ONCE A FRAUD, ALWAYS A FRAUD

Michael “The Fixer” Cohen, the onetime attorney for Donald “Benito” Trump, mistakenly? gave his lawyer bogus legal citations concocted by the artificial intelligence program Google Bard, he said in court papers unsealed yesterday.

The fictitious citations were used by the lawyer [why didn’t this law firm verify these citations??!] in a motion submitted to a federal judge.

Cohen, who pleaded guilty in 2018 to campaign finance violations and served time in prison, had asked the judge for an early end to the court’s supervision of his case now that he is out of prison and has complied with the conditions of his release.

In a sworn declaration made public yesterday, Cohen explained that he had NOT kept up with “emerging trends [and related risks] in legal technology and did NOT realize that Google Bard was a generative text service that, like ChatGPT, could show citations and descriptions that looked real but actually were not.”

Whatever happened to “Dutch” Reagan‘s famous quip, “Trust, but verify!”

But anyway, Cohen’s own lawyer is being paid to verify ALL the info. shared, and he should have done so!!!

Sloppy, sloppy…

The fact that our cable media takes this guy seriously when politically convenient really speaks poorly about our news networks.

Well, maybe the old Lobsterman is missing the obvious – Cohen was Boy Orange‘s lawyer!!!

GET SOME REST, NIKKI

This past Wednesday for a political disaster for Nikki Haley!!!

The GOP presidential hopeful and former governor of South Carolina stumbled through the causes of the Civil War with NO mention of slavery…

It may make her campaign considerably harder just as she was edging closer to striking distance of Trump in New Hampshire.

Anyone who can NOT acknowledge the role that slavery played in this country’s history is purposefully duplicitous.

NOT only did she NOT mention slavery. her actual answer was just terrible, and I’m being charitable. She said the Civil War was about government overreach.

Excuse me?!!

Absolute nonsensical answer.

A quick refresher course, Nikki, the first battle of the Civil War was the southern attack on Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor.

Charleston Harbor happens to be located in SOUTH CAROLINA, Nikki!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DIRIGO

Ah, my native state, Maine, refused to be outdone by other states when it comes to the mess on aisle seven known as Donald “Benito” Trump.

Maine, yesterday, became the second state to bar Trump from its primary election ballot after its top election official ruled that the former president’s efforts to remain in power after the ’20 election rendered him ineligible to hold office again.

The official in Maine, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, wrote in her decision that Boy Orange did NOT qualify for the ballot because of his role in the 1/6 attack on the Capitol. A handful of citizens had challenged his eligibility by claiming that he had incited an insurrection and was thus barred from seeking the presidency again under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

The decisions in Maine and Colorado underscore national tensions over democracy, ballot access and the rule of law.

They also add urgency to calls for the US Supreme Court to insert itself into the politically explosive dispute over the Orange Despot‘s eligibility.

NOT to over-simplify the situation, but in the eyes of the old Lobsterman a basic requirement for participation in any election process is that you accept the result if you lose; Trump has given ample proof that he fails this simple test!!!

Before I close out this post, allow me to educate ALL you deplorables: Dirigo is the state motto…in Latin it means “I direct.”

Appropriate, don’t you think??!!!

EAGER TO DO IT…

Democracy is fragile and the legal code that supports it is often vague or even poorly written such as the Insurrection Act and the Second Amendment.

How can textualism be valid when laws violate basic rules of grammar, hence leave them open to widely varied interpretations??!

Consequently, we have evolved a culture of institutions and traditions that compensate for these failings and 250 years of judicial precedent to back them up.

Donald John Trump and his so-called deep state antagonists want to throw ALL of that out. Doing so concentrates power into the executive branch, which is really what they want, NOT individual liberty.

Trump is eager to do just that!!!

He has openly stated that he will for revenge and retribution.

But…

As we ALL have witnessed, once established norms are trashed, as with ALL this horrible political hate speech, they can NOT be easily reinstated.

h/t: National Constitution Cener.

‘MUST READ’ BEFORE VOTING

My better half gave me a “required reading” as a Christmas gift.

NOT only required reading for the old Lobsterman, but for each of you as well.

As I have been harping on, for the better part of the last six-plus months, 2024 is a critical election for the nation.

Sometime earlier this morning – 3:15 or there about – I finished reading Oath and Honor by Liz Cheney.

Before I go an inch farther, GET A COPY FOR YOURSELF!!!!!!

Cheney’s new memoir covers from when she was still in Congress. It must be said, a lot separates Liz Cheney from the average Republican politician.

In her memoir it’s clear how unusual her position was in late 2020 – a true insider who was also listening to and believing what was going on with Donald John Trump and the conservative base. That combination seems to have inspired her turning every key available to stave off Boy Orange‘s efforts to subvert the outcome of the election and inspired her overpowering anger toward Kevin “Squatter” McCarthy.

How many people besides Liz Cheney could help organize the writing of a letter emphasizing the importance of a peaceful transfer of power that was signed by every living defense secretary!!! and published on January 3, 2021??! 

A point of crucial significance, Cheney NEVER thought Trump would just fade away. And while she’s now writing with the benefit of hindsight, part of the reason she clearly understood Trump was she was actually listening!!! to people at different levels of Republican politics in ’20. As one reads Oath and Honor, this blaring realization becomes cleaner and cleaner with each turned page.

Since 1/6, Cheney has emphasized the way that institutions require the people in them to actively make choices rather than passively accept events. Good norms and procedures are meant to guide people toward moral and responsible actions so NO one individual is required to act with any particular heroism.

The cost of opposing Trump or even being perceived as opposing him has increased over the years. This is clearest with the people who, through NO fault of their own, ended up falling into the breach against Trump, like the election officials and workers in Georgia and Arizona who became the subjects of threats, loss of jobs and conspiracy theories.

And, as Liz Cheney found out herself – being defeated for her reelection to Congress by an election denier.

BELIEVE WHAT THEY SAY!!!

When someone shows you who they are, believe them.

Hope everyone enjoyed Christmas…

As we ALL head into ’24, memories of happiness may be greatly diminished by the presence and smell of slime originating from the obese Orange Despot himself.

This election year will be unlike any other in the history of the Republic.

Donald John Trump is NOT holding anything back in his messaging should he sit in the Oval Office again.

Within hours of him taking office the rule of law will start to disappear. Our federal agencies will exist, but in name only. Every decision they make will be only ones that Boy Orange approves of. Think of ALL of our agencies and the work they perform. And, remember Trump talking about deportations, targeting enemies, his use of the word “vermin,” how he praised a group like Hezbollah, how he adores authoritarian leaders, and the list goes on.

ALL the while, the cult gobbles his every word up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trump has repeatedly told follow travelers, “I am your retribution” and vowed to utilize the Justice Department to prosecute his enemies/adversaries – starting with Biden and his family.

Since leaving office, Trump’s advisers and allies, at a network of well-funded groups!!!, have formulates possible policies, created lists of potential personnel and started shaping new legal scaffolding – laying the groundwork for a second Trump presidency they hope will commence on January 20, 2025.

That simply can NOT happen!!!

There is NOTHING left to wonder about on how Chairman Donald would rule.

If he remains the Republican Party candidate, enough of our voters must know/understand the great danger on the ballot and deny him getting back into office.

Without a doubt the most self-obsessed person on Planet Earth, quick to drop any supporter or enabler who ceases to be of use to him.

One only needs to look at Trump for the culture of hate, anger and revenge he brought to Washington, and politics in general.

The Republicans are in disarray at both Houses where they raise their fists against anyone who challenge or question them.

The international community ought to be deeply concerned that Trump is the leading Republican candidate; remember, he will take revenge on anyone who does NOT do his bidding, including those who once were his camp clowns.

Happy New Year, y’ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“…KEEP CHRISTMAS WELL”

Many of you have asked me to repeat last year’s Christmas message …

The House Of Christmas | G.K. Chesterton

There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand
Than the square stones of Rome.

For men are homesick in their homes,
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.
Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honor and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.

A Child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam,
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost – how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky’s dome.

This world is wild as an old wives’ tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.

To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.

h/t: Charles Dickens.

THE PUSH TO DISQUALIFY

This week, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Donald John Trump is constitutionally ineligible to run for president which places one fundamental value against another: giving voters in a democracy the right to pick their leaders versus ensuring that NO one is above the law.

As is the case with anything surrounding Trump, this ruling has/will create severe tensions between those two principles. If the court’s legal reasoning is correct, obeying the rule of law produces an antidemocratic result [trust me, the old Lobsterman is NOT trying to get cute with words!!!].

It is easy to rationalize accommodation while Boy Orange lays waste to the Republic. The entire Republican Party, Robert Mueller, the media, his wives, his immediate family, his cabinet – pretty much everyone he has had contact with is content to look the other way, avoid confrontation, assume someone else will do the dirty work. Trump has gotten this far because everyone else plays by the rules.

There are similar legal challenges to Trump’s eligibility pending in at least 16 additional states. 

That constitutional and political dilemma is likely to land before the US Supreme Court.

Electing an insurrectionist could only happen if there is a large enough faction?!! that cares less about maintaining the rule of law and a fundamentally democratic government than about accumulating power.

Power for the sake of power, and power to enforce minority culture-war issues.

NOT SO FAST, MY FRIENDS

The Supreme Court declined yesterday to decide for now whether Donald John Trump is immune from prosecution on charges of plotting to overturn the ’20 election.

It is unclear what the court’s order will mean for the timing of the trial, which is scheduled to start on March 4th, though it makes postponement more likely.

The case will now move forward in an appeals court, which has put it on a fast track, and most likely return to the Supreme Court in the coming weeks or months.

The decision to defer consideration of a central issue in the case was a major victory for Boy Orange, whose lawyers have consistently sought to delay!!! criminal cases against him around the country.

Feet of clay is the order the day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has put the case on a brisk schedule, ordering expedited briefing and scheduling arguments for January 9th.

Searching for precedent – of which NONE exist when matters concern Trump – is what attorneys are trained to do, as well as seeing different shades; however, what the Orange Despot has done, including being under the influence of a foreign enemy, is a matter of historically unprecedented magnitude.

It’s sad to see our country in such decline and what is to come out due to the lack of courage!!! on the part of our elected lawmakers. This failed system will result, if unchecked, in so much worse for us ALL – for those who can see and those who choose NOT to.

THE ROAD NEVER TRAVELED

Politics and the law were going to smash squarely into one another in the ’24 campaign, given the double role that the Orange Despot has been playing as a criminal defendant and leading Republican candidate.

The biggest question is whether or NOT Trump is the person who instigated the 1/6 rioting on Capitol hill to overturn an election which in large part has been certified and validated as “not stolen”.

If the court kicks that can down the road, then it would be a true travesty!!! on the Rule of Law and accountability of wrongdoing by a previous president.

That said, let’s NOT lose sight of the real culprits: The GOP senators who voted NOT to impeach Boy Orange, and let him off the hook. It was/is the case where the GOP has truly been corrupted by power and will do anything [even destroy our democracy/republic] to hold on to that power by hook or by [more specifically] crook.

What’s ahead…