Like a Common Criminal

It was a big day on Tuesday, when Covfefool had to appear in front of a judge and plead to crimes.

The Best Moments

1. The words D***** J. T**** and under arrest in the same sentence.

2. This moment, below. Don't let the door slap you in the face on the way in. Loser. 

 

3. And the photos of the slumped, sad, humiliated orange turd sitting at the defense table. 

Alas, there was no mugshot.

But that didn't stop Don the Con from using a fake mugshot to pick his minions' pockets. He plastered one on a T-shirt, which can be yours for the low, low price of $36 or $47. I'd buy it, but it's a little pricier than my usual toilet paper. 

So... Thirty-four felony counts were filed against him by Alvin Bragg, District Attorney of Manhattan, all surrounding entries to his business records. He is charged with falsifying business records with this scheme: 

• His fixer Michael Cohen created a shell company and paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 in the weeks leading up to the election. 
• T**** reimbursed Cohen from his business accounts over time, labeling them as "attorney fees." 
• Each entry into the ledgers is an additional count. There were 34 in total; 11 counts for false invoices, 11 for false checks and check stubs, and 12 for false general ledger entries according to the indictment and Statement of Facts, which the New York Times has so niftily annotated. 
• The Statement of Facts also mentions payoffs to another former sexual partner, Karen McDougal, as well as to T**** Tower doorman Dino Sajudin to keep 'em quiet about "alleged" other dirty SCROTUS bizness in "catch and kill" schemes while in cahoots with National Enquirer publisher David Pecker (yes, David 🍆), to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. Here is the Statement of Facts with individuals identified, from The Wall Street Journal.

The business financial entries are illegal; they are misdemeanors on their own. But when made in connection with another crime (including planning another crime, even if it doesn't occur), they become felonies.

There is bigly speculation as to what the other crime is / are, as it wasn't described in the indictment nor in the statement of facts. There is speculation that it is either tax fraud (i.e., Cohen declared them on his taxes and Trumpty-Dumpty deducted them), or campaign finance fraud (i.e., POTATUS used the payments as de facto campaign donations, and their purpose was to cover up facts that would influence voters).

LSR's Takeaways

The pundits are "poking holes" in the case and saying that it's not a strong case. But they don't know all the elements, which D.A. Alvin Bragg has kept close to the chest. There's nothing "surprising" in the indictment documents, and it seems that this is evidence of "nothing to look at" for many of the talking heads. 

I think it's a good case, for these reasons:

• Michael Cohen was convicted for the same crime. Shouldn't the mastermind be brought up on charges? I think he'll be convicted. 

• As outlined in the Wall Street Journal, it is obvious that the payment was made specifically to influence the election:

When Mr. Cohen negotiated a deal with a lawyer for Ms. Daniels to buy her silence, however, Mr. Trump directed him “to delay making a payment to [Ms. Daniels] as long as possible,” instructing him that “if they could delay the payment until after the election, they could avoid paying altogether, because at that point it would not matter if the story became public,” prosecutors said. He ultimately signed off on the payment, asking Mr. Cohen and then-Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg to “find a way” to make it and agreeing to reimburse Mr. Cohen.

• Similarly, after the election both the doorman and Karen McDougal were released of their NDAs. This points to the fact that the payments were to influence the election. The NDAs served their purpose, and once he was elected, it didn't matter. Would this be true if The Big Liebowski were just trying to protect Melania?

Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Norman Eisen writing in the New York Times thinks it's a strong case too. 

The Aftermath

At the courthouse, there was a tepid showing of MAGAts, led by the blond one from Georgia. She hustled away within minutes of her taking the bullhorn, after being drowned out by anti-45 protesters wielding whistles. 

This notice was photographed in NYC and gave me a chuckle.

Besides the few at the courthouse on arraignment day, those on the right doth not protest much. Will Carless at USA Today speculates that the reason why is four-fold:

• Scooby Coup hasn't told them what to do
• Some of the extremists are mad at him for abandoning them in the aftermath of January 6
• Some extremists actually learned a lesson after 1000 charges stemming from January 6
• The Q people simply think he will beat the charges, and it's all going to plan, so why bother?

That hasn't stopped others of them from engaging in odious behavior. Dum Junior posted a photo of the judge's daughter and of course, threats of violence have been made against the judge and his family. Do we expect anything different?

Voldemoron gave a statement campaign speech after he landed back at Mar-a-loony. Most news organizations didn't bother broadcasting it. I watched for about 90 seconds before I couldn't stomach it anymore. It was the same ol' victim-boasting shit, but in the most tired, bored, worn-out way. If you really wanna torture yourself, have at it. 

The next court date isn't until December. Which is disappointing, but not. It gives room for the other cases to come forward. But it butts up into election season.

The Fun Stuff

See what you score on the T**** Indictment Quiz from McSweeney's. 

Jack Ohman

John Darkow

Jeff Danziger

Ann Talnaes

OMG I love this letter from Michael Moore. I have to share the whole thing.

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.

Let's get on with our Al Caponing. Next: Fulton County, Georgia. Indictments are expected any day. 

#Resist

INDICTMENT! Yeah, Baby!

It ain't no April Fool!

Somebody finally had the cajones to bring an indictment against the former president*, and that was a Manhattan grand jury who voted Thursday to indict on charges sought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. 

It's an historical event. No other former or sitting president has been charged with a crime. 

Da Facts

At least 12 (a majority of the 23 members of the Grand Jury) citizens of New York City believed there was sufficient evidence to bring charges against former NYC resident, Orange Julius Caesar.

There may be around 30 (!) charges stemming from the hush-money payment of $130,000 made to Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, an adult-film actress and one-time sexual partner of the before-he-was-a-candidate. As you recall, Individual 1 "allegedly" laundered the payments from his business to his attorney and "fixer" Michael Cohen, who paid off Ms. Clifford during the 2016 election campaign. The payment was made days before the November 8, 2016 election. 

Though the hush-money itself is not illegal, the crime comes from the fact that the payment was routed from his business to his lawyer and in was in conjunction with a campaign, made for the purpose of covering up material facts during the pursuit of his 2016 campaign for president. 

The exact charges are sealed until the first court appearance on Tuesday, April 4. 

LSR's Takes

It's not great for him. It's both great and not great for the country. It's an extension of a very dark period in our history, having a criminal in the highest office in the land. But finally, consequences are coming! This is very good. It demonstrates that as a nation, we continue to assert that no one is above the law, including a person who happened to hold the office of president. Especially a person who held the office of president. 

If we don't enforce the law and bring charges against those who break them, what are laws for?

I'm convinced he only announced his candidacy early because he knew charges would be brought. His candidacy would serve to complicate prosecution, and bonus! he could claim political persecution, thus riling up his base, easing another grift. He doesn't want to be president. His motivation is not power, it's picking the pockets of feckless Americans who hang on his every racist, misogynistic, violent word. 

This case surrounds the least egregious of his myriad crimes. I think there is a danger of numbing the populace to his misdeeds and ironically making the next indictment, either of his tax fraud (NY State), conspiracy to interfere with an election (Georgia),  his conspiracy to commit sedition (Feds), or his illegal mishandling of classified documents (Feds) more ho-hum.

On the other hand, maybe the same will be done with his followers. Will they fatigue with their "donations to defense fund" and their energy to get out and protest/maim/destroy/intimidate/kill by the time other charges are filed?  I wonder if the various prosecuting attorneys collaborated as to which charges to bring first and when. I don't know enough about lawyer stuff. Would that be a thing when various charges from various jurisdictions are being investigated at the same time? 

It won't be a fast process, that's for sure. The Bloat of Many Colors knows how to work the system. And work it some more. Motions on top of motions will be filed, dragging the case out well into the campaign season.

What's Next?

Surrender

He is expected to surrender to authorities (how sweet the words) on Tuesday. He will be fingerprinted and mug-shotted before appearing before a judge for arraignment. Wooo-hoooo! I wish we could see that! Most likely it will all be away from cameras. It is anticipated that the intake and the court appearance will be done quietly, out of view. Mug shots, though, are public record. Can't wait for that one to hit the meme store! 

Undoubtedly he would like to create a spectacle with handcuffs and a perp walk. As scared as he probably is (and I hope he is very scared), he surely wants to milk the moment for all the victimhood possible. Common sense and secret service will no doubt prevail over that nonsense.

The charges will be presented and he will stand in front of a judge to be arraigned, at which time he will enter a plea. If he does not enter into a plea agreement – and why would he, if the spectacle of a prolonged case will whip up his base into a delicious frappe of pitchforks and checkbooks?  – a trial date will be set. 

Oooooh how sweet the news cycle!

Hand-wringing

GOP elected officials and other surrogates will be crying and feigning outrage. FAUX News talking heads will be spinning the facts how they feel will play best to their audience. It's already started, from the milder reaction from Ivanka to the not-at-all-veiled call for violence from F*cker Carlson.

Ivanka Instagrammed: "I love my father, and I love my country. Today, I am pained for both. I appreciate the voices across the political spectrum expressing support and concern."

There was an audible gasp over at FAUX News:

Audible gasps let out in Fox News' studio as they announce the Trump indictment news pic.twitter.com/FFyx2mvPUp

— Brennan Murphy (@brenonade) March 30, 2023

Marge tweeted:

I’m going to New York on Tuesday.

We MUST protest the unconstitutional WITCH HUNT!

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) March 31, 2023

Mr. Brows-in-Perpetual-Furrow stayed on-brand with his incitement to violence in his throw-away-but-not-really line about assault rifles:

Ryun: "We will find ourselves on that path to a one-party state and authoritarian government."

Tucker Carlson: "Probably not the best time to give up your AR-15s. And I think most people know that." pic.twitter.com/SRlaUQ7Qtb

— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) March 31, 2023

Fund-Raising

Even a couple weeks ago, when he truth-socialed that he was going to be "arrested on Tuesday," it was just one of his many grifts. After the indictment came down, he rushed to put ads on Facebook to squeeze his boomer supporters and separate each of them from $47 with an "OFFICIAL ELECTION DEFENSE FUND" plea. 

Violence?

Before the indictment, SCROTUS overtly called for violence and has launched racist attacks on the Black D.A. Alvin Bragg who has been investigating him.

Just after midnight on March 24, he warned about "death and destruction" if an indictment came down. He truth-socialed, 

What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country?

Read more from WaPo.

Last week, he called Bragg a "degenerate psychopath" and posted a photo of himself with a baseball bat to Bragg's head. I won't show that here. He also called Bragg a "Soros-backed animal" and has called Bragg "racist."

His minions have followed his lead. Bragg has been inundated with racist taunts and threats of violence. It shouldn't be dangerous to do your civic duty in the United States. 

Cartoons!

Yay for our nation's journalist artists who encapsulate our situation and give us a bit of comic relief with a few strokes of a pen. And for the meme makers, who shall inherit the earth.

Ann Telnaes

Chris Riddell

John Deering

R.J. Matson

Clay Bennett

John Deering

HISTORIC AND UNPRECEDENTED: NY Grand Jury votes to indict Former President Trump! ❤️ if you support this! pic.twitter.com/A15g2jnZlt

— 💙Brittney💙 (@AZ_Brittney) March 30, 2023

‘I NEED A POSTER OF RITA HAYWORTH’ pic.twitter.com/THIN4mdJyQ

— Tom Reagan’s Hat (@RufusTSuperfly) March 30, 2023

while i’m not a fan of donald trump, it is chilling to realize that this could happen to any one of us after livetweeting 34 consecutive crimes

— soul nate (@MNateShyamalan) March 30, 2023

 

The January 6 Hearings. Part 10: It's Official! He's a Criminal!

John Deering 

We witnessed history yesterday. The U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol convened for their 10th and final time in front of the American people. After 18 months of investigation and nine hearings, bringing plenty of receipts, they finally announced that they are making criminal referrals to the Department of Justice for four – count 'em, four – felonies that The Salmon Seditionist committed, including the feloniousest of felonies, inciting an insurrection. Hallelujah! It's about damn time someone said it out loud! 

Granted, the referrals are symbolic, as only the Department of Justice has the authority to make the decision whether to indict. But still, the action is unprecedented. No former or sitting president has ever had criminal referrals levied against them.

Chairman Bennie Thompson (D- MS) and Vice-Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) laid out the overreaching rationale for the charges: accountability. As Rep. Ruskin noted, "Ours is not a system of justice where foot soldiers go to jail and the masterminds and ring leaders get a free pass." Vice-Chair Cheney reminded us that throughout the nation's history, every single president has committed to the peaceful transfer of power. All but one. 

To the point about defending our democracy, Cheney told a poignant story about her great-great-grandfather who fought all four years of the Civil War and who was present to march in front of President Johnson and General Grant at the end of the war. An historian wrote about the troops that day. Cheney recounted, "He said they had 'a just appreciation of the value and advantage of free government and the necessity of defending and maintaining it, and they enlisted prepared to accept all the necessary labors, fatigues, exposures, dangers and even death for the unity of our nation and the perpetuity of our institutions.'" 

Poignant stuff.

Monday's meeting was rather brief, mostly a recap of the evidence presented so far. There were a few new tidbits, however. 

The committee presented powerful testimony from Hope Hicks, who we had not seen before as a witness. Ms. Hicks, as you remember, was one of SCROTUS's most trusted, closest, and valued aides. She said that she confronted him about the fact that there was no evidence of fraud and that there was danger of "damaging his legacy." His response? "Nobody will care about my legacy if I lose, so that won’t matter. The only thing that matters is winning."

There was also new evidence about witness tampering. Rep. Lofgren said that the funds from some of 45's probably-illegal fundraising were used for definitely-illegal things, like hiring lawyers to intimidate witnesses. She said that: 

One lawyer told a witness, the witness could, in certain circumstances, tell the committee that she didn’t recall facts when she actually did recall them. That lawyer also did not disclose who was paying for the lawyer’s representation, despite questions from the client seeking that information. He told her, “We’re not telling people where funding is coming from right now.” We’ve learned that a client was offered potential employment, that would make her, “financially very comfortable,” as the date of her testimony approached, by entities that were apparently linked to Donald Trump and his associates. These offers were withdrawn or didn’t materialize, as reports of the content of her testimony circulated. The witness believed this was an effort to affect her testimony, and we are concerned that these efforts may have been a strategy to prevent the committee from finding the truth.

Yeah. That's not ok.

CNN has since reported that it was a former Whitewash House ethics lawyer that put this pressure on his client, star witness Cassidy Hutchinson. All the while not disclosing that ***** was paying for his services. Bad, bad stuff.

The Committee presented a video summary of the aspects of the POTATUS Coup Plans showing that 

1. He knew the election was not stolen;

2. He pressured states;

3. He pressured the DOJ;

4. He pressured the V.P.;

5. He summoned the mob;

6. And he was derelict in his duties for 187 minutes as the invasion was happening. 

Here is that short video:

I liked that each of the nine committee members spoke. The Chairs laid out the need for accountability, and each of six members took a piece of the coup plan and reiterated the evidence. 

• Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) reiterated the evidence about The Big Lie;

• Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) summarized how he pressured the States and conspired to send false electors to Congress;

• Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) reminded us how he pressured the DOJ and nearly installed a sycophant to be AG; 

• Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) summarized the Pence Pressure Campaign; 

• Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) outlined how he assembled the mob and sent them to do violence;

• Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) recapped Agent Orange's 187 minutes when he was derelict in his duty to faithfully execute the laws of the United States;

And last but very much best, Rep. Jamie Raskin outlined the criminal referrals to the DOJ. He sat a little straighter and spoke a little louder and firmer when he announced the referrals. It was exciting to hear the charges that the Committee recommends. They included:

• Obstruction of an official proceeding,

• Conspiracy to defraud the United States,

• Conspiracy to make a false statement,

• "Incite," "assist" or "aid and comfort" an insurrection.

The "conspiracy" part of the charges  includes a criminal referral for attorney John Eastman, but would-be fake AG Jeffrey Clark and Rudy Giuliani should be right there too. I'm thinking other conspirators may also be referred, people like Rudy Giuliani, Roger Stone, Mark Meadows, and Mike Flynn. You know, those asses that plead the Fifth during their meetings with the Committee.

The committee also made referrals to the House Ethics Committee for censure of several members over ignoring subpoenas. Though they were not named during the meeting, those who flaunted subpoenas include House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Andy Biggs of Arizona.

As I said, though Congress can make criminal referrals, only the Department of Justice can decide whether to seek indictments. The DOJ has been doing their own investigation. A special counsel, Jack Smith, has been overseeing it for the past month. Though the DOJ is doing its own investigation and has the final authority, no doubt the Committee's body of evidence will be an important piece. Come on, Mr. Garland! Do. It. 

Videos of the Meeting. Yesterday's meeting was only 70 minutes. Watch the whole thing below (not sure why it's dated 12/14/2022. It is yesterday's hearing, 12/19/2022).

If you have only a few minutes, here is WaPo's 4-minute version:

I'm really pleased and proud of how the Committee conducted this investigation and how they brought the evidence before us. Each of the 10 televised hearings was riveting. Jaw-dropping evidence, fine-tuned organization, well-spoken witnesses, and good production value, all presented by a calm and resolute bi-partisan committee, made it must-watch TV. It's a model for any future investigations, and one that will live in the history books.

The Final Act. The Committee's report is due to be published this week. It will contain a depth of evidence and will detail many of the criminal players' nefarious actions. I can't wait to get my hands on it! I hope the DOJ has a team ready with some fine-tooth combs and magnifying glasses, and an extra server for the spreadsheets! They need to build a very tight case and get it in front of a jury. 

*****

In other news!

The Ways and Means Committee are poised to release the long-sought tax returns of the Conman. It may even be tomorrow! Let's see 'em!

A mysterious Truth Social post went out last week promising "a major announcement." Speculation abounded. Running mate? Endorsement for Speaker of the House? Invitation to dinner for more Nazis?

No. It was just another grift. The announcement was for the release of some "digital trading cards," NFT images for sale. Offered were several images of BLOATUS as calendar pin-up boys. 45,000 of them for sale at the cool price of $99 each. They sold out within 12 hours. NFT trading cards: The modern way of separating fools from their money. 

News is that the NFTs have drastically lost value already. Big surprise.

And more news: the images appear to have been stolen. Yup. Business as usual.

You can google the images. But I like the internet's versions better (From Reddit and Sister Resister Anne)

And SNL's treatment:

And of course, we need some editorial cartoons!

Bill Bramhall

Chris Britt

Ed Wexler

Adam Zyglis

A Step Back from Fascism

 

Walt Handelsman

Do you feel that calm? That's fascism heading toward its hidey hole!

It has been a good week for democracy, and there is a fair bit to unpack. Not sure I can dive too deep here. Because, you know, life. 

The Red Wave That Wasn't

Prognosticators and polls predicted a punctual, pertinacious pull of the parties past progressive. But it didn't happen. As of this writing, five days after the polls closed, the Democrats have retained control of the Senate, and the House is on a knife's edge, with a dozen or so races yet to be called. Though "they" say that the right still has an advantage to take the House, the Dems could still pull off a majority. But even if they don't, I believe the country still won.

The Anxiety That Wasn't

Or rather, shouldn't have been. If we learned anything from 2016, it was that polls lie. They lied again this year. I know I'm not the only one who had a deep anxiety in the weeks leading up to Election Day. It took a toll on my sister resisters, too. It's was a long four years, and January 6th trauma still simmers, so to face even one more day of being governed by people who "love" the country so much that they are willing to burn it down, was too much to face.

Note to self: save the anxiety for the actual counting days and skip the polls and the pundits. Do the work, then let the voters say.

Big Lie? Bye-bye! 

The voters decided that they weren't going to tolerate any more MAGAT nonsense. They rejected most of the MAGAT-backed candidates. From coast to coast, they were sent packing. The SCROTUS Effect, turns out, is poison ivy. Here's a summary from AP News about the election-deniers who were denied. As they quoted Joanna Lydgate of States United, "It was a good day for democracy."

My predictions, thankfully, came true. 

In these pages more than once I proposed that the only way out of our MAGA mess was for the Republican Party to become divided and to burn their own house down. Yes! It happened! The Republican Party became their own worst enemy; it became divided into "Team Crazy" and "Team Normal." Team Crazy pulled ahead when their MAGAT, election-denying candidates won primary elections across the country. But those crazies lost to Democrats' Team Normal candidates last week.

Qualified, reasonable Democrat candidates swooped up votes when independent voters – and Team Normal Republicans – decided that Team Crazy wasn't for them. 

Thanks for the meme, Sister Resister Anne!

My Pollyanna Moment

We have hope for the future! Hopefully the Republicans can hold on to Normal, regain their moral compass, and put forth qualified candidates. Maybe then we can actually start taking about policy again rather than if the Apricot Pol Pot is the Messiah, if we should oppress brown people, if we should regulate women back to being barefoot and pregnant, and if we should kill the Vice President of the United States of America. 

Dare we hope? Maybe this will embolden the reasonable Republicans to speak up loudly, reject a TЯUMP candidacy, and shut the far-right shit down. Do we dare hope?

The "Usual" trends did not materialize

It's a historical trend that midterm voters have usually turned away from the party of the current president, especially when approval ratings were low. The usual didn't hold up this year. In fact, not only did they not firmly turn away from the current president, this year voters turned away from the previous president*.

In past trends, voters tend to push against the reigning party, especially in the first term. Here's what has happened in the last half-century or so of House midterms (stats thanks to UCSB's The American Presidency Project).

1974 Ford (post Nixon) approval rating 54%, lost 78 seats (following Watergate)

1978 Carter 45%, lost 15

1982 Reagan 42%, lost 26

1986 Reagan 64%, lost 5

1990 Bush I 57%, lost 8

1994 Clinton 48%, lost 52

1998 Clinton 65%, gained 5

2002 Bush II 67%, gained 8 (just after 9/11)

2006 Bush II 37%, lost 30

2010 Obama 45%, lost 63 

2014 Obama 41%, lost 13

2018 T**** 44%, lost 40

2024 Biden 42%, TBD

At this writing, the final results are not known. Though this year's numbers are still to be determined, it looks like Democratic losses this year will not follow the usual trend. We are not in usual times. 

Even if the Dems don't keep control of the House, we all won. The Repugs will have control by the slimmest margin, and the Democrats control the Senate. The election really could not have gone much better given all the circumstances. Who else is feeling elated?

What was important to the voters 

Abortion rights and saving democracy. Yes, certainly the economy, too, but it appeared to be less of a driving factor than the pundits led us to believe. 

We still have toxicity out there. 

FAUX News's talking heads like F*cker Carlson, as well as the toxic radio and YouTube crowd, will continue to spew misinformation and whip up the whip-upable.

We still have the Wart Squad: Boebert (possibly; her seat is still undecided), Margie Green, Matty G, Scamperin' Josh Hawley, and the rest of that ilk, along with the newbies such as Senator-elect J.D. Vance in Ohio and Representative-elect Ted Budd in North Carolina. Come 2024, though, perhaps we'll have that industrial size barrel of Compound W ready and waiting at each polling place to get some of those nasties off our asses. 

Yes, FAUX News is still a scourge, but without the additional mouthpieces spouting the nonsense and obstructing constructive work in the Congress, and with Moscow Mitch gone (whoo-hoooo!) as Senate Majority Leader (please, please, please, Mitch, might you consider retiring when your term ends in 2027?), at least we may have a quieter place in which to do the work.

And there's the non-elected white supremacists. They are still out there. We must continue to fight! The misogynists still wanna misogyn. They must feel strong push-back. We still have much work.

Yes, indeed, we do have a lot of work to do. 

In the near term, we need to help get Senator Raphael Warnock re-elected in Georgia! His runoff election is Tuesday, December 6. Donate to his campaign or write postcards! I use Postcards to Voters. I like the way they manage the task.

We must codify abortion rights into the law of the land. We must strengthen our civil rights and work on our justice system. We must work NOW to combat climate change. We need to better our children's educations. We must continue to examine January 6 and bring all the ne'er-do-wells to justice. We must promote federal judges that will be fair and protect our Constitution and civil rights. We must continue to examine Supreme Court justice malfeasance. And so much more. The progressive agenda isn't going away just because it's going to be a little more difficult. 

The Once and Future President*?

Supposedly there's a "big announcement" coming from that puckered orange mouth this week. But yanno, I don't want to talk about some two-bit bigoted grifting seditionist has-been who has umpteen court cases pending against him. Let's just bask in the big win and delegate that heaping orange turd to the loser's corner.

We did it, Resisters! Go treat yourself! 

Dave Whamond

The January 6th Hearings. Part 9: Subpoena!

Ed Wexler Cagle Cartoons

The U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol convened for their ninth hearing a little over a week ago, on Thursday October 13. "Hearing" is a bit of a misnomer; there were no live witnesses this time. It was more or less a recap of the previous evidence, with some new video and new testimony tidbits from the recorded depositions. Plus a bombshell at the end: a notable subpoena. Just about every committee member participated as they recapped and expanded their evidence on all the facets of the multi-level plot. Here I'm going to present just a few.

The notable bits:

Reiteration of the advanced planning for the Big Lie

• There were plans to declare victory even in the case of a loss as early as July. 

• The false victory speech was drafted as early as October 31, several days before Election Day, and on the same day Steve Bannon said on video:

And what Trump's going to do is just declare victory, right? He's gonna declare victory, but that doesn't mean he's the winner, he's just gonna say he's a winner. The Democrats — more of our people vote early that count. Theirs vote in mail, and so they're going to have a natural disadvantage and Trump's going to take advantage of it. That's our strategy.

He's gonna declare himself a winner. So when you wake up Wednesday morning, it's going to be a firestorm. Also — also if Trump is — if Trump is losing by 10:00 or 11:00 at night, it's going to be even crazier, you know, because he's gonna sit right there and say they stole it.

I'm directing the Attorney General to shut down all ballot places in all 50 states. It's going to be no, he's not going out easier. If Biden is winning, Trump is going to do some crazy shit.

• And on January 5th, the same ugly mug spewed this word vomit:

All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. It's all converging and now we're on, as they say, the point of attack, right, the point of attack tomorrow. I'll tell you this, it's not going to happen like you think it's going to happen. Ok. It's going to be quite extraordinarily different. And all I can say is strap in. You have made this happen and tomorrow it's game day. So strap in, let's get ready.

• The troll under the bridge Roger Stone said similar things as he paraded around with his Proud Boys. On November 1, he said:

I suspect it'll be — I really do suspect it will still be up in the air. When that happens, the key thing to do is to claim victory. Possession is 9/10 of the law. No, we won. Fuck you. Sorry. Over. We won. You're wrong. Fuck you.

I said, fuck the voting, let's get right to the violence.

We'll have to start smashing pumpkins if you know what I mean.

It's important to remember that Stone was the link between The Salmon Seditionist and the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. Stone was one of Twitler's favorite villainous actors, and he was firmly entrenched with those odious groups, using them as security and associated often with them. When he appeared before the committee for the January 6th matter, Stone pled the Fifth over and over. 

As you may remember, SCROTUS pardoned Stone in July of 2020, just before he was due to report to prison for a 40-month sentence for lying to Congress about his involvement in the Russian interference.

McFib couldn't save Steve Bannon, though. Bannon was indicted, convicted, and sentenced for contempt of Congress after his would-be pardoner left office. He will be reporting for a 4-month stay at the Graybar Hotel.

Intentions for the "last, most desperate and dangerous" prong

The committee provided evidence that 45 intended all along to send the mob to the Capitol. 

• When all his other attempts failed, by December 19th he was setting into motion his plans to attack. He issued this tweet, "Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!"

• Though the Secret Service illegally deleted many texts surrounding January 6, the committee presented newly discovered emails and other evidence showing the Secret Service and other agencies knew about impending violence in advance of the speech on the ellipse. They knew about the armed mob assembling; they had heard chatter about direct threats to Pence. Here are a few tidbits from the USSS evidence:

• By December 26, the Secret Service and FBI received tips that the Proud Boys were planning to come armed on January 6. Rep. Adam Schiff reported, "The source went on to say their plan is to literally kill people." Literally kill people. 
• On December 31, there were intelligence reports that supporters were planning to occupy Capitol Hall and there was an uptick in violent hashtags.
• On January 4th, one rally organizer texted, "POTUS is going to have us march there at the Capitol. And POTUS is going to just call for it 'unexpectedly.'"
• In the evening of January 5th, the Secret Service learned from the FBI briefing that right-wing groups were organizing "quick reaction forces" for January 6. 
• On the morning of January 6, agents were aware that rally-goers were armed and gathering outside the magnetometers. Even before the speech began, they were aware of attendees with body armor, ballistic helmets, radio equipment, pepper spray and tactical shields. By 11:30, they knew of specific armed individuals carrying handguns and rifles and an assault rifle.
• One secret service agent wrote around 12:30 p.m., "With so many weapons found so far, you wonder how many are unknown. Could be sporty after dark." 

• The worm Jason Miller, senior communications director, forwarded a link from the website TheDonald.win to Mark Meadows about a week before January 6. Miller proudly proclaimed that "I got the base fired up." Comments on the link included:

• "Gallows don't require electricity." 
• "If the filthy commie maggots try to push their fraud through, there will be hell to pay." 
• "Our lawmakers in Congress can leave one of two ways; one, in a body bag, two, after rightfully certifying Trump the winner." 

• The word "BETRAYAL" is scrawled in my notes after I heard Rep. Schiff say this. 

"The same day Jason Miller sent his text message, agents received reports about a spike in activity on another platform called Parler. This was December 30th. In this email, an agent received a report noting a lot of violent rhetoric on Parler directed at government people and entities, including Secret Service protectees.

One of these protectees was Vice President Pence, perhaps the primary target of President Trump's pressure campaign in the days leading up to January 6th. The day before the joint session, on January 5th, Secret Service was aware of increased chatter focused on Vice President Pence, in particular whether he would do what President Trump wanted him to do, reverse the results of the election in the joint session the next day, January 6th. On the morning of the 6th, agents received alerts of online threats that Vice — Vice President Pence would be 'a dead man walking if he doesn't do the right thing.' Another agent reported, 'I saw several other alerts saying they will storm the Capitol if he doesn't do the right thing.' The anger reflected in these postings was obvious, the man at the center of the storm on January 6th, President Trump." 

Why didn't the Secret Service do more to protect Mike Pence? Disgraceful.

The Burned POTATUS

The committee has more evidence that SCROTUS was "irate" after he was denied making the trip to the Capitol with his armed mob. It was characterized as "water cooler talk" around the Whitewash House. It was obvious that many people realized that as bad as January 6 was, having him there would move the day to, as one former Whitewash House employee described, "something else if he physically walked to the Capitol. I don't know if you want to use the word insurrection, coup, whatever. We all knew that this would move from a normal democratic, you know, public event into something else."

The Real Leaders

One of the most compelling pieces in the hearing was the never-before-seen video of Congressional leaders, both Democrat and Republican, acting to get help from different agencies. Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Mike Pence, and others were seen on the phone, calmly and decisively working to get law enforcement agencies to the scene, secure the Capitol, and resume the business of the People. As the mob was descending and 45 was watching in glee, the real leaders of our nation, whose very lives were threatened, were organizing help.

You may have seen it, but it bears watching again. I never thought I would hear a Speaker of the United States House of Representatives speak of the "poo poo that they're making all over the — literally and figuratively in the Capitol."

The Subpoena

At the end of the hearing, the committee unanimously voted to subpoena Double Agent Orange himself. It is the right thing to do. Through nine hearings they lay the blame squarely and firmly at his feet. To not subpoena the chief player would not make sense. 

On Friday, the subpoena was delivered. We all know his testimony will never happen. But it was a must that they issue an order. He'll likely mount legal challenges, and if those can be extended through the end of the year and the House is flipped back to Red, it'll be moot. If not, he'll continue to fight it and may just find a sympathetic court.

Although....late breaking news. Speaker Pelosi called him out today, saying he's not "man enough" to testify. Will this be enough of an ego-challenge to prompt him to show up?

Please watch the entire hearing here:

The Future

What's next? <shrug> There is no word that the Committee will hold any more hearings. They will issue a report before the new Congress is seated in January. It will no doubt be a must-read. It will be packed with more evidence than was presented during the hearings.

It's imperative that we get out the vote. If the Repugs take control of the House in this mid-term election, the committee will be disbanded and this will be the end of it. 

Vote Blue!

Randall Enos Cagle Cartoons

The Sh*t is Going Down

Shit went down this week.

Bigly shit.

And not all of it down the Whitewash House executive toilet.

On Monday night, the FBI went to Mar-a-Lago and collected boxes of documents. 

The first question we all had: "Ooooh! Which crime?!"

Answer: One we didn't know about yet!

Search and Seizure: The Facts So Far

The feds held a warrant signed by Federal Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart to search the offices, storage areas, and residence at Mar-a-Lago and seize documents. 

Judge Reinhart (not to be confused with Judge Reinhold) had been a federal prosecutor, then in 2008 he became a defense attorney for some types of shady people like those who aided and abetted Jeffery Epstein. He became a magistrate judge, not a presidentially appointed position, in 2018. He is reportedly well-respected and "meticulous." He has donated to Republican and Democrat candidates, up and down the ticket, and not in huge amounts. He seems like a middle-of-the-road, stand-up judge (unfortunately, however, he has become the victim of violent, antisemitic threats as I type these words).

Anyway, the FBI took Reinhart's warrant down to Palm Beach and grabbed what they wanted. Legally, and by the book. They gave notice that they were coming and the secret service was there, not to help, but to facilitate access. SCROTUS's lawyers were also there, and reportedly Drumpf himself had a good view of the action on CCTV.

They took some 20 boxes from the residence.

It had to be serious. The DOJ was willing to expose itself to the Wrath of the Right, so it had to have been big stuff. Luckily we have free press, and reporters went to work finding out for us. 

Immediately After the Raid

Hours after the raid, Treason D'être himself leaked the news. He issued a wordy press release, characteristically victim-y and included the requisite "But her emails!" Read the blather here. 

Early speculation was that they seized documents that he took home with him in violation of the Presidential Records Act. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) wanted what was theirs. Presidential documents belong to The People, not former presidents. 

Earlier that same day, we had just learned of photographic evidence of POTATUS's penchant for ripping up documents and flushing them down the toilet. 

The DOJ has a policy of not discussing ongoing investigations. So, they remained quiet in the days afterwards, especially since Double Agent Orange himself informed the public that it had gone down and had the warrant and the receipt in hand and could release those on his own. 

The Right's reaction was like you would expect in the hours and days afterwards. Indignation, outrage, bluster.

"It is unprecedented!" Well, yes, you are correct. We have never had such a criminal president before.

"Documents were planted!" Ummm, 20 boxes in the agents' back pockets? Or are they being issued new special FBI Planter Cargo Pants these days?

"We need an explanation NOW!" You could ask the man himself. He has the warrant as well as a list of items seized. 

"The DOJ and FBI need to be investigated! How dare they investigate crimes!" So much for the party of law and order. 

"If they can do this to a former president, they can do it to you!" Sure, I would expect it if I had committed a felony.

Days After the Raid

It soon became apparent that the raid wasn't entirely a surprise. It turns out that NARA had quietly gone down to Florida in January and retrieved 15 boxes of documents. When they realized some were missing, they asked again. Finally, NARA referred the matter to the Justice Department. The DOJ also tried informal means before they issued a subpoena for return of the rest of the items. When that was ignored, well, the only choice is to go get them. 

So you can ignore all the outrage from The Spy Kid when he truth-socialed, "ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASK!" They did, you moron. Over and over. Quit 👏🏻 Lying👏🏻

On Thursday, Merrick Garland spoke to the American people. In a short statement, he explained that he himself had signed off on the action, and that the DOJ is working with integrity "without fear or favor." Watch it here.

Garland then forced 45's hand. He moved to ask a judge to release the warrant and the receipt. The judge gave Diablo Naranjo a chance to object to the release. In his usual deception-is-the-way way, he issued a statement, "Not only will I not oppose the release of documents … I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents....Release the documents now!" You could've done it yourself all along, dumb-ass.

And so, they did. 

Our speculation about violations of the Presidential Records Act? Well, yes, but....

What he stole weren't run-of-the-mill documents or his hand-sharpied hurricane map. On Thursday, The Washington Post broke that the FBI seized numerous classified documents. They took four sets of documents marked "top-secret," three sets of documents marked "secret," and three sets documents marked "confidential."

Not only that, some of the documents classified as top secret had the extra designation "top secret/sensitive compartmented information (SCI)." This last designation is the highest security classification, meant for documents that are so sensitive, and so dangerous to national security, that they are for the eyes only of the most privileged, and then in highly secure locations called "SCIF" or "Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility." 

A storage room in the basement of Mar-a-Lago? Not so secure. 

Top Secret/SCI designates the country's tippy-top most secret stuff, the things that can risk national security. You know, like nuclear weapons information. Yup. Nuclear weapons information. WaPo confirmed this. 

Shit.

The Justification

"It was all declassified!" says the Salmon Seditionist. True, the sitting president has the power to declassify information. But it isn't just a matter of scribbling on it in Sharpie: 

Little Sister Resister

There is a formal process, which includes a written and signed memo, review and input by agency heads that have an interest in the material, and an eventual official stamped designation on the document itself saying, "Declassified on (date)."

Besides that, a private-citizen former president has no power to declassify documents, no matter how long they were sitting in his basement.

And nuclear weapons information? Honey, there ain't no justification for declassifying TS/SCI documents unless......

The Motive: Show Me the Money 

What drives TЯUMP in almost everything he undertakes? The Almighty Dollar. The motive in this theft? Undoubtedly money. There is no doubt in my mind that he was planning to sell government secrets to the highest bidder. No doubt in my mind.

The Possible Charges

Possible criminal charges include: violations of the Presidential Records Act of 1978, obstruction of justice, and violations of the Espionage Act of 1917.

Violations of the Espionage Act. Violations of the Espionage Act!!

There are three sections of Title 18 of the United States Code listed on the search warrant. They have to do with the Espionage Act of 1917. Section 793 surrounds the unlawful retention of defense-related information that could harm the United States or aid a foreign adversary; Section 1519 surrounds destroying or concealing documents to obstruct government investigations; Section 2071 covers the unlawful removal of government records.

The right's reaction after all this information came out? 

And since then, the Right has got even darker. 

The Parallels and the Perpendiculars

Who else was convicted under the Espionage Act? Well, you remember the Rosenbergs. Remember what happened to them? Yes! 1951: executed. You know who prosecuted them? None other than Roy Cohn, Don the Con's good ol' buddy and ersatz protector.

Remember in 2016 when a whistle-blower warned about Russian interference in the 2016 election? The 25-year-old whistleblower, Reality Winner, was convicted for leaking an (meaning one) intelligence report under Section 793. She was sentenced to 63 months in prison and is now on supervised release at age 29. 

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. They aren't parallels; they are perpindiculars. Giving comparisons any ink is giving them life. But let me give you others' voice. Here is a good write-up from a former DOJ attorney cautioning about any comparison to Hillary. This week, the National Archives and Records Administration issued a statement putting to bed any notion that Obama took classified – or any – documents with him when he left office. 

I wish the lies would stop.

It's obvious, and I feel silly for pointing this out, but remember, Mar-a-Lago is not only the Rabid Yam's residence, it is also a resort. People come and go. Members are allowed to bring guests. There is no way to know what motives people have for joining the club, nor for visiting the very-well-known now-private citizen who lives there, nor what equipment they bring with them! Yes, you go through a secret service check-point (no weapons, please), but in general there is not the level of security that top-secret documents demand. 

True, to stay there, you must join for a $200,000 initial fee with a $15,000 annual fee. There are about 500 members, and the list is shrouded in secrecy. Most people can't afford that, but if you have the dough, and if Orange Julius Rosenberg likes you, you can join. Or visit.

And you can see things and hear things if you go. Remember the Chinese national – a trespasser! – who had thumb drives and other electronic equipment at the resort? Or the tourist who took photos of the nuclear football during dinner? Or the dinner with Japanese P.M. Abe? Bystanders overheard their conversation about possible responses to a North Korean missile launch. Security? *shrug*

The Consequences

So far, there haven't been consequences to Cheeto Benito. Instead, there is hate boiling up again, with violent rhetoric around the internet and death threats to Merrick Garland, Judge Reinhart, FBI director Christopher Wray, and FBI agents, among other individuals surrounding the investigation, including addresses and family members' names. It's no surprise that the agents' names were leaked from an unreacted copy of the warrant by Brietbart. Hmmmm. Who had an unrelated copy? 

The Hope. Well, my hope

My hope is that the Scamburgler will be indicted on numerous charges and will be tried, convicted, and sentenced to jail and he will die there at age 99½.

The Speculation. Well, my speculation

My reality check is that the government may decide that having the documents back is good enough and the political fallout would be too great to pursue an indictment. Best-case speculation: Agent Orange will be charged with one count, there will be a long, drawn-out legal process, and nothing will come of it. 

What Makes Me Mad

Well, all of it. But what makes me especially mad is that he lies as often as he scratches his balls, and his minions lap it all up. They don't read any truth. They don't want to. They don't care. The Lord of the Lies can say whatever he wants, spin it completely opposite the reality, and his flunkeys run with it. 

Agencies are forced to waste time stomping out these little fires, like the National Archives countering his claim that Obama "kept 33 million pages of documents, much of them classified." Or Garland having to waste a judge's time when 45 could have released the documents himself. 

It also makes me mad and sad that we have to deal with whack-jobs who attack Federal buildings in the name of Scam and Cheese. Senseless violence. Senseless death.

But mostly the lies. Because the lies lead to the rest.

Cartoons and Memes

Because we need them.

Here is video of our banner saying HAHAHA flying over Mar-a-Lago today. This is how you treat wannabe authoritarians like Trump. You ridicule and mock them. pic.twitter.com/gFqndjMSUv

— Thomas Kennedy (@tomaskenn) August 11, 2022

Dave Whamond

Bill Bramhall

Nick Anderson

Lalo Alcaraz

Steve Breen

John Deering