On Monday, we learned that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is moving ahead with a grand jury investigation into Donald Trump’s involvement in hush money payments to stripper Stormy Daniels, with whom he allegedly had an affair, ahead of the 2016 election. New reporting suggests Bragg’s office is putting witnesses in front of the grand jury to determine whether indictments are warranted.
Good people looking away while the SA were beating up Jews on the streets of Berlin in the late 1920s is how they got the Nazis in 1933. Failing to make a decision is deciding to get what you do not want.
Robert Hubbell mentioned in his post tonight that the Feds could argue that the 4 years Trump was president and hiding behind the DOJ policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted should extend the federal statute of limitations.
Watching Trumpster Fire "testifying" and taking the 5th Amendment to every question asked was pretty funny - especially when interspersed with his public statements that "if you take the Fifth it means you're guilty, right?"
I’m all for having investigations and indictments of all the trump alleged civil and criminal acts. Even if a bit late, accountability not only proves we’re a country of law & justice, but it really can act as a deterrent to others with corrupt intent and wannabe dictators. Will it get the trump base negatively activated - potentially violently. Very probable. But for those of us who hold democracy and our constitution sacred, battle fatigue and fear of an irrational base going rogue is no reason to let our guard down. That’s partly how we got here to begin with. Thanks Joyce for the reminder.
I understand the concept that “bad things happen when good people look away” but good people have been watching since 2016 and nothing good has happened yet.
I believe the underlying weakness in our democratic system is that the entire thing is built upon the inherent decency of those rising to office. Our system is designed to address normal levels of corruption by those embarrassed to have their crimes found out. We have never faced an office holder so completely devoid of normal psychological traits that they commit atrocities in plain sight and dare us to do something about it. Without shame or remorse Trump and his lackeys found the weakness and exploited in plain sight.
Thanks Joyce, if the Ukrainian people can continue to resist in far worse circumstances so can we in relative comfort pursue removing the cancer trying to destroy our democracy. Never look away!
I am guilty of being an “unplugger”. I have been limiting myself to select Substacks and podcasts. I long for the days before cable news and talk radio where you just watched the news at “Six”. We managed to find out things.
It still boggles my mind that people voted for Trump. I wonder what makes people think that running the United States can be done with no experience or qualifications. Trump's are just being a swindler. One episode of his show, and I admit I only got through about 5 minutes of it, should have been enough to see he would not make a good president. But then, I knew someone who voted for Reagan because he had given her a good tip once. She was a bar tender. Again, what qualifies an actor to be president? At least Zelensky studied and is licensed to practice law before becoming an actor in Ukraine, which is a qualification but not an experience which has to have helped him in running the country. I am glad that NY is taking on bringing Trump to justice so that he is not always able to be above the law. NY and Georgia are doing important work for our democracy.
Hi Joyce: I was listening to your Sisters in Law podcast when I saw your new notes come through. Yes it is a lot to digest and I very much appreciate your details on what steps are in play that might finally ensnare 45 for his appalling behavior to us all. It’s been an education on how to update our judicial system and for that we can be grateful and certainly for your important part in following this thread as well.
Joyce, I unplugged for a few weeks after the Speaker of the House circus. I'm taking baby steps back in.
Your chicken photos bring needed smiles to so many of us. Throw in some knitting ones on occasion! I started making a blanket from leftover yarns and am having a blast!
Thank you Joyce. I hope you realize that you (and your sisters) give us hope and some since of sanity.
This is just the beginning. Someone hopefully will make the first move to hold him accountable. Then what happens? .. As exhausting as this is I’m glad we haven’t given up. Too much is at stake.
So much focus on Trump these days, with the law coming ckoser each day. I've read and heard several prominent pundits refer to DeSantis as a foregone conclusion post-Trump. Hope people realize just how dangerous he is.
I retired to Florida in 2018. Planned and saved and dreamed for this for much of my adult life. DeSantis drove me away after only four years. It took most of my remaining savings, but I GOT AWAY, and consider myself very lucky.
No need to list all his terrible deeds. Just be aware. There will be bans on Black History Month, and Pride Parades will be a thing of the past.
DeSantis only won again because he manipulated the people and the system. The entire machine is geared towards making him unbeatable, despite his horrid public persona.
There are decent Rs out there. Please. DeSantis will destroy what's left of us.
Count me as one of those people who "can't take it any more", but for me that means that I will still stay informed but "on the surface", and no longer emotionally engaged. I'm tired of the media baiting. Our current world has become a circus of horrors and melodramas, continually rolled out and ruminated over by the media 24/7. The trump story is just one of many other disasters--the war in Ukraine, the mass shootings, the police brutality, the continued LIES by clowns holding positions in our government (whose salaries we pay). And then there are the tensions with China & the rest of the not-so-good world, the economy, all the leftover Covid stuff.........I'm currently into cat videos on instagram, binging on streaming, and reading good books. (Just finished The Silver Linings Playbook--if you thought the movie was good, the book is amazing and I just ordered Matthew Quick's latest one.) I appreciate you Joyce--your writing is both interesting and informative, and although you are very clearly a proud liberal Democrat, I find your "reporting" fair, balanced, and without melodrama. Works for me! A nun once told me (and an audience of parents at an all-girls Catholic school)--"at the end of the day, I do what I can and leave the rest to God". "Ah-mayn" to that. I have zero power to do anything about that orange creep's crimes, so I'm leaving it to God-- "Thy will be done".
Joyce I hope you can answer this--it's been plaguing me. Surely some affiliated with Robbie Kaplan managed to get some busboy somewhere to snag a glass or straw or fork or something that Trump had used, in order to check his DNA against the "stain" on E Jean's coat?? So they already know going in that the DNA matches, even though what they have wouldn't be admissible? If they haven't, why on earth not?
Good people looking away while the SA were beating up Jews on the streets of Berlin in the late 1920s is how they got the Nazis in 1933. Failing to make a decision is deciding to get what you do not want.
Robert Hubbell mentioned in his post tonight that the Feds could argue that the 4 years Trump was president and hiding behind the DOJ policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted should extend the federal statute of limitations.
Watching Trumpster Fire "testifying" and taking the 5th Amendment to every question asked was pretty funny - especially when interspersed with his public statements that "if you take the Fifth it means you're guilty, right?"
I’m all for having investigations and indictments of all the trump alleged civil and criminal acts. Even if a bit late, accountability not only proves we’re a country of law & justice, but it really can act as a deterrent to others with corrupt intent and wannabe dictators. Will it get the trump base negatively activated - potentially violently. Very probable. But for those of us who hold democracy and our constitution sacred, battle fatigue and fear of an irrational base going rogue is no reason to let our guard down. That’s partly how we got here to begin with. Thanks Joyce for the reminder.
I understand the concept that “bad things happen when good people look away” but good people have been watching since 2016 and nothing good has happened yet.
I believe the underlying weakness in our democratic system is that the entire thing is built upon the inherent decency of those rising to office. Our system is designed to address normal levels of corruption by those embarrassed to have their crimes found out. We have never faced an office holder so completely devoid of normal psychological traits that they commit atrocities in plain sight and dare us to do something about it. Without shame or remorse Trump and his lackeys found the weakness and exploited in plain sight.
Thanks Joyce, if the Ukrainian people can continue to resist in far worse circumstances so can we in relative comfort pursue removing the cancer trying to destroy our democracy. Never look away!
I am guilty of being an “unplugger”. I have been limiting myself to select Substacks and podcasts. I long for the days before cable news and talk radio where you just watched the news at “Six”. We managed to find out things.
It still boggles my mind that people voted for Trump. I wonder what makes people think that running the United States can be done with no experience or qualifications. Trump's are just being a swindler. One episode of his show, and I admit I only got through about 5 minutes of it, should have been enough to see he would not make a good president. But then, I knew someone who voted for Reagan because he had given her a good tip once. She was a bar tender. Again, what qualifies an actor to be president? At least Zelensky studied and is licensed to practice law before becoming an actor in Ukraine, which is a qualification but not an experience which has to have helped him in running the country. I am glad that NY is taking on bringing Trump to justice so that he is not always able to be above the law. NY and Georgia are doing important work for our democracy.
Hi Joyce: I was listening to your Sisters in Law podcast when I saw your new notes come through. Yes it is a lot to digest and I very much appreciate your details on what steps are in play that might finally ensnare 45 for his appalling behavior to us all. It’s been an education on how to update our judicial system and for that we can be grateful and certainly for your important part in following this thread as well.
Joyce, I unplugged for a few weeks after the Speaker of the House circus. I'm taking baby steps back in.
Your chicken photos bring needed smiles to so many of us. Throw in some knitting ones on occasion! I started making a blanket from leftover yarns and am having a blast!
Thank you Joyce. I hope you realize that you (and your sisters) give us hope and some since of sanity.
“Bad things do happen when good people look away,” but, dang, it’s just exhausting. Make him go away.
This is just the beginning. Someone hopefully will make the first move to hold him accountable. Then what happens? .. As exhausting as this is I’m glad we haven’t given up. Too much is at stake.
". . . bad things happen when good people look away." Indeed.
Good Morning!
So much focus on Trump these days, with the law coming ckoser each day. I've read and heard several prominent pundits refer to DeSantis as a foregone conclusion post-Trump. Hope people realize just how dangerous he is.
I retired to Florida in 2018. Planned and saved and dreamed for this for much of my adult life. DeSantis drove me away after only four years. It took most of my remaining savings, but I GOT AWAY, and consider myself very lucky.
No need to list all his terrible deeds. Just be aware. There will be bans on Black History Month, and Pride Parades will be a thing of the past.
DeSantis only won again because he manipulated the people and the system. The entire machine is geared towards making him unbeatable, despite his horrid public persona.
There are decent Rs out there. Please. DeSantis will destroy what's left of us.
More chickens, please!
Count me as one of those people who "can't take it any more", but for me that means that I will still stay informed but "on the surface", and no longer emotionally engaged. I'm tired of the media baiting. Our current world has become a circus of horrors and melodramas, continually rolled out and ruminated over by the media 24/7. The trump story is just one of many other disasters--the war in Ukraine, the mass shootings, the police brutality, the continued LIES by clowns holding positions in our government (whose salaries we pay). And then there are the tensions with China & the rest of the not-so-good world, the economy, all the leftover Covid stuff.........I'm currently into cat videos on instagram, binging on streaming, and reading good books. (Just finished The Silver Linings Playbook--if you thought the movie was good, the book is amazing and I just ordered Matthew Quick's latest one.) I appreciate you Joyce--your writing is both interesting and informative, and although you are very clearly a proud liberal Democrat, I find your "reporting" fair, balanced, and without melodrama. Works for me! A nun once told me (and an audience of parents at an all-girls Catholic school)--"at the end of the day, I do what I can and leave the rest to God". "Ah-mayn" to that. I have zero power to do anything about that orange creep's crimes, so I'm leaving it to God-- "Thy will be done".
Joyce I hope you can answer this--it's been plaguing me. Surely some affiliated with Robbie Kaplan managed to get some busboy somewhere to snag a glass or straw or fork or something that Trump had used, in order to check his DNA against the "stain" on E Jean's coat?? So they already know going in that the DNA matches, even though what they have wouldn't be admissible? If they haven't, why on earth not?
Thanks for keeping after it!
I love the facts.