Trump and Alito: Don't You Dare Threaten Us With Consequences

And Also: A long-time university chancellor lost his job when it came out that he (60s) and his wife (50s) like to make porn films. They decided to be open about it, posting stuff online. I guess this is tangentially relevant given Stormy Daniels' career. 

But, overall, it's a shame as compared to shameful. OTOH, I guess someone in his position should expect that hobby of sorts would not go over well. 

Checking, well, they have nothing to be embarrassed about in the looks department. They are also vegans, the wife having many online cooking videos, often with special guest stars from the porn industry. 

John "why is this guy still a thing" Yoo supports "revenge" prosecutions to answer the conviction of Trump. He has a twisted view of the Golden Rule which speaks of treating others how you would like to be treated. Not "tit for tat." 

Who is this victim?

Trump is a career criminal who went into politics. Treating laws as suggestions is one of his basic maxims. Once in office, he continued to act like a crook. He routinely berated his lawyers for taking notes in his presence and urged them to act more like Roy Cohn, the mob lawyer he once employed and idolized. He regularly ordered people to violate the law, and sometimes promised to pardon them if they were caught, and is currently promising pardons for the insurrectionists in prison who committed violence on his behalf.

This is the person the Republicans are supporting:

And yes, Bragg’s case is weak, but it too could have been avoided if the GOP didn’t pick a presidential candidate who had a standing catch-and-kill arrangement with the National Enquirer.

I question how "weak" his case is. I have read multiple legal analysts explain his case is relatively strong. The case is not as blatant as the others. Nonetheless, not every case will be as strong as others. Taking everything into consideration, I think the case was rightly brought. Nonetheless, some analysts will toss that in to show how reasonable they are. 

The guy is a convicted felon who for years gotten away with it. He is starting to receive true consequences, however limited. Trump and others have a right to be scared about this loss of immunity. They are continuing the usual m.o. of crying "rigged" and the like. It's pathetic.

Sen. Susan "the sane one" Collins has joined the fray. She was nasty in her speech supporting the confirmation of Kavanaugh, perhaps showing some anger at the vitriol against her. She is not running in November. 

Nonetheless, even though she voted to impeach and has repeatedly criticized him, Collins has decided to join in the attack on the integrity of the prosecution. She alleges Bragg was out to get Trump, campaigning on prosecuting him.

Bragg took a while to indict, his resistance leading to resistance from within his office. The TPM link cites a conservative noting Bragg talked about his role in lawsuits against Trump, showing he had what it took to hold people in power accountable. I do not see what she is so concerned about. Why would he not say that in a Manhattan DA race?!

Is this an attempt to help Trump (who she has not clearly said she would not vote for) and Republicans in November? If so, it is rather disgusting and desperate. It underlines how much the party is now the Trump Party. 

Larry Hogan, who is running for a swing Senate seat, calls people to respect the verdict. Susan Collins used to be another "sane Republican." Hogan is trying to win a key set that will help the Republicans win the Senate. He needs to lose. Nonetheless, Hogan shows it is possible to support basic minimum norms. 

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We continue to receive details about the Alito flag story. 

Trump and Alito rightly are spoken together. Alito has regularly shown himself to be the "Fox News Justice," including voicing unsubstantiated right-wing talking points. His lack of judicial temperament got so bad that Clarence Thomas didn't join him (or join him in full) in recent cases.

The first link continues the general theme that we cannot take his biased take on the events at face value. His wife appears to view things from the same vantage point. 

She saw lawn signs that generally accused Trump supporters of attacking her personally. An earlier article noted that she thanked the woman for taking down signs, when in fact they just were blown down by the weather. 

She lashed out at the Washington "we prefer not to report the news" Post reporter. The Alitos are usual aggrieved conservatives who feel like victims. 

The Alitos have more power, of course, including one being a Supreme Court justice. The article reports that the neighbor saw the justice's security detail park in front of the neighbor's house. The wife, not unreasonably, took this as a sort of threat. We can spin it as the security detail just doing their job. But we have a right to expect a Supreme Court justice and his wife would take more care in handling things. 

The husband did not release his name. Another article noted his job makes him wary about identifying himself. It is not clear from the coverage I read what said job is. Nonetheless, it cannot be too hard to find the name of the spouse of someone whose name you have available. Are not marriage licenses public records? 

The wife was wary about talking about the events too. She saw how others were attacked when they came out against powerful people. A Supreme Court justice going after you, with details you know are wrong, at some point can make saying silent hard. She decided to tell her side of the story.

Many conservatives used Scalia and Thomas as examples of ideal Supreme Court justices. I have seen fewer people citing Alito as a role model. Some conservatives are now defending Alito. Dear Leader Trump, after all, has come out on his side.

Alito and Trump, symbols of how not to do things.