HUG AN ECONOMIST DAY UPDATES

For My Niece Amanda Who Majored in Economics!

-It is January 31, and much focus is now in the courtroom of Judge Arthur Engoron, who said weeks ago that he would issue his sentence in the trial of Ex-President Trump, failsons Donald “SCHNORT!” Trump Jr. and Eric “Eric” Trump, and The Trump Organization, for their chronic and systemic fraud perpetrated against the taxpayers and treasury of New York State. NY Attorney General Tish James asked for $370M in damages as well as revoking Trump and sons’ abilities to conduct business in NY, and given the massive $850M owed to E. Jean Carroll and other legal fees (estimated to be at least $50M in 2023 pending financial reports on his last quarter), Trump is (of course) railing against the RIGGED WITCH HUNT all of humanity is laying on The Last Honest Man In The World – “ME!” (as Trump is wont to say in his social media rantings). No word as of the drafting of this update, but hope springs eternal!

-(Checks. Nope.)

-Speaking of lawyers and Trump, the inevital bus tread is now appearing on the back of inept but pretty attorney Alina “He Said He Would Pay Me In Two Weeks!” Habba, as the word has gone out that Trump is looking for more suckers – er, fame-sucking wannabees – to try to file an appeal to the Carroll verdict. The problem, according to numerous legal experts, is that Habba was so inept in her representation of Trump that she not only “took a speeding ticket and turned it into the death penalty” (per many social media memes), but did so in a way to leave Trump literally no legal recourse for any possible appeals. And that’s a problem, as Trump has to come up with the entire payment pretty much immediately, which if combined with a potential Engoron ruling may force Trump to sell assets or appeal to sugar daddies in China and/or Russia and/or Saudi Arabia to come up with the scratch. Simply put, he has to pony up!

-(Checks updates. Nothing from Engoron yet.)

-And Trump apparently wants to also get in on the fun of the right-wing mega-meltdown over one Taylor Swift. While conspiracy theories continue to ridiculously fly over Swift and Kansas City Chief BF Travis Kelce being deep state plants to sway those damn girls and make them vote for Biden, Rolling Stone reports Trump is also ANNN-GRY at the Swifties, though Rolling Stone it’s because Trump is insanely jealous of Swift’s popularity and anger that she actually was Time Magazine Person of the Year (and not a phony one like the faux Time covers he printed for himself). The obsession is so deep that the Trump campaign is allegedly plotting to attack Swift should she endorse Biden as she did in 2020 given the last time Swift asked her fans to register to vote, at least 35,000 of them did.

-(Engoron? Nope …)

-While I and others laugh at this insane right-wing Swift madness, there is sadly a terrifying underbelly to the rage that feeds Trump and the MAGAts. The most grotesque example of that appears to have occurred yesterday in Middletown, PA, where (TRIGGER WARNINIG FOR VIOLENCE) a 32-year old man has been arrested for beheading his father and parading the decapitated head in a since-removed 14-minute YouTube video in which the perpetrator ranted against (among others), President Biden, Black Lives Matter, ANTIFA, and the LGBTQI community while calling for the death of all federal employees. The perpetrator allegedly filed three lawsuits against Federal agencies connected to student loans (at least one of which was dismissed) and claimed his father, who was reportedly a federal employee, called the perpetrator a “traitor.” Some news reports have failed to mention the apparent motivation for the murder.

-(Still nothing from New York.)

-Iran has warned the United States it would retaliate should the United States attack Iranian assets in retaliation for a drone strike over the weekend that killed three American soldiers. President Biden has vowed to retaliate “at a time and place of our choosing,” and it is weighing the timing of such a counterattack in the wake of reports of negotiations continuing that is attempting to broker a longer-term cease-fire between Israel and HAMAS to allow for hostage exchanges and humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza (amid other reports that some United Nations employees may have aided HAMAS in the October 7, 2023 attacks).

-Perhaps with this batch of news it should not have been surprised that yesterday, when Sesame Street used its Elmo social media feed (including TwiX and Threads) to ask “How are you doing today?,” the results were, according to one summary, “an outpouring of despair” particularly on TwiX.

-Much of that despair likely came from its owner, batcrap loon Elon Musk, as a court yesterday ruled that Tesla overpaid Musk last year to the tune of a mere $55 BILLION – the amount Tesla’s Board approved that a DE court reversed yesterday. Even though another Musk-owned company touted they successfully inserted a microchip into someone’s brain (no word on if the brain has exploded or forced the recipient to drive into traffic yet) (WHAT? TOO SOON?!), but the news did turn a bit grim there, and still no word from Judge Engoron, so let’s wrap there and keep looking!

-On this date in 1950, Harry Truman approved development of a hydrogen bomb. On this date in 1958, the United States launched its first successful satellite, Explorer 1. On this date in 1966, the then-Soviet Union landed a spacecraft on the moon with a “soft landing.” On this date in 1968, the U.S. Embassy in Saigon was attacked as part of North Vietnam’s Tet Offensive. And on this date in 2020, Great Britain left the European Union after a shocking plebiscite in 2016 (and reportedly regrets its decision deeply).

-Notable opening: THESE ARE MY CHIDREN (the first televised soap opera, 1949), the synthesizer (1955), THE MISFITS (1961), the Pompidou Centre (1977), FAMILY GUY (1999).

-Happy Birthday to Franz Schubert, Zane Grey, Eddie Cantor, Tallulah Bankhead, John O’Hara, Don Hutson, Jersey Joe Walcott, Garry Moore, Thomas Merton, Jackie Robinson, Carol Channing, Mario Lanza, Norman Mailer, Benjamin Hooks, Lorraine Warren, Jean Simmons, Ernie Banks, James Franciscus, Philip Glass, Suzanne Pleshette, Stuart Margolin, Jessica Walter, Richard Gephardt, Glynn Turman, Jonathan Banks, Terry Kath, Nolan Ryan, Harry “KC” Wayne Casey, Phil Manzanera, John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon, Kelly Lynch, Lloyd Cole, Sophie Muller, Fat Mike, Doug Pederson, Minnie Driver, Portia de Rossi, Kerry Washington, Justin Timberlake, and Marcus Mumford.

-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Guy Fawkes, Private Eddie Slovik, Edwin Armstrong, A.A. Milne, Meher Baba, Slim Harpo, Samuel Goldwyn, Barbara Cowsill, George Abbott, Moira Shearer, Molly Ivins, and Mary Higgins Clark.

-Feed the Worms: Environment-hating Reagan Interior Secretary James Watt entered Earth on this date.

-Aaaannnndddd … no Engoron yet (but given the threats he’s gotten, perhaps he needs a break if he doesn’t get it done today!)!