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Post by mhbruin on Nov 27, 2023 9:11:47 GMT -8
My aunt is pretty cold. We call her Auntarctica.
Too Bad the Judge Won't Tell Them They Can't Call Any Experts
Prosecutors working out of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office are asking the judge in the Stormy Daniels hush money case to intercede and force Donald Trump's lawyers to provide a list of their expert witnesses after stonewalling them for months.
That case has been lost in the shuffle as the former president battles a $250 million financial fraud lawsuit in another Manhattan courtroom, a racketeering case in Georgia, an obstruction of justice federal trial in Florida and a trial in Washington D.C. tied to his actions surrounding the Jan. 6 insurrection.
According to a report from the Daily Beast's Jose Pagliery, Manhattan prosecutors have taken the next step and asked Judge Juan Merchan to compel Trump's legal team to provide them with their proposed list of expert witnesses, with accusations they are trying to "sabotage" the trial and extend it out as long as possible.
As the report notes, the former president was charged with 34 felony counts related to paying off adult film star Stormy Daniels about an alleged affair at the time Trump was making his first bid for the presidency.
The Beast's Pagliery reports the pre-trial exchange of information between the prosecutors and the defense team is "not going well."
"Prosecutors say Trump’s lawyers ignored two months of emails starting in August, refusing to respond to their repeated requests that the defense team identify who in the world they’re planning to call at trial," the report states. "Those experts would, in theory, justify how Trump orchestrated a two-step cover-up that involved having close associate Michael Cohen transfer $130,000 to silence Stormy Daniels, then faking Trump Organization business records to pay him back as supposed 'legal fees.'"
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 27, 2023 9:14:38 GMT -8
Was the Trump White House Selling Pardons? Of Course He Was!Yesterday’s New York Times has a fascinating article about Trump pardoning a major drug dealer and violent loan shark; it’s titled “A Troubling Trump Pardon and a Link to the Kushners.” Like with so much reporting on Trump and his possible criminal activity while in the White House, it somehow manages to miss a possible larger picture, in this case the multiple allegations that Trump and Giuliani were selling pardons for $2 million a pop. Although the allegations are well documented, including under oath in a lawsuit, there’s not a single mention of it in the Times article. The reporters do, however, an excellent job of laying out a case for Jonathan Braun not being pardoned. First, he was a convicted major drug dealer who was less than 2 years into a 10 year prison term. Second, he was also allegedly running a mafia-like illegal loan shark operation, using threats of violence to make sure people paid up. As the Times notes: “A Staten Islander with a history of violent threats, Mr. Braun had told a rabbi who owed him money: ‘I am going to make you bleed.’” Third, he was apparently more than willing to use his great wealth to both get out of prison and escape the loan shark charges that the DOJ was preparing against him. Again, from the Times: “Mr. Braun’s family had told confidants they were willing to spend millions of dollars to get him out of prison.” In a lawsuit filed earlier this year by Noelle Dunphy, a former employee of Rudy Giuliani, she asserts under oath that Giuliani was offering people pardons for $2 million, the money to be split 50/50 between him and Trump. As the lawsuit itself claims: “[Giuliani] asked Ms. Dunphy if she knew anyone in need of a pardon, telling her that he was selling pardons for $2 million, which he and President Trump would split.”
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 27, 2023 9:16:27 GMT -8
Ever Wonder Why You So Rarely See an Axolotl These Days?
Ecologists in Mexico relaunched a campaign Thursday to protect the axolotl, an iconic Mexican underwater salamander threatened with extinction.
The Adoptaxolotl 2024 campaign invites donors to adopt a threatened salamander for around 600 pesos, or $35, The Associated Press reported. A virtual adoption comes with regular updates on the amphibian's well-being. Axolotl lovers can also buy one of the salamanders a dinner or purchase axolotl-themed t-shirts, bandannas, and mugs.
"The axolotl is at critical risk of extinction," Luis Zambrano González, who works at the Biology Institute of Mexico's National Autonomous University (UNAM), told the UNAM Gazette. "For this reason we need to understand its conservation as something that all of society is responsible for, to care for its habitat and develop strategies to allow people to relate more to these animals."
How About a Campaign to Save Another Endangered Species, the Sane Republican?
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 27, 2023 9:18:15 GMT -8
Bibi and the Bigot Collide
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, touring a kibbutz targeted by Palestinian gunmen during an October 7 attack and expressing support for Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The visit comes amid a period of controversy for Musk, who recently sparked outrage by calling an anti-Semitic social media post – one promoting the conspiracy theory that white people in the West are being “replaced” through immigration from the Global South with the help of progressive Jews – “the actual truth”.
Somehow the Universe Seems to Have Survived
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 27, 2023 9:19:42 GMT -8
Gaza-Palooza Today
Israel and Hamas have agreed to extend a temporary truce for an additional two days on the pause's fourth and last day, Hamas and Qatari mediators announced.
Yesterday, Hamas released 17 hostages, including a 4-year-old American, Abigail Edan. In exchange, Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners, all of whom are minors, a Qatari spokesman said.
An extension could see more hostages released from Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a halt in fighting. Israel has said it would extend the cease-fire by a day for every 10 additional hostages released.
Israel also said it reached an agreement with tech billionaire Elon Musk to bring his SpaceX company’s Starlink communications to the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported. Musk has proposed using Starlink to support communication links in the blackout-hit Gaza enclave with “internationally recognized aid organizations.”
Aid trucks have continued to flow into the besieged Gaza under protection of the cease-fire, including much-needed fuel. The humanitarian aid brings relief for civilians who have been suffering for weeks as supplies of food, water and medicine run low amid Israeli bombardment.
More than 1.7 million people have been displaced in Gaza, where health officials say the death toll has surpassed 14,500 after weeks of Israeli attacks. The Israel Defense Forces estimate 1,200 people were killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, with more than 200 people held hostage in Gaza.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 27, 2023 9:21:26 GMT -8
Previous Guy Wants More Americans to Die
Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Republican presidential primary front-runner Donald Trump revived calls to roll back Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act, if he returns to the White House.
“The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare. I’m seriously looking at alternatives," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Saturday.
Trump’s post resurrects an issue on which he and his party are vulnerable. A Sept. 15-19 NBC News poll found that when it comes to health care, voters trust Democrats over Republicans by a margin of 45%-22%. The same survey found that Democrats trail the GOP on many other issues, including the economy, immigration and crime.
After trying and failing to repeal the ACA, and suffering for it at the ballot box, Republican candidates abandoned their calls for eliminating the law in the 2022 midterm elections, recognizing the push as a political loser. But Trump could bring it back in 2024.
"We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it,” Trump wrote in his post over the weekend. “It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!”
They Don't Need Doctors. They Just Need Bleach.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 27, 2023 9:23:28 GMT -8
The Mercers Have No Mercy
One of the Republican Party’s most influential families may come off the sidelines to financially support Donald Trump’s latest White House run, after years of distancing themselves from him, according to people familiar with the matter.
Robert Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah, have not yet made a final decision on whether they’ll publicly back Trump, these people said. But the Mercers remain friendly with key players in Trump’s orbit, including former senior counselor Kellyanne Conway, according to some of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of the thinking of the notoriously private Mercer family.
"The Mercers laid the groundwork for the Trump revolution," Bannon told The New Yorker in 2017. "Irrefutably, when you look at donors during the past four years, they have had the single biggest impact of anybody, including the Kochs." Steve Schmidt, a former Republican strategist and co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, sees it differently. Rebekah Mercer, he said in an interview with Salon, is the "chief financier or one of the chief financiers of the fascist movement, and that's what it is."
Rebekah Mercer was a co-founder of Parler, the social media network popular with white supremacists, neo-Nazis, militia groups, and the Jan. 6 insurrectionists. Previously known more for their backing of xenophobic far-right groups, Mercer backed-groups leaned heavily towards the promotion of anti-democratic election hoaxes before Trump's attempted coup.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 27, 2023 9:27:35 GMT -8
Bye, Bye, Bibi, Bibi Bye Bye
Nothing Represents a Broken Heart Better Than a Video at a Ski Lift
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 27, 2023 9:29:16 GMT -8
What Kind of Idiot Politician Focuses on Getting Things Done?
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 27, 2023 9:30:49 GMT -8
Muslims Are Threatening to Not Vote for Biden
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 27, 2023 9:34:34 GMT -8
Will We See Tanks on Main Street?
Campaigning in Iowa this year, Donald Trump said he was prevented during his presidency from using the military to quell violence in primarily Democratic cities and states.
Calling New York City and Chicago “crime dens,” the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination told his audience, “The next time, I’m not waiting. One of the things I did was let them run it and we’re going to show how bad a job they do,” he said. “Well, we did that. We don’t have to wait any longer.”
Trump has not spelled out precisely how he might use the military during a second term, although he and his advisers have suggested they would have wide latitude to call up units. While deploying the military regularly within the country's borders would be a departure from tradition, the former president already has signaled an aggressive agenda if he wins, from mass deportations to travel bans imposed on certain Muslim-majority countries.
A law first crafted in the nation’s infancy would give Trump as commander in chief almost unfettered power to do so, military and legal experts said in a series of interviews.
The Insurrection Act allows presidents to call on reserve or active-duty military units to respond to unrest in the states, an authority that is not reviewable by the courts. One of its few guardrails merely requires the president to request that the participants disperse.
“The principal constraint on the president’s use of the Insurrection Act is basically political, that presidents don’t want to be the guy who sent tanks rolling down Main Street,” said Joseph Nunn, a national security expert with the Brennan Center for Justice. “There’s not much really in the law to stay the president’s hand.”
Here's How You Use An Old Law
President Joe Biden will invoke a Cold War-era measure to boost investment in U.S. manufacturing of medicines and medical supplies that he has deemed important for national defense, the White House said.
The announcement is part of a series of measures the Biden administration is unveiling on Monday to help industrial supply chains and counter several years of historically high inflation.
Biden will authorize the Department of Health and Human Services to use powers under the Cold War-era Defense Production Act to enable investments in "essential medicines," the White House said in a statement.
The areas of investment also include "medical countermeasures," which include supplies that diagnose, prevent, or treat diseases related to chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear attacks.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 27, 2023 9:37:50 GMT -8
Tell Me Again Why We Don't Want Canada's Single-Payer Health Care SystemDemocratic and Republican voting states death rate as percent of Canada's by age.  Is It Because Red State Voters Don't Know How to Read a Graph?
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 27, 2023 9:40:01 GMT -8
But He Still Wouldn't Vote for Biden
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) says he’d be “happy” to vote for most of the current field of Republican presidential candidates in next year’s election.
But there are two people he can’t support.
One is former President Donald Trump. Romney told CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell that Trump’s election in 2024 “would be devastating for our country.”
O’Donnell asked which of the remaining candidates he liked.
“Anybody,” Romney replied. “I’d be happy to support virtually any one of the Republicans. Maybe not Vivek [Ramaswamy], but the others that are running would be acceptable to me and I’d be happy to vote for them.”
Romney, who was the GOP presidential candidate in 2012, indicated he’d be willing to cross party lines in certain cases.
“I’d be happy to vote for a number of the Democrats too,” he added without naming them. “I mean, it would be an upgrade from, in my opinion, from Donald Trump and perhaps also from Joe Biden.”
Romney didn’t vote for Donald Trump in 2016 or 2020, saying he wrote in his wife, Ann Romney, in 2016. He said earlier this month he’d likely vote for her again if 2024 is a rematch of 2020.
“It’s pretty straightforward. It’s the same thing I’ve done in the past. I’ll vote for Ann Romney, who’ll be a terrific president,” he said on CNBC.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 27, 2023 9:43:41 GMT -8
Their Satanic Majesties Request a TreeA Republican congressman wasn’t happy that a Wisconsin event featuring dozens of uniquely decorated Christmas trees included one with a Satan theme. “I wouldn’t take my kids to it now, I don’t want them to be surrounded by satanic trees,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) griped on Fox News during a discussion of the National Railroad Museum’s Festival of Trees in Green Bay. The event features more than 70 trees, each decorated by a different group or local business. “We have everything from a tree with hardware on it, a tea tree, we have a Lego tree,” museum CEO Jacqueline Frank told the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “It’s a lot of different organizations promoting their business.” She said the goal is to be inclusive and “provide dignity for everybody.” But Gallagher slammed it as “woke,” “offensive” and “upside-down cultural propaganda.” “I thought that Northeast Wisconsin was at least immune to something that you might see in New York or California, but we need to be vigilant as parents,” he said on Fox News. Satan is not actually the point of the tree. In fact, the Satanic Temple’s Wisconsin chapter ― like many modern satanist groups ― says it doesn’t actually believe in the devil, much less worship him. The organization wrote on Facebook that they consider Satan “more of a literary character we admire and a mascot.” “Tree decorating is a fun and rewarding holiday tradition with roots in paganism,” a message from the group read. “We decorated the tree to celebrate our own winter holiday, Sol Invictus, and in the spirit of religious plurality and togetherness with other world religions that have holidays around this time of year.” Satanic Temple co-founder Lucien Greaves took it a step further, taunting Gallagher as “teary-eyed, quivering & confused” in a post on X, the former Twitter. 
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