Impeachment, Take Two (and Other Trump News)

[Andol]

Because everything said against him is just lies perpetrated by the commie-liberal left, that's why.

[/humour]

Yeah or maybe people just agree with the things that he has said or saw him as the lesser of two evils during the election cycle.

[Humble Scribe]

So this all rumbles on. I see that charges have been brought against a Trump Organisation insider for tax evasion. I was listening to the BBC's Americast podcast this morning discussing whether or not this will be like a mob case where they start getting lower down figures to cop to plea bargains in order to get dirt on people up the chain. Trump will claim it's politically motivated of course, and probably it is, but hey... remember the Republicans with Whitewater or Hillary Clinton's emails? That's just how US politics gets done, apparently.

Meanwhile, the FBI continues to patiently round up insurrectionists from Jan 6th who unwisely posted pictures of themselves all over social media. I seem to recall much the same happening with the London riots in 2011.

[Skynet]

After half a year's worth of investigation and research, the New York Times released an in-depth overview of the events that led to the January 6th insurrection and details of what took place. It shows how not only was this violent assault and murder attempts planned out ahead of time, but also footage of how individuals such as the Oathkeepers and Proud Boys coordinated efforts to compromise and breach security for the rest of the mob. Furthermore, the Republican mainstream is doing their part to downplay the deadliness of that day's events or twist things around to blame uninvolved parties, even coming from the mouths of Congress members who themselves were targeted and at risk.

I'll note a content warning around 28:27 to 28:43. This portion of footage shows the death of Ashli Babbitt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWJVMoe7OY0

[gaggedLouise]

Just read about how former South African president Jacob Zuma, aged 79 and a very controversial and combative man, has been handed a sentence of fifteen months in jail for contempt of court relating to a wide-ranging probe about corruption, graft and embezzlement within his administration - a probe he himself started but wanted to shut down when it got too close to himself. He was later ousted from office. Zuma has refused to comply with any order to appear before the court and now with any order to turn himself in, and crucially thousands of his fans have gathered outside his big personal residence pledging to defend the former president. They're also threatening to wreak havoc all over the country if anyone tries to bring Zuma to jail.

The parallels with Trump are in plain sight: this is exactly what might happen if Trump would be sentenced to jail (a year or two from now) in a trial relating to economic crimes or misconduct/grave offenses during his term as president. Tens of thousands of his fans could gather at Mar-A-Lago and promise to defend "our president" against any attempt to get hold of his person. or threaten to throw the country into chaos...

[Haibane]

Trump sues Facebook, Twitter and Google over alleged censorship.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-57754435

[Oniya]

Trump sues Facebook, Twitter and Google over alleged censorship.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-57754435

Who the heck is representing him? 

[Haibane]

Maybe there's a Philadelphia dildo store owner taking up the challenge on this one.

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I can't think of anybody else. Can you?

[Sara Nilsson]

and yupp https://www.facebook.com/terms.php

Choice of venue provisions are a bitch aren't they Trump?

[Haibane]

LOL, his elite team strikes again. It must be hard reading terms of use and other annoying documents such as those.

[Oniya]

LOL, his elite team strikes again. It must be hard reading terms of use and other annoying documents such as those.

I want to make a '1337' joke here.  Something, something legal h4xx0r5....

[stormwyrm]

And now some documents have come to light allegedly detailing Putin's plotting to help put Trump in the White House:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/15/kremlin-papers-appear-to-show-putins-plot-to-put-trump-in-white-house

[Haibane]

That looks a lot like a gun that is still smoking. I agree with the reports (the Kremlin's?) assessment of Trump's mental state. The question is, if Putin's experts could tell at that stage what Trump's mental capabilities were surely his fellow Republicans could.

[TheGlyphstone]

I genuinely can't help but wonder if Putin is devious enough to create a false document that so perfectly confirms what was previously only hinted at, "leak" it, then deny its authenticity just to cause the old tensions about Russian election interference to flare up again. The more the US continues to claw and bite and itself, the less it is capable of taking meaningful action against him. [/tinfoilhat]

[Skynet]

If he won the 2020 election Trump considered pulling out of Nato and ending the US' alliance with South Korea, according to accounts of private meetings with top aides.

I mentioned this before, but Trump's supposed vaunted stance on being "tough on China" and supporting Asian nations against their hegemony has been anything but.

Not to mention bowing out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership...

...or ending Hong Kong immigrants' preferential status when protests and police brutality got really bad in 2020...

...or his plans on deporting a notable political dissident back to the mainland in exchange for money and political support from China. Which his advisors had to talk him out of.

Not to mention holding off on trade sanctions re: Xinjiang in order to secure a trade deal.

His buddy-buddy relationship with Putin gets a lot more media coverage, but Trump has been very friendly to the world's other authoritarian superpower. The major difference is a huge amount of his supporters don't realize it.

[Haibane]

The damage this man has done to world politics. So much damage... *shakes head sadly*

[Oniya]

Lin Wood, Sidney Powell, et al. have been sanctioned - and sent back to school.

I originally found this via the Washington Post, but numerous sources are reporting it.  I picked one that didn't have a paywall to link here.  The upshot is that the lawsuit that Powell and company filed in Michigan regarding election fraud was filed 'in bad faith and for improper purpose.'  They have to pay the expenses incurred by the defendants (unsure as to how much that is yet) and 'given the deficiencies in the pleadings, which claim violations of Michigan election law without a thorough understanding of what the law requires, and the number of failed election-challenge lawsuits that Plaintiffs’ attorneys have filed, the Court concludes that the sanctions imposed should include mandatory continuing legal education in the subjects of pleading standards and election law.'

[Annaamarth]

Opinion linked as a .pdf here.

It is scathing.  The representation of the defenses of the attorneys in question is laughable.  My favorite bit, which I don't see mentioned by Oniya, is the following:

Lastly, the conduct of Plaintiffs’ counsel, which also constituted violations of the Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct, see, e.g., MRPC 3.1 and 3.3, calls into question their fitness to practice law. This warrants a referral for investigation and possible suspension or disbarment to the appropriate disciplinary authority for every state bar and federal court in which each attorney is admitted, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 11 Advisory Committee Notes (1993 Amendment) (explaining that such referrals are available as a sanction for violating the rule); E.D. Mich. LR 83.22(c)(2).85

tl,dr; this amounts to a referral for investigation for being shit lawyers, and possibly disbarred.

[Oniya]

Thanks for that - I haven't had a chance to look it over in detail, as I caught it just as I finished my nightly novelling.  (I am officially an owl at this point.)

[Oniya]

So - Scotland.

Apparently, there's something called an 'Unexplained Wealth Order' - intended to combat money laundering and similar criminal enterprises.  If you start throwing large amounts of cash around, without being able to explain where it came from, the authorities get 'interested'.

Back in February, the Scottish Greens (the opposition party in the Scottish Parliament) got voted down when they pushed for an investigation into the substantial, all-cash payments that Trump was using to purchase and refurbish his golf properties.

In May, a group called the Avaaz Foundation brought a petition to the highest civil court in Scotland, appealing this 'Nay' vote.

In early August, the Scottish Court of Session ruled the petition seeking 'judicial review of the approach of the Scottish ministers in determining whether to apply to the court for UWOs' should 'proceed without condition or restriction.'  He ruled that their case has 'real prospects of success.' Scotland’s High Court will likely hear the case later this year.

PDF of the ruling.

[stormwyrm]

Seems General Mark Milley was deeply concerned that Trump had gone a little funny in the head and took steps to keep him from doing silly things, like ordering a nuclear strike on China.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/14/mark-milley-donald-trump-bob-woodward-nuclear-war-

[Humble Scribe]

Seems General Mark Milley was deeply concerned that Trump had gone a little funny in the head and took steps to keep him from doing silly things, like ordering a nuclear strike on China.

Excellent Dr Strangelove reference.
"Now then, President Xi, you know how we've always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the Bomb... The *Bomb*, Mr Xi... The *hydrogen* bomb?"

[Oniya]

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Trump-calls-on-Abbott-to-add-2020-election-audit-16482264.php

The whole story is there in the URL, really.

(But did anyone think to remind him that he won in Texas? )

[Annaamarth]

Actually, maybe a clever play.

He's targeting specific counties in a state that is friendly to him.

If they play along and "audit" those counties and find fraud, that plays to his broader base in, for example, AZ.  It energizes his "oppressed" base.

At the same time he can say "look, I'm not just looking at places I lost - I'm JUsT lOokINg FoR FrAUd."

[Lustful Bride]

Actually, maybe a clever play.

He's targeting specific counties in a state that is friendly to him.

If they play along and "audit" those counties and find fraud, that plays to his broader base in, for example, AZ.  It energizes his "oppressed" base.

At the same time he can say "look, I'm not just looking at places I lost - I'm JUsT lOokINg FoR FrAUd."

Relevant link given how one of the audits has gone.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/wailing-and-gnashing-of-teeth-trumpers-react-to-draft-audit-report-showing-biden-win/ar-AAON1II?ocid=msedgntp

This is starting to feel like when the Flat Earth Society spent a ton of money to show their side of the argument, and ended up just proving (in yet another way) that the Earth was round.

Congrats Republicans. You played yourselves

[TheGlyphstone]

I mean, that article also shows that they are just spinning the outcome as positive for themselves anyways. So it's money spent to keep the Big Lie going and keep the energy of the base from fizzling out before the next election cycle. And since that money is coming from the pockets of the base to begin with, it's basically free for the leadership to keep doing.