Rule 39 Again ✡️🌻✡️🌻✡️

Legalities:  Yesterday, just one day after the House held a hearing where they attacked virus expert Dr. Anthony Fauci with Margie Q refusing to acknowledge that the virus guru was even a doctor, Attorney General Merrick Garland was skewered by Republicans during a House Judiciary committee meeting: their complaint was that Garland had weaponized the Justice Department to go after the now multiply convicted felon Trump.  They asserted that Garland is Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s puppet master. To state the obvious, Bragg, Manhattan’s elected DA, does not report to the US Department of Justice, but facts don’t matter to the MAGA crowd.  Oddly enough those upset about Trump’s conviction appear to be enjoying the Hunter Biden trial where Biden’s son is being prosecuted for lying on a gun application form by failing to fess up to his disqualifying crack use. The US Attorney responsible for Hunter’s prosecution is a Trump holdover that Garland kept in place to avoid any whiff of partisanship and while we should all agree that people in the throes of addiction shouldn’t purchase guns, Hunter is being prosecuted under a rarely used law. The MAGA crowd is also outraged that Hunter’s stepmother Jill Biden and sister Ashley have joined his wife by attending the trial to lend him support.  Maybe they’re angry because Melania and favorite daughter Ivanka never accompanied Trump to court or maybe MAGA is just perpetually angry and aggrieved?  On the subject of anger and aggrievement, Iowa Senate Joni Ernst has signed on to fellow Republican Mike Lee’s petulant promise to refuse to support legislation that comes through his chamber as long as Trump remains a convicted felon. Ernst’s motivation for joining the group has a lot to do with her upcoming run for the Republican Senate Conference Chair spot. She’s facing off against Senator Tom Cotton and figures that signing on to the Mike Lee screed will help her lock up some support from Trump and his MAGAs, and since that’s how the Republican cookie crumbles these days, she’s probably right. In other Trump legal news, Judge Aileen loose Cannon continues to issue rulings that delay Trump’s already very delayed purloined documents trial.  Yesterday she said she would allow some “interested” outsiders to weigh in during an unnecessary hearing on whether or not Special Counsel Jack Smith’s appointment was legitimate.  That issue has already been decided by other courts so she’ll either eventually conclude that his appointment is legit, or will be overturned, she knows that, but stalling is what it’s all about with her and while her judicial acumen is questionable her stalling skills are superior.  Way north of the Everglades, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kale has filed felony charges against former Trump lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Jim Troupis and former Trump aide Mike Roman for their role in the 2020 false elector scheme. Oddly enough the Wisconsin set only questioned election results in predominantly Black urban areas.  The Wisconsin case is similar to the Michigan and the Fulton County, Georgia cases, though sadly the Georgia case which was at one point seen as the mostly likely to go to trial first took another blow this week after a Georgia appeals court scheduled a hearing on whether or not presiding Judge Scott McAfee’s decision to allow Fani Willis to continue to prosecute the case was correct. And because its not just Republicans who make questionable decisions, NJ’s not so honest Senator Bob Menendez filed to run for reelection as an independent, though it’s not clear that he really will run.  If he runs, he will face off against Democratic Representative Andy Kim and Republican Curtis Bashaw who won their respective primaries yesterday.      

Probation Meeting! Before he’s sentenced convicted felon Trump is supposed to participate in a pre-sentencing evaluation by a parole officer who will then provide an evaluation and sentencing recommendation to Judge Merchan. Drug testing too?  Would be fun to be the fly on the wall for that meeting, assuming it ever takes place. Trump would be wise to cooperate because further angering Judge Merchan is not a good idea, not just because of sentencing but because late yesterday Trump’s lawyers asked Merchan to lift his gag order, the one Trump violated at least ten times.  Their argument is that as part of his campaign Trump needs to be able to attack everyone associated with the case including the witnesses, the jury and Merchan’s family. Already some of those witnesses, including Michael Cohen, as well as members of the jury have reported being doxxed by Trump’s “fan” base.  It’s not surprising that Trump wants free rein to further endanger them.  Also, not much of a shocker is a Pro Publica article detailing how nine witnesses in criminal cases against Trump have received “substantial financial benefits” including larges raises, generous severance packages, new jobs, cash and even the granting of shares in Trump’s media company to stay quiet.  Among those beneficiaries are the twice jailed CFO Allen Weisselberg, Mar a Lago box shifter Walt Nauta, and aide and Truth Social typer Dan Scavino who received a $600,000 retention bonus and a $4 million promissory note paid in shares. In other media news, Salem Media, the company behind the highly inflammatory, lie laden “documentary” 2000 Mules which had promoted the Trump endorsed conspiracy that Democrats stole the 2020 election has issued an apology for the film’s content, pulling it from distribution. Also, the CFO of the far right, very Trump friendly Epoch Times has been charged with engaging in a $67 million crypto currency laundering scheme. Lastly, today’s WSJ has a curiously timed hit piece on President Biden, a slimy article questioning his mental capacity that was trumpeted by the WSJ’s sister company, the NY Post on their website last night.  Weird how the Murdoch media empire decided to publish this right after Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies.  To cite Leroy Gibb’s Rule 39, there are no coincidences.      

Fog:  Yesterday with polling indicating that illegal immigration is a big concern to lots of voters, President Biden signed an executive order that will temporarily shut down asylum requests once the average number of daily “encounters” exceeds 2500. That’s likely to anger the left wing of the Democratic party, but with it become increasingly clear that their views are out of step with the rest of the voting base, Biden concluded he had to do something beyond complaining about how Republicans following Trump’s orders refused to vote for legislation that would have resulted in fewer border crossings.  Yesterday while Hezbollah bombs continue to set fire to parts of Northern Israel and the truce with Hamas remains just out of reach, Israeli officials announced that four more hostages have been killed in Hamas captivity.  Their names: Amiran Cooper, Yoram Metzger, Haim Peri, and Nadav Popplewell. May their memories be a blessing.

#BringThemAllHomeNow