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bigtree
bigtree's Journal
bigtree's Journal
April 25, 2024
Moreover, the justices are cutting off the DOJ lawyer everytime he tries to lead them back to the issue at hand.
Gorsuch proclaims at one point that "...we're writing a rule for the ages."
But that leads to the question of why the court thought it was necessary to interject itself at all in this, if it isn't about the underlying case at hand, but about some concern of theirs for some other aspect of presidential powers and immunities?
Everyone is waiting for Trump to be tried before the election in which a victory by him would enable the defendant to make the prosecutions disappear. These right wing justices are delaying the case they're deliberately ignoring, when they could easily narrow their effort to the case at hand and leave the fiddling with the law out of it.
Put plainly, they could let this trial go forward, since they appear to have no credible argument against this particular prosecution at all, and restrict their worrying over the Exective branch to internal deliberations.
Gorsuch: "I'm not concerned with this case so much as future ones"
...so much of the objections and skepticism from Roberts, Alito, and Gorsuch has to do with issues that have little to nothing to do with the case they're considering.
Gorsuch: Do motives come into the core powers analysis, or not?
DOJ Attorney Dressen: It's not involved in this case. The DOJ has not had to take a position as to how these core powers would be resolved... none are involved in this case.
DOJ Attorney Dressen: It's not involved in this case. The DOJ has not had to take a position as to how these core powers would be resolved... none are involved in this case.
Moreover, the justices are cutting off the DOJ lawyer everytime he tries to lead them back to the issue at hand.
Gorsuch proclaims at one point that "...we're writing a rule for the ages."
But that leads to the question of why the court thought it was necessary to interject itself at all in this, if it isn't about the underlying case at hand, but about some concern of theirs for some other aspect of presidential powers and immunities?
Everyone is waiting for Trump to be tried before the election in which a victory by him would enable the defendant to make the prosecutions disappear. These right wing justices are delaying the case they're deliberately ignoring, when they could easily narrow their effort to the case at hand and leave the fiddling with the law out of it.
Put plainly, they could let this trial go forward, since they appear to have no credible argument against this particular prosecution at all, and restrict their worrying over the Exective branch to internal deliberations.
@judgeluttig @judgeluttig
As with the three-hour argument in Trump v. Anderson, a disconcertingly precious little of the two-hour argument today was even devoted to the specific and only question presented for decision.
Ari Melber @AriMelber 16m
Kavanaugh echoes Gorsuch saying they care only about a rule they make for posterity-not how it impacts this defendant (Trump)
Does the public believe these proclamations, that there's more concern about some hypothetical future defendant, than the actual, real one before them?
https://twitter.com/AriMelber/status/1783528568053510296
As with the three-hour argument in Trump v. Anderson, a disconcertingly precious little of the two-hour argument today was even devoted to the specific and only question presented for decision.
Ari Melber @AriMelber 16m
Kavanaugh echoes Gorsuch saying they care only about a rule they make for posterity-not how it impacts this defendant (Trump)
Does the public believe these proclamations, that there's more concern about some hypothetical future defendant, than the actual, real one before them?
https://twitter.com/AriMelber/status/1783528568053510296
April 25, 2024
Does Alito have a single redeeming feature? raises “the old saw about indicting a ham sandwich” presumably to further Trump lawyer batshit argument it is a slippery slope if a former president ever held accountable for criminal conduct.
...Alito questions the legitimacy of every other level of justice's authority except his branches's own.
Supreme Court Justice now trashing the grand jury process
Laura Rozen @lrozen 37sDoes Alito have a single redeeming feature? raises “the old saw about indicting a ham sandwich” presumably to further Trump lawyer batshit argument it is a slippery slope if a former president ever held accountable for criminal conduct.
Barb McQuade @BarbMcQuade · 2m
Alito: Skeptical of layers of protection in criminal justice system. Projecting bad faith? SC: Advice of AG, grand jury finding of probable cause. Alito, a former prosecutor of all people, says a grand jury can indict a Jan sandwich. Cynical, hypocritical, and wrong.
...Alito questions the legitimacy of every other level of justice's authority except his branches's own.
April 25, 2024
wow - NYT reporter says their nonstop coverage of Biden’s age is retribution for not giving their boss an interview:
“It’s A.G. He’s the one who is pissed [that] Biden hasn’t done any interviews and quietly encourages all the tough reporting on his age.”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/25/new-york-times-biden-white-house-00154219
emptywheel @emptywheel
Anon NYT journo says that A.G. will demand the NYT relentlessly focus on Biden's age unless and until the nepotistic brat and presumed transphobe activist gets an interview with Biden personally.
__According to interviews with two dozen people on both sides who were granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive subject, the relationship between the Democratic president and the country’s newspaper of record — for years the epitome of a liberal press in the eyes of conservatives — remains remarkably tense, beset by misunderstandings, grudges and a general lack of trust. Complaints that were long kept private are even spilling into public view, with campaign aides in Wilmington going further than their colleagues in the White House and routinely blasting the paper’s coverage in emails, posts on social media and memos.
Although the president’s communications teams bristle at coverage from dozens of outlets, the frustration, and obsession, with the Times is unique, reflecting the resentment of a president with a working-class sense of himself and his team toward a news organization catering to an elite audience — and a deep desire for its affirmation of their work. On the other side, the newspaper carries its own singular obsession with the president, aggrieved over his refusal to give the paper a sit-down interview that Publisher AG Sulzberger and other top editors believe to be its birthright.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/25/new-york-times-biden-white-house-00154219
https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1783469406581920212
NYT reporter says their nonstop coverage of Biden's age is retribution
Eric Schultz @EricSchultz 10mwow - NYT reporter says their nonstop coverage of Biden’s age is retribution for not giving their boss an interview:
“It’s A.G. He’s the one who is pissed [that] Biden hasn’t done any interviews and quietly encourages all the tough reporting on his age.”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/25/new-york-times-biden-white-house-00154219
emptywheel @emptywheel
Anon NYT journo says that A.G. will demand the NYT relentlessly focus on Biden's age unless and until the nepotistic brat and presumed transphobe activist gets an interview with Biden personally.
__According to interviews with two dozen people on both sides who were granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive subject, the relationship between the Democratic president and the country’s newspaper of record — for years the epitome of a liberal press in the eyes of conservatives — remains remarkably tense, beset by misunderstandings, grudges and a general lack of trust. Complaints that were long kept private are even spilling into public view, with campaign aides in Wilmington going further than their colleagues in the White House and routinely blasting the paper’s coverage in emails, posts on social media and memos.
Although the president’s communications teams bristle at coverage from dozens of outlets, the frustration, and obsession, with the Times is unique, reflecting the resentment of a president with a working-class sense of himself and his team toward a news organization catering to an elite audience — and a deep desire for its affirmation of their work. On the other side, the newspaper carries its own singular obsession with the president, aggrieved over his refusal to give the paper a sit-down interview that Publisher AG Sulzberger and other top editors believe to be its birthright.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/25/new-york-times-biden-white-house-00154219
https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1783469406581920212
April 23, 2024
It is driving Trump absolutely insane that he has almost no supporters heeding his calls to protest at the court. He is just there by himself. No fans. No family. All alone.
Vaughn Hillyard @VaughnHillyard
Trump just claimed that the police have shut down the streets around the courthouse for blocks & that his protesters can’t be here.
Just…not true. There is one pro-Trump person here & the main street along the courthouse is open to traffic.
https://twitter.com/Democracy1stE/status/1782810920861007950
He's all alone.
MeidasTouch @MeidasTouchIt is driving Trump absolutely insane that he has almost no supporters heeding his calls to protest at the court. He is just there by himself. No fans. No family. All alone.
Vaughn Hillyard @VaughnHillyard
Trump just claimed that the police have shut down the streets around the courthouse for blocks & that his protesters can’t be here.
Just…not true. There is one pro-Trump person here & the main street along the courthouse is open to traffic.
https://twitter.com/Democracy1stE/status/1782810920861007950
April 22, 2024
Frank Mitman @frankdpi
Centuries-old bottles of cherries unearthed at George Washington’s home - The Washington Post
Archaeologist Nick Beard was gently pushing aside the hardened dirt in the basement of George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon, Va., last fall when he spotted the mouth of a glass bottle.
He stuck his finger in the mouth to see if he might wiggle the piece loose. “And my finger came back wet,” he said. “I thought about it for a half-second longer and said, ‘Oh my God, my finger is wet,’” he recalled.
Experts at Mount Vernon said last week that Beard and other archaeologists have now discovered two intact bottles that still had, along with liquid, some of the cherries they contained when they were buried about 250 years ago. The area of the discovery was believed to have once been a storeroom, Beard said.
Much of the liquid could be ground water that seeped in after the cork seals deteriorated, but pits, stems, sodden cherries, and gooey residue were also present, the experts said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2024/04/22/cherries-george-washington-mount-vernon-1770/
"Father, I Can Not Tell a Lie: I Cut the Tree,"
George Washington's cherries
Frank Mitman @frankdpi
Centuries-old bottles of cherries unearthed at George Washington’s home - The Washington Post
Archaeologist Nick Beard was gently pushing aside the hardened dirt in the basement of George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon, Va., last fall when he spotted the mouth of a glass bottle.
He stuck his finger in the mouth to see if he might wiggle the piece loose. “And my finger came back wet,” he said. “I thought about it for a half-second longer and said, ‘Oh my God, my finger is wet,’” he recalled.
Experts at Mount Vernon said last week that Beard and other archaeologists have now discovered two intact bottles that still had, along with liquid, some of the cherries they contained when they were buried about 250 years ago. The area of the discovery was believed to have once been a storeroom, Beard said.
Much of the liquid could be ground water that seeped in after the cork seals deteriorated, but pits, stems, sodden cherries, and gooey residue were also present, the experts said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2024/04/22/cherries-george-washington-mount-vernon-1770/
"Father, I Can Not Tell a Lie: I Cut the Tree,"
April 22, 2024
It's all about Pecker today
...MSNBC pundit just said (misquoting), 'this trial starts with Pecker and ends with Pecker.'
Is this going to all descend into an endless stream of Pecker jokes?
I'm seeing many this morning determined to be adults about this, recognizing that many of these grownups haven't said 'pecker' since they were snickering about it in grade school, in any context.
Best of luck today, folks, 
April 21, 2024
JFC — is this what she’s on about? Reliving her glory days?
Just pissed that Biden’s competency and press discipline won’t let them have the fake dementia narrative they’re salivating for?
...yep, she just wants to elicit a gaffe for another round of 'Biden old' articles.
2023:
https://twitter.com/salstrange/status/1782092462539886982
What Jane Mayer is really on about
Salome Strangelove @salstrange 5hJFC — is this what she’s on about? Reliving her glory days?
Just pissed that Biden’s competency and press discipline won’t let them have the fake dementia narrative they’re salivating for?
...yep, she just wants to elicit a gaffe for another round of 'Biden old' articles.
2023:
The New Yorker @NewYorker
Should age disqualify Joe Biden or Donald Trump from another term in the White House? The staff writers Jane Mayer and Jill Lepore, plus the gerontologist Jack Rowe, discuss.
Should age disqualify Joe Biden or Donald Trump from another term in the White House? The staff writers Jane Mayer and Jill Lepore, plus the gerontologist Jack Rowe, discuss.
https://twitter.com/salstrange/status/1782092462539886982
April 21, 2024
Something worth exploring for House Dems
...the threatened motion by MTG to vacate Mike Johnson's speakership will probably go the way of this bipartisan Ukraine vote 'if' Johnson agrees to help move important legislation blocked by the Trump caucus, with enough Dems voting to help keep him in his seat for that effort.
It would be a political wedge against Marge and her MAGA-obsessed ilk that's worth exploring, imo, that wouldn't be unlike our party working across the aisle with past republican Speakers on bipartisan legislation.
Normally we'd be better off letting them just hang themselves up again, but this is as much of a battle for regular order in Congress at this point as anything, and no other choice on their side is going to be any better.
Republican legislation out of the House is DOA, unless it's in line with what Senate Dems and the WH agree to. Johnson's no real threat to our agenda unless he's an obstacle - and that's the game here.
April 19, 2024
This is something Trump has never experienced
...at least not to his face in public.
Olivia Nuzzi @Olivianuzzi
As Trump looks on in the courtroom, his lawyer is reading tweets from a prospective juror in which she called him “a racist, sexist narcissist” and “anathema to everything” she had been taught by her faith and that, among other things, he has no sense of right and wrong.
Donald Trump sat silently in court as a room full of strangers tore him apart
During jury selection, Trump has heard himself described by those under consideration as racist and sexist and a narcissist. He’s been presented with social media posts calling for officials to “lock him up.” He’s been told, to his face, that he’s “very selfish and self-serving.”
And through it all, Trump has been required to remain seated, not gesturing, not talking and not using his phone. He has not even been allowed to adjust the temperature a few degrees in a courtroom he described as “freezing.”
To top it off, some of those people — including the one who called him selfish and said she outright dislikes him — are now members of the jury of 12 Manhattanites who will decide whether to convict him of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a sex scandal.
The jurors also include an Upper East Side woman who works as a speech therapist, a retired man originally from Lebanon who enjoys fly fishing, a father of three who works as a security engineer, and a woman originally from California who works in product development. The group, which represents a cross-section of Manhattan, has been commanded by the judge, Justice Juan Merchan, that they must put their feelings about the former president aside, and all 12 of them have vowed to do so.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-sat-silently-in-court-as-a-room-full-of-strangers-tore-him-apart/ar-AA1ngKXg
During jury selection, Trump has heard himself described by those under consideration as racist and sexist and a narcissist. He’s been presented with social media posts calling for officials to “lock him up.” He’s been told, to his face, that he’s “very selfish and self-serving.”
And through it all, Trump has been required to remain seated, not gesturing, not talking and not using his phone. He has not even been allowed to adjust the temperature a few degrees in a courtroom he described as “freezing.”
To top it off, some of those people — including the one who called him selfish and said she outright dislikes him — are now members of the jury of 12 Manhattanites who will decide whether to convict him of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a sex scandal.
The jurors also include an Upper East Side woman who works as a speech therapist, a retired man originally from Lebanon who enjoys fly fishing, a father of three who works as a security engineer, and a woman originally from California who works in product development. The group, which represents a cross-section of Manhattan, has been commanded by the judge, Justice Juan Merchan, that they must put their feelings about the former president aside, and all 12 of them have vowed to do so.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-sat-silently-in-court-as-a-room-full-of-strangers-tore-him-apart/ar-AA1ngKXg
April 19, 2024
Let the record reflect that Joe Biden also went to Wawa!
We’ll be honest. We were ready to throw some severe shade the president’s way when we saw that he stopped at a Sheetz during his swing through Pennsylvania this week and ordered something called “fryz.”
Who told Joe Biden that ticking off the largest city in the commonwealth by eating at our rival convenience store was a viable campaign strategy?
But our minds were changed Thursday.
At about 3 p.m. after a stop in North Philly, POTUS joined Mayor Cherelle L. Parker for a stop at the Wawa at 6th and Chestnut Streets in Center City for some pre-Air Force One grub. (We’ll note that is the fancy Wawa that we like to refer to as the je ne sais quoi-wa.)
According to reporters on scene, Biden got an Italian hoagie with American cheese (odd), and a black-and-white milkshake, a dozen pretzels, a dozen assorted pastries, two orders of mozzarella sticks, two bottles of Coke, and a low-fat, strawberry banana yogurt specifically labeled for its probiotic properties.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/joe-biden-stops-at-philly-wawa-with-mayor-cherelle-parker/ar-AA1ng5EZ
watch:
...not so fast:
Pro-Sheetz Sen. John Fetterman teases Biden over Wawa visit
https://twitter.com/JohnFetterman/status/1781065972297683127
earlier:
"Everyone loves a good Sheetz Run, even the President of the United States."
President Biden stops at Pittsburgh-area Sheetz to buy sandwiches for construction workers
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218873055
Joe balances potential Pennsylvania conflict
Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta @malcolmkenyattaLet the record reflect that Joe Biden also went to Wawa!
We’ll be honest. We were ready to throw some severe shade the president’s way when we saw that he stopped at a Sheetz during his swing through Pennsylvania this week and ordered something called “fryz.”
Who told Joe Biden that ticking off the largest city in the commonwealth by eating at our rival convenience store was a viable campaign strategy?
But our minds were changed Thursday.
At about 3 p.m. after a stop in North Philly, POTUS joined Mayor Cherelle L. Parker for a stop at the Wawa at 6th and Chestnut Streets in Center City for some pre-Air Force One grub. (We’ll note that is the fancy Wawa that we like to refer to as the je ne sais quoi-wa.)
According to reporters on scene, Biden got an Italian hoagie with American cheese (odd), and a black-and-white milkshake, a dozen pretzels, a dozen assorted pastries, two orders of mozzarella sticks, two bottles of Coke, and a low-fat, strawberry banana yogurt specifically labeled for its probiotic properties.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/joe-biden-stops-at-philly-wawa-with-mayor-cherelle-parker/ar-AA1ng5EZ
watch:
...not so fast:
Pro-Sheetz Sen. John Fetterman teases Biden over Wawa visit
https://twitter.com/JohnFetterman/status/1781065972297683127
earlier:
"Everyone loves a good Sheetz Run, even the President of the United States."
President Biden stops at Pittsburgh-area Sheetz to buy sandwiches for construction workers
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218873055
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