Justice loses its meaning when politics decides who deserves protection, who deserves punishment, and truth becomes whatever the loudest voices are willing to believe.
The 1.8 Billion bullshit fund would be better spent on health care, education or some other program to help us the average American vs. rewarding criminals for doing crimes. You will never win this argument
"How does everyone know, with such absolute certainty, exactly where this money would go? Why is the immediate reaction that it must be destined for the most sinister purpose imaginable?"
Are you kidding me?!?!?!? Anyone that has paid attention for the past 11 years can answer this question with absolute certainty. I am literally speechless that Cohen could think it would go anywhere but to Trump's supporters. Trump has called "Dumocrats" enemies of the people, the party of hate, evil, and Satan, Godless communists, human garbage, animals, and vermin. Trump's DOJ will agree these people were weaponized against? TRUMP IS THE ONE DOING THE WEAPONIZING AGAINST THEM!!!
This whole slush fund was a sham from the start, and I agree with those that believe it was set up to incentivize the MAGA version of brownshirts to gear up for the upcoming election. The entire thing from beginning to end was 100% sinister, and to argue against that makes one lose all credibility.
"We have reached a point in American politics where people no longer wait for evidence. They wait for a headline that confirms what they already wanted to believe."
Trump literally went on Meet the Press and said about this fund "People have been hurt so badly by radical left lunatics that worked for the Biden Administration and Sleepy Joe. They're vicious, they're violent, what they did to people..." This is an exact quote straight from Trump's mouth. I could go on and quote more of it, but I think you can Google this exchange if you need to hear more. He has already given the purpose of the fund, so I don't know what additional evidence you are waiting for to prove why this fund was created.
Even if we didn't have this clear evidence, your plan would be to let the slush fund go forward, let them pay it out to people that tried to overthrow our government and beat up on the police, and then wring your hands afterwards? At some point, past behavior simply has to be enough to draw reasonable conclusions. The current occupant of the White House has proven himself repeatedly to be interested in one thing and one thing only, how it benefits him. Therefore, the slush fund based on all evidence to date will benefit him as well. To think he wants this fund for anything other than benefitting the people who tried to overthrow the election for him is absurd.
After reading your latest Substack, I now consider it propaganda! Your tone has changed, you give one sided argument, and cherry pick information. I’m use to reading both sides so I DO know the difference
Diane, we must always never forget that Michael could have walked away.
But he chose to stay with Trump, until Trump tossed him away.
I will always remain hopeful that Michael Cohen will wake up some day and truly change directions.
Until then, we need to Speak Up, Stand Up to all associated with this Fascist Regime and take our Democracy back. And to those that enable or are complicit same deal-they need to go down.
Remember Michael could release information on Trump. He was his "#1 and Fixer" for 12+ years.
Good point. I feel for Michael. I try to put myself in his shoes, but that is impossible, as you well know. It's also impossible not to notice the shift in Michael's views. He isn't directly associated with Trump, and that makes me feel that he can feel or believe or whatever he chooses without implications for the public. I don't think that will change my views, but if it (the radio show, for example) helps him regain his sanity, then I have enough compassion left to let it be. That doesn't mean that I agree with him or not. I am certainly able to form my own opinions.
Rainbows would fly from my ass before those dollars weren't used to protect criminals. Criminals don't have the same minds non-criminals do. They stick together because they recognize the same thought patterns. When you try to pretend that this money isn't a fraudulent use of taxpayer's money, you make me certain about the wisdom of cancelling by subscription. Thanks for that, at least.
I don’t know, Suzanne, I’m not thinking he was snarky. Do you honestly think that orange buffoon won’t try to sell BS about the alleged stolen election that has been proved time and time again that it was NOT stolen? He’s planting seeds to fck with the upcoming midterms, I’m certain you know that. Michael has nothing to do with Howard’s hope that he will touch on tonight’s bullshit address.
I was referring to calling him Michael's "fuhrer". Michael wrote a perfectly objective article today and people can't come up with more intelligent feedback? A lot of Lev supporters here which probably explains it.
Hmmm…he is a fuhrer wanna-be; not MICHAEL’S, but Diablo Naranjo wants to be! My opinion is I think the money should go towards health care, etc. AND people like Michael should get a payout not the criminals; yes on paper he is a felon, but we all know he’s not.
And this is why people have walked away from elections. The corruption, the indecisiveness, the battles between parties are getting to be too damn much to take. The current attitude is that people say they don’t vote because neither party cares what they think. This is just a perfect setup for people to say that they won’t even bother voting for the midterms. Nice going Congress! And as for Todd Blanche after listening to him stuttering and stammering over each question I’m not sure he can string 2 sentences together.
The very name of the fund suggests helping those who were wronged by the government. You sat with Trump, in the room where power decides, and all of that you list. As a question of fact and truth, did you ever see Trump exhibit true empathy and caring toward those who were treated unfairly? True empathy, not a maga talking point. We’ve witnessed the falsity through two recent comments where he doesn’t think or care about everyday Americans situations. The real truth about his level of empathy. Whether it passes or not do you think, from the facts, that Trump would allocate money fairly and with compassion for those who were wronged? Or is it in trumps nature to give money to friends and loyalists?
That was the point. Empathy is not a Trump characteristic. So with a pile of money where he has the final say, he can’t show empathy. Which leaves it to be dispersed to loyalists, which would include Jan 6 rioters. They were all done harm by Joe Biden. It shouldn’t be simply dismissed. They were pardoned and should be compensated, in Trump’s mind. We the people agree every Trump pardon has been given to criminals. I find it funny Cohen thinks he is the paragon of virtue seeking a pardon. When he gets one, he will join the list of criminals and people who should have never receive one.
It has been a while since this was discussed. I thought this had died. Why are we doing this? If we have $1.776 Billion to give away, why not use it where it is needed? We have an affordability crisis that needs to be addressed. Why not invest it in the programs to help people in need? Michael, you want restitution for doing a job you willingly did for about 15 years. You made yourself a sacrificial lamb for Donald. You threw yourself on the table for Donald to carve you up. You have stated that on most days you enjoyed it. You stated that you had a close friendship with Donald. So, you knew what you were getting yourself into. You knew that this would happen as Donald saw fit. You say that in the 15 years you worked with them, you learned him very well. So, you knew that Donald does not take responsibility for himself. You would be the one to take responsibility for his actions illegal or otherwise. You would throw yourself in front of a moving bus to die in order to save Donald. Yet Donald would push you out in front of a moving bus to save himself. And you talk like you are ready for that relationship again. A very strange relationship you two have. So, if you are willing to have that relationship with Donald again, why do you need restitution????
When I hear about this fund, I recall Trump's initial statement. The fund was supposed to be for those he saw as having been treated unjustly by BIDEN'S admistration. Yes, Todd Blanche cleaned it up, produced a document that sounded non-partisan.
But, Michael, you were never targeted by the Biden administration. As you write so clearly in your book “Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized the US Department of Justice Against His Critics”, it was the Trump administration that wanted to damage and silence you.
I know you did find some clever way to extend that into the Biden years, taxes revealed, etc, but it all seemed pretty strange to me. To me,the center could not hold.
Michael — maybe it is wishful thinking. Your own history with DJT should tell you this fund was never designed as a broad, principled remedy. Whatever noble framing it started with, its real target audience was always the January 6 defendants, and reading it any other way feels overly generous.
The certainty you’re criticizing isn’t coming from thin air — it’s coming from years of observable behavior. When a mechanism is built by people who have repeatedly used legal structures to reward allies and punish enemies, it’s not unreasonable for the public to assume the mechanism will be used exactly that way again.
Your experience with political weaponization is real, and it proves how quickly Washington can turn people into symbols. But acknowledging that doesn’t transform this particular fund into something it wasn’t. Blanche may insist it’s “not moving forward,” and senators may debate whether the contract still has life, but none of that changes the underlying intent.
People aren’t inventing certainty; they’re recognizing a pattern.
You open with a fair rule: no certainty before evidence. Let’s apply it strictly, then. Court record only:
Trump sued his own tax agency, was defended by his own department, and settled with himself in 109 days: 1.776 billion dollars plus tax immunity for the family. On July 13, after a fraud-on-the-court inquiry with full briefing, a federal judge found there was never adverseness between the parties and referred the lawyers to the bar. Before her: 35 former federal judges, appointed by both parties, called the scheme unprecedentedly fraudulent. That’s not a partisan headline. That’s the record so far — appealable, yes, but an appeal must convince judges that suing yourself creates a genuine ‘case or controversy’ under Article III. Adverseness isn’t a partisan doctrine.
Where you’re right, and it’s the most underreported line of the hearing: Blanche calling the fund dead while conceding the contract remains enforceable. A verbal funeral is not a legal one. You saw that clearly.
Presidencies get remembered for one sentence. Whatever else happens on appeal, ‘he sued himself and settled with himself’ is the kind of sentence history keeps. Which leaves a question your years inside that legal machine equip you to answer better than any pundit: is this finally a bridge too far, even for a friendly bench? Or does the machine know something about the Eleventh Circuit that the rest of us don’t?
It’s worse than ‘not cooperating.’ New Mexico’s AG laid it out in a June 30 letter to Blanche: the DOJ asked the state to suspend its Zorro Ranch investigation back in 2019 and took its files — and now, 130+ days after New Mexico asked for those records back, it has returned verbal assurances and nothing else. His words: the gap between DOJ’s public posture and its actual conduct is remarkable. He’s given them until July 31 to comply before pursuing legal remedies. Same date the Truth Commission reports. The withholding is now the story. Is this another trump coup?
Oh Michael please do not delude yourself. You know better than anyone that the slush fund controlled by Trump would only be used to enrich himself and desecrate the rule of law by rewarding the rioters that beat and killed capitol police. Are you now drinking the koolaid too? You are sounding just like Jake Tapper!
The historian and biographer Ian Kershaw described Hitler as "the embodiment of modern political evil." Trump is the modern embodiment of political evil. Michal H. Stone defines “Evil” as a term we apply to situations or specific acts that are horrifying or shocking to those who witness or hear about them. This is an accurate description of Trump.
We should not forget Hitler's henchmen: Martin Borman, Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler, Wilhelm Keitel, and Albert Speer. We should also acknowledge Trump's henchmen: JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Stephen Miller, Todd Blanche, Kash Patel, and Pete Hegseth.
Trump is constantly engaging in discussions with reporters, whose billionaire owners order them not to confront him or say he is lying, and if you confront him, you are fired. Trump always seemed to win these exchanges with reporters because he is free to lie, lie, and lie, fabricate events, create false realities, and make up his own reality, while these reporters have to stand there and only ask questions.
All his henchmen use his tactics. Yesterday, I watched Todd Blanche appear before a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting to determine whether he should become the attorney general. He lied over and over again with a straight face, not flinching or seeming uncomfortable with his lying. Heinrich Himmler would be proud of him. Lying, distressing the process, and insulting the very essence of our government.
The worst part is that 50 senators will vote to confirm his appointment as our new attorney general. Fifty senators from 25 states will listen to his insulting remarks about the very nature of this hearing and then vote to appoint him. This is the insurmountable problem with our country: these 25 states, now and in the future, along with their senators and the Senate itself, can control the very core principles I love and respect.
In truth, I think the formation of the Senate was a poor compromise offered by the northern states to get the southern states to sign on to the Constitution. The southern states knew that if the decision in Congress was to be decided by population, the North had a distinct advantage because, with immigration and industry, it outnumbered the southern states in population, which had fewer voting citizens and millions of slaves. So the northern states agreed to have a separate Senate distinct from the House of Representatives. In fact, the Senate controls what happens in the government; these 100 senators have more control than the 435 members of the House of Representatives.
In my ideal new government, there would be no Senate. It exists only because the northern states wanted the southern states, with their smaller populations, to sign the new government agreement. It was a stupid decision and a thorn in the side of democracy. We should have a country where each person's vote is counted, not one where senators from a small state with fewer voters can decide against the popular opinion of the voting public. The fact that it is referred to as the upper house indicates its power, and we would have a much better country without the Senate.
The fund is dead. The fund is not dead. It’s a Schrödinger’s Cat fund. Officer Brian Sicknick is dead. Officer Michael Fanone is not dead but suffered a heart attack and traumatic brain injury after being assaulted by the January 6th insurrectionists. None of the insurrectionists deserve any money. They should all be in prison. The fact that they were pardoned and released from prison is extremely disturbing. Unless it can be guaranteed that none of them will receive a penny, the fund should remain dead. Thank you for your analysis of the situation. I apologize that after reading it I’m just as confused as I was before I read it. This is not reflective of my reading comprehension skills or your writing skills. I’m confused because the fund is confusing. Perhaps deliberately so.
It is never a good idea to decide something in advance. This applies not only to politics, but also
to medicine, for example. One should always research the paramount factors diligently before stating a 'fact'. Unfortunately, there is a competing protocol. As human beings, we learn and hopefully remember patterns. Without patterns, we would be constantly flailing around, believing that each incident is new and exists by itself. The result of that is that we sometimes decide something in advance because it so neatly fits our pattern. The optimist wants to wait because the thing in question might be good. The pessimist, like me, sees the pattern and thinks that the issue is not good. We are stuck in the human condition, flaws and all.
If you ever sat in a court room and dealt with a good lawyer, you would know that what you want as an outcome isn't always what the court will decide. There is always two sides to the story and somewhere in the middle of s the truth.
The 1.8 Billion bullshit fund would be better spent on health care, education or some other program to help us the average American vs. rewarding criminals for doing crimes. You will never win this argument
Or this argument:
"How does everyone know, with such absolute certainty, exactly where this money would go? Why is the immediate reaction that it must be destined for the most sinister purpose imaginable?"
Are you kidding me?!?!?!? Anyone that has paid attention for the past 11 years can answer this question with absolute certainty. I am literally speechless that Cohen could think it would go anywhere but to Trump's supporters. Trump has called "Dumocrats" enemies of the people, the party of hate, evil, and Satan, Godless communists, human garbage, animals, and vermin. Trump's DOJ will agree these people were weaponized against? TRUMP IS THE ONE DOING THE WEAPONIZING AGAINST THEM!!!
This whole slush fund was a sham from the start, and I agree with those that believe it was set up to incentivize the MAGA version of brownshirts to gear up for the upcoming election. The entire thing from beginning to end was 100% sinister, and to argue against that makes one lose all credibility.
"We have reached a point in American politics where people no longer wait for evidence. They wait for a headline that confirms what they already wanted to believe."
You sound like Cohen now
Trump literally went on Meet the Press and said about this fund "People have been hurt so badly by radical left lunatics that worked for the Biden Administration and Sleepy Joe. They're vicious, they're violent, what they did to people..." This is an exact quote straight from Trump's mouth. I could go on and quote more of it, but I think you can Google this exchange if you need to hear more. He has already given the purpose of the fund, so I don't know what additional evidence you are waiting for to prove why this fund was created.
Even if we didn't have this clear evidence, your plan would be to let the slush fund go forward, let them pay it out to people that tried to overthrow our government and beat up on the police, and then wring your hands afterwards? At some point, past behavior simply has to be enough to draw reasonable conclusions. The current occupant of the White House has proven himself repeatedly to be interested in one thing and one thing only, how it benefits him. Therefore, the slush fund based on all evidence to date will benefit him as well. To think he wants this fund for anything other than benefitting the people who tried to overthrow the election for him is absurd.
After reading your latest Substack, I now consider it propaganda! Your tone has changed, you give one sided argument, and cherry pick information. I’m use to reading both sides so I DO know the difference
I have a feeling if you had worked alongside President Obama, for all those years, Michael, you would not come off to me as being brainwashed.
Diane, we must always never forget that Michael could have walked away.
But he chose to stay with Trump, until Trump tossed him away.
I will always remain hopeful that Michael Cohen will wake up some day and truly change directions.
Until then, we need to Speak Up, Stand Up to all associated with this Fascist Regime and take our Democracy back. And to those that enable or are complicit same deal-they need to go down.
Remember Michael could release information on Trump. He was his "#1 and Fixer" for 12+ years.
America deserve better.
Absolutely.
Good point. I feel for Michael. I try to put myself in his shoes, but that is impossible, as you well know. It's also impossible not to notice the shift in Michael's views. He isn't directly associated with Trump, and that makes me feel that he can feel or believe or whatever he chooses without implications for the public. I don't think that will change my views, but if it (the radio show, for example) helps him regain his sanity, then I have enough compassion left to let it be. That doesn't mean that I agree with him or not. I am certainly able to form my own opinions.
Trust me, the radio show will not help
The radio show has already helped right from its very conception!
Rainbows would fly from my ass before those dollars weren't used to protect criminals. Criminals don't have the same minds non-criminals do. They stick together because they recognize the same thought patterns. When you try to pretend that this money isn't a fraudulent use of taxpayer's money, you make me certain about the wisdom of cancelling by subscription. Thanks for that, at least.
Hopefully you will do an article tomorrow about the bullshit lies your fuhrer will spool tonight about election fraud
Snarky as usual.
I don’t know, Suzanne, I’m not thinking he was snarky. Do you honestly think that orange buffoon won’t try to sell BS about the alleged stolen election that has been proved time and time again that it was NOT stolen? He’s planting seeds to fck with the upcoming midterms, I’m certain you know that. Michael has nothing to do with Howard’s hope that he will touch on tonight’s bullshit address.
I was referring to calling him Michael's "fuhrer". Michael wrote a perfectly objective article today and people can't come up with more intelligent feedback? A lot of Lev supporters here which probably explains it.
Hmmm…he is a fuhrer wanna-be; not MICHAEL’S, but Diablo Naranjo wants to be! My opinion is I think the money should go towards health care, etc. AND people like Michael should get a payout not the criminals; yes on paper he is a felon, but we all know he’s not.
Uff-dah, I sure as hell rambled on!
Good reply Barbara.
Thank you Barbara Ann
You’re welcome!
And this is why people have walked away from elections. The corruption, the indecisiveness, the battles between parties are getting to be too damn much to take. The current attitude is that people say they don’t vote because neither party cares what they think. This is just a perfect setup for people to say that they won’t even bother voting for the midterms. Nice going Congress! And as for Todd Blanche after listening to him stuttering and stammering over each question I’m not sure he can string 2 sentences together.
The very name of the fund suggests helping those who were wronged by the government. You sat with Trump, in the room where power decides, and all of that you list. As a question of fact and truth, did you ever see Trump exhibit true empathy and caring toward those who were treated unfairly? True empathy, not a maga talking point. We’ve witnessed the falsity through two recent comments where he doesn’t think or care about everyday Americans situations. The real truth about his level of empathy. Whether it passes or not do you think, from the facts, that Trump would allocate money fairly and with compassion for those who were wronged? Or is it in trumps nature to give money to friends and loyalists?
Skip, as far as I can see, the man doesn’t display empathy, unless it works for him. Good question for Michael, though.
That was the point. Empathy is not a Trump characteristic. So with a pile of money where he has the final say, he can’t show empathy. Which leaves it to be dispersed to loyalists, which would include Jan 6 rioters. They were all done harm by Joe Biden. It shouldn’t be simply dismissed. They were pardoned and should be compensated, in Trump’s mind. We the people agree every Trump pardon has been given to criminals. I find it funny Cohen thinks he is the paragon of virtue seeking a pardon. When he gets one, he will join the list of criminals and people who should have never receive one.
It has been a while since this was discussed. I thought this had died. Why are we doing this? If we have $1.776 Billion to give away, why not use it where it is needed? We have an affordability crisis that needs to be addressed. Why not invest it in the programs to help people in need? Michael, you want restitution for doing a job you willingly did for about 15 years. You made yourself a sacrificial lamb for Donald. You threw yourself on the table for Donald to carve you up. You have stated that on most days you enjoyed it. You stated that you had a close friendship with Donald. So, you knew what you were getting yourself into. You knew that this would happen as Donald saw fit. You say that in the 15 years you worked with them, you learned him very well. So, you knew that Donald does not take responsibility for himself. You would be the one to take responsibility for his actions illegal or otherwise. You would throw yourself in front of a moving bus to die in order to save Donald. Yet Donald would push you out in front of a moving bus to save himself. And you talk like you are ready for that relationship again. A very strange relationship you two have. So, if you are willing to have that relationship with Donald again, why do you need restitution????
When I hear about this fund, I recall Trump's initial statement. The fund was supposed to be for those he saw as having been treated unjustly by BIDEN'S admistration. Yes, Todd Blanche cleaned it up, produced a document that sounded non-partisan.
But, Michael, you were never targeted by the Biden administration. As you write so clearly in your book “Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized the US Department of Justice Against His Critics”, it was the Trump administration that wanted to damage and silence you.
I know you did find some clever way to extend that into the Biden years, taxes revealed, etc, but it all seemed pretty strange to me. To me,the center could not hold.
Yes, Deb! Well said.
Michael — maybe it is wishful thinking. Your own history with DJT should tell you this fund was never designed as a broad, principled remedy. Whatever noble framing it started with, its real target audience was always the January 6 defendants, and reading it any other way feels overly generous.
The certainty you’re criticizing isn’t coming from thin air — it’s coming from years of observable behavior. When a mechanism is built by people who have repeatedly used legal structures to reward allies and punish enemies, it’s not unreasonable for the public to assume the mechanism will be used exactly that way again.
Your experience with political weaponization is real, and it proves how quickly Washington can turn people into symbols. But acknowledging that doesn’t transform this particular fund into something it wasn’t. Blanche may insist it’s “not moving forward,” and senators may debate whether the contract still has life, but none of that changes the underlying intent.
People aren’t inventing certainty; they’re recognizing a pattern.
You open with a fair rule: no certainty before evidence. Let’s apply it strictly, then. Court record only:
Trump sued his own tax agency, was defended by his own department, and settled with himself in 109 days: 1.776 billion dollars plus tax immunity for the family. On July 13, after a fraud-on-the-court inquiry with full briefing, a federal judge found there was never adverseness between the parties and referred the lawyers to the bar. Before her: 35 former federal judges, appointed by both parties, called the scheme unprecedentedly fraudulent. That’s not a partisan headline. That’s the record so far — appealable, yes, but an appeal must convince judges that suing yourself creates a genuine ‘case or controversy’ under Article III. Adverseness isn’t a partisan doctrine.
Where you’re right, and it’s the most underreported line of the hearing: Blanche calling the fund dead while conceding the contract remains enforceable. A verbal funeral is not a legal one. You saw that clearly.
Presidencies get remembered for one sentence. Whatever else happens on appeal, ‘he sued himself and settled with himself’ is the kind of sentence history keeps. Which leaves a question your years inside that legal machine equip you to answer better than any pundit: is this finally a bridge too far, even for a friendly bench? Or does the machine know something about the Eleventh Circuit that the rest of us don’t?
It’s worse than ‘not cooperating.’ New Mexico’s AG laid it out in a June 30 letter to Blanche: the DOJ asked the state to suspend its Zorro Ranch investigation back in 2019 and took its files — and now, 130+ days after New Mexico asked for those records back, it has returned verbal assurances and nothing else. His words: the gap between DOJ’s public posture and its actual conduct is remarkable. He’s given them until July 31 to comply before pursuing legal remedies. Same date the Truth Commission reports. The withholding is now the story. Is this another trump coup?
Oh Michael please do not delude yourself. You know better than anyone that the slush fund controlled by Trump would only be used to enrich himself and desecrate the rule of law by rewarding the rioters that beat and killed capitol police. Are you now drinking the koolaid too? You are sounding just like Jake Tapper!
HITLER HAD HIS 6 COLLABORATORS, AND SO DOES TRUMP
The historian and biographer Ian Kershaw described Hitler as "the embodiment of modern political evil." Trump is the modern embodiment of political evil. Michal H. Stone defines “Evil” as a term we apply to situations or specific acts that are horrifying or shocking to those who witness or hear about them. This is an accurate description of Trump.
We should not forget Hitler's henchmen: Martin Borman, Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler, Wilhelm Keitel, and Albert Speer. We should also acknowledge Trump's henchmen: JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Stephen Miller, Todd Blanche, Kash Patel, and Pete Hegseth.
Trump is constantly engaging in discussions with reporters, whose billionaire owners order them not to confront him or say he is lying, and if you confront him, you are fired. Trump always seemed to win these exchanges with reporters because he is free to lie, lie, and lie, fabricate events, create false realities, and make up his own reality, while these reporters have to stand there and only ask questions.
All his henchmen use his tactics. Yesterday, I watched Todd Blanche appear before a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting to determine whether he should become the attorney general. He lied over and over again with a straight face, not flinching or seeming uncomfortable with his lying. Heinrich Himmler would be proud of him. Lying, distressing the process, and insulting the very essence of our government.
The worst part is that 50 senators will vote to confirm his appointment as our new attorney general. Fifty senators from 25 states will listen to his insulting remarks about the very nature of this hearing and then vote to appoint him. This is the insurmountable problem with our country: these 25 states, now and in the future, along with their senators and the Senate itself, can control the very core principles I love and respect.
In truth, I think the formation of the Senate was a poor compromise offered by the northern states to get the southern states to sign on to the Constitution. The southern states knew that if the decision in Congress was to be decided by population, the North had a distinct advantage because, with immigration and industry, it outnumbered the southern states in population, which had fewer voting citizens and millions of slaves. So the northern states agreed to have a separate Senate distinct from the House of Representatives. In fact, the Senate controls what happens in the government; these 100 senators have more control than the 435 members of the House of Representatives.
In my ideal new government, there would be no Senate. It exists only because the northern states wanted the southern states, with their smaller populations, to sign the new government agreement. It was a stupid decision and a thorn in the side of democracy. We should have a country where each person's vote is counted, not one where senators from a small state with fewer voters can decide against the popular opinion of the voting public. The fact that it is referred to as the upper house indicates its power, and we would have a much better country without the Senate.
The fund is dead. The fund is not dead. It’s a Schrödinger’s Cat fund. Officer Brian Sicknick is dead. Officer Michael Fanone is not dead but suffered a heart attack and traumatic brain injury after being assaulted by the January 6th insurrectionists. None of the insurrectionists deserve any money. They should all be in prison. The fact that they were pardoned and released from prison is extremely disturbing. Unless it can be guaranteed that none of them will receive a penny, the fund should remain dead. Thank you for your analysis of the situation. I apologize that after reading it I’m just as confused as I was before I read it. This is not reflective of my reading comprehension skills or your writing skills. I’m confused because the fund is confusing. Perhaps deliberately so.
It is never a good idea to decide something in advance. This applies not only to politics, but also
to medicine, for example. One should always research the paramount factors diligently before stating a 'fact'. Unfortunately, there is a competing protocol. As human beings, we learn and hopefully remember patterns. Without patterns, we would be constantly flailing around, believing that each incident is new and exists by itself. The result of that is that we sometimes decide something in advance because it so neatly fits our pattern. The optimist wants to wait because the thing in question might be good. The pessimist, like me, sees the pattern and thinks that the issue is not good. We are stuck in the human condition, flaws and all.
If you ever sat in a court room and dealt with a good lawyer, you would know that what you want as an outcome isn't always what the court will decide. There is always two sides to the story and somewhere in the middle of s the truth.