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Anti-abortion groups and former Trump administration officials are drawing up plans for sweeping abortion restrictions if Donald Trump returns to the White House in 2025.

The former president is reportedly telling advisers and associates in private that he supports a ban on abortions after 16 weeks of pregnancy.

But the conservative groups and other allies recognize that they need policies that can be enacted without Congress, because even if Trump were to publicly endorse specific limits, there is little chance such a national ban could become law.

The plans being drawn up would go far beyond a 16-week ban, which would impact only a small number of abortions.

Abortion historically has never been a major priority for Trump, though he was happy to embrace anti-abortion policies in his first term and takes credit for appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.

Trump for months has evaded taking a direct stance on abortion policy and has so far been able to avoid the backlash for unpopular abortion bans at the state level. Publicly backing a 16-week ban would not make sense politically.

“I think what’s ironic about a line like that is it makes no one happy. So why would you make that a policy goal?” said Kristi Hamrick, a strategist at Students for Life of America.

Students for Life is not pressing Trump for a commitment to ban abortions after a specific gestational period. While Hamrick said the group would prefer a national “heartbeat” ban, it has been speaking with the Trump campaign about potential administrative actions.

“Let’s talk about what we can do. What we can do with appointments, what we can do with policy. … Frankly, the appointments of people who care about life and law at HHS, and DOJ and FDA, I think are going to be hugely important,” Hamrick said, referring to the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Justice and the Food and Drug Administration.

One Republican strategist argued there is little political incentive for Trump to publicly declare support for a set number of weeks after which abortion should be banned.

The strategist noted Trump won over evangelical voters during his first term, and the former president romped to an easy victory in the Iowa caucuses in January despite having previously criticized the abortion ban in Florida and refusing to offer up his own preferred limits.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4485313-ex-trump-officials-plot-out-sweeping-abortion-restrictions-for-return-to-office/

read it... do not doubt it...

Former President Donald Trump suggested Friday that his criminal indictments and mug shot appeal to Black voters and claimed that “what’s happening to (him) happens to them.”

“I got indicted for nothing, for something that is nothing. They were doing it because it’s election interference and then I got indicted a second time, and a third time and a fourth time. And a lot of people said that that’s why the Black people like me because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against,” Trump, who faces 91 criminal charges across the cases, told a gathering of Black conservatives in Columbia, South Carolina, on the eve of the first-in-the-South Republican primary there.

Black conservatives, Trump told the crowd gathered for the gala hosted by the Black Conservative Federation, “understand better than most that some of the greatest evils in our nation’s history have come from corrupt systems that try to target and subjugate others to deny them their freedom and to deny them their rights. You understand that. I think that’s why the Black people are so much on my side now because they see what’s happening to me happens to them.”

The GOP front-runner also claimed that Black Americans have “embraced” his mug shot more than anyone else.

“The mug shot, we’ve all seen the mug shot, and you know who embraced it more than anybody else? The Black population. It’s incredible. You see Black people walking around with my mug shot, you know they do shirts,” he said.

The campaign manager for Nikki Haley, the onetime South Carolina governor and the last remaining major rival to Trump in the GOP presidential primary, said later Friday that the former president’s indictment remark shows why Americans do not “want a Trump-Biden rematch” in November.

“This is just more of the same chaos, more of the same drama, more of the same baggage,” Betsy Ankney said during an interview with CNN’s Laura Coates.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/23/politics/trump-biden-racist/index.html

So go read the rest of it. This is just another in a long line of Mangoisms.... wanting to execute retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Milley, threatening to lock up jourmalists without charges, calling the Obama years in office the long national nightmare (go back and read his inaugural address in 2017), to cozying up to racists.... the list goes on and on.

On Tuesday, Justice Samuel Alito gave another startling indication of how troubled he is by recent changes in American society and law. In an unusual “statement” about a case from Missouri, the justice was clear that, in his view, those changes have advanced an egalitarian and secular agenda at the expense of religious beliefs and practices.

The same day that Alito made his statement, Politico broke a story about what it called “an influential think tank close to Donald Trump” that is “developing plans to infuse Christian nationalist ideas in his administration should the former president return to power.” Politico suggested that “Christian nationalists in America believe that the country was founded as a Christian nation and that Christian values should be prioritized throughout government and public life.”

As the country has become less religious and more diverse, those advancing a Christian nationalist agenda think that “Christians are under assault” and hope to use political and legal means to turn the tide.

Enter Justice Alito. The statement he made this week offers a preview of what a Christian nationalist agenda might look like.

As the New York Times explains, Alito wrote to explain why the Supreme Court had rejected a request to hear a Missouri case about people who were not allowed to sit on a jury “after voicing religious objections to gay relationships.” Alito used the case to offer wide ranging comments about what he characterized as mistreatment of people who adhere to “traditional religious beliefs.”

The Missouri case involved jury selection in a suit brought by Jean Finney, a lesbian, who sued her employer, Missouri’s Department of Corrections, alleging employment discrimination. As the Times reports, Finney “claimed that after beginning a same-sex relationship with a co-worker’s former spouse, that co-worker made Ms. Finney’s job intolerable.”The colleague “spread rumors about her, sent demeaning messages and withheld information she needed to complete her work duties…. Ms. Finney sued the Department of Corrections, accusing the department of being responsible for the co-worker’s actions.”

At the start of the jury selection process, Finney’s lawyer asked all prospective jurors whether they “went to a conservative Christian church” and were taught that “people who are homosexual shouldn’t have the same rights as everyone else because what they did was a sin.” Several potential jurors answered the question in the affirmative.

Finney’s lawyer then questioned each of them individually after which he moved to strike three people who explained their belief that the Bible condemns homosexuality and brands it a “sin.”

There was nothing out of the ordinary about the question Finney’s lawyer asked. It was a pretty standard effort to identify people whose views might predispose them against their client’s contentions.

Indeed, a decade ago, a Florida court observed that lawyers have a duty during jury selection to help “ensure that our jury panels are comprised of only fair and impartial members.” Because public opinion research has repeatedly “shown that religious persons report more prejudice against homosexuality when compared to their non-religious counterparts,” it certainly seems reasonable that Finney’s lawyer would want to discharge that duty by asking about religiously-based views about homosexuality.

Missouri trial judge Kate Schaefer agreed with Finney’s lawyer that “there’s no way somebody who looks at a gay person and says… You are a sinner… Could ever fairly consider case involving a lesbian plaintiff.” The trial judge excused the three potential jurors, explaining that she wanted to “err on the side of caution.”

The Missouri Court of Appeals agreed with the trial judge. As Alito says, that court affirmed the jurors’ dismissal because “it reasoned that the jurors belief that Finney’s conduct was sinful (meaning immoral and wrong) provided a sustainable ground for concluding that they could not impartially and fairly decide her claim that she was unlawfully harassed due to her homosexuality.” The appellate court found that the elimination of the prospective jurors was “based on their views on homosexuality - which the court called ‘a central issue in the case’ - and not because they were Christians.”

But Alito saw things differently.

In his view, what the lower courts did was just the latest example of our political and legal institutions sending a message that “Americans who do not hide their adherence to traditional religious beliefs about homosexual conduct will be ‘labeled as bigots and treated as such’ by the government.”

Alito insisted that the jurors were excluded merely because of their religion. As he sees it, religious freedom does not end at the church door. Any American should be free to exercise their religious beliefs anywhere and everywhere, including into a jury room.

Alito traced what he characterized as growing prejudice against religion in cases involving the rights of gays and lesbians to the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v Hodges, the case disallowing state and federal bans on same-sex marriage. He argued that that case had tilted the playing field and given permission for differential treatment “predicated on religious status or religious belief.”

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Alito resisted the kind of careful balancing of interests done by the trial and appellate court in Missouri. He warned that religious discrimination of the kind he saw in the Finney case “may spread and may be a foretaste of things to come.”

Tuesday’s statement was not the first time that Alito has defended an extreme view of religious freedom against threats posed by secularism and the commitment to equal treatment under the law.

To take just one example, in a 2020 speech to the Federalist Society, Alito lamented that American society is no longer “inclusive enough to tolerate those with unpopular religious beliefs” and that many people saw any expression of sincere religious convictions just “an excuse for bigotry.”

“Religious liberty,” he complained, “is fast becoming a disfavored right.”

This classic culture war move resonates with the views of many of former President Trump’s most avid supporters. It fits with Trump’s frequent charges on the campaign trail that “Under crooked Joe Biden, Christians and Americans of faith are being persecuted and government has been weaponized against religion like never before.”

Trump has promised that “Upon taking office, I will create a new federal task force on fighting anti-Christian bias to be led by a fully reformed Department of Justice that’s fair and equitable. Its mission will be to investigate all forms of illegal discrimination, harassment, and persecution against Christians in America.”

Included in this Trumpian effort would be the kind of “bias” that Alito insists was at work in the Finney case. In the Christian nationalist state Alito and Trump want to fashion, the question of decisions about the rights of gays and lesbians would be left to people whose religions teach that “homosexuals shouldn’t have the same rights as everyone else.”

This includes not only whether they should be protected from workplace harassment and whether, as Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern notes, religious people should “sit in judgment of a person whose very identity they view as sinful,” but also and most importantly whether gays and lesbians should retain the right to marry members of the same sex. Such a Supreme Court under a second Trump term should serve as a terrifying prospect.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/alito-cries-religious-persecution-chilling-103102392.html

Of course the religious practices Witchhunter Alito is concerned about is Christianity.....

f there were only some way to prove it, I would happily bet everything I own that Donald Trump does not believe in God. Not because he's carefully engaged the many philosophical proofs for atheism that are out there, of course. He's simply too much of a sociopathic narcissist to believe in anything higher than himself. He also, as recent court verdicts regarding sexual assault and massive fraud demonstrate, has no moral compass. He's only too happy to be party to attempted murder, in fact, as long as it's someone else who takes the risk of prison for it.

Alas, there's no way to force Trump to tell the truth about his lack of belief in God, but there are plenty of signs of his deep contempt for religion. Multiple witnesses have described how he laughs at Christians behind their backs, calling their faith "bullshit." When he play-acts belief in public, he struggles to hide his scorn, failing to acknowledge basic precepts of Christianity that even most non-believers understand.

I suspect most Americans, even Republican voters, understand that Trump is not a believer. (He does seem to think he's a god himself, a view his voters are all too willing to endorse.) Unfortunately, this can incline folks to feel that, if re-elected, Trump will govern as a secularist. Focus groups, for instance, regularly show that voters disregard the threat Trump poses to legal abortion, even though he's the reason Roe v. Wade was overturned. They correctly surmise that Trump would be fine with any woman he has sex with aborting an inconvenient pregnancy, but forget that, for Trump, rules are for other people. He'd only be too happy to send every woman who got an abortion to prison, so long as he personally is off the hook.

The grim reality, however, is that should Trump win (or steal) the White House this November, he will govern as a theocrat. There's a reason that Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has attached himself like a suckerfish to Trump's rear end. Johnson wants the U.S. to abandon freedom of religion, and instead run it according to his far-right view of a "biblically sanctioned government." He sees Trump as the single best route to turning the country into a Christian dictatorship.

On Tuesday, Politico published an exposé of the secret plans of The Center for Renewing America think tank, described as "a leading group in a conservative consortium preparing for a second Trump term." Led by Russell Vought, who once worked as Trump's director of the Office of Management and Budget, the group has drafted a blueprint to turn the U.S. into a "Christian nationalist" country. The group argues that "freedom is defined by God, not man," which is a fancy way of saying that they oppose most human rights. Subsequently, they are calling for an end to free speech, by using the Insurrection Act to quell protests. The coalition also expressed support for "overturning same-sex marriage, ending abortion and reducing access to contraceptives."

Trump, being so obviously irreligious, may initially seem like an odd choice to turn the U.S. into a Christian version of a country like Iran, where laws are based on far-right interpretations of religious texts. But that's why he's so valuable to the Christian right. They know most Americans oppose Christian nationalism, especially the parts where we lose free speech and sexual rights. The only way to seize power and get the theocratic agenda enacted is through trickery. Some percentage of Americans will refuse to accept Trump is the face of Christian theocracy — until, of course, it's too late and he's installed himself in power. Plus, Trump's obvious longer term goal is to make his power permanent, by destroying democracy such that voters can never remove him.

Trump himself understands the importance of fooling voters into thinking he's more moderate on social issues than he is. That's why Trump's campaign "accidentally" leaked claims that he is pondering a 16-week abortion ban. The hope is that this sounds like a reasonable compromise and helps reinforce the false impression that Trump has no desire to ban abortion. In reality, Trump would almost certainly sign a national abortion ban that is total or near-total, just as he appointed the Supreme Court justices that overturned Roe. In addition, his allies are drafting plans to bring back enforcement of the Comstock Act, a 19th-century law that makes it a crime to mail any materials or information that could be used to prevent or end a pregnancy. This would not only make it illegal to distribute abortion pills anywhere in the country but, in the hands of Trump and his allies, could be used to prosecute the distribution of contraception. Even the sharing of information about birth control could result in criminal penalties, under the law as it's written.

The Heritage Foundation, which is also busy drafting plans for Trump's possible next term, is also gunning to ban birth control along with abortion.

Keeping voters from knowing about these plans is of utmost importance to the Christian right. As one anti-choice leader told the New York Times, "I think the pro-life groups should keep their mouths shut as much as possible until the election." Notably, he's not too worried about talking to the New York Times about this campaign of deceit. That's because he knows full well that the people who will be fooled by this tactic don't engage articles at major newspapers, preferring to get their news from Facebook memes and snippets overheard on cable news. Similarly, these activists are willing to talk about their sinister plans on their own social media feeds and conferences, knowing that swing voters will never hear about it.

Much of the press continues to treat it like a mystery as to why Trump and Republicans keep making googly eyes at Russian President Vladimir Putin. Under Johnson's leadership, House Republicans are blocking aid to Ukraine in their efforts to fend off Russia's illegal invasion. Trump openly encouraged Russia to invade more countries. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson gave Putin a glowing interview, allowing the Russian dictator to make up elaborate justifications for what sure sounds like a plan to invade Poland. But many in the press continue to resist the obvious conclusion: Trump and his allies are openly rooting for Putin to expand his power by conquering sovereign nations.

Trump's Christian nationalism, however, unlocks why this is not a mystery at all. Putin's Russia is a model of the Christian dictatorship that MAGA Republicans want. Even though he's a murderous authoritarian, Putin frequently portrays himself as a devoted Christian whose violent and oppressive ways are in service of "protecting" his faith. Like his allies in the U.S., however, Putin's Christianity is not about love and compassion. He regularly murders his critics, and of course, is currently inflicting mass death on Ukrainians. Putin's Christianity is defined by who he hates: Feminists, LGBTQ people, Ukrainians, and anyone perceived as liberal or open-minded.

Ultimately, this is why Trump and his evangelical supporters are so inextricably tied, even as he mocks them behind their backs. It's not about faith and definitely not about love. Not even for the ones who do go to church, unlike Trump. It is, and always has been, about power. Some of them may sincerely believe and pray. Others don't really think there's a God in heaven, but it benefits them to act otherwise. Either way, however, the priority for the religious right is what it is for Trump: An excuse to exercise domination over others.

https://www.salon.com/2024/02/21/donald-may-not-believe-in-god-but-he-still-plans-to-turn-america-into-a-christian-theocracy/

So what did I post last evening about a speaker at the CPAC conference where numerous crazies both elected and unelected attend each year. Did you note in the above article the author's reference to Mango never leaving office?

All women from child bearing age on need to be very afraid... very... The witchhunters are coming.

COMMENTS

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AbsintheandBlood
13:36 Feb 23 2024

No disrespect LordFangor but youre obviously obsessed with Donald Trump. Wow!

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LordFangor
18:35 Feb 23 2024

Well all MAGA trash should be carefully watched

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POST COMMENT

Alt-right conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec vowed to finish what rioters began on Jan. 6 by working to “overthrow” democracy “completely.”

Posobiec made the comments during the opening day of CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, in Washington, D.C., Thursday.

“Welcome to the end of democracy!” Posobiec declared. “We’re here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on January 6th, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this right here,” he said, holding his fist in the air. “That’s right, because all glory is not to government, all glory to God.”

https://www.mediaite.com/trump/welcome-to-the-end-of-democracy-trump-booster-jack-posobiec-vows-to-finish-what-began-on-jan-6-as-steve-bannon-cheers-on/


And there you go..... they don't like democracy.... they don't like the Constitution.... they will telll you what their god wants and if you don't do it... they will execute you... do not doubt this.

A 16-year-old student died following a fight at an Oklahoma high school – and as an investigation into the cause of death continues, advocates point to a heightened and hostile climate against the LGBTQ+ community.

Nex Benedict, whose family says identified as nonbinary, died February 8, one day after they told their family they and a transgender student were involved in a fight with others at Owasso High School. Police in Owasso are investigating.

It is not clear if or how the fight contributed to Nex’s death. Police in Owasso have not called the investigation criminal and said Wednesday that early autopsy findings indicate Nex did not die as a result of trauma.

“Preliminary information from the medical examiner’s office is that a complete autopsy was performed and indicated that the decedent did not die as a result of trauma,” Owasso police said in a release Wednesday.

Police declined to make any further comments on the cause of death “until toxicology results and other ancillary testing results are received.”

The autopsy report will be available at a later, unspecified date, police said. The investigation into the incident is ongoing. When contacted by CNN, the medical examiner’s office said it is not yet releasing the full autopsy report.

Sue Benedict, Nex’s guardian and biological grandmother, told The Independent Nex was badly beaten during the fight with three older girls in a bathroom at the school and hit their head on the floor. Benedict said Nex had experienced bullying at the school, but added, “I didn’t know how bad it had gotten.”

“I said, ‘You’ve got to be strong and look the other way, because these people don’t know who you are,’” Benedict told The Independent.

Nex was a 10th grader and used they/them pronouns, according to their family. “Nex did not see themselves as male or female,” Benedict told The Independent. CNN has reached out to the family for comment.


An Owasso school resource officer went to Bailey Medical Center, where Nex was examined, and interviewed both Nex and their parent about the incident.

The following afternoon, on February 8, Owasso Fire Department medics responded to a medical emergency involving the teenager, who was then transported to a pediatric emergency hospital where they later died, police said.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Benedict family said that while the investigation is ongoing, the early details about the incident are “troubling at best.”

“We urge those tasked with investigating and prosecuting all potentially liable parties to do so fully, fairly and expediently,” the statement says.

“The Benedicts know all too well the devastating effects of bullying and school violence, and pray for meaningful change wherein bullying is taken seriously and no family has to deal with another preventable tragedy.”

Details emerge of alleged bullying
A family member shared text messages from Nex written shortly after the incident with CNN affiliate KOKI.

“I got jumped at school. 3 on 1, had to go to the ER,” the message said. The text exchange said the girls involved in the fight “had been bullying me and my friends and I got tired of it so I poured some water on them and all 3 came after me.”

In the exchange, Nex said that they had bruises from the fight and had gotten pain medication. They also wrote, “If I’m still dizzy and nauseous in the morning I might have a concussion.”

Nex’s death comes after advocates have strongly criticized Oklahoma officials for actions perceived as targeting LGBTQ+ residents.

The state legislature passed a “bathroom bill” in 2022 requiring all preK-12 schools to require students use the restroom and locker rooms of the sex designated on their birth certificates. Last year, Gov. Kevin Stitt issued an executive order requiring government agencies to identify people according to their sex at birth rather than their gender identity.

Owasso Public Schools said Tuesday it cannot share all details about the incident, but confirmed a “physical altercation occurred in a restroom” that was broken up by other students and a staff member. The district said no ambulance was called, but “it was recommended to one parent that their student visit a medical facility for further examination.”

The school district said, “Due to federal privacy laws, we are unable to disclose the exact nature of disciplinary action taken against any student.”

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said “all available resources” will be provided to the school district.

“The safety and security of our students is my top priority as well as the first responsibility of Oklahoma schools,” Walters said in a statement issued Tuesday. “I mourn the loss of our student in Owasso and pray for God’s comfort for the family and the entire Owasso community.”

A “thorough, open investigation into the matter” has been demanded, according to a joint statement Tuesday from Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Oklahoma.

A GoFundMe has been established on behalf of Nex and their family.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/21/us/oklahoma-teen-death-school-fight/index.html

So when the state is filled with hate... and the parents are filled with hate... and they pass it on to their inbred kids... this is the result. I want the DOJ to step in and charge the murderers with Federal Hate Crime Charges....

Mike Lindell, the CEO of bedding company MyPillow and an ally of former President Donald Trump, has to pay $5 million to a man who debunked Lindell’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election, following a failed attempt to get out of doing so.

In 2021, Lindell hosted a contest called the “Prove Mike Wrong Challenge,” promising $5 million to anyone who could disprove Lindell’s claims that Chinese interference played a role in the 2020 election. Robert Zeidman, a computer forensics expert and Trump supporter, submitted a 15-page report proving Lindell’s assertions were false.

The American Arbitration Association’s commercial arbitration tribunal ruled last April that Lindell had to pay Zeidman the money. Lindell challenged the ruling, but the arbiters decided to uphold it, according to a document filed Wednesday.

Zeidman told The Washington Post in April that he was “really happy” with the initial decision. “They clearly saw this as I did — that the data we were given at the symposium was not at all what Mr. Lindell said it was,” Zeidman said. “The truth is finally out there.”

Zeidman’s attorney, Brian Glasser, told HuffPost in an email that he and his client are pleased with this week’s decision.

“We are thrilled by this decision and look forward to beginning collection efforts if payment is not promptly forthcoming,” Glasser wrote. “This decision gives us that collection power.”

Lindell’s attorneys filed a motion in October to withdraw from their role because Lindell was behind on payments to the law firm.

Lindell has been a vocal supporter of Trump and has spread conspiracy theories about supposed election fraud, including that voting machines were rigged in 2020 and were changing votes for Trump to votes for Joe Biden. The voting machine manufacturer Dominion has sued Lindell, seeking $1.3 billion in damages.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mike-lindell-mypillow-guy_n_65d66408e4b0cc1f2f7a9180

lol... and he has to pay it to a Mango supporter who actually recognizes thaT Mango LOST. And Lindell is being sued and will lose the other cases.... lol... the guy is almost broke... sold his Lear..shutting down factories...laying off workers... and he is still batshit crazy

Alabama's Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are considered people under state law.

The ruling could negatively impact IVF in the state, according to advocates.

Eleven states have laws that define personhood as beginning at fertilization.

In a landmark ruling in Alabama that's left the future of in vitro fertilization in the state in jeopardy, the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court pointed to a verse from the Book of Genesis in explaining why frozen embryos are people — and said that a person could be punished if they're destroyed.

"Man's creation in God's image is the basis of the general prohibition on the intentional taking of human life," Tom Parker, the chief justice, wrote in an opinion published last week, referencing the Bible verse Genesis 9:6.

In its decision, which has already drawn criticism from reproductive rights advocates, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos have the same rights as living children under Alabama's Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.

The act "applies to all children, born and unborn, without limitation," the court wrote. The decision could set a striking standard and unleash big implications on America's ongoing national debate around reproductive rights, which has become a lightning rod since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Some experts on reproductive rights are already sounding the alarm over the new ruling. "This is a natural extension of the march toward fetal personhood," Dana Sussman, the deputy executive director of Pregnancy Justice, told the Washington Post. Sussman also warned that the court's decision could prognosticate similar rulings across the country.

"You only need one state to be the first out of the gate, and then the next one will feel less radical," she added. "This is a cause of great concern for anyone that cares about people's reproductive rights and abortion care."

The case was brought by three couples who had undergone IVF treatments at a facility operated by The Center for Reproductive Medicine.

According to court documents, in December 2020 an unauthorized person entered the facility and removed several frozen embryos, which were said to be so cold that they burned the person's hand. The embryos fell to the ground.

The couples later sued both the Center for Reproductive Medicine and the Mobile Infirmary Medical Center, where the embryos had been stored.

The case reached the Alabama Supreme Court after a lower court dismissed the couples' claims, though they later appealed. Following last week's ruling, they'll be able to sue the clinic for damages tied to the loss of their embryos.

What the ruling could mean for IVF in Alabama
Some critics have seized on the ruling, claiming it could make it difficult for others in the state to conduct in vitro fertilization, a process in which eggs are fertilized outside the uterus.

In an amicus brief supporting the defendants, the Medical Association of the State of Alabama wrote that this ruling could cause the cost of IVF to skyrocket, because it could leave other clinics significantly exposed to wrongful death liability.

The ruling stands to reignite tensions around reproductive rights that reached a boiling point after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade nearly two years ago. That consequential decision has led to abortion bans and increased restrictions in 21 states nationwide.

Later this year, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on access to mifepristone, a drug that can terminate a pregnancy alongside misoprostol.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/alabama-judge-ruled-frozen-embryos-154350613.html

A new poll of historians coming out on Presidents' Day weekend ranks Mr. Biden as the 14th-best President in American history, just ahead of Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan and Ulysses S. Grant. While that may not get Mr. Biden a spot on Mount Rushmore, it certainly puts him well ahead of Mr. Trump, who places dead last as the worst President ever.

Indeed, Mr. Biden may owe his place in the top third in part to Mr. Trump. Although he has claims to a historical legacy by managing the end of the Covid pandemic; rebuilding the nation's roads, bridges and other infrastructure; and leading an international coalition against Russian aggression, Mr. Biden's signature accomplishment, according to the historians, was evicting Mr. Trump from the Oval Office.

"Biden's most important achievements may be that he rescued the presidency from Trump, resumed a more traditional style of presidential leadership and is gearing up to keep the office out of his predecessor's hands this fall," wrote Justin Vaughn and Brandon Rottinghaus, the college professors who conducted the survey and announced the results in The Los Angeles Times.

Mr. Trump might not care much what a bunch of academics think, but for what it's worth he fares badly even among the self-identified Republican historians. Finishing 45th overall, Mr. Trump trails even the mid-19th-century failures who blundered the country into a civil war or botched its aftermath like James Buchanan, Franklin Pierce and Andrew Johnson.

https://crooksandliars.com/2024/02/us-presidents-are-ranked-trump-coming-dead

lol

oh i know, the cult of MAGA/GOPQ primarily consists of the least educated in this country and will in all likelihood not even realize that their orange jesus is ranked so low.

A group of neo-Nazis holding giant swastikas and wearing black balaclavas and red shirts marched through downtown Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday.

The group, who were seen giving the "Heil Hitler" salute, are believed to be members of the white supremacist group, Blood Tribe.

Politicians in the southern US state took to social media to condemn the masked men who waved Nazi flags.


Sharing a photo of the group who carried at least five swastika flags, State Representative Aftyn Behn said: “Our office is closely monitoring the Nazi rally downtown.”

“These groups once relegated to the dark corners now feel empowered to spew their noxious ideology out in the open due to our state’s leadership REFUSING to condemn their speech and actions” Behn said on X, formerly Twitter.

Behn told American station, News 2, that the group were wearing Blood Tribe insignia. Blood Tribe is a neo-Nazi group that claims to have chapters across the United States and Canada.

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Blood Tribe members believe in white supremacy and exalt Hitler as a deity. They do not allow female members and they reject "white supremacists who call for softer 'optics.'” Blood Tribe see themselves as “the only path to a white ethnostate", according to ADL.

Nashville vice mayor Angie Henderson shared Behn’s post on X and said: “That I even have to say this. NAZIS are NOT WELCOME in NASHVILLE. In America everyone is free to demonstrate & to say what they want, so: SHAME ON YOU ALL! Get your hateful, dangerous, fascist, nazi nonsense off our streets & off our beautiful Public Square.”

In one clip, someone in the group yells “deportation” and the crowd respond, “saves the nation.”

State Representative Justin Jones called the marchers “white supremacists” and said: “They are literally having a Nazi march here in downtown Nashville”.

Jones said the group were “talking about white supremacy, neo-Nazism, talking about deporting folks and just racial hatred”.

Tennessee Governor, Bill Lee, did not directly refer to the march but posted on Saturday: “Nazism and antisemitism should never be tolerated in any form. As Jewish people around the world continue to face persecution, Tennessee remains unwavering in our support for the nation of Israel and her people.”

The state’s Attorney General, Jonathan Skrmetti, responded to Lee’s post and said on X: “Our Jewish brothers and sisters across Tennessee and around the world will always have this Office’s unwavering support against antisemitism.”

https://www.thejc.com/news/usa/neo-nazis-march-through-nashville-cwvnzwwa

Well maybe Anonymous can hack their websites.. gather their names and addresses ..... release those names to the public and to their employers. Just a thought

So Mango the well known ass kisser of Putin and America's Mussolini has been silent on the death of Putin critic Navalny. You see Mango wants to be like Putin... a murderer. Navalny was incarcerated in a gulag where he expired. This was all due to Putin. This is what Mango wishes to bring to this country. A country where Mango can order a hit or imprisonment on a political enemy without consequences. Where even now he seeks the blessing of the United States Supreme Court to effectuate his desires.

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a sneaker line, a day after he and his companies were ordered by a judge to pay nearly $355 million in his New York civil fraud trial.

The former president unveiled “Trump Sneakers” at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia. He placed a pair of gold sneakers, which a new website has listed for $399 and named the “NEVER SURRENDER HIGH-TOP SNEAKER,” on the podium as he spoke.

“This is something I’ve been talking about for 12 years, 13 years, and I think it’s going to be a big success,” said Trump, who is marching closer toward the 2024 Republican nomination and a potential rematch with President Joe Biden.

By Saturday night, the $399 sneakers were listed as sold out on the website. There had been 1,000 pairs of the sneakers available for purchase, according to the site.

The former president is also selling two versions of sneakers that have “T” and “45” on the sides for $199, according to the website. Cologne and perfume are for sale at $99 each.

According to the website, the products are “trademarks of CIC Ventures LLC. Trump Sneakers are not designed, manufactured, distributed or sold by Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization or any of their respective affiliates or principals. 45Footwear, LLC uses the Trump name, image and likeness under a license agreement.”

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/17/politics/trump-sneakers-pay-millions-new-york-trial/index.html

merely uses his name... lol... maybe the line should be called Insurrectionist Broke Trash. So all of you MAGA Trash supporters run out and buy them.... lol

Almost 1 in 5 Americans — 18% — believe that singer Taylor Swift is involved in a clandestine federal effort to see President Joe Biden re-elected in 2024, per a new poll from Monmouth University in New Jersey. For months, members of the alt-right have spread unfounded conspiracy theories that Swift was attempting to control American politics through the NFL, given that her current boyfriend and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has now secured two back-to-back Super Bowl titles. Conservatives have also speculated that the relationship was fabricated by the government. Just last month, former Republicans presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy tweeted, "I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month. And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall. Just some wild speculation over here, let’s see how it ages over the next 8 months."

Monmouth University's poll noted that of the 18% of Americans who believe the baseless theory, 71% identify with or lean toward the GOP and 83% indicated that they were likely to support former president Donald Trump in the November election. Additionally, the poll observed that nearly three-quarters, or 73%, of those who believe the Swift theory to be true also believe that the 2020 presidential election outcome was bogus.

The study also clarified that of those who indicated that they believe the theory has merit, 42% had not heard of it prior to being contacted by the university. “The supposed Taylor Swift PsyOp conspiracy has legs among a decent number of Trump supporters," said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute. "Even many who hadn’t heard about it before we polled them accept the idea as credible. Welcome to the 2024 election."

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/poll-nearly-1-5-americans-184123525.html

and from what I have read she does not like Mango... will she speak out the way she did back during the 2020 campaign? I do not think those who follow her lean toward the MAGA trash side of things anyway but will they actually get up ,get registered, and vote?? They better... or they will end up with a dictator with absolute immunity... who wishes to have the conservative U.S. Supreme Court state just that.

Judge Arthur Engoron hit Donald Trump with his biggest punishment to date on Friday, in a ruling that fined the former president $355 million for fraudulently inflating the values of his properties.

Combined with the $83 million judgment issued against Trump for defaming E. Jean Carroll, that means Trump has been fined roughly $438 million over the past four weeks.

Friday’s ruling underscored how the civil cases against Trump are still significantly damaging to the former president, endangering his business empire even as he faces four criminal trials, the first of which is set to begin next month.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/16/politics/takeaways-donald-trump-fraud-ruling/index.html


lol....

An FBI informant has been charged with fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian energy company, a claim that is central to the Republican impeachment inquiry in Congress.

Alexander Smirnov falsely reported to the FBI in June 2020 that executives associated with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid Hunter and Joe Biden $5 million each in 2015 or 2016, prosecutors said in an indictment. Smirnov told his handler that an executive claimed to have hired Hunter Biden to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems,” according to court documents.

Prosecutors say Smirnov in fact had only routine business dealings with the company in 2017 and made the bribery allegations after he “expressed bias” against Joe Biden while he was a presidential candidate.

Smirnov, 43, appeared in court in Las Vegas briefly Thursday after being charged with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record. He did not enter a plea. The judge ordered the courtroom cleared after federal public defender Margaret Wightman Lambrose requested a closed hearing for arguments about sealing court documents. She declined to comment on the case.

The informant’s claims have been central to the Republican effort in Congress to investigate the president and his family, and helped spark what is now a House impeachment inquiry into Biden. An attorney for Hunter Biden, who is expected to give a deposition later this month, said the charges show the probe is "based on dishonest, uncredible allegations and witnesses.”

The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, called for an end to the Biden impeachment inquiry.

Raskin said the allegations from the Republicans against Biden “have always been a tissue of lies built on conspiracy theories.” He called on Speaker Mike Johnson, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and House Republicans “to stop promoting this nonsense and end their doomed impeachment inquiry.”

Comer, R-Ky., downplayed the importance of the informant, who had figured centrally to the start of the probe.

“To be clear, the impeachment inquiry is not reliant on the FBI’s FD-1023,” Comer said in a statement, referring to the form documenting Smirnov's allegations.

The chairman said the inquiry “is based on a large record of evidence, including bank records and witness testimony,” including interviews this week. He said the committee will continue to “follow the facts” and determine whether to proceed with articles of impeachment against Biden.

In the indictment, prosecutors say that Smirnov had contact with Burisma executives, but it was routine and actually took place took place in 2017, after President Barack Obama and Biden, his vice president, had left office -- when Biden would have had no ability to influence U.S. policy.

Smirnov "transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against Public Official 1, the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties for President, after expressing bias against Public Official 1 and his candidacy,” the indictment said.

He repeated some of the false claims when he was interviewed by FBI agents in September 2023 and changed his story about others and “promoted a new false narrative after he said he met with Russian officials," prosecutors said.

If convicted, Smirnov faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.

The charges were filed by Justice Department special counsel David Weiss, who has separately charged Hunter Biden with firearm and tax violations.

The Burisma allegations became a flashpoint in Congress as Republicans pursing investigations of President Joe Biden and his family demanded the FBI release the unredacted form documenting the allegations. They acknowledged they couldn't confirm if the allegations were true.

Comer had subpoenaed the FBI last year for the so-called FD-1023 document as Republicans deepened their probe of Biden and his son Hunter ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Working alongside Comer, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa released an unclassified document that Republicans at the time claimed was significant in their investigation of Hunter Biden. It added to information that had been widely aired during Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial involving Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to dig up dirt on the Bidens ahead of the 2020 election. After Grassley released the document, the White House said the claims in it had been “debunked for years.”

The impeachment inquiry into Biden over his son’s business dealings has lagged in the House, but the panel is pushing ahead with its work.

Hunter Biden is expected to appear before the committee later this month. His attorney, Abbe Lowell, said he had long warned the probe was based on “lies told by people with political agendas, not facts. We were right and the air is out of their balloon.”

A judge set a detention hearing for Feb. 20 for Smirnov, who was arrested at the Las Vegas airport after arriving in the U.S. from overseas.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/fbi-informant-charged-lying-joe-221425606.html

And within the last few weeks Gym Jordan has mouthed the word Burisma.... Again, the GOPQ has nothing and this guy who they hung their hat on is going to the joint.

To me it once again shows how desperate as well as stupid many of the GOPQ are... both elected and simply sitting at home drowning in FOX (remember the 757 million dollar payout for lying) or Newsmax (remember their payout is yet to come) . They believe all of it....

Donald Trump’s hush-money trial will go ahead as scheduled with jury selection starting on March 25, a New York judge ruled Thursday, turning aside demands for a delay from the former president’s defense lawyers.

The decision means that the first of Trump’s four criminal prosecutions to proceed to trial is a case centered on years-old accusations that he sought to bury stories about extramarital affairs that arose during his 2016 presidential campaign. Other cases charge him with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election and illegally hoarding classified documents at his Florida estate.

In leaving the trial date intact, Judge Juan Manuel Merchan noted a delay in the separate prosecution in Washington related to efforts to undo the election. That case, originally set for trial on March 4, has been effectively frozen pending the outcome of Trump’s appeal on the legally untested question of whether a former president enjoys immunity from prosecution for actions taken in the White House.

Noting that he had resisted defense lawyer urgings from months ago to postpone the trial, Merchan said: “I’m glad I took that position because here we are — the D.C. case did not go forward.”

The hush money trial is expected to last six weeks, the judge said.

Assuming the New York case remains on schedule, it will open just weeks after the Super Tuesday elections, colliding on the political calendar with a time period in which Trump will be looking to mathematically sew up the Republican race and emerge as the presumptive nominee in this year’s presidential contest. His attorneys cited that schedule in vigorously objecting to the March trial date.

“It is completely election interference to say ‘you are going to sit in this courtroom in Manhattan,’ when there is no reason, said defense lawyer Todd Blanche. “What about his rights?”

Merchan held firm, telling Blanche that he had already considered — and rejected — his position, at one point snapping at the lawyer to “Stop interrupting me, please!”

Speaking to reporters in a courthouse hallway, Trump made a similar case.

“We want delays. Obviously I’m running for election. How can you run for election if you’re sitting in a courthouse in Manhattan all day long? I’m supposed to be in South Carolina now,” said Trump, the GOP front-runner to face President Joe Biden in November.

In fact, Trump has repeatedly attended court proceedings where his presence was not required.

Thursday marked Trump’s first return visit to court in the New York case since that historic indictment made him the first ex-president charged with a crime. Since then, he has also been indicted in Florida, Georgia and Washington, D.C.

The hearing was held amid a busy overlapping stretch of legal activity for the Republican presidential front-runner, who has increasingly made his court involvement part of his political campaign. On Monday, for instance, he voluntarily attended a closed hearing in a Florida case charging him with hoarding classified records.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bc-us-trump-hush-money_n_65ce2326e4b02493f3491620

yada,yada, yada...election interference.... lol... hey the GOPQ has a front runner WHO IS a fucking criminal. The New York trial as well as the Georgia proceeding is probably bothersome to Mango's thinking... because he can't pardon himself in a State criminal court proceeding. And make no mistake if this piece of orange trash is returned to office he will pardon himself in the Federal Proceedings. As far as the State proceedings are concerned I'm still convinced he will not leave office when his term is up...

Former President Donald Trump delivered an alarming message to U.S. allies during a Saturday rally where he outlined a scenario in which he would “encourage” Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to other NATO members.

Speaking to a crowd in Conway, South Carolina, Trump told a story that cast himself as a tough-talking negotiator.

NATO was busted until I came along,” he began. “I said, ‘Everybody’s going to pay.’ They said, ‘Well, if we don’t pay are you still going to protect us?’ I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ They couldn’t believe the answer.”

He rehashed the story a few moments later.

“One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, ‘Well sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?’ I said, ‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’ He said, ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want,” Trump said.

“You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills,” he added.

The audience cheered loudly for the former president, who is notorious for failing to pay bills on the campaign trail and in his past business endeavors.

It is not clear whether the scenario Trump described actually happened. Trump frequently takes credit for supposedly pressuring other NATO members into contributing more funding during the course of his first term.

As The Washington Post and other fact-checkers have noted, NATO member nations pledged to boost their funding over a period of 10 years at a 2014 summit held to address Russian aggression. Direct NATO funding has been increasing since then — although not at the pace needed to reach the goal set in 2014.

The alliance, however, is primarily strengthened through indirect funding, which is funding that member nations spend on their own individual militaries that could be called upon to assist the group if needed. NATO’s Article 5 states that member nations must treat an attack on one as an attack on all.

As of last year, Trump would not have the power as president to unilaterally withdraw the United States from NATO.

While he has made various comments about potentially doing so in the past, Congress passed legislation in December barring any president from withdrawing the U.S. from the organization without congressional cooperation.

The move came amid ongoing efforts by a far-right faction of Republicans to cut back or stop U.S. funding to Ukraine. The Eastern European nation, which is seeking NATO membership, has been fending off a Russian takeover for nearly two years.

On Saturday, Trump suggested the $95 billion aid package to Ukraine and Israel currently making its way through the Senate should instead take the form of a loan. He successfully pressured Republicans to kill a larger aid package that would also address U.S. immigration earlier this month.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-russia-attack-nato-allies_n_65c7e443e4b069b665dfb762

And there you go... this guy is a traitor, interested only in shaking down others, he is well known for not paying his bills, a draft dodger from the Vietnam conflict with a bogus letter regarding his feet, a misogynist, a liar, and would be dictator who will have the Brown shirts marching in the streets.

Well the choice is between Biden , age 81, with a faulty memory versus Mango, age 77, with a faulty memory and 91 criminal charges who wishes to be a dictator.

Who would best protect democracy and our Constitution??

1. As I previously informed you that Mango DOES NOT have immunity from prosecution for his traitorous acts.

2. The GOPQ attempted impeachment yesterday, of the Homeland Security Secretary, Alexandro Mayorakas FAILED in a vote, where a number of the GOPQ failed to support it or even show up.

3. The GOPQ attempt at a border deal failed. Why did it faile when it was brokered with the DEMS BECAUSE the orange jesus said no.

4. The House GOP failed to put together a package for Israel or the Ukraine.

Again, all yesterday. This shows once and for all they can't govern. They want to seize power and retain it. They do not want the voters to notice what occured yesterday. Fuck, they don't want us to vote.

Oh, one more thing, GOPQ/MAGA Trash wingnuts Matt Gaetz of Florida and Elise Stefanik of New York put together a resolution saying that Mango did not commit an insurrection... see doesn't that make you feel better??

A federal appeals court said Tuesday that Donald Trump is not immune from prosecution for alleged crimes he committed during his presidency, flatly rejecting Trump’s arguments that he shouldn’t have to go on trial on federal election subversion charges.

In a striking 57-page unanimous opinion, the panel of three DC Circuit judges wrote that that the justice system allowed for a former president to face charges for actions he took while in office, and that the public interest in holding a potentially criminal president accountable outweighed any potential “chilling effect” on the presidency.

We cannot accept that the office of the Presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter,” the opinion says.

“Former President Trump lacked any lawful discretionary authority to defy federal criminal law and he is answerable in court for his conduct,” the judges added.

Trump has pledged to appeal and has until Monday to ask the Supreme Court to temporarily block the ruling to delay his case again from heading to trial.

It’s not certain how long the Supreme Court could take to consider such a request or an appeal, which would come as special counsel Jack Smith seeks to bring Trump to trial. An early March trial date has already been postponed.

Here are the key takeaways from Tuesday’s decision:

Presidents do not have ‘unbounded authority to commit crimes’
Throughout their opinion, Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, Florence Pan and J. Michelle Childs rejected all of Trump’s arguments of sweeping protections around the presidency.

“It would be a striking paradox if the President, who alone is vested with the constitutional duty to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,’ were the sole officer capable of defying those laws with impunity,” the appeals court wrote on Tuesday.

Trump’s stances in court, the judges wrote, stand in contrast to the principle that all Americans – including former presidents – are subject to the same laws.

Childs and Pan were appointed by President Joe Biden. Henderson was appointed by former President George H.W. Bush.

Trump’s behavior after the 2020 election could be criminal
The judges were clear that the charges against Trump are serious and left no question they believe they can be prosecuted. The panel repeatedly eviscerated Trump’s alleged behavior after the 2020 presidential election as unpresidential and constituting an assault on American institutions.

“We cannot accept former President Trump’s claim that a President has unbounded authority to commit crimes that would neutralize the most fundamental check on executive power — the recognition and implementation of election results,” the judges wrote. “Nor can we sanction his apparent contention that the Executive has carte blanche to violate the rights of individual citizens to vote and to have their votes count.”

t a basic level, the three judges wrote that the conduct alleged in Trump’s criminal indictment “conflicts” with his constitutional duties as president and “violated the constitutionally established design for determining the results of the Presidential election as well as the Electoral Count Act of 1887, neither of which establishes a role for the President in counting and certifying the Electoral College votes.”

This part of the ruling was especially notable because the same court had avoided weighing in on Trump’s January 6 actions in appeals of lawsuits against him, and even the trial-level judge, Tanya Chutkan, hasn’t yet assessed the specific allegations against Trump.

‘Vital public interest’ of letting trial proceed weighed heavily on the court
Throughout the 57-page ruling, the judges repeatedly referred to the public interest of letting the Trump trial move forward.

They cited the public interest in accountability for potential crimes committed by a former president, and how that overcame Trump’s argument that immunity was necessary to protect the institution of the presidency.

We conclude that the interest in criminal accountability, held by both the public and the Executive Branch, outweighs the potential risks of chilling Presidential action and permitting vexatious litigation,” the judges wrote in their opinion. “We have balanced former President Trump’s asserted interests in executive immunity against the vital public interests that favor allowing this prosecution to proceed.”

The judges flatly rejected Trump’s claim that his criminal indictment would have a “chilling effect” on future administrations. Trump argues that presidents might be more hesitant to act if they were concerned about the prospect of criminal charges.

The appeals court pointed to past presidents to refute Trump. The judges noted that Gerald Ford issued a full pardon to Richard Nixon after Nixon’s resignation, and that Bill Clinton cut a deal including paying a fine and temporarily giving up his law license to avoid possible criminal charges while an independent prosecutor investigated him.

The panel went on to quote a Nixon-era Supreme Court ruling about the bounds of presidential immunity, saying, “The federal prosecution of a former President fits the case ‘[w]hen judicial action is needed to serve broad public interests’ in order to ‘vindicate the public interest in an ongoing criminal prosecution.’”

These findings were consistent with the rationale provided by Chutkan, who similarly dismantled Trump’s immunity claims in resounding fashion last year.

Impeachment acquittal does not absolve Trump
The judges also rejected Trump’s argument that because the Senate did not convict him on the charge of inciting an insurrection in the wake of the Capitol riot in 2021, he cannot be charged criminally for the same crime.

“Other courts have rejected this ‘tortured’ interpretation,” of the law, the judges wrote, adding that “former President Trump’s reliance on a negative implication is an immediate red flag.”

Trump’s reading of the Constitution, the judges added, “would leave a President free to commit all manner of crimes with impunity, so long as he is not impeached and convicted.”

During the impeachment trial in 2021, several Republican senators who voted to acquit Trump, including Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, said they were doing so because the courts and justice system could still hold Trump accountable.

In the decision, the judges also noted that impeachment proceedings are political in nature and acquittals in Congress “are often unrelated to factual innocence.”

“The forty-three Senators who voted to acquit him relied on a variety of concerns, many of which had nothing to do with whether he committed the charged offense,” they wrote.

Trial timing will be up to the Supreme Court
A key part of Trump’s legal strategy has been to delay his criminal cases until after the 2024 election, and the four weeks between oral arguments at the appeals court and Tuesday’s ruling has already meant next month’s March 4 trial date has been scrapped.

Perhaps to speed things along, the appeals court established a six-day schedule for Trump to respond to Tuesday’s ruling, giving Trump until February 12 to file an emergency request with the Supreme Court to ask for the case to be put on hold to hear his appeal.

That would stop the clock while his attorneys craft a more substantive appeal on the merits. The criminal trial would not resume until after the high court decides what to do with his request for a pause.

The Supreme Court, however, can take as long as it likes at each step. The justices determine how long the Justice Department will have to respond to any Trump petition, how long Trump has to respond and controls when it would make any ruling.

Trump’s team can also appeal to the full DC Circuit to take up the case again, but the appeals court on Tuesday said that would only pause his trial further if a majority of judges on the DC Circuit agreed to hear the case again, an unlikely scenario.

If Trump does not appeal the ruling, the case would be sent back to the trial-level court in Washington, DC, as soon as next week, for pre-trial proceedings to resume.

Describes the president as an ‘officer’
One paragraph in Tuesday’s ruling has caught the attention of legal experts who are also watching the 14th Amendment “insurrectionist ban” case that is being argued at the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The cases are entirely separate – this is a criminal prosecution against Trump, and the upcoming Supreme Court case is a civil attempt to remove Trump from state ballots. Further, the appeals court’s findings and explanations in Tuesday’s ruling are not binding on the Supreme Court.

Nonetheless, the appeals ruling refers described the president as an “officer.” There is an open legal question – being argued Thursday before the Supreme Court – over whether the presidency is an “office… under the United States” and whether the president is an “officer,” as described in the insurrectionist ban.

The appeals ruling said: “It would be a striking paradox if the President, who alone is vested with the constitutional duty to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,’ were the sole officer capable of defying those laws with impunity.”

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/06/politics/takeaways-donald-trump-immunity-appeals-court/index.html

Donald Trump says he’s still making people cry.

The former president resurrected one of his most persistent claims during an interview that aired over the weekend: the one about people reduced to tears when they see him.

“I have steel people, that every time they see me, they start to cry,” he told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. “They hug me. They said, ‘You saved our industry.’”

If the story rings a bell, it’s because Trump has told plenty of variations of crying people over the years, often “tough guys” who had never cried before.

He did so in 2019 when he told of a man who wept as he begged Trump to cut regulations.

“I don’t think he cried in his life and I don’t think he cried when he was a baby,” Trump recalled. “He was crying. He said, ‘Sir, you give me back my life and my property.’”

He also spoke of others at the event as “tough people, strong, tough, men and women, half of them were crying.”

In 2018, he mentioned someone else also breaking down in front of him.

“He was a strong, tough guy, and he was crying. He said, ‘Mr. President, thank you for saving America,’” Trump claimed. “I’m telling you, that man, he was tough. I don’t think he cried when he was a baby.”

He also spoke of a 2017 event where farmers and ranchers were weeping behind him as he gave a speech ― although tootage from the event does not show any obvious tears.

More recently, he spoke several times of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) crying as he begged Trump for an endorsement.

Given that history, many of his critic on X were skeptical of his latest claim about people crying in his presence

Weird how all these weep-on-sight-of-Trump steelworkers, Marines, cops, and other tough guys are never captured on video openly crying “every time” they see Trump. https://t.co/WP1rj2Tgat

— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) February 4, 2024

Most of us cry when we see you still walking around. https://t.co/EyTPdgkNf1

— Michael Little (@Michael_Little_) February 4, 2024

Number of steel workers who have actually wept when seeing Trump: Zero. https://t.co/L9WzxdEDhY

— Bob Geiger (@GeigerNews) February 4, 2024

Trump carries in his brain a mental image of the United States that's 50 years out of date. The largest steel company in the country, NuCor, employs about 31,000 people - fewer than Bed, Bath, and Beyond. https://t.co/jxqvTvTs6Q

— David Frum (@davidfrum) February 4, 2024

Really???
Can you name them please???
🤣😂😅 https://t.co/jrYFYYzpdj

— Franktheshank808 (@Franktheshank88) February 5, 2024

Here's what I'd like to see in the next interview:

"Mr. President, people say you are the most photographed and videoed person on the planet."

Trump: "That's true."

"That being the case, why is it there are no photos or videos of these crying men hugging you?"

Trump: "Derp" https://t.co/SoTzi2R3h0

— John Wright (@TheWrightJohn) February 4, 2024

I would cry if I saw Trump. And I’m not a steel worker. 🤷♀️ https://t.co/jsL5fufOc8

— Sarah Larchmont (@SarahLarchmont) February 4, 2024

Big strong steel workers. Tears in their eyes. Called him sir a lot. https://t.co/6qwJPZoKEd

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 4, 2024

I believe the crying part. The hugging? Not so much. https://t.co/pIJMg3wjOj

— 💛Deborah My Friends Call Me Slayer🔥🐉⚔️🔥❤️🩹💙 (@drodvik52) February 5, 2024

"I have steel people that every time they see me, they start to cry". https://t.co/C1lITY4W6Ipic.twitter.com/zaC08q3Y2k

— Gingercat (@livingthedreem1) February 5, 2024

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-weird-boast-literally-bringing-100512472.html

ok... should there be any doubt about Mango's veracity this should end it... the man is a lying piece of crap.

Saving America... really???? Turning it into a dictatorship perhaps??

Seems Mango has posted on his Truth (lol) Social Account that he is searching for a law firm (or at least a crazy person) to represent him in his appeal of the 83 million dollar verdict in the E.Jean Carroll Suit.

So has he fired her or not? Wait, maybe she will represent Mango in all his criminal charges... lol...

One other thing I read an article ,hurriedly I admit, that she failed to object to a great many of the exhibits and testimony during the trial on damages. Meaning she didn't preserve the record for appeal. Oh well, I'm sure someone will file a 800 page brief for the Orange Jesus expressing outrage.


And his criminal trial in the Stormy Daniels matter starts in March, in New York.

Fox Sports pundit Colin Cowherd on Tuesday dug into those complaining about singer Taylor Swift’s recent presence in the National Football League (NFL), arguing the criticism says more about “weird, lonely, insecure men” than it does about the global superstar.

In a nearly four-minute rant on Cowherd’s Fox Sports Radio show “The Herd,” he lambasted those critical of Swift’s relationship with Kansas City Chiefs football player Travis Kelce and the attention that’s been placed on Swift during NFL games she attends.


There’s a lot of really weird, lonely, insecure men out there,” Cowherd said. “The fact that a pop star — the world’s biggest pop star — is dating a star tight end, who had one of his greatest games ever, and a network puts them on the air briefly, that it bothers you … what does that say about your life?”

Cowherd accused those who say they “just want to watch football” of “lying,” noting the broadcasts are not showing actual games for a large portion of the events in any case.

“A football telecast is not just football. In fact, the commercials for four hours before the Super Bowl will be widely watched. Did you know, statistically in a three-and-a-half-hour NFL playoff broadcast or regular season broadcast, just 18 minutes are actual football?” Cowherd said, referencing coach cutaways, clips of fans, commercials and reviews.

Cowherd pointed to a New York Times report last week that found Swift is typically shown onscreen for less than 25 seconds over the course of broadcasts that are longer than three hours.

Her latest appearance at Sunday’s Chiefs vs. Ravens game, in which Kelce broke the NFL’s record for career postseason receptions, spanned 32 seconds, the Times reported. More than half of that, 17 seconds, was an in-house promo for the CBS Network’s upcoming “Grammys” broadcast.

It makes sense that CBS would want to cross-promote the ultra-famous pop star ahead of its “Grammys” broadcast, Cowherd argued, discussing how he’s watched the network he works for — Fox Sports — “jam people on TV shows.”

Cowherd listed off a series of celebrities, all male, who are shown at sporting events, including singers Eminem and Drake, actors Matthew McConaughey and Jack Nicholson and film director Spike Lee.

“But a talented and a beautiful woman is on the air — one who would never pay attention to lonely men, and it bothers them,” he said. “There’s a stat out there — it’s kind of uncomfortable for you sad guys — that 50 percent of men never have real intimacy with a woman. That means the other 50 percent have multiple intimate relationships with women, and those ones that don’t are angry and sad and lonely and they are often misogynistic and resent women who didn’t give them the time they think they deserve.”

“Again, judge people by the silly things that bother them … This anger says nothing about Taylor Swift, it says everything about the men bothered by it,” he concluded.

The apparent fury over Swift’s presence at NFL games is being further fueled by swirling conspiracy theories centered on the unfounded idea that the league is rigging games to make sure the pop singer and her boyfriend’s team both make and win the Super Bowl and eventually endorse President Biden’s reelection bid.

Questions surrounding Swift’s involvement in politics circulated Monday after The New York Times published a report about Biden aides vying for the support of the “All Too Well” singer as the campaign sets its focus on November’s general election.

The singer has yet to speak about endorsing Biden’s 2024 run, but she previously voiced her support for him in the 2020 presidential election during an interview with V Magazine. And last year, a single Instagram post from Swift directing her followers to the nonpartisan, nonprofit Vote.org prompted 35,000 new voter registrations.

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4440233-taylor-swift-blowback-due-to-weird-lonely-insecure-men-fox-sports-cowherd/

The right wing men are really insecure... They have accused Taylor of being a Pentagon Psyop.... They have said the relationship between Kelce and Taylor isn't real... maybe not... her relationships come and go... but my feeling is Travis is totally hooked on her. They have said the NFL is rigged.

Hannity, a FOX talking head and well known racist and homophobe recently melted down and gave reasons or threats as to why Taylor shouldn't endorse Biden as she did in 2020. For those who missed it Taylor simply can't stand Mango Mussolini....