Meteors? ✡️🌻✡️🌻✡️

Disastrous Trajectories:  A meteor soared thirty-nine miles over New York City yesterday before exploding with a loud boom.  Given the way this year is going it’s surprising that it didn’t take out the Statue of Liberty or sear a bunch of New Yorkers with burning shards. However, if you are worried about another one or any other flying debris consider stocking up on a few of those nifty Trump ear bandages that are being hawked at the Republican convention, facsimiles of the one that Trump has covering his weekend wound.  You won’t be alone in wearing yours as a number of the Republican delegates/cult members, are now sporting them in solidarity with their Teflon idol. Former NJ Governor Chris Christie hasn’t donned one yet, but it may be just a matter of time before he does. He seems to be suffering from FOMO about missing out on the hoopla at the Republican convention, after all that other normal adjacent for a minute Republican candidate Nikki Haley who knows better spoke in support of Trump last night. How else to explain Christie’s “Will Trump Meet the Moment” op-ed published in today’s NY Times in which the Bridgegate alum suggests that Trump could morph into a normal person tonight merely by delivering a “unite the country” speech. While there’s a chance that Trump will soften his tone just a bit for one night only, how delusional, or desperate for a membership in Mar a Lago do you have to be to believe that he’ll mean any of what he says or, more significantly, will alter his “dictator for a day” or more likely for as long as possible plans one iota? Afterall, Trump is still Trump which likely explains why he bypassed the more mainstream Senator Marco Rubio and the blander businessman/Governor Doug Burgum to instead select Don Jr and Tucker Carlson’s preferred choice, Senator JD Vance, the Hillbilly Elegy author, as his running mate.  To be frank, Vance is not a good guy and I say that as someone who unlike the shrewdest member of my book club who immediately saw right through his ”story” was for a short time taken in by the book.  Vance equates abortion, at any point in a pregnancy, with murder. He’s on record telling students at a Christian high school that women should stick with violent marriages rather seek divorce because what’s wrong with black eyes or broken bones anyway when the better choice is maintaining the sanctity of a tortured marriage? He is all in on American First, opposing aid to Ukraine, justifying that opposition using many of the talking point provided by Putin’s posse and has repeatedly expressed his admiration for Hungary’s autocratic press curbing leader Viktor Orban something that Orban obviously appreciates as he has endorsed both Trump and his selection of Vance as his running mate. In addition, Vance says that unlike Trump’s first VP Mike Pence, he wouldn’t have moved to certify the electoral college vote had he been VP in 2020 which hardly bodes well for what he would do in 2028.  The bottom line is that Vance is a shapeshifter with extreme views who is so smooth that he has managed to convince Trump that he really didn’t mean it when he called him out as a Hitler wannabe.  All politicians lie and a lot of them are inconsistent, but Vance does a lot and is scarily good at it.        

Justice for Some:  Earlier this week NJ Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat, was found guilty of bribery, extortion, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent.  This was Menendez’ second bite at the corruption apple, the last time he faced a jury he got off because one juror was a hold out. For fairly obvious reasons his Democratic colleagues, including Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, want him to resign ASAP.  Republicans have remained rather quiet about Menendez maybe because their presidential candidate is also a convicted felon not that consistency carries much weight in their party.  Menendez’ conviction, like that of Hunter Biden, also throws a wrench into the Republican party line that Biden’s Department of Justice targets only Republicans, but again facts don’t mean much with this Republican Party.  In other judicial news, Judge Eileen “loose” Cannon lived up to her name this week by dismissing Trump’s purloined classified documents case. Her decision had nothing to do with whether or not the documents were inappropriately taken, Trump’s obstruction of justice, or presidential immunity, rather she questioned the legitimacy of the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith.  Ironically, Cannon concluded that Smith wasn’t adequately under the thumb of Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland which flies in the face of Trump’s assertion that Smith was too much under Garland and Biden’s control.  Smith’s appointment as Special Counsel, like the appointment of Special Counsel Mueller before him, was legitimate and a number of courts have said as much but in his concurrence to the Supreme Court’s recent gut wrenching immunity decision, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested that the regulation providing for the appointment of special counsels wasn’t kosher even though it has been in effect for about forty years because precedent is so not cool anymore.  Cannon based her shocking opinion on that Thomas concurrence.  Jack Smith is appealing and may get the case reinstated but since this is mostly about stalling and currying favor with Trump it is a bigly win for Trump who is on a roll and may pave the path for bigger and better things for Cannon, at least that appears to be a large part of what drives her.    

Clear as Day:  Given recent events, RFK Jr is now receiving Secret Service protection. There’s no chance that he’ll be the next president but maybe he’ll be put in charge of something insignificant like the CDC or the FDA if Trump returns to the Oval Office because the two are sympatico with regard to their views on vaccine safety.  We know that because Trump is heard expressing his vaccine skepticism on a call with RFK Jr that was “mistakenly” caught on video and then posted by son Bobby (III not to be confused with Jr) on social media yesterday.  In the video, which RFK Jr acknowledges is genuine but has since been taken down, Trump endorses false theories about the safety of vaccines.  Maybe by Make America Great Again, Trump means make measles, mumps, rubella, and polio spread again?  Also, remember when Elon Musk said he wasn’t contributing to either candidate, well forget about that.  He now plans to contribute $45 million a month to a Trump supporting PAC along with a whole bunch of his Tech Bro buddies. That buys a lot of access, tax cuts and preferential treatment.  This is all so depressing.       

#BringThemAllHomeNow