News bits: Mentally trapped Christian nationalist outburst; Protecting the judge against thugs; Etc.

I found an informative report about a foaming at the mouth Christian nationalist who is self-aware enough to acknowledge that his religion has trapped his mind and forces him to act:

Satanic idol at Iowa State Capitol BEHEADED by Christian veteran

“I saw this blasphemous statue and was outraged,” Cassidy said. “My conscience is held captive to the word of God, not to bureaucratic decree. And so I acted.”

According to The Sentinel, Michael Cassidy pushed over and decapitated the statue of Baphomet, which was placed in the building by members of the Satanic Temple of Iowa after receiving permission, and discarded the head of the statue into the trash.

Very few reports are this explicit about the power of Christian nationalist ideology and dogma to trap minds and cause behavior consonant with beliefs. Some of the behavior is bad, or if people are harmed or could foreseeably be harmed, evil.

Note: I financially support the Satanic Temple (TST). It is a formal religion consisting of a secular group dedicated to forcing religion out of government as much as possible by forcing Satan in wherever Christianity is found in government, mainly govt. buildings and public schools. I’m not sure if TST is active in federal prisons.

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Business Insider reports that judge Engoron needed an armed security force to escort him out of the courthouse after a day in DJT’s civil fraud trial:

Trump fraud-trial judge evacuated from Manhattan 

courthouse soon after testimony ends

• More than 10 weeks of testimony wrapped on Wednesday with a verdict expected in a month.

• Four hours after testimony ended, someone set a small fire outside the judge's robing room.

The person creating the mischief was caught and arrested. The police do not think that this incident had anything to do with the fact that Engoron was the judge on DJT’s fraud trial. I find that not believable. One way or another, that crackpot was motivated by the DJT trial in my opinion.

If DJT is found liable for fraud in this case, the penalties could bankrupt him.

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Salon reports from the Well, Duh! Files:

Paul Ryan goes off on podcast: 

“Trump’s not a conservative — he’s an authoritarian narcissist”

Trump's tendencies are guided by narcissism and "whatever makes him popular," ex-House speaker says

“He doesn’t think in classical liberal-conservative terms. He thinks in an authoritarian way. And he’s been able to get a big chunk of the Republican base to follow him because he’s the culture warrior,” said Ryan, who has faced criticism from both Democrats and Republicans for not strongly opposing Trump in 2016 or through his presidency.

At least some folks are now woke enough to see that DJT isn't a pro-democracy conservative. Once that miraculous revelation is experienced, the next question one would expect to traverse the woke mind is, if he’s not a conservative, then what is he? Some see God’s chosen defender of the faith. Others see a demagogic liar-grifter dictator. Others see other stuff.

Too bad Paul didn’t see the reality of what DJT was while he still had power. Now that Ryan has nothing to lose he gripes about what DJT is. One could say that by practicing the KYMS tactic about DJT while he had power, Ryan was complicit with lies, corruption and tyranny when it counted the most for DJT.

Paul, an earnest young man,

but too little and too late

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As we all know, DJT wants to delay all of his trials as much as possible. That is his best weapon to deny or at least reduce accountability. One avenue of delay has been for DJT to claim he is immune from whatever he did while in office. To cut that delay tactic off, DoJ Special Counsel jack Smith made an emergency appeal to the USSC to determine whether DJT could be tried for his crimes while in office. Surprisingly, the USSC (i) agreed to hear the appeal, and (ii) granted Smith’s request to decide real soon, like in the next 10-14 days or thereabouts. 

That amounts to the court acting faster than light. It is ludicrous speed for a federal court.

As usual, DJT’s court filing in opposition to deciding the immunity issue is full of desperation, nonsense and blatant lies. The facts are all against him. Lies and desperation is all he has in his defense. Here is an example:

The prosecution has one goal in this case: To unlawfully attempt to try, convict, and sentence President Trump before an election in which he is likely to defeat President Biden. This represents a blatant attempt to interfere with the 2024 presidential election and to disenfranchise the tens of millions of voters who support President Trump’s candidacy.

While pursuing this partisan goal, the prosecution waited over two years to bring this lawless case, and then sought an extraordinarily expedited trial calendar, demanding that jury selection begin in December 2023—notwithstanding nearly 13 million pages of discovery and a litany of important and unresolved legal issues. D.Ct. Doc. 23, at 2. In support, the prosecution made the same argument it makes now—that violating President Trump’s due process rights would somehow “vindicate” the public’s interest in a speedy trial.

The prosecution was wrong then, and it is wrong now. This appeal presents novel, complex, and sensitive questions of profound importance. Whether a President of the United States may be criminally prosecuted for his official acts as President goes to the core of our system of separated powers and will stand among the most consequential questions ever decided by this Court. The manifest public interest lies in the Court’s careful and deliberate consideration of these momentous issues with the utmost care and diligence. 

A peanut gallery commenter said what all of us are thinking: The argument to delay is absurd but this is the most insane SCOTUS ever assembled, so what do you think the chances are that they’ll buy his argument and delay? Their true motive - to delay past the election - is abundantly clear. There’s no legitimate reason for a defendant to want to delay a decision that could exonerate them of multiple federal charges.

A response to that was this: This SCOTUS is insane, but they are predominately Federalist Society Republicans. Trump came to power in a hostile takeover of the Republican party. The country club set might want their party back. Also, the court wants to maximize the power of the court within government. Granting immunity to Trump doesn’t accomplish that. He’s done what they wanted in the past, but that might not outweigh other considerations here.

Good ’ole peanut gallery!

What ludicrous speed looks like