Claims And Issues

Convicted. Adjudicated Felon. Forever More.

(Wikimedia Commons)

There are many reported reactions to the Sentencing Hearing that took place on Friday, January 10, 2025 in New York State Supreme Court.  Here are two things to remember in the middle of it all.

          First is his criminal conviction.   He was sentenced by a Court.  That will never be taken away no matter how many words are spoken or written about it.  He is a convicted felon.

          Second, it was important to him.  This is at least one metric of value in such a case:  What's important to the other person?

          I learned this in negotiations.  I am not the world's best negotiator and I make no claim to being one.

          But I learned that well.  One of the ways to measure the value of an action or an event or an object, is to look at how important it is to the other person.

          In this case, there are many ways in which he showed that it is very important to him.  We should believe what we see with our own eyes, not what anyone says about it.

          He contested being sentenced, i.e., convicted in the trial court.

          He asked 3 appellate courts to stop it.

          Here's a kind of judicial scorecard if you will:  8 judges said "nothing doing," 4 voted his way and he appointed 2 of those, they owe their jobs to him.  This is not the kind of record anyone wants, including him, obviously.

          Summary:  He is going to be the first and only person convicted of a felony ever to take the oath that he will to the best of his ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States when sworn in as President of the United States.  That hurts him.  No-one wants to stand out that way.  Him included.  The humiliation of it all is dampened but not drowned with words.  Ask anyone in a penitentiary if that is so.

          The high value he put on not being convicted, which is really what the sentencing hearing was all about,  is clear from the way he fought not to be sentenced.  It is also clear that he saw it that way, namely that it is his criminal conviction.  It was so important to him that he fought it all the way including asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule before it even arguably had jurisdiction to rule.  (And which it may not have had, but their lack of jurisdiction in this matter is moot,  now that they declined to stay the sentencing.)

          We all know about the many, many cases he has been involved in.  Most of them have been resolved by a settlement.  For some people, reaching settlements is the ultimate goal in litigation in most cases, if not in every case.   In this case, this is not a settlement.  This is not something to get out of by paying money or at least saying that he would pay money, by making some deal.

          This is an adjudication by a Court.

          And in this case, an adjudication by a Court in a criminal case.

          Perhaps for the first time in his life he has been convicted of his crimes.

          When all is said and done (and we are guaranteed that we are going to continue to hear all about it from him), this is not an ideal end to his criminal cases.  But this has never been an ideal world.  The world has never been an ideal place and especially in the present age, it is not.  This is instead the best possible outcome that could be obtained.

          The best possible outcome in an imperfect world. 

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2025 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.  Interested in many things including Claims and Issues?  Sign up for a free subscription to my Substack newsletter. 

Endless Summer Tag.jpg (Broward Tag and Title)

You can tell a lot from specialty license tags.

Florida allows people to pay extra money to put specialty license tags (or, in most other States, license plates) on their cars.

As a Floridian, I have often thought that this practice must drive other States crazy.  How can anyone outside of Florida identify a Florida license tag they might have never seen before?  This must drive police in other States crazy, in particular.

You can tell a lot from specialty license tags that people pay for in Florida.  The most popular specialty tag is titled “Endless Summer.”  A photo of it is pictured at the top of this article.

Other specialty tags are being removed by the State because they have not met the threshold superimposed by the Florida Legislature in 2020 on the pre-existing requirements for specialty tags.  (To many this will seem reminiscent of the requirements imposed on amending the Florida Constitution by raising the threshold from over 50% of the voters, to over 60% of the voters after citizens’ initiatives passed the 50%+1 threshold and became law.)

Permit me a brief aside at this point, if you will, regarding a “mandate.”  The incoming administration does not have one.  Maybe they can learn from the Florida Legislature:  If you can’t meet a mandate, change it.  Make it easier for your side to meet and harder if not impossible for others to meet.

Florida is about to abandon these specialty license plates, among others, according to recent press reports, such as Florida Axes Boy Scout Specialty License Plate, Other Low-Selling Ones, by Richard Tribou, published in THE ORLANDO SENTINEL (Dec. 6, 2024):

• Gone are Keep Kids Drugs Free.
• Florida is no longer A State of Vision.

And:

• Special Olympics. Yes, the sale of Florida license tags is too selective now to include the Special Olympics, include being an appropriately descriptive  word here.

We are re-entering the era of Endless Summer, it would appear, and we are leaving behind the Drug-Free, State of Vision, with Special Olympics in it.

I remember the movie Endless Summer.   It was released in I believe 1966.  I think I saw it.  Predicting the present day, perhaps, the writers did not produce much of a plot.  It was just one surfing adventure after another, one more beach, always more sand, and not too much that was really worth remembering or commemorating.

But that is not the Endless Vision that I see today.  I see people who welcome the Light.

People who bring Light to others.

People who donate clothes and food because other people need clothes and food.

That’s what Christmas is all about, you know.  That’s what the Holidays cherished by many people are all about, cherished by religious people and by people who may not be called “religious” at all (certainly not in the contemporary use of that word to disguise cruelty and make excuses for greed).

So you can learn a lot from which specialty license plates people will buy to put on their cars, and which things politicians will select for their own peculiar form of regulations.

In the end, only one thing matters.  It’s not a specialty license take for a car.  And it’s certainly not a politician.

It’s you.  And it’s me.  How we treat others as we live is what matters.

Merry Christmas!  However you celebrate the Holidays, best wishes of Happy Holidays to you and yours.

A version of this article was published on Substack. 

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.  Interested in many things including Claims and Issues?  Sign up for a free subscription to my Substack newsletter. 

Election Day 2024

It’s a joy!

Voting Booths Flags.  (Common Ground Project.jpg)

 

I can vote today because others made it possible.

Make it possible for others to vote tomorrow.

Vote today.

It’s a right.  It’s a duty.  It’s a privilege.  It’s a joy!

 

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.  Interested in many things including Claims and Issues?  Sign up for a free subscription to my Substack newsletter. 

What would you do with $2Trillion?

Seamus waiting for the election. (Author Photo)

It is reported by reliable sources that Mr. Elon Musk has declared that if he gets the power to do it, he will cut $2Trillion from the economy.

It is also reported by reliable sources that Mr. Musk’s fortune is about $20Trillion.

I cannot imagine doing whatever it took to accumulate $20Trillion.  I can imagine what I would do if I had that much money at my disposal.  Instead of taking 10% of that amount out of the economy, I would spend that 10% of my fortune on people who need it. 

If I did that, I wouldn’t have to worry about taking $2Trillion out of the economy and it would free up about $2Trillion from the U.S. budget.  I understand that the entire amount of Federal spending apart from dedicated budgets of say the Defense Department and such, totals $1.7Trillion which of course is even less than the $2Trillion.

What do you think you would do with your $2Trillion?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.  Interested in many things including Claims and Issues?  Sign up for a free subscription to my Substack newsletter. 

Elon Musk And The Law: The Philadelphia Story, 2024.

If you ask for a Preliminary Injunction, you’re not asking for money or for jail time.  You’re asking a judge to tell him to stop.

Court of Common Pleas.  This one happens to be in Alleghany County, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  (Wikimedia Commons) 

It is a federal crime punishable by a fine of $10,000.00 or five years in prison, or both, for a person to “knowingly or willfully pay or offer to pay “either for registration to vote or for voting[.]”  The statute is found at 52 U.S.C.A. § 10307(c).  The statute is enforceable by the Attorney General of the United States who may file a civil action for an injunction to stop the perpetrator from pursuing his scheme.  That statute is found at 52 U.S.C.A. § 10308(d).

What Congress did here is allow for the option of civil, not criminal sanctions or penalties or jail time, so that the law could be worked out without a defendant being asked to pay money or serve time in prison.

Elon Musk and his Political Action Committee, which he calls America PAC, is notoriously offering $1 Million in a daily giveaway to registered voters in selected “swing states” including Pennsylvania.  Applicants reportedly must sign a Musk “petition” or pledge to ‘support’ the First and Second Amendments to the United States Constitution.  Mr. Musk and his PAC have announced that the winners of their daily giveaway are selected at random.

The U.S. Department of Justice sent Mr. Musk a strongly worded letter to stop.  Musk and his PAC have not stopped.  They have continued.  They have given away some $9 Million as of Monday, October 28, 2024; in particular, nearly half of that amount has been given to Pennsylvania voters.

Apparently tired of waiting for the United States Attorney General to act even by asking for a civil injunction under the federal statutes, the District Attorney of Philadelphia, Larry Krasner, has reportedly filed a civil lawsuit under Pennsylvania law in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia.

I have not seen the complaint.  I have only read reports.  But based on my own experience, I draw a couple of conclusions.  The reporting describes the D.A.’s lawsuit as a civil case.  That means to me that the D.A. is not asking to send Elon Musk to prison here.  That is because you cannot ask for jail time in a civil case.

I also draw from the reporting that the D.A. is requesting a Preliminary Injunction.  If you ask for a Preliminary Injunction, you are not asking for money or for jail time.  You are asking a judge to tell the defendant to stop.

Now, the D.A. may or may not be asking for damages in addition to asking for a Preliminary Injunction, but that hasn’t been reported.  A Hearing has been set by the Court for Friday, November 1, 2024, presumably on the D.A.’s request for a Preliminary Injunction.  We should know more then.  Hopefully, someone will attend who has been in a courtroom before, someone other than the judge and the lawyers, someone who can give us a better idea of what’s going on.

The Philadelphia D.A. has reportedly raised three grounds for an injunction to bar the Musk giveaway.  Mr. Musk and his PAC will of course have the opportunity to defend themselves, in Court.

These are reportedly the legal theories behind asking a judge for an injunction to stop Mr. Musk’s unique Daily-Million-Dollar-Giveaway, at least in Pennsylvania:

1. The Philadelphia D.A.’s complaint reportedly alleges that the Musk giveaway is in reality a lottery. In Pennsylvania, only the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, i.e., the State, can run a lottery and then only for the benefit of Pennsylvania’s senior citizens (and not, for example, for the benefit of a senior citizen of Florida).
2. The D.A.’s complaint also reportedly alleges violations of Pennsylvania’s consumer protection laws.
3. Finally, it is reported that the D.A.’s complaint challenges the fairness of the Musk giveaway in the first place. In fact, the complaint contains the allegation that the giveaway is not random and that it is in fact false.  For example, the complaint reportedly points out that so far, Pennsylvania winners of Musk’s $1Million are only people who have shown up at rallies for Musk’s chosen candidate.

I have some questions, questions that have arisen in the brief time since I learned about the filing of this lawsuit.  Before asking them, I want my readers to know that these questions are based on my own experiences and beliefs about the role of the law.  In my eyes, it is the job of prosecutors to enforce the law while it is the job of judges to decide the law.  The prosecutor must always have probable cause for what she or he does in office, of course, but from everything I know, in this particular case I think that there is probable cause to file a civil case to ask a judge to tell the defendant to stop.

And so I ask:  Why endure Merrick Garland a moment longer in the office of Attorney General of the United States?  Why wait once again for Merrick Garland to act to enforce the law?

Didn’t we already wait long enough for him to do something about the 2020 Election Frauds, waiting until it now seems it may all be too little, too late especially but not just if the Roberts court has its say?  Waiting so long that the waiting itself caused or contributed to the debacle.  So why should we wait any longer now?

Why, indeed, Mr. Garland?  You are no longer a judge, you know.  You do not get to decide what the law should be any more.  Since 2021, you are supposed to act to enforce it, and that’s a different job entirely – which you have not done.  The District Attorney of Philadelphia is doing it. 

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.  Interested in many things including Claims and Issues?  Check out my Substack newsletter. 

NEXT TIME.

It will happen again.

Four people were shot to death in a school in Georgia.  Two are reportedly students; two are reportedly teachers.  None of them returned home.

          Other people were injured because they were also shot in the school in Georgia.  They are in the hospital.  They are not in school today.

          Next time a person with a rifle and ammunition may murder people from a hotel window in Las Vegas, Nevada.

          Next time a person with an assault rifle and ammunition may murder scores of children and their teachers in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

          Or in Newtown, Massachusetts.

          Next time, a person with an automatic rifle and ammunition may murder lots of people at the Mall of the Americas.

          Or at a mall near you.

          Or in a movie theater.

          Or in your church or in your synagogue.

          But no-one should pretend to be surprised when it happens again.  It will happen again.

          Something else may not happen, though.  It may be that nothing will be done to stop it from happening the next time, nothing by those who alone have the power to stop it.

          There may be marches and protests after the next time.  Perhaps even after this time.  The marches and protests may even draw the attention of a nation, as they did in the wake of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

          There may be overwhelming support among the people for something to be done, for the next time not to happen next time or ever.  There is overwhelming popular support for that now.

          But it is not enough.  We know that it is not enough because it keeps happening.

          I have no doubt that Almighty God hears the prayers of the people.  But God works through people and the people have not yet stopped this.

          It will happen again.

          Unless.

          Unless justice rolls down the mountainside like a mighty river, to borrow an image from the Prophet Amos.  Unless the people refuse any longer to accept their representatives’ excuses or, heaven forbid, the emptiness of ‘thoughts and prayers.’

          Unless the people demand that gun dealers and manufacturers stop selling their automatic rifles and ammunition to children, or to psychopaths, or to cartels in this country or in foreign places.

          Unless the Second Amendment is respected as something more than a shroud for the bodies of infants mutilated by gunfire.

          Unless these shadows are altered, it will happen again.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.  Check out my Substack newsletter.

"IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?"

This is a good question.  It was asked so often at public meetings that it became a joke starting in Vaudeville days.  It's not a joke any more.

          There was at least one doctor in the house, at the rally that Saturday.  Reporting identifies him by name, a surgeon taking pictures with his cellphone.  Apparently the former president was taken away before the doctor could see him.

          When Gabby Gifford and President Reagan were shot, they were both taken to the hospital.  So was the former president on Saturday, according to reporting.  But the reports are confusing and incomplete.  One report has it that he was "taken to a local hospital from the rally site."  His spokesperson says that he was "being checked out at a local medical facility."  What an odd way to describe a hospital, by the way, "medical facility."

          All of these statements are incomplete because they do not tell us the name of the hospital where he was taken.  Seems like we should know.  When President Reagan was shot, he had been put into the presidential limousine where a Secret Service agent ordered the limo driver to proceed to the hospital.  We know the name of the hospital, of course.  It's not a state secret or a secret of any kind, and it should not be a secret. 

It's published right on the website of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library:  George Washington Hospital.

          So a good question is a simple one:     What is the name of the hospital where he was taken?

           Here's another:  Who treated him, whether at the hospital or at the rally?  Seems like we should know.  The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library has a long list of everyone who was around when the President was shot, including the names and workplaces of the doctors who treated him.

          As a rally, this was of course a gathering.  It was in Butler, Pennsylvania.  A permit is required to hold a public gathering.  The permit would require the presence and show the identity of Paramedics on scene.  The permit here would have been issued either by Butler Township or by Butler County.  Pull the permit and see what it tells you.

          Then there is the question that so far as I know has been raised by only one person, Ruth Ben-Ghiat.  She wondered about it in the course of taking a look at authoritarian playbooks including attempted assassinations, so she did not dwell on it but she is the only one I know who asked the question.   Why did the same Secret Service agents who had surrounded him, protecting him with their bodies as shields from any bullets that might still be fired, allow him to stop and stand  not once but twice on the way to the SUV, and the second time "expose his face, arm, and hand to the cameras and crowd, and deliver the fist pump and 'fight, fight, fight' message that created an iconic image."  Or as she herself framed it, "Why the Secret Service allowed him to do these things, in violation of any conceivable security protocols for such moments, is another story."

          Now would be a good time to get the answer:   Why did the Secret Service violate any conceivable security protocols for such moments?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

UNITY WITHOUT FREEDOM IS NOT UNITY. IT IS SERVITUDE.

As some Democrats tear their party apart after finally realizing that the President who announced for re-election months ago is an old guy, but who said nothing at the time or at any time until now, the MAGAts are meeting in Milwaukee.

          They have adopted a platform which took out the words reflecting that they want to prohibit abortion.  That would not be a good sell, apparently, so they adopted a new platform instead.  The new platform is sly instead of blunt.

          It is anything but unifying, so far as that goes.

          Their new platform leaves it to each State to decide if a human embryo is a human person.  There does not appear to be any limitation.  As far as the new platform language goes, any State is free to rule what the Convention delegates have been saying, which is that every embryo is a person regardless of whether the embryo ever becomes a baby or is born or, well, anything other than just an embryo which is enough to be a person according to this.

          Their new platform would slyly make every embryo a  "person" protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  Never mind that every Court that has ever ruled on this question has ruled that it is not so.  Never mind that every time they try to introduce this as legislation in the U.S. Congress, it either gets voted down or it goes nowhere.

          Now they have a platform.  And a person to appoint new judges and new Members of Congress, they think.

          This is not unity.  This is a sleazy backdoor, back-alley mugging that pretends to be American, but only pretends.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

THEY DIDN'T CHANT FOR UNITY. THEY CHANTED "FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT."

On Saturday before the Convention started on Monday, he was on a stage and was shot.  Surrounded by agents, he rose up in front of an American flag and reportedly said, "Fight!"  A day after he was shot, he insisted on "unity."

          On Monday the first night of their Convention, they understandably recited the Pledge of Allegiance.  This was ordinary, it seemed.  But they were led in their Pledge by a person who attacked the Capitol on January 6.  Four people died as a consequence of that attack.

          On the first night, the delegates chanted "fight, fight, fight."

          On the first night, the delegates did not chant "unity, unity, unity."

          We need more than words.  Especially when the words seem to be nothing more than a cover.  As the saying goes, walk the walk, don't just talk the talk.

          Stop trying to be the only ones allowed to speak violence.

          Start trying to join everyone else in America condemning violence and speaking acceptance.

          The whole world is watching.  We are all waiting to see if your "unity" is fake news again.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

IT'S NOT RUBIO! IT'S NOT AILEEN CANNON! IT'S J.D. VANCE!

Tonight is not just some isolated incident.

          The central premise of the MAGA campaign is projection, that the President of the United States is an authoritarian fascist who must be impeached, that the Speaker of the House from the opposing party must be attacked and if she is not home then her husband must be attacked, that migrants are bugs who must be stomped on, and all the rest.  That rhetoric has led directly to political violence too many times to count.

          Time to dial it back and speak like a man, J.D.

          Time to act like a human being again.  You can do it.

          Disagree with everyone else, J.D., all you want, but don't disagree with this:  As Lincoln said, there can never be an appeal from the ballot to the bullet.

          So tone it down, J.D.  We all do our part, however small.  Now do yours.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

WHAT THE COUNTRY NEEDS NOW ....

What the nation needs at this time is the answer of Faith:  Stay calm and believe.

          What the country is likely to get this week is anything but.  Anticipate four nights of angry cries for "Bloody Murder."

          Violence is much more likely to be on display just as it was during the American Apocalypse between January 20, 2017 and January 19, 2021.

          We can count on that. 

          Even as we count on ourselves and, far more than that, count on God (whether or not we call God Muslim, Jewish, Christian, or Whatever).  "Nobody's gonna break my Faith."

GO FORWARD!

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

'"SO IT'S ON TO CHICAGO, AND LET'S WIN THERE!"

Senator Robert F. Kennedy said that on June 5, 1968.  Right after he said that, he left the stage in a hotel in Los Angeles and walked through the kitchen.  He was murdered there.

          President Joe Biden is not Senator Robert F. Kennedy.  Judging by the frenzy surrounding Joe Biden's candidacy for re-election, that is his great sin in the eyes of many people, that he is not Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

          Full disclosure:  I am not now and never have been a big fan of Joe Biden as a candidate.  He is not my first choice to run for President.

          But he is an adequate candidate.  And he is a very good President.

          If as appears likely he stays in the race, consider the likely results.

          If he wins and dies in office, Vice President Kamala Harris would replace him automatically.  She is capable and we as a country can certainly make it  through four years with her as President.

          Or President Biden might win and become incapacitated while he is in office over the next four years.  That is why we have a 25th Amendment, and if he were removed because of incapacitation at any point during that time, once again Kamala Harris would become President Harris.

          Or President Biden might win and become too sick to serve for some of the next four years.  Everyone even his current critics concedes that Joe Biden loves this country, so if the 25th Amendment was not invoked then we can expect that he would step aside and once again, we would have President Harris.  (This scenario keeps repeating because that is why the Constitution requires a Vice President, someone to step into the office when the President no longer can.)

          If the other guy wins the Presidential election in 2024 (although if he won the popular vote this would be the first time in his career that he won the popular vote for anything), then the game is over.

          Likely, it will be over for many years if not forever.

          Given the likely outcomes of Joe Biden remaining in the 2024 Presidential election, my choice is Joe Biden.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

RETRIBUTION? IMMUNE, IMMUNE, IMMUNE.

Why does the media write and read more stories about one person than another?  Maybe they are afraid of him.  I do not know.  Maybe they do not want the hassle, which comes to the same thing in the end.  I do not know.

          The CURIOUS GEORGE stories featured their own man with no name.  They called him The Man In The White Hat.  In this age of algorithms and searches, I too will play it safe and call this person The Man In The Red Tie.  (The difference between me and the corporate media is that I am an individual, not a huge corporation, of course.  It is an ancient and honorable tradition to write more or less anonymously whenever a relatively powerless  person takes on the powerful.)

          Taking a leaf from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor writing in the immunity case, here is my list of a few, just a few, of the things that Red Tie and his gang do that do not get near the same treatment as, say, the President:

• Libel, slander, defame?
• Beat, kill cops and FBI?
• Retribution?   Immune, immune, immune.

The end.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

BUZZ EVERY LIE! GONG THE CANDIDATES!

Game shows on TV sound a buzzer when a contestant gives a wrong answer.

          Presidential debates in the 21st Century are game shows at heart.  They should sound a buzzer every time a candidate lies.  ANNNNH!  Like that. 

          Then at least one candidate would be heard for what he is.  If used right, a buzzer would sound practically every sentence the guy speaks.

          The other candidate would probably continue as before as far as the media is concerned, but we can all agree that we would hear the "Gonged" candidate for who he truly is, regardless of what the media says or what else it does about him or about the other guy.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

"BUT HIS DEBATE PERFORMANCE IN JUNE ...."

(Image of Watching 2016 Presidential Debate, Wikipedia)

When Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election in 2016, the media concentrated on her EMails.  "But her EMails," we read and heard, over and over again.  As if the EMails mattered greatly to anyone, especially considering how the presidential election turned out in 2016.  But some of us could see it coming when our own press was publishing stories about Hillary's EMails rather than what the election was about.

(American Prospect Magazine, June 28, 2024)

Now we are in the presidential election of 2024.  I keep hearing that the media have learned their lesson, that they will not be distracted again like they were in 2016.

To say again, now we are in the presidential election of 2024.  I have heard over and over again since President Biden's bad debate on Thursday night, June 27th, "But his performance ...."

It says something about the media that they just learned last week that Biden is an old guy.

It also puts the lie to the mantra that the media has learned its lesson after their own disastrous performance in 2016.

It's a new month and the election is still in November.  Between now and then, at least, let's ignore all the people who get it wrong about things that matter:  the election, the danger, the life.

As usual, Rebecca Solnit said it well:

Much has been said about the age of the candidates, but maybe it's the corporate media whose senility is most dangerous to us.

Amen to that.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

TAKE THAT COGNITIVE TEST, AMERICA.

President Joe Biden's Opponent says that someone named Ronnie Johnson demands that President Biden take the same cognitive test that Ronnie gave him.

          President Biden should respond only during the debate.  When it comes up, as it surely will, the President should say:

          I'm the only thing that's standing between you and the White House.

          Take that cognitive test, America.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

SLAPP THEM SILLY! FELLOW TRAVELERS, WELCOME TO THE 2024 ELECTION.

A center at Stanford University for the study of misinformation and disinformation – let's just call it all propaganda so that we actually know what

(Image by Gridview-imagefull, FDACS)  we are talking about – has had to shut down because of the legal fees it has incurred.

 

          Stanford has issued a statement that the center will continue, but the center will not investigate propaganda any longer.

          Legal fees have been an instrument of propaganda for some time now.  The idea at work is that propaganda enthusiasts file lawsuits against their targets and force the targets to incur attorney's fees, whether the lawsuits have merit or not.  They usually don't have merit, according to the American Bar Association (may be behind a paywall)  which examined these Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation or SLAPP lawsuits.

          31 States and the District of Columbia reportedly have passed legislation, called Anti-SLAPP laws, which are designed to counter these lawsuits.  State Courts do not seem to encounter any problems applying Anti-SLAPP laws, but Federal Judges argue whether or not they should apply the laws in Federal Court; some judges do, some don't.  That stands to reason, what with so many people appointed to the Federal bench during the American Apocalypse between January 20, 2017 and January 19, 2021.

          SLAPP lawsuits, Federal judges refusing to enforce State Anti-SLAPP laws, and fees charged by lawyers are turned into weapons of destruction.  Not even Vladimir Putin and the KGB could have planned that better.

          Hmmm.  There's a thought worth thinking about.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

SO YOU THINK THAT HE WILL WIN THE POPULAR VOTE?

It would be the first time ever.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

RECUSAL MOTIONS ARE SIMPLE. TELL THE LAWYERS TO FILE.

The recent behavior of Justice Alito and also of Justice Thomas lead people to reasonably question their impartiality.  This is the first and overall reason for them to recuse themselves in pending cases under the federal recusal statute.  28 U.S.C.A. § 455(a).

          Both of these gentlemen have involved their wives in their refusals to recuse themselves.  But the federal statute says that they shall "also" recuse when they each know that he (in this case, they are both "he's") "his spouse ... has ... any other interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome[.]"  28 U.S.C.A. § 455 (b)(4).  In my eyes, both of these gentlemen's statements are admissions that their respective spouses have an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome in cases pending before them.

          Time is urgent.  The Supreme Court is going to issue its opinion in the immunity case and other insurrection-related cases any day now.  Obviously, it would be better to have a recusal motion filed before any opinions are issued.

          Since the lawyers for the United States have not filed a recusal motion, the people of the United States who reasonably question the impartiality of Justice Alito or Justice Thomas as judges in pending cases should make themselves heard.  I have been EMailing and writing just that and I urge you to contact these lawyers as well.  All it takes is to tell them that the recent behavior of Justices Alito and Thomas lead people to reasonably question their impartiality and that as lawyers with the United States for a client, these lawyers have an obligation to represent the best interests of their client and file a recusal motion now:

1. In the case of Trump v. United States, the immunity case:

Jack L. Smith, Esquire, Special Counsel; et al.

Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW

Washington, D.C.  20530-0001

[email protected]

2. In the case of Fischer v. United States, one of the insurrection cases:

Elizabeth B. Prelogar, Esquire, Solicitor General; et al.

Department of Justice

Washington, D.C.  20530-0001

[email protected]

3. Everyone else:

J.P. Cooney, Esquire, Deputy Special Counsel

Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW

Washington, D.C.  20530-0001

[email protected]

This lawyer has been involved in many cases involving issues of integrity and he is a former Chief of the integrity section of the U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C.

 

 

Matthew M. Graves, Esquire

U.S. Attorney for D.C.

Denise Cheung, Chief of the Criminal Division,

     U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C.

[email protected]

Liz Aloi, Esquire, Chief of the Public Corruption and

          Civil Rights Section, U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C.

The mailing address for everyone at the U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C. is:

U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C.

601 D Street, NW

Washington, DC  20579

Finally, the name and mailing address of the current Solicitor General of the United States.  She clerked for Merrick Garland when he was a judge:

Elizabeth B. Prelogar, Esquire, Solicitor General

Office of the Solicitor General

950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW

Washington, DC  20530-0001

Please read the disclaimer.  The contents of this blog article, exclusive of names and titles and addresses,  © 2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

 

NEW MONTH, NEW FAILURE BY PRIVATE SPACE VENDORS.

Now we've made the national news with SPACE THE FAILURE FRONTIER.  See Launch of NASA Astronauts in Boeing's Starliner is Scrubbed, NEW YORK TIMES online Saturday, June 1, 2024.  This is the second scrub for the Starliner.  The first was in May.

          At the rate of one a month, we can expect another failure in, what, July?

          To be fair to Boeing, many private corporations take taxpayer money to go into space and fail.  This one just made the national news and that's the only thing that  makes it different from the rest of the story.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

THEIR FUROR GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS: They're responding to US.

A jury found Their Furor guilty of felonies on all 34 counts.

          Now Their Furor and his Useful Idiots (sounds like a singing group, doesn't it?) are responding to us.

          Let's keep it that way.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

PLENTY TO DO ABOUT JUSTICE ALITO'S BEHAVIOR. JUSTICE THOMAS'S TOO.

Now that Chief Justice Roberts has blown off the fearsome letter that Dick Durbin wrote to him asking the Chief Justice to do something about Associate Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas and their alleged ethical improprieties, I am reprinting my article, WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT JUSTICE ALITO'S BEHAVIOR?  PLENTY,  ACTUALLY.

          Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch offers this suggestion, which I will gladly add to the suggestions I wrote in my article.  I am always glad to quote Mr. Bunch:  "There should be nationally televised Senate hearings and aggressive use by the Senate Judiciary Committee of its subpoena power."

          Let's do it, Senator Durbin, let it be so.  And if Senator Durbin is not up to the task, let individual Senators and Members of Congress such as Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Representative Jamie Raskin, who have expressed themselves so well on the topic of Justice Alito's and Justice Thomas's continuing refusals to recuse themselves, hold televised regular press conferences and appearances to highlight the things that they are willing to say.

          To act until the work is done.  Let it be done.  Not just by Senators and Members of Congress, but by the rest of us Americans.  See the many suggestions for action in WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT JUSTICE ALITO'S BEHAVIOR?  PLENTY, ACTUALLY.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

"IT'S HARD FOR ME TO IMAGINE HOW THAT WAS ACCIDENTAL ...."

John Lewis had it right when he said that Their Furor was an illegitimate president.  That was John Lewis's reason for not going to the 2017 Inauguration.  He was so right.

          They should not have let Their Furor anywhere near the Oval Office, but they did, and here we are.  Now we are hearing that he was so busy being president that he did not have time to commit crimes, no matter what the evidence shows.

          "He was President of the United States."  "He was running the country."  These are supposed to be reasons that he should not be convicted of his crimes.

          His lawyers argue to a jury that he should not be convicted of a crime, but they do not emphasize his innocence.  Instead, they emphasize that he was the "leader of the free world" at the time and so should not go to prison.

          What the Judge said when he heard the lawyer's improper argument to the jury (so improper that the lawyer did not try to defend it), applies to the entire situation we are in:  "It's hard for me to imagine how that was accidental in any way."

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

NETANYAHU, KILLING RAFA, AND AVOIDING JAIL.

          The bombs supplied in the name of the United States falling on civilians in Rafa are more than a "tragic accident."  They are a tragic intent.

          But this does not bother Netanyahu, his gang, or U.S. President Joseph Biden.  Not enough to stop the falling bombs.

          It does not matter to Netanyahu and his gang how many people die so long as they stay in power.

          And do not go to jail.  Netanyahu is not the only one in his cabinet who has been indicted; one of his cabinet gang was convicted before Netanyahu invited him to join the gang that currently governs.

          Netanyahu will never leave office voluntarily.  He does not want to go to jail.

          Sound similar to anyone you know that is running for office in 2024?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT JUSTICE ALITO'S BEHAVIOR? PLENTY, ACTUALLY.

Justice Alito has unmistakably told us that he is partial to Their Furor.  Take a leaf from the famous Maya Angelou quote, and when somebody tells you who they are, believe them.  Going a step further, we can respond to his behavior in many ways, and all of the responses suggested here are not only legal but pro-American.

Televise, advertise, and recognize.  This first suggestion involves one thing with may permutations:  Demand that Justice Alito recuse himself from the Furor-related cases such as the immunity case pending in the Supreme Court.

          Officials already have the means to summon newspapers and cable media to their press conferences.  They should hold at least one press conference every day and demand recusal until Justice Alito recuses or refuses.

          Groups can and should hold recusal events and advertise them.  One location might be the steps of the Supreme Court or if armed guards make standing on the steps impossible, stand on the sidewalk.

          Press releases for press conferences and coverage of all these events are open to all.

          Follow Their Furor's lead in getting coverage for your events.  Getting coverage is perhaps the one thing they do well.  Follow their lead.  There is something to learn from them in this way.

Freedom of Information Act.  Send FOIA requests for information to the Supreme Court as to Justice Alito's refusal to recuse specifically, and why and when recusal is indicated generally.

Letters to the Editor, Texts, Email  campaigns.  The Sierra Club and Indivisible and Third Act encourage their members to participate in LTE, Texting, and EMail campaigns for purposes like protecting the environment.  I know because I receive their Email invitations.  Add this cause to your campaigns.

Occupy the Internet.  Let Substack newsletters, websites and blogs carry the message of recusal.  Let them add to the overwhelming sound of recusal.

          In the end, you will feel better about yourself.  So will I.  Where do we sign up?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

FOR A SPECIAL MEMORIAL DAY MONDAY HOLIDAY, REMEMBER YOU CARE.

In response to Justice Samuel Alito's taunts at freedom, our current officials have done little more than issue statements.  They are not in favor of Alito flying the flag upside down to support Their Furor, and then blaming it on his wife.  They are outraged by other reports of Justice Alito flying his biased positions on his flagpoles at his houses before he rules on actual cases involving crimes and immunities.  And so on and so on.   But other than issuing their statements and perhaps stamping their feet, they have not actually done anything about it so far as I know.

          This has been true, again so far as I know, of Dick Durbin, the current Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee; of Chuck Schumer, the current Senate Majority Leader; and Merrick Garland, the current Attorney General.  It seems that it is also true of the current President, Joe Biden.  At first I thought this might be due to their ages, but they are not so old:  President Biden is the oldest in this group, at 81; Durbin clocks in next, at 79; Schumer is 73, and Merrick Garland is a relatively spry 71.

          I compared the ages of this group to Representative Nancy Pelosi (84) and Senator Bernie Sanders (82) and age alone does not explain their level of energy, or in the case of the group, their lack of energy.

          What can we do to reply to Justice Alito's behavior?  It turns out that there is a lot that can be done, actually.  On Memorial Day of all days, it is good to remember that.  Check in here tomorrow for a bunch of positive suggestions, all of them legal and each  of them an appropriate way to honor the people who actually built this country.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.     

MASOCHISTS BRINGING THEIR OWN "KICK ME" SIGNS.

I just got through listening to the latest round of university presidents who appeared before the House Unamerican Activities subCommittee.  Past performances were debacles; I knew that, but these people clearly did not.  I have concluded that university presidents are masochists.

          I listened to the performance of the Northwestern president.  He was humiliated by an Unamerican subCommittee Member from Indiana.  The Northwestern guy was interrupted and badgered and ... let it happen.  It was clear that he had not been prepped to be a witness.  Witness preparation in its simplest form means that the witness is prepared for her or his appearance as a witness.

          There are two ways of replying to questions.  One is to keep silent and hear the questioner out without interrupting.  This may work in academic and other circles; the Northwestern guy did not have much luck with this approach, although he seems to have tried.

          The other way of replying to questions at a forum like the Unamerican subCommittee is to understand why the questioners are performing as they do.  They are there to make sound bites.  They are not there to get answers.  They are there only to make video points.

          Understanding that this is that kind of a forum leads us to the second way to reply to questions at this forum.  Since they only want to make videos and sound bites, let there be a video and let there be sound bites in which you refuse to be interrupted.  If they talk over you, then talk over them.  That should be the only recording that they make at your expense.

          Alternatively, you can Reply calmly and steadily:  "Who do you think you're talking to?" Or words of like kind and nature.

          Otherwise, you're a masochist.  And the next time it happens, the House Unamerican Affairs subCommittee rides again—and the saddle is on your back along with the "kick me" sign you provided them.

P.S. ON MEMORIAL DAY OBSERVED 2024:

If the badgering gets bad enough, you can always leave the room.  You went there to answer questions.  You did not go there to be badgered.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

MASOCHISTS BRINGING THEIR OWN "KICK ME" SIGNS.

I just got through listening to the latest round of university presidents who appeared before the House Unamerican Activities subCommittee.  Past performances were debacles; I knew that, but these people clearly did not.  I have concluded that university presidents are masochists.

          I listened to the performance of the Northwestern president.  He was humiliated by an Unamerican subCommittee Member from Indiana.  The Northwestern guy was interrupted and badgered and ... let it happen.  It was clear that he had not been prepped to be a witness.  Witness preparation in its simplest form means that the witness is prepared for her or his appearance as a witness.

          There are two ways of replying to questions.  One is to keep silent and hear the questioner out without interrupting.  This may work in academic and other circles; the Northwestern guy did not have much luck with this approach, although he seems to have tried.

          The other way of replying to questions at a forum like the Unamerican subCommittee is to understand why the questioners are performing as they do.  They are there to make sound bites.  They are not there to get answers.  They are there only to make video points.

          Understanding that this is that kind of a forum leads us to the second way to reply to questions at this forum.  Since they only want to make videos and sound bites, let there be a video and let there be sound bites in which you refuse to be interrupted.  If they talk over you, then talk over them.  That should be the only recording that they make at your expense.

          Alternatively, you can Reply calmly and steadily:  "Who do you think you're talking to?" Or words of like kind and nature.

          Otherwise, you're a masochist.  And the next time it happens, the House Unamerican Affairs subCommittee rides again—and the saddle is on your back along with the "kick me" sign you provided them.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved..

WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA FOXX? THE HOUSE UNAMERICAN AFFAIRS subCOMMITTEE

Part 3.

On a Sunday, racist thugs threatened UCLA students protesting the Israeli government's campaign in Gaza.  The students demanded that UCLA divest from its investments in Israel that make the Israeli government's campaign in Gaza possible.  Police successfully separated the two groups, the racist thugs on one side, and the student protestors on another side.

          On Tuesday night, around midnight, in the darkness, the racist thugs or thugs just like them came back.  But this time they descended on the UCLA campus.  Whether they anticipated the thugs coming to campus or not, UCLA officials called the police.  Three hours later, and after many beatings of many UCLA students, police acted to separate the thugs from the students once again.

          The same day that the UCLA Chancellor declared the student encampment illegal, racist thugs tried to beat the students up.  Coincidence?

          Reportedly, no thugs were arrested.

          At some point, the UCLA Chancellor was informed that he had been called before the House Unamerican Affairs subCommittee to be berated by Virginia Foxx, the Chair of the whole Committee and a member of the subCommittee.  When the head of Columbia University was previously called before the House Unamerican subCommittee, the current leader of Columbia University called the cops.  That apparently hasn't saved her job, but she is not part of our story today.

          It's interesting though that the UCLA Chancellor also called the cops.  That apparently hasn't saved his job, but we will see, now that he has been asked to testify as a witness before the Unamerican subCommittee in Washington, D.C.

          A night or two after the Tuesday night attack, depending on how you calculate the hours, UCLA officials called the police again and this time the police acted quickly.  They dismantled the student protest encampment.

          Although the police could not arrest any thugs two days or so beforehand, that night the police arrested many students.

          As I said, that apparently hasn't saved the UCLA Chancellor's job but we will see.

          It seems a safe bet that whether or not he saves his job, he will show up and be berated by Virginia Foxx.  He may be too afraid of her not to show up or to "talk back," let alone say something familiar to her like her own words, "Oh, shut up!"

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

VIRGINIA FOXX: THE PICTURE, THE VIDEO, THE LEGEND!

WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA FOXX?

Her Official Photo.

          You may remember Ms. Foxx, or at least remember something she said.  Ms. Foxx is the member of congress who famously told a reporter to shut up when the reporter was asking incoming Speaker of the House Mike Johnson if he helped lead the efforts to overturn the 2020 election.  To say again:  Foxx told the reporter to "Oh, shut up!"   Take a look at the YouTube clip, and listen to it, here.

          Virginia Foxx:  the picture, the video, the legend!

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2024 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.