Yeah, if that's a "shot across the bow," it's a cap gun. A meaningless sticking point. And frankly, actually, counterproductive. Because, bare minimum, the SC has indicated how this could be addressed, if one could ever get a Congress to take it up. Which puts us in a better position relative to the 14th that we were in before this: namely, utter irresolution about how someone gets qualified as an insurrectionist.
 
Yeah, if that's a "shot across the bow," it's a cap gun. A meaningless sticking point. And frankly, actually, counterproductive. Because, bare minimum, the SC has indicated how this could be addressed, if one could ever get a Congress to take it up. Which puts us in a better position relative to the 14th that we were in before this: namely, utter irresolution about how someone gets qualified as an insurrectionist.
*disqualified*?

In any case, you're right, this was, as you predicted, mealy-mouthed, while simultaneously being, as I hoped for, at a minimum, definitive about something. In fact I stated specifically that I hoped they would at a minimum lay down a bright line rule that states can't disqualify candidates.

What they did not do, obviously, was make the consequential determination that Trump is an insurrectionist, which is the real underlying issue here. They did however, apparently leave the Colorado decision to that effect in place. So they didn't say "No, Trump isn't an insurrectionist so you can't disqualify him." Instead they implied "Even though you found that Trump is an insurrectionist" (and said) "you don't have the power to disqualify him on those grounds."

All SCOTUS did here, is maintain the status quo. Trump stays on the ballot and the Clown car continues.
 
Labeled an insurrectionist so they can be disqualified from holding office. Deemed. Branded. Established as.

So they didn't say "No, Trump isn't an insurrectionist so you can't disqualify him." Instead they implied "Even though you found that Trump is an insurrectionist" (and said) "you don't have the power to disqualify him on those grounds."

The only question they took up was:
“Did the Colorado Supreme Court err in ordering President Trump excluded from the 2024 presidential primary ballot?”
So once they ruled that states can't do that, exclude a candidate in a federal election from a state ballot, they didn't have to address the question of whether he'd engaged in an insurrection. So it's more like "You can't exclude Trump from the ballot, so your finding regarding insurrection is moot."

It's interesting to see that Barrett, who issued her own dissent, objected to the same thing as Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson: that the case didn't require them to say who can determine whether someone is excluded on the basis of insurrection. It's just standing on a legal principle. And, as you said, Sommer, it's dumb, because, if there are only two possible, and you eliminate one, it's gotta be the other one.
 
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Donald Trump Selling Bibles Sparks Fury From Christians—'Blasphemous Grift'​

Former President Donald Trump's latest venture selling Bibles has sparked the fury of Christians.

Trump, who became the presumptive Republican nominee earlier in March, posted a video on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday urging his supporters to buy the "God Bless the USA Bible," inspired by country singer Lee Greenwood's patriotic ballad.
"Happy Holy Week! Let's Make America Pray Again. As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless the USA Bible," Trump wrote in the post, alongside a link to a website selling the book for $59.99. It came a day after Trump seemingly compared his legal plight to Jesus Christ's persecution.

And it comes as he faces mounting legal bills while fighting four criminal indictments and a series of civil charges while running to reclaim the White House. On Monday, a New York appeals court agreed to hold off on collecting the more than $454 million he owes following a civil fraud judgment if he puts up $175 million within 10 days.
"Trump is doing his best impression of the corrupt moneychangers who profited by ripping off worshippers. Today, much like Jesus overturning the moneychangers' tables, Christians are sick of seeing MAGA's false prophets twist our loving faith for an agenda of hatred and selfishness. The Bible is bigger than any politician, and if Trump really wants to talk about Scripture, I suggest he try actually reading it first. He might actually learn a few things about love, humility, money, and peace."
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-selling-bibles-christians-fury-1883972
 
He has also signed Bibles in the past.
 
The smackdown

"Trump is doing his best impression of the corrupt moneychangers who profited by ripping off worshippers. Today, much like Jesus overturning the moneychangers' tables, Christians are sick of seeing MAGA's false prophets twist our loving faith for an agenda of hatred and selfishness. The Bible is bigger than any politician, and if Trump really wants to talk about Scripture, I suggest he try actually reading it first. He might actually learn a few things about love, humility, money, and peace."
is really well framed and phrased.

He's started stepping over the threshold that some Christians can tolerate, I think. A while back he linked that "God made Trump" video on his social media site, but quickly backed off from it when there was a similar blowback.
 
this is today's republican Party.

GOP official who claimed 2020 election was stolen voted illegally 9 times, judge rules​

A Georgia Republican official who pushed false claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” was found to have voted illegally nine times, a judge ruled this week. Brian Pritchard, first vice chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, as well as investigative costs, and be publicly reprimanded. Pritchard had been sentenced in 1996 in Pennsylvania to three years’ probation for felony check forgery charges. His probation was revoked three times — once in 1999, after he moved to Georgia, and again in 2002 and 2004. In 2004, a judge imposed a new seven-year probationary sentence on Pritchard, thus making him ineligible to vote until at least 2011 in Georgia, where state law prohibits felons from voting.

Despite that, court documents showed that Pritchard signed voter registration forms in 2008 in which he affirmed that he was “not serving a sentence for having been convicted of a felony involving moral turpitude.” He then cast ballots in four Georgia primary and general elections in 2008, as well as five special, primary and general elections in 2010. According to court documents, Pritchard testified that he thought his felony sentence had ended in 1999.

“Do you think the first time I voted, I said, ‘Oh, I got away with it. Let’s do it eight more times?' ” Pritchard said, as reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Representatives for the Georgia GOP and for Pritchard’s attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Pritchard is a conservative talk show host and the owner of fetchyournews.com, which he has described as a conservative political news site. He also ran unsuccessfully in a special election for a Georgia state House seat last year. In a 2022 story for his website, Pritchard railed against those who had alleged he had voted illegally, accusing them in turn of trying to “manipulate an election.” He also maintained he had done nothing wrong.

“Yes, for those who think a person charged with a felony can’t vote, wrong. First, in the state of Pennsylvania the only time you lose your voting rights is if you are incarcerated,” Pritchard wrote. “Considering I have never spent a night in jail in my entire life …(can everyone say that) I never lost my voting rights in PA. Once your sentence has expired you can vote in the state of Georgia. Yes it’s true!”

Pritchard has also touted former president Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him. In a 2022 episode of his talk show, Pritchard criticized the “corrupt media” and Georgia election officials for being “complicit” in what he called stealing the election. “I do not believe 81 million people voted for this guy,” Pritchard said, referring to Joe Biden. In a questionnaire he filled out while running for first vice chairman of the Georgia GOP last year, Pritchard said he hoped to “leverage the influence of the grassroots conservative movement to improve election integrity.”

 
See! See! Our elections are insecure! :run: Who can possibly trust the results when there's massive fraud going on!
 
I had a tenured professor once tell me that she could only be fired for "gross dereliction of duty or outrageous moral turpitude." I think she was quoting her contract's actual language, but the phrase for some reason instantly burned its way into my memory. It's got a lovely rhythm to it.

In fact, come to think of it, the last part of the phrase scans: outRAGEous MORal TURPiTUDE
 
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He's started stepping over the threshold that some Christians can tolerate, I think. A while back he linked that "God made Trump" video on his social media site, but quickly backed off from it when there was a similar blowback.
I don't think that is going to be much of an issue. Look at all those televangelists who spew the most innane rubbish that has nothing to do with the religion they claim to speak for and abuse said means to make millions. People are ready and willing to believe anything they say and pay lots of money for it.

There have been about a billion things Trump has done that has outraged people and made them claim that they would never vote for him, only for them to do a 180 and make up excuses as to way they just had to vote for him anyway.
 
I care about the matter from two separate directions, @Wastl. First, the one you take up: what does it mean for his electoral chances. But second, what is the state of American Christianity. I would have wished that Christians had been the group that earliest and most emphatically rejected Trump: judged him as morally lacking what they would look for in a leader. Alas, to a large degree, it was not so. But given that that has been the case, it is meaningful to me, on that level, if it turns out that there is some line that they will not let him cross, something about which they will voice an objection--if even just to make him back off temporarily from making that much of a travesty of the faith.

Now, you're not wrong. Voting is where the rubber hits the road. And if they hear him try to compare his persecution by New York prosecutors to Christ's passion, and they still go on to vote for him, then even such pushback as he is experiencing here is ultimately meaningless. But I still like to see it. I like to think there is something substantive about their faith that American Christians will stand up for.
 
A UK lawsuit the Trump just lost.

UK judge refuses Trump’s appeal in suit related to Steele dossier​

A London appellate justice refused former President Donald Trump’s request to appeal the dismissal of his case against retired British spy Christopher Steele’s company over his controversial 2016 dossier.

The former president had sought permission to appeal Judge Karen Steyn’s February judgement that Trump’s data privacy case — which argued that Steele harmed his reputation by peddling “egregiously inaccurate” claims about his Russian ties — lacked merit and should be thrown out. Steyn also ordered Trump to pay £300,000 in legal fees to Steele’s company, Orbis Business Intelligence, which Trump requested to be stayed.

In his order Wednesday, Lord Justice Mark Warby said Trump’s “appeal would have no real prospect of success,” finding that some of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s arguments were contradictory and his appeal attempted to offer new points that he didn’t present before Steyn. The ruling comes as a loss for Trump, who has already been hit with more than a half a billion dollars in legal penalties this year. The former president faces a deadline to post a $175 million bond next week following a New York civil fraud trial, and he has been ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million dollars in her civil defamation case. Trump also faces his own legal fees in four separate criminal cases.


Steele celebrated the ruling, telling CNN in a statement Friday that he is “grateful.”

“We believe this was a vexatious case, without merit which should never have been brought to the English courts,” Steele said. “We now look forward to receiving the interim payment from Donald Trump and a further costs award once the court has adjudicated the details.”
CNN has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment. A source familiar said Trump’s team plans to continue appealing.

Trump brought the lawsuit in September against Steele and his company, alleging that Steele harmed his reputation with “shocking and scandalous” claims about his Russian ties.

The retired spy compiled uncorroborated claims on behalf of Trump’s political opponents in 2016 in what eventually became known as the Steele dossier, which went public just days before the former president’s inauguration in 2017. The dossier claimed that Trump conspired with the Kremlin to win the 2016 election and that Russia had compromising information on him.

While the dossier was initially seen as credible due to Steele’s reputation, a series of US government investigations and lawsuits over the years discredited many of the claims.

For his part, Steele has always publicly maintained that his claims were unverified tips that required further investigation and were never meant to be released to the world.



 
He has also signed Bibles in the past.
I am always a little surprised when I see him inside a church not getting immediately struck by lightning.
 

Truth Social: Trump's DJT stock plummets days after going public​

Shares of Donald Trump's social media company fell by more than 20% on Monday, less than a week after it began publicly trading under the DJT ticker.

The drop comes after Trump Media & Technology Group reported it had lost nearly $60m (£48m) last year while only bringing in around $4m in revenue.

The price plunge caused the former president's net worth to shrink by $1bn, according to Bloomberg.

Last week, shares surged, giving the company an eye-popping $11bn valuation.

But experts had warned the stock was bound to tumble, as its main product - Truth Social - loses users and burns cash.

The price spike drew comparisons to the pandemic-era "meme stock" mania, when the share prices of companies like GameStop and AMC soared even though basic parts of their businesses, such as revenue, were weak.

Shares of Trump Media, which makes its money exclusively through advertising on Truth Social, are still up nearly 200% so far this year.

The surge has been driven by small-time investors, at least some of whom appear to be showing support for the former president as his legal troubles, and the bills that accompany them, pile up.

Mr Trump holds a nearly 60% ownership stake in the company and stands to earn a billion-dollar windfall when he cashes out his shares - though he is legally barred from doing so for another six months unless the company's board grants him a waiver.

But these investors are making a bet on a company that, in a special filing on Monday, told the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) it "expects to continue to incur operating losses and negative cash flows from operating activities for the foreseeable future".

According to the financial filing, Trump Media paid about $40m in interest expenses and $16m in operating losses in 2023.

The company said its management had "substantial doubt" that it "will have sufficient funds to meet its liabilities as they fall due".

Truth Social launched in February 2022, about one year after the former president was banned from Twitter (now X) and Facebook in the aftermath of the violent riot at the US Capitol.

While Mr Trump's accounts on both platforms have since been reinstated, he has continued to use Truth Social as the main avenue for his social media posts.

But his presence on the platform has not helped it gain a broad audience. Estimates from Similarweb show the company has roughly five million active monthly users, far fewer than rivals.

Truth Social has claimed it has about 8.9 million sign-ups, but it has declined to share the commonly disclosed performance metrics that could give shareholders a better sense of its operations.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68708648
 
this is today's republican Party.

GOP official who claimed 2020 election was stolen voted illegally 9 times, judge rules​

A Georgia Republican official who pushed false claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” was found to have voted illegally nine times, a judge ruled this week. Brian Pritchard, first vice chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, as well as investigative costs, and be publicly reprimanded. Pritchard had been sentenced in 1996 in Pennsylvania to three years’ probation for felony check forgery charges. His probation was revoked three times — once in 1999, after he moved to Georgia, and again in 2002 and 2004. In 2004, a judge imposed a new seven-year probationary sentence on Pritchard, thus making him ineligible to vote until at least 2011 in Georgia, where state law prohibits felons from voting.

Despite that, court documents showed that Pritchard signed voter registration forms in 2008 in which he affirmed that he was “not serving a sentence for having been convicted of a felony involving moral turpitude.” He then cast ballots in four Georgia primary and general elections in 2008, as well as five special, primary and general elections in 2010. According to court documents, Pritchard testified that he thought his felony sentence had ended in 1999.

“Do you think the first time I voted, I said, ‘Oh, I got away with it. Let’s do it eight more times?' ” Pritchard said, as reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Representatives for the Georgia GOP and for Pritchard’s attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Pritchard is a conservative talk show host and the owner of fetchyournews.com, which he has described as a conservative political news site. He also ran unsuccessfully in a special election for a Georgia state House seat last year. In a 2022 story for his website, Pritchard railed against those who had alleged he had voted illegally, accusing them in turn of trying to “manipulate an election.” He also maintained he had done nothing wrong.

“Yes, for those who think a person charged with a felony can’t vote, wrong. First, in the state of Pennsylvania the only time you lose your voting rights is if you are incarcerated,” Pritchard wrote. “Considering I have never spent a night in jail in my entire life …(can everyone say that) I never lost my voting rights in PA. Once your sentence has expired you can vote in the state of Georgia. Yes it’s true!”

Pritchard has also touted former president Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him. In a 2022 episode of his talk show, Pritchard criticized the “corrupt media” and Georgia election officials for being “complicit” in what he called stealing the election. “I do not believe 81 million people voted for this guy,” Pritchard said, referring to Joe Biden. In a questionnaire he filled out while running for first vice chairman of the Georgia GOP last year, Pritchard said he hoped to “leverage the influence of the grassroots conservative movement to improve election integrity.”

Just like what Trump constantly does... accuse others of the offenses he commits. Projecting his wrongs onto others.
 
Trump is now trying to stiff the guys who started Truth Social for him... the very company who's public offering has bailed him out of his ongoing money woes.:lol: You'd think by now people would know better than to go into business with Trump. The irony is hilarious on so many levels...

Trump Sues Truth Social Company Co-Founders to Zero Them Out​

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump has sued two co-founders of his newly public Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., claiming they set the company up improperly and shouldn’t get any stock in it.

In the latest legal skirmish over who gets how much of the hot but flailing meme stock, Trump alleges that Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss violated an agreement about the setup and don’t deserve their 8.6% stake, currently valued at $606 million.
The legal fight is playing out amid wild swings in shares of Trump Media, which began trading last week after it merged with a special purpose acquisition company, known as a SPAC. The stock dropped 21% Monday after Trump Media disclosed in a securities filing a $58 million loss and a relative trickle of revenue for 2023, and reiterated a warning that it needed the money from the SPAC deal to keep operating.

The stock was up 6.1% at $51.63 at 3:53 p.m. in New York on Tuesday.
Trump claims Litinsky and Moss failed to properly set up the corporate governance structure of Trump Media, launch his Truth Social platform and find an appropriate merger partner. That failure hurt the company, he argues. He says they then “began ceaseless attempts to thwart” the blank check deal in the struggle for their respective stakes. In their own suit, the two say Trump was planning to seek millions of extra shares, diluting their stake.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ers-of-truth-social-media-company-over-shares
To avoid paywall: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/com...S&cvid=35a1942c31684f4f876cac78ac8fd5d6&ei=22
 
But experts had warned the stock was bound to tumble, as its main product - Truth Social - loses users and burns cash.
We would also have accepted "uses losers"
 
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