The Stupidity of House Republicans

Gaza: The U.S. offered Israel intelligence and supplies to avoid the Rafah invasion, stating that Israel must provide infrastructure and necessities for Gazans instead of moving them to barren or bombarded parts of the Gaza Strip for livable conditions. Israel refused and ordered more evacuations.  

Today’s post was intended to be a political review of states, but the stupidity of House Republicans took over. Maybe next week.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) ranted about a religion forcing their beliefs into law. Not pregnant women forced to die because of religious beliefs, however, but “Sharia law”—a throw-back to over a decade ago. With an A+ rating from pro-life groups, he promotes the non-scientific “life begins at conception” that strips women of reproductive rights in almost half the states. To overturning abortion rights, Roy said, “Thanks be to God” but damned a UK Muslim candidate who said, “God is great, in Arabic when he won his election. responded to his election with win with “God is great” in Arabic.

Roy has moaned about the chamber accomplishing nothing, but the House took action during this three-day week before heading home on Wednesday. With Democratic help, Republicans kept MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) as Speaker by tabling a motion to vacate from Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) before they turned on Greene: 

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY): “Moscow Marjorie has clearly gone off the deep end—maybe the result of a space laser,” referring to her conspiracy theory that the laser in space operated by the Jewish Rothschild family was the cause of California wildfires. He added that “this type of tantrum is absolutely unacceptable.” 

Don Bacon (NE): “98 percent of us find it disgusting.”

Johnson: Greene’s motion was “wrong.”

Marc Molinaro (NY): Greene’s motion was political “theater.”

Andy Ogles (TN): the motion as a “distraction” and “mistake,” said the conservative.

Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD): “One dumpster fire at a time,” indicating punishment for Greene.

Barry Loudermilk (GA): Greene is losing her constituents’ support. His district borders that of Greene.

In the Senate, Thom Tillis (R-NC) described Greene as “uninformed” and a “total waste of time.” Greene believes she has done no wrong, calling herself a “team player.”

MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) may face competitor Jim Jordan (R-OH) who is making a stealth move as Johnson’s replacement in 2025. Previously claiming that it isn’t his job to help vulnerable candidates, Jordan is handing out campaign checks to colleagues and hit the trail to campaign for top allies of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Last fall, 25 House Republicans refused to vote for Jordan, making Johnson Speaker.

Before their four-day weekend, Republicans passed the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act (HOOHPA) by 212-195 to waste energy by removing regulations, another bill certain to be DOA in the Senate.  Seven Democrats—Henry Cuellar (TX), Don Davis (NC), Ruben Gallego (AZ), Jared Golden (ME), Tony Gonzalez (TX), Mary Peltola (AK), Gloria Perez (WA)—supported the bill, and 11 didn’t vote. Conservative PunchBowl News called it “part of the Republican culture war clash over energy efficiency and climate change … similar to the gas stove hysteria or Trump’s war on low-flush toilets and light bulbs.” Other bills will be “Liberty in Laundry Act,” “Refrigerator Freedom Act,” etc.

On party lines of 206-202, the oddly-named bill “Equal Representation Act” calls for a citizenship question on the U.S. census, which DDT tried to enforce, and that only citizens can determine the number of states’ congressional seats. The Supreme Court already blocked the change. DDT’s anti-immigrant minion, Stephen Miller, continues to spread the lie that Democrats voted “to give illegals representation in Congress AND the Electoral College.” The U.S. Constitution requires the census to count “the whole number of free persons,” and a change would require the difficult process of a new amendment. The Senate has no interest in the bill, and President Joe Biden has strong opposition to the bill.

Pandering to DDT’s belief, Johnson maintains that noncitizens’ voting is a serious problem, but he doesn’t know how many “illegals are voting in federal elections.” Both believe illegal votes explain DDT’s loss of the 2016 popular vote by 2.9 million ballots and pushed MAGA members into believing it. DDT paid for studies that didn’t support his lie. Federal law prevents noncitizens from voting, but red states are passing these laws, sometimes by amending state constitutions.

Johnson promises to “round up” and likely deport all the estimated 11 million undocumented or unauthorized people living or working in the United States of America, as did DDT in his Time interview. No explanation of how or when. Johnson repeated the lie that Democrats want an open border for illegal voters. About half the crop farmworkers don’t have immigration status. In March, the Center for Migration Studies reported:  

“The undocumented population comprises 5 percent of the workforce … in industries such as agriculture, construction, service, entertainment, and health-care. On a micro level, they help manicure our lawns, take care of our children and grandchildren, clean our homes, wait on us at restaurants, and collect our trash. Without their labor, the US economy would experience a labor shortage which could not be replenished easily, and the costs of goods and services would rise.”

The report described “a severe workforce shortage” in the U.S. as well as a GDP reduction by 2.6 percent, almost $5 trillion in ten years, if the 8.1 million undocumented workers were deported. Legalizing the undocumented population would increase the GDP by $1.5 trillion in that time. Households with undocumented immigrants also hold 1.3 million mortgages.  

A decade ago, Alabama’s law mandating the use of the flawed and costly federal “E-Verify” system to verify the legal status of every farmworker caused crops to rot in the field because even prisoners wouldn’t do the work. One farmer in the $5.5 billion industry said:

“Tomato production contributes $1.6 billion a year to the state’s economy, but without immigrant labor, that money will disappear. We grow it. Hispanics pick it. That’s just the way it is.”

Parts of the law were repealed within two years although the farmworker provision remained, largely ignored by employers. Before the law’s repeal, Alabama arrested a German Mercedes-Benz executive after he left his passport at the hotel and ticketed a Japanese Honda executive despite his carrying an International Driving Permit, valid passport, and U.S. work permit.

Johnson’s “intuition” and DDT’s request to “trust your heart” on election results are laying the foundation for another four years of rants about “stolen election” accompanied by MAGA-endorsed violence. Stephen Colbert called this denial “truthiness,” a belief in something “not because of supporting facts or evidence but because of a feeling that it is true or a desire for it to be true.” In support of election truthiness, a proposed bill would amend the National Voter Registration Act to require proof of citizenship for receiving ballots.

Republicans also want to renew the GOP 2017 tax cuts, expiring at the end of 2025 and the only DDT signature legislative “achievement. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will cost the government $1.9 trillion before its expiration and a renewal will cost another $4.6 trillion over a decade, further blowing up the deficit which Republicans use as their justification to drop the safety net and vastly shrink Medicare. In its first renewal year, a renewal would net $112.6 billion for the top 5 percent of income earners.

When not passing bills that go nowhere, House Republicans hold hearings. After cowing university presidents and forcing some resignations with the subject of antisemitism, they tackled public school leaders who weren’t as vulnerable. GOP committee members accused representatives from three politically liberal parts of the country—New York, Montgomery (MD), and Berkeley (CA)—of “turning a blind eye” to the rise of antisemitism in classrooms since October 7, when the Israel war began. School leaders turned back the rude behavior, reporting that students and faculty members engaging in overt antisemitic acts had been disciplined. They disputed other accusations, citing investigative lack of proof.

Enikia Ford Morthel, Berkeley schools superintendent, said the district passed a policy against hate speech and members of the district “recognize the need to teach students to express themselves with respect and compassion.” New York schools head, David Banks, told committee members:

“I stand up not only against antisemitism. I stand up against Islamophobia and all other forms of hate. You can’t put them in silos.”

Banks then turned the question back to the politicians, blaming them for not doing enough to fight antisemitism.

“If we really care about solving for antisemitism, and I believe this deeply, it’s not about having gotcha moments. It’s about teaching. You have to raise the consciousness of young people [to] understand our common humanity…. I would call on Congress, quite frankly, to put the call out to action, to bring us together to talk about how we solve for this. This … feels like the ultimate gotcha moment. It doesn’t sound like people are actually trying to solve for something that I believe we should be doing everything we can to solve for.”

After failed attempts at impeaching Biden, far-right House members are energized in another impeachment for sending only defensive weapons to Israel and suspending shipments of militarily offensive weapons if Israel attacks civilians in Rafah. The articles of impeachment from first-term Cory Mills (R-FL) would be Biden’s seventh pending impeachment resolution. Mills and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) draw a parallel between Biden’s decision and DDT’s 2019 extortion of Ukraine by threatening to withdraw congressionally-approved security aid if President Volodymyr Zelensky didn’t give him fake dirt on Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Paused shipments, however, don’t use aid that Congress appropriated but are delayed foreign government purchases.

In GOP precedents, President Dwight Eisenhower also “pressured Israel with the threat of sanctions into withdrawing from the Sinai in 1957 amid the Suez Crisis,” and President George H.W. Bush “held up $10 billion in loan guarantees to force the cessation of Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories.” President Ronald Reagan Reagan delayed the delivery of F16 fighter jets to Israel and banned some weapons sales to Israel “following a congressional probe that found Israel had used them in populated areas in its 1982 offensive in Lebanon.” None of them was threatened with impeachment threats.

Gaza Conflict, DDT Trial Day 15

More misrepresentations from Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) who held a press conference outside the court trial of Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) on Thursday: He blamed Hillarycare for the DOJ inquiry into his hospital chain which paid $1.7 billion as a settlement although Hillary Clinton was only the president’s wife in the 1990s, the time of the probe. Lawsuits were first filed in 1993 by then-employees of Columbia/HCA alleging questionable Medicare billing practices, and Scott resigned in 1997 because growing evidence revealed two sets of books, one for the government and another the real expenses. In 2010, the Miami Herald reported that federal investigators “found that Scott took part in business practices at Columbia/HCA that were later found to be illegal—specifically, that Scott and other executives offered financial incentives to doctors in exchange for patient referrals, in violation of federal law, according to lawsuits the Justice Department filed against the company in 2001.” Scott also told his voters in 2010:

“I’ve made mistakes in my life. And mistakes were certainly made at Columbia/HCA.”

Clarification about Scott’s using the Fifth Amendment in not answering questions during a deposition: Scott refused to answer questions in a 2000 civil suit regarding between his former company Columbia/HCA and a communications company accusing the healthcare company of breaching a contract.

Israeli War:

Although the biggest weapons provider to Israel, the U.S. isn’t the only country suspending shipments: Canada and the Netherlands halted arms shipments, concerned that weapons violate international humanitarian law. Israel repeatedly claims it doesn’t target civilians, but most of the 34,000+ dead Gazans are caused by  Israeli bombardments and ground offensives are civilians. Justification by Israelis for eradicating hospitals, schools, homes, and people is always that Hamas are hiding where they bomb.

In Germany, defense export approvals for Israel rose almost ten times in 2023 compared to 2022 after Hamas’ October 7 attack, prompting Israel’s war but dropped by 90 percent with the war’s international criticism. Italian law prevents arms exports to countries waging war and violating international human rights. Britain does not directly supply arms to Israel but instead licenses companies to sell, usually components into U.S. supply chains like those for F-35 jets.

The UN general assembly voted 143 to nine with 25 abstentions to support the Palestinian bid for full membership, highlighting Israel’s global isolation and alarm about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war in Gaza. The U.S. voted against the resolution and promised to use its vote on the security council to oppose the UN majority vote. Other opposition came from Argentina, Czechia, Hungary, Israel, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, and Papua New Guinea. UK abstained. The vote doesn’t give Palestine full membership, voting rights, and membership in the security council but permits sitting with other members, introducing proposals and amendments, elections to official posts and on committees, and speaking on Middle East issues and on behalf of groups of nations in the assembly. Furious, Israel called on the U.S. to cut funding to the UN, and GOP senators announced legislation for Israel’s wishes.

The Israeli assault against over 1.2 million Gazans in Rafah has intensified, and its war cabinet voted for a “measured expansion.” Rafah has no fuel, transportation, or safe evacuation for almost all the people in Rafah.

Hamas agreed to a ceasefire agreement, Israel refused it, and negotiators search for a scapegoat, or “dead cat” as Secretary of State James A. Baker III called his attempts to negotiate in 1991. With each player, he threatened to “leave the dead cat” at their door so they would be blamed if the deal fell apart. Hamas released photos of hostages, Netanyahu mounted airstrikes and sent tanks into Rafah, and Biden froze a shipment of offensive bombs. The proposal is a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages by both Hamas and Israel, permit Gazans to return to the northern Gaza Strip, and expansively increase humanitarian aid.

Snags were the number of hostages and the length of the ceasefire. Israel moved the ceasefire goal posts to only long enough to get Israelis returned. Hamas insists on an eventual end to the war, Israel refuses to guarantee, and U.S. negotiators call for a “sustainable calm” during the ceasefire without a definition of the term. On Thursday, U.S. main negotiator, William Burns, left Cairo with no deal. Hamas is no longer the threat it was, but Netanyahu says he won’t quit until every one of them is destroyed. Biden wants Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic recognition of Israel, impossible during the war. The question is who finds the dead cat at their doorstep and how many pay the price.

DDT Trial Day 15:

Judge Juan Merchan denied defense a subpoena for Mark Pomerantz, former prosecutor in DA Alvin Bragg’s office who worked on DDT’s probe before resigning in frustration after thinking that no charges were unlikely to be brought. The judge called the subpoena “impermissibly broad” and that DDT’s team made procedural errors resulting in quashing the subpoena.

The most exciting part on Friday may have been the announcement that DDT’s former lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen will be a witness next week. The defense will attempt to prove that he’s lying about DDT’s $130,000 payoff to Daniels because he’s already been found guilty of perjury, but earlier witnesses have corroborated Cohen’s statements.

Friday’s highlights:

Cross-examination of prosecution witness Madeleine Westerhout: Defense persuaded her to state that DDT may have multitasked without paying attention to what he signed, hopefully undercutting the prosecution’s position that he knew he was signing $35,000 checks to Cohen for payoff to Daniels marked as business transactions. Showing affection for DDT, she may be cooperating with the defense who tried to use her to introduce a travel schedule from the 2016 DDT campaign, but the judge refused its introduction because she could not remember the schedule.    

Telephone messages tracked by Bragg’s paralegal: Jaden Jarmel-Schneider presented DDT’s attacks on Cohen in late 2018 while DDT continued to support convicted Paul Manafort, his former campaign manager. Summary charts correlated allegedly falsified business records, the indictment charge, and Cohen’s calls to other key figures in the case such as David Pecker, who bought Karen McDougal’s story to kill it, and Allen Weisselberg, former Trump Organization CFO.

Other telephone communications: Paralegal Georgia Longstreet provided text messages between National Enquirer editor, Dylan Howard, and Gina Rodriguez, Daniels’s then manager, who threatened to have Daniels go public with her story if she didn’t get paid on the day before Cohen gave Daniels’s attorney $130,000 from a shell company. Verizon’s Jennie Tomalin and AT&T’s Daniel Dixon showed call logs for both landline and cell phone records. DDT’s two tweets in May 2018, showed proof of Cohen’s payoff, falsely labeled “retainer”:

“Mr. [Michael] Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA.”

The second tweet:

“These agreements are very common among celebrities and people of wealth. In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. [Stephanie] Clifford (Daniels). The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair.”

[Note: DDT told the press that he was being unfairly prosecuted for “paying a lawyer and mark[ing] it down as a legal expense. Some accountant, I didn’t know, marked it down as a legal expense. That’s exactly what it was, and you get indicted over that? So check it out. Legal expense. It’s called legal expense.”]

Michael Cohen: DDT’s lawyer Todd Blanche asked for a gag order on him because of his offensive TikTok posts. Merchan again asked Cohen to stop his comments about the case but refused a gag order for him.

Weisselberg’s settlement agreement: Prosecution wants to introduce it because of a veiled threat he would lose his severance pay from the Trump Organization if he testifies in the case. Defense wants it blocked because Weisselberg isn’t a witness. Merchan didn’t rule yet.

The judge dismissed court early on Friday. Prosecution said that they had only two more witnesses and might rest its case by the end of next week, a short one because Merchan gave DDT the day off to attend the graduation of his son, Barron. Or DDT may skip it for his fundraiser in Minnesota.

The basis of DDT’s criminal trial is that he falsified business records to make payments for the Daniels’ coverup and thus influence the election’s outcome. Bloomberg News’ Jason Leopold reported that the has business records from First Republic Bank, showing Cohen opening an account to pay off Daniels. Gary Farro, who set up the account, already testified about the account.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s new book, Going Forward, has been out for three days, and Amazon blocked reviewers because of “unusual reviewing activity,” averaging one star. Noem has failed in increasingly attempting to defend the book, lying about a meeting with Kim Jong-Un and her killing animals. This one-star review is irresistible:

“My cat loved this book. He says Cricket was asking for it.” 

World Conflict Update, DDT Trial Day 14

With Friday the deadline, the Senate passed the reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) bill already approved by the House. Opposition came from Democratic senators Ben Cardin (MD), Tim Kaine (VA), Chris Van Hollen (MD), and Mark Warner (VA) who argued against safety concerns about five new slots, ten round-trip flights, at DCA after a near-miss last month because it would cause significant delays at the landlocked airport.

The delay had come primarily from GOP senators who failed to add pet bills as amendments, one of them Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) $50 billion compensation for nuclear radiation victims. The bill includes language for automatic refunds for those who had delayed or canceled flights matching Biden’s new rule which postpones the bill until the House returns after a four-day weekend. Congress approved a one-week extension. The Senate bill also added the hiring and training of up to 3,000 air-traffic controllers, increasing the cockpit voice recorder length to 25 hours from two, and improving airway safety. It also gives people at least five years to use travel credit.

Thursday was Russia’s Victory Day, celebrating the defeat over the Nazis in World War II, but for some people it was a dark day as the invasion of Ukraine continues. Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of escalation while bragging about his nuclear abilities while Russians mourned their mobilized and dead family and friends. At a war memorial, one of them said the day was intended to never have another war instead of the current Russian deaths and injuries in Ukraine. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev created the public holiday for Victory Day in 1965; this year, independent Russian media debunked Putin’s statements or highlighted the cost of his war for invading Ukraine. Putin also exhibited over 30 pieces of military hardware from 12 countries marked with their flags, including a few from the U.S. Billboards shouted, “Our victory is inevitable.”

Russia is illegally using the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and using grenades with CS and CN gases in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in a treaty that Russia signed. It also employed “riot control agent,” tear gas in violation of CWC. The U.S. formally sanctioned Russian firms and government entities for these uses. In Estonia, Finnair cancelled flights to Tartu because of alleged Russian GPS jamming attack, part of interference in Europe.

President Joe Biden’s announcement pausing weapons’ shipments to Israel brought backlash from U.S. conservative lawmakers receiving funds and votes from the arms industry. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), benefitting from hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from pro-Israel interests and the weapons industry, stated that Biden would “put our friends in Israel in a box.” He had encouraged Israel to “level” Gaza and compared Gaza’s actions to Pearl Harbor. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) echoed Graham; Lockheed Martin, one of the world’s biggest weapons manufacturers and a major beneficiary of Israel’s war on Gaza, was Cotton’s fourth-largest contributor in 2020. Other major recipients of arms industry cash, Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), ignored the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza in a letter of complaint to Biden.

Since October 7, Biden has sold Israel over $250 million in weapons and plans to continue to provide the country with defensive military sales plus over 100 other transactions falling under a set dollar amount required for notification. A history of foreign military aid.

Johnson bemoaned his perception of Biden’s betrayal of him and accused him of having a “senior moment” for violating his promises because Biden had agreed to send $16 billion of weapons to Israel. The Speaker declared that Biden officials assured him “in writing and verbally” that the weapons cutoff was wrong. Johnson called Netanyahu to “get confirmation from him exactly what’s happening.” Israeli’s prime minister must have confirmed Biden’s warning because he said Israel would “stand alone” if Biden didn’t send him the weapons. An IDF spokesman added that Israel already had the “necessary weapons” for its planned operations, “including in Rafah.”

Palestine defenders supported Biden’s threat to withhold ammunition if it launches a major invasion of Rafah but were concerned about his use of the term “major.” Israel is already invading the city may escape Biden’s threats if it slow-walks the attack. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told members of Congress at a hearing that Biden is already holding a bomb shipment because Israel hasn’t provided a plan to protect Rafah civilians.

DDT Trial Day 14: Judge Juan Merchan’s first action of the day was to bar photographers in the courtroom, even when court is not in session, because one of them violated rules for not taking photos by standing in the aisle. Photographs can be taken outside in the hallway before and after court. Merchan also ruled against asking Stormy Daniels about a 2009 arrest in a fight with her then-spouse because she was not convicted.

In her cross examination, the defense lawyer worked hard to make Daniels admit her story was false and only to make money. Mark Sumner described the lawyer’s question as “three hours of slut shaming Daniels to make it seem like she shouldn’t be shocked by an old man greeting her in his underwear.” Daniels didn’t cave. Proving that the lawyer’s only audience was DDT, she asked Daniels to confirm that DDT was a good golfer. [Right: Tuesday, Daniels wore the same all-black jumpsuit from her cameo performance in Bad President, a satire in which DDT sells his soul to the devil to win the 2016 election.]  

Other witnesses were Madeleine Westerhout, DDT’s White House aide who was fired after leaking information about his relationship with his children; Tracey Menzies, a HarperCollins executive reading excerpts from DDT’s book Think Big; and Rebecca Manochio, a DDT bookkeeper.

Rehired after she apologized to DDT, Westerhout testified that RNC leadership had discussed replacing DDT as the presidential candidate after the damaging Access Hollywood tapes were made public. She also complimented the good relationship between DDT and his wife Melania Trump.

One of the excerpts Menzies read:

“Getting even is not always a personal thing. It’s just a part of doing business.”

Manochio testified that DDT signed personal checks when he was in the White House because he was walled off from the Trump Organization business. The early checks were sent to Keith Schiller, DDT’s bodyguard, and later to Johnny McEntee, personal aide who DDT appointed to direct the White House personnel office.

DDT’s lawyer Todd Blanche also repeated his motions for a mistrial and request to block Karen McDougal’s testimony as well as limiting the gag order that would allow DDT to attack Daniels. Merchan denied a mistrial, saying that the defense’s arguments have been denying DDT had sex with Daniels, not arguing the trial’s premise about alleged falsification of business records. The judge again pointed out that defense didn’t object to Daniels’ specific sexual details. Prosecutors asserted the testimony about sex with DDT was appropriate because defense attorneys told the jury she was lying.

Merchan also denied the defense request that DDT could talk about Daniels, saying, “Your client’s track record speaks for itself.”

Attending the 14^th day of the trial, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) became DDT’s surrogate attacker with comments that DDT is barred from making, including smears of a prosecutor and Judge Juan Merchan’s family. Scott compares himself to DDT, claiming they were both persecuted. In 1997, Scott was pressured to leave as CEO of the nation’s biggest for-profit heathcare company, Columbia Hospital Corporation which he co-founded, after it defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs. Winning 14 felony convictions against the company, the DOJ fined the company $1.7 billion; Scott cited the Fifth Amendment 75 times in his deposition.

On Fox, host Greg Gutfeld, a supposed comedian, didn’t accept DDT’s denial that he ever had sex with Daniels by calling him a “sex god” and praising him for allegedly having “screwed the brains out of her.” Jesse Watters echoed, “Sex god.” Gutfeld added that “everything that I’ve heard makes Trump more sympathetic, more likable.”

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem can’t stand the heat from responses to her newest book related her killing animals and lies about meeting with Kim Jung-Un so she canceled some of her appearances—ostensibly because of “weather.” To replace her absence, Gutfeld conducted a mock interview with fellow host Dana Perino including dog puns and questions about whether Noem had read the book published under her name. Details here.

A third whistleblower has spoken out against Boeing. The first two have died within the past few months.

The deception of an eastern China zoo that dyed chow dogs black and white to look like panda bears disappointed the audience, but the zoo denied any fraud. The Taizhou Zoo said that it wasn’t charging more and the wording states “Chow Chow dogs.” A staff member said the zoo was too small to host real giant pandas. Some zoo-goers even questioned whether dying the dogs was animal cruelty, but a pet beautician said dye was acceptable if it had organic paint-based ingredients. Four U.S. states outlaw the practice.

Republicans, Protests

It’s a Wednesday so Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) isn’t trapped in court as he incessantly complains. Instead of campaigning, however, he’s hosting a dinner at Mar-a-Lago, trying to sell his NFT trading cards and holding other private political meetings. In contrast, President Joe Biden is in Racine (WI) talking about a new Microsoft data center in Mount Pleasant at the same location where DDT had attended a groundbreaking in 2018 for Foxconn’s $10 billion factory making LCD panels.

Gov. Scott Walker gave the electronics manufacturer millions in subsidies and bulldozed homes and farms, but the facility never came to fruition although taxpayers gave Foxconn $683 million. The area lost 1,000 jobs. As Biden said about DDT:

“He promised a $10 billion investment by Foxconn. He came with your senator, Ron Johnson, with a golden shovel and didn’t build a damn thing. They dug a hole with those golden shovels and then they fell into it.”

Microsoft receives no government incentives for the $3.3 billion dollar datacenter and works with Gateway Technical College, annually training and certifying 200 students for jobs in data and information technology. In addition, Microsoft will work with nearby high schools to train students for future jobs.

DDT also appealed his limited gag order in the New York criminal business fraud. His defense team asked for either a ruling from an intermediate appeals court or immediate permission to appeal to the New York’s Court of Appeals which already rejected pausing the trial during the fight against the gag order. The lawyer’s appeal may be DDT’s latest attempt to stay out of jail. 

Another DDT Truth Social tirade after Stormy Daniels’ testimony, possibly violating the gag order, slammed not only judges but also “sleazebags” and “lowlifes” who “say absolutely anything that they want,” likely meaning witnesses. He posted that he has to “listen to lies and false statements” made against him but can’t respond and called Judge Juan Merchan “corrupt and highly conflicted.” Both the gag order and Merchan’s caution on Tuesday warned DDT about witness intimidation.

Despite two meetings with Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson and urging by Deposed Donald Trump (DDT), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) filed her motion to oust Johnson from the position. She lost overwhelmingly: the bipartisan vote to table the motion was 359 to 43 with seven Democrats voting “present.” Only 32 Democrats voted against blocking Greene’s motion along with 11 Republicans. Only Reps. Thom Massie (R-KY) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) had openly said they will support Greene.

Lawmakers widely booed and jeered Greene as she read the resolution for over ten minutes, reciting grievances such as allowing Democrats to pass the federal funding bill to keep the government open, reauthorization of the U.S. warrantless surveillance, and the inclusion of Ukrainian aid in a foreign national security package. After the vote, Republicans lined up on the House floor to shake Johnson’s hand and pat him on the back. Greene’s GOP colleagues had warned Johnson that kowtowing to her would put him in danger. Johnson has been Speaker for a little over six months, and Greene prepared her motion to vacate six weeks ago.

On Steve Bannon’s podcast, Greene said:

“We need to act like Republicans. We need to demand control and we need to stop the government from being used for politics.”

Republicans voting with Greene against tabling the motion were Warren Davidson (OH), Alex Mooney (WV), Barry Moore (AL), Victoria Spartz (IN), Chip Roy (TX, Paul Gosar (AZ) Eli Crane (AZ), Eric Burlison (MO), Thom Massie (KY), and Andy Biggs (AZ). Born in Ukraine, Spartz also voted against aid for her birth country.

Republicans, who don’t want to use the government for politics, plan to hold AG Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for allegedly impeding their Biden impeachment inquiry because he won’t give them an audio recording of special counsel Robert Hur’s interview of Biden—only the transcript. They want information about discussions of Ukraine documents which is not in the transcripts.

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is also making news with his announcement that he had a parasitic worm that ate part of his brain before it died and both short- and long-term memory loss causing “cognitive” problems. The parasite can cause neurologic symptoms including headaches, convulsions, epileptic seizures, and even death. He was also diagnosed with mercury poisoning what can cause speech and hearing impairment, muscle weakness, lack of coordination, and other symptoms. The 70-year-old has boasted about being a healthier, younger alternative to Biden and DDT, and his spokeswoman stated he had resolved these issue over 10 years ago. 

Previously, Kennedy explained his strained, sometimes hoarse voice is caused by spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological disorder that causes involuntary spasms in the muscles of the voice box, and he became infected with hepatitis C from intravenous drug use in his youth. It was treated. In 2001, Kennedy was hospitalized for atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat caused by a common heart abnormality that can cause strokes, and said in 2012 he was hospitalized three more times for that condition.

Kennedy used Russian propaganda in his four-minute history about its invasion of Ukraine, according to conservative factchecker Glenn Kessler. The presidential candidate’s “history lesson” stated that Russia was “invaded three times through Ukraine,” the reason Vladimir Putin doesn’t want Ukraine to join NATO. The last time by Hitler would have been 80 years ago. Kessler said the Russian attack before that one was in 1812 by French Emperor Napoleon Bonapart, but he didn’t go through Ukraine.

The ”history” cited a non-existent conversation between Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and George H.W. Bush in which the U.S. promised that it “will not move NATO one inch toe the east.” Three former Soviet republics—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—are NATO countries. NATO was created in 1949. Among the false statements in his lecture, Kennedy got the number of countries in NATO correct.

Like DDT, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) finds candidate Kennedy a threat to his reelection if Kennedy is on the Texas ballot. Kennedy supporters prefer Democrat Colin Allred to Cruz by a significant margin. Needing almost 141,000 signature to run, the independent candidate has collected over 200,000, although they aren’t yet verified. The deadline is Monday.

Gay Kevin Spacey, allegedly committing multiple sexually attacking men, endorsed Kennedy for president because he opposes vaccines. The anti-LGBTQ+ candidate repeatedly stated that human-made chemicals in the environment, “endocrine disrupters,” may cause children to be gay or transgender, feminize boys, and masculinize girls. In contrast, Marjorie Taylor Greene believes Kennedy isn’t sufficiently transphobic to be present because he was uncertain about whether gender-affirming medical care, supported by the American Medical Association (AMA), should be available to trans minors.

Louisiana is appealing the three-judge panel’s blocking the state’s latest congressional maps that found the state shouldn’t draw district lines complying with the Voting Rights Act to create a second minority opportunity district. The panel had given June 3 as the deadline for passing an interim remedial map. If the state Legislature doesn’t pass a new map by then, the judges will impose one themselves.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, according to Isaac Newton’s third law of motion. The response to college campus protests against the Israel genocide in Gaza is an example of his premise. Students, mostly peaceful before law enforcement arrives, fight back when college administrations send in law enforcement who beat up the protesters. Some schools, however, talk to students and reach agreements. Usually, students request an end to the Israeli war, disclosures of institutional investments, and divestment from companies tied to Israel or otherwise profit from its military operation in Gaza. In some places, agreements lead to nonviolent dismantling of encampments before graduation. Brown and Northwestern were the first, followed by Rutgers, Johns Hopkins, University of Minnesota, and the University of California, Riverside. Northwestern agrees to peaceful demonstration but no tents through the end of classes on June 1. In return, students can be represented on investment comments, and the school will bring Palestinian students to campus. Although not completely satisfied, students at these schools celebrate the agreements as incremental steps. Other schools such as Wesleyan University look to these schools as models. The journey to the bargaining table at four schools is here.

Over 750 Jewish students at U.S. universities have signed an open letter urging institutions to take action in stopping Israel’s “genocidal assault on Gaza.” The letter states they are “deeply disturbed by the small number of individuals who have attempted to co-opt these encampments to spread violent, hateful, and antisemitic messages” but “wholeheartedly reject the claim that these encampments are antisemitic and that they are an inherent threat to Jewish student safety.” The students responded to Biden’s speech about antisemitism on campuses. Last week, Biden faced backlash for falsely characterizing the campus encampments as lawless and violent while ignoring police brutality and physical attacks against protesters, including a mob assault at the University of California, Los Angeles. More of the letter’s contents is here. It concludes  :

“We demand that academic and political leaders stop misrepresenting and demonizing protests and their organizers, protect the voices of student activists, and take immediate action to stop Israel’s genocidal acts before more Palestinians are killed.”

In 2022, the year that Russia invaded Ukraine, oil company BP’s profit of $27.7 billion, double the previous year.

Conflict in the World, the House

In deep red Indiana, Sen. Mike Braun, the choice of Deposed Donald Trump (DDT), won the primary for governor although Nikki Haley, not even running for presidential candidate, took almost 22 points from DDT in the presidential primary. GOP Rep. Victoria Spartz, who quit the race and then rejoined it, managed to defeat a crowded field despite her vote against Ukraine although that it her heritage. Her hometown is not happy with her.  

After promising President Joe Biden that it will allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, Israel has seized control of the Rafah border crossing, the only entry to Gaza from Egypt. Israel said the crossing “was being used for terrorist purposes,” the same excuse it uses for destroying hospitals, homes, and everything in Gaza. Rafah has one toilet for 850 people, and one shower for every 3,500 people in a city with 700,000 women and children.

Israel began strikes against the city late Monday afternoon a few hours after warning 100,000 Palestinians in Rafah, a designated demilitarized zone, to evacuate and rejected a ceasefire agreement negotiated by Qatar and Egypt that Hamas accepted. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu identified Rafah as the solution to regaining its hostages. Israel demanded 40 of the children, women, elderly, and wounded and will agree to a ceasefire only long enough to rescue them. Hamas said it doesn’t have that many in the categories, and the number of original hostages alive or in Hamas control is unknown.

Sharing a border with Gaza, Egypt risks becoming a part of the hostilities and wants to keep Gaza refugees from flooding their country, negating a decades-old Israel-Egypt peace treaty. Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, and UN agencies also worry about Israel’s dangerous escalation. Aid agencies in Gaza have less than a day’s fuel for trucks and tankers to deliver life-saving food, medicine, water, and diesel for millions with an almost complete shutdown of operations including bakeries and hospitals. Widespread looting of stocks in Rafah is accompanied by the closure of all entry points into southern Gaza.

The U.S. worked for months with Qatar and Egypt for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, but President Joe Biden has become increasingly frustrated, now blocking two shipments of ammunition to Israel. Monday morning, Biden warned Netanyahu about airstrikes on eastern Rafah without a clear plan to protect civilians. Israel’s attack on Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital, one of the principal medical centers receiving people wounded from Rafah airstrikes, developed a greater rift between Israel and the U.S. Earlier, Israel agreed to the agreement with a phased release of hostages with gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, completed with a “sustainable calm,” defined as a “permanent cessation of military and hostile operations.”

DDT Trial Day 13:  Calling Stormy Daniels as a witness caused DDT’s lawyers to file a motion for a mistrial with the excuse that her story was “new.” Prosecutors disagreed, saying the details in her testimony has been public for years, and Judge Juan Merchan denied the mistrial. Todd Blanche, DDT’s lawyer, also claimed that the testimony was “extraordinarily prejudicial” with nothing related to the charges in the indictment, but only to cause DDT embarrassment in describing her one-night stand with DDT in 2006. Merchan expressed surprise that DDT’s attorneys didn’t make more objections during her testimony, saying, “The defense has to take some responsibility for that.” During cross examination, another of his lawyers also insisted Daniels walk through the alleged sexual encounter so that the jury can assess whether she is credible. Scowling during much of her testimony, DDT appeared to encourage his lawyers to object.

The first nondisclosure agreement collapsed after Daniels didn’t get the payment so she signed another one on October 28, 2016, days before the election and immediately after the Access Hollywood tape about DDT’s willingness to commit sexual assault became public. A week later the Wall Street Journal ran an article on the National Inquirer’s “catch-and-kill” deals in which American Media Inc. purchased stories to block them from being published. Daniels said she couldn’t respond to that article or another one in January 2017 about her $130,000 payment because of the NDA. InTouch Weekly magazine then published her interview from 2011 but didn’t pay for it as promised. Daniels also said she signed a denial of the sexual encounter in 2018 under duress.

 As a criminal defendant, DDT was forced to hear Daniels’ testimony including sometimes salacious statements about his private life: he and his wife Melania don’t share a bedroom, he compared Daniels to his daughter Ivanka, and he wanted Daniels to spank him with a rolled-up copy of Forbes. DDT didn’t nap while she testified, and the judge warned Daniels to stay on topic while sustaining defense’s objections. DDT has repeatedly denied all accusations of sexual misconduct from over two dozen women, but he could go to jail for if he lashes out at Daniels. During her testimony, the judge criticized DDT to his lawyer because “he is cursing audibly and he is shaking his head visually and that’s contemptuous. It has the potential to intimidate the witness and the jury can see that.” Merchan told the lawyer to stop him.

Hannah Hudnall’s factcheck debunks the lies circulating on social media attempting to protect DDT from paying hush money to Stormy Daniels and covering it up in election interference.

Before Daniels’ testimony, Sally Franklin, senior vice president and executive managing editor for Penguin Random House, provided excerpts from DDT’s books into evidence, identifying which parts he had written and which ones were provided by a ghostwriter, a DDT staff member. DDT had written that he signed all of his checks and try to read his bills. One of the chapter titles of Trump: Think like a Billionaire is “Sometimes you still have to screw them.”

After testifying for three hours and 44 minutes on Tuesday, Daniels returns on Thursday for cross examination, giving DDT’s attorneys time to prepare. NYC Mayor Eric Adams said the city’s jail commissioner was “prepared for whatever comes” in terms of a possible DDT incarceration. Joyce Vance has more details.

The war between Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson may be cooling off—temporarily. They met twice in the last two days with Rep. Thom Massie (R-KY) present to resolve Greene’s motion to vacate because Johnson allowed Democrats to participate in passing bills. DDT also entered the fray with a two-hour phone call to Greene telling her he doesn’t want any more intraparty drama before the election. Johnson said that DDT told him “he’s not in favor” of Greene’s attempt to oust him. Greene and Massie had presented four demands to Johnson:

No further aid for Ukraine.

A return to the “Hastert Rule,” referring to a former Speaker’s mandate that no legislation can be brought to a vote without support from a majority of House Republicans.

Defunding the special counsel probes into DDT.

Enforcement of the “Massie Rule,” automatically cutting government funding across the board if no superseding agreement is reached before a set deadline.

To protect himself, Johnson attacked the executive branch, the judicial system, states’ rights, and the rule of law by vowing he will use every power of Congress to end all DDT’s criminal prosecutions. He made his statements while Stormy Daniels was giving testimony in the New York state criminal case about falsifying business records to pay hush money to Daniels and then covering up his actions. Ironically, Johnson, declared that “we need accountability.”

Without support from Democratic House members, including their leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Johnson won’t have enough votes for anything because of the fractured House GOP. With Rep. Tim Kennedy (D-NY) now sworn in, the chamber’s split of 217-213 gives Johnson only one vote majority until May 21 when a Republican is likely to win the runoff to replace former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Johnson also stated that the judicial branch is “in jeopardy” although he wasn’t referring to all the conservative activist judges and justices that Republicans put on the bench. He complained about the “Biden donor judge,” referring to Judge Juan Merchan who donated $15 to the Biden campaign, and his ”indefensible gag order.”

 Johnson made other promises he may not be able to keep. To big GOP donors, he declared he would crack down on the rebels derailing the House before meeting with Greene and Massie. His assertions only riled Greene more. She Xed Monday before meeting with Johnson:

“Speaker Mike Johnson is talking about kicking Republican members off of committees if we vote against his rules/bills. It’s not us who is out of line, it’s our Republican elected Speaker!!”

The stories about South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem just keep rolling out. The publishing team working on her first book two years ago, Not My First Rodeo, wouldn’t allow the stories about killing animals—a 14-month-old puppy, a goat, and three horses—because it was a bad-taste anecdote hurting her brand. With a different team and imprint, she insisted it be put into the current tome, No Going Back.

Annoyed with defending her book, Noem snapped at Fox Business host Stuart Varney during an interview:

“Enough, Stuart. This interview is ridiculous, which you are doing right now. So you need to stop.”

Noem loves guns so much that she tried to replace Wayne LaPierre as NRA CEO or executive vice president. Her spokesperson denied that she talked with LaPierre, saying that “she loves her job as Governor of South Dakota.”

Global Conflicts, GOP Stupidity Plus DDT’s Trial

Hamas agreed to a ceasefire with Israeli in negotiations worked out by Egypt and Qatar, but a unanimous vote by Israel’s war cabinet rejected it and attacked Gaza’s southern city of Rafah where over half the two million people of the Gaza Strip tried to take shelter. An Israeli lawmaker said, “Killing Palestinians is more important for the Israeli government than saving Israelis.” According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, the Rafah operation was intended to apply military pressure on Hamas for the release of hostages. Of the 1.4 million Palestinians in Rafah, 600,000 are children—almost all of them sick, injured, or malnourished. Israel has a pattern of sending Gazans into areas which are then attacked.

Detailed information about Gaza as of Monday. Tuesday may bring more coherent information from the Middle East.

Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-UT) discussion with Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed that the congressional push to ban TikTok is to erase U.S. access to unfiltered news about Israeli’s assault on Gaza. Romney asked about the lack of communicating “realities” in Gaza and suggested that banning TikTok would quiet outrage about Israeli atrocities. Right-wing lawmakers and pundits propose that students protest Israel’s actions because of TikTok, but students aren’t alone in opposition to Israel’s slaughter of Palestinian civilians and massive destruction in Gaza.

Called a “dark day for the media,” Israel closed local offices for Qatar-funded Al Jazeera, a satellite news network and one of the few international media sources for Gaza news. Netanyahu posted that the news source is a threat to national security after a unanimous vote by his cabinet. Orders confiscated broadcast equipment, cut off the channel from cable and satellite companies, and blocked its websites. The law allows Israel’s shutdown for 45 days with a possible renewal, preventing news about Gaza for three months.

Israeli authorities allegedly targeted several Al Jazeera’s journalists including two killed in Gaza in the past six months and cracked down on protesters against the Gaza war, moving the country from a democracy to an authoritarian government. Foreign journalists are blocked from entering Gaza to cover the conflict.

For the first time since the Israeli war began on October 7, President Joe Biden paused a shipment of U.S. ammunition to Israel. In February, Biden asked Israel to use ammunition only in accord with international law and received a letter of assurances in March. Recently, Netanyahu repeatedly threatened to invade Rafah whether or not he has a deal with Hamas. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Netanyahu that “a major military operation” in Rafah would lead to public opposition by the U.S., negatively impacting U.S.-Israel relations. White House spokesman John Kirby said that Biden “is sincere” about changes to U.S. policy if Israel moves ahead with a ground operation in Rafea.

A February national security memorandum set May 8 as the deadline to report to Congress about whether countries receiving U.S. weapons and munitions are using them consistent with international humanitarian and human rights laws. During the past six months, the Biden administration has authorized over 100 arms sales to Israel including tank and artillery ammunition, 2000- and 500-pound bombs, rockets, and small arms. An Israeli provision for receiving these shipments is “credible and reliable written assurances” that it will “facilitate and not arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede” the transport and delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance and U.S.-supported world efforts to provide that assistance. The memo does not apply to air defense systems such as the iron dome missile defense and other “nonlethal” supplies for only defensive purposes.

Since the memorandum, Biden and his officials have condemned Israeli’s military campaign in Gaza. During his State of the Union, Biden stated that most of the 30,000 Palestinians killed at that time were not Hamas but still expressed his “ironclad” support for Israel’s war. Verified deaths are up to about 35,000.

Russia plans nuclear drills against Ukraine’s Western allies after comments about deeper involvement in the war against Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron doesn’t exclude sending troops to Ukraine, and UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Kyiv’s forces will be able to use British long-range weapons to strike targets inside Russia. Ukraine’s shortage of troops and ammunition has kept its army on the 600-mile front line but hits targets deep inside Russia which keeps attacking Ukraine’s power grid.  

While the world is on fire, House Republicans are concerned about household appliances. After reluctantly providing aid to Ukraine, they have returned to protecting gas stoves because of conspiracy theories about Democrats trying to ban them. The GOP will debate Debbie Lesko’s (R-AZ) “Hands off Our Home Appliance Act” to block any bans not “technically feasible or economically justified” and if they do not result in “significant conservation of energy.” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) bragged that “Republicans are protecting your home appliances.” The agenda also includes “Liberty in Laundry Act,” “Clothes Dryers Reliability Act,” the “Refrigerator Freedom Act,” the “Affordable Air Conditioning Act, and the “Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act”—all supposedly to block energy efficiency and climate change.

Although no ban for gas stoves was ever intended, a study found that 650,000 children developed asthma because of them. Yet Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), White House physician fired for his use of drugs while supposedly caring for DDT and inappropriate management of medications, posted:

 “I’ll NEVER give up my gas stove. If the maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can pry it from my cold dead hands. COME AND TAKE IT!!”

To Axios’ Andrew Solender’s report, “Appliance Week is BACK in the House!” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) replied, “Israel aid, Ukraine aid, Humanitarian aid, Kitchenaid.”

Possibly searching for an out from her claim to oust MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) as Speaker, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) met with one of her two allies, Thom Massie (R-KY), and Johnson for two hours on Monday. They plan to meet at 12:30 pm on Tuesday. Greene later told reporters the huddle will take place at 12:30 p.m. Last week, Greene vehemently declared she would move forward to present her motion to vacate Johnson because he isn’t anti-Democrat.

In an anti-DDT move, former Republican Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan announced in an op-ed that he would back Biden in November’s election and criticized other GOP voters who “fall in line” with him. Duncan described DDT as “a man who has disqualified himself through his conduct and his character,” listing the current hush money trial as a reason for not supporting him. Another reason by Duncan is DDT’s promoting “unfounded conspiracy theories that led to the horrific events of Jan. 6, 2021.” Duncan concluded:

“This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass.”

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has ruled that candidates for federal office can raise unlimited funds for groups supporting ballot measures, possibly giving Biden an edge in soliciting money for abortion-rights measures in battleground states.

DDT Trial Day 12: Judge Juan Merchan began the day by charging DDT another $1,000 for contempt in violating his gag order in discussing the jury, dismissing the other three complaints from prosecutors because they were not “beyond a reasonable doubt.” The judge regretfully said that continued violations could result in jail. Later DDT declared that “our constitution is much more important than jail” although he has not violated the order since the first time Merchan threatened him with jail. DDT is fundraising by describing himself as a “victim.”  

In the hearing last Thursday, DDT’s attorneys complained that DDT couldn’t respond to Biden when he “mocked President Trump” about “stormy weather” at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, but Merchan reminded the defense that Biden wasn’t listed on the gag order. (Note that the lawyers always falsely call DDT “President Trump” although he no longer has that title.)

Following Merchan’s contempt of court ruling, the prosecution brought star witnesses—the documents about DDT paying $130,000 to Stormy Daniels. Two Trump Organization employees, former controller Jeffrey McConney and accounts payable supervisor Deborah Tarasoff, described the process for making payments. MConney said Allen Weisselberg, former Trump Organization CFO, told him to reimburse DDT’s former lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen in 2017 with 12, checks each for $35,000s.

Cohen’s invoices listed the checks as “retainer agreement” although he had no retainer. McConney stated that all the payments to Cohen were listed as “legal expenses,” but he never saw a retainer agreement. Invoices were also not sent to the legal department. Checks started from DDT’s revocable trust before the final three-fourths originated from DDT’s personal account with only DDT as the authorized signatory. Tarasoff said that DDT signed all checks with a black Sharpie and testified that checks above $10,000 needed approval by DDT or one of his sons. DDT wrote “void” on all checks he didn’t want to pay. McConney said that a lawyer would need to report payment for legal services as taxable income but not for a reimbursement.

The trial adjourned early and will resume on Tuesday. Prosecution stated that its case may require another two weeks.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s killing of dog, goat, and horses continues, perhaps because she keeps trying to justify her actions. Her latest response is to kill Biden’s dog Commander, now removed from the White House and relocated after biting Secret Service agents.

DDT Plans to Destroy Democracy

Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) has always been clear about how he wants the House to politicize every action and now wants to use the House as a super PAC for Deposed Donald Trump (DDT). Wearing a necktie featuring DDT’s images, he said:

“Everything that we do in the House of Representatives should be in the best interests of getting Donald Trump re-elected.”

A few weeks ago, Nehls supported extending the GOP’s 2017 cuts running up trillions of debt for the U.S., saying “Trump is right all the time” and wants Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson to be “consulting with Donald Trump on just about everything we do.” Violating his oath of office, Nehls also lied about having two Bronze Star medals (he got only one) and a Combat Infantryman Badge, revoked because he served as a civil affairs officer. Yet he still wears both medals he wasn’t awarded.

To divert attention from DDT’s criminal trial, the House campaigners plan investigations of pro-Palestine campus protests, hiding from failures in impeachment of President Joe Biden and another in the failed conviction of HHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ impeachment.   

DJT stocks clawed their way upward this past week, but no one knows for how long. The number of Truth Social users continues to shrink, dropping by 19 percent in April over a year ago and four percent from the previous month. Revenue suffers: the number of users controls advertising prices. Truth Social’s MAGA approach limits users, now numbered at 2 million while Meta’s 10-month-old Threads has climbed to 31.4 million, almost reaching the 34.2 million on X.

In another setback, SEC charged DDT’s accounting firm for his Trump Media & Technology Group, BF Borgers, with widespread fraud and operation of a “sham audit mill,” falsely representing its compliance with accounting standards between January 2021 and June 2023. The firm has shut down and agrees to pay $14 million in fines.

Trump Tower has grown shabby, struggling to find renters and looking tired—like DDT. A description with photos.

DDT’s former AG Bill Barr says he’ll vote for DDT because he can be talked down from his outrageous statements—such as executing the person who leaked his going to the White House bunker to avoid protesters. In his two interviews with Time magazine’s Eric Cortellessa when he repeatedly brags about picking only loyalists, DDT pictures himself as benevolent, saying he let his former officials “quit because I have a heart…. From now on, I’ll fire.” His plans to destroy democracy if he is reelected: 

• Build migrant detention camps and deploy the military, both at the border and inland, to deport over 11 million immigrants. Override the Posse Comitatus Act which makes using the military against civilians to do the deportation because migrants “aren’t civilians.” (They are the people who made the U.S. economy the “envy of the world,” according to the conservative Wall Street Journal.)
• Reinstall his first term Remain in Mexico program.
• Permit red states to monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute anyone violating abortion laws.
• Withhold congressionally-approved funds.
• Fire any U.S. AG who doesn’t carry out his orders to prosecute someone.
• Pardon everyone accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. (Over 800 have pled guilty or been convicted by a jury. He repeated his falsehood that the police “ushered” the insurrectionists into the Capitol.)
• May refuse to help an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he thinks they aren’t paying enough for their own defense. (His lied that NATO wouldn’t help the U.S. although the only time NATO needed to help was for the U.S. after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. when 18 other NATO members launched operations, including securing the skies over the U.S., naval anti-terrorism efforts, and assistance with the ground war in Afghanistan.)
• “Gut” the U.S. Civil Service and replace employees with those who swear loyalty to DDT.
• Send the National Guard, legally controlled by state governors, to U.S. cities “as he sees fit.”
• Close the White House pandemic-preparedness office.
• “Staff his administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen.”
• Increase tariffs although firms and other consumers buying products pay for this tax.
• Give police more power and immunity from prosecution.
• Maintained that “the FBI gave fake numbers” about declining in the U.S.
• Appoint a “real special prosecutor” to go after Biden.  

The title of the interview, “How Far Trump Would Go,” wasn’t a question. DDT’s “ideas” are already published in his Project 2025      prepared by far-right operatives including the Heritage Foundation. A second term for DDT would sweep away executive constraints with the doctrine called unitary executive theory. Matthew Schmitz, far-right co-founder and editor of the Compact magazine, demonstrates the conservative coverup of DDT’s destruction of democracy describing him as “the outlaw hero, a figure of defiance with deep roots in American culture who exposes the injustices and hypocrisies of a corrupt system.” The most ironic comparison is Robin Hood, because DDT stole from the poor and gave to the rich with his 2017 tax cuts that he plans to reinstate.

DDT also plans to reinstate his former Muslim ban and keep Gazans from refuge in the U.S. As for the Israeli annihilation of Gaza, DDT has said that Israel “must clean out the cancer.” People who believe that President Joe Biden is too supportive of Israel might want to DDT’s goal.  

Barr’s defense of DDT hasn’t softened DDT’s anger toward his former AG. DDT says he wants an AG with “courage” because Barr didn’t back him in his “stolen” election lie.

RNC top lawyer and strong election attorney, Charlie Spies, has resigned after he angered DDT for criticizing the lie about the stolen 2020 election. Spies had pioneered the use of unregulated campaign donations to fund super PACs and sued to purge voter rolls. DDT’s campaign said it raised $76 million last month, but these donations are for both himself and the RNC.

Legal Issues:

Fox network describes DDT’s naps in court as a power move to demonstrate his contempt for the process, but sources talk about his lack of confidence in beating the indictments. Since the New York criminal trial started three weeks ago, DDT has railed against lawyer Todd Blanche because he doesn’t follow DDT’s instructions and is lacking in aggression. DDT anger may come from his belief that the trial is not going well. He wants Blanche on the attack against witnesses, the jury pool, and the judge, vicious like his former ruthless Ray Cohn, eventually disbarred, yet Judge Juan Merchan has already reprimanded Blanche for his defenses.

A legal firm has filed a motion to withdraw from a lawsuit against DDT by a 2016 campaign staffer allegedly shut out for being pregnant because of “an irreparable breakdown in the attorney-client relationship between the firm and the campaign.” Representing herself, the plaintiff objected  because the firm had protested submission of discovery materials. The judge ordered the firm to turn over all 2016 and 2020 campaign complaints of sexual harassment and gender or pregnancy discrimination. Representing DDT for at least a decade, the firm in another sexual discrimination and abuse case against DDT.

New York – Criminal Business Fraud/Hush Money to Stormy Daniels to Interfere with 2016 Election:

In a plan to keep DDT out of jail for violating his gag order, attorneys want delay by filing an emergency writ of habeas corpus for a stay. They briefed DDT about the idea, calling it DDT’s “jailbreak” strategy.

Presently jailed for perjury, former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg won’t be a witness in the trial, but he left handwritten notes about his secret role in DDT’s 2016 presidential campaign, documenting his plan for the allegedly fraudulent reimbursement at the heart of the case. Weisselberg’s services to DDT, assisting with FEC filings, may also be unreported contributions.

More detailed reports of the trial last week are in earlier posts.

Florida – DDT’s Taking Classified Documents:

DDT’s lawyers new plan to delay the trial is Chinese immigrant’s Supreme Court decision of a race-neutral law as precedent to toss charges against DDT.  In Yick v. Hopkins (1866) Lee Yick, convicted of operating an unlicensed laundry in 19^th-century San Francisco, argued racism in denying him a permit. The filing claims federal prosecutors are using unconstitutional “selective prosecution” of DDT with the falsehood that other people are not being prosecuted for the exact same conduct. In the 1990s, justices made this argument extremely difficult to defend, especially if the government has valid reasons for not bringing up any cases that the plaintiff uses. Other people mishandling classified documents didn’t obstruct the government as DDT did, making DDT unique. His appointed judge Aileen Cannon is sure to take weeks for a decision.

Supreme Court:

Anti-MAGA conservative former Judge J. Michael Luttig and others predict that conservative justices will return the case to a lower court, already dismissing the immunity argument, to determine which presidential acts are “official” and which are “private or personal.” Luttig described the argument assumes “all future presidents will act in bad faith.” With appeals, determination of DDT’s “official acts” could postpone his trial for up to a decade.

Biden called DDT’s bluff. At rallies, DDT demanded debates with Biden. Now Biden says okay. And DDT says only on his terms and not when the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) schedules debates.

Good News But Protests against Gaza Destruction

Follow-up on South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem: The Jefferson County (CO) GOP canceled a fundraising dinner featuring Noem because of death threats and other safety concerns. The group had obtained 300 copies of Noem’s book which she intended to sign. While touting her new children’s book The Princess and Her Pup,  Donald Trump Jr.’s girlfriend tried to give Noem an out by saying “maybe somebody slipped [the story] in and she didn’t see it.” She read it aloud for the audio version.  

Some good news for the week:

The stock market rejoiced on Friday with slower job gains, hoping that the Federal Reserve might drop interest rates. The decrease of 175,000 jobs for April continued stable growth and kept the unemployment rate under 4 percent for the 27^th consecutive month, last seen from 1967 to 1970 and a longer period from 1951 to 1953. Wages consistently beat inflation for the past year. Deposed Donald Trump (DDT), whose monthly job gains averaged 185,000 while he was in the White House until they plummeted tens of millions after Covid arrived, posted, “HORRIBLE JOB NUMBERS JUST ANNOUNCED.”

Last Monday, Democrat Tim Kennedy won a special New York House election, bringing the party to 213 members, compared to 217 Republicans with five vacant seats. He will finish the term of Brian Higgins who resigned in February to run a performing arts center. Higgins said that Congress is “in a very, very bad place” and “an embarrassment across the country.” Kennedy will need to run in June’s primary and then in November if he wins.

After ProPublica reported that states seized child support for families as reimbursement for the mother receiving welfare, at least six states changed their policies, and others are considering changes. Federal and state governments annually intercept $1.7 billion in child support payments. Shifts have come in New Mexico, Wyoming, Illinois, Michigan, Vermont, and California with Illinois moving all child support payments to families starting in July. California doubled the amount going to families currently receiving welfare, a $44 million net increase. At least six states already “passed through” some or all child support payments to families.

For the first time since the creation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, over 100,000 young immigrants without health insurance will now be eligible to buy affordable health coverage. The new rule goes into effect on November 1, the opening day for the 2025 health insurance open enrollment period. DACA was closed to new registrants in July 2021 when lawsuits began challenging the program.

Student loans of $6 billion for 317,000 people who attended the Art Institutes, for-profit colleges closing the last of dozens of campuses in 2023 because of alleged fraud, will be canceled. AGs from Massachusetts, Iowa, and Pennsylvania previously investigated fraud complaints and sued the for-profit chain. The Education Department found that the chain lied about the success of graduates and employment partnerships helping students find jobs. The Biden administration has approved the cancellation of almost $160 billion in student loans, $28.7 billion for those cheated by their colleges or attending suddenly closed campuses.

Soren Aldaco, an anti-trans detransitioner, has been ordered to pay over $40,000 in attorney’s fees after a judge dismissed her $1 million suit against former doctors who provided hormone therapy. She claimed she was “coerced” into coming out as transgender and transitioning, including a double mastectomy three years ago when she was 19, and accused the doctors and nurse practitioner of ignoring her significant mental health issues. The suit concerning what she described as a botched surgery remains open. Detransitioners like Aldaco are used to block trans healthcare for everyone, but fewer than one percent of patients undergoing gender-affirming procedures regret them. According to a new study, regret rates are higher for people who get tattoos, elective plastic surgeries, and bariatric weight loss as well as have children. Another study found that 97 percent undergoing gender-affirming surgery have increased satisfaction with their lives.

Almost two years after Roe v. Wade was overturned, 65 percent remain opposed to the Supreme Court ruling whereas 34 percent approve.

Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Education Ryan Walters wants Christian chaplains to replace school counselors, and the state House voted for a bill to do that. The state Senate may not pass the bill after the Satanic Temple (TST), a recognized religion, announced plans to put its Ministers into the state’s public schools. Walters wrote:

“Satanists are not welcome in Oklahoma schools, but they are welcome to go to hell.”

The former executive director Fred Wellman of the Republican anti-MAGA Lincoln Project responded:

“Hahahaha!!! You are an idiot. How did you not see this coming? Satanists, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Pastafarians…come one come all! After all you’re not trying to establish Christianity as the state religion are you? We had a whole ass revolution about that. There are history books about it…oh…right. Not your thing. What a fool.”

The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) warned:

“The state of Oklahoma cannot discriminate against people or groups based on their religious beliefs. Walters’ hateful message shows, once again, that he only believes in religious freedom for Christians and that he is unfit to serve in public office.”

College Pro-Palestinian Protests:

Exactly 50 years after police cleared Columbia University students taking over Hamilton Hall to protest the Vietnam War, New York police cleared a group of students protesting Israel’s war against Gaza from the building. Again, students were vilified for protesting the Israelis’ killing at least 34,000 Gazans and starving hundreds of thousands more to erase any Palestinian state.

Within the past few weeks, Columbia students’ protests have moved across the country to 150 colleges seeking disinvestment in Israel’s military, many with outdoor encampments and civil disobedience. At over 80 of them, police used equipment donated by corporations to surveil the crowds, arrested thousands of protesters, and dismantled the encampments. Indiana University posted snipers prepared to fire on the protesters, and peaceful students and faculty members have been beaten and pinned down. Thus far only pro-Palestinian supporters have been arrested; Israeli war supporters attacking people at the camp have not suffered any repercussions.

Despite statements from President Joe Biden supporting the police crackdowns, some universities have been more rational about approaches to the protesting. Students at schools such as Brown University, Northwestern University, and the University of Minnesota removed or limited the encampments and protests after promises to take steps toward scholarships for Palestinians and divestment from Israel.

A contrast to the police violence at Columbia was the solution at Berkley, another school with a long history of student activism, where student demonstrations experience no arrests or campus disruptions. Berkley permitted a protest area where Martin Luther King gave a 1967 civil rights speech even after a scuffle between the co-founder of a Zionist activist group and a pro-Palestinian protester. The University of California policy is no police involvement except for physical safety of students, faculty, and staff since 2011 when campus police clubbed and jabbed students with batons during an Occupy movement protest.   

At UCLA, however, police flattened the UCLA encampment after pro-Israel counter protesters attacked the protesters. Protesters said that the “external security the university hired for “backup” filmed and laughed during the escalating violence as pro-Palestinians “screamed for help.” After counter protesters attempted to dismantle the encampment’s barricade, violence lasted for almost five hours with little or no police intervention even after law enforcement arrived. Counter protesters, many wearing pro-Israel slogans, beat protesters with metal pipes, sprayed chemicals on protesters’ faces, and launched fireworks directly at them. They used genocidal language while attacking protesters, yelling, “Second Nakba!” meaning the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes in 1948.

Protesters could be heard yelling, “Do not engage!” No videos show any violence from the protesters or initiating confrontations except for trying to defend their barricades, but they do show counter protesters physically attacking protesters and journalists from the UCLA student newspaper, the Daily Bruin. Los Angeles Jewish and Muslim organizations condemned the attacks. While these protesters are demonized for breaking the rules, history praises Rosa Parks for refusing to sit in the back of the bus and activists for sitting at segregated lunch counters. A history of these protests.

In promoting the school, Columbia brags about its tradition of protesting other than the Vietnam War such as anti-Black racism and the school’s expansion into the surrounding neighborhood with a segregated gymnasium 56 years ago when 150 people were injured from police involvement. Student activists successfully pushed for the creation of a Native American and Indigenous Studies minor. Princeton arrested 136 people for current protests after praising “activism and intersectionality” sit-ins in the 1970s and 1980s opposing South African apartheid and sexism on campus. The University of Minnesota stated they arrested nine protesting students because “tents are not allowed on any university property for any purpose without a permit.” 

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the destruction of Gazan refugee camps and cities—”Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat—total annihilation.” Like Netanyahu, Smotrich quoted the biblical tale of Amalek, which God ordered to exterminate, used by right-wing leaders to justify Palestinian murderers. Journalist Mehdi Hasan sarcastically said these comments are deemed acceptable by U.S. officials and the corporate media because he didn’t “say it on a college campus.” An editorial in the Jewish newspaper Haaretz wrote Smotrich should be immediately fired for this statements.

Protests against the Vietnam War were equally unpopular when they started in 1965, but persistence—and the National Guard killing or injuring 13 students at Kent State in 1970—created an increasing awareness regarding the injustices of the U.S. conflict that couldn’t be won. The question is if the U.S. will tire of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s killing and destruction in Gaza.  

News of the Day, DDT’s Trial

Investigated for two years, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and his wife Imelda have been indicted for accepting $600,000 in bribes from a state oil company controlled by the Azerbaijan government and a bank headquartered in Mexico between December 2014 and November 2021. They allegedly set up front companies entering into sham contracts with the two entities, and Cuellar promised to use his position in Congress to influence U.S. foreign policies for Azerbaijan and advocate policies benefiting the bank. Charges include money laundering, conspiracy to commit bribery of a federal official, and wire fraud.

After defeating his primary opponent by 281 votes, Cuellar is running in the November election. Imelda Cuellar is a former tax enforcement officer, who retired in 2012 and supposedly continued to work for the companies although prosecutors said it was not substantial. His sister, Rosie Cuellar, is seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House to be determined in the May 28 runoff. Cuellar often sides with former Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) and is antiabortion.

Kansas voters opposed a referendum to remove reproductive rights from its state constitution by 59 percent, but GOP lawmakers pushed through four anti-abortion bills over the governor’s veto:

Doctors must report patient information about why they are getting an abortion, selecting “the most important factor” from 11 pre-written options. A proposal to collect information on why men get vasectomies failed.

Forcing someone to obtain an abortion is a crime. This situation, under one percent of the state’s 12,300 abortions in 2022, is already a crime in Kansas.

People can receive 70 percent state income tax credits for donations to unregulated anti-abortion crisis centers.

The budget may reallocate $2 million to these centers which try to convince pregnant patients to not get an abortion.

In Texas, Collin Davis is attempting to sue anyone who helped his ex-partner travel to Colorado for an abortion in February either under a wrongful-death statute or the newer state law permitting private citizens to sue anyone who “aids or abets” an illegal abortion. This lawsuit follows another a year ago by a Texas man trying to sue three women who allegedly helped his ex-wife obtain abortion medication. Davis’ petition provides no evidence of illegal activity, but Texas tries to prevent women from leaving the state for abortions including local ordinances blocking these women from using parts of high-traffic highways.

Aetna, an arm of CVS Health Corp., is settling a lawsuit claiming the health insurer, covering almost 19 million people with commercial coverage, discriminates against LGBTQ+ women wishing fertility treatment. The company will make artificial insemination standard for all customers nationally, try to give equal access to in-vitro fertilization procedures, and set aside $2 million to reimburse people for artificial insemination. A judge must approve the deal.

Yvette Wang, criminal co-defendant of far-right Chinese fugitive billionaire Guo Wengui, pled guilty to fraud charges, which may help the case in which DDT’s longtime adviser Steve Bannon is labeled a co-conspirator. Following his ouster from the White House, Bannon started working for Guo in 2017, two years after he fled to the U.S. Guo’s organizations supported Trump and promoted false claims about Covid and the 2020 election. Bannon, facing four months in prison for contempt of Congress, received at least $1 million that Guo allegedly misappropriated from investors.

More MAGA lies, this one that President Joe Biden is paying rent for undocumented immigrants (not the MAGA term) in Michigan. In fact, applicants must apply for rent subsidies, and undocumented migrants don’t qualify. Over half those approved are Afghan and Ukrainian refugees.

According to a new analysis, 2018 was the first year that billionaires paid a lower tax rate than working-class people in the U.S. Stock gains aren’t taxed in the U.S. until the shares are sold, leaving people such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk almost no taxable income while they borrow against their assets in tax-free loans. The wealth of global billionaires has exploded since 2018 while worker pay remains almost stagnant: last month, 2,781 billionaires had $14.2 trillion in combined assets. In the U.S., 813 people are worth a combined $5.7 trillion. In under 65 years, billionaires’ tax rate dropped from over 56 percent to about 23 percent in 2018. Now, the billionaires’ tax rate is 8.2 percent.

DDT Trial Day 11:

Starting the day, DDT delivered more lies to the impromptu press conference before he entered the courtroom. He said he was the only person required to get bail in the “violent city” of New York. DDT was released on his own recognizance, paying no money, and crime plummeted in New York during the past two decades with lower rates than some places in the South such as Memphis. He repeated that the trial was keeping him from the campaign trail, but he has at least three days off each week and doesn’t even use those for campaigning. DDT said he was “supposed to be in Ohio tomorrow and … in Florida the next day”: DDT has both those days off and plans to be in Ohio on May 15.

Friday’s court began with Judge Juan Merchan correcting DDT’s declaration that he can’t testify because of a gag order. Merchan said the order “only applies to extrajudicial statements.” DDT’s lawyer Todd Blanche then tried to block the “Access Hollywood” tape in which DDT bragged about his sexual assault because Harvey Weinstein’s conviction was overturned. Merchan said that “the Weinstein decision really doesn’t factor into this.” He had earlier ruled that the tape cannot be played for the trial, but prosecutors can introduced its content.

Cross-examination of forensic analyst Doug Daus about Michael Cohen’s phones attempted to invalidate their authenticity when DDT’s attorney Emil Bove addressed a four-day lapse in their chain of custody.  In redirect questioning, Daus testified he “did not” find evidence of phone tampering or manipulation, earlier testifying that the metadata would show any editing or modification. DDT hit Bove’s arm in trying to get him to respond to Daus’ statement, but Bove refused.

A paralegal in the DA’s office, Georgia Longstreet, testified about Twitter and Truth Social, confirming the account @realdonaldtrump on Twitter belonged to DDT prior to the prosecutors introducing some of the posts. Blanche wants to keep DDT’s Truth Social post from last August out of the record, “If you go after me, I’m coming after you,” claiming “it had nothing to do with witnesses.”

Testifying after that was DDT’s former sycophant Hope Hicks who said that DDT wanted the Karen McDougal story buried because of how “it would be viewed by his wife,” not to protect his presidential campaign. To awkward questions such as whether she saw David Pecker in DDT’s office, she would say that she couldn’t remember. Hicks was criticized Cohen in attempts to show that he was uncontrollable. Yet she did testify that DDT didn’t want the McDougal story to come out until after the election.

During her testimony, Hicks cried and apologized to DDT in an exchange when she confirmed that he knew about at least one of the payments Cohen made to a woman having sexual relationships with him before the election. She described a conversation with DDT when he praised Cohen to minimize political blowback. The defense cross-examination of Hicks was only 15 minutes, and DDT made only a few remarks about the importance of Election Day after he left the courtroom. The two appear to have been estranged since 2022 when DDT learned Hicks was critical about his attempts to overturn the government.

At the end of the day, Merchan denied the prosecutors’ request to permit jurors to learn about DDT’s gag order contempt findings if he takes the witness stand in his own defense. Cohen and Stormy Daniels may come to the stand when the trial continues on Monday. During the day, a court official stated that DDT had paid the $9,000 fine for violating the gag order.  

A story about South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem before her book is released on May 7 is her bragging about staring down North Korea’s Kim Un-Jong in a meeting although she never actually met him. Another book excerpt describes Haley offering to be a mentor for Noem and letting her know if she hears “something bad” about Noem. Noem said she thought Haley was threatening her, telling her “there was only room for one Republican woman in the spotlight.” Haley’s spokeswoman said that Haley talked to Noem, but Haley’s calendar shows it was in 2020, not 2021 as Noem claimed, and called to encourage her when Noem kept her state open during Covid. Noem’s spokesman said these “errors” will be cleaned up in future editions.

https://www.alternet.org/south-dakota-kristi-noem/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=May.3.2024_1.32pm   Noem’s constituents, including Republicans, are moving to a negative view of the governor with one of them saying:

“She’s really a terrible person; slowly since Trump won everyone realized how trashy and ambitious she is.” 

Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) weird evidence-free lie of the week less than 24 hours after his weird “antisemitic” bill: Jewish Holocaust survivor George Soros is funding pro-Palestine protests on college campuses and wants the FBI to investigate. As his personal “evidence,” Johnson said the tents at the Columbia University protest were identical—“same color, make, and model.” Johnson’s right-wing has accused Soros of everything from funding neo-Nazis at Charlottesville (VA) in 2017 to being the “anti-Christ.”  

State News, DDT’s Trial Etc.

After Arizona’s legislature overturned the 1864 anti-abortion ban, all six judges in the state Supreme Court agreed it will not reconsider its ruling in support of the law. The 1864 law could go into effect on June 27 because its repeal doesn’t go into effect until 90 days after the legislature is out of session. Making the new law for abortions up to 15 weeks go immediately into effect would require a supermajority vote. A more moderate reproductive rights citizens initiative, allowing abortions up to viability and exceptions based on a doctor’s opinion, is on the November ballot.

On May 1, the day that Florida’s abortion ban changed to six weeks, South Dakota gathered enough signatures for a reproductive rights citizens initiative on the November ballot. Actually, the six weeks in Florida is four weeks pregnant because all the laws figure time from a woman’s last menstruation, two weeks before ovulation. Petitioners gathered signatures from over 55,000 registered voters, more than the necessary 35,000 to put the proposal on the ballot. South Dakota’s ban on abortion except to save the woman’s life is one of the harshest in the nation. The state is also one of the most conservative in the nation.

A state law has allowed Wyoming to remove 28 percent of its registered voters from the rolls since 2022, about 83,500 names. The secretary of state’s office must remove all registered voters who didn’t vote in the most recent election. Wyoming allows eligible people to register on the day of election—if they bring the required documents such as driver’s license, passport, tribal nation ID card, military identification card, and some forms of student ID.  

Colorado GOP candidates are revolting against the state party’s order that they all support Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) to get an endorsement. The three-page questionnaire for candidates, a new procedure, lists that criterion. County-level GOP leaders also object to the requirement.

John Eastman, DDT’s former lawyer who created a plot to overturn the government in 2020, lost again in court. A month ago, the California State Bar Judge Yvette Roland ruled that he “violated ethics rules”; on Wednesday she denied his request to delay the ruling, automatically suspending him from practicing law in the state to protect the public. She cited “the gravity of Eastman’s transgressions, particularly those involving moral turpitude.” Eastman has said he needs to practice law for the money and went so far as to claim that he’s a Christian evangelical to get donations from religious supporters. His Christian fundraising site, popular with neo-Nazis and white supremacists, has raised under $850,000. Eastman is also DDT’s co-defendant in the Fulton County (GA) RICO case and has been indicted in Arizona in the fake elector case.

Another former DDT lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, isn’t keeping to the budget that the bankruptcy court gave him. His “austerity” monthly funds of $43,000, supposedly the income from his retirement accounts and Social Security, covers $5,000 alimony payments to his ex-wife Judith Giuliani and $13,500 monthly nursing-home expenses for his former mother-in-law who died in March. In January, however, he spent $120,000, but records don’t explain where all the money went although he listed 60 transactions on Amazon, multiple entertainment subscriptions, various Apple services and products, Uber rides, and payment for some of his business partner’s personal credit card bill. One of his major bills is a payment of $148 million to two Georgia election workers for defamation. Giuliani also owes his lawyers in a variety of cases.

Last year, Giuliani tried to sell his Upper East Side apartment for $6.5 million but took it off the market with plans to re-list it. His creditors have hired a forensic accounting firm to find where he might be hiding money and assets as well as issuing subpoenas for documents. In 2007, he stated his net worth was over $30 million, and a decade later he and his wife spent $230,000 a month, including $7,000 on fountain pens and $12,000 on cigars. Giuliani has a history of hiding his assets, and he missed filing deadlines for his February and March spending reports. His earning ability is quite weak: his New York and Washington, D.C. law license are suspended, and he turns 80 at the end of May.

Elon Musk has fired almost all his employees on Tesla’s Policy and Supercharger teams as well as two long-time executives. The cuts follow his layoff of ten percent of the company’s global workforce. Musk wrote his staff that any executive “who retains more than three people who don’t obviously pass the excellent, necessary and trustworthy test” should resign. Loss of the Supercharger team may keep Tesla from dominance over the global EV charging network.

The reduction comes after dropping sales and price wars among EV makers; Tesla lost almost a third of its value since the beginning of 2024 as investors lost patience with the delay of rollout of cars with full self-driving software. Tesla’s profit dropped 55 percent in the first quarter of 2024, and stock dropped five percent after the announcement below $150, erasing last year’s gains. The possibility of a stuck accelerator pedal led to recalling 4,000 Cybertrucks. The loss of chargers may impact Tesla’s deals with Ford and GM in creating compatible chargers.

After a Delaware court struck down Musk’s financial package in January, Tesla asked shareholders to vote on a compensation package of $56 billion for him, a sum reduced to $47 billion after the stock went down. The board recommended that shareholders re-ratify the 2018 pay package to address the judge’s concern about a “deeply flawed” approval process instead of negotiating a new proposal with Musk that would cost Tesla more money. The vote is scheduled for June 13 during Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting.

The Air Force has new charges against Jack Teixeira who pled guilty in federal court to disclosing classified U.S. secrets online. The former National Guard airman faces military criminal proceedings this month. Charges include obstructing justice and failing to obey a lawful order which could extend his time in confinement after his federal sentence of over 16 years. To impress his followers, Teixeira posted hundreds of classified national security documents on the chat app popular with gamers, Discord, and disclosed secrets about weaknesses in Ukrainian air defenses and terrorist plotting in Afghanistan.

The second whistleblower for Boeing’s dangerous planes has died with a few months. Joshua Dean, 45, died of pneumonia and MRSA before dying on April 30. He said he was fired in April 2023 because he continued to express concerns about manufacturing defects. While giving testimony in a lawsuit against Boeing, John Barnett died on March 9, allegedly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

DDT Trial Day 10: To avoid violating his gag order, DDT turned his venom onto Gazans and President Joe Biden during a Wisconsin rally on his Wednesday off and called the judge presiding over the trial “crooked.” Before court started on Thursday, DDT told reporters that the case should have been brought “eight years ago,” before the alleged crime was committed. The court day began with a hearing about DDT’s four additional violations of the gag order; Judge Juan Merchan has not given his ruling. DDT’s lawyer Todd Blanche had several complaints about the gag order such as Michael Cohen and Joe Biden being able to say whatever they wanted. Merchan pointed out that they weren’t under the order.

The two witnesses were Keith Davidson, former attorney for Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal in the midst of DDT’s business fraud, and a new one, the DA’s forensic analyst Doug Daus, who testified about an inspection of DDT’s former lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen’s phones. On the night of DDT’s 2016 election Davidson texted National Enquirer top editor Dylan Howard who helped him mediate the deal. In amazement about DDT’s 2016 win, Davidson wrote, “What have we done?” about how their activities may have helped DDT get elected, and Howard responded, “Oh my god.”

Prosecutors played a clip of DDT’s conversation with Cohen about how to pay McDougal for her story of their affair to hide it from the public, one of over 40,000 contacts on Cohen’s phones. DDT suggested paying cash to David Pecker’s media company, American Media Inc., which covered the $150,000 payment to McDougal, but that idea was vetoed because it could be tracked.

After court, DDT delivered pizzas to an FDNY firehouse in keeping with his wooing different groups in the city. Other appearances include a construction site early in the morning and a Harlem bodega. Asked about Davidson’s testimony, he again complained about the gag order blocking him from attacking witnesses. He also claimed that the gag order kept him from testifying and said “nobody’s ever had that before.” DDT may be confused or trying to get out of testifying. A gag order does not prevent a witness testifying. Oddly enough, his lawyer Todd Blanche stood by DDT when he made the declaration and seemed to nod in agreement.

On Newsmax, Rob Finnerty erroneously reported statements that special counsel Robert Hur called gaffes when interviewing the president—like Biden’s not knowing that Africa is a country. Africa is a continent, not a country, and Hur didn’t mention Africa in his 367-page report.