Pototan
Pototan's JournalThe Trump Trial Narrative is Ass End Backwards
This "innocent until proven guilty" mantra only applies to court convictions and incarcerations. It is not the criteria a voter should use in entrusting important government office to a candidate. The criteria should be "credible accusation." And I contend any indictment is a "credible accusation."
Rather than delaying cases, in the real world, Trump, or any accused candidate would want an immediate trial to clear his name. And clearing a name is an acquittal, not a hung jury..
That guy Texiera from Massachusetts who was arrested for espionage didn't go back to work the next day. Nobody said, "Hey pal, we have overwhelming evidence of your guilt of betraying the country but, after all, everyone's innocent until proven guilty, so we'll see you at work in the morning and see how the trial turns out".
Pick any indicted person. A bank executive, a police officer, a schoolteacher or even a sports figure. If there is an arrest, or especially an indictment for a serious felony, that person cannot and should not remain employed until his name is cleared. That's ridiculous.
Does anyone think, for instance, that if a jury is hung at 11 to 1or 10 to 2 for guilty that we should be confident that Trump should be President? Of course not.
America is looking at this thing through the wrong end of a telescope.
Judge Tells Trump He Has "Absolute Right to Testify"
As I predicted this morning, Judge Merchan informed defendant Donald Trump that he has an "Absolute right to testify".
NEW YORK, May 3 (Reuters) - The judge overseeing Donald Trump's hush money criminal trial said on Friday that a gag order preventing him from commenting about witnesses and jurors does not bar him from testifying in court on his own behalf.
“I want to stress to Mr. Trump: you have an absolute right to testify at trial,” Justice Juan Merchan said to start the 11th day in Trump's hush money trial.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-trial-hears-michael-cohen-was-despondent-he-was-denied-government-post-2024-05-03/
Astonishing Observation on Trump's Statement
I've been giving some thought about Trump saying that he is prohibited from testifying because of the judge's limited gag order.
Think about that. Anybody with even the slightest knowledge of the Constitution or the law knows that no defendant can be compelled to testify against himself or be prohibited from truthfully testifying in his own behalf. Donald Trump was President for 4 years. He headed up the Justice Department. He appointed Attorneys General and some of their subordinates. Dozens, if not hundreds of judges, including 3 Supreme Court Justices. And on and on. you mean to tell me that Trump does not know this basic principle of law? Come on. If he's lying, what a fucking lousy lie that's so easy to disprove. But what's worse is, if he wasn't lying. If he really thought that's the law. Are you fucking kidding me? We should be all over this
What Judge Merchan Must do First Thing This Morning
In open court but before the jury comes in is make sure Trump and his attorney are aware that the gag order in no way prevents Trump from testifying, if he so chooses.
This proclamation, with the judge affirming that Trump acknowledges that fact and his attorney also affirmatively answers that question serves two purposes. It humiliates both Trump and his attorney, in open court, in front of the press and the attorney's peers. It also protects the judge against an appeal, and he will eliminate Trump's ability to use a poor counsel defense on an appeal against his lawyer.
As an aside. When I watched Trump say that the gag order prohibited his being able to testify and then turn to his attorney it reminded me of when Trump said that maybe we could try injecting disinfectant to rid the human body of covid. The scientists reacted the same way. As absurd as what Trump said, they just nodded.
Think of how dumb the average American is
and realize that as a mathematical fact, half of Americans are dumber than that.
As an Agnostic, hasn't society had enough of religion?
A little background. I have always been a religious skeptic, even from my early days. I remember at 12 years old, which would have been in the early sixties. My parents put me in Catechism class to prepare me for my Confirmation. My parents were Italian Catholics. It was just about the time that the Vatican allowed meat to be eaten on Fridays without it being a Cardinal sin. Well, one day I raised my hand to ask the Nun, in front of the class, "If my uncle was on a street corner on a Friday night 2 years ago and ate a hamburger and died without any other sins on his soul that night, he would have gone to hell. If his brother stood at that same corner this Friday night and ate a hamburger and dies without any sins on his soul, he goes to Heaven. How's that fair?" Well, that Nun was not happy and shoed me out of the room and called my father. My father said that the question I asked was for God to decide and I wasn't to ask that Nun any more questions in front of the class. If I had questions, bring them home.
Anyway, a little side story before I get to my point. I don't know if there's a God, and to be perfectly honest, I really don't care. I've read the Bible, especially the New Testament for its historical significance. After all, it was the only book people read for a couple of thousand years. There are nuggets of importance in that book. I admire Jesus the philosopher. Mathew 25, Sermon on the Mount, do unto others and tolerance. Jesus was far more a Socialist than I am. He advised his Disciples to sell everything they owned and give the money to the poor. I don't mind giving my share to charity, but there's no fucking way I'm selling everything I own and giving it to anyone. Sorry. Can't do. I agree on some levels, but I reserve my right to disagree. I am able to separate the philosophy from the fairy tales in the Bible, hence my being an Agnostic.
But, to my point in the title. Jews, Christians and Muslims all come from the same teachings of one God. That's why all of their Holy sites are clustered together in the same area. But what God taught all of you to kill each other? Christians are just an offshoot of Judaism. After all, you can't be a Christian without believing in the Old Testament (Torah). Yet, for hundreds of years, Christians killed Jews during the Inquisition. Protestants killed Catholics; Shiites slaughtered Sunnis. Jews Killed Muslims. Christians killed Muslims. Muslims killed Christians. It never ends, it only gets worse. Alright, maybe I can understand the ignorant people of the eleventh century following superstitions and not knowing any better. But fucking 2024. Give me a break.
When will the rest of us say, "enough"?
To my DU legal experts, a question
Isn't the finding against Trump for criminal contempt a violation of his bail agreements in other jurisdictions?
And shouldn't he be remanded into custody for this violation?
What's this "put Trump in jail for a few hours" BS?
And I mean bullshit. I have heard some pundits that I really like, and respect say that Trump may be put in jail for a "couple of hours or so". That won't be much of an inconvenience, and he gets the talking point with no real punishment.
If Judge Merchan is going to incarcerate the orange piece of shit, it should be at least overnight. And it should be after a Monday session so he can get up from jail early in the morning and get ready for court by himself. Let's see how his hair and makeup look when he has no help.
Why do simple answers elude smart people?
First up: The Republican candidates for President in the 2024 Primary.
I keep hearing from some of the defeated cowards (DeSantis comes to mind) that they signed a pledge to support the nominee. Trump refused to sign the pledge. Now, I know that the pledge is not a legal document and not binding. But even as a moral document, if one candidate didn't sign, he is exempt. Let me give you an example. You and I make a bet on a football game. You refuse to acknowledge the bet. I am not obligate to pay you if I lose.
Next up: Vacating the Speakership:
Speaker Johnson can't win without some Democrats voting to "not vacate". MTG's motion cannot pass without near unanimous Democratic support of her motion to vacate. The Democrats must choose the lesser of 2 evils. I generally don't like that term, because more often than not, one side is not evil at all. But in this case, it really is appropriate.
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If Trump was President now
For those who are demonstrating on college compasses, as you are aware, no matter how peaceful it starts out, organizers can never control what everyone does or says. One or more of these events will get out of hand (i.e. takeover of Hamilton Hall at Columbia). I have some knowledge of this as a college protester in 1970 to1974 against the War in Viet Nam. I don't want to debate the merits of the reasons for the protests. I just want to point out what our future will be under a second Trump term.
There is no question in my mind that the Trump administration will crack down like any would be dictator would and invoke the insurrection act. It will be the beginning of the end of our Democracy.
If it's not this issue, it will be another. A police shooting, a foreign conflict, a domestic dispute. It will happen and I can see the future as clearly as I can see yesterday.
God help us.
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