Sandy Larsen Posted March 21, 2023 Share Posted March 21, 2023 Welcome to the Mainstream Water Cooler! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Knight Posted March 21, 2023 Share Posted March 21, 2023 I like the "water cooler" concept. Now, may "cooler heads" prevail here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted March 23, 2023 Share Posted March 23, 2023 It looks like this thread is now the last refuge on the Education Forum for informed (and satirical) commentary by Douglas Caddy and our original 56 Years thread community. I would like to explicitly request, at the outset, that the administrators not allow Benjamin Cole, Mathew Koch, et.al., to hijack this thread with MAGA spam, (e.g., Daily Caller, Fox/Tucker Carlson, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, et.al.) as they hijacked our other community discussion threads. Ben has, apparently, harangued the administrators into shutting down or banishing our other EF community discussion threads (56 Years, Trump Links, etc.) Going forward, let Ben confine his posts to his own MAGA Water Cooler threads. That said, historian Heather Cox Richardson has published an incisive summary of Trump's historic case in NY this week. Worth reading. LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN Open in app or online March 22, 2023 HEATHER COX RICHARDSON MAR 23 SAVE ▷ LISTEN This week, news has been focused on the former president’s possible indictment for paying $130,000 in hush money to adult film performer Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their 2006 affair before the 2016 election. The information currently being thrown about has been shaped by Trump himself and is obviously suspect (among other things, he has apparently raised $1.5 million since he claimed he would be arrested on Tuesday).Although Republican lawmakers have no more idea than any of the rest of us do what the Manhattan grand jury might have seen, or what charges might be brought against Trump, they have tried to gloss over the scandal by claiming it is about a non-disclosure agreement or that it happened seven years ago or that its investigation is “a political witch hunt perpetrated by one of the far left radical socialist district attorneys,” as Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said. But as journalist Aaron Rupar and Noah Berlatsky explained today in Public Notice, the payment was a big deal in the larger scheme of American democracy.Trump bought Daniels’s silence because he was willing to break laws in order to get elected. Then–Trump fixer Michael Cohen paid Daniels for her story in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement. Cohen testified that he paid her through a shell company to keep Trump’s connection to the payment hidden. Then Trump reimbursed Cohen for “legal fees.”That’s a problem with regard to business filings and tax fraud. It is also a problem for the campaign finance laws intended to protect clean elections. Cohen’s payment was a contribution to the Trump campaign because it was made “in order to influence the 2016 presidential election.” The payment was intended to make sure voters didn’t hear another sex scandal in October 2016, just after the Access Hollywood tape came out in which Trump talked vulgarly about sexually assaulting women, when it might have hurt his chances at election. The $130,000 contribution was far above the individual limit of $2,700, and the Trump campaign did not disclose it.This is not small potatoes. When the issue came to light, Cohen pleaded guilty for his role in the payments, and he was sentenced to three years in prison. Cohen testified that he made the payments at Trump’s direction.This is also not an isolated incident. Trump has proved himself more than willing to cheat to win elections. In the 2020 presidential election season, before he tried to overthrow the election altogether, he tried to strong-arm Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky into announcing an investigation into the son of the Democratic candidate about whom he was most worried: Joe Biden. Trump knew that the media would run with an announcement of an investigation, wounding Biden’s candidacy by keeping the story in the news even without any real investigation behind it.The Trump campaign had done much the same thing in 2016. According to the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee, which investigated the ties between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives, Trump’s people were willing at the very least to work alongside Russian operatives to weaken Trump’s Democratic opponent, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Trump campaign also boosted Trump’s standing in the 2016 election season with the recurring refrain of the investigation into Secretary Clinton’s emails, convincing voters—falsely—that she had committed crimes.The pending issue of the hush-money payment is not just about 2016, and it is not just about Trump. That today’s Republican leaders have not condemned any of his attempts to cheat speaks volumes about the party. As Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) pointed out today, when “Cohen was arrested, indicted, convicted, and went to prison for participating in an illegal hush money payment scheme to Stormy Daniels, not a single Republican leader complaining now said a thing about what happened to Michael Cohen.” So why the rush to defend Trump in the same case?It appears Republicans have gotten to the point that they don’t believe they can win a free and fair election, and in their conviction that Democrats will destroy the country, they believe cheating to win is justified. They cannot condemn Trump because he delivered what they wanted: a victory.In a democracy, the way parties are supposed to win elections is by making a better case for being in power than their opponents do. Losing elections is supposed to make leaders think deeply about how better to appeal to voters. That system keeps all parties constantly honing their policies, thinking through problems, benefiting their constituents.Our election laws are designed to try to hold the playing field level, and a party should want to keep the system fair in order to keep itself healthy. But if a party is willing to cheat to win, it no longer has to work on policies that appeal to voters; it can simply game the system to dismantle the competition on which democracy depends and instead create a one-party state.There are many legal problems in Trump’s front yard these days. Some, like his theft of documents with markings bearing the highest level of classification and his attempt to overturn the Georgia results for the 2020 presidential election, are heating up fast, and their significance is clear.But for all that the case we are currently hearing so much about seems less serious on its face than the other things charged to Trump's account, a hush-money payment to silence someone whose story might have affected the 2016 election is no laughing matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted March 23, 2023 Share Posted March 23, 2023 I am amazed at where this protest took place: West Texas. This may signal that the young generation will not put up with the bigotry of MAGA and its fellow travelers. Texas university students protest drag show's cancellation (msn.com) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted March 23, 2023 Share Posted March 23, 2023 She is on her way to prison for engaging in her criminal stupidity. Woman who torched Wyoming abortion clinic busted by feds - Raw Story - Celebrating 19 Years of Independent Journalism Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted March 23, 2023 Share Posted March 23, 2023 Undergraduates Ramp Up Harvard AI Safety Team Amid Concerns Over Increasingly Powerful AI Models | News | The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted March 23, 2023 Share Posted March 23, 2023 Manhattan prosecutor says Trump created ‘false expectation’ of imminent arrest – live (theguardian.com) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Thomas Posted March 23, 2023 Share Posted March 23, 2023 - Donald Trump - "It was all made up by a convicted nut job with zero credibility, who has been disputed by highly respected professionals at every turn," Trump posted. "Bragg refuses to stop despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. He is a [George] Soros backed animal who just doesn't care about right or wrong no matter how many people are hurt. This is no legal system, this is the Gestapo, this is Russia and China, but worse. Disgraceful!" "Everybody knows I'm 100% innocent, including Bragg, but he doesn't care," he posted. "He is just carrying out plans of the radical left lunatics. Our country is being destroyed, as they tell us to be peaceful!" "lunatics". "nut jobs", "animals" Donald Trump sure is full of... lunacy these days Steve Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted March 23, 2023 Share Posted March 23, 2023 1 hour ago, Douglas Caddy said: Manhattan prosecutor says Trump created ‘false expectation’ of imminent arrest – live (theguardian.com) And WaPo reports that Trump has collected $1.5 million in the past three days from his "imminent arrest" fund raiser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted March 23, 2023 Share Posted March 23, 2023 It appears that the delay in announcing Trump's indictment (which may be now under seal awaiting the right time for disclosure) stems from making certain all the logistical steps for his arrest are full ironed out involving the Secret Service agents in Palm Beach, the NYPD and court personnel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted March 23, 2023 Share Posted March 23, 2023 Breaking news from The New York Times: Grand Jury Expected to Resume Hearing Trump Hush-Money Case on Monday The panel that has been investigating the case involving the former president typically meets on a different matter on Thursdays and does not convene on Fridays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Thomas Posted March 23, 2023 Share Posted March 23, 2023 (edited) Deleted Steve Thomas Edited August 25, 2023 by Steve Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted March 23, 2023 Share Posted March 23, 2023 10 minutes ago, Steve Thomas said: This is downright dangerous. - Donald Trump - EVERYBODY KNOWS I'M 100% INNOCENT, INCLUDING BRAGG," he said about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, according to The Washington Post. "BUT HE DOESN'T CARE. HE IS JUST CARRYING OUT THE PLANS OF THE RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS. OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED, AS THEY TELL US TO BE PEACEFUL!" To make sure his MAGA minions understood the semi-coded message, he later posted a photo of himself holding a baseball bat like a weapon, alongside a photo of Attorney Bragg looking nervous with his hands up. https://twitter.com/patriottakes Trump is going to keep pushing until this country explodes. Steve Thomas Are these kind of racist public threats against a DA legal? It's appalling to see Trump engaging, with impunity, in this kind of felony-menacing-by-proxy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 I'm hoping and thinking there will not be a large scale violent reaction to his indictment, arrest and release. His conviction and sentence, including banning from public office, might fare worse. Jmho. Ultimately it could result in the implosion of the republican party, which we may be witnessing with Kevin McCarthy and company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 "He's threatening prosecutors": Trump floats "death & destruction" in 1 am Truth Social rant (msn.com) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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