Author: A.T.

In case you haven’t seen these two minutes.

In case you can help.

MERYL

No movie / no Oscar — but she did offer these stunning 3 minutes at the 2017 Golden Globes.  Just as relevant today.

SIMÓN

Equally relevant, though it will cost you $7.95 and take longer to watch (turn on the English subtitles), is this feature film.

It’s the story of a Venezuelan asylum seeker who makes it to Miami.  And, by extension, the story of how a once-thriving democracy looks once it’s slidden into “illiberal democracy,” like Hungary or, worse, Germany.

Living in fear, as the Venezuelan opposition has for decades now had to do . . . as the opposition in any autocracy must . . . as high school kids who are bullied must . . . or shop-owners targeted by the mob or victims of abusive relationships or residents of high-crime neighborhoods . . . as Republican legislators who fear their leader or, increasingly, American poll workers and judges must . . . living in fear is a nightmare.

And once the rule of law is lost . . . once the gangs take over . . . once the leader can walk down Fifth Avenue shooting people or murder his opposition with impunity, as Putin and Kim do and Trump’s legal team argued he can do (he was sitting right there as they argued this) — he, who alone can fix it — once the coarsened level of discourse has been normalized . . . how can decency, civility, and democracy be restored?

Simón asks that devastating question.

BOREF

As noted last month, the stock is currently un-tradeable.  I called the company, who say this limbo should lift if and when they file current financial statements.  If the stock were tradeable, I wouldn’t sell at the 70-cent or 10-cent price brokers are now showing — or even at the $2.50 it fetched before the freeze.  Having waited nearly 25 years for this “stock that’s surely going to zero” to pay off — or else go to zero — I’m not bailing now.

Three books I’ll keep recommending until democracy is saved:

A Fever in the Heartland — how white Christian nationalists almost took over the country in the 1920’s.

Prequel — how they almost did again ten years later.

Blowback — third time’s a charm?

Many Americans favor a “strongman” of the type Trump admires, like Putin and Orban.

Millions more don’t.

Yet given the Electoral College and a stacked Supreme Court, “majority rule” is no sure thing.

Want to join Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Biden for an historic-yet-potentially-affordable evening in New York later this month, and help save democracy?

Click here.

Two Best Picture nominees I loved that didn’t win last night:

THE HOLDOVERS and AMERICAN FICTION.

Perfect for streaming.

I’ve never been a fan of buying gold.

An exception I made with money I can truly afford to lose (a seemingly a bottomless pit): HYMC, a Nevada gold mining stock, as described back in October before it reverse-split 1 for 10.

(So in today’s terms, I paid $2.20, compared to the $11.90 that AMC believed was an attractive price when it bought its big slice, down from a high of $135.)

The stock is basically unchanged from October. One thing that has changed, modestly, is the price of gold — at $2,177 an ounce Friday, up from $1,984 when I bought my HYMC and $1,918 when AMC bought its. 

If you’re like me, you get a lot of spam foretelling $3,000-an-ounce gold.  (Which could well mean this is the top!)  But if some smart people thought HYMC was a good buy at $11.90 when gold was $1,918, it could be an even better speculation at $2.30 with gold at $2,177. 

Or not.

The President’s age — the good news, explained by a geriatrician.  (A quick read.)

His challenger’s age — Dr. John Gartner on “Trump’s accelerating dementia.

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This is a tale of two brains. Biden’s brain is aging. Trump’s brain is dementing.

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Note, also, that if he had only normal health care available and did not exercise regularly, actuaries would expect Joe to live well past the end of his second term.  But because he has great care and does exercise, he could well live to attend not just his successor’s Inauguration, but the two or three — or even four — after those.

That said (just so you know), the Vice President is under-rated.  She is smart, sensible, moderate, and — should it come to this, which it almost surely would not — she would have Joe’s 4,000 appointees not skipping a step as she served out the remainder of his term.

TRUMP’S MAN IN NORTH CAROLINA

Trump calls the Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina, “Martin Luther King on steroids.”

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“I think you’re better than Martin Luther King,” he told Mark Robinson at a rally in Greensboro, N.C., last weekend. “I think you are Martin Luther King times two.”

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The INK offers a compendium of Robinson’s views: on the Holocaust (“hogwash”), women (not suited for leadership), abortion (eliminate it entirely), gays (“filth”), Parkland school-shooting survivors (“prosti-tots”).

Frank Bruni lays out The Grotesque Rise of Mark Robinson.

Trump’s choice.  The Republican Party’s choice.  Scary times.

THE VIEW FROM ABROAD

A friend addressed 80 major European CEO’s and CFO’s last month and asked two questions.

By a show of hands . . .

> If you could vote in the American election and wanted the best outcome for your company, which candidate would you choose?

Two-thirds said Trump.

> And if you wanted the best outcome for your children?

All but one said Biden.

BONUS CLIPS

Liz Cheney (50 seconds): elected Republicans know Trump is lying but fear for their jobs and safety.  It’s how dictatorships take hold.  Ask Putin.

Stayin’ Alive (25 seconds): interracial dance duo.

Stayin’ Friends (60 seconds): interracial interparty ex-Presidents.

Student Schools School Board Member (60 seconds): yes!

Equal Rights Not Fair (20 seconds): the MAGA view.

Robbie Kaplan drives him crazy (60 seconds): lunch at Mar-a-Lago.

Volodymyr Zelensky (40 seconds): to help Russia is to be against America.

Stop Him While You Still Can (60 seconds): the latest Lincoln Project.

To help, click here.

If you have no TV, stream the State of the Union.

The legal system — which we all wish were swift, affordable, and fair — is instead wildly slow and expensive; and, too often, capricious or corrupt.

Two examples of special interest to me:

1. ParkerVision . . . which had its $172 million jury award thrown out by a judge, and which has since been pursuing its claims for a decade with delay after delay.  (There’s still hope.  I’m not selling my shares.)

2. The Supreme Court . . . which installed George W. Bush (who lost Florida by more than 40,000 votes, had all been counted fairly) . . . who then tilted the Court still further right, so it could enshrine Citizens United and gut the Voting Rights Act . . . which gave Trump the presidency; and us, its current composition:

Six of nine appointed by presidents initially elected with a minority of the popular vote.

As for Clarence Thomas, who skipped the classes on judicial ethics and recusal . . .

. . . to which they might have added a hyphen between “six” and “figure,” as well as mention of indirect benefits via his wife and mother.

With regard to the Presidential Immunity case, now scheduled for an April 22 hearing, the Court should have done one of three things:

1. Declined to hear the appeal.  After all, the Circuit court’s decision was unanimous, and — not surprisingly — held that presidents cannot murder their political opponents with impunity as Trump friends Putin and Kim do.
2. Heard it back in December, as requested.
3. Scheduled it for the week it was filed.  Right?  Both sides had just finished making their arguments to the Circuit court, so it was all fresh in mind, little or no new prep required.  And, given a case of such importance to the Republic, the Court could have added a Saturday to its work week, if need be, to make the time . . . ruling just a few days later, or surely before the end of last month.

Instead, they’re doing all they can to keep Trump above the law . . . without having to explicitly rule that he is above the law.  Get him elected, and this all goes away.  

Despicable.

Please help if you can.

Forty-two years ago, to a book about the insurance industry, I added an appendix titled:

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Three Horribly Unfair Jokes You Can Tell About Lawyers (With Space to Append Three More of Your Own)

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I explained that many of my best friends were lawyers, which certainly remains true today; told my three jokes; and left a blank page for readers to add three more.

In that spirit:

If you have time for nothing else, watch this:

Immigration in one powerful, informative video.  Eight minutes.

And — humor me!  this stuff is so important! — two minutes of San Antonio’s (independent) mayor.

The bill Trump killed was endorsed by the Border Patrol Union, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

As argued above, it needs to be revived.

One of its 12 most important provisions would let immigrants work while they wait for their asylum claims to be adjudicated.  That’s what they want, as generations of immigrants have wanted when they first arrive: to wash dishes, bus tables, dig ditches, mop floors, pick fruit — whatever it takes to get a toehold into the American dream.

And, as it happens, we need them:

Immigrants are coming to the rescue of employers struggling with a historically tight labor market, and their arrival helps lower inflation. (Axios)

The economy is roaring. Immigration is a key reason. (Washington Post):

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Immigration has propelled the U.S. job market further than just about anyone expected, helping cement the country’s economic rebound from the pandemic as the most robust in the world.

That momentum picked up aggressively over the past year.

. . .

“Immigration has not slowed. It has just been absolutely astronomical,” said Pia Orrenius, vice president and senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. “And that’s been instrumental. You can’t grow like this with just the native workforce. It’s not possible.” . . .

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Stephen P.: “I live in Sonoma. There are vineyards all around me. I can tell ya with 100% certainty that if the Repubs get what they want on the on the border there will be a rebellion here — and throughout all agricultural states. And I see HELP WANTED signs on store, gas station, manufacturing buildings everywhere I look. I agree tho, we need an orderly immigration system.”

Orderly, for sure: Republicans are absolutely right about that — and Democrats have never disagreed.

We voted for the 2013 bipartisan bill that passed the Senate 68-32 and that would have sailed through the House and been signed into law by President Obama had the Republican House speaker allowed a vote.  Instead, he blocked it — just as today’s Republican speaker is doing today.

On instructions from Trump, the Republicans want to keep the crisis just as it is.

It’s shameful.

Speaker Johnson, a Christian extremist, should be taking his orders not from his temporal boss, but from his other one.  The one who said:

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For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me.

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Not a word about razor wire or alligators in moats.

Click here to read the whole thing.

Hunter Biden’s opening statement:

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I am here today to provide the committees with the one uncontestable fact that should end the false premise of this inquiry: I did not involve my father in my business, not while I was a practicing lawyer, not in my investments or transactions, domestic or international, not as a board member, and not as an artist, never.

You read this fact in the many letters that have been sent to you over the last year as part of your so-called impeachment investigation. You heard this fact when I said it weeks ago standing outside of this building. You heard this fact from a parade of other witnesses, former colleagues, and business partners of mine, including my uncle, who has testified before you in similar proceedings. And now, today, you hear this fact directly from me.

For more than a year, your committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad. You have trafficked in innuendo, distortion, and sensationalism, all the while ignoring the clear and convincing evidence staring you in the face: You do not have evidence to support the baseless and MAGA-motivated conspiracies about my father because there isn’t any.

You have built your entire partisan house of cards on lies told by the likes of Gal Luft, Tony Bobulinski, Alexander Smirnov, and Jason Galanis. Luft, who is a fugitive, has been indicted for his lies and other crimes; Smirnov, who has made you dupes in carrying out a Russian disinformation campaign waged against my father, has been indicted for his lies; Bobulinski, who has been exposed for the many false statements he has made; and Galanis, who is serving 14 years in prison for fraud.

Rather than follow the facts as they’ve been laid out before you in bank records, financial statements, correspondence, and other witness testimony, you continue your frantic search to prove the lies you and those you rely upon keep peddling.

Yes, they are lies. To be clear, I have made mistakes in my life, and I have squandered opportunities and privileges that were afforded to me. I know that. I am responsible for that. And I am making amends for that. But my mistakes and my shortcomings are my own and not my father’s, who has done nothing but devote his entire life to public service and trying to make this country a better place to live.

During my battle with addiction, my father was there for me. He helped save my life. His love and support made it possible for me to get sober, stay sober, and rebuild my life as a father, a son, a husband, and a brother. What he got in return for being a loving, supportive parent is a barrage of hate-filled conspiracy theories that hatched this sham impeachment inquiry and continue to fuel unrelenting personal attacks against him and me.

Over the last year, Republicans have taken my communications out of context, relied on documents that have been altered, and cherry-picked snippets of financial or other records to misrepresent what really happened. Examples of this include a few references to my family in emails or texts that I sent when I was in the darkest days of my addiction. If you try to do that today, my answers will reveal your tactics and demonstrate the truth that my father was never involved in any of my businesses.

My testimony today should put an end to this baseless and destructive political charade. You have wasted valuable time and resources attacking me and my family for your own political gain when you should be fixing the real problems in this country that desperately need your attention. Thank you.

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And then the show began.

Perhaps my favorite exchange:

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Mr. Swalwell: At any time your father was in government, did he ever operate a hotel?

The Witness: No, he has never operated a hotel.

Mr. Swalwell: So he’s never operated a hotel where foreign nationals spent millions at that hotel while he was in office?

The Witness: No, he has not.

Mr. Swalwell: Did your father ever employ in the Oval Office any direct family member to also work in the Oval Office?

The Witness: My father has never employed any direct family members, to my knowledge.

Mr. Swalwell: While your father was president, did anyone in the family receive 41 trademarks from China?

The Witness: No.

Mr. Swalwell: As President and leader of the party, has your father ever tried to install as chairperson of the party a daughter-in-law or anyone else in the family?

The Witness: No. And I don’t think that anyone in my family would be crazy enough to want to be chairperson of the DNC.

Mr. Swalwell: Has your father ever in his time as an adult been fined $355 million by any State that he worked in?  

The Witness: No he has not, thank God.

Mr. Swalwell: Anyone in your family ever strike a multi-billion-dollar deal with the Saudi government while your father was in office?

The Witness: No.

Mr. Swalwell: That’s all I’ve got.

The Witness: Thank you.

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The big take-away from his 7 hours of closed-door testimony is that whatever you may think of Hunter Biden — and of his father for loving his troubled son — there is “no there there.”

Whereas, if you read Volume I and Volume II of the Mueller report, it’s virtually all there — except for the parts missing because of obstruction of justice so egregious that more than 1,000 former Republican and Democratic federal prosecutors deemed it unquestionably indictable.  Watch! (2 minutes).

Shamefully, only one Republican, Mitt Romney, voted to convict Trump the first time around.

His second impeachment came a lot closer — 57-43 — but failed to reach the required two-thirds because Mitch McConnell would go only so far as to call Trump “morally and practically” responsible for the January 6 mayhem . . . but argued that punishment should be meted out by the criminal justice system, not the Senate.

The evidence of his guilt was on TV for all the world to see.

Joe Biden, by contrast, now stands accused of . . . what, exactly?

Based on . . . what, exactly?

Anybody know?

BONUS

Ranking Trump’s worst business failures — fun!

Increasingly, Republicans are siding with Russia.  With Putin.

This 90-second clip goes a long way to explaining why:

What it’s like to be in the room with Putin and Trump.

Trump made just one change to the 2016 Republican platform.

Just one.

The only thing in the platform he cared about: weakening support for Ukraine.

It’s also the only thing in the platform Putin cared about.

(For 448 pages detailing Trump-Russia connections and the felonious obstruction of justice that kept us from knowing even more, click here.)

For at least a decade, the Russian dictator — a KGB agent and master at jujitsu — has been trying to destroy America from within, pitting us against each other.

It’s almost exactly what a certain infamous German dictator attempted to do 90 years ago.

The parallels to the huge, now-largely-forgotten pro-Nazi movement in 1930s America, directed from Berlin . . . and the increasingly-apparent pro-Russian sentiment today, directed from Moscow . . . are striking.

The former was aimed at keeping us from coming to the aid of Europe.

The latter is aimed at keeping us from coming to the aid of Ukraine — and whatever countries he would invade next.

For riveting proof of those parallels, read the second of these three must-reads I keep recommending:

• A FEVER IN THE HEARTLAND, subtitled:  The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them.

How American democracy was almost lost to the white Christian nationalists in the 1920s — but the fever broke.

• PREQUEL, subtitled: An American Fight Against Fascism.

How it was almost lost in the 1930s — but, again, the fever broke.

• BLOWBACK, by the high-ranking Trump official first known as “anonymous,” subtitled: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump.

How America is in the PROCESS of losing its democracy, even as we speak.  Will the fever break this time?

In case you can help, please do!

But first, the latest minute from the Lincoln Project.

Powerful!

And now, Whoopi and friends reviewing Trump’s recent comments.

One (a few seconds after the one-minute mark):

“Our country is being destroyed, and the only thing standing between you and its obliteration is me.”

Right?

The stock market is at record levels . . . a massive revitalization of our infrastructure is underway (how better to destroy our country than that?) . . .we’re producing more oil than any other country in the history of the world even as we’re confronting climate change more robustly than ever . . . we’re bringing manufacturing back home . . . uniting our allies in opposition to Trump’s friend Putin . . . seeing wage growth outstrip inflation (which, painful as it was, is nearly back to normal) — and Trump alone can reverse all this.

What’s more, he says, “the Blacks love him” because they love sneakers.

Somehow, Whoopi remains unconvinced.

BORDER BONUS

The Senate’s bi-partisan solution would overwhelmingly pass the House if Speaker Johnson brought it up for a vote — but Trump ordered him not to.  Trump wants the border crisis.  He hates non-white immigrants but loves the crisis — his best campaign issue.  He owns the border crisis.  It’s his!  And like a child with a favorite toy, he doesn’t want anyone touching it but him.