Seeing the oligarchic leadership at the NYT convinced me to cancel my subscription to the NYT. I am glad to have done so. Even though I still see them in my inbox, I just delete them now. Not even the puzzles tempt me because I cannot stand the publication. As for the Supreme Court, I assume they are waiting to see whether Treacherous-treasonous-tantruming-traitor-Trump will win the election. Of course if he wins, it won't be with a majority of the population supporting him. His crazies and the opportunistic wealthy will be supporting a system of gerrymandering and removing voters from the polls. It is good that all of these nasty tactics are out in the open, though as this latest case in NYC shows, the level of dirty deeds he has sunk to are probably mostly hidden from us. For example, I attended a Big Tent speaker series last night, where Katie Couric interviewd Anne Applebaum. Anne is a brilliant woman whom I admire a lot. She was saying that Russia is prolonging the war with Ukraine in part because of the promise of Trump's return and what that will mean for Europe. She did not spell it out but certainly implied WWIII. That is if you include the countries in NATO, Ukraine and those aligned with Russia, whom she says are very actively supporting Trump with a disinformation campaign. That includes Russia, Iran, China, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. These countries are very actively setting up their Bots to influence the election. We should be doing the same thing in their elections. It is time we fight technological fire with fire. While she did not say that we should or should not force a sale of TikTok, she did say that they are clearly a vehicle for China to gather intel on our population and influence them! A no brainer for a thinking person. She said a lot more like that Biden's support for Israel is nuanced in ways that most people don't understand. I can see that too. It is not a black and white situation for our global political diplomacy, even if it is for many Americans. So, I continue to say, my slogan for this campaign is "We Do Better With Biden!"
As a lawyer for over 40 years, I was numb listening to the men on our SCOTUS entertaining the notion that an American president can use his power to stage a coup without fear of any consequence other than impeachment. It doesn't bother them that such a POTUS would know for sure that no member of the House of Representatives would ever support articles or impeachment against such a POTUS. And Trump has shown himself completely and openly willing to be such a POTUS. It's not even hypothetical, for heaven's sake.
According to Jessica Craven (ChopWood/CarryWater), there are three major bills that need attention.
Contact your Senator and say something like:
"I want the Senator to support rebalancing the Court by co-sponsoring S. 1616 the Judiciary Act of 2023. I also want him/her to co-sponsor S. 359 the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act. We also need term limits, so please ask the Senator to support S.3096, the Supreme Court Biennial Appointments and Term Limits Act of 2023. Please ask the Senator to make court reform a top priority. Thanks."
Contact your Congressmember and say something like:
"I want the Congressmember to support rebalancing the Court by co-sponsoring HR 3422 the Judiciary Act of 2023. I also want him/her to support HR 926 the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act. We also need term limits, so please ask the Congressmember to support H.R.4423, the Supreme Court Term Limits and Regular Appointments Act of 2023. Please ask the Congressmember to make court reform a top priority. Thanks."
Today I heard 5 men dressed in black bending over backwards in a convoluted limbo to get below a bar to prove a president is indeed above the law . They grasped at straws to make up facts to try to fit the objective they wanted to accomplish. i.e, aiding and abetting a rogue potus.Their incoherent questioning and ramblings made everyone who listened to it dumber. I award them no points and may God have mercy on their souls.
1. The Supreme Court is illegitimate because it has chosen to be a political body. However inappropriate and unfair McConnell's selection process was, the members of the Court could choose how to behavior once they were on the job. They have life tenure, after all. Sadly, they have interfered in the 2024 presidential election and will probably have further opportunities to extend that interference. Nevertheless, Democrats can and should win this election. Alvin Bragg appears to be beyond the Supreme Court's reach while Donald Trump is not.
2. The bit about AG Sulzberger is shocking. (Not quite as shocking as the failure of the Court to be shocked by an easy discussion of assassinations, but......) New York City needs another, non-tabloid newspaper. Instead, I turn to the internet -- the Guardian, the Boston Globe. Democrats can overcome the NY Times, too. Another Biden presidency, a Democratic House, and a Democratic Senate can cure what ails us.
3. Kristin Hook sounds interesting. Does she have any chance at all to defeat Chip Roy? I love it that Pennsylvania Democrats have nominated someone for the state's 10th Congressional district, former television anchor Janelle Stelson who can defeat Republican incumbent Scott Perry --quite possibly the worst Congressional offender and participant in Trump's effort to overturn the election.
When Democrats realize that we’re in an all out war against our Democracy we will have a chance. First Thomas should have been challenged by the Biden DOJ with a motion to recuse him based on his wife’s participation in the crimes alleged in the indictment. The challenge should have been on papers publicly filed laying out her possible criminal participation; and it should have been done on oral argument. All of the justices should have been shamed into doing something about what is clearly a corrupt justice. Second, when Gorsuch and Co said they weren’t interested in the case but in the future, they should have been reminded that the court is only able to decide cases and controversies, one of which is the indictment of Trump which alleges crimes committed for personal reasons. Third, Smith’s counsel should have reminded the court that Bush v Gore was decided one day after oral argument and that any delay in this case would poison the voters against the Court and the Republican Party. And finally, Special Counsel Smith should plan on asking for an immediate hearing in the District Court to establish that the crimes alleged in the indictment were personal crimes committed to preserve Trump’s power as President when he knew he had lost a fair and square election. A public hearing before the election will serve the same purpose as a trial. It will allow the voters to judge the candidates based on all the facts available. The witnesses that testified under oath at the Jan 6 Committee hearings can do so again. Let Trump try and cross examine them and see where it gets him. Trump is an existential threat to our way of life. He must be locked up and his ill gotten gains taken away from him.
I have not had a lot of time to read or share with all of you but today is luxurious so hello and thank you Robert! I agree about your comments to Peter Baker. We have no equal-sided match in this election. Trump is an anomaly and is dangerous, unfit for any office and cannot be treated fairly to Biden on any level. It’s like saying Charles Manson should be fairly compared to and given equal coverage to benevolent Brownie Troop leader. No.
And I agree 100% that this election is the answer and every liberal hearted person just has to set down their personal issue-focus and vote to ensure we don’t get Trump. And in our hearts, many of us know he will come after every liberals…..especially the ones with any presence that can be influential and tracked. Jail for us or worse. His followers have no boundaries and we must believe in their escalation capability. Vote, vote, vote. And keep pushing as hard as we can for issues that matter but push good, solid, sane elected officials. Not criminal-minded deviants.
I’m so thankful for Robert’s summaries and for this community of Americans.
From HCR, "Constitutional law professor Anthony Michael Kreis ... found it '[u]nbelievable that Supreme Court justices who see forgiving student loans, mandating vaccines, and regulating climate change as a slippery slope toward tyranny were not clear-eyed on questions of whether a president could execute citizens or stage a coup without being prosecuted.'”
There are three major damages Trump inflicted on this country that we need to remind people of everyday. He mishandled and lied about the COVID pandemic for political reasons and close to a million people died many of whom might have been saved. Secondly he masterminded and encouraged the overthrow of our government. Finally he stacked the Supreme Court which resulted among other things in stripping women of their reproductive rights and freedoms as well as a disregard for the Constitution and precedent law. Voters need a reason to vote for Biden and these are three of the best reasons I can think of. We can’t let people forget. Many readers like myself are frustrated by the SCOTUS and feel helpless about being able to do anything about it. The Biden Administration needs to show us a path on how to remedy this situation.
In the 1830s, President Andrew Jackson said, “Justice Marshal has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” That revealed the limit of the court’s power: it is entirely based on the court’s credibility. The reactionaries on today’s court are so extreme that they test the idea that people ought to follow their dictates. They threaten the legitimacy of their institution, and by doing so threaten the rule of law itself.
Far-right wing leader Wilders from the Netherlands is invited, I repeat invited, at a CPAC event in Hungary by Orban. At the CPAC event in the US Bannon was speaker. Dear friends for democracy, we must hold each other's hands, spread the word, bring out the votes and don't allow them to divide us.
Just HOW is any judge supposed to do "pre-trial fact finding." There is no evidence before him of what the facts are. Just allegations. I would say that the only response of a judge is to say "OK, once there is a trial I'll do fact finding--or let the jury do the fact finding under instructions that comply with your rule, and then in light of your "rule" decide whether the there was sufficient evidence for their verdict."
Any decision that a trial court has to decide facts before hearing the evidence is indeed a fatal blow to our system. It obliterates the entire jury system and the entire concept of "trier of fact." Clearly the liberal justices know that and are going to argue strenuously that point in their conferences. I would say if 5 justices decide that judges can rule on facts without evidence, the grounds for impeachment are sitting right there.
The burden is already on the prosecutor to prove that there a) was a conspiracy to b) commit a crime. Without saying that a president is immune fully from prosecution for committing crimes, I don't see how anyone can that even IF they prove he committed a crime, he is immune. The prosecution ALREADY, for example, has to prove that the elector scheme was more than just providing for alternates. The defense is perfectly free to argue that it wasn't.
As you note, yesterday was a gut punch. To me it felt unexpected, though it should have been apparent when the SC decided to review the court of appeals verdict that they were determined to serve trump with a delay.
I’ve been considering canceling my NYT subscription for the last year- after 50 years- but yesterday decided me. What a twit Sulzberger is!
I expect Robert’s Substack will be blowing up with comments. My outrage is palpable. A case that never should have been heard, but which seemed to be so obvious, is stunningly debated in an absurd theatre. The fact that even non-lawyers know that a case needs to be considered on the facts in front of it, not the past and not the hypothetical future seems to have been ignored by the highest justices in the nation. It is beyond outrageous. And one more thing to add to the many more burdens that we need to overcome. I’m exhausted. But I know what we need to do.
I thoroughly back Robert and others in increasing the number of Supreme Court judges.
The 7 are far from representative of our country and the breadth of its citizens.
Also, Ivy league law schools should not be the primary source of candidates.
Seeing the oligarchic leadership at the NYT convinced me to cancel my subscription to the NYT. I am glad to have done so. Even though I still see them in my inbox, I just delete them now. Not even the puzzles tempt me because I cannot stand the publication. As for the Supreme Court, I assume they are waiting to see whether Treacherous-treasonous-tantruming-traitor-Trump will win the election. Of course if he wins, it won't be with a majority of the population supporting him. His crazies and the opportunistic wealthy will be supporting a system of gerrymandering and removing voters from the polls. It is good that all of these nasty tactics are out in the open, though as this latest case in NYC shows, the level of dirty deeds he has sunk to are probably mostly hidden from us. For example, I attended a Big Tent speaker series last night, where Katie Couric interviewd Anne Applebaum. Anne is a brilliant woman whom I admire a lot. She was saying that Russia is prolonging the war with Ukraine in part because of the promise of Trump's return and what that will mean for Europe. She did not spell it out but certainly implied WWIII. That is if you include the countries in NATO, Ukraine and those aligned with Russia, whom she says are very actively supporting Trump with a disinformation campaign. That includes Russia, Iran, China, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. These countries are very actively setting up their Bots to influence the election. We should be doing the same thing in their elections. It is time we fight technological fire with fire. While she did not say that we should or should not force a sale of TikTok, she did say that they are clearly a vehicle for China to gather intel on our population and influence them! A no brainer for a thinking person. She said a lot more like that Biden's support for Israel is nuanced in ways that most people don't understand. I can see that too. It is not a black and white situation for our global political diplomacy, even if it is for many Americans. So, I continue to say, my slogan for this campaign is "We Do Better With Biden!"
As a lawyer for over 40 years, I was numb listening to the men on our SCOTUS entertaining the notion that an American president can use his power to stage a coup without fear of any consequence other than impeachment. It doesn't bother them that such a POTUS would know for sure that no member of the House of Representatives would ever support articles or impeachment against such a POTUS. And Trump has shown himself completely and openly willing to be such a POTUS. It's not even hypothetical, for heaven's sake.
According to Jessica Craven (ChopWood/CarryWater), there are three major bills that need attention.
Contact your Senator and say something like:
"I want the Senator to support rebalancing the Court by co-sponsoring S. 1616 the Judiciary Act of 2023. I also want him/her to co-sponsor S. 359 the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act. We also need term limits, so please ask the Senator to support S.3096, the Supreme Court Biennial Appointments and Term Limits Act of 2023. Please ask the Senator to make court reform a top priority. Thanks."
Contact your Congressmember and say something like:
"I want the Congressmember to support rebalancing the Court by co-sponsoring HR 3422 the Judiciary Act of 2023. I also want him/her to support HR 926 the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act. We also need term limits, so please ask the Congressmember to support H.R.4423, the Supreme Court Term Limits and Regular Appointments Act of 2023. Please ask the Congressmember to make court reform a top priority. Thanks."
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm?Class=1
Today I heard 5 men dressed in black bending over backwards in a convoluted limbo to get below a bar to prove a president is indeed above the law . They grasped at straws to make up facts to try to fit the objective they wanted to accomplish. i.e, aiding and abetting a rogue potus.Their incoherent questioning and ramblings made everyone who listened to it dumber. I award them no points and may God have mercy on their souls.
1. The Supreme Court is illegitimate because it has chosen to be a political body. However inappropriate and unfair McConnell's selection process was, the members of the Court could choose how to behavior once they were on the job. They have life tenure, after all. Sadly, they have interfered in the 2024 presidential election and will probably have further opportunities to extend that interference. Nevertheless, Democrats can and should win this election. Alvin Bragg appears to be beyond the Supreme Court's reach while Donald Trump is not.
2. The bit about AG Sulzberger is shocking. (Not quite as shocking as the failure of the Court to be shocked by an easy discussion of assassinations, but......) New York City needs another, non-tabloid newspaper. Instead, I turn to the internet -- the Guardian, the Boston Globe. Democrats can overcome the NY Times, too. Another Biden presidency, a Democratic House, and a Democratic Senate can cure what ails us.
3. Kristin Hook sounds interesting. Does she have any chance at all to defeat Chip Roy? I love it that Pennsylvania Democrats have nominated someone for the state's 10th Congressional district, former television anchor Janelle Stelson who can defeat Republican incumbent Scott Perry --quite possibly the worst Congressional offender and participant in Trump's effort to overturn the election.
When Democrats realize that we’re in an all out war against our Democracy we will have a chance. First Thomas should have been challenged by the Biden DOJ with a motion to recuse him based on his wife’s participation in the crimes alleged in the indictment. The challenge should have been on papers publicly filed laying out her possible criminal participation; and it should have been done on oral argument. All of the justices should have been shamed into doing something about what is clearly a corrupt justice. Second, when Gorsuch and Co said they weren’t interested in the case but in the future, they should have been reminded that the court is only able to decide cases and controversies, one of which is the indictment of Trump which alleges crimes committed for personal reasons. Third, Smith’s counsel should have reminded the court that Bush v Gore was decided one day after oral argument and that any delay in this case would poison the voters against the Court and the Republican Party. And finally, Special Counsel Smith should plan on asking for an immediate hearing in the District Court to establish that the crimes alleged in the indictment were personal crimes committed to preserve Trump’s power as President when he knew he had lost a fair and square election. A public hearing before the election will serve the same purpose as a trial. It will allow the voters to judge the candidates based on all the facts available. The witnesses that testified under oath at the Jan 6 Committee hearings can do so again. Let Trump try and cross examine them and see where it gets him. Trump is an existential threat to our way of life. He must be locked up and his ill gotten gains taken away from him.
Hello All,
I have not had a lot of time to read or share with all of you but today is luxurious so hello and thank you Robert! I agree about your comments to Peter Baker. We have no equal-sided match in this election. Trump is an anomaly and is dangerous, unfit for any office and cannot be treated fairly to Biden on any level. It’s like saying Charles Manson should be fairly compared to and given equal coverage to benevolent Brownie Troop leader. No.
And I agree 100% that this election is the answer and every liberal hearted person just has to set down their personal issue-focus and vote to ensure we don’t get Trump. And in our hearts, many of us know he will come after every liberals…..especially the ones with any presence that can be influential and tracked. Jail for us or worse. His followers have no boundaries and we must believe in their escalation capability. Vote, vote, vote. And keep pushing as hard as we can for issues that matter but push good, solid, sane elected officials. Not criminal-minded deviants.
I’m so thankful for Robert’s summaries and for this community of Americans.
From HCR, "Constitutional law professor Anthony Michael Kreis ... found it '[u]nbelievable that Supreme Court justices who see forgiving student loans, mandating vaccines, and regulating climate change as a slippery slope toward tyranny were not clear-eyed on questions of whether a president could execute citizens or stage a coup without being prosecuted.'”
There are three major damages Trump inflicted on this country that we need to remind people of everyday. He mishandled and lied about the COVID pandemic for political reasons and close to a million people died many of whom might have been saved. Secondly he masterminded and encouraged the overthrow of our government. Finally he stacked the Supreme Court which resulted among other things in stripping women of their reproductive rights and freedoms as well as a disregard for the Constitution and precedent law. Voters need a reason to vote for Biden and these are three of the best reasons I can think of. We can’t let people forget. Many readers like myself are frustrated by the SCOTUS and feel helpless about being able to do anything about it. The Biden Administration needs to show us a path on how to remedy this situation.
In the 1830s, President Andrew Jackson said, “Justice Marshal has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” That revealed the limit of the court’s power: it is entirely based on the court’s credibility. The reactionaries on today’s court are so extreme that they test the idea that people ought to follow their dictates. They threaten the legitimacy of their institution, and by doing so threaten the rule of law itself.
Far-right wing leader Wilders from the Netherlands is invited, I repeat invited, at a CPAC event in Hungary by Orban. At the CPAC event in the US Bannon was speaker. Dear friends for democracy, we must hold each other's hands, spread the word, bring out the votes and don't allow them to divide us.
https://newrepublic.com/article/179287/cpac-2024-trump-steve-bannon-fascism
Just HOW is any judge supposed to do "pre-trial fact finding." There is no evidence before him of what the facts are. Just allegations. I would say that the only response of a judge is to say "OK, once there is a trial I'll do fact finding--or let the jury do the fact finding under instructions that comply with your rule, and then in light of your "rule" decide whether the there was sufficient evidence for their verdict."
Any decision that a trial court has to decide facts before hearing the evidence is indeed a fatal blow to our system. It obliterates the entire jury system and the entire concept of "trier of fact." Clearly the liberal justices know that and are going to argue strenuously that point in their conferences. I would say if 5 justices decide that judges can rule on facts without evidence, the grounds for impeachment are sitting right there.
The burden is already on the prosecutor to prove that there a) was a conspiracy to b) commit a crime. Without saying that a president is immune fully from prosecution for committing crimes, I don't see how anyone can that even IF they prove he committed a crime, he is immune. The prosecution ALREADY, for example, has to prove that the elector scheme was more than just providing for alternates. The defense is perfectly free to argue that it wasn't.
As you note, yesterday was a gut punch. To me it felt unexpected, though it should have been apparent when the SC decided to review the court of appeals verdict that they were determined to serve trump with a delay.
I’ve been considering canceling my NYT subscription for the last year- after 50 years- but yesterday decided me. What a twit Sulzberger is!
Regarding the Republicans on the Supreme Court. Hillary's word still stands.....Deplorable.
I expect Robert’s Substack will be blowing up with comments. My outrage is palpable. A case that never should have been heard, but which seemed to be so obvious, is stunningly debated in an absurd theatre. The fact that even non-lawyers know that a case needs to be considered on the facts in front of it, not the past and not the hypothetical future seems to have been ignored by the highest justices in the nation. It is beyond outrageous. And one more thing to add to the many more burdens that we need to overcome. I’m exhausted. But I know what we need to do.