[Abyss]

The 'decorum' thing is priceless but pointless in as much as it anyone who buys her crap isn't going to change their mind just bcs the Dems rightfully laughed at her.

The Biden link tho... THAT's funny. Again, no points scored, but still funny.

...i hate to admit Trump's shot at DeSantis was pretty funny too... and i'm perfectly fine w watching those two take shots at each other if only to spread the hate enough to keep DeSantis' from taking an offer of a VP slot w Trump running again.

[Cause]

Tiste Simeon, on 25 May 2023 - 04:07 PM, said:

Ok Biden posting a link and saying "this link works" is very funny.

Did he post it on twitter?

[Tiste Simeon]

Cause, on 25 May 2023 - 07:47 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 25 May 2023 - 04:07 PM, said:

Ok Biden posting a link and saying "this link works" is very funny.

Did he post it on twitter?

Apparently so!

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

sources said Trumpworld wanted to leverage Ramaswamy to "ratfuck" DeSantis.

[...] Publicly, Trump has only had good things to say about Ramaswamy. "The thing I like about Vivek is that he only has good things to say about 'President Trump,'" [...]

[...] For Trump, the upside of Ramaswamy's aggressive campaign is clear: it hurts DeSantis far more than it hurts him. To the extent Ramaswamy had a brand [...] it was built on his crusading against "woke" culture—a subject on which many see him as a stronger messenger than DeSantis.

[...] The most straightforward theory is that Ramaswamy is positioning himself for a plum job in a hypothetical Trump administration, whether that's as a running-mate or something else.

[...] Several Trump campaign insiders have said, however, Ramaswamy is definitively out of the running for a potential VP slot—[...] solely [...] a shortlist of women[...]

[...] many of the same items that animate the Trump base, [...] delivered in more polished, pseudo-scientific jargon like "gender ideology," "climate-ism," and "COVID-ism."

[...] Ramaswamy has executed "the Buttigieg strategy" of appearing on TV networks big and small—not to mention the podcast circuit and other earned media opportunities—which was a hallmark of the [Biden cabinet member's] campaign for president.

Ramaswamy's omnipresence, of course, comes at the expense of everyone but Trump.

[...] "[...] He's closer to Ron than Ron is to Trump. That's a big problem for DeSantis."

But Ramaswamy shares a Trumpian killer instinct when it comes to attacking his rivals—at least those not named Trump.

Vivek Ramaswamy Is the Spoiler Candidate Trump Loves

Imagining DeSantis getting double-teamed at the debates by Trump classic and smarty-pants Trump. 'He uses big words so it must be true!' 'Look, he's got a brown friend so he can't be racist!... plus Ramaswamy is technically an Aryan, so the Neo-Nazis can welcome him into the fold too.'

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 28 May 2023 - 01:33 PM

[Cause]

The YouTube algorithm suggested this to me: https://youtu.be/N67-SSXHH_E (Trump announces plans for Americas 250th anniversary)

The comments seem favorable which h surprises me. A man who isn’t president and is not guaranteed to be president is trying to be first in announcing a year of celebrations for Americas 250th anniversary of independence. Which is currently 3 years and 4 days away into the future.

Bread and circuses. It’s also not like any other politician can’t or wouldn’t do the same thing.

This post has been edited by Cause: 31 May 2023 - 07:42 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Cause, on 31 May 2023 - 07:41 PM, said:

The YouTube algorithm suggested this to me: https://youtu.be/N67-SSXHH_E (Trump announces plans for Americas 250th anniversary)

The comments seem favorable which h surprises me. A man who isn't president and is not guaranteed to be president is trying to be first in announcing a year of celebrations for Americas 250th anniversary of independence. Which is currently 3 years and 4 days away into the future.

Bread and circuses. It's also not like any other politician can't or wouldn't do the same thing.

But who else would molest the flag on camera?

The Youtube algorithm apparently has a good track record of using relatively innocuous content like that as a gateway to right-wing conspiracy video doom-bingeing (not all that difficult now that Trump's conspiracy theories have become mainstream among Republicans...). Apocalyptic right-wing conspiracy theories -> bingeing -> optimized per-person ad-views/time.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

“This Uganda law is horrific & wrong,” [Ted Cruz] tweeted [...] “Any law [...] imposing the death penalty for ‘aggravated homosexuality’ is grotesque & an abomination. ALL civilized nations should join together in condemning this human rights abuse.”

[He'll relax a little of his homophobia in exchange for some racism and xenophobia?]

But Cruz’s rare moment of moral truth was immediately challenged by the same pastor who delivered the invocation at Gov. Ron DeSantis’ second inauguration.

“Tell it to God, Ted,” Tom Ascol [...] tweeted in reply.

Ascol, who was a close second in a runoff election for president of the Southern Baptist Convention last year, proceeded to cite scripture:

"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. —Leviticus 20:13”

He added, “Was this law God gave to His old covenant people ‘horrific and wrong’?”

Cruz did not reply [...]

[... Ascol] has repeatedly called for homicide charges against any woman who has an abortion for whatever reason.

Ron DeSantis’ Pastor Buddy Tom Ascol Appears to Defend Uganda Gay Death Penalty

'Champion college debater' and (Southern Baptist) evangelical blowhard Ted Cruz 'DESTROYED' by basic facts about his religion.... (Of course he probably doesn't believe most of that crap... except the parts about him going to Heaven and being favored by divinity and so forth, maybe.)

[worry]

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

worry, on 08 June 2023 - 11:42 PM, said:

Quote

“summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM.”

Better than holding the trial at Mar-a-Lago, but Biden only beat Trump in Miami-Dade by 7 points... though that's obviously more than just Miami.

Trump wins Florida again, bolstered by Miami-Dade vote – Orlando Sentinel

Quote

Trump’s significantly improved performance seemed to surprise everyone except his campaign, which knew long ago it was doing materially better with Cuban Americans in Miami, as well as Latino voters from other areas of Latin America. Those numbers became even more pronounced when Black Lives Matter protests broke out in Miami, drawing some leftists who waved flags with the likeness of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara and spray-painted red hammer-and-sickle images onto walls and statues.

Trump wins Florida with lift from Hispanic voters in Miami-Dade County (tampabay.com)

... he's going to tell the Latino-Americans that Communist Joseph StalBiden is persecuting the Chosen One....

Come to think of it I'll bet some observant Trump supporters are saying the orange skies over New York City are a sign of Go*'s displeasure over Trump having been indicted there. Orange is obviously the Sign of the Trump (and hopefully he'll end up wearing it too)....

[HoosierDaddy]

HoosierDaddy, on 04 April 2023 - 05:01 PM, said:

Hopeful spin: The Manhattan DA crossing the Rubicon will lessen the heat on other prosecutors to do what needs to be done in their own, stronger cases (Georgia, FBI).

Cynical spin: The Manhattan DA crossing the Rubicon will cause the other investigations to not pull the trigger in a wait-and-see-what happens mode.

Political take: The people who were going to vote for Trump were going to vote his way no matter what. Nothing about any prosecution would change that. They like him because of what he does. Whether it reenergizes that population into galvanizing their support behind only him and winning the primary will be determined later.

Monetary take: I can only imagine the amount of dollars this conman is about to wring out of suckers pockets because of an actual arrest and trial. Can you even fucking imagine? Lol.

So far, hope springs eternal and the grift gets ever larger from those suckers as an email went out IMMEDIATELY to raise funds (that will NOT go to his trial, or his campaign, but directly into his and his fellow grifters' pockets).

[QuickTidal]

Well, they assigned fucking CANNON to oversee the case.

You get that? The Federal Judicial bench is hundreds of judges deep right? But the person they choose to oversee Trump's case is the ONE judge he appointed that we know has already gone to bat for him to hand him wins...

You know I TRY to not see that your govt is corrupt as fuck and rotten through the core...but then shit like this happens and yesterdays good news about his indictment is ashes in everyones mouth this morning when they choose Cannon to oversee.

This slippery fuck is NEVER going to face justice is he? How do you Americans even feel like you have a country anymore? You're a bunch of fucking serfs working under an elite billionaire class who are untouchable by the laws that supposedly govern you.

My gods...I thought my country could be bad...

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 09 June 2023 - 02:29 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

'It's a crime': Legal experts say Marjorie Taylor Greene may have admitted to violating federal law

[MTG] is claiming, without proof, that the FBI is covering up bribery she alleges Biden committed. [...] on Fox News, Greene told host Laura Ingraham that she read a Biden-related document inside a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF).

"This is a document that all of America should be able to see. But the FBI is stonewalling us, and they would only let us see it in a SCIF. Well, what I did after reading the document is I made notes when I walked out and I went to the table. And I wrote down everything that I had just read so that I could come out and tell the American people what I read."

A SCIF is used for highly sensitive information, and in most cases, members of Congress are not allowed to repeat information they see inside the facility.

[...] taking notes on information viewed inside a SCIF and later discussing it on cable news is a violation of federal law.

[...] "[...] this is also mishandling of classified documents and it's a crime."

'It's a crime': Legal experts say Marjorie Taylor Greene may have admitted to violating federal law - Alternet.org

... though if she didn't actually take notes and everything she said about the documents was false, I guess it technically wouldn't be a crime....

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 09 June 2023 - 04:22 PM

[QuickTidal]

Azath Vitr (D, on 09 June 2023 - 04:19 PM, said:

Quote

'It's a crime': Legal experts say Marjorie Taylor Greene may have admitted to violating federal law

[MTG] is claiming, without proof, that the FBI is covering up bribery she alleges Biden committed. [...] on Fox News, Greene told host Laura Ingraham that she read a Biden-related document inside a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF).

"This is a document that all of America should be able to see. But the FBI is stonewalling us, and they would only let us see it in a SCIF. Well, what I did after reading the document is I made notes when I walked out and I went to the table. And I wrote down everything that I had just read so that I could come out and tell the American people what I read."

A SCIF is used for highly sensitive information, and in most cases, members of Congress are not allowed to repeat information they see inside the facility.

[...] taking notes on information viewed inside a SCIF and later discussing it on cable news is a violation of federal law.

[...] "[...] this is also mishandling of classified documents and it's a crime."

'It's a crime': Legal experts say Marjorie Taylor Greene may have admitted to violating federal law - Alternet.org

... though if she didn't actually take notes and everything she said about the documents was false, I guess it technically wouldn't be a crime....

There are three people I want to see go to jail most badly, Trump...MTG, and Boebert....anyone else is cream on top of that, but those people are evil.

I think she's also tied up in the Jan 6th shit too...and that maybe Jack Smith's indictment Hamer is going to reach her too....a man can dream.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

If she had to testify in court that she was lying... she might prefer to go to prison. At least briefly.

If Trump ends up in prison, maybe he'll prefer a running mate who's also in prison?... of course it would be more convenient to have a running mate who wasn't also locked up, but Trump cares about his ego more than anything else, and there wouldn't be as much of a threat of them showing him up or garnering power for themselves....

Unfortunately I think a judge could order the FBI to review the relevant documents and determine whether anything MTG said about them was true. Except maybe the part about her taking notes on them....

[QuickTidal]

Azath Vitr (D, on 09 June 2023 - 04:33 PM, said:

If she had to testify in court that she was lying... she might prefer to go to prison. At least briefly.

If Trump ends up in prison, maybe he'll prefer a running mate who's also in prison?... of course it would be more convenient to have a running mate who wasn't also locked up, but Trump cares about his ego more than anything else, and there wouldn't be as much of a threat of them showing him up or garnering power for themselves....

Unfortunately I think a judge could order the FBI to review the relevant documents and determine whether anything MTG said about them was true. Except maybe the part about her taking notes on them....

Oh I should be clear, I think she's lying....I don't think she saw anything, or wrote anything down....it's a fantasy lie about a fantasy crime...to pretend that such a document exists when it almost certainly does not. She just assumes she can get away with the lie because she can pretend that no one is allowed to see it...

[Primateus]

Azath Vitr (D, on 09 June 2023 - 04:33 PM, said:

If she had to testify in court that she was lying... she might prefer to go to prison. At least briefly.

If Trump ends up in prison, maybe he'll prefer a running mate who's also in prison?... of course it would be more convenient to have a running mate who wasn't also locked up, but Trump cares about his ego more than anything else, and there wouldn't be as much of a threat of them showing him up or garnering power for themselves....

Unfortunately I think a judge could order the FBI to review the relevant documents and determine whether anything MTG said about them was true. Except maybe the part about her taking notes on them....

Of course she would prefer going to prison. That way she can claim martyrdom, persecution, the whole nine yards. And you just know that the MAGA 'muricans are going to eat it all up.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

[Judge] Cannon's total lack of principle, combined with her evident incapacity to experience shame, renders her a uniquely favorable jurist for [Trump]. [...] if she maintains her grasp on this case, it is nearly impossible to envision [...] a conviction [...]

Cannon[...] gained notoriety while presiding over Trump's attempt to halt the classified documents investigation in 2022.

[...] Cannon's overreach provoked genuine shock in legal circles and fear in the intelligence community, as it effectively blocked officials from assessing the seized documents for national security risks. [...] A right-leaning panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit[...] soon stayed this portion of her decision, highlighting its "chilling" effect on fundamental "national-security duties."

[...] The madness finally ended when a panel of the 11th Circuit—made up of two Trump appointees and the ultraconservative [...]—ruled that Cannon had no authority to hear Trump's lawsuit in the first place, rendering every one of her orders null and void. It was one of the most humiliating appellate smackdowns in recent history, a total demolition of literally every action that Cannon had taken from the outset of the case. The 11th Circuit accused Cannon of attempting "a radical reordering of our caselaw" that violated "bedrock separation-of-powers limitations." And it directed her to relinquish control over the case.

[...] Typically, federal district court judges are assigned cases randomly, though the court may transfer a case to a specific judge who has prior experience with the matter. [...]

[...] we don't really know why Cannon was initially assigned the case, and we don't know if she will keep it. [...]

Smith, for his part, has the option of requesting a different judge; 11th Circuit precedent allows reassignment when the presiding judge appears unable to put "previous views and findings aside." [...] it's impossible to say where the 11th Circuit would come down.

Judge Aileen Cannon can sink the federal prosecution of Donald Trump. (slate.com)

Even if they successfully manage to request a different judge, it will almost certainly delay the trial... and it typically takes one year from indictment for a case to go to trial. In this case it could be substantially longer than that, so it may be very close to the election....

Trump's lawyers are probably going to argue the tape of Trump admitting that one of the documents is still classified should be inadmissible because the government still hasn't found a document that matches his description:

Quote

There never was such a document. My client simply made it up [...]

[...] As an excuse not to show the interviewers a document he falsely boasted he had, the former president said something else that was untrue—namely, that he regretted not declassifying it. In truth, he sincerely believed he could declassify any document he wanted.

The problem is that lawyers can only make arguments in court based on the evidence. This would almost certainly require someone testifying as much on the stand. Trump, however, cannot take the stand to offer the story because he would subject himself to withering cross-examination.

[...] some die-hard Trump loyalist [...] might testify that Trump explained to him after the interview that he (Trump) had made it all up [...] and that Trump's true belief was that he could mentally declassify anything. [...]

If, as is highly probable, Trump never told anyone that preposterous story, no one, however loyal to Trump, would testify to it under oath, subjecting himself to devastating cross-examination and perjury charges.

Trump blew an enormous hole in his classified documents defense. (slate.com)

I'm pretty sure Trump could find someone in this great wide world to lie under oath on his behalf... how would you even prove perjury beyond a reasonable doubt?

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 10 June 2023 - 12:38 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

Judge Cannon was reportedly assigned to the case through an apparently unbiased random process. If this is true, then Cannon is unlikely to be shaken from the case even if the DOJ were to try to move to disqualify her.


While a mechanism exists for this to happen [...] which provides for disqualifications when a judge’s “impartiality might reasonably be questioned,” such a motion is hardly a slam dunk way to get rid of Cannon. Nor would the optics of such a motion be good for the DOJ since it would open them up to Trump claiming that prosecutors were “judge-shopping.”

Is Bringing the Trump Documents Case in Florida a Mistake? (thedailybeast.com)

Trump faithful will probably say that her 'random selection' was divine intervention (by a Republican?...)....

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

The right-wing judges on the 11th Circuit might have been willing to overrrule/remove Judge Cannon (I'll bet Trump would have preferred to appoint Judge Bazooka or Judge Nuke'em...) before because they preferred DeSantis over Trump, and falsely assumed the investigation would favor DeSantis in the primary; but now that DeSantis no longer seems like a viable candidate, and it appears very likely that Trump will win the nomination even if he's in prison, their partisanship might kick back in....

The Georgia investigation might still end up being the first to get a conviction that gives him prison time... if they hurry up and indict him in time. And the charges in that investigation probably seem like the most serious not only to reasonable people but to the average US'er... though of course the law takes obstruction of FBI investigations etc. very seriously, and Trump could get up to 100 years in prison from the federal case.

Quote

'It was all so, so dumb': Trump insiders rattled that indictment was 'more damning than they expected'

'It was all so, so dumb': Trump insiders rattled that indictment was 'more damning than they expected'

Quote

"Trump acted like 'the Godfather if it was reenacted by a 5-year-old" to try to keep his hands clean in Mar-a-Lago case [...]

"Did you find anything? ... Is it bad? Good?" [...]Trump made "a plucking motion," which the lawyer[...] took as a directive.

[...] In other discussions, Trump was more explicit about hiding documents from the FBI[...]

"Wouldn't it be better if we just told them we don't have anything here?" [...]

"Well look isn't it better if there are no documents?" [...]

"I found it hilarious that some of his most incriminating things were recorded by his lawyers," [...] "Beautiful."

"It's just mind-boggling how someone can get away with so much for so long when they are so bad at it,"

Trump acted like 'the Godfather if it was reenacted by a 5-year-old' to try to keep his hands clean in Mar-a-Lago case: experts

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 10 June 2023 - 09:23 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

" [...] sometimes[...] Judges just don't give a shit and Judge Cannon's behavior in this case in the past was several very long strides in this direction of don't give a shit."

[...] "She can delay things forever by making rulings that can't be appealed.

She can make rulings that while they don't tank the case, make it very difficult, like excluding evidence [...] normally, you can't appeal it before the case [is over]." [...]

[...] "Most drastically, she can do things that can't be repaired. Once a jury is impaneled, she can dismiss the case. And there's not a goddamn thing anyone can do about it. Double Jeopardy attaches; you're done. She can grant a motion for directed verdict of acquittal after the government's case. And then we're done. You can't be retried, can't be reviewed. It's over."

How Trump Can Easily Avoid Conviction Following His Latest Indictment

Especially since she probably (and realistically) thinks Trump (or some future Trumpublican president (or Go*-Emperor)) will reward her with a place on the Supreme Court---or at least the 11th Circuit....

Quote

if the trial were postponed until after the 2024 election, there is every reason to think that a Republican victor [...] would order the case dismissed. [...]

[...]timeline for a typical white-collar case runs from nine to 12 months[...]

[...] a great deal of discretion goes into assessing a juror’s suitability (again, a role for the judge)[...]

[...] possibility that an adamant pro-Trump supporter will be seated on the jury with the committed mission of refusing to convict Trump, against all the evidence.

[...] jurors who want to sit on a jury in order to disrupt it can be difficult to ferret out and seem more likely in the context of Trump’s trial than in most others. A complacent judge will only exacerbate the problem. It is by no means improbable that the end result of a lengthy trial of Trump would be a hung jury with a single recalcitrant holdout. Any retrial would happen during the administration of whoever won the 2024 election.

The Three Biggest Obstacles to Convicting Trump