I cannot conceive of our country if trump wins this election. He is a career criminal. He has no intention of doing anything to benefit anybody besides himself. I am all in with Harris/Walz. Their candidacy has given me hope for the first time since vile trump came on the scene.
Compared to Donald Trump, Harris and Walz are rocket-scientist-moral-superstar leaders. check out the Kamala Wave print especially, and also the artist is Canadian:
We know what the assignment is. We need to donate, volunteer and share information on social media. Also, verify that you are still on the voter rolls.
Natalie - I do not think the Mandarin Mussolini can win; but, I do believe the Christofascists will do everything in their power to steal the election. Joyce has been touching on this most recently in <https://joycevance.substack.com/p/what-is-going-on-in-georgia>:
"You don’t have to be an expert in election law to see what’s happening: Trump is trying to create a legal path to do what he failed to accomplish in 2020, overturning the will of the voters if he loses. He is all but saying he will challenge the results, just like he did in both 2016 and 2020 when he refused to say he would honor the outcome of the election if he lost. He is doing it again. If you think this is going to be an easy election because of the glamour of the convention this week, please think again. It will be a hard-fought battle, and Trump will not concede if he loses. The only real questions are how far he will go and who or what will stop him."
How far will they go? If RShit governors use their Guard units to STOP vote counts and/or destroy votes before they are counted where are we? POTUS needs to activate all Red state governor controlled Guard units from 1 Oct to 1 Feb to make sure they are under his command!
"Neither party has sought to expedite the case."
To me, this statement by Joyce is an indictment of not just the Special Counsel but also of the Garland Justice Department. Hopefully a President Harris flushes all timid and politically tainted members of the DOJ, FBI, DHS, FAA, USPS, etc, etc, etc!
If the Lyin' King becomes POTUS, you are correct, the USA we know and love is over as they implement Project 2025.
We all need to do everything we can to make this an overwhelming victory to prevent Christofascists from thinking they can have a successful coup.
I couldn’t disagree more. Jack Smith is acting with deliberate care in light of SCOTUS outrageous decision to pronounce Donald an untouchable King. Smith and Garland need to dot every I and cross every T to ensure the cases can reach a successful outcome. That takes consultation with experts to ensure the steps they take in continuing the cases against the Orange Oompah Lumpah will succeed. They aren’t spending their time lying in the sun at the beach. They are focusing on every last detail rather than going in half prepared. I am grateful they are hard at work.
Linda - Federal cases against the OOL (Orange Oompah Lump:-) all go away if he is somehow POTUS again in January. All I dotting and T crossing will be moot. The following rhetorical questions are food for thought:
Which cases would DOJ NOT have proceeded with without the JAN 6 Committee's excellent work?
If charges had been timely filed in 2021 in ALL these cases INCLUDING against all the other co-conspiring insurrectionists would the trials have proceeded way more expeditiously? How many co-conspirators would have flipped and/or pleaded guilty as some have in GA and AZ? How many would not be seated in the House, Senate and state offices ready to be co-conspirators at the end of this year?
I am grateful for NY State: AG Tish James, DA Alvin Bragg, Judge Juan Merchan, E Jean Carroll and all who have brought the OOL to justice BEFORE the election. Looking back, we may well conclude that THEY made the difference.
I don't think that experiencing all the joy at the DNC means that people are not taking this election seriously. After the past 9 years of tfg's manipulations and people being on pins and needles not knowing what he would do next, we needed this moment of hope that our country might still have a future where we will continue to be free and not under a dictatorship.
Hard to believe that a case which seems to be so clear cut, to have taken this long to essentially go nowhere. If our justice system is working as intended, the system needs a major overhaul. Maybe the voters will have the last word on this and other proceedings against the ex president.
This is the case that haunts me - so many classified & even top secret strewn throughout Mar-a-Lago, and the ease with which he may have sold out country's secrets to Putin and other enemies for his own personal gain. We must win in November, this case must go forward and for this case, he must do actual hard time.
Susan, right along with committing insurrection, which according to our constitution is illegal and should have kept him from seeking any public office. So much for our Constitution when it comes to Trump.
Agreed, Susan. I consider this the most grievous of all his criminal acts. His arrogance and carelessness as well as his ridiculous arguments are beyond the pale.
I remember when this case broke, most government employees were totally incredulous, some almost having panic attacks about what would happen to them or colleagues for much smaller violations. It's unbelievable that Cannon has so little understanding of the national security implications of this case.
I deleted my comment because I mixed up husbands. Cannonʻs allegedly has connections to unsavory characters but isnʻt a lobbyist. Itʻs Elise Stephanikʻs husband who is the lobbyist.
Joyce, could you please address what you believe is wrong with this system that legal accountability has taken THIS long and may not happen at all? Is it the money? Is it ONLY the money? The horrible backlog of cases in the federal courts? What is off the tracks that we need to fix?
Well, for one thing, Merrick Garland sat on his hands for the first 18 months of Biden's presidency. He wanted, above all else, not to be seen as overtly partisan like Jeff Session, Bill Barr, and Jeffrey Clark. But the thing is, MAGAs don't care.
I think you'all need to push back and take a deep breath. I too would like to see it move more quickly but it's a complex case, made worse by the issue of top secret documents that cannot be easily dealt with. Keep calm, realize the defendant has the right to a fair and just hearing/trial and know that the prosecutors are doing the best they can to make sure they nail him (and not get overturned down the road). Patience is a virtue.
As long as the delay doesn't enable obstruction of justice, you're right. One grinding offense here is that the absence of trial has allowed Trump to campaign unhindered by having to be questioned about what appears to be yet another act of treason, selling national security secrets. Yes, defeating him at the ballot box is essential, but this brake dragging makes that harder. Deliberately harder.
The plans of the Heritage cabal and the manipulations of the Federalists are corrupt and worse. These conspiracies are an existential and immediate danger to our standing and rights as individual citizens to consent to be governed, to have a voice that merits respect. That is in grave and immediate danger.
I agree. There are things wrong in our justice system that need repaired. First of all there should be no entitlement in the rule of law. Imagine the nightmare if more and more cases are allowed to play out like this one. If we have a strong case against trump then we should stop playing and make the move. Call their bluff. This really makes our courts look weak.
“If our justice system is working as intended, the system needs a major overhaul. Maybe the voters will have the last word on this and other proceedings against the ex president.”
This is NOT working as intended, Jack.. Justice in the United States is supposed to be the same as in all non-authoritarian forms of government BLIND, That is justice has no pre-positions, cases are heard and tried on the identified evidence. But because WE, the people turned a blind eye to all the Republican Party appointments to the judiciary since 1981 when they began stacking the courts at all levels with party loyalists instead of great jurists as was done in the past. Oh, I, like most of us paid attention to appointees to the Supreme Court, but didn't follow a single appointment to appellate or district level Federal Courts. Why should I care? I'm not a criminal and I thought my elected officers would deal with it.
I wish now I had the last 40 years to live over again.
Yes, we have a two tier justice system and it may be worse than that if a homeless man steals a can of soup because he is hungry and goes straight to jail because he does not have money for bail.
Agreed, but, I personally know of a homeless man who deliberately broke into a government office building stole a very, very, small amount of money and treats from desk drawers, made a half-ass attempt to break into the safe with a nail file, so he could spend the next six months in jail out of the cold and with daily food. I happened to come into the office early, (six am), discovered him asleep on the floor and called the police. Sometimes they commit petty theft just to spend the winter out of the cold. That's not a blight on the legal system, it's a blight on us for not caring enough for our fellow humans to assure that all are fed and sheltered.
It is sad and we are the wealthiest nation on earth, making us very able to do much more for our citizens. I get angry every time I hear the phrase affordable health care for all. In other words , health insurance rates that fit most folks budgets. It is a shame that everyone does not just have health care, as a birthright as they have in many other countries. Here in the US it is health care for profit, instead of health care for the people. As long as it is a business focused on profit, it will never change.
It is unregulated capitalism a fault here, Jack. From 1933 until approximately 1973 capitalism was regulated and the system worked as designed. It wasn't classless, but to the best of my knowledge no where is there a classless system among any animals on Earth. Even ants and bees have classes.
What we had in the period was a fair shake for the vast majority. We had a few wealthy, but not obscenely wealthy people who were worth in the millions. The largest middle class the world has ever known. A smaller laboring class living at subsistence level and a very, very few, mostly male, dirt poor who traveled and lived as best they could in their relatively brief lives.
Business, whether corporate or small family owned did focus on profit but they had "stakeholders' instead of "shareholders". The stakeholders included their employees, their customers, and their communities.
All was well. But a few Republicans had an absolute hatred for Franklin Roosevelt whom they considered a traitor to his class. They believed firmly in an aristocracy and their main goal from 1935 on was to destroy all the safety nets the Democrats in Government had formed Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, under FDR, the Voting Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid and the Civil Rights Act under LBJ.
Nixon did the best he could but he had criminal inclinations, so wasn't successful. Then along came Ronnie, a relatively handsome man with a very good voice and a second rate acing career on the big screen and TV, and very limited inteligence. He apparently appealed to women and some men who lacked an understanding of economics.
Reagan's supply side economics - which I don't think he understood because he always referred o it as trickle down - along with his hatred of unions, thus breaking up unions and deregulating as much as he could get through at the time. His dislike of unions apparently had something to do with his leadership of SAG (screen actors guild) he left the Democrats in a huff and joined the Republicans. (About the same time as his divorce from Jane Wyman) and subsequent marriage to Nancy.
From 1981 we have spiraled down to where we are today. Cuts in taxes on the wealthy and corporations did exactly as planned; redistribute the wealth from the vanishing middle class to the wealthy and wealthier.
We need, as Joe and Kamala have said, to put the train back on the tracks. Break up the monopolies (I hope starting in the food industry - food costs continue to soar up); tax the wealth not the income; build some kind of health care for all, and especially add mental health care. Yes some health insurance industries will go out of business. Tough patooties - they shouldn't have been so greedy.
It will take time, since it all has to be done lawfully through the legal system. And we know how long that will take.
We all need to have the courage to enforce the Constitution and the Law of the Land. Which will result in putting some favorite sons' asses in jail and stripping them of their ill gotten gains.
How long will it last? Who knows? The 'golden age of robber barons' lasted nearly sixty years. The good years of middle class and safety nets about forty years. The Ronnie babie to the trumpster/dumpster approaching fifty years. So maybe we're finally getting smarter.
That a corrupt Republican Party approved these unqualified judges (Cannon in Florida, Kaszmaryk in Texas, Kavenaugh and Barrett) is a cause for great alarm.
But the real problem is the ignorant Americans who vote in the likes of McConnell and Hawley and JD and dear god Rick Scott, the Medicare thief who should be in prison, not the Senate.
Yes it does! When the wealthiest of our citizens have the means to challenge just about any and everything in a case before the court (endless motions and perhaps endless appeals) we can see why an overhaul is needed. Fair Justice should be preeminent of any and every case. However…. achieving fair justice for the poorest in our country versus the wealthiest is WAY out of balance.
The poorest of us are incarcerated right from the start even if not guilty. You might ask how. It’s simple: You can’t afford bail you stay in jail.
Many here have expressed concerns about the fairness of our system. Someday I hope Joyce will address those concerns.
90% of the people, now in jail, never had a trial, despite clear language that guarantees a trial by a jury of your piers. if you don't accept a plea deal, they throw the book at you. This is justice according to the people running the system. Sick.
Trump WILL lose the election. He WILL be convicted of stealing Top Secret documents and obstructing their return. He WILL be sentenced. He WILL be reviled in the same manner as other traitors have been.
The REAL drama will be the competition between courts. Who will get to jail him first"? Merchan or "Loose Cannon's" replacement? And what sentence WILL follow that? The Orange Menace is headed for the dustbin of history. The president who betrayed every law and norm, every element of democracy, every sense of decency. Doomed.
Bill, I want to believe you are right, but I have so many unanswered questions. Why has this taken so long? How can Judge Cannon get away with this? Why didn’t Jack Smith ask to have Judge Cannon removed from the case a year ago?
Because it's not as simple as you wish it was. These are highly complex cases and the prosecutors are anxious to see him in jail too, but they eschew going too quickly and therefore neglecting to dot the I's and cross the T's carefully. You truly don't want to in only to lose laster on a technicality, do you? Of course not. Patience.
Thank you Dirk! Thank heavens we have Jack Smith who is using his head and not jumping in without caution. He knows what needs to be done. He knows it takes time and the advice of many wise people. Patience is exactly what we need to be demonstrating right now.
As Mr. Faegre states, it's not quite so simple. What you - and ALL of us - need to realize, is that, with the aid of the likes of Mitch McConnell, our courts have been stacked with insurrectionists and right-wing MAGAts for YEARS now. It will take a concerted effort by all of us, on ALL levels of government, to root out the (not your Daddy's) Republicans, and spend the next several years getting our government back on track. Just here in my state of Ohio, our Supreme Court has been horribly corrupted by the likes of Mike DeWine, Dave Yost, and Frank LaRose, and we're paying a heavy price for it. Just look at the recent decision regarding boneless chicken!! And that's just Ohio!! We have a lot of work to do to save our Republic, and thank goodness we have those such as Ms. Vance to help us see the troubles ahead. So, Let's Do Something!!!
He needs to lose or we all lose. If there are no surprises like a market meltdown, I think we have a home run. Or just maybe I split and go to Singapore.
A market meltdown is easy to manipulate, but I don't think we have an economic weakness at the moment except the usual testosterone -driven male emotional response to a glitch. Like last weeks job number revision that sent the market boys into a tizzy, from which fainting couch they recovered the next day.
The only thing I see on the horizon is the Netanyahoo driven lurch into a bigger war in the Middle East. And I wouldn't put it past that sad excuse for a human.
Just make sure you kick your chewing gum habit before heading to Singapore. They are really hard on gum chewers, especially if your gum lands on the sidewalk.
There should be an inquiry into the probable ex parte communications between Trump representatives and Cannon and the mysterious unprompted Clarence Thomas concurrence that Cannon cites. Federalist Society cohorts believe they can get away with anything.
I suspect Thomas has been the Cannon whisperer all along. He’s so proud of himself, he deliberately dropped that little nugget. I’m sure Ginny rewarded him. Oh gag. Now I feel sick.
Aren’t you all sick of Trump and his obstruction of justice? He’s clearly guilty in all these cases. Something is wrong with justice in this country that a person can evade justice.
It really comes down to not only the money to hire lawyers, but their tenacity in pursuing any weaknesses or T's not crossed. This can really tip the scales of justice, and makes it easy to see why many feel the system favors some over others. I hope Smith persists and prevails.
But lawyers have always gotten big bucks for tenacity in pursuing weaknesses and parsing the T's not crossed. If it's your own life or money on the line, you want a lawyer who can do this; it is what it is to practice law and always has been. So that just can't be it. It has to be the expense; that only the rich can afford lawyers who will do that, and on appeal, and again on appeal. . .
Thank you. I've been wondering when this case would come back into focus. Thanks for telling us what to look for, where to start (with the table of contents), and for kindling a little hope for us again. I think this is the most grievous of his indictments, but there are so many to choose from. I won't hold my breath, but I will cross my fingers.
And the sentencing(s) in 2025, 2026 and beyond. When Kamala Harris is in the White House, I believe she will replace Merrick Garland with a stronger AG. It is my wish that Trump is convicted in every outstanding case and sentenced to jail time. That will put him away and out of the public consciousness. Oh, and part of his time should be in solitary confinement so he will get a taste of what he did to Michael Cohen. Lastly, his Secret Service protection should be revoked for the rest of his lifetime and let him fend for himself in prison. He considered himself part of the J6 insurrectionists and should be treated exactly as they are. Karma is a *itch.
Trump's defenders don't even try to argue that he didn't commit the crimes, they only argue that he shouldn't be prosecuted for them. They are clearly not the party of law and order.
Phil, I think his defenders/supporters just pretend nothing happened. For me, watching the incredulous storming of the U.S. Capitol by trump supporters is something seared into my memory just like 9/11. Led by a person who was a sore loser. Every one of the elected representatives who were present that day, who condemned that action and have now changed their tune should be ousted from their jobs. Every last one of them, starting with Mitch McConnell. They are spineless cowards who have no principles!
How critical this reminder that so much depends upon defeating a would be criminal president from controlling the engines of equal justice.
And why he’s willing to lie, cheat and steal this election if need be. And how he must be stopped from being allowed to destroy our (albeit imperfect) judicial system (among other systems including an equitable medical care delivery system)
For us "pros" a good refresher. To me, the array of the court is very important. Pryor and Brasher, both right wing judges from Alabama ruled against Trump/Cannon previously. Brasher was appointed by Trump. Britt Grant, Georgia, Trump appointee, ruled against them also.
Some members of the court from Florida have a similar profile to Cannon.
As exciting as the DMC Convention was and how much more optimistic I am about the election, I am glad to have you and your compadres keeping an eye on the Trump legal matters. They are critical and the delays have been excruciating.
Busy week but again, the trump goal is delay, delay, delay. What’s really working on me though is his rhetoric about not needing votes. He’s got plenty to win and then Pro Publica comes out with this.
It’s a long article but it doesn’t take much reading to see how the article will end and this isn’t the only group that’s active. Mix in the election deniers and all the activity all aiming to throw the election into the House.
Thanks, SPW for the Pro Publica link. As you mentioned, it is a long article but it's compelling reading - you just can't stop. It's also enlightening. I wonder if any of our local law enforcement officers belong or socialize with these AP3 people? Good to know.
I applaud the patience and perseverance of Jack Smith and his team, not only for dealing with the incredibly complex legal work required, but for putting up with the incredibly mediocre, unethical, and opportunistic Judge Cannon. She is blocking the rights of Americans to prosecute a crime for which there are abundant photographic evidence, witnesses, and an un-remorseful criminal defendant.
Most defendants want a speedy trial to prove their innocence. Trump wants no trial at all so he can hide his guilt.
I can't figure out if she's been consistently corrupt and incompetent all the time she's been a judge or has just singled out this trump case to display that behavior. She lets him dictate to her (1) what the issues are, and (2) how he wants them resolved. It's scary to see how willing she is to contort the litigation process to cater to his whims despite it being such a high-profile case in a bright national spotlight we all see and hear about. Sooner or later, that bright glare and her continued illogical rulings will hopefully help Jack Smith get a more realistic trial judge when he appeals at the 11th Circuit. Knowing that you had been publicly rebuked by the appellate court, most people would self-correct what they had been called out for to prevent any further public embarrassment. Not this trump appointee. For some reason - being publicly embarrassed didn't seem to be a learning moment for her. So, sometime soon, I hope we'll be treated to news of another 3am "truth social" trump meltdown because his previously dismissed classified docs case is going to come roaring back to life now and heading to trial with a new judge.
You know, trump and his lawyers aren't master lawyers. They make ridiculous arguments - which they're probably aware are without any merit at all. All they apparently do is state any manufactured reason, or two, in their appeal to allow them to keep appealing up to his friends waiting at SCOTUS. For this classified docs case, though, trump was very aware of the date, and even the time, at which he would cease being the President and wouldn't be able to possess those docs any longer. NARA notified him that he had to return them to the National Archives and he refused, he then denied having them, he ordered his employees to move the boxes to hide them from a legal search (so, if you're "entitled" to these docs, then why are you hiding them?). The box-moving is captured on trump's own closed circuit surveillance. He also knowingly shared classified docs with people that he knew they didn't have clearance, at Mar-A-Lago and Bedminster. It makes you wonder why anyone - his attorneys, or the SCOTUS-5, after we've all become aware of his utterly irresponsible behavior with our country's intelligence - would want to help him regain possession of our country's nuclear codes. I don't see how the SCOTUS-5 will be able to craft a defense for trump with these facts and evidence.
I cannot conceive of our country if trump wins this election. He is a career criminal. He has no intention of doing anything to benefit anybody besides himself. I am all in with Harris/Walz. Their candidacy has given me hope for the first time since vile trump came on the scene.
Compared to Donald Trump, Harris and Walz are rocket-scientist-moral-superstar leaders. check out the Kamala Wave print especially, and also the artist is Canadian:
www.garytaxali.com/shop
Love it!
We know what the assignment is. We need to donate, volunteer and share information on social media. Also, verify that you are still on the voter rolls.
Natalie - I do not think the Mandarin Mussolini can win; but, I do believe the Christofascists will do everything in their power to steal the election. Joyce has been touching on this most recently in <https://joycevance.substack.com/p/what-is-going-on-in-georgia>:
"You don’t have to be an expert in election law to see what’s happening: Trump is trying to create a legal path to do what he failed to accomplish in 2020, overturning the will of the voters if he loses. He is all but saying he will challenge the results, just like he did in both 2016 and 2020 when he refused to say he would honor the outcome of the election if he lost. He is doing it again. If you think this is going to be an easy election because of the glamour of the convention this week, please think again. It will be a hard-fought battle, and Trump will not concede if he loses. The only real questions are how far he will go and who or what will stop him."
How far will they go? If RShit governors use their Guard units to STOP vote counts and/or destroy votes before they are counted where are we? POTUS needs to activate all Red state governor controlled Guard units from 1 Oct to 1 Feb to make sure they are under his command!
"Neither party has sought to expedite the case."
To me, this statement by Joyce is an indictment of not just the Special Counsel but also of the Garland Justice Department. Hopefully a President Harris flushes all timid and politically tainted members of the DOJ, FBI, DHS, FAA, USPS, etc, etc, etc!
If the Lyin' King becomes POTUS, you are correct, the USA we know and love is over as they implement Project 2025.
We all need to do everything we can to make this an overwhelming victory to prevent Christofascists from thinking they can have a successful coup.
I couldn’t disagree more. Jack Smith is acting with deliberate care in light of SCOTUS outrageous decision to pronounce Donald an untouchable King. Smith and Garland need to dot every I and cross every T to ensure the cases can reach a successful outcome. That takes consultation with experts to ensure the steps they take in continuing the cases against the Orange Oompah Lumpah will succeed. They aren’t spending their time lying in the sun at the beach. They are focusing on every last detail rather than going in half prepared. I am grateful they are hard at work.
Linda - Federal cases against the OOL (Orange Oompah Lump:-) all go away if he is somehow POTUS again in January. All I dotting and T crossing will be moot. The following rhetorical questions are food for thought:
Which cases would DOJ NOT have proceeded with without the JAN 6 Committee's excellent work?
Does Jack Smith's decision to NOT follow the JAN 6 Committee's INSURRECTION charge recommendation need to be viewed in hindsight as a huge mistake? https://www.semafor.com/article/08/02/2023/donald-trump-indictment-jack-smith-insurrection-charge Would CO have prevailed in keeping the OOL off their ballot if he had already been convicted of insurrection?
If charges had been timely filed in 2021 in ALL these cases INCLUDING against all the other co-conspiring insurrectionists would the trials have proceeded way more expeditiously? How many co-conspirators would have flipped and/or pleaded guilty as some have in GA and AZ? How many would not be seated in the House, Senate and state offices ready to be co-conspirators at the end of this year?
I am grateful for NY State: AG Tish James, DA Alvin Bragg, Judge Juan Merchan, E Jean Carroll and all who have brought the OOL to justice BEFORE the election. Looking back, we may well conclude that THEY made the difference.
I don't think that experiencing all the joy at the DNC means that people are not taking this election seriously. After the past 9 years of tfg's manipulations and people being on pins and needles not knowing what he would do next, we needed this moment of hope that our country might still have a future where we will continue to be free and not under a dictatorship.
Hard to believe that a case which seems to be so clear cut, to have taken this long to essentially go nowhere. If our justice system is working as intended, the system needs a major overhaul. Maybe the voters will have the last word on this and other proceedings against the ex president.
This is the case that haunts me - so many classified & even top secret strewn throughout Mar-a-Lago, and the ease with which he may have sold out country's secrets to Putin and other enemies for his own personal gain. We must win in November, this case must go forward and for this case, he must do actual hard time.
Exactly. In my opinion, this is the most serious case in the bunch!
Susan, right along with committing insurrection, which according to our constitution is illegal and should have kept him from seeking any public office. So much for our Constitution when it comes to Trump.
😢😢😢. Truth
Yes.
Agreed, Susan. I consider this the most grievous of all his criminal acts. His arrogance and carelessness as well as his ridiculous arguments are beyond the pale.
I remember when this case broke, most government employees were totally incredulous, some almost having panic attacks about what would happen to them or colleagues for much smaller violations. It's unbelievable that Cannon has so little understanding of the national security implications of this case.
Cannon understands it perfectly but most of all, that Donnie is a very special defendant. vote blue.
I agree. I fear that our nation's national security will be for sale to the highest bidder.
It is such a mess when a judge owes her position to the defendant.
In MAGA eyes, there's no such thing as a crime if committed by Trump. And you can ask Alito, Thomas, Roberts for their concurrence.
You know you’d get it.
I didn’t know about her husband. 😡
I deleted my comment because I mixed up husbands. Cannonʻs allegedly has connections to unsavory characters but isnʻt a lobbyist. Itʻs Elise Stephanikʻs husband who is the lobbyist.
Thanks for correcting that before I passed it on. Veracity is a great value.
Joyce, could you please address what you believe is wrong with this system that legal accountability has taken THIS long and may not happen at all? Is it the money? Is it ONLY the money? The horrible backlog of cases in the federal courts? What is off the tracks that we need to fix?
I’d love to hear your taken on this too. Something’s way off. This isn’t justice, and nothing like this is available to an average Joe or Jane.
Well, for one thing, Merrick Garland sat on his hands for the first 18 months of Biden's presidency. He wanted, above all else, not to be seen as overtly partisan like Jeff Session, Bill Barr, and Jeffrey Clark. But the thing is, MAGAs don't care.
I think you'all need to push back and take a deep breath. I too would like to see it move more quickly but it's a complex case, made worse by the issue of top secret documents that cannot be easily dealt with. Keep calm, realize the defendant has the right to a fair and just hearing/trial and know that the prosecutors are doing the best they can to make sure they nail him (and not get overturned down the road). Patience is a virtue.
As long as the delay doesn't enable obstruction of justice, you're right. One grinding offense here is that the absence of trial has allowed Trump to campaign unhindered by having to be questioned about what appears to be yet another act of treason, selling national security secrets. Yes, defeating him at the ballot box is essential, but this brake dragging makes that harder. Deliberately harder.
The plans of the Heritage cabal and the manipulations of the Federalists are corrupt and worse. These conspiracies are an existential and immediate danger to our standing and rights as individual citizens to consent to be governed, to have a voice that merits respect. That is in grave and immediate danger.
They are using the Justice system to beat the Justice system.
(And they will destroy it should tfg win in November).
I agree. There are things wrong in our justice system that need repaired. First of all there should be no entitlement in the rule of law. Imagine the nightmare if more and more cases are allowed to play out like this one. If we have a strong case against trump then we should stop playing and make the move. Call their bluff. This really makes our courts look weak.
“If our justice system is working as intended, the system needs a major overhaul. Maybe the voters will have the last word on this and other proceedings against the ex president.”
Great argument for putting the woman in charge!!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9cl-l1yqzR8
This is NOT working as intended, Jack.. Justice in the United States is supposed to be the same as in all non-authoritarian forms of government BLIND, That is justice has no pre-positions, cases are heard and tried on the identified evidence. But because WE, the people turned a blind eye to all the Republican Party appointments to the judiciary since 1981 when they began stacking the courts at all levels with party loyalists instead of great jurists as was done in the past. Oh, I, like most of us paid attention to appointees to the Supreme Court, but didn't follow a single appointment to appellate or district level Federal Courts. Why should I care? I'm not a criminal and I thought my elected officers would deal with it.
I wish now I had the last 40 years to live over again.
Yes, we have a two tier justice system and it may be worse than that if a homeless man steals a can of soup because he is hungry and goes straight to jail because he does not have money for bail.
Agreed, but, I personally know of a homeless man who deliberately broke into a government office building stole a very, very, small amount of money and treats from desk drawers, made a half-ass attempt to break into the safe with a nail file, so he could spend the next six months in jail out of the cold and with daily food. I happened to come into the office early, (six am), discovered him asleep on the floor and called the police. Sometimes they commit petty theft just to spend the winter out of the cold. That's not a blight on the legal system, it's a blight on us for not caring enough for our fellow humans to assure that all are fed and sheltered.
It is sad and we are the wealthiest nation on earth, making us very able to do much more for our citizens. I get angry every time I hear the phrase affordable health care for all. In other words , health insurance rates that fit most folks budgets. It is a shame that everyone does not just have health care, as a birthright as they have in many other countries. Here in the US it is health care for profit, instead of health care for the people. As long as it is a business focused on profit, it will never change.
It is unregulated capitalism a fault here, Jack. From 1933 until approximately 1973 capitalism was regulated and the system worked as designed. It wasn't classless, but to the best of my knowledge no where is there a classless system among any animals on Earth. Even ants and bees have classes.
What we had in the period was a fair shake for the vast majority. We had a few wealthy, but not obscenely wealthy people who were worth in the millions. The largest middle class the world has ever known. A smaller laboring class living at subsistence level and a very, very few, mostly male, dirt poor who traveled and lived as best they could in their relatively brief lives.
Business, whether corporate or small family owned did focus on profit but they had "stakeholders' instead of "shareholders". The stakeholders included their employees, their customers, and their communities.
All was well. But a few Republicans had an absolute hatred for Franklin Roosevelt whom they considered a traitor to his class. They believed firmly in an aristocracy and their main goal from 1935 on was to destroy all the safety nets the Democrats in Government had formed Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, under FDR, the Voting Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid and the Civil Rights Act under LBJ.
Nixon did the best he could but he had criminal inclinations, so wasn't successful. Then along came Ronnie, a relatively handsome man with a very good voice and a second rate acing career on the big screen and TV, and very limited inteligence. He apparently appealed to women and some men who lacked an understanding of economics.
Reagan's supply side economics - which I don't think he understood because he always referred o it as trickle down - along with his hatred of unions, thus breaking up unions and deregulating as much as he could get through at the time. His dislike of unions apparently had something to do with his leadership of SAG (screen actors guild) he left the Democrats in a huff and joined the Republicans. (About the same time as his divorce from Jane Wyman) and subsequent marriage to Nancy.
From 1981 we have spiraled down to where we are today. Cuts in taxes on the wealthy and corporations did exactly as planned; redistribute the wealth from the vanishing middle class to the wealthy and wealthier.
We need, as Joe and Kamala have said, to put the train back on the tracks. Break up the monopolies (I hope starting in the food industry - food costs continue to soar up); tax the wealth not the income; build some kind of health care for all, and especially add mental health care. Yes some health insurance industries will go out of business. Tough patooties - they shouldn't have been so greedy.
It will take time, since it all has to be done lawfully through the legal system. And we know how long that will take.
We all need to have the courage to enforce the Constitution and the Law of the Land. Which will result in putting some favorite sons' asses in jail and stripping them of their ill gotten gains.
How long will it last? Who knows? The 'golden age of robber barons' lasted nearly sixty years. The good years of middle class and safety nets about forty years. The Ronnie babie to the trumpster/dumpster approaching fifty years. So maybe we're finally getting smarter.
That a corrupt Republican Party approved these unqualified judges (Cannon in Florida, Kaszmaryk in Texas, Kavenaugh and Barrett) is a cause for great alarm.
But the real problem is the ignorant Americans who vote in the likes of McConnell and Hawley and JD and dear god Rick Scott, the Medicare thief who should be in prison, not the Senate.
Yes we have many willfully ignorant voters.
“…. the system needs a major overhaul.”
Yes it does! When the wealthiest of our citizens have the means to challenge just about any and everything in a case before the court (endless motions and perhaps endless appeals) we can see why an overhaul is needed. Fair Justice should be preeminent of any and every case. However…. achieving fair justice for the poorest in our country versus the wealthiest is WAY out of balance.
The poorest of us are incarcerated right from the start even if not guilty. You might ask how. It’s simple: You can’t afford bail you stay in jail.
Many here have expressed concerns about the fairness of our system. Someday I hope Joyce will address those concerns.
90% of the people, now in jail, never had a trial, despite clear language that guarantees a trial by a jury of your piers. if you don't accept a plea deal, they throw the book at you. This is justice according to the people running the system. Sick.
don’t accept a plea deal or they’ll throw the book at you.
Re: Prosecutorial blackmail
It is a disgrace!
Trump WILL lose the election. He WILL be convicted of stealing Top Secret documents and obstructing their return. He WILL be sentenced. He WILL be reviled in the same manner as other traitors have been.
The REAL drama will be the competition between courts. Who will get to jail him first"? Merchan or "Loose Cannon's" replacement? And what sentence WILL follow that? The Orange Menace is headed for the dustbin of history. The president who betrayed every law and norm, every element of democracy, every sense of decency. Doomed.
As Ted Lasso said: "Believe".
I’m with you Bill. It’s how I sleep at night. Believe.
Bill, I want to believe you are right, but I have so many unanswered questions. Why has this taken so long? How can Judge Cannon get away with this? Why didn’t Jack Smith ask to have Judge Cannon removed from the case a year ago?
Because it's not as simple as you wish it was. These are highly complex cases and the prosecutors are anxious to see him in jail too, but they eschew going too quickly and therefore neglecting to dot the I's and cross the T's carefully. You truly don't want to in only to lose laster on a technicality, do you? Of course not. Patience.
Thank you Dirk! Thank heavens we have Jack Smith who is using his head and not jumping in without caution. He knows what needs to be done. He knows it takes time and the advice of many wise people. Patience is exactly what we need to be demonstrating right now.
As Mr. Faegre states, it's not quite so simple. What you - and ALL of us - need to realize, is that, with the aid of the likes of Mitch McConnell, our courts have been stacked with insurrectionists and right-wing MAGAts for YEARS now. It will take a concerted effort by all of us, on ALL levels of government, to root out the (not your Daddy's) Republicans, and spend the next several years getting our government back on track. Just here in my state of Ohio, our Supreme Court has been horribly corrupted by the likes of Mike DeWine, Dave Yost, and Frank LaRose, and we're paying a heavy price for it. Just look at the recent decision regarding boneless chicken!! And that's just Ohio!! We have a lot of work to do to save our Republic, and thank goodness we have those such as Ms. Vance to help us see the troubles ahead. So, Let's Do Something!!!
My questions, too, Helen.
He needs to lose or we all lose. If there are no surprises like a market meltdown, I think we have a home run. Or just maybe I split and go to Singapore.
A market meltdown is easy to manipulate, but I don't think we have an economic weakness at the moment except the usual testosterone -driven male emotional response to a glitch. Like last weeks job number revision that sent the market boys into a tizzy, from which fainting couch they recovered the next day.
The only thing I see on the horizon is the Netanyahoo driven lurch into a bigger war in the Middle East. And I wouldn't put it past that sad excuse for a human.
Just make sure you kick your chewing gum habit before heading to Singapore. They are really hard on gum chewers, especially if your gum lands on the sidewalk.
Love your post, Bill 🩵
Vote 💙 FULL
BALLOT
As the saying goes, from your fingers to God’s ears.
And don’t be a goldfish..
Ahhhh…to have such hope!
The Prosecutor or the Criminal…pick one!
🤞🤞🤞
Joyce you are our light to saving democracy. Thank you for your time.
Well done explanations.
There should be an inquiry into the probable ex parte communications between Trump representatives and Cannon and the mysterious unprompted Clarence Thomas concurrence that Cannon cites. Federalist Society cohorts believe they can get away with anything.
Sadly, so far it seems they have. :/
Justices ought to not be allowed to drop Easter eggs for another case.
I suspect Thomas has been the Cannon whisperer all along. He’s so proud of himself, he deliberately dropped that little nugget. I’m sure Ginny rewarded him. Oh gag. Now I feel sick.
They have good reason to believe that.
Aren’t you all sick of Trump and his obstruction of justice? He’s clearly guilty in all these cases. Something is wrong with justice in this country that a person can evade justice.
It really comes down to not only the money to hire lawyers, but their tenacity in pursuing any weaknesses or T's not crossed. This can really tip the scales of justice, and makes it easy to see why many feel the system favors some over others. I hope Smith persists and prevails.
But lawyers have always gotten big bucks for tenacity in pursuing weaknesses and parsing the T's not crossed. If it's your own life or money on the line, you want a lawyer who can do this; it is what it is to practice law and always has been. So that just can't be it. It has to be the expense; that only the rich can afford lawyers who will do that, and on appeal, and again on appeal. . .
Seriously, I have the distinct impression that in this country, you get all the justice you can afford. Which strikes me as being very wrong.
Even when public defenders are assigned to those unable to pay? It seems a common complaint that the poor don't always get good representation.
Thank you. I've been wondering when this case would come back into focus. Thanks for telling us what to look for, where to start (with the table of contents), and for kindling a little hope for us again. I think this is the most grievous of his indictments, but there are so many to choose from. I won't hold my breath, but I will cross my fingers.
So glad we are getting back to the court cases. And then there is the sentencing later in September to look forward to.
And the sentencing(s) in 2025, 2026 and beyond. When Kamala Harris is in the White House, I believe she will replace Merrick Garland with a stronger AG. It is my wish that Trump is convicted in every outstanding case and sentenced to jail time. That will put him away and out of the public consciousness. Oh, and part of his time should be in solitary confinement so he will get a taste of what he did to Michael Cohen. Lastly, his Secret Service protection should be revoked for the rest of his lifetime and let him fend for himself in prison. He considered himself part of the J6 insurrectionists and should be treated exactly as they are. Karma is a *itch.
Why give him SS protection when his/MAGA's victims are left unprotected?
Trump's defenders don't even try to argue that he didn't commit the crimes, they only argue that he shouldn't be prosecuted for them. They are clearly not the party of law and order.
Phil, I think his defenders/supporters just pretend nothing happened. For me, watching the incredulous storming of the U.S. Capitol by trump supporters is something seared into my memory just like 9/11. Led by a person who was a sore loser. Every one of the elected representatives who were present that day, who condemned that action and have now changed their tune should be ousted from their jobs. Every last one of them, starting with Mitch McConnell. They are spineless cowards who have no principles!
How critical this reminder that so much depends upon defeating a would be criminal president from controlling the engines of equal justice.
And why he’s willing to lie, cheat and steal this election if need be. And how he must be stopped from being allowed to destroy our (albeit imperfect) judicial system (among other systems including an equitable medical care delivery system)
Thank you Joyce. From our hearts.
Thank you for this great explanation, Joyce, but I thought you were on vacation!! Please get some rest and have fun.
I was thinking that too. Scotland is so beautiful, enjoy every moment.
Very helpful summary for us lay people.
Thank you!
For us "pros" a good refresher. To me, the array of the court is very important. Pryor and Brasher, both right wing judges from Alabama ruled against Trump/Cannon previously. Brasher was appointed by Trump. Britt Grant, Georgia, Trump appointee, ruled against them also.
Some members of the court from Florida have a similar profile to Cannon.
As exciting as the DMC Convention was and how much more optimistic I am about the election, I am glad to have you and your compadres keeping an eye on the Trump legal matters. They are critical and the delays have been excruciating.
Busy week but again, the trump goal is delay, delay, delay. What’s really working on me though is his rhetoric about not needing votes. He’s got plenty to win and then Pro Publica comes out with this.
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-secret-ap3-militia-american-patriots-three-percent
It’s a long article but it doesn’t take much reading to see how the article will end and this isn’t the only group that’s active. Mix in the election deniers and all the activity all aiming to throw the election into the House.
Isn’t the phrase “justice delayed is justice denied”? We’re been denied a lot of justice re Trump cases.
For sure!
Thanks, SPW for the Pro Publica link. As you mentioned, it is a long article but it's compelling reading - you just can't stop. It's also enlightening. I wonder if any of our local law enforcement officers belong or socialize with these AP3 people? Good to know.
I applaud the patience and perseverance of Jack Smith and his team, not only for dealing with the incredibly complex legal work required, but for putting up with the incredibly mediocre, unethical, and opportunistic Judge Cannon. She is blocking the rights of Americans to prosecute a crime for which there are abundant photographic evidence, witnesses, and an un-remorseful criminal defendant.
Most defendants want a speedy trial to prove their innocence. Trump wants no trial at all so he can hide his guilt.
I can't figure out if she's been consistently corrupt and incompetent all the time she's been a judge or has just singled out this trump case to display that behavior. She lets him dictate to her (1) what the issues are, and (2) how he wants them resolved. It's scary to see how willing she is to contort the litigation process to cater to his whims despite it being such a high-profile case in a bright national spotlight we all see and hear about. Sooner or later, that bright glare and her continued illogical rulings will hopefully help Jack Smith get a more realistic trial judge when he appeals at the 11th Circuit. Knowing that you had been publicly rebuked by the appellate court, most people would self-correct what they had been called out for to prevent any further public embarrassment. Not this trump appointee. For some reason - being publicly embarrassed didn't seem to be a learning moment for her. So, sometime soon, I hope we'll be treated to news of another 3am "truth social" trump meltdown because his previously dismissed classified docs case is going to come roaring back to life now and heading to trial with a new judge.
You know, trump and his lawyers aren't master lawyers. They make ridiculous arguments - which they're probably aware are without any merit at all. All they apparently do is state any manufactured reason, or two, in their appeal to allow them to keep appealing up to his friends waiting at SCOTUS. For this classified docs case, though, trump was very aware of the date, and even the time, at which he would cease being the President and wouldn't be able to possess those docs any longer. NARA notified him that he had to return them to the National Archives and he refused, he then denied having them, he ordered his employees to move the boxes to hide them from a legal search (so, if you're "entitled" to these docs, then why are you hiding them?). The box-moving is captured on trump's own closed circuit surveillance. He also knowingly shared classified docs with people that he knew they didn't have clearance, at Mar-A-Lago and Bedminster. It makes you wonder why anyone - his attorneys, or the SCOTUS-5, after we've all become aware of his utterly irresponsible behavior with our country's intelligence - would want to help him regain possession of our country's nuclear codes. I don't see how the SCOTUS-5 will be able to craft a defense for trump with these facts and evidence.