Inmate P01135809
August 24, 2023
Questions About Giuliani and Ellis Mugshots
First, Rudy Giuliani:
Now, Jenna Ellis:
And now some context:
Three of Donald Trump’s key election lawyers, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis, surrendered Wednesday on charges in the Georgia election subversion case.
That happened yesterday.
A little more than a THOUSAND DAYS AGO, this happened:
And some context:
Having failed to gain traction in court, President Donald Trump’s campaign brought its case challenging Pennsylvania’s election results to a state Senate hearing Wednesday in Gettysburg, where it repeated its unfounded claims of widespread fraud to a welcoming audience of Republican legislators.
Addressing members of the state Senate Majority Policy Committee in a proceeding that played out like a campaign rally — with firebrand speeches from GOP lawmakers and whooping cheers from dozens of supporters — Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani pressed his baseless case that the election had been stolen and the truth covered up by “Big Tech,” the media, and the courts.
“I know crooks really well,” he told the panel, gathered in a conference room of the Wyndham Gettysburg hotel. “You give them an inch and they take a mile. And you give them a mile and they take your whole country.”
Then, with Trump attorney Jenna Ellis holding a cell phone to a microphone, the president himself addressed the crowd from Washington.
That was the meeting hosted by failed GOP candidate for PA Governor, State Senator Doug Mastriano. Jenna Ellis
went on to become Doug's "senior legal advisor" for that failed campaign. In the picture, that's Jenna holding up the cell phone to the microphone so
that the enthralled can hear their master's voice.
This event is even listed as "Act 8" from the Georgia indictment:
On or about the 25th day of November 2020, RUDOLPH WILLIAM LOUIS GIULIANI and JENNA LYNN ELLIS appeared, spoke, and presented witnesses at a meeting of Pennsylvania legislators in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. During the meeting, RUDOLPH WILLIAM LOUIS GIULIANI made false statements concerning fraud in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Pennsylvania and solicited, requested, and importuned the Pennsylvania legislators present at the meeting to unlawfully appoint presidential electors from Pennsylvania. During the meeting, JENNA LYNN ELLIS solicited, requested, and importuned the Pennsylvania legislators present at the meeting to unlawfully appoint presidential electors from Pennsylvania. DONALD JOHN TRUMP joined the meeting by telephone, made false statements concerning fraud in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Pennsylvania, and solicited, requested, and importuned the Pennsylvania legislators present at the meeting to unlawfully appoint presidential electors from Pennsylvania. These were overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy. [Bolding and CAPS in original.]
BTW, Jenna Ellis is quoted as saying that "Doug Mastriano is the Donald Trump of Pennsylvania.”
Will any of Pennsylvania's political reporters be asking Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano for a comment on the indictment/arrest/mug shot of either Rudy Giuliani or Jenna Ellis?
August 22, 2023
$200,000 - And That's Not All!
From the NYTimes:
A judge in Atlanta set bail for former President Donald J. Trump at $200,000 on Monday in the new election interference case against him, warning Mr. Trump not to intimidate or threaten witnesses or any of his 18 co-defendants as a condition of the bond agreement.
And see that last part? It's here in the agreement:
The Defendant shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a codefendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice. This shall include, but is not limited to, the following:
a. The Defendant shall make no direct or indirect threat of any nature against any codefendant;
b.. The Defendant shall make no direct or indirect threat of any nature against any witness including, but not limited to, the individuals designated in the Indictment as an unindicated co-conspirators Individual 1 through Individual 30;
c. The Defendant shall make no direct or indirect threat of any nature against any victim;
d. The Defendant shall make no direct or indirect threat of any nature against the community or to any property in the community;
e. The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media;
And then there's this part:
The Defendant shall not violate the laws of this State, the laws of any other state, the laws. of the United States of America, or any other local laws.
I'm absolutely sure Donald J. Trump will have absolutely no problem with these restrictions.
Absolutely none. Nope.
August 15, 2023
Indicted! (For A FOURTH Time) - Some Local (PA) Connections
You can read the indictment here.
Of course, I'm looking for local connections.
Hey, found one! Here it is:
Act 8.
On or about the 25th day of November 2020, RUDOLPH WILLIAM LOUIS GIULIANI and JENNA LYNN ELLIS appeared, spoke, and presented witnesses at a meeting of Pennsylvania legislators in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. During the meeting, RUDOLPH WILLIAM LOUIS GIULIANI made false statements concerning fraud in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Pennsylvania and solicited, requested, and importuned the Pennsylvania legislators present at the meeting to unlawfully appoint presidential electors from Pennsylvania. During the meeting, JENNA LYNN ELLIS solicited, requested, and importuned the Pennsylvania legislators present at the meeting to unlawfully appoint presidential electors from Pennsylvania. DONALD JOHN TRUMP joined the meeting by telephone, made false statements concerning fraud in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Pennsylvania, and solicited, requested, and importuned the Pennsylvania legislators present at the meeting to unlawfully appoint presidential electors from Pennsylvania. These were overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy. [Bolding and CAPS in original.]
And look! Here's another one that follows right after:
Act 9.
On or about the 25th day of November 2020, immediately after the meeting of Pennsylvania legislators in Gettysburg , Pennsylvania, where RUDOLPH WILLIAM LOUIS GIULIANI and JENNA LYNN ELLIS appeared, spoke , and presented witnesses, DONALD JOHN TRUMP invited a group of the Pennsylvania legislators and others to meet with him at the White House. Later that day, DONALD JOHN TRUMP, MARK RANDALL MEADOWS, RUDOLPH WILLIAM LOUIS GIULIANI, JENNA LYNN ELLIS and unindicted co-conspirators Individual 5 and Individual 6, whose identities are known to the Grand Jury, met with the group of Pennsylvania legislators at the White House and discussed holding a special session of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. These were overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy. [Bolding and CAPS in original.]
A few things you should've noticed about these "overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy" to keep Trump in power in 2020:
- That was State Sen Doug Mastriano's meeting in Gettysburg.
- Mastriano was one of the Pennsylvania legislators at that meeting in the White House.
- Jenna Ellis later joined Doug Mastriano's legal team during his campaign for Governor of Pennsylvania.
According to the State of Georgia, Doug Mastriano was part of the conspiracy.
Any comment for the blog, Senator?
More to come.
August 7, 2023
So What Happened, Senator, On January FIFTH?
On CNN's "State of the Union" former Vice President Mike Pence was asked whether Donald Trump asked him to overturn the 2020 election and this was part of his answer:
The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone. But, look, in the days before, the president was talking about us rejecting votes. Then, late in the process, his lawyers suggested that we return votes to the states.
But, frankly, the day before January 6, if memory serves, they came back, his lawyers did, and said, we want you to reject votes outright. This -- they were asking me to overturn the election. I had no right to overturn the election. I know we did our duty that day, and I couldn't be more encouraged, whether it's here in New Hampshire, in Iowa or all across the country, how many people come up to me and express their appreciation for the stand that we took.
Last December, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported:
According to the committee, Trump spoke to Mastriano on Jan. 5, then told the White House operator that Mastriano would be “calling in for the Vice President.”
It’s unclear if that call happened. Mastriano did send two emails on behalf of Trump the night of Jan. 5. One was signed by state legislators from across the country and asked Pence to delay ratifying the election for 12 days.
We wrote about this earlier this year and still Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano has yet to explain (or even mention, as far as I know) his phone call to the White House on January 5 - the day before January 6.
In the middle of Trump's pressure campaign to get Pence to overturn the election, Doug calls the White House, talks to Trump for a few minutes and then Trump tells the then VP's office for them to expect a call from Doug.
What did Doug Mastriano say to Donald Trump the day before Trump's mob stormed The Capitol?
Did Doug talk to Mike Pence that night? What did they talk about?
Questions still unanswered.
August 4, 2023
Does Doug Mastriano Have An Explanation For This?
We'll start here:
A hot mic picked up State Sen. Devlin Robinson (R-Allegheny) calling a first responder from Pennsylvania Task Force 1 a "d*ck" during a committee meeting on Tuesday.
— The Keystone (@TheKeystone) August 2, 2023
Robinson leaned over to Mastriano and said "Yeah, this guy looks like a dick." pic.twitter.com/XVgrfHUevM
And some context from PoliticsPa:
Two Pennsylvania state lawmakers are in the hot seat after they were caught on a live microphone and on video making a disparaging remark about a Philadelphia Fire Department captain.
The Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee, chaired by Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin), held a hearing in Coraopolis that focused on legislation introduced by Sen. Devlin Robinson (R-Allegheny). The proposal was to create a Pennsylvania Task Force Urban Search and Rescue team, based in Allegheny County, to assume primary coverage in the western part of the state.
And then:
As [Capt. Ken] Pagurek was walking to his seat, Robinson leaned over to Mastriano and made a disparaging remark about Pagurek. Mastriano, as seen on the video, could be seen laughing at the comment.
Doug can be heard laughing, too. Give a listen.
State Sen Robinson has issued an apology for calling the guy a dick:
— Senator Devlin Robinson (@SenRobinsonPA) August 3, 2023State Sen Doug Mastriano, as far as I can tell, has not yet apologized for laughing.
August 3, 2023
One Thing To Remember About Jeffrey Clark (Pennsylvania Edition)
Ok, let's start here:
Donald Trump’s team was aware that, if he refused to leave office after the 2020 election, it could spark a mass wave of civil unrest. But the man Trump sought to appoint as attorney general had an easy answer for that, according to the new indictment of the former president: invoke the Insurrection Act.
The indictment lists six as-of-yet unindicted co-conspirators. Co-Conspirator 4 is described as “a Justice Department official who…attempted to use the Justice Department to open sham election crime investigations and influence state legislatures with knowingly false claims of election fraud.” The indictment later refers to this individual as the man Trump intended to put “in charge of the Justice Department.” The description matches Jeffrey Clark.
And:
This same Deputy White House Counsel now “tried to dissuade” Co-Conspirator 4 from taking the post of Acting Attorney General. The counsel again made clear his conviction that there had not been meaningful fraud in the election. And he warned that there would be “riots in every major city in the United States” if Trump attempted to remain in office, against the will of the electorate.
Co-Conspirator 4 had an answer for the Deputy White House Counsel, the indictment alleges, that was equally disturbing and glib: “Well,” he said, “that’s why there’s an Insurrection Act.”
Connecting the dots, that's what Jeffrey Clark said. Rolling Stone sums it up:
But the current indictment alleges that the Insurrection Act was considered as a means to use the power of the military — or perhaps even informal militias — to suppress the righteous outrage of American voters at the theft of an election — by the thief himself, with the guidance and cheer-leading of his hand-picked lackey at the Department of Justice.
And here's the thing for Pennsylvanians to keep in mind whenever they see the name Jeffrey Clark pop up in the discussion of Trump's coup attempt;
Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry introduced Clark to Trump:
The President raised, among others, debunked claims about voting machines in Michigan, a truck driver who allegedly moved ballots from New York to Pennsylvania, and a purported election fraud at the State Farm Arena in Georgia.None of the allegations were credible, and Rosen and Donoghue said so to the President.At one point during the December 27th call in which Donoghue refuted President Trump’s fraud allegations, Donoghue recorded in handwritten notes a request President Trump made specifically to him and Acting Attorney General Rosen: “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen.”Donoghue explained: “[T]he Department had zero involvement in anyone’s political strategy,” and “he wanted us to say that it was corrupt.”“We told him we were not going to do that.”
At the time, neither Rosen nor Donoghue knew the full extent to which Republican Congressmen, including Representative Scott Perry, were attempting to assist President Trump to overturn the election results.
The Committee’s investigation has shown that Congressman Perry was working with one Department of Justice official, Jeffrey Clark, regarding the stolen election claims. Perry was working with Clark and with President Trump and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows with this goal: to enlist Clark to reverse the Department of Justice’s findings regarding the election and help overturn the election outcome.
After introducing Clark to the President, Perry sent multiple text messages to Meadows between December 26th and December 28th, pressing that Clark be elevated within the Department. Perry reminded Meadows that there are only “11 days to 1/6.... We gotta get going!,” and, as the days went on, one asking, “Did you call Jeff Clark?”
Jeff Clark was where he was because Scott Perry got him there.
Something for every Pennsylvanian to remember.
August 2, 2023
TRUMP INDICTED! AGAIN - AGAIN!
As we all know by now, this happened yesterday:
Donald Trump was indicted on felony charges Tuesday for working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the violent riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol, with the Justice Department acting to hold him accountable for an unprecedented effort to block the peaceful transfer of presidential power and threaten American democracy.
The four-count indictment, the third criminal case against Trump, provided deeper insight into a dark moment that has already been the subject of exhaustive federal investigations and captivating public hearings. It chronicles a months-long campaign of lies about the election results and says that, even when those falsehoods resulted in a chaotic insurrection at the Capitol, Trump sought to exploit the violence by pointing to it as a reason to further delay the counting of votes that sealed his defeat.
You can read the indictment here.
It opens with this:
The Defendant, DONALD J . TRUMP, was the forty-fifth President of the United States and a candidate for re-election in 2020. The Defendant lost the 2020 presidential election.
And sums things up rather nicely a few paragraphs down:
The purpose of the conspiracy was to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election by using knowingly false claims of election fraud to obstruct the federal government function by which those results are collected, counted, and certified.
And the indictment lays out "three criminal conspiracies." Here they are:
a. A conspiracy to defraud the United States by using dishonesty, fraud, and
deceit to impair, obstruct, and defeat the lawful federal government function
by which the results of the presidential election are collected, counted, and
certified by the federal government, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371;b. A conspiracy to corruptly obstruct and impede the January 6 congressional
proceeding at which the collected results of the presidential election are
counted and certified ("the certification proceeding"), in violation of 18
U.S.C. § 1512(k);andc. A conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one's vote counted, in
violation of 18 U.S.C. § 241.
Not surprisingly, our own "swing state" of Pennsylvania show up more than a few times.
Like here on page 5:
The Defendant's conspiracy to impair, obstruct, and defeat the federal government function through dishonesty, fraud, and deceit included the following manner and means...
b. The Defendant and co-conspirators organized fraudulent slates of electors in seven targeted states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin), attempting to mimic the procedures that the legitimate electors were supposed to follow under the Constitution and other federal and state laws. This included causing the fraudulent electors to meet on the day appointed by federal law on which legitimate electors were to gather and cast their votes; cast fraudulent votes for the Defendant; and sign certificates falsely representing that they were legitimate electors. Some fraudulent electors were tricked into participating based on the understanding that their votes would be used only if the Defendant succeeded in outcome-determinative lawsuits within their state, which the Defendant never did. The Defendant and co-conspirators then caused these fraudulent electors to transmit their false certificates to the Vice President and other government officials to be counted at thecertification proceeding on January 6.
Those pesky "fake electors" again, amirite?
And this on page 8:
The Defendant widely disseminated his false claims of election fraud for months, despite the fact that he knew, and in many cases had been informed directly, that they were not true. The Defendant's knowingly false statements were integral to his criminal plans to defeat the federal government function, obstruct the certification, and interfere with others' right to vote and have their votes counted. He made these knowingly false claims throughout the post-election time period, including those below that he made immediately before the attack on the Capitol on January 6:
b. The Defendant asserted that there had been 205,000 more votes than voters in Pennsylvania. The Defendant's Acting Attorney General and Acting Deputy Attorney General had explained to him that this was false.
So Trump was told the "more votes than voters in Pennsylvania" thing was false? And he went with it anyway?
Huh.
By the way, this was a falsehood that State Senator Doug Mastriano also pushed.
But on page 19 there's this:
On November 25, the day after Pennsylvania's Governor signed a certificate of ascertainment and thus certified to the federal government that Biden's electors were the legitimate electors for the state, Co-Conspirator 1 orchestrated an event at a hotel in Gettysburg attended by state legislators. Co-Conspirator 1 falsely claimed that Pennsylvania had issued 1.8 million absentee ballots and received 2.5 million in return. In the days thereafter, a Campaign staffer wrote internally that Co-Conspirator l's allegation was "just wrong" and "[t]here's no way to defend it." The Deputy Campaign Manager responded, "We have been saying this for a while. It's very frustrating."
Ah, yes. The indictment is mentioning Doug Mastriano's "hearing" in Gettysburg, isn't it?
Yes, it is. Take a look:
WHAT: At the request of Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Adams/Cumberland/Franklin/York), the Senate Majority Policy Committee is holding a public hearing Wednesday to discuss 2020 election issues and irregularities. The hearing will feature former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
By the way, Rudy Giuliani is far more likely than not Co-Conspirator I.
State Senator Doug Mastriano should be asked about these connections to Donald Trump's coup attempt.
What did he know? When did he know it?
As for Donald Trump:
Lock him up!
Lock him up!
Lock him up!
July 26, 2023
Meanwhile, Outside...
Some climate science from the climate scientists at NOAA:
June 2023 set a record as the warmest June for the globe in NOAA's 174-year record. The June global surface temperature was 1.05°C (1.89°F) above the 20th-century average of 15.5°C (59.9°F). This marked the first time a June temperature exceeded 1°C above the long-term average. The Junes of 2015–2023 rank among the ten warmest Junes on record. June 2023 marked the 47th consecutive June and the 532nd consecutive month with global temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th-century average.
And of course, there's a chart:
But wait. There's more.
According to this report out of the Imperial College of London:
-
Heatwaves are amongst the deadliest natural hazards with thousands of people
dying from heat-
related causes each year. However, the full impact of a heatwave is rarely known until weeks
or months afterwards, once death certificates are collected, or scientists can analyse excess
deaths. Many places lack good record-keeping of heat-related deaths, therefore currently
available global mortality figures are likely an underestimate. -
In line with what has been expected from past climate projections and IPCC
reports these events
are not rare anymore today. North America, Europe and China have experienced heatwaves
increasingly frequently over the last years as a result of warming caused by human activities,
hence the current heat waves are not rare in today's climate with an event like the currently
expected approximately once every 15 years in the US/Mexico region, once every 10 years in
Southern Europe, and once in 5 years for China. -
Without human induced climate change these heat events would however have
been extremely
rare. In China it would have been about a 1 in 250 year event while maximum heat like in July
2023 would have been virtually impossible to occur in the US/Mexico region and Southern
Europe if humans had not warmed the planet by burning fossil fuels. -
In all the regions a heatwave of the same likelihood as the one observed
today would have been
significantly cooler in a world without climate change. Similar to previous studies we found
that the heatwaves defined above are 2.5°C warmer in Southern Europe, 2°C warmer in North
America and about 1°C in China in today’s climate than they would have been if it was not for
human-induced climate change.
July 25, 2023
I'm Back - What Did I Miss?
I've been away for a few weeks and now I'm back.
What have I missed?
Oh, yea. This:
The letter former President Donald Trump received from special counsel Jack Smith informing him that he is a target of the federal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election mentions three federal statutes related to the deprivation of rights, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and tampering with a witness.
Those three federal statutes were included in the letter Trump said he received Sunday night, according to two attorneys with direct knowledge of the document. The context surrounding the statutes is unclear, and including them in the letter does not necessarily mean that Trump will be charged with related counts or that an indictment would be limited to only those three statutes.
Digging deeper, we find this:
The letter to Mr. Trump from the special counsel, Jack Smith, referred to three criminal statutes as part of the grand jury investigation into Mr. Trump’s efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss, according to two people with knowledge of its contents. Two of the statutes were familiar from the criminal referral by the House Jan. 6 committee and months of discussion by legal experts: conspiracy to defraud the government and obstruction of an official proceeding.
But the third criminal law cited in the letter was a surprise: Section 241 of Title 18 of the United States Code, which makes it a crime for people to “conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person” in the “free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States.”
The Times explains:
A Justice Department spokesman declined to discuss the target letter and Mr. Smith’s theory for bringing the Section 241 statute into the Jan. 6 investigation. But the modern usage of the law raised the possibility that Mr. Trump, who baselessly declared the election he lost to have been rigged, could face prosecution on accusations of trying to rig the election himself.
If you look at how the statute starts:
If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same...
You'll see a scary word: conspire. If they're looking down this road, aren't they looking for a conspiracy?
More on that in a bit. Back to The Times:
The line of 20th-century cases raised the prospect that Mr. Smith and his team could be weighing using that law to cover efforts by Mr. Trump and his associates to flip the outcome of states he lost. Those efforts included the recorded phone conversation in which Mr. Trump tried to bully Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” enough additional votes to overcome Mr. Biden’s win in that state and promoting a plan to use so-called fake electors — self-appointed slates of pro-Trump electors from states won by Mr. Biden — to help block or delay congressional certification of Mr. Trump’s defeat.
“It seems like under 241 there’s at least a right to an honest counting of the votes,” said Norman Eisen, who worked for the House Judiciary Committee during Mr. Trump’s first impeachment. “Submitting an alternate electoral certificate to Congress (as opposed to casting false votes or counting wrong) is a novel scenario, but it seems like it would violate this right.”
So on top of everything else, it looks like they're looking at the fake electors. The Times calls them "self-appointed slates of pro-Trump electors from states won by Mr. Biden" in case you missed it.
That happened in Pennsylvania. Did you know that?
Yea, I'm sure you did.
And look who was involved in Pennsylvania:
Previously undisclosed emails provide an inside look at the increasingly desperate and often slapdash efforts by advisers to President Donald J. Trump to reverse his election defeat in the weeks before the Jan. 6 attack, including acknowledgments that a key element of their plan was of dubious legality and lived up to its billing as “fake.”
And:
As they organized the fake elector scheme, lawyers appointed a “point person” in seven states to help organize those electors who were willing to sign their names to false documents. In Pennsylvania, that point person was Douglas V. Mastriano, a proponent of Mr. Trump’s lies of a stolen election who is now the Republican nominee for governor.
And then there's this from WESA:
An earlier media report, published last week in the online political journal Politico, also features an email from Bobb that links Mastriano to the effort. It reported that "Bobb wrote [that] Trump's team was waiting to hear from the office of state Sen. Doug Mastriano ... to get a room for the alternate electors" in Harrisburg, where Mastriano represents Adams County and adjoining areas.
They needed him to get them a room??
How much you wanna bet that Doug Mastriano's name at least came up at some point in Jack Smith's investigation of Trump's "fake elector" scheme?
Probably a safe bet.
Any comment for the blog, State Senator Doug Mastriano?
July 8, 2023
July 5, 2023
Hottest Day Ever (SO FAR)
First, there's this from Reuters:
Monday, July 3, was the hottest day ever recorded globally, according to data from the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction.
The average global temperature reached 17.01 degrees Celsius (62.62 Fahrenheit), surpassing the August 2016 record of 16.92C (62.46F) as heatwaves sizzled around the world.
And then this from The Washington Post:
Tuesday was the hottest day on Earth since records began in 1979, with the global average temperature reaching 62.92 degrees Fahrenheit (17.18 degrees Celsius), according to data from the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction.
As a result, scientists believe July 4 may have been the hottest day on Earth in around 125,000 years, due to a dangerous combination of climate change causing global temperatures to soar, the return of the El Niño pattern and the start of summer in the northern hemisphere.
And The BBC:
Scientists say the reading was the highest in any instrumental record dating back to the end of the 19th century.
The high heat is due to a combination of the El Niño weather event and ongoing emissions of carbon dioxide.
Researchers believe there will be more records in the coming months as El Niño strengthens.
Hence the "SO FAR" in the title to this blog.
The Climate Reanalyzer at the University of Maine has a handy chart:
See that jagged green line in the center at the top of the chart? The one that's pointing more or less upward?
That's now.
June 28, 2023
Meanwhile, Outside...
Yes, we all know about Trump's legal difficulties and how the Supreme Court rejected the so-called "Independent State Legislature" theory.
But it's still getting warmer outside.
Take a look. This is some science from the scientists at NOAA:
May 2023 was the third-warmest May for the globe in NOAA's 174-year record. The May global surface temperature was 0.97°C (1.75°F) above the 20th-century average of 14.8°C (58.6°F). The past nine Mays have ranked among the 10 warmest on record. May 2023 marked the 47th consecutive May and the 531st consecutive month with global temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th-century average.
And, like always, the chart:
Then there's this for the three months March-April-May:
The March–May 2023 global surface temperature was 1.06°C (1.91°F) above the 20th-century average. This ranks as the third-warmest March–May period in the 174-year record and 0.10°C (0.18°F) cooler than the warmest March–May period (2016). The ten warmest March-May periods have all occurred from 2010 to present.
And finally, the year-to-date:
The January–May global surface temperature ranked fourth warmest in the 174-year record at 1.01°C (1.82°F) above the 1901–2000 average of 13.1°C (55.5°F). According to NCEI's statistical analysis, the year 2023 is very likely to rank among the 10 warmest years on record.Yep. It's still getting warmer out there.
June 26, 2023
Michael Roman, Jack Smith, and...Doug Mastriano?
From The New York Times, this weekend:
Michael Roman, a top official in former President Donald J. Trump’s 2020 campaign, is in discussions with the office of the special counsel Jack Smith that could soon lead to Mr. Roman voluntarily answering questions about a plan to create slates of pro-Trump electors in key swing states that were won by Joseph R. Biden Jr., according to a person familiar with the matter.
And:
In the past few weeks, several witnesses with connections to the fake elector plan have appeared in front of a grand jury in Federal District Court in Washington that is investigating the ways in which Mr. Trump and his allies sought to reverse his defeat to Mr. Biden. Among them was Gary Michael Brown, Mr. Roman’s onetime deputy, who was questioned in front of the grand jury on Thursday.
Guess what? Take a look at this from the AP in February of 2022 (by way of WITF):
A Pennsylvania state senator who was in regular communication with Donald Trump as the then-president sought to reverse his 2020 election loss, and was outside the U.S. Capitol the afternoon of the Jan. 6 rioting, was subpoenaed Tuesday by the congressional committee looking into the insurrection.
Sen. Doug Mastriano, a former Army officer currently seeking the Republican nomination for governor, was asked by the Jan. 6 select committee to hand over documents and information about efforts to name a slate of alternate Electoral College electors for Trump.
You can see the subpoena here.
The AP includes this:
The Select Committee is seeking information about efforts to send false slates of electors to Washington and change the outcome of the 2020 election,” Thompson, the committee’s Democratic chairman, said in a statement. “We’re seeking records and testimony from former campaign officials and other individuals in various states who we believe have relevant information about the planning and implementation of those plans.
And then, in the very next paragraph, there's this:
The individuals subpoenaed on Tuesday include Michael Roman and Gary Michael Brown, who served as directors for Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign. The committee believes the two men reportedly promoted allegations of election fraud as well as encouraged state legislators to appoint false slates of electors. [Emphasis added.]
Obviously I have no knowledge of any of the discussions that are taking place/have taken place but with all these connections, what do you think the chances are that Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano's name will come up in one or more of them?
What do you think, Senator? Any comments for the blog?
June 25, 2023
Mastriano Misunderstands Lincoln.
At his Facebook page (the "official" one that tags him as a "Government Official"), Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano posted this today:
Adding this comment:
While these words are typically attributed to President Lincoln, that is not a verifiable fact. Regardless of the author, this is a profound statement that we are seeing the reality of in our nation today. In the words of Edmund Burke, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Well, it's good that Doug has at least made some sort attempt to be historically accurate. I'd like to think he posted the caveat because he knew I'd call him on it if he didn't.
I'd like to think that - but while I am pretty sure someone from his office reads this blog, I can't be sure it's Doug himself.
In any event, Doug's Lincoln quote issue pops up when you do search the history of the attribution.
Luckily Politifact has already done that:
[Lincoln] never said that. But it’s not too far afield of a real Lincoln quote.
So where does it come from? And in what context?
That's where Doug's troubles start.
It's one of Lincoln's first major speeches, Politifact says:
On Jan. 27, 1838, Lincoln spoke before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, about "the perpetuation of our political institutions." During that address, he said: "At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
You can read the entire speech here. Probably something Doug should have done himself. You'll see in a minute.
Lincoln opens by saying that the topic of the speech is "the perpetuation of our political institutions."
Is Doug Mastriano so politically tone deaf that he doesn't hear the warning sirens?
Lincoln sets the frame:
In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we, the American People, find our account running, under date of the nineteenth century of the Christian era. We find ourselves in the peaceful possession, of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate. We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us.
And goes on to say that the founders (though he doesn't use that term) established this form of government and took it upon themselves to perform the task of protecting and passing it along to succeeding generations.
That's where Lincoln's quote comes in:
How, then, shall we perform it? At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
And it's the very next sentence of Lincoln's speech that exposes the danger of Doug Mastriano's politics. See if you can see it:
I hope I am over wary; but if I am not, there is, even now, something of ill-omen amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgement of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice.
If you missed it, it's the part about substituting "wild and furious passions" for justice.
If you want to see more, Lincoln says this a bit later:
There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.
Lincoln's solution here is a deep respect for the rule of law:
Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap---let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges;---let it be written in Primmers, spelling books, and in Almanacs;---let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation; and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars. [Emphasis added.]
Do you see why Doug should have avoided anything to do with this speech? Even the misattributed quotations possibly paraphrased from it?
This is the man who was Trump's "point person" on the fake elector scheme set up to keep the loser of the 2020 election in power.
The architect of that scheme is currently facing disbarment in California.
He was there as Trump's mob stormed the Capitol.
And one of Mastriano's political aides was photographed a few feet away from Trump's mob pushing against a Capitol door.
I am thinking that "historian" Doug Mastriano utterly failed to understand Lincoln's point - either the real words or the misattributed ones.
June 21, 2023
Trump Confessed
It's right here:
Baier: Why not just hand them over? Trump: Because I had boxes, I want to go through the boxes and get all my personal things pic.twitter.com/PwW85wlTzH
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 19, 2023
From Intelligencer at New York Magazine:
Okay, so the government wants the boxes back, and Trump hasn’t gone through them all yet. So then he orders his aide to move the boxes to fool the Feds, exposing himself to even more serious criminal liability. Trump does not deny this to Baier!
From Rolling Stone:
A week after his second post-presidential arrest, this one for his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House, Donald Trump turned to Fox News host Bret Baier on Monday to make the case for why he should lead the country again. But he ended up essentially confessing to the crime of which he’s accused: stealing and sharing top-secret government information.
From Politico:
The comments from Trump are an admission that he did not move to satisfy the federal government’s demands that he comply with their requests to hand over the documents.
He confessed.
Lock him up!
Lock him up!
Lock him up!
June 19, 2023
Juneteenth
From The Emancipation Proclamation of September 22, 1862:
That on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia on XX at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865.
And then:
After President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, many enslaved people would remain in bondage for two and a half years. Even two months after the Confederacy surrendered at the Appomattox Courthouse, slavery persisted in Texas. That is, until Union forces arrived to enforce the Proclamation.
In Galveston on June 19, 1865, U.S. Army General Gordon Granger issued General Order Number Three statings: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive in the United States, all slaves are free.” Later in December, the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified to abolish slavery throughout the United States.
You can read the original document here.
The US Army had to, in effect, invade Texas to enforce Lincoln's proclamation.
Then this - The Thirteenth Amendment:
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Ratified by the Congress on December 6, 1865.
June 14, 2023
Trump, In Miami With His Arms Folded.
From The NYTimes:
Donald J. Trump, twice impeached as president and now twice indicted since leaving the White House, surrendered to federal authorities in Miami on Tuesday and was arraigned on charges that he had put national security secrets at risk and obstructed investigators.
Mr. Trump was booked, fingerprinted and led to a courtroom on the 13th floor of the Federal District Court, where his lawyer entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.
Lock him up!
Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to federal charges that he broke the law dozens of times by keeping and hiding top-secret documents in his Florida home — the first hearing in a historic court case that could alter the country’s political and legal landscape.
“We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty,” Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche said at the arraignment in a small but packed courtroom, where Trump sat at the defense table scowling and with his arms folded for much of the hearing.
Flanked by two of his lawyers, Blanche and Christopher Kise, the former president listened impassively as U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman said he planned to order the former president not to have any contact with witnesses in the case — or his co-defendant, Waltine “Walt” Nauta — as the case proceeds.
Lock him up!
Ex-president sat quietly during the 45-minute hearing, folding his arms and clenching his fingers, and occasionally grimacing...
LOCK HIM UP!
Koltar, when he drowned in the swamp.
June 13, 2023
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