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Created
Wed, 05/06/2024 - 09:30
I’m confident that no one who was on Trump’s Manhattan jury reads this site but if they do, I am begging them to stay anonymous. Maybe some day, if we ever get past this MAGA Madness and half the country recovers some basic sense of decency, they might give an interview. But not now. Don’t do it. As Josh Marshall writes: Trump supporters are trotting out any number of responses to Trump’s string of felony convictions last week. One of the most perverse and malign is the demand or “request” for jurors to come forward and explain their reasoning. Part of the idea is to suggest that the logic of the verdict is obscure or hard to justify and thus requires explanation. “Can you explain how you came to this very hard to understand verdict?” Neither is the case. The logic of the verdict is very straightforward. There may be some room for debate about how the judge interpreted the relevant law. But within those interpretations the jury verdict is elementary. The other part is to suggest something odd or suspicious in the fact that none of the jurors have yet gone public in the press.
Created
Wed, 05/06/2024 - 08:34

We are economists, political-economists and policy specialists in related fields, writing to express our support for active measures to strengthen Australia's manufacturing capabilities and guide investment in critical infrastructure, including measures proposed in the Commonwealth government's Future Made in Australia policy framework [...]

The post Open Letter on Future Made in Australia appeared first on Progress in Political Economy (PPE).

Created
Wed, 05/06/2024 - 08:00
Philip Bump noticed an interesting bit from Trump’s Fox and Friends Weekend interview: There was an element of the discussion, though, that hasn’t attracted much attention. It centered on a question from Rachel Campos-Duffy, co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend,” the show on which the interview first aired. “Americans have lost a lot of trust in institutions, and I think there’s been a lot of discussion, especially online, especially with young people,” Campos-Duffy began. “How do we rebuild that trust in institutions — the CIA, the FBI — all those institutions?” “You’re right,” Trump replied — but before he could answer, Campos-Duffy jumped ahead. “Some people think that one way to build trust is to declassify things that everyone’s talking about,” she said. Then she offered a rapid-fire list of things he might be interested in declassifying, putatively to restore trust in institutions.
Created
Wed, 05/06/2024 - 06:30
That’s a quote from an article in the New Yorker about people who are sticking with Trump even though he’s a convicted criminal. I love the fact that he cites Tony Soprano, the ridiculously fucked-up, penny ante, murderous gangster. It fits but I didn’t think anyone would want such a fool to run the United States of America. I don’t think it’s any accident that he didn’t pick a more standard right wing anti-hero like Dirty Harry. He was a cop and they’re not really sure about them anymore. Best go with the straight-up mobsters. These people don’t actually want a “shock to the system.” They just want somebody to punish their enemies, period. And that’s you. And me. Amanda Marcotte had a great piece the other day on this subject: As the trial progressed, Trump escalated far beyond his tired litany of claims that everything was “rigged” against him, though he kept that pattern up. He’s been experimenting by trying to cast himself as a rakish outlaw. He wants voters to imagine his crimes are about standing up to a corrupt system.