Illiberalism
Gilead
Migration
Fig. 1. Photograph credited to “ProtoplasmaKid,”, November 9, 2018, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Somehow, the story keeps changing from one day to the next.[1] I can’t claim to understand what the fuck is happening, but as the state of knowledge progresses, scientists occasionally reconsider previously held conclusions in what’s called a “scientific reversal.”
Within science, this is a good thing. Of course, we should revise conclusions that don’t hold up as new evidence appears. But doing so is fodder for opponents who insist scientists don’t have any idea what we’re talking about.
I don’t know if all these judicial reversals are so high-minded. I don’t know if there’s even a logic to them. But I have to think these reversals are discrediting.
Devan Cole and John Fritze, “Supreme Court blocks Texas from enforcing controversial immigration law for now,” CNN, March 18, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/18/politics/supreme-court-texas-immigration-sb4/index.html
John Fritze, “Supreme Court allows Texas to begin enforcing controversial immigration law,” CNN, March 19, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/19/politics/supreme-court-allows-texas-to-begin-enforcing-controversial-immigration-law/index.html
Ann E. Marimow and Arelis R. Hernández, “Appeals court again blocks Texas from arresting and deporting migrants,” Washington Post, March 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/19/supreme-court-texas-immigration-law/
John Fritze, “Supreme Court allows Texas to begin enforcing controversial immigration law,” CNN, March 19, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/19/politics/supreme-court-allows-texas-to-begin-enforcing-controversial-immigration-law/index.html
Donald Trump
Fig. 2. Donald Trump, depicted in an orange jumpsuit, reportedly by the Drudge, date unknown, via Mediaite,[2] fair use. Apparently, no mugshot was taken when he was actually arrested over hush money paid to Stormy Daniels.[3]
Michael Kranish, “Shadowing Trump’s attacks on mental fitness — his own father’s dementia,” Washington Post, March 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/20/donald-trump-dementia-father-fred-alzheimers-biden/
Finances
Fig. 3. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
In their court filing, [Donald] Trump’s lawyers said that the Trump Organization had worked with four insurance brokers and approached thirty companies that provide bonds, but none of them had agreed to supply one for the [Letitia] James case. In a statement accompanying the filing, Gary Giulietti, a senior executive at one of the brokers that had worked with the Trump Organization, Lockton, said that only a handful of insurance companies were approved by the Treasury Department to underwrite bonds of the size that Trump requires, and “none of these sureties will accept hard assets such as real estate as collateral. Instead, they will only accept cash or cash equivalents (such as marketable securities).” In another statement filed with the court, Alan Garten, the general counsel for the Trump Organization, said that Chubb, a big insurance company, had originally agreed to consider accepting a mixture of liquid assets and real estate as collateral for a bond, but within the past week it had notified the defendants that “it could not accept real estate as collateral.”[4]
Defendants’ argument that obtaining a full bond is purportedly impossible is based on the false premise that they must obtain a single bond from a single surety for the entire judgment amount of $464 million.[5]
They could, supposedly, piece together multiple smaller bonds.[6] And my guess is that’s what they’ll do, miraculously, right before the Monday deadline.
This is a pain game. How painful is this going to be for him to do it?[7]
James Fanelli and Corinne Ramey, “Trump Says He Can’t Secure Bond for $454 Million Civil-Fraud Judgment,” Wall Street Journal, March 18, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/trump-cant-secure-bond-for-454-million-civil-fraud-judgment-6c6fb7f1
Tori Otten, “Broke Donald Trump Admits He Can’t Post That Massive $464 Million Bond,” New Republic, March 18, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179901/trump-cant-secure-fraud-bond
Adam Reiss and Dareh Gregorian, “Trump has been unable to get bond for $464 million judgment, his lawyers say,” NBC News, March 18, 2024, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-unable-get-bond-464-million-judgment-lawyers-say-rcna143860
Matt Stieb, “Trump Says He Can’t Pay His $464 Million Bond. Now What?” New York, March 18, 2024, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-says-he-cant-find-a-usd464-million-bond-now-what.html
John Cassidy, “A Financial Reckoning for Donald Trump,” New Yorker, March 19, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/a-financial-reckoning-for-donald-trump
Joshua Chaffin, “NY attorney-general rejects Donald Trump’s pleas for leniency over $464mn bond,” Financial Times, March 20, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/1237571f-56d4-4248-bafd-c0ed44e21ff8
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Century III Mall
Fig. 4. “The exterior of the closed Century III Mall taken from a drone . . . in West Mifflin.” Photograph by Benjamin B. Braun, May 11, 2023, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,[8] fair use.
Neena Hagen, “After years of frustration, the demolition of Century III Mall could begin next week,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 20, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2024/03/19/century-iii-moonbeam-demolition-wet-mifflin/stories/202403190110
- [1]Devan Cole and John Fritze, “Supreme Court blocks Texas from enforcing controversial immigration law for now,” CNN, March 18, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/18/politics/supreme-court-texas-immigration-sb4/index.html; John Fritze, “Supreme Court allows Texas to begin enforcing controversial immigration law,” CNN, March 19, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/19/politics/supreme-court-allows-texas-to-begin-enforcing-controversial-immigration-law/index.html; Ann E. Marimow and Arelis R. Hernández, “Appeals court again blocks Texas from arresting and deporting migrants,” Washington Post, March 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/19/supreme-court-texas-immigration-law/↩
- [2]Alex Griffing, “Drudge Puts Trump in an Orange Jumpsuit as Site Monitors His Potential Indictment,” Mediaite, August 29, 2022, https://www.mediaite.com/news/drudge-puts-trump-in-an-orange-jumpsuit-as-site-monitors-his-potential-indictment/↩
- [3]Sarah D. Wire and Alexandra E. Petri, “Trump charged with 34 felony counts in alleged hush money cover-up case,” Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-04-04/donald-trump-alleged-hush-money-investigation-indictment-arraignment↩
- [4]John Cassidy, “A Financial Reckoning for Donald Trump,” New Yorker, March 19, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/a-financial-reckoning-for-donald-trump↩
- [5]Dennis Fan, quoted in Joshua Chaffin, “NY attorney-general rejects Donald Trump’s pleas for leniency over $464mn bond,” Financial Times, March 20, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/1237571f-56d4-4248-bafd-c0ed44e21ff8↩
- [6]Joshua Chaffin, “NY attorney-general rejects Donald Trump’s pleas for leniency over $464mn bond,” Financial Times, March 20, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/1237571f-56d4-4248-bafd-c0ed44e21ff8↩
- [7]Unnamed broker, quoted in Joshua Chaffin, “NY attorney-general rejects Donald Trump’s pleas for leniency over $464mn bond,” Financial Times, March 20, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/1237571f-56d4-4248-bafd-c0ed44e21ff8↩
- [8]Neena Hagen, “The fall of the Century: Once a retail shopping jewel, the West Mifflin mall has been left to rot,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 21, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2023/05/21/centuryiii-west-mifflin-mall-slag-heap-kaufmanns-sears-police-closed-crime/stories/202305210039↩