Okay, I know it's really unimportant and trivial, but I always smile when I read Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan. I imagine that she's a very strong, and competent woman with a name like Sparkle. Importantly, it's been estimated to be costing $1.1M a day for all the troops to be in DC. We can't afford Medicaid and SNAP but this spending is okay,
And these are Guardsmen and women, who are on leave from their normal jobs and families for this bullshit. So a million a day from us, the taxpayer, and real sacrifice from these fellow Americans. Trump is such a dick.
This deployment is the closest the Confederate States Army from the Home Office of American Sedition and Mississippi-Find-Yourself-Another-Country-To-Be-Part-Of have ever gotten in their continuing campaign of Southern Treason.
This longtime Phil Ochs fan appreciates the reference ("Here's to the land you've torn out the heart of / Mississippi, find yourself another country to be part of"), but I've been thinking that these days the USA is cosplaying Mississippi.
See? That's the whole point. Trump hates anybody who isn't disgustingly rich. He thinks everyone who doesn't have a minimum of a million dollars should just evaporate and stop taking up space that he could be using for another golf course.
And don't forget that Trump recently announced he is bringing into the USA 600,000 Chinese students. I think it's good to have foreign students in the USA, but I thought Trump's rhetoric has been against that up until now.
tRump is the most ridiculously expensive president in my 71 years. He is busy ordering money spent which Congress has not authorized. We can't afford school lunches or healthcare for poor people, but we can afford federalizing NG Troops so they can pick up litter in DC, all of these trumped up prosecutions, and of course, $3 million golf weekends...
Trump rides in a supercharged cart and his bodyguards and caddy's drop balls closer to the hole and in easier spots for him to play from. Trump absolutely believes he deserves such privilege.
I know. Bone Spurs can be so painful they are disabling… It was reported when he ran back in 2015, that he went skiing right after one of his deferments took effect…
While the Guardsmen and women from the states whose governors have ordered them to DC (such as WV and LA) are being paid by taxpayers, I believe it's the taxpayers in those states who are bearing the cost and that they aren't being paid out of fed tax dollars. This isn't a quibble with the outrageousness of what's happening. Rather, think about it: THOSE states are paying, and these are red states that aren't flush. Yes, the majority of voters in those states voted in the governors who are going along with this performative nonsense and sent their National Guard to DC, but I think it's something that the DNC, at the national AND, importantly, at the level of those states should be shouting from the rooftops: YOU, the citizens of WV, LA, et al. are not only sending your citizens to DC to stand around as props BUT they are doing so on YOUR DIME.
Clearly, competence is not a requirement for Trump. I have read snippets of the writings of his lawyers Sauer and Bove—long on political exhortation, short on legal theory. Blind loyalty cannot replace simple competence.
Kakistocracy: government of the worst. Every nominee from Preznit Widdle Mushwoom has been unqualified for any government job, actively opposed to the reason the agency they're heading exists, but then they are devoted to "the most persistent ignoramus I ever met," in the words of General John Kelly.
I said it to a friend the other day, "Good luck getting a DC jury to convict." You can't occupy a people and expect them to rubberstamp your tyranny. And I say this as someone who has lived in DC for over 30 years. Though I am mercifully not in town right now.
Yep. Don't know how many were in those grand juries, but they usually seat 12-23. So that's at least 36, and as many as 69, American heroes who looked at the evidence and said hell no, we won't indict. "No Bill!"
Parading military units around tourist sites in DC or other Blue cities is an enormously expensive abuse of power. 8 of 10 states with the highest homicide rates are led by Republicans. 13 of the top 20 cities in homicide rate have Republican governors.
Fed gov Cook is another target of the convicted fraudster/mob boss in chief. Again harming the reputation of perceived adversaries is the point. Taken with the Trump administration’s evidently politically motivated mortgage fraud claims against Sen Schiff and NY AG James Cook’s corrupt firing raises the troubling possibility that director of the Fed Housing Finance Bill Pulte is working through a list of political enemies to be targeted by the IRS. Pulte must be fired or resign. https://newrepublic.com/post/199591/trump-attempt-fire-fed-governor-lisa-cook-witch-hunt?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tnr_daily
Careful with the "top cities" thing - they may be in red states, but their mayors and city government are all Democrats. Which is why Preznit Dimbulb is making this play.
Looks like the facts were: she was filming. Officers said she was too close? How close? Officer told her to move. She then went around Officer (last heard that comes under the definition of "moving.") So officer pushed her into the wall and bigod, she kept struggling (she's on a stairway, right, just pushed into a wall) and her arm connects with another officer's hand.
I guess with grand jury secrecy we won't know how many of the jurors were able to stop giggling.
Perhaps they just should have charged her with "assault by alcoholic breath fumes."
If ICE stopped beating up and disappearing people, sometimes for weeks, people might not automatically tend to flail around when approached by an agent.
She could counter-claim self-defense and assault by the agents while she was legitimately and nonviolently exercising her First Amendment right to free speech and expression?
"To fail to indict not once, but three times, indicates a failure of both competence and judgment." Or it could indicate that the grand jury believes the prosecution (or the Trump administration) is contrary to our Constitution.
Grand juries refusing to indict was a common occurrence in colonial America when government tried to prosecute people, e.g., for criticizing government abuses of power. The most famous case of a trial jury refusing to convict for this reason was in 1735 (more than 50 years before the First Amendment) and it helped establish the scope of our freedom of speech and press. Those interested in the details can search on-line for "John Peter Zenger."
This history of grand juries or trial juries protecting the people from abusive authorities is why our Constitution gives juries power to prevent prosecution or conviction. The Fifth Amendment commands that "No person" can be tried "for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury." The Sixth Amendment commands "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury." Generally, juries, not judges, decide guilt.
As i understand it, the failure to indict indicates a failure of both competence and judgement ON THE PART OF THE U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, not on the part of the grand juries.
Noorillah, did you misunderstand my comment? In no way did I indicate the grand jury lacked judgment or competence. I said the opposite. In part, my point was that the grand jury might not merely have "failed" to indict. It might have exercised its power to refuse to indict. That is a power that was secured to the people by our Constitution. For good reason (powerful people abusing their powers, exactly like Trump and Bondi are) our Constitution secures to the people (grand juries and trial juries) the power to prevent a prosecution or a conviction that is contrary to our Constitution.
Thinking of a grand jury not indicting as a mere "failure" puts virtually all perception of power (and essentially, even the power of thought) into the hands of the government (the prosecution). This grand jury might well have decided to show their own power by thinking for themselves and exercising the power our Constitution secures to them. In other words, this decision to not indict might be more of a success than a failure.
The lesion on Agent Bates's hand in an abrasion, not a laceration -- perhaps a fine point and I have no idea if it has any legal significance -- but just sayin, as they say. Henry L. Abrons, MD, MPH
Thanks, Dr. Abrons. And who’s to say she received it in this altercation that the federal agents started, per their own documents? It also looks suspiciously bright red to me, having repaired many of my sons’ boo-boos when they got into scrapes. Just sayin …
The Trump reality show is crying “wolf“ perhaps too many times. Saying everything is an emergency, bringing illegitimate cases to court, taking cases that they lose in lower courts to the Supreme Court, etc. may come back to bite them. Pun intended! They try to spin the story to the media to show how tough they are but then they invite increased scrutiny from officials and the public.
Wonder which statute covers assault with a deadly sandwich? Some Subway offerings can be bad, granted, but deadly? Understand the Customs and Border Protection agent was rushed to a nearby hospital trauma center where baking soda was administered to his uniform, which is expected to survive.
Yeah, just like the laceration Queen Elizabeth had on her hand in a photo taken two days before she departed the pattern, you embarrassment to the demographic.
Umm, what lacerations were these on the late Queen's hand? She was 96 and had been showing increasing frailty in the last year of her life. Are you suggesting some sort of fantasy connection between this notional laceration and her death?
The wound which in reality inflicted serious and lasting harm on the entire UK was the premiership of Liz Truss.
Okay, I know it's really unimportant and trivial, but I always smile when I read Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan. I imagine that she's a very strong, and competent woman with a name like Sparkle. Importantly, it's been estimated to be costing $1.1M a day for all the troops to be in DC. We can't afford Medicaid and SNAP but this spending is okay,
And these are Guardsmen and women, who are on leave from their normal jobs and families for this bullshit. So a million a day from us, the taxpayer, and real sacrifice from these fellow Americans. Trump is such a dick.
This deployment is the closest the Confederate States Army from the Home Office of American Sedition and Mississippi-Find-Yourself-Another-Country-To-Be-Part-Of have ever gotten in their continuing campaign of Southern Treason.
And that poison has had 150+ years to spread.
This longtime Phil Ochs fan appreciates the reference ("Here's to the land you've torn out the heart of / Mississippi, find yourself another country to be part of"), but I've been thinking that these days the USA is cosplaying Mississippi.
Those Guardsmen and women have been assigned to pick up DC’s trash apparently.
SPW, first assignment should be to take out the garbage from the White House.
But there's so much of it at the WH!
I'll help. For free. I'll bring my own bags. Please let me help.
Hey Maggie, no kidding. Hefty can’t manufacture enough trash bags to clear out the Outhouse, uh White House.
takes an army to get rid of it !
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/national-guard-troops-to-pick-up-trash-in-dc-work-on-beautification-projects/3980033/
Are you serious?
Yep. There’s plenty of video 😢.
no else in the world is the country's army used, or needed, to pick up trash.....except in the united states of stupid
And it's so tiny...
We CAN afford Medicaid and SNAP, BUT... the mad dictator wants to deport tens of millions of non-white people with that money instead.
No he wants to create a spectacle while he gives thst money to the already far too wealthy
See? That's the whole point. Trump hates anybody who isn't disgustingly rich. He thinks everyone who doesn't have a minimum of a million dollars should just evaporate and stop taking up space that he could be using for another golf course.
And don't forget that Trump recently announced he is bringing into the USA 600,000 Chinese students. I think it's good to have foreign students in the USA, but I thought Trump's rhetoric has been against that up until now.
The mad ‘king’ continues to hold forth.
This administration will go down in history as the biggest furuncle in the annals of these United States.
First we have to live through it and push the lot of them out!
Hopefully that's all they'll go down as in history...
Exactly. It’s ridiculous.
tRump is the most ridiculously expensive president in my 71 years. He is busy ordering money spent which Congress has not authorized. We can't afford school lunches or healthcare for poor people, but we can afford federalizing NG Troops so they can pick up litter in DC, all of these trumped up prosecutions, and of course, $3 million golf weekends...
How is it that someone with such painful bone spurs can spend so much time playing golf?
Trump is a prime example of how unpatriotic the wealthy are in America. CCR’s, Fortunate Son, could have been written for him.
Trump rides in a supercharged cart and his bodyguards and caddy's drop balls closer to the hole and in easier spots for him to play from. Trump absolutely believes he deserves such privilege.
Bleeeccchhhh......
I know. Bone Spurs can be so painful they are disabling… It was reported when he ran back in 2015, that he went skiing right after one of his deferments took effect…
I wondered the cost plus they are away from jobs. The Feds owe DC a bunch of money. We’d prefer that to this or golf course grass on the Mall.
And millions more for golf trips every weekend for Orange Julius
Yes, I smiled also, Patricia!😄
I love Sparkle too! She sounds like my kind of American heroine…
While the Guardsmen and women from the states whose governors have ordered them to DC (such as WV and LA) are being paid by taxpayers, I believe it's the taxpayers in those states who are bearing the cost and that they aren't being paid out of fed tax dollars. This isn't a quibble with the outrageousness of what's happening. Rather, think about it: THOSE states are paying, and these are red states that aren't flush. Yes, the majority of voters in those states voted in the governors who are going along with this performative nonsense and sent their National Guard to DC, but I think it's something that the DNC, at the national AND, importantly, at the level of those states should be shouting from the rooftops: YOU, the citizens of WV, LA, et al. are not only sending your citizens to DC to stand around as props BUT they are doing so on YOUR DIME.
So many ideas that any Democrat might possibly speak about - with decorum, of course.
and fixing the free plane
Thank you, Professor. You should be doing her job. You rock.
Full marks for the "indict a Subway sandwich" crack! Awesome! Rock it!
Amen to that
Pirro was last seen crawling back into her box o' wine.
In fairness, Pirro might have been intoxicated.
The grand jury smelled alcohol on the prosecutor's breath.
no that was trump
"might have been"?????
And the score is -- Reality and rule of law: One. Pirro: Zero. I'll drink to that!
I vaguely remembered those foolish tv personal before I cut my cable so many years ago. Cable quickly became a wasteland and a waste of money.
Clearly, competence is not a requirement for Trump. I have read snippets of the writings of his lawyers Sauer and Bove—long on political exhortation, short on legal theory. Blind loyalty cannot replace simple competence.
Kakistocracy: government of the worst. Every nominee from Preznit Widdle Mushwoom has been unqualified for any government job, actively opposed to the reason the agency they're heading exists, but then they are devoted to "the most persistent ignoramus I ever met," in the words of General John Kelly.
Leader of the Cult (pace Shangri-Las).
I just got that reference!
Va-roooom! Va-roooom!
Or however the sound of a motorcycle is represented.
For Trump, the sound would be a guttural “uh-oh”!
A guardrail! Thank you Joyce for restoring at least a modicum of faith in one part of our legal system by sharing this case.
I said it to a friend the other day, "Good luck getting a DC jury to convict." You can't occupy a people and expect them to rubberstamp your tyranny. And I say this as someone who has lived in DC for over 30 years. Though I am mercifully not in town right now.
Intelligent observation Daria.
We the people are the heroes we need.
100%
Yep. Don't know how many were in those grand juries, but they usually seat 12-23. So that's at least 36, and as many as 69, American heroes who looked at the evidence and said hell no, we won't indict. "No Bill!"
Parading military units around tourist sites in DC or other Blue cities is an enormously expensive abuse of power. 8 of 10 states with the highest homicide rates are led by Republicans. 13 of the top 20 cities in homicide rate have Republican governors.
Fed gov Cook is another target of the convicted fraudster/mob boss in chief. Again harming the reputation of perceived adversaries is the point. Taken with the Trump administration’s evidently politically motivated mortgage fraud claims against Sen Schiff and NY AG James Cook’s corrupt firing raises the troubling possibility that director of the Fed Housing Finance Bill Pulte is working through a list of political enemies to be targeted by the IRS. Pulte must be fired or resign. https://newrepublic.com/post/199591/trump-attempt-fire-fed-governor-lisa-cook-witch-hunt?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tnr_daily
And for DC residents, seeing tourists having their photos taken with the guards & the Humvees feels more insulting.
Don't forget the videos today of the national guards assigned to pick up trash in at least one D.C. park.
Chuckling. Missed it. So tourists make messes. How disgusting! 😂
Careful with the "top cities" thing - they may be in red states, but their mayors and city government are all Democrats. Which is why Preznit Dimbulb is making this play.
Strongly about Pulte.
Catapulte!
Looks like the facts were: she was filming. Officers said she was too close? How close? Officer told her to move. She then went around Officer (last heard that comes under the definition of "moving.") So officer pushed her into the wall and bigod, she kept struggling (she's on a stairway, right, just pushed into a wall) and her arm connects with another officer's hand.
I guess with grand jury secrecy we won't know how many of the jurors were able to stop giggling.
Perhaps they just should have charged her with "assault by alcoholic breath fumes."
If ICE stopped beating up and disappearing people, sometimes for weeks, people might not automatically tend to flail around when approached by an agent.
Blumenthal's letter to ICE gives other examples. https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-opens-inquiry-into-abusive-and-unlawful-ice-tactics
She could counter-claim self-defense and assault by the agents while she was legitimately and nonviolently exercising her First Amendment right to free speech and expression?
And there was a video of the event, which showed a lot of jostling.
Many thanks for this link.
"To fail to indict not once, but three times, indicates a failure of both competence and judgment." Or it could indicate that the grand jury believes the prosecution (or the Trump administration) is contrary to our Constitution.
Grand juries refusing to indict was a common occurrence in colonial America when government tried to prosecute people, e.g., for criticizing government abuses of power. The most famous case of a trial jury refusing to convict for this reason was in 1735 (more than 50 years before the First Amendment) and it helped establish the scope of our freedom of speech and press. Those interested in the details can search on-line for "John Peter Zenger."
This history of grand juries or trial juries protecting the people from abusive authorities is why our Constitution gives juries power to prevent prosecution or conviction. The Fifth Amendment commands that "No person" can be tried "for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury." The Sixth Amendment commands "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury." Generally, juries, not judges, decide guilt.
As i understand it, the failure to indict indicates a failure of both competence and judgement ON THE PART OF THE U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, not on the part of the grand juries.
Noorillah, did you misunderstand my comment? In no way did I indicate the grand jury lacked judgment or competence. I said the opposite. In part, my point was that the grand jury might not merely have "failed" to indict. It might have exercised its power to refuse to indict. That is a power that was secured to the people by our Constitution. For good reason (powerful people abusing their powers, exactly like Trump and Bondi are) our Constitution secures to the people (grand juries and trial juries) the power to prevent a prosecution or a conviction that is contrary to our Constitution.
Thinking of a grand jury not indicting as a mere "failure" puts virtually all perception of power (and essentially, even the power of thought) into the hands of the government (the prosecution). This grand jury might well have decided to show their own power by thinking for themselves and exercising the power our Constitution secures to them. In other words, this decision to not indict might be more of a success than a failure.
Don't take my word for this, take the words of the people who fought for and fought over our Constitution: https://www.wvaj.org/index.cfm?pg=historytrialbyjury
I ALWAYS learn something every time I come here. Thank you for educating us. 💙💙
Plus input from other knowledgeable readers.
See you in September in DC.
https://removalcoalition.org/
Congress returns. There are many issues we can use to convince a few Congressional Republicans. Brian Fitzpatrick is a case study.
Pressure them directly, their donors, families, social friends etc. Picket. Sit in.
Proportionally 4 x more crime in MAGA Mike's home town than in DC. Memphis is the most crimeridden city in the US. Jackson, Mississippi! Bessemer, AL!
Interview the National Guardsmen. Odds are more crime at home.
Resist!!
The lesion on Agent Bates's hand in an abrasion, not a laceration -- perhaps a fine point and I have no idea if it has any legal significance -- but just sayin, as they say. Henry L. Abrons, MD, MPH
There also can be a legal difference, depending on the nature and depth of the injury which affects how it's legally classified.
Thanks, Dr. Abrons. And who’s to say she received it in this altercation that the federal agents started, per their own documents? It also looks suspiciously bright red to me, having repaired many of my sons’ boo-boos when they got into scrapes. Just sayin …
I agree, Dr Abrons!
Superficial abrasions.
The Trump reality show is crying “wolf“ perhaps too many times. Saying everything is an emergency, bringing illegitimate cases to court, taking cases that they lose in lower courts to the Supreme Court, etc. may come back to bite them. Pun intended! They try to spin the story to the media to show how tough they are but then they invite increased scrutiny from officials and the public.
Wonder which statute covers assault with a deadly sandwich? Some Subway offerings can be bad, granted, but deadly? Understand the Customs and Border Protection agent was rushed to a nearby hospital trauma center where baking soda was administered to his uniform, which is expected to survive.
2 hours ago a Grand Jury refused to indict the Sandwich tosser. :)
obviously these guys have not been to war...when a bomb lands on you, now that's a laceration
I suspect the hand laceration photo has been enhanced.
In any event those are really minor injuries. Wash thoroughly and apply Neosporin.
Do you actually possess a brain, or is that oily mass between your ears just MAGA bullshit beyond its sell-by date?
Are you responding to my comment?
These are abrasions, not lacerations. I’ve seen much more severe injuries caused by submarine sandwiches.
LOL Me too!
Sure! AI or self-inflicted. Like an ear with ketchup and a sanitary napkin! ROTFLMAO
Or faked like the fanny Mae shanigations.
Yeah, just like the laceration Queen Elizabeth had on her hand in a photo taken two days before she departed the pattern, you embarrassment to the demographic.
Tom, what are you going on about? I don't understand.
Umm, what lacerations were these on the late Queen's hand? She was 96 and had been showing increasing frailty in the last year of her life. Are you suggesting some sort of fantasy connection between this notional laceration and her death?
The wound which in reality inflicted serious and lasting harm on the entire UK was the premiership of Liz Truss.