It's a BFD that Trump Org and not Trump himself is getting indicted today

Lots of folk are disappointed that today's indictment is going after the Trump business and not Trump personally, believing that this is somehow letting Trump off the hook. But that's not the case. And, in fact, this is an even bigger deal than targeting Trump himself right now, for a couple of reasons.

First, the Trump Org IS Trump. There is no light nor air between him and his business. As some observers have pointed out over the years, the Trump companies aren't some large conglomerates with tentacles everywhere and complex layers of management and staff. This is a pretty rinky dink operation consisting of just a handful of people - Trump, his grifter kids and a few hangers on. They operate out of offices on one floor of Trump tower that look more like the back of store than an international business concern, people shouting at each other down the hall and wandering in and out of each other's offices.

Going after Trump companies IS going after Trump.

Moreover, given how raggedy this organization seems to operate, it's unlikely that they took the correct steps to insulate Trump and his team from liability for their actions done in the name of the company. it probably won't be long before the prosecutors and court "pierce the corporate veil" that would normally protect individual corporate owners from personal liability.

In addition, this case is going to cause as much trouble, angst, and suck up as much time and money as any prosecution against him personally - probably more, because he won't be able to get away with the games he plays when fighting personal battles.

Also, Trump's entire ego and brand are wrapped up in his business. He's gotten very good at making any attempts to go after him personally as a witchhunt, done for political purposes and because he's such a untouchably brilliant businessman, that's all they've got, supposedly. This indictment is going to put a lie to all of that. He's not only going to be publicly exposed as a fraud (indeed, the case apparently is based on fraud), but the world will see what a hot mess his business actually is.

AND the best part is that this isn't over. While he's fighting to protect his company, prosecutors are still laying the groundwork to prosecute him individually. And the mess they expose in the corporate case will only make it harder for him. So he's got his hands completely full and when they come after Trump personally, he'll have an even bigger fight on his hands.

This is going to be good ...

UNC board FINALLY approves tenure for Nikole Hannah-Jones

It shouldn't always be this hard to get what we work for and deserve. It's just exhausting.

You're right

Because people killing each other isn't news. And when they do, they usually are immediately arrested, charged, tried and convicted. In other words, the system more often than not works to punish the perpetrators and mete out some measure of justice for the victims.

But when agents of that same system, agents with the guns and the badges, kill innocent people - and disproportionately target people of certain races while not similarly targeting people of one particular race - and the system and society circle the wagons to protect them from punishment and deny the victims any measure of justice, it is necessary for people who care about fairness and justice to raise our voices loud and strong and, when necessary, take to the streets to draw attention to the wrong so that the system that works so well when it comes to charging and incarcerating particular people when THEY commit crimes can maybe find its way to at least making an effort at holding those agents accountable.

I assume that's what you were talking about ... But since there's not much to say after reading this report other than "That's a damned shame. We need to continue finding out why this is happening and communities and work on solutions for preventing it," I'm not sure why you felt the need to tacitly suggest that there is something wrong with people reacting to person-on-person crime differently than they react to state-sponsored and societally-protected extra-judicial killings of American citizens.

Unless you were hoping for a different kind of response - the kind that right wingers like to give as a tactic to divert attention from the situation I explained above - I'm not sure why you would think it odd that certain other types of details would result in a different response since those details would certainly MERIT a different response.

"They believe they're not wrong so they can't be racist" - WHOOP! There it is!

An excellent way to explain systemic racism

Any questions?

I have a question about the Miami condo collapse

I know nothing about structural engineering or building collapses, so I'm hoping any experts here can help me with something I'm wondering about ...

Why haven't more bodies been found at this point? It seems to me that a building of this size would have had lots of occupants on the side of the building that collapsed, but they don't seem to be finding many bodies, despite the number of unaccounted for people.

Is it that in a building collapse of this type, casualties are very far under the rubble and there's no way to get to them quickly? Or perhaps many of those condos were actually unoccupied? Or could there be a other explanation?

(I certainly don't want there to be a lot of casualties and I'm hoping that maybe they're weren't as many people in the building as we think) ...

It just doesn't make sense to me - But as with most things that don't make sense to me, I assume there's likely a very reasonable explanation that I just don't know yet.

Thanks in advance for any expert assessment.

Dayum! Tiffany Cross "snatched out the remaining strains of Bill Maher's hair"

Watch the whole thing. It is a Master Class in setting someone's ass straight.

https://twitter.com/iamchanteezy/status/1408815642602528775

The architect of the attack on Critical Race Theory said the quiet part loud

Jeff Tiedrich has a message about Critical Race Theory

Chris Jones is amazing, but also an example of continuing bias against Black candidates

The fact that a man of his talent, experience, background and - well, everything - will be expected to run against the likes of Sarah Huckabee and will likely be treated with less respect and consideration is a perfect example of the uphill battle people of color have, not just in politics, but in many other areas of our society.

For example, look at this NBC Headline: