-First, THIS JUST IN: President Biden has signed the bills to bring military aid to Ukraine, Israel (more news on that later) and Taiwan – and promised that the first shipment of desperately-needed munitions will be headed to Ukraine “in a matter of hours.” The bills were passed last night after a blistering-for-him statement from sunsetting Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (TuRtle, KY), who laid the blame for the six-month delay in getting aid to Ukraine on Tucker Carlson and Ex-President Trump (R-apist) LXXXVIII. (Ouch!)
-SLAVA UKRAINI!
-America is reeling and shaking in fear after a series of actions against court houses across the country prompted by Trump’s demands for his followers to do so in the wake of his unfair biased election interfering witch hunt of a trial in New York Ci-
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-I’m sorry, but I am being told that in fact, absolutely no disturbances of any kind were seen anywhere in the United States in support of Trump despite Trump’s threats that his MAGA hordes would bring retribution to the country for his trial. In fact, despite a statement he made after yestersday’s proceedings claiming ‘THOUSANDS!’ of his supporters were being held back from doing so, absolutely no such activity was sensed at all. And while the threats should always be taken seriously since the history of even one intensely unhappy supporter can be devastating, so far commentators who have been claiming putting Trump on trial could be shattering to the general peace of the country seem to be, well, totally wrong so far.
-Too bad for Trump, because that means the focus can be on trials and witnesses, such as yesterday’s jaw-dropping-even-for-this-time-of-our-history testimony from former National Enquirer CEO and way-too-appropriately-named David Pecker. In yesterday’s testimony, Pecker described a close friendship between he and Trump that ‘blossomed’ into the Enquirer becoming a PR and campaign adjunct for Trump’s 2016 Presidential campaign in which Pecker – often in direct contact and coordination with former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and former Trump Press Secretary Hope Hicks – actively amplified pro-Trump stories while actively soliciting and promoting yellow journalism against a number of Trump opponents including Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz (remember the stories about Ted’s dad being part of the JFK assassination or Cruz having had five affairs?!) and of course Hillary Clinton (remember the stories of Hillary being near death?!?!). It even went so far as to talk about paying $30,000 to the doorman of Trump Tower to quash a story about Trump having an illegitimate child with a Hispanic maid and the nearly year-long affair Trump had with former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal.
-The most chilling parts of the testimony was Pecker’s admission that the monies and stories were never meant to be true, nor were they ever fact-checked – in fact, Pecker kind of cheerfully admitted that the specific goal was to postpone the revelations for all the stories until after the 2016 election so as not to interfere or negatively influence the Trump campaign (but, presumably, would then be published by the Enquirer).
-Charming little Pecker, ain’t he?
-Testimony will resume in New York tomorrow with Pecker bringing the story up to the moment the Stormy Daniels dalliance occurred and why, despite the pattern and partnership between Trump and Pecker, Pecker decided that the Daniels story and payment was the one he drew the line of helping Trump with, hatching the scheme that Trump is on trial for.
-That was only Part Two of yesterday’s court travails for Team Trump. The earlier part of the day saw Trump attorney David Blanche get torn to shreds by Judge Juan Merchan over Trump’s apparent ignoring and flagrant violating of gag orders – as well as what sure looked like another such violation in a post made by Trump moments after the first gag order hearing had ended. No rulings have come out, and of course renewed calls to lock Trump up like he was a regular person have been made – but that is not likely. Not just because Trump is Trump (although, sure!), but the logistics of putting Trump in lockup along with Secret Service agents is acknowledged to be insane, not to mention the total likelihood that any ruling against Trump that involved incarceration over a gag order would trigger Team Trump into their favorite and only counter-move: appeals that would delay the trial and its 18 sitting jurors. Expect ever-escalating fines and possible post-trial jail time whenever the ruling from Judge Merchan comes down.
-While all that happened, last night Trump again saw a primary show cracks and weaknesses in his base, as no-longer-running Nikki Haley still got nearly 150,000 votes in the Pennsylvania Primary – all while President Biden won with turnout in Philadelphia and their collar counties that far outpaced Republican turnout. All show very bright flashing red lights to a Trump campaign that all but must have PA in order to have a chance to win in November.
-And as if all of THAT weren’t enough to keep Trump grumpy and unhappy – and he spent the wee hours yesterday railing and potentially breaking still more gag orders and judgments – while Pecker returns to the stand tomorrow, Trump will have a second group of attorneys in DC so the Supreme Court can FINALLY get around to hearing why they should ever consider whether Trump is a God-King of America who Can and Should Be Allowed To Behave Any Way His Whims Demand (this is paraphrased), this in connection with the case involving Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection. The arguments will be the last of the 2023-24 SCOTUS docket, so the latest they can rule would be the end of June, which if the ruling goes against Trump (which every sane observers says should happen and would if it weren’t for the apparent lack of sanity among the hard-right Radical Super 6 currently on the bench) would make that trial potentially running during the heart of the general election.
-Gird your loins …
-Back to Israel – or, more specifically, back to universities whose protests against Israel’s war against Palestine in the wake of the October 7, 2023 HAMAS terrorist attacks and concomitant rise in anti-semitism on some (BUT NOT ALL) such protests. The epicenter, Columbia University, reports progress in getting a group of protestors to leave grounds peacefully – as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Jay-EE-Zuz!, LA) prepares to visit Jewish students who report they have been the targets of anti-semitic attacks. Recent statements from prominent Muslim figures like Mehdi Hassan and Dean Obidallah are pushing back on the anti-semitism, stating that any Palestinian supporter who is also attacking anyone of the Jewish faith for being Jewish “are not wanted” in their fight to end the war in Palestine and potentially peacefully replace the leadership in Israel. All of that while protests in support of Palestine (but hopefully NOT HAMAS) are spreading to other institutions, including most prominently Yale.
-Last night, the Alabama Senate passed a bill that will ensure President Biden will appear on the November ballot in that state. There was a question about whether he would allowed to be listed due to a technical timing issue surrounding the Democratic National Convention, though similar issues have occurred in the past in other states and are normally dealt with in the normal course of events. There is a similar move in Ohio, and so far Republicans in that state are vowing they will follow the letter of the law and not allow Biden on the ballot – in one of the states where abortion rights will be prominent in the top-of-the-ticket election involving pro-choice incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown (D) and radical anti-abortion zealot Bernie Moreno (R, natch). We shall see about the Buckeye State …
-In closing … remember Elon Musk? Remember the car company he owned which used to be thought of as the single most cutting-edge company on Earth and made everyone think Musk was next-level genius? I can barely remember it, and yesterday was a Very Bad Day for the man now thought of as a freakish, unfunny poseur, as plunging sales figures from Tesla, the release of the Tesla Cybertruck which may go down as an auto industry disaster along the lines of the Edsel and the Corvair, and the continued degradation of his financial and reputational sink hole (the social media site formerly known as Twitter), the man once referred to here as a “billionaire weirdo” before promoting hate speech and porn on his web site is on his way to becoming yet another example that just because you have lots and lots and lots and LOTS of money, it don’t make you smart and shouldn’t make you an icon just because of said money.
-Monitoring a massive day tomorrow!
-On this date in 1898, Spain declared war on the United States. On this date in 1980, an attempt to rescue 56 hostages being held in the former American embassy in Iran failed when a helicopter heading to the mission crashed, killing eight American servicemen. On this date in 2003, North Korea announced it had nuclear weapons. On this date in 2018, streaming music services overtook physical music sources as the primary method of purchasing music. And on this date in 2020, Trump attempted and failed to defuse a statement he made the previous day that injecting bleach could kill the Covid-19 virus.
-Debuts on this date: LA MARSEILAISE (1792), the Library of Congress (1800), satellite transmission of television signals (1962), JANE FONDA’S WORKOUT BOOK (1982).
-Happy Birthday to St. Vincent DePaul, William De Kooning, Robert Penn Warren, Justin Wilson, Lou Thesz, Richard Donner, Shirley MacLaine, Jill Ireland, Barbara Streisand, Tony Visconti, Nigel Harrison, Eric Bogosian, Vince Ferragamo, Michael O’Keefe, David J., Cedric the Entertainer, Djimon Hounsou, Omar Vizquel, Chipper Jones, Eric Snow, Carlos Beltran, and Kelly Clarkson.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Willa Cather, Bud Abbott, Pete Ham, Wallis Simpson, Oliver Tambo, Pat Paulsen, Estee Lauder, Billy Paul, and Robert M. Pirsig.
-Richard M. Daley and Mumia Abu-Jamal were born on this date. You decide if they get a Happy Birthday or if they Feed the Worms.