-As most of you are likely to have heard by now, there was a relatively rare win for the good guys this morning at the Supreme Court, where 8 of the 9 Scoti actually agreed that a person who has been charged with domestic abuse can, in fact, be denied the ability to own or possess firearms! That the lone dissenter was Clarence Thomas was probably not as surprising – but it also reminded the world that the Big Kahuna case still to be decided, on whether or not Convicted Felon Ex-President Trump (R-apist) has Man-God Powers that Absolve Him of All Conduct While President, will not be decided until next week.
-That case, centering around the hopefully-imminent Washington DC trial regarding Trump’s alleged (eyeroll) involvement in the January 6, 2021 insurrection, will now have a decision handed down next week as SCOTUS ends its term. In the best-case scenario for justice, the motion will be rightfully denied and the case can begin in 82 days, which would place it right in the middle of the final push to the 2024 election (as the case has proceeded to trial, it would not be scheduled later as it would have been if no indictment had been handed down). In the worst-case scenario, of course, Trump gets his Mega-Immunity – though that would open a potential can of worms regarding conduct of the winner of the 2020 election and current President, Joe Biden.
-Most SCOTUS observers think what will most likely happen, based on questions asked during the proceeding, is that SCOTUS will rule that Presidents do not have immunity IF the actions were NOT connected with the job of being President – but that the act of trying to overturn an election may or may not fall under the category of “official Presidential work,” and that would need to be decided by the court – and then be allowed to appeal to SCOTUS when Judge Tanya Chutkan would likely rule that things a CANDIDATE does are NOT official Presidential Biz-Ness, thereby punting the case well beyond November and opening the door to Trump winning and dismissing the case altogether should Trump regain power in 2025.
-As if that wasn’t aggravating enough, as this update is being completed a hearing that most non-Trumper/MAGAt legal observers see as utterly superfluous and useless is taking place in Florida, as The One and Only Judge Trump Has NEVER Attacked or Sent His Minions To Threaten, Judge Aileen “ofTrump” Cannon, is holding a hearing to “entertain” a Trump motion that the case involving his theft of ultra-secret intelligence documents is invalid because the whole idea of a “special counsel” is unconstitutional. Never mind that on multiple occasions different SCOTI – including at least one other case Trump has brought up – have ruled Special Counsels are totally constitutional – Cannon was happy to play with the idea, going as far as to invite a number of non-legal “experts” who just so happen to agree with Trump’s bunk to the hearing to “play” with the idea.
-That the hearing is taking place is an example of Cannon doing just enough to be legal but bending over backwards to, again, give Team Trump their cherished delays so this trial – which most legal observers believe is the strongest of all the cases out there and one that Constitutionally Kosher Special Counsel Jack Smith has said would only take him three weeks or so to prosecute – also never gets to trial before November.
-This also comes after multiple news outlets report senior Judges in the 11th Circuit strongly advised Cannon to not take the case or step aside from it (the case was randomly assigned to her) due to her lack of experience (Cannon obviously ignored the suggestion). No word on what happened in the trial, but if Trump dirty trickster scumbag Roger Stone is right (as he said in another recording he did not know was being made and reported in Rolling Stone), Cannon is already in the bag for Trump (though her record of delay on delay on delay makes that more than obvious). No word on when a ruling from the hearing may be made.
-Meanwhile, let us turn for a moment to the state of Louisiana. Sure, the state of bayous and gumbo and zydeco is cool, but it also has quite a few problems – so many that US News and World Report ranks it the Worst State in the Country, at least using metrics like crime (50th), the economy (49th), education (47th), infrastructure (49th) and the environment (49th). So it was no surprise that the state dumped its previous Governor in favor of a new one, one Jeff Landry. Landry has his finger on the pulse of the state and has what he believes is The Answer to make Louisiana move up from that no-place-to-go-up position. That answer?
-Yesterday Landry signed a bill that will require every classroom in the state – from pre-K to colleges and universities that receive any amount of state aid whatsoever – to display a copy of The Ten Commandments!
-You may feel the state is already safer, or you may feel like the little girl who was standing behind Landry during the bill-signing ceremony who fainted right in the middle of the event, with Landry not so much as acknowledging the commotion behind him – but as the ACLU immediately takes the law to court to stop it, Landry by all accounts both welcomes and actually hopes for the bill to be attacked. If you hadn’t guessed, Landry is a hardcore MAGAt allied with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Jay-EE-Zuz!), and the prospect of being a martyr to a cause that can take him into higher office may – and I know this is SUPER cynical on my part – be his real motivation for the action.
-After all, the bill being enacted did not escape the notice of his Dear Leader, who all-capped his approval of the bill, adding for emphasis and showing that genius for branding Trump has always displayed, “BRING BACK TTC!” Landry also got an important thumbs-up from fellow MAGAt Lauren Boebert (Where aRe YouR Hands? CO) who believes it is time to bring “morality” back to school, what with how well the morals have been planted in the Boebs’ family.
-I couldn’t write this if I wanted to …
-Facing multiple reports of national polling starting to build for President Biden (538 now has the polling preponderance putting Biden in front, with a Fox News poll putting him over Trump) (HA!), the news media has begun to pivot to try to balance the books to allow Trump to stay in polling contact of Biden. They are doing so with breathless reporting that Trump “outraised” Biden in May to the tune of $141 M to $85 M, according to Federal Elections Commission filings. The media further constructs a story that Trump has received a surge of money from supporters thanks to being convicted of 34 charges connected with killing the Stormy Daniels affair story before the 2016 election.
-What the media is not reporting is that, rather than a ton of small donors, Trump’s donations are coming from mega-wealthy individuals drawn to the potential of (what else?) tax cuts for themselves, such as a $50M donation from a member of the old-school oligarchical Mellon family, as well as repeated promises from TrumpCult GOPMAGA Party Co-Chair Failson Wife Lara Trump that a “significant’ amount of Trump campaign donations will go towards the Trump “Legal Fund” (no word on who else or why Trump could tap into that money pot).
-Not that the Biden campaign is wanting for mega-rich endorsers. We previously noted the star-studded benefit that took place over last weekend in Hollywood (how star-studded? George Clooney and Julia Roberts were the co-chairs) that raised $30M. Yesterday, Biden got his own rich autocrat, as former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced a $20M donation. And Melinda French Gates announced earlier this week that she will absolutely vote for Joe Biden because of the attacks Trump has and likely will make on women’s reproductive issues alone. So the arms are being raised as the conventions and first Presidential debate (OK – I’ll believe it when I see it) begin to come into focus …
-With that, enjoy the rest of the longest days of the year, won’t you?!
-On this date in 1885, the U.S. Constitution was ratified. On this date in 1945, Allied forced defeated Japan on the island of Okinawa. On this date in 1964, three college students volunteering to register Blacks to vote in Mississippi were killed by Ku Klux Klansmen in Mississippi. And on this date in 1982, William Hinkley was ruled to be innocent by reason of insanity for his attempt to assassinate Ronald Reagan.
-Debuts on this date: the mechanical reaper (1834), the Ferris wheel (1893), the 33-1/3 rpm album (1948), “Mr. Tambourine Man” (1965), WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966), EVITA (1978), HEATHERS (1989), the WNBA (1997).
-Happy Birthday to Reinhold Niebuhr, Al Hirschfeld, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jane Russell, Judy Holliday, Maureen Stapleton, Lalo Schifrin, Bernie Kopell, Ron Ely, Mariette Hartley, Joe Flaherty, Ray Davies, Tony Scott, Michael Gross, Nils Lofgren, Benazir Bhutto, Robert Pastorelli, Rick Sutcliffe, Berkley Breathed, Kip Winger, Lana Wachowski, Jim Breuer, Alisyn Camerota, Frank Vogel, Juliette Lewis, Richard Jefferson, Brandon Flowers, William Prince of Wales, Lana Del Rey, Michelle Wolf, and Scottie Scheffler.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Santa Anna, Leland Stanford, Smedley Butler, Andrew Goodman, James Cheney, Michael Schwerner, Bernard Baruch, Maureen Connolly, Frank Leahy, Carroll O’Connor, John Lee Hooker, Bob Evans, and James Rado.
-Feed the Worms: Proto-MAGAt Rep. Dana Rohrbacher, shock-jock bag Mancow Muller and lying liar/actor Jussie Smollett entered Earth on this date. Racist baseball executive Al Campanis and hard-right Reagan/Bush defender Charles Krauthammer bought it on this date.
-Gretchen Carlson, Chris Pratt and Edward Snowdon were born on this date. Machiavelli died on this date. You decide if they get Happy Birthdays/Rest in Peace or Power or if they Feed the Worms.