SELF-INFLICTED TORMENT

Jack-in-the-Box has popped up again…

Federal prosecutors late yesterday afternoon added major accusations to an indictment charging Donald John Trump with mishandling classified documents after he left office, presenting evidence that he told the property manager of Mar-a-Lago, his private shanty in Florida, that he wanted security camera footage there to be deleted.

The revised indictment added three serious charges against Boy Orange: attempting to “alter, destroy , or conceal evidence”; inducing someone else to do so; and a new count under the Espionage Act related to a classified national security document that he showed to visitors at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey...

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1512

The new accusations were revealed in a superseding indictment that named the property manager, Carlos De Oliveira, as a new defendant in the case; he is scheduled to be arraigned in Miami on Monday.

Prosecutors, under special counsel Jack Smith, had been investigating De Oliveira for months, concerned, among other things, by his communications with an information technology expert at Mar-a-Lago, Yuscil Taveras, who oversaw the surveillance camera footage at the property.

That footage was central to Smith’s investigation into whether Walt Nauta, at Trump’s request, had moved boxes in and out of a storage room at Mar-a-Lago to avoid complying with a federal subpoena for ALL classified documents in Trump’s possession; many of those movements were caught on the surveillance camera footage.

The revised indictment said that in late June of last year, shortly after the government demanded the surveillance footage as part of its inquiry, Trump called De Oliveira and they spoke for 24 minutes.

24 f!#king minutes, kids.

Two days later, the indictment said, Nauta and De Oliveira “went to the security guard booth where surveillance video is displayed on monitors, walked with a flashlight through the tunnel where the storage room was located, and observed and pointed out surveillance cameras.”

A few days after that, De Oliveira went to see Taveras, who is identified in the indictment as Trump Employee 4, and took him to a small room known as an “audio closet.” There, the indictment said, the two men had a conversation [can you just imagine that conversation?!!??] that was meant to “remain between the two of them.”

It was then that De Oliveira told Taveras that “‘the boss’ wanted the server deleted,” the indictment said, referring to the computer server holding the security footage.

American history 101…

Taveras objected and said he did NOT know how to delete the server and did NOT think he had the right to do so, the indictment said. At that point, the indictment said, De Oliveira insisted again that “the boss” wanted the server deleted, asking, “What are we going to do?”

Convictions with appropriate sentences??!

A GHOULISH ORGANISM

Rudy “Ghoul Man” Giuliani has conceded that while acting as a lawyer for Donald John Trump, he made false statements by asserting that two Georgia election workers had mishandled ballots while counting votes in Atlanta during the ’20 election.

The concession by Rudy came in court papers filed on Tuesday night as part of a defamation lawsuit that the two workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, had brought against him in Federal District Court in Washington in December 2021.

The declaration was filed as Giuliani was confronting potentially painful sanctions for having purportedly failed!!! to live up to his discovery obligations!!! in the case. It appeared to be part of an effort to move past the discovery phase, which had saddled Rudy with crippling expenses.

Human beings and human dignity mean NOTHING to the likes of Guiliani and his kind…z-e-r-o!!!

We are NOT only in a battle between the lawful and the lawless these days, but also in a battle of good vs evil – against those who could care less even if their actions and incitement lead to death of innocents and/or a smothering of reputations.

The guy who took down the mob became the mob!!!

The white hat masked the black hat…tale of greed and hubris.

AN 8-3-5 SEASON…so far

The attached play/sequence illustrates – perfectly – my Red Sox season as we head into the trade deadline on the 31st of this month…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w5k298PPyE

The old Lobsterman is NOT hopeful at ALL about capturing even a Wild Card slot.

Surprise me, Chaim!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHY NOT MAKE IT a DECADE??!

Like many things in one’s life, they’re over in the “blink of an eye.”

Today, I start into a decade of posting my sentiments of LIFE…and ALL that it entails…especially from my personal perspective.

This blog has turned out to be one of the best ventures of my time on Planet Earth.

Yes, there has been plenty of venomous feedback…BUT those comments have, for the most part, been easily outweighed by poignant replies of encouragement, reflection and meaningful points-of-view.

These remarks have taken on a special meaning as I’ve gone through the last 18-plus months of my personal confrontation with the infernal serpent – CANCER.

So-o-o…boys and girls…and gluttons of ALL ages…let’s go for 10!!!

And, by the way, thank you.

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well. ~ Voltaire.

WHAT WE CAN EXPECT

The Federal Reserve is expected today approve what would be the 11th interest rate increase since March 2022, despite an improving inflation picture.

Markets are pricing in an absolute certainty that the Fed will approve a quarter percentage point hike that will take its benchmark borrowing rate to a target range of 5.25%-5.5%.

That would push the upper boundary of the federal funds rate to its highest level since January 2001.

Fed officials will release their decision at 2 pm, ET, after which Jerome Powell, the Fed chair, will hold a news conference.

The central question now is: When will they stop?

Fed officials will have plenty of time, and plenty of data to parse, before they release their next rate decision and a fresh set of quarterly economic projections on September 20th.

Fed policy, though, has been informed by a belief that when it comes to fighting inflation, it’s better to do too much than too little.

The current bout of price increases was the most severe the US, and many other developed nations, has had to face since the early 1980s.

h/t: CNBC.

NO REFUGE for the “SQUATTER”

Speaker Kevin “Squatter” McCarthy has been pushed to center stage…yet again.

Under intense pressure from the hard right to take aggressive steps against the Biden administration, McCarthy suggested yesterday that the House was moving toward opening an impeachment inquiry against Joey Biden, as Re’Trump’licans search through bank records hunting for damaging information about the current first family.

It was/is a striking escalation by McCarthy, who had previously resisted calls to impeach Biden, arguing that he had yet to see anything that would warrant such an extraordinary step.

It comes as Re’Trump’licans are stepping up their efforts to target Joey and his son Hunter, who is set today to enter a plea in a tax case, while working to deflect attention!!! from a potential third indictment of Donald John Trump, their party’s presidential orange-tainted mucus.

Impeachment proceedings take up a tremendous amount of floor time, making little else possible in Congress!!! while they take place.

Any impeachment proceeding also would be sure to fall flat in the Senate, which is controlled by Dems.

As the old Lobsterman likes to remind one and ALL, the circus NEVER leaves town!!!!!!!!

WHAT’S THE NEW NORMAL??!

Temperatures could be – are in some locales – 10 to 20 degrees!!! above normal, and heat index readings, which consider BOTH temperature and humidity, have reach into the 100s.

The heat wave that has scorched much of the Prairie is now spreading throughout the Midwest, bringing temperatures exceeding 100 degrees – dangerous conditions for millions of people and pleas from state and local officials to avoid the outdoors.

The blistering weather arrived just as another health menace swept in: Canadian wildfire smoke that has once again settled over parts of the Midwest and the Northeast.

Public health authorities encouraged residents to come to libraries and recreation centers to avoid the double whammy of high heat and unhealthy air quality.

Do you realize how wonderful our library system truly is, from cradle to grave.

Experiencing BOTH skyrocketing heat and humidity alongside smoky air from wildfires is NOT something that people in the middle, as well as the northern sectors, of the United States are accustomed to, let alone have dealt with in the recent past.

The conditions posed a threat to livestock and pets as well; thousands of cattle throughout the Prairie have died from exposure to high temperatures, plus severe drought conditions, resulting in gruesome scenes of carcasses lined up along the edges of fields, as well as state highways.

WHAT’S on the HORIZON??!

What comes next for Israel and its people?

For the past seven months, anger over a bill that eliminates the courts’ power to overturn government and ministerial decisions!!! on grounds of reasonableness, and the constitutional overhaul of which it’s part, have set off huge protests throughout the country.

Just before the bill’s passage this past Monday, more than 1,100 air force reservists, including more than 400 pilots, declared that they would refuse to turn up for duty if the legislation was approved.

As the bill cleared Parliament 64-0 – ALL 56 opposition members walked out to boycott the vote – petitions challenging the legislation were quickly submitted to their Supreme Court in the hope that it would strike down the new law. That hope, however, may be dashed.

ALL the proposed components of the overhaul – a concerted effort to entrench the government’s hold on power – are amendments to the Basic Laws, the body of legislation that serves as Israel’s de facto constitution.

Their Supreme Court striking down an amendment to a Basic Law is tantamount to accepting the idea of an “unconstitutional constitutional amendment”: theoretically possible, but incredibly unlikely.

It’s true the court has declared it has the power to invalidate amendments to the Basic Laws, but only on very narrow grounds, such as denial of the identity of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

Which is/will be defined as what in its interpretation?

The new law certainly does damage to Israel’s democracy – for example, it opens the door to corruption – but whether the court will determine it denies the democratic nature of the state is very much an open question.

If that happens, key checks inside the government will be eroded and judicial review in Israel will effectively end; giving Benjamin Netanyahu’s government control NOT just of Parliament, but also effective control of BOTH the judiciary and the independent civil service, eviscerating the country’s ALREADY fragile separation of powers.

In that case, the court will have an easier task striking down the whole package.

Believe me…Donald John Trump is taking note of the ‘ifs’ and ‘buts.’

R.A.P. – any one?

Unless you are familiar with the meat and potatoes of political life in “fly0ver” country, I doubt you’re aware of the Replublican Accountability project (RAP).

The group is spending $1.5 million on ads in Iowa to try to persuade likely Trump voters that “the former guy” would struggle to win the ’24 general election.

The organization’s goal is to help lift another contender to the Republican nomination – anyone but Boy Orange!!!

RAP is unveiling an advertising campaign featuring voters who supported him in the past two presidential elections but have now turned against him, in an effort to put questions of electability at the center of the GOP primary race…

Home

The campaign will be shown on broadcast, cable and digital ads in Iowa’s two biggest media markets through the summer.

Polling shows the Orange Despot with a commanding lead in the state, and his closest rival Governor Ron “Con” DeSantis of Florida – has struggled in recent days to reset his campaign, as he trails the front-runner by double digits.

The ads are the next evolution for the Republican Accountability Project, which sees Trump as posing serious threats to democracy and has spent years trying to push him out of political life; its effort has been funded by donors from BOTH sides of the aisle.

Iowa is ALREADY emerging as a crucial battleground in the primary race.

A decisive January victory by Trump in the state, which has retained its place as the starting gate of the Republican nominating fight, would propel him into the next primary contests with momentum that could be difficult to stop.

Holy MAGA cap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

VOLUNTARY ‘GUARD RAILS’

Seven leading AI companies in the United States have agreed to voluntary safeguards on the technology’s development, the White House announced this morning, pledging to strive for safety, security and trust even as they compete over the potential of artificial intelligence.

The seven companies – Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI – will formally announce their commitment to the new standards at a meeting with Biden at the White House this afternoon.

The announcement comes as the companies are racing to outdo each other!!! with versions of AI that offer powerful new tools to create text, photos, music, and video without human input.

In addition…

The technological leaps have prompted fears that the tools will facilitate the spread of disinformation and dire warnings of a “risk of extinction” as self-aware computers evolve.

In the coming days, it will be interesting to see how this is met, discussed within the industry and interpreted.

What’s curious to the old Lobsterman, after initial readings/briefs on the agreement, these initial safeguards offer NO protection or even recognition for the hundreds of millions of individuals whose online data stores contribute to AI’s most basic function – and NOT even a hint regarding those whose creative work, whether written, imagery, sound, music, or personal likenesses, faces or voices, that are the bread and butter of AI’s rather dubious accomplishments.

Seems to me that these voluntary “guard rails” primarily guard the unrestricted exploitation of us lesser humans as involuntary contributors to yet another source of wealth for the unprincipled few.

And…I’m NOT done yet…

How about any and ALL companies that introduce AI to the marketplace being liable for any damages resulting from an untested technology foisted on a population completely unaware of how to ethically use it??!