Queens man indicted for the fourth time

No updates from the Queens Eagle (only covered the first time), so here we go!

CNN: Trump indicted in Georgia 2020 election subversion probe

MSNBC: Read the indictment

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Copying of election data brings conspiracy charges

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Trump, 18 others indicted for trying to overthrow 2020 Georgia election

JustSecurity.org: What to Expect When You’re Expecting a Trump Trial in Fulton County, GA

CNN: Read the annotated indictment

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Complete coverage on Georgia grand jury and indictment

The Bulwark Newsletter: What’s new in the latest Trump indictment

Queens man indicted for third time

Again, it seems like the Queens Eagle (which covered Trump’s first indictment) is passing again on this topic, so I am covering it here.

CNN: Donald Trump has been indicted in second time in two months for attempts to overturn the 2020 election

CNN: Live news coverage on August 1, 2023, the date the indictment was made public

CNN: Read the indictment

CNN: Annotated version of indictment with links to other material

CNN: Live coverage of Trump’s arraignment on August 3, 2023

CNN: Latest coverage on August 4, 2023

CNN: Who are the co-conspirators mentioned in the Trump indictment?

CNN: Trump’s surreal arraignment day in Washington augurs ominous days ahead

CNN: Hub for info/reporting on all criminal indictments for Trump

Court Listener: Follow the filings on the January 6 indictment

Slate: Jack Smith case is prosecutorial masterpiece

Slate: US v. Trump will be the most important case in our nation’s history (Richard Hasen)

TPM: John Eastman reiterates support for full insurrection

Election Law Blog: Lawyers for Ruby Freeman and Wandrea Moss: Rudy Giuliani Has Not Contested Civil Conspiracy Charge with Donald Trump and Others to Defame Them Regarding False Claims of 2020 Election Fraud in Georgia (link to filing)

Queens man indicted again

I have been waiting for the Queens Eagle newspaper to run this story (covered the first indictment), but they have not, so I am backfilling here….

Trump attends arraignment on June 13, 2023 and pleads not guilty (CNN)

CNN summary of reaction to the indictment (June 14, 2023)

Trump indictment in annotated form (CNN)

CNN summary of coverage through June 16th, 2023

The will of the majority

There have been a number of instances of the majority party in different states taking action against minority party representatives (Montana, Tennessee). In these instances, the minority party representatives tried to voice opinions that were at odds with the majority party, and were silenced for it. In other states, minority party representation is hobbled by gerrymandering and voter suppression. Even with majority rule, there should be minority rights:

“Minorities — whether as a result of ethnic background, religious belief, geographic location, income level, or simply as the losers in elections or political debate — enjoy guaranteed basic human rights that no government, and no majority, elected or not, should remove.”

“Among the basic human rights that any democratic government must protect are freedom of speech and expression; freedom of religion and belief; due process and equal protection under the law; and freedom to organize, speak out, dissent, and participate fully in the public life of their society.”

Where were you when Trump was indicted?

I was checking my email between 2:50pm and 3:00 pm on Friday, March 30, 2023. I got an email alert from the New York Times:

I then went to check CNN:

This was followed by the headline I predicted months ago:

Confirmed also by NBC News:

This morning, the Queens Eagle gave its summary:

Hopefully, now that New York has gotten the ball rolling, the US DOJ and Fulton County, GA can release their indictments soon…

Remembrance of the 2nd anniversary of the January 6th Insurrection

Two years ago today, Donald Trump sent a mob to the US Capitol to disrupt the counting of the Electoral College votes and attempt to have Donald Trump named the winner of the 2020 presidential election. We did not know then that this was the final step of a coup-conspiracy to keep Donald Trump as president. I was at my laptop computer, watching the events of the day on C-SPAN, thinking this was going to be the final step to take for the election of Joe Biden as president. Instead, a horrifying set of events unfolded where our democracy hung in the balance. In the end, the rioters left, and the counting of the electoral votes was completed. I have a liveblog that I created that day, it is still amazing to me the comments of the senators and congressmen/women who tried to protest the results of the election. The work of the House January 6th committee has documented what led up to the events of January 6th. In the published version of the report from HarperCollins, MSNBC legal correspondent contributed a foreward describing the eight crimes of this coup-conspiracy (parts of this are available as a podcast and a Substack newsletter, and discussed on the Brian Lehrer Daily Politics podcast).

Last year, there was a ceremony at the Capitol where the only Republicans in attendance were Liz Cheney and her father, Dick Cheney. Today, the House Democrats met on the steps of the Capitol in remembrance of this event, with one Republican attendee.

Joe Biden gave a speech and awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to individuals who helped keep that election safe.

A remembrance rally was held in Washington DC:

Let us not forget, so that this cannot ever happen again…

What deserves the label “conservative”?

Frank McPherson continues exploring the use of the terms “conservative” and “liberal”, looking at the current makeup of the Supreme Court, and discussing recent court cases that infringe on the liberty of the people. An interesting article was published on The Federalist web site, putting forward the idea that “conservatives” should stop calling themselves conservatives because of changes in our culture, and should think of themselves as revolutionaries. I disagree with The Federalist – I think many of the people referred to in the article are seeking to attack and hurt our democracy. One last interesting observation on terms of speech – a recent podcast I listened to hosted by Vicki Robin described “category disruption” to not let “conservatives” be the sole definers of the term:

From the transcript: “Vicki Robin: Totally. I think another thing listening to you, I think is sort of like a tool we can use is category disruption. For example I’m conservative, I want to conserve nature. I want to conserve relationships. I want to conserve meaning. I want to, you know, I want to conserve intact ecosystems. I’m conservative. So I’m gonna take it. I’ll take conservative, I’ve got it now, you know, and so but I’m liberal because I think, you know, there is no no particular group has a, you know, a purchase on the truth. We’re finding truths together. We’re evolving. You know, it’s like I’m pro life. I want every child to have enough food and security, etc. You know, it’s like we have to be courageous and category mixing.”

Some good points by Frank McPherson on the state of our republic.

Goodbye Liz Truss! Please don’t bring back Boris Johnson…

Wrapping up the January 6th Committee hearings

My wife and I watched the final hearing this week from the House January 6th Select Committee on the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 (also, see C-SPAN archive collection. It was a day that I remember well, having kept a liveblog of the day’s events (also see posts here and here). I think that the committee has done an excellent job of telling the story of what led up to this event and how Donald Trump was the central figure in trying to overturn the 2020 election. My fervent hope is that the Department of Justice is going to pursue Trump and hold him accountable for his crimes (i.e., indict, arrest, and convict him!). The site JustSecurity.org has a January 6 clearinghouse of information on this event, well worth checking out, as well as a citizen’s guide to the evidentiary record.

The most striking part of the hearing was the documentary video of the congressional leaders at Fort McNair filmed by Alexandra Pelosi (Nancy Pelosi’s daughter). CNN also carried more of this footage the evening of the hearing (also here). It was riveting. One question came up in my wife and I discussing the hearing – how was it that Alexandra Pelosi came to be there that day? And for myself, how is it that this is the first time this footage is coming to public view? Was she planning to make a documentary with this? Her Wikipedia page says she works for HBO, but she has not released any documentaries since 2020. I hope that some journalist will dig into this a little more.