Why is the quote from Dave Levitan a "cheap shot?" It seems wholly accurate and shameful, while not being at all funny or ironic, that the British monarchy has become more accountable than your average American billionaire. Or elected president. Seems more like a headline to me.
It sure is embarrassing that Europe is busy giving the heave-ho to so many who have appeared in the Epstein files, while we can't even get the DOJ to release those files in toto.
Well the DoJ outed the victims but protected the victimizers (the way that redaction was handled), which is kind of a giveaway. Pretty sure that wasn't a mistake.
AOC said Pam Bondi needs to be impeached when she spoke to over 1000 students at the Technical University in Berlin last weekend. Here is a piece I did on her talk, which is hopeful, and I included a link to the livestream.
Bondi is one of the authors of the Heritage Foundation Project 2025. Her main job is to make sure Trump toes the line and knows his place. She ain't goin' no where.
rlritt, as a history major, including my own family history, I don't say, never. My father's grandmother was born a slave in 1860. She died in 1969. How much will never happen do you think she lived through in the Civil Rights Movement? My own child lived to see gay marriage become legal. She was 3 and thinking about marrying her best friend after a boy in her class asked her to marry him. Now she can do this and she is only 20 because so much has changed. So, while the evil Trump seems to have an eternity of getting away with things in front of him, things that we cannot know or cannot see now can happen and all of a sudden he is out and so is Bondi. What I love about AOC and it is why I gave her money instead of Dick Durbin, who should have been asking to impeach the members of SCOTUS who are clearly compromised, is that she will say outloud what needs to be done, and that is powerful in and of itself. Americans are known for tiptoeing around something, but being German as well, I appreciate directness. To me Durbin basically has one foot in the grave of his political career because before Trump was reelected he had a chance to make trouble for SCOTUS and he did not. I despise him greatly because of this. I do not care what good he might have done in the past when things were easy, but when things got hard, he did not take his experience and use it to stand up, and he was not honorable enough to resign and let those who can, do.
And, I read the Heritage Foundation document with my book club, and it is a poorly written piece of garbage, although it certainly gave me a good heads up as to what was planned. Bondi should be impeached.
Well, in the eyes of MAGA, wasn’t it actually the fault of the victims to have failed to be born into the ‘right’ families? The ‘right’ financial stratospheric circles?
And you say this sarcastically, but I bet $1,000 that these guys and their supporters, honestly really believe thats true. Who cares about some dumb young bimbo whores.
I wouldn’t take your bet no matter the odds, since I think it would be hard to find many of the true believers who would think anything but what you expressed. This ‘mass hypnosis’ is deeply frightening. In the abstract, they were very concerned about the abuse heaped on these young women, these children in many cases, when the common belief amongst them was that the democrats were responsible for such abuse. When it became obvious that their dear leader was involved, their perspective flipped 180 degrees. That kind of madness is impossible to explain and impossible to cure as well.
They are also showing us how sick and disgusting the elite are, and people are watching how there are no consequences for them. Pursuing the American dream has become quite sickening. We need to be rethinking the idea of the "self made man."
The motto of DJT accountability: Nothing is ever your fault 2. point your fingers at everybody else or claim hoax. 3. never apologize 4. move on and hope no one will notice.
Europe is also giving Trump the heave ho, just not saying it out loud. I wrote a piece today on how Democrats need to be networking with democratic people in other countries like the far right has been doing for the past 50 years, so now they have a well oiled machine.
Yes, but, Prince Andrew has great name and geanology, but he is really just a mediocre shlub that has no importance in the government. He isn't even in line for the throne, a largely ceremonial position. And Im sure he still gets to keep his wealth and property.
So kind of like a throw away nod to accountability for participating in a pedophile ring.
Just further reinforces the quote often attributable to Winston Churchill. "The Americans will eventually do the right thing, once they have tried everything else."
We suck at satire, too, for the most part. The best satire/parody I have seen over the last few decades was from the UK (or Australia)--but they have always had a knack for it.
The Royals are VERY aware that their position (and wealth and privileges) depends very much on maintaining a strong, positive public image if they want to remain the Royal family or for britain to continue to have a Royal family.
They have always worked hard to look good (not always succeeding, of course) and Elizabeth II was always very much on top of that. There continues to exist a movement to get rid of the royalty in Britain and the family is aware of that.
It is, I think, less about actual shame than it is good PR--and these people will throw a family member to the wolves to maintain good PR.
The wealth of the "Firm" as the working Bristish Royals are known is kind of nebulous/convoluted. The Crown Estate is "owned" by the reigning monarch for the duration of reign. The actual profits go to the UK treasury and the monarch gets a share of that.
Members of the family DO own some property and personal wealth, but most of the wealth is in the form of things that could disappear if Britain decides to do away with the Monarchy.
It would be interesting to see how it would play out (interesting in the Chinese sense of living in interesting times) and who got what if that happened.
Hate to be a party pooper , because I agree with Mr. Bernfeld -- but Andrew shared state secrets with Epstein , trade secrets on which Epstein probably profited at the expense of Andrew's countrymen .
"Official misconduct" better have some pretty tight definition to be a crime, since it sounds t be like beauty, in the eye of the beholder, whereas there are concrete, tried and true definitions of rape. In the House of Lords is it "official misconduct" for a member of the staff to spit on the floor, worthy of criminal punishment? I don't know but could give a "qualified maybe". But both allegations require real, live proof in a court of law, not just someone's notes in a file.
"The guidance to British prosecutors about the offense says that misconduct in public office is committed when a public officer “willfully neglects to perform their duty” or “willfully misconducts themselves” in a way that abuses the public’s trust. The crime is so old that it is not contained in any statute and instead derives from Britain’s common law, meaning that it has evolved through hundreds of years of prosecutions and judicial decisions."
One of the things to understand about the British justice system is that it does not operate exactly like ours. That British law is not always clearly written down but sometimes relies upon a few hundred years of definition through common law rather than explicit statute.
Remember that Britain doesn't even have a written constitution--though there have been efforts to create one.
Thank you for that clarification, both the quoted and unquoted information. My probem is still with the nebulous nature of the offense. "Willfully misconducts themselves" uses the word at issue, "misconduct", as part of the definition, which is circular and not a linear clear definition. And "in a way that abuse's the public's trust" is also, to me, not really helpful once you get past misuse of funds or official property. And even there, is the taking home of an office pen or (remember the pandemic) a roll of toilet paper from the Gentlemen's Loo misconduct abusing the public's trust, or just plain, old, garden variety theft which is a criminal offense?
Also we'll have to see where it goes. The "misconduct" charge is much easier to prove than anything else and provides an inroad to investigating other things - including allowing for the searching of his house, devices, etc. I am hoping this charge is just a preamble to dig deeper on other things
As a former criminal defense counsel, I doubt that a prosecutor would think it is easier to prove a "misconduct" charge than anything else, if faced with a bill seeking to quash the indictment as (American law phrase) "void for vagueness". It is a fundamental tenet of fair jurisprudence that the accused has to be on notice that (s)he is commiting an offense by doing X. That means, X needs to be clearly and precisely spelled out so that the specific action(s) in issue can be known in advance to be against the law.
He could have committed more than one kind of crime. He was a trade representative for his country...with access to all sorts of information that has a monetary value to someone.
To dwell on the cheap shot for a moment. The Guardian is reporting King Charles was not given prior notice before his brother was arrested and apparently came as a surprise. Nevertheless the Mount-Batten family, King and Prince of Wales, have backed the investigation in their public statements. Now let’s contrast that to where our would be secret police killed two people on the streets of Minneapolis and the government apparently will not investigate nor turn over evidence to the state. The British just arrested the King’s brother, late in the story, for questioning while we won’t investigate the killing of our own citizens. What a way to celebrate 250 years of freedom.
At least they didn't send him to the Bahamas to make people miserable there like they used to do to the Nazis in the family. Or lock him in the Tower only to disappear. Or get beheaded or killed with a hot poker. Those Brits have really mellowed out over the years in regards to their royalty. They used to pick off royals whenever they got out of hand. It was my favorite thing about them.
The former prince was stripped of his royal titles and military titles several months ago. At the time I thought it was because the King or the King's people had some inking that Andrew in his capacity as a trade representative was entangled financially with some criminal types. So while the timing of the arrest might have not been disclosed, something surely was known which prompted the removal of titles.
My husband's stage 4 metastatic melanoma was cured by a personalized mRNA vaccine in a phase 1 trial. There has been so much promising research with this technology. This toxic clown show of an administration is literally stealing hope for cancer patients. For nothing!
Real courage there, especially in entering a Phase 1 trial--that takes true gumption. I am so happy for you and your husband, and angry on behalf of the millions who may see research derailed or treatments delayed and denied because of the arrogance and sheer reckless stupidity of that crew of fools in Washington.
How wonderful , and kudos to him for entering the trial . Patients are usually , appropriately, scared when treatment that is being tested , but not proven is offered . SO happy for you both
It's too bad Jr is such a reactionary who has a romanticized notion of the past when we were all super-intuitive and sturdy. He probably thinks eyeglasses would not be neededif people just lived by his 'correct' rules. Anyway, the idea that stinky environments can cause disease can be useful as a prompt to clean up the garbage, the rivers, the air etc. While it's all rooted in germ theory, diseases like this are principally *not* person-to-person transmission. But Jr wants to go back to the leaches and treat humours.
By 2029, a large portion of mRNA research will be in Canada and Europe. It will take a very long time for real scientists to trust that their funding will be consistent for more than one presidential term. This unreliability on the part of the US government is the same sort of problem Europe is dealing with.
Of all the stupid things RFK is doing, this one has to be the worst. The mRNA vaccine suite may be a breakthrough for all kinds of formerly incurable illnesses, including MS. I’m sick about it and glad your husband was able to access his vaccine before all this.
Moderna’s stock price went from $39 to $47 in one week on the “about face” by the FDA, a sweet gain of 20%. I can only wonder who in this squeaky clean administration got in on that…
There was a period of time where I would have thought a post like that was silly nonsense but not with the current regime. It's 2 birds with 1 stone with them...an opportunity to piggyback on the whole vaccine conspiracy theory thing while using that to manipulate the market favorably for those in the know.
It's pointless to say again, but trump and his cronies are as much into illegal insider trading as they are in every other corrupt action we can conceive of.
For all of their warts...we used to have Presidents who actually were very careful not to accidentally or intentionally manipulate markets with their remarks. Now...it's stomping on the gas pedal and brake in coordination and as planned.
I’m surprised he hasn’t threatened Chicago, or Los Angeles with nuclear strikes unless they kick up a few billion to his shit coin piggy bank. What a f^*kin creep!
Lance - at first news of FDA refusal to review the application, I seriously thought about making that play. Wasn't quite Lent but I'd already given up gambling...
The conservative Heritage Foundation maintains a database, dating to 1979, that it says includes a “sampling” of election-fraud cases brought by prosecutors. In that period, about 2 billion votes have been cast in federal elections. A recent search of the Heritage database found 85 cases involving allegations of noncitizen voting from 2002 to 2023.
That’s it. 85 out of 2 billion votes cast. (@danpfeiffer The Message Box)
Those close elections get challenged quite often. How many have been overturned because of noncitizens voting in enough numbers to decide a close election?
I find it funny that the Heritage folks stopped tracking fraud in voting after 2023. I guess they gave up on finding widespread fraud. But some other people haven't.
The Heritage Foundation database has found 36 proven instances of election fraud in the entire state of Georgia dating back to 1993, assuming the Great Google isn’t lying to me.
“I have searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an irrefutable one in the very near future.”
I don't think he even wrote the quote I cited. Imagine our Donald using words like "articulated" and "vetted" and "irrefutable." I don't buy it. If it had said, "We have the best legal in the history of America" I would assume he wrote it.
But the Republicans won in 2024? So, was this most recent election fair and secure, but somehow the system has become undone (again, if they believed their claims about 2020)? I'm hoping that Democrats will bake mention of this 'inconvenient truth' into all of their rebuttals of the big lie about election integrity. It's the kind of simple, commonsense truth that might have an impact.
I often say to MAGAs how it's so ridiculous that the guy who won 2 out of his 3 elections including the most recent one is complaining about them being rigged.
The Democrats should release the formula they use to decide which election cycles to rig and which to pass on. It would clear up a lot of the confusion.
"I have searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an irrefutable one in the very near future."
I can see it now: chump at his desk, quill pen in hand, poring over Blackstone's Commentaries, diligently translating Magna Carta from the original Latin, re-reading the Federalist Papers, perusing the Harvard Law Review, carefully crafting his irrefutable argument, its logic unassailable. After all, he knows more about election law than any other president or any other Member of Congress. No one has ever spent more time thoughtfully and reverently considering what the Founders had in mind than he.
CLR - especially impressive how he's combing thru arguments "not yet articulated" - their mere non-existence won't prevent his all-seeing eyes from discerning legal arguments yet to come
Well, yes - except that sweat on his brow would make the orange makeup run. The British Library, the National Archives and the Library of Congress would not be happy with having all that orange pigment on those invaluable documents.
Democracies in the past have proven that when the voters sense intimidation efforts, they make a greater effort to vote anyway. Putting ICE at the polls could prove a different kind of "slippery slope" for the current administration, which its agents will tread about as effectively as they navigated the slick sidewalks of Minneapolis.
I guess they didn't navigate the slick roadways too well either. As I understand ICE vehicles are not likely to be pulled out of ditches or snowbanks by many Minnesota nice passers-by who would ordinarily help in those situations.
That’s because those dirtbag Border Patrol pukes have probably never driven on ice in their entire miserable lives, as they likely grew up near the southern border.
What I find really pitiful is when they point out with a thick accent that a person they have targeted has an accent, and must be in the country illegally. They are scum.
Everybody should get MAGA hats when they go to vote so you won't be interfered with. Trump will flip when he sees so many MAGA voters, and he still loses. Then we can all admit it was a ruse to confuse the ICE saps.
I reckon a lot of the ICE and Border Patrol scum grew up near the southern border, or have been serving there for a while. Not much frozen water on roads, and sidewalks in these parts.
I'm sure Minneapolis is a fun city to visit...in like July...but the show Andrew should really have FOMO about is Austin, TX! The Paramount Theater is just a block away from 6th Street (the live music capital of the world).
I have a deeply cherished old coozie, colored UT burnt orange, with the words, "Keep Austin Weird (support your local businesses)." From way back in the day before Big Tech discovered Austin and SXSW was not yet such a BFD. Quelle nostalgie!
"Wouldn't it be cool to drive around in unmarked cars on election day, wearing masks and scaring people who aren't like us?" "Very cool, Buffhead. And we could pick up little kids and get them to call their parents..."
I remember when Beebus got arrested by Border Patrol b/c they thought he was Mexican, and then they gave him coffee and sugar and he morphed into the Great Cornholio.
Peace is a broad term with lots of wiggle room. Besides he really really wants peace but some players just won’t let him have it. Such is the hard life or our Orange Julius.
Headline in the Guardian: "South Korea’s former president Yoon Suk Yeol jailed for life for leading insurrection / Ex-leader sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour over failed martial law declaration in 2024."
In England, the king's brother was just arrested b/c of info in the Epstein files - and the king wasn't forewarned.
Here in what used to be the greatest democracy in the world, we're on life support b/c of the moral rot that is destroying us. NO ONE in this regime is being held to account. And 40% of the country approves.
I find the polling numbers confusing. But according to Nate Silver's site, "The share of Americans who approve of the job he’s doing also hit a second term low of 40.5 percent" as of yesterday. However, the accompanying graph shows 41.4%, with his approval climbing and his disapproval dropping. The breakdown chart of the polls they aggregate shows everything from 34% to 50%.
Yes it is a little confusing. A lot of polling sites use too many polls and average them out. Nate Silver ( when he was at 538) would rate the polls on their accuracy. The best polls for my money are: Marist, Quinnipiac, the networks that combine with the largest newspapers. That said, the best polls have DJT in 36 to 39% Pols to avoid: Rasmusson, Trafalger group, candidate driven polls and those I never heard of.
This is such absolute bullshit. A voter has to prove citizenship and residency when they register to vote. They cannot vote if they are not registered. That is why voters have to register. Its to make sure of the citizenship and residency of of the voter at the polls. Election workers take an oath on the morning of the election to conduct and fair and honest election. Every voter must have their name on the list of registered voters in that precinct, or they cannot get a ballot.
Re: Dominion. In the 90's, Bill Clinton was sued by Paula Jones. Jones, an adult woman, alleged that they had had sex, but that the sex was not fully consensual since she was a part-time Arkansas state employee and he was the state's governor--workplace sexual discrimination. There was a hue and cry that presidents must not be sued--that they were too busy with the governance and the affairs of state and governments to find time for defending. In the end the suit was allowed by the courts and the case settled.
Trump, on the other hand, has time for all sorts of things other than governing, including filing multiple lawsuits against persons and companies. I conclude that if he has time to be a plaintiff, he has time to be a defendant. Dominion should not be shy about suing him for damages.
"See. We told you Democrats are stealing elections. We put ICE at major Dem polling locations and after making sure no illegal aliens could vote, guess what? REPUBLICANS WON! WE TOLD YOU THEY WERE LYING!"
That's the talking point Republicans want to get to.
RepublicaiSince there is no voting fraud, they wont win. The Republicans only win when they can cheat. Trump admitted that Musk was very good with computers after he spent two weeks in Pennsylvania, which shifted from a blue state to a red state.
Why is the quote from Dave Levitan a "cheap shot?" It seems wholly accurate and shameful, while not being at all funny or ironic, that the British monarchy has become more accountable than your average American billionaire. Or elected president. Seems more like a headline to me.
It sure is embarrassing that Europe is busy giving the heave-ho to so many who have appeared in the Epstein files, while we can't even get the DOJ to release those files in toto.
Heck, our current regime has no desire to investigate the people named in those documents.
The elite in our country have it made, in more ways than we can fathom.
Well the DoJ outed the victims but protected the victimizers (the way that redaction was handled), which is kind of a giveaway. Pretty sure that wasn't a mistake.
AOC said Pam Bondi needs to be impeached when she spoke to over 1000 students at the Technical University in Berlin last weekend. Here is a piece I did on her talk, which is hopeful, and I included a link to the livestream.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/aoc-had-a-berlin-audience-eating?r=f0qfn
Impeached!? Wake up AOC.
Bondi is one of the authors of the Heritage Foundation Project 2025. Her main job is to make sure Trump toes the line and knows his place. She ain't goin' no where.
rlritt, as a history major, including my own family history, I don't say, never. My father's grandmother was born a slave in 1860. She died in 1969. How much will never happen do you think she lived through in the Civil Rights Movement? My own child lived to see gay marriage become legal. She was 3 and thinking about marrying her best friend after a boy in her class asked her to marry him. Now she can do this and she is only 20 because so much has changed. So, while the evil Trump seems to have an eternity of getting away with things in front of him, things that we cannot know or cannot see now can happen and all of a sudden he is out and so is Bondi. What I love about AOC and it is why I gave her money instead of Dick Durbin, who should have been asking to impeach the members of SCOTUS who are clearly compromised, is that she will say outloud what needs to be done, and that is powerful in and of itself. Americans are known for tiptoeing around something, but being German as well, I appreciate directness. To me Durbin basically has one foot in the grave of his political career because before Trump was reelected he had a chance to make trouble for SCOTUS and he did not. I despise him greatly because of this. I do not care what good he might have done in the past when things were easy, but when things got hard, he did not take his experience and use it to stand up, and he was not honorable enough to resign and let those who can, do.
And, I read the Heritage Foundation document with my book club, and it is a poorly written piece of garbage, although it certainly gave me a good heads up as to what was planned. Bondi should be impeached.
Well, in the eyes of MAGA, wasn’t it actually the fault of the victims to have failed to be born into the ‘right’ families? The ‘right’ financial stratospheric circles?
And you say this sarcastically, but I bet $1,000 that these guys and their supporters, honestly really believe thats true. Who cares about some dumb young bimbo whores.
I wouldn’t take your bet no matter the odds, since I think it would be hard to find many of the true believers who would think anything but what you expressed. This ‘mass hypnosis’ is deeply frightening. In the abstract, they were very concerned about the abuse heaped on these young women, these children in many cases, when the common belief amongst them was that the democrats were responsible for such abuse. When it became obvious that their dear leader was involved, their perspective flipped 180 degrees. That kind of madness is impossible to explain and impossible to cure as well.
Im waiting for Trump to start wearing a gold crown.
The 60’s/70’s band Love had a lyric: “…there are people wearing crowns who screw you up but they would rather screw you down “. So true now
and he will slap his name on it to remind us
I am sure he does in private...
They are also showing us how sick and disgusting the elite are, and people are watching how there are no consequences for them. Pursuing the American dream has become quite sickening. We need to be rethinking the idea of the "self made man."
Not true. The DOJ is busy investigating those Lolitas for leading the upstanding perverts astray.
WE are the birthplace of Epsteinism. It's freaking embarrassing that we haven't started any REAL policing of this mess.
36% and dropping
Are they heave-ho-ing? I guess they aren't handing as much of their tax dollars to Elon Musk as we are.
The motto of DJT accountability: Nothing is ever your fault 2. point your fingers at everybody else or claim hoax. 3. never apologize 4. move on and hope no one will notice.
Europe is also giving Trump the heave ho, just not saying it out loud. I wrote a piece today on how Democrats need to be networking with democratic people in other countries like the far right has been doing for the past 50 years, so now they have a well oiled machine.
https://www.all-in.de/baden-wuerttemberg/landtagswahl-afd-spitzenkandidat-reist-kurz-vor-wahl-zu-us-rechtskongress-113528617
Too many of our richie riches toes might get stepped on , our 2 tiered justice system will do anything to keep this from happening.
Yes, but, Prince Andrew has great name and geanology, but he is really just a mediocre shlub that has no importance in the government. He isn't even in line for the throne, a largely ceremonial position. And Im sure he still gets to keep his wealth and property.
So kind of like a throw away nod to accountability for participating in a pedophile ring.
Just further reinforces the quote often attributable to Winston Churchill. "The Americans will eventually do the right thing, once they have tried everything else."
We can only hope.
As they say in the military, “Hope is not a plan.”
He sure was quotable!
We Americans haven't done irony well since 2016.
We suck at satire, too, for the most part. The best satire/parody I have seen over the last few decades was from the UK (or Australia)--but they have always had a knack for it.
It evolved in the British isles 90,000 years ago.
When it became dead.
The British royal family is still capable of being shamed. That's the difference.
The Royals are VERY aware that their position (and wealth and privileges) depends very much on maintaining a strong, positive public image if they want to remain the Royal family or for britain to continue to have a Royal family.
They have always worked hard to look good (not always succeeding, of course) and Elizabeth II was always very much on top of that. There continues to exist a movement to get rid of the royalty in Britain and the family is aware of that.
It is, I think, less about actual shame than it is good PR--and these people will throw a family member to the wolves to maintain good PR.
The wealth of the "Firm" as the working Bristish Royals are known is kind of nebulous/convoluted. The Crown Estate is "owned" by the reigning monarch for the duration of reign. The actual profits go to the UK treasury and the monarch gets a share of that.
Members of the family DO own some property and personal wealth, but most of the wealth is in the form of things that could disappear if Britain decides to do away with the Monarchy.
It would be interesting to see how it would play out (interesting in the Chinese sense of living in interesting times) and who got what if that happened.
Shamelessness is DJT's super weapon.
in reality trump is a slut, a whore and a thief, nothing above that
Putin knew that for a long time.
Exactly!
More a gem than a cheap shot.
It may read like a headline, but it is the simple truth. Dave Levitan called it.
King George III doesn't look so bad now, does he?
Hate to be a party pooper , because I agree with Mr. Bernfeld -- but Andrew shared state secrets with Epstein , trade secrets on which Epstein probably profited at the expense of Andrew's countrymen .
Oh yeah, that's the real crime!
Obviously not , but the first reports were thats why he was arrested for official misconduct v rape
"Official misconduct" better have some pretty tight definition to be a crime, since it sounds t be like beauty, in the eye of the beholder, whereas there are concrete, tried and true definitions of rape. In the House of Lords is it "official misconduct" for a member of the staff to spit on the floor, worthy of criminal punishment? I don't know but could give a "qualified maybe". But both allegations require real, live proof in a court of law, not just someone's notes in a file.
From NYT:
"The guidance to British prosecutors about the offense says that misconduct in public office is committed when a public officer “willfully neglects to perform their duty” or “willfully misconducts themselves” in a way that abuses the public’s trust. The crime is so old that it is not contained in any statute and instead derives from Britain’s common law, meaning that it has evolved through hundreds of years of prosecutions and judicial decisions."
One of the things to understand about the British justice system is that it does not operate exactly like ours. That British law is not always clearly written down but sometimes relies upon a few hundred years of definition through common law rather than explicit statute.
Remember that Britain doesn't even have a written constitution--though there have been efforts to create one.
Thank you for that clarification, both the quoted and unquoted information. My probem is still with the nebulous nature of the offense. "Willfully misconducts themselves" uses the word at issue, "misconduct", as part of the definition, which is circular and not a linear clear definition. And "in a way that abuse's the public's trust" is also, to me, not really helpful once you get past misuse of funds or official property. And even there, is the taking home of an office pen or (remember the pandemic) a roll of toilet paper from the Gentlemen's Loo misconduct abusing the public's trust, or just plain, old, garden variety theft which is a criminal offense?
Also we'll have to see where it goes. The "misconduct" charge is much easier to prove than anything else and provides an inroad to investigating other things - including allowing for the searching of his house, devices, etc. I am hoping this charge is just a preamble to dig deeper on other things
As a former criminal defense counsel, I doubt that a prosecutor would think it is easier to prove a "misconduct" charge than anything else, if faced with a bill seeking to quash the indictment as (American law phrase) "void for vagueness". It is a fundamental tenet of fair jurisprudence that the accused has to be on notice that (s)he is commiting an offense by doing X. That means, X needs to be clearly and precisely spelled out so that the specific action(s) in issue can be known in advance to be against the law.
The rich do what they can. The poor do what they must.
he was a ' john ' paid for sex,
also, with a minor that is sex assault in some degree
the money alone is a crime, but we'd have to charge him here
we have so many to charge here, we better get started
probably kinky too
what an embarrassment.
He could have committed more than one kind of crime. He was a trade representative for his country...with access to all sorts of information that has a monetary value to someone.
It’s definitely not the worst crime, but might be the easiest to prove.
Maybe like Capone and tax evasion? You go for a conviction where you have the best chance of winning.
Maybe ex Prince Andrew will be offered a Brit plea deal in exchange for naming names and testifying.
The slopulist uses Doublethink and Duckspeak to keep his followers dumb. This is about how he uses populist speech patterns.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/the-language-of-the-fascist-regime?r=f0qfn
The worst Epstein offender runs our government.
To dwell on the cheap shot for a moment. The Guardian is reporting King Charles was not given prior notice before his brother was arrested and apparently came as a surprise. Nevertheless the Mount-Batten family, King and Prince of Wales, have backed the investigation in their public statements. Now let’s contrast that to where our would be secret police killed two people on the streets of Minneapolis and the government apparently will not investigate nor turn over evidence to the state. The British just arrested the King’s brother, late in the story, for questioning while we won’t investigate the killing of our own citizens. What a way to celebrate 250 years of freedom.
While trying to make us look big, we have become so small. Isn't that what all fascists do?
That is historically accurate.
Charles probably never liked his brother anyway.
I don’t know and couldn’t possibly guess at those family dynamics, but they kept him around long past his due date considering what we knew.
At least they didn't send him to the Bahamas to make people miserable there like they used to do to the Nazis in the family. Or lock him in the Tower only to disappear. Or get beheaded or killed with a hot poker. Those Brits have really mellowed out over the years in regards to their royalty. They used to pick off royals whenever they got out of hand. It was my favorite thing about them.
Bahamas...? Or Bermuda?
I am not sure either is that great of a hardship.
had the chance to visit the tower, was pretty impressed
they have the ' tour stories ' but the real ones are much more vicious.
Makes for better Elizabethan-era plays, at least.
He's spoiled milk now. He's "Bonnyclabber."
It's Scottish and I don't understand. But I know it's not good.
That is a new one to me — apparently it’s a soured, curdled milk drink (ugh). Oh for the days when he was young and newly married to Fergie.
...and has a gelatinous consistency...<gagging>
Mom always liked you best ! !
Apologies to the smothers brothers.
"Mother always liked you best"! *Tom Smothers
The former prince was stripped of his royal titles and military titles several months ago. At the time I thought it was because the King or the King's people had some inking that Andrew in his capacity as a trade representative was entangled financially with some criminal types. So while the timing of the arrest might have not been disclosed, something surely was known which prompted the removal of titles.
"formerly known as prince" now ruined 😠
The first "formerly known as prince" was a vastly better human being than the current one!
You forgot the snark quotes around "freedom"
Otherwise, spot on.
My apologies!
I hope, assume, you are being funny. I was.
Of course I am.
things are beginning to be challenged regarding that, statute of limitations
it is starting
My husband's stage 4 metastatic melanoma was cured by a personalized mRNA vaccine in a phase 1 trial. There has been so much promising research with this technology. This toxic clown show of an administration is literally stealing hope for cancer patients. For nothing!
It makes me so angry that real breakthroughs (like your husband's) are now taking a back-seat to vitamins and push-ups.
This is amazing. What a blessing for your family. It's so disgusting that this administration is, in so many ways, effectively pro-cancer.
I'd say pro-death. And remember, Biden was all for finding a cure for cancer, so for these idiots, cancer must be good!
Move to Iowa if you want a really good chance at a cancer diagnosis 😉 but those farmers need those chemicals, ya know!
$$ an hogshit way above the children, they just don't care - Iowa
Wouldn't it just be better if the mRNA companies bribed the President the way tge supplement companies do?
/S
Nah, RNA is an enemy like Fauci. They should change it's name to TrumpNA, then they'd get somewhere.
Real courage there, especially in entering a Phase 1 trial--that takes true gumption. I am so happy for you and your husband, and angry on behalf of the millions who may see research derailed or treatments delayed and denied because of the arrogance and sheer reckless stupidity of that crew of fools in Washington.
How wonderful , and kudos to him for entering the trial . Patients are usually , appropriately, scared when treatment that is being tested , but not proven is offered . SO happy for you both
Oh, it's not for nothing. It's to satisfy their worm-brained, superstitious medieval beliefs. I'm waiting for the war on soap and hot water.
There's already a low-key rebellion against the actual germ theory of disease. I predict it will start bubbling up in the next few years.
Let's hope they don't make the black plague great again.
Yep. RFK Jr doesn’t believe the germ theory at all. He’s into “miasma theory.”
It's too bad Jr is such a reactionary who has a romanticized notion of the past when we were all super-intuitive and sturdy. He probably thinks eyeglasses would not be neededif people just lived by his 'correct' rules. Anyway, the idea that stinky environments can cause disease can be useful as a prompt to clean up the garbage, the rivers, the air etc. While it's all rooted in germ theory, diseases like this are principally *not* person-to-person transmission. But Jr wants to go back to the leaches and treat humours.
Yep, he’s a lost cause. Read more about him here by Dr Paul Offit, codeveloper of the rotavirus vaccine:
https://pauloffit.substack.com/p/understanding-rfk-jr
Free to read.
The next national park—The Rock Creek Baths!
Eat kale. Take ferments to your next pot luck. I have some "trunk" bear meat I can sell you.
How about having a roadkill gourmet party instead of a potluck.
They are true scum.
Exactly! And stealing hopes of countless people in the future! At least until normality is restored in 2029.
By 2029, a large portion of mRNA research will be in Canada and Europe. It will take a very long time for real scientists to trust that their funding will be consistent for more than one presidential term. This unreliability on the part of the US government is the same sort of problem Europe is dealing with.
Of all the stupid things RFK is doing, this one has to be the worst. The mRNA vaccine suite may be a breakthrough for all kinds of formerly incurable illnesses, including MS. I’m sick about it and glad your husband was able to access his vaccine before all this.
Moderna’s stock price went from $39 to $47 in one week on the “about face” by the FDA, a sweet gain of 20%. I can only wonder who in this squeaky clean administration got in on that…
There was a period of time where I would have thought a post like that was silly nonsense but not with the current regime. It's 2 birds with 1 stone with them...an opportunity to piggyback on the whole vaccine conspiracy theory thing while using that to manipulate the market favorably for those in the know.
It's pointless to say again, but trump and his cronies are as much into illegal insider trading as they are in every other corrupt action we can conceive of.
I can attest to that.
a thief and thieves, no reason to pretty it up
I personally think that's the driver of the vaccine conspiracy, which is just a side effect of stock manipulation.
For all of their warts...we used to have Presidents who actually were very careful not to accidentally or intentionally manipulate markets with their remarks. Now...it's stomping on the gas pedal and brake in coordination and as planned.
Nothing is off the table regarding DJT.
I’m surprised he hasn’t threatened Chicago, or Los Angeles with nuclear strikes unless they kick up a few billion to his shit coin piggy bank. What a f^*kin creep!
It’s a good thing that trump doesn’t read. If he did I would have to curse you for potentially giving him any ideas.
"Limited battlefield" or 'tactical' nukes, of course......god, it's hard to put sarcastic humor on this subject
Trump famously used his carefully timed comments to manipulate the stock market, which is why I stopped trading on the options exchange.
The delay was to give time to their cronies to buy more stock at the lower price.
Until the advent of this administration, I wouldn’t have been able to be that cynical, but not anymore.
Same here. Way more cynical now.
I have given up on looking for the pony in this box of horse shit.
Lance - at first news of FDA refusal to review the application, I seriously thought about making that play. Wasn't quite Lent but I'd already given up gambling...
Next time?
Since there's no rhyme or reason to anything it's pretty damn hard to make a call on shit like that...
I'm hip !
According to the Washington Post:
The conservative Heritage Foundation maintains a database, dating to 1979, that it says includes a “sampling” of election-fraud cases brought by prosecutors. In that period, about 2 billion votes have been cast in federal elections. A recent search of the Heritage database found 85 cases involving allegations of noncitizen voting from 2002 to 2023.
That’s it. 85 out of 2 billion votes cast. (@danpfeiffer The Message Box)
That's .0000000425%.
More than enough to decide a tied election.
Those close elections get challenged quite often. How many have been overturned because of noncitizens voting in enough numbers to decide a close election?
In the twilight zone quite a few. Around here not so much.
About the same % chance of Trump getting into “heaven “
according to my Minnesota math
Or in Trump’s math, that’s 42.5 percent.
...or in metric: 800%
Trump cannot accept that he is total loser.
the academy is pleased to accept the award on his behalf
named after DJT
I find it funny that the Heritage folks stopped tracking fraud in voting after 2023. I guess they gave up on finding widespread fraud. But some other people haven't.
The Heritage Foundation database has found 36 proven instances of election fraud in the entire state of Georgia dating back to 1993, assuming the Great Google isn’t lying to me.
Google is always right.
“I have searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an irrefutable one in the very near future.”
2 weeks!!
We all know what a brilliant legal scholar he is, so we better get ready!
Probably had an uncle who watched Perry Mason, a legal genius, the greatest legal mind everyone is saying...
Who?
Picture him poring over legal and scientific tomes, and then writing a scholarly, well-reasoned, definitive bleat.
I don't think he even wrote the quote I cited. Imagine our Donald using words like "articulated" and "vetted" and "irrefutable." I don't buy it. If it had said, "We have the best legal in the history of America" I would assume he wrote it.
That does sound more his speed.
But the Republicans won in 2024? So, was this most recent election fair and secure, but somehow the system has become undone (again, if they believed their claims about 2020)? I'm hoping that Democrats will bake mention of this 'inconvenient truth' into all of their rebuttals of the big lie about election integrity. It's the kind of simple, commonsense truth that might have an impact.
I often say to MAGAs how it's so ridiculous that the guy who won 2 out of his 3 elections including the most recent one is complaining about them being rigged.
The Democrats should release the formula they use to decide which election cycles to rig and which to pass on. It would clear up a lot of the confusion.
Trump cannot admit that he ever loses. It eats away at him. This is why he is still investigating the votes in Georgia.
it is one of four, five reasons he strongly dislikes Minnesota
Do their inferior neural net processors go off line, and require you to kick them in the ass to reboot the system?
Personally...I think the MAGA neural net processors are a non-working display system never intended for actual use.
Just so.
Truth? If you look it up on .gov, it's nowhere to be found.
"I have searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an irrefutable one in the very near future."
I can see it now: chump at his desk, quill pen in hand, poring over Blackstone's Commentaries, diligently translating Magna Carta from the original Latin, re-reading the Federalist Papers, perusing the Harvard Law Review, carefully crafting his irrefutable argument, its logic unassailable. After all, he knows more about election law than any other president or any other Member of Congress. No one has ever spent more time thoughtfully and reverently considering what the Founders had in mind than he.
He is the bigliest legal scholar!
with the best words
CLR - especially impressive how he's combing thru arguments "not yet articulated" - their mere non-existence won't prevent his all-seeing eyes from discerning legal arguments yet to come
could have included candlelit or a cup of brew, or sweat on the brow
Well, yes - except that sweat on his brow would make the orange makeup run. The British Library, the National Archives and the Library of Congress would not be happy with having all that orange pigment on those invaluable documents.
Democracies in the past have proven that when the voters sense intimidation efforts, they make a greater effort to vote anyway. Putting ICE at the polls could prove a different kind of "slippery slope" for the current administration, which its agents will tread about as effectively as they navigated the slick sidewalks of Minneapolis.
I guess they didn't navigate the slick roadways too well either. As I understand ICE vehicles are not likely to be pulled out of ditches or snowbanks by many Minnesota nice passers-by who would ordinarily help in those situations.
That’s because those dirtbag Border Patrol pukes have probably never driven on ice in their entire miserable lives, as they likely grew up near the southern border.
What I find really pitiful is when they point out with a thick accent that a person they have targeted has an accent, and must be in the country illegally. They are scum.
and very cowardly
Yeah, they haven't realized two things; never run on ice. Hell walking on it is tough. 2.slow down when driving in winter!
well the plow finally came, it is late for them, 12:15 P.M. now I have to
go shovel.
I bet they shiver and piss and moan about it, had a friend of my sis in Lakeville, MN
I was on the phone and she just passed it to her, she was in an intersection,
unmarked and on the right and an Ice dumbshit hit her car, said he did not
know how to stop on this stuff.
Everybody should get MAGA hats when they go to vote so you won't be interfered with. Trump will flip when he sees so many MAGA voters, and he still loses. Then we can all admit it was a ruse to confuse the ICE saps.
I laugh every time I see that ICE guy running on ice and landing flat on his back!
I reckon a lot of the ICE and Border Patrol scum grew up near the southern border, or have been serving there for a while. Not much frozen water on roads, and sidewalks in these parts.
I'm sure Minneapolis is a fun city to visit...in like July...but the show Andrew should really have FOMO about is Austin, TX! The Paramount Theater is just a block away from 6th Street (the live music capital of the world).
I have a deeply cherished old coozie, colored UT burnt orange, with the words, "Keep Austin Weird (support your local businesses)." From way back in the day before Big Tech discovered Austin and SXSW was not yet such a BFD. Quelle nostalgie!
Long live the music of Townes, Guy and the still with us Steve Earle !
Visited Austin about 30 years ago, great music & barbecue, walking around I came across the Stevie Ray statue... now that's a cool town!
Townes is a regular on my playlists.
a bit too humid in July
best weather, June, Sept and once in while April and May.
"Wouldn't it be cool to drive around in unmarked cars on election day, wearing masks and scaring people who aren't like us?" "Very cool, Buffhead. And we could pick up little kids and get them to call their parents..."
"I like it, Beebus."
"I feel cooler already, Buffhead."
"I got a boner, Beebus."
I remember when Beebus got arrested by Border Patrol b/c they thought he was Mexican, and then they gave him coffee and sugar and he morphed into the Great Cornholio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmqnCTM2j7M
It makes me wonder how close this conversation is to real conversations that occur before people sign up for ICE.
Or, as we used to say before 2016, "you can't make this stuff up." If you can imagine it, someone in the Administration has said it.
Trump's "Board of Peace" has its 1st meeting today. As clever as Vonnegut is, he couldn't make this up.
Bored of Peace? He hasn't "made up his mind yet" as he considers attacking Iran.
...or Blue states
Peace is a broad term with lots of wiggle room. Besides he really really wants peace but some players just won’t let him have it. Such is the hard life or our Orange Julius.
Solved seven wars! Or is it up to eight now?
Wonder what happens to the $20 billion in “dues” those countries paid to join this sham “organization”?
The United Way?
Going to DJT?
I like a good laugh...thanks
Headline in the Guardian: "South Korea’s former president Yoon Suk Yeol jailed for life for leading insurrection / Ex-leader sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour over failed martial law declaration in 2024."
In England, the king's brother was just arrested b/c of info in the Epstein files - and the king wasn't forewarned.
Here in what used to be the greatest democracy in the world, we're on life support b/c of the moral rot that is destroying us. NO ONE in this regime is being held to account. And 40% of the country approves.
36% and dropping
I find the polling numbers confusing. But according to Nate Silver's site, "The share of Americans who approve of the job he’s doing also hit a second term low of 40.5 percent" as of yesterday. However, the accompanying graph shows 41.4%, with his approval climbing and his disapproval dropping. The breakdown chart of the polls they aggregate shows everything from 34% to 50%.
That it's above 1% is sickening and depressing.
Yes it is a little confusing. A lot of polling sites use too many polls and average them out. Nate Silver ( when he was at 538) would rate the polls on their accuracy. The best polls for my money are: Marist, Quinnipiac, the networks that combine with the largest newspapers. That said, the best polls have DJT in 36 to 39% Pols to avoid: Rasmusson, Trafalger group, candidate driven polls and those I never heard of.
Slopulism: why invent new words when “crap” is perfectly appropriate and a real word.
shit is another
That's Bullswark. If people didn't invent new words ALL THE DAMN TIME, we'd all be speaking Middle English.
Would that be bad😆
This is such absolute bullshit. A voter has to prove citizenship and residency when they register to vote. They cannot vote if they are not registered. That is why voters have to register. Its to make sure of the citizenship and residency of of the voter at the polls. Election workers take an oath on the morning of the election to conduct and fair and honest election. Every voter must have their name on the list of registered voters in that precinct, or they cannot get a ballot.
Re: Dominion. In the 90's, Bill Clinton was sued by Paula Jones. Jones, an adult woman, alleged that they had had sex, but that the sex was not fully consensual since she was a part-time Arkansas state employee and he was the state's governor--workplace sexual discrimination. There was a hue and cry that presidents must not be sued--that they were too busy with the governance and the affairs of state and governments to find time for defending. In the end the suit was allowed by the courts and the case settled.
Trump, on the other hand, has time for all sorts of things other than governing, including filing multiple lawsuits against persons and companies. I conclude that if he has time to be a plaintiff, he has time to be a defendant. Dominion should not be shy about suing him for damages.
Tom - he's reputed to spend a bit of time on the links as well
Different times; different SCOTUs.
"See. We told you Democrats are stealing elections. We put ICE at major Dem polling locations and after making sure no illegal aliens could vote, guess what? REPUBLICANS WON! WE TOLD YOU THEY WERE LYING!"
That's the talking point Republicans want to get to.
Don't. Fucking. Let. Them.
RepublicaiSince there is no voting fraud, they wont win. The Republicans only win when they can cheat. Trump admitted that Musk was very good with computers after he spent two weeks in Pennsylvania, which shifted from a blue state to a red state.