Apples and Honey 🌻 🌻 🌻 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍯 🍯 🍯

Mitt’s Lament:  One-time presidential candidate Utah Senator Mitt Romney announced that he won’t be running for reelection.  He’s 76 years old, has a net worth somewhere around $300 million, likes spending time with his family and, to put it mildly, hasn’t enjoyed his Washington experience so his decision not to seek reelection isn’t all that surprising. Romney still has a year left on his term and given what he said during his announcement and what he’s apparently also told his biographer whose book is due out in October, his remaining days in the Senate may be lonelier than ever because he has little nice to say about his Republican colleagues.  He pointed out that most of them routinely show private disdain for all things Trump but are too chicken to say anything publicly either because they are so invested in staying in Washington or are too afraid of getting some of those death threats that follow Trump critics home at night. He’s been spending thousands of dollars a day on security.  He particularly despises Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, and Ohio Senator JD Vance, three smart guys whose evil is that much worse because they know better.  He also revealed that after receiving a warning from Maine’s Independent Senator, Senate Intelligence Committee member Angus King about the likelihood of violence on January 6, a warning that included reports of “gun smuggling, of bombs and arson, of targeting the traitors in Congress” as in people like Romney who had voted Trump guilty, that he texted what he’d learned to then Senate leader McConnell but got no response from the turtle. Not satisfied to only attack his Senate colleagues and their orange god, Romney also threw some shade at President Biden, saying that it was time for him to move aside for someone younger. Ironically in most respects, Romney’s political positions aren’t all that different than most of his Republican colleagues, he’s just as conservative and like former Representative Liz Cheney consistently voted the party line.  Romney’s problem is with their disdain for the Constitution and with the way they’ve sold their collective souls to Trump. Kudos to Romney for behaving ethically, for his truth telling and for voting for Trump guilty, but not so much for his votes to lower taxes on the richest, against reproductive choice, and against environment and infrastructure spending.  

Ugh:  NBC’s Kristen Welker is replacing Chuck Todd as host of Meet the Press and her first guest will be Trump.  Snippets of the interview which is due to air on Sunday are being shown on NBC and its affiliates because why not give the former guy who oh so much wants to be the next and maybe even the forever guy more airtime?  Naturally, Trump has a lot to say about how he’s being unfairly targeted by all those demented, communist prosecutors for actions that he says were totally legitimate because he had every right to upturn the election, horde top secret documents, lie and cheat on his financials, assault women and so on. Hunter Biden may want to weigh in on unfair treatment by prosecutors.  Yesterday, Joe’s son was indicted for lying on his gun application.  He did lie on that application, but those charges are rarely applied, saved for career criminals like drug kingpins, rather than first time offenders with addiction issues. It’s not a stretch to assume that the seriously flawed Hunter is in this pickle because of his father’s prominence. It’s not clear that his case, that was almost settled earlier in this saga will make it to trial but whether it does or not, it’s got to be painful for his doting father who knows that he’s the real target. On the subject of painful, Congresswoman Mary Peltola, the newbie Democratic Alaska representative who beat out Sarah Palin to win her House seat, lost her husband this week.  Just one week after she and a few other local politicians hosted Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg around the state, showing him the difficulties and dangers of traveling through the Last Frontier, her husband died in a plane crash, something that happens to peripatetic politicians and their friends and family too often in Alaska.

Trump’s Legal Quagmire: It’s hard to keep track of what’s going on with all of the Trump and Trump related cases but here’s a quick overview.  Yesterday, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee ruled against Fulton County DA Fani Willis who was trying to get all of her co-defendants tried at the same time, saying that the defendants who don’t want a speedy trial can’t be forced to have one just because Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell want theirs to happen fast.  That means that Trump will not be tried with Chesebro and Powell in October.  Neither will Mark Meadows who abandoned his request to have his trial paused while he continues to try to get his trial moved to federal court because that pause is no longer necessary.  Judge “loose” Canon has finally spoken, as requested by Special Counsel Jack Smith she’s limiting Trump’s access to the Mar a Lago purloined documents evidence and barring him from discussing sensitive documents. In New York, a state appeals court judge temporarily halted the scheduled October 2 trail in the fraud case against Trump and his business while a five judge panel reviews Trump’s attempt to narrow the scope of AG Letitia James lawsuit. That’s the case that could result in Trump and company coughing up bigly bucks while being banned from business in the state so not all that surprising that Trump is trying to narrow its scope but a real bummer that he may succeed, or at the very least has succeeded in delaying the trial..

And:  Keep an eye on Virginia where control of the state legislature is up for grabs in November.  Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin is pushing really hard to swing control back to Republicans and if he does, abortion rights will suffer.  Youngkin asserts that he’d “only” impose restrictions after 15 weeks but also won’t rule out signing a 6 week ban if the legislature hands him one to sign.  As to the 15 weeks limit, it’s truly problematic.  Most women seeking elective abortions do so as early as possible.  Abortions that take place after 15 weeks are generally done to deal with serious health concerns that develop after the first trimester so banning the procedure then puts the health and future fertility of women in jeopardy. The November election is expected to be close, maybe even closer now as one of the Democratic candidates is having a Santos moment.  While she didn’t kill any puppies and as far as I can tell isn’t pretending to celebrate Rosh HaSsanah, she and her husband previously ran a side hustle, raising money by performing sex acts online. Oy.  Not sexy but still a problem, seeking pay raise increases in line with those of senior management the United Auto Workers went on strike last night, targeting three auto plants.  So far only 13,000 of UAWs 145,000 workers are affected but the strike could grow.  Republicans in the House might as well be on strike, because they’ve mostly been yelling at each other, even Kevin McCarthy is in on the act, reports are that he used the “F” word during a contentious meeting with his loons when he lost it over Panhandle Matt Gaetz. He still has his speakership but has passed no budgets and when and if he gets his crowd to vote on something, it won’t be anything that the Senate will pass.  A shutdown looms, and we’re not talking about just 🚗 🚘 🚙 plants.    

Shana Tovah

Happy and Healthy New Year