The Great Corruptions…

The other day, I read an editorial in the LA Times that said, when it comes to crime, Donny is a buffoon but when it comes to corruption, nobody does it better. I think that’s dead-on.

Donny has been engaged in corruption, literally, his entire life. He has developed corrupting into an art form. He’s beyond professional level skill. For him, it’s a way of life, corruption. It’s second nature to him.

He corrupts anyone and everything he comes into contact with. If it’s a process, he corrupts it. If it’s procedure, he corrupts it. If it’s a person, he corrupts them. When the scales fall from the eyes, that’s what’s left: Donald J. Trump, the Great Corrupter…

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I’m beginning to suspect that even MAGA is seeing the shine of their would-be deity starting to tarnish. It’s a couple of things. From what I hear, MAGA media isn’t hammering on “Ain’t Donny great?” stories so much as “AAAAH! We’ve GOT to stop the Democrats and Trump is our only choice!” That’s hardly a full-throat, hearty endorsement of Donny.

More importantly, Donny has complained several times about the lack of supporters outside the courtroom where he’s being tried for his crimes. He has even called the faithful out – and they haven’t shown up. At least, not in any significant numbers. In an effort to deceive any of the remaining still-deceived, he claims it’s because law enforcement is keeping them away but that lie was easily exposed. All the media had to do was take a camera outside the courtroom and show the few MAGA who DID show up. There aren’t a lot of them but those who are making the effort can get all the way to the courthouse without the police bothering them.

So, he whines it’s because everyone in New York City is a Democrat. How stupid is that? NY has something like 8 million people in it. ALL of them are Democrats? Based on the MAGA base rate in our population, out of 8 million people, 2 million of them should be dim enough to be deceived into MAGA. Even if you account for increased liberality of cities, he should STILL have over 1 million people ready to destroy the country in his name.

The estimate I’ve seen for the number of Trump supporters turning out is twelve. No, not twelve million, thousand, or even hundred. Just twelve. And I’ll tell you this: That is certainly NOT the fearsome army he was once thought to be able to conjure – emphasis on “con…”

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By now, thinking Americans should NEVER be surprised to find a MAGA accusation is actually a MAGA admission. These days, I’m not surprised by that. I expect it every time some new bit of story comes from MAGA media. “Oh, what are they confessing now?” But I’m still “back-filling” older information and, for some reason, it continues to blow my mind, from time to time.

David Pecker’s admission that Donald Trump was the author of massive amounts of the FAKE NEWS that came out during the 2016 campaign, all while screaming about all the FAKE NEWS out there shouldn’t surprise me. Of course Donny was the perpetrator. Cons are ALWAYS doing the thing they accuse their opposition of doing. ALWAYS.

And STILL, I shake my head in disbelief. The depths of deception this guy stooped to in order to get what he wanted continues to boggle the mind…

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Speaking of Fake News, Fox Not-News has reported that Trump’s defense team member, Clarence Thomas, asked an “important question” while pretending to “weigh evidence” in the immunity case. Thomas asked if the on-scene attorneys for Donny had raised the question of Jack Smith’s legal ability to prosecute Trump. Apparently, that’s a thing in MAGA – a new story to sell. It’s made up of weasel-words.

As it happens, the Attorney General has authority to appoint a special counsel and said counsel does NOT need to be confirmed by Congress – and cons know it. They don’t even argue congress had to approve previous special counsels to the role. They’re pretending that Congress had to have approved them for something somewhere along their career paths.

I’m no lawyer but I didn’t see that requirement when I read the Congressional Research Service’s report on ‘Independent Counsels, Special Prosecutors, Special Counsels, and the Role of Congress,” dated June 20,2913. In fact, what I read there was, “Under the Constitution and its separation of powers principles and structure, Congress has no direct role in federal law enforcement, nor in triggering or initiating the appointment of any prosecutor for any particular matter (other than the advice and consent role of the Senate regarding certain nominations made by the President).”

I’ll tell you this: Since MAGA media lies about everything, all the time, I’m going to just assume this pretended ‘confirmation-at-some-point’ role is yet another in a long, long, long, oh, gods, even LONGER list of lies already rolled out and debunked by reality…

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Oh, hey, speaking of corruption, I know, now, why David Pecker was so forthcoming and in-detail complete while he was on the stand: immunity. Pecker was given immunity for his testimony. THAT means, the more he can spew in court, the greater his own protection, see? (It’s a fatal flaw in the whole “selfish serves” mantra of the cons. They can only “team up” as long as their own personal interests don’t come into conflict.)

I’ll tell you this: I found that kind of ironic. Donny claims he should have complete immunity from all crime because he was President once. Meanwhile, one of his cronies GETS immunity in this case to help prosecute Donny in a case RATKG&B wouldn’t be able to help him with anyway…

Immune To Reality?

Donny’s legal team – Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, and Barrett (RATKG&B) – are doing what they can. They heard arguments on Thursday on the question of whether or not Presidents have perfect, blanket immunity for any and all actions, no matter what. Okay, arguments were presented. Whether or not they were “heard” remains to be seen.

They’ve come to the conclusion that others before them have already come to. Yes, the President of the United States DOES, indeed, have immunity for some official acts of the office while in office. Um…duh! That has long since been the case. How could a President drop a bomb on an unsuspecting civilian car carrying the “number two man in Al-Qaeda” (along with his wives and children) without immunity? If we’re not in a declared war, that’s murder. Unless you’re the President of the United States, right?

In fact, the actual question at hand is whether a President has immunity for criminal acts committed outside the duties of the office. For example, if a President, say, loses an election and then tries, over and over again to stay in office anyway, is he immune? Technically, he was in office at the time. Doesn’t that count?

No. But if it does, I hope Joe Biden uses HIS immunity to have Donny’s “legal team” rubbed out so he can pack the court with his own people, solving the problem of having Supreme Court Justices moonlighting as defense attorneys. (Dear NSA, that’s satire, used to make a point.)

Trump team loyalists Alito and Kavanaugh suggested that some of the charges against Donny were hard to defend so they shouldn’t count. They said that if using laws is going to be the standard, future prosecutors could prosecute future ex-Presidents whenever they wanted to. (Interestingly, they didn’t mention the part about needing to violate that law in the first place, a key point in Trump’s trials.)

When the lawyer for the Special Counsel’s office dismissed that idea, citing the Grand Jury process, Alito sneered that a grand jury could “indict a ham sandwich.” That’s true, but could the prosecutor get a conviction? Alito even argued that our entire society might collapse if Presidents can’t just murder people, willy-nilly. For clarity, ‘murder’ was not mentioned, specifically. But “any crime” is ANY crime, right?

Two of the smart, non-ideologically impaired Justices, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonya Sotomayor, tried to inject some logic and common sense into the “debate” but they’re outnumbered so logic and common sense have no real place on that court.

Court-watchers are suggesting the way-too-high court is going to remand the case back to the lower court to double check if crimes are still, you know, actual crimes and if they’re really, really sure they want to indict Donny just because he committed them. Alternately, they might just hold their “ruling” until June 30 and issue it as they slither out the back door for their two month vacation. (Sounds like a hard damn life to me…)

Either way, it’s a win (of sorts) for Donny. If the case is remanded, it will buy Donny time. The trial likely won’t happen before the election. If the case isn’t remanded, the delayed decision will ALSO prevent the trial from moving forward until after the ballots are cast.

I’ll tell you this: Donny has a VERY effective legal team in RATKG&B, the best lawyer/judge combo money can buy…

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Hey, I thought the trial was a trick to keep Donny off of the campaign trail! Donny said so himself. He has said so more than once, too. “They’re trying to keep me off the campaign trail.” “I should be out there campaigning but I have to come here.” That would be a problem, too.

But, it’s not a ploy. He has to attend his criminal trial. That’s not a special rule for Donny. That’s the way it is. (And, btw, the ONLY one enjoying special privileges is Donny, no matter what he tells you.) That trial takes up every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday so the only days he has to campaign – get out there and press the flesh and meet the people as he claims he so badly wants to do – are Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday.

So, THAT clearly explains why, when he had a day off from court when he could campaign he set out as quickly as he could and…hit the golf course? Wait, what? When he’s doing his “Woe is poor, poor me” shtick, all he wants is to be out campaigning. When the cameras are off, he DOES what he really wants to do: he golfs. That was his presidency, too. Golfing.

From what I hear, for someone who golfs as much as he does, you’d think he would be a better golfer. The number of people out there who have played with him and will tell you he cheats is huge. Pretty much everyone who isn’t beholden to Donny in some way confesses Donny cheats. I think that makes him a double terrible golfer. He plays every chance he gets and he STILL has to cheat to get a good score?

But I digress. Dear MAGA, What Donny says is that he wants to be out there, with you. What Donny does is blow off a chance to be with you so he can go golfing. Actions speak louder than words…

The Truth Will Out…

Well, David is certainly not pulling his punches. Pecker, I mean. David Pecker. He’s on the stand in Donny’s hush money trial. He’s just spewing information. It could be because he has to after the ‘National Enquirer’ got in trouble for their part in his scheme, but I don’t think that’s it at all. It has been no challenge to get Pecker to share everything he knows and he’s not trying to hide things behind weasel words. That’s not a person forced to testify. That seems like someone salivating at the opportunity. Weird. I thought they were still friends.

David and Donny had made an “informal” agreement. Pecker would use his paper to assist Donny. They made up and published stories about Donny’s opposition candidates, not just from across the aisle but even fellow Roepublicans. Be clear about that: they made up stories. They published anything they could find (or make up) to shine a nice light on Donny AND they were involved in a catch-and-kill scheme for him. If someone had a bad story to tell about 45, the National Enquirer bought it as an “exclusive” – which they then never published.

As an “exclusive,” the seller of the story signed Non Disclosure Agreements and promised not to tell anyone else. Then, the Enquirer just filed the story in File 13 and that was the last of it. They paid a certain amount, then Donny was supposed to reimburse them. Pecker is Donny’s friend. He didn’t have any reason to think the scheme would work out any other way.

So, when the doorman wanted to tell his unverified story about Donny’s illegitimate child, Pecker was there. $30,000 dollars worth. And when Karen McDougal showed up with a story about an ongoing affair throughout Melania’s pregnancy, Pecker rose to the occasion. $150,000 dollars worth.

That’s a lot of media manipulation Donny participated in. ALL THE WHILE, he was out on the campaign trail complaining about media manipulations against him. MAGA was out screaming and yelling about “fake news,” remember? The “fake news” was coming from the right. I know. Who can be surprised? The right making an accusation that turned out to be a confession? When has anything like it ever…? Oh, right.

The Trump campaign was the source of much (most?) of the fake news of the 2016 election. Pecker has testified that these fraudulent stories were prearranged. Trump and Cohen had coordinated the manipulations with Pecker. Pecker was specifically asked what the Enquirer could do to help the campaign. The ‘Fake News’ and ‘Catch-and-Kill’ schemes were born. And MAGA was snookered.

I’ve been saying MAGA stays loyal because MAGA is deceived. Pecker has just confirmed that under oath in a court of law. Pecker laid out exactly how Trump, Cohen, and Pecker went about deceiving the base. He’ll be doing more of that today. Describing the scheme and it’s effects, I mean.

My guess? MAGA isn’t hearing ANY of it. MAGA media will simply not cover that aspect. Instead, they’ll cover how bravely Trump came into court and how persecuted he is and just how tough is this tough guy, anyway? There will be nary a peep about how Donny and the MAGA media worked together to deceive them…

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Before trial Tuesday, Donny came into the media ring and whined and cried that someone must be blocking all of his supporters from coming down to the building to show their support because there were precious few outside. It took no time at all for the media to debunk that bit – based entirely on the fact that Trump supporters ARE outside the building. Just not as many as Donny thought there might be. I suspect he was looking for a J6 crowd, hoping for some J6 intimidation. I ALSO suspect the J6 crowd, those not still in jail anyway, have learned a lesson.

So instead, he got a tiny, little crowd, even AFTER he tried to encourage people to come down and show support. It’s possible, his remaining supporters DID come out. There just aren’t as many as there used to be. He has fleeced his fan base into near-poverty. He has lied and lied to them, leaving them with egg on their faces, over and over again as they try to defend him only to learn he lied – again. (How many times are YOU willing to look like a fool defending him, especially when you KNOW not ONE of his stories has held up under scrutiny?)

Who knows, maybe they’ll show up en masse today. Maybe they’ve just been biding their time, looking for the perfect opportunity to get to the courthouse and show off their ignorance. Maybe. Maybe not. There seem to be some cracks in the loyalty. Even MAGA knows the famous phrase, “Fool me 107,286 times, shame on the Democrats. Fool me 107,286 times, eventually, shame on me.”

I’m Laughing…

Donny is telling his faithful loyalists that he’s “gagged” in court. “They won’t let me speak.” Well, they don’t just let the defendant have a chat in the courtroom but that’s not a gag. His gag order only prevents him from attacking court staff (except the judge), their families, witnesses, their families, or prosecutors families.

We’ve seen this before from him and I’m still not used to it. He’s not faking this. If he can’t say horrible things about people, he has nothing to say. What kind of mind is that? He continues to claim prosecutors have no case. Then it should be an easy matter to get in there and prove your innocence, right? No problem. So just do that. But, no. He has to attack, threaten, and intimidate.

What a loser.

I know I’ve said it before but I’m just tired of his shtick. He really needs new material. Yeah, we get it, Donny. Everybody lies but you. Everybody is out to get you. YOU’RE the big fighter able to leap tall buildings in a single bound but you’re ALSO getting pushed around by the DOJ like you’re, you know, a criminal. It’s all political. Biden is a senile old fool and ALSO the mastermind behind this entire criminal prosecution. Yawn. BOR-ING!

Barring some unexpected development, opening statements start Monday. I expect the prosecutor to lay out facts, supported by evidence. I expect the defense to whine. Then cry. Then obfuscate. Then cry some more. “C’mon, guys, this isn’t fair!” His BEST defense is, “You shouldn’t do this to an ex-president” but that defense is terrible. In fact, the ex-president shouldn’t have committed those crimes.

The media thinks his actual best hope is finding a juror who can’t be convinced, that is, a MAGA who slipped through the cracks. But playing for a hung jury isn’t anywhere near winning. When a chess player is in a game that hasn’t gone their way, the last ditch effort to keep from losing is called a stalemate, a tie. But in chess, a tie ends the game. For Donny, a tie ends THAT trial but might well lead to another. So even that is no guarantee he walks away from this.

In truth, this is the “little trial.” Odds are best he loses but I don’t see him going to jail over this one. Unless the case is bigger than just paying off his side-honeys, he cooked his books (by his own dumbass admission) to the tune of about $280,000. That’s not much in corporate criminal terms. He likely won’t go to jail, even if they find him guilty. He’ll likely face a fine and perhaps some probation. BUT…

He WILL be a felon. I think THAT is my favorite part of this, particular, trial. If he’s found guilty, he won’t be able to vote for himself come November. MAGA really should take note of that – even Donald Trump won’t be voting for Donald Trump. Why would anybody else?

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MAGA Mike did a not-so-MAGA thing. I’ll be interested in seeing how this plays out. He worked with Democrats and reasonable Roepublicans to pass aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. The Freedumb Caucus is very upset with him for doing something that helps someone. That runs the risk of looking like a win for Joe Biden, although it’s really just doing the right thing. MAGA HATES when Congress does the right thing.

MAGA Marge has already filed the paperwork to remove Johnson as Speaker. She has a handful of like-minded marginals on her side. She CAN call for his removal though she has not done so as of this writing. MAGA media started right away talking about Johnson now heading a “coalition government.” MAGA HATES cooperation.

It’s curious because I have MAGA Mike down as the person willing to overthrow the November election on false pretenses in order to install Donny, like they wanted Mike Pence to do in 2021. If Johnson is removed, he loses power to do that. Besides, how long would it take them to find yet another Speaker? They don’t HAVE another fifteen months.

So, I suspect there will be much MAGA moaning and shouting but Marge won’t pull the trigger on removal. That gives Johnson a chance to do the right thing a time or two just to provide the appearance of reasonableness. MAGA can be mad at him today (or pretend to be) but they need him in the Speaker position on January 3rd if they’re going to try to pull off their next coup attempt.

I’ll tell you this: I’m not looking for Johnson’s removal. But if they do? I’m going to laugh and laugh and laugh…

Donny’s Defense…

Unlike Donny’s other lawyers, his defense team from the firm of Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, and Barrett is having some real success. I suppose it’s MUCH easier when you are literally both the team for the defense AND the judges in the case, like this group.

They’ve appealed to themselves to determine whether some of the pesky laws used to convict some of the J6 rioters – and to indict their precious defendant, Donny – might be made to, you know, just…go away. Specifically, they don’t like the charge of ‘Obstruction of an Official Proceeding.’ “Using ‘laws’ to try to determine whether or not someone is a ‘criminal’ makes it very difficult to defend criminals,” Chief Defense representative, John Roberts, didn’t say. “We would prefer to have fewer laws so our job is simpler.”

Fortunately, they’re not only the defense team. They’re the judges, too, so odds are good they’re going to honor their request. “This is why we get so much money,” Clarence Thomas didn’t confess, “we have more pull than most defense teams and our clients often prevail in the highest court. Spare a dollar?”

There is no word on how quickly the court will rule, but based on past issues they’ve taken up, if it helps their client to rule quickly, they’ll rule quickly. On the other hand, if it helps their client to wait, they’ll wait. “It is incumbent upon the court to provide the appearance of deliberation and deep thought on these very not-so-complex issues,” Samuel Alito didn’t add.

“Glorious President-for-Life Trump is finally paying the right legal team,” Gorsuch didn’t say, “and we’re going to give him his money’s worth. It’s our most precious legal standard, here at RATKG&B: come through for the highest bidder.”

“I can belch my name!” Kavanaugh has definitely said.
“Yes, Brett, we know…” answered Amy Barrett, who should be home – barefoot and pregnant – and so isn’t a “true” woman…

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Donny’s going to be relying on that legal team – RATKG&B – more and more in the coming months because he certainly can NOT rely on keeping his own big mouth shut. He’s GOING to spill the beans in each of his cases, one by one. It’s practically guaranteed. He has already done it in his “hush money” trial. It’s really a “cooking the books” trial but the hush-money-to-the-porn-star angle is more fun for the left.

Whenever he sees a camera these days, he likes to walk up and repeat his litany of lies – all in one sentence if he can. It has become quite tedious, listening to him. It’s always the same, boring collection of words that all boil down to, “Waah, poor me! I feel SO sorry for myself! These guys are such meanie-pants! Don’t they know I’m a big-boy tough guy? Why are they pushing me around so much?” Then as his mind melts, “Oh, what a world, what a world! Who would have thought a few little laws like these could destroy my beautiful wickedness?”

But then, AFTER the “poor me-gasm,” he gets into the specifics of his crimes and just – confesses. He did it again Tuesday morning when he told reporters that all he did was give money to his attorney and write it down as legal expenses. Yes, that IS what he did. That’s exactly what he did. The thing is, they weren’t legal expenses. They were, by legal definition, campaign expenses. He was paying women he had cheated on his wife with to keep their mouths shut in order to protect his campaign.

For clarity, in case you’re confused, he slept with Playboy model Karen McDougal ($150,000) while Melania was carrying Barron. Then, four months after Barron was born, Donny slept with porn star Stormy Daniels ($130,000). It’s pretty clear there were no “legal services” connected with any of that and they don’t suddenly become legal services just because you funneled your illegal payments through your shyster attorney.

Somebody should explain it to him. Donny, you’re accused of giving money to your lawyer to pass along to your paramours and then recording the cost as a “legal expense.” DON’T go out in front of the cameras you love so much and TELL them that “all you did” was give money to your lawyers and write it down as a legal expense. How the hell are we supposed to show you’re NOT guilty when you go running around proclaiming your own guilt?

I’ll tell you this: I’d bet that someone – many someone’s in fact – have tried to explain it to him. Over and over and over again. He’s just not capable of keeping his mouth shut when he needs to.

All Rise…

I’ll tell you this right up front: I don’t like Donny. You may have noticed. I don’t make much (okay, any) effort to hide it. I’m not going to sugar coat it. I don’t like the guy. He strikes me as a terrible human being. I think he’s guilty based on all I’ve seen in the media. BUT… I honestly believe if I had been called to jury duty for his case, I could set aside my personal feelings for the guy and make a judgment based on the evidence. I really do.

For one thing, I think justice is more important that my feelings about the defendant and I would NOT want to participate in punishing an innocent person – even a person I don’t like. The other thing? News outlets get things wrong sometimes. I understand, clearly, that what I hear in the media and what comes out of a courtroom might be different things and I believe the courtroom has the higher standard.

I should acknowledge that maybe I’m just kidding myself, safe in the knowledge that I’m not going to be called for his trial but I don’t think so. Justice is important to me. As an example, like many people, I strongly suspect OJ killed his ex-wife and Ron Goldman, even though he was acquitted. But had I sat on his jury? I would have voted for acquittal, myself, because of the cop caught carrying around a vial of blood in his pocket for hours at OJ’s house, coupled with testimony that blood spots had not been noted, for example in the entryway, and then were suddenly, clearly present.

I never thought the cops were trying to frame an innocent man, there. I thought they were trying to secure the conviction of a well-connected rich man they had had more than enough trouble with through the years, only to watch him avoid legal consequences over and over. But mishandling evidence could mean anything from simple and honest oversight to outright framing the wrong guy. It would have kept me from voting to convict. I could do it with Donny, too, and if I could do it, others can do it…

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This is a day I didn’t think was going to happen. No, I know Mondays happen. I’m talking about Donny’s trial. The ‘cooking-the-books-to-pay-off-the-porn-star’ trial. It’s starting. Back in March, I wrote “At this point, I’ll believe Donny faces justice when he actually meets justice – and not one second sooner.” Yeah, I was having a rough day but I stand by the statement. A trial and a conviction are two different things and an upheld conviction is something else again. There’s STILL a long way to go, folks.

But the fact that he’s even in a courtroom represents some of that justice I was on about earlier and I’m pleased it’s finally happening. According to the media, Trump didn’t just pay off Stormy Daniels, the porn star. He ALSO paid off a woman named Karen McDougal, a Playboy model he also slept with and paid hush money to. He paid Daniels $130,000 through Michael Cohen. He paid McDougal $150,000 through the ‘National Enquirer.’

They “bought” the story as an exclusive with the intent of never publishing it. It’s a trick called ‘Catch and Kill.’ As an “exclusive,” she couldn’t talk about it. Then, they locked the story away and that was that. Donny allegedly reimbursed his friend David Pecker, the owner of the Enquirer, using the same bookkeeping manipulation he used to pay back Cohen.

When Bill Clinton got caught having an affair, there was a howling chorus of people out there crying, “Why doesn’t Hillary leave Bill?” I haven’t heard the same about Melania. But from what I can tell, hers has become a marriage in name only, assuming it was ever anything else.

Melania appears to be contractually obligated to make a few campaign appearances with Donny. Very few. HE tries to present a picture of a happy marriage. HER presentation is more, “I hate this guy and I’m about to puke.” I guess they can make her show up but they can’t make her smile. Now she gets to be treated to the details of the affairs, laid out point by point as they move through the trial. Make that, “I hate this guy and I’m about to puke – but the money’s good.”

I imagine Melania will be free to divorce Donny AFTER the election. After the election, the divorce won’t matter. He’ll be in, and since he appears determined to never leave, why the hell would he keep a woman around who despises him all day, every day? But his sham marriage deceives the rubes and THAT’S what he needs.

I’ve heard polls show that a conviction in this trial could hurt Donny among his base. I’m not sure I believe that, either. MAGA has a seemingly endless capacity to convince themselves of the most ridiculous things and even if he’s convicted by a jury of his peers, how hard will it be for the deceived to decide he’s been framed? Donny’s already calling it the ‘Biden Trials,’ as if Joe had anything to do with them, whatsoever.

Still, the possibility that he might actually face some kind of justice is stronger today than ever. Yes, he’s been given every break. The deference from the system has been frustrating, angering, even. But, on balance, the system seems to be working, albeit glacially slowly. Maybe, just maybe, there’s hope, after all…

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Okay, speaking of glacially slow, I wish people would STOP ripping on Aileen “loose” Cannon and Alina Habba as “stupid” just because they do so many stupid-seeming things that delay the trials. Whether or not those things are stupid depends entirely on ones goals, doesn’t it? Sure, if the goal is a proper trial using proper procedure, Cannon is an idiot. But that’s not HER goal. HER goal is to disrupt and, hopefully, derail the trial. EVERY so-called “stupid” move she makes, facilitates that goal. If it advances her game, exactly the way it’s supposed to advance her game, how “stupid” could it be?

It’s the same with Habba. People keep sneering at her because she files motions that should be embarrassing to a lawyer. “WHY,” people ask, “would she do THAT?” I presume she KNOWS her motions are ridiculous. The point is not the validity of the motions. The point is the delay. Every one of those motions must be ruled on, dumb or not. That takes time. I have the exact same question about Habba I have about Cannon. If it advances her game, exactly the way it’s supposed to advance her game, how “stupid” could it be?

I suspect I could easily endure the entire world calling me a dummy if it resulted in millions of dollars in my pocket and these two women clearly feel the same way. The only true measure of how stupid they might be is this: did they got the money up front?

Desperately Poor “Billionaire…”

Russia, Russia, Russia! It became something of a battle cry for MAGA since 2016, when the Trump campaign was found to be communicating with Russians. Donny used his political power and a few obsequious toadies to cover that one up and he got away with it. Then he started ridiculing those who had considered he had an improper association with the Russians. But you know who keeps turning up in Donny’s life, saving his ass (or trying to), over and over again? Russians, Russians, Russians!

They were there for him in 2016. We know they were trying to smear Joe Biden with misinformation about bribes, which the GOP glomed onto and ran with – until their “informant” was arrested for lying to the FBI. They were STILL there for him in 2022, when his media company was just about to tank. Donny tried to merge his company with another in 2021 but regulators opened a securities investigation into the company and while they were working that out, Trump media took emergency loans to keep afloat, including from an entity called ES Family Trust. ES Family Trust opened an account with Paxum Bank, a small bank registered in Dominica, in the Caribbean. Mostly, Paxum Bank’s claim to fame is that they provide financial services to the porn industry.

So, what is ES Family Trust? It’s a trust operated like a shell company by a guy named Anton Postolnikov. You’ll never guess his national identity. Okay, trick question. He’s a hybrid, Russian-American. His trust is set up in St. Petersburg, Russia although it lists it’s address as a residential home in Hollywood, Florida – a home which was sold in December, 2023. He’s a co-owner of Paxum Bank and he’s currently the subject of a criminal investigation by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security into the Trump Media merger. Oh, and did I mention he has close ties to Vladimir Putin? C’mon, at least pretend to be shocked. Yeah, me neither…

So, if Postolnikov owns a bank, why set up a shell company to finance Donny? Because Paxum Bank isn’t licensed to make loans in the US and Donny needed the money fast. $8 million dollars worth, according to the Guardian. The loans were provided in the form of convertible promissory notes, meaning repayment would come in the form of Trump Media stock. The estimate is that ES Family Trust’s stake is somewhere between $20 million and $40 million dollars, which makes perfect sense in a company with no value, no income, and no assets.

From there? It gets murky. Downright shady, some might say. Classic Donny, I’d say. Murky deals with hard to follow financial flows, unclear ownership, and ties to people subject to various misdeeds and criminal investigations? Yep, that sounds like Donny all over…

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Speaking of Donny’s failing media company, people are talking about him taking the cash from his overvalued stock before it crashes entirely. He’s not supposed to be able to take any for six months but that’s an impediment that the board can remove – and Eric and Don, Jr are on the board. But here’s the thing; who’s going to buy it?

Consider; this stock is worthless. I mean, it has value right now because MAGA (and possibly foreign actors) pumped the value up early on. They started buying shares at a furious rate, turning the stock into what’s called a ‘meme stock.’ Think Gamestop. It became a trendy thing to buy, even though the company behind it had horrible financials. It’s one thing for people to claim faith in their dear leader when nothing is on the line. It’s another thing entirely when there’s actual money people are actually losing.

And if you got in late, oh, boy are you losing money. It got up to nearly $70 dollars a share. Then the frenzy cooled and people started looking at what they were buying – and they didn’t like what they saw. What’s to like? A company that lost $56 million dollars in a year on revenues of $4 million? So, today, as of this writing, the stock is down to $37.20/share, just over half of that amount. It won’t be too much longer until it reaches it’s proper value. Then it will likely be de-listed. So if you got in at $35/share because you love Donny, and you hold, no matter what, because you love Donny? You’re going to lose your money.

If I told you I had a company with extremely low revenues, deep debt, an unpopular, failing product, few advertisers, and steadily dropping usage, how much are you going to in invest? Right. And that’s exactly how much people should be investing in Trump Media. So who does Donny sell to in order to realize that cash windfall? MAGA can’t buy that much stock. Nobody who knows what their doing will buy any of that stock. That leaves people who don’t give a rat’s tail about the stock – they intend to buy the GOP presidential candidate for their own purposes.

When I was in the Air Force, it was illegal for people to be gay. Now, I’m not gay so it didn’t affect me. But I always thought the position was stupid for one, glaring reason: the only reason being gay was illegal was because it might set someone up for blackmail, creating a security risk. But the only reason anybody could blackmail a gay person in the military is because the military made it illegal to be gay. That’s called circular reasoning.

But I’ll tell you this: Donny being financially beholden to international criminals and strongmen and other unsavory characters really WILL set him up to be blackmailed and controlled. That’s NOT circular reasoning. Donny’s financial desperation (unexpected from a self-described “genius businessman billionaire”) has put him in a vulnerable position where he can be exploited by any number of bad actors. Is MAGA really going to try and put THAT into the White House? Sadly, yes. Hey, America, how about we don’t let them?

I Thought Of A Buyer…

Now that we know we have an ex-president for sale (damaged, as is) I have a tremendous concern over exactly who might end up buying him. I doubt it well be Putin. Clearly, Putin already has complete control over Donny so there’s no incentive. But it most likely won’t be anybody we would want controlling an active President, should the very worst occur. So that’s been on my mind. Then? Well, I figured out the best person to buy Donny: Chuck Schumer!

Okay, maybe $175 million is too big of a bite for a Senator. (Then again?) So how about the DNC? They could count it an investment. They end up controlling Biden as a Democrat AND Donny as a debtor. Their control over 45 only lasts until the case is over and the money surrendered (or returned, the less likely scenario). But Donny dances as he’s told to when he has no choice. We’ve SEEN it with Putin. Could you imagine him running a campaign and NOT being allowed to hurl mean, nasty, paranoid, terrified, little slurs and insults at anybody – because the DNC ordered him not to?

Do you think Donny would reject the lifeline because it came from Democrats? Don’t be ridiculous. That would require an ethical position and Donny’s lack of ethics is one of MAGA’S favorite features of the guy. C’mon, Dems. Buy Donny. You know you want to. Just do it. And then? FORCE him to behave like a human being…

Yeah, I know. But it would be fun…

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Coupla new frauds. Of course. They just never end with this guy. It seems Mr. Hankey, who tried to post Donny’s $175 million dollar bond, ALSO offered to post Donny’s original $464 million dollar bond. The thing is, if one has secured the money one needs to pay a bond, and then walks into court and says they don’t have the money? Why, that’s fraud on the court. It’s an ethics violation that could get his lawyers in trouble. This one won’t matter much. It’s too hard to prove exactly when the lawyers discovered that Hankey had offered to post Donny’s bond. Besides, it’s looking like Hankey can’t even cover the $175 million dollar bond, let alone $464 million. I’m just struck by the idea that even as he loses in court over fraud, he STILL engages in fraud. It’s easier to train a puppy! (Hey, has anyone tried a rolled up newspaper?)

Hankey’s company, Knight Specialty Insurance Company, has a net worth of $138 million dollars. If I remember my basic math, $138 million is LESS than the $175 million they’ve just promised to cover. If they haven’t fully collateralized the loan, that would wipe them out. Because Knight isn’t registered in New York, they have to prove they can cover the bond amount – and how they’ll cover it. They filed some of the paper needed but not all, so the bond was rejected. They quickly filed an amendment but it, too, falls short. They have 10 days from that day (April 4) to get this right or the bond will be “without effect.” The thing that gets me? Knight would STILL have to put the money up until Donny finds another bond. Knight could STILL lose the money – and it wouldn’t even help Donny.

Also, he’s trying to pump up his social media site. He claims it’s awesome, growing, and very popular. By any real measure, it’s none of the above. He’s hemorrhaging money. It already has comparatively low membership and many of those people are leaving the site. Those who stay are choir members, preaching to each other. (BOR-ing!) He’s hemorrhaging money. He’s locked up in legal battles with his co-founders. He’s hemorrhaging money. People who know stocks are betting against Donny’s company by short-selling the stock. They expect further losses. Oh, did I mention, he’s hemorrhaging money?

As much as MAGA might ask you to believe his company is great because it’s associated with Donny, it turns out, the only thing that matters to smart investors is the possibility of profit. Smart investors don’t see that at TMTG. They see leadership in-fighting and huge financial losses, with nothing suggesting a turn-around. In short, an unstable, non-viable organization destined for bankruptcy. You know, a Trump Company. You know who else thinks Trump is lying about ‘Truth Social’ in an effort to bump up the stock? The SEC. That’s the Securities and Exchange Commission.

It turns out, when one goes public, there are rules one must follow. The SEC has a rule barring “manipulative and deceptive devices” to pump up stocks. Lying about the success of the site is definitely ‘manipulative and deceptive.’ The SEC will be looking into this. It could cost the company even more money – the very last thing TMTG needs. MAGA is already out there, working three jobs to try to maintain the lifestyle Donny prefers. Maybe it’s time to mortgage the house, too. It’s looking like Donny is going to need more of their money soon. They should just cut to the chase, send him every last dime and move into the streets. He’s not going to be happy with anything less…

For Sale: Former President, as is…

So now Netanyahu has attacked a non-profit charity trying to supply humanitarian aid to Gaza, killing seven of it’s members. I’ve heard Israel knew the timing of the delivery of the humanitarian aid. They knew the route the group was taking to and from the drop-off location. So how do they “accidentally” blow the thing up in an “unfortunate incident?”

Actions speak louder than words. I believe now more than ever before, Netanyahu has a goal: elimination of ALL Palestinians in Gaza – and he has provided NO path for escape, so “elimination” MUST mean something else, yes?

I’ll tell you this: I know Biden may not be able to stop Netanyahu. That guy has a single-minded, dedicated goal. But Biden can sure as hell stop providing the weapons Netanyahu is using to do his dirty work. I believe Netanyahu is DEEP into the world of war crimes, now, and because the US is providing many of his weapons, we’re complicit. I don’t WANT to be complicit in war crimes…

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Nor would I want to be complicit in any of Donny’s crimes, either. People around him go to jail. He keeps slithering away. But did you hear that the $175 million “discount” bond he posted got rejected? The judge said the filing lacked important details – including a current financial statement. That dude seems unable to tell the truth, even when it’s in his own interest. The bond was “returned for correction,” and that’s all it should be. It SHOULD be nothing, a “clerical error” kind of thing. But this is Donny the Trumpery, here.

He got his bond from a subprime lender in the first place, meaning he paid extra high fees (if he paid any at all to his sycophantic “lender”), and now they “fail” to supply the required financial information along with the filing? Okay, it should be made clear, it’s the bonding company that needs to include it’s financial statements, not Donny. It’s not enough to claim they have the $175 million. They have to show it.

Letitia James still has to cool her heels, though. She can’t start the collection proceedings right away. Donny gets a chance to re-file and, if he can, he will.

But, hey, now’s your chance! If YOU would like to own and operate Donald J. Trump, give him the $175 million dollars he needs now. Think of how cool it would be to order Trump to do something, and watch him hop to it, like Reek in Game of Thrones. He’d still spit his hateful rhetoric at the world, except you. He’d have to be nice to you, no matter what.

You could get your hands on strategic goals of the United States. You could order him to give you military secrets. You could get the nuclear codes. (You could probably get his nude photos of Ivanka, too, ’cause when you own him, he’ll let you do it. What choice does he have?) Oh, hey, wait a minute. Doesn’t that mean that some foreign person or power could get the SAME control the same way? Hey, is THAT why Donny never – EVER – has a negative word to say about Putin?

You know what? I think it might be a bad idea to put a person bound and beholding to others into the most powerful office on Earth. Especially if the “others” are from adversarial nations. I, for one, don’t WANT a President who answers, first and foremost, to Vladimir Putin…

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I saw this headline from Fox Not News: “Former teacher opens up after OnlyFans gig led to her resignation…'” It seems, to me, that girl “opened up” before her resignation. “Here, let me open up my top for you.” That’s what led to her resignation! She was put on administrative leave for “conduct unbecoming of a professional educator.” What?!? Professional educators don’t have sex? My FATHER was a professional educator! How did I get here? (Stow it. I look too much like him…)

To me, it says a LOT about teacher pay in Ohio, where this happened. She tried other side gigs first but they took too much time with not enough return. I know that teachers take a lot of guff about “not working” because of the summers thing. But during the school year? A decent teacher works their ass off. Between class time, homework corrections, and lesson plans, there’s a LOT going on – and they NEVER get the resources they need, so they dip into their own pockets – which, clearly, already don’t sustain them.

I get the conundrum. On the one hand, participating in adult fare offends the puritanical sensibilities of many Americans. On the other hand, it might be difficult for some of her students to separate her in-class activities from her after-hours activities. In a perfect world, of course, children are “protected” from seeing such dirty, dirty stuff. But we all know this world ain’t perfect. Kids have the advantage when it comes to technology. And, really, how smart does one have to be to click ‘yes’ to the question, ‘Are you 21?’ Well, that was easy…

I’ll tell you this: the answer, along with that woman’s breasts, seems to be right in our faces: pay the teachers a living wage. How about we DON’T force our teachers to publicly display their “ends meeting” in order to make ends meet? Of course, we’d likely have to tax rich people to cover it and we can’t have that so I guess we’d better get used to the ‘teacher by day, dominatrix by night’ paradigm. You can’t have it both ways.

Well, you can, but it costs extra…

It’s the Guilt, Stupid…

I saw Mark Esper, one of 45’s many Secretaries of Defense, on Bill Maher this weekend. Esper has the advantage of having witnessed, first hand, Donny in action. He’s SEEN the man operate. Not to put too fine a point on it, Esper knows Trump better than any of the campaign attendees who sing Donny’s praises. Esper isn’t operating on how he imagines Donny does things. Esper doesn’t have delusional hopes about how Donny does things. Esper’s knowledge isn’t theoretical, nor is it driven by sycophancy. Also, it doesn’t come from slanted news outlets. Esper knows.

He described Trump the same way most of Donny’s one-time staffers describe Trump – as a clear and present danger to the United States of America. (Remember, this guy’s JOB was identifying clear and present dangers to America.) He maintains that America should not, CAN not, put Donny back in the White House. He stated flatly, he would not vote for Trump again. Lots of the people who worked most closely with Donny have said the same thing. They won’t vote for the guy again because of the threat he represents to America.

So, Maher asks the obvious followup question: then will you vote for Biden? Esper hems. Esper haws. He hesitates. As it happens, he’s not ready to go that far. He knows he’s not voting for Trump but he’s not sure who he will vote for. Maher seemed to find that answer just as frustrating as I do. He kind of blurted out that he needed Esper to explain that. Maher asked him, straight up, “What is it intelligent people don’t understand about binary?”

It’s a fair question. If you don’t cast a ballot for Biden, you’re helping Trump, whether you mean to be or not. It’s a one or it’s a zero. There are no other choices. Binary. Those of us who could not be convinced in 2016 can be excused for 2016. NOBODY knew, for sure, the danger Trump is. But EVERYBODY knows now. There’s ONE vote to stop Trump, and that’s to vote Biden. Period. Full stop.

Now, understand: I’m a life-long third party ready voter. I’ve always voted my conscience and that, sometimes, has meant voting outside the mainstream. I didn’t care. I didn’t see it as “throwing away my vote.” I saw it – see it – as making a commentary on the often less-than choices thrust upon me by the parties. Sure, perhaps just “tinkering around the edges,” but I thought the commentary important. I despise the binary choice I face. I think of it as a failure of the system. But if we don’t vote Biden in November, there won’t BE any edges to tinker around.

I’ve seen interviewers from lefty websites go to rallies for his competitors, like Nikki Haley, when she was relevant, RFK, Jr now. Over and over, the attendees say they won’t vote Trump because he’s too dangerous or too chaotic. When asked what they’d do if their alternative conservative isn’t the candidate, though, several of them say that in that case, they’d probably vote for Trump.

Obviously, I have to acknowledge the possibility that they just don’t want to say, out loud, in public, and certainly not on video, that they would vote for Biden. Maybe, they’ll get into the booth, hold their nose, and press the Biden button but tell everybody they voted some other way. That’s possible. And, listen, MAGA is SO rabid, these days, it’s hard to blame them. Who the hell wants a barrage of invective dumped on them?

But sooner or later, the people who stand against Donny need to get to the point where they can state flatly that they oppose Donny. Cult 45 isn’t going to go away easily. It’s going to take a strong stance by people who know if it’s going to happen at all…

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Oh, you want an example? Donny has a new target in his latest criminal case: Judge Merchan’s daughter. No, she’s not a child. Neither is she in any way, shape, or form related to the charges Donny faces. She’s just the offspring of the judge. A “civilian.” I’m not in a position to know, for sure, but it’s my understanding that even the mafia won’t attack family. They’re understood “non-combatants.”

But not for Donny. He knows he can’t win his case on the merits. Hell, everybody knows that. So he’s trying to intimidate the judge by threatening his family. I can hear MAGA now, “What threat did he make?” All they have to do is pretend that they don’t understand Donny has an intention when he points out innocent bystanders and attacks.

There’s a word for a person who attacks like that: coward. Donald J. Trump is a coward. At least when he was attacking Engoron’s law clerk, she was related to the case, however distantly. Now it’s the daughter of the judge. It’s a straight up attempt at intimidation. But did you catch the other bit, there? What do these two women in Donny’s crosshairs have in common? What, oh, what could it be? Wait a minute. I think I see it. Ah, there it is. They’re women. Donny attacks women.

I’m not sure it was obvious before. When he attacked Letitia James and Fani Willis, well, they were/are the prosecutors going after him. Judge Engoron’s law clerk was helping Judge Engoron keep facts straight in Donny’s civil case. At least she was directly related to the events taking place. But Judge Merchan’s daughter’s only relationship to this case is her relationship to her father.

I think Donny should stop with all the threats and intimidation and all the stomping and stalling. You know what he SHOULD do? He should strut right into that courtroom and show all the lovely evidence he claims he has that proves his innocence. I guess he’s waiting for the right moment. Or something. Why, it’s almost as if he can’t prove his innocence at all.

The easiest solution for him would be to just win his cases. He claims he can. So do it! He doesn’t need to attack anyone. He doesn’t need to grandstand. He doesn’t need to lie about his situation. All he needs to do is provide the evidence the proves his innocence. Easy. IF you have the evidence. But if you CAN’T prove your innocence? Well, then, I guess you have to stall – and attack women – and call your cases “witch hunts.” Oh, AND fleece your supporters into poverty.

I’ll tell you this: Actions speak louder than words. Donny’s actions indicate guilt, not persecution…