Weaponizing Alligators 🤡 😱 ✡️🌻😱 🤡

Teflon Don: Yesterday, a NY Appeals Court threw out the $500 million judgement imposed against Trump after he had been found to have committed financial fraud.  A majority of the court agreed that Trump had done harm but not “cataclysmic” enough harm to warrant such a large penalty. Naturally, Trump hailed the decision as a vindication and proof that he’d done nothing wrong when he lied about his finances and overstated the value and size of his assets but had been politically targeted by that evil Black woman NY Attorney General Tish James.  Trump’s assertion of being targeted is particularly ironic given that his goons are currently going after James, California Senator Adam Schiff, and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, another Black woman, for “mortgage” fraud.  None of them have massively overstated the value or size of their homes to obtain lower interest loans though Governor Cook has supported Federal Reserve Chair Powell’s interest rate decisions, the “crime” that has put her in Trump’s crosshairs.  Trump is being gleefully abetted in his retribution by Bill Pulte, his head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who has referred all three Democrats to the Justice Department for criminal investigations where Ed Martin,  the DOJ official responsible for both pardons and the weaponization working group, because what president doesn’t have a group responsible for targeting his opponents, is willingly cooperating in the carrying out of Trump’s vendettas.  At least for now Trump’s Teflon coat isn’t doing its thing for ersatz NJ US Attorney Alina Habba, Trump’s former lawyer whose legal experience before Trump involved representing parking garages, not that there is anything wrong with parking garages.  Yesterday, a US District Court judge rejected Trump’s use of a loophole to keep her in place as NJ’s top federal prosecutor saying she “is not lawfully holding the office of United States Attorney” while noting that she has been in the position without legal authority since July 1. That’s a bigly problem for Habba and possibly also a problem for other US attorneys in Los Angeles, Nevada, New Mexico, and upstate New York where Trump and AG Bondi have also “sidestepped or overridden both the Senate confirmation and judicial appointment processes for selecting US attorneys” but good news for the accused criminals whose cases have been put on hold or who have been just handed grounds for appeal.  Also, some good news for those concerned about the Everglades and for some of the undocumented who were about to be locked up at Alligator🐊 Alcatraz.  A Miami District Court judge ruled yesterday that both Florida and the Feds have violated a federal law that requires an environmental review before any major federal construction projects. She ordered that no more immigrant detainees be sent there and that much of the facility be dismantled. Of course, that decision will be appealed because Homeland Security’s Kristi Noem who has a pile of unsigned expense requests for things that impact hurricane response and even passport scanning, is all in on her Alcatraz’s.     

Midterm Madness: Forget about waiting until 2026, the race for the control of the House is already on.  No, you haven’t forgotten to show up at the polls or slept through election day, the race is taking place in state legislatures, and it involves partisan gerrymandering and redistricting, something that the John Roberts led Supreme Court made easier to do by saying that states can pretty do whatever they want with regard to drawing district lines regardless of their motivations.   Yesterday, after Democratic legislators returned to the state and a quorum was achieved, Texas Republicans voted to approve a new electoral map, one crafted to result in five more Republicans winning House seats.  To counter that power grab, California Governor Gavin Newsom has started the process that will result in a Democratic pick up of five California seats. Given California’s more restrictive law, a statewide vote is required before a new map can be put in place but not so much for Texas where Governor Abbott just has to sign the law when it crosses his desk. A few more states on both sides of the aisle are expected to follow suit, however since more of those states are under Republican control, it’s likely that this battle will result in a net pick-up for Republicans.  This isn’t supposed to be the way things work in a democracy, but who are we kidding, that democracy idea is so old school, at least that’s what Trump hopes and while it may be fun to joke about his cankles and assert that he’s verging on dementia, the damage he and his abettors, are inflicting is substantial and could result in MAGA Republicans holding on to power for a long time to come. And just to further keep you up at night, this week it was reported that Democratic registrations have decreased by 2.1 million while Republican registration has increased by 2.4 million, a wake-up call to Democrats to more aggressively get people registered to counter Republican voter drives and suppression efforts. Moreover, Trump is pushing for an unprecedented mid cycle census, one that doesn’t count the people he doesn’t want counted.

Fog:  There's lots of it, but at least for today, I am taking a break from the international scene.

#BringThemAllHomeNow