Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Welcome to CaturSaturday, August 5 2023, and in a week I’ll be waking up in Guyaquil, Ecuador, getting ready to fly to the Galápagos. It’s National Oyster Day, celebrating a great food that was once cheap but now has become pricey because of climate change and overfishing.
Republican Party leaders have spent much of the past two years hoping to just move on from Jan. 6 — and urging Trump (in vain) to stop talking about the 2020 election.
This week made clear that nobody can escape it.
Trump faces a criminal trial over his role in efforts to overturn the election that culminated in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. And former vice president Mike Pence, who was invoked more than 100 times in the indictment, has been forced to lean into making the Jan. 6-centric case he had long declined to emphasize. . . .
2. Trump may losing control of the clock
Trump’s legal team has made clear it would prefer his federal criminal cases don’t go to trial before the 2024 election. While that remains possible with the classified-documents case in Florida — set for trial in May but subject to delay, in part thanks to the new superseding indictment and the care required in handling sensitive material — the Jan. 6 case in Washington, D.C., may be a speedier affair.
3. Ron DeSantis is running out of ideas
July was not a good month for the Florida governor. The presidential race was actually mostly static for his first month as a candidate, but since then he has gone from trailing Trump by nearly 30 points in the Republican primary to trailing by nearly 40 points. He’s now competing just to be in second place in states like Iowa and South Carolina, after polling close to Trump as recently as February, before he was officially running.
4. Trump’s woes have not helped Biden
Despite all the legal drama surrounding Trump, polls this week suggested that the GOP might be as competitive as ever in the 2024 general election.
A New York Times/Siena College poll showed Trump and Biden tied at 43 percent in a prospective matchup, despite most recent quality polls giving Biden a small edge.
5. Republicans won’t desert (or vouch for) Trump
There has been little in the way of a merit-based defense of Trump after this latest indictment, as was the case after the previous two. And relatively few Republicans have actually gone to bat for him in any significant way — at least compared with the way they did when the federal government searched Mar-a-Lago a year ago.
But in this case, the tepid pushback is arguably more pronounced.
Number four is what irks me the most. There are now about 78 charges against Trump, and more are on the way—some of them felonies. And yet his supporters aren’t put off in the least. What kind of person would want a man like that running the country—a man who tried to subvert the Constitution? I still don’t get it.
*Russia’s most famous political dissenter, Alexei Navalny, has just had another 19 years added to his prison sentence (currently serving 11 years in a labor camp at age 47). It’s a purely political move meant to shut the guy up, and it’s a horrible act by Russia.
Russia’s leading opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, faces possibly the rest of his life behind bars after a court sentenced him to a further 19 years in prison, in what he said was a blatant attempt to intimidate anyone tempted to follow in his footsteps.
The latest charges included allegations that Navalny had incited and funded extremism and had spurred minors to break the law, in addition to a charge that he was trying to rehabilitate Nazism—a potent allegation in Russia, which prides itself on its defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
The state prosecutor had requested Navalny be sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The sentence was handed down by a visiting court in the correctional colony where Navalny is being held in the Vladimir region, not far from Moscow, Russia’s state media agency TASS reported. Judge Andrei Suvorov ordered that the sentence be served at a special-regime colony, the agency said. These facilities typically house dangerous criminals who are highly likely to reoffend and those serving life sentences, according to TASS, and enforce more stringent conditions, including restrictions on freedom of movement, communication and how prisoners can spend their free time.
Let’s see: 30 years of hard labor in a Russian camp at age 47. . . This means that Navalny won’t leave that camp except in a box. And there’s nobody we can trade for him, as he’s Russian. He’s a brave man, but I never would have gone back to Russia if I were him. (He was poisoned and recovered in Berlin.) Here’s his stalwart tweet:
19 years in a maximum security penal colony. The number of years does not matter. I perfectly understand that, like many political prisoners, I am sitting on a life sentence. Where life is measured by the term of my life or the term of life of this regime.
TV: Fox | Live stream: fubo (try for free) and Fox Sports app
Odds: USA +115; Draw +215; Sweden +245
What that means: “The United States are +115 favorites (risk $100 to win $115) in the latest USWNT vs. Sweden odds, with Sweden the +215 underdogs. A draw is priced at +215.”
The odds are on the U.S. team.
After earning a berth to the knockout stage with a 0-0 draw against Portugal in its final Group E match, the U.S. Women’s National Team will face Sweden in the Round of 16 at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The USA advanced out of Group E unbeaten and in second place after earning a 3-0 win against Vietnam in its World Cup opener, followed by a thrilling 1-1 draw against Netherlands and the tie with Portugal. Sweden claimed the first seed in Group G after winning all three of its matches, and the two will now play at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in Melbourne/Naarm, Australia at 7 p.m. AET on August 6 (5 a.m. ET; FOX, Telemundo, Universo and Peacock) for a berth to the tournament quarterfinals. The winner of the match will face the winner of the August 5 contest between Japan and Norway, which kicks off at 8 p.m. NZT/4 a.m. ET at Wellington Regional Stadium. The U.S. has allowed only one shot on target thus far in the tournament, which happened to be the opening goal by the Dutch on July 27, which also marked the first time the USA has trailed in a World Cup match since the 2011 Quarterfinal against Brazil.
Sweden advanced to the knockout rounds as the winners of Group G, its fourth consecutive Women’s World Cup advancing out of the group and eighth overall in nine World Cup appearances. Like the USA, Sweden played the entirety of the group stage in New Zealand, playing two matches in Wellington/Te Whanganui-a-tara and one in Hamilton/Kirikiriroa
*The judge in Trump’s latest case admonished him not to talk to any potential witnesses that may appear at the trial. As Colleen Long at the WSJ notes, following the judge’s order could be very difficult for the Trumpster.
It was a routine part of a federal court hearing: The defendant was told not to discuss the case with any witnesses without lawyers present.
But there’s nothing routine about this case. The defendant is Donald Trump, accused of orchestrating a conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The potential witness pool is vast and includes members of the former president’s inner circle deeply involved in his reelection campaign, including some currently on his payroll. His lies about the election — which form the basis of the charges — are repeated in nearly every speech he gives.
“The standard language may not work here, when you have thousands of Americans who could be witnesses and he continues to have daily contact with people who may be involved,” said Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Law School of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. “Everything is more complicated in this case because of who the defendant is, what he has done and that he wants to be president again.”
As his campaign unfolds, the potential witness pool in his latest case is very broad. The congressional hearings on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot could offer some insight — those interviews spanned more than 1,000 people, and included some of Trump’s closest advisers and family members, including his daughter Ivanka and his son Donald Trump Jr.
So it’s possible he may already be talking about the case in front of witnesses.
Unless it’s a witness whose appearance already seems likely, I don’t think this will be a big no-no for Trump. He’s already in it up to his eyeballs, though, despite the fact that some think that this new case against him may be weak.
*As always, I’ve stolen three items from Nellie Bowles’s weekly news summary at The Free Press. Her column this week is called “TGIF: Everyone’s a fraud.”
→ Okay, last crazy headline: Apparently ISIS is anti-gay the same way as America’s conservative Christians are.
As Seth Mandel summarized it: “Iran hangs gays from construction cranes because America still has separate sports leagues for men and women.” I think a lot of the young newspaper writers who argue America is just as bad as Al-Qaeda and that our conservatives are literally ISIS should simply go visit Syria. Frolic in Egypt. Rock out in Yemen. When an American soldier saves you, I doubt you’ll be worrying about whether he’s a Southern Baptist.
Mandel’s sarcastic comment is right on the mark. Israel is the only Middle Eastern country where being gay is not a crime or a violation of religious dogma, but Israel is the country most demonized by the Authoritarian Left. They never seem to deal with the freedom that LGBTQ+ people enjoy in Israel, or, when they do, they call it “pinkwashing”: a mere show designed to display Israel’s tolerance.
→ Yikes, Biden: The president’s approval rating is really low.
But given the competition, I’m not sure it means much. Like, Dianne Feinstein’s daughter now has power of attorney over the 90-year-old, but the woman is still a sitting senator. No one likes our leaders, but no one likes the alternatives either. And so, a proposal: Artificial Intelligence Feinstein and Biden take office. Let the flesh and blood retire. AI Biden can give a few comforting malarkey quotes, and we’ll be none the worse off. AI Feinstein will finally break that glass ceiling (the robot president one), and all young girls will be inspired also to upload their consciousness. I’m tearing up already.
→ Everyone’s disabled now: Do you want to get into college but you don’t have any Native American heritage? Have you considered being disabled? Look at the growth in the number of students claiming to be mentally ill now:
Now, this could be an opportunistic movement, as I’ve joked above. Or, and this is the more alarming idea: this could be real. We could genuinely be seeing a rise in disability among young people. Mull that for too long and you’ll join me staring at this wall. A nice wall. Nice and blank forever.
Oh hell, I have to add this one, too. We need more lawsuits like this one!
→ Finally, a lawsuit for me: Taco Bell is being sued for misrepresenting the amount of meat in their Crunchwrap Supreme. The plaintiff: Frank Siragusa, who went to the Bell and was pissed off. Look at these lies. TGIF salutes Frank.
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is monitoring Andrzej’s cognition:
From Nicole (it’s not always a toxic relationship):
From Beth, a harbinger of upcoming trials (except that Trump may well not testify):
From Masih: Read about some of the punishments imposed on women who flout the hijab laws:
1) Iranian authorities announced that only in four months, over 800 women were jailed or fined for not wearing the hijab. Witness some of the inhumane sentences against Iranian women, reflecting a pattern that extends beyond recent months.
— 🌊🌊🇺🇸CoLoRadOLiFeR🇺🇲🌊🌊 (@coloradolifer1) July 8, 2023
From Luana. World Swimming has finally done the rational thing (this was actually in late June). And they’ve proposed an “open” category.
World swimming’s governing body has banned trans identifying men from competing with women, starting Monday! Lia Thomas is banned from competing with women. 🥳👏🥳👏🥳👏🥳👏🥳👏 pic.twitter.com/6xlaiTngJZ
From the Auschwitz Memorial a 14 year old girl gassed upon arrival with her family:
5 August 1928 | A French Jewish girl, Bella Rubin, was born in Paris.
She arrived at #Auschwitz on 19 July 1942 in a transport of 1,000 Jews deported from Drancy together white her mother Marta and a younger sister Micheline. They were all murdered in a gas chamber. pic.twitter.com/yrbV6hI63P
Tweets from Professor Cobb. First, a giant wave and a lovely surfer ride. The Google translation is below:
A colossal 30 meter wave caught by genius surfer Mason Hyce Barnes in Nazaré, Portugal! Lose your balance and get hit by such a titan and it’s a serious accident almost assured. Such a mass of water can literally shatter every bone in your body. It takes quite a pair to try to tame such a monster!
Une vague colossale de 30 mètres prise par le surfeur de génie Mason Hyce Barnes à Nazaré au Portugal ! 🇵🇹🌊
Perdre l'équilibre et se faire happer par un tel titan et c'est l'accident grave quasi assuré. Une telle masse d'eau peut littéralement vous briser entièrement tout les… pic.twitter.com/3olelWtXAF
On this day:
910 – The last major Danish army to raid England for nearly a century is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward the Elder and Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians.
1305 – First Scottish War of Independence: Sir John Stewart of Menteith, the pro-English Sheriff of Dumbarton, successfully manages to capture Sir William Wallace of Scotland, leading to Wallace’s subsequent execution by hanging, evisceration, drawing and quartering, and beheading 18 days later.
1583 – Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes the first English colony in North America, at what is now St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.
1620 – The Mayflower departs from Southampton, England, carrying would-be settlers, on its first attempt to reach North America; it is forced to dock in Dartmouth when its companion ship, the Speedwell, springs a leak.
1735 – Freedom of the press: New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he had published was true.
1816 – The British Admiralty dismisses Francis Ronalds’s new invention of the first working electric telegraph as “wholly unnecessary”, preferring to continue using the semaphore.
1858 – Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts. It will operate for less than a month.
1861 – American Civil War: In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government levies the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US$800; rescinded in 1872).
1861 – The United States Army abolishes flogging.
1884 – The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe’s Island (now Liberty Island) in New York Harbor.
1888 – Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in the first long distance automobile trip, commemorated as the Bertha Benz Memorial Route since 2008.
1901 – Peter O’Connor sets the first World Athletics recognised long jump world record of 24 ft 11.75 in (7.6137 m), a record that would stand for 20 years.
1914 – World War I: The guns of Point Nepean fort at Port Phillip Heads in Victoria (Australia) fire across the bows of the Norddeutscher Lloyd steamer SS Pfalz which is attempting to leave the Port of Melbourne in ignorance of the declaration of war and she is detained; this is said to be the first Allied shot of the War.
1914 – In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light is installed.
1925 – Plaid Cymru is formed with the aim of disseminating knowledge of the Welsh language that is at the time in danger of dying out.
1926 – Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.
1944 – World War II: At least 1,104 Japanese POWs in Australia attempt to escape from a camp at Cowra, New South Wales; 545 temporarily succeed but are later either killed, commit suicide, or are recaptured.
1944 – World War II: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp (Gęsiówka) in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
1944 – World War II: The Nazis begin a week-long massacre of between 40,000 and 50,000 civilians and prisoners of war in Wola, Poland.
1957 – American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage “baby-boomers” by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.
1962 – Apartheid: Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.
1963 – Cold War: The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
1966 – A group of red guards at Experimental High in Beijing, including Deng Rong and Liu Pingping, daughters of Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi respectively, beat the deputy vice principal, Bian Zhongyun, to death with sticks after accusing her of counter-revolutionary revisionism, producing one of the first fatalities of the Cultural Revolution.
1974 – Watergate scandal: President Richard Nixon, under orders of the US Supreme Court, releases the “Smoking Gun” tape, recorded on June 23, 1972, clearly revealing his actions in covering up and interfering investigations into the break-in. His political support vanishes completely. [Those were the days…]
1981 – President Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
2010 – The Copiapó mining accident occurs, trapping 33 Chilean miners approximately 2,300 ft (700 m) below the ground for 69 days.
2012 – The Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting took place in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six victims; the perpetrator committed suicide after being wounded by police. [They don’t just shoot up synagogues; gun nuts believe in equal opportunities, it seems…]
Births:
1681 – Vitus Bering, Danish explorer (d. 1741).
1850 – Guy de Maupassant, French short story writer, novelist, and poet (d. 1893).
1860 – Louis Wain, English artist (d. 1939).
1862 – Joseph Merrick, English man with severe deformities (d. 1890).
1876 – Mary Ritter Beard, American historian and activist (d. 1958).
1880 – Gertrude Rush, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1962).
1880 – Ruth Sawyer, American author and educator (d. 1970).
1882 – Anne Acheson, Irish sculptor (d. 1962).
1906 – Joan Hickson, English actress (d. 1998).
1906 – John Huston, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1987).
1918 – Betty Oliphant, English-Canadian ballerina, co-founded Canada’s National Ballet School (d. 2004).
1930 – Neil Armstrong, American pilot, engineer, and astronaut (d. 2012).
1934 – Gay Byrne, Irish radio and television host (d. 2019).
1946 – Shirley Ann Jackson, American physicist.
1947 – Rick Derringer, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer.
1959 – Pete Burns, English singer-songwriter (d. 2016).
1968 – Marine Le Pen, French lawyer and politician.
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last:
1729 – Thomas Newcomen, English engineer, invented the eponymous Newcomen atmospheric engine (b. 1664).
1895 – Friedrich Engels, German philosopher (b. 1820).
1929 – Millicent Fawcett, English trade union leader and activist (b. 1847).
1955 – Carmen Miranda, Portuguese-Brazilian actress and singer (b. 1909).
1968 – Luther Perkins, American guitarist (b. 1928).
1984 – Richard Burton, Welsh-Swiss actor and producer (b. 1925).
2000 – Lala Amarnath, Indian cricketer who scored India’s first Test century (b. 1911).
2000 – Alec Guinness, English actor (b. 1914).
2019 – Toni Morrison, American author, Pulitzer Prize winner, and Nobel laureate (b. 1931).
1735 – Freedom of the press: New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he had published was true.
“The truth” was not a recognized defense in a libel case in colonial New York. Indeed, the judge at Zenger’s trial forbade his counsel — Andrew Hamilton — from arguing that Zenger’s assertions regarding royal governor William Cosby were true. Hamilton, nonetheless, turned to the jury and made precisely that argument, resulting in Zenger’s acquittal.
Thus, in addition to its free-speech implications, the Zenger case is one of the first (and leading) cases on this continent regarding the controversial legal concept of “jury nullification.”
1974 – Watergate scandal: President Richard Nixon, under orders of the US Supreme Court, releases the “Smoking Gun” tape, recorded on June 23, 1972, clearly revealing his actions in covering up and interfering investigations into the break-in. His political support vanishes completely. [Those were the days…]
If Nixon had Fox News and the rest of today’s right-wing ecosphere on his side in 1974, it’s unlikely in the extreme that he’d’ve been required to resign. Hell, they’d have probably been clamoring to repeal the 22nd amendment so Nixon could seek additional terms in office. (Recall that, less than two years before his resignation, Nixon had won 49 of 50 states in the 1972 presidential election. It’s unthinkable that today’s GOP would turn its back on a candidate such as that, however egregious may have been his unlawful conduct. This ain’t your father’s — or Barry Goldwater’s, or William F. Buckley, Jr.’s, or George Will’s — Republican Party anymore; that’s for sure.)
Ron DeSantis is a good reason to stay away from Florida, if you needed another. Someone really needs to tell him he is in the wrong career but maybe Florida is where he belongs. If Don Trump is the best example of obnoxious then DeSantis is just a smaller version with zero personality. Florida will always be remember for why we got George W Bush but now maybe DeSantis will push him into second.
Trump is simply finding all his past actions coming home to the republican chicken house. The party deserves this guy and will rot from the inside out. All of the cases against Trump are open and shut. We will hear more about free speech because that is the depth of their plan. DeSantis can tell us all about free speech while he removes it from the libraries and schools in his lovely state. Pretty sure 2024 will not be a good year for autocrats.
There are now about 78 charges against Trump, and more are on the way—some of them felonies. And yet his supporters aren’t put off in the least. What kind of person would want a man like that running the country—a man who tried to subvert the Constitution?
But the nature of the legal processes in the USA means that *statistically* some of those allegations are going to be disproven, even if they do get to go to court. And there will also be people who look at the number of charges and their nature and conclude that “The System” is out to get Trump with far more vigour than previous Presidents.
And (horrors!) Trump is innocent until proven guilty.
… a harbinger of upcoming trials (except that Trump may well not testify)…
Trump’s social media postings, as well as statements made by the attorneys currently representing him in the most recently indicted case, suggest that Trump may endeavor to put on what’s known as an “advice of counsel” defense (presumably Trump’s reliance on the advice of John Eastman, who fits the description of co-conspirator #2 in the pending indictment). A typical pattern jury instruction on this defense provides as follows:
ADVICE OF COUNSEL
One element that the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that the defendant had the unlawful intent to [specify applicable unlawful act]. Evidence that the defendant in good faith followed the advice of counsel would be inconsistent with such an unlawful intent. Unlawful intent has not been proved if the defendant, before acting, made full disclosure of all material facts to an attorney, received the attorney’s advice as to the specific course of conduct that was followed, and reasonably followed the attorney’s recommended course of conduct or advice in good faith.
(emphasis added)
The elements of an “advice of counsel” defense are very difficult to establish in the absence of trial testimony from the defendant (especially in this case since Eastman has previously asserted his Fifth Amendment self-incrimination privilege and is unlikely to be available as a witness for Trump).
Whether to testify on one’s own behalf at trial is one of the few strategic decisions committed solely to the discretion of the defendant rather than counsel. If Trump testifies at his attempted-coup trial, his cross-examination should be one for the ages.
Regardless of whether Trump testifies, the trial needs to be televised. I hope the rule against televising federal trials can be waived in this instance. The trial will be the most important in American history. Americans and the world need to see the trial for themselves rather than it being filtered through the reporting of journalists or transcripts of testimony.
There are now about 78 charges against Trump, and more are on the way—some of them felonies. And yet his supporters aren’t put off in the least. What kind of person would want a man like that running the country—a man who tried to subvert the Constitution? I still don’t get it.
It’s because they don’t think he’s guilty, and that the charges are all political. After the Russian Collusion Hoax a lot of people’s first reaction is going to be to say that this is another put-up job. If one really wants to understand, spend a week or two regularly reading the view from the other side on sites such asThe Federalist, Just the News, The National Review (which is anti-Trump), and others. If all one reads is the MSM then you are missing most of the picture. It might do to read the stories that actually talk about potential problems with the newest indictments.
“It might do to read the stories that actually talk about potential problems with the newest indictments.”
Why don’t you post a link to one? It would be most helpful, especially for those of us who can’t spend the time (or don’t want to) to look through articles to find the ones you mean. You could, like many who cite other sources here, even quote from one or two and give your take on the piece. I think it would help.
Seriously; it’s a mystery to me why people think these charges are trumped up (:-)) so a simple point-in-the-right-direction – or a comment on one- from you would help me understand the perspective.
You know, right?, that there was no Russian Collusion Hoax. Russians did in fact interfere in the election. Trumpists (even a couple of Trumps) did in fact meet with various Russians and then lied about it. Reporters following those stories were not hoaxing. They were investigating with good reason.
What part does Hannity I mean do you think was a “hoax”?
I watched a video of Trump where, in his own words, he put down Pence for not denying the EC votes. That’s not a spin on his statements in some article, it was right from his mouth. It’s hard for me to understand how that can be anything other than an admission that he was illegally attempting to stay in office despite legitimately losing the election. Unless, perhaps, the argument is that he is delusional and mentally incompetent and couldn’t comprehend that he had lost the election or that what he was doing was illegal. In which case, he certainly shouldn’t have another term as president.
DrBrydon, if you know of any articles that give a reasonable argument for why his own words don’t condemn him, I’d like to see a reference as well. If you don’t provide any, I’ll assume you have nothing to present.
The MSM, as far as I can tell from what I read/listen to, has been pretty careful about pointing out issues with the Trump indictments, particularly the recent DC one, where (as with the others) the facts don’t seem in doubt, but whether a prosecution based on those facts is likely to succeed is more questionable.
As for the National Review and its editorial on the DC indictment, one of their own writers, Noah Rothman, has written a dissent from the editorial making a point about how it’s wrong about the law. And I refer you also to the rebuttal of their editorial by Ken White at Popehat, “People Are Lying To You About The Trump Indictment”, https://popehat.substack.com/p/people-are-lying-to-you-about-the. Here’s an excerpt:
“The editors of the National Review have published an editorial arguing that impeachment was the proper vehicle to address Trump’s attempt to steal the election and that it’s improper and an abuse of the Department of Justice to use the criminal justice system to try to redress it. That’s not a lie; it’s an opinion. I disagree with it, but it’s not “right” or “wrong” factually, it’s a dispute over policy and what the rule of law should mean.
Unfortunately the editors aren’t satisfied with making a policy argument; they stoop to misleading and lying about the law. First, the misleading. They say:
Finally, Smith is charging Trump with a civil-rights violation, on the theory that he sought to counteract the votes of Americans in contested states and based on a post–Civil War statute designed to punish violent intimidation and forcible attacks against blacks attempting to exercise their right to vote. What Trump did, though reprehensible, bears no relation to what the statute covers.
This is a plausible originalist argument about Section 241, which is a Civil War statute and was originally intended to stop the sort of anti-civil-rights violence that the National Review eventually agreed was unlawful. However, I submit that the statement is materially and intentionally misleading because it does not reveal to the National Review’s readers that the United States Department of Justice has prosecuted election fraud as a violation of Section 241 for generations and has been repeatedly upheld by the courts in doing so. The National Review describes the charge as “remarkable.” Without adding that the charge is based on a widely accepted interpretation of Section 241 upheld by the courts, this argument is deceitful.”
And White continues with what he contends are actual lies in the editorial.
As to the Miami indictment, the facts speak for themselves: Trump walked off with a bunch of classified documents, had them moved around to conceal them from Federal investigators, and had his staff lie about whether they existed. If that doesn’t constitute a provable violation of the laws regarding classified documents, I’d be very surprised.
As to the likely indictment in Georgia, again the facts speak for themselves: Trump not only called the Georgia Secretary of State and told him to “find 12000 votes”, he even said that the call, which was listened to by witnesses and recorded by Raffensperger, Trump himself described it as “perfect”.
I grow tired of people screaming “politics” whenever some attempt is made to hold the orange baboon responsible for his activities.
Finally, if Trump were so darn sure that what he had done was not criminal/actionable, why has his strategy constantly been to try to run out the clock or tire out prosecutors and plaintiffs with endless appeals? – perhaps because, despite his certainty, when he really does get his day in court, he tends to lose.
Gaslighting will not get many to change views. Just the News, is that the famous WGN station in Chicago? If so, that’s not we call straight news. Put up job….really. The conspiracies never end do they. What we have are co-conspirators, 1 thru 6 and there are many more available in the U.S. congress. The republicans had their chance to do the right thing in Impeachment number two but they did not so they will have to live with it and watch their party go down the toilet. When do the lies end — When the orange man is behind bars.
Each of the Trump trials will cost each side millions of dollars from the point the investigation began to its final resolution, which could take years. To litigate against Trump’s associates, even if they take a plea deal, could cost both sides millions per defendant. Of course, many defendants charged with serious crimes have to settle for a public defender and the case is settled very quickly with a plea deal, which if the defendant had the resources to hire a high priced attorney could have gotten a much better deal. Is this justice?
More specifically, I wonder how the criminal justice system works for high profile defendants in other countries where defendants can get a fair trial. Is it typical for such cases to take years to resolve and cost millions or is there a more streamlined system that does not jeopardizes the defendant’s rights? If the latter is the case then the American criminal justice system is another institution that borders on dysfunction and needs to be significantly reformed. Moreover, I wonder if in these other countries access of the poor to justice is somewhat more equal to the rich than is the case in the United States.
The (London) Times today quotes a recent Ipsos-Reuters poll in which 52% of Republicans say they would not vote for Trump if he was in jail at the time of the election. I’ll believe it when I see it, but it might just be an indication that some of his support is going soft.
On this day:
910 – The last major Danish army to raid England for nearly a century is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward the Elder and Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians.
1305 – First Scottish War of Independence: Sir John Stewart of Menteith, the pro-English Sheriff of Dumbarton, successfully manages to capture Sir William Wallace of Scotland, leading to Wallace’s subsequent execution by hanging, evisceration, drawing and quartering, and beheading 18 days later.
1583 – Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes the first English colony in North America, at what is now St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.
1620 – The Mayflower departs from Southampton, England, carrying would-be settlers, on its first attempt to reach North America; it is forced to dock in Dartmouth when its companion ship, the Speedwell, springs a leak.
1735 – Freedom of the press: New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he had published was true.
1816 – The British Admiralty dismisses Francis Ronalds’s new invention of the first working electric telegraph as “wholly unnecessary”, preferring to continue using the semaphore.
1858 – Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts. It will operate for less than a month.
1861 – American Civil War: In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government levies the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US$800; rescinded in 1872).
1861 – The United States Army abolishes flogging.
1884 – The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe’s Island (now Liberty Island) in New York Harbor.
1888 – Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in the first long distance automobile trip, commemorated as the Bertha Benz Memorial Route since 2008.
1901 – Peter O’Connor sets the first World Athletics recognised long jump world record of 24 ft 11.75 in (7.6137 m), a record that would stand for 20 years.
1914 – World War I: The guns of Point Nepean fort at Port Phillip Heads in Victoria (Australia) fire across the bows of the Norddeutscher Lloyd steamer SS Pfalz which is attempting to leave the Port of Melbourne in ignorance of the declaration of war and she is detained; this is said to be the first Allied shot of the War.
1914 – In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light is installed.
1925 – Plaid Cymru is formed with the aim of disseminating knowledge of the Welsh language that is at the time in danger of dying out.
1926 – Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.
1944 – World War II: At least 1,104 Japanese POWs in Australia attempt to escape from a camp at Cowra, New South Wales; 545 temporarily succeed but are later either killed, commit suicide, or are recaptured.
1944 – World War II: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp (Gęsiówka) in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
1944 – World War II: The Nazis begin a week-long massacre of between 40,000 and 50,000 civilians and prisoners of war in Wola, Poland.
1957 – American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage “baby-boomers” by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.
1962 – Apartheid: Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.
1963 – Cold War: The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
1966 – A group of red guards at Experimental High in Beijing, including Deng Rong and Liu Pingping, daughters of Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi respectively, beat the deputy vice principal, Bian Zhongyun, to death with sticks after accusing her of counter-revolutionary revisionism, producing one of the first fatalities of the Cultural Revolution.
1974 – Watergate scandal: President Richard Nixon, under orders of the US Supreme Court, releases the “Smoking Gun” tape, recorded on June 23, 1972, clearly revealing his actions in covering up and interfering investigations into the break-in. His political support vanishes completely. [Those were the days…]
1981 – President Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
2010 – The Copiapó mining accident occurs, trapping 33 Chilean miners approximately 2,300 ft (700 m) below the ground for 69 days.
2012 – The Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting took place in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six victims; the perpetrator committed suicide after being wounded by police. [They don’t just shoot up synagogues; gun nuts believe in equal opportunities, it seems…]
Births:
1681 – Vitus Bering, Danish explorer (d. 1741).
1850 – Guy de Maupassant, French short story writer, novelist, and poet (d. 1893).
1860 – Louis Wain, English artist (d. 1939).
1862 – Joseph Merrick, English man with severe deformities (d. 1890).
1876 – Mary Ritter Beard, American historian and activist (d. 1958).
1880 – Gertrude Rush, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1962).
1880 – Ruth Sawyer, American author and educator (d. 1970).
1882 – Anne Acheson, Irish sculptor (d. 1962).
1906 – Joan Hickson, English actress (d. 1998).
1906 – John Huston, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1987).
1918 – Betty Oliphant, English-Canadian ballerina, co-founded Canada’s National Ballet School (d. 2004).
1930 – Neil Armstrong, American pilot, engineer, and astronaut (d. 2012).
1934 – Gay Byrne, Irish radio and television host (d. 2019).
1946 – Shirley Ann Jackson, American physicist.
1947 – Rick Derringer, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer.
1959 – Pete Burns, English singer-songwriter (d. 2016).
1968 – Marine Le Pen, French lawyer and politician.
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last:
1729 – Thomas Newcomen, English engineer, invented the eponymous Newcomen atmospheric engine (b. 1664).
1895 – Friedrich Engels, German philosopher (b. 1820).
1929 – Millicent Fawcett, English trade union leader and activist (b. 1847).
1955 – Carmen Miranda, Portuguese-Brazilian actress and singer (b. 1909).
1968 – Luther Perkins, American guitarist (b. 1928).
1984 – Richard Burton, Welsh-Swiss actor and producer (b. 1925).
2000 – Lala Amarnath, Indian cricketer who scored India’s first Test century (b. 1911).
2000 – Alec Guinness, English actor (b. 1914).
2019 – Toni Morrison, American author, Pulitzer Prize winner, and Nobel laureate (b. 1931).
“The truth” was not a recognized defense in a libel case in colonial New York. Indeed, the judge at Zenger’s trial forbade his counsel — Andrew Hamilton — from arguing that Zenger’s assertions regarding royal governor William Cosby were true. Hamilton, nonetheless, turned to the jury and made precisely that argument, resulting in Zenger’s acquittal.
Thus, in addition to its free-speech implications, the Zenger case is one of the first (and leading) cases on this continent regarding the controversial legal concept of “jury nullification.”
If Nixon had Fox News and the rest of today’s right-wing ecosphere on his side in 1974, it’s unlikely in the extreme that he’d’ve been required to resign. Hell, they’d have probably been clamoring to repeal the 22nd amendment so Nixon could seek additional terms in office. (Recall that, less than two years before his resignation, Nixon had won 49 of 50 states in the 1972 presidential election. It’s unthinkable that today’s GOP would turn its back on a candidate such as that, however egregious may have been his unlawful conduct. This ain’t your father’s — or Barry Goldwater’s, or William F. Buckley, Jr.’s, or George Will’s — Republican Party anymore; that’s for sure.)
Please don’t put score in the first lines of your post about the soccer results. I tape the game to watch at a more reasonable time.
I was surprised to learn not all that long ago that something like 95% of oysters on the market are farmed.
egads…first line of that says 99% of wild oyster beds worldwide have been destroyed. 99% We have really made a mess of our world, haven’t we?
I do love oysters though.
Ron DeSantis is a good reason to stay away from Florida, if you needed another. Someone really needs to tell him he is in the wrong career but maybe Florida is where he belongs. If Don Trump is the best example of obnoxious then DeSantis is just a smaller version with zero personality. Florida will always be remember for why we got George W Bush but now maybe DeSantis will push him into second.
Trump is simply finding all his past actions coming home to the republican chicken house. The party deserves this guy and will rot from the inside out. All of the cases against Trump are open and shut. We will hear more about free speech because that is the depth of their plan. DeSantis can tell us all about free speech while he removes it from the libraries and schools in his lovely state. Pretty sure 2024 will not be a good year for autocrats.
“What kind of person…?” answer: a proto-fascist.
Trump’s social media postings, as well as statements made by the attorneys currently representing him in the most recently indicted case, suggest that Trump may endeavor to put on what’s known as an “advice of counsel” defense (presumably Trump’s reliance on the advice of John Eastman, who fits the description of co-conspirator #2 in the pending indictment). A typical pattern jury instruction on this defense provides as follows:
(emphasis added)
The elements of an “advice of counsel” defense are very difficult to establish in the absence of trial testimony from the defendant (especially in this case since Eastman has previously asserted his Fifth Amendment self-incrimination privilege and is unlikely to be available as a witness for Trump).
Whether to testify on one’s own behalf at trial is one of the few strategic decisions committed solely to the discretion of the defendant rather than counsel. If Trump testifies at his attempted-coup trial, his cross-examination should be one for the ages.
Regardless of whether Trump testifies, the trial needs to be televised. I hope the rule against televising federal trials can be waived in this instance. The trial will be the most important in American history. Americans and the world need to see the trial for themselves rather than it being filtered through the reporting of journalists or transcripts of testimony.
The only open-and-shut case is one in which the defendant pleads guilty.
Interesting the only time Trump takes advice of counsel is when the advice is to break the law. Does the lawyer get paid more for that?
It’s because they don’t think he’s guilty, and that the charges are all political. After the Russian Collusion Hoax a lot of people’s first reaction is going to be to say that this is another put-up job. If one really wants to understand, spend a week or two regularly reading the view from the other side on sites such asThe Federalist, Just the News, The National Review (which is anti-Trump), and others. If all one reads is the MSM then you are missing most of the picture. It might do to read the stories that actually talk about potential problems with the newest indictments.
“It might do to read the stories that actually talk about potential problems with the newest indictments.”
Why don’t you post a link to one? It would be most helpful, especially for those of us who can’t spend the time (or don’t want to) to look through articles to find the ones you mean. You could, like many who cite other sources here, even quote from one or two and give your take on the piece. I think it would help.
Seriously; it’s a mystery to me why people think these charges are trumped up (:-)) so a simple point-in-the-right-direction – or a comment on one- from you would help me understand the perspective.
I agree with Edward. Please, Dr B, give us a few links to information you feel reliably exonerates Trump from the many charges against him.
You know, right?, that there was no Russian Collusion Hoax. Russians did in fact interfere in the election. Trumpists (even a couple of Trumps) did in fact meet with various Russians and then lied about it. Reporters following those stories were not hoaxing. They were investigating with good reason.
What part does Hannity I mean do you think was a “hoax”?
I watched a video of Trump where, in his own words, he put down Pence for not denying the EC votes. That’s not a spin on his statements in some article, it was right from his mouth. It’s hard for me to understand how that can be anything other than an admission that he was illegally attempting to stay in office despite legitimately losing the election. Unless, perhaps, the argument is that he is delusional and mentally incompetent and couldn’t comprehend that he had lost the election or that what he was doing was illegal. In which case, he certainly shouldn’t have another term as president.
DrBrydon, if you know of any articles that give a reasonable argument for why his own words don’t condemn him, I’d like to see a reference as well. If you don’t provide any, I’ll assume you have nothing to present.
The MSM, as far as I can tell from what I read/listen to, has been pretty careful about pointing out issues with the Trump indictments, particularly the recent DC one, where (as with the others) the facts don’t seem in doubt, but whether a prosecution based on those facts is likely to succeed is more questionable.
As for the National Review and its editorial on the DC indictment, one of their own writers, Noah Rothman, has written a dissent from the editorial making a point about how it’s wrong about the law. And I refer you also to the rebuttal of their editorial by Ken White at Popehat, “People Are Lying To You About The Trump Indictment”, https://popehat.substack.com/p/people-are-lying-to-you-about-the. Here’s an excerpt:
“The editors of the National Review have published an editorial arguing that impeachment was the proper vehicle to address Trump’s attempt to steal the election and that it’s improper and an abuse of the Department of Justice to use the criminal justice system to try to redress it. That’s not a lie; it’s an opinion. I disagree with it, but it’s not “right” or “wrong” factually, it’s a dispute over policy and what the rule of law should mean.
Unfortunately the editors aren’t satisfied with making a policy argument; they stoop to misleading and lying about the law. First, the misleading. They say:
Finally, Smith is charging Trump with a civil-rights violation, on the theory that he sought to counteract the votes of Americans in contested states and based on a post–Civil War statute designed to punish violent intimidation and forcible attacks against blacks attempting to exercise their right to vote. What Trump did, though reprehensible, bears no relation to what the statute covers.
This is a plausible originalist argument about Section 241, which is a Civil War statute and was originally intended to stop the sort of anti-civil-rights violence that the National Review eventually agreed was unlawful. However, I submit that the statement is materially and intentionally misleading because it does not reveal to the National Review’s readers that the United States Department of Justice has prosecuted election fraud as a violation of Section 241 for generations and has been repeatedly upheld by the courts in doing so. The National Review describes the charge as “remarkable.” Without adding that the charge is based on a widely accepted interpretation of Section 241 upheld by the courts, this argument is deceitful.”
And White continues with what he contends are actual lies in the editorial.
As to the Miami indictment, the facts speak for themselves: Trump walked off with a bunch of classified documents, had them moved around to conceal them from Federal investigators, and had his staff lie about whether they existed. If that doesn’t constitute a provable violation of the laws regarding classified documents, I’d be very surprised.
As to the likely indictment in Georgia, again the facts speak for themselves: Trump not only called the Georgia Secretary of State and told him to “find 12000 votes”, he even said that the call, which was listened to by witnesses and recorded by Raffensperger, Trump himself described it as “perfect”.
I grow tired of people screaming “politics” whenever some attempt is made to hold the orange baboon responsible for his activities.
Finally, if Trump were so darn sure that what he had done was not criminal/actionable, why has his strategy constantly been to try to run out the clock or tire out prosecutors and plaintiffs with endless appeals? – perhaps because, despite his certainty, when he really does get his day in court, he tends to lose.
Gaslighting will not get many to change views. Just the News, is that the famous WGN station in Chicago? If so, that’s not we call straight news. Put up job….really. The conspiracies never end do they. What we have are co-conspirators, 1 thru 6 and there are many more available in the U.S. congress. The republicans had their chance to do the right thing in Impeachment number two but they did not so they will have to live with it and watch their party go down the toilet. When do the lies end — When the orange man is behind bars.
Don’t know why but when I reply to another comment is does not work and instead puts it up separately.
Each of the Trump trials will cost each side millions of dollars from the point the investigation began to its final resolution, which could take years. To litigate against Trump’s associates, even if they take a plea deal, could cost both sides millions per defendant. Of course, many defendants charged with serious crimes have to settle for a public defender and the case is settled very quickly with a plea deal, which if the defendant had the resources to hire a high priced attorney could have gotten a much better deal. Is this justice?
More specifically, I wonder how the criminal justice system works for high profile defendants in other countries where defendants can get a fair trial. Is it typical for such cases to take years to resolve and cost millions or is there a more streamlined system that does not jeopardizes the defendant’s rights? If the latter is the case then the American criminal justice system is another institution that borders on dysfunction and needs to be significantly reformed. Moreover, I wonder if in these other countries access of the poor to justice is somewhat more equal to the rich than is the case in the United States.
Trump is famous for only wanting or having “the best”. The only time he settled for second best is when he ws told that honesty is the best policy.
Ok, that is really funny.
The (London) Times today quotes a recent Ipsos-Reuters poll in which 52% of Republicans say they would not vote for Trump if he was in jail at the time of the election. I’ll believe it when I see it, but it might just be an indication that some of his support is going soft.