Thursday, July 13, 2023
Okay, before we get going let me tell you about “Ain’t Too Proud,” a musical revival that is the story of The Temptations. We saw it Tuesday night and it is terrific. Not only was the music great but so was their story and the way it was told. I have never seen an audience so happy and smiling. We were all talking to one another after the show. There is one original Temptation left and he is responsible for the show. BTW There have been 27 Temptations over the years and the group is still together.
Okay, now on to miscellaneous stuff. The Trump team of lawyers have filed a motion in the Mar-a-Lago documents case asking that the trial be delayed forever or a long long time – I forget which. It’s a twelve page filing and one commentator recommended reading it because 1) it is well written, and 2) it lays out all the reasons for delaying, I’m no lawyer but I am going to go through the reasons and my rebuttal to those reasons, Then we’ll move on to “Hunter Biden’s Laptop” or the New McCarthyism of the Freedom Caucus and their embarrassing displays of arrogance and lying.
But first – The Trump Team reason for delay #1 – There’s a lot of paper to read.
Rebuttal #1 – Your client doesn’t read. Next.
The Trump Team reason for delay #2 – He’s under investigation and indictment elsewhere.
Rebuttal #2 – So?
The Trump Team reason for delay #3 – He’s a busy man. He’s running for President.
Rebuttal #3 – So?
Okay, that wraps up their arguments.
It turns out that the besides the judge being very new to the bench, and having little experience in any cases let alone something like this, and the last time around bent over backwards to aid Trump and having both her rulings overturned, is also going to schedule the trial in a very Trump friendly area of Florida; but she is the one who will impose sentencing and she can give him no jail time.
The Justice Department has done the very unusual step of protesting (I forget the legal term) the sentencing of the head of the Oathkeepers, Stuart Rose. They say the 18 year sentence isn’t enough. I hope all our law and order Republican politicians get behind this.
Now on to Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, and Robert Kennedy, Jr. and their latest embarrassing hearing. The highlight was Matt Gaetz reading of a bunch of claims made in a document about something or other. I think it was about FBI Director Wray or some of the investigations being conducted and olde Matty boy had proof right there in this here document that proved Wray was biased against Trump! Powerful stuff.
Gaetz went on to badger Wray to conclude that something Gaetz had read was indeed proof of interferencene by the FBI, or some such thing.
Okay, I, and others, have a few questions:
1. How was the document that Gaetz read purported to be written in 2017 contain photos from 2022?
2. How was it that the What’s App messages displayed in the document were the wrong color and bubble format for the App at the time alleged?
3. How was it that Hunter Biden’s lawyer could prove that every item in the document read was untrue?
Additionally, does Mr. Gaetz not understand that if an FBI Director was to draw conclusions about an ongoing investigation as Mr. Gaetz wanted him to do that it would be interference, the very thing Gaetz wanted to prove?
Then there’s Hunter Biden laptop – a phrase so oft repeated by the Republicans you got to wonder. We’ve been here before. Last time it was Hillary’s emails. h, and Benghazi. In this case Hunter had a laptop that he brought in for repair and the person supposedly copied the contents and there was supposedly stuff that mentioned Joe. Wow. A son talks about his father? But it goes deeper than that. Some companies trying to clean up their image hired Hunter and paid him money. Obviously, those companies were hoping that Hunter would get close to the then Vice-President and later the President. (This by the way is an oft used tactic, maybe we should dredge up all the Republican family member who have received money from such things. Sorry, the list is too long to post here.)
There’s one little problem. There’s no evidence that any of that happened or that Joe Biden knew about it. And even if he did know his son was being hired – so what?
(Should I recite the things that are on the Republican side? Well yeah, why not. But first, let me ask, “What position did Hunter Biden have in the Obama or his father’s presidency? You know like Jared had under Donald? Or Ivanka had under dad? Did they forget about her getting deals with China to sell her crappy jewelry and clothing there? Answer – Hunter Biden had no role in either administration.)
Then there’s news that Clarence Thomas had an assistant who received payments from billionaires via Venmo. What’s that about? Clarence and the court are silent. Is it any wonder that the approval rating for the Supreme Court is at an all time low?
Then there’s climate change. In a new book out the author tells the story of a scientist who warned of what was going to happen back in the 70s or 80s. The politicians asked, “How soon?” Answer “40 years.” Reply, “Get back to us in 39.” Time is up.
The author also mentioned that long ago politicians and people used to get together to solve problems. We no longer do that.
I remember when you could go to school, get some grants and loans, work a minimum wage job and come out with a degree and be free of debt. Now? Now, I see postings of “If you can’t pay your loan you should not have taken it?” These posters seem to forget that the Republicans in Congress have destroyed the grant programs and come up with a usury student loan program to help them pay for the cuts they gave to the super rich. The people who post the “Can’t pay your loan” memes seem to forget that they benefitted from programs like The GI Bill and numerous programs that allowed colleges to keep tuition reasonable. But then again I have to wonder what are these institutions doing that are sitting on huge endowments?
In other not-startling-news Republican law makers who voted against programs that would fund programs and get money into their districts are more than happy to go home and boast about all the money that will be flowing into their districts while not mentioning they voted against those very bills.
Speaking of which, a new study says 73% of people in the U.S. want legalized abortion. Yet, Republican legislatures are passing abortion bills. Does this make sense?
Finally, Joe Biden has pulled off another staggering victory. He has got Sweden into NATO. This on the five year anniversary of Trump siding with Putin in Helsinki against our security folks. You know what? I still want to know what he and Putin discussed on their meeting, Hunter’s laptop be damned.
And the economy continues to improve. Inflation is down, jobs are up, and yet I hear the Republican in Congress bitching about it. Yet, they fail to mention any tangible item. Why is that? I’ll tell you why, if they did they’d get creamed with facts and reality.
And then there’s Joe Epps. Joe went to the Capital on January 6th. He was outside, never went in. When things started to turn violent he tried to calm folks down. He has been targeted by Tucker Carlson and Fox for being an FBI agent, which he is not. Fox never let up. Epps had to go into hiding with his wife due to the harassment. He even sold his place. Now he’s suing. Good.
Okay, I’m done.
No I’m not. The Marine Corps is without a leader for the first time in 100 years. Tommy Tuberville is holding up all military promotions and putting our military readiness at risk. It amazes me that he was smart enough to run a football program.
Have a nice day! (Smiley Face)