Supreme Court, DDT

Another day, another Supreme Court decision—this one with the Conservative Six promoting population control by overturning a ban on bump stocks which turn an already dangerous semi-automatic weapons into the ability of the outlawed machine guns. Justice Clarence Thomas said that guns with bump stocks aren’t any different because “the firing cycle remains the same”: they just reduce the time between shots. In fact, they permit weapons to fire hundreds of times in a minute. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by the court’s other two liberals, said the majority seized on technicalities putting form over substance. She pointed out that the court would soon have blood on its hands.

The ban was passed during the administration of former Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) after the Las Vegas shooting massacre in October murdering 58 people and injuring more than 500 more. The following year, AFT adopted a clarification of bump stocks under the definition of machine guns. Bump stocks permit the firing of 400-800 rounds per minute, approximately the same as machine guns. Conservatives concluded that Congress could amend the law, knowing that the dysfunctional branch will not be doing that.

Two years ago, the court ruled against disparities in bankrupt debtors’ fees; on Friday, it ruled the government is not required to repay debtors paying more than they would in another judicial district. In 88 of 94 federal district districts Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases are administered by the DOJ and required by law to charge fees only covering costs. Six districts in Alabama and North Carolina, however, do not participate in that system, and the fees they charged were not tracked between 2018 and 2021. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote the opinion for six justices. Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, and Amy Coney Barrett dissented.

The high court has still not issued its decision on DDT’s absolute immunity, having delayed his trial for at least eight months. In 1974, the Supreme Court took 16 days to decide U.S. v. Nixon, a case in which the president was required to turn over tapes and other documents to a federal district court, negating his immunity. The current court’s corruption has become more evident with each delay.

House GOP members are again rolling over to show their bellies to DDT with a hearing about the unfairness of DDT’s convictions for 34 felony counts. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) humiliated them by asking members of Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) Judiciary Committee to raise their hands if they “hung out with the felon today,” referring to DDT’s gathering them near the Capitol. Swalwell then asked Democratic witness Norm Eisen, President Obama’s special counsel for ethics and government reform, a series of questions: the location where DDT committed his crimes (New York), the place where the jury pool lived (New York), and the verdict (34 unanimous convictions).

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) repeated the word “guilty” 34 times, quoting the jury, before he began his questioning. He added that Republicans didn’t question the charges, including DDT’s “making hush money payments to a porn star to hide their affair from voters.” GOP committee member claims were either lies or not supported by any evidence, such as the accusations of “personal” and “political.”

The Republicans in the House will go into another snit after the DOJ refused to prosecute AG Merrick Garland for not giving them audio tapes of special counsel Robert Hur’s interviews with President Joe Biden. Despite the House vote that Garland be prosecuted for contempt of Congress, the DOJ determined that Garland committed no crime. The DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel stated Biden’s claim of executive privilege over the tapes protected Garland from prosecution, a publicized memo before the House took its partisan vote.

DOJ’s letter to Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) noted that administrations of both parties repeatedly declined to prosecute several AGs or other officials not turning materials over to Congress. Garland had lamented that “the House of Representatives has turned a serious congressional authority into a partisan weapon [and disregard for] the constitutional separation of powers, the Justice Department’s need to protect its investigations, and the substantial amount of information we have provided to the Committees.” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) said she will request a vote for the House sergeant at arms to bring Garland to the House and force him to turn over subpoenaed items, a process not used since the early 1900s.

House Republicans also made another attempt to pass its big government hate legislation by adding amendments to the annual defense policy bill although they have no appropriations connections. GOP control issues included the typical opposition to diversity protections health care, LGBTQ+, etc. Usually considered bipartisan legislation, the GOP extremist version of the bill passed with almost entirely GOP votes in the House and will face Democratic opposition in the Senate. The defense bill passed 217-199 with six Democrats supporting it and three Republicans in opposition.

House Dems tried to send the bill back to the Armed Services Committee for more work but were defeated. Republicans are hoping that the November election will give them leverage to pass the bill.  Speaker Johnson’s glowing summary of the bill didn’t mention the big government, hate amendments.  

Johnson is also charging full speed ahead to defund special counsel Jack Smith for prosecuting two federal criminal cases against DDT. Some Democrats are accusing him of defunding the police, an accusation frequently used against them, and ultra-conservative Rep. Mike Simpson from Idaho have an even more solid argument on Politico, debunking the defunding as “stupid.” He said:

“I don’t think it’s a good idea unless you can show that (the prosecutors) acted in bad faith or fraud or something like that…. They’re just doing their job — even though I disagree with what they did.”

The “rule of law party,” Johnson’s description, also wants to defund the IRS by $2 billion, 18 percent, so that it can’t audit the wealthy and big business not paying their pitifully small share of taxes. Republicans have already stripped 25 percent of the $80 billion which is designated for something else. IRS is already down 43 percent in funding.

Some of the 80 corporate leaders meeting with DDT on Thursday were also not very complimentary about him. Financial Times reported one attendee as calling him “solid, almost business-like,” but on CNBC, Andrew Ross Sorkin gave a different report. People left the meeting “less disposed” to vote for him over Biden. They said he couldn’t keep a straight thought and was “meandering.” Asked why he used the figure 20 percent for lowering the corporate tax rate, Sorkin said, “It’s a round number.” One CEO said that DDT “doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

DDT’s manner has a new description become more commonly used: it’s like talking to “your drunk uncle.”

Another idea DDT floated on Thursday was dropping income taxes and replacing them with 60 percent tariffs. Not only would the tariffs only partially pay for the tax cuts but they would also cost the average family $5,000 more each year. DDT is offering the massive inflation increases to a voting population already upset by rising prices. Economist Brendan Duke Xed:

“There is no tariff that could replace revenue from $2T of income taxes by taxing $3T of imports,” Duke wrote on X, adding, “If you did somehow manage to pull this off, it would be a big tax increase for the bottom 90% and tax cut for the wealthy.”

Nobel Prize-winning Paul Krugman posted:

“My first-pass estimate is that this would require an ‘average’ tariff rate of 133 percent.”

“Imports are about 14 percent of US GDP. Federal income tax revenue (not including payroll taxes) is about 8 percent. So you might think replacing it would require a tariff rate of 8/14 or around 57 percent. But … Tariffs would raise the cost of imports to consumers, so we’d import less, which would mean you need a higher tariff rate. But this reduces imports further, meaning a still higher tariff, and so on.”

The Biden administration sanctioned Tzav 9, a violent, extremist Israeli group blocking, harassing, and damaging aid convoys bound for the Gaza Strip. Members are blocked from entering the U.S. and have  property or interests in the U.S. frozen. Their actions show spiraling violence in the West Bank. The U.S. already sanctioned four Israelis in February and a Palestinian military group in the West Bank.

New sanctions against Russia are shaking its financial system and keeping the Moscow exchange from trading dollars and euros, increasing the cost of President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. Also targeted are Chinese companies selling semiconductor chips to Russia and over 300 individuals and entities in Russia, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Moscow Exchange stocks briefly nosedived Thursday.

DDT’s story about choosing between being electrocuted by an electric battery or eaten by a shark has brought much attention, but he used the same story in Ottumwa (IA) in early October. At least, his strange tale is getting media attention now. Although DDT has no history of being threatened by marine animals, Stormy Daniels, a featured witness in his criminal trial, declared about DDT:

“He is obsessed with sharks. Terrified of sharks. He was like, ‘I donate to all these charities and I would never donate to any charity that helps sharks. I hope all the sharks die.’”

In 2013, DDT tweeted:

“Sharks are last on my list – other than perhaps the losers and haters of the World!”