November 13

BANKING ON A FAST CAR TO BE SOMEONE – MAYBE WE MAKE A DEAL

Surprise, surprise…Judge Aileen Cannon has decided that for the present, our former president’s trial for charges of mishandling classified documents, scheduled for March 2024, will not be changed for now. Trump’s whining to get the dates rescheduled for all his trials until after the 2024 election has been dead-ended in all cases. He and his attorneys have been saying they are simply too busy with the complexities of preparation, while being tied to the demands of a grifting campaign which they term “the presidential nomination campaign.” Gotta keep that ‘basket of deplorables’ fat and happy to insure that the money keeps rolling in to keep the attorneys fat and happy! Judge Cannon indicates she will revisit other deadlines as the time draws closer, but by March many of the issues in the case may have been decided and Trump may be attending that trial in his custom-fitted orange jumpsuit by Brioni.

Special Counsel Jack Smith responded sans gloves with the Trump team when they attempted to get the federal election subversion case trial dismissed as being “meritless.” Smith’s team wrote in their rebuttal, “The defendant stands alone in American history for his alleged crimes. No other president has engaged in conspiracy and obstruction to overturn valid election results and illegitimately retain power.” The Trump claim that there was no crime since the election wasn’t successfully stolen, which was countered by Smith’s team saying that robbers are still charged with a crime even if they are “captured en route to a bank robbery.” “A conspiracy can be committed even if the object of the conspiracy is unattainable,” they added. The Trump team now has ten days to respond before US District Judge Chutkan makes a ruling on their motion to dismiss. Keep an eye open for the getaway car!

In the New York court last week, Ivanka Trump, the Don’s “wonderful and beautiful daughter,” took the stand as a witness in daddy Trump’s $250M fraud trial for questioning about past deals as prosecutors attempt to prove the family organization knowingly lied to lenders. Following the leads of her brothers who testified the week before, she was “unable to recall” any details, saying, “I’m not an accountant,” in her calm and disciplined manner. Of course, she was undoubtedly fretting over her poor kids that she had to leave outside, begging for bread on the streets. She admitted that “there were many emails, many conversations” and she was treated to examination of copies of emails and other documents relating to a Deutsche Bank private wealth management division loan which had her fingerprints all over, so to speak. That loan, for purchase of the Doral Golf Club in Miami, was contingent upon the Trump organization maintaining a value in excess of $3B, which raised some concern with a Trump lawyer. Ivanka then renegotiated the contingency to get the net worth covenant reduced to $2.5B…not bad for a beautiful daughter who can’t afford a babysitter! Her comment via an email in 2011 was, “It doesn’t get any better than this. Let’s discuss ASAP.” The same year Daddy Donny would claim that he was worth $4.2B, though the prosecution alleges that he was not worth $2B at that time. Ivanka the Beautiful was originally listed as a co-defendant for the family case, but an appeals court tossed that designation, ruling that her involvement with the Trump Organization as a top executive had passed the statutes of limitations after she stepped down to serve in the Trump Administration following the election; therefore, she is only a witness.

Deutsche Bank, for its part, started severing ties with Trump after the embarrassment of the 2020 election due to the negative publicity. The threat to seize Trump’s assets as he spirals downward is real, as he would be unable to pay off the loans should they be called for payment in full. It is assumed Trump has only been paying interest on the loans, so the bank would declare him in default as they started the foreclosure on the properties he put up as collateral. Selling the loans on the secondary market is a non-starter, because no buyer would care to join the line of creditors who have been stiffed, especially if considering the added $1B debt that Trump is rumored to have. But then, misery loves company, and who would be more deserving than Deutsche, an enterprise noted for its money laundering schemes over the years, so criminality among criminals should get its just rewards…it’s every rat for himself.

A post on Quora reads, “My son is taking part in a social experiment. He has to wear a ‘Trump 2024’ t-shirt for two weeks to see how people react. So far, he’s been spit on, punched and had a bottle thrown at him! I’m curious to see what happens when he goes outside.”

Even though his kids were of no help to him after their court appearances, Spraytan Donny is hanging in there to salvage his ‘reputation’ as a legit businessman, placing a great burden on his legal team who now weave in and out of his fantasy world to earn their keep. As Aldous J. Pennyfarthing writes on Daily Kos, “If you ever find yourself in legal peril, you might want to consider hiring Alina Habba as your attorney. But only if you’re on trial for dropping a house on a witch, because if you hire her for committing crimes in the real world, you’ll likely be in for a rude awakening. Trump is facing loads of legal peril, and Habba’s job is to go on teevee to convince millions of people who are already sure he’s innocent that the Brobdingnagian heap of criminal and civil accusations against him were all meticulously curated by a sitting president who’s nothing but a listless amalgam of advanced dementia symptoms. If, during sentencing, she somehow manages to score him a hard-bristled toothbrush for his weekly prison urinal cleanings, that’ll be just gravy.” On a recent appearance with Newsmax’s Carl Higbie, Habba claimed Trump isn’t worried about going to jail because he “did nothing wrong” and the Secret Service will keep that from happening anyway. Pennyfarthing asks, “What does that mean? Who knows, really? The Rosetta Stone for translating MAGA-speak into the King’s English is likely more fermented psychedelic toad venom than any of our snowflake liberal bodies could possibly handle.” Aldous J. suggests it may translate into an OK Corral-style shootout between the Secret Service and the court bailiff working the fraud trial should Judge Engoron attempt to throw Trump into the cooler for violating the gag order. Or that possibly Trump has a stay-out-of-jail-free card because he has an armed Praetorian Guard paid for by the federal government, a snag they can surely work out if he is indeed sentenced.

Trump’s hand-picked Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, was still trying to prove his worth in bringing the two parties together as the deadline approached for the budget vote. Along with that countdown Mikey is drawing attention in many quarters as well…the most prominent eyebrow raiser being a year-old clip where he says he and his son use Covenant Eyes, which bills itself as a tool that “helps you live porn-free with confidence,” an app which weans people from porn by monitoring online activity of phones or computers. “Covenant Eyes is the software we’ve been using a long time in our household,” Johnson says in the clip, which was filmed at a ‘War on Technology’ event, hosted by Cypress Baptist Church in Louisiana in October 1922. Covenant Eyes’ site says, “Porn is a human problem, we provide a human solution. Covenant Eyes helps you and the ones you love live porn-free through transformative accountability relationships.” News doesn’t suggest that Johnson has a pornography addiction, only that the site sends a report to the ‘accountability partner’ who in this case is his son, Jack. Father and son receive a report on one another’s internet use once weekly, and if “anything objectionable comes up,” Mike or Jack will receive an immediate notification. Johnson said his son has “got a clean slate so far,”….no word from Jack on his father’s slate, nor from Johnson’s office after inquiries.

Speaker Johnson, noted for his socially conservative views, has made his Christian faith a cornerstone of his career, both politically and professionally. He once worked for Alliance Defending Freedom, a rightwing Christian legal organization which aims to overturn same-sex unions, enact a total ban on abortion, and strip away the standing minimal rights of the transsexual community. As far as raising questions about what Johnson does, or doesn’t do, on Covenant Eyes through his internet connections, it should raise security concerns since Google once determined the site violated its policies after a Wired investigation, though it has since been reinstated. Johnson’s office has been contacted for comment on donations to his 2018 campaign from Russian nationals through a Texas-based company, American Ethane, which donated thousands of dollars to Louisiana Republican candidates. American Ethane was run by American John Houghtaling, but 88 percent of the firm was owned by three Russian nationals. One of the men, Konstantin Nikolaev, an oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin, has financially backed Maria Butina, a Russian citizen who live in Washington, DC, and who served 18 months in prison after being convicted of being an unregistered foreign agent, after infiltrating conservative political groups and influencing foreign policy to benefit Russia before and after the 2016 election. Jason Hebert, former campaign manager for Johnson, claims the $37,000 was returned once they were “made aware of the situation,” being a violation of federal law to ‘knowingly accept donations from a foreign-owned corporation, a foreign national, or any company owned or controlled by foreign nationals,’ The Federal Elections Commission fined American Ethane $9500 for their transgression, resulting in a scathing condemnation by two FEC commissioners who said, “Though American Ethane did pay a civil penalty, it was a slap on the wrist that failed to account for a violation of one of the most fundamental provisions entrusted to this commission to enforce. One can only hope that in future cases, the commission will once again muster the political will to wall off our elections from the malign influence of foreign money.”

Steve Schmidt on his The Warning blog says, ” The new Speaker has no bank accounts of any kind, believes people and dinosaurs lived together 6,000 years ago, and is second in line to the American presidency; he is a fanatic, a true believer, the extremist in our midst, and is indeed the ‘Handmaid’s speaker.’ Mike Johnson of Louisiana shouldn’t be where he is. Now that he is, be warned.” Those who have looked into his personal financial disclosures found that he lists zero assets, and while he may be observing the rules on what he lists, it’s clear he doesn’t have much money…a red flag?

His wife, Kelly, has sponsored a seminar entitled ‘Answers for Our Times: Government, Culture, and Christianity,’ announcing herself as a Christian counselor and anti-abortion activist, claiming to be a “leader in the pro-family movement.” The two have followed the evangelical circuit giving their seminars, with Mike talking about how he thinks mandatory religious exams should be given to American political candidates. “I want to know what you think about the Christian heritage of this country. I want to know what you think about God’s design for this society. Have you even thought about that?” he queries. “We have too many people in government who haven’t even thought about this stuff.” Maybe he doesn’t know about Article VI Clause 3 of the US Constitution which says, “No religious Test shall be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” Or, maybe like most Republicans, he just doesn’t care? Robert Harrington on The Palmer Report calls Johnson “a deadly dangerous christofascist looney, and people like him are infiltrating the Republican Party…they are becoming the Republican Party.” Harrington writes as one who has experienced first-hand the evangelical movement, the followers of which believe that more evangelicals should be in public office who can run government according to their intolerant biblical strictures. He says, “They are scary. There is always something deeply wrong with them. Always. None of them are ever normal. It’s a symptom of how the moral void of the MAGA Republicanism is being filled up by evangelical lunatics. And they’re coming for your country today.”

Posted on the Quora website: After seeing a protestor’s sign which read, “GOD WILL JUDGE AMERICA OVER ABORTION AND GAY MARRIAGE.” I need to get this straight…God didn’t judge America over the millions of natives that were raped and murdered and had their land stolen. God didn’t judge America over the millions of Africans that were raped, murdered and enslaved for centuries. And God didn’t judge America over not taking care of the homeless, hungry, sick and dying poor. But now God will judge America over abortion and gay marriage? Rrrrright!”

“Hey, you idiots! You think if Donald Trump was my Chosen One, don’t you think I could have gotten him reelected?”  – God

“Do you think that God gets stoned once in a while? Look at the platypus. I think so.”  – Robin Williams