July 4, 2023

I'd like to recognize all 15 American colonies on this Independence Day.

15? Yes, 13 British, plus the 2 Spanish colonies of East Florida & West Florida, which seem to be almost always forgotten in American history, at least in the US.

This is a map of the Spanish territory of La Florida, made in 1584, when the entire southeast US was claimed by Spain, 36 years before the British arrived & 192 years (yes 192 years) before 1776. I'm not sure about y'all, but as an American, I wasn't taught about this in school. Incidentally, Spain established the town of St Augustine in what became the colony of East Florida in 1565, 55 years before the British pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. The Spanish settlement of St Augustine is the oldest continuously-occupied settlement in the US. I encourage a visit there if you can, it is rich with history. And believe it or not, back in that era Florida was friendly to former slaves, & protected them. There's a LOT of history there to be learned.

[link:|]


This second map shows details of the Spanish colonies of East Florida & West Florida, & how they evolved from 1763 to 1784. East Florida & West Florida were the 14th & 15th American colonies that seem to have been largely forgotten in American history.

[link:|]

July 3, 2023

303 Creative SCOTUS decision: An interesting point

I saw an interesting exchange about the 303 Creative same sex marriage case on Twitter today, so I'm sharing it here. It's a point that I didnt know about until now & I have no legal expertise on the matter, but it does (if correct) address one of the causes of anger & questions about the case. FWIW I trust Greg Doucette on legal matters.


Tristan Snell:
Rules 59 and 60 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allow for the reopening of litigation based on newly discovered facts — or the fraud or misrepresentation of a litigant.

The 303 case MUST be reopened for further review — until the truth is 100% revealed.

T Greg Doucette:
Not here

The facts in the 303 case were stipulated, meaning both sides agreed to them and the Court is required to take them as true for purposes of making its decision

You can have a judgment set aside under Rule 60(b)(2) for "newly discovered evidence that, with reasonable diligence, could not have been discovered"

But – as the media coverage shows – that evidence *could* have been discovered with reasonable diligence

July 2, 2023

DeSantis's stalling campaign: how to lose friends and alienate people

DeSantis’s stalling campaign: how to lose friends and alienate people

Florida governor launched his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential pick as Trump’s main challenger but finds himself sinking in the polls

Among the books still available in Florida despite Ron DeSantis’s ongoing purge of “unsuitable” material is one the Republican governor might want to peruse.

Dale Carnegie’s 1936 bestseller How to Win Friends and Influence People would appear to be the antithesis of DeSantis’s stuttering push for his party’s 2024 presidential nomination, as Donald Trump’s closest challenger traverses the country turning off voters to his dull personality and extremist policies.

By almost every measure, the rightwinger has had another lackluster week on the campaign trail, with “clumsy” missteps in New Hampshire, Texas, California and New York. Now, barely one month after his glitch-ridden launch on Twitter, DeSantis finds himself sinking in the polls, closer to the large field of optimists below him than the twice-indicted, twice-impeached former president who retains a stranglehold over the Republican party.


[link:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/02/ron-desantis-campaign-2024-republicans|]

July 2, 2023

A request for my DU friends... re the flaming dumpster fire of Twitter.

If you'd be so kind, please go to downrightnow.com & report Twitter as "The service is down"

Bombard them!

Edit to add: You're not lying. I haven't been able to access even basic Twitter functionality all day. It's truly "down".

July 1, 2023

I gotta say... I'm enjoying the Twitter meltdown today.

I'm sure others have already posted this, but Twitter had a bill due for cloud (hosting?) services yesterday, which apparently they (Elon) didn't pay.

They didn't pay their bill yesterday & today the site is going down in flames. None of the basic functionality is working for me, & apparently, millions of others.

As y'all probably know I've used Twitter as a primary source (accounts I've vetted & trust) for quite a while now, but after seeing how Elmo has fkkd over employees & service providers, I feel like he's experiencing his just rewards.

Edit to add:
'Elon Musk didn't pay the bill': Twitter users slam billionaire amid global outage

Twitter's billionaire owner's cost-cutting measures have come under fire from its users with the social media platform showing no sign of recovery from the outage

[link:https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/elon-musk-didnt-pay-the-bill-twitter-users-slam-billionaire-amid-global-outage-387845-2023-07-01|]

June 30, 2023

Former Trump campaign official cooperating with special counsel in 2020 election interference probe

CNN
—
Former Donald Trump campaign official Mike Roman is cooperating with prosecutors from special counsel Jack Smith’s team in the ongoing criminal probe related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

One of the sources said that the agreement, known as a proffer agreement, means that Roman may not have to appear before the grand jury but could instead speak to prosecutors in a more informal setting. Under such an agreement, prosecutors generally agree not to use those statements against them in future criminal proceedings.

[link:https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/29/politics/mike-roman-trump-campaign-cooperate-special-counsel-probe/index.html|]

June 29, 2023

Post-affirmative action, these law schools may provide path for others

California banned affirmative action in 1996. Michigan banned it in 2006. A total of 9 states had banned it before today’s SCOTUS ruling. Initially, enrollment of minorities & folks of color dropped at the universities featured in this article when the ban went into effect, but the universities found ways to attract a diverse student body without explicitly considering race & today their enrollment of minorities & folks of color is higher than it was under Affirmative Action.

Excerpts from the article:
Enrollment at the University of Michigan Law School and the University of California, Berkeley School of Law among Black, Hispanic and Native American first-year students plummeted after both states banned affirmative action in public university admissions.

But over time each school found new ways to boost their percentages of those diverse groups beyond pre-ban levels by adopting strategies that other institutions likely will mirror now that the Supreme Court has prohibited public and private colleges and universities from considering race when admitting students. Those range from participating in pipeline programs that introduce college students to legal careers to looking at applicants' family income and whether they are the first in their families to attend college.

Michigan Law and Berkeley Law both voluntarily withhold information about each applicant's race to ensure they comply with their state laws, admissions officials said.

[link:https://www.reuters.com/legal/post-affirmative-action-these-law-schools-may-provide-path-others-2023-06-29/|]

June 20, 2023

Alabama has until July 21 to enact a new congressional map, federal court says

From Democracy Docket:
BREAKING: Alabama has until July 21 to enact a new congressional map, federal court says. This follows the U.S. Supreme Court's decision affirming that Alabama must draw a second majority-Black district to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

https://twitter.com/DemocracyDocket/status/1671246809086283777?t=a_QJ4KmQcvjsGwQrLsv1qg&s=19

June 14, 2023

The indictment provides an offramp for some Republicans.

Just my observation, looking at what some Republicans in Congress have been saying since tfg's indictment was unsealed. Several seem to be taking the opportunity to use it as an "offramp," to take a step away from Trump. Some are cautious in the words they choose, understandably, but they're not displaying all-out Trump cult devotion & rejecting all the charges as a "witch hunt." I'm not sure there are any big surprises here, & I'm not sure how far it will go, but it is notable. It makes me wonder if he'll end up running in the primary without the support, or even with the open opposition, of many politicians in his own party? Especially as more details of the case, & how serious his crimes were, become public.

Here's a list of recent comments I compiled, most from Manu Raju, Chief Congressional Correspondent, CNN, as an example of what I'm referring to:

1) Mitt Romney: “Mr. Trump brought these charges upon himself by not only taking classified documents, but by refusing to simply return them when given numerous opportunities…
“These allegations are serious and… consistent with his other actions offensive to the national interest”

2) GOP Sen. Murkowski says the Trump charges are “quite serious” and “cannot be casually dismissed,” as many in her party have been quick to do

3) Asked Rep. Don Bacon about the Trump indictment. Bacon, who hails from a swing district, says he’s ‘shocked’ at Trump’s “alleged callousness” with classified records and calls the obstruction allegations “inexcusable” if true.
"I am shocked at the alleged callousness of how these documents were handled. They should not have been stored in his home and should have been completely handed over when the government requested."
“I just think it's obvious what the president did was wrong," GOP Rep. Don Bacon told us of Trump
"I just think the emperor has no clothes, and we need to have Republicans stand up and say that”

4) Chris Christie "This is irresponsible conduct," Christie said. “The conduct that Donald Trump engaged in was completely self-inflicted."
He added: “And the facts that are laid out here are damning in terms of Donald Trump's conduct.”

5) Trump’s former attorney general Bill Barr on Fox News this morning regarding the indictment: “He's not a victim here. He was totally wrong that he had the right to have those documents. Those documents are among the most sensitive secrets the country has”

6) John Thune, in his first reaction to Trump indictment, told me: “Well, they're very serious allegations. The burden of proof from the Justice Department will be high.”
“I think there are a lot of people across the country have skepticism about the standards of justice and how they're applied and wanting to make sure that they're playing equally. So. They've got a very high burden of proof, but the allegations are serious,” he said.

7) Cornyn on Trump allegations: "It's not good."
Sen Cornyn says he has concerns with Trump, Clinton handling of classified info: “I do have concern about all the news about the misuse of classified information. I happen to be on the Senate Intelligence Committee and I get classified briefings .. What he did was unacceptable”

8) Asked Lindsey Graham whether Trump should have just given the documents back. “Most politicians get in trouble by self-inflicted wounds. Yeah I mean he believes he had the right to possess these under the presidential records act. I don't know whether that's accurate or not."

9) Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Republican of Texas, on allegations in Trump indictment: "It’s very problematic. There’s a reason I’m not defending it. That’s about all I’ll say about it"

10) Rep. Dan Newhouse, Republican of Washington state, says he’s withholding judgment but adds: “No one is above the law.”

11) “I would not feel comfortable with a convicted felon in the White House,” GOP Rep. Ken Buck tells
@DanaBashCNN on @InsidePolitics
He pointed to all of Trump’s attacks against Hillary Clinton in 2016. “His words have set the standard.”

12) Asked GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski about Trump indictment. "It’s a pretty comprehensive condemnation of the president’s actions here."
She was also very critical of GOP efforts to undermine Jack Smith. “We have to take this seriously.”
“We cannot take this lightly, so to kill the messenger does not account for the gravity of the indictment that is out there,” Murkowski said. “I don’t care whether you’re a Trump supporter or a Trump opposer, you have to take this seriously."
She said of Trump: “Keeping classified documents... when this came to his attention, he chose to not return it ... He had a way forward if he had erroneously taken some of these documents, he had a chance to return them, present them back. But he just doubled down.”

13) Tim Burchett, the conservative Republican of Tennessee, told me he couldn't support Trump if he's convicted.
“I’d just have to read the conviction, but no, honestly, on the surface, I wouldn’t. That doesn’t look good,” Burchett said.

14) GOP Rep. Steve Womack to me on Trump allegations: "I have serious concerns about anybody that has a reckless disregard for the handling of classified documents."

June 9, 2023

Trump 20-24 Years in Prison

[link:|]