vehicle to arrest Welch, police said the man pulled out a handgun and pointed it at one of the officers. After he was instructed to drop the weapon but didn’t, two officers shot Welch, authorities said.

Emergency responders took Welch to the hospital and he died from his injuries two days later, according to the release. None of the officers, nor the driver and another passenger, were injured.

In 2016, authorities said, Welch drove from North Carolina with an assault rifle to Comet Ping Pong restaurant in Washington after believing an unfounded conspiracy theory that prominent Democrats were operating a child sex trafficking ring out of the pizzeria. The fake theory, dubbed “Pizzagate,” began circulating online during the 2016 presidential election.

Suicide by Cops?  Who knows.  We might find out more, but it seems to be the season of the more domestic terrorists.

One last Felonius Trump item.

As of 12:02 am, DOJ has advised the 11th Cir of its appeal of Judge Cannon's order in the So. District of Florida & restated its intention of releasing the J6 volume of the report & sharing the classified documents volume with Congressional leaders.

— Joyce White Vance (@joycewhitevance.bsky.social) 2025-01-10T06:29:10.386Z

It’s going to be a long fucked-up four years.   Oh, another one of my candidates for grave dancing has exited the Earthly Door. We will not miss you, Anita Byrant.

In ten days, we get Trumpapocalypse again.  Fly your flags at half mast to remember Former President James Earl Carter. Find a good series to binge-watch and spoil yourself!

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

One more gift for you. Is it appropriate for a President of the United States to say the Pledge of Allegiance with his hand on his stomach? What’s he protesting?