The Trump jurors will be in real danger forever. If I were one, I'd consider telling my employer, family, and friends that I wish I were a Trump juror bec. they get to go home, but that my trial isn't over yet – and then keep "going to court as usual" for a few more days and just hanging out in a coffeeshop.
Because we all fzcking deserve to indulge in a little schaudenfreude, let's revisit some Donald Trump quotes from 2016, shall we?
“As you’ve heard, earlier today the FBI after discovering new emails is reopening their investigation into Hillary Clinton… The investigation is the biggest political scandal since Watergate and it’s everybody’s hope that justice at last can be delivered.” (10/28/2016)
“She’s likely to be under investigation for criminality for a very, very long time to come... We’re going to be tied up in court for the rest of our lives with this deal. She’s not going to win the election, but I’m just saying. If Hillary is elected, she will be under protracted criminal investigation likely followed by the trial of a sitting president. This is just what we need.” (10/31/2016)
“If Hillary Clinton were to be elected, it would create an unprecedented and protracted constitutional crisis. Haven’t we just been through a lot with the Clintons, right?” (11/02/2016)
“Hillary is likely to be under investigation for many years, probably concluding in a criminal trial.” (11/02/2016)
“She'll be under investigation for years. She'll be with trials. Our country, we have to get back to work.” (11/02/2016)
“Hillary has engaged in a criminal massive enterprise and cover-ups like probably nobody ever before.” (11/04/2016)
“There's virtually no doubt that FBI Director Comey and the great, great special agents of the FBI will be able to collect more than enough evidence to garner indictments against Hillary Clinton and her inner circle, despite her efforts to disparage them and to discredit them. If she were to win this election, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis. In that situation, we could very well have a sitting president under felony indictment and ultimately a criminal trial.” (11/05/2016)
“Her current scandals and controversies will continue throughout her presidency and we will make it honestly, look, it's gonna be virtually impossible for her to govern. Now, the Republicans have talked very tough and the Democrats. It's gonna be just another mess for another four years, folks. A mess. We've got to get back to work, right? I mean, we have to get back to work.” (11/05/2016)
“First thing you should do is get rid of Clinton. Hillary Clinton will be under investigation for a long, long time for her many crimes against our nation, our people, our democracy, likely concluding in a criminal trial.” (11/06/2016)
“The investigations into her crimes will go on for a long, long time. The rank and file special agents at the FBI won't let her get away with these terrible crimes, including the deletion of 33,000 emails after receiving a congressional subpoena. Right now, she's being protected by a rigged system.” (11/06/2016)
“If Hillary Clinton were to be elected, it would create an unprecedented and protracted constitutional crisis. Haven’t we just been through a lot with the Clintons, right?” (Trump, 11/02/2016)
Mainstream legal commentators: "The possible outcomes of the #TrumpTrial are conviction, acquittal, or hung jury."
Me, a free thinker: "Or, if the jury simply keeps deliberating until January 2029, Trump will be required to spend all day every day in the courthouse even if he's re-elected."
I'm gonna share some completely anticlimactic TMI for the benefit of other middle-aged men:
The day before yesterday, I was very stressed and anxious for a variety of reasons, and we were moving some furniture out of a storage locker, and I was feeling lethargic and a little lightheaded and generally out of it, and then I began feeling nausea and indigestion and my jaw was tight and then my left arm and hand started feeling a little numb. Nothing terrible! Just: feeling meh, and those minor symptoms.
And then guess what crazy thing we did?
We went to the nearby emergency room.
Yep.
And they were very nice to me, and quickly administered an EKG and blood tests, and guess what?
I wasn't having a heart attack.
I was just stressed and tired and anxious. That's all.
But if I had been having a heart attack, going to the E.R. could have saved my life. And even though I wasn't, they were very nice to me. No one made fun of me. No one called me a whiner or a hypochondriac. My wife expressed gratitude that I took my survival seriously. And I was home again in less than two hours.
So this is for my fellow typical men, who are inclined to ignore health issues because: John Wayne or something, and fear of embarrassment:
Don't ignore stuff. Don't wait until you're sure. Be willing to overreact. Be willing to waste everyone's time. It's okay! The world won't end! (And you may even get to take a nap under a warm blanket, like I did!)
@dango_ last time I went in for what turned out tobe nothin about 1. when I went in for what turned out to be something I had already met my deductable and so I don't care.
My father-in-law had a bad stomach ache. He hated doctors & tried to tough it out. Blamed the pizza he ate. It was some kind of internal rupture that became sepsis & killed him. He was unconscious before we even reached the hospital.
Please for the sake of those who love you - treat unusual & unexpected symptoms seriously.
Back in 2006, I started my first blog, VichyDems, and immediately began using it to organize grassroots opposition to the confirmation of Samuel Alito. Specifically, I (and then others, esp. Bob Fertik) began tracking which Dem senators supported the filibuster against his nomination; which ones were leaning towards selling out and voting for cloture out of a misplaced sense of comity and institutionalism (the 'Vichies"); and which were on the fence. We published game plans, target lists, talking points, and contact info. SIX DAYS after starting the blog, we were getting thousands of views and had inspired tens of thousands of calls urging key senators to support the filibuster.
It failed, of course. The filibuster failed, and Auto was confirmed 75-25. But we definitely got one senator (Clinton) to outright reverse her position, from opposing to supporting the filibuster; persuaded some undecideds; and (so far as I can tell) demonstrated for the first time ever that the Internet could be used for political organizing. (And it launched my political writing career.)
And we were RIGHT, of course. #Alito's treason flag and Dobbs and today's decision upholding racial gerrymandering and etc and etc prove we were right, and every fucking Vichy Dem senator who didn't support the filibuster was wrong.
My posts about Alito back then remain an interesting and relevant read, and include some very familiar names, including Biden: https://vichydems.blogspot.com/2006/01/
My wife and I both filled out our ballots today, and then because we live in Oregon (which is a relatively sane state that has vote by mail and dropbox), I went to the nearby city hall to drop off our ballots, only to realize that there is an 8:00 p.m. cutoff and the box was locked.
When I got home, I had my first panic attack in years. This is the first election I haven't participated in since 1980, and I hadn't realized how much I rely emotionally on the perception of control that voting gives me in a world that's dying and falling apart.
Please, friends: protest and rebel and fight back any way you can. Burn everything down if you need to. But please, please, don't abstain from voting.
We've been like this for twenty minutes at least. I'm not allowed to move my hand, and wouldn't want to; to be so loved and trusted by such a small creature in such a large universe is a miracle to be appreciated moment by moment.
I'm gonna just say it (and from the perspective of a former trial lawyer with 37 years' experience): the posse of GOP slanderers Trump's bringing with him daily, and Trump's defense's failure to finish cross-examination of Michael Cohen today, are partly because they're hoping some #MAGA idiot will kill Cohen before he's left the stand (because under the Sixth Amendment, no jury is allowed to rely on his testimony until his cross is complete).
Yes, I believe they're that evil. Stochastic terrorism is a tool, not an accident.
@msbellows Damn that's dark. I was thinking it was just because they wanted to drive the political persecution narrative for their pro-Trump jurors (if they exist).
Under the Sixth Amendment, the jury isn't allowed to rely on Michael Cohen's testimony until cross-examination is complete. I hope he spends the time between now and Thursday sitting quietly in a reinforced-concrete safe room with an emergency physician and a well-vetted bodyguard.
Yes, a bug dying in #RFK Jr.'s brain is a sexy headline, but to me the bigger story is that he also had severe memory problems due to MERCURY POISONING – 10x the maximum acceptable level – from massively overconsuming tuna and perch –
– despite being an environmental lawyer who should understand how heavy metals get concentrated in predatory fish –
AND THEN! AND THEN!
– urged parents to protect their children from mercury poisoning, not by limiting their' tuna consumption, but by denying them vaccines bECaUse oMG THiMeRoSaL!!!!
What a freaking idiot. What a nimrod. What a waste of privilege.
Today is a good day for anyone whose 2024 bingo card had "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (whose wife was driven to suicide by his dozens of infidelities, which he recorded religiously in a private journal) is popular with the 'powerful, famous male sex abuser' demographic." https://www.thedailybeast.com/kevin-spacey-endorses-loyal-friend-robert-f-kennedy-jr