As when we experience a cloudy day, we know the sun is still there but only obscured by darkness. Our work to protect our country's democratic values isn't always a sunny walk in the park, but a dark journey that demands we believe in brighter days and the return to the light. Believing is the operative word.
The Civics Center is a wonderful organization doing the important work of engaging new young voters. I donate money to them because I don’t know many young people any longer, and this is a good way for me to help get them involved.
That is why I'm working on this fundraiser. Even if we did know young people, we wouldn't know enough of them. The Civics Center can get to lots more of them! And the more money they can raise, the more young voters they can register! Thanks to you for donating and for any other readers of this newsletters who did when they saw the info! And thank you Robert for including it! https://secure.everyaction.com/FUfrCQiFbUG7_0lFl0gzcg2
Nail on the head: no kicks and giggles for Judge Cannon! Glad to see No Labels and RFK slither away after being exposed to sunlight. Final metaphor: vote whether the sun shines or not, no matter what the pollsters scream.
I still think Cannon is biased. She should never have accepted jurisdiction after her humiliation in the first case by the 11th Circuit. I know that Judge Pryor dismissed the grievances under the judicial disqualification Judicial Conference procedure in December 2022, but that was before she accepted jurisdiction in the second case. At a minimum she should have had to be voir dired on a motion to recuse. Need only the appearance of bias. Here's the rules:
28 USC 144: Bias or prejudice of a judge:
Whenever a party to any proceeding in a district court makes and files a timely and sufficient affidavit that the judge before whom the matter is pending has a personal bias or prejudice either against him or in favor of any adverse party, such judge shall proceed no further therein, but another judge shall be assigned to hear such proceeding.
The affidavit shall state the facts and the reasons for the belief that bias or prejudice exists, and shall be filed not less than ten days before the beginning of the term at which the proceeding is to be heard, or good cause shall be shown for failure to file it within such time. A party may file only one such affidavit in any case. It shall be accompanied by a certificate of counsel of record stating that it is made in good faith.
8 U.S. Code § 455 - Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate judge
(a)Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
(b)He shall also disqualify himself in the following circumstances:
(1)Where he has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding;
(2)Where in private practice he served as lawyer in the matter in controversy, or a lawyer with whom he previously practiced law served during such association as a lawyer concerning the matter, or the judge or such lawyer has been a material witness concerning it;
(3)Where he has served in governmental employment and in such capacity participated as counsel, adviser or material witness concerning the proceeding or expressed an opinion concerning the merits of the particular case in controversy;
(4)He knows that he, individually or as a fiduciary, or his spouse or minor child residing in his household, has a financial interest in the subject matter in controversy or in a party to the proceeding, or any other interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding;
(5)He or his spouse, or a person within the third degree of relationship to either of them, or the spouse of such a person:
(i)Is a party to the proceeding, or an officer, director, or trustee of a party;
(ii)Is acting as a lawyer in the proceeding;
(iii)Is known by the judge to have an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding;
(iv)Is to the judge’s knowledge likely to be a material witness in the proceeding.
(c)A judge should inform himself about his personal and fiduciary financial interests, and make a reasonable effort to inform himself about the personal financial interests of his spouse and minor children residing in his household.
(d)For the purposes of this section the following words or phrases shall have the meaning indicated:
(1)“proceeding” includes pretrial, trial, appellate review, or other stages of litigation;
(2)the degree of relationship is calculated according to the civil law system;
(3)“fiduciary” includes such relationships as executor, administrator, trustee, and guardian;
(4)“financial interest” means ownership of a legal or equitable interest, however small, or a relationship as director, adviser, or other active participant in the affairs of a party, except that:
(i)Ownership in a mutual or common investment fund that holds securities is not a “financial interest” in such securities unless the judge participates in the management of the fund;
(ii)An office in an educational, religious, charitable, fraternal, or civic organization is not a “financial interest” in securities held by the organization;
(iii)The proprietary interest of a policyholder in a mutual insurance company, of a depositor in a mutual savings association, or a similar proprietary interest, is a “financial interest” in the organization only if the outcome of the proceeding could substantially affect the value of the interest;
(iv)Ownership of government securities is a “financial interest” in the issuer only if the outcome of the proceeding could substantially affect the value of the securities.
(e)No justice, judge, or magistrate judge shall accept from the parties to the proceeding a waiver of any ground for disqualification enumerated in subsection (b). Where the ground for disqualification arises only under subsection (a), waiver may be accepted provided it is preceded by a full disclosure on the record of the basis for disqualification.
(f)Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this section, if any justice, judge, magistrate judge, or bankruptcy judge to whom a matter has been assigned would be disqualified, after substantial judicial time has been devoted to the matter, because of the appearance or discovery, after the matter was assigned to him or her, that he or she individually or as a fiduciary, or his or her spouse or minor child residing in his or her household, has a financial interest in a party (other than an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome), disqualification is not required if the justice, judge, magistrate judge, bankruptcy judge, spouse or minor child, as the case may be, divests himself or herself of the interest that provides the grounds for the disqualification.
It’s very hard to prove bias by a judge based solely on legal rulings. J. Cannon is obviously biased to you and me, but that may not be enough. Her fellow judges in the SD of Florida basically think she’s an unqualified idiot, so there’s that.
Cannon is in over her head. She was likely under qualified when McConnell put her forward. But she should, at this point, find an agreed way to kick the trial upstairs. Enabling Trump to slide through the double jeopardy door would be gross judicial incompetence.
Let's put ourselves in the shoes of Cannon – even if only for a moment. She is 100% MAGA, bred and put into place by Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society. She probably truly believes that the republic and all the values she adheres to will come to a crushing end if her leader doesn't win in November. And she sees herself in a privileged position to help her leader to clear the judicial hurdles.
Only now her incompetence and lack of experience come into play. In her zest to delay the trial she overplayed her hand and now gives the prosecution the possibility to have the case taken away from her. Waiting until after the seating of a jury she would have lots of opportunities to find a pretext to declare a mistrial.
On March 22, in the journal Atlas Obscura, Roxanne Horn wrote about a 1972 Nova Scotia experience of clouds clearing immediately before an eclipse. She reported on recent research that found a kind of chain reaction: "The eclipse causes changes at ground level, which in turn affects cloud cover. Blocking sunlight cools Earth’s surface. This temperature change slows the rise of warm air and water vapor, which is responsible for cumulus cloud formation. So less sun means lower temperatures on the ground, which leads to fewer clouds."
It apparently takes only a 15% blockage o the sun to trigger these changes. So it is not unusual for the clouds to clear suddenly allowing those who have travelled to, Texas, say, to be able to see an eclipse clouds threatened to obscure. Because the chain reaction only works with some clouds, it is better to be lucky. I am traveling to Burlington Vermont to see the eclipse. Usually cloudy at this time of year, the current prediction for Burlington is for a sunny day -- a sunny day when, at 3:29pm, the sun will be obscured by the moon. I am looking forward to the experience and to that universal understanding that it is good to be lucky.
The election will occur regardless of cloud (or smoke) cover. While the Quadefendant may eclipse President Biden, rest assured that it will be brief, and the sun will return.
This is not a metaphor but something your readers will enjoy. We flew from Maui and are driving to OH to see the eclipse, our third. Clouds can enhance the experience, as we saw on Hawaii Island about 30 years ago -- just like clouds enhance the sunset. And I read that clouds tend to dissipate when the sun stops shining on the earth during totality. But in any case, the eclipse will happen and here's what my friend sent to me:
Consider the dazzling odds: Out of the billions upon billions of possible combinations, a planet whose sole satellite is exactly 400 times smaller than its star and exactly 400 times closer, so that each time it passes between the two, it covers the face of the star perfectly, thrusting the planet into midday night, into something surreal and sublime.
Randomness seems too small a word for the staggering improbability that is a total solar eclipse. We may call it wonder. We may call it mystery. We may just fall silent before its brutal beauty, the way it presses consciousness against the gun barrel of time. Totality transported Virginia Woolf to “the birth of the world.” Annie Dillard saw in its almost unbearable strangeness a lens on “our complex and inexplicable caring for each other, and for our life together here.” Maria Mitchell, traveling fifteen hundred miles in her Quaker gown to lead an eclipse expedition of the world’s first women astronomers, was stunned by the “inky blackness” and the flowerlike prominences around the Sun’s disc and the silver streamers its corona sent “millions of miles into space” — tendrils of the majesty and mystery of nature, touching for a blink of time the depths of human nature with raw transcendence.
"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"
If the moon passes between the sun and us, causing a solar eclipse, but we can’t see it due to cloud cover…
I think I’m barking up the wrong tree.
Not sure if we’re looking for real life metaphors of what we’re living through on the political scene or maybe one that relates to weather…
The eclipse? Of course, it’s going to happen, whether we can see it or not. Maybe we’re talking about the massive support in our nation of a population that will reject Trump because of all he and the GOP stand for and so… Trump and the GOP dominate the news with all their obstructions , like a cloud cover, while meanwhile, the grassroots organizations and more are busy making sure the outcome of the 2024 presidential election is one that favors the well-being of the population at large… The reelection of President Joe Biden, the Biden-Harris ticket!
We might feel as if we’re under a cloud today because of the barrage of Trump news, but he will be defeated and Democracy will triumph in November. I have no doubt 🤩
As when we experience a cloudy day, we know the sun is still there but only obscured by darkness. Our work to protect our country's democratic values isn't always a sunny walk in the park, but a dark journey that demands we believe in brighter days and the return to the light. Believing is the operative word.
Rebecca nailed it!
In spite of all the distraction and noise, there WILL be an election in November. Let us be preprepared!
Regardless of the clouds created by the polls, if we travel the hard road of effort we will be rewarded with the election results we are working for.
No complacency for us!!
You win a few, you lose a few and some you get rained out. But you dress for every game.
The Civics Center is a wonderful organization doing the important work of engaging new young voters. I donate money to them because I don’t know many young people any longer, and this is a good way for me to help get them involved.
That is why I'm working on this fundraiser. Even if we did know young people, we wouldn't know enough of them. The Civics Center can get to lots more of them! And the more money they can raise, the more young voters they can register! Thanks to you for donating and for any other readers of this newsletters who did when they saw the info! And thank you Robert for including it! https://secure.everyaction.com/FUfrCQiFbUG7_0lFl0gzcg2
Thank you!
I tried to register but.....
the link works, please try again https://secure.everyaction.com/FUfrCQiFbUG7_0lFl0gzcg2
Nail on the head: no kicks and giggles for Judge Cannon! Glad to see No Labels and RFK slither away after being exposed to sunlight. Final metaphor: vote whether the sun shines or not, no matter what the pollsters scream.
I still think Cannon is biased. She should never have accepted jurisdiction after her humiliation in the first case by the 11th Circuit. I know that Judge Pryor dismissed the grievances under the judicial disqualification Judicial Conference procedure in December 2022, but that was before she accepted jurisdiction in the second case. At a minimum she should have had to be voir dired on a motion to recuse. Need only the appearance of bias. Here's the rules:
28 USC 144: Bias or prejudice of a judge:
Whenever a party to any proceeding in a district court makes and files a timely and sufficient affidavit that the judge before whom the matter is pending has a personal bias or prejudice either against him or in favor of any adverse party, such judge shall proceed no further therein, but another judge shall be assigned to hear such proceeding.
The affidavit shall state the facts and the reasons for the belief that bias or prejudice exists, and shall be filed not less than ten days before the beginning of the term at which the proceeding is to be heard, or good cause shall be shown for failure to file it within such time. A party may file only one such affidavit in any case. It shall be accompanied by a certificate of counsel of record stating that it is made in good faith.
8 U.S. Code § 455 - Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate judge
(a)Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
(b)He shall also disqualify himself in the following circumstances:
(1)Where he has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding;
(2)Where in private practice he served as lawyer in the matter in controversy, or a lawyer with whom he previously practiced law served during such association as a lawyer concerning the matter, or the judge or such lawyer has been a material witness concerning it;
(3)Where he has served in governmental employment and in such capacity participated as counsel, adviser or material witness concerning the proceeding or expressed an opinion concerning the merits of the particular case in controversy;
(4)He knows that he, individually or as a fiduciary, or his spouse or minor child residing in his household, has a financial interest in the subject matter in controversy or in a party to the proceeding, or any other interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding;
(5)He or his spouse, or a person within the third degree of relationship to either of them, or the spouse of such a person:
(i)Is a party to the proceeding, or an officer, director, or trustee of a party;
(ii)Is acting as a lawyer in the proceeding;
(iii)Is known by the judge to have an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding;
(iv)Is to the judge’s knowledge likely to be a material witness in the proceeding.
(c)A judge should inform himself about his personal and fiduciary financial interests, and make a reasonable effort to inform himself about the personal financial interests of his spouse and minor children residing in his household.
(d)For the purposes of this section the following words or phrases shall have the meaning indicated:
(1)“proceeding” includes pretrial, trial, appellate review, or other stages of litigation;
(2)the degree of relationship is calculated according to the civil law system;
(3)“fiduciary” includes such relationships as executor, administrator, trustee, and guardian;
(4)“financial interest” means ownership of a legal or equitable interest, however small, or a relationship as director, adviser, or other active participant in the affairs of a party, except that:
(i)Ownership in a mutual or common investment fund that holds securities is not a “financial interest” in such securities unless the judge participates in the management of the fund;
(ii)An office in an educational, religious, charitable, fraternal, or civic organization is not a “financial interest” in securities held by the organization;
(iii)The proprietary interest of a policyholder in a mutual insurance company, of a depositor in a mutual savings association, or a similar proprietary interest, is a “financial interest” in the organization only if the outcome of the proceeding could substantially affect the value of the interest;
(iv)Ownership of government securities is a “financial interest” in the issuer only if the outcome of the proceeding could substantially affect the value of the securities.
(e)No justice, judge, or magistrate judge shall accept from the parties to the proceeding a waiver of any ground for disqualification enumerated in subsection (b). Where the ground for disqualification arises only under subsection (a), waiver may be accepted provided it is preceded by a full disclosure on the record of the basis for disqualification.
(f)Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this section, if any justice, judge, magistrate judge, or bankruptcy judge to whom a matter has been assigned would be disqualified, after substantial judicial time has been devoted to the matter, because of the appearance or discovery, after the matter was assigned to him or her, that he or she individually or as a fiduciary, or his or her spouse or minor child residing in his or her household, has a financial interest in a party (other than an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome), disqualification is not required if the justice, judge, magistrate judge, bankruptcy judge, spouse or minor child, as the case may be, divests himself or herself of the interest that provides the grounds for the disqualification.
Very helpful. Thanks!
It’s very hard to prove bias by a judge based solely on legal rulings. J. Cannon is obviously biased to you and me, but that may not be enough. Her fellow judges in the SD of Florida basically think she’s an unqualified idiot, so there’s that.
Cannon is in over her head. She was likely under qualified when McConnell put her forward. But she should, at this point, find an agreed way to kick the trial upstairs. Enabling Trump to slide through the double jeopardy door would be gross judicial incompetence.
Let's put ourselves in the shoes of Cannon – even if only for a moment. She is 100% MAGA, bred and put into place by Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society. She probably truly believes that the republic and all the values she adheres to will come to a crushing end if her leader doesn't win in November. And she sees herself in a privileged position to help her leader to clear the judicial hurdles.
Only now her incompetence and lack of experience come into play. In her zest to delay the trial she overplayed her hand and now gives the prosecution the possibility to have the case taken away from her. Waiting until after the seating of a jury she would have lots of opportunities to find a pretext to declare a mistrial.
I'd like to follow her money!
I would really like to see more judges being appointed to these lower courts. DICK DURBIN-LOOKIN AT YOU DUDE!!
IS rfk slithering away? I must have missed that, but it's certainly good news!
Above the clouds, the sky is always clear
Back of the clouds, the sun is always shining… according to the old Methodist (maybe others) hymn. 😉
On March 22, in the journal Atlas Obscura, Roxanne Horn wrote about a 1972 Nova Scotia experience of clouds clearing immediately before an eclipse. She reported on recent research that found a kind of chain reaction: "The eclipse causes changes at ground level, which in turn affects cloud cover. Blocking sunlight cools Earth’s surface. This temperature change slows the rise of warm air and water vapor, which is responsible for cumulus cloud formation. So less sun means lower temperatures on the ground, which leads to fewer clouds."
It apparently takes only a 15% blockage o the sun to trigger these changes. So it is not unusual for the clouds to clear suddenly allowing those who have travelled to, Texas, say, to be able to see an eclipse clouds threatened to obscure. Because the chain reaction only works with some clouds, it is better to be lucky. I am traveling to Burlington Vermont to see the eclipse. Usually cloudy at this time of year, the current prediction for Burlington is for a sunny day -- a sunny day when, at 3:29pm, the sun will be obscured by the moon. I am looking forward to the experience and to that universal understanding that it is good to be lucky.
Very interesting! Thanks!
There's an unseen force which lets birds know when you've just washed your car.
Denis Norden
The election will occur regardless of cloud (or smoke) cover. While the Quadefendant may eclipse President Biden, rest assured that it will be brief, and the sun will return.
This metaphor of yours, Bob, has got my vote! The sun WILL come out tomorrow...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_Dj2aECeA0
(watch the entire clip from the 1982 version. It features President Biden IMO....it is a moment for our times)
The rubber is starting to meet the road now for Trump. Still going to be a bumpy ride ahead.
This is not a metaphor but something your readers will enjoy. We flew from Maui and are driving to OH to see the eclipse, our third. Clouds can enhance the experience, as we saw on Hawaii Island about 30 years ago -- just like clouds enhance the sunset. And I read that clouds tend to dissipate when the sun stops shining on the earth during totality. But in any case, the eclipse will happen and here's what my friend sent to me:
Consider the dazzling odds: Out of the billions upon billions of possible combinations, a planet whose sole satellite is exactly 400 times smaller than its star and exactly 400 times closer, so that each time it passes between the two, it covers the face of the star perfectly, thrusting the planet into midday night, into something surreal and sublime.
Randomness seems too small a word for the staggering improbability that is a total solar eclipse. We may call it wonder. We may call it mystery. We may just fall silent before its brutal beauty, the way it presses consciousness against the gun barrel of time. Totality transported Virginia Woolf to “the birth of the world.” Annie Dillard saw in its almost unbearable strangeness a lens on “our complex and inexplicable caring for each other, and for our life together here.” Maria Mitchell, traveling fifteen hundred miles in her Quaker gown to lead an eclipse expedition of the world’s first women astronomers, was stunned by the “inky blackness” and the flowerlike prominences around the Sun’s disc and the silver streamers its corona sent “millions of miles into space” — tendrils of the majesty and mystery of nature, touching for a blink of time the depths of human nature with raw transcendence.
"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"
If the moon passes between the sun and us, causing a solar eclipse, but we can’t see it due to cloud cover…
I think I’m barking up the wrong tree.
Not sure if we’re looking for real life metaphors of what we’re living through on the political scene or maybe one that relates to weather…
The eclipse? Of course, it’s going to happen, whether we can see it or not. Maybe we’re talking about the massive support in our nation of a population that will reject Trump because of all he and the GOP stand for and so… Trump and the GOP dominate the news with all their obstructions , like a cloud cover, while meanwhile, the grassroots organizations and more are busy making sure the outcome of the 2024 presidential election is one that favors the well-being of the population at large… The reelection of President Joe Biden, the Biden-Harris ticket!
Way too wordy… Just thinking out loud…
I am so grateful to have Robert Hubbell put into words what I feel so strongly in my heart and soul.
We might feel as if we’re under a cloud today because of the barrage of Trump news, but he will be defeated and Democracy will triumph in November. I have no doubt 🤩
Ah, I like games. “If Clouds be like the offal of the horse’s stall, there must be pony in there somewhere”. Best delivered with an Irish brogue