Hush..

The Manhattan District Attorney seeks to prove that before the 2016 presidential election, Trump paid, or discussed paying, the two women not to disclose alleged affairs with them, thereby influencing voters as to his character. He denies affairs with either woman.  

Under a headline: "I Thought the Bragg Case Against Trump Was a Legal Embarrassment. Now I Think It's a Historic Mistake," Handelsman Shugerman wrote that the case has no clear examples of election fraud.

This "Hush Money" case is still an embarrassment, in terms of prosecutorial ethics and apparent selectivity.   

Mr. Trump can fight many other days and perhaps win in appellate courts.   

But if Monday’s opening is a preview of exaggerated allegations, imprecise legal theories and persistently unaddressed problems, the prosecutors might not win a conviction at all.

[Jed Handelsman Shugerman is a law professor at Boston University. Earlier.]

Firing..

 

June 18, 2010, Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed at Utah State Prison, for killing an attorney during a courthouse escape attempt.

Gardner sat in a chair, sandbags around him and a target pinned over his heart, according to The Associated Press. Five prison staffers drawn from a pool of volunteers fired from 25 feet away with .30-caliber rifles. Gardner was pronounced dead two minutes later.

A blank cartridge was loaded into one rifle without anyone knowing which. That’s partly done to enable those bothered later by their participation to believe they may not have fired a fatal bullet.

The renewed interest in using a firing squad as a means of execution comes as states search for alternatives to lethal injections after pharmaceutical companies barred the use of their drugs.

Austin..

 

A globetrotting former U.S. soldier turned mercenary appeared in federal court Monday to face a slew of charges, including murder, in three states reportedly as part of his quest to fight with foreign militaries.
Craig Austin Lang, 34, of Surprise, Arizona, appeared in Florida, but also faces the charges in Arizona and North Carolina for what prosecutors detail as an intricate crime spree starting in 2018.

Alleged in the indictments, Craig Austin Lang went on an international crime spree that included a double murder in Florida.  He attempted to travel internationally to engage in other acts of violence outside the United States, and a plot to evade law enforcement detection by trading guns, a grenade, and cash to use another person’s identifying information to apply for a U.S. passport under an assumed name,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Double..

 

 A judge dismissed several state charges against Paul Pelosi’s attacker, who was convicted in federal court last month, based on the argument that the counts fall under double jeopardy.

David DePape was convicted last month of assaulting a federal official’s family member and attempting to kidnap a federal official. He was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. He will likely be deported back to Canada after he completes his punishment.

State prosecutors continued to pursue their own case against DePape,  

Why did this man attack Pelosi's husband?  Why there is a need for more prosecution that seems to be double jeopardy?

Caliber..

 

After finding Hunter Biden’s .38-caliber revolver, she put it inside a leather pouch and then inside a bag, drove to a local grocery store and threw it in an outdoor trash can.

“I realized it was a stupid idea now, but I was just panicking,” Hallie Biden told the jury.

Hunter Biden found out    “Did you take that from me Hallie? Are you insane … ” Hunter Biden said.  “It’s hard for me to believe anyone is that stupid,” Hunter Biden texted.  

No body's above the law?  but this will end up in a reasonable outcome....   

 Just a thought.

Tax..

 

According to sources Governor Kathy Hochul’s plan to raise taxes on New York City corporations was swiftly shelved by state lawmakers. The goal of the plan was to recoup funds that would have come from tolls used for congestion pricing.

According to four sources who spoke with POLITICO on Thursday, the payroll mobility tax increase was virtually certain to fail in the Democratic-led state Senate.

Following a gathering of Democratic politicians behind closed doors, state senator from Long Island, Kevin Thomas, declared, “It’s insane to do that right now.”

It's not about you, it's about us the party. There is election coming   just a thought.

Migrants..

 

Loses..

Unrealized losses in the US banking system are once again on the rise, according to new numbers from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

In its Quarterly Banking Profile report, the FDIC says banks are now saddled with more than half a trillion dollars in paper losses on their balance sheets, due largely to exposure to the residential real estate market.

“Unrealized losses on available-for-sale and held-to-maturity securities increased by $39 billion to $517 billion in the first quarter. Higher unrealized losses on residential mortgage-backed securities, resulting from higher mortgage rates in the first quarter, drove the overall increase. This is the ninth straight quarter of unusually high unrealized losses since the Federal Reserve began to raise interest rates in first quarter 2022.” 

Not to worry, other countries have the same problems, may be.  Just a thought.

Used..?

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is   warning former President Donald Trump that he could be a "loser president" if he tries to broker a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia if he gets another term in the White House.

Zelensky told The Guardian in an interview published Monday that although he has "no strategy yet" for how he would handle a second Trump term, he thinks the presumptive Republican nominee could become a "loser president" if he follows through on the plans outlined by some of his aides.

Not knowing he's being played?  Just a thought.

Election..

 

Kathy Hochul is quietly maneuvering to delay a plan to toll drivers entering Manhattan’s central business district, just weeks before it is slated to go into effect, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

The first-in-the-nation congestion pricing plan, which has been decades in the making, is slated to start June 30. Drivers using E-ZPass will pay as much as $15 to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street.

But even as Ms. Hochul believes that congestion pricing is good environmental policy, she has concerns that the timing was less than ideal, according to a person familiar with her thinking. The governor feared that it might deter commuters from returning to the central business district, which has yet to fully recover from the pandemic.

Ms. Hochul’s gambit, if successful, could also help her fellow Democrats in the House who might otherwise face angry voters in an election year.  Just a thought.