TGIF Blogcast: Trump indicted; Dusty Slay; Ross eats 1st Spam

Donald Trump Indicted

In a headline that probably surprised a lot of people based more on its timing than its content (because we were told just in the past couple of days that Alvin Bragg's grand jury had been dismissed for a month), we learned late Thursday that former President Donald Trump has been indicted.

The charges will not be made public at least until Trump makes his first court appearance in New York.

The current common thinking is that this helps Trump in his quest to become the Republican nominee for president but probably doesn't help, maybe even hurts, in a general election. That makes it a perfect political tactic for Democrats.

Here's my take: Trump committed a misdemeanor crime of falsifying business records. It wasn't a tax violation, though. The statute of limitations expired on that crime about two years ago. This means that in order to charge for that crime, DA Bragg has to kick it up to a felony and he can only do that by claiming it was done in furtherance of another crime. We believe he will charge violation of state and/or federal campaign finance laws but that has serious problems. First, it's not clear he can charge under state law for someone who was running for federal office and subject to federal campaign finance laws. Second, the Department of Justice and Federal Elections Commission already examined this situation and decided not to bring charges.

In any case, while I don't want to go too far with my analysis before we've actually seen the charges -- and there are rumors of there being over 30 charges -- I don't think any honest person believes this isn't political. I also note that most Dems seem to have gotten the memo that they're supposed to tweet "Nobody is above the law." That should include the prosecutor.

Left-wing writer thinks the case against him is probably weak: Donald Trump Has Been Indicted. Don’t Get Your Hopes Up. | The Nation

Another liberal outlet with a somewhat balanced take: Trump Indictment, a First for a U.S. President, Tests Democracy - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

And a reasonably representative conservative take: Trump Indictment Launches Era Of Police-State Politics In America (thefederalist.com)

From the moderately conservative Wall Street Journal: Pandora’s Donald Trump Prosecution: The first indictment of a former U.S. President is a sad day for America. (WSJ)

Interesting thoughts from someone who was trying to prosecute Trump: Trump Indictment: Prosecutors Don't Have Veto Power in Presidential Primaries | National Review

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Just One Thing: A Proud Dad

I’m quite proud of my son. He emailed me with a picture of an assignment he just received from his science teacher. A fairly major project worth a measurable part of the semester’s grade. The assignment, in brief, is to choose a location on earth and write about how it will be impacted by climate change. My son also told me that he’d prefer to be getting actual education than having to do this particular project. That’s my boy. I emailed the teacher, and I’ll tell you now that I have no response yet, saying the assignment is asking for speculation based on utterly flawed models, that it’s not science, and that I’d like her to assign my son a different project. This is a public high school and I have no idea how the teacher will respond. But I am a proud dad.

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Today's Guests

Daniel Hoffman served as a CIA Station Chief three time in his distinguished career. One of those times may have been in Moscow. We'll talk about the Russians arresting Wall Street Journal Reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Daniel Hoffman | Ex-CIA Officer Leadership, & Human Intelligence Speaker (cagspeakers.com)

White House Condemns Russia's Detention of Wall Street Journal Reporter

Russia detains WSJ reporter in first spy charges against U.S. journalist since Cold War

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Comedian Dusty Slay is somewhere between a redneck and a hillbilly, and he's really really funny. Dusty is playing Friday and Saturday nights at Comedy Works Downtown in Larimer Square. Info and tickets here: https://www.comedyworks.com/comedians/dusty-slay

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A person I've vaguely heard of named Mandy Connell will join us in studio to make me eat Spam for the first time. She's also bringing a pinto bean cake. I kid you not. We'll get A-Rod to eat Spam...but he'll only do it because Mandy will pay him for it. I'm doing it for free. And we'll celebrate producer Dragon's working out for 1,000 days in a row. (Day 1000 is actually Sunday but we'll assume he'll get there.)

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Other Stuff

What a perfect example of what I talked about yesterday, namely that we can't let a small number of people tell schools, libraries, or society generally, that something is pornographic or offensive or otherwise must be removed or not taught. I know it's difficult to be in a position where someone will have to draw a line like that, i.e. this really is too controversial to be taught to kids, but the default position should be that it's NOT unless and until a large number of parents, preferably with a wide range of views on other issues, agree.

Congrats to Hillsdale College for refusing to go along with the nonsense, not that they ever would have.

College ends partnership with school over the David issue | AP News

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I was reading an article at Mediaite.com yesterday about recent cable news ratings. Much of it was about how CNN's ratings have collapsed. But there was another data point dropped in that explained a lot to me and which I didn't know before. Taking a step back: When watching cable news, my wife and I are often struck (especially on weekends) at how many ads are for medications and then how many other ads appeared to be targeted at a viewing audience much older than we are. I'd always figured that the average cable news viewer was just a little older than I am, maybe around 60. But here's what the article said: "Despite CNN’s ongoing ratings struggles, the network does currently boast the youngest audience in cable news with an average at 67, Fox’s viewers average 69, and MSNBC’s average 70."

This is quite fascinating, explains a lot about the advertising, and I'm still pondering how it influences programming. It must have some influence but it's also important to remember that media outlets (including KOA) always want to attract somewhat younger viewers/listeners (in addition to those roughly 60 and older) because younger people are more desired by most advertisers. (But probably not, in many cases, by pharmaceutical companies and others whose customer base is on the older side.)

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Stressed plants ‘cry’ — and some animals can probably hear them

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Not sure if this is true...yet, though I've been predicting this outcome all along: Democratic analyst: Assault weapons ban bill not going to pass | FOX31 Denver (kdvr.com)

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Tay Anderson is arguably the worst person in Denver politics, and that's saying something: DPS board: Anderson violated several board policies | FOX31 Denver (kdvr.com)

Jimmy Sengenberger adds more: Tone-deaf Tay mocks school safety | Jimmy Sengenberger | Denver-gazette | gazette.com

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No "fizzling" please: New dating trend is like ghosting -- but much crueler (nypost.com)

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Looks like it was a good investment: Original iPhone Still in Plastic Now Worth a Pretty Penny (newser.com)

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I don't care, but in case you do: What did Gwyneth Paltrow whisper to the plaintiff after her court victory? (nypost.com)

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Only alcohol-free bar in Dublin closes its doors – The Irish Times

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Wow, I hate this story. There were so many places where adults could have saved this kid's loved animal and found another solution: California girl, 9, sues state fair after her pet goat was sold and BARBECUED | Daily Mail Online

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Today's Videos

Sen Kennedy (R-LA) is exactly right: The Biden administration SUCKS.

I wish her luck!

I live on a Volcano — I’m trying to set a world record (nypost.com)

(My Spanish isn't good enough to understand much of this, but I'm sure it's still cool...)

Magic tricks for dogs

And let's end the week with some awesome prime-number nerdiness


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