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StarfishSaver

StarfishSaver's Journal
StarfishSaver's Journal
July 12, 2020

Music is universal and timeless.

Watching these young brothers' reaction to Dolly Parton after listening to her for the first time makes me very happy:



"Dolly, you got it You got it."

July 11, 2020

I got my book today!



Having trouble putting it down. Not only is it really interesting, it's very well-written!
July 10, 2020

Please stop wringing your hands because the tax returns won't be released before the election!

Let's suppose the Supreme Court ordered the tax returns to be released tomorrow morning and - yes, this is clearly a hypothetical - let's suppose Trump and his accountants obeyed the Court and actually released them first thing tomorrow.

What do you think would happen?

Here's what I think would occur:

The press would go buck wild trying to get their hands on the records, picking through them, getting experts to pick through them with a fine-toothed comb and the airwaves would be saturated with everyone and their mother analyzing, discussing, dissecting and pontificating about what's in those documents. That's all anyone would be talking about. But most people would be so confused

Meanwhile, Trump and his cronies and enablers would be spinning like crazy, doing everything could to throw sand in everyone's faces, confusing and obfuscating and trying to gaslight everyone into believing that the entry on line 74 on Schedule A doesn't really mean what it says it means. And now let's look at page 215 of the Supplemental Schedule. That proves he did nothing wrong. "Nothing to see here!!!"

And while that's happening, some guy known as "Biden WHO?" would be trying to get some attention and coverage. But everyone would be too busy swimming around in Trump's tax returns to notice him, much less talk about anything he's saying or doing or plans to do for the country if he's elected president.

It would be a big mess with little light or air. We'd all be confused. But one thing would be certain. Not one single mind would be changed. The majority of the country that knows Trump is a crook will still know Trump is a crook. The dwindling minority of voters in Trump's cult either will still not believe Trump is a crook or think there's nothing wrong with him being a crook. And anyone who doesn't fall within those groups will likely be so frustrated and disgusted that no one is talking about any issues they care about, they'll just tune out.

In other words, releasing the tax returns before November won't have any positive effect on the outcome of the election and, in fact, could actually hurt us by distracting from the issues we need to be focusing on.

So, let's step back into the real world and look at where we are. The U.S. Supreme Court today UNANIMOUSLY smacked down Donald Trump, telling him, "No, dude. You are NOT above the law. Take that lame-assed argument out of here." The Court humiliated him today. And he realized today that he is going to have to release those documents. And whether he does it today, in September, in December, or next year, a state court prosecutor is waiting for him. And he can't delay or pardon or bully or shish-talk his way out of that. And that is scaring him to death.

Because here's the thing - Trump couldn't care less whether the voters see his tax returns. He knows that nothing in them is going to make any difference in the election. What he is REALLY afraid of are the prosecutors because he knows those documents are a petri dish of evidence of his decades of criminality. And they're going to take him down.

And, best of all, unreleased, they're just hanging over his head like the sword of Damocles, making them a much more effective weapon than they would be if they'd been spit into the public arena in a massive document dump. From now until November, we can add "What is he hiding?" to the repertoire of refrains that will eventually drum Donald Trump out of office.

July 9, 2020

FYI: While Vance was 7-2, the Court was UNANIMOUS in rejecting Trump's blanket immunity claim

Thomas: "The President first argues that he has absolute immunity from the issuance of grand jury subpoenas during his term in office. This Court has recognized absolute immunity for the President from “damages liability predicated on his official acts.” But we have rejected absolute immunity from damages actions for a President’s nonofficial conduct, and we have never addressed the question of immunity from a grand jury subpoena. I agree with the majority that the President does not have absolute immunity from the issuance of a grand jury subpoena." (citations omitted).

Alito, in a more round about and convoluted way (probably intentionally), also recognized that a sitting president could be subject to a subpoena. But both Alito and Thomas believed that the Court should have more carefully analyzed whether in this particular case, the subpoena would impose an undue burden on his ability to carry out his job.

This is HUGE. On the most important issue in the case - whether Trump is above the law - the court UNANIMOUSLY said NO!

July 9, 2020

Don't be fooled. The documents coming out before the election is the least of Trump's concerns.

He didn't fight tooth and nail to keep the public from seeing the documents - he knows that they wouldn't have made much of a difference in the election since people already know he's a crook.

He fought like hell to keep them out of the hands of prosecutors because he knows they can send him to jail.

He moved heaven and earth to keep those documents under wraps not because there's embarrassing information that could be politically damaging but because there's enough evidence of criminal behavior in them to send him to prison.

He must be totally freaked out now.

July 9, 2020

When you've lost Kavanaugh ...

"In our system of government, as this Court has often stated, no one is above the law. That principle applies, of course, to a President."

July 9, 2020

Can we just take a quick moment to laugh at Jay Sekulow?

Nothing like watching that guy get his ass handed to him ...



OK - back to what you were doing ...

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