EXCLUSIVE: "Conspiracy of silence" among NHS Trusts means most NHS employers recorded not a SINGLE Covid death among their workers during the first two waves
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The threat of imprisonment for contempt of court again looms over me if I tell you (again) too much of the truth about the arrest of Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell. But I can make a few observations. As I stated on twitter on March 19 (I am not going to repeat all my tweets […]
The post High Level Corruption in Scotland Continues appeared first on Craig Murray.
Philip Bump breaks it down: 1. The 34 charges center on how payments to attorney Michael Cohen were recorded — at 34 different times. The indictment centers on the previously reported effort in 2016 to bury a story alleging an extramarital relationship between Trump and adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. That effort involved a payment of $130,000 to Daniels paid by Michael Cohen, then Trump’s attorney. A statement of facts released by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg details the prosecutors’ case. Cohen, it alleges, agreed in consultation with Trump and Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg that the attorney should receive $420,000 in reimbursement, a sum including enough for Cohen to offset the increase in federal income tax he would need to pay. According to the statement, this total was allegedly recorded on a bank statement (suggesting documentary evidence) and agreed to by Trump himself in an Oval Office meeting with Cohen. The sum was then repaid in a series of monthly checks that were allegedly recorded by the Trump Organization as being a monthly retainer for Cohen. That’s where the 34 charges accrue.
Dan Pfeiffer with an analysis of what went right in Wisconsin: It’s a model for the country. Hopefully people elsewhere are paying attention. (I’d put Florida at the top of that list…) By the way, get a load of the jackass who lost that Supreme Court seat:
Republicans are suddenly concerned about their anti-abortion zealots ruining everything. And in the process they are proving that abortion politics were always about winning and not about any “principle” that life begins at conception. Now that they are losing and they don’t like it:
Trump cannot keep his trap shut Hours after returning to his Palm Beach, Florida compound on Tuesday after indictment in New York, former president Donald Trump no longer appeared chastised. The thirty-four felony charges he faces seemed not to have sunk in. Nor Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan’s warning that he not engage in statements or comments that have the “potential to incite violence, create civil unrest, or jeopardize the safety or well-being of any individuals.” New York prosecutor Christopher Conroy addressed Trump’s social media outbursts during the arraignment. He told Merchan, “We have significant concern about the potential danger this kind of rhetoric poses to our city, to potential jurors and witnesses, and to the judicial process.” “This is a request I’m making,” Merchan responded. “I’m not making it an order.” But he would revisit that decision should circumstances require it. So, no immediate gag order on the voluble, attention-seeking former president.
Reactionaries are playing for keeps in the provinces Under the guise of “election integrity,” Republican secretaries of state held a two-day conference in Washington in February to discuss efforts to restrict voter access to the ballot box. The watchdog group Documented shared documents from the Heritage Foundation-sponsored event with the Guardian. “A list of attendees namechecks the chief election officials of Indiana, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia,” write Ed Pilkington and Jamie Corey: The keynote speech was given by Ken Blackwell, former secretary of state in Ohio. He was an early adopter of Trump’s lie about rigged elections, championing the idea in the 2016 presidential race which Trump won. Blackwell now chairs the Center for Election Integrity at the America First Policy Institute, a rightwing thinktank led by former Trump officials. The center has been touting election-related model legislation. Heritage was careful to organize the conference amid tight secrecy.
Charlie Sykes (subs. only) wonders if the Republican Party is heading toward extinction: The key to survival of any species is its ability to adapt. That’s as true of politics as it is of biology. Political parties must learn when to fight or flee, or risk being mauled by some rough beast, whose hour has come round at last. So students of history will fascinated by the torpor of the GOP circa 2023. Republicans were, after all, warned. Again and again. On Trump and abortion, but also on guns, moral Grundyism, and their addiction to the crazy. Yet despite all the red blinking lights— and they are flashing everywhere — the GOP simply smacks its lips and says, ‘This is fine.” More, please. The latest flare comes from my home state, Wisconsin. As Bill Lueders writes in today’s Bulwark, the race for Supreme Court here was the most expensive judicial race in American history. But, ultimately, the election was decided not by money, but by issues, especially abortion. And it was a landslide in a crucial swing state. The Wall Street Journal editorial board is reaching for the panic button.
QOTD: Andrew Weissman on Trump going after the prosecutor and judge’s families: “You do not have this behavior from a mob boss. There is a rule in organized crime. You do not do this with respect to prosecutors. You don’t do this with respect to the judge. You certainly don’t go after their families. It’s bad business to do that.” Trump’s more like a street thug. The mafia has too many rules for him.
More Supreme Court corruption: CONSERVATIVE SUPREME COURT Justice Clarence Thomas has been regularly taking luxury trips financed by a billionaire Republican donor for over 20 years, according to a new investigation from ProPublica. Thomas “virtually every year” has accepted rides on private jets, stays at private resorts, and invitations to hang out on superyachts owned by real-estate mogul Harlan Crow. He hasn’t disclosed any of it, which ethics experts spoken to by ProPublica say could violate a federal law requiring justices to disclose most gifts. Meanwhile, Thomas has been one of the most conservative justices on a court dominated by conservatives. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, Thomas wrote a concurring opinion arguing it should reconsider rulings that established the right to contraception and same-sex marriage. He also made controversial rulings about the 2020 election results while his wife, Ginni Thomas, was pushing conspiracy theories and aggressively lobbying for the results to be overturned.