INTERNATIONAL REGGAE DAY UPDATES
Because Resistance with a Lilting Beat is Probably a Good Thing Today
-So ... now what?
-Now that the Supreme Court has, as predicted, split the baby regarding the January 6 insurrection charges against Convicted Felon Ex-President Trump (R-apist), what is the next move in that case? It goes back to Judge Tanya Chutkan with the new need to prove Trump's acts in that case do not come into the realm of "official acts" as the MAGAGOP SCOTI ruled - but they did plant an Easter egg for Team Trump that Special Prosecutor Jack Smith must deal with (per MSNBC's Katie Phang): a clause that says prosecutors cannot use any evidence that may include communications with official bodies within the executive even if said communications were to promote an unprotected private criminal act, and that motive cannot be used as a way to allow said communication to be used as evidence, as that likely fits in with the new rule the SCOTI made - and, indeed, Trump is known to have used self-appointed Department of Justice personnel in his attempt to file phony slates of electors for the official vote count.
-Most observers clearly believe that, at a minimum, a new evidentiary hearing will need to be called to review and challenge whether evidence Smith intended to use would fall under that new rule. That could also mean Smith will need to (or want to) revamp the charges that were made, believing as per his initial theory of the case that Trump was acting as a Presidential candidate and not President and therefore his acts were clearly personal and not exempt under the new standard - particularly since the President has absolutely no official constitutional or legal role in running an election or counting or verifying votes (though challenging is fine, but that is done as a candidate and not as an elected official).
-There is also some talk that even if the SCOTI would rule private conversations are exempt from prosecution, then they can be put into a public legal record for them to strike down - but to then have them in the public record, and possibly to do so between now and the November election.
-One other tantalizing possibility is being floated by Alison Gil: since Smith decided not to prosecute all the other co-conspirators in the January 6 scheme with the goal of bringing Trump to trial before November, with the delays baked into all of the above actions (you can guarantee every decision will be litigated up to the Supreme Court), there is no need to hold out on any other indictments - and Smith might consider dropping ALL the charges for ALL the conspirators and to do so now in order for the country to understand just who MAGA is, what SCOTI are protecting, and what is at stake at this election.
-Because (STEPPING ON THE SOAP BOX), the 'out' that Chief Justice Roberts gave the court of not exactly knowing what a private act is from a public act, the potential for the Court to turn around and, when some of these appeals get back to them, rule against Trump and toss him aside when Trump loses the election, his use having been made complete and their free shot at getting a full imperial Federalist Society government having been missed so as to regroup and try another time with a different leader (STEPS OFF SOAP BOX).
-To say nothing of the fact that the 'official acts' are for 'the President' - and that now means President Joe Biden. Whether Biden will use some of his newly-anointed powers for good remains to be seen, but given Biden's need to rebuild confidence and quell columnist and some advisory panic and opportunism, there is incentive to do so.
-Final note: the ruling today does not touch in any way, shape, or form, any of the cases that have already been adjudicated against Trump (the Stormy Daniels case in NY and the E. Jean Carroll case both involved CLEARLY personal acts that took place before Trump was President, the GA case is a RICO conspiracy case that involves eyewitness testimony, and the documents case involves cut-and-dried possession cases that took case after Trump left office).
-The one area where this Court did build on, to the horror of most sane Americans, is that SCOTI have given themselves what Justice Elena Kagan labelled "an imperial Court." Friday's Chevron decision that does not negate the work of regulatory agencies but does allow corporations to take agencies to court to litigate regulations they find annoying or unprofitable opens a Pandora's box of lawsuits that will put Judges as experts, force people without a lot of resources to make hard decisions about fighting what would normally be called lawbreaking, and clog courts with a ton of lawsuits. All of that implements many of the goals of the Society's co-written Project 2025 without actually electing officials, which is (needless to say) part of the point.
-Hey! We got deep into this update and did not mention Thursday's debate - because that's what happens historically in Presidential debates: they come and go and do not affect the momentum of cases, and even Politico noted that if any polling dips up or down (and thus far no such polling has been reported) (and we know polling has been notoriously bad since 2019 or so) it is likely to be transient. Remember that when stories from columnists with connections to Democratic operatives try to keep the frustration over Biden's performance alive in order to try to replace Biden, no matter what kind of cockamamie scheme is being hatched.
-Although what we should NEVER forget: Trump audibly shit himself during the debate Thursday, and only decrepit old men shit themselves in public.
-Meanwhile, in ANOTHER election, French President Emanuel Macron continues to furiously work to prevent National Front leader Marine LePen the opportunity take power. Macron's decision to call a snap election after LePen's party dominated European Union representative elections appeared to backfire after yesterday's first wave of representative elections when her National Rally party won a majority - but not nearly enough to get control of Parliament. To do that, a round of runoff elections will take place this week, and Macron's centrist party is working with left-wing parties to ensure most runoffs will be between a center/left candidate and a LePen-affiliated candidate (with right-wing parties not doing the same as of this writing) and block what is referred to as a "cohabitation" party in which the majority party would have a kind of split authority with the French President, who would stay in power until 2027. More on what that means in future Updates.
-Plenty more coming this week - French elections, British elections, the Fourth, etc. - so let's stop here, take a breath, check out some history, and dust ourselves off.
-ONWARD!
-On this date in 1535, Sir Thomas More went on trial for rejecting the authority of King Henry VIII (inspiration, not sighs!). On this date in 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg began. On this date in 1898, the Battle of San Juan Hill took place (and NO, William Howard Taft WAS NOT THE HILL!). On this date in 1968, the first Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed by 61 countries. And on this date in 1997, Hong Kong was remanded to China.
-Debuts on this date: Canada (1867, eh?), the Tour de France (1903), the television commercial (1941 - for Bulova watches, for the princely sum of $9.00), Zip codes (1963), MS. MAGAZINE (1972), the Walkman (1979), PG-13 movie ratings (1984), ZEN ARCADE (1984), the International Criminal Court (2002).
-Happy Birthday to James M. Cain, Charles Laughton, Henry "Indiana" Jones, William Wyler, Estee Lauder, Willie Dixon, Olivia de Havilland, Art McNally, Leslie Caron, Sam Rutigliano, Jamie Farr, Sydney Pollack, Karen Black, Twyla Tharp, Andrae Crouch, Genevieve Bujold, Debbie Harry, Fred Schneider, Dan Aykroyd, Alan Ruck, Nancy Lieberman, Evelyn "Champagne" King, Carl Lewis, Princess Diana Spencer, Patrick McEnroe, Pamela Anderson, Henry Simmons, Missy Elliott, Sufjan Stevens, Liv Tyler, and Lea Seydoux.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Charles Goodyear, Harriet Beecher Stowe, R. Buckminster Fuller, Michael Landon, Wolfman Jack, Margaux Hemingway, Steve Tesich, Robert Mitchum, Forrest Mars Sr., Sylvia Sidney, Walter Matthau, Herbie Mann, Marlon Brando, Luther Vandross, Karl Malden, Don Coryell, and Hugh Downs.
-Feed the Worms: Ku Klux Klansman and Trump supporter David Duke and breadbag-wearing Trumpette Joni Ernst entered Earth on this date. Juan Peron bought it on this date.