Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

You are here: Home / Politics / Trump Indictments / Tuesday Afternoon (Waiting) Open Thread

Tuesday Afternoon (Waiting) Open Thread

by | 184 Comments

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Jack Smith, please do these guys next.

Here’s the full list, without having to click over to twitter.

Who would you trade in order to make the list better?  I’d like to see Boebert on there.

Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas)
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.)
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.)
Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.)
Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.)
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)

Lots of waiting around, not much news.  Yet.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

184Comments

  6. 6.

    narya

    I realize we’re talking Senate, but I’d like to see Graham, Cruz, and Johnson on the list. I’d trade Babin and maaaaaybe Hice. I’d almost be willing to trade Perry, so long as he can be gotten by some other means.

  8. 8.

    sdhays

    @narya: In a Senate list, you have to lead with Lee and Grassley. Lee was up to his eyeballs and Grassley seemed to expect that VP Dense wouldn’t be around to count ballots.

  10. 10.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    News reports say Dump’s daughter has legally changed her name to Ivanna Hyde

  11. 11.

    Scout211

    @bbleh: Also on CNN.comLink

    Here’s what else happened at Tuesday’s hearing, which ended after roughly 45 minutes:

    • Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman ruled that Trump could not communicate with Nauta about the case. The judge also told prosecutors to make a list of potential witnesses that Trump can’t communicate with about the case – except through counsel.

    • The judge did not, however, place any travel restrictions on either defendant.

    • The Justice Department recommended that both Trump and Nauta be released with no financial or special conditions. Prosecutor David Harbach said that, “the government does not view either defendant as a flight risk.”

    • Goodman began the hearing thanking “the entire law enforcement community” for their work on Tuesday.

    • Before the arraignment hearing, deputy marshals booked the former president and took electronic copies of his fingerprints. They did not take a mugshot of Trump since he is easily recognizable. The booking process took about 10 minutes.

  12. 12.

    Betty Cracker

    Secret Service and/or local cops wrested a dude to the sidewalk after he ran in front of the motorcade as Trump was leaving the courthouse. Looks like he’s an older dude wearing an old-timey black and white-striped prison outfit. The reporters said he was running in front of other cars earlier — probably a harmless kook.

  14. 14.

    cmorenc

    Decided to check out how fox was covering today

    – what about Hunter Biden?

    – fbi is totally politicized cause they only go after one side – hey, if they go after trump, why not hunter biden?

    – poor poor trump has been under sooo much pressure from the moment he took office

    yada yada yada

  15. 15.

    Patricia Kayden

    @bbleh: Guilty as hell. The good thing is that Trump faces more charges from NY and GA. He’s going down.

  16. 16.

    smith

    @Skepticat: Seconded. It’s one of the things I appreciate about Adam’s Ukraine posts — he copies in the whole tweet and unrolls threads when necessary.

  17. 17.

    BeautifulPlumage

    Happy Birthday WaterGirl! Thanks for helping to keep this place running. Sure hope Jack’s gift is the right size & flavor.

    PS I did some phone clean up so will need to be let or of mod jail. Thanks!

  18. 18.

    BlueGuitarist

    Happy Birthday WaterGirl!

    hope the week (month?) of festivities is off to a good start!

  19. 19.

    Scout211

    From NBC.com Link

    This is what I wanted to know but I guess we won’t know until we know . . .

    Trump’s next court appearance was not decided on during the hearing.

  21. 21.

    rikyrah

    I am so looking forward to the 1/6 Indictments. Remember, DOJ has Meadows’ texts and emails :)

     

    Oh, I can’t wait for DOJ to roll up all these traitors :)

  22. 22.

    Old School

    I’d like to see Boebert on there.

    Hard as is it to believe, Boebert didn’t take office until January 3, 2021.  So she’s likely in the clear for planning 1/6

    Edit: Oh wait, she tweeted some stuff,  didn’t she?

  23. 23.

    JPL

    @Scout211:  One of the reporters said the judge was specific that they could not talk about the case.

    Wonder if Waltine will attend the rally tonight?   Since he hasn’t been formally arraigned, I wonder if they will ask for different conditions for him.

  24. 24.

    Frankensteinbeck

    I have no idea how realistic indictments or convictions are for this ‘pressuring people to overturn the election’ stuff.  The law is weird and technical in general and I have zero exposure to this area of it.

  25. 25.

    sdhays

    @narya: Graham is such an oddball. I really don’t know what to make of him. I mean, that call to the Georgia Sec. State sure seemed pretty…legally dubious. But he also seems like the kind of guy who would be telling people on the inside, “this is a stupid idea”. He’s totally cynical.

    I wonder how deep he was in.

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    Thanks for all the birthday wishes here and on the earlier thread.  I got pulled into my day for several hours before I could get back to Balloon Juice.

    This might be the most Balloon Juice birthday wish ever:

    Happy birthday to you, you belong in the zoo…

    It made me laugh.

  31. 31.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Holy fuck. TFG has stopped at a restaurant in Little Havana to do a campaign-style meet-‘n’-greet with supporters. Holy fuck.

  32. 32.

    Manyakitty

    Kinda shocked Andy Clyde (GA) wasn’t there. Maybe he rolled in on the same shit wagon as Boebert.

  33. 33.

    JPL

    trump is having a meet and greet with supporters.   Why the fk is this on tv, click.

    phew found the off button.

  34. 34.

    hueyplong

    I’m good with the list as is. “Indicate” those 10 and the rest will likely lower their profiles, uncertain as to whether further indications are forthcoming.

  36. 36.

    AWOL

    @Patricia Kayden: Being he’s campaigning in a Florida-Havana eatery now with a ton of psychotics waiting to suck him off, including a psychotic Orthodox Jew who likes touching fans of Hitler, I’m not so sure.

  40. 40.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL: I started to make southern cobbler earlier, but then got pulled into something else.

    Hours later when I could get back to it, it was close to arraignment time so I wanted to see what’s what.

    I guess I’ll finish making the cobbler as dessert for after dinner.

    It’s a lovely day here – 77 degrees with a nice breeze.  Since my perfect day is 75 with a nice breeze, I’m going to call it darn near perfect.  And working from the porch has to be the best way to work!

  41. 41.

    Mike in NC

    Fat Bastard made a pit stop at some Cuban restaurant near Miami. Guaranteed if they serve him some food he’ll blow off paying the tab, as always.

  42. 42.

    Scout211

    @JPL: Yeah, the judge asked for a list of witnesses and Trump will be barred from communicating with those named.

    My question (and Jack Smith’s team will obviously be on top of this), does that include blasting screeds on TruthSocial about the case?  I would miss that.  LOL

  43. 43.

    smith

    @Old School: Maybe I’m remembering incorrectly, but wasn’t Boebert one of the people giving sketchy characters extensive behind-the-scenes tours of the Capitol just before J6? I’m really hoping they are looking into that, especially if DOJ has found communications about making arrangements for those tours.

  45. 45.

    sdhays

    @JPL: He also was one of that weird contingent of Senators who spent July 4 in Moscow. I still can’t quite comprehend how that wasn’t a bigger deal.

  47. 47.

    JPL

    hahahahahaha

    Robert Costa

    @costareports

    ·

    10m

    Per @GrahamKates, who was in the courtroom, Special Counsel Jack Smith closely watched Trump as Trump exited slowly at the end. He watched Trump glance at reporters sitting in the back. Smith never broke his stare at Trump, per Kates.

  48. 48.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @JPL:

    Yes, undoubtedly. Still brazen enough that I’m legitimately shocked, in yet another instance of “I didn’t think this guy could shock me any more, BUT….”

    To his great credit, the guy on CNN (Tapper?) told the control room “I’ve seen enough, take it down. We know exactly what he’s doing, and nobody needs to see this.” Words to that effect.

  50. 50.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @JPL:

    trump is having a meet and greet with supporters.   Why the fk is this on tv, click.

    Trump is the sickest of sick fucks. Finally, Jake Tapper told his control room to stop airing this disgusting footage.

  51. 51.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Steeplejack: White Russian beneath a thin orange skin and fake gold leaf garnish.

    The concept is funny but I gave up on icky sweet drinks back while disco was still a thing.

    In fact I kind of tired of cocktails in general.

    @JPL: Ooh, I hope it was that death stare like the one in that purple-robed picture we’ve all been looking at since his appointment last November.

  53. 53.

    Steeplejack

    @Old School:

    Marjorie Taylor Greene also didn’t take office until January 3, 2021, but she managed to get involved.

    Even the MAGAts realize Boebert is too stupid for anything.

  54. 54.

    eclare

    @JPL:

    Getting stared at by Jack Smith would terrify me.  TIFG?  I figure if I can walk down an incline plane, I have him beat.

  57. 57.

    topclimber

    @rikyrah: Cotton bailed on the recount ploy a day or two ahead of the coup. That’s when I figured the putsch would fizzle.

  59. 59.

    Paul Begala's Pink Tie

    I was just at the community rec center and someone had turned one of the TVs to Fox News — which was covering Trump/courthouse. Turned it OFF by climbing up the side of an elliptical trainer.

  60. 60.

    Old School

    @smith:

    Maybe I’m remembering incorrectly, but wasn’t Boebert one of the people giving sketchy characters extensive behind-the-scenes tours of the Capitol just before J6?

    From what I can find online, Steve Cohen accused her of doing that, but she denied it.  The 1/6 Committee showed footage of a guy taking pictures during a tour with Barry Loudermilk.

  61. 61.

    Elizabelle

    @eclare:   That’s kind of wonderful.  It’s like the hangman shaking the condemned’s hand, to estimate the weight for the rope.

    ETA:  Mind you, am not into capital punishment.  Could make an exception for treason and destroying our country.  I would have no compunctions about putting Mitch McConnell down, for all the horror he has wrought.

  63. 63.

    realbtl

    Not only did TIFG stop to be admired but immediately said “Free food for everybody”, gave a short speech and left. Sure hope the restaurant got a deposit. Ha!

  65. 65.

    JPL

    from Laffy at Mastodon

    Judge allows #EJeanCarroll to amend her defamation lawsuit to seek more damages against Trump (to include comments he made at a CNN town hall.) #legal

     

    trump is having a banner day

  66. 66.

    narya

    @rikyrah: Totally agree on Grassley–I keep forgetting about that tweet, and you’re right, it’s mind-boggling. Hawley I loathe, for sure, but don’t know how deep he was in on it. Cruz and Johnson, absolutely. Tuberville maybe, but he’s such a dolt.

    My memory has faded a bit on who was just mouthing off and who seemed to be involved.

  73. 73.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack:

    ETA: In looking this up, I was interested to see that the visit was framed as “giving Putin a warning not to interfere in midterm elections.” That never passed the smell test.

  78. 78.

    Miss Bianca

    @sdhays:

    She was invited, but Rudy sent her the address to a marionette store instead of the Marriott.

    OK, that was a LOL. You got me!

  79. 79.

    Betty Cracker

    Trump stopped at Versailles in Miami, where he was sure to find lots of rabid supporters. And chandeliers. Lots and lots of chandeliers. Maybe even in the crapper!

  83. 83.

    Steeplejack

    Okay, I feel refreshed after a bit of a siesta and reading this thread, so I’m going to make a rare martini and fire up MSNBC to have this giant nothingburger explained to me in great detail.

    (“Nothingburger” in the sense that it was all procedural and took only a few minutes.)

  84. 84.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I have no idea how realistic indictments or convictions are for this ‘pressuring people to overturn the election’ stuff.  The law is weird and technical in general and I have zero exposure to this area of it.

    Kind of reminds me of Popehat’s post today about how, while a plain reading of the laws around judge recusal makes it seem like they slam-dunk apply to Aileen Cannon, existing judicial precedent reads these words in such a narrow and technical way that they probably don’t. (Though there’s some other way to reassign the case that is slightly more likely.)

  85. 85.

    RevRick

    Well, since neither Goehmert nor Hice is still in office, I’d add Jim Jordan and James Comer to the list for their sleazy attempts to slime President Biden. If we’re adding Senators to the list, then Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton, and Marsha Blackburn are particularly nauseating. Of course, it goes without saying, all the 147 who refused to certify President Biden’s election deserve to experience things.

  87. 87.

    Captain C

    @Mike in NC: Depending on their politics, they may well view that as an honor.

    “Eat at Fidel’s!  Proudly stiffed by TFG in ’23!”

  92. 92.

    dww44

    @SiubhanDuinne: this was shown on CSPAN which was carrying a Fl 24 feed.  Who was the brunette in the red dress who was escorting Trump around the room?  She never took her hands off him.  Kinda weird honestly.

    Everybody there was obviously a Trump fan.  I just don’t get his appeal.   Never have and am totally flumoxed by those who still do…including those newsreaders for Fl 24.

  94. 94.

    Elizabelle

    @dww44:  Yeah, I did not last long on the FL 24 feed.  Didn’t think the anchors were fans, but … too much Trump and talk about Trump’s political future, and I refuse to go there.

    The problem with following these Trump indictments is having to see … Trump.

  97. 97.

    Elizabelle

    Not a fan of the paleoconservative Cuban types.  Ick.  We are not safer for them voting in Florida politics.

  98. 98.

    West of the Rockies

    Northern California’s useless Doug LaMalfa (R) would make a nice target for investigation.

  100. 100.

    Jackie

    @Old School:MTG was also a freshman – sworn in 2021. Boebert should be on the list. She was texting out Pelosi’s whereabouts just as the Capitol was breached and texting 1776…

  104. 104.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Judge Cannon was cavalier in her treatment of classified material in her first go-round in this matter. If she continues down that path, denying prosecutors the opportunity to avail themselves of the protections CIPA provides, they will appeal her to the 11th Circuit. If her CIPA rulings are as lackadaisical as the orders that caused the 11th Circuit to reverse her in the search warrant matter, that won’t go well. If she continues to put her thumbs on the scales of justice for the former president, she could easily find herself not just reversed, but subject to an order by the circuit court that, on remand, the chief judge in her district reassign the case to another judge. Because the government will have to appeal any egregious mistakes the judge makes in really on CIPA matters, this is a prime opportunity to request reassignment of the case without injecting any additional delay into the case. Word is, Judge Cannon has declined to recuse from the case on her own. It’s unlikely she’ll have the final say on that matter.

  105. 105.

    Michael Bersin

    The first Warrensburg, Missouri City Council meeting after the Warrensburg Pride Festival was Monday night. The handwringing pearl clutching right wingnut bigots who made noise for the past month and who showed up to picket the Pride Festival on June 3rd were no shows. Interestingly there were speakers at the council meeting who supported the LGBTQIA+ community:

    Addressing Bigotry – Warrensburg, Missouri City Council – June 12, 2023 – Epilogue

    And, the city council presented a resolution commemorating Pride Month:

    Addressing Bigotry – Warrensburg, Missouri City Council – June 12, 2023 – Chaser

  106. 106.

    Steeplejack

    @WaterGirl:

    Veered off to a gin and tonic because I realized I had tonic left over from last night that must be used before it goes flat.

  110. 110.

    VOR

    Boebert wasn’t elected until November 2020 hence she was not a member of Congress at that time. OTOH, same story for MTG and yet she was there.

  112. 112.

    Elizabelle

    @trollhattan:  Little Gus.  I think someone has to escort him for his bathroom breaks, from here on out.

    I had a deaf little beagle who never felt safe again once the hearing beagle passed.  So, always had to hang out near her to reassure.

  113. 113.

    Michael Bersin

    @RevRick:

    They Trump sycophants from Missouri also include Eric Schmitt (r),  Mark Alforfd(r MO-4), and Eric Burlison (r MO-7). It continues with Gov Mike Parson (r), Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, and AG Andrew Bailey (r).

  114. 114.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @dww44:

    No idea. Don’t think I’ve ever seen her before (not that I devote much time to keeping track of who’s who in Trumplandia).

  115. 115.

    Elizabelle

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  I have never read any of his work.

    When you say “tore your heart out”, and without spoilers:  what do you mean?  I have heard that he is an exceptionally good writer, but dark …  is it like a sadness for the character or the situation that you never get over?

  116. 116.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Elizabelle: The book is about a man and his young son who are on the road in a post-apocalypse world. The man’s main concern is for the boy, and things are not safe. They are one another’s world. The boy trusts him absolutely.

  117. 117.

    Miss Bianca

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I guess now that he’s dead I can reveal that I found out about Cormac McCarthy from seeing a file on him at the MacArthur Foundation when I was doing some temp work there – he was apparently being considered for one of their Genius grants, once upon a time.

  119. 119.

    zhena gogolia

    I was trying to text the news to someone and my phone sent it as “Corkscrew McCarthy.”

  121. 121.

    Elizabelle

    Re the Versailles restaurant:  I would have wanted to try some authentic Cuban food.  Which I love.

    But not if it comes with a strong side helping of fascism.

    I do wonder if Versailles might lose some business from the Trump association, or if everyone in Miami already knows about that …

    Met a guy who allowed a Republican candidate to shoot a campaign commercial in his restaurant.  And came to regret it.  Lost a LOT of business.

  122. 122.

    Steeplejack

    @Paul Begala’s Pink Tie:

    Quick note to let you know that the blog’s underlying database does not like a “straight” apostrophe in a nym. Every comment you post will go into moderation until a front-pager releases it.

    Here is a post on how to use a “real” apostrophe and let your (subsequent) comments go through automatically.

  127. 127.

    VFX Lurker

    @Elizabelle: When you say “tore your heart out”, and without spoilers:  what do you mean?  I have heard that he is an exceptionally good writer, but dark …  is it like a sadness for the character or the situation that you never get over?

    The Road beautifully depicts love surviving the bleakest conditions imaginable. I read it only once, but I still remember portions of it vividly years later.

  128. 128.

    RaflW

    @JPL: Was gonna stop by to note this. It’s why I think the order to not do witness intimidation (as well as to not talk to his co-defendant) is ridiculous.

    The guy can’t shut his yap for $5,000,000.

  131. 131.

    bbleh

    @Steeplejack: indeed an urgent situation that requires immediate addition of gin and consumption thereof!  Wasting food, after all, is a sin.

  132. 132.

    RaflW

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Speaking of that assh*le Potatotown, 30 more flag and general officers are — effective today — waiting for their military promotions to get the floor votes Tommy is blocking. 😡

  133. 133.

    MattF

    Dahlia Lithwick has an interesting perspective on the current political mess— she calls it a ‘Schrödinger coup’— democracy is in the box, and no one dares to open the box to find out whether it is dead or alive. I’ll note again that you can try your browser’s ‘private’ mode to read the article.

  134. 134.

    Manyakitty

    @RaflW: he’s literally a national security disaster. Harms the military and grins like a jackass about it. His clueless fuck constituents are probably cheering him on. Time to bring Space Force home to Wright-Patterson before they waste a dime in Alabama.

  135. 135.

    JPL

    @raven:  trump games the system.   He knows that there is no coverage inside the courthouse but the news media will be more than happy to cover him once it over.

  137. 137.

    Manyakitty

    @JPL: and that’s the biggest BS of all. He and his flunkies will stand there and lie their faces off and the press stenographers just swallow it whole. 🤬

  139. 139.

    Joy in FL

    @Watergirl   Happy Birthday : )    I really appreciate all you do to make this blog run smoothly and interestingly.

  140. 140.

    rekoob

    @WaterGirl: First of all, a very Happy Birthday! A good day for us all to celebrate.

    I haven’t seen Suzanne in the comments today, but we may need to consider another venue for Thursday’s meetup in Philadelphia. The Abbaye has “Quiz Night” on Thursdays and it may not be conducive to a Juicer get-together.

    brendancalling also suggested Fergie’s Pub, which I link here:

    Fergie’s Pub Philadelphia

    (Their Quiz Night is tonight — Tuesday!)

  141. 141.

    Steeplejack

    @Baud:

    Thanks. No big deal—minor fix to a filling that was flagged in the semi-annual checkup last week. I was able to enjoy my traditional IHOP breakfast afterwards (couple of blocks down from the dentist’s office).

    ETA: I trust you weren’t being snarky. Dental care is a big deal for me since I got mugged some years back and suffered a compound break in my jaw. I’ve got some interesting steampunk wiring that shows up on the X-rays, and I’ve had ongoing problems with my bite alignment, which my dentist has been a godsend in helping me deal with.

    In fact, I told him that today. After the checkup last week I was thinking that dentists probably don’t get a lot of positive feedback. As someone who used to do computer tech support, I can relate.

  142. 142.

    Elizabelle

    @VFX Lurker:  Thank you.  I think I will have to read The Road.

    Dwight Garner had a very good obit on Cormac McCarthy in the FTF NY Times.  Gift link.  (Dwight Garner is a reason to maintain the subscription.  Despite all the paper’s political idiocy.)

    GIFT LINK:

    Cormac McCarthy, Novelist of a Darker America, Is Dead at 89

    “All the Pretty Horses,” “The Road” and “No Country for Old Men” were among his acclaimed books that explore a bleak world of violence and outsiders.

  145. 145.

    Elizabelle

    From the NY Times obit:

    Mr. McCarthy’s fiction took a dark view of the human condition and was often macabre. He decorated his novels with scalpings, beheadings, arson, rape, incest, necrophilia and cannibalism. “There’s no such thing as life without bloodshed,” he told The New York Times magazine in 1992 in a rare interview. “I think the notion that the species can be improved in some way, that everyone could live in harmony, is a really dangerous idea.”

    And then:  the book about the mass murdering necrophiliac (an early one) sounds … kind of appealing.  Go figure.   He has another character up for carnal relations with a field of watermelons.  Uh huh.

  146. 146.

    pat

    @JPL: ​
     
    And on the way home. Telling tifg not to discuss this is a joke.

    Oh and Happy Birthday Watergirl!!

  147. 147.

    frosty

    Don’t trade out Scott Perry or Andy Harris. Scum from my neck of the woods. Perry used to be my rep, Harris is the only R in D-gerrymandered Maryland.

  148. 148.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: It sure is. I got myself a set of Japanese watercolor paints with a set of detail brushes.

    And I am meeting a bunch of other Ds for a drink to celebrate indictment day after I am done with work. In an hour.

  149. 149.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Elizabelle: I don’t remember the names of the Cormac McCarthy books that I read, but I do remember that not one good thing happened to anyone ever in any book.

  151. 151.

    Sparkedcat

    “The Road” is a haunting book that I will never forget reading. Some of the passages I can still picture clearly in my minds eye nearly fifteen years later. Happy Birthday Watergirl!

  152. 152.

    Scout211

    CNN  has some court details about the judge asking for a list of witnesses and prohibiting Trump to communicate with those witnesses.

    That prohibition was not initially recommended in the bond proposal special counsel Jack Smith’s team was seeking. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman raised the concern himself.

    Goodman, noting that this was a typical restriction in cases filed in the Southern District of Florida, where the indictment against Trump was brought, suggested that prosecutors put together a list of witnesses and victims in the case, and that Trump avoid communicating with them as the case moves forward.

    The judge also said that for Trump’s co-defendant, Walt Nauta, the limitation would only be on communications about the case, with Goodman noting that Nauta works closely with Trump and is with him nearly every day.

    . . .
    Todd Blanche, Trump’s attorney, resisted the idea of barring all contact with the case’s witnesses, in a back-and-forth with the judge that played out over several rounds.

    “Many of the people, including the men and women to protect him, may be witnesses in this case,” Blanche said. He said the restriction “isn’t appropriate” and “doesn’t work.”

    “The folks that are part of the government’s case are folks that” work with Trump every day, Blanche added. He also noted that one “key” witness was still a lawyer for Trump, and the condition that Trump can’t talk to his lawyer “doesn’t work.”

    Prosecutor David Harbach suggested that the Justice Department team would draft a list that would be “narrow in scope” – not “exhaustive” of all the witnesses prosecutors may call at trial – that would address the judge’s concerns about witness contact, while accommodating Trump’s situation.

    The judge floated an idea that the government could make a two-category list: one of witnesses with whom Trump was to have no contact, and another where he would be restricted from discussing the details of the case.
    . . .
    After giving the government another turn to weigh in – and Harbach assuring the court that their list would not include every single witness – the judge landed on a bond package where Trump would have “no communications about the facts of the case,” other than through counsel, with the witnesses on the list generated by the prosecutors.

    If the Trump team found the list “inappropriate,” “excessive,” “unwieldly,” or otherwise problematic, they could file a motion with the court, Goodman said.

    The hearing was dragged out a bit due to hiccups around both Trump’s and Nauta’s signing of their bond packages.

  153. 153.

    NotMax

    Nearly did a spit take just now when this appeared on screen while an innocuous B film from 1943 was playing. Scene introducing an act to a radio audience –

    Dialogue: “Singing star at the club El Sirocco”
    Closed captioning: “Singing star at the club Elsa Rocko”
    ;)

  157. 157.

    eclare

    @Elizabelle:

    I haven’t read any Cormac McCarthy, but as I noted downstairs the movie of his book No Country for Old Men is one of the most intense movies I have ever seen.  The casting is perfect, and the production values are brilliant.

    It does have violence, but I’ve seen worse.  It won a number of Academy Awards.

  162. 162.

    James E Powell

    @sdhays:

    He also was one of that weird contingent of Senators who spent July 4 in Moscow. I still can’t quite comprehend how that wasn’t a bigger deal.

    The political press promotes and protects Republicans.

  163. 163.

    bjacques

    A very late but still valid Happy Birthday, WG!! Not everyone gets a Trump arrangement as a birthday present. I’m

  164. 164.

    Manyakitty

    @JPL: lock them up.

    Yeah, I saw that they’re allowed to work together. Don’t care. Lock them up anyway.

  166. 166.

    Elizabelle

    @CarolPW:   Thank you, Carol.  MazeDancer also advised against reading it

    And then.  A bunch of NY Times reader commenters saying they read it in one night, best book they had ever read, transcendent love, etc.

    I love that there is such a range of perceptions of McCarthy’s work

    Very interesting; one reader commenter knew of the family from Nashville (his birthplace).  Claims he neglected his first son (of the first marriage), and reveled in the second son, born of another marriage (third?) in his 60s.

  167. 167.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Manyakitty: I thought the change of Spaceforce back to Colorado was at least partly the reason Tuberville was trying to extort Biden.

  169. 169.

    James E Powell

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Cormac McCarthy died. The Road tore my heart out.

    Before The Road, the only Cormac McCarthy I’d read was No Country for Old Men. I started reading it when I got home & read it straight through. I didn’t even stop to eat,.

  170. 170.

    Geminid

    Visiting a restaurant after a public appearance may become a staple of Trump’s posturing outreach. When he appeared in East Palestine, Ohio to complain about the derailment, he stopped off at a McDonald’s to treat people to burgers. Last Saturday after Trump snarled for an hour at the Georgia Republican convention, he stopped off at a Columbus Waffle House, announcing  “Waffles on Trump.”

    So this Cuban restaurant became the latest stop in Trump’s “Man of the People” tour. The photo-op also portrayed buoyancy in the face of a criminal arraignment. Not much of a tactic, but maybe better than nothing. It beats tossing rolls of paper towels.

  171. 171.

    Manyakitty

    @Mai Naem mobile: I thought it was moving to Ohio, but Colorado makes sense. Pretty sure it changed after he started his idiotic game. This has been going on for months now. Tubby doesn’t care, pretty sure he lacks the capacity to even understand what he’s doing. Loathsome doesn’t scratch the surface. When I think about how Alabama chose HIM to replace Doug Jones, I sink into a black rage.

  172. 172.

    Scout211

    @Mai Naem mobile:I thought the change of Spaceforce back to Colorado was at least partly the reason Tuberville was trying to extort Biden.

    Tuberville  put the hold on military promotions because the Pentagon announced that they will pay for service member to travel to other states for abortions.  In the meantime, the administration keeps announcing more units permanently stationed  in Colorado and other states.

     

    6/1/2023 LA Times

    WASHINGTON —

    The Air Force has announced the permanent location of many more Space Force units — and none of them is in Huntsville, Ala., suggesting that the service may be moving ahead with at least part of its original development plan for the new force before it became entangled in politics.

    Four more Space Force missions will now be based in Colorado Springs, Colo., a notable choice during a larger battle over where to locate the permanent headquarters of U.S. Space Command.

    Colorado Springs, which is housing Space Command’s temporary headquarters, was the Air Force’s preferred location, but President Trump, in his final days in the White House, chose Alabama instead.

    Alabama has strict antiabortion laws, and Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican, earlier this year announced that he would hold up all military nominations until the Department of Defense rescinds a new policy that would allow female service members to be reimbursed for travel costs if they have to go out
    of state for reproductive care.

    The Pentagon and the Biden administration have said that the decision to base more Space Force missions in Colorado is not directly linked to Tuberville’s actions or Alabama’s antiabortion policies. Tuberville’s office was not immediately available for comment.

    . . .

    The four new missions in Colorado Springs include Delta 15, a headquarters unit for the service’s space operations command; Space Delta 12, a test-and-evaluation unit; and two surveillance squadrons.

    Other locations announced Wednesday as new permanent homes for Space Force missions are in Florida and New Mexico.

  181. 181.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @rekoob: …we may need to consider another venue for Thursday’s meetup in Philadelphia. The Abbaye has “Quiz Night” on Thursdays and it may not be conducive to a Juicer get-together.

    Not attending to intend, but I second this sediment. First BJ meetup I ever went to was a dozen blocks west of Union Station in DC. Place was already loud as sin when the house MCs started the evening’s quiz festivities, after which, even when shouting at the top of one’s lungs, no one could be heard more than 18″ away.

    Save your ears and your lungs – find another spot.

  183. 183.

    kalakal

    Rather than post on a dead thread, just finished work and catching up, a belated

    Happy Birthday Watergirl, many thanks for all you do for us jackals

  184. 184.

    RevRick

    @MattF: At its heart, Trump’s lawlessness is a manifestation of white supremacy. In MAGA world, law and order are applied ruthlessly to black, brown, LGBQT people and women, and most definitely not to white men.

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