From 738ee5a126205257561825356d54fd272f16ed03 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Ralph Hightower <32745442+RalphHightower@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2024 01:43:00 -0500 Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Update README From 707dbed719cb0fa06ab5f88f9a53de4f2b10a240 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Ralph Hightower <32745442+RalphHightower@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2024 02:10:07 -0500 Subject: [PATCH 2/2] [fix](blog): front matter (titles, timestamps, --- .../2024/12/2024-12-05-GamecockSandstorm.md | 124 ++++++++++++++++++ ...12-12-TrumpDreamsFantasyDismissalOfFine.md | 72 ++++++++++ ...2024-12-13-TrumpDestruction_II_HasBegun.md | 67 ++++++++++ ...2-14-TrumpHasNoControlOverGroceryPrices.md | 2 +- .../2024-12-14-TrumpMockedByWorldLeaders.md | 4 +- 5 files changed, 266 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) create mode 100644 _posts/2024/12/2024-12-05-GamecockSandstorm.md create mode 100644 _posts/2024/12/2024-12-12-TrumpDreamsFantasyDismissalOfFine.md create mode 100644 _posts/2024/12/2024-12-13-TrumpDestruction_II_HasBegun.md diff --git a/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-05-GamecockSandstorm.md b/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-05-GamecockSandstorm.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b2f86f37 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-05-GamecockSandstorm.md @@ -0,0 +1,124 @@ +--- +layout: post +tags: [football, Darude, electronic dance music (edm), rally music] +categories: [University of South Carolina (USC)] +date: 2024-12-05 4:18 PM +excerpt: '' +#image: 'BASEURL/assets/blog/img/.png' +#description: +#permalink: +title: 'USC Sandstorm' +--- + + +## The cultural impact of Darude - Sandstorm at South Carolina College GameDay + +[ESPN College Football](https://www.youtube.com/@espncfb) + + + +Sep 19, 2024 College GameDay Podcast +Check out the origin and cultural impact of Darude - Sandstorm at South Carolina and why the tradition has outlasted the test of time for Gamecocks' game day operations. + +Darude - Sandstorm + + + +Jul 4, 2009 + +Carolina Band "Destination: MACY'S" + + + +Sep 24, 2023 +Carolina Band "The Mighty Sound of the Southeast" Halftime show Sept 23, 2023 Mississippi State Game. Destination Macy"s show featuring New York, New York, Empire State of Mind and Caravan + +Darude Brought the Sandstorm! || Carolina vs. Kentucky 🐈 • Double Beat 2023 #15 + + +Nov 23, 2023 #Gamecocks #Darude #CarolinaBand +Psalm 23 🕊️ +This video and every other video depicting a South Carolina football game is dedicated to a dear friend of mine from high school and her family. On August 15, just about two weeks before the season got underway, her father very unexpectedly passed away while at work. He was a huge Carolina fan, and by all accounts a great person and loved by all who had the pleasure of knowing him. May he rest in peace, and my continued thoughts and prayers are with you all. 🙏🙏🙏 + +~~~ + +Welcome to the fifteenth episode of Double Beat 2023! + +The stars are out in Columbia this weekend! Darude himself—Finnish DJ and producer, the composer of “Sandstorm,” and the “Mozart of Columbia”—is in town to perform his hit single LIVE! Released in 1999, Sandstorm became the anthem of Gamecock Football in 2009 when it was played in the Thursday night upset victory over #4 Ole Miss. Sandstorm has continued to evolve in its presentation at USC games with the introduction of the remix and the garnet lighting, so it only seems fitting that Darude himself is now in Williams-Brice for the first time and surely not his last. + +Additionally, it’s South Carolina vs. Kentucky, Shane Beamer vs. Mark Stoops, senior night for the Carolina Band, and the football game debut of the Secret show featuring Tom Cruise, Austin Powers, and James Bond. It’s Saturday Night in the SEC—what more could you ask for? + +The Beats Covered: +00:00 – Fri. 11.17.2023 || Friday Night on the Bridge +11:14 – Sat. 11.18.2023 || Live from the Lot: Darude & the CBDL +15:15 – Sat. 11.18.2023 || CAROLINA BAND PREGAME +31:38 – Sat. 11.18.2023 || First Half Highlights +36:35 – Sat. 11.18.2023 || Senior Recognition / HALFTIME: Secret +44:30 – Sat. 11.18.2023 || Second Half Highlights +57:07 – Sat. 11.18.2023 || Postgame Concert + +Carolina Selections: + +♪ • “CBDL Lot Pieces” +♫ • “Double Beat 9000” +♫ • “Penské” +♫ • “Sandstorm” +♫ • “Cola” +♫ • “CBDL Cadence Sequence” + +♪ • “Carolina Band Pregame” +♫ • “Pregame Entrance” +♫ • “March Out” +♫ • “Gridiron Fanfare” +♫ • “Four Corner Salute” +♫ • “Carolina Let Your Voices Ring (Old Fight)” +♫ • “The Star-Spangled Banner” +♫ • “We Hail Thee Carolina” +♫ • “The Fighting Gamecocks Lead the Way” +♫ • “The Garnet and Black March” +♫ • “Go Carolina” +♫ • “STTR Fanfare” +♫ • “Second Down Offense” +♫ • “Tunnel Conversion” + +♪ • “Secret” +♫ • “Mission: Impossible” by Lalo Schifrin +♫ • “Soul Bossa Nova” by Quincy Jones +♫ • “Live and Let Die” by Paul McCartney + +♪ • “2023 Offense Cheers” +♫ • “Touchdown” + +♪ • “2023 Defense Cheers” +♫ • “2nd Down Defense – USC Cheer” +♫ • “3rd Down – Verdi Requiem” +♫ • “4th Down Defense – Gamecocks on Parade” +♫ • “Spur” +♫ • “Penalty” + +♪ • “2023 Stands Tunes” +♫ • “2001” +♫ • “All of the Lights” +♫ • “Amazing Grace / America the Beautiful” +♫ • “Bully” +♫ • “Neck” +♫ • “Zombies” + +Carolina Nuggets of Wisdom: +▶️ Concerts/Recitals Livestreams on ‪@GamecockMusic‬ channel: • 231120 USCSW: Captured on Film +💸 Help the Carolina Band get to NYC: https://crowdfunding.sc.edu/project/3... + +Other Content: + +🎼 More from This Season – “The Band’s Music” Videography: The 2023-2024 Season: • DOUBLE BEAT: 2023-2024 Szn +🎹 Other Seasons – “The Band’s Music” Videography: / @thebandsmusicvideography +📸 An Occasional Vlog – Behind the Themes: • Behind the Themes + +🐦 X/Twitter – Brendan Emm (@BrendanEmm): / brendanemm +🌌 Instagram – Brendan Emm (emmbrendan): / emmbrendan +🔗 Website – Brendan Emm, YouTuber: https://emmbrendan.wixsite.com/brenda... + +👏 Footage Credit: South Carolina Band Parents Facebook Page + +#CarolinaBand #Gamecocks #Darude + diff --git a/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-12-TrumpDreamsFantasyDismissalOfFine.md b/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-12-TrumpDreamsFantasyDismissalOfFine.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f7749bc7 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-12-TrumpDreamsFantasyDismissalOfFine.md @@ -0,0 +1,72 @@ +--- +layout: post +tags: [civil lawsuit, New York, business fraud, politics] +categories: [Donald Trump] +date: 2024-12-12 2:47 PM +excerpt: “They don't vanish the moment that you become president, whether they're the debt to the people of the state of New York in this \$450 million judgment, this debt in the defamation case of almost \$100 million or the debt to the electric company every month on the property fields.” – Adam Pollock, former Assistant New York Attorney General" +#image: 'BASEURL/assets/blog/img/.png' +#description: +#permalink: +title: "No Presidential Immunity For Civil Lawsuits and Judgements. Trump Organization Owes $485 Million to New York." +--- + + +## ["Zero impact": Expert shoots down Trump demand that $485M penalty disappear because he won election](https://www.salon.com/2024/12/13/zero-impact-expert-shoots-down-demand-that-485m-penalty-disappear-because-he-won/) + +Story by Tatyana Tandanpolie. December 13, 2024. + +The dismissal of the Federal criminal indictment of Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election and provoking to incite an insurrection on January 6, 2021 to halt certification of the election is not a "get out of jail card" that makes the New York civil verdict and judgment of \$458,000 against the [Trump Organization](https://www.trump.com/) dissappear into thin air. President Bill Clinton had to participate in a civil lawsuit against him. + +Since last month, President-elect Donald Trump has carried his electoral victory into his legal battles, wiping out pending federal prosecutions and pausing sentencing. But experts say his efforts to do the same with his civil fraud judgment stands no chance. + +In a letter publicly released Tuesday, the New York attorney general's office told Trump's lawyer that the Constitution doesn't mandate she ask a court to dismiss the $485 million judgment of Trump's civil fraud case in the wake of his winning the election. + +The letter came in response to Trump attorney and solicitor general appointee John Sauer's late November communication to New York Attorney General Letitia James urging her to voluntarily drop the case, in which Trump was found liable for fraud. He argued a provision of the Constitution privileging federal law over state law "prevents state prosecutors from proceeding against the sitting President in any way." + +Legal experts told Salon, however, that Trump becoming president should have "zero impact" on this or any other civil judgment he has. + +Former Assistant New York Attorney General Adam Pollock likened the judgment to regular expenses the Trump Organization must pay to maintain its building, asserting that they don't "evaporate just because you become president." + +"They don't vanish the moment that you become president, whether they're the debt to the people of the state of New York in this \$450 million judgment, this debt in the defamation case of almost \$100 million or the debt to the electric company every month on the property fields," Pollock, now a managing partner of Pollock Cohen LLP in New York, told Salon in a phone interview. + +Trump is appealing a New York judge's February decision that he owed the state \$454 million for inflating his asset value and net worth on financial statements to obtain better loan terms over several years. That judgment, which accrues interest, is now valued at more than \$485 million, according to USA Today. + +Most of the president-elect's other high-profile legal battles have been impacted by his electoral victory last month, which Sauer noted in his letter to James. Special counsel Jack Smith, who indicted Trump in two federal cases last year over his efforts to subvert the 2020 election and his retention of classified documents post-presidency, dropped the former and withdrew his appeal of the latter's dismissal in late November. + +In New York, the judge overseeing Trump's hush-money case, in which he was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in May, also indefinitely postponed his sentencing at the request of the Manhattan district attorney last month. + +Meanwhile, the fate of Trump's Georgia prosecution over an alleged racketeering scheme to overturn the state's 2020 election results — slowed to a near halt for most of the year as an appeals court weighed whether to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her hiring a romantic partner to lead the case — remains uncertain. The state appeals court canceled a hearing over Willis' status earlier this month without explanation in the wake of Trump's win. The president-elect's lawyers also filed a motion last week requesting the case be dismissed because his impending presidency will make him immune from prosecution. + +Trump denies any wrongdoing in his criminal cases and has repeatedly characterized them as politically motivated "witch hunts." + +But in the A.G. office's response, New York Deputy Solicitor General Judith Vale argued that the appeals process for Trump's civil fraud judgment should continue as it would if Trump hadn't won the presidency. She pointed to a unanimous 1997 Supreme Court decision against Bill Clinton that tanked his efforts to block a civil sexual harassment lawsuit that was brought against him by Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state employee. The court ruled that a federal civil lawsuit over a sitting president's unofficial conduct could proceed during the presidency. + +The president-elect's "appeals will be handled primarily by Mr. Trump’s appellate lawyers, and any consultations Mr. Trump may have with those attorneys about appeals will not plausibly impose an unconstitutional burden," Vale wrote. + +The "ordinary burdens of civil litigation do not impede the President’s official duties in a way that violates the U.S. Constitution," she added. + +In a statement to USA Today, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung described Vale's letter as "sad and weak." He also lauded Sauer's correspondence as a "powerhouse submission." + +"AG James should heed President Trump’s call for national unity and drop this baseless, discredited witch hunt," he told the outlet. + +But Pollock argued that Vale's response was "spot on." + +"This case is at its finish line. There's a judgment, there's an appeal. The appeal has been fully briefed and argued," Pollock said. "At some point, the First Department is going to issue a decision, and at that point, either party can appeal further" with permission from the New York Court of Appeals. + +Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course. + +The same premise would apply to Trump's other massive financial judgment — the \$88.3 million in damages he owes writer E. Jean Carroll after a jury found him liable for sexually abusing her and defaming her twice in his public statements about her allegation — Pollock said. Trump has denied Carroll's claims and is appealing both judgments in her suits against him. + +Trump could drop his appeal in the civil fraud suit and pay the penalty, but he has signaled no interest in doing so. Much like in his other cases, the president-elect has denied any wrongdoing In his civil fraud case and is awaiting an appellate court ruling about whether the judgment can stand. His lawyers have argued, among other points of contention, that because Trump's asset valuations did not hurt his lenders, the attorney general's lawsuit went too far. + +While Syracuse University College of Law professor Gregory Germain agreed that Trump's winning the presidency should have no bearing on the New York attorney general's pursuit of the judgment against him, he thinks the arguments in Trump's appeal have merit. + +One issue he identified was that the attorney general did not have to prove that the companies Trump and his co-defendants were said to have defrauded relied on Trump's inflated values. As Trump's lawyers noted, the companies themselves did not complain that Trump defrauded them. Some witness testimony also suggested the insurers and lenders thought the values were inflated but were unsure by how much, Germain noted. + +Because the attorney general didn't prove their reliance on the financial statements "to the extent necessary" under fraud law, she had "no business bringing an action to get disgorgement," he argued. + +Germain also raised concerns about how the judge calculated the damages Trump owed to the state of New York. He argued that the only way the court could have settled on "such a huge amount" for the judgment is by looking at how much Trump gained financially from using the statement. + +But that financial gain Trump received from selling property he purchased with a loan, obtained by using his inflated financial statements, is not "proximately caused by the statement" but other factors like property value increase over time, he said. Because of that, the "causal connection" between Trump's enrichment from using the statement and the judgment value is "lacking." + +The case had "lots" of "substantive problems with the decision" and "the calculation of the remedy," he concluded. "Those are all issues on the merits, but they really have nothing to do with whether you won the election or lost the election." diff --git a/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-13-TrumpDestruction_II_HasBegun.md b/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-13-TrumpDestruction_II_HasBegun.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c64950a2 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-13-TrumpDestruction_II_HasBegun.md @@ -0,0 +1,67 @@ +--- +layout: post +tags: [America, autocracy, politics] +categories: [Donald Trump] +date: 2024-12-13 4:57 PM +excerpt: '' +#image: 'BASEURL/assets/blog/img/.png' +#description: +#permalink: +title: "The Apprentice: White House – America's Destruction" +--- + + +## [The Trump II Destruction Is Already Well Underway](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/the-trump-ii-destruction-is-already-well-underwayStory) + +By David Kurtz. December 13, 2024. + +*A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.* + +### It’s Already Happening + +Since the election, I’ve emphasized to our reporters that we want to focus less on what Trump might do or is threatening to do, and more on what he is actually doing. The main reason for this is to try to break free of the chaos that Trump sets off with each threat, declaration, feint, and emission and focus instead on concrete and tangible actions. But there’s another salutary reason for directing our finite resources to what is actually happening as opposed to what might happen: It is already happening. + +Trump II is unfolding before our eyes exactly as Trump promised it would and as experts warned. As you peruse the news items below, you’ll already see plain evidence of the erosion of the rule of law, of governing norms, and of protections against tyrannical rule. I don’t say that for dramatic effect. It’s just a fact that the damage is already being done now, before Trump is even inaugurated and will of course continue after Jan. 20. + +Let me try to put it another way. + +Forcing out the FBI director and trying to install the likes of Kash Patel is itself destructive. Whatever Patel ends up doing if he is confirmed as FBI director will be next level stuff, icing on the MAGA cake. The same goes for the damage caused by casting his administration like a reality TV show. Putting charlatans in charge is the point. Whatever they do or fail to do is gravy. It’s not as simple as his appointees being unqualified. It’s that their own lack of seriousness mirrors the contempt and lack of regard they have for the institutions they are set to lead. It’s all part of the destructive impulse. + +The descent towards a less democratic America isn’t a cliff’s edge we fall over but a steepening slope. We’ve already come down a considerable distance and the speed of the descent is quickening. This is what it looks like. Right now. + +### Trump’s Corruption Of The FBI + +Garrett M. Graff: + +The only reason Trump wants to change FBI directors is he doesn’t think he can boss, bend and break Wray to his will sufficiently, that Wray would not be personally loyal to him in the way that he has wanted his FBI directors to be — and which, institutionally, they’re explicitly not supposed to be. Every single part of that is a dire warning sign about what’s to come under Trump II and what he and Patel intend to do with the bureau. + +### We’re Not Going To Be Out The Woods For A Long Time + +New polling shows many Republicans are okay with Trump ignoring the law to target his enemies. + +### FAA Chief Resigns + +FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker, barely a year into his five-year term, is resigning before Trump takes office. + +If the presidential appointees whose terms are longer than the president’s – precisely in order to make them more independent and less susceptible to political interference – keep resigning at the end of the president’s term, then they’re basically turning these positions into the same as those held by any other administration appointee. + +### ‘Personalist Rule’ + +NYU professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat was on MSNBC the other night talking about FBI Director Chris Wray’s resignation and the broader authoritarian context in which it is happening: + +“The core definition of authoritarianism is that the executive overwhelms the other branches of government and all checks on power and the situation of the president, or head of state, are removed,” she said. + +“This is actually something called personalist rule. It’s a type of authoritarian where you have a very strong one person […] and the purpose of the party and ultimately government is to solve the legal and financial and other problems of the leader. And so everybody becomes a personal tool to the leader and that’s what is happening now. Everybody is folding to his will,” she said. + +The Trump transition team has started to explore pathways to dramatically shrink, consolidate or even eliminate the top bank watchdogs in Washington. + +In recent interviews with potential nominees to lead bank regulatory agencies, President-elect Donald Trump’s advisers and officials from his newfound Department of Government Efficiency have, for example, asked whether he could abolish the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., people familiar with the matter said. + +Just to be clear: Abolishing the FDIC, which insures bank deposits, would be insane for the banks, too. + +The LAT’s billionaire publisher has effectively spiked another editorial, this one critical of Trump considering bypassing the Senate’s confirmation process for nominees. +The junior senator from Connecticut, no less: + +### Fake Oligarch Wannabe? + +In an amazing story on Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law, whom her dad picked as his new White House adviser on the Middle East, the NYT suggests he’s not a billionaire as advertised or a lawyer as claimed or even involved in his wife’s family’s company, which had been seen as the source of his wealth. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-14-TrumpHasNoControlOverGroceryPrices.md b/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-14-TrumpHasNoControlOverGroceryPrices.md index 5801c7a1..85526fd5 100644 --- a/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-14-TrumpHasNoControlOverGroceryPrices.md +++ b/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-14-TrumpHasNoControlOverGroceryPrices.md @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ excerpt: '' #image: 'BASEURL/assets/blog/img/.png' #description: #permalink: -title: 'title' +title: 'Donald Trump: Grocery Prices Are Hard! Besides, I'm a Billionaire; I Don’t Care!" --- diff --git a/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-14-TrumpMockedByWorldLeaders.md b/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-14-TrumpMockedByWorldLeaders.md index 425c874e..337e311f 100644 --- a/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-14-TrumpMockedByWorldLeaders.md +++ b/_posts/2024/12/2024-12-14-TrumpMockedByWorldLeaders.md @@ -1,8 +1,8 @@ --- layout: post tags: [France, Macron, grift, JD Vance, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Greece, Mary Trump Media, politics] -categories: [] -#date: 2019-06-25 13:14:15 +categories: [Donald Trump] +#date: 2024-12-14 4:59 PM #excerpt: '' #image: 'BASEURL/assets/blog/img/.png' #description: