Happy Indictment Day!

[pasayten]

Everybody was crying...

https://youtu.be/QHpMloz2Jwk?t=88

[Rideback]

Look at the AG's responses to the court. That's where you'll find the jurisdiction.

From Bragg's lawsuit:
'“Subpoenaing a former line prosecutor to talk about an ongoing criminal prosecution and investigation is no less of an affront to state sovereignty than subpoenaing the District Attorney himself. Chairman Jordan claims he is seeking to conduct ‘oversight.’ But he has no power under the Constitution to oversee state and local criminal matters,” he wrote.

“By definition, then, he has no legitimate legislative purpose for issuing this subpoena.”

The suit also reviews numerous social media posts by Trump in relation to the probe, including one in which the former president posted a picture of himself holding a baseball bat side-by-side with a photo of Bragg. The filing notes the post was followed by death threats to Bragg and “a package containing suspicious white powder with a note making a specific death threat against him.”

https://joycevance.substack.com/p/alvin ... dium=email

[Fun CH]

Jordan has no jurisdiction over local authorities and he knows it. Since Republicans have no principles or actual legislation ideas, all they can do since they barely took back the House is hold show hearings to appease the MAGA cult, to strut their racist, lawless ways.

what is the source for this derogatory attack? Is this some of the stuff you read trying to pass for fact based journalism or did you write this? Can't tell as there is no link to source.

The writing after that is full of what you seem to like to call out, ie "whataboutisms". Yea NY city crime is bad but what about.....

[Rideback]

Judge has ordered Bragg to serve his lawsuit on Jordan and for Jordan to respond by 4/17.
https://crooksandliars.com/2023/04/bragg-sues-jordan

[pasayten]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/snl-d ... ocid=hpmsn

[Rideback]

'
By John Amato — April 10, 2023
After threatening to subpoena Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, Chairman of the House Judicial Committee Rep. Jim Jordan sent a hearing advisory notice that he will be arriving in Manhattan on April 17th to hold a hearing on Bragg's alleged "pro-crime, anti-victim" policies.

This is another coordinated attempt for vengeance and retribution against anyone holding Donald Trump accountable for his alleged crimes.

Far-right Rep. Andy Biggs admitted to it, writing in a tweet, "If Bragg can spend resources indicting President Trump, he should be able to address the soaring crime in NYC."

Here is the cover story Jordan is using to mosey on over to Manhattan.

"The hearing, 'Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan,' will examine how Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's pro-crime, anti-victim policies have led to an increase in violent crime and a dangerous community for New York City residents."

Jordan has no jurisdiction over local authorities and he knows it. Since Republicans have no principles or actual legislation ideas, all they can do since they barely took back the House is hold show hearings to appease the MAGA cult, to strut their racist, lawless ways.

If Jordan was actually concerned with high crime rates, he would go to Munroe, Louisiana, Memphis, Tennessee, or Speaker McCarthy's Bakersfield, cities with much higher crime rates than Manhattan.

The so-called nonpartisan Third Way think tank reported on the crime issue:

We found that murder rates are, on average, 40% higher in the 25 states Donald Trump won in the last presidential election compared to those that voted for Joe Biden. In addition, murder rates in many of these red states dwarf those in blue states like New York, California, and Massachusetts. And finally, many of the states with the worst murder rates—like Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, South Carolina, and Arkansas—are ones that few would describe as urban.

Chairman Jordan has turned the Judiciary Committee into a farce.'

And THAT is what it looks like when political hackery runs amok

[just-jim]

.
It is you that conflating his legal problems and his popularity; you brought both up.
I merely showed what people were thinking.
.
There is no ‘twisting’ of law. He’s charged with a crime. The first of what is most likely several.
.
BTW….he’s going to need to run in front of ALL the voters.
Not just the ones who think he’s more electable than a box of rocks.
.
Still waiting on you to accept a bet on the 2024 election.
.

[dorankj]

Boy talk about jumping from a to b, hey pot meet kettle! So now our legal system is based on polling? There are a ton of polls showing Trump rose a large amount from the ‘indictment’ to more than 30 point lead over his next closest competitor. What does that have to do with twisting law into trying to stop a political candidate? Maybe let’s do the democratic thing and let voters decide!

[just-jim]

So you agree that it’s ok to weaponize the legal system just to get your political opponent?, not very democratic! You guys may very well bring swing voters to Trump and get him re-elected. You might check the end of the UFC fight this weekend.

There ya go jumping from a to b to ….voila, w! Don’t know how you do it.
(I don’t watch tiny donnie and I sure as hell don’t watch rigged fake boxing.)

But…here you go. The orange man’s polls are plummeting:

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/majorit ... d=98430435
(Article contains link to the actual poll)

- a majority of Americans (53%) believe he intentionally did something illegal, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll.

- an additional 11% say he acted wrongly but not intentionally.

- Only 20% believe Trump did not do anything wrong, and 16% say they don't know.

- Democrats are largely convinced of Trump's culpability, with 87% saying he intentionally did something illegal, and a majority of independents (57%) agree.

- Of note, the former president is enjoying weaker-than-usual support from his own partisans with only a plurality of Republicans (45%) thinking Trump did nothing wrong, and the rest of the party split among the belief he intentionally did something illegal (19%), he was wrong but it was unintentional (18%) or they simply do not know (17%).
.
You can explain how he intends to win with 20% support, I guess…..
.
Same deal as last summer, Ken? Put your money where your mouth is, this time?
.

[dorankj]

So you agree that it’s ok to weaponize the legal system just to get your political opponent?, not very democratic! You guys may very well bring swing voters to Trump and get him re-elected. You might check the end of the UFC fight this weekend.

[mister_coffee]

Hard to sympathize with someone who has openly bragged in public about committing crimes for years.

[Rideback]

Ken, your response ignores the agonizing 2+ years of investigation and the hundreds of guilty pleas and guilty verdicts surrounding the multiple crimes charged against Trump, his company and his enablers. This is not a man without a history of provable wrong doing.

[dorankj]

What’s really frightening is how easily and gleefully you will throw away ‘equality under the law’ and prosecute crimes not people for the Russian model of ‘show me the man and I’ll show you the crime’. It’s antithetical to our system and beliefs but you don’t care ‘cause you just hate him so much!

[pasayten]

Michael Moore is, as usual, right on point…
Dear Criminal Defendant #4913961R:

Thank you for showing up without incident yesterday for your arrest and arraignment. You appeared somewhat bewildered as to why you were there. As this is only the first of a number of criminal charges and arraignments for you that will follow from other prosecutors, I think it’s only fair that I give you the lay of the land as to what’s ahead and why this is happening.

First — and I don’t know why no one has told you this — but your assessment is correct: We ARE out to get you and bring you to Justice. You tried to illegally overturn the election and overthrow the government. You were refusing to give up your seat in the Oval Office and decided to stage a coup. It’s that simple. And now the vast majority of the country wants a legal way to stop you from causing any further destruction. And truthfully, we don’t really care how we get there. As long as it’s honest and legal, we the people are going to throw whatever available book we have at you. Somebody should tell you this. I just did.

Have you read the 34 felony count indictment and its “Statement of Facts” against you? I have. Wow — I mean, it’s stunning in its brilliance and construction. It puts you in a real chokehold and yet allows the prosecution even more room in the coming months to crush you even further. I’m thinking you must have some sense of this and your impending doom.

The prosecutor you’re up against, Alvin Bragg — the one you call “an animal” and “a criminal” — he’s been a prosecutor for nearly 20 years. He’s helped put hundreds of criminals like you away. I know, I know — he’s Black. Just like those five innocent teenagers in Central Park that you tried to get a jury to send to the electric chair. Just like the thousands of families you and your father refused to rent your apartments to for decades until the federal government stopped you. Yes, that kind of Black! Yes, karma does suck! Yes, that was your father in the KKK parade way back in the day. Now you’ve got three Black prosecutors — the Manhattan D.A., the New York State Attorney General and the Fulton County, GA, prosecutor — all coming after you. Revenge for sins against them and all who look like them? I hope so! But, seriously, Black America has never really made us truly pay for their suffering, either the cruelty meted out to their ancestors by our ancestors, or the hand they themselves have been dealt by a society that still seems comfortable with the average white family in 2023 having a net worth 8 times that of the average Black family.

No, Defendant #4913961R, these Black prosecutors, whom you hurl racist insults at — including the one where you, New York’s leading racist, called them “racists(!)” — they are serious professionals who are just doing the job the majority of voters sent them to do. One of those jobs is to send you finally to prison.

All 34 charges against you are felonies. You conspired with others to silence people who had information the voters might possibly like to know before they cast their vote. You only won because of the 77,000 votes you got in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. How many would have changed their minds if they knew certain things about you? Your hush money payments went to at least three individuals, all with the intent of keeping the public in the dark in order to throw the election your way. And to cover it up, you told your lawyer, Michael Cohen, to take out a “home equity loan” for himself to pay off these individuals so it wouldn’t look like you had anything to do with it! What an idiot!
So, Defendant #4913961R, do you now understand why this is happening to you? And why we don’t care whatever the reason is they’ll be sending you to Sing Sing soon?

You attempted to blow up our democracy.
You led a violent uprising in which people died.
You tried to overthrow a presidential election, an election that you brutally lost.
You are on tape privately bullying the Georgia Secretary of State to illegally stuff the ballot box with 11,780 votes for you that did not exist.

Then You got 147 Republican members in Congress to vote to steal the election for you! Is there a greater act of treason in a Democracy than the outright theft of an election and thus the overthrow of the elected government?
You hate this country and what it stands for.

And the vast majority of us know it. That’s why we tossed you to the curb in 2020 and then put you on a garbage barge to Florida. You are correct to assume we and the prosecutors we elect will charge you and arrest you for ANY legal reason we can find.

Last night, in your continuing crusade to incite violence, you and your son posted a photo of the Judge’s daughter online. It was your way of threatening him with violence. You know it will take only one of your psychopathic supporters to commit a heinous act. Do you have any idea what tens of millions of American parents would do to you if you did anything to threaten their child’s life?

You’re upset because you think we’re prosecuting you because of a porn star? HAHAHA!

Look, we’d arrest you for anything we legally could — littering, parking tickets, jaywalking, you name it.

Anything to stop you from staging another coup. Anything that would stop you from endangering the life of that Judge’s daughter. Anything we can legally do to stop you, we will. You remember Al Capone. They could never get him on the murderous crime organization he ran. So they got him for lying on his income taxes. Nobody cared. The public wanted him put away by any legal means necessary. We’re Al Caponing you, Don.
Your crime spree, which began in 1973, is coming to an end.

Deal with it. Pack a toothbrush.

[Rideback]

Trump's Lead Grows
So DeSantis may try the Rudy Giuliani strategy of skipping the early states
APR 7
Politics Extra.
2024 GOP primary polls: Trump grows lead over DeSantis

It may not be a mug shot on a T-shirt, but clips of Donald Trump’s arraignment are now part of a Trump campaign video.

In a nationwide poll of Republicans, Trump’s lead over Ron DeSantis has grown to 37 points (58%-21%) since the indictment. On Monday, Trump’s lead was 29 points (48%-19%).

Trump leads DeSantis by eight points, 47% to 39%, in a one-on-one Iowa poll conducted after the indictment. In a multi-candidate race, Trump is at 41%, DeSantis 26%, Nikki Haley 5%, Mike Pence 3%, Mike Pompeo 3%, Vivek Ramaswamy 1%, and Glenn Youngkin 1%.

[Rideback]

Analysis:

https://www.lawfareblog.com/and-so-it-b ... nald-trump

[Rideback]

From the Atlantic: In his speech last night to his supporters at Mar-a-Lago, made several hours after he was arraigned in Manhattan on 34 felony counts, Donald Trump took aim at Juan Merchan, the judge in the case.
“I have a Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and family, whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris and now receives money from the Biden-Harris campaign, and a lot of it,” Trump said. He also compared the conduct of Merchan, who presided over the Trump Organization’s tax-fraud trial, to something “right out of the old Soviet Union.”
Earlier in the day, two of Trump’s sons, Don Jr. and Eric, attacked the judge’s daughter as well, with the former tweeting a picture of her. This came a few days after Trump posted a fake image of himself swinging a baseball bat at the head of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whom Trump referred to on his Truth Social platform as an “animal.”
Read: The humiliation of Donald Trump
I recently wrote that Trump was behaving like a mob boss. That comparison turns out to have been insulting to mob bosses everywhere. Andrew Weissmann, a former lead prosecutor in Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel’s office, was asked on MSNBC about Trump’s attack on Judge Merchan and his family. Noting that he had prosecuted Mafia cases in the past, Weissmann said, “You do not have this behavior from a mob boss. There is a rule in organized crime. You do not do this with respect to prosecutors. You don’t do this with respect to the judge. You certainly don’t go after their families. It’s bad business to do that.” Leave it to Donald Trump to go where Mafia dons will not.
On the day trump was arraigned, the RealClearPolitics average of polls showed him far ahead of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, 50.8 percent to 24.6 percent, with no other Republican drawing above 5 percent. In recent weeks, Trump has been surging in the polls, including since the indictment was announced.
Sarah Longwell, who has been doing focus groups with two-time Trump voters, reports that in her most recent groups, everyone supported Trump for the 2024 GOP nomination, which hasn’t been the case for months and months.
David Frum: Never again T

[Fun CH]

I guess I'd better be more careful, pretty soon your storytelling will have me driving a blue Tesla and confronting you in a parking lot.

Seriously, just because you haven't kept up with the facts isn't any excuse for attacking the messengers.

You don't seem to be able to defend you calling me a liar and name calling accusation so this is what you come up with? Even more twisted BS.

Oh I know what facts are and I can recognize spin, heresay and falsehoods when I read it. Do you?

[Rideback]

I guess I'd better be more careful, pretty soon your storytelling will have me driving a blue Tesla and confronting you in a parking lot.

Seriously, just because you haven't kept up with the facts isn't any excuse for attacking the messengers.

[Fun CH]

Man, people, anything you say will be held against you. In this situation I can no longer remain silent.
Chris! You have your opinions and you are using other quotes from many sources to back up your opinions and thoughts. These are only your opinions.
It is not obvious to you, but you have set yourself up as judge and jury of every little thing that people say on this BB.
You, you have set yourself apart. You have divided too. You have set yourself aside from it all. Watching from your perch. You don't see it.
What's appropriate, what isn't appropriate. Pick, pick, pick it apart. And I will be picked apart too for saying this to you.
Go ahead. I can't wait to see what defensive posture you will take, as you most surely will.

Hey, shame on all us. Shame, shame, shame. That's what you are saying.
Done, done, done.
I happen to agree with Rideback et al. in most instances. But when I don't I don't pick, pick and pick.

"try Mr Farnard room 12 "

" I'm sorry is this the 5 minute argument or full half hour"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohDB5gbtaEQ

[PAL]

Man, people, anything you say will be held against you. In this situation I can no longer remain silent.
Chris! You have your opinions and you are using other quotes from many sources to back up your opinions and thoughts. These are only your opinions.
It is not obvious to you, but you have set yourself up as judge and jury of every little thing that people say on this BB.
You, you have set yourself apart. You have divided too. You have set yourself aside from it all. Watching from your perch. You don't see it.
What's appropriate, what isn't appropriate. Pick, pick, pick it apart. And I will be picked apart too for saying this to you.
Go ahead. I can't wait to see what defensive posture you will take, as you most surely will.

Hey, shame on all us. Shame, shame, shame. That's what you are saying.
Done, done, done.
I happen to agree with Rideback et al. in most instances. But when I don't I don't pick, pick and pick.

[Fun CH]

Entirely misreading what happened yesterday. There is no gloating. There is vindication for the rule of law, there is vindication for the warnings that a man was defrauding the voters of this Country.

By trying to label this situation as one where people are gloating you're telling Trump and his enablers that they are victims. They are not. The justice system is working its way methodically up and down the investigations to lay out what happened, if it's wrong, if it's illegal and why and when the legal system must act. The victim card is a political card, it's a tactical one that is designed to manipulate a political conversation and that is what Trump's team is trying to do, to make this into a political conversation which it isn't. This is a legal issue, plain and simple.

Don't play into the game of telling anyone that Trump and his enablers are victims. The word victim doesn't belong in this journey.

That straw man that you built won't fly. Gloating doesnt imply victim hood so I'm definitely not playing "the game of telling anyone that Trump and his enablers are victims".

Here is the definition of gloating:

"dwelling on one's own success or another's misfortune with smugness or malignant pleasure."

And are some Democrats gloating over Trump arrest? Yes

What do that facts tell us.Here's just one example of gloating from a democratic strategist posting on Twitter.

"Rachel Bitecofer
@RachelBitecofer
Nice capstone to the best day I've had in 7+ years." And then posts a picture of a rainbow

While most Democratic politicians are pointing out that gloating is not appropriate right now.

"This is not a time to further divide," Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., told a local TV outlet, adding that this "sad day ... is not a time to celebrate."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald ... -rcna78114

Heck even the title of the thread, "Happy Indictment Day" and some of the content, as I pointed out, points to gloating Behavior.

I'm just pointing out that gloating (hate, lies, derogatory name calling etc) furthers the divide and ultimately weakens our local community.

I'd also point out that you say quote "
"The word victim doesn't belong in this journey." Yet you play the victim card, quote; "There is vindication for the rule of law, there is vindication for the warnings that a man was defrauding the voters of this Country."

You are offering here as fact that Trump is guilty of defrauding voters of this country, ie the voters are victims. That may or may be not proven true, however the rule of law in this country states that a person is innocent until proven guilty.

So let's vindicate the rule of law by actually adhering to the tenets of that rule of law. An allegation is not a crime until proven so in a court of law.

[Rideback]

At a 30,000 foot level we do live in remarkable times.

From David Kurtz Talking Points Memo
What An Amazing Scandal!
Step back for a moment and marvel at what an amazing scandal the Stormy Daniels hush money scheme is.
Come on! In any other era, this would be awesome!
Only because of the passage of time and the subsequent TWO impeachments and failed coup does this scandal seem tepid. But judge it by pre-2017 standards and it’s amazing! The toxic stew of sex AND money AND power AND coverup. What more could you want?
You have the country’s leading tabloid mag conspiring with the GOP nominee for president to bury negative stories about him, including an apparently debunked claim from his doorman that he fathered a child out of wedlock, a disputed claim of a one-night stand with a porn star that cost him $130,000, and a contested claim that he had an affair with a Playboy playmate.
It’s 100% bonkers on its face!
Is You Takin’ Notes On A Criminal Fuckin’ Conspiracy?
My favorite reveals from yesterday were how lame and ineffectual the coverup was.
They were writing checks. Checks! It’s all traceable. It’s all evidence now in the criminal case.
At one point, we learned yesterday, Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg allegedly jotted down the particulars of the agreement to reimburse Michael Cohen for his hush money payment to Daniels on Trump’s behalf.
HE WROTE IT DOWN!
Prosecutors appear to have the document with those notes, according to the statement of facts filed in the case: “The TO CFO [Weisselberg] memorialized these calculations in handwritten notes on the copy of the bank statement that Lawyer A [Cohen] had provided.”

[Rideback]

Entirely misreading what happened yesterday. There is no gloating. There is vindication for the rule of law, there is vindication for the warnings that a man was defrauding the voters of this Country.

By trying to label this situation as one where people are gloating you're telling Trump and his enablers that they are victims. They are not. The justice system is working its way methodically up and down the investigations to lay out what happened, if it's wrong, if it's illegal and why and when the legal system must act. The victim card is a political card, it's a tactical one that is designed to manipulate a political conversation and that is what Trump's team is trying to do, to make this into a political conversation which it isn't. This is a legal issue, plain and simple.

Don't play into the game of telling anyone that Trump and his enablers are victims. The word victim doesn't belong in this journey.

[Fun CH]

Looking forward to it!

Instead of eating popcorn while watching the news circus during the event, I think I will snack on Cheetos in honor of the occasion...

Perhaps one POV to consider.

https://lifehacker.com/why-you-shouldnt ... 1850289355

"If gloating is a way to make yourself feel satisfaction about the fact that someone you hate is suffering, you’ve probably succeeded today. But you haven’t actually done anything worthwhile. Chances are you’re only reinforcing the sense of tribal identity that keeps us at each other’s throats."

"If you’re trying to get your MAGA uncle to consider maybe not voting for the worst human being in American political history, gloating is counter-productive. Psychologists who study how people actually change their minds point out that making yourself into the enemy (i.e. gloating) is the worst thing you can do in that regard."

Or perhaps this quote may speak to you.

"Whatever the motive for gloating, we must do our best to avoid it. The Bible specifically warns: “Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice.”