Crime

Out Of The Bottle…

by MyBaconPress

Remember when the New Hampshire primary was happening and a robo-call went out pretending to be Joe Biden telling people to “save their votes” and not cast a ballot in the primary there? At the time, the Democrats were trying to make a different state the first state to vote in the Primaries and didn’t want to have one in New Hampshire so it seemed like a Democratic effort to undermine the primary there. Biden won, anyway. But, guess what?

A Democratic operative named Steve Kramer has admitted he commissioned the AI call. He said he employed “easy to use online technology” to deploy the call. It cost him around $500 bucks. He was employed by Democratic candidate Dean Phillips at the time but has not implicated Phillips in any way. The two aren’t working together anymore. Kramer commissioned the thing from a magician and hypnotist named Paul David Carpenter who said it cost him $1 and took him about twenty minutes to manufacture with software from an AI firm called ElevenLabs.

On the up side, the Federal government has since outlawed automated calls using AI generated voices. They say it’s a threat to democracy and it is. So, that’s good. The thing is, now that we know how easy it is for anybody with even a little practice to do, AI generated phone calls are suddenly a real and present danger and any slaphead can – and, therefore, will – make one.

To his credit, Carpenter expressed regret over how Kramer used the work product and as the law enforcement investigation heated up, Carpenter got with authorities. My favorite quote from that story? “Nobody wants to become well-known for something shitty.” (He should pay closer attention to MAGA. Some people, apparently, don’t mind…) But he said it would take “mere minutes” for people to learn to do what he did. “Pandora’s Box is opened,” Carpenter said.

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Hey, it looks like Americans finally did the right thing. It was probably an accident. Apparently, we’re all tired of the gouging in the stores and at the gas pump and even when we try to buy a car – so we’ve stopped. Well, slowed. Fewer name brand items are finding their way into our carts. People are buying used cars instead of new. People are driving less. In short, we’ve finally closed our wallets.

We’ve been told – a lot – by corporate media that all that price gouging is “inflation.” Probably Joe Biden’s fault. Of course, it isn’t inflation so much as greed. But now that Americans have closed their wallets, the prices are starting to slide. They won’t come down much but they are coming down and more importantly, they’re not going up anymore.

Now all we need the Federal government to do is reverse their oh-so-stupid rule change made in 2011 that allowed Wall Street to start buying up all the single family homes so Americans can compete in that market again and the cost of housing can fall, too…

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Donny is running around claiming for the deceived that he’s just like Navalny, a persecuted political prisoner just murdered by Vladimir Putin. I can see some differences, just in the description. But the details count, too. Navalny was first poisoned, then imprisoned, and ultimately murdered, on the charge of “extremism.” What the hell does that even mean, extremism? That’s a pretty subjective charge, if you ask me.

Donny, on the other hand, faces 91 separate charges in four different jurisdictions, each of which is well defined – not subjective – well supported by evidence, and has been in the books for years. Donny hasn’t been poisoned. I’ve heard he lives in fear of being poisoned. The story is, that’s why he eats so much fast food and uses the smallest ketchup bottles. It’s harder to poison him that way. But that’s just his snowflake paranoia. Nobody is actually trying to poison him.

If justice does prevail in his case, and he does end up in prison, he’ll come out just as fat as he is now. He won’t be starved while being held. Oh, and…he’ll get out. That, too, is different than Navalny’s fate. Why, it’s almost as if 45 is delusional.

Currently, the United States doesn’t have a corollary to what Putin just did to Navalny. Donny has promised to start all of that if he gets back to the White House, of course, but right now, no. We don’t. Well, we ARE still holding a couple of people in Gitmo who have never been charged but remain in prison, nonetheless, so that’s close. But even they are being fed and not tortured. Nope, a terrified little con, 43, ruined America’s record on that.

Cons, and it’s always cons, justified that by calling it something different. Enhanced Interrogation wasn’t torture at all. Just ask the guys doing the torturing, I mean, interrogations. (DO NOT, for the god’s sake, ask the victims, er, “subjects of the interrogation.” My guess is, they have a different take entirely.)

Ah, crap. Just when I wanted to go all holier-than-thou on Russia, too. It turns out, the US DOES imprison people for political reasons and hold them “indefinitely.” That, too, was brought to you by the terrified, little minds of the conservative movement. I don’t know what’s wrong with those people. I just know they’re wrong…

Not Quite Right…

by MyBaconPress

Leave it to lying Fox Not-News to put whatever spin they can on a story. The Story? Well, the headline read, “Nikki Haley’s campaign against Trump has siphoned thousands of ‘large dollar’ donors away from Biden.” It’s not a lie, exactly. According to the Fox Not News story – so take THAT for what it’s worth – something like 5,200 people who donated to Biden in 2020 gave money to Haley in this cycle.

Then, reluctantly, they casually drop that Haley has also siphoned off more than 10,000 donors to Donny in 2020, 3,000 in January alone. So, obviously, Fox Not-News highlights the smaller number and buries the larger number because it fools the deceived more readily.

I get it. We all distressed by how old the two leading candidates are. I can understand people trying to support someone younger. But Nikki Haley is STILL a nut-ball righty. She STILL wants to do terrible things to people – except rich people, of course. She will STILL bring most of what Donny wants to bring.

I know there was a backlash in 2020 among some conservatives who didn’t want to vote for Donny but intended to vote. That left them Biden. They were never “Biden people.” As nearly as I can tell, there ARE no “Biden people.” There are only MAGA and “Not Trump” people. And, no, I’m not being critical of the job Joe has done. I think he’s done a very good job, for the most part. If he were, say, twenty years younger, I wouldn’t even hesitate to vote for him again and I will cast my ballot for him in November.

I just think it’s so… Fox Not-News to highlight the smaller number as the event, while burying the larger number. It’s no wonder cons have no idea what’s actually going on in this world…

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MTG has done it again. She’s angry at Judge Engoron for being a good judge. She thinks he should get in trouble for his ruling against her precious. In her rant, she says Engoron should be “disrobed.” She wants to see him naked because he ruled against Donny? Weird…

Then again, isn’t she the person who perpetrated revenge porn against Hunter Biden on the floor of Congress because, hey, classy is classy, am I right? Apparently, she just likes looking at naked dudes. That’s her business – although I decry the involuntary nature of the exposures. What happened to getting permission?

I’ll tell you this: I don’t want to see any of it. It’s just none of my business…

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Hey, the United States is FINALLY back on the moon! Yay! It’s been fifty years. What a crying shame, waiting fifty years. But the drought is over and we’re back, baby. The lander was sent up by a private company. It’s a pretty amazing machine for moving cargo. If I have this right much of the lander was 3D printed! It’s not designed to last long. It’s going to freeze in a few days. Knowing humanity as I do, there is no plan to go back and clean up the mess.

Given the opportunity, I think I might have named it something else but if I were on their team, my attitude would be, “Hey, when YOU build YOUR moon lander, you can name it anything you want!” Fair enough. I’m not trying to start a fight, here. But Odysseus? Isn’t he the guy who kept getting lost and sidetracked on his journey? Is that solid optics? Then again, the lander DID trip on a rock and is now laying on it’s side so, maybe Odysseus is appropriate after all. Apparently, it’s still functional. Just having a lie-down. Science is cool…

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The thing that gets me more than any other part of Donny’s trials? The literal trials, I mean. He’s making NO effort – NONE – to try and demonstrate innocence. Instead, he’s stalling. He’s filing frivolous lawsuits. He’s raising stupid “questions” and “legal challenges.” People tease him and call him dumb when he claims, say, that Constitutionally, people with brown hair can’t prosecute ex-Presidents. Sure, it’s a stupid claim. But it’s going to be reviewed in a higher court. It buys him a month, maybe two.

Hell, his suck-ups on the Roberts Supremely Corrupt, Kangaroo Court can take up the “question” of perfect immunity and wait until they’re leaving for their annual three month vacation to issue their “Of course not” ruling late in the night of June 30 as they slink off to pick up this year’s bribes. Yes, he’ll “lose” his challenge. But he’ll win his delay. And in this case, justice delayed really will be justice denied. The very worst part? It seems to be working.

One of the stall tactics he and his co-defendants tried, was to attack the credibility of the prosecutor in the Georgia election interference trail, Fani Willis. Willis had an intimate relationship with a member of her team, Nathan Wade. The question is, did Willis hire Wade because she was in a relationship with him? That would violate a Georgia nepotism law. It looks like Trump’s team may have landed a pretty heavy blow.

Willis and Wade both testified that the relationship started after Wade was hired but they have both stated they knew each other prior to becoming intimate. Wade said he had visited Willis’ home prior to being hired but estimated the number of times to be around 10. They agreed Wade had never spent the night at Willis’ house until AFTER the relationship got personal.

Now cell phone data shows Wade in Willis’ neighborhood more like 35 times prior to the hiring, and on at least two of those times, the phone, at least, arrived late at night and left early in the morning. Now, to be clear, this is cell phone TOWER data. All it really shows is Wade was somewhere in Willis’ neighborhood several times before the hire date.

Maybe Wade has another friend, or perhaps an at-the-time side-honey, in the area who pings off the same tower. Maybe Wade is a stalker and lurked outside Willis’ home without her knowledge from time to time. Maybe he’s NOT a stalker but really, really wanted to ask her out. He would go over and then lose his nerve. Of course, maybe the relationship DID start earlier and they were “bumping uglies” before the hire. I don’t know. There are so many ways a thing can be, it doesn’t make much sense to decide which one it was. But if there WAS such a third party, that person had better stand up right effing now.

Because it doesn’t LOOK good and she can be removed for even the appearance of impropriety. That will end his Georgia case, wipe it right off the books. The ONE case he couldn’t pardon himself out of, nor get his corrupt AG to drop charges because it was a state case. Donny won’t win the case on the merits – he’s a guilty man – but he’ll beat the rap, as the saying goes. Justice denied…

Busy Friday, Part 2…

by MyBaconPress

Okay, a couple of quick followups from yesterday. It’s important to remember that this $355 million dollar judgement against Donny only covered a few years of his criminal enterprise. He likes to tell the deceived that he “won the appeal,” but that’s all he says. He DID win the appeal. But the appeal only limited the scope of the trial because the Statute of Limitations had run on the older crimes. That’s what got Ivanka removed. Her participation, if any, ended before the time period in question. It could have been much, much worse if they could have considered his entire life of crime.

Also, Donny announced, yesterday, he’s launched a line of shoes. They sell for as high as $300/pair. That will help him pay his judgements. I’m guessing that – like his hats – they’re NOT made in America and I’m guessing the unpaid penalty will survive longer than the shoes will. He’s STILL managing to find some financial support from some GOP mega-donors, too. I suspect these were legacy babies, born to wealth. Which person in their right mind, who somehow acquired their own money, would give any of it to a known, proven, grafter and thief? And, yes, the word is grafter, a person who engages in financial chicanery or corruption. That’s Donny all over…

The other follow up thing? The Russians won’t turn over Navalny’s body. Nothing says “it was an honest accident” like hiding the evidence, eh? They HAVE, however, “detained” over 400 people mourning the passing of Navalny. And STILL…MAGA loves a dictator. I continue to be stunned by just how stupid stupid can be…

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But, ALSO on Friday, we all found out that James Comer’s hard-hitting (maybe), can’t be beaten (we think), absolutely definite (probably), open and shut case (if Biden was involved), with a “smoking gun,” FBI informant named Alexander Smirnof they couldn’t find for awhile hasn’t just fizzled. Their “smoking gun informant” couldn’t be found because he was on the run from the FBI. That’s because he lied, lied, lied!

All of the parenthetical asides are because Comer went on shows all over the conservative bubble, over and over again to say they were going to get Biden but was just smart enough to never once commit himself to any of his own actions. The ‘probably’ and ‘maybes’ came from Comer. To me, that suggests that Comer knew better than to commit to his story because he knew the story was false. Weasel words. He promoted it anyway. Hell, it was the linchpin of their entire impeachment against Joe. Oh, AND it laid bare (literally) Hunter’s life and smeared the heck out of Hunter’s name. (Hard to do, considering Hunter’s reality.)

MAGA lies are boring and predictable, these days, so I can tell you what Comer’s going to say in response: Biden had the FBI arrest the informant as a political move. It has probably, maybe already started – you know, if Comer knew the whole story was fiction to begin with. These guys always pretend the Democrats corrupt the DOJ like the Republicans corrupt the DOJ and simply CAN NOT wrap their arms around the idea that the Dems don’t. In fairness, though, the Dems don’t NEED to. The Republicans commit really stupid crimes and they’re not very good at covering them up. The DOJ just has to do their job. And the DOJ is VERY good at what they do.

The actual story is that Burisma paid Hunter AND Joe $5 million each to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.” Smirnof amended his story after “meeting with the Russians” but it only got worse. As is always the case when MAGA is involved, there was never any evidence. Lots of promises of evidence. Never any actual evidence. Effing MAGA falls for this exact same shtick over and over. MAGAGOPCORP has been screaming for three years about having all the evidence in the world of all the cases they try to make. But they never, EVER produce one shred, not one scintilla to prove it. Still, MAGA deceived are forever telling me the evidence is there. Usually with an attitude. Hey, MAGA, school’s out. Grow up.

You know one of the people who helped him? Sean Hannity. Old Sean had Comer on his show to present the fraudulent case over and over and over again. One might have thought that after the $750 million judgement for promoting lies, Fox Not-News would have been more careful about helping spread MORE lies. One might also think that Hunter is probably gearing up the attorneys right now over the defamation. One certainly hopes, anyway.

I’ll tell you this: I suddenly find myself wondering how many three-quarters of a billion dollar defamation lawsuits Fox Not-News can absorb…

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It looks, to me, like the frivolous case trying to protect the Dumbass from his crimes by removing Fani Willis as the prosecutor in Donny’s Georgia trail took a pretty big hit on Friday. The suggestion is that Fani Willis hired Nathan Wade to be a special prosecutor so SHE could benefit, financially, since the two were dating. The two maintain the relationship started and ended after Wade was hired.

One of the key witnesses against Fani, Terrance Bradley, was once Wade’s law partner and, for a time, represented Wade in Wade’s divorce. He suddenly refused to answer questions, claiming attorney-client privilege. We ALSO found out that Bradley left his firm with Wade after an undisclosed “dispute,” protected by the privilege. Oh, we also found that this star witness was once the focus of a sexual assault claim by someone he worked with. He acknowledged the charge but denied it’s veracity.

The thing is, Wade got paid for his work. Wade and Willis got involved. Wade and Willis, as lovers, took a couple of trips together. Wade paid for them on his credit card. The total amount of money the trips cost came to something less than $5,000. THAT’S the big kickback scheme being alleged? Willis set the whole thing up for less than one month’s salary?

Oh, and Wade and Willis have both testified, under oath, that Willis paid Wade back in cash. No, she didn’t ask for receipts. Willis’ father testified he didn’t know Wade and Willis ever even had a relationship. Sounds pretty serious to me, when your family doesn’t even know about it. He also testified that it doesn’t surprise him to find out his daughter had cash on hand in her house. He called it a “black thing.”

There are a few details to be cleared up but it looks to me like the whole thing is a nothing-burger. Mostly, it seems a salacious effort to undermine Willis’ credibility and very little else. I mean, a couple of grown adults got hot for each other and worked each other’s fun bits for a short time. People do that. It happens. That seems more about the fun bits that Donny’s crimes.

I’ll tell you this: the case is still playing out, but it seems that Donny is STILL going to have his date with destiny in Georgia. And Fani, now EXTRA pissed off, is going to be leading the charge…

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Finally, I just want to note that the shooters at the Kansas City celebration were NOT Niner fans who couldn’t handle the loss. They were just a couple of average, run-of-the-mill “responsible gun owners” who decided to open fire on each other in the middle of a huge crowd over some personal disagreement and hit lots of people – just not the person they were shooting at…

Busy Friday, Part 1…

by MyBaconPress

Well, lets’ see. Has anything worth writing about happened in the last couple of days? Some people call the “news” we get in this country on Fridays, “Take out the garbage day.” NORMALLY, it’s just fluff stories and light stuff. Sometimes, though, something important slips in under the radar – and right past the masses, hopefully. This was not that Friday.

Donny lost his fraud trial in New York. No, that one starts in March. This is the civil case brought by Letitia James. The judge, Arthur Engoron handed down his much anticipated ruling. $365 million dollars from Donny, two of his criminal kids, and a couple of their cohorts. The lions share goes to Donny, though, at $355 million dollars. You’d think he’d LOVE that. He got the biggest numbers. The Best numbers. Nobody has EVER had numbers like him.

In addition, he’s barred from doing business in New York for three years and can’t work with any bank, any where, that is registered to do business in the state of New York. Being the financial capitol of the world, that’s pretty much any bank large enough to do crime, er, business on his scale. I was disappointed.

Up until the ruling, it was assumed Art – can I call you Art? – Okay, it was assumed Judge Engoron was going to bar him from doing business in New York for the rest of his life. He even wrote up the order. THAT is what I wanted. Then I remembered. This is just the first conviction in a long line of convictions. This was a civil trial, not a criminal trial. This cost him money, but other trials he’s facing could very well cost him his freedom. That is to say, most rational Americans expect him to be in prison within three years…

He testified in one of his depositions he has about $400 million cash on hand. The way he lies, that might well mean he has $1.28, but let’s use his numbers. He just got hit with $355 million to New York. He’s already been ordered to pay $83 million to E. Jean Carroll for ‘Defamation Loss II,’ the sequel to his famous ‘Defamation, What Not To Do’ trial,’ which cost him an additional $5 million. That comes to $443 million dollars. Wait, no it doesn’t. I mean, it does, but there’s interest. According to Letitia James, that starts at around $99 million, and counting, pumping the beginning balance he owes to $542 million dollars.

I suspect most people think he’s going to tap into “campaign contributions” to pay some or all of the bill. It’s not supposed to be legal. NONE of this has anything to do with his maladministration nor a campaign but, since when does Donny care about legal? I don’t know how long MAGA can keep this up. (Actually, it’s only about $8 bucks to each of the 70 million MAGA who voted for him last election, despite his crimes and failures.) He’s also still got a compelling interest in his website ‘Truthiness Social.’ Hey, that has the word ‘Social’ in it. It must be communism.

Now comes the stalling. I’ll give Donny this: I’ve learned a LOT about the legal system in this country and how the rich manage to manipulate it to their advantage, thanks to him. Donny is OLD. He’s been “working the system,” as the saying goes, for a long, long time. He knows just about every trick. Supposedly, has to post a bond in the amount due for each trial he wants to appeal. In most states, bankruptcy can delay judgement payments but not discharge them. Will someone lend him money? I mean, he’s now been officially adjudicated a liar and a fraudster. Who’s going to part with a half-BILLION dollars to a known scallywag?

I’ll tell you this: Letitia James landed a big, hard blow on that tiny, little snowflake. She certainly staggered him – but she didn’t knock him out…

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I wonder how MAGA feels about their man Vladimir Putin today. Do they still love him for being the “strongman” or have they noticed, yet, that “strongmen” often kill their political opponents, like Vlad just did to Alexei Navalny? Navalny ran a long standing campaign against Putin for years and years. At one point, Navalny escaped Russia and kept taking pot-shots at Putin from a distance. Putin’s people found him and poisoned him, nearly killing him. He survived, though. THEN, the dude went BACK to Russia and filed to run against Putin in an election.

So, Putin did what Trump wants to do. He tossed his political rival – Navalny – in prison on what most of the world saw as trumped up charges. Navalny managed to keep up the attacks so Putin had him moved to a FAR north gulag, where they could kill him slowly and without any prying eyes. And they did. They say he died after a “fall at the Arctic penal colony where he was being held.” A LOT of Putin’s political critics die from sudden, unexpected “falls” these days. I guess gravity is cheaper – and easier to administer – than poison. Currently, the State is refusing to produce the body.

The thing about dictators is that murdering people they don’t like is a common arrow in their quivers. It’s not just Putin. Duterte did it. Erdogan does it. Xi does it. They ALL do it. Hell, Idi Amin used to EAT his opponents. I suspect MAGA thinks dictators are a great idea because they think they’re safe from the dictator’s wrath. I don’t think they understand, well, anything, really, but they seem to miss the idea that ANYBODY can become the enemy of a dictator, at ANY time, for ANY reason. Sometimes, all you need to be is in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In the book ‘Fahrenheit 451,’ the protagonist, Guy Montag, lives in a dictatorial society, based on Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union at the time it was written, and realizes at one point that he’s on the wrong side. He runs for his life, at night. He loses the helicopter chasing him but watches on television as the cops in the chopper kill “him.” The public had been tuned in to the chase, see, so they could know that opposition to the State was a bad idea. When Montag lost the helicopter, the State had to produce results anyway, so they gunned down a silhouetted figure, insisting they got their guy. Weirdly, I’ve always felt badly for that character we never even met, except to see him die. He just lived his life, likely followed all the rules, but died anyway in a misguided show of strength on the part of the State.

I’ll tell you this: MAGA should look more closely at the dictator state they think they want. It doesn’t usually go really well for the masses…

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So that’s it. That’s everything that came out this Fri – wait, what? Oh, yeah. It also looks like Willis is winning and the House MAGA are losing, but you’ve got things to do and so do I. Let’s look at those tomorrow…

The Games People Play…

by MyBaconPress

Well, that was a very good football game with an ending I’d rather had gone differently. Congratulations to the Chiefs. They’re an amazing football team and beat the Niners pretty much the way I feared they would. I’ve got the Niner loss down to Moody missing that Point After Touchdown and Wilkes’ defense in the second half and overtime.

The missed kick changed the entire strategy of the game. KC only needed a Field Goal to stay in the game instead of a touchdown. Losing Greenlaw was huge – and heartbreaking. The guy tore his Achilles tendon running back onto the field. This meant his backup came in. A coach like Reid is going to target a backup player and Coach Reid certainly did. Wilkes called a pretty good game at the start but there’s something about the guy. He seems to revert to less-than play-calling in some situations.

At one point, Defensive Coordinator Wilkes called SUCH a poor play, Head Coach Shanahan was forced to use a timeout to tell him to call something else. Even the commentators were saying it was a seriously bad play call in the moment. It’s possible Shanahan would have done that again but he only gets three timeouts per half. I’m guessing he was irritated he had to do it once, let alone use all his timeouts trying to help his DC.

Look, I don’t mean to lay this all off on Moody and Wilkes. Mostly, KC is a great football team and all of Niner nation knew this was a possibility going into the game. We also knew the weak points. In what turned out to be something of a metaphor for the game, Moody set a Putrid Bowel record with a long field goal. Yay! Then, he lost the record to KC’s kicker, Butker, in the same game. Rats!

Moody’s challenge is playing in the shadow of Robbie Gould, one of the great kickers to have played the game. He might get more consistent. But Wilkes has a long history of real average coaching. There was no reason to think he was the guy to suddenly step up to that level and it turned out he wasn’t. I suspect the Niners will give a presser and say Wilkes did a fine job and it wasn’t him and yadda, yadda. Then, I suspect, the Niners will seek out a stronger candidate.

On the up side, this was Brock Purdy’s FIRST full season and he took the team to, and had a chance to win, the biggest game of the big games. Because Brock is stuck in a rookie contract, the Niners have a LOT of salary cap space, so they may, well, be able to keep the core of the team together. What THAT means is that it’s more than just blather when the Niners say, “We’ll see you next season!”

Also on the up side? We get to leave all the hype about the big game behind us for awhile. Now all we have to endure is hours and hours of political commercials and that’s…ah, crap! When does football start, again?

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Today is Donny’s deadline to ask the Kangaroo Court to rule on whether or not Joe Biden has perfect immunity. Okay, no, that’s not his question. He wants perfect immunity for himself. The DC Court of Appeals has said, rightly, that no American president has perfect immunity. Donny knew he was going to lose this fight going into it. He didn’t care. The point was about stalling. The court sniffed that out and ruled that a) he doesn’t have perfect immunity, b) he could appeal to the entire panel but the case was going back to Chutkin and would be active again even if he did, and c) they gave him until today to file his appeal with the ideological kangaroos.

The kangaroos, I’m sure, would love to help him. They help him every chance they get. But in this case, how do they give Donny perfect immunity without giving it to Joe, too? The only real risk is that the court takes up the case and then waits until it’s slinking out the back door late at night in June to issue their ruling. That would buy Donny LOTS of time…

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Did you see that weasel crap about Robert Kennedy, Jr during the Scooper Brawl? A Super PAC that supports him used an ad that looked exactly like something John F. Kennedy used in the 1960 campaign, complete with vintage look and soundtrack, and just stuck ‘Robert’ in where it would have said ‘John’ originally. In fact, it WAS something John Kennedy used. I wonder if the PAC can be sued for plagiarism? The thing is, THIS Kennedy is no John Kennedy. He’s a righty, in fact. He’s trading on his father’s and uncle’s name but he’s not in their league by like, light-years.

The dude even pretended to be a Democrat until 2023, when he switched to ‘Independent.’ The subterfuge, pretending to be a Democratic Kennedy, helped to get him elected in the first place. Now he’s running for President. I don’t know. Pretending to be something you absolutely are not in order to trick the electorate into supporting you? That seems…sneaky. Then again, it really is the American way…

Oversights…

by MyBaconPress

Okay, so there’s a scathing new report out suggesting that the Biden administration has been downplaying Biden’s retention of classified documents. First we were told it was only a few. Then, there were a few more. Then, a few more. A special counsel was assigned.

In the end, the special counsel determined that Biden had willfully retained some documents but that no charges were warranted. This is likely because Biden cooperated with the whole thing. The special counsel took great pains to rip on Joe Biden for being old. That was not necessary but I was okay with it. It demonstrates the guy didn’t like Biden but STILL couldn’t recommend charges.

Do you think that will shut MAGA up, though? Where have YOU been living, under a rock? Of course it won’t shut MAGA up. They’ll see NO difference, whatsoever, between Biden having documents, turning himself in over them, cooperating with the investigation and giving them all back and Donny’s efforts to keep the documents, first claiming he didn’t have them, then that they were his to keep, then lying about giving them back, then trying to hide them. THEN trying to “negotiate” the documents return, finally losing them in a warrant search of Mar-a-Lardo, only to discover he likely has even MORE in his secret locked room.

Biden shouldn’t have had those documents and he is paying a political price (MAGA whining) for having them. Donny shouldn’t have had the documents HE had, either, but his crimes are about obstruction of justice – which Joe DIDN’T do. Joe cooperated, Donny didn’t. Joe gets a scathing report that attacks his age, Donny got charged. It’s all in keeping with the law and known legal practices but MAGA is going to scream and shout about this for a long time to come. Thanks, Joe.

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Turns out? It’s not likely to matter. Scientists have discovered that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc), a vast system of ocean currents that is a key component in global climate regulation is slowing at a far faster rate than previously expected. Great.

So, what IS the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, you say? It’s a conveyor belt in the Atlantic ocean that moves warm and cold water around, regulating much of the Earth’s climate. As global warming advances, the glaciers in Greenland are melting and dumping massive amounts of cold, fresh water into the ocean. This, in turn, slows the Amoc and changes the planetary climate – for the worse, it you’re human (and many of us are).

Scientists told us this was going to happen decades ago. Conservatives shouted that scientists wouldn’t know their ass from a hole in the ground and the scientific consensus was wrong. They knew this because some talking head in the conservative bubble who knows nothing told them so. So, thanks to a political position du jour, humanity didn’t respond fast enough.

Scientists say the change is likely to happen so fast, adaptation will likely not be possible. Oh, they ALSO say it will be “devastating.” But absolutely, let’s keep debating whether there are kids in school who get cat boxes in the bathroom because they think they’re cats. (There aren’t and they don’t. That’s just more MAGA crazy…)

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One of Donny’s missteps. The other day on the campaign trail, he pointed out that Nikki Haley’s husband isn’t out, campaigning with her. ”Where is Nikki’s husband?” he asked, pointing out the absence. Interesting choice. See, Nikki Haley’s husband is a combat veteran and active duty military member deployed overseas. Nikki responded, “Michael is deployed serving our country, something you know nothing about.” Then she got to add, “Someone who continually disrespects the sacrifices of military families has no business being commander in chief.”

This does two things: One, it highlights Donny’s draft-dodging cowardice and, Two, it begs the question; where is Melania, or anybody else in the Dumbass family for that matter? In 2016, Donny had nearly his whole crowd there. Barron stayed out because he was too young and Tiffany mostly missed it as well, though she did make some appearances.

But he had Ivanka, Dumbass Jr, and Eric with him all the time. Melania made the occasional appearance as well. I presume DJ and Eric are out because they need all of their time to fight the criminal charges they may be facing. Ivanka managed to avoid criminal charges, being the smartest of the crowd, and I suspect she’s staying away to keep from getting close to charges again.

We even know Melania renegotiated her marital agreement with Donny a few months back. The presumption at the time was she was getting more money for Barron before Donny loses it all in court battles but it surely included some provision that she pretend she likes him on the campaign trail a time or two. Still, it seems as though it would be fair for Nikki to ask the same as Donny, “Where’s Melania?” One thing’s certain, she sure as hell isn’t out “serving” anyone, particularly this country…

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We don’t know where Michael Haley is (and we probably shouldn’t) and we don’t know where Melania is (and we REALLY don’t care) but we all know where Taylor is. She made it to LA and is now on her way to Nevada. It looks like she’s going to make it to the game, just in time to tell all the Swifties to vote for Biden…

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Donny’s comments are becoming increasingly unhinged. On Saturday, he claimed that in an unspecified NATO meeting, he told a head of state that if they’re delinquent, the US wouldn’t support or defend them. He added, “In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.” That, in and of itself is hilarious coming from the serial deadbeat Donny is known to be. But it’s also dangerous.

Trump brags he destroyed a woman’s right to choose. MAGA supports him. Trump brags that while daily carnage plays out in the streets, he will make no effort to protect Americans from Americans with any kind of gun regulation. MAGA supports him. Trump sings praises of dictators around the globe and insists he’d be a dictator on day one, pretending it would ONLY be day one. MAGA supports him.

Now he’s suggesting he would stand idly by while Putin attacks NATO allies. He would, too. And MAGA will support him. It’s sure a good thing the conservative corrupted supremely kangaroo court is going to keep him on the ballot and give him another chance to destroy our republic. He couldn’t QUITE pull it off on his first try. By all means, let’s keep giving him opportunities until he finally bumbles his way to success. Effin’ morons…

Details, Details…

by MyBaconPress

Well, the Republicans failed – again – in their ongoing quest to find somebody to impeach. The problem seems to be, they have no evidence of a crime from any of their potential “impeachees.” (That’s not really a word…) They see that as a detail to be handled later.

They tried to get Joe Biden for…reasons. Pretty much, they managed to post some revenge porn on the floor of Congress and then…crickets. This after they had repeatedly promised they had the evidence. You know what would have been good? It’s just my opinion, mind you, but I think they should have shown somebody the evidence they claimed to have. I suspect that would have been a huge step on their path to glory. I wonder why they didn’t try THAT tactic?

But they didn’t and the effort fizzled. So they turned their attention to Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security. They at least got THAT effort to a floor vote, but then? Ooh, they lost the floor vote. Even some Republicans said, “What, are you stupid or something?” Yes, by the way. The answer to that is yes. MAGA is working hard to make “stupid” an art form. But it’s a dedicated stupid and dedicated stupid can be a very dangerous thing.

I wonder who their next impeachee is going to be? Hey, I had to sit at a red light a little longer than I wanted to the other day. How about they go after Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation? After all, red lights DO impede my freedom of movement. Buttigieg is trying to take my freedom! I mean, what more evidence do we need?

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So, Donny is running about – no, Donny doesn’t run – okay, Donny is lumbering about snarling that if we don’t suddenly grant full and absolute immunity for all Presidents (but mostly him) every President will, naturally, be indicted when they leave office. Someone pat that bloated monster on the head, would you? He got VERY close to a truth – which is a momentous event for him.

What he meant to say is that every President who commits the kinds of crimes HE committed while in office will be indicted – and that’s true! It’s also good. I’m not only okay with that, I’m a staunch supporter…

Oh, but instead of upholding Donny’s dumb position, the court made a good ruling. I mean, the President doesn’t have perfect immunity. It would be stupid to think otherwise. Even Donny doesn’t believe the President has perfect immunity. What he believes is that he needs more time before the election or he’s very likely going to jail so he needs to stall, stall, stall.

My guess is that his plan was to appeal the oh-so-stupid position to the DC Court of Appeals, where he would get a three judge panel. He did that and it took about a month. THEN, he planned to appeal to the full panel – a move that he wanted to take at least another month. Then, when THEY agreed no President has perfect immunity, he would take it to the Supreme Court, you know…eventually.

But the three judge panel saw the same legal strategy playing out. I’m of the opinion that courts don’t like to be trifled with and they REALLY do not want to the be the instrument of someone’s obstruction of justice – pretty much the exact definition of Donny’s plan. So the three court panel, in addition to slapping him down on his ridiculous claim, ALSO ruled that even if he asked the full court to review the case, it would still go back to Chutkin and be active again, essentially cutting out the second step of the stall plan. More, they told him he had until February 12th to file an appeal with the Kangaroos, if that is what he is going to do.

It’s no minor detail that there’s no known basis for Donny’s argument. He just wants it. Roberts Kangaroos should refuse to review the case. The three judge panel got it right. There’s nothing left to consider. They may not refuse it, though. They’re loyalists. Although they can’t rule a president enjoys perfect immunity, they CAN take a bunch of time before saying no, helping Donny that way.

So now the only remaining question in this matter is whether the Roberts Supremely Kangaroo Court will go ahead and trash whatever remaining credibility they might enjoy in order to play lapdog toady to their precious – or will they do the right thing? I’ll tell you this: it’s a national embarrassment that nobody can say, one way or the other, for sure…

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Today, though, the Most High and Corrupt Court will be hearing the question of whether a known traitor should be handed the levers of power once again. It’s mind-boggling that such a question is being treated as a real question. The whole thing hinges on whether the President of the United States is an Officer of the United States. If yes, section 3 of the 14th amendment applies. If no, coups by a president are a-okay.

I’ve made the point that references to the president as an Officer were in the original Constitution (Section II, Article 1) but were (probably inadvertently) amended out by a less detailed writer. But the 14th Amendment was passed in 1868. The Amendment that changed the language, the 25th Amendment, was passed in 1913, meaning that when the 14th was passed, the Constitution clearly considered the President of the United States an Officer of the United States.

It seems a hair-splitting detail, but I also see a difference in an office and an Office, the difference being the capital ‘O.’ An office is a room one works in. An Office is a job one does, a rank one holds. Commonly, an Officer works in an office. As written, the Presidential oath says that the president will “…faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States…” See the capital ‘O’ in “Office?” In my mind, that capital ‘O’ indicates the founders understanding that the president is, indeed, an Officer of the country. They weren’t talking about the room he worked in. They were talking about the role he was taking on.

I’ll tell you this: My mind is STILL having difficulty accepting that so many “Americans” would WANT him in the Oval again, after what he did. I still don’t know how stupid this country actually is, but I have a healthy concern that we might all be about to find out…

The Trials…

by MyBaconPress

A quick look at Donny’s trials. In the NY fraud trial – no, the civil one, not the criminal one – Judge Engoron said he wanted to issue his ruling by the end of the last month. Clearly, he missed his target. But there’s a reason. Just before he handed down his ruling, he received an update from the independent monitor appointed by the court, former Federal judge Barbara Jones. Tucked into a footnote was a little tidbit that seems to have caught Engoron’s eye.

She found what was claimed to be a loan Donny owed to one of his companies to the tune of $48 million dollars. She asked about it. At first, she was told there were no loan documents available for that loan. Apparently, she was told, no loan documents ever even existed. THEN, the Trump Crime Family finally admitted there was no loan. It was just a way to avoid paying taxes on $48 million dollars. A fraudulent way. More specifically, a criminal way.

My guess is conservative media will spin it as a “minor” error, without mentioning the $48 million dollar part. Donny has already started with that lie. But it wasn’t. Minor, I mean. So, now Engoron has to re-think his ruling. Any rational person must, by now, believe that more fraud will be uncovered the longer people look. Engoron doesn’t want to have to keep going back and resetting his trial every time more evidence comes up and he wants to get the ruling out so I think he has to construct some kind of order that allows him to simply add to the damages as more fraud is uncovered.

Meanwhile, in the Florida stolen files case, prosecutor Jack Smith has reportedly uncovered the existence of a secret room at Mar-a-Lago. Apparently, when the FBI was executing their perfectly legal and proper search warrant in an effort to uncover the files Donny stole, they missed a locked closet AND a “secret” room. Overlooking the locked closet apparently happened because of the deference they were showing while executing their warrant.

This is, after all, an ex-President. NO ex-President has ever committed the crimes Donny has and the need to execute a warrant was unprecedented. They had to make up a proper protocol as they went along and they included deference. So, when they asked about the locked closet, they were told it was an old staircase that wasn’t used anymore and didn’t go anywhere – and the FBI chose to accept that statement at face value! But the information I have is that Donny had the lock changed on that closet January 22, 2021 and he’s the only person with a key.

In fairness to the FBI, they didn’t know about the secret room. It isn’t just a secret room. It’s a hidden, secret room. It’s made to blend in to the room seamlessly and there is a dresser in front of it. My guess is, it’s a panic room, built originally to protect the residents from a home-invasion robbery. They were all the rage among rich people for awhile and I don’t think they’re a bad idea. But a panic room would explain why it didn’t show on the architectural drawings the FBI likely looked at when they did their preparatory briefings before serving the warrant.

Donny has apparently converted his to a documents storage area. Now it gets a bit sticky. The original warrant is stale, for sure. Unless, that is, witnesses testify that more stolen documents exist in that space – and nobody knows what the witnesses are saying about that, yet. Either way, Donny has very likely already shared all the good stuff with Putin so it’s not like we’re going to avoid the national security risks by getting the papers back but it would be nice to know exactly what the traitor breached so any holes could be plugged.

For MY part, I’m enjoying the idea that the room might be where Donny has all the goods on all the MAGAGOPCORP toadies who claim to stand against trump but also snuggle up to him and bend the knee. As an example, after J6, Kevin McCarthy was angry and pointed his crooked little finger directly, and properly, at Donny. THEN, McCarthy went down to Mar-a-Lago, and immediately changed his tune. Why? Kevin was right about J6 and how Donny put his life at risk. Why just back down after a quick visit with Donny? It’s a least possible Donny showed Kevin what he keeps in that locked room about Kevin.

Finally, the DC Federal election interference trial date has been postponed. It was supposed to start March 5 but now we have to wait. Donny filed an appeal before the trial even started! He claims to have perfect immunity in all things because he was President. It’s a very stupid idea and it’s totally wrong. Sooner or later, the court will say so but they’re dragging their feet for some reason. Worse, right now it’s a three member panel of the appellate court. After their ruling, he can ask the entire court to review the decision, which will take more time. After the full court says no, he can ask the High Kangaroo Court what they want.

He’s not likely to win that argument in court. Hell, he’s not likely to win ANY of his arguments in court. But he doesn’t make them to win them. He makes them to buy time. And this stupid argument is buying him months.

I’ll tell you this: there’s a very real risk Donny’s going to beat the clock on these trials. Benjamin Franklin’s words just keep looping through my head. ”…a Republic…IF you can keep it.” There’s a very real possibility we can’t…

Positioning…

by MyBaconPress

I think Nikki Haley is making a smart play by staying in the GOP primary. She doesn’t NEED a win. She only needs to stay. As Donny’s troubles pile up, she’ll be in the best position to stand up, should he fall down…

His recent mental lapses (yes, he can still recognize an elephant!) are an excellent opportunity for her, as well. She can attack HIM and his current failings without ever attacking MAGA or his pretend record. She can say, “Yeah, he WAS great, but he’s failing now.” Hang in there, Nikki. Stay in his head. Highlight his decline…

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Have you heard? I’m sure you have by now. Taylor Swift is not a young woman superstar pop singer in love with a young man rising star (and not bad actor) football player. Not at all. She’s a “Psyop!” Which, I guess, makes him her “Psyde kick.” MAGA just loves using words they think make them sound smart and “Psyop” fits the bill while also sounding like they’ve got some super-de-duper inside information, so they MUST be in the know. See? Secretly, they’re the smart ones. (It’s a VERY well-kept secret…)

Hey, maybe you’re a normal person so…a “Psyop” is a ‘Psychological Operation’ used to disseminate information the government wants spread and/or suppress information the government does NOT want spread. MAGA thinks rational Americans need the government to tell them Donald Trump is a bad man, a threat to the nation, and that people shouldn’t vote for him. Funny, I figured it out all by myself.

So, to that end, if you’re MAGA, the Stupor Bowl is already rigged for the Chiefs to win – I guess because Taylor Swift doesn’t already have a large enough stage from which to spread her message. AFTER the Chiefs rigged win, see, THEN ‘Tay/Trav’ (okay, that mashup needs a bit of work) can announce that Donny’s a dumbass and people should vote for Biden. (No word on why they couldn’t make that announcement if the Chiefs lose.)

That’s some elaborate insanity, right there…

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In court, where facts matter, Donny isn’t even trying to make a case that he might be innocent of any of the charges brought against him. Instead, he’s looking for technicalities and loopholes. He stalls, disrupts the court, and tries to aggravate judges into over-reactions that can lead to mistrials or work as a basis for an appeal. He never even tries to introduce evidence that might indicate innocence. That part, at least, makes sense. He’s guilty (allegedly). How could he show innocence? He has no choice but to rely on “work-arounds.”

So now he’s filing anything and everything he can think of. Some of it is way out there. So far out there, other lawyers laugh at him and his “team” for even making the filing. His primary “lawyer” is taking a lot of mockery from her fellows. ”Why would she even file that?” ”Doesn’t she know better?” With her, I couldn’t possibly say if she knows better BUT…

Each of those filings gets ruled on. Each one causes a delay. Each one buys Donny a little bit of time. As an example, Donny doesn’t have to part with the $83 million dollar judgement until the case is settled. He even has to put the money up if he wants to appeal so he needs this case to not close yet. The only tool he has to that end is insane filings. ”I can’t be tried by someone with blue eyes!” or whatever. Yeah, he’s going to lose those, too, but he wins a bit of time. And what does he want to DO with that time?

He’s actively looking, right now, for somebody rich enough to help him pay off the judgement. They’re called “mega-donors.” They’re the super rich people now allowed to buy our government thanks to the High Kangaroo Court’s corrupt Citizen United decision. But I’ll tell you this: I find myself wondering why the stable genius billionaire needs help paying what, to him, should be a mere $83.3 million dollar tab. I mean, if you’re a billionaire, isn’t $83 million dollars pocket change?

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Hey, it cuts both ways, though, yes? He filed a defamation case in the England about the Steele Dossier. In keeping with his true calling and maintaining his seemingly endless string, he lost. BUT – and this is kind of fun – the court there never even considered the merits of the case. He lost because he brought it too late. He lost on a technicality…

Fights, Good and Bad…

by MyBaconPress

Wow, what a game. TWICE, now, the Niners have come out and started slow, to say the least. I doubt they’re intentionally spotting their opponents points but it sure looks like they’re spotting their opponents points. Can we please put the “Purdy is a pretender” talk to bed, now? The naysayers can still have “Purdy is less accurate in the rain.” That one, at least, seems to be true. But all the rest? You’re just being stubborn. He’s a very good player. That whole team is loaded but there’s no negative narrative going on about any of the other players. Just Purdy. So just stop, okay?

Detroit played very well. After all these years, it was nice to see Detroit enjoying a bit of success. Not so nice I wanted them to enjoy success over my Niners but still… That’s a team that has suffered for a long, long time. At this rate, I have little doubt they’ll make the leap, here, soon. They played some very good football. In truth, they, THEN played some not so good football but they deserve props. They’ve come a long way in a short time…

I’m not sure what happened to the Ravens. Well, yes, I know the Chiefs happened to the Ravens but the Ravens played badly, all on their own. They started flat, like the Niners did, but never managed to turn things around. Lamar Jackson is something else. This was a very good team, all season long. To fall apart like that in the Championship? There’s going to be some disappointment in the clubhouse for a while.

For the Chiefs it just seemed like business as usual, just another game to be played. Mahomes is still Mahomes, which means a very good football player. Andy Reid is still among the best coaches coaching, these days, and still a better bet than Belichick for GOAT. Of course, one can never overstate the contributions of the vaunted Taylor Swift, either. Normally, when a player on the field does something wonderful/amazing/glorious (or even bad/embarrassing/disastrous), the camera focuses on the player, who gets an extra moment of screen time. When poor Travis Kelce does something great, the camera pans straight to Taylor Swift, for her reaction shot. (Spoiler alert: she’s happy for her boyfriend.)

Hopefully, we’ll all get to see how Taylor looks when she’s sad because her boyfriend is about to lose the Stupor Bowl on February 11. The camera will absolutely grab that screenshot, just like they do when she’s celebrating. She has asked them to tone it down, a bit – they just don’t comply. Why would they? They get free celebrity endorsement from Swift every game and they don’t even have to pay her.

I expect a heck of a game. I HOPE the Niners win but I wouldn’t BET the Niners will win. These are two very good teams. Sadly, I think one of the most glaring problems for either team is the Niners Defensive Coordinator, Steve Wilkes. That guy just doesn’t understand the Niner defense. Last year the Niners defense was top-of-the-charts under DeMeco Ryans, as it was the year before that under Robert Saleh. They’re pretty porous with Wilkes at the helm. That could prove to be the difference in the big, dumb game this year…

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Can somebody help me out, here, please? I’ve been looking for information about how HAMAS is fighting back against Israel. I can’t find anything. Whenever I go looking, all is get is references to the oh-so-stupid HAMAS attack on Oct 7. I DID see a story about how some HAMAS fighters used a rocket to kill three Israeli soldiers preparing to blow up a building but there’s precious little else.

Netanyahu says he isn’t stopping until all of HAMAS is wiped out. It’s hard to blame him for feeling that way, but he ALSO seems to think that every Palestinian is HAMAS. He also seems to be trying to expand the fight from just Gaza to the West Bank. To me? He seems to think this is his chance, once and for all, to get rid of the Palestinians. ALL of the Palestinians. The whole world has asked him to stand down. He just thumbs his nose.

I’ll tell you this: Netanyahu may not be saying ‘from the river to the sea’ but he sure seems to be doing ‘from the river to the sea.’

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There’s a guy running against Putin in the upcoming Russian “elections.” That’s some guts. He will either end up in some Russian prison (“Say ‘hello’ to Nalvany for me…”) or dead, having committed suicide by drinking poison, chopping off his own head, and then throwing his own body out one window and the head out another. And THIS is the system MAGA wants to see in America?

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There’s a weird “analysis” of dissolving Donny’s businesses in AP, this morning. It takes the position that shutting down Donny’s fraudulent business will only empower the state to shut down other fraudulent businesses, and, after all, how fraudulent WAS Donny’s fraud? Oh, and he stopped some of his fraud – right after he got sued for providing fraudulent statements, so, what’s the problem? The “analysis” suggests that most of the time, when a business DID get shut down, the case was able to demonstrate who got hurt.

But THEN, it acknowledges that NY law doesn’t require showing damages, only an ongoing pattern of fraud. It acknowledges that not every business shut down showed damages. Despite the fact that the “analysis” seems to arguing against shutting down trump businesses, the article points out these things have been going on for at least eleven years and says, “Trump exaggerated the size of his Manhattan penthouse apartment by three times. He listed unfinished buildings as if they were complete, and apartments under rent-control as if they were free of such rules. He showed restricted funds as if they were liquid cash. And he portrayed Mar-a-Lago as if it could be converted to a residence even though that is prohibited in its deed.”

I’ll tell you this: When the “analysis” says, “Yeah he did all those things but we should just give the guy a break?” I suspect it was written by MAGA…