Tag: trump

Buyer Beware

by earlthepearl137

The other night, I was happily watching old clips of my favorite late-night hosts mocking Donald Trump’s legal problems.  This particular clip from 8 months ago was from a Seth Meyers segment called “A Closer Look,” and I did take a closer look – at one of Donald Trump’s Lawyers.  Alina Habba had appeared, up until this point, as a lawyer who Donald Trump hired just for her looks.  In this clip, however, I could see the legal wheels turning inside her head, as it dawned on her that her client was incriminating himself.

Trump was outside the courthouse explaining why he couldn’t possibly be guilty of defrauding anyone, because there is a disclaimer at the beginning of all his financial statements that basically says, do your own research, this report is “Worthless.”  Alina Habba, who had been standing dutifully in the background trying not to look bored, suddenly realized that her client was saying something he shouldn’t be saying.  She realized that he was verbally putting a noose around his own neck, and she wondered what she could do to stop him.

She looks over at the other attorneys, with a look that says, You’ve got to stop him, before he digs a hole so deep that we all fall into it.

She was probably thinking about all the lawyers whose careers were ruined because they got involved with Donald Trump.  Rudy Guiliani, who at one time was known as America’s mayor, served as Trump’s personal attorney and is now hawking organic coffee to try to stave off bankruptcy.  The number of lawyers Trump has thrown under the bus to save his own sorry ass is legion, and I’ll bet Alina was thinking that the name Alina Habba was about to be added to the long list of collateral damage that has resulted from an association with Donald Trump.

Trump rambled on and I guess Alina’s mind did, too, as she thought of the people on the list of disgraced Trump lawyers that she would soon be joining.  Kenneth Chesebro, James Troupis, and cute little Jenna Ellis, who we all remember pleading guilty to RICO charges in Georgia with tears pouring down her remorseful face.  Then, of course, there are John Eastman, Christina Bobb, Jeffrey Clark, and Sidney Powell.  Who could forget her?  She threatened to “release the Kraken.”  Instead, she opened up a can of whoop ass that she spilled all over herself.

Michael Cohen went to jail for Trump.  Nowadays, he’s a star witness against Trump.  There were more.  If Alina searched her memory for other lawyers who had been tossed overboard in the wake created by Donald J. Trump cruising through their lives.  In Georgia alone, there were Cleta Mitchell, Ray Smith, and Robert Cheeley.

Maybe she was also thinking about the Trump supporters who went to jail for the insurrection at the Capital on January 6th.  In his current campaign for the Presidency, he’s proclaiming that if elected he will issue pardons to them.  Funny how that thought never occurred to him in his last two weeks in office, when he actually had the power to issue pardons.  Maybe he was just too busy issuing pardons to some of his other criminal associates, like Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Stephen K. Bannon, or George Papadopoulos.  He didn’t think about his “J-6 warriors” in jail, until he got the idea to use them in his run for re-election.

Alina wanted desperately to stop Trump’s rambling speech that day.  Look at that last picture.  She’s not looking at Trump.  She’s looking at her colleagues.  Her eyes were trying to send a message to the other attorneys, “Somebody, please, stop him.”

Of course, she wasn’t able to control him, and, of course, Trump lost another legal case.  Sure, he can get thousands of red hat cult members to attend his rallies, but he just can’t seem to find a single juror, who isn’t convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that he is guilty.  E. Jean Carroll beat him in court twice.  His corporation lost a big fraud case in court.  Then he lost almost a half billion dollars in his own personal fraud case.  He was recently found guilty of 34 felony charges and 10 acts of Contempt of Court.  He has a few more court cases coming up, which look like slam dunks for the Prosecution, which his appointees on the Supreme Court are trying to stall until after the election, so that he may be able to pardon himself.

What Alina’s eyes were saying that day outside the courtroom is exactly what I would like to say to all the people who will be voting in November, “Please, stop him.”  The best way to preserve our Democracy is to use the most powerful tool that Democracy has ever given us to do just that, the ballot box.  The barbarians aren’t at the gate anymore.  They crashed the gate long ago, and they’re gonna try to storm the Capital again.  Please, stop Donald Trump.  Use your vote against him and his ilk, and stop them all.  A grateful country will thank you by flying the flag right-side up.

If you care to judge for yourself what Alina Habba was thinking just watch this clip from A Closer Look  (to save time, you can just need to watch 50 seconds of the 30-minute clip from the 5:36 to the 6:26 mark):

Bing Videos

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

Ten Cent Jimmy

by earlthepearl137

There was a clue on “Jeopardy!” today that needs some clarification.

The “answer” was “Who is James Buchanan?”

The nickname is correct, but the context is way wrong, as are many details about President Buchanan that have been widely disseminated.  Here is the full story as told in “President James Buchanan” a biography by Philip Shriver Klein:

Pages 133-134.

The program of attack on Van Buren presupposed attacks on all his lieutenants.  In Pennsylvania there was a very effective propaganda campaign to prove that Buchanan had urged a banking program that would reduce the wages of labor to ten cents a day.  “Ten Cent Jimmy,” the pamphlets were labelled.  Buchanan, in formal debate, always presented as strongly as he could the case of the opposition, and then proceeded to demolish it systematically by his own arguments.  In supporting the Independent Treasury Bill, he had outlined the terrible conditions which would prevail unless banks were reformed and had then gone on to show how much better all would fare under the proposed bill.  Senator John Davis of Massachusetts took the first section of this speech, and offered it as Buchanan’s reasons for supporting the Independent Treasury.  He took the “ten cents a day” phrase and quoted it out of context, asserting that Buchanan supported the Independent Treasury Bill in the hope that it would reduce wages, destroy banks and deflate property values.  Davis’s speeches, when circulated in print, had tremendous political impact.

Forney reported from Pennsylvania:  “I do not know when I have been so much disgusted with the course of any political opponent as with that of this Mr. Davis-…  He must be either a mere catspaw of others, or a weak, addle-brained man, or a malignant and unscrupulous ruffian…  When I see the effect they are making here, by means of his villainous perversion of your intelligible Defence (sic) of the laborer, I cannot but put such a construction upon his unworthy conduct.  Why, Sir, they have flooded this county with his so-called Reply to you….  A copy has been sent to nearly every Democrat….  His whole speech is the assumption of the broad ground that the people are ignorant, and unable to discriminate between right and wrong.”

The human mind has not yet discovered the way of counteracting promptly the effect of the bold lie propagated by the prominent man.  History is full of pertinent illustrations.  If representative government has a nemesis, this is probably it.  The “Ten Cent Jimmy” lie seriously weakened Buchanan in Pennsylvania.

Forney proposed that the Democrats “challenge any responsible member of the opposition here to join in the republication of both yours and Davis’ speeches, both of which are to be published correctly and … bound together, and so circulated… If they do not accept, they are down forever.”  The opposition did not accept, nor was it down forever.  Instead, it proceeded to improve its advantage by reviving the “drop of blood” smear and sending that out with the “Ten Cent Jimmy” pamphlets.  Editor Middleton, of the Lancaster Examiner, did much of the printing.  He had recently distinguished himself by shooting James Cameron when Cameron came in to beat him up for other lies he had published.  Buchanan was for “carrying the war into Carthage,” but his friends advised against it.  “It’s only giving tone to falsehoods by heeding them,” wrote Judge Champneys.

Buchanan made several long defensive speeches in the Senate on the “Ten Cent Jimmy” accusations.  “If the most artful and unfair man in the world had determined to destroy any public measure,” he asked, “in what manner would he most effectually damn it in public estimation?  It would be to enumerate all the terrible consequences which would flow from it, according to the predictions of its enemies, and put them into the mouth of its friends as arguments in its favor.  There could not by possibility be any stronger admission of its evil tendency….  This is the ridiculous attitude in which I am placed by the Senator’s speech.  If these imputations were well founded, I must be one of the most ferocious men in existence.  Destruction must be my delight. No wild agrarian in the country has ever thought of waging such an indiscriminate war against all property, my own among the rest, as that which has been attributed to me by the Senator.”  But Buchanan’s exposure of Davis’s fraud proved a futile effort.  People found it easier to say “Ten Cent Jimmy” than to read a rebuttal, and the nickname stuck.

Today, we have another Presidential candidate, who delights in bold lies and giving horrible nicknames to his opponents.  Nancy Pelosi was called “Crazy Nancy” and “Nervous Nancy.”  Hillary Clinton was called “Crooked Hillary.”  Even fellow Republicans were verbally attacked if they dared to run against Donald Trump in the primaries.  Jeb Bush was “Low Energy Jeb.”  Ted Cruz was “Lyin’ Ted.”  Well, that one was probably well-deserved, though.  Ron DeSantis was “Meatball Ron” or “Ron DeSanctimonious.”  Nikki Haley was “Birdbrain.”  Marco Rubio was “Little Marco.”

Now, Trump has turned his sights on Joe Biden with nicknames like “Basement Biden” or “Sleepy Joe.”  But some people have turned the tables on the orange hate-spewer.  Stormy “Horseface” Daniels was one of the star witnesses against him in the case that found him guilty of 34 Felonies.  The other star witness against him, Michael Cohen also turned the tables with a nickname of his own for Trump, “Donald Von ShitsinPantz.”

How are we supposed to act when our opponents are cruel or act like a bully?  Michelle Obama said, “When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level.  No, our motto is ‘When they go low, we go high.’”

James Buchanan, himself, had advice for settling differences, when he said, “The ballot box is the surest arbiter of disputes among free men.”  Keep that in mind this November, and make sure that Donald Trump will no longer be able to bully the country like he tried to do on January 6th, 2021.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

The Miserable

by earlthepearl137

Victor Hugo died in 1885, so I don’t think he’ll mind too much if I have a little fun with his great story Les Miserables.  My version is pretty close to the original, except that Donald J. (Jean Valjean) Trump is the bad guy.

The Miserable

Our story opens on Donald Jean Valjean Trump, a wealthy real estate mogul who is convicted of 34 counts of fraud, and is sentenced to spend just one day in prison.  “I hope that just one day in prison,” says Judge Merchan, “will be enough for you to see the error of your ways, and turn your life around.”

Outside the courtroom after the trial, Valjean constantly complains that he’s innocent.  He didn’t commit any fraud.  All he was trying to do was to give a little bread to a poor starving porn star named Fantine, and her poor starving daughter, Cosette, who reminds him of his own daughter, who he has always wanted to bang.  With the help of cult members, Valjean escapes the court house, but the court deputy Alvin Bragg vows that he will someday recapture him.

Valjean gets a job as a banquet waiter at a fancy hotel in Florida and steals all the silverware.  Using the money he got for the silverware and the pseudonym Jean Barron, he goes on to hawk every snake-oil product he can find – Barron Wine, Barron Bibles, Barron Sneakers, Barron Cologne, Barron Steaks, a Barron University Doctor of B.S Degree, and red Barron University Base Ball Association caps, (with BUBBA embroidered on them).  He becomes very wealthy.  So wealthy, in fact, that he runs for President of the United States, and with the help of 10,000 stand-up comedians and one Russian Dictator, he actually becomes the President.

His term as President is, quite frankly, Miserable.  His first decision, to give the ultra-rich a tax cut, is a disaster for the economy and the National Debt Grows.  Then, a worldwide epidemic wipes out over a million Americans.  On top of all that Inspector Mueller in the Justice Department recognizes him from his past and starts investigating all his shady business deals.  Valjean winds up being impeached, but he convinces the Senate to look for evidence of his innocence on Hillary Clinton’s laptop computer.  They can’t find the laptop, so they acquit him.  However, the American public is slowly turning their back on him and they vote him out of office.  But he likes being in office.  He can play golf everyday, while a group of Secret Servicemen make sure that none of the many people he’s screwed in his life can get near enough to kill him.  So, he reveals his true identity as D VJ Trump and asks for his old cult followers to storm the Capital and change the election results to make him the winner.  The coupe fails, and he is once again impeached.  His unpaid lawyers tell the Senate that he was only trying to bolster tourism in Washington, D.C.  The Senators don’t believe this, but they acquit him anyway since he was now living in Florida with Rudy Giuliani, and they figured that was enough punishment for anyone.

Over the years, Cossette married Jared, and Trump realized that he would never be able to bang Cossette while Jared was around, so the only thing he can do to feed his ever-expanding narcissistic appetite is to run for President again.

Then Alvin Bragg shows up to arrest him, but Trump gets a Saudi Arabian Prince and an unnamed Russian to put up a bazillion dollar bond to keep him out of jail pending appeal.

Finally, there is fighting on the street between regular citizens and Trump loyalists.  Trump rushes out to encourage his cult members, but he is tackled by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, and an angry group of unpaid lawyers, who beat the shit out of Trump, and then beat the shit out of his shitty diapers.  Alvin Bragg stops the fight and Arrests Valjean.

Alvin Bragg is sitting in a chair next to a bed where Trump is handcuffed. It is his deathbed, and he still denies ever doing anything wrong.  He calls his wife Melania to join him at the hour of his death, but she is visiting her lawyer to make sure that her share of the will is insured.  So, Trump asks for his daughter to join him, but she’s avoided his lecherous advances all her life and won’t let him score in the end.  She tells him that she has children of her own and must go to a PTA meeting.  Then his son Eric shows up, and Trump says, “Who are you?” and dies and farts loudly.

The End.

I know.  It needs work, but at least it has a happy ending.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

Thirty-Four Counts

by earlthepearl137

In honor of the Springsteen – Trump Feud of 2024 – “The War at the Shore”

34 Counts.

[Intro]
(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
 (Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
 (Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
 
[Verse 1]
Thirty-Four Counts and we’ll take that ride
Across the Hudson River to the other side
Thirty-Four Counts cut through all of these nights
They’re kneeling on him in the Court House
Like a porn queen in the lights.

[Chorus]
Is it the truth? Is it a lie?
Should we believe Cohen? Or some other guy?
It ain’t no secret (It ain’t no secret)
It ain’t no secret (It ain’t no secret)
No secret, my friend
You can’t flaunt the law for decades in your Orangutan skin

[Post-Chorus]
(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
 (Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
 (Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty

[Verse 2]
Thirty-Four Counts, Melania isn’t anywhere to balk
She said, “What the hell, it’s only locker room talk.”
He doesn’t understand any of the rules
He thinks he’s above us and we’re all his tools.
I had his baby.  Could you ask for anything more?
No, he needed porn stars and screaming out “fore”

[Chorus]
Is it the truth? Is it a lie?
Should we believe Cohen? Or some other guy?
It ain’t no secret (It ain’t no secret)
It ain’t no secret (It ain’t no secret)
No secret, my friend
You can’t flaunt the law for decades in your Orangutan skin

[Chorus]
Is it the truth? Is it a lie?
Should we believe Cohen? Or some other guy?
It ain’t no secret (It ain’t no secret)
It ain’t no secret (It ain’t no secret)
No secret, my friend
You can’t flaunt the law for decades in your Orangutan skin

(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
 (Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
 (Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty

[Guitar Solo]

[Chorus]
Is it the truth? Is it a lie?
Should we believe Cohen? Or some other guy?
It ain’t no secret (It ain’t no secret)
It ain’t no secret (It ain’t no secret)
No secret, my friend
You can’t flaunt the law for decades in your Orangutan skin

[Verse 3]
Thirty-Four Counts and we’ll take that ride
Across this Hudson River to the other side
Thirty-Four Counts I got my boots caked in this mud
We’re baptized in this court room.  It’s here we’ll stand or fall
With liberty and justice finally fair to one and all.
[Chorus]
Is it the truth? Is it a lie?
Should we believe Cohen? Or some other guy?
It ain’t no secret (It ain’t no secret)
It ain’t no secret (It ain’t no secret)
No secret, my friend
You can’t flaunt the law for decades in your Orangutan skin

[Outro]
(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
 (Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
 (Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty

(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
 (Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
 (Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
 (Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
 (Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty
(Thirty-Four Counts) – Guilty

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

December 15th

by earlthepearl137

In my last rant, I mentioned a few dates that will live in infamy.  Today, I want to talk about another day that we don’t hardly remember, but it should be a National Holiday, December 15, 1791.  The “Founding Fathers” signed The Constitution of the United States on September 17, 1987.  Almost immediately, 12 Amendments to their original Constitution were proposed.  These matters were so important to the brand-new citizens of the United States of America, that the necessary mandate of 3/4ths of the States quickly voted to accept 10 of those Amendments.  Those 10 Amendments became known as the Bill of Rights and took effect on December 15, 1791. 

As of that day, the Constitution guaranteed the American people freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, the right to peacefully assemble, the right to petition the government, the right to keep and bear arms, and the protection from quartering troops in private homes without consent.  We also were guaranteed protection from unreasonable searches and seizures, protection against self-incrimination, and the right to due process of law, and all those rights were given in just the first 5 amendments.  The other 5 Amendments in the Bill of Rights guaranteed Americans the right to a fair trial and protection from cruel and unusual punishment, among other things.

Recently, the Constitution in General and the first two Amendments specifically have been the subject of much debate.  Language has evolved over the past 232 years, and interpreting both the intent of the Founding Fathers, and the spirit of the Amendments has now become a political football.  What is and what isn’t protected by free speech?  Does freedom of religion include freedom from religion?  Does “Fake News” have the same freedom as real news, and what is real and what is fake?  Can every citizen own a basement full of assault weapons?

Now, thanks to the State of Colorado, another Amendment has jumped into the spotlight, the 14th Amendment, an old Civil-War era Amendment written with the intent on keeping Confederates, a.k.a. insurrectionists, out of office in the United States.  It is just one small section of the 14th Amendment that has caused all this fuss.  It is known as Section 3 – Disqualification from Public Office.  It states:

“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Using this Amendment, the State of Colorado has stricken Donald Trump’s name from the primary election ballot there.  Did Donald Trump engage in insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution of the United States?  That’s something for a court to decide.  Did Donald Trump give “aid or comfort to the enemies thereof”?  Well, he promised to pardon all those convicted of insurrection and other charges resulting from their activities in the Capital on January 6,  2021.  I’d say that offering pardons to convicted insurrectionists most definitely qualifies as giving aid or comfort to the enemies of the Constitution.   Basically, he said, “Vote for me, and I’ll set you free.”  Now, where have I heard that before?  Oh yeah, it was in a song by the Temptations called Ball of Confusion.

Now, some Trump supporters think that we shouldn’t use an old Amendment against their “Orange Jesus.”  They claim that the 14th Amendment is out of date because it was ratified way back in 1868.  Well, despite being old, it’s still the law of the land, and, for that matter, the Amendment that permits Trump supporters and everyone else to voice their dissenting opinion dates back even earlier to 1791.  Their 2nd Amendment right to bear arms is also 77 years older than the 14th Amendment, as it dates back to 1791, also. If you want to talk about updating and rewriting old Constitutional Amendments, I think that the weekly mass murders committed in The United States dictate that the language and intent of the 2nd Amendment should be resolved first.

Thanks for listening to my rant.  I’ll repay your time by including a link to a video of Ball of Confusion that shows all the lyrics. I went on YouTube to listen to it and played it over and over.  The song came out in 1970, but I was totally amazed at how good it still was and how it easily brought back memories from more than 50 years ago.  I was also saddened, though, because, unfortunately, 53 years later, it is still an accurate description of the world of today, a ball of confusion.

(37) Ball of Confusion – Temptations (lyrics) HD – YouTube

So, despite all our progress, things haven’t changed all that much in 50 years.  The problems we had then are still with us today.

“…and the band plays on…”

One thing that is the same is that this world still needs a whole lot more Peace & Love.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl