I don't understand how they think they can categorize leaning on Pence as a non-official act?
1: I think they're saying that he was leaning on Pence in Pence's capacity as President of the Senate. (Versus the Attorney General who POTUS has a constitutional oversight relationship over, and was cut out. Arguably the President has zero constitutional authority over the VP! But even more so when he's acting as a legislative officer.)
Smith has done a run-around of the obvious bullshit the Republicans on the Supreme Court did to protect Trump. I have no idea if it will work, but it reminds of this article (gift link).
The anti-anti-Trumpers must now define Harris--and all Democrats--as evil beyond words. Otherwise, how would they explain the ghastly compromises they've made? How would they argue against voting to stop Trump?
The Supreme Court is deeper into this than most because their compromises had to be written out and carry the force of precedent. I worry that they will double-down because the alternative is to have been both horrible and then corrected.
My 2 is derived from the new indictment emphasizing this term so often (at least 3 times). But I'm not sure if it does - if it can - overcome the ratfucking Roberts provided:
The indictment's allegations that Trump attempted to pressure the Vice President to take particular acts in connection with his role at the certification proceeding thus involve official conduct, and Trump is at least presumptively immune from prosecution for such conduct.
A unitary executive, except for this one guy, who's mostly pointless.
Not a guy. Not pointless.
I read that in the voice of Janet from The Good Place.
I never watched that show because I developed an allergy to Ted Danson when he was on Becker.
Yawnoc: haha, remember when Darth Cheney argued that the VP was a fourth branch of government, not part of the executive branch, not part of the other two either ?
8: He's genuinely darling on The Good Place. We're watching it as a family right now and I'm remembering how great his character is. That said, I never watched Becker, so YMMV.
I know it's his job so Smith is doing what he has to, but at what point will someone like him say, "Yeah we're doing the formal legal stuff but we also know Roberts will just make up whatever rationale he wants to invalidate this new approach"? In more diplomatic legalese terms of course.
Thinking of that because of today's SCOTUS refusal to stay the blocking of, what, Biden's fourth or fifth attempt to forgive student loans in a way that threads the legal needle the circuit courts keep laying out. It's pretty obvious they won't approve any forgiveness even if they had some To be sure bullshit in a previous ruling about how if only Biden had done it this way we wouldn't have blocked it.
Now I want him prosecuted for violating federal law for campaigning at a national cemetery. However, I spent some time looking for the applicable law and it seems the citation is actually in regulations:
32 CFR ยง553.32 Conduct of memorial services and ceremonies.
(a) The Executive Director shall ensure the sanctity of public and private memorial and ceremonial events.
...(c) Memorial services and ceremonies at Army National Military Cemeteries will not include partisan political activities.
And so far I haven't found if there are penalties or not. I suspect it's a fine.
10: He was also great on Bored to Death (a very underrated show) and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
I'm not watching a show with RFK Jr's wife.
Biden's fourth or fifth attempt to forgive student loans in a way that threads the legal needle
The Biden administration already got my loans forgiven, so I am not self-dealing when I say that this is one of the places where Biden should go hard and find out whether presidents really are immune for anything they do while presidenting.
All I ever got from the Biden administration is several months of restful sleep, the feeling that my efforts were at least a bit helpful toward preserving democracy, and some covid tests.
11: Right ever since the first ruling with the dodgy standing and the neutering of the the law specifically mentioning "waive or modify" is hard to top.
Insidious fuckpigs from a particularly odious sub-hell in action.
is hard to top
Well, other than staying a state from counting votes under its election laws, or gutting the most significant voting rights legislation in history that passed in Congress nearly unanimously. or contemptuously dismissing 50 years of precedent on reproductive rights, or whatever the fuck is all in the immunity for couping decision I guess...
Jesus Fuck.
15: Maura Healey's AG office helped me get Fedloan to follow the law about forgiving student loans. Trump's education department's ombudsman was basically in cahoots with the Servicers.
Sorry to comment basically to just say that I don't care about the topic, but it's hard to care about the prosecutions too much at this point. There's one exception: sentencing for the hush money case is expected in September. Could result in a few good news cycles. The chances of jail are low but nonzero, and it'll be hilarious to see phrases like "flight risk" and "expressed regret".
But as for the other three cases, they have minimal chances of affecting the election. If he wins the election then he's even more likely to get the cases dismissed and we're all fucked anyway. If he loses the election I'll be following them more avidly. If he loses, I don't expect Republican judges to help him any more than they already have. The conservative movement could gain more from him as a martyr than as a free man, which isn't much either way.
The most likely way for him to avoid conviction on all counts if he loses the election would be death or fleeing the country, and the latter would in some ways be worse.
Aha: while the regulation about no partisan activity in national cemeteries may be penalty-free, via Josh Marshall, assaulting a federal employee in the performance of their duties is certainly not.
Someone on Bluesky had the best possible outcome. A turd rolls down his leg when he's on the podium and rolls to rest up against the bullet-proof glass.
20.1: Unfortunately, the writing seems to be on the wall that this sentencing date will be pushed back past election day.
This has been going one for a year or longer but I thank the gods and all the demons in hell that whenever I see his name the first thing I think of is the incredible director of this https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_Creatures
I can't remember which Jack Smith film I saw circa 2000 in college -- probably "Flaming Creatures"? -- but I was not in the right space to appreciate it at all. I bet it would hit differently now. (This was the era when my thing was more "thirty-minute shots of wind blowing across the steppe"... which I guess is always true, but I've branched out a bit.)
23: unfortunate indeed. I admit I'm a little disappointed by that. Oh well. It still comes down to the election in any way that matters.
"thirty-minute shots of wind blowing across the steppe"
That's very specific but, I'd think, when you found films that fit they description they would be rewatchable.
Have you seen Close To Eden? I've only seen clips, but it seemed in that vicinity -- https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/close-to-eden-1992
One detail about the cemetery stunt that I saw reported but doesn't seem to be widely discussed is that it wasn't just a photo op. No, it was also a dirty campaign truck- the reason they wanted to go to a private section and film where media weren't allowed is that the Trump campaign was then going to release an ad about how Trump attended a ceremony honoring those killed in Afghanistan but that Harris was too ashamed of the Biden administration's actions to show up. A complete fabrication of a ceremony so they could make it look like Harris is the one who doesn't care about dead soldiers, or "suckers" as Trump has called them.
Weird stunts at Arlington seem to be thick on the ground lately. Ashli Babbitt, the Jan 6 rioter who was lawfully shot, was buried at sea according to findagrave.com, but some chodes made a memorial and tried to bring it into Arlington. They were turned away.
That is the chodeist thing I've ever heard.
I was going to say "most chodey", but that sounds like a Star Wars setting.
27.last: No, but seems intriguing.
28 I'm loving how this is biting them in the ass through their own ineptitude. See also: Kamala didn't put her McDonald's job on her CV when she was looking for law jobs. These people don't inhabit the same world we do.