The Conversation -- June 21, 2024
Insufferable Sam, MIA. Shania Shelton of CNN: “Justice Samuel Alito was not present on Friday morning as the Supreme Court handed down opinions in the courtroom, the second day in a row he has been absent. Alito's absence, for which the Supreme Court has not provided an explanation, is unusual because it's the end of the term and the justices have issued nine opinions over the last two days." MB: Yeah, well, I'm thinking we're looking at what you could call a domestic issue here.
When they censor any mention of Donald Trump's criminal convictions, they are essentially trying to ban a fact. I am not aware of any precedent where factual statements have been banned in our lifetime. -- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)
If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrariwise, what it is, it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see? -- Alice, Alice in Wonderland ~~~
~~~ A World of Their Own. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The history-making felony conviction of ... Donald J. Trump has raised some historic questions for the House's rules of decorum.... The Republicans who now hold the majority have used those rules to impose what is essentially a gag order against talking about Mr. Trump's hush-money payments to a porn actress or about the fact that he is a felon at all, notwithstanding that those assertions are no longer merely allegations but the basis of a jury's guilty verdict. Doing so, they have declared, is a violation of House rules.... Perhaps the only place in the United States where people are barred from talking freely about Mr. Trump's crimes is the floor of what is often referred to as 'the people's House,' where Republicans have gone so far as to erase one such mention from the official record.... [BUT] Republicans have exempted themselves from that equal treatment standard when it comes to President Biden, whom they routinely accuse of criminal conduct despite having produced no evidence of any."
Danny Hakim & Jack Healy of the New York Times: "A Nevada judge on Friday threw out the state's case against the six Republicans who claimed to be presidential electors and tried to declare Donald J. Trump the winner of the 2020 election. The judge, Mary Kay Holthus, said that state prosecutors had chosen the wrong venue to file the case. John Sadler, a spokesman for Attorney General Aaron D. Ford, said, 'We disagree with the judge's decision and will be appealing immediately.'" The judge determined that the case should have been filed "up north" in the state capital, Carson City, where she has determined that most the allegedly illegal acts took place, rather than in Las Vegas, the locus of her court. The NBC News story is here.
John Fritze & Tierney Sneed of CNN: "Steve Bannon ... asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause his prison sentence while he appeals his conviction for contempt of Congress. A federal appeals court on Thursday night rejected his bid to delay the start of his sentence." Related story linked below.
Jesse McKinley & Kate Christobek of the New York Times: "Prosecutors in Manhattan said on Friday that a judge should keep in place major elements of a gag order that was imposed on Donald J. Trump, citing dozens of death threats that have been made against officials connected to the case. The order, issued before Mr. Trump's Manhattan criminal trial began in mid-April, bars him from attacking witnesses, jurors, court staff and relatives of the judge who presided over the trial, Juan M. Merchan. Mr. Trump's lawyers have sought to have the order lifted since Mr. Trump's conviction in late May. But in a 19-page filing on Friday, prosecutors argued that while Justice Merchan no longer needed to enforce the portion of the gag order relating to trial witnesses, he should keep in place the provisions protecting jurors, prosecutors, court staff and their families....
"Prosecutors said the threats were 'directly connected to defendant's dangerous rhetoric,' and cited several examples, including a post that depicted cross hairs 'on people involved in this case.' Others were homicidal messages directed at Mr. Bragg or his employees, including, 'We will kill you all,' 'You are dead' and 'Your life is done.' Four of the threats were referred for further investigation, according to the police affidavit." The NBC News report is here.
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the government may disarm a Texas man subject to a domestic violence order, limiting the sweep of its [2022] blockbuster decision that vastly expanded gun rights." Liptak doesn't say so (yet), but John Roberts wrote the 8-1 decision; Clarence Thomas dissented. Here's CNN's report.
Elahe Izadi & Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "Robert Winnett, the British journalist recently tapped to become editor of The Washington Post later this year, will not take the job and will remain at the Daily Telegraph in London, according to a memo obtained by The Post on Friday.... Post CEO and publisher Will Lewis confirmed that Winnett had withdrawn from the position, relaying the news 'with regret' in a note to Post staff.... The announcement came after days of turmoil at The Post, triggered by the abrupt exit of executive editor Sally Buzbee as well as questions about the past practices of both Winnett and Lewis -- veterans of London newsrooms that operate by different rules than their American counterparts." MB: Gosh, Winnett never even had to pack. ~~~
~~~ The New York Times story is here. Its lede is a bit more forceful: "Robert Winnett, the editor selected to run The Washington Post, will not take up that position, after reports raised questions about his ties to unethical news gathering practices in Britain."
Jessica Piper & Madison Fernandez of Politico: "... Donald Trump's huge May fundraising haul erased President Joe Biden's longstanding cash advantage as the two gear up for a rematch. Trump's campaign had $116.6 million in the bank at the end of May, compared to $91.6 million for Biden."
Second-Term Trump. Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Joe's New Deal CCC. Kate Yoder of Grist: "Within weeks, the nation will deploy 9,000 people to begin restoring landscapes, erecting solar panels, and taking other steps to help guide the country toward a cleaner, greener future. The first of those workers were inducted into the American Climate Corps on Tuesday during a virtual event from the White House. Their swearing-in marks another step forward for the Biden administration's ambitious climate agenda. The program, which President Joe Biden announced within days of taking office in 2021, is a modern version of the Climate Conservation Corps, the New Deal-era project that put 3 million men to work planting trees and building national parks." Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: The New Deal CCC was the "Civilian Conservation Corps." (Also linked yesterday.)
National Crime Blotter
** Charlie Savage & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Shortly after Judge Aileen M. Cannon drew the assignment in June 2023 to oversee ... Donald J. Trump's classified documents case, two more experienced colleagues on the federal bench in Florida urged her to pass it up and hand it off to another jurist, according to two people briefed on the conversations. The judges who approached Judge Cannon -- including the chief judge in the Southern District of Florida, Cecilia M. Altonaga -- each asked her to consider whether it would be better if she were to decline the high-profile case, allowing it to go to another judge, the two people said. But Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, wanted to keep the case and refused the judges' entreaties. Her assignment raised eyebrows because she has scant trial experience and had previously shown unusual favor to Mr. Trump by intervening in a way that helped him in the criminal investigation that led to his indictment, only to be reversed in a sharply critical rebuke by a conservative appeals court panel. The extraordinary and previously undisclosed effort by Judge Cannon's colleagues to persuade her to step aside adds another dimension to the increasing criticism of how she has gone on to handle the case.... Ultimately, Judge Cannon is not subject to the authority of her district court elders." Read on. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Right from the get-go, I was urging the district's chief judge to tell Judge Aileen to step aside as she had bitten off more than she could chew. Turns out the chief judge tried, but Aileen wouldn't hear of it. Now, Roger Stone is suggesting he just might have Aileen's home phone number and he knows she's about to dismiss the charges against Trump. (Story linked yesterday.) Maybe that's not just bluster on Roger's part. What's most extraordinary about this story is that there's a story at all: it's extremely rare for private discussions among federal judges to be leaked to the public. And it's clear from the story that the two senior judges were not discreet about sharing their convos with other members of the court, a couple of whom really wanted this story to get out. ~~~
~~~ Carl Gibson of AlterNet: Legal analyst Lisa Rubin [said on MSNBC] "that the Times' unnamed source speaking to the leading national newspaper of record about judges' pleas to Cannon to step down from the case was 'almost as big as the news itself.... It is somebody who is literally saying to the American public, all of those concerns that you are hearing about Judge Cannon being out of her depth, in the tank for Donald Trump, or both, those are concerns that were shared by at least two of her colleagues on the bench and at least one very, very seasoned judge, the chief judge of the district....'"
~~~ Alan Feuer & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "When Judge Aileen M. Cannon presides over a hearing on Friday in ... Donald J. Trump's classified documents case, she will spend the day considering well-trod arguments about an arcane legal issue in an unorthodox manner. It will be the latest example of how her unusual handling of the case has now become business as usual. Over the past several months, Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Mr. Trump in his final days in office, has made a number of decisions that have prompted second-guessing and criticism among legal scholars following the case. Many of her rulings, on a wide array of topics, have been confounding to them, often evincing her willingness to grant a serious hearing to far-fetched issues that Mr. Trump's lawyers have raised in his defense.... In recent months, Judge Cannon has continued ... making several quizzical decisions or just as often putting off making them at all."
They're Going to Take Him Away, Ha Ha. Zach Montague of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected Stephen K. Bannon's last-ditch bid to remain free while he exhausts his legal options to overturn his conviction for contempt of Congress, leaving little chance that he can further delay a four-month prison sentence that is set to start next month. Mr. Bannon, a longtime Trump ally, was convicted in 2022 after ignoring a congressional subpoena seeking information about his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, but he had been allowed to remain free while h pursued a lengthy appeals process. That came to an end this month when the judge overseeing his case ordered Mr. Bannon to report to prison on July 1 after a federal appeals court upheld his conviction in May." Politico's story is here.
Presidential Race
Melinda French Gates in a CNN opinion piece: "As President Joe Biden faces ... Donald Trump in another contest for the White House, the stakes for women and families couldn't be higher. I've never endorsed a presidential candidate before. My work on gender equality and global health often requires me to work with leaders on both sides of the aisle, so I've avoided talking publicly about who I voted for in past elections. But this year is different.... One of Trump's first actions as president was reinstating and expanding the global gag rule, which restricted foreign aid to organizations providing reproductive services and, by some estimations, caused more than 100,000 maternal and child deaths globally. The former president imposed restrictions on the federal family planning program, Title X, that made it harder for people from low-income backgrounds to access contraceptives. His often divisive, sometimes violent rhetoric throughout his campaigns and administration -- from the sexist attacks he lobbed at women journalists to calling for his opponent to be jailed -- has contributed to a hostile political climate for women in office and allowed threats against election workers, most of whom are women, to proliferate. And he deliberately appointedSupreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade...."
Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "The quixotic presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a bonkers press release putting CNN 'on clear notice' after the eccentric political scion failed to make the network's debate stage." The campaign asserted that debate moderators Jake Tapper & Dana Bash, along with other CNN employees could be doing "serious jail time" for keeping Kennedy off the debate stage with President Biden and Trump.
When Trump wasn't tossing rolls of paper towels at hurricane victims, he was threatening nuclear war ~~~
~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Former President Trump said many controversial things in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, but it was something he told then-Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló about nuclear war while touring storm damage that stunned Rosselló.... '"But I tell you what''" [Trump said.] He paused for effect. "If nuclear war happens, we won't be second in line pressing the button."'"
Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump casually declared on Thursday that the CIA 'was probably behind' former President John F. Kennedy's assassination after revealing he was asked not to release files related to JFK during his first term as president."
Are You Better Off Now Than You Were Four Years Ago? Chris Hayes reminded us last night that today -- June 20 -- is the fourth anniversary of Donald Trump's first infamous "super-spreader" rally. Politico (Oct. 31, 2020): "... Donald Trump's campaign rallies between June and September may have caused some 30,000 coronavirus infections and more than 700 deaths, according to a new study by Stanford University economists." One victim of the June 20, 2020, rally "which saw at least eight Trump advance team staffers in attendance test positive for coronavirus,' was Herman Cain, a former GOP candidate for president, who died in late July 2020. "He was a very special person, and I got to know him very well," [Trump] said, "And unfortunately he passed away from a thing called the China virus." (Also linked yesterday.)
Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a tax on foreign income that helped finance the tax cuts ... Donald J. Trump imposed in 2017 in a case that many experts had cautioned could undercut the nation's tax system. The vote was 7 to 2, with Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh writing the majority opinion. He was joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., and the court's three liberals. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote a concurring opinion, joined by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., and Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, joined by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch.... In the majority opinion, Justice Kavanaugh wrote that the tax fell within the authority of Congress under the Constitution. Many tax experts had warned that striking down the tax could have wide repercussions. Such a move could have threatened to fundamentally change how income is defined, block efforts to tax billionaires' wealth and undermine enforcement for all sorts of other taxes, which amount to billions in revenue for the government." A CNN report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: My question: does Gorsuch earn an all-expenses-paid luxury vacation for siding with Clarence & the Billionaires?
Amy Howe of ScotusBlog: "The [Supreme C]ourt handed a win to a former-city council member in Texas on Thursday, clearing the way for her federal civil rights claim to move forward. Sylvia Gonzalez contends that her 2019 arrest on charges that she had tampered with government records came in retaliation for her criticism of the city manager in Castle Hills, Tex. In a brief unsigned opinion, the justices reinstated Gonzalez's claim after a federal appeals court had thrown it out, holding that the lower court had applied an 'overly cramped' reading of its caselaw. Gonzalez, who is 76 years old and the first Hispanic woman elected to the city council in Castle Hills, was charged in 2019 with violating a state law that makes it a crime to intentionally tamper with government records after she placed a petition that she had initiated, criticizing the city manager, in her binder. Gonzalez says that she accidentally picked up the petition after a long meeting. She spent the day in jail and eventually left the council."
Justice Thomas’s revised financial disclosures still don’t reflect all the gifts he’s received.
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) June 20, 2024
And we aren’t just missing one or two. pic.twitter.com/n41aUICZX4
~~~~~~~~~~
California. Lara Korte & Melanie Mason of Politico: "Federal agents raided the home of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao Thursday morning, according to the Department of Justice, witnesses and reports from local media. Thao is facing a recall vote amid a crime wave and municipal fiscal challenges.... Thao was escorted out of her home by agents, [a neighbor said]."
Florida. Josh Margolin of ABC News: "A former top law enforcement official in Florida is accusing Gov. Ron DeSantis and his top aides of forcing him to retire after he refused to carry out orders he says were illegal or inappropriate, according to a lawsuit filed overnight. Shane Desguin, a career employee of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, rose to become the agency's chief of staff. He alleges his retirement in November was actually a 'wrongful termination' and was the result of him blowing the whistle on a host of issues, including violations of state public records laws, illegal orders to arrest demonstrators without probable cause and directives to obtain photos and personal information of migrants flown to the Sunshine State without legal justification."
Michigan. AP: "Police arrested a Republican lawmaker early Thursday while responding to reports of possible gunshots in Michigan's capital city [Lansing], authorities said. Rep. Neil Friske was arrested 'for a felony-level offense' around 2:45 a.m., Lansing police spokesperson Jordan Gulkis said.... A statement on [Friske's] campaign's Facebook page said 'Rep Friske is always exercising his 2nd Amendment right.'" MB: Yes, of course he is. It's about 2:45 am here, so I think I'll just step outside and shoot something because I'm always exercising my 2nd Amendment right.
~~~~~~~~~~
Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "Mark Rutte, the departing prime minister of the Netherlands who has guided more than $3 billion in Dutch military support to Ukraine since 2022, on Thursday clinched the last assurance he needed to become NATO's next secretary general. On Thursday, President Klaus Iohannis of Romania dropped his bid to lead NATO, making it all but certain that Mr. Rutte, 57, would be formally elected to a four-year term at the helm of the Atlantic alliance. That could take place as soon as next week, ahead of a high-level NATO summit in Washington in July. The Netherlands is a founding member, and Mr. Rutte would be the fourth Dutch official to become the organization's top diplomat." (Also linked yesterday.)
Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here.
Russia/North Korea. Paul Sonne of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia directly warned the United States and its allies that he is willing to arm North Korea if they continue to supply Kyiv with sophisticated weapons that have struck Russian territory, raising the stakes for the Western powers backing Ukraine. Mr. Putin made the threat in comments to reporters traveling with him late Thursday in Vietnam before he flew home to Russia after a trip there and to North Korea. He had made a similar, though significantly less overt, threat a day earlier in Pyongyang, where he revived a Cold War-era mutual defense pact with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un. The pact requires each nation to provide military assistance to the other 'with all means at its disposal' in the event of an attack."
Vatican. Anthony Faiola & Stefano Pitrelli of the Washington Post: "Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former Vatican ambassador to the United States and the pope's most ardent internal critic..., has called Pope Francis a liberal 'servant of Satan,' demanded his resignation and suggested the Vatican's Swiss Guards arrest the 87-year-old pontiff. Now, after receiving years of withering verbal attacks, Francis appears to have struck back against ... Viganò.... The Vatican's disciplinary body, the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a formal decree, made public by Viganò on Thursday, assigning the senior cleric to a penal canon trial. The charges: the 'crime of schism' and 'denial of the legitimacy of Pope Francis.' Such trials are exceedingly rare, and the move underscores a recent effort by the Vatican to take more formal action against a gaggle of archconservatives who have sought to undermine Francis's papacy from the inside. Conviction could lead to Viganò's defrocking and excommunication." (Also linked yesterday.)
News Ledes
Murder at the Mad Butcher. New York Times: "Three people were killed and 10 others injured in a shooting on Friday morning at a grocery store in Fordyce, Ark., the police said. A shooter opened fire at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce in Central Arkansas about 11:30 a.m., the Arkansas State Police said in a statement. The shooter, whose name was not released, was shot by the police and injured before being taken into custody, the police said.... The officers had injuries that were not life-threatening. Mike Hagar, the director of Arkansas State Police, said at a news conference that the shooter's injury was not life-threatening."
New York Times: "Almost 100 million people across the United States spent the first day of summer on Thursday sweltering in temperatures that topped 90 degrees, as meteorologists warned that the high-pressure system that scorched the country for the past four days would linger through the weekend in many places. The heat shattered temperature records and altered daily routines from the Midwest river valleys to the pine forests of New England, and left roughly one-third of Americans under extreme heat advisories, warnings or watches on Thursday, according to the National Integrated Heat Health Information System."
Share Article
Reader Comments (15)
RFK, Jr’s unhinged call for CNN debate moderators to be jailed because he will be unable to spout his fringe-fried nonsense during a presidential debate is the perfect QED for his not being allowed to lead so much as a bowling team. One worm infested brain on that stage is more than enough.
Buh-bye, now.
Is this what too close a study of the Ten Commandments leads to....
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-really-said-religion-is-such-a-great-thing-theres-something-to-be-good-about/
Since Alito's godless comment and Louisiana's recent legislative silliness, I've been thinking a writing a religion piece for the local paper...If and when I do get to it, will surely have to include this priceless bit of theology.
John Oliver on Trump's second term
Ken, thanks for the Summa Theologica from Dunce Potus. Of course religion must be transactional: be good, go to heaven. Be bad, go to hell.
Unless you believe in predestination. Then your works will not save you. Life's a bitch and then you die. You won't know if you are "saved" until later. Oops! Too late.
But, if you roll with the Faith of Our Fathers (Irish Catholicism), you can live a pretty up-and-down life, as long as you do at least three things:
1. Get baptized
2. Make the 9 First Fridays
3. Go to confession just before you join the choir eternal
That last one can get tricky. Maybe you can't get into church when you need it (they used to 24-hour walk-in, but are often locked up and unstaffed these days). The on-call priest may be out on all. Whatever. Murphy can get you bad on the last day.
Which is why the nuns made SURE that you did the nine First Fridays when they had you skin and soul during elementary school. For you heathens, if you go to mass and take communion (in a state of grace of course meaning that the nuns marched you to confession Thursday) the first Friday of nine consecutive months, you get a perpetual plenary indulgence, which is like a "get out of purgatory free" card for life in your back pocket. The nuns would explain that you still had to do all the stuff and be good for the rest of your life, but by the fourth grade WE KNEW what "perpetual", "plenary" and "contract" meant. I had some classmates who figured they could stop worrying about sin (but not the law) from then on. And when that faith wavered, you could always go to confession and bingo, a short penance later you are fully reconditioned and buffed like new.
That's how the IRA could stay in business.
So, Dunce Potus thinks religion incentivizes good? Perhaps for some, but for others it allows you to be a horrible person if you can wash away your sin by undergoing the proper rituals. But Donnie has told us that he doesn't think he has ever sinned, so he's good to go anyway.
Bette Midler on Drump n Jesus
Steve Bannon has petitioned the Supremes to keep him out of the slammer (only ten days left now) while his appeal drags on. How many ways are there that the Supremes can use to save this piece of MAGA crap from doing his time?
The arrogance of those who are confident they will be headed to the sky after death is always based on the "factoid" that it is all based on the "Christians'" saying they are washed in the blood of the lamb so that is that! They don't have to "do" anything. So, the entire basis of being saved is that one lies to others or to one's self and therefore Jesus loves you...and only you. To hell with good works. Talk about lazy-- those photos of silly Dumpie sitting at his clean, unencumbered desk, eyes cast down on folded hands and a lot of lumpy old white men with their hands on the shoulders of the old sinner are such phonies. Religion is mostly phony, or looks that way. If it comforts another person, so be it, but leave others (or me) out of it.
Someone wondered yesterday if parochial or other private schools have to also provide the Ten Meanderings in each classroom...? Somehow this hasn't been covered. Can we assume the children in those other schools are already on the road to salvation, so they don't need the Moses directives on the walls? Someone else brought up the fact that Moses is a fictional character, (enhanced by Charleton Heston and Cecil B. DeMille) so it's all made up. That's a good reason to stay away from forcing people to pay attention to religious organizations at all.
Schools don't have to put the ten commandments on their walls.
Just put a big picture of Donald the Dunce with the quote "Don't
do anything this fucker did." A picture is worth a thousand words.
Patrick,
A brilliant picture of the memories many of those one time Catholic boys still have. Thanks.
Made me think of many things from my own youth....which I have recently come to apply to a more contemporary scene.
Those purchased indulgences that launched Protestantism had me thinking that Mellon's recent gift of $50 million to the Pretender's campaign that singlehandedly pushed him past Biden's fund-raising total is a perfect example of the indulgence get-out-of-jail-free scam updated.
There's a lot of that going around.
I thought they hated Hollywood…
Soooo…this Ten Commandments thing in the State of Stupid, er, I mean Louisiana…
As Marie pointed out, and others similarly knowledgeable in the realm of Biblical scholarship, there is no one definitive version of the Ten Commandments. There are variations in translations and even a few extra rules that never made the final edits of the early bibles, notably “Thou shalt not short sheet Moses’ Bed”, and “Pull My Finger Jokes Displease the Lord”. I think I read that in an early draft of Milton’s “Paradise Lost”, pull my finger jokes were particular favorites of Lucifer. After being taken in one too many times. God decided that was it, and threw his ass out of heaven. So all the evil in the world is the direct result of sixth grade fart jokes.
But I digress…
Back to the Ten Doohickeys.
It’s the early 50’s. Hollywood is sweating bullets over TV taking over. CB DeMille says “Hang on, boys, we got this new Cinerama ultra wide screen thing going, right? How ‘bout we remake my silent film ‘The Ten Commandments’?” Now biblical themed films back in silent film days were made before the Hays Office was around to censor naughty bits, so biblical epics were the perfect vehicle for depicting scenes of salacious debauchery showing nearly naked slave girls prancing around and “evil” types indulging in drunken orgies, ya know, just to show moviegoers what “not to do” (wink-wink), and guarantee good box office.
But by the 50’s, that stuff was right out. Mostly.
Anyway, now CB has to decide on the text for the Ten Doohickeys. Bibles are no help. What to do? Well, there’s always the tried and true Hollywood solution of bringing in script consultants. But who?
CB decided to call up a group called the FOE…the Fraternal Order of Eagles. The FOE began life in 1898, created by a group of theater owners and entertainment types. Early meetings were centered around kegs of beer. Eventually, they devised the PR idea of doing “good deeds”. By the 1950’s, the FOE had grown considerably (both Roosevelt presidents had been members), and even better, membership was tightly controlled: no Commies, and no nigras. Only whites. Perfect for the right-wing 50’s.
So this is the group that came up with the wording that is being used in Louisiana. So when Gov. Jeffy sez he’s goin’ back to ‘riginal law giver, he means Charlton Heston.
Sooo…it’s the Ten Commandments, Hollywood version.
The whole thing is a farce. It’s more owning the libs. When Landry says he can’t wait to get sued, that gives the game away, he doesn’t give a shit about rule of law or education or anything even vaguely resembling moral teachings. He wants to be the next MAGA superstar.
It’s hold my beer. Now in Cinerama. Or should that be Sinersma?
Pull my finger.
Patrick,
You guys went to confession on Thursdays? For us it was Saturday (Friday during Lent). I guess the idea was if you went on Saturday afternoon, you’d only have a few hours left to blacken your soul before Mass on Sunday morning. 11 year old kids could do a lot of sinning between Thursday and Sunday. Little bastards.
AK: I think it was Jimmy Buffet who said "It's a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning".
Bobby Lee,
Ha! Ain’t it the truth? I guess if were pounding margaritas at 11, it’d be even thinner. Either that or we’d be asleep sooner.
Republicans want to keep Trump's criminal convictions in the news.
Guardian
"Missouri attorney general to sue New York over Trump prosecutions
Andrew Bailey’s lawsuit targets New York attorney general and Manhattan DA, who both secured Trump convictions
The Missouri attorney general, Andrew Bailey, has confirmed that he is suing the state of New York for election interference and wrongful prosecution for bringing the Stormy Daniels hush-money case to a trial that saw Donald Trump convicted of 34 felonies.
Bailey, a Republican politician appointed by Missouri’s governor, Mike Parson, last year, said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that he would be filing a lawsuit “against the State of New York for their direct attack on our democratic process through unconstitutional lawfare against President Trump”."
Ukraine
"US to redirect Patriot air defence orders to Ukraine
Interceptor missiles destined for other countries will be diverted to help Kyiv protect cities and critical infrastructure
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour.
https://www.ft.com/content/89fe9d6b-3a0f-42a5-af50-cff7f457a126
The US is pausing the delivery of Patriot interceptor missiles to other nations so it can fast-track orders for Ukraine to bolster its air defences against Russian attacks.
US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Thursday confirmed that the US had made the “difficult but necessary decision” to prioritise delivering Patriot and NASAM missiles to Ukraine, delaying deliveries to other countries that had purchased them so that Kyiv can maintain its stockpiles “at a key moment in the war”."