Monday, January 04, 2021

"He's Just Not That Into You"

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Getting the Year Started (On-line, that is)



God, bless to me the new day,
Never vouchsafed to me before;
It is to bless Thine own presence
Thou hast given me this time, O God.

Bless Thou to me mine eye,
May mine eye bless all it sees;
I will bless my neighbour,
May my neighbour bless me.

God, give me a clean heart,
Let me not from sight of Thine eye;
Bless to me my children and my wife,
And bless to me my means and my cattle.

from the Carmina Gadelica
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Submitted For Your Amusement

And when none of that works: Precisely what it says in the Constitution! "Does anybody know about it?" And by the way, we know where the tape came from: This no longer means what they think it means.
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Sunday, January 03, 2021

Bad Legal Takes

But, sure, the Chairman of the Georgia GOP has a point: Except Trump can't have filed the lawsuits yet. It's Sunday, the courts are closed in Georgia and everywhere else. 

And it can't possibly be regarded as a "discussion for the purpose of settling litigation" and therefore "confidentical under federal and state law." A) The GA SOS is not a lawyer representing the State of Georgia or the SOS. B) Trump is not a lawyer representing anybody, either. C) Trump was clearly trying to strongarm Georgia's SOS into doing Trump's bidding. This was not a "negotiation" for "settling litigation," as there is no litigation, pending or threatened, against the state of Georgia or the Georgia SOS. And if there was, settlement talks without lawyers conducting them or present, can't possibly be confidential. Raffensperger reportedly had a lawyer from the Georgia AG on his end, and Trump had a private lawyer on his end, who was identified as not being "of record" in the discussion.  But again, no litigation, pending or threatened, and the parties to the call were not negotiating anything, nor was one of them, at least, empowered to.

Shafer, of course, doesn't have a fucking clue what he's talking about.  A lot like Trump, in that respect.  Besides, I want to see the discovery in that case.  If Trump wants to make this go away, filing a civil suit is not the way to do it.  Besides:
Trump's gonna have to produce the "full" version in court.  Except that's already been done:
Turns out I could have shortened this whole post to this: It's a Hall-of-Famer of Bad Legal Takes.
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Law & Order

From your tweet to God’s ear. I still want to see Cruz and minions defending this phone call on Wednesday. Almost as much as I want to see Trump defend himself in Georgia. I was wondering about that. Of course you know, this means war! What does that do for everybody else in the room? And I still say this is grounds for shutting down any debate on “objections “ on Wednesday:  Now say that on the Senate floor.
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“Us”? 🐁

Does he have a mouse in his pocket? No, that's not the fun part. Aren’t you glad we have a 25th amendment? Don’t you wish it was worth anything? Well, now I feel better! Don’t you? She should have walked out of room. She shouldn’t have been in the room in the first place. State Bars have alot to answer for. So do the House and Senate if they don’t sanction their yahoos after this report. Is this the evidence of fraud Johnson and Cruz are talking about? Inquiring minds want to know. That would be a shame.
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The King is Dead. And Crazy as a Bedbug.

The ECA says "objections," which, yes, is terribly non-specific. But "objections" have to have some basis in law, otherwise Congress' actions are a nullity. Congress is not going to pass a resolution saying the elections was fraudulent, or even suspect. So there is, I think, a basis for objecting to any vote at all, up or down, on "objections" that are not going to provide a different outcome than the one before the Congress, and one allowed by law. I mean, Trump has just lost his fucking mind: That, by the way, was yesterday. And really, the representatives in the House don't have any support even from the extreme right wing: Gotta go get more popcorn. Epiphany (Jan. 6) is gonna be lit!
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“At Long Last, Senator, Have You No Shame?”

Proof that the King is dead is Chuck Todd (!) telling Johnson to take his crazy conspiracy theories back to the fringes where they came from.

And Ted Cruz is still the most hated man in the Senate: It really would be interesting if the Senate parliamentarian ruled that debates over issues the Senate cannot address because they are illegal and unconstitutional was used to shut down even the vote Cruz thinks he can get out of this.  It would also be fitting.
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When You’ve Lost Chuck Todd

And this us why none of the 12 went on CNN: Sure, that could happen: I'm guessing the Q-Anon folks got this despite the cross-talk: Ted Cruz heard what happened on MTP: And really, this deserves wider discussion: Well, and this, too:
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Ron Johnson Is Going To Be On MTP

Because Chuck Todd. And Ron Johnson; who probably didn’t get the memo.

It’s all about the posturing. I half-expect McConnell to have rules for Wednesday that the Senate won’t consider objections on grounds the Senate can’t cure (like delaying the inauguration or even the ceremony of receiving the EC tallies).

(And Chuck Todd redeemed himself by telling Sen. Johnson to his face that he’s the arsonist now complaining about the fire. ‘Bout damned time.)
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A Legislative Version Of Laches

True, though I’m not sure Blackburn and Tuberville know what day of the week it is without a calendar and an aide to point it out to them. Cruz knows this. He knows he’s trying to sound clever for the rubes. He imagines, like Hawley and the others, that he can position himself to replace Trump. Which is worse? That he tries? Or that he’s sure to fail?

And remember that ten day delay Cruz was asking for?
Navarro is wrong on both counts. But he’s playing to an audience of one. Pence is just trying to get Trump to stop calling him. Of course, the quality of the objections don’t matter; it’s all about the vote count. And neither house has majorities that want to face the unprecedented chaos of rejecting the vote of the people. Pay attention: neither Cruz nor Hawley is going that far.

Besides, Pence can’t do any more about what the House and Senate do than he can do about the EC vote.
Meanwhile: I really wanna hear somebody making that argument on the floor of the Senate.
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Saturday, January 02, 2021

Is Everybody Playing This Game?

On Twitter, anyway? (Fleischman is right. Beto is...fundraising?)
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I Really Don’t Think...

Law enforcement is that concerned with what I take seriously or whether concerns about violence in D.C. are trending on Twitter.

Nor do I think I need to tell them I read it on the internet and has the FBI noticed?
Funny how the “end of democracy” works equally well as a tactic for one side as for the other.  Maybe fear of what law enforcement is paying attention to works that way, too.
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The Fundamental Rule

...is that courts cannot issue advisory opinions (Unless you are the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on matters involving religious "rights" and you want to be sure somebody's "rights" are held sacrosanct the way God and the 1st Amendment intended). In other words, Art. III courts can't decide a case on the merits (the legal questions raised) if the parties before the court shouldn't be before the court. I can't complain to the courts about something that happened to you, is what it means. Good friends yes, but, hah! Your injury is not mine, and the court can't remedy your injury based on my complaint about it. That's as simple a statement of standing as I can offer, and it's why the court threw out Gohmert's suit; and why the 5th Circuit will, too (and for mootness, probably, by the time they get to it).  This is what Gohmert calls "having no remedy."  He knows better (he was a judge, and undoubtedly wanted his judicial power respected), but he doesn't care or he's suffered some kind of brain injury.  I really can't explain it, except that stupid is as stupid does.

And we keep sending him to D.C. because we like to keep our crazies all in one place, so we can keep an eye on 'em.
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Grandstanding

The date is set by the Constitution. There is no provision in law or in the Constitution to reset this date on this basis or any other, short of a Constitutional Amendment.

Cruz knows this, although Tuberville probably thinks "constitutional" is a morning walk you take before your first bowel movement of the day.

And notice how carefully they avoid charges/cries of "sedition!" or even "danger to democracy!"  They aren't asking to set aside the election; just postpone the Congressional ceremony of accepting the electoral college vote for a few days.  Is that so much to ask?

They are quite comfortable in the knowledge they won't get it.  They want their opponents to explain why not.
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Well, He Gets Re-Elected....

...and the House doesn't sanction him. Sure, because when a child doesn't get what she wants, she throws a tantrum. And when adults don't get what they want, they attack people in the streets. I mean, why bother to grow up, right?  Why respect the courts, right?  ("You have no remedy" because you don't have a problem the courts can solve, Gohmert.  You know that much.  Or you should.)

Really, until the House sanctions Gohmert for this crap, it's gonna go on.  
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"He was baffled when he saw the Tralfamadorians close their little hands on their eyes."

"He knew from past experience what this meant: He was being stupid."

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Slaughterhouse-Five.
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I Prefer To Call It...

..."Been there, done that." Age has its benefits, including lots and lots and lots of experiences to learn from. And a perspective available to youth, but little appreciated by them. Not paradise or perfection; but you learn what's important, and what isn't, and how to cope. It was remarkable how resilient my mother was in her last years. She outlived her husband and her Twitter sister, gave up her home of 50 years, moved from the town she’d lived in all those years, and managed to adjust to it all.

Age has its compensations, and can teach its own perspectives, call it what you will.
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Friday, January 01, 2021

But Trump Says He Did A Great Job

So, both sides now?
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It’s almost like...

...the Vice-President holds a separate Constitutional office. Which can be represented by the Department of Justice in court. Because the DOJ is not the private law firm of the POTUS.
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