The Georgia Indictment is eventually released
Today is Friday August 11th, 2023. Kia ora!
Today someone is supposed to come from Access, but the regular person is not available and my cold is still quite miserable, so I cancel. I could go into town and have my blood test, but I don’t even feel up to that.
It was a very cold start this morning (2°C), but it became much warmer during the day; I’m wearing a woollen roll-top jersey, but it’s almost too warm, a big contrast to the cold yesterday.
It’s now Sunday August 13th.
On Friday I felt a bit coldy, but yesterday was worse: I had a really running nose all day, and I didn’t go out at all, although I’d had plans to go grocery shopping and perhaps go to one of the movies at Pauatahanui. I wasn’t going anywhere! JD brought something home for lunch, and we had takeaways for dinner. Last night we happened on Fisk on Netflix, an Australian comedy that takes a no-so-subtle dig at some annoying features of Australian society. It may even have been written by a New Zealander!
This morning I feel better, although I’m still coughing lots. I get out the Prospan again. I do a Covid 19 test; thankfully it’s negative. I do plan to go shopping again, wearing a mask. I tried to zoom into my church service, but sadly zoom is being totally frustrating: there is video, but a constant buzzing, and I couldn’t hear the minister speaking. Another couple leave, and then I leave too.
But I did read Psalm 85, which is one of the readings, and the text for next Tuesday’s Bible Study from Genesis chapter 45, when Joseph makes himself known to his brothers, who had many years earlier tried to get rid of him. It is such a moving scene; I hope I am well enough to go next Tuesday morning.
It’s now Tuesday August 15th.
Sadly, I don’t feel great today. Yesterday was a special day, and I thought I was much better; we had lunch at the lovely Picnic Café at the Botanical Gardens Rose Garden, since all my favourite places were closed on a Monday. It was too early for roses, but it was lovely, anyway. Afterwards JD dropped me off in The Terrace to get my blood test. It was very busy at SCL labs, and I had to wait a while. Afterwards I tried to go shopping, and wondered about having another coffee, but caught a bus to Churton Park. Unfortunately I felt really unwell on the trip home. A very large person sat next to me, and although other seats became available, they didn’t get off until we were well into Churton Park. I’ve no objection to someone sitting next to me, but I did find this a tad oppressive, probably because I wasn’t feeling well, and I wondered why they didn’t move as seats became available.
Last night I did not feel well, I’m afraid; I reheated leftovers for dinner, and we watched the episode of Brokenwood Murders that supposedly aired on Sunday evening. By myself, I’ve been watching a series on Netflix called Painkiller, about efforts to bring the Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family to justice. I found it immensely disturbing; I’ve read the terrible statistics, and listened to an American Scandal podcast series about this tragedy, but it’s still very upsetting to see just how difficult it remains to bring them to justice. They don’t express any remorse about the damage they’ve caused, not just to people who became addicted, but their families and those around them who suffer the consequences. The marketing techniques are very suspect, too. Thank goodness we have a less commercial medical system here in New Zealand. What a dreadful health system the US has.
I take another Covid 19 test this morning, which, again, is negative. There seemed to be no Covid report yesterday, and Prime Minister Hipkins announced that the two remaining Covid restrictions were removed: wearing masks in medical situations, and being in isolation for seven days if you test positive. The removal was effective more or less, immediately, I understand. At the SCL lab I dutifully wore my mask, and they had spare masks, but a woman sat next to me defiantly not wearing a mask. Are you still supposed to notify a positive test? Is Healthline still supposed to ring you?
Meanwhile, I have excused myself from today’s Bible Study and tomorrow morning’s hymn singing. I hope I’ll be well enough to attend events next weekend, and wonder if I should attempt the arduous task of trying to see a doctor.
In the US, (I do try to stay away from American politics!), everyone is awaiting a fourth indictment for Trump in Georgia. It hasn’t happened yet, security is huge, and people are still testifying to the grand jury. I won’t comment further, except to say that Trump looks worried. That’s a change.
It’s now 1:20 pm here. Apparently the grand jury in Georgia has voted to indict Trump. There are ten indictments, apparently, but we don’t know yet what they are. So that’s news – the fourth indictment. At last. It’s certainly been teased, this indictment. It’s being covered firstly by ANF, a channel that is new to me, based in Atlanta, I think. It’s now evening in America, so it’s all quite dramatic.
Meanwhile, for the last few days, I’ve been following the deadly death toll from fires and a typhoon in Hawaii on the island of Maui; the shocking death toll was initially 6; I think that last I heard was 89, with more expected. There are terrible sad stories of people dying in their cars; if escaping into the sea, if they could; pictures show complete devastation, like a bomb site. It’s been compared to Hiroshima.
Coming back to the Georgia indictments: I try watching TYT’s Chenk, CBS and CNN, but it is Rachel Maddow, of course, who delivers this news in style. Actually it’s assumed that at least one of the indictments is against Trump; this grand jury was looking into interference in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. News just broke that this interference was greater even than previously reported, with an election machine being seized in one county (Coffee Country).
At 3:45 pm the New York Times reports that Trump and 18 others have been indicted. They’re published the list of indictments (41, not 40), and there are no surprises there: it includes Trump, Giuliani, Eastman, Clarke, Jenna Ellis, Mark Meadows and others, all charged under RICO charges. They have until August 25 to surrender to the court in Atlanta. They also include someone who lied to and threatened Ruby Moss and tried to get her to confess to wrongdoing.
Now Rachel Maddow and her team are back, reading the indictments, and analysing them as they go; they’re getting quite good at this!
I am listening to this, while my cell phone coverage switches to another video. That is so annoying, but it often happens, alas.
It’s now Wednesday August 16th.
Yesterday I rang to cancel today’s hair appointment; this morning I send an apology to my Te Reo class. I do ring the medical centre, and amazingly get an appointment in one of their cabins later on this morning. I take the last dose of cough mixture, so we’ll have to get some more. I do another Covid 19 test, and it’s negative, again. I still don’t feel like going anywhere.
I manage to cough lots at the doctor’s, but she finds my chest clear, although it hurts a bit and I’m coughing up coloured phlegm. So she doesn’t prescribe antibiotics but she does prescribe Prednisone, if I need it. She’s nice and helpful, thankfully.
When I get there, it’s raining again, and I haven’t worn a raincoat, just my waist length puffer jacket. Afterwards I make my way to the Johnsonville Shopping Centre to get my prescriptions made up. There’s no more faxing scripts to the wrong chemist. JD has agreed to pick me up there, but not till much later. I don’t feel like shopping, but I offer to get lunch from Nada Bakery; an ambitious adventure, but I know he has a meeting in the early afternoon and not much time.
I make my way outside, but by now it’s raining really heavily, so I need to find a stronger tote bag, and my lunch bag, and cash card. I can’t find my woolly hat. At Nada I buy some sandwiches and cakes; fortunately, it’s not crowded there, but it is a tad awkward, as one has to reach up to the eftpos machine, and they don’t offer to pack my goods like they would at Parsons’ in Khandallah. I make my way outside, where it’s still pouring with rain. There’s nowhere to sit, and hardly anywhere to stand that’s not wet. JD is to pick me up there, but I don’t see his car, although there are plenty of places to stop. Eventually I ring him, and he’s parked outside Westpac, quite a way down the road.
Tomorrow morning a physiotherapist is coming at 9:30 am to do an urgent assessment for ACC. Although I have my Thursday singing later that morning, she insisted on coming to visit Cassandra.
I’ve listened to more coverage about the Georgia DA’s far-ranging indictment. This is on a different level, though; these charges, if proved, carry minimum sentences of prison time, and furthermore, they cannot be pardoned, being state rather than federal charges. This is next level, serious stuff: Fani Willis is not pussying around, nor is she afraid of insults or offending anyone. You can now see the need for all the security. Trump was right to look worried, if the file photo matched his so-called emotions; other indictments may still be coming. The RICO charges seem particularly appropriate, given his liking and propensity for mob bosses. There are now four indictments on Trump for his activities around the January 6 insurrection. Four!
Okay, it seemed a tad disorganised, with the indictments being delivered late on what was their Monday night. But hey, go Fani Willis! I have been rooting for her ever since it was announced that she was investigating events around the Georgia election. Her rather annoying colleague, Gwen Keys-Fleming, kept appearing on MSNBC, as we waited breathlessly for her determinations.
Despite the guys dreaming up some issues with this, most commentators are very impressed. This trial will be televised, and nay take place quite soon – in the next six months. Marjorie Taylor Greene has rushed into Twitter’s new form, saying Fani Willis should concentrate on catching rapists. Well, I seldom agree with MTG, but this time (like in her recent endorsement of Biden), she got it on the nail. A New York judge has agreed that Trump raped E. Jean Carroll.
It’s now Thursday August 17th.
I send apologies for singing this morning, and for my prayer group this afternoon. I’m not feeling great, and I wonder if the doctor got it right yesterday morning. I’ still coughing and wheezing.
ACC send a physiotherapist to do an urgent assessment at 9:30 am. Actually ACC have given her minimal information, and she asks me to recount what happened to me. It’s exhausting, of course, but she actually listens to what I have to say. That makes a pleasant change!
Meanwhile, the dust is kind of settling after Trump’s fourth indictment. One podcast I listened to was called May the Fourth Indictment be with you, in a funny nod to Star Wars. It talked about the reality television aspect of these indictments: the huge team of journalists waiting around for news; the judge and other officials involved; the drama of an indictment being released, and then the analysis and discussion that follows, as the various crimes therein and co-conspirators are revealed and the implications spoken of. One thing’s for sure, that despite admiration for Special Counsel Jack Smith, and his speedy work, there is even greater admiration and respect for Fani Willis, elected D.A. of Fulton County, Georgia, and the mass of evidence she has been able to uncover, and the fact that her grand jury voted for these indictments. There is alternately a certain ennui – I’m so over/bored with this, shock as the former president’s indictments accumulate, and horror at the extent of Trump’s crimes. There is no question that he was in charge of the conspiracy, and that his many underlings were obeying his orders, implicit or direct. But the Georgia indictment is special: the trial will be televised (I believe March 2024 is the date Willis has given); there cannot be pardons, at least not for five years; and if guilty, there are mandatory minimum prison sentences (5 – 20 years, I believe). The fact that Trump’s lot accessed voting machines in Coffee County without approval, and that a false set of electors was drawn up before the 2020 presidential election, are terrifying new details that many of us did not know before. This is serious stuff, and should be taken very seriously. Some have dismissed the New York D.A. Alvin Bragg’s hush money case as no big deal; the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago case is to be heard by a Trump appointed judge, Aileen Cannon, and although this is an extremely serious matter, the judge has little experience, has erred before, and is suspected of being in Trump’s court, as they put it; then there’s the E. Jean Carroll defamation case in New York (not one of the current four indictments), Letitia James’ investigation into Trump’s taxes, and Jack Smith’s indictment in Washington D.C. for Trump’s activities on January 6 2021 and his efforts to overturn the presidential election. All this is very serious stuff, but it’s rather “trumped” by Fani Willis’s Wide-ranging indictment of Trump’s activities in Georgia (and other states) to claim victory in this election by all kinds of nefarious means. America only escaped by a very narrow thread, by a few republicans who were honest, and prepared to be honest, in thwarting Trump’s pressure and desires. Retired Judge Michael Luttig is featuring on many podcasts, as his advice (by Twitter, as it was then) to Mike Pence’s lawyer was one of the handful of crucial pieces to Pence’s refusal to conduct dishonestly his task on January 6th, to certify the presidential election. Oh, and Dan Quayle, of all people, told him he couldn’t do what Trump wanted, either. Who would have thought that a guy who couldn’t spell tomato had these legal smarts?
As JD noted, Trump, Putin and Xi, two dictators and one would-be dictator all continue to dominate the airwaves and the news. There is plenty of other stuff happening, of course; it’s good to listen to The Rest is Politics podcast where Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell continue to provide a wider spectrum of events and elections in Europe and Africa, as well as the UK and the US. But what is happening in the Middle East, or Asia, including India, or South America? Thankfully JD reads the British Economist, so he at least tries to keep up with the news. And Ukraine, anyone? The brutal war continues. The climate crisis continues to ravage disparate parts of our globe, and yet some deny it.
It’s very upsetting to see so much retrograde activity, with so many right-wing movements gaining strength; I thought the issue of women’s rights to be considered the equal of men, of gay rights to be accepted, of kindness to everyone, including immigrants and those of other faiths or skin-colour, of non-violence, kindness to children, and so on, were achieved and accepted. After all, what right do governments have to regulate such personal activities? One doesn’t have to take part in any activity if you don’t want to.
The US Republican Party calls for little government, and talks about defunding the FBI and the Department of Justice, and yet they would be extremely intrusive about examining women’s and gay people’s medical and travel records. As the climate crisis makes more areas unliveable, because there is far too much rain water, or none at all, and there are catastrophic events of nature such as fires and typhoons, as well as unstable or oppressive governments, there will be more migration, and yet many countries are making it more and more difficult to move to their country, whatever the circumstances of the migrants.
I should end now. I’m not saying things were better in the “old days”, whenever they were! They were different, though. Some things are better now, some worse. Pornography and abuse of any kind is rightly scorned, and yet there is a glorification of “maleness” and degradation of women in many societies and queer people which doesn’t do anyone any good.
Enough said. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.
Classic Barbarian 