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Lonestarblue

Lonestarblue's Journal
Lonestarblue's Journal
March 5, 2024

The US supreme court could still swing the election for Trump

An article in the Guardian today explains how the SC’s decision to accept the immunity appeal may allow them to help Trump, as it already has by granting him a delay that jeopardizes any trial before the election. It is disheartening to think we have such a corrupt SC with the MAGA 6, but I certainly do not trust their decision to take the appeal rather than just affirm the DC Circuit’s ruling.

“The timing also permits the court to influence the federal trial and possibly the election in a second, potentially more insidious fashion. The court is poised to decide a case this spring in which Trump is not a party, but which could have major consequences on his belated federal trial. The case involves a challenge brought by a January 6 rioter who argues that his federal indictment is based on a misapplication of the federal obstruction statute. The federal case against Trump also charges the former president with violating this statute, which criminalizes the “corrupt obstruction of an official proceeding”. Indeed, the charge lies at the heart of the case against Trump. Should the court conclude that federal prosecutors have misapplied the statute, not only would numerous convictions of rioters be tossed out, but the case against Trump would be dramatically, if not fatally, weakened.

What does this have to do with timing? Had the court chosen not to hear Trump’s immunity claim, leaving intact the circuit court’s pointed rejection, Trump’s federal trial might have ended and a verdict rendered before the court had decided the rioter’s case. Imagine Trump had been found guilty and the court subsequently voided the conviction – the cries of foul would have been loud and fierce and long. Now, however, the court has given itself the opportunity to rule on the obstruction charge before Trump’s trial has begun. Defanging a prosecution before it has even started would certainly arouse outrage, but nothing like the partisan scorn and unrest that would come with a post-conviction intervention.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/05/us-supreme-court-election-donald-trump



March 1, 2024

'Huge tax breaks': private equity prepares for a boon from Congress

This kind of negotiation to give pennies to the poor and billions to the already rich just infuriates me—and Democrats are participating in this travesty. Private equity is destroying our healthcare system, which is already in dire shape. They are swooping in to real estate and exacerbating the lack of affordable housing. Private equity is the prime example of the worst predatory capitalism run amok. It needs no encouragement with further tax breaks. Senator Lloyd Doggett of Texas commented:

“There’s already a strong bias in the tax code for debt, and this bill doubles down on that bias to boost private equity’s predatory practices, which will only drive more American companies into bankruptcy and decrease market competition,” said the Texas congressman Lloyd Doggett, one of three Democrats who voted against the bill in the House ways and means committee, in a statement.

“There’s nothing fair about private equity companies lining their pockets while shifting the tax burden to American families already dealing with high costs.”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/01/corporate-tax-breaks-private-equity

February 19, 2024

It's Not Just Wages. Retailers Are Mistreating Workers in a More Insidious Way.

The NYT has an article today on how major corporations are impoverishing workers, and it’s all legal. We need better worker protections.

“Most of my co-workers had been at the store for years, but almost all of them were, like me, part time. This meant that the store had no obligation to give us a stable number of hours or to adhere to a weekly minimum. Some weeks we’d be scheduled for as little as a single four-hour shift; other weeks we’d be asked to do overnights and work as many as 39 hours (never 40, presumably because the company didn’t want to come anywhere close to having to pay overtime).

The unpredictability of the hours made life difficult for my co-workers — as much as, if not more than, the low pay did. On receiving a paycheck for a good week’s work, when they’d worked 39 hours, should they use the money to pay down debt? Or should they hold on to it in case the following week they were scheduled for only four hours and didn’t have enough for food?”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/19/opinion/part-time-workers-usa.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Wk0.hhzp._buRG3bIIl2j&smid=url-share




February 14, 2024

Happy Valentine's Day, DU! A warm-hearted place indeed.

And thanks for my hearts—very much appreciated.

February 7, 2024

Is there a way to achieve peace in Israel and Palestine? I believe there is.

I think this article has some interesting ideas for peace between Israel and Palestine, though the current hostilities means that calmer heads need to be thinking about peace. At this point, all ideas for peace need to be explored. The author, Daniel Levin, is an Israeli and a member of the board of the Liechtenstein Foundation for State Governance.

“We are being inundated with commentary about the culpability for this conflict, with biased dissections of history, culture and religion, and with predictable posturing through the use of selective sources of information and disinformation. Despite maximalist demands from the Israeli and Palestinian camps, defended by religious endorsement and amplified at a time of war, neither side is going to self-deport and create another homeland elsewhere. What is missing, tragically, is a serious discussion of a vision and solution that might actually be acceptable to all sides.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/07/israel-palestine-conflict-solution-peace

February 2, 2024

The Road to 1948

The NYT has an interesting article today on the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict, beginning with 1920 when the British Mandate for Palestine was established. It’s long but well worth reading.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/01/magazine/israel-founding-palestinian-conflict.html?unlocked_article_code=1.SU0.IZAi.XoIqZeC64_wG&bgrp=a&smid=url-share



January 21, 2024

Inside the Heritage Foundation's Plans for "Institutionalizing Trumpism"

I read this article this morning and just wanted to share with all here. It is truly horrifying what these people want to do to create a permanent right-wing government. The interview is with Kevin Roberts, the head of the Heritage Foundation who has played a lead role in developing Project 2025. He talks about cutting federal staff significantly but more about installing conservatives in all parts of the government to prevent any policy they see as benefitting people they are against from ever being implemented. These are the people who will drive the next Republican presidency regardless of who it is. Their goal is to dismantle any aspect of liberalism, regardless of whether it is reflected in law, to achieve an imperial presidency. He also talks about admiring Orban and Joseph McCarthy.

Interviewer:
“I’d like to talk about domestic politics, and I want to hear about your vision for this country and specifically the next administration. Project 2025 is Heritage’s big project in advance of the next election, a plan for if a conservative takes over the presidency. How would you describe its purpose?”

Roberts:
“It’s a presidential-transition project, which means that if there’s a conservative who wins — and I mean, frankly, if President Biden wanted to use it, we would love it. It just seems unlikely. Maybe someone in the center. I think if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Senator Joe Manchin somehow wins the election, and I think both will be running, they might be open to it. But the point is to hasten the hiring of aligned personnel and hasten the implementation of conservative policy. And that includes hastening the overturning, via executive order, of what we believe are wrong policies of the current administration.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/21/magazine/heritage-foundation-kevin-roberts.html?unlocked_article_code=1.PU0.dkBJ.HQRjeXwOU1Jc&smid=url-share

October 10, 2018

So why did she close her business if she's so good?

Did she think that another Trump bankruptcy would not look so good with the king of bankruptcies in the White House?

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