Summations Only

Given breaking news on Russia (hacking and poisoning) this one makes me wonder just how deep into US politics the Kremlin’s bear claw reaches.

There's a documentary on that.Salt - Wikipedia(2010_film). . . just in case it's not obvious . . . [/sarcasm]

It was an LP from 50 to 60 years ago .Translation: No more commie or Russian conspiracy theories.No more, and please!

But ... but ... these are the fun ones! They got republicans in 'em. Like pirates, all good scandal conspiracies have one or the other.Next we're going to have reports of republican's kidnapping Grandpa's and Grandma's across the country taking them "covid" parties sponsored by the Russian embassy.Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.

The new Space Force will be known as "Guardians". They are now recruiting for Groot.

I tried but couldn't make the cut. My intelligence score was too high.

Grandpa was telling his grandson about what he did in the Norwegian air force during World War Two: One of dem fokkers came at me from de left and I shot him down. Den anudder one of dem fokkers came at me from de right and I shot him down. An den anudder one of dem fokkers came at me from right straight in front and I shot him down too."His grandson was eager to show how much he knew, so he said, "A Fokker is a German airplane, right Grandpa?""Dat's right. And every one of dem fokkers was a Messerschmitt."

A group calling itself the Trump Digital Army recruited an actual data scientist (not a Military Intelligence Analyst who didn’t even manage to complete the training) to look at the results in Nevada, looking for evidence of fraud.The results were predictable
Nevada IndependentIn almost every measure looked at...There was no evidence of fraud.There was no evidence of fraud.There was no evidence of fraud.And, as an interesting aside When there are attempts at voter fraud, it’s the Republicans at it. It almost always is.

I heard the report on the radio this morning, I think from the Philadelphia area, that a dead person having voted was finally found. A man, in his 60's I seem to recall, had registered his dead mother and his dead mother-in-law, though he only filled out and mailed in a ballot for his mother. He had her vote for Trump.A lot of the claims for how one could commit "voter fraud" seem to be based on old tricks that could no longer work in our current system(s -- since each state has its own system). For example, there's the story, practically an urban legend, of party operatives combing the Chicago cemeteries for names to register to vote.But then there's the one that Trump kept talking about. About how you could go in to vote, then go out the car and put on a hat and a different shirt and go right back in to vote again and the poll workers wouldn't be the wiser. I had seen that trick described for Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed (1858-1870). They'd hire men with beards (only men could vote, of course) to go in and vote multiple times. First time with a full beard. Then they'd shave part of it off (maybe go with a goatee and side burns) and a different coat (and maybe change the hat too) and he'd vote again. Another shave (and maybe haircut) and change of clothing and another vote. Until he votes clean-shaven with nothing more to shave off.Of course, that could never work with our current systems. Though I'm only familiar with how we would vote in person in California and every state has a different system, but they should all have official voter registration and some effort to match the voter with the registration. That 170-year-old Tammany Hall trick depended entirely on the poll worker not recognizing you from before, so it could never get past our current systems of verifying that you are on the rolls. For that matter, I'm not even sure whether they had voter registration at the time.Which just proves the point we've been making consistently for the past four years: Trump is an f***ing moron who has absolutely no clue how anything works. 
BTW, for comparison, California's system before we switched to mail-in voting (though you can still vote in person if you want) went thus:

1. You register to vote at some time.
2. Prior to an election, they mail you literature about the election and then a sample ballot. On that sample ballot is the location of your polling place.
3. On Election Day you go to your polling place and vote:
   1. You tell the first poll worker where you live; their printout of the voter rolls that apply to their polling place is sorted by street name. When she finds your address you tell her your name. She verifies that that name corresponds to that address and draws a line through that entire line, crossing it out.
      
   2. You go to the second poll worker who has a different listing sorted by your name. You sign next to your name and write down your address.
   3. Then a third poll worker runs a machine that generates a code for you. She shows it to the second poll worker who writes it in her log next to your name.
   4. The third poll worker hands you the ticket with your code and you go to a voting machine, enter the code, and vote.

My memory's not completely exact, but that's how I remember it. Before the voting machines, the only difference was that there was no code and you would be handed a paper ballot that you would fill out, place in the envelope they had given you, and drop the entire thing into the ballot box.If there's any kind of problem (eg, they can't find you in their rosters, somebody had already voted under your name), then you fill out a provisional ballot so that the matter can be resolved later. I've never had to go that route, so I don't know any details.

The first batch of Trump pardons is out.It includes Blackwater contractors guilty of massacring Iraqi civilians.Two border agents who killed an illegal immigrant who was fleeing for the border.Two of the men charged as a result of the Mueller investigation.Cronies and murderers.I’m sure his base will love them.Also,Duncan Hunter because insider trading is fine if you support Trump. And I bet his base are fine with that, too. Like Trump they are great fans of corruption.

Stone and Manafort - convicted as a result of the Mueller investigation get pardons, so does Kushner’s father.More corruption and cronies.No surprise there.

Orin Kerr comments: Of course, it’s Trump - so no surprise there.

This could get interesting on the State level.Accepting a pardon has been found to be an admission of guilt by the Supreme Court. The Presidential Pardon though only applies to Federal Crimes. The individual States could use those admissions of guilt in any State charges related to those acts and the Presidential Pardon only means the person has already pleaded guilty.

Yes, indeed. AZ former Sheriff Arpaio was reportedly upset to learn that his own pardon from Trump was an admission of guilt. And Roger Stone (the one with the Nixon tramp-stamp tattoo that would have made him so popular in prison sex parties) took a commutation of his sentence instead of a pardon because he wanted to still have a chance to fight his conviction through appeals.Many federal crimes are also state crimes, so even if you're pardoned of a federal crime you could still be prosecuted for a state crime (though there's reportedly no federal crime of murder, but that may have changed because of the JFK assassination). However, I don't know whether accepting a pardon for a federal crime, hence admitting your guilt implicitly, would ensure your conviction under the corresponding state law. I don't think that that has been tested in court yet. Trump is pushing the law in so many different directions that I foresee law school being extended an extra year just to cover all the court decisions that he will generate.And as you pointed out, all that the President can pardon you for are federal crimes, but not for state crimes. Many federal crimes are also covered under state law, so even if you are pardoned for a federal crime you should still be liable for prosecution under a corresponding or related state law. Like the Trump clan's illegal business and tax dealings, including money laundering.Following up on my statement above, I recently heard murder discussed on the radio by a law graduate (some progressive radio hosts went to law school and even have law degrees, plus they often interview lawyers) in which he stated that to his knowledge there's no actual federal law against murder, but every state does have an applicable law -- the JFK assassination might have generated a federal law against murder, but he wasn't sure.Also, I do not think that a federal pardon would have any effect on a civil lawsuit. For example, OJ Simpson's acquittal for murder did not keep him from losing the corresponding civil wrongful death lawsuit. There are potentially more than 300,000 wrongful death civil lawsuits lining up to descend on Trump, Pence, and their COVID minions like a biblical swarm of murder hornets (an actual invasive species from Asia that is establishing itself in the Pacific Northwest; 1.75 inches long with potent neurotoxin venom).On top of all that, accepting a pardon eliminates your Fifth Amendment rights in connection with that particular crime -- you can no longer be prosecuted for that particular crime, so you can no longer use self-incrimination for that crime as an excuse for refusing to answer investigators' questions. So you can still be brought in for interrogation, only this time you must answer all their questions truthfully or else face new crimes of lying to investigators that you were not pardoned for.Trump seems to think that he can use pardons and the promise of pardons to silence his thugs and hence keep himself out of jail. Rather, those pardons will do the exact opposite as his thugs are compelled to sing of Trump's crimes like the biggest canary in your worst nightmare, or in Trump's.I would love to see the look on Trump's face when he finally realizes how deeply and thoroughly he has screwed himself. Maybe there will be a lottery for that, like the one I heard about for pushing down on the detonator to demolish his Atlantic City casino (it really takes a very stable genius businessman to make a casino go bankrupt in such a short time).Edited by dwise1, : Added "that would have made him so popular in prison sex parties"Edited by dwise1, : "the corresponding civil wrongful death lawsuit"Edited by dwise1, : "a very stable genius businessman"

according to a lawyer friend of mine this only partially true. As a pardon is for a federal crime you could still invoke the 5th as protection from self incrimination for a state criminal charge arising from what you were federally convicted of.