if a jury ever deliberates...II

given what i have read about her, calling her "untested" might be a stretch...and i have to admit to being somewhat ( let's not forget the radical agnositicsm ) mollified about her approach since by setting a trial date she has pretty much taken the middle ground between defense and prosecution desires on that...that said ( and her comes the agnosticism ) that simply defeats the defense's first delaying tactic...they will wriggle and squirm and launch specious arguments for all they ( or donny ) are worth...this trial will doubtlessly be as big, if not bigger, a media circus as the fabled o.j.simpson trial of'95...that howler went on for 252 days...from 24 january 1995 to 3 october 1995 and by the time it was over most of us were weary beyond description of the whole business...will this trial be of that duration...how not? and if it runs as long ( if it does not eclipse that trial's longevity ) where does that leave us...well..and bear in mind the defense wanted to delay this trial until after the election...a 24 may 2024 start date would leave a trial of equal duration ending on 28 february 2025...which is well past the november 2024 election...and 39 days past the 20 january 2025 presidential inauguration date...so a verdict could easily come well past the start of a second term for donny ( if that is how this turns out...nothing is set in stone just yet...and no outcome is inevitable...human agency works in weird ways...do does the natural course of events )...the end result is that simply because the official defense request for a delay past the 2024 election has been rejected there is no guarantee they won't get what they want through legal manouvering...this is all a long way from over...and we are still something like 306 days from the start of a trial...let's ponder what sort events could spew from the sump that is american political life in that amount of time.

if a jury ever deliberates...

i have spent some time over the past day or so perusing that filing by donny's lawyers and it has some interesting points...twelve pages...twenty items in defense of an indefinte postponement...rather standard legal wrangling in any number of ways...except,of course, one of the defendants is "the likely republican candidate in the 2024 presidential election"...and donny's status as one of the elite does have bearing on this..."this extraordianary case presents a serious challenge both to the fact and perception of our american democracy...therefore a measured consideration and timeline that allows for a careful an complete review of the procedures that led to the indictment and the unprecidented legal issues presented herein best serves the interests of the defendants and the public."...so...donny is threatened so american deomcracy is threatened and a thorough review of events is in his best interests and so also in the best interests of the polity...donny's interests become the interests of the nation...the interests of the elite are presented as national interests...nothing new in that...however i anm inclined to think that my best interests would be served by a thorough review of facts...this seems unlikely in courtroom where the only intent is to sell the jury one or the other of the opposing versions of events...facts are externals at best and impediments at worst in a courtroom...the lawyers ( and defendants ) are trying to avoid anything like facts..."the intersection between the presidential records act and the various criminal statutes at issue has never been addressed by any court and, in the defendants' view, will result in the dismissal of the indictment."...nixon argued in court that the president was above the law for four years at a time...that failed and i cannot help but notice that the statute acting in donny's favor is named while those he may have transgressed are simply "various"...the filing states that the evidence in this case conssits of "428,300 records in excess of 833,450 pages, consisting of 122,650 emails ( with attachments ) and 305,670 documents...also some 57 terabytes of compressed cctv footage ( so far there is approximatel nine months of cctv footage, but the final number is not yet certain. )...that is a lot of ground to cover however the filing also says ,"the defendants expect that various key legal issues will be fully dispositive, thus negating the need for a jury trial."...yes, a lot of evidence but we could cover this all in a zoom meeting and not have any meesy public hearing of viewpoints, evidence, bickering, and tedious testimony that might impung the reputation ( such as it is ) of such a venerable member of the elite...i did find one point of agreement in all this convoluted legalese and that is the filing's contention that there might be a "potential inability to select and impartial jury"...donny is not someone who inspires ambivalence and finding jurors that are impartial could be exactly the delay that would push a trial past the 2024 election...

which is what this is all about...and in a courtroom in the hands of a trump nominee and activist judge they may get their way...perhaps even that "dismissal of the indictment"...the "fact of american democracy" is inherent in this...winning the 2024 election would only defer donny's legal issues for four years after which he could not, constitutionally, have another term...one suspects that donny has little respect for the constitution and its limits on power...he comes from an authoritarian corporate culture...of course the constitution can be changed...a time consuming and uncertain process...or torn up by president for life trump.( the photos are quotes from yesterday's new york times...just to give something of a citation )