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Post by mhbruin on Mar 13, 2023 8:23:21 GMT -8
Some people are such treasures, you just want to bury them. (Arizona State women's basketball has a player named "Treasure Hunt".)
Of Course He Won't Show. What's He Going to Do? Tell the Truth? Lie Under Oath?
Former president Donald Trump will not appear before the Manhattan grand jury probing a hush-money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump attorney Joe Tacopina told NBC News on Monday.
Trump's legal team met with the former president in Florida over the weekend. Following the discussions, the president decided not to sit for a meeting with the grand jury in New York. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office convened the grand jury to look into the payment made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who alleges she slept with Trump before he became president.
NBC News reported Thursday that Trump was invited to testify before the grand jury. The district attorney’s office has declined to comment on the matter. Tacopina said Friday that Trump's attorneys have "no plans" to meet with the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 13, 2023 8:25:02 GMT -8
Ain't No Sunshine When He's There
Florida has long been known for sunshine -- not only the warm rays that brighten its beaches but also the light of public scrutiny afforded by some of the nation's strongest meetings and records laws.
Although years of rollbacks have gradually clouded the impact, advocates are ringing alarms that this year presents the greatest threat to transparency yet in the state that coined the name “Sunshine Law” for its open-government rules.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, weighing a presidential bid, is pursuing a home-state agenda that could make it harder for people to learn what public officials are doing or to speak out against them. In an unprecedented move for the Sunshine State, DeSantis has claimed an executive right to keep key government records secret. He's also seeking to weaken a nearly 60-year-old national legal precedent protecting journalists and others who publish critical comments about public figures.
Florida's Republican-led Legislature appears eager to carry out his vision. As their annual session began last week, lawmakers filed dozens of bills that would add to the state's lengthy list of open-government exceptions.
“The state of sunshine is in peril,” warned Barbara Petersen, executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, who has been tracking the state's public access laws for three decades.
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 13, 2023 8:27:53 GMT -8
Ya' Think?
Maybe that’s the only moral of the Silicon Valley Bank story — if you’re a bank, and many of your clients are tech start-ups whose funding ability is sensitive to rising interest rates, don’t invest their deposits in long-dated bonds that will lose value if interest rates rise.
They Squeezed This In Just Under the Wire
Silicon Valley Bank on Friday paid out annual bonuses to eligible U.S. employees, just hours before the bank was seized by the U.S. government, Axios has learned from multiple sources. What to know: The bonuses were for work done during 2022, and were previously scheduled to be disbursed on March 10. That date ultimately coincided with the bank's takeover by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Bankster rules: ‘Heads, you lose, Tails, we win’
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 13, 2023 8:29:18 GMT -8
Acutal Video From Silicon Valley Bank
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 13, 2023 8:30:50 GMT -8
For the QOP, the Hits Just Keep on Coming
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 13, 2023 8:33:04 GMT -8
Republicans Telling he Truth? Where's the Profit in That?
The result just might be a financial death penalty for the network.
And some legal experts agree: Dominion doesn’t just have the upper hand, it has the truth on its side. If Dominion is successful, then all that would be left to determine is the amount of damages that Dominion is entitled to receive. That’s where the numbers become astronomical. Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in lost profits and reputational harm. But it’s also seeking punitive damages, which are not capped under New York state law and could also be in the billions of dollars.
Punitive damages are intended to punish the wrongdoer and to deter others from repeating that egregious conduct. And a multi-billion-dollar punitive damages verdict would not just punish Fox News. It would send a ringing message to all media companies to keep themselves in check and uphold the truth.
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 13, 2023 8:34:41 GMT -8
Peggy Nails Gov. DeathSentence
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 13, 2023 8:38:06 GMT -8
Breaking News is Reported on Fox Noise!! There is a Dominion Lawsuit.
Fox News anchor Howard Kurtz on Sunday finally weighed in on the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems against his employer.
Kurtz had previously said he “strongly” disagreed with the conservative network’s decision not to allow him to report or write about the case given that he is part of the organization being sued.
But that changed this weekend.
“Now that all the legal filings are in and a judge in Delaware will give consideration this month to whether the case goes to trial, it’s time for me to weigh in,” Kurtz said.
During a four-minute segment on his “MediaBuzz” show, Kurtz said he wasn’t “sugarcoating” Dominion’s allegations “or the fact that Fox has taken a hit in the court of public opinion.”
But he said the lawsuit represented a “major test of the First Amendment.”
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 13, 2023 8:41:08 GMT -8
Jon Oliver Doesn't Like Un-Cool and the Gang
Oliver imagined broadcast icon Walter Cronkite reporting on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in the spirit of Carlson and the rest of the Fox News team.
“The president had a lovely car ride in Dallas today,” Oliver said. “His head feels better than ever.”
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 13, 2023 8:46:33 GMT -8
In Spite of What the QOP Says, This is Not a Crisis. It's a Sign That the QOP Broke Our Immigration SystemU.S. officials stopped hundreds of mostly Venezuelan migrants entering the country from Mexico on Sunday after a large group broke through Mexican lines to demand asylum in the U.S., only to be thwarted by barbed wire, barriers and shields. Frustrated with problems securing appointments to seek asylum using a new U.S. government app, the migrants gathered at the frontier in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, but could not breach the crossing connecting the two countries. Many of the migrants had small children with them. At one point, some migrants attempted to hurl an orange, plastic barrier at the U.S. line, Reuters images show. Some people said pepper spray was deployed to repel them. They Couldn't Find Mike Pence or Nancy Pelosi
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 13, 2023 8:49:44 GMT -8
More Bad News for TucKKKer's Coven: 2+2=4
As Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation battles to contain the Dominion lawsuit scandal that has engulfed its top executives and stars, another crisis is building in the wings that has the potential to cause further turbulence for the media empire.
Smartmatic USA Corporation’s lawsuit against Fox News has attracted only a fraction of the attention garnered by the legal action of Dominion Voting Systems. Yet both firms are suing Fox for defamation related to its coverage of Donald Trump’s stolen-election lie, and both pose a serious threat to Fox’s finances and reputation.
In fact, on paper Smartmatic’s suit appears to be the more dangerous. It’s demanding damages of $2.7bn, compared with Dominion’s $1.6bn.
So far, attempts by Fox lawyers to have the Smartmatic case dismissed have fallen on stony ground. Last week the New York state supreme court in Manhattan gave the green light for the case to proceed against Fox News, the Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, the former business anchor Lou Dobbs and Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Smartmatic, a global election technology company headquartered in London, lodged its defamation suit in February 2021. “The Earth is round,” was the complaint’s striking opening sentence. “Two plus two equals four. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election … ”
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 13, 2023 8:53:14 GMT -8
Tar Heels Have Egg on Their Face
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Post by mhbruin on Mar 13, 2023 8:57:15 GMT -8
It Sounds Like He's Been Listening to DeathSentence.
A judge in Texas overseeing a lawsuit in which a conservative group is challenging the legality of the abortion drug mifepristone scheduled the first hearing in the case for Wednesday, but directed that court officials not make the timing public until the evening before.
According to sources cited by the Washington Post, Matthew Kacsmaryk, a US district court judge in Amarillo appointed by Donald Trump in 2019, ordered the hearing kept out of the court docket as a way to try to limit disruptions and protests, and also asked that lawyers arguing the case not to disclose information.
The hearing will present an opportunity for lawyers at the US justice department, which represents the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the drug’s manufacturer, Danco Laboratories, to present arguments for continued federal approval.
The lawsuit was brought by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which seeks to limit rights for LGBTQ+ people, expand Christian practices in public schools and outlaw abortion.
Observers said Kacsmaryk’s decision to delay placing the hearing in the public schedule was highly problematic, given the case could affect 40 million US women.
“With an issue as controversial as this, you want to have as much access as possible,” Carl Tobias, professor of law at the University of Richmond, said.
“There’s some tension if there are very real security concerns, but justice should tolerate that, too.
“It’s not surprising people want to have as much access as they possibly can without being a danger to anyone who may also want to observe the proceedings, but it’s certainly troubling if the judge wants the lawyers to be quiet.
“We want people to hear what his criticisms are, what questions he’s asking, how persuasive the arguments are, and to have maximum transparency and openness in federal court proceedings.”
The case is regarded as the most consequential since a conservative-dominated supreme court containing three Trump picks last year ended the right to abortion with the Dobbs ruling, throwing the question back to the states.
The Post said Kacsmaryk told attorneys he wanted to delay publicising the hearing because court staff, and himself and his family, had faced threats.
People Are Over-Reacting to This. Even If He Makes a Horrible Ruling, It Will Be Stayed Pending Appeal and Overturned on Appeal
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