Today in Trump

[Kirkland Laing]

https://wapo.st/47QyFY1

[Master]

Maine's top election official has ruled that Donald Trump cannot run for president next year in the state, citing a constitutional insurrection clause.

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said Mr Trump was not eligible because of his actions leading up to the US Capitol riot in 2021.

Maine now joins Colorado as the two states to ban Mr Trump from the ballot.

The decisions increase pressure on the US Supreme Court to weigh in.

Colorado votes reliably Democratic, however Maine is more politically competitive and would be more significant for Mr Trump - the Republican frontrunner - to lose.

The Trump campaign has already said it will lodge an appeal in the state's courts against the Maine ruling, which won't take effect while the legal process plays out.

Hours after Maine's decision, California - America's most populous state- announced that Mr Trump would remain on the Republican primary ballot there.

Courts in other states, including Michigan and Minnesota, have also recently dismissed efforts to block Mr Trump from running as a candidate.

It is likely that the Supreme Court will make the ultimate decision as to whether Mr Trump can run for president or whether he is ineligible because of a Civil War-era amendment to the US Constitution.

Mrs Bellows' 34-page ruling says Mr Trump must be removed from Maine's Republican primary ballot because of the 14th Amendment- which bans anyone whom has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" from holding federal office.

In her order, Mrs Bellows, a Democrat, says that Mr Trump "over the course of several months and culminating on January 6, 2021, used a false narrative of election fraud to inflame his supporters and direct them to the Capitol".

She added that his "occasional requests that rioters be peaceful and support law enforcement do not immunize his actions".

Speaking to BBC News after her ruling, Mrs Bellows said it was her duty to uphold election laws in her state, and that she hoped the "Supreme Court will settle this matter nationwide".

"I'm mindful that no secretary of state has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on section three of the 14th Amendment. But I'm also mindful that no presidential candidate has, ever before, engaged in insurrection."

She denied her decision was politically motivated, saying it was "thorough and based on the rule of law".

Mr Trump faces upcoming trials in federal court and in the state of Georgia related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. He has not been charged with inciting insurrection in either case.

His campaign swiftly criticised Mrs Bellows' decision, having previously called for her to recuse herself from the process.

Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called Mrs Bellows "a hyper-partisan Biden-supporting Democrat" and claimed she was engaging in "election interference".

He added that the campaign would "quickly file a legal objection in state court to prevent this atrocious decision in Maine from taking effect".

Mr Trump's Republican rivals for the presidency also criticised Maine's decision.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis said Maine's ruling "opens up Pandora's Box", suggesting Republican secretaries of state could try to disqualify President Joe Biden over the issue of migrants at the southern border.

"I don't think that this ultimately will be legally sustained by the US Supreme Court. But I do think that this is going to be a constant throughout the election year, where there's going to be different parts of these legal cases that are going to be front and centre," he told Fox News.

Vivek Ramaswamy said "this is what an actual threat to democracy looks like".

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, he restated that he would "withdraw from any state's ballot that ultimately removes Trump from its ballot".

Mr Trump's 2024 presidential candidacy has been challenged in multiple states, on the grounds that the 14th Amendment bans him from holding office.

The 14th amendment was ratified after the American Civil War in order to block Confederate secessionists from returning to power after southern states re-joined the Union.

Colorado's ban was the first instance of the Constitution being used to disqualify a presidential candidate but legal experts say the Colorado ruling will have a tough time standing up when it reaches the conservative-leaning US Supreme Court.

The case to remove Donald Trump from the upcoming Republican primary contest in Maine - part of the process where Republican voters choose their candidate for president - was brought by a handful of former Maine lawmakers who argued that the former president had violated his oath of office.

Former federal prosecutor Joe Moreno told BBC News he believed there was "no way this holds up".

"It's breathtakingly arrogant for her to unilaterally decide that someone has committed insurrection," Moreno said about Mrs Bellows' ruling.

"This will create a political furore… that's the unfortunate outcome here," he said.

It all leads to a Supreme Court showdown - which Mr Moreno said should take place "rapidly" to stop more states from individually determining Trump's eligibility.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67837639

[TitoFan]

Maine's top election official has ruled that Donald Trump cannot run for president next year in the state, citing a constitutional insurrection clause.

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said Mr Trump was not eligible because of his actions leading up to the US Capitol riot in 2021.

Maine now joins Colorado as the two states to ban Mr Trump from the ballot.

The decisions increase pressure on the US Supreme Court to weigh in.

Colorado votes reliably Democratic, however Maine is more politically competitive and would be more significant for Mr Trump - the Republican frontrunner - to lose.

The Trump campaign has already said it will lodge an appeal in the state's courts against the Maine ruling, which won't take effect while the legal process plays out.

Hours after Maine's decision, California - America's most populous state- announced that Mr Trump would remain on the Republican primary ballot there.

Courts in other states, including Michigan and Minnesota, have also recently dismissed efforts to block Mr Trump from running as a candidate.

It is likely that the Supreme Court will make the ultimate decision as to whether Mr Trump can run for president or whether he is ineligible because of a Civil War-era amendment to the US Constitution.

Mrs Bellows' 34-page ruling says Mr Trump must be removed from Maine's Republican primary ballot because of the 14th Amendment- which bans anyone whom has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" from holding federal office.

In her order, Mrs Bellows, a Democrat, says that Mr Trump "over the course of several months and culminating on January 6, 2021, used a false narrative of election fraud to inflame his supporters and direct them to the Capitol".

She added that his "occasional requests that rioters be peaceful and support law enforcement do not immunize his actions".

Speaking to BBC News after her ruling, Mrs Bellows said it was her duty to uphold election laws in her state, and that she hoped the "Supreme Court will settle this matter nationwide".

"I'm mindful that no secretary of state has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on section three of the 14th Amendment. But I'm also mindful that no presidential candidate has, ever before, engaged in insurrection."

She denied her decision was politically motivated, saying it was "thorough and based on the rule of law".

Mr Trump faces upcoming trials in federal court and in the state of Georgia related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. He has not been charged with inciting insurrection in either case.

His campaign swiftly criticised Mrs Bellows' decision, having previously called for her to recuse herself from the process.

Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called Mrs Bellows "a hyper-partisan Biden-supporting Democrat" and claimed she was engaging in "election interference".

He added that the campaign would "quickly file a legal objection in state court to prevent this atrocious decision in Maine from taking effect".

Mr Trump's Republican rivals for the presidency also criticised Maine's decision.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis said Maine's ruling "opens up Pandora's Box", suggesting Republican secretaries of state could try to disqualify President Joe Biden over the issue of migrants at the southern border.

"I don't think that this ultimately will be legally sustained by the US Supreme Court. But I do think that this is going to be a constant throughout the election year, where there's going to be different parts of these legal cases that are going to be front and centre," he told Fox News.

Vivek Ramaswamy said "this is what an actual threat to democracy looks like".

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, he restated that he would "withdraw from any state's ballot that ultimately removes Trump from its ballot".

Mr Trump's 2024 presidential candidacy has been challenged in multiple states, on the grounds that the 14th Amendment bans him from holding office.

The 14th amendment was ratified after the American Civil War in order to block Confederate secessionists from returning to power after southern states re-joined the Union.

Colorado's ban was the first instance of the Constitution being used to disqualify a presidential candidate but legal experts say the Colorado ruling will have a tough time standing up when it reaches the conservative-leaning US Supreme Court.

The case to remove Donald Trump from the upcoming Republican primary contest in Maine - part of the process where Republican voters choose their candidate for president - was brought by a handful of former Maine lawmakers who argued that the former president had violated his oath of office.

Former federal prosecutor Joe Moreno told BBC News he believed there was "no way this holds up".

"It's breathtakingly arrogant for her to unilaterally decide that someone has committed insurrection," Moreno said about Mrs Bellows' ruling.

"This will create a political furore… that's the unfortunate outcome here," he said.

It all leads to a Supreme Court showdown - which Mr Moreno said should take place "rapidly" to stop more states from individually determining Trump's eligibility.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67837639

My first thought is that it is a damned shame that it's up to the individual states to do what the Federal Government should've already done.

The other statement that caught my eye was this...

"It is likely that the Supreme Court will make the ultimate decision as to whether Mr Trump can run for president or whether he is ineligible because of a Civil War-era amendment to the US Constitution."

The tone of this is decidedly pro-Trump.

Really?

So if I've got this straight... it's ok to cite Civil War-era amendments to the US Constitution to defend the possession of mini-armories in one's home... and it's ok to cite Civil War-era amendments to defend the worst kind of hate speech, including racist and pro-Nazi rhetoric... but it's NOT ok to use a Civil War-era amendment to prevent the ultimate 21st century insurrectionist from running for President again??

Gotcha.


Also... Ron DeSantis should STFU.

"Florida governor Ron DeSantis said Maine's ruling "opens up Pandora's Box", suggesting Republican secretaries of state could try to disqualify President Joe Biden over the issue of migrants at the southern border."

Apples and oranges, numbnuts. Apples and oranges...



Meanwhile, the SCOTUS is predictably dragging its feet here, on an issue that should've been an open and shut case a LONG, LONG, LONG time ago.

[NoSavingByTheBell]

Trump didn't do anything wrong.

[NoSavingByTheBell]

Obama Adviser Admits Preventing Trump From Running in 2024 Would ‘Rip the Country Apart’

“We’ve run this ridiculous experiment, he’s only gained since he started getting indicted," says David Axelrod.

Former Obama adviser David Axelrod warned that backhanded Democrat efforts to prevent former President Donald Trump from running in the 2024 presidential elections risks tearing the country apart.

“I have very, very strong reservations about all of this,” Axelrod told CNN’s OutFront host Erin Burnett.

“Upwards of 75 to 80 million people will vote for Donald Trump. I do think it would rip the country apart if he were actually prevented from running because of these tens and tens of millions of people want to vote for him.”

"The absolutely only way you can beat Donald Trump is at the polls. Every other way they tried failed miserably."

Axelrod, who served as Obama’s senior adviser from 2009-2011, went on to explain how the Democrats’ lawfare strategy is playing into Trump’s hands given his platform rests on exposing the corrupt bureaucracy that’s weaponizing government power to target him and his supporters.

Axelrod further lamented that the Democrats’ political “experiment” of repeatedly indicting Trump ahead of the election has only fueled his momentum.

“We’ve run this experiment, he’s only gained since he started getting indicted,” Axelrod noted. “What you thought might be kryptonite for him has turned out to be battery packs, and this is a big one for him.”

@TitoFan @Master 80 million people..... United States only has 330 million and if you remove minors who are obviously ineligible to vote, you are talking about 168 million eligible voters in America.....

80 million of 168 million will vote for Trump.

[TitoFan]

Let's be clear.

One thing I've never done is give Democrats ANY credit over how they've handled ANYTHING having to do with Trump.



1. They spent the 4 miserable years of Trump's presidency wringing their hands and fretting over spilt milk... instead of actually trying to do something constructive and find/groom a viable candidate to oppose him in the future.

2. They've bumbled their way through numerous attempts to indict Trump on many, many things... both real and fabricated. The problem is that the REAL things get mixed in with the other crap, and everything becomes a discredited mess.

3. Those with real TDS have messed it up for those of us with clear minds and logic, who see Trump for the danger to democracy that HE IS. They've given ammunition to Trump fans who lack the power of discernment themselves.

4. January 6th was a TRAGIC BLOT on American history. Trump incited the violence... then sat on his thumbs while it was happening. Anybody who doesn't see this is BLIND. The fact that it's taken 3 FUKKING YEARS to take this to the courts is laughable. Worthy of ridicule by every other nation in the world (including the ones Trump refers to as shithole countries).



They say a nation's people gets the government they deserve.

I guess one can only shrug and accept that this is a very real truth in life.

[Kirkland Laing]

They've bumbled their way through numerous attempts to indict Trump on many, many things... both real and fabricated. The problem is that the REAL things get mixed in with the other crap, and everything becomes a discredited mess.

You're confusing the Democratic party, which is a centre left political party in the United States with the United States Department of Justice and various state level justice departments. In your country the leaders of political parties have no say or control over investigations and charging decisions made by the various departments who administer law enforcement and justice although this may change in about a year from now.

They spent the 4 miserable years of Trump's presidency wringing their hands and fretting over spilt milk... instead of actually trying to do something constructive and find/groom a viable candidate to oppose him in the future.

[NoSavingByTheBell]

And this is what they earned with all that ridiculous effort

https://youtu.be/HRpBjq3bkf8?si=IvjAj_JBJKLyRSNb

[Beanz]

JJJ.jpg

[NoSavingByTheBell]

JJJ.jpg

Larry

by Tony

We brawled
After Walrus called
And Lyle stalled
And Paul mauled

A butt
Up the ass
Unfiltered
Smoldering

Larry
Asparagus
Green beans
Analogous

With beanz
Weird scenes
Inside
Open wide

Miles
Lyle's
Tito's
Cheetos

Trumplestiltskin.

[Master]

Just minutes after a jury ordered Donald Trump to pay more than $80m (£63m) to a woman he had been previously been found to have sexually abused, he posted on social media.

“Absolutely ridiculous! I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party,” he wrote on Truth Social.

It was Friday evening and a jury had just ordered the former president to pay an additional $83.3m to E Jean Carroll, a writer who accused him of sexually assaulting her in a New York department store three decades earlier. In May 2013, a court found him guilty of sexually abusing her and she sued him a second time, this time for libel, for damaging her reputation by denying the attack.
As Trump, 77, fumed and raved, Carroll, 80, issued her own statement. “This is a great victory for every woman who stands up when she’s been knocked down,” she said. “And a huge defeat for every bully who has tried to keep a woman down.”

Trump, who earlier in the week stormed to a second primary victory, beating Nikki Haley in New Hampshire by 11 points and all but cementing his position as the Republican nominee, is now using the libel ruling to raise funds for his re-election campaign.

Similarly, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are using the near-certainty Trump will be their opponent in November to raise money themselves.

They are very much focused on women, reminding them that in 2022 the Supreme Court, its conservative majority secured by Trump’s appointment of three specially selected justices, had overturned Roe v Wade, which had guaranteed the right to a legal abortion.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...7cd5c158&ei=29

[TitoFan]

Trump's reelection is all but assured.

Prepare for AT LEAST four years of:

1. Vindictive persecution of real and imagined enemies.
2. Destruction of the fair, democratic electoral process.
3. Total purge of high ranking positions of authority and decision makers at all levels... replacing each with spineless, loyal lapdogs.
4. Total reversal of any and ALL Biden/Obama initiatives, policies and decisions... merits be damned.
5. Repeal of term limits, at least as it would pertain to Trump.


In other words...

1. Utter chaos
2. Further weakening (through division) of the USA in comparison with the rest of the world.
3. Going beyond the point of no return in the complete fracturing of America.


Summing up...

Fasten your seat belts. We're FUCKED.

[NoSavingByTheBell]

While I agree with that, especially reversing Biden (open borders fiasco)/Obama stuff, surely we were fucked the last 3 years as well, just in a different "fucky" way. As George Carlin said many times and I have quoted him just as many times, "they're all in the same club, and you ain't in it!"

The United States of Satan is and was guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity since before 1776, no matter WHO was in the White House. So Clinton Bush Obama Trump Biden..... Who wants to pick any of those fuckers over any other of them lot? Not arguing over Bush Obama Trump Biden anymore..... "All in the same club and you ain't in it"

United kingdom same warmongering cunts, Blair Cameron May Johnson Sunak Grant SHAPPS BWAHAHAHAHAH what a bunch of shameless genocidal cunts.

Lindsey Graham BWAHAHAHAHAH wants to bomb Iran now John Cornyn fucking satanic evangelical demons

[Spicoli]

I honestly can't believe this ranting shambling grease stain hasn't fallen over from a heart attack yet.

[TitoFan]

I don't watch Bill Maher. But I happened to stumble upon his talk show this morning while looking for a channel to watch.

Seeing this, I get the distinct feeling that I could go months or years without watching that show, and I wouldn't miss a damn thing... mainly because it feels like all frigging discourses, including guest speakers and the like... are exact replicas of one another.

It's always the same tired blah, blah, blah. Trump would be a danger to democracy were he to set foot in the WH again. The Democrats aka the Justice System aka any other Tom/Dick/Harry out there are miserably dragging their feet in bringing Trump to justice. The more indictments are brought against Trump, the more people switch over to the side that views it all as a witch hunt on poor ol' Trump. The Supreme Court will make sure this is all dragged out until the fall, at which time it'll be too late, because if Trump's elected then all bets are off. BLAH..... BLAH..... BLAH.

Not that I don't agree with all of this. It's just that I've become (long ago) tired of hearing the same old tired bullshit on so many talk shows or whatever. It's the same old tired shit. Lots of hand-wringing... woe is me... what are we going to do... the sky is falling... and yet there isn't a single set of BALLS big enough in the entire country to make things happen the way they should.

Donald Fucking Trump is an INSURRECTIONIST. Anyone who doesn't see this needs to have his eyesight checked.

The Justice System (and feel free to jump in here, DOJ defenders ) has shown itself to be the biggest, most overrated, lumbering, plodding, foot-dragging, money-spending piece of SHIT system the free world has ever seen.

Here we are... 3 full years after...

A FORCED INVASION OF THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL BUILDING BY AN INSURRECTIONIST MOB... FUELED BY BOGUS STOLEN ELECTION FIERY RHETORIC FROM THE OUSTED PRESIDENT

... and we're STILL talking about the system of justice, and whether Trump is guilty or not.

And OTHER countries are the banana republics??



Sorry... but the absolute RIDICULOUSNESS of this never ceases to amaze me.