Residents at Long Beach, California prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Hilary
It’s now Friday August 18th, 2023. Kia ora!
Well, a bunch of interesting facts has emerged regarding Trump’s indictments.
Learned, white lawyerly commentators are casting some shade on D.A. Fani Willis’s Georgia “sprawling” indictment and New York D.A. Alvin Bragg’s indictment; could it be any coincidence that they are both black, and no, they’re not pussy-footing around. So which of the four is likely to do Trump the most harm? Some think the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, and the Georgia indictment. But no one really knows. I’m quite upset at people thinking that 4 March 2024 is unrealistically soon for a big trial; but many if not all of the co-conspirators may seek plea deals, thus avoiding a televised trial. Jenna Ellis is appealing for donations to assist her ability to pay legal fees; I believe Rudy Giuliani is too. It seems Trump is totally unlikely to repay his friends loyalty by helping them out in their hour of need. Who would have thought it!
Mehdi Hasan’s commentary on MSNBC’s Peacock sums it up nicely, including the terrible threats faced by Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss; here’s a link:
The Lawfare team, headed by Benjamin Wittes, who happened to be in Finland at the time of the fourth indictment, has logged several podcasts, despite Ben’s lack of sleep. He’s persisting in his ERAS attempts, that acronym being short for Eradication of Russian Ambassadors’ Sleep; this is part of his response to Putin’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine. While that is very commendable, the Finnish police stepped in to thwart his latest planned activity. In a Finnish town near the Russian border, he’s feeling a bit more vulnerable, and looks to NATO for support. Yes, Washington D.C. is a very long way from any conflict between nations, and from the scary tentacles of President Putin or President Xi.
Lawfare has a newish reporter, Anna Bower, who has been on the ground in New York, Florida, Washington and Georgia as each indictment took place; she also was present for each court appearance by Trump where he gave himself up, to be released on bail. Bower has described all these situations very well, including having to hire a place-holder in the queue of press and other would-be observers. She has written an article on the activities in Coffee County, where voting machines were seized illegally. The only thing is, she reports very well, but I find her voice really hard to listen to sometimes; it can be very strident, especially lately and I guess this is because she’s very tired. Some voices are much easier to listen to than others, and generally I prefer male voices, as long as they don’t lisp! Editing and production are vital to remove hesitations. For the most part, the podcasts I choose to listen to are very well produced.
Apparently Trump’s small legal team is looking for volunteer lawyers. This raises questions about whether they can be shown classified documents. It was reported on MSNBC’s Morning Joe the day before yesterday that Trump stiffed the lawyers fighting his 2nd impeachment.
A video has emerged, first appearing on Ari Melber’s The Beat, showing Roger Stone dictating plans to “win” the presidential election, before it was even called for Joe Biden. He is not yet named as a co-conspirator. This is on film,
Then there is the issue of Trump’s DMs (Direct Messages) on the then Twitter, eventually obtained by Jack Smith, although Elon Musk tried to stop this happening. Evidently he’s been happy to hand over such information to dictators keen to pursue their opposition. The use of DM’s by a president is insecure and inappropriate.
There’ve been threats against members of the grand jury in Georgia, against Fani Willis, and against Judge Tanya Chutkan; there is even an effort to impeach Willis by a Republican senator in the state of Georgia.
In other news, where Trump was going to hold a press conference justifying his claim of election fraud, but it has now been cancelled. He claims his lawyers advised him not to go ahead with it. Some suspect they threatened to quit should he do so.
Apparently Mark Meadows is first to request removal of his trial to a different location. But it will still be Fani Wills prosecuting him, and doing illegal things for the former president after he’d lost the election may not be regarded as part of his day job.
Republicans have been a bit more cautious in rushing to Trump’s defence since the Georgia indictment; recent polls advise that the voting public regards the latest indictment as being quite serious, and affecting their voting decision for the presidential election of 2024. Lindsey Graham has advised that any wrong doing should be decided at the ballot box! Oops, that is the cause of the indictments: the loser’s refusal to accept the result at the ballot box of the presidential election! Isn’t is ironical that Republicans are so quick to accuse poorer, black people of fraud, probably because that’s what they would do themselves! A handful of cases of voting fraud were reported: they all involved republicans.
In local news, food chain Wishbone is in liquidation. That is actually quite shocking: they were everywhere, in Wellington, anywhere: at the Airport, at the Hospital, at Victoria University, or whatever it calls itself now; with many retail outlets in the CBD. Like the earlier hamburger chains, they were reliable, and did some things really well: their potato gratin, which I bought regularly; chicken and almond sandwiches, chicken and mushroom risotto, and for a treat, beef and mushroom dinner with mashed potato. They also did a delicious chocolate fudge. They did not do coffee, scones, or salads so well, but if course you don’t have to buy them. At Wellington Hospital last week I asked for an oat milk latté; they only had coconut milk, and it came in a cardboard cup. Well, I couldn’t drink it.
It’s now Sunday August 20th.
Yesterday we went shopping to the New World supermarket in Thorndon. It was very busy, and we had to park some way away. But it was nice, of course; we bought cold pies to reheat since they had sold out of heated ones! In a nod to the now departed Wishbone, we bought a dinner meal to reheat. There were only three Wishbone meals left, and sadly, no potato gratin. JD thinks their problem was wastage; that hasn’t been mentioned in any of the press stories, btu they were probably over-exposed in Wellington. But they were an attractive option. Actually I read in this morning’s newspaper that from early on they donated lef00t over food to Kaibosh, one of the charities against food wastage. So well done for that.
Afterwards we had lunch at Simmer Café in Churton Park, where we shared one of their yummy pizzas and enjoyed oat milk lattés. We later heated our pies for dinner. The pizza does have spinach on it, so we did get some greens.
Last night I felt much better, but I did not sleep very well. We watched The Third Man on Youtube. I listened to several podcasts during the night. There were intermittently peals of thunder and heavy rain showers.
This morning I did not go to church. Our service is at JUC this morning, but I couldn’t zoom in anywhere, not there or at St John’s in Willis St as I did last January. Zoom, out great friend during the Covid pandemic, is very unreliable now. Zoom, we hated you at times, but we surely miss you when you’re unreliable.
It’s now Monday August 21st.
Yesterday I didn’t go anywhere. I had felt better on Saturday night, and thought I was being such a fraud, but I ended up not going to church, sending an apology for the Fashion Parade charity event I was going to attend; we were supposed to have dinner at my son’s house but his daughter is very unwell so we agreed to postpone; just as well, too, because I had a bad coughing fit in the evening. So I didn’t go anywhere.
Here in Aotearoa, the election debate continues, but evidently young people are to be taught financial literacy before leaving school. Well, that’s great, and it would certainly have benefited me. David Seymour claims that it will have to compete with teaching about the Treaty of Waitangi. Reading this, I am reminded that there are disputes about the translation of the Te Tiriti o Waitangi itself, what it actually means, and what it meant when it was signed; in fact understanding of Te Tiriti should underpin any understanding of financial literacy, in my view; how can you have a well-rounded human being without either?
This morning I was watching a livestream of Roddy Stronach’s funeral in the Hall at Hohepa in Clive, until unfortunately the livestream cut out. Roddy was one of the founding members of Hohepa: when he was born with Down Syndrome, the youngest
of four siblings, his aunt, Marjorie Allan, was inspired to set up Hōhepa, an anthroposophical organisation which started in Hawkes Bay, and is now also in Auckland (Titirangi), Christchurch (Barrington Street), and Otaihanga near Waikanae. So Roddy’s birth, 75 years ago, was fundamental to the organisation coming into being in Aotearoa New Zealand. It brought with it the concept of curative education, of organic food, of a different way of living and caring and appreciating each other; it’s “Special Character” encompasses all faiths and respects and accepts all people. I have called it “a good deed in a naughty world”, quoting Shakespeare, of course.
It strikes me as ironic that Roddy, a “high functioning” person with Down Syndrome, would have great difficulty in getting into Hohepa nowadays. It seemed that he could write, and he had a lovely disposition. My daughter can write too, but she doesn’t always have a lovely disposition, although mostly she does. I don’t think she is nearly as high functioning as Roderick was. But we had great trouble getting her into Hohepa. Hohepa has its ups and downs, to be sure, but it maintains its Special Character, for the most part, and remains a special place, a haven for our special children and family members. Their care is greatly enhanced by all the celebrations of birthdays, of festivals, and of life in general. We have all learnt so much from Hōhepa.
The livestream of Roddy’s funeral was good, i0nitially, the setting was quite simple. They began with Bach’s beautiful Air on a G String. It’s surprisingly difficult to find a good recording of this wonderful music. I settled for the following, although it’s not great, in my view:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=GMkmQlfOJDk
The congregation sang “The King of Love my Shepherd is, Whose Goodness Faileth Never, I Nothing Lack if I am His, and He is Mine Forever” to a piano accompaniment. And because I’m sentimental, and this made me tear up, here’s a link:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=d50KE9jMVWY
The choir also sang an item, beautifully: Crossing the Bar, by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Here’s a link, although the Hohepa folk sang it better, I think.
Actually I searched for other recordings while I was having my lunch. Here’s a far better one, with the advantage that you can see the singers and the words: sorry about the annoying ad in the beginning.
The livestream panned out to show a full Hall, where I recognised many people, with the musical groups at the back. The House Manager of Harris House gave a tribute to Roddy. There was a poem, and Santi spoke, of course, and then the livestream cut out. I was unable to refresh it, but it came back on at the end: the coffin had departed from the hall, and the choir was singing Dona Nobis Pacem. Apparently I can replay this service later if I wish. Note: I’ve tried, without success.
Anyway, Hōhepa do death and funerals and remembrance with great respect and dignity. They favour cremation, which I do not; we’ve bought a funeral plot in a cemetery in Napier, but I am favouring having a funeral for our daughter in the Clive Hall, should the need arise (we were very nervous during the Covid pandemic, especially before vaccinations and Paxlovid). Now she’s had Covid twice, with seemingly no ill-effects, and we’re very thankful for that. She may well outlive both her parents.
In the US, Trump’s various legal troubles hold sway and continue to dominate the news waves, although a tropical storm is bearing down on Mexico and Southern California, which could do great damage. It’s interesting to dip into now and again. I watched a Next Level podcast where the Bulwark’s Tim Miller spoke to Robbie Kaplan, E. Jean Carroll’s lawyer; The New Yorker also let me listen to one of their podcasts with Evan Osnos, Susan Glasser, and Jane Mayer – I think it’s a weekly podcast called The Political Scene.
Yesterday Emeritus Professor of Law at Harvard Laurence Tribe and Conservative Judge Michael J. Luttig went on MSNBC and CNN and possibly other networks to talk about how Trump is disqualified under the Constitution from holding office again; they’ve also written an article in The Atlantic setting out this view. Just as a reminder, Professor Tribe, who is a regular commentator on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, taught Ted Cruz and other lawyers who’ve then sought to “bend” the constitution, or use it in ways that the Founding Fathers did not intend. Be that as it may, they make a strong case. It’s noted that the American legal system, for all its many flaws, held up multiple times against Trump’s efforts to steal the presidential election; he’s also quite unrepentant about the many crimes he is alleged to have committed – he has no shame, no guilt, whatsoever.
It’s also apparent that a cast of thousands or certainly many people tried to help Trump in his efforts to overturn the results of the democratic election. One of his supposedly mild mannered lawyers, Kenneth Chesebro, who formerly espoused liberal causes, was at the heart of legal efforts to subvert the election. Apparently he was at Washington’s Capitol on January 6, following conspirator Alex Jones around: this is lawyering? This was caught on film, like so much of the evidence in these cases. He was named in the Georgia indictment, and he’s suspected of being one of the co-conspirators not actually named by Special Counsel Jack Smith. So the size of this operation continues to amaze me. But what about Ginni Thomas and her texts and phone calls to Mark Meadows? Why has she not been charged? Note that she’s the wife of Clarence Thomas, a black man and a Supreme Court Justice. And what about Roger Stone?
Trump has indicated that he’ll skip the upcoming Republican debate by would-be republican candidates for the presidential nomination. This is to be hosted by Fox News, with Bret Baier and Martha McCallum as anchors. He’s seeking instead an interview with Tucker Carlson, formerly Fox’s poster boy, who resigned suddenly a few months ago. It’s not known what platform this potential interview will be delivered on. Carlson is on record as saying “I hate him passionately”, him being Trump. Trump is also to present himself to the court in Fulton County by 25 August. It’s expected he’ll have a mug shot taken, be fingerprinted, and perhaps weighed; so there’ll be drama, whatever happens. Perhaps CNN will have a split screen, showing the debate and what, exactly?
The debate will be interesting, as Christie is going to attack Trump very effectively; Pence is getting braver in speaking out against his former boss; Asa Hutchinson and Sununu won’t support Trump, but Ron de Santis was advised to support Donald Trump, in a debate-prep memo that was released days ago. Huh?
That’s it for now. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.
Classic Barbarian 