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Post by mhbruin on Apr 7, 2024 8:33:04 GMT -8
I managed to get a good job working for a Pool Maintenance Company, but I had to leave. The work was just too draining and I didn't net enough.
Good Politics. Horrible Legal Strategy
Saturday afternoon, just hours before he is set to appear at a gala fundraiser in Palm Beach, Donald Trump lashed out at three New York judges in a three-part furious rant about how he has been treated by the legal system.
Along the way, he also attacked New York writer E. Jean Carroll who successfully sued him for defamation and was awarded $91 million in damages over two trials.
Pushing the boundaries of a recent gag order put in place by Judge Juan Merchan, the former president first took to his Truth Social platform to rant, "Crooked Judge Juan Merchan is not allowing me to talk, is taking away my First Amendment Rights, he’s got me GAGGED, because he doesn’t want the FACTS behind the Gag to come out. How many Corrupt, Biased, Crooked Joe Biden-'Protection Agency' New York Judges do I have to endure before somebody steps in?"
He then lashed out at Judge Lewis Kaplan who oversaw the E. Jean Carroll trials and included her in his diatribe without using her name.
"I had New York Federal Judge, Lewis Kaplan, with a woman who I never knew, and had nothing to do with, until she sued me for 'defamation.' She did not know what day, month, or year the supposed 'incident' took place - She knew nothing. Kaplan, a Hillary friend, wouldn’t even let my lawyers put on a proper case, made it two cases instead of one, took away my American Right to defend myself, and was a Crazed Bully as his wife and friends sat in the Courthouse, every day in their little roped off section, and prodded him on in awe. This mysterious lady, who said rape is sexy, got $91 Million Dollars," he wrote.
In a second post he continued, "Then, of course, we have Arthur Engoron, a total lunatic, whack job, who ruled that I should pay an almost $500 Million Dollar “fine” for having done nothing wrong (No Victims, No Damages, Ironclad Disclaimer, ONLY SUCCESS!), in fact, he was the one who committed fraud when he purposely, at the direction of Racist, Corrupt A.G. Letitia James, undervalued Mar-a-Lago at $18 Million Dollars."
Not content with that, he added a third post where he wrote, "Now, we have Merchan, who is not allowing me to talk, thereby violating the Law and the Constitution, all at once. It is so bad what he is trying to get away with - How was he even chosen for this case??? I heard he fought like hell to get it, and all of the rest of them also! If this Partisan Hack wants to put me in the 'clink' for speaking the open and obvious TRUTH, I will gladly become a Modern Day Nelson Mandela - It will be my GREAT HONOR. We have to Save our Country from these Political Operatives masquerading as Prosecutors and Judges, and I am willing to sacrifice my Freedom for that worthy cause. We are a Failing Nation, but on November 5th, we will become a Great Nation again. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 7, 2024 8:35:24 GMT -8
Just Thinking About Running from One End of Africa Wears Me OutBefore he set off on the mammoth challenge to run the entire length of Africa, Russell Cook said he hoped to look back at his life and have no regrets. The 27-year-old from Worthing, West Sussex, said he had struggled with his mental health, gambling and drinking, and wanted to "make a difference". More than 10,190 miles (16,400km), 352 days, 16 countries and countless complications later, the man nicknamed "Hardest Geezer" has raised more than £550,000 for charity and is about to complete his final run. Hardest Geezer Russ Cook runs the entire length of AfricaI'd Rather Stick to Gambling and Drinking
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 7, 2024 8:38:10 GMT -8
You Could Say the Same Thing About the Urkaine WarSix months into the war in Gaza, everyone seems to be losingSix months ago, armed terrorists burst across the border from the Gaza Strip into Israel and unleashed a devastating massacre, during which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage by Hamas. What followed has been a war that on some level everybody appears to be losing. That reality will be writ large Sunday — in the vigil for the hostages still not returned, on the streets of Tel Aviv where protesters will gather, in the rubble of Gaza where the dead pile up, and in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, where negotiators will once again try to hash out a cease-fire. Israel's war in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 33,000 people, most of them women and children, according to the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry. Israel says it has two primary aims: to free the remaining 130 mostly Israeli hostages; and to destroy the Hamas militant group that led the attack on Oct. 7, a goal that critics say is too ambitious or impossible.
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 7, 2024 8:39:20 GMT -8
The Great Flip-Flop
In the 110-year history since the direct election of senators, the American electorate has never flipped majorities in both chambers going in opposite directions. Now, as lawmakers and campaign advisers look to the looming November elections, that norm could easily be turned upside down.
This type of scenario was unimaginable for more than a century, but Walter, the editor in chief of the Cook Report, views this crosscurrent trend as part of the drift into a political system where campaigns get predetermined by the relative rural-urban breakdown in a particular state or district.
“In a country that is more calcified in its blue/red divide, it makes a lot of sense that House and Senate majorities can go in different directions in the same year. The Tip O’Neill ‘all politics is local’ adage is now ‘all politics is national AND regional’,” she wrote in an email.
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 7, 2024 8:40:57 GMT -8
Wanna' Run For Office?
Recently, the FEC approved final rules to make it easier for federal candidates to draw salaries from their privately raised campaign funds and pay themselves a livable wage. This will change the political landscape.
Candidates can now pay themselves a salary throughout the entirety of their campaign. That means instead of barely scraping by until they make the ballot, candidates can start paying themselves a salary as soon as they declare their candidacy. Previous regulations only considered the candidate’s earned income in the calendar year preceding their candidacy, a rule that disadvantaged stay-at-home caregivers, full-time students, and people who were unemployed. New regulations consider a candidate’s average earned income over the most recent five years, creating a more equitable system that does not exclude candidates who were out of the workforce right before running for office. The new regulation also expands the eligibility period and allows candidates to continue drawing compensation for 20 days after their campaign ends. During the interval between the general election and being officially sworn into Congress and receiving their first paycheck, candidates can use their campaign funds to stay financially afloat.
The FEC is making it easier for everyday people to run for office and have a fighting chance to represent their communities in Congress, but a problem still persists. Many candidates still express feeling shame when faced with the financial realities of campaigning, and many are also hesitant to use these financial resources for fear of being politically attacked. While all campaign expenditures can and should be evaluated by voters, we hope that voters see that significant work goes into campaigning and that all too often, running for federal office is reserved only for wealthy Americans.
All You Have to Do Is Raise Some Money
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 7, 2024 8:45:03 GMT -8
When Freedom of Religion Meets Others Trying to Impose Their Religion
An Indiana appeals court Thursday upheld an injunction for plaintiffs arguing that their religious beliefs entitle them to an exemption from the state’s near-total abortion ban.
A few individuals and Hoosier Jews for Choice said that they believe that life does not begin at conception and that the life of the pregnant woman outweighs the “potential for life embodied in a fetus.”
The argument turns one of the anti-abortion movement’s most reliable talking points on its head and takes the mantle of “religious conviction” from conservative Christians, who have wielded it so successfully, both in courts of law and public opinion.
“If a corporation can engage in a religious exercise by refusing to provide abortifacients — contraceptives that essentially abort a pregnancy after fertilization — it stands to reason that a pregnant person can engage in a religious exercise by pursuing an abortion,” wrote Judge Leanna Weissmann for the Court of Appeals of Indiana. “In both situations, the claimant is required to take or abstain from action that the claimant’s sincere religious beliefs direct. And in both situations, the claimant’s objection to the challenged law or regulation is rooted in the claimant’s sincere religious beliefs.”
Weissmann also pointed out that the exemption plaintiffs seek aligns with the (scant) exemptions included in the abortion ban.
“The broader religious exemption that Plaintiffs effectively seek has the same foundation as the narrower exceptions already existing in the Abortion Law: all are based on the interests of the mother outweighing the interests of the zygote, embryo, or fetus,” she wrote. “The religious exemption that Plaintiffs seek, based on their sincere religious beliefs, merely expands the circumstances in which the pregnant woman’s health dictates an abortion.”
The group also sought class action status for “all persons in Indiana whose religious beliefs direct them to obtain abortions.”
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 7, 2024 8:46:16 GMT -8
Who Won the Week?
The crews working around the clock with speed and dexterity to remove the collapsed pieces of the Key Bridge in Baltimore
Karma, as Trump lawyer and Jan. 6 co-insurrectionist John Eastman has his law license revoked
Election prospects in Florida, as the path is cleared for ballot questions adding abortion rights to the state constitution and legalizing recreational marijuana
Voters in Enid, Oklahoma, for recalling City Council member Judson Blevins after his activities in neo-Nazi groups were revealed
NATO, which turned 75 this week with a record-high 32 members and unprecedented resolve to keep Russia at bay
Special counsel Jack Smith, whose legal skill resulted in a ruling on the Presidential Records Act that delivered a major loss for Trump in his stolen classified documents case
President Biden: Visits Baltimore to survey bridge damage; boffo 303k jobs report; survives Easter/Trans Day of Visibility scandal that leaves conservative Christians sobbing in their marshmallow peeps
The 2024 presidential ballot, as the gaggle of misfits known as No Labels (which is itself a label) throws in the towel on trying to find a candidate to run on their coattails
Beyonce, whose new album "Cowboy Carter" smashes streaming records as she becomes the first Black woman to hit #1 on the Billboard Country Charts
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 7, 2024 8:48:05 GMT -8
Kiss Public Lands Goodbye If Previous Guy Wins
When it was time to outline their vision for managing America’s federal lands under a future Republican presidency, pro-Donald Trump conservatives turned to a man who has spent his career advocating for those very lands to be pawned off to states and private interests.
William Perry Pendley, who served illegally as Trump’s acting director of the Bureau of Land Management for more than a year, authored the Interior Department chapter of Project 2025, a sweeping policy blueprint that the Heritage Foundation and dozens of other right-wing organizations compiled to guide Trump and his team should he win in November.
The 920-page, pro-Trump manifesto, titled “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” aims to dismantle the federal government, ridding it of tens of thousands of public servants and replacing them with “an army of aligned, vetted, trained, and prepared conservatives to go to work on Day One” of a Republican administration.
Pendley’s dream for the more than 500 million acres of federal land that the Interior Department manages is to effectively turn them into a playground for extractive industries — the same interests he’s spent most of his career representing in court.
In fact, when it came to the chapter’s section on energy production across the federal estate, Pendley simply let Kathleen Sgamma ― the president of the Western Energy Alliance, an oil and gas trade association ― and two industry allies write it for him.
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 7, 2024 8:49:20 GMT -8
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 7, 2024 8:51:35 GMT -8
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Post by mhbruin on Apr 7, 2024 8:53:21 GMT -8
You're Fired! Wait! No! You're Hired Again!
Donald Trump is reportedly experiencing some turbulence as he transitions to face Joe Biden in the general election.
Trump easily defeated his GOP primary opponents including Ron DeSantis of Florida, but as he moves to take control of the Republican National Committee, there have been some issues, according to Axios.
"Since former President Trump's smooth ride to become the GOP's presumptive nominee last month, his team's pivot to a general election campaign has been more chaotic, with backtracking and second-guessing," the report states.
Specifically, Axios notes that "many of the hiccups have revolved around Trump's takeover of the Republican National Committee."
"His team now has rehired many of the 60 staffers who were fired when Trump took control last month," according to the report.
Further, according to Axios, this is "the latest in a series of reversals by Trump's team at the RNC, now led by chair Michael Whatley and Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law."
"Those who've been rehired include most of the RNC's staff in key states, including five regional political directors and most of the committee's state directors," Axios reports. "Some are unsure what their roles are now."
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