Thanks, Katrina
Blogging from Slidell, Louisiana about loving life on the Gulf Coast despite BP and Katrina
Monday, March 18, 2024
Sunday, March 17, 2024
Tom on the Spring Primary Season and More
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
The Hur Hearing
Who is Robert Hur, you ask? According to Wikipedia: Robert Kyoung Hur (born 1973) is an American lawyer appointed by then-U.S. President Donald Trump to serve as the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland from 2018 to 2021. He previously served as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Hur investigated President Biden’s possession of classified documents after Biden left the vice presidency. This investigation, started by Representative James Comer, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee to look into unauthorized removal, retention, and disclosure of classified documents discovered at the President's home and other sites.
Hur did not recommend charges against the president, but claimed, among other things, that Biden suffered from severe memory problems while being questioned, and while he did not find sufficient evidence that the president intentionally retained classified information, he suggested that if he tried to make the case, Biden would be able to convince a jury that he is an "elderly man with a poor memory" incapable of doing such a thing.
Comer and Gym Jordan also tried to investigate the President's son Hunter in February of this year, which blew up in their faces. (see https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/21/politics/fbi-informant-biden-impeachment-what-matters/index.html) But I digress.
Before today's hearing, Mr. Hur resigned from the Justice Department. According to journalist Andrew Feinberg. "Instead of appearing as a DOJ employee who is bound by the ethical guidelines which govern the behaviour of federal prosecutors, he will appear as a private citizen with no constraints on his testimony."
(see https://www.rawstory.com/robert-hur-trump/)
Today's hearing wasn't an easy one for Mr. Hur, as evidenced by the following links: 1 ) MSNBC anchor Lawrence O'Donnell's masterful coverage of the epic takedown of Robert Hur, Trump stooge and Special Counsel investigating Biden's handling of classified documents.
2 ) Representative Eric Swalwell had some questions for Hur, too.
Monday, March 11, 2024
Tom on Super Tuesday
So after Super Tuesday, the General Election campaign has started. Mr. Trump, in his own inimitable style, kicked off the race by making fun of Joe Biden's stutter. But our expectations of Mr. Trump are so low at this point that nobody seems to notice anymore, certainly not his Kool-Aid drinking followers. Even moderate Republicans, (the few that are left), make excuses for him, saying that: "He didn't really mean it", or "He was just joking". It's funny how his "jokes" are not remotely amusing. They're cruel barbs designed to wound and hurt. It takes a real man to boast about sexually assaulting women, or to denigrate the sacrifices of those folks who served their country, be it in peace or war. He reserves a particular contempt for those who suffered wounds in the course of their service, calling these folks "suckers", and "losers''. And if you're a Gold Star parent, he minimizes the ultimate sacrifice made by your son or daughter, especially if you're a Democrat. And if you happen to be a Democratic Gold Star parent who happens to be of Indian descent, you're doubly damned. But I didn't go to my keyboard to rail against Mr. Trump. As the late Rep. Louise Day Hicks, (D-South Boston), once noted: "You know where I stand"
Then-Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal opened his rebuttal by wishing those tuned in a "Happy Mardi Gras'. (link: https://youtu.be/QFK8aTpYAmg?si=dXUBakQ2hb4dvVSn) Jindal was a notorious policy wonk who had an extraordinarily high 'Geek Quotient', so nobody shouldn't have been surprised when he blew his chance at political fame and fortune.
Michell Bachman was clearly distracted by something occurring off camera during her rebuttal, and we never did find out whether it was some gyrating Chippendale dancer, or a newly discovered corpse. (link: https://youtu.be/1fRxO_Yx99I?si=bq4Lz8h8C1ZzJEji)
Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy appeared to be on the verge of tears during his rebuttal. (link: https://youtu.be/5RKmiivRrBU?si=XtubwdhMCygbS0mw)
To be fair, I should note that some managed to use their rebuttals to make political hay. Bill Clinton, Nikki Haley, Gretchen Whitmer, and Paul Ryan all acquitted themselves well. But the rebuttal is a poisoned chalice more often than not, and a savvy politician would do well to avoid this opportunity that has trapped many.
Friday, March 08, 2024
SOTU Highlights and Full Speech
Here are the highlights from Lincold Project. The full speech can be found here:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/31361101/4933989308550651810
Monday, March 04, 2024
Saturday, March 02, 2024
Tom on the Next Big TrumpTrial
March, like February, promises to be an eventful month, for any number of reasons. There's the NCAA Men's and Women's intercollegiate basketball tournaments, which always seem to be full of dramatic storylines and athletic derring-do.
Politics always offer its own dramatic storylines, from the upcoming "SuperTuesday '' primary, (March 5),to the continuing demonstrations of why Congressional Republicans are unfit to govern. (Biden impeachment farce as exhibit #1: GOP refusal to address the so-called 'Crisis on the Southern Border as exhibit # 2 because the addled Mr. Trump would rather use it as a wedge issue in the November election than take steps to solve it, with the inability of the House majority to pass any sort of budget, leaving the brave people of Ukraine to: "Twist, twist slowly in the wind...", [to steal a now forgotten line from former Nixon White House Counselor John Erlichman], as Exhibit # 3). But the event that I'm looking forward to is the Next big TrumpTrial, which begins on 23 March in Manhattan. It's the first of Mr. Trump's trials that are criminal, rather than civil. It's the oldest of the Trump indictments and many say that it's the weakest. It's the so-called "hush money" trial which, on the surface is about a payoff to a strippper, but upon closer inspection, involves the sort of cheap and tawdry tax fraud for which Mr. Trump has become notorious. This is the case brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, and is scheduled to be heard by Justice Jose Merchan, who has the reputation of not tolerating nonsense in his courtroom. Mr. Trump is a difficult client who is often his own worst enemy, and his new team of lawyers will be hard pressed to keep him in check. Smart people know what they don't know, while stupid people imagine that they know everything that there is to know.
Friday, March 01, 2024
I LOVE Eric Swalwell
BRILLIANT!
If you have not read Eric Swalwell's questions to Hunter Biden during his hearing, you have to. SWALWELL: Any time your father was in government, prior to the Presidency or before, did he ever operate a hotel? BIDEN: No, he has never operated a hotel. SWALWELL: So he’s never operated a hotel where foreign nationals spent millions at that hotel while he was in office? BIDEN: No, he has not. SWALWELL: Did your father ever employ in the Oval Office any direct family member to also work in the Oval Office? BIDEN: My father has never employed any direct family members, to my knowledge. SWALWELL: While your father was President, did anyone in the family receive 41 trademarks from China? BIDEN: No. SWALWELL: As President and the leader of the party, has your father ever tried to install as the chairperson of the party a daughter-in-law or anyone else in the family? BIDEN: No. And I don’t think that anyone in my family would be crazy enough to want to be the chairperson of the DNC. SWALWELL: Has your father ever in his time as an adult been fined $355 million by any State that he worked in? BIDEN: No, he has not, thank God. SWALWELL: Anyone in your family ever strike a multibillion dollar deal with the Saudi Government while your father was in office? BIDEN: No. SWALWELL: That’s all I’ve got.-
New Orleans will soon be welcoming home a New Orleans native and his wife. Jeff St. Romain is leaving his post as president of Volunteers...
-
from the Associated Press: Draft plan: FEMA may use trailers in new disaster The government may house disaster victims in trailers this hurr...