NATIONAL DEEP DISH PIZZA DAY UPDATES
I Shall Celebrate Tonight With A George's Deep Dish Pizza (from my Edgewater Chicago Neighborhood)!
-On the whole, yesterday was (mostly) another Horrible Terrible No Good Very Bad Legal Day for Ex-President Trump (R-apist) LXXXVIII. In GA, his attempt to have the trial surrounding the scheme to steal GA's 2020 electoral votes from the winner (Joe Biden) on the basis that all the talk about 11,780 votes was "FREE SPEECH" was summarily dismissed, hopefully with laughter behind the scenes. Another attempt to delay the felony trial of paying off porn star Stormy Daniels from concealing a ten-minute extramarital sexual encounter from 2016 voters on the basis of Presidents Can Do Anything At All was also rejected - and the gag order to try to keep Trump from threatening family members connected with the courts and prosecutors was expanded. And the $175M bond posted in the civil fraud trial to prevent the state of NY from seizing Trump 'assets' was called into question as NY DA Tish James asked for proof that the subprime auto loan insurance company providing backing for the bond and their CEO, Mr. Tom Hankey (HI-DE-HO!!), was solvent and the $175 was actually going to be posted. Sad, huh?
-Well, don't be too celebratory, because even though a fourth ruling in FL seemed to be bad for Trump - an apparent rejection of a motion to dismiss the classified documents case - within the ruling was yet another tongue waggle towards Trump by The Only Judge Trump Waggles His Tongue At Knowing THAT Will Get A Reciprocal Waggle, the one and (thank Jesus) only Aileen Cannon. Responding to Special Prosecutor Jack Smith's demand that Cannon rule on whether she will use one of two jury instructions sent to her that would enshrine Trump's argument that When His Wee Tiny Fingers Touch Anything They Are Forever Always His - an interpretation of the Presidential Records Act Smith called "flawed" and other attorneys call "ass-backwards" - Cannon made her Trump tongue waggle a flat-out raspberry towards Smith, calling Smith's demand "unprecedented and unjust" (never mind the initial request to have prosecutors and defendants write jury instructions before a trial date is even set extremely ... unusual).
-The problem: by even entertaining Trump's misinterpretation of the Presidential Records Act, Cannon is holding the possibility of not ruling on which jury instruction to use until a jury is seated and the prosecution begins to present their case. Once that happens, Cannon THEN could rule that she actually likes Trump's misinterpretation (waggle!), and could then use that interpretation to dismiss the entire case from the bench (WAGGLE!!) - and because the case by then would have been presented, Smith could not appeal the case and Trump would go free (FRENCH KISS) (yep, it's meant to be disturbing).
-The solution? Because Cannon's mechanizations are just short of being fully illegal (prompting speculation over whether she is the one actually manipulating the proceedings given what most observers see as her clear inexperience and/or incompetence), appealing this ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to rule she is too incompetent and/or biased towards Trump (reaching for mouthwash) is a dice roll. Smith can make one more motion demanding Cannon directly rule on whether she thinks the Presidential Records Act is magic and/or which jury instructions she will use - and should she not rule or rule against Smith, THEN Smith could appeal to get her off the case once and for all.
-This would, of course, take time, which is the Trump strategy that, thanks in large part to Cannon, is succeeding beyond his dreams - particularly given that most observers see the documents case as being both the most straightforward of all the cases against Trump and the one that would be the fasted to prosecute should a trial actually begin. Keep watching this space since it is literally all that can be done ...
-Back to good news: the would-be third-party No Labels announced yesterday they will end their hunt for a 'moderate' to run for President in 2024. The organization had been hoping to capitalize on so-called independent voters upset at Trump being Trump and Biden B-ing Old, but attempts to recruit former NJ Gov. Chris Christie and outgoing WV Sen. Joe Manchin proved fruitless, and the movement received what looks like a literal mortal blow when co-founder and former Democrat-turned-Independent Senator Joe Lieberman died as a result of injuries from a fall last week. Officials of No Labels - and this morning, Christie - announced they will support Joe Biden this November.
-And on that Biden support, yet another boring boffo jobs report was released this morning, with another 303,000 jobs added to the economy in March, with February and January jobs also revised upwards. Now more than 6 million jobs have been added since Joe Biden took office, leaving Fox Bid-ness Lead Anchor Maria Bartiromo very sad and groping to try to label the booming Biden economy "too good" (noting inflation still is stubborn and interest rates holding back the real estate market and first-time home purchases from increasing).
-After a pointed call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which President Biden threatened that American support of Israel is on the precipice of being cut, the Israeli military announced five military officers were fired for allegedly approving the attack that led to the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen volunteers - and also reopened what are referred to as 'avenues' for desperately-needed humanitarian aid to be moved to Palestine. The moves were made even as American political figures who want an end to all military aid to Israel noted that the White House allowed a new shipment of munitions to be sent to Israel hours before Biden's phone conversation. Tensions with many Progressives over the Gaza War continue to loom as the attacks in Palestine continue and the Presidential election evolves.
-In sportsball-ish news ... welcome to one of the bigger weekends of the American sports calendar! The NCAA mens' and womens' basketball tournaments end this weekend with remarkable parallels: both the Men's Final Four (in Phoenix) and Women's Final Four (in Cleveland) boast dominant and undefeated Number One Seeds (UConn for the men, South Carolina for the women), both feature Big Ten-bred Players of the Year (Purdue's Zach Eady for the guys, Iowa's Caitlin Clark for the gals), and both feature teams from UConn and North Carolina State. The Women's Final Four is tonight and Sunday, the men tomorrow and Monday.
-As if that wasn't enough, the Super Bowl of Sports Entertainment, WWE's Wrestlemania, takes place tomorrow AND Sunday (yep, it's two days now) in Philadelphia's Lincoln Field. Wrestlemania marks the return to the ring of Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock - and in this year's main story line, The Rock (who is now actually a co-owner of the company that purchased the WWE from rancid sex creep Vince McMahon) is a bad guy bent on destroying the career of the company's new-biggest 'babyface,' Cody Rhodes (the son of a legendary pro wrestler from the 80s and 90s, Dusty Rhodes). With a billion-dollar deal in place that will move WWE's main shows to Netflix, the company is arguably on its biggest roll since the 'Attitude' Era of the 1990s and their breakout 1980s years behind Hulk Hogan.
-If that's too much wrestling news for you, let's end today's update with Why The Internet Is (Sometimes) Wonderfully Stupid! This episode stars Paul McCartney, who used his social media site to heap loads of praise on Beyonce and her cover version of "Blackbird," sung on her COWBOY CARTER album with other black country music artists. No, "Blackbird" is not a country song, but - as McCartney pointed out in his post - it was written in response to McCartney reading about the Civil Rights movement and his support of the movement. That post has - and here's the (Sometimes) Wondefully Stupid part - led to a number of right-wing and other posters arguing with McCartney that NO, Paul, you did NOT write "Blackbird" about the Civil Rights movement! WE DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAID!!!!
-(Long Raspberries Towards Dumb People On The Internet.)
-On this date in 1621, the MAYFLOWER embarked on a voyage that led to East/Southern Europeans discovering America. On this date in 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for espionage. On this date in 1984, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became the all-time leading scorer in the NBA - a lead that is now held by The All-Time Greatest, LeBron James. (Some things are just true.)
-Debuts on this date: the Presidential veto (1792), DIE FLEDERMAUS (1874), WGN TV (1948), A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951), Barbara Streisand on national television (1961), CARRIE (1974), the Fox Television Network (1987, debuting with MARRIED WITH CHILDREN and THE TRACEY ULLMAN SHOW, within which was also the debut of The Simpsons).
-Happy Birthday to Thomas Hobbes, Joseph Lister, Booker T. Washington, Walter Huston, Spencer Tracy, Melvyn Douglas, Bette Davis, Albert R. Broccoli, Gregory Peck, Roger Corman, Frank Gorshin, Stanley Turrentine, Colin Powell, Michael Moriarty, Allan Clarke, Peter Greenaway, Max Gail, Judith Resnik, Agnetha Faltskog, Rennie Stennett, Mitch Pileggi, Stan Ridgeway, Akira Toriyama, Diamond Dallas Page, Christopher "Kid" Reid, Mike McCready, Paula Cole, Pharrell WIlliams, Juicy J, Sterling K. Brown, and Hayley Atwell.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Georges Danton, Douglas MacArthur, Howard Hughes, Abe Fortas, Kurt Cobain, Marlon Riggs, Allen Ginsberg, Lee Petty, Layne Staley, Dale Messick, Debralee Scott, Saul Bellow, Gene Pitney, Darryl Stingley, Jim Marshall, John Pinette, Richard Dysart, Bobby Mitchell, Honor Blackman, and Bobby Rydell.
-Wal-Mart Founder Sam Walton and gun-loving Hollywood Icon Charlton Heston passed on this date. You decide if they Rest in Power or if they Feed the Worms.