NATIONAL TELL A JOKE DAY
This May Be Easier If You Also Celebrate National Rum Day!
-Now that we have had a chance to process the Fani Willis-created mega-indictment of Ex-President Trump XCI and 18 other indictees, it's time to single out some of the 'highlights' of who and what and why. For example ...
-Rudy Giuliani (13 counts), who spent the day wailing about how MISAPPROPRIATED! the RICO law of GA is being used by Willis, since Rudes sees himself as the inventor of the RICO statutes that he used to take down the Italian Mafia families of NY (although reportedly he did so in part to allow Russian organized crime organizations to enter NYC). He apparently didn't notice Willis has used RICO laws successfully in 11 prosecutions in GA ranging from rap posses turned street gangs (in a drug case) to the Atlanta public school system (in a case involving the rigging of test scores). Or he could be worried that he is reportedly already nearly broke and flailing for money to cover a number of legal pickles he is in. Or that he is 78 and is looking at the rest of his natural life in prison if convicted. Or all that scotch ...
-Mark Meadows (2 counts), who was conspicuously absent from Special Prosecutor Jack Smith's indictment report, who yesterday made the first move expected by many others on the list: a motion to move the venue of the trial to federal court instead of local court - a move that legal commentator Allison Gill notes would NOT mean Willis would still not be prosecuted or that the charges and penalties would change, merely that a new judge would be selected and the trial would not be televised (which this case will be). In a quirk of the law, while it is not expected a move like this from Trump will help him, some believe it has a better chance with Meadows, who argues he was merely acting as a federal official and therefore deserves the trial there (the counter argument, of course, is that trying to overthrow an election is not in any federal employee's job description).
-Jenna Ellis (2 counts), who already has had to endure contracting COVID after being audibly farted on by Giuliani at a post-election press conference (eyeroll) (snicker!), proclaiming on social media her desire to allow "God" to take care of the indictments - likely because she has been told by Team Trump that, despite working on this and other schemes in 2020, her support of 2024 candidate and nearly-crushed Trump rival Ron DeSantis has iced her out of the Trump Inner Circle and therefore will not get any legal help or financial support for her defense from Trump. (This has led many to watch her as being a ripe candidate for cutting a deal to testify against Trump.)
-And my personal 'favorite,' Trevian Kutti. Kutti has been charged with trying to intimidate the two Fulton County election judges singled out by Trump and (by his own admission) slandered by Giuliani, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. Why? Well, Kutti is a Chicago-based publicist whose client list apparently was of particular interest to Trump, the two most prominent of which were genius-turned-mentally-unstable-anti-Semite Kanye West and that other charming Chicago musician of the same era, R. Kelly.
-That the entire release of the indictments occurred on a night that, by pure coincidence but super-happy timing, Hillary Clinton appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show (as part of the MSNBC coverage that dominated Monday's ratings) (HA HA, Fox!) and reacted with grace and laughter, was not lost on right-wing commentators, who of course were ANN-GRY! at the scoffing disrespect Hillary showed. Especially known commentator Lara "I'm So Dumb I VOLUNTARILY Married Eric Trump!" Trump.
-MAGAtWorld clearly wanted a reaction more like the one Party Leader Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Z-Q-R, GA) displayed: a social media post with an American flag displayed upside-down as a symbol of distress and an emergency, and an appearance on right-wing media in which Greene said Willis should not be interfering with the election (Greene still hopes to be named Trump's running mate) and instead "Fani Willis should be going after RAPISTS!" (No word on who will tell her.)
-All of this said, we may very well be on the verge of the entire case collapsing. Trump trumpeted on social media that this Monday, he will helm a press conference at which a report will be released. Trump posts, "Based on the results of this CONCLUSIVE Report, all charges should be dropped against me & others - There will be a complete EXONERATION!" Not content to set up a likely warmed-over Mike Lindell conspiracy bullet list, Trump continued pushing the limits of his order to not intimidate potential witnesses by adding "They never went after those that Rigged the Election. They only went after those that fought to find the RIGGERS!"
-Ugh.
-A quick rundown of other news happening while Indictment IV In 3-D unspools: Ukrainian drones have continued being sent against the Kursk Bridge connecting Ukraine with Crimea as Russia continues attacking coastal cities and threatening grain shipments (SLAVA UKRAINI!) ... the death toll in the Maui wildfires - at least one of which having started, per security footage, with the downing of an electric or cable line - has surpassed 100, with President Biden and his wife traveling to the island on Monday ... polling in NH now has former NJ Gov. Chris Christie second and still-fading-in-an-entertainingly-humiliating way FL Gov. Ron DeSantis ... the Emmy Awards have been moved from September to January pending settlement of the WGA and SAG/AFTRA strikes (SOLIDARITY!) ... and, the New York Yankees are now dangerously close to .500, well out of the playoff hunt and their worst record since 1995 - OH DARN!
-On this date in 1896, gold was discovered in the Yukon Valley. On this date in 1954, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED debuted. On this date in 1960, Cyprus gained its independence. On this date in 1974, The Ramones made their debut at CBGB's. And on this date in 2012, Ecuador granted asylum to Julian Assange.
-Happy Birthday to Amos Alonzo Stagg, T.E. Lawrence, Mae Clark, Menachem Begin, Charles Bukowski, Fess Parker, Eydie Gorme, Bill Evans, Fritz Von Erich, Frank Gifford, Robert Culp, Tony Trabert, Forrest E. Mars Jr., Julie Newmar, Bob Balaban, Lesley Ann Warren, Carol Moseley-Braun, Kathie Lee Gifford, James Cameron, Laura Innes, Angela Bassett, Madonna, Flood, Timothy Hutton, Christian Okoye, Steve Carrell, Ed Olczyk, Terry Shumpert, Bret Barberie, Taika Waititi, Yu Darvish, Rumer Willis, Sawayama, and Young Thug.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to John Pemberton, Robert Bunsen, Robert Johnson, Babe Ruth, Margaret Mitchell, Bela Lugosi, Elvis Presley, Earl Averill, Shamu, John Cameron Swayze, Bobby DeBarge, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Max Roach, John McLaughlin, Aretha Franklin, and Peter Fonda.
-Feed the Worms: Ugandan dictator and alleged cannibal Idi Amin bought it on this date.