Pickles frowns on eating chicken, in any form, as part of your holiday celebration. But she did want me to share three important things with you heading into the long weekend. You never know when the opportunity for civil discourse will present itself—even at the family cookout.
Thanks, Joyce. Nice wrap-up. Chief Justice Roberts probably dares not to jump on any other Justices about their indiscretions when his wife has had some questionable income, upwards of $10 million for matching lawyers to elite law firms over a 7 year period. Nice moola, if you can get it, eh? I think Meadows is out of luck & I hope he is spanked in State Court. As for trump having not declared for his case to be switched to Federal Court, he is probably using as much time to delay that option as possible. America is due for some relief from all of these trump & his allies shenanigans. Let it start sooner rather than later. I'd like to give Governor Kemp kudos for standing up for Fani Willis and the Constitution. Wish that would cause other Republicans to gird up their loins & defend America from trump. Carry on.
Thanks for reminding me what Chief Justice Roberts is afraid of here. I don't usually exhibit string reactions, even when I feel strongly about something. But when I read Joyce's sentence about Roberts not doing much about this situation, I found myself blurting out very loudly to my otherwise unoccupied house, "what the F is he afraid of?!" And that must be what it is (at least in part) - his wife's income as a legal recruiter. I had forgotten that part of the story.
I don’t think Roberts is afraid. I think he’s just arrogant af.
Slick life of a corporate attorney, great gig getting the moron W installed in office, reward with the choice spot on the Extreme Court, making sure corporate bribery is legal.
He’s a smug self satisfied frat boy, just a little more presentable than Kavenaugh.
All of that probably applies, but it's consistent with my conviction that Roberts is in over his head -- just like House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. They're both mediocre white men who rose to high positions of power thanks in large part to privilege and cronyism. (And they're being shown up by women, many of them women of color, to rose to *their* positions of power because they were competent and worked their butts off.)
Not unlike the one who can never fill the shoes of Thurgood Marshall. Who would surely be sputtering in his grave about the crass opportunism of his successor.
Mediocre. and wholly unfit to serve on the SC. Their lack of integrity makes them unfit. The difference between them and the women who serve is staggering.
In her excellent book, "Caste", Isabelle Wilkerson describes very well(Chap 13) the incompetent class of alpha males, such as Roberts and McCarthy who destroy companies, governments - and countries.
She notes, "It is a tragedy for humankind which is deprived of the benefit of natural alphas who might lead the world with the compassion and courage that are the hallmarks of a born leader, male or female..."
Every word you speak is truth. We are all soooo “tired” of the Greedy leaders in our government whose job is to “Protect” our Democracy. Thing is, these are not empty statements. We are not only getting hit w/tfg’s corruption, our very own “Supreme Court” (?). To make it all, as disgusting as it is...the r’s accuse the Democrats of exactly what THEY are doing. Their “so-called” base are deaf and blind to any of it. (Give me a F...ing break) it is beyond comprehension that we are still here... it has to be finished and it has to be the Justice we deserve. SOON.
1. While it may seem that Meadows was doing the work of the campaign in attempting to get Georgia to change its votes, the campaign was over. The votes had been counted. The work Meadow was doing was to conspire to overturn an election; the work was the criminal conspiracy.
2. Clarence Thomas claims that he needed to travel by private jet out of fear after the leak of the draft opinion overturning Roe. OK. And the other paid for travel during the year? And the paid for travel in previous years? He could not get away with an excuse like that made to a competent third grade teacher.
The removal motion gets debated while a defendant is presumed innocent - at least, a well resourced white male defendant such as Meadows is presumed innocent. So the issue in removal is whether his behavior can reasonably be seen at this point as part of his job. Meadows says his job was to serve Trump, so it’s all included. Willis says no, serving Trump the candidate was not part of serving the Trump the president.
The judge wants his ruling to stand up under appeal, so he is looking at the details of the law carefully.
I like your caution. It is, nevertheless, hard to imagine how it is the job of the President's Chief of Staff to wheedle states for more votes. -- I am NY, from MA. Check out my newsletter: Len's Political Notes https://lenspoliticalnotes.com
The *election* was over, but that doesn't mean the campaign went out of existence. Even in ordinary times, campaigns last past the election date because there are bills to be paid (and sometimes money to be raised to pay them). At least in some states, campaigns can call for a recount when the margin isn't within the limits set by state election law; in those cases, the campaign pays for the recount. So IMO Meadows can *claim* to have been working for the campaign -- but since I believe the chief of staff is paid by government funds, and since the Hatch Act is a thing, his claim is rather flimsy.
The Hatch Act prohibits government employees from working on political campaigns. And since when does the president's chief of staff make phone calls to wrangle votes for their boss as part of their official duties?
Another thing that needs fixing. The Hatch Act needs some "Find Out". Like you lose your government job and can no longer work in any position for the government for [number?] years or life.
When Kellyanne Conway violated the Hatch Act I remember reading that no one has ever been prosecuted for violating it. Apparently there was even less inclination to hold government employees accountable throughout history than there is now. I guess we should be grateful.
Yes indeed, but remember how Trump held a campaign event in the Rose Garden, and IIRC Kellyanne Conway strayed over the line more than once? If these people knew the law (and the lawyers among them sure should have), they thought it didn't apply to them.
The trouble with Meadows and so many of these characters is that they were unable or unwilling to distinguish the person who held the office from the office itself. And that is about as antithetical to democracy as one can get.
Well said. It's ludicrous that Meadows claims he was doing his job, but indeed, none of the Trump cult has ever had any respect for the law or the offices they held. In fact, they were all about dispensing with such inconveniences as state and federal laws.
I find it amusing that, in all the dodging and weaving by defendants in these indictments about the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election, they continue to drive nails through their own feet by contradicting prior statements, testimony and pieces of evidence like emails, text messages that are in the possession of the DOJ, the public and the press. Not only are these contradictions incriminating, but they are also hopelessly amateurish. They make the defendants AND their council look like the petty criminals that they are.
I don't think it's amusing. It's tragic that at least a third of the country not only believes Trump and his toadies are being persecuted, but that they want to put the scumbag back in office. The attempts they have made to destroy democracy are crimes. They are not funny in the least.
Entertaining for you that prosecutors lawyers, judges have effectively hijacked the 2024 Presidential election and reduced our country to legal squabbles?? This is the country you like living in??
Joe Biden commits document crimes himself. Joe has active investigations into he and his family's 20+ million in foreign $$$ wired to his families via LLCs. Joe lied to American people and the world in final debate before 2020 election that his son Hunter's laptop story had been "debunked" and that his family had not gotten money from China/Russia.
Despite these wrongdoings of his own, Joe chooses to allow his attorney general and prosecutorial appointees to seek to destroy Donald Trump, the leading candidate for President in 2024 and his prime political opponent/enemy.
That's the kind of country you want to live in? You find it all amusing?
Well, that's what I said, isn't it? Amusing. tfg, his accomplices and the woolly crowd of cereal box lawyers defending them are making a kabuki theater out of pre-trial motions, so if I'm amused, I can be excused for admitting it, no? If Biden truly has a bunch of skeletons in his closet, I'm sure they'll come out soon enough, just as the Orange Emperor's new clothes have betrayed him before the relentless inquiries of the DOJ. It's amusing that, for all the investigative committees and all the conjecture, the witnesses have disappeared or had nothing of value to say. So far, there's no there, there; but I'm willing to be convinced by verifiable evidence, like the live television coverage and the recorded phone calls and tapes I've seen and heard myself regarding the the former guy. Who's in possession of that damn laptop, anyway???? Speaking of amusing; the concept that the 2024 election is hijacked? Wasn't there just a debate amongst some eight viable candidates for the GOP nomination? Well, it was amusing too, according to all the pundits who watched it. I didn't waste my time on either of the "events" of that night. I was busy flossing.
There were no skeletons in trumps closet.He was double dealing with federal funds and enriching himself right in front of our eyes for four years! He is a poster ‘child’ for the RICO act.
The laws have always been written so that it's extremely difficult to prosecute the kinds of white collar crimes Trump built his life around. It's rather ironic that he had to become president before anyone would actually indict his ass.
The GOP operates under chaos and hypocrisy. Why wasn't Jordan censured for scapegoating Hunter Biden and publicly attacking him? Because the Republicans need thugs like Jordan. They are devoid of any ethics and like Trump, they have no regard for integrity or truth.
What is not amusing but exasperating is having to deal with the oppositional, defiant Rug-Rat of an ex-President. He has started a movement of superannuated toddlers who believe that his pissing on the sofa is a canny political statement. Mean Mommy and Daddy punish his right of free expression and smack his tiny hands, which offends him. The bad parents in the GOP argue that their li’l darling is just EXPRESSING HIMSELF. A spanking and going to bed without dinner will do him a world of good. But the “ultra-woke” harridans like Marge Greene are very tolerant parents. We need Child Protective Services called on the GOP. Unfit they are.
Bawling about how nobody loves you, well, it hasn’t worked yet. Due process has been exhausted in the years of looking under the floor boards, and no scary monsters are down there. Been investigated. If it can’t be brought to trial, drop it. Sorry for your righteous tears, but there’s no THERE there.
Stay Weak, " these contradictions" are not only "Incriminating" they are Admissible under the FRE, Cue the melting hair dye. Humor is a form of Truth Telling.
Like Epoch Times, OAN, Newsmax, Infowars, etc.? Joyce, I think it's time to close comments to only paying subscribers. I'm guessing the trolls aren't willing to pay to spread their misinformation.
You like free speech for yourself or for opinions/facts that fit your agendas but... "tolerance" ...openness to views/arguments of others? You don't fancy that much do you??
We're busy dealing with Swamp Thing (who knew it had orange hair and wore a red tie?) and the reptiles in DC that it spawned out of Dixieland. While we're doing that, you can continue searching for that laptop, some witnesses and a shred of actual evidence for the claims you're making.
Awww. She’s the last one to hatch, but not a rotten egg. Bossy as a corgi pup, I should know. I have been graced with one who also is fond of blueberry yogurt.
These Georgia trials will be watched by millions of people. Not just by people of Georgia. The whole world. Judge McAfee must run these proceedings with a strong hand. No outbursts. No clown shows. If he can do that then the federal courts must consider cameras in the January 6 and Documents trials. It could become a case study to show the world that democracy and the rule of law works.
Joyce, your photo of you and your chickens, are so cute.
Your newsletter was great to read.
I am glad the trial in Georgia will be televised. It's important for people to know the truth about Trump. I hope justice prevails. Happy Labor Day weekend. Enjoy and be safe.
Live in WI and watched the Kyle Rittenhouse trial which was televised on CourtTV . Because it was WI and the county in which the crime occurred is a very "red" county, I was still shocked and sickened after watching it, that he was found not guilty on all counts. How these jurors could have determined he was acting in self defense after hearing all of the facts - in court - presented by the prosecution still frustrates me because I determined after viewing it, Kyle Rittenhouse is guilty of manslaughter at the very least. He was, is and always will be - a murderer - and the GOP's embracing of him - and the J6 defendants is frightening.
Robert's responsibility for the court's ethics crisis goes far deeper than just living in a glass house. For the past 12 years, he has rejected arguments that the court should be bound by an ethics code. In his 2011 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary he wrote, “At the end of the day, no compilation of ethical rules can guarantee integrity." Roberts seems to believe that there is something special about being a Supreme Court justice that makes them immune to the improprieties that lower judges, who are governed by an ethics code, fall victim to. One doesn't have to take his logic to the extreme to see that his position calls into question ethics codes in general. Why doesn't everyone just do the right thing and be ethical? CNN reported that Justice Roberts has recently sought unanimity among the justices for the implementation of ethical standards, but failed to get it. The public's perception of the integrity of the court will continue to slide until he does.
Meadows's testimony may have created another problem for him, a big one. His testimony addressed the heart of the state's case against him. The consequences of this decision to testify go way beyond the possibility of being charged with perjury, By taking the stand, he waived his Fifth Amendment rights. As a result, the prosecution is likely to call him to the witness stand to testify. Now he will really face a dilemma. If he refuses, that refusal can be used against him. If he takes the stand and asserts the Fifth Amendment to specific questions, those answers might constitute admissions. If he answers the questions, his prior testimony under oath could be used to impeach him. This was a very risky move that his lawyers undoubtedly warned him about. It bespeaks desperation.
Great analysis Jon. Having waived the 5th once should prevent him from asserting it as to this specific issue at trial in either court, shouldn’t it?
As to the CJ, he should have instituted the same ethics requirements that all other federal judges have to abide by as soon as he assumed the office! His refusal to do so because several of the right wing justices refused to agree is indefensible and should be at the very top of his biographical record for all to see forever!
What a stupid thing to write: “At the end of the day, no compilation of ethical rules can guarantee integrity." Therefore lets have no ethical rules for the Supreme Court since they cannot guarantee integrity. Which is what the Supreme Court has. No ethic rules. No integrity.
Then it follows "At the end of day, no compilation of laws can guarantee that there will be no crime." So why have laws?
"Laws protect our general safety, and ensure our rights as citizens against abuses by other people, by organizations, and by the government itself. We have laws to help provide for our general safety."
Despite the hecklers on this particular essay who seem to be “ planted” one must admire Brian Kemp to upholding the laws of the state of Georgia upholding the laws to protect American citizens from crimes against democracy. What happened in the last administration was the low point of our history and we are still trying to recover from the damage physically, mentally and spiritually from their actions.
People in positions of power, take an oath, have an obligation to the facts, the evidence, and in some positions, the law. They have an obligation to judge fairly on that basis. And yet, I am mindful of the money and capital spent on getting judges confirmed - left or right.
If the justice is blind, there are a lot of nearsighted people in positions of authority to uphold the law.
If justice was truly blind. If jurisprudential excellence and competency mattered more than anything else., conservative or liberal wouldn't matter. That's just not how it plays out.
The law is subject to it's interpretation. And a lot of money and capital is vested in that interpretation.
As the saying goes, "Ours is the worst form of government save all the others." Also, "We reach a decision a blind man could see after much effort and having exhausted all the alternatives."
Anybody has a fool proof formula, I'm all ears. Maybe "fool proof" is a freudian slip.
This Supreme Court deserves its low credibility. For years Justice Thomas was an enigma and had minor effect on the court, usually pairing with Scalia who was more"likable" which is not saying much at all. But now Thomas is in his full blossoming and presenting more clearly as the meanspirited person we suspected he was at his hearing way back when. As well, apparently he thought that this country owed him something, not the other way around.
*********
It is so important for democracy, especially when you have busy civically uneducated people in the electorate that fall for "easy news" and hot buttons, for us to see these Trump court cases and procedures. Trump must be held accountable. That is something we are not good at doing politically. Accountability becomes political as retribution when Jim Jordan (and others) uses his power in the Congress as retribution. The January 6th Committee bent over backwards to not be political but it was still being called that by the supporters of the wrongdoers. And so too will even these open court proceeding to come be called "witch hunt" "partisan" and maybe other things. The program of blurring right from wrong, legal from illegal will continue. Still we must see this trial. The Watergate Hearings, which I remember, were an education and one felt like one was doing duty as a citizen to even observe.
So many with a grudge have been appointed to SCOTUS in the last decades. Meanness prevails, it would seem, which is the mantle of the entire tea party/maga/orange pustule "movement", which is usually describe slightly differently in private. Just plain mean. And the even more perplexing is how many people joyously embrace it.
I like the moniker TP-MOP (tea party/MAGA/orange pustule) a mop made of TP, ineffective at cleaning anything up.
It all goes back to Newt Gingrich figuring out how to take advantage of the system. He would rant on CSPAN while Congress was not in session spewing his hate. Every group after that took advantage of any agreement that wasn’t “nailed down” to spread chaos.
The Tea Party started halting the budget override votes holding them hostage to get what they wanted. These votes has always been a matter of common procedure, passed without question until the Teas Part stepped in.
Eventually the orange pustule stormed into the White House without a hint of decorum or respect for the office of the president and people in general. The Hatch Act was always obeyed as a matter of respect. There was no reason to add teeth to it, until Kelly Ann Conway.
Then there was Mitch McConnell who stopped the nomination of Garland and forced through three unqualified justices without a pause to review any of their records.
n overwhelming saga lay ahead Joyce and how fortunate we can view it as it unfolds. The coaster ride has begun and I’m so grateful you are with us on this to give clarity and hope via the facts that support our laws in the months ahead. It has already taken far too long but we will get there to pry away the unending tug of war between 45 and the American people. Every day I am reminded of all you do with the facts to help light the way through the Halls of Justice. I hope you enjoy a well deserved break 🇺🇸🗽
From which party should I vote for President? The party who nominates Justices who take away my rights, favor the Gun Lobby, and cozy up to rich mega-donors, or the OTHER party?
Party? this Election will be unique insofar as an organized crime organization is fronting candidates for election. That may be a first. We're witnessing a new way to launder money on a massive scale; rather than buying politicians, the organization is placing thugs in office.
Thanks, Joyce. Nice wrap-up. Chief Justice Roberts probably dares not to jump on any other Justices about their indiscretions when his wife has had some questionable income, upwards of $10 million for matching lawyers to elite law firms over a 7 year period. Nice moola, if you can get it, eh? I think Meadows is out of luck & I hope he is spanked in State Court. As for trump having not declared for his case to be switched to Federal Court, he is probably using as much time to delay that option as possible. America is due for some relief from all of these trump & his allies shenanigans. Let it start sooner rather than later. I'd like to give Governor Kemp kudos for standing up for Fani Willis and the Constitution. Wish that would cause other Republicans to gird up their loins & defend America from trump. Carry on.
Thanks for reminding me what Chief Justice Roberts is afraid of here. I don't usually exhibit string reactions, even when I feel strongly about something. But when I read Joyce's sentence about Roberts not doing much about this situation, I found myself blurting out very loudly to my otherwise unoccupied house, "what the F is he afraid of?!" And that must be what it is (at least in part) - his wife's income as a legal recruiter. I had forgotten that part of the story.
I don’t think Roberts is afraid. I think he’s just arrogant af.
Slick life of a corporate attorney, great gig getting the moron W installed in office, reward with the choice spot on the Extreme Court, making sure corporate bribery is legal.
He’s a smug self satisfied frat boy, just a little more presentable than Kavenaugh.
Time to clean house.
All of that probably applies, but it's consistent with my conviction that Roberts is in over his head -- just like House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. They're both mediocre white men who rose to high positions of power thanks in large part to privilege and cronyism. (And they're being shown up by women, many of them women of color, to rose to *their* positions of power because they were competent and worked their butts off.)
You nailed it.
Mediocre conservatives on the Court, to be sure.
Funny how the women so tower over them. As you say, they are competent, and got there by being extraordinary.
Except for Comey Barrett, who got there by being pliable.
I refer to her as Coney Rabbit. ;-)
I always involuntarily see a Little House On The Prarie floppy hat on her. Disgusting so-called representative of "women".
I forgot about the "one who can never fill the shoes of RBG."
Not unlike the one who can never fill the shoes of Thurgood Marshall. Who would surely be sputtering in his grave about the crass opportunism of his successor.
Mediocre. and wholly unfit to serve on the SC. Their lack of integrity makes them unfit. The difference between them and the women who serve is staggering.
Amen!
In her excellent book, "Caste", Isabelle Wilkerson describes very well(Chap 13) the incompetent class of alpha males, such as Roberts and McCarthy who destroy companies, governments - and countries.
She notes, "It is a tragedy for humankind which is deprived of the benefit of natural alphas who might lead the world with the compassion and courage that are the hallmarks of a born leader, male or female..."
I love that book (and her first one too, _Warmth of Other Suns_) and need to reread it soon.
And to think Elena Kagan refused a basket of bagels from her high school friends to avoid any conflict of interest.
Shows you who the truly honest people of the world are and the honest way they were raised to live life.
He is afraid of the Federalist cabal’s Gestapo faction who will ‘dry up’ the $$$$!
The corruption of the Supreme Court is disgusting.
GREED... the root of all EVIL. (Full Stop) 🛑
You're certainly welcome.
Every word you speak is truth. We are all soooo “tired” of the Greedy leaders in our government whose job is to “Protect” our Democracy. Thing is, these are not empty statements. We are not only getting hit w/tfg’s corruption, our very own “Supreme Court” (?). To make it all, as disgusting as it is...the r’s accuse the Democrats of exactly what THEY are doing. Their “so-called” base are deaf and blind to any of it. (Give me a F...ing break) it is beyond comprehension that we are still here... it has to be finished and it has to be the Justice we deserve. SOON.
I’m afraid they ain’t much need to gird them loins. The Grand Old Eunuch Party makes me say that.
1. While it may seem that Meadows was doing the work of the campaign in attempting to get Georgia to change its votes, the campaign was over. The votes had been counted. The work Meadow was doing was to conspire to overturn an election; the work was the criminal conspiracy.
2. Clarence Thomas claims that he needed to travel by private jet out of fear after the leak of the draft opinion overturning Roe. OK. And the other paid for travel during the year? And the paid for travel in previous years? He could not get away with an excuse like that made to a competent third grade teacher.
The removal motion gets debated while a defendant is presumed innocent - at least, a well resourced white male defendant such as Meadows is presumed innocent. So the issue in removal is whether his behavior can reasonably be seen at this point as part of his job. Meadows says his job was to serve Trump, so it’s all included. Willis says no, serving Trump the candidate was not part of serving the Trump the president.
The judge wants his ruling to stand up under appeal, so he is looking at the details of the law carefully.
I like your caution. It is, nevertheless, hard to imagine how it is the job of the President's Chief of Staff to wheedle states for more votes. -- I am NY, from MA. Check out my newsletter: Len's Political Notes https://lenspoliticalnotes.com
The *election* was over, but that doesn't mean the campaign went out of existence. Even in ordinary times, campaigns last past the election date because there are bills to be paid (and sometimes money to be raised to pay them). At least in some states, campaigns can call for a recount when the margin isn't within the limits set by state election law; in those cases, the campaign pays for the recount. So IMO Meadows can *claim* to have been working for the campaign -- but since I believe the chief of staff is paid by government funds, and since the Hatch Act is a thing, his claim is rather flimsy.
The Hatch Act prohibits government employees from working on political campaigns. And since when does the president's chief of staff make phone calls to wrangle votes for their boss as part of their official duties?
Another thing that needs fixing. The Hatch Act needs some "Find Out". Like you lose your government job and can no longer work in any position for the government for [number?] years or life.
When Kellyanne Conway violated the Hatch Act I remember reading that no one has ever been prosecuted for violating it. Apparently there was even less inclination to hold government employees accountable throughout history than there is now. I guess we should be grateful.
Yes indeed, but remember how Trump held a campaign event in the Rose Garden, and IIRC Kellyanne Conway strayed over the line more than once? If these people knew the law (and the lawyers among them sure should have), they thought it didn't apply to them.
The trouble with Meadows and so many of these characters is that they were unable or unwilling to distinguish the person who held the office from the office itself. And that is about as antithetical to democracy as one can get.
Well said. It's ludicrous that Meadows claims he was doing his job, but indeed, none of the Trump cult has ever had any respect for the law or the offices they held. In fact, they were all about dispensing with such inconveniences as state and federal laws.
I think they totally lost the distinction between working for a person and working for the country -- if indeed they ever understood it.
Absolutely!
I find it amusing that, in all the dodging and weaving by defendants in these indictments about the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election, they continue to drive nails through their own feet by contradicting prior statements, testimony and pieces of evidence like emails, text messages that are in the possession of the DOJ, the public and the press. Not only are these contradictions incriminating, but they are also hopelessly amateurish. They make the defendants AND their council look like the petty criminals that they are.
I don't think it's amusing. It's tragic that at least a third of the country not only believes Trump and his toadies are being persecuted, but that they want to put the scumbag back in office. The attempts they have made to destroy democracy are crimes. They are not funny in the least.
Well, I’m past the point of outrage now, and finding humor in the details is about all I have left for the whole sordid tale…
You find that "amusing" do you?
Entertaining for you that prosecutors lawyers, judges have effectively hijacked the 2024 Presidential election and reduced our country to legal squabbles?? This is the country you like living in??
Joe Biden commits document crimes himself. Joe has active investigations into he and his family's 20+ million in foreign $$$ wired to his families via LLCs. Joe lied to American people and the world in final debate before 2020 election that his son Hunter's laptop story had been "debunked" and that his family had not gotten money from China/Russia.
Despite these wrongdoings of his own, Joe chooses to allow his attorney general and prosecutorial appointees to seek to destroy Donald Trump, the leading candidate for President in 2024 and his prime political opponent/enemy.
That's the kind of country you want to live in? You find it all amusing?
Get a grip.....and some evidence.
Well, that's what I said, isn't it? Amusing. tfg, his accomplices and the woolly crowd of cereal box lawyers defending them are making a kabuki theater out of pre-trial motions, so if I'm amused, I can be excused for admitting it, no? If Biden truly has a bunch of skeletons in his closet, I'm sure they'll come out soon enough, just as the Orange Emperor's new clothes have betrayed him before the relentless inquiries of the DOJ. It's amusing that, for all the investigative committees and all the conjecture, the witnesses have disappeared or had nothing of value to say. So far, there's no there, there; but I'm willing to be convinced by verifiable evidence, like the live television coverage and the recorded phone calls and tapes I've seen and heard myself regarding the the former guy. Who's in possession of that damn laptop, anyway???? Speaking of amusing; the concept that the 2024 election is hijacked? Wasn't there just a debate amongst some eight viable candidates for the GOP nomination? Well, it was amusing too, according to all the pundits who watched it. I didn't waste my time on either of the "events" of that night. I was busy flossing.
There were no skeletons in trumps closet.He was double dealing with federal funds and enriching himself right in front of our eyes for four years! He is a poster ‘child’ for the RICO act.
The laws have always been written so that it's extremely difficult to prosecute the kinds of white collar crimes Trump built his life around. It's rather ironic that he had to become president before anyone would actually indict his ass.
The course of US history might well have been very different if that had happened before 2016.
So…drop the USA from your identifier and relocate to Putinville!
That’s probably where he’s located.
Poor Gym Jordan. He's been working his butt off since 2020 and still hasn't found anything to prosecute Biden for.
If you can substantiate just one of your silly assertions, now's the time, Vladimir.
Meanwhile Jordan lives under a disturbing cloud forever. How he ended up passing judgment on anyone in our government is in itself criminal.
The GOP operates under chaos and hypocrisy. Why wasn't Jordan censured for scapegoating Hunter Biden and publicly attacking him? Because the Republicans need thugs like Jordan. They are devoid of any ethics and like Trump, they have no regard for integrity or truth.
What is not amusing but exasperating is having to deal with the oppositional, defiant Rug-Rat of an ex-President. He has started a movement of superannuated toddlers who believe that his pissing on the sofa is a canny political statement. Mean Mommy and Daddy punish his right of free expression and smack his tiny hands, which offends him. The bad parents in the GOP argue that their li’l darling is just EXPRESSING HIMSELF. A spanking and going to bed without dinner will do him a world of good. But the “ultra-woke” harridans like Marge Greene are very tolerant parents. We need Child Protective Services called on the GOP. Unfit they are.
Ahhh...so interesting when you all show your true colors.
Just a little squeeze is all it takes. And you and others burst like little tiny zits. Ha !! Another one bursts.
And yet and yet - you pay for a subscription here - so true colors, really?
I respect Heather's conviction, dedication. I respect Joyce's experience, credentials, commitment.
Yeah, well, I’m crushed by your reparteè. Go to your room and squeeze your pimples.
Bawling about how nobody loves you, well, it hasn’t worked yet. Due process has been exhausted in the years of looking under the floor boards, and no scary monsters are down there. Been investigated. If it can’t be brought to trial, drop it. Sorry for your righteous tears, but there’s no THERE there.
Stay Weak, " these contradictions" are not only "Incriminating" they are Admissible under the FRE, Cue the melting hair dye. Humor is a form of Truth Telling.
If you truly believe this, I feel sorry for you.
If you are not aware of what I shared for the love of God read something other than NY Times and Washington Post and turn off CNN and MSNBC
Like Epoch Times, OAN, Newsmax, Infowars, etc.? Joyce, I think it's time to close comments to only paying subscribers. I'm guessing the trolls aren't willing to pay to spread their misinformation.
Thank you Jenn, I will raise that point with Substack Inc at JAMS-SF per the Terms of Service.
Ohh.. censorship ??
Yea... that's right you all like that dont you?
You like free speech for yourself or for opinions/facts that fit your agendas but... "tolerance" ...openness to views/arguments of others? You don't fancy that much do you??
Wrong on the US 1st Amendment & apparently on the entire of Bill of Rights analysis.
How much do you get for this idiotic work?
We're busy dealing with Swamp Thing (who knew it had orange hair and wore a red tie?) and the reptiles in DC that it spawned out of Dixieland. While we're doing that, you can continue searching for that laptop, some witnesses and a shred of actual evidence for the claims you're making.
Still not facing the facts, huh?
Happy and Safe Labor Day weekend to you and yours including the chickens and your four-legged kin. Thanks for all you do, Joyce.
Follow the free, luxury vacations of Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch with this relationship map. Included are ten exotic destinations and a dozen wealthy benefactors. "How to vacation for free like a Supreme Court Justice with billionaire friends" https://thedemlabs.org/2023/09/01/supreme-court-corruption-clarence-thomas-gifts-harlan-crow-samuel-alito/
Something for you:
World’s oldest chicken is 21: ‘Peanut loves to sit in my lap and watch TV’
“Peanut is a sassy little chicken — if she doesn’t get her blueberry yogurt in the morning, I definitely hear about it,” Marsi Parker Darwin says.
By Cathy Free
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/08/29/chicken-guinness-record-oldest-peanut/
Great story, Permian. Thanks for sharing!
Awww. She’s the last one to hatch, but not a rotten egg. Bossy as a corgi pup, I should know. I have been graced with one who also is fond of blueberry yogurt.
Didnt you love that? What a little cutie pie.
I am so glad to learn of cameras in the courts!
These Georgia trials will be watched by millions of people. Not just by people of Georgia. The whole world. Judge McAfee must run these proceedings with a strong hand. No outbursts. No clown shows. If he can do that then the federal courts must consider cameras in the January 6 and Documents trials. It could become a case study to show the world that democracy and the rule of law works.
Joyce, your photo of you and your chickens, are so cute.
Your newsletter was great to read.
I am glad the trial in Georgia will be televised. It's important for people to know the truth about Trump. I hope justice prevails. Happy Labor Day weekend. Enjoy and be safe.
Live in WI and watched the Kyle Rittenhouse trial which was televised on CourtTV . Because it was WI and the county in which the crime occurred is a very "red" county, I was still shocked and sickened after watching it, that he was found not guilty on all counts. How these jurors could have determined he was acting in self defense after hearing all of the facts - in court - presented by the prosecution still frustrates me because I determined after viewing it, Kyle Rittenhouse is guilty of manslaughter at the very least. He was, is and always will be - a murderer - and the GOP's embracing of him - and the J6 defendants is frightening.
Robert's responsibility for the court's ethics crisis goes far deeper than just living in a glass house. For the past 12 years, he has rejected arguments that the court should be bound by an ethics code. In his 2011 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary he wrote, “At the end of the day, no compilation of ethical rules can guarantee integrity." Roberts seems to believe that there is something special about being a Supreme Court justice that makes them immune to the improprieties that lower judges, who are governed by an ethics code, fall victim to. One doesn't have to take his logic to the extreme to see that his position calls into question ethics codes in general. Why doesn't everyone just do the right thing and be ethical? CNN reported that Justice Roberts has recently sought unanimity among the justices for the implementation of ethical standards, but failed to get it. The public's perception of the integrity of the court will continue to slide until he does.
Meadows's testimony may have created another problem for him, a big one. His testimony addressed the heart of the state's case against him. The consequences of this decision to testify go way beyond the possibility of being charged with perjury, By taking the stand, he waived his Fifth Amendment rights. As a result, the prosecution is likely to call him to the witness stand to testify. Now he will really face a dilemma. If he refuses, that refusal can be used against him. If he takes the stand and asserts the Fifth Amendment to specific questions, those answers might constitute admissions. If he answers the questions, his prior testimony under oath could be used to impeach him. This was a very risky move that his lawyers undoubtedly warned him about. It bespeaks desperation.
Great analysis Jon. Having waived the 5th once should prevent him from asserting it as to this specific issue at trial in either court, shouldn’t it?
As to the CJ, he should have instituted the same ethics requirements that all other federal judges have to abide by as soon as he assumed the office! His refusal to do so because several of the right wing justices refused to agree is indefensible and should be at the very top of his biographical record for all to see forever!
What a stupid thing to write: “At the end of the day, no compilation of ethical rules can guarantee integrity." Therefore lets have no ethical rules for the Supreme Court since they cannot guarantee integrity. Which is what the Supreme Court has. No ethic rules. No integrity.
Then it follows "At the end of day, no compilation of laws can guarantee that there will be no crime." So why have laws?
"Laws protect our general safety, and ensure our rights as citizens against abuses by other people, by organizations, and by the government itself. We have laws to help provide for our general safety."
As ethic rules do.
https://judiciallearningcenter.org/law-and-the-rule-of-law/#:~:text=Laws%20protect%20our%20general%20safety,provide%20for%20our%20general%20safety.
Despite the hecklers on this particular essay who seem to be “ planted” one must admire Brian Kemp to upholding the laws of the state of Georgia upholding the laws to protect American citizens from crimes against democracy. What happened in the last administration was the low point of our history and we are still trying to recover from the damage physically, mentally and spiritually from their actions.
People in positions of power, take an oath, have an obligation to the facts, the evidence, and in some positions, the law. They have an obligation to judge fairly on that basis. And yet, I am mindful of the money and capital spent on getting judges confirmed - left or right.
If the justice is blind, there are a lot of nearsighted people in positions of authority to uphold the law.
If justice was truly blind. If jurisprudential excellence and competency mattered more than anything else., conservative or liberal wouldn't matter. That's just not how it plays out.
The law is subject to it's interpretation. And a lot of money and capital is vested in that interpretation.
As the saying goes, "Ours is the worst form of government save all the others." Also, "We reach a decision a blind man could see after much effort and having exhausted all the alternatives."
Anybody has a fool proof formula, I'm all ears. Maybe "fool proof" is a freudian slip.
This Supreme Court deserves its low credibility. For years Justice Thomas was an enigma and had minor effect on the court, usually pairing with Scalia who was more"likable" which is not saying much at all. But now Thomas is in his full blossoming and presenting more clearly as the meanspirited person we suspected he was at his hearing way back when. As well, apparently he thought that this country owed him something, not the other way around.
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It is so important for democracy, especially when you have busy civically uneducated people in the electorate that fall for "easy news" and hot buttons, for us to see these Trump court cases and procedures. Trump must be held accountable. That is something we are not good at doing politically. Accountability becomes political as retribution when Jim Jordan (and others) uses his power in the Congress as retribution. The January 6th Committee bent over backwards to not be political but it was still being called that by the supporters of the wrongdoers. And so too will even these open court proceeding to come be called "witch hunt" "partisan" and maybe other things. The program of blurring right from wrong, legal from illegal will continue. Still we must see this trial. The Watergate Hearings, which I remember, were an education and one felt like one was doing duty as a citizen to even observe.
So many with a grudge have been appointed to SCOTUS in the last decades. Meanness prevails, it would seem, which is the mantle of the entire tea party/maga/orange pustule "movement", which is usually describe slightly differently in private. Just plain mean. And the even more perplexing is how many people joyously embrace it.
Sorry to repeat myself quoting Steve Schmidt, this is "FuckYou-ism". It's in it's glory days.
Okay
I like the moniker TP-MOP (tea party/MAGA/orange pustule) a mop made of TP, ineffective at cleaning anything up.
It all goes back to Newt Gingrich figuring out how to take advantage of the system. He would rant on CSPAN while Congress was not in session spewing his hate. Every group after that took advantage of any agreement that wasn’t “nailed down” to spread chaos.
The Tea Party started halting the budget override votes holding them hostage to get what they wanted. These votes has always been a matter of common procedure, passed without question until the Teas Part stepped in.
Eventually the orange pustule stormed into the White House without a hint of decorum or respect for the office of the president and people in general. The Hatch Act was always obeyed as a matter of respect. There was no reason to add teeth to it, until Kelly Ann Conway.
Then there was Mitch McConnell who stopped the nomination of Garland and forced through three unqualified justices without a pause to review any of their records.
T.P mop
Same!
n overwhelming saga lay ahead Joyce and how fortunate we can view it as it unfolds. The coaster ride has begun and I’m so grateful you are with us on this to give clarity and hope via the facts that support our laws in the months ahead. It has already taken far too long but we will get there to pry away the unending tug of war between 45 and the American people. Every day I am reminded of all you do with the facts to help light the way through the Halls of Justice. I hope you enjoy a well deserved break 🇺🇸🗽
From which party should I vote for President? The party who nominates Justices who take away my rights, favor the Gun Lobby, and cozy up to rich mega-donors, or the OTHER party?
Party? this Election will be unique insofar as an organized crime organization is fronting candidates for election. That may be a first. We're witnessing a new way to launder money on a massive scale; rather than buying politicians, the organization is placing thugs in office.
What a handsome dinosaur in your lap, Ms Vance. Lookit that comb!