EEI Media News

12/06/2023

"Now that the DOJ has criminally indicted Donald Trump under the Espionage Act, I keep seeing two different narratives floated. The first is that we should treat this like a solemn occasion, because the indictment of a former United States President on such serious charges is a dark day for the country. The other narrative is Trump is still somehow magically going to get away with it all no matter what.

I’m frankly so sick of seeing both these narratives, I could vomit. The first narrative, that this is somehow a solemn occasion, is mostly coming from people in the media who are trying to sound judicious, and is easily shot down. The dark days were when this career criminal took office, and when he kept committing crimes in office. The fact that he’s now being brought to justice is a bright beacon of hope. It’s what our democracy is supposed to be. We don’t have to weep about it. The time for weeping was back when this criminal had the nuclear launch codes.

I’ve long said that criminal justice system proceedings are not for your entertainment. It is not Jack Smith’s job or Merrick Garland’s job to treat this criminal case like it’s a reality show, or treat you like an audience. They don’t owe us that. What they owe us is a criminal case that can get a conviction and put Trump behind bars for his crimes – which they’re in the process of delivering on. But it is okay for us to take what enjoyment we can from watching Trump being brought to justice. After all, we’re not rooting for him to go to prison simply because we don’t like him or we think he’s a failed politician. We’re rooting for him to go to prison because he committed serious felony crimes against the United States, and him going to prison will help restore the sanctity of our democracy."

...

05/06/2023

"Trump's attorneys being at DOJ is a possible sign the Special Counsel could be close to asking a grand jury to bring charges against the one-term, twice impeached ex-president who is currently facing 34 felonies in an unrelated New York case."

Attorneys for Donald Trump Monday morning entered the U.S. Dept. of Justice, as expectations grow the ex-president could soon be charged in his unlawful removal, retention, and refusal to return hundreds of classified and top secret documents.CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent Robert...

03/06/2023

"They wrote, "There is sufficient evidence to obtain and sustain a conviction here, if the information gleaned from government filings and statements and voluminous public reporting is accurate. Indeed, the DOJ is likely now, or shortly will be, internally circulating a pros memo of its own saying so. That DOJ memo will, however, be highly confidential, in part because it will contain information derived through the grand jury and attorney work product. Since it will not be publicly available, we offer this analysis."

As part of the memo, they stated, "....the discussion starts with Trump’s resistance to the Government’s attempts to recover the documents. We recount the more than one-and-a-half-year effort on the part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the Justice Department to recover the documents. Those efforts culminated in the FBI’s recovery of approximately 13,000 documents, including information on some of the nation’s most sensitive national defense programs, pursuant to a court-authorized search warrant for Mar-a-Lago (MAL)."

A distinguished group of former Department of Justice officials, former federal prosecutors, law professors and legal scholars have combined their talents and created a 186-page "Model Prosecution Memo" that lays out their proposed path to indict and convict former President Donald Trump of six fede...

23/05/2023

According to this court doc:

"It is ordered: confirming the election of Katie Hobbs as Arizona Governor."

“BREAKING-MARICOPA COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE: IT IS ORDERED: confirming the election of Katie Hobbs as Arizona Governor pursuant to A.R.S. § 16-676(B).”

06/05/2023

"During the deposition, [Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Carroll,] questioned him about several other women who have accused him of sexual assault, women Trump has characterized as not being his “type.”

Growing belligerent, Trump told Kaplan herself that “you wouldn’t be a choice of mine, either, to be honest.” He added: “I wouldn’t in any circumstances have any interest in you.”

In a videotaped deposition played in court, the former president grew belligerent under questioning from E. Jean Carroll’s lawyer.

01/04/2023

"The major media outlets keep telling us, over and over again, that Donald Trump’s indictment and arrest are a somber moment and an embarrassment for our country. In fact pretty much every host, panelist, and guest who’s appeared on MSNBC and CNN over the past 48 hours has just happened to hold that same exact opinion. The wannabe political pundits on Twitter who are trying to get themselves booked on MSNBC and CNN all curiously happen to be expressing that same position as well.

But as these folks in the industry all line up to try to portray themselves as being judicious, back in the real world it’s a very different story. No one in the real world thinks Trump’s indictment and arrest are a somber moment for the country. Having a career criminal as President was an embarrassment for our country. His indictment and arrest are a joyous celebration for democracy, because it means justice is being served.

Donald Trump isn’t being arrested because he was a crappy President, or because we don’t like him. He’s being arrested because he committed felony level crimes. A lot of them. So many crimes in fact that he’s being criminally indicted in three different jurisdictions.

Trump isn’t some tireless public servant who made a single error in judgment and had to be arrested for it. That would be a somber moment. But this is a career criminal who’s being arrested for crimes he committed in the name of trying to get into office to begin with."

...

08/11/2022

From Bill Palmer at The Palmer Report, about voting results, and where your mind should be:

"Once again, we find ourselves venturing into election day. I encourage all of you to not only vote today, but to also convince like-minded family, friends, and neighbors to go vote as well. Once the polls close tonight, all we can do is await the results. In that regard, here are some important reminders for election night tonight:

– Exit polls are always wrong, and often wildly wrong. Ignore them. The media only hypes exit polls when they arrive because there’s no other data to work with at that point in the evening. Then by the time the exit polls quietly turn out (as always) to have been wrong later in the evening, the media has moved on. So don’t take the exit poll bait when the media does start hyping it early in the evening.

– Results with 1% or 5% of the vote counted do NOT tell you who’s “ahead.” They only tell you which handful of precincts finished counting first. Ignore such numbers.

– Even when a race has 30% or 65% of the vote counted, the candidate with the higher tally is still not “ahead.” You have to look at whether the votes counted are from red or blue counties. The Kornacki board is annoying, but it is the correct way to interpret partial results.

– Some states will count and announce day-of voting before early voting. Other states will have some other staggered order. We know the drill by now. Red mirage, blue mirage, whatever, we’ve seen it all before. If you see initial results that are insanely good or insanely bad, don’t start panicking, because it’ll change.

– DO NOT be the person who spends all evening flooding other people’s social media posts with replies like “I’m so nervous” or “I’m terrified.” Yes, we all feel that way. But if you keep yelling it in the comment section of other people’s posts, you’re just looking for attention, at a time when they’re probably more focused on trying to parse what’s really going on.

– DO NOT fall for the media’s doomsday hysteria. After the polls start closing, it could be hours before there’s enough data to truly understand how things are going. It could be days before we get the final results in some races. MSNBC, CNN, and most Twitter pundits will fill that time with scary prognostications for attention. Mute them all.

– The Republicans WILL start yelling “it was rigged” about every close race we win. Who gives a damn? As we’ve seen in past election, this has no chance of somehow magically making them the winners of races they’ve lost. They mainly just yell the “it was rigged” stuff so they can convince their base that they secretly won, for future fundraising purposes.

– If we win, and you start tweeting things like “oh no, now the Republicans are really going to somehow magically get ahead by claiming it was rigged,” then you’re unwittingly part of the problem. If we win, you have to TAKE THE WIN and run with it. Don’t spin it into a loss just so you can feel panic or outrage.

– No matter how the midterms go, the (entire) mainstream media will spin it as “well now Trump will run/win in 2024 for sure!” But the midterm results have zero impact on that. The DOJ is indicting Trump for espionage either way. A Republican Congress can do a large number of truly horrible things, but it cannot stop Trump from going to prison, no matter how many magic wand ideas get bandied about on social media. Nor will a Democratic midterm victory somehow help Trump’s nonexistent 2024 prospects – but if we win the midterms, the media will surely find a way to spin up that narrative as well.

Remember: staring in fear at your television screen or phone screen does not make you “vigilant.” It is not “activism.” It does not help the Democrats’ odds of winning. That kind of thing is just using politics as pulse pounding entertainment. Activism means doing something. Go get some additional folks to vote today. You’ll be glad you did. Now let’s go win this!"

21/07/2022

From NBC (all is a copy/paste, down to the article link):

"Matthew Bledsoe, of Memphis, was convicted Thursday on a felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding as well as four misdemeanors, including entering or remaining in a restricted building and disorderly and disruptive conduct. Bledsoe, the seventh Jan. 6 defendant to face a jury trial, took the stand as a witness on Wednesday.

In closing statements Thursday, his lawyer, Jerry Ray Smith, argued that jurors should find him guilty of one misdemeanor offense, parading or picketing inside the Capitol, but not guilty on the other counts.

The trial unfolded as media attention at the federal courthouse in D.C. zeroed in on the contempt of Congress trial of Steve Bannon, a Trump ally and former White House strategist who refused to comply with a subpoena for documents and testimony from the House select committee investigating Jan. 6.

Bledsoe argued that he was unaware that Congress was certifying Joe Biden's 2020 election win when he stormed the Capitol. Despite having received updates from his wife and brother about congressional proceedings inside the Capitol on the day of the riot, he told jurors that he had no idea what lawmakers were doing. Former President Donald Trump’s speech at the Ellipse, which preceded the riot, also mentioned the electoral college certification process.

As he entered the Capitol through a door with broken glass panels, Bledsoe filmed himself saying, "Where are those pieces of s--- at." Alarms were blaring in the background of the video.

"Who were the pieces of s---?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie Carter asked Bledsoe Wednesday. Bledsoe said he was "being a loudmouth," insisting he was not referring to lawmakers but rather the people whom he believed at the time had stolen an election.

Carter then showed an image that Bledsoe had reposted on social media that depicted members of Congress hunkered down inside the House amid the riot, with a caption suggesting that politicians should be scared.

Bledsoe said that it was "just something I reposted," and that he didn't have all the information at the time.

When prosecutors confronted him with a text he sent to his wife, saying it was "good" that someone planted bombs near the Capitol, Bledsoe said he really didn't mean "good." He also claimed he didn't really mean it when he wrote that he "stormed the Capitol."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/loudmouth-capitol-riot-defendant-rough-day-jan-6-jury-trial-rcna39301

His defense: nothing that comes out of my mouth means what the words themselves mean (they don't mean anything), and (therefore?) I shouldn't be held accountable for the things my body does, including my body parts called mouth, tongue, lips, vocal chords, etc..

He was convicted, by a jury, on a "felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding." The sentencing for this has a 20 year maximum.

In a separate case in South Carolina (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/8th-south-carolinian-pleads-guilty-to-charges-connected-to-jan-6-capitol-riot/ar-AAZ2E4H), George Tenney III was convicted of the same crime, and was sentenced to 41 months in jail - 3.5 years in jail. And that was with a plea agreement.

It's for this reason that I think Matthew Bledsoe believes what he said in court, because it makes sense, to me, of his decision to risk breaking into the Capitol of the United States. I think this 'belief' - actually, the absence of belief, i.e., nihilism - isn't something he just threw out on the witness stand to save himself, but was somehow at play when he was breaking into the Capitol.

Matthew Bledsoe, who scaled a wall before entering the Capitol through a door with broken glass panels, tried to convince jurors that he thought he was allowed inside.

13/07/2022

"On the evening of October 31, 2020, Steve Bannon told a group of associates that President Donald Trump had a plan to declare victory on election night—even if he was losing. Trump knew that the slow counting of Democratic-leaning mail-in ballots meant the returns would show early leads for him in key states. His “strategy” was to use this fact to assert that he had won, while claiming that the inevitable shifts in vote totals toward Joe Biden must be the result of fraud, Bannon explained."

“What Trump’s gonna do is just declare victory. Right? He’s gonna declare victory. But that doesn’t mean he’s a winner,” Bannon, laughing, told the group, according to audio of the meeting obtained by Mother Jones. “He’s just gonna say he’s a winner.”

“As it sits here today,” Bannon said later in the conversation, describing a scenario in which Trump held an early lead in key swing states, “at 10 or 11 o’clock Trump’s gonna walk in the Oval, tweet out, ‘I’m the winner. Game over. Suck on that.'”

"Trump’s plan to falsely declare victory while tens of millions of votes were still being counted was public knowledge even before the election. Axios reported on the scheme at the time. Bannon himself discussed the idea on November 3—Election Day—on his War Room podcast. Weeks earlier, Bannon had interviewed a former Trump administration official who outlined how Trump would use allegations of fraud to dispute an electoral defeat and would seek to have Congress declare him the winner. Last month, the congressional committee investigating January 6 detailed how Rudy Giuliani convinced Trump to go ahead with a victory declaration after 2 a.m. on November 4, over the objections of campaign staff. “Frankly, we did win this election,” Trump insisted in that infamous news conference."

"That's our strategy. He's gonna declare himself a winner."

27/06/2022

https://twitter.com/January6thCmte/status/1541471350317015040

23/06/2022

This was the rationale of Nevada Republicans to unilaterally decide, amongst themselves, who should get Nevada citizens' electoral votes.

"In a statement after the event, Nevada GOP chair Michael McDonald said the party’s electors convened in Carson City due to ongoing legal battles seeking to overturn the election results."

“'The people of Nevada did not have a fair election due to the irregularities and fraud seen throughout the state,' McDonald said. 'With ongoing challenges and evidence left to be investigated, we must submit our electoral votes for the rightful victors and allow Congress to make a determination.'

'With disturbing evidence of voter fraud in the state, including double voting, illegal voting, deceased voters casting ballots, and more, there is a legitimate concern over the rightful victor in the Silver State,' the statement continued. 'A court of law has failed to meaningfully evaluate the evidence and our law enforcement agencies and government officials have failed to investigate. This left our electors no choice but to send their votes for President Trump to Congress to make a determination as to who is the rightful victor of Nevada between the dueling votes.'

The National Archives received documentation from Nevada’s Republican Party certifying the state’s six electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election to former President Donald Trump…

22/06/2022

"Holder released a statement later on Tuesday noting that he had “unparalleled access” to Trump and others over the final six weeks of his presidency and that he has “never-before-seen footage” of the Capitol attack. “When we began this project in September 2020, we could have never predicted that our work would one day be subpoenaed by Congress,” he wrote, adding that he had “no agenda coming into this” and only “wanted to better understand who the Trumps were and what motivated them to hold onto power so desperately.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/alex-holder-jan-6-committee-subpoena-1371644/

Former administration and campaign officials tell Rolling Stone they had no idea a film crew had months of access to the former president and his family

15/06/2022

"What's happening: Touton said her bureau was undertaking short-term actions to prevent Lakes Mead and Powell from reaching "dead pool," which is when water levels get so low they cannot flow past a dam.

"This is the priority for us: between the next 60 days, to figure out a plan to close that gap," she said.

Of note: About 80% of the Colorado River is used for agriculture and "80% of that 80% is used for forage crops like alfalfa," which is mostly grown for cattle, Entsminger told senators.

"I'm not suggesting that farmers stop farming, but rather that they carefully consider crop selection and make the investments needed to optimize irrigation efficiency," Entsminger said. "By reducing their use of Colorado River water, agricultural entities are protecting their own interests."
Yes, but: Patrick O’Toole, president of the Family Farm Alliance, told the hearing that taking water away from agriculture could affect rural communities and food production and increase food imports."

"We are 150 feet from 25 million Americans losing access to the Colorado River," water official tells Senate.

07/06/2022

Lake Mead is now at 1,046 feet.

At 1,049 feet - reached a coupla weeks ago - Tier 2 restrictions are set to kick in, according to this Central Arizona Project graphic.

07/06/2022

Different drought/water conservation plans across the state of AZ, wtih some more restrictive than others, for different reasons. The facts, though, are generally agreed on: there's not enough water now, and will be less in any future scenario (that I've read, anyway).

I've lived in Phoenix for 13 years now, and only recently have I taken my own steps to be responsible with my water use. But it's a good habit to develop.

https://www.axios.com/local/phoenix/2022/06/06/more-valley-cities-expected-enact-drought-plans

In response to the megadrought in the Western U.S., some Phoenix cities are enacting drought restrictions.

03/05/2022

This article is from August of last year (2021), and water continues to dry up and more people using more of it, in the American southwest.

Though it's almost a year old, the article rewards the long read, with a very wide perspective.

But, one word resonates strongly: aridification.

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/08/us/colorado-river-water-shortage/

The Colorado River irrigates farms, powers electric grids and provides drinking water to 40 million people. But as its supply dwindles, a crisis looms.

03/05/2022

"(CNN)The Trump Organization and the Presidential Inaugural Committee will pay a total of $750,000 to settle with the Washington, DC, attorney general's office over allegations they misspent money raised for former President Donald Trump's inauguration.

The Trump Organization will pay $400,000 and the PIC will pay $350,000, according to a person familiar with the settlement. As part of the deal, the money will be directed to two DC nonprofits, DC Action and Mikva Challenge DC, the DC attorney general's office said.
In announcing the settlement, DC Attorney General Karl Racine said, "After he was elected, one of the first actions Donald Trump took was illegally using his own inauguration to enrich his family. We refused to let that corruption stand. With our lawsuit, we are now clawing back money that Trump's own inaugural committee misused."
In a statement released by the Trump Organization, the former President said the settlement reflects "absolutely no admission of liability or guilt.""

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/03/politics/trump-organization-inauguration-funds/index.html

The Trump Organization and the Presidential Inaugural Committee will pay a total of $750,000 to settle with the Washington, DC, attorney general's office over allegations they misspent money raised for former President Donald Trump's inauguration.

26/04/2022

"Earlier this month, CoreLogic provided Fortune with its regional market risk assessment scores for around 400 metropolitan statistical areas. The real estate research firm aimed to find out whether local income levels could support regional home prices.

The finding? CoreLogic now considers 65% of U.S. regional housing markets to be “overvalued.” That “overvalued” label was placed on every metropolitan statistical area in Arizona, Florida, Texas, and Nevada."

https://fortune-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/fortune.com/2022/04/24/the-housing-market-might-be-headed-for-another-housing-bubble-says-real-estate-economist/

Finance Housing Another housing bubble? ‘We’re skating close to one,’ says Realtor.com economist The stubbornly hot U.S. housing market now has economists flirting with the real estate industry’s most feared word: bubble. BY Lance Lambert April 24, 2022 5:51 PM EDT Never miss a story: Follow...

22/04/2022

After you read, then think again about the water/drought crisis here in the southwest US.

"McMullen said research for the documentary showed that strategy playing out repeatedly over the years.

“It’s become almost accepted fact that tackling climate change will cost the economy, whereas look at the cost of damages were faced with today,” she said.

The result, she said, is that one administration after another from Clinton onwards found reasons to delay action because they did not want to face accusations of making Americans poorer.

“That’s been a problem all the way through this 40-year history. There’s this very strong impetus for politicians to say, we’ll just wait, we don’t need to do it now. But obviously there isn’t time. And the longer you put it off, the steeper the hill that you have to climb to deal with it,” she said."

In a powerful new three-part docuseries, the oil industry is put on trial as the extent of climate change awareness is revealed

22/04/2022

"“This emergency order will allow the state to use any and all state resources we need to cope with the drought,” Cox said during his monthly televised news conference on PBS Utah. “Last summer, I asked Utahns to pray for rain, which helped, but we’re certainly not relying solely on deity to solve our problems.”

This is the second time Cox has issued a statewide drought emergency in the last year as Western states deal with the worst 20-year drought in 1,200 years. The Beehive State has been in a drought in 8 of the last 10 years, according to Cox.

Cox said the emergency declaration will allow Utah officials to access state resources and emergency funds to cope with the drought if necessary.

Nearly the whole state is in a drought level considered “severe or worse,” while around 43% of the state is in an “extreme” drought."

https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2022/04/21/gov-spencer-cox-issues/

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox declared a state of emergency on Thursday as the state faces a historic drought and low snowpack.

22/04/2022

Too many substantive quotes in this article to limit to just one here, but:

"The Colorado River Authority of Utah, a state agency created in 2021 to protect and develop Utah’s interests in the Colorado River system, announced support for both measures on Thursday.

“The water level at Lake Powell has dropped much more rapidly than our models anticipated and has made it necessary for us to take expedited measures to address the situation,” said Gene Shawcroft, chair of the Colorado River Authority of Utah and Utah’s River Commissioner."

The end (of ignorance) is near, for sure, no matter how much we try to ignore it.

Water managers are moving forward with an emergency plan to send more water to Lake Powell in the latest attempt to protect hydropower production at the Glen Canyon Dam.

08/04/2022

"In his interview, the governor pointed out that Trump lost his reelection bid in 2020, and that Republicans recently lost control of Congress.

"He lost the White House and the Senate and the House and governors' races and state legislative bodies. I wouldn't call that being a winner. And now he's going to lose in 2022—another round of losses for him. That's something that can help us steer things in a better direction," he stated.

Newsweek has reached out to Trump's office for comment."

"He lost the White House and the Senate and the House...I wouldn't call that being a winner," Larry Hogan said Friday.

11/03/2022

"The city’s decision was a direct result of the federal government declaring what’s known as a Tier 1 water shortage on the Colorado River last year. The Colorado is hundreds of miles away from Scottsdale, but the city relies on the river for around 70 percent of its water, which travels across the width of the state on the 336-mile Central Arizona Project canal."

https://grist.org/housing/rio-verde-foothills-arizona-water-megadrought/

Thanks to Colorado River cuts, hundreds of Rio Verde Foothills residents near Phoenix are poised to lose water access altogether.

04/03/2022

"As a mob ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Roger Stone, Donald Trump’s longest-serving political adviser, hurried to pack a suitcase inside his elegant suite on the fifth floor of the Willard hotel. He wrapped his tailored suits in trash bags, reversed his black face mask so its “Free Roger Stone” logo was hidden, then slipped out of town for a hastily arranged private flight from Dulles International Airport.

“I really want to get out of here,” Stone told an aide, as they were filmed at the hotel by a Danish camera crew for a documentary on the veteran Republican operative. Stone said he feared prosecution by the incoming attorney general, Merrick Garland. “He is not a friend,” Stone said."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/roger-stone-documentary-capitol-riot-trump-election

14/02/2022

"With Trump’s longtime accounting firm cutting ties, the former president and reality TV star will now have to find new accountants to review his personal records in any future presentation to a bank or insurance company, a move that could make it harder to secure loans."

In a letter released by New York Attorney General Letitia James, Mazars USA said the Trump Organization's "statement of financial condition from 2011-2020 should no longer be relied on."

22/01/2022

The Guardian breaks this down in a way I could follow, and understand the implications.

"Trump could end up in an orange jumpsuit at the end of that one,” said Timothy O’Brien, a senior columnist for Bloomberg Opinion.

"O’Brien also has a personal stake in this story. His book TrumpNation, a 2005 biography that raised doubts about Trump’s actual wealth in eerily similar terms to the James and Bragg investigations today, so irked the real estate developer that he sued O’Brien for billions of dollars."

"O’Brien’s lawyers deposed Trump as part of his defense. Over two days they managed to do something that has rarely been done before or since – they got the celebrity to acknowledge, no fewer than 30 times, that he had lied."

“My lawyers were so well prepared that when he sat down for the deposition we had documentary evidence at hand that showed the reality of what he had lied about or exaggerated. We simply pushed those over the table at him,” O’Brien recalled."

"Many of the misleading elements – the value of his golf clubs, real estate assets in New York – were virtually identical to the details contained in this week’s filing. Which is why O’Brien feels confident in saying that the patterns that James outlines in her court document extend far back."

“This is behaviour that Trump has been engaging with since he was a toddler, frankly,” O’Brien said."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/22/donald-trump-legal-perils

Some Trumpland observers are convinced that he is in serious legal trouble as New York’s AG investigation of Trump Organizations’s finances intensifies