01/10/24

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, January 10th.

Houseplant appreciation day.

…she announced as she looked around the room and realized she had zero houseplants…

And now, the news.

Trump Crime Update Time

-via AP News, NBC News, NY Times, and Washington Post

Welcome everybody, to the first

Trump Crime Update Time

Of the year!

(Let’s play catch-up! Edition)

So, there is Trump Crime Update Time, but there was also T-CUT (there’s so many episodes, I think it’s time to get this segment a nickname, and then send him to jail and so I don’t have to keep doing this segment.)

Before we can talk about what happened yesterday, which does actually have to get talked about, we have to talk about a few things that lead up to it (a few of which happened over that glorious three-week break I took)

As we all know, as we all saw and heard, after Trump lost the 2020 election, he worked hard to first try and scam the government into just creating fake election results and give him an election he didn’t win.

When that didn’t work, by like a fraction of a hair by the way, so let’s not pretend we can relax because his coup didn’t work, he then incited a deadly riot at nation’s capital, in hopes of overturning the election results that way. And if it didn’t overturn the results, it would at least leave our nation in such shambles that there would be no clear way forward and since he’s already president, maybe he should just stay president for… ever.

This isn’t hyperbole, this is a real thing we really watched happen and then we learned more about through witness testimony from people that were there.

An insurrection is definied as “act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government,” and you better believe that’s what Trump did.

Now, to be clear, Trump has not been charged with insurrection. He’s charged with a lot of things, including federal and state election stealing crimes, but insurrection is a tough one to charge historically (though some of his doofus followers have received that same charge for their actions, inspired and instigated by Trump, on January 6th). But I digress. The point is, no he has not been charged with insurrection. And because he is also a natural-born citizen of the United States, who is over 35 years old and has also been a resident of the United States for 14 years, he is technically eligible to run for president.

Run and lose, my guy.

Here’s the thing though.

States also get to decide things about their elections. For example, North Dakota doesn’t voter registration. That’s their state law.

And in Maine, the Secretary of State there has a new law… no being on the primary ballot in the state, if you’ve done insurrection crimes.

And thus Maine became the first state where the Secretary of State refused to let Trump on the ballot because of January 6th.

Now it’s tricky because, again, he’s not been charged with the crime. But on the other hand… he did it!

And also, like I said, state’s get to decide their election rules.

So as of right now, Trump is not on the primary ballot in Maine.

He is also not on the Colorado ballot, for the same basic reason, but in that state it’s because a judge ruled that he’s ineligible.

In both cases, those decisions are being appealed.

And in seventeen other states, suits have been filed to keep him off the ballot but have yet to be resolved.

Because this is a big question that needs to be answered conclusively. Not just because Trump should not ever be president again, but because a whole political party is joyriding on over to fascism and so these decisions are going to have far-reaching consequences.

Which means, and I know we hate this but this is kind of the only choice… yes, the Supreme Court is going to need to step in.

Again… I’m sorry.

But hey, let’s not time travel here. Let’s live here, in January, for a bit. The Court understands this is an urgent manner and will begin hearing arguments February 8th, which hopefully sets them up to have a decision by March 5th, aka Super Tuesday, which is when the largest number of delegates gets got.

Meanwhile, dude is also trying to find a workaround for the many election stealing crime consequences he is facing. Which is why, on Tuesday, he faced a three-panel judge at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

He went in hopes of having the court simply give him complete immunity in his federal election crimes case, under the guise that he was the president and, as president, you can do anything without consequence.

Which is a WILD thing to suggest in general. Especially wild when you’ve already been impeached twice.

Don’t sweat it, the judges, all of whom were women because who else is going to save democracy? Men have done enough damage., did not seemed poised to side with his immunity excuse.

A ruling is expected soon, and presumably his case will continue.

This one’s also going to the Supremes.

But again, he’s trying to argue that presidents should literally have immunity for anything. So while historical badman Clarence Thomas will likely love it, this feels like a tough sell overall.

And while all of that is happening in the big headlines – bomb threats last week caused evacuations a state capitol buildings across the country, swatting attempts (where someone calls the police and reports a crime serious enough that the SWAT team needs to show up) have taken place against Judge Chutkan, who’s overseeing Trump’s federal election crimes case, Jack Smith (aka Coach Beard), and others.

Because I try and report the full story, even when I don’t like it, I should note that a swatting attempt also took place against Marjorie Taylor Greene over the holidays.

Just reporting the facts!

All of this to say… it’s gonna be a year, friends. Let’s get through it together.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

The 5th GOP debate is tonight. I truly can’t watch these anymore. It’s DeSantis v Haley, since no one else made the cut except Trump who has no reason to attend these things.

Anyway, I’m proud of plants. Some of them are real survivors.

I’m also proud of… I mean, I’m always proud of them but you know two people who are really great with plants? Andrea Barber and Zazz! They’re great with plants and great with me… two things that require patience and more water than you think.

But more than… it’s also bittersweet chocolate, because I’m no dummy… because you’re not bitter, just sweet… I’m proud of you.