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marmar's Journal
April 5, 2024
A dangerous return to denial: Trump's threats against Biden met by familiar media shrug
One of the many reasons why the mainstream news media has lost credibility with huge swaths of the public
By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED APRIL 4, 2024 5:45AM (EDT)
(Salon) Donald Trump has repeatedly shown himself to be a very dangerous man. As seen on Jan. 6 with his coup attempt and the lethal assault by his MAGA followers on the Capitol, he appears to have an erotic attachment to violence.
Last Friday, Trump shared an image of President Biden bound and gag, hog-tied, in the back of a pickup truck. Michael Tyler, who is the Biden campaign’s communications director, condemned Trump’s most recent threat. “[He] is regularly inciting political violence, and it's time people take him seriously — just ask the Capitol police officers who were attacked protecting our democracy on January 6. Donald Trump is perfectly comfortable with violence when he thinks it benefits him. In fact, he encourages it. Put simply, his campaign is about itself. It's about revenge. It's about retribution….Political violence has been and continues to be central to Donald Trump's brand of politics.”
In a video post on X/Twitter historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who is one of the world’s leading experts on fascism and authoritarianism, offered this context: "Being life-size, this image is allowing Americans to imagine a fate that Biden would have if he were removed in a violent way….And so it's continuing the coup of January 6."
....(snip)....
Predictably, Donald Trump’s threats of murder and other violence against President Biden are now being mostly ignored and willfully forgotten by the mainstream news media. By mostly ignoring Trump and his agent’s and followers’ threats of (and real acts of) violence against President Biden, leading Democrats, and other people deemed to be the “enemy”, the mainstream news media is enabling and encouraging such behavior – and by implication undermining American democracy and civil society. .............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/04/a-return-to-denial-against-biden-met-by-familiar-media-shrug/
A dangerous return to denial: Trump's threats against Biden met by familiar media shrug
A dangerous return to denial: Trump's threats against Biden met by familiar media shrug
One of the many reasons why the mainstream news media has lost credibility with huge swaths of the public
By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED APRIL 4, 2024 5:45AM (EDT)
(Salon) Donald Trump has repeatedly shown himself to be a very dangerous man. As seen on Jan. 6 with his coup attempt and the lethal assault by his MAGA followers on the Capitol, he appears to have an erotic attachment to violence.
Last Friday, Trump shared an image of President Biden bound and gag, hog-tied, in the back of a pickup truck. Michael Tyler, who is the Biden campaign’s communications director, condemned Trump’s most recent threat. “[He] is regularly inciting political violence, and it's time people take him seriously — just ask the Capitol police officers who were attacked protecting our democracy on January 6. Donald Trump is perfectly comfortable with violence when he thinks it benefits him. In fact, he encourages it. Put simply, his campaign is about itself. It's about revenge. It's about retribution….Political violence has been and continues to be central to Donald Trump's brand of politics.”
In a video post on X/Twitter historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who is one of the world’s leading experts on fascism and authoritarianism, offered this context: "Being life-size, this image is allowing Americans to imagine a fate that Biden would have if he were removed in a violent way….And so it's continuing the coup of January 6."
....(snip)....
Predictably, Donald Trump’s threats of murder and other violence against President Biden are now being mostly ignored and willfully forgotten by the mainstream news media. By mostly ignoring Trump and his agent’s and followers’ threats of (and real acts of) violence against President Biden, leading Democrats, and other people deemed to be the “enemy”, the mainstream news media is enabling and encouraging such behavior – and by implication undermining American democracy and civil society. .............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/04/a-return-to-denial-against-biden-met-by-familiar-media-shrug/
April 4, 2024
(Detroit Free Press) Jennifer Crumbley wants to live with her lawyer on house arrest instead of going to prison for her conviction in the Oxford High School mass shooting carried out by her son, but the prosecution is urging the judge to give her 10 to 15 years in prison instead, arguing she has shown "a chilling lack of remorse."
"Such a proposed sentence is a slap in the face to the severity of tragedy caused by (Jennifer Crumbley's) gross negligence, the victims and their families," Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Marc Keast wrote in a sentencing memo filed late Wednesday. The document disclosed Jennifer Crumbley's wishes to avoid prison, and new details about the embattled parents of the Oxford school shooter.
Among them is that the state recommended a sentencing range of 43 to 86 months — or a maximum of about seven years — for both parents, who are scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday after separate juries convicted them on four counts of involuntary manslaughter. Each count carries up to 15 years in prison, which Jennifer Crumbley is trying to avoid altogether. The state guideline is advisory, based on post-conviction interviews and facts of the case. ..................(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2024/04/03/james-jennifer-crumbley-prosecution-seeks-10-15-years/73189235007/
Jennifer Crumbley wants to live in her lawyer's guest house, not prison
(Detroit Free Press) Jennifer Crumbley wants to live with her lawyer on house arrest instead of going to prison for her conviction in the Oxford High School mass shooting carried out by her son, but the prosecution is urging the judge to give her 10 to 15 years in prison instead, arguing she has shown "a chilling lack of remorse."
"Such a proposed sentence is a slap in the face to the severity of tragedy caused by (Jennifer Crumbley's) gross negligence, the victims and their families," Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Marc Keast wrote in a sentencing memo filed late Wednesday. The document disclosed Jennifer Crumbley's wishes to avoid prison, and new details about the embattled parents of the Oxford school shooter.
Among them is that the state recommended a sentencing range of 43 to 86 months — or a maximum of about seven years — for both parents, who are scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday after separate juries convicted them on four counts of involuntary manslaughter. Each count carries up to 15 years in prison, which Jennifer Crumbley is trying to avoid altogether. The state guideline is advisory, based on post-conviction interviews and facts of the case. ..................(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2024/04/03/james-jennifer-crumbley-prosecution-seeks-10-15-years/73189235007/
April 4, 2024
One of the many reasons why the mainstream news media has lost credibility with huge swaths of the public
By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED APRIL 4, 2024 5:45AM (EDT)
(Salon) Donald Trump has repeatedly shown himself to be a very dangerous man. As seen on Jan. 6 with his coup attempt and the lethal assault by his MAGA followers on the Capitol, he appears to have an erotic attachment to violence.
Last Friday, Trump shared an image of President Biden bound and gag, hog-tied, in the back of a pickup truck. Michael Tyler, who is the Biden campaign’s communications director, condemned Trump’s most recent threat. “[He] is regularly inciting political violence, and it's time people take him seriously — just ask the Capitol police officers who were attacked protecting our democracy on January 6. Donald Trump is perfectly comfortable with violence when he thinks it benefits him. In fact, he encourages it. Put simply, his campaign is about itself. It's about revenge. It's about retribution….Political violence has been and continues to be central to Donald Trump's brand of politics.”
In a video post on X/Twitter historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who is one of the world’s leading experts on fascism and authoritarianism, offered this context: "Being life-size, this image is allowing Americans to imagine a fate that Biden would have if he were removed in a violent way….And so it's continuing the coup of January 6."
....(snip)....
Predictably, Donald Trump’s threats of murder and other violence against President Biden are now being mostly ignored and willfully forgotten by the mainstream news media. By mostly ignoring Trump and his agent’s and followers’ threats of (and real acts of) violence against President Biden, leading Democrats, and other people deemed to be the “enemy”, the mainstream news media is enabling and encouraging such behavior – and by implication undermining American democracy and civil society. .............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/04/a-return-to-denial-against-biden-met-by-familiar-media-shrug/
A dangerous return to denial: Trump's threats against Biden met by familiar media shrug
A dangerous return to denial: Trump's threats against Biden met by familiar media shrugOne of the many reasons why the mainstream news media has lost credibility with huge swaths of the public
By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED APRIL 4, 2024 5:45AM (EDT)
(Salon) Donald Trump has repeatedly shown himself to be a very dangerous man. As seen on Jan. 6 with his coup attempt and the lethal assault by his MAGA followers on the Capitol, he appears to have an erotic attachment to violence.
Last Friday, Trump shared an image of President Biden bound and gag, hog-tied, in the back of a pickup truck. Michael Tyler, who is the Biden campaign’s communications director, condemned Trump’s most recent threat. “[He] is regularly inciting political violence, and it's time people take him seriously — just ask the Capitol police officers who were attacked protecting our democracy on January 6. Donald Trump is perfectly comfortable with violence when he thinks it benefits him. In fact, he encourages it. Put simply, his campaign is about itself. It's about revenge. It's about retribution….Political violence has been and continues to be central to Donald Trump's brand of politics.”
In a video post on X/Twitter historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who is one of the world’s leading experts on fascism and authoritarianism, offered this context: "Being life-size, this image is allowing Americans to imagine a fate that Biden would have if he were removed in a violent way….And so it's continuing the coup of January 6."
....(snip)....
Predictably, Donald Trump’s threats of murder and other violence against President Biden are now being mostly ignored and willfully forgotten by the mainstream news media. By mostly ignoring Trump and his agent’s and followers’ threats of (and real acts of) violence against President Biden, leading Democrats, and other people deemed to be the “enemy”, the mainstream news media is enabling and encouraging such behavior – and by implication undermining American democracy and civil society. .............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/04/a-return-to-denial-against-biden-met-by-familiar-media-shrug/
April 4, 2024
Evicted, arrested and being sued by the boss: When will MAGA learn loyalty to Trump ends in sorrow?
Another week, another round of people destroying their lives while Trump skates free of consequences
By AMANDA MARCOTTE
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED APRIL 4, 2024 6:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) When I saw the news that the stock price of Truth Social went into freefall after the company initally went public for $8 billion, I immediately sent a joke to a friend text circle: "Whoever allowed the contract to keep Trump from dumping the stock until 6 months post-sale is gonna be covered in ketchup." Shortly after it was released, the company's stock soared to $70 a share, initially meaning Trump, on paper at least, had netted $3 billion in wealth. But Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business, told CNN he was "confident the stock price will eventually drop to $2 a share and could even go below that," because Truth Social's business model is not conducive to profit.
....(snip)....
In a lawsuit filed right before public SEC filings showed Truth Social lost $58 million last year, Trump tried to push the blame onto his co-founders, two former "Apprentice" contestants named Wes Moss and Andy Litinsky. It is true the two only managed to get, as Noah calculated, fewer than 2% of MAGA Republicans to create accounts. But still, they managed to make Trump $2 billion richer (on paper), while also giving him an outlet to whine incoherently for hours a day. That is, of course, how it goes: Bend over backward to help Trump out, and he will thank you by coating you in rage-ketchup.
Trump regularly offers paeans to the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, holding a ceremony to honor those who are facing legal consequences for their criminal efforts to help him overthrow the government. Sometimes he even promises pardons. All this is done for a nakedly obvious purpose: To convince followers to risk their own skins in the future on Trump's behalf. But it's telling that Trump never offers any material support to the over 1,300 people who have been charged with crimes. Despite his claims to be a "billionaire," he hasn't paid their legal bills or helped their families after they lost their jobs. He loves to get publicly maudlin about Ashli Babbitt, the insurrectionist shot by Capitol police, but he didn't offer to say, cut back a little on his golf club budget to pay for Babbitt's funeral.
....(snip)....
When is the last time Trump even bothered to call Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, who put his considerable fortune to work paying for what Trump would not: Various efforts to validate the Big Lie and rally support for Trump's coup? Lindell's once-mighty linens empire was delivered another humiliating blow last week when his company was evicted from a Minnesota building after falling behind $200,000 on rent. The month before, Lindell was hit with a $5 million judgment, owed to a software engineer who entered Lindell's "Prove Mike Wrong Challenge," in which Lindell claimed no one could debunk his supposed "evidence" that President Joe Biden stole the 2020 election from Trump. But the "data" Lindell claimed to have appears to be random nonsense that has nothing to do with the election. ..........................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/04/evicted-arrested-and-being-sued-by-the-boss-when-will-maga-learn-loyalty-to-ends-in-sorrow/
Evicted, arrested and being sued by the boss: When will MAGA learn loyalty to Trump ends in sorrow?
Evicted, arrested and being sued by the boss: When will MAGA learn loyalty to Trump ends in sorrow?
Another week, another round of people destroying their lives while Trump skates free of consequences
By AMANDA MARCOTTE
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED APRIL 4, 2024 6:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) When I saw the news that the stock price of Truth Social went into freefall after the company initally went public for $8 billion, I immediately sent a joke to a friend text circle: "Whoever allowed the contract to keep Trump from dumping the stock until 6 months post-sale is gonna be covered in ketchup." Shortly after it was released, the company's stock soared to $70 a share, initially meaning Trump, on paper at least, had netted $3 billion in wealth. But Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business, told CNN he was "confident the stock price will eventually drop to $2 a share and could even go below that," because Truth Social's business model is not conducive to profit.
....(snip)....
In a lawsuit filed right before public SEC filings showed Truth Social lost $58 million last year, Trump tried to push the blame onto his co-founders, two former "Apprentice" contestants named Wes Moss and Andy Litinsky. It is true the two only managed to get, as Noah calculated, fewer than 2% of MAGA Republicans to create accounts. But still, they managed to make Trump $2 billion richer (on paper), while also giving him an outlet to whine incoherently for hours a day. That is, of course, how it goes: Bend over backward to help Trump out, and he will thank you by coating you in rage-ketchup.
Trump regularly offers paeans to the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, holding a ceremony to honor those who are facing legal consequences for their criminal efforts to help him overthrow the government. Sometimes he even promises pardons. All this is done for a nakedly obvious purpose: To convince followers to risk their own skins in the future on Trump's behalf. But it's telling that Trump never offers any material support to the over 1,300 people who have been charged with crimes. Despite his claims to be a "billionaire," he hasn't paid their legal bills or helped their families after they lost their jobs. He loves to get publicly maudlin about Ashli Babbitt, the insurrectionist shot by Capitol police, but he didn't offer to say, cut back a little on his golf club budget to pay for Babbitt's funeral.
....(snip)....
When is the last time Trump even bothered to call Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, who put his considerable fortune to work paying for what Trump would not: Various efforts to validate the Big Lie and rally support for Trump's coup? Lindell's once-mighty linens empire was delivered another humiliating blow last week when his company was evicted from a Minnesota building after falling behind $200,000 on rent. The month before, Lindell was hit with a $5 million judgment, owed to a software engineer who entered Lindell's "Prove Mike Wrong Challenge," in which Lindell claimed no one could debunk his supposed "evidence" that President Joe Biden stole the 2020 election from Trump. But the "data" Lindell claimed to have appears to be random nonsense that has nothing to do with the election. ..........................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/04/evicted-arrested-and-being-sued-by-the-boss-when-will-maga-learn-loyalty-to-ends-in-sorrow/
April 4, 2024
In a lawsuit filed on March 24 in Florida state court, Donald Trump is suing Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss — former contestants on Trump’s reality-TV show “The Apprentice,” and co-founders of Truth Social's newly public parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group — seeking forfeit of their shares.
In the filing, Trump alleges that Litinsky and Moss made "reckless and wasteful decisions," and caused "significant damage" to the company by getting in the way of an earlier attempt to take Trump Media public, causing a significant delay, and hits back at a complaint filed by the two of them in February in which they sought to block Trump from taking steps that they saw as potentially reducing their combined 8.6% stake.
"TMTG has been forced to file this action to remedy the harm inflicted upon it by two faithless fiduciaries and a company they own — Wesley Moss, Andrew Litinsky, and [United Atlantic Ventures] — and to halt their ongoing attempts to do even more damage," the filing said, per ABC News. Trump's stake in the company is currently worth more than $4 billion. ...................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/03/in-legal-battle-with-media-co-founders-over-back-and-forth-regarding-company-shares/?in_brief=true
There's no honor among assholes
Trump in legal battle with Trump Media co-founders over back-and-forth regarding company sharesIn a lawsuit filed on March 24 in Florida state court, Donald Trump is suing Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss — former contestants on Trump’s reality-TV show “The Apprentice,” and co-founders of Truth Social's newly public parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group — seeking forfeit of their shares.
In the filing, Trump alleges that Litinsky and Moss made "reckless and wasteful decisions," and caused "significant damage" to the company by getting in the way of an earlier attempt to take Trump Media public, causing a significant delay, and hits back at a complaint filed by the two of them in February in which they sought to block Trump from taking steps that they saw as potentially reducing their combined 8.6% stake.
"TMTG has been forced to file this action to remedy the harm inflicted upon it by two faithless fiduciaries and a company they own — Wesley Moss, Andrew Litinsky, and [United Atlantic Ventures] — and to halt their ongoing attempts to do even more damage," the filing said, per ABC News. Trump's stake in the company is currently worth more than $4 billion. ...................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/03/in-legal-battle-with-media-co-founders-over-back-and-forth-regarding-company-shares/?in_brief=true
April 3, 2024
Trump is running on a platform that says both he and law enforcement across the land should be immune from the law
By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
Columnist
PUBLISHED APRIL 3, 2024 9:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) Donald Trump, an alleged "master brander," has liberally stolen all of his most famous slogans from other politicians, starting with "Make America Great Again" which he took from Ronald Reagan. During the 2016 campaign, he made a big announcement that he was going to be the "Law and Order" candidate, which made many people chuckle since it evoked the famous TV show. But it was also one of Richard Nixon's winning slogans in 1968, used to appeal to the white conservatives who were freaking out over civil rights and anti-war protests.
....(snip)....
This standard piece of his stump speech thrills Trump's followers, of course, which is a big part of why he does it. Racism and xenophobia are the coins of the MAGA realm. The current Agenda 2025 plan to enlist the local police and deploy red state national guard troops to blue cities to round up migrants and send them to deportation camps is undoubtedly a huge hit with the faithful. And he made the promise explicitly in his Michigan speech, declaring that "we have to get law and order back" as he stood in front of a line of police officers who all applauded when he said it.
....(snip)....
He also promised to pass laws to give law enforcement immunity from prosecution which he usually discusses in the context of his whiny demand for presidential "total immunity" As he posted on Truth Social:
....(snip)....
And he's doing this at the same time that he's promising to pardon the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, specifically pledging to release the detainees being held in the Washington D.C. jail whom he has taken to calling "hostages" and with whom he collaborated on a recording of the national anthem. Just Security reports that the movement to free these prisoners has been organized by the mother of Ashli Babbit, the anointed MAGA martyr of Jan. 6. She told the Washington Post that Trump called her and told her “to pass that on to the guys inside that they’re on his mind, and when he gets in they’ll get out.” ...........(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/03/why-the-police-are-providing-cover-for-jan-6/
Why the police are providing Trump cover for Jan. 6
Why the police are providing Trump cover for Jan. 6Trump is running on a platform that says both he and law enforcement across the land should be immune from the law
By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
Columnist
PUBLISHED APRIL 3, 2024 9:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) Donald Trump, an alleged "master brander," has liberally stolen all of his most famous slogans from other politicians, starting with "Make America Great Again" which he took from Ronald Reagan. During the 2016 campaign, he made a big announcement that he was going to be the "Law and Order" candidate, which made many people chuckle since it evoked the famous TV show. But it was also one of Richard Nixon's winning slogans in 1968, used to appeal to the white conservatives who were freaking out over civil rights and anti-war protests.
....(snip)....
This standard piece of his stump speech thrills Trump's followers, of course, which is a big part of why he does it. Racism and xenophobia are the coins of the MAGA realm. The current Agenda 2025 plan to enlist the local police and deploy red state national guard troops to blue cities to round up migrants and send them to deportation camps is undoubtedly a huge hit with the faithful. And he made the promise explicitly in his Michigan speech, declaring that "we have to get law and order back" as he stood in front of a line of police officers who all applauded when he said it.
....(snip)....
He also promised to pass laws to give law enforcement immunity from prosecution which he usually discusses in the context of his whiny demand for presidential "total immunity" As he posted on Truth Social:
A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES MUST HAVE FULL IMMUNITY, WITHOUT WHICH IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM/HER TO PROPERLY FUNCTION. ANY MISTAKE, EVEN IF WELL INTENDED, WOULD BE MET WITH ALMOST CERTAIN INDICTMENT BY THE OPPOSING PARTY AT TERM END. EVEN EVENTS THAT “CROSS THE LINE” MUST FALL UNDER TOTAL IMMUNITY, OR IT WILL BE YEARS OF TRAUMA TRYING TO DETERMINE GOOD FROM BAD. THERE MUST BE CERTAINTY. EXAMPLE: YOU CAN’T STOP POLICE FROM DOING THE JOB OF STRONG & EFFECTIVE CRIME PREVENTION BECAUSE YOU WANT TO GUARD AGAINST THE OCCASIONAL “ROGUE COP” OR “BAD APPLE.” SOMETIMES YOU JUST HAVE TO LIVE WITH “GREAT BUT SLIGHTLY IMPERFECT.” ALL PRESIDENTS MUST HAVE COMPLETE & TOTAL PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY, OR THE AUTHORITY & DECISIVENESS OF A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WILL BE STRIPPED & GONE FOREVER. HOPEFULLY THIS WILL BE AN EASY DECISION. GOD BLESS THE SUPREME COURT!
....(snip)....
And he's doing this at the same time that he's promising to pardon the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, specifically pledging to release the detainees being held in the Washington D.C. jail whom he has taken to calling "hostages" and with whom he collaborated on a recording of the national anthem. Just Security reports that the movement to free these prisoners has been organized by the mother of Ashli Babbit, the anointed MAGA martyr of Jan. 6. She told the Washington Post that Trump called her and told her “to pass that on to the guys inside that they’re on his mind, and when he gets in they’ll get out.” ...........(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/03/why-the-police-are-providing-cover-for-jan-6/
April 3, 2024
Donald Trump acts terrified to face a jury. He should be scared
Trump's efforts to disrupt his own trials only make jurors hate him more
By AMANDA MARCOTTE
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED APRIL 3, 2024 6:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) Donald Trump, as usual, is unhappy. Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over Trump's first criminal trial in Manhattan, just expanded an already existing gag order on the infamously whiny former president. The old one barred Trump from talking about jurors, witnesses, court staff, prosecutors, or family members of court staff, with the exception of the judge himself and lead prosecutor, District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump, like a 5-year-old looking for loopholes in the rules against cookie-stealing, immediately went after the judge's daughter instead, spreading lies about her that were clearly meant to make her worry for her safety. On Monday, at Bragg's request, Merchan amended the gag order to cover his own and Bragg's family members.
....(snip)....
This language about recusal suggests this tantrum is about more than Trump's usual emotional incontinence. For one thing, it's his usual efforts to throw as much sand in the gears as possible in hopes of delaying a trial scheduled to start April 15. It also suggests Trump is already looking past this trial to the appeals process, where all these accusations can be bundled into the argument that the judge was prejudicial and therefore the conviction should be thrown out.
....(snip)....
This case indeed gets downplayed in the media because it's viewed as not as serious as Trump's other criminal cases regarding his attempted coup or his theft of classified documents. But a jury is not asked to decide where they rank this case on the distorted scale of Trump's criminality. They're just going to be asked if Trump committed business fraud to hide a campaign finance violation. Trump knows better than anyone how guilty he is of that accusation. That he's sweating bullets suggests Trump thinks things won't go so well at trial.
....(snip)....
Not that he has the attention span, but Trump would be wise to watch the recent documentary "The Truth vs. Alex Jones," about the two successful defamation lawsuits filed against the Infowars host by the parents of Sandy Hook victims. In real time, I closely followed these cases addressing Jones' repeated defamtion of these parents by accusing them, falsely, of fabricating or lying about their children's murders. But even for me, the documentary was riveting — especially in the courtroom — for one big reason: You can see the jurors' faces when they are in the presence of Jones. It's quite the trip, watching these people grow increasingly disgusted with Jones, with his bombastic lying, to the point where some looked physically ill as he kept talking. ...............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/03/donald-acts-terrified-to-face-a-jury-he-should-be-scared/
Donald Trump acts terrified to face a jury. He should be scared
Donald Trump acts terrified to face a jury. He should be scared
Trump's efforts to disrupt his own trials only make jurors hate him more
By AMANDA MARCOTTE
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED APRIL 3, 2024 6:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) Donald Trump, as usual, is unhappy. Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over Trump's first criminal trial in Manhattan, just expanded an already existing gag order on the infamously whiny former president. The old one barred Trump from talking about jurors, witnesses, court staff, prosecutors, or family members of court staff, with the exception of the judge himself and lead prosecutor, District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump, like a 5-year-old looking for loopholes in the rules against cookie-stealing, immediately went after the judge's daughter instead, spreading lies about her that were clearly meant to make her worry for her safety. On Monday, at Bragg's request, Merchan amended the gag order to cover his own and Bragg's family members.
....(snip)....
This language about recusal suggests this tantrum is about more than Trump's usual emotional incontinence. For one thing, it's his usual efforts to throw as much sand in the gears as possible in hopes of delaying a trial scheduled to start April 15. It also suggests Trump is already looking past this trial to the appeals process, where all these accusations can be bundled into the argument that the judge was prejudicial and therefore the conviction should be thrown out.
....(snip)....
This case indeed gets downplayed in the media because it's viewed as not as serious as Trump's other criminal cases regarding his attempted coup or his theft of classified documents. But a jury is not asked to decide where they rank this case on the distorted scale of Trump's criminality. They're just going to be asked if Trump committed business fraud to hide a campaign finance violation. Trump knows better than anyone how guilty he is of that accusation. That he's sweating bullets suggests Trump thinks things won't go so well at trial.
....(snip)....
Not that he has the attention span, but Trump would be wise to watch the recent documentary "The Truth vs. Alex Jones," about the two successful defamation lawsuits filed against the Infowars host by the parents of Sandy Hook victims. In real time, I closely followed these cases addressing Jones' repeated defamtion of these parents by accusing them, falsely, of fabricating or lying about their children's murders. But even for me, the documentary was riveting — especially in the courtroom — for one big reason: You can see the jurors' faces when they are in the presence of Jones. It's quite the trip, watching these people grow increasingly disgusted with Jones, with his bombastic lying, to the point where some looked physically ill as he kept talking. ...............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/03/donald-acts-terrified-to-face-a-jury-he-should-be-scared/
April 3, 2024
(Detroit Free Press) John Sinclair, the beatnik poet and Detroit counterculture icon, died Tuesday morning of heart failure at 82.
....(snip)....
Here are some selected excerpts from that conversation, including Sinclair's thoughts on Detroit's rock history and audiences, his work with the alternative newspaper Fifth Estate, the founding of the White Panther Party with the MC5 and more — with some barbed remarks about artists such as the Grateful Dead, Ted Nugent and Andy Warhol.
His early musical interests: I grew up in the ’50s, and I was a rhythm ‘n’ blues fanatic as a teenager, so I had the good fortune of being 13 years old when rock ‘n’ roll came in. My life coincides with the life of rock ‘n’ roll, time-wise. When I got out of high school, I went off to college and got into jazz and poetry, beatnik-ism. So I didn’t pay attention to popular music the first half of the ’60s — I was strictly into jazz of the avant-garde variety: John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman.
....(snip)....
Founding the White Panther Party: That was the fall of ’68, right when we were making our (debut) record for Elektra. And again, there was no svengali aspect to that. Honestly, the White Panther Party was the only political party in American history founded by a rock ‘n’ roll band. It was just all of us sitting around the table, getting high and laughing, and we decided that if we were gonna be a national entity … we wanted to have a way to express our outlet in more encapsulated form, to make it easy for people to understand where we were coming from. We were big followers and supporters of the Black Panther Party. ..............(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/brian-mccollum/2024/04/02/john-sinclair-interview-mc5-detroit-rock-history/73180675007/
John Sinclair in his own words: Talking the MC5, Detroit rock scene, radical politics, more
(Detroit Free Press) John Sinclair, the beatnik poet and Detroit counterculture icon, died Tuesday morning of heart failure at 82.
....(snip)....
Here are some selected excerpts from that conversation, including Sinclair's thoughts on Detroit's rock history and audiences, his work with the alternative newspaper Fifth Estate, the founding of the White Panther Party with the MC5 and more — with some barbed remarks about artists such as the Grateful Dead, Ted Nugent and Andy Warhol.
His early musical interests: I grew up in the ’50s, and I was a rhythm ‘n’ blues fanatic as a teenager, so I had the good fortune of being 13 years old when rock ‘n’ roll came in. My life coincides with the life of rock ‘n’ roll, time-wise. When I got out of high school, I went off to college and got into jazz and poetry, beatnik-ism. So I didn’t pay attention to popular music the first half of the ’60s — I was strictly into jazz of the avant-garde variety: John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman.
....(snip)....
Founding the White Panther Party: That was the fall of ’68, right when we were making our (debut) record for Elektra. And again, there was no svengali aspect to that. Honestly, the White Panther Party was the only political party in American history founded by a rock ‘n’ roll band. It was just all of us sitting around the table, getting high and laughing, and we decided that if we were gonna be a national entity … we wanted to have a way to express our outlet in more encapsulated form, to make it easy for people to understand where we were coming from. We were big followers and supporters of the Black Panther Party. ..............(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/brian-mccollum/2024/04/02/john-sinclair-interview-mc5-detroit-rock-history/73180675007/
April 3, 2024
(Salon) The New York judge overseeing Donald Trump's upcoming hush-money trial expanded the gag order on the former president on Monday to protect his and the Manhattan District attorney's family members, following Trump's week of attacks of the judge's daughter. Trump's team is now planning to use the judge's move as grounds to demand a recusal.
The latest order came almost a week after Judge Juan Merchan granted the district attorney's request for a gag order on the presumptive GOP nominee barring him from attacking witnesses, jurors, the prosecution and court staff as well as their families. The previous order did not cover Merchan or District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case related to a hush-money payment made to conceal a sex scandal ahead of the 2016 election.
....(snip)....
The judge's Monday ruling indicates that Trump had "finally" gone "too far" in his attacks, giving Judge Merchan "the record he needed" to expand the gag order, Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson told Salon.
....(snip)....
Gershman and Levenson also agreed that Trump's latest bid to recuse Judge Merchan lacks merit. The effort, Gershman explained, is "baseless" because it's "too broad" and "involves speculation and irresponsible insinuation" that the judge's relationship with his daughter would predispose him to rule based on that relationship. ................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/02/trump-is-running-scared-legal-experts-slam-hairbrained-scheme-to-get-ny-recused/
Trump's "harebrained" recusal scheme
(Salon) The New York judge overseeing Donald Trump's upcoming hush-money trial expanded the gag order on the former president on Monday to protect his and the Manhattan District attorney's family members, following Trump's week of attacks of the judge's daughter. Trump's team is now planning to use the judge's move as grounds to demand a recusal.
The latest order came almost a week after Judge Juan Merchan granted the district attorney's request for a gag order on the presumptive GOP nominee barring him from attacking witnesses, jurors, the prosecution and court staff as well as their families. The previous order did not cover Merchan or District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case related to a hush-money payment made to conceal a sex scandal ahead of the 2016 election.
....(snip)....
The judge's Monday ruling indicates that Trump had "finally" gone "too far" in his attacks, giving Judge Merchan "the record he needed" to expand the gag order, Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson told Salon.
....(snip)....
Gershman and Levenson also agreed that Trump's latest bid to recuse Judge Merchan lacks merit. The effort, Gershman explained, is "baseless" because it's "too broad" and "involves speculation and irresponsible insinuation" that the judge's relationship with his daughter would predispose him to rule based on that relationship. ................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/02/trump-is-running-scared-legal-experts-slam-hairbrained-scheme-to-get-ny-recused/
April 3, 2024
"It fits perfectly into both his personality disorder’s hypomanic grandiosity and its paranoid sense of grievance"
By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED APRIL 2, 2024 5:46AM (EDT)
(Salon) American fascism is a form of political religion. It is a social force based on faith and emotion and corrupt power more than a coherent ideology grounded in reason, facts and the truth. As such, fascism is antithetical to real democracy and normal politics.
....(snip)....
On Tuesday, Donald Trump continued to honor Holy Week by announcing that he is selling his own version of the Bible. Trump has publicly and repeatedly stated that he is a Christian. But by definition, his behavior is blasphemous and an example of idolatry. Of course, Trump does not worship God or Jesus Christ; he has shown himself to be a megalomaniac and malignant narcissist who only worships himself (and of course money and other forms of power). Trump basically views his MAGA followers and other “Christians” as useful idiots who are a source of narcissistic energy, money and other resources for him.
....(snip)....
In an attempt to better understand Trump’s Bibles and how they relate to the larger democracy crisis, I recently spoke to a range of experts.
Federico Finchelstein is a professor of history at the New School for Social Research and Eugene Lang College in New York. His most recent book is "A Brief History of Fascist Lies."
The MAGA movement pushes its religiosity into the most bizarre form of greed. Trump's conflation of the Bible with doing business and his own comparisons with Jesus's suffering ideas are separate dimensions of the same phenomenon, namely the fascist tendency to make the leader a God-like figure who is not exempted from corrupted practices. In this case Trump desperately needs money. Hitler and Mussolini enriched themselves by writing and selling their writings but Trump's also wants to make money with sacred texts. .........................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/02/perfectly-predictable-dr-john-gartner-on-why-a-malignant-narcissist-like-trump-sells-bibles/
"Perfectly predictable": Dr. John Gartner on why "a malignant narcissist like Trump" sells Bibles
"Perfectly predictable": Dr. John Gartner on why "a malignant narcissist like Trump" sells Bibles"It fits perfectly into both his personality disorder’s hypomanic grandiosity and its paranoid sense of grievance"
By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED APRIL 2, 2024 5:46AM (EDT)
(Salon) American fascism is a form of political religion. It is a social force based on faith and emotion and corrupt power more than a coherent ideology grounded in reason, facts and the truth. As such, fascism is antithetical to real democracy and normal politics.
....(snip)....
On Tuesday, Donald Trump continued to honor Holy Week by announcing that he is selling his own version of the Bible. Trump has publicly and repeatedly stated that he is a Christian. But by definition, his behavior is blasphemous and an example of idolatry. Of course, Trump does not worship God or Jesus Christ; he has shown himself to be a megalomaniac and malignant narcissist who only worships himself (and of course money and other forms of power). Trump basically views his MAGA followers and other “Christians” as useful idiots who are a source of narcissistic energy, money and other resources for him.
....(snip)....
In an attempt to better understand Trump’s Bibles and how they relate to the larger democracy crisis, I recently spoke to a range of experts.
Federico Finchelstein is a professor of history at the New School for Social Research and Eugene Lang College in New York. His most recent book is "A Brief History of Fascist Lies."
The MAGA movement pushes its religiosity into the most bizarre form of greed. Trump's conflation of the Bible with doing business and his own comparisons with Jesus's suffering ideas are separate dimensions of the same phenomenon, namely the fascist tendency to make the leader a God-like figure who is not exempted from corrupted practices. In this case Trump desperately needs money. Hitler and Mussolini enriched themselves by writing and selling their writings but Trump's also wants to make money with sacred texts. .........................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/04/02/perfectly-predictable-dr-john-gartner-on-why-a-malignant-narcissist-like-trump-sells-bibles/
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