Have an excellent weekend and see you bright and early Monday morning.
Friday, May 31, 2024
The Rest Is Politics US - Trump's Conviction Will Be The Death Of The Republican Party
I'm posting this primarily because I like the title of the segment.
Felon
NY Times: Donald Trump, Felon By The Editorial Board
That chronic impulse — to override democratic norms and the law to his own ends — is at the heart of two other criminal cases against Mr. Trump, for the much more serious charges of spreading lies and participating in a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.
Guilty
NY Times: Trump’s Guilty Verdict May Be a Political Accelerant By Frank Bruni
Trump came to understand that commanding people’s attention could get him only so far, while commanding their realities might enable him to get away with anything.
The Onion - Nation Shrugs After Hearing Trump Guilty Verdict - Unpauses 'MILF Manor'
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Opinion
Gift article available to everyone.
Washington Post: Opinion - The Trump jury has spoken. Next up, the voters. After the 12, the millions get their turn. By the Editorial Board
How
Gift article available to everyone.
Yet the defense destroyed its own credibility by denying the undeniable, like its laughable claim that the large lump-sum payments to Mr. Cohen really were payments for legal services, including the amount that he embezzled from Mr. Trump.
The Market On Friday
Good morning. At 6:23 a.m. ET DOW futures are -35, S&P futures are -11.5, and NASDAQ futures are -70. The market is poised to open moderately lower.
Thursday, May 30, 2024
Trial
Gift article available to everyone.
Washington Post: Jury deliberations continue in Trump’s hush money trial
Trial
The end of the cross-examination of David Pecker — when, as Maggie wrote earlier, the witness turned defiant — was less good for the defense. It was just read aloud again.
Charges
Is his decent into dementia increasing? Or is he lying like this to somehow gain sympathy from his supporters. Either way, it's an extremely strange thing for him to say at this point.
MSN: Trump Plays Dumb After Five-Week Trial: ‘I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE CHARGES ARE’ Story by Colby Hall
Trial
“The payments were compensation to him — period,” Blanche said. “There is no falsification of business records — period.”
Less
NY Times: Less Marriage, Less Sex, Less Agreement By Nicholas Kristof
The second most recommended reader comment came from a woman who said that when she and her women friends get together, “We all say, ‘Never again.’ Men require a lot of care. They can be such babies.”
The Market On Thursday
Good morning. At 6:16 a.m. ET DOW futures are -331, S&P futures are -23.5, and NASDAQ futures are -75.75. The market is poised to open significantly lower.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Resolve
“Divide Each Difficulty into as Many Parts as Is Feasible and Necessary to Resolve It” - Descartes
John Mark Dougan
With the help of commercially available artificial intelligence tools, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DALL-E 3, he has filled the sites with tens of thousands of articles, many based on actual news events.
Trial
“That concludes my instructions on the law,” the judge says. That took him about an hour and 10 minutes. He asks the lawyers to approach the bench.
Judge
"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people." - John F. Kennedy
Burns
He bluntly warned that “the presumptive Republican nominee is the opioid of all opioids,” a drug meant to alleviate pain whereby “you end up re-enslaved with an even bigger problem, a worse affliction and addiction, a bigger delusion.”
Trial
Gift article available to everyone.
The probation office on the 10th floor of the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse prepares presentencing reports for judges. There, Trump would be interviewed about his personal history, his mental health and the circumstances that led to his conviction.
RNA
Though it is a linchpin of every living thing on Earth, RNA was misunderstood and underappreciated for decades — often dismissed as nothing more than a biochemical backup singer...
Trial
Gift article available to everyone.
It could take hours, days or even weeks for the 12 New Yorkers to reach a verdict in the first criminal trial of an American president.
The Market On Wednesday
Good morning. At 6:50 a.m. ET DOW futures are -220, S&P futures are -30, and NASDAQ futures are -113.25. The market is poised to open significantly lower.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
Trial
Joshua Steinglass is dealing in quick succession with some of the arguments that Todd Blanche laid out toward the end of his closing, including the idea that there was an alternative conspiracy involving Stormy Daniels, her manager and a National Enquirer editor.
MSNBC - 'There Is No Real Choice This November' - Ken Burns Gives Powerful Defense Of Democracy
There is no other video at the moment that is more on point or important than this.
Trial
Washington Post: Trump defense says prosecutors did not prove case in N.Y. hush money trial
Donald Trump’s defense lawyer Todd Blanche began his closing argument to the jury by telling them: “You should want more” than the type of evidence offered by the Manhattan district attorney in the hush money case.
Trial
The lawyer, Todd Blanche, assailed Mr. Cohen’s credibility in his closing argument, telling the jury that they “cannot convict President Trump on any crime beyond a reasonable doubt on the words of Michael Cohen.”
FLiRT
“If a wave materializes this summer, we’re less poised to navigate the rough waters,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, an epidemiologist and long-covid researcher at the Veterans Affairs health-care system in St. Louis.
Long Covid
Chronic hives. Hair loss. Tinnitus. Severe nerve pain. Extreme fluctuations in blood pressure. Allergic reactions to synthetic fabrics and processed foods.
Denial
NY Times: The Stench of Climate Change Denial By Paul Krugman
Along the Gulf and South Atlantic coasts, The Washington Post reported last week, “sea levels have risen at least six inches since 2010.” This may not sound like much, but it leads to rising groundwater and elevated risks of overflowing tanks.
Trial
First the defense and then the prosecution will spend hours weaving disparate strands of evidence into a cohesive story that they hope will resonate with the jurors.
The Market On Tuesday
Good morning. At 7:22 a.m. ET DOW futures are -43, S&P futures are +5.75, and NASDAQ futures are +45. The market is poised to open mixed.
Friday, May 24, 2024
Weekend!
Enjoy the holiday weekend and see you bright and early Tuesday morning. This upcoming week may be consequential, we could potentially have a verdict on Friday May 31st.
Treaty
...it would not enable the W.H.O. to dictate national policies on masking, or use armed troops to enforce lockdowns and vaccine mandates.
If Only
Then, to dig an even deeper hole, the defense called lawyer Robert Costello. His disrespectful behavior enraged the judge and earned him a dressing down.
How Indeed
In four decades as a federal judge, I have known scores, possibly hundreds, of federal trial and appellate judges pretty well. I can’t think of a single one, no matter who appointed her or him, who has engaged or would engage in conduct like that.
Blood
“The judge hates Donald Trump,” he said. “Just take a look. Take a look at him. Take a look at where he comes from.” New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan emigrated from Colombia as a child.
NCAA
Should the settlement go through, revenue sharing would likely begin at the start of the 2025-26 academic year, a seismic shift considering how long the NCAA has refused to have schools compensate athletes.
Shock
...“what’s next for America” was the “creation of a unified reich,” it was a shock of a different order, a suggestion that our country was on a glide path toward Nazi Germany in a second Trump term.
Pattern
NY Times: Trump’s Pattern of Sowing Election Doubt Intensifies in 2024 By Karen Yourish and Charlie Smart
But in the 2024 cycle, the falsehoods have been baked in since Mr. Trump announced his candidacy, almost two years before Election Day. They show no signs of subsiding.
The Market On Friday
Good morning. At 6:37 a.m. ET DOW futures are +66, S&P futures are +14, and NASDAQ futures are +44.5. The market is poised to open moderately higher.
Thursday, May 23, 2024
Comer
His (Comer) probe, since the beginning, has carried the odor, not of good-faith oversight, but of the weaponization of government office for political purposes. Perhaps this is why he so readily accuses Raskin of the same.
Life
NY Times: How to Buy Yourself a Longer Life By Frank Bruni
The billionaire tech C.E.O. Bryan Johnson, 46, reportedly spends about $2 million a year on treatments intended to burnish his health and prolong his life; at one point, in the hope of reversing the aging process and in consultation with some 30 doctors, he received a series of plasma transfusions from young donors, including his teenage son.
12:45 PM
Check out the really wide swing in the market at 12:45PM et. The DOW is -262, the S&P is +11.75, and NASDAQ is +136.75.
Unfit
Bolton has previously said of Trump: “He’s fundamentally ignorant, and he really doesn’t care about the facts. He thinks international relations are about personal relations, which is a line and approach that I can tell you, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are eagerly looking forward to.”
South Carolina
The new House map moved 62 percent of Black voters in Charleston County from the First District to the Sixth District, a seat that Representative James E. Clyburn, a Black Democrat, has held for 31 years.
Alito
Washington Post: New Alito flag report triggers fresh Democratic outrage Analysis By Theodoric Meyer and Leigh Ann Caldwell
The “Appeal to Heaven” flag was spotted flying last summer outside Alito’s vacation house on Long Beach Island, N.J....
Baseless
One (Trump) headline read: “What’s next for America?” with text underneath that referred to “the creation of a unified Reich.”
The word “Reich” is associated with Germany under Adolf Hitler,
Gardening
Gift article available to everyone
For me, gardening is a workout, meditation and opportunity to socialize with my neighbors all rolled into one.
Baltimore
Baltimore’s fatal overdose rate has quadrupled since 2013. It dipped in 2022, but preliminary data for 2023, not shown below, indicates overdoses were on track to rise again.
The Market On Thursday
Good morning. At 6:58 a.m. ET DOW futures are +37, S&P futures are +29.25, and NASDAQ futures are +175.75. The market is poised to open significantly higher.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Fentanyl
...a collision between adolescents’ natural drive to experiment, a decline in teen mental health and an increase in the availability and potency of counterfeit pills that mimic the appearance of prescription medications...
Plastic
Looks like we've found the reason for beginning the abatement of microplastics.
NPR: Plastic junk? Researchers find tiny particles in men's testicles By Will Stone
Dead Last
Dead last: Donald Trump (10.92), substantially below James Buchanan (16.71), Andrew Johnson (21.56), Franklin Pierce (24.6) and William Henry Harrison (26.01).
My own view is that Trump is a consequential president for all the wrong reasons.
First
Gift article available to everyone.
NY Times: Now What? First aid basics everyone should know. By Elizabeth Passarella
Heat
Axios: Scorching heat wave to roast Texas, Gulf Coast over Memorial Day weekend By Andrew Freedman
If the temperature in Austin or San Antonio reaches 100°F or above this weekend, as currently forecast, it would be about a month earlier than the typical start of triple-digit heat there.
Giuliani
...Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York, listing up to $500 million in debts. He continued, however, to rant against the trial and the ruling, describing the judge as “hopelessly biased.”
Obstruction
Trump faces 40 federal charges over allegations that he kept top-secret government documents at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida residence and private club, and then thwarted government efforts to retrieve them.
Reich
NY Times: I’m Donald Trump, and I Disapprove of the Message I Just Posted By David Firestone
In the case of the Reich video, the campaign said it was created by a “random account online” and reposted “by a staffer,” though the posting was done in Trump’s own name
War
NY Times: Middle East Crisis - Spain, Norway and Ireland Recognize a Palestinian State, a Blow to Israel
Although scores of countries have recognized Palestinian statehood, the closely coordinated announcements by the three nations carried added weight amid the growing toll of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza...
The Market On Wednesday
Good morning. At 6:58 a.m. ET DOW futures are -43, S&P futures are -8.75, and NASDAQ futures are -31.5. The market is poised to open moderately lower.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024
'American Fiction'
trailer - I'm watching this on Amazon, and it's good, smarter than most recent movies.
Life
"Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and being alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You have to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes too near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could." - Louise Erdrich
Storms
Growth and development patterns mean there are many more homes and businesses in the way of tornadoes, hail and damaging winds than there were decades ago.
Trial
The two sides returned to the courtroom on Tuesday afternoon — without the jury — to hash out a crucial, if complicated, matter: the instructions jurors will receive before deliberating on the 34 felony counts against Mr. Trump.
Dumped In The Desert
...illustrates one example of the draconian practices being deployed in at least three North African nations to dissuade sub-Saharan migrants from risky crossings to Europe.
Trial
Trump's not testifying, is anyone surprised?
There is still more legal business after both sides return to court later Tuesday, including hashing out instructions to the jury and a long-shot request by Mr. Trump’s lawyers that the judge decide the case in their favor. That request cited what the defense called bogus testimony by Michael D. Cohen...
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