BeckyDem
BeckyDem's JournalOpening statements conclude in Trump's trial over E. Jean Carroll's rape allegation
April 25, 2023, 5:00 AM EDT / Updated April 25, 2023, 6:24 PM EDT
By Dareh Gregorian and Adam Reiss
E. Jean Carroll, the writer who says Donald Trump raped her in a New York City Department store in the 1990s, filed a civil suit against the former president because "she wants to get her life back," her attorney said in opening statements Tuesday.
"Donald Trump assaulted her in 1996 and defamed her when she said she made it up," lawyer Shawn Crowley told jurors.
Carroll, a magazine writer and columnist, alleges the attack took place in a Bergdorf Goodman department store on Fifth Avenue in New York City, when the "playful banter" she'd been engaged with the businessman took a "dark turn." She alleges in her lawsuit that Trump "seized" her, "forced her up against a dressing room wall, pinned her in place with his shoulder, and raped her."
Crowley told the jury that the pair had met before, and Trump asked her for help picking out some lingerie after bumping into her at the entrance of the store. They had "moved through the store laughing and joking" before "everything changed," she said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-e-jean-carroll-trial-begins-alleged-rape-rcna80049
( I hope Jean knows she is brave, especially knowing the scope of his violent fan base. Trump is a violent man, her description is one of a raging rapist. )
Harlan Crow speaks following investigation
Real Estate heir opens up about Thomas Scandal, Nazi artifacts in interview
( excerpt )
“I think that the media, and this ProPublica group in particular, funded by leftists, has an agenda to destabilize the [Supreme] Court,” Crow told the outlet. “What they’ve done is not truthful. It lacks integrity. They’ve done a pretty good job in the last week or two of unfairly slamming me and more importantly than that, unfairly slamming Justice Thomas.”
Stephen Engelberg, editor-in-chief of ProPublica, responded, noting that ProPublica is an independent, nonpartisan nonprofit news organization funded by 36,000 donors.
“As investigative journalists, our job is to unearth the facts. If Harlan Crow disputes the accuracy of our reporting involving Justice Clarence Thomas, we invite him to provide us with the details so we can correct any inaccuracies,” he said.
“It’s worth noting that he and Justice Thomas were given detailed, written questions in advance of our stories. Thomas declined to respond. Crow’s answers were included in full. He questioned none of the facts we reported.”
( Sleazebags on steroids. )
https://therealdeal.com/texas/2023/04/17/harlan-crow-speaks-following-investigation/
NEW:@cbsnews polling shows majority of respondents supporting a nationwide ban on AR-15 semi-auto
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1647593233399021568
( Funny how many policies Americans don't see become law despite the popularity across a spectrum of voters. )
Jonathan Reiner @JReinerMD: The 800,000 "illegals" the Rep refers to came to the US as children
https://twitter.com/JReinerMD/status/1647268741175017473( Good to know Congressman Ronny Jackson, a former physician to Trump, has no soul....a prerequisite for being a member of the GOP)
Florida Is Banning The Biggest Cult Movie Of All Time
The state of Florida has introduced a bill aimed at prohibiting anyone under the age of 18 from attending drag performances. As reported by the New Republic, lawmakers in the state confirmed that the restrictions would make it illegal for high school students to attend live performances of popular musicals like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Hair.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, according to the proposed Florida legislation, classifies as an "adult live performance." The umbrella term used in the bill applies to "any show, exhibition or other presentation in front of a live audience," that "depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or specific sexual activities," including "lewd conduct, or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts."
The bill is far-reaching and, despite its attempt at clarification, vague. What the state of Florida deems offensive is not entirely clear, as the term is inherently subjective, but, according to lawmakers, The Rocky Horror Picture Show fits the bill. The punishments associated with a violation of the bill, however, are quite clear.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/celebrity/florida-is-banning-the-biggest-cult-movie-of-all-time/ar-AA19Sg4n?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=3d8334fcc7054ded8d1fe97bcd102bc5&ei=8
( Rile people's fears/ignorance so they can distract them from things like DeSantis absence during historic flood....he was in Ohio promoting his book. )
Richard Blumenthal @SenBlumenthal: Justice Thomas should resign -
https://twitter.com/SenBlumenthal/status/1647031985599131654( Sometimes it's just as simple as that. +1 for the very good Senator Blumenthal. )
How Policymakers Fight a Losing Battle With Models
Reforms are needed to ensure that inaccurate budgetary math doesn’t take precedence over maximizing long-term prosperity.
BY ELIZABETH WARREN
APRIL 4, 2023
If you’re wondering why the U.S. has failed so miserably in developing a workable child care and early-childhood education system, consider the role of economic modeling.
In 2021, when the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its much-anticipated score for the cost of the child care provisions in the Build Back Better Act, it produced one headline number: $381.5 billion. This was what CBO estimated as the amount of money the government would lay out for child care.
But that budget score badly missed the mark on the net cost of the program. It did not account for any of the savings predicted by reams of academic research on the long-term economic benefits of child care. Nothing about how kids with high-quality early care do better in school, stay out of trouble, and have higher lifetime earnings. Nothing about the increased tax revenues generated by mamas and daddies who could now work full-time. Nothing about the mountains of data that show that when mothers are held out of the workforce in their early years, their lifetime earnings and even their security in retirement are seriously undercut—something universal child care could reverse. And nothing about the impact of higher wages for child care workers—wages that would mean many of those workers would be paying more taxes and wouldn’t need SNAP, Medicaid, housing supplements, and other help offered to the lowest-paid people in the country. In other words, according to CBO, investing in our children and filling a wheelbarrow with $381.5 billion in cash (a big wheelbarrow) and setting it on fire would have exactly the same impact on our national budget and our nation.
( excerpt )
Budget rules, by contrast, tilt against investing in people. And there’s a reason for that. Decades ago, Congress decided that CBO cannot account for the indirect or secondary effects a policy change may have on other parts of the budget. Research shows, for example, that federal spending on things like safe housing and nutrition assistance for babies makes people healthier and reduces total health costs. But because of the rules Congress set, CBO cost estimates for these programs cannot assume taxpayers would save any money on health insurance costs or that taxpayers would spend less on Medicaid. Meals on Wheels helps seniors stay out of much more costly nursing homes and saves Medicare and Medicaid billions of dollars, but the federal government says it is nothing but an expense. Beefing up IRS enforcement, as Democrats did in the Inflation Reduction Act, would mean fewer tax cheats and more revenue. But according to official CBO scoring, more money for the IRS is mostly another expense that adds to the deficit.
https://prospect.org/economy/2023-04-04-policymakers-fight-losing-battle-models/
( I think she is brilliant, and is a great teacher as well. )
A law professor condoning rank corruption and violations of disclosure
https://twitter.com/NormOrnstein/status/1646876775585021952( Amazing how many slimeballs are coming to his defense. )
NPR: Private opulence, public squalor: How the U.S. helps the rich and hurts the poor
March 21, 2023
By
Dave Davies
Over 11% of the U.S. population — about one in nine people — lived below the federal poverty line in 2021. But Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond says neither that statistic, nor the federal poverty line itself, encapsulate the full picture of economic insecurity in America.
"There's plenty of poverty above the poverty line as a lived experience," Desmond says. "About one in three Americans live in a household that's making $55,000 or less, and many of those folks aren't officially considered poor. But what else do you call trying to raise three kids in Portland on $55,000?"
Growing up in a small town in Arizona, Desmond learned firsthand how economic insecurity could impact a family's stress level. He remembers the gas being shut off and his family home being foreclosed on. Those hardships would later drive his research — specifically the question of how so much poverty could exist within a country as wealthy as the U.S.
( excerpt )
The poverty rate between 1964 and '74 fell by half. So the "Great Society" and the war on poverty made an incredible difference. ... These were really robust interventions into the lives of the poorest families in America. They made food aid permanent. They expanded Social Security. There were so many elderly Americans dying penniless before the war on poverty and the Great Society. And there was this massive gain in pulling older folks out of poverty. ...
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/03/21/1164275807/poverty-by-america-matthew-desmond-inequality
(We must win back full control of the government, there is no other resolve for Americans in need.)
America's poor becoming more destitute under Trump - U.N. expert
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-rights-un/americas-poor-becoming-more-destitute-under-trump-u-n-expert-idUSL5N1T406V
Norman Ornstein: The Roberts Court is going to go down in history as the most corrupt ever.
https://twitter.com/NormOrnstein/status/1646599541842497539( Beyond any doubt. )
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