Former President Donald Trump’s lawyer John Lauro came into Monday’s hearing, scheduled to set the trial date in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 case, extremely hot.
Continue reading “Trump Lawyer’s Hysterical Plea For Two-Year Trial Delay Didn’t Work On Chutkan”Ohio Abortion Rights Group Goes To State Supreme Court Over ‘Misleading’ Ballot Proposal Language
The group pushing a constitutional amendment to buttress abortion rights in Ohio sued in the state’s Supreme Court Monday after the state ballot board approved language to appear on the November ballot that the group calls “misleading” and “deceptive.”
Continue reading “Ohio Abortion Rights Group Goes To State Supreme Court Over ‘Misleading’ Ballot Proposal Language”Judge Sets Trial Date In Trump Jan. 6 Case: March 4, 2024
TPM reporter Emine Yücel was at the federal courthouse in D.C. this morning, where U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan set the trial date for Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 case against Donald Trump and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. She fed me information from the courthouse which I unpacked below.
Smith’s team had requested a January starting date arguing it is important for the case to be resolved before the upcoming presidential election, in which Trump is currently the leading candidate for the Republican Party. Trump’s team committed to dragging things out and argued in support of an absurd April 2026 starting date during Monday’s hearing.
Chutkan had previously shown interest in moving the case along quickly, but it was unclear if she would agree with prosecutors and allow the case to move forward alongside Trump’s trial in Florida related to his handling of classified records. At the end of Monday’s hearing she set the trial date for March 4, 2024, the same date that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis proposed for her case to begin trial.
Catch up on our live coverage below:
The Rise of the Global Oligarchs
This morning we’re covering a key hearing in the prosecution of Donald Trump, an important moment for the future of the country as well as the 2024 election. I also try to devote time to making sense of or simply identifying the big trends driving global history today. One which has fascinated me for years is the relative eclipse of state power in the favor of private corporations and individuals who in various ways act with the power we associate with states or become so powerful that they put themselves significantly beyond the power of states to control.
Continue reading “The Rise of the Global Oligarchs”Upshot
By landing on March 4, 2024, Judge Chutkan set Trump’s trial date two YEARS earlier than Donald Trump wanted.
BREAKING …
In a surprising and unexpected development, Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has taken the stand in federal court in Atlanta, where a judge is considering his motion to remove the Georgia racketeering prosecution from state to federal court.
Giving testimony in open court exposes Meadows to cross examination and significantly increases the potential for misstatements, inconsistent/contradictory testimony, and other bad outcomes from his point of view.
High risk strategy by Meadows. We’ll have more later today …
America Is In The Grip Of A Reign Of White Supremacist Terror
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Terrorist Attack In Jacksonville
America is living through a reign of white supremacist terror, but we won’t bring ourselves to call it that, treat it that way, or hold accountable the provocateurs in the Republican Party who are catalyzing and instigating the attacks.
You might be forgiven for missing the significance of the weekend news that a gunman who fits the profile of domestic right-wing terrorist – white, male, 21 years old – allegedly targeted Black people and opened fire in a Jacksonville Dollar General store, killing three people of color before committing suicide.
It’s easy and not entirely erroneous to drop this incident in the bucket of runaway gun crimes in an America with few gun regulations. But it’s the wrong bucket to put in it. This is the runaway violence of white supremacists against minority groups happening in tandem with the rise of a radical right-wing Republican Party, but with little public acknowledgment or understanding of what’s really happening.
Thank god, though, for Jacksonville’s Black police chief, who went out of his way to call this what it is. “He targeted a certain group of people, and that’s Black people,” Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said in a Saturday news conference.
The terror attack is being investigated as a hate crime, and the feds are involved. The pattern is familiar, according to early accounts from law enforcement:
- The gunman was heavily armed and in tactical wear.
- He had Glock and an AR-15-style rifle marked with swastikas.
- He lived with his parents.
- He had authored several “manifestos” with a racist ideology.
The rush to reassure the public that he was a lone actor is itself not reassuring. Labeling it stochastic terrorism doesn’t make it less threatening or less systemic. An ongoing series of terror attacks by so-called lone wolfs in an environment full of right-wing hate, calls to violence, and demonization of minorities ends up looking a lot like the Islamic extremism American imagination’s conjure whenever the word “terrorism” is used.
More On the Jacksonville Terror Attack
- Daily Beast: ‘Racially Motivated’ Gunman Once Held Involuntarily Under Florida Law
- NYT: 11 Fatal Minutes That Have Jacksonville Confronting Racism Yet Again
- WaPo: Jacksonville shooter bought guns legally before racist attack that killed 3
Big Day Ahead
Let me just put it in one place: for your ease of reference:
- Trump Jan. 6 case: Hearing at 10 a.m. ET on a potential trial date in front of U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in DC. Remember: Trump is the sole defendant here and wants a laughable 2026 trial date.
- Georgia racketeering case: Hearing at 10 a.m. ET on Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ motion to remove his case from state to federal court in front of U.S. District Judge Steve Jones. Remember: Meadows is one of 19 defendants, but he struck first with his removal motion and hence is the first to court.
What To Expect In The Jan. 6 Hearing
We’ll get another early read on how much Trump bullshit U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is willing to tolerate.
Trump has requested an absurd trial date of April 2026. Chutkan will not go for that. Special Counsel Jack Smith has sought to begin jury selection in December and begin trial after the holidays. Those are the dueling bookends of the range Chutkan will consider, but in truth Trump gave up his ability to shape her decision very much by his ridiculous proposal. Expect Chutkan to land somewhere in 2024, but pay attention to how she thinks about and navigates Trump’s many pending legal matters all vying for court time in the coming months.
Chutkan, 61, is an Obama appointee and has been on the bench since 2014.
Electronic devices are allowed in the media room in the federal courthouse in DC so we should have real-time accessibility to the hearing. Stay tuned for our coverage.
What To Expect In Mark Meadows Hearing
The Mark Meadows removal hearing has the potential to look like a mini-trial because it presents a combination of factual and legal disputes.
Altanta DA Fani Willis has subpoenaed at least four witnesses for the hearing. Whether she ends up calling them to testify remains to be seen. It’s not clear if Meadows will call witnesses, submit affidavits or present other kinds of evidence.
U.S. District Judge Steve Jones, 66, is an Obama appointee and has been on the federal bench since 2011.
No electronic devices allowed in the courthouse in Atlanta, so we probably will have very limited real-time visibility into what is happening in this hearing. So stay tuned for coverage later in the day on what went down exactly.
In the meantime, you can catch up on removal law (if you are so inclined) with this FAQ from Just Security.
Fox News Makes Rare Apology
Fox News has taken down and apologized for a false story that claimed a Gold Star family had had to pay $60,000 itself to repatriate the remains of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, who was killed in a terror attack at the Kabul airport as the U.S. was withdrawing its forces in 2021.
A lot of credit for the retraction belongs to Military.com, which did a story on the efforts of the Pentagon to convince Fox News the story was wrong.
Credit also to CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy for uncommon bluntness when talking about Fox News:
In this case, Fox News did not publicly address the incident until the Military.com story ignited backlash against the outlet.
While unethical, the behavior is typical for Fox News. The outlet often breaks traditional news ethics and traffics in dishonest reporting and commentary.
Things Are Usually A Bit More Complicated On Closer Look
Oliver Anthony of “Rich Men North of Richmond” fame apparently doesn’t hanker to be a GOP pawn:
- NYT: Singer of ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Says It’s Not a Republican Anthem
- WaPo: After GOP debate, Oliver Anthony says politicians ‘weaponized’ his song
- CNN: Oliver Anthony says he ‘hates’ seeing his song ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ be ‘weaponized’
The World Is Contemplating Trump 2.0
In assessing the international impact of a second Trump presidency, the WSJ comes up with a modest list of horrors:
- Trump could spark a global trade war;
- Trump could withdraw the U.S. from NATO;
- Trump could withdraw support for Ukraine;
- Trump could waver on support for Taiwan
Good Read
Daily Beast: The Real Story Behind Ron DeSantis’ Newest Fired Prosecutor
2024 Ephemera
- GOP Primary: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) canceled campaign events this week with Tropical Storm Idalia forecast to hit his state later this week at or near major hurricane strength.
- AZ-Sen: Kari Lake is still “contemplating” a run for the Senate in 2024 in Arizona.
- LOL: Former Sen. Joe Lieberman says “No Labels” plans to select a presidential ticket at its April convention in Dallas.
The Bottomless Cynicism of Tucker Carlson
David Corn on Tucker Carlson’s interview last week with Donald Trump:
Carlson was suggesting that Trump’s political foes are conspiring to kill Trump. In a divided country at a divisive moment, this is reckless and irresponsible. He was fueling hatred and paranoia. Imagine the actions that Trump devotees might consider if they were convinced Democrats, liberals, prosecutors, the media, and others were bent on killing Trump?
Like Morning Memo? Let us know!
With Streamers It’s the Same Old Story
If you read any of the business, publishing or entertainment press you’ll see stories about hard times in streaming world. This means Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Max, Hulu et al. This is undoubtedly true. You’ve likely seen this in the rising prices you pay and the declining offerings your subscription gets you. I don’t write to dispute any of this. But it’s nothing new under the sun. It is more or less exactly what we’ve seen in the digital new industry. The same pattern.
Entrants raise large sums of money (or use cash on hand from other business lines) and then spend substantially more than your subscription merits. They lose money in order to build market share. At some point the industry becomes mature and then they have to convert the business to one that can sustain itself and make a profit. That means substantial retrenchment. Inevitably that means spending less on the product and charging you more.
Continue reading “With Streamers It’s the Same Old Story”‘Dead Man Flying’: Prigozhin Latest Putin-Crosser To Meet Ignominious End
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.
Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, reportedly died when a private jet he was said to be on crashed on Aug. 23, 2023, killing all 10 people on board.
The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency confirmed that Prigozhin, who had led a brief rebellion again the Russian military two months earlier, was among the dead. However, Prigozhin was believed to have numerous passports, and he would compel others to travel under his name to protect him from possible attacks.
National security scholar Gregory F. Treverton, a former chairman of the National Intelligence Council in the Obama administration, explains what Prigozhin’s death would signify.
Continue reading “‘Dead Man Flying’: Prigozhin Latest Putin-Crosser To Meet Ignominious End”We May Soon Learn Whether The Strikes Of Today Can Rival Massive Labor Actions Of The Past
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.
More than 323,000 workers — including nurses, actors, screenwriters, hotel cleaners and restaurant servers — walked off their jobs during the first eight months of 2023. Hundreds of thousands of the employees of delivery giant UPS would have gone on strike, too, had they not reached a last-minute agreement. And nearly 150,000 autoworkers may go on a strike of historic proportions in mid-September if the United Autoworkers Union and General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — the company that includes Chrysler — don’t agree on a new contract soon.
This crescendo of labor actions follows a relative lull in U.S. strikes and a decline in union membership that began in the 1970s. Today’s strikes may seem unprecedented, especially if you’re under 50. While this wave constitutes a significant change following decades of unions’ losing ground, it’s far from unprecedented.
We’re sociologists who study the history of U.S. labor movements. In our new book, “Union Booms and Busts,” we explore the reasons for swings in the share of working Americans in unions between 1900 and 2015.
We see the rising number of strikes today as a sign that the balance of power between workers and employers, which has been tilted toward employers for nearly a half-century, is beginning to shift.
Millions on strike
The number of U.S. workers who go on strike in a given year varies greatly but generally follows broader trends. After World War II ended, through 1981, between 1 million and 4 million Americans went on strike annually. By 1990, that number had plummeted. In some years, it fell below 100,000.
Workers by that point were clearly on the defensive for several reasons.
One dramatic turning point was the showdown between President Ronald Reagan and the country’s air traffic controllers, which culminated in a 1981 strike by their union — the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization. Like many public workers, air traffic controllers did not have the right to strike, but they called one anyway because of safety concerns and other reasons. Reagan depicted the union as disloyal and ordered that all of PATCO’s striking members be fired. The government turned to supervisors and military controllers as their replacements and decertified the union.
That episode sent a strong message to employers that permanently replacing striking workers in certain situations would be tolerated.
There were also many court rulings and new laws that favored big business over labor rights. These included the passage of so-called right-to-work laws that provide union representation to nonunion members in union workplaces — without requiring the payment of union dues. Many conservative states, like South Dakota and Mississippi, have these laws on the books, along with states with more liberal voters — such as Wisconsin.
As union membership plunged from 34.2% of the labor force in 1945 to around 10% in 2010, workers became less likely to go on strike.
Wages kept up with productivity gains when unions were stronger than they are today. Wages increased 91.3% as productivity grew by 96.7% between 1948 and 1973. That changed once union membership began to tumble. Wages stagnated from 1973 to 2013, rising only 9.2% even as productivity grew by 74.4%.
Prime conditions
In general, strikes grow more common when economic conditions change in ways that empower workers. That’s especially true with the tight labor markets and high inflation seen in the U.S. in recent years.
When there are fewer candidates available for every open job and prices are rising, workers become bolder in their demands for higher wages and benefits.
Political and legal factors can play a role, too.
In the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal enhanced unions’ ability to organize. During World War II, unions agreed to a no-strike pledge — although some workers continued to go on strike.
The number of U.S. workers who went on strike peaked in 1946, a year after the war ended. Conditions were ripe for labor actions at that point for several reasons. The economy was no longer so dedicated to supplying the military, pro-union New Deal legislation was still intact and wartime strike restrictions were lifted.
In contrast, Reagan’s crushing of the PATCO strike gave employers a green light to permanently replace striking workers in situations in which doing that was legal.
Likewise, as we describe in our book, employers can take many steps to discourage strikes. But labor organizers can sometimes overcome management’s resistance with creative strategies.
New economic equations
Between 1983 and 2022, the share of U.S. workers who belonged to unions fell by half, from 20.1% to 10.1%. The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t reverse that decline, but it did change the balance of power between employers and workers in other ways.
The “great resignation,” a surge in the number of workers quitting their jobs during the pandemic, now seems to be over, or at least cooling down. The number of unemployed people for every job opening reached 4.9 in April 2020, plummeted to 0.5 in December 2021, and has remained low ever since.
Meanwhile, many workers have become more dissatisfied with their wages. The strikes by teachers that ramped up in 2018 responded to that frustration. U.S. inflation, which soared to 8% in 2022, has eroded workers’ purchasing power while company profits and economic inequality have continued to soar.
Technological breakthroughs that leave workers behind are also contributing to today’s strikes, as they did in other periods.
We’ve studied the role technology played in the printers’ strikes of the 1890s following the introduction of the linotype machine, which reduced the need for skilled workers, and the longshoremen strike of 1971, which was spurred by a drastic workforce reduction brought about by the introduction of shipping containers to transport cargo.
Those are among countless precedents for what’s happening now with actors and screenwriters. Their strikes hinge on the financial implications of streaming in film and television and artificial intelligence in the production of movies and shows.
Working conditions, including health and safety concerns and time off, have also been at the root of many recent strikes.
Health care workers, for example, are going on strike over safe staffing levels. In 2022, rail workers voted to strike over sick days and time off, they but were blocked from walking off the job by a U.S. Senate vote and President Joe Biden’s signature.
Time and again, when the conditions have been right, U.S. workers have gone on strike and won. Sometimes more strikes have followed, in waves that can transform workers’ lives. But it’s too early to know how big this wave will become.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
