Trump’s Own Verdict on His 1st Week of Trial: ‘A SNOOZEFEST!’

 Posted by at 11:58 am  Politics
Apr 192024
 

We probably all believed the first-ever criminal trial of a former president would be bit quite riveting.  But according to The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman (one of the very few reporters allowed in the actual courtroom) and a handful of sketch artists, not so with Donnie.

As Jon Stewart succinctly framed it:

Given Trump’s now well-documented snooze, you’ve got to hope we’ll be hearing a good deal less about “Sleepy Joe” from viral-trending Sleepy Don.

In truth, that was just the spicy tidbit the Internet was hoping for – and boy, did they run with it!

But before we get to enjoy some of the highlights, we’ll give Donnie some fair time to whine, noting that he took to Truth Social to strongly deny he was napping by including an “unaltered” photo to prove it.

But that only led to some helpful suggestions on how to better disguise his catnaps.

Almost immediately Trump earned a couple of new monikers that I’m sure would have made Mario Puzo proud:

Both George Takei and MeidasTouch noted that Trump has imitated the persona of at least three of the Snow White Dwarves: Dopey, Grumpy and now Sleepy.

No doubt a good many Americans wondered what Trump dreams about when he drifts off.  Can’t help but believe this one comes pretty close …

It’s been noted that this isn’t the first time Trump has been caught “resting his eyes”.

So, like with yawning in a group, there’s some concern that Sleepy Don snoozing in court might be contagious:

And while I suspect more than a few good folks would enjoy playing Shakespeare’s Horatio to Trump’s Hamlet with “Good night … and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest” – right now we’ll just have to make do with “Keep counting those sheep, Don”.

As for me:

I prefer Presidents who DON’T fall asleep before the lunch break in their Hush-Money-Paid-To-A-Porn-Star-Election-Interference trial.

 

 

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Open Thread April 19, 2024

 Posted by at 6:09 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 192024
 

Yesterday, I had had a pretty good night’s sleep. Of course I had done some stuff the day before – packed and tied four boxes for pickup, unpacked my new (to me and already obsolete) computer and broke up the box it came in, fighting staples and glue, and a couple of other little things. But I felt good enough to take in a small grocery order, and assemble ingredients for a recipe which I can now make. (Don’t get too excited about the computer. I am not going to plug it in until I can also plug in a USB multi-hub, since the place I am putting it makes it very difficult to reach the back.  And I don’t want to move my present 8-port one from where it is.  So I ordered a new one – probably nect week sometime it should arrive.)

Someone has made what I can only call a “mockyoumentary” out of Trump’s** anecdote of the Battle of Gettysburg. Yes, it’s awful, but it’s also short – and very funny in a schadenfreude kind of way.

Mary Trump, as you know, is following Trump**’s cases from a personal perspective. She put together a group of topics from Tuesday’s jury selection, including a list of characteristics on selected jurors which are allowed to be made public.

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Open Thread April 18, 2024

 Posted by at 6:01 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 182024
 

Yesterday, I arose after a long night with very little sleep (I did rip through a bunch of Sudokus, though.) I’m yawning a little, but otherwise OK – and hoping that staying up will help me sleep better tonight. And also that I get a bunch done.

Andy Borowitz with poll results. I apologize there’s a picture – but it could be worse.

Heather Cox Richardson summarizes a whole bunch of related events here, but I believe that’s a good thing. When one is in the middle of something (and especially if one is in the middle of more than one something), it’s all too easy to forget details which may be critical.

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Open Thread April 17, 2024

 Posted by at 6:07 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 172024
 

Well, I did do a post for yesterday, but the computer ate it.  And I didn’t discover that early enough to try to reconstruct it.  Sorry.

Yesterday, the court in Manhattan managed to select and swear in 6 jurors, includinng the foreperson (which surprises me – I thought the foreperson was chosen from [and by] the full jury. But whatever.)

None of us is completely immune to the belief that “Everyone thinks exactly the way I do.” In people who value the truth and facts, it sometimes presents as “Everyone knows exactly what I know.” None of this is accurate. This article may give you an idea just how inaccurate it is. It really cannot be repeated too often.

This may be just me … but this article starts with the statistic “Internet scammers targeted more than 10,000 Coloradans last year, stealing a total of $187,621,731.” I immediately thought, that averages out to almost $19,000 per victim. Who are these people (who can come up with that kind of money to lose)? I do realize a lot of victims are businesses – but still.

Pat B is having fun with family and company probably the rest of the week. I don’t expect to have a TJI every day, but I thought I should share this one – “The media has wrongly adopted a narrative that views the trial as a proxy for the election. It is not. If we let go of that false narrative, we can observe the trial for what it is—a clunky, imperfect way to arrive at a procedural determination about whether the state has met its burden of proof.” – Robert Hubbell

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Open Thread April 15, 2024

 Posted by at 5:52 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 152024
 

Yesterday, I came across a new Parody Project video at Democratic Underground, and I’m providing the link to that site (you can easily get to YouTube from it if you prefer.) The poster,, “DFW,” is “The freedom Toast” just as Don Caron is “The Parody Project.” DFW is an ex-pat living in Europe after a lifetime of foreign service. In the one photo I’ve seen of him, he looks a bit like Santa Claus in a dress suit – and that’s probably more than you wanted to know. I recommend the YouTube CC because the white type washes out on some of the light backgrounds – the CC isn’t perfect, but it’s something.

This has taken a long, long time to accomplish, and it’s really only starting, but I for one am glad it has at last gotten this far.

On the eve of a major trial, Richardson takes a look at the other (neglected by the MSM) story of how the economy works, and when it works best, and why. While attending to the Trump** story, we also need to be telling this one.

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Open Thread April 14, 2024

 Posted by at 5:54 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 142024
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Die Fledermaus” by Johann Strauss Jr (“The Waltz King”). This and “The Merry Widow” bY Lehar are the only two operettas I can think of which are sometimes done by regular opera companies. Both can be described as “zany.” Of course so can Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas – and, really, most operettas of the period. People have always enjoyed far-fetched humor. “Fledermaus” means “Bat,” and the premise is that, a year before the operetta, the lead tenor and the baritone went to a an event together, something between a party, a costume ball, and an orgy, and both got drunk. The baritone, who dressed as a bat, passed out, and the tenor (dressed as a butterfly) left him in a public park to sober up, and he woke to crowds pointing and laughing. This year, he wants revenge – and he gets it. And everyone except the tenor gets amusement and laughs at the tenors expense. When I was working as a volunteer costumer for my local college’s music department (before I got hired and paid by the theatre department), this was one of the shows I dressed. That was even longer ago than when the recording was made which they used yesterday to celebrate the operetta’s 150th anniversary (it premiered in April, 1876.) Also, I heard from Pat, who said her doctor’s apointment went well, and she is greatly relieved.

This is neither political, medical, financial, or helpful in any other way. It’s just interesting in that it reveals issues in the way we think about time (and probably other things as well.)

Many sources are discussing the decision by the Arizona Supreme Court that an abortion law from 1864 can stand. Much of the coverage includes lurid detail about the life and actions of the author of the law, which may be interesting, but really isn’t germane to the merits (and demerits, which outnumber the merits) of the law itself. This (gift-linked) article from the Washington Post doesn’t go there, instead concentrating on the effect of the ruling on the 2024 general election, both statewide and nationwide, and the reactions of Arizonans both in and out of politics.

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Solar Eclipse: A Coming Together

 Posted by at 12:45 pm  Politics
Apr 132024
 

It may be that the best part of the 2024 Solar Eclipse wasn’t the eclipse at all, but the feeling of sharing a unifying connecting event as a community – especially since we’re being buffeted daily by our current polarization.

It was a treat to scour the Internet in search of some of the best photos shared online celebrating such an epic event.

But given how incessantly a certain politician spews falsehoods, maybe it shouldn’t be that surprising that the much-anticipated eclipse was somewhat eclipsed by a misconception.

An X-Tweet that went viral falsely claimed that the most stunning photo of the 2024 eclipse was taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

 

This, despite the fact that in the week prior to the April 8th eclipse NASA took pains to explain that the JSWT would NOT being taking any photos of the eclipse because it could not withstand the heat and light generated.  Heads Up: There would be NO JWST photos of the big event!

Even more outlandish is the fact that the viral tweet celebrating the “JSWT photo“ is NOT actually a photo, but a hand-drawn homage to an actual photo of the eclipse – AND it was of the 2017 total eclipse!

The inspiration for the drawing was a composite of 35 HDR images of the 2017 eclipse taken by Dr. Sebastian Voltmer who has a PhD in the field of Scientific Photography.

And the artist who was inspired by his photograph was Cathrin Machin who posted an Instagram time-lapse video of her 10-day project to hand-draw a reproduction.

Have you ever seen an eclipse in person? Hand drawn image of the Moon Obscuring the Sun, took 10 days to draw based Here’s the thing -… | Instagram

So, let’s begin our journey with a few close-ups of the eclipse – from both 2017 and 2024.

Another favorite way of commemorating the 2024 eclipse was by taking a series of pictures – essentially a time-lapse memorializing the event.

Lots of folks felt the urge to put their own unique brand to the event in fun ways.

And Americans from across the country shared their take on the epic event by posting how they marked this special occasion – whether by projecting telescopic images for all to enjoy, daredevil aerobatics or memorializing its singular natural beauty.

I can’t help but feel that we’d all be well-served to remember the feeling of such a unifying event by taking a step back to enjoy the “Big Picture” that swept across our Big Blue Marble …

 

 

 

 

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Open Thread April 13, 2024

 Posted by at 6:00 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 132024
 

Yesterday, Robert Reich’s column was about the Manhattan criminal charges against Donald Trump**. He explains in detail exactly why it is wrong to call it a “hush money” case. I umderstand, and I’m sure he also does, the temptation to find a way to distinguish it from all his other legal woes, so that people know instantly which case one is talking about. But it also plays into his hands. “New York election interference case” or “Manhattan election interference case” are two ways we can call a spade a spade and still make it clear what case is being alluded to.

This is a “Colorado leads the Way” story. I’m sad that it took this long. But I’m bursting with pride that it’s being done now.

Not to suggest there is such a thing as a good Republican today – but, you know, the House could have done a lot worse than Mike Johnson.

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