March 22, 2024

Trump's criminal cases are his campaign

Trump's criminal cases are his campaign
Trump hopes losing Trump Tower will be a symbol for voters mad over challenges to white male dominance

By AMANDA MARCOTTE
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED MARCH 22, 2024 6:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) "Hands off Trump Tower!"

So reads a recent fundraising email from Donald Trump's joint fundraising campaign. Most of the email is an extended whine from Trump about facing punishment for committing decades of business fraud, leading to nearly half a billion dollars in fines. Trump has long claimed to be a billionaire, but instead of sucking it up and paying the penalty after being found liable for his crimes, he's begging his working schmo supporters to cut back on their grocery bills to help him evade justice.

....(snip)....

It's a rare moment of honesty from Trump, at least. Indeed, money donated to this fund will largely be used to pay his lawyers, instead of traditional campaign goals like running ads or organizing voters. What is less clear is why he expects his followers to turn over their Social Security checks so that he can keep his gold-plated Manhattan penthouse as a second home.

....(snip)....

Silly as all this is, it's indicative of the relationship between Trump's alleged crimes and his third run as the Republican nominee for president: They are one and the same. It's not just that they've become so intertwined as to be indistinguishable. The main message of Trump's presidential campaign is that he should be able to commit any crime he wants, without penalty. And, as he often likes to say in public and in court documents, he should enjoy "absolute immunity."

....(snip)....

Trump is almost certainly suffering from severe personality disorders that manifest as extreme narcissism, and that is a big part of the reason why his campaign message can be boiled down to "me me me." But I suspect there is a tactical theory here, if only on the part of his campaign managers and not Trump himself: Trump's wounded pride can be shaped into a symbol of the central MAGA complaint that straight white men's iron grip on power is threatened by the "woke mob." ..................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/03/22/criminal-cases-are-his-campaign/

March 21, 2024

Escaped white supremacist inmate and accomplice still at large after Idaho hospital ambush

Authorities are searching for a white supremacist Idaho prison inmate and an accomplice who fled after the accomplice shot and wounded corrections officers as they were transporting the inmate from a Boise hospital, according to police.

Police said Nicholas Umphenour is suspected of shooting two corrections officers during Wednesday’s ambush in the ambulance bay at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. A warrant with a $2 million bond has been issued for his arrest on two charges of aggravated battery against law enforcement and one charge of aiding and abetting an escape, police said.

He and inmate Skylar Meade drove off early Wednesday after the shooting in a gray 2020 Honda Civic with Idaho plates. It’s not known where they are or where they are headed, police said Wednesday evening.

Three corrections officers were shot and wounded during the attack — two allegedly by Umphenour and one by responding police. ................(more)

https://apnews.com/article/hospital-shooting-idaho-escaped-inmate-5d4eb764853ca05d2721145bc435367a

March 21, 2024

The Mar-a-Lago judge is entertaining Trump's most brazen defenses

(Guardian UK) The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s prosecution on charges of retaining classified documents appears to be entertaining his most brazen defenses that could ultimately result in ensuring the acquittal of the former president.

The issue revolves around an order from the US district judge Aileen Cannon on Monday asking Trump and prosecutors in the office of the special counsel Jack Smith to draft jury instructions for two scenarios that gave extraordinary credit to Trump’s defense theories.

The two jury instruction scenarios, as conceived by Cannon, were so beneficial to Trump and so potentially incorrect on the law of the Espionage Act that it would bring into serious doubt whether it made sense for prosecutors to take the case to trial.

In her two-page order, Cannon asked for both parties to draft jury instructions supposing it was true that Trump had the power under the Presidential Records Act to turn any White House document – classified or not – into personal records: records he was authorized to retain. ..................(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/21/implications-trump-classified-documents-trial

March 21, 2024

Supreme Court grants Gov. Greg Abbott's wish to turn Texas into a far-right dictatorship

Supreme Court grants Gov. Greg Abbott's wish to turn Texas into a far-right dictatorship
Donald Trump isn't the only far-right character the Supreme Court could bless with dictatorial powers

By AMANDA MARCOTTE
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED MARCH 21, 2024 6:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) In his 2022 majority opinion for Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, Justice Samuel Alito took great pains to argue that allowing states to ban abortion was no slippery slope to gutting other human rights. Claiming abortion is a "unique act" because of the "potential life," thus making it different from other court-established rights like birth control or same-sex marriage, Alito argued that Dobbs "does not undermine" other rights "in any way."

Roughly no one believed him at the time, in part because Republican protestations that they are "pro-life" are a thin pretext for what is an authoritarian obsession with controlling people's sex lives. It also didn't help that Justice Clarence Thomas used his concurrence in Dobbs to call for Republican lawmakers to go after other rights. He argued that "in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s" previous decisions legalizing contraception and homosexual sex, as welll as the decision to permit same-sex marriage.

....(snip)....

Late last week, the Supreme Court allowed West Texas A&M University to proceed with its ban of drag shows hosted by on-campus groups, even though the school's censorship violate decades of First Amendment precedence. This week, the Supreme Court did it again, allowing Texas to temporarily go forward with a clearly unconstitutional claim that state law supersedes federal jurisdiction when it comes to immigration. Neither decision constitutes the final word on whether Texas can flout the constitutional order so openly, to be clear. But even letting it get this far represents the Supreme Court's eagerness to bless Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Tex., in his quest to turn his state into a far-right dictatorship.

....(snip)....

The immigration decision is far more complex, but it amounts to the same thing. The Supreme Court refused to block, even temporarily, a Texas law that flagrantly violates the Constitution and court precedent. Abbott recently signed a law that gives state law enforcement the right to detain and even deport immigrants, even though all of U.S. legal history puts the enforcement of immigration law solely in the hands of the federal government. Abbott's law is so extreme that even the most jaundiced observers of this far-right Supreme Court doubt they'll allow Texas to keep it. That is why it was a shock on Tuesday when the Supreme Court allowed the law to take effect while it's being argued in court. .......................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/03/21/grants-gov-greg-abbotts-wish-to-turn-texas-into-a-far-right-dictatorship/

March 21, 2024

Idaho: white supremacist prisoner on the run after brazen hospital ambush

A white supremacist prison gang member in Idaho and an accomplice remained on the loose Wednesday after the accomplice staged a brazen overnight attack to free the inmate as he was being transported from a Boise hospital, police said.

Three corrections officers were shot and wounded – two by the accomplice and one by responding police – during the attack in the ambulance bay at Saint Alphonsus regional medical center.

Police throughout the region were looking for the suspected shooter – still unidentified as of Wednesday afternoon – as well as the escaped inmate, described by officials as white supremacist gang member Skylar Meade. Meade, 31, was sentenced to 20 years in 2017 for shooting at a sheriff’s sergeant during a high-speed chase.

The pair fled in a gray four-door sedan, possibly a Honda Civic, with Idaho plates, police said. ........................(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/20/idaho-white-supremacist-prisoner-hospital-trip-escape

March 21, 2024

Trump is dangerously desperate for a bailout

Trump is dangerously desperate for a bailout
The return of Paul Manafort shows that the Trump campaign is willing to trade security for some funds

By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
Columnist
PUBLISHED MARCH 20, 2024 9:16AM (EDT)


(Salon) Donald Trump had an epic meltdown on his social media site Trump Social on Tuesday. Even for someone who is prone to ranting and raving in public, this was one for the books. Apparently on the verge of cracking under the financial pressure stemming from the civil judgments against him for defamation and fraud, he let fly post after post filled with whining and invective against New York Attorney General Letitia James and New York State Justice Arthur Engoron.

....(snip)....

Trump went on to claim that the two are trying to take his fortune and force him to sell his assets in a "fire sale," a good indication that his boasts in his fraud trial deposition that he could find a "buyer from Saudi Arabia to pay any price he suggests” (a claim Engoron pointed out in his ruling “may suggest influence buying more than savvy investing" ) might not be a sure thing. Trump testified that he undervalued his properties, not overvalued them. He also said he was flush with hundreds of millions of dollars and no debt. Now it turns out he can't get a bond — possibly because his properties are already leveraged and the lenders don't want any other liens on them — and he's crying that he doesn't have any cash. It sure looks like Engoron's ruling was right on the money. Trump is an inveterate liar about his fortune. Why anyone ever lent him money in the first place remains one of life's biggest mysteries.

....(snip)....

Back in 2016, one of Russia's likely assets, Paul Manafort, was Trump's campaign manager. He turned out to be massively in debt to a Russian oligarch and used inside information from the Trump campaign to pay him back. Back in those early days, Trump didn't yet know that he could get away with anything so he fired Manafort when this information came out. Manafort ended up being sentenced to 47 months in federal prison in one case and 73 months in another for a variety of crimes uncovered in the course of Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the election. You may recall that among other crimes like tax fraud and illegal foreign lobbying, Manafort pleaded guilty to money laundering related to his work in Ukraine with various Russian players. But he subsequently lied so much to the special counsel's office that they withdrew the plea agreement and he went to trial.

....(snip)....

And now he wants to re-hire the convicted felon he later pardoned, a man who admitted to laundering money for Russian oligarchs to do fundraising. Indeed, Trump is overwhelmingly stressed out about having his lies about his fortune exposed and possibly losing everything, but it's hard to believe that even he'd be so reckless as to go there for a bailout. But then he's gotten away with everything so far. So why not? ................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/03/20/is-dangerously-desperate-for-a-bailout/

March 20, 2024

White evangelicals embrace raunchy photos -- yet they hate sex as much as ever

White evangelicals embrace raunchy photos — yet they hate sex as much as ever
Trumpian Christians love bikini pics now, but they still don't want women to enjoy sex

By AMANDA MARCOTTE
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED MARCH 20, 2024 6:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) For those readers who have the self-esteem not to engage in the world of Christian right social media, let's just get this out of the way: It's heavy on the cheesecake, sometimes verging on softcore porn. That's a startling thing to say, especially to those of us who came of age any time before the invention of TikTok. It may be hard to believe, but it's true: The same people who wanted to slap "parental advisory" stickers on every album with curse words, distributed "purity rings," and banned leggings in public schools now often take a decolletage-oriented approach to social media content.

Ultra Right Beer put out a pin-up calendar featuring scantily clad influencers from the Christian right-o-sphere. MAGA lawmakers like Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo. and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., wear skintight clothes and make sexualized remarks to draw attention. And, as Ruth Graham reported in the New York Times over the weekend, popular evangelical leaders online frequently use "vulgarities," aping the language of shock jocks to be "relevant and appealing" to young men they want to bring into white evangelicalism. In the world of "tradwife" social media, good Christian "housewives" celebrate their godly womanhood with leg-baring photos and videos of them lustily stirring dough with their bosoms jiggle over mixing bowls.

....(snip)....

What Graham all but ignores, is actually crucial to understand about this phenomenon: It is only a surface-level shift. The movement is as sex-negative as it ever was. They may like pin-up posters, but the Christian right still very much opposes people actually enjoying sex, especially if those people are women or LGBTQ people.

....(snip)....

It's not just the overturn of Roe v. Wade and the subsequent avalanche of abortion bans in the past two years. In his concurrence on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, Justice Clarence Thomas openly invited Christian right activists to challenge legal birth control, so the Supreme Court could take that right away as well. Last week, anti-choice activists scored a legal victory, when the Fifth Circuit Court ruled that minors have to obtain parental permission to use birth control. The coalition of Christian right activists putting together the policy agenda for Trump's potential second term have also proposed reviving the Comstock Act, which, as written, would ban any interstate transportation of contraceptive medicine or devices. Clearly, the Christian right does not want women to feel safe enough to enjoy sex. ..........................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/03/20/evangelicals-embrace-raunchy-photos--yet-they-hate-as-much-as-ever/

March 20, 2024

Who Is Beating Back Book Bans?

Who Is Beating Back Book Bans?
Amidst a rising tide of anti-LGBTQ book bans, activists, authors, and librarians are organizing to make sure LGBTQ stories are still heard.

BY SARA YOUNGBLOOD GREGORY


(YES! Magazine) It’s not hard to read between the lines of the recent surge in book bans. These efforts are a manifestation of a confluence of political ideology, latent cultural anxieties over difference, and targeted attempts to stanch the flow of alternative knowledge.

Since 2021, PEN America has recorded nearly 6,000 cases of book bannings—a staggering number on the rise. In just the first half of the 2022–’23 school year, PEN America saw a 28% increase in bans compared to the previous six months. A striking 36% percent of bans targeted books written for and by the LGBTQ community.

....(snip)....

The targeting of books by and about LGBTQ people and people of color isn’t new—author George M. Johnson, who wrote about growing up as a Black queer man in the oft-banned 2020 memoir All Boys Aren’t Blue, has spoken openly about the connections between censorship and extremism. But what is new is the pure scale of these book bans—and their symbiotic relationship with conservative and anti-LGBTQ legislation.

....(snip)....

Libraries as a Lifeline

The first line of defense is libraries. For Hurwitz, there are two main strategies for protecting book access—administrative and communal. Libraries have policies to handle bans, but often these procedures aren’t being used. “In many cases, books are just taken off the shelf once someone complains, and that’s not what should be happening,” says Hurwitz. Clear, protective policies are needed so that librarians can field complaints and point to a systemic response. And there are organizations there to help—the American Librarian Association offers confidential support and free consulting services for libraries and individuals navigating a ban. .....................(more)

https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2024/03/18/florida-book-ban-lgbt

March 20, 2024

LGBTQ+ voters in Michigan, other battleground states overwhelmingly support Biden

(Michigan Advance) A recent poll indicates that President Joe Biden enjoys a nearly 60% advantage over Donald Trump among LGBTQ+ likely voters in battleground states like Michigan, potentially providing a key demographic in his quest for reelection in November.

The poll was conducted in late January by GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ+ media advocacy organization, and surveyed LGBTQ participants on a variety of topics, including how motivated they were to vote, as well as candidate preference in the presidential campaign and important issues heading into November.

The results among registered voters, including both LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ participants, indicated that a majority (53%) would oppose “a political candidate [who] speaks frequently about restricting access to health care and participation in sports for transgender youth,” while 81% say health care decisions for youth should be made by parents.

....(snip)....

The survey found that nationwide, LGBTQ likely voters prefer Biden over Trump 68 to 15%, a 53-point margin. In seven current battleground states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — that difference grows to 57 points, with 72% expressing support for Biden while Trump’s support remains at 15%. ...............(more)

https://michiganadvance.com/2024/03/19/lgbtq-voters-in-michigan-other-battleground-states-overwhelmingly-support-biden/

March 20, 2024

Decriminalization of paid surrogacy heads to the governor, despite Republican opposition

(Michigan Advance) Legislation to outline new rules and standards for surrogacy in Michigan, as well as repeal the state’s criminalization of paid surrogacy contracts, cleared the Democratic-led Legislature Tuesday with vocal disapproval from Republican lawmakers.

The nine-bill package is on its way to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is expected to sign it.

Michigan is understood to be the only state that wages criminal penalties against those who engage in paid surrogacy contracts to the tune of a misdemeanor charge, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $10,000 fine. The penalties are higher for those who organize or assist in creating the contract. They can be charged with a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $50,000 fine.

Proponents for the bills have argued that Michigan’s current laws pertaining to surrogacy are outdated and too limited, not properly protecting parents or surrogates as families in Michigan attempt to grow their families. ..................(more)

https://michiganadvance.com/2024/03/19/decriminalization-of-paid-surrogacy-heads-to-the-governor-despite-republican-opposition/