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TwiceHorn

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by TwiceHorn

  1. Well true, what they asked for is "dismissal." Dismissal, judgment on the pleadings, summary judgment, and directed verdict/JNOV are all pretty much the same thing, just at different evidentiary stages of the cases. But, also, if a judge decides a trial is necessary, even a bench trial, to evaluate the evidence, I suppose a directed verdict is appropriate if the evidence can't support the verdict. The feds adoption of judgment as a matter of law kind of covers all the bases. The other ridiculously stupid thing is, I think the state's case is far from over, so not only is Cohen just one witness, preceded by several more, I think he's going to be followed by several more. Where on earth they got the idea that they won the case on Cohen's testimony is anyone's guess. Their own Johnny Jolly moment.
  2. Kind of a notable thing, his firm/partner used to be a guy named George Milner, and Milner at least, was pretty much the king of DWI in Dallas, as was his father before him. I note that they are no longer associated. I also knew the subject's father, Frank Finn, who was also a bit of an imperious prick. Head of litigation at Thompson & Knight and chairman of the firm on multiple occasions. And, as mentioned in the article, a heavy drinker himself. It doesn't really surprise me that his home life was dysfunctional, but that's certainly not a requirement for alcoholism, and often something of a crutch to avoid recovery. Sounds like the genes were lined up well, though.
  3. Goddammit. The replays sucked, but maaaan, if it looks like a carry, it usually is.
  4. 😬😬 I am very glad we don't wear those tank top jerseys with separate sleeves. They're goofy as shit.
  5. Pretty good story giving context to Trump storming out. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/10/when-the-judge-refused-to-toss-his-case-trump-stormed-out-of-court-today/ It seems the real issue there is that Cohen was a somewhat ambivalent witness as to exactly when/how he told him to cook the books. When he admitted that he accurately told Congress he couldn't recall if Trump had ever specifically asked him to cook the books, the Team Trump morons acted like they had won the case and asked the judge for a directed verdict, which was promptly denied. As if there haven't been two solid weeks of testimony of Trump directing people to cook the books and explaining how it was done. His stupidity really seems to be contagious.
  6. I was called for a death penalty jury, but I was one of about 600 people called to fill out a 40-50 page questionnaire and sent home to be called back if needed. This guy. https://www.texastribune.org/2020/02/06/texas-execution-abel-ochoa-death-row/ I answered honestly that my views on addiction might well color my thinking regarding criminal liability and certainly death. An horrific crime, but even that remote brush with capital punishment started to seal my views against the death penalty.
  7. Well, the reason for this is mostly that women's sports are less popular than men's and have a smaller audience. But, part of the reason for that is that women's sports havent been around very long, and maybe women don't watch them. And a big reason for that is because until fairly recently, it was thought women shouldn't play sports, or maybe even watch them. And the reason for that is that it was "unladylike," or not what men and society thought they should do And so on and so forth. So, this particular stat is not very useful for advancing any kind of an equality argument, but you don't have to go very far below the surface to find some misogyny that bears at least some responsibility for the differential.
  8. I think he's saying what Trump is saying. Trump and his team want to conceptualize the whole fraud thing as classical fraud: a knowing falsity to induce loans. If that's all there was to it, he might have a limitations point and a good one. But 63(12) just encompasses a broader set of false and fraudulent acts that apparently is satisfied by showing that a knowingly false document was used in a business transaction, whether actually to anyone's detriment or not.
  9. Most crime rants are counterfactual.
  10. Ivanka appealed mostly on the ground of statute of limitations. Several issues. The main two were 6 or 3 year statute of limitations (answer 6), and whether a "tolling agreement" applied to her. The tolling agreement extended limitations by 18 months, I think, and was executed by the Trump Org, only, and purported to bind all officers and directors, affiliates, etc. The combination of the tolling agreement and the 6 year limitations period put the "pumpkin day" back to 2014 for those bound by the agreement, and 2016 for those not bound by the agreement. Vanky was dismissed from the case because there were no allegations that she did anything after 2016, and, by the time of the tolling agreement, she was not an officer or director of Trump Org and thus not bound by it. The appeals court in passing suggested that the trial court could/should evaluate or re-evaluate its holdings in light of the decision, which Engoron did on summary judgment, holding and citing case law that a tolling agreement signed on behalf of an organization could bind individual officers and directors. One other little thing, the court mentioned that causes of action "accrue" (when they count for purposes of limitations, as in did the fraud occur before 2016 or 2014) when "the transaction is complete." Trump wants that to mean when the loans closed, which were all in like 2011 or 2012. But there were separate fraudulent acts occurring in connection with loan covenants well into 2014 and 2016.
  11. Was he through testifying? ETA: Ohhh, dummy. I thought he was actually taking the stand in the case itself. Also, I see that the ACLU has entered an apperance as amicus curiae on the DC gag order appeal. Fascists. https://www.npr.org/2023/10/25/1208409526/trump-gag-order-first-amendment Trump is rarely called a liar to his face other than in the political arena, much less face immediate consequences. Arthur Engoron is a national treasure.
  12. My word. This guy is a law school classmate. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/former-federal-prosecutor-and-dallas-judge-suspended-for-offensive-court-behavior/ar-AA1iOQHO Guy was kind of a prick in law school, and I didn't much care for him, but I'm pretty certain I was way outstripping his drinking back then. Looks like he's been struggling with sobriety for 5-6 years. That has to be rough. Makes me glad it caught up with me in my early 30s and not now.
  13. Well that and even if you have documents and such, you generally need a live witness to introduce them into evidence. Meadows initially produced a lot to the committee and then stopped on executive privilege. Then Smith got the privilege blown away before the grand jury, so there may well be a trove of stuff that no one has seen.
  14. I am not aware of his actually testifying at any trial previously. As noted, a key aspect of the Teflon Don strategy has been to avoid trial at all cost.
  15. And you kinda actually do have to hear what he says to evaluate his credibility.
  16. I think you have to take evidence and argument to give a nod to due process. The risk here for the judge is it looks like personal pique.
  17. He was fined by Engoron in the investigation phase $10k/day to $110k. He paid.
  18. The sanctions for violating the gag order are going to escalate. Not sure at this point it's going to be jail, maybe 25k or 50k. The problem for the judge here in these kinds of cases is that they are the sole arbiter of violation and punishment, and there's usually a personal element to it. So the sanctions have to be progressive.
  19. While this is true, Slacks is fundamentally right, these people are all lying sacks of shit and just generally lack credibility.
  20. To some extent, those contradictions are going to ding his crediblity before a jury. Remember, while we hope a jury is Trumpist free, it's also going to be full of people that are a bit more open-minded about him than we are, and probably less familar with the stupidity of Trumpists. So, the contradictory statements in his book and in his testimony secured by criminal immunity may be dimly viewed by jurors. Doesn't seem like there will be a shortage of witnesses with similar or corroborative testimony, though.
  21. I'm trying to find a copy of the plea agreement. It doesn't look like it was publicly filed. Defendants are free, I suppose, to contradict or outright deny their plea agreements to the public. Everyone in prison is innocent, and most of them are there by plea. It doesn't affect anything with the court or the plea itself. although, if she insists it was coerced, a court could drag her back in, rehear that, and revoke the plea. What I did find, however, is something that will make you very happy I think. And that is that the first thing she pled to is "conspiracy to commit theft by taking." And the Georgia Criminal Code provides § 16-8-2. Theft by Taking Universal Citation: GA Code § 16-8-2 (2020) A person commits the offense of theft by taking when he unlawfully takes or, being in lawful possession thereof, unlawfully appropriates any property of another with the intention of depriving him of the property, regardless of the manner in which the property is taken or appropriated. The Texas Disciplinary Rules of Procedure provide, in the definitions section: GG. “Serious Crime” means barratry; any felony involving moral turpitude; any misdemeanor involving theft, embezzlement, or fraudulent or reckless misappropriation of money or other property; or any attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation of another to commit any of the foregoing crimes. and V. “Intentional Crime” means (1) any Serious Crime that requires proof of knowledge or intent as an essential element or (2) any crime involving misapplication of money or other property held as a fiduciary. And, finally: 8.05. Disbarment: When an attorney has been convicted of an Intentional Crime, and that conviction has become final, or the attorney has accepted probation with or without an adjudication of guilt for an Intentional Crime, the attorney shall be disbarred . . . . So, ol Sid seems pretty highly likely, almost dead certain in fact, to lose her Texas law license notwithstanding what happens relative to the Kraken suits. The "felony of moral turpitude" out that I discussed earlier has no application here. And, I have personal knowledge that the Bar lawyers that handle this stuff are familiar, fully competent, and pretty fucking fierce at handling this type of thing, known as "compulsory discipline." Plus, the only thing they have to prove is the conviction itself. Legal reporting is shitty, because no one mentioned that one of the misdemeanors was theft.
  22. I don't watch pro sports much at all. Jerrah and the Cowboys put me off the NFL, and, although I am a baseball fan, the length of the MLB season has always put me off a bit, as well as the long futility of the home-team Rangers. The 40 or so games of the NCAA regular season, which I follow closely, are plenty enough for me. Fuck a hunnert. So, being a fair-weather fan, I started following the Rangers post-season and looking up players that I had vague and not-so-vague recollections of from NCAA baseball, e.g. Scherzer and Bregman, among others. Vaguely happy for homeboy Chris Young, too. And the owners are refreshingly low-profile compared to Jerrah and a lot of others. And then of course noticed how most all of the players bounce all around the leagues in various commercial transactions like a round lot of securities. Or pork bellies. Or OJ concentrate. And that underscores my fundamental problem with pro sports: I need some hook or rooting interest beyond the corporate HQ and name being in my home town. And most of the players being brought in like feedstock to a refinery: tank cars of basically fungible goo. Shit, I kinda bemoan what college sports are turning into, but at least players incented by NIL or traveling through the portal consented and even actively chose to come to my Texas Longhorns and represent the university. So, yeah, Rangers buying players. Big fucking deal. All in the game, yo. Also why I'm not really that fond of the game at the pro level.
  23. Not to mention, US subs operated in Tokyo Bay. After traversing 2000 miles from Pearl to there, mostly on the surface, at speeds about that of a freight convoy (e.g. 8-10 knots), just like the Krauts. The best diesel-electric boats have a submerged range in the vicinity of 4-500 NM, meaning they're going to have to spend a lot of time on the surface to go anywhere, like out of the Mediterranean, which is about 2500 miles long. So, yeah, diesel electric boats are stealthy as hell when submerged. The problem is they're extremely vulnerable outside coastal waters.
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