Saturday, October 26, 2024

Final triumph of money over journalism


Email to  Alabama TV stations and Alabama journalism professors
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: shannon.isbell@wbrc.com <shannon.isbell@wbrc.com>; Susana Schuler <susana.schuler@hearst.com>; brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com <brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com>; jama.killingsworth@waff.com <jama.killingsworth@waff.com>; Mike Wright <mwright@waaytv.com>; Kay Norred <knorred@wvua23.com>; rmartin@cbs42.com <rmartin@cbs42.com>; Baylor Long <blong@hearst.com>; dwingard@wsfa.com <dwingard@wsfa.com>; news@mynbc15.com <news@mynbc15.com>; randy.merrow@fox10tv.com <randy.merrow@fox10tv.com>; gmcdonald@waka.com <gmcdonald@waka.com>; comments@abc3340.com <comments@abc3340.com>; newstip@abc3340.com <newstip@abc3340.com>; wvtm13@wvtm.com <wvtm13@wvtm.com>; dlamb@cbs42.com <dlamb@cbs42.com>; mnelson@ua.edu <mnelson@ua.edu>; alfranks@uab.edu <alfranks@uab.edu>; jzb0124@auburn.edu <jzb0124@auburn.edu>; mcarey@samford.edu <mcarey@samford.edu>; cofieldj@montevallo.edu <cofieldj@montevallo.edu>
Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2024 at 05:06:28 AM CDT
Subject: Final triumph of money over journalism
Dear Alabama TV stations and Alabama journalism professors:
In the final battle against Donald J. Trump, the final triumph of money over journalism needs recording.
A start is the opinion piece of Robert Reich "Cowardice and intimidation at The Washington Post and L.A. Times is how fascism takes root | Opinion", which is posted atposted at Cowardice and intimidation at The Washington Post and L.A. Times is how fascism takes root | Opinion
I hope Robert Reich's opinion piece contributes to your soul searching about the triumph of money over journalism at Alabama TV stations and/or about other explanations for Alabama TV stations' failures in America's final battle against Donald J. Trump.
Thank you.
[for filing in https://trumptweet.blogspot.com/2024/10/final-triumph-of-money-over-journalism.html]

For a couple of years I have been critical about shortcomings of Alabama TV stations in the performance of their journalistic obligations.
The Radio Television Digital News Association's code of ethics sets out those obligations in the following way:
Journalism’s obligation is to the public. Journalism places the public’s interests ahead of commercial, political and personal interests. Journalism empowers viewers, listeners and readers to make more informed decisions for themselves; it does not tell people what to believe or how to feel. https://www.rtdna.org/ethics
The foregoing is a very high standard for journalistic ethics, and may be impossible of full attainment.
As high as the standard is, it would seem at least call for Alabama TV stations to evaluate themselves, what their shortcomings are, and decide whether they should try to make improvements in the performance of their journalistic obligations.
I have put forth a number of criticisms. Examples include these links:
I have concluded that either the business and political interests of the TV stations have hindered them from fulfilling their journalistic obligations in a reasonably satisfactory way, or the TV stations do not have qualified staff capable of performing at the journalistic level that is called for. I think the shortcomings are so great that the TV stations ought to acknowledge to their viewers that the viewers should not consider themselves, in the words of the above code of ethics,  "empower[ed]  to make [reasonably] informed decisions for themselves."
The TV stations by and large have been unresponsive to my criticisms. They have neither put forth a defense of their performances of their journalistic obligations nor acknowledged the shortcomings in their performance of their journalistic obligations.

More recently
Email to Alabama TV stations re Judy Woodruff's America at a Crossroads project
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: shannon.isbell@wbrc.com <shannon.isbell@wbrc.com>; Susana Schuler <susana.schuler@hearst.com>; brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com <brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com>; jama.killingsworth@waff.com <jama.killingsworth@waff.com>; Mike Wright <mwright@waaytv.com>; Kay Norred <knorred@wvua23.com>; rmartin@cbs42.com <rmartin@cbs42.com>; Baylor Long <blong@hearst.com>; dwingard@wsfa.com <dwingard@wsfa.com>; news@mynbc15.com <news@mynbc15.com>; randy.merrow@fox10tv.com <randy.merrow@fox10tv.com>; gmcdonald@waka.com <gmcdonald@waka.com>; comments@abc3340.com <comments@abc3340.com>; newstip@abc3340.com <newstip@abc3340.com>; wvtm13@wvtm.com <wvtm13@wvtm.com>; dlamb@cbs42.com <dlamb@cbs42.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2024 at 09:32:03 AM CDT
Subject: Judy Woodruff's America at a Crossroads challenge to Alabama TV stations
Dear Alabama TV stations:
Monday night on PBS, more than 50 Wisconsin voters joined PBS News special correspondent Judy Woodruff for a town hall event in Milwaukee, as part of her America at a Crossroads reporting project, which has been exploring political polarization across the country. This past Monday night's event can be viewed at this time at Crossroads: A Conversation with America – A PBS News Special | PBS News.
Can or cannot Alabama TV stations be inspired to do and televise focus group conversations with Alabamians between now and Election Day?
Here's hoping.
Rob Shattuck
Mountain Brook

A crazy idea for the next 10 days
MSNBC and/or CNN should offer to FOX that the networks, whose regular programming is for their commentators and hosts to do day long talking that is biased towards the political side the network supports, that the networks change their programming so that commentators and hosts from one network have discussions with commentators and hosts from the opposing network. Some such mixed conversations would be on MSNBC or CNN and some mixed conversations would be on FOX.
The offer, of course, could be made the other way from FOX to MSNBC and/or CNN.

Email to Joyce Vance and Neal Katyal re crazy idea
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: Joyce Vance <jvance@law.ua.edu>; Neal K. Katyal <neal.katyal@hoganlovells.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2024 at 04:39:43 PM CDT
Subject: A crazy idea for the next 10 days
Dear Joyce and Neal,
I am emailing you this because the two of you have contacts at MSNBC and/or CNN that you could pass this crazy idea along to, if you think the crazy idea is actually a good idea for MSNBC and/or CNN to consider.
The crazy idea is this:
MSNBC and/or CNN would offer to FOX that the networks, whose regular programming is for their respective commentators and hosts to do day long talking that is biased towards the political side the networks respectively support (Harris in the case of MSNBC and CNN, and Trump in the case of FOX), that the networks change their programming so that commentators and hosts from one network have discussions with commentators and hosts from the opposing network. Some of the mixed discussions would be on MSNBC or CNN and some mixed discussions would be on FOX.
If MSNBC and/or CNN makes the offer to FOX, and FOX declines, I think a lot of hay could be made about that by MSNBC and CNN, not to mention the hay that could be made by the Harris campaign.
I hope you think this is a cool idea.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Rob Shattuck

Email to Professor Jonathan Turley
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: jturley@law.gwu.edu <jturley@law.gwu.edu>
Cc: Joyce Vance <jvance@law.ua.edu>; Neal K. Katyal <neal.katyal@hoganlovells.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2024 at 07:24:48 PM CDT
Subject: Who's got it right re "threat to democracy"?
Dear Professor Turley,
Yesterday, I copied you on an email that I sent to George Washington University economics professors, which email borrowed from your "Panic Politics: The Press and Pundits Face Devastating Polls on the Threat to Democracy" column in the New York Post, in which column you say the "American voter has a certain innate resistance to being played as a chump." Panic Politics: The Press and Pundits Face Devastating Polls on the Threat to Democracy – JONATHAN TURLEY.
Further you had amplification of your column by means of an appearance on Fox and Friends. .Democrats’ ‘panic politics’ over democracy borders on ‘constitutional defamation,’ legal expert warns | Fox News Video.)
Today I sent the below email to Joyce Vance and Neal Katyal urging that MSNBC and/or CNN offer to FOX that the networks do special programming during the next 10 days in which commentators and hosts from one network would have discussions with commentators and hosts from the opposing network. Some of the mixed discussions would be on MSNBC or CNN and some mixed discussions would be on FOX.
Just think how great it would be for American democracy if, say, Joe Scarborough and Sean Hannity had a debate about the 2024 Presidential election, and if you and Neal Katyal had a debate about who is a threat to democracy, and, if other MSNBC and CNN hosts and commentators had discussions with FOX hosts and commentators, conducted variously on MSNBC or CNN and on FOX. The object of such mixed debates and discussions would be to increase the hearing by American voters of both sides, instead of American voters hearing of only one side.
Would or would not that be great for American democracy, Professor Turley?
I can only hope you and Joyce Vance and Neal Katyal may have telephone conversations about this, and then put forth the idea to your and their contacts at FOX, MSNBC and CNN.
Three hip, hip, hoorays, for a better functioning American democracy, Professor Turley.
Sincerely,
Rob Shattuck
Mountain Brook, AL

Email sending Vance, Katyal and Turley emails to AL TV stations and journalism professors
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: shannon.isbell@wbrc.com <shannon.isbell@wbrc.com>; Susana Schuler <susana.schuler@hearst.com>; brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com <brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com>; jama.killingsworth@waff.com <jama.killingsworth@waff.com>; Mike Wright <mwright@waaytv.com>; Kay Norred <knorred@wvua23.com>; rmartin@cbs42.com <rmartin@cbs42.com>; Baylor Long <blong@hearst.com>; dwingard@wsfa.com <dwingard@wsfa.com>; news@mynbc15.com <news@mynbc15.com>; randy.merrow@fox10tv.com <randy.merrow@fox10tv.com>; gmcdonald@waka.com <gmcdonald@waka.com>; comments@abc3340.com <comments@abc3340.com>; newstip@abc3340.com <newstip@abc3340.com>; wvtm13@wvtm.com <wvtm13@wvtm.com>; dlamb@cbs42.com <dlamb@cbs42.com>; mnelson@ua.edu <mnelson@ua.edu>; alfranks@uab.edu <alfranks@uab.edu>; jzb0124@auburn.edu <jzb0124@auburn.edu>; mcarey@samford.edu <mcarey@samford.edu>; cofieldj@montevallo.edu <cofieldj@montevallo.edu>
Cc: Joyce Vance <jvance@law.ua.edu>; Neal K. Katyal <neal.katyal@hoganlovells.com>; jturley@law.gwu.edu <jturley@law.gwu.edu>
Sent: Sunday, October 27, 2024 at 04:13:18 AM CDT
Subject: A redeeming action by Alabama TV stations re 2024 Presidential election


Dear Alabama TV stations and journalism professors,


Following up on the email I sent you yesterday regarding "Final triumph of money over journalism," I urge you to please review the below emails I sent yesterday to Joyce Vance, Neal Katyal and Jonathan Turley, who are engaged in the "threat to democracy" issue on the national cable news platforms of MSNBC, CNN and FOX.


Then, ask yourselves about the crazy idea for the next 10 days that is the subject of the emails.


If you say, yes, we Alabama TV stations and journalism professors want to yell three "hip, hip, hoorays" for the better functioning of American democracy, please use your contacts with national cable news (or your contacts who have contacts with national cable news) to urge the carrying out by MSNBC, CNN and FOX of the crazy idea in question.


Thank you very much.
Posted by at No comments:

Friday, October 25, 2024

What Trump will be and do as POTUS


I. What Trump will be as POTUS -Trump and power 

A. General
In a society's system of governance, selected members of the society are invested with powers to carry out the activities of governing of the society.

Such selected members are supposed to use their powers to benefit the society and its members as a whole and not use their powers to benefit themselves personally. The personal benefit may be financial benefit to the powerholder, the powerholder's family, or powerholder's friends (such personal financial benefits for self, family and/or friends will be referred to as "financial benefits"), or the personal benefit may be psychological gratifications and pleasures that the powerholder receives from having and wielding the power, such as attention to one's self, adulation, deference to one's self, domination over others, and being able to cause others to fear one (these psychological gratifications and pleasures shall be referred to as "ego gratifications"). 

There is a tension between the selfish nature of human beings to seek their own benefit (financial or ego gratifications) and the societal imperative that members of the society who have the governing powers exercise the powers to benefit the society and its members as a whole.

In the foregoing tension, different individuals have different power-seeking and power-wielding motivations. Some individuals will be more disposed to properly use their governing powers to benefit the society and its members as a whole. Other individuals will be more disposed to using, or trying to use, their governing powers to benefit themselves personally, be they financial or ego gratifications.

Further, there is a tendency of all power-seekers towards wanting more power, and as more power is obtained, the desire for more power increases. There is risk of this afflicting even power-seekers with the best of intentions to use their power properly. (In short, Lord Acton's famous quote, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," that "succinctly captures a truth that has resonated throughout history. The essence of this quote is that when individuals or groups are granted power, there is a risk that they will abuse it for their own gain or become tyrannical in their actions." Lord Acton: 'Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.' — The Socratic Method)

Regarding power-wielders seeking to benefit themselves personally, the power-wielder seeking personal financial benefits generally needs to hide the financial benefits being sought and obtained. As for ego gratifications the power-wielder seeks, the power-wielder needs to keep the members of the society from thinking that the power-wielder is excessively interested in his ego gratifications and is not sufficiently attentive to benefitting the society, with and society in fact not getting the benefits it should be getting from the power-wielder's exercise of his governing powers. In short, the power-wielder needs to fool the other members of society about this.

For power-wielders seeking personal benefits,it is especially helpful if the power-holder has aides and other parties who are willing to help the power-holder in hiding the truth about how the power-wielder is using his governing powers.

Even better is if the power-wielder is able to somehow get the members of the society to be blind about, or not care about, the extent to which the power-wielder is using his governing powers for his personal benefit.

Further, a power-seeker seeking personal benefit from his power has a nature of being willing to lie, deceive, and manipulate other members of the society, in connection with his using his power to get financial benefits and for ego gratifications. 

In the midst of the foregoing realities about power corrupting and absolute power corrupting absolutely, it is a central societal concern to ward off  power-wielders from using their power to benefit themselves personally. For this purpose, the society has laws making it unlawful to for governing powers to be used for personal benefit. There are disclosure laws to help in this.

There are structural checks and balances to keep governing powers distributed and to constrain power-holders in their accumulation of power. on persons who gain power exercise the power for the benefit of the society and that the power not be held and wielded for self-gratification purposes as detrimental to the society. Accordingly, it is of central importance that there be checks against too much power being obtained by a person.

The Founding Fathers were very occupied with limiting the accumulation of power and this was much on their mind in having checks and balances in the Constitution to protect society accumulations of power that have potential for great harm to the society.

B. Evaluating Trump
In evaluating Trump's power seeking, it should be said that politicians generally are ambitious power-seekers. Take Chuck Schumer as an example. Chuck Schumer began his political career in 1974 and has spent 40 years rising to leader of the United States Senate. It is fair to guess that Chuck Schumer gets ego gratification from the power he holds, and the greater the power he holds, the greater the ego gratification he receives.

Chuck Schumer may have exercised his power to benefit himself financially and Chuck Schumer may have been powerfully motivated to aggrandized power for his own ego gratifications. Regardless, the critical thing to say about Chuck Schumer is that he has been limited and checked in power seeking by laws, by the Constitution and by other constraints. 

A history of the United States could be written about how much power-seeking has gone on by power-seekers, how much they have benefitted themselves financially, and how laws, the Constitution and other societal controls have kept their power-seeking check.

Now, turning to Trump, just about everyone is agreed that there has never been anything like Trump in American history.

Trump supporters believe that utter destruction of the country is happening under the Democrats, Trump will be the savior of the country, and Trump will fix all that ails the country very quickly. Never in American history has there been a Presidential candidate who has made such outlandish promises to voters, and tens of millions of his supporters believe his promises, or they know how outlandish the promises are and cannot be fulfilled but they don't care and being emotionally carried away by Trump is what matters to them.

For those against Trump, Trump is unprecedented in American history at the Presidential level as regards how blatantly transactional Trump has been in using his governing power to benefit himself, his family and friends financially. how unashamedly he pursues ego gratifications from his power, how successful he has been in getting tens of millions of Americans to be blind to that or not care about that, how much Trump has unshackled himself from Constitutional, legal and institutional checks on his power seeking to benefit himself personally.

There is much available information to consider as regards the foregoing.

There is how Trump lived his life before 2016, how narcissistic he was in striving for as much attention as he could get to himself, and his questionable business ethics such as the fraudulent Trump University. 

There is the question of why Trump ran for President in 2016. Many think Trump did not believe he had a chance to win the Presidency, but that running would bea  great way to advertise and promote his business including his goal of building a hotel in Moscow. Also, running for President itself would provide enormous ego gratifications for Trump, and, if Trump won the Presidency, being President could provide the ultimate in ego gratifications. Also Trump may have had plans to use the Presidency to benefit himself and his family financially, as it actually turned out. 

On the opposite side, Trump supporters don't give any thought to any of the above and simply believe Trump, in 2016, decided to make a great personal sacrifice for the laudable motivation of simply wanting to make the United States better ("Make America Great Again").

II. What Trump will do as POTUS
With just about everyone agreeing that there has never been anything in American history like Trump as described above, what Trump will do as President if he is elected somewhat depends on which of the opposing two views is more the truth about Trump.

It is a reasonable prediction that Trump will largely do whatever he wants to. 

My view is that main determinants of what Trump wants to will be ego gratification or financial benefits he or his family or friends will get from doing a particular thing, and Trump will not be amenable to do doing such and such is a thing because it is a right or good thing to do for the country, unless Trump sees something that is in it for him, his family or friends if the does the right or good thing in question.

In this view of mine, Trump could decide he doesn't want to do a mass deportation after all and Trump does not do that. The same could be the case with tariffs. It would also be unpredictable whether Trump will once again try to repeal The Affordable Care Act.

Trump may get ego gratification by terminating American support of Ukraine.

Under my view, there is a risk that Trump would as POTUS dedicate himself almost exclusively to things like eradicating the sources of his grievances, destroying any independence of the Department of Justice, punishing parties who opposed Trump (such as Mark Cuban) by means of his Presidential powers related to commercial matter that affect the parties he wants to punish, wielding the pardon power to induce people to do things that Trump wants done but that are unlawful and for which he can grant a pardon, and expanding his power ssuch as over Federal Reserve Board. 

If the view of Trump that his supporters have that Trump is mainly motivated to do things for the benefit of the country, Trump may do things for which there is nothing compelling in the nature of ego gratification or financial benefit.
_______________________________________

Dissemination of "What Trump will be and do as POTUS"
Email to 40 friends
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: [email addresses omitted]
Sent: Monday, October 28, 2024 at 06:43:11 PM CDT
Subject: Trump and power
Dear Friends,
With eight days to go, and with no holding of focus groups at my house as originally contemplated, this has been relegated to group emailing as a lesser substitute for whoever is interested.
All are invited to "reply to all," or to request removal from the email group list if that is desired.
Last Tuesday I emailed "AMERICA'S CLOSING ARGUMENT AGAINST DONALD J. TRUMP".
I have sharpened my thinking and narrowed its focus.
In The Final Battle against Donald J. Trump: What will Trump be and do as POTUS, I am drafting a section labelled "Trump and power."
Appended below is the current state of the drafting.
The country is in agony now, and what agony will continue after November 5th remains to be seen.
We will see what Harris says on the Ellipse tomorrow.
Your friend,
Rob
["current state of the drafting" is omitted]

Email to Alabama lawyers
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: Brannon Buck <bbuck@badhambuck.com>; Terri B. Lovell <terri.lovell@alabar.org>; mckinney@watsonmckinney.com <mckinney@watsonmckinney.com>; suzanneduffey@mc-ala.org <suzanneduffey@mc-ala.org>; flatta@burr.com <flatta@burr.com>; wbrewbak@law.ua.edu <wbrewbak@law.ua.edu>; sgarrett@bsol.com <sgarrett@bsol.com>; ccampbell@faulkner.edu <ccampbell@faulkner.edu>; blakehudson@samford.edu <blakehudson@samford.edu>; christy.crow@jinkscrow.com <christy.crow@jinkscrow.com>; richard.raleigh@wbd-us.com <richard.raleigh@wbd-us.com>; daoffice@baldwincountyal.gov <daoffice@baldwincountyal.gov>; baldwinDA@baldwincountyal.gov <baldwinda@baldwincountyal.gov>; "baldwinda@baldwincountyal.gov" <baldwinda@baldwincountyal.gov>; bob@schreiberadr.com <bob@schreiberadr.com>; jvance@law.ua.edu <jvance@law.ua.edu>; jws@willsellers.com <jws@willsellers.com>; cdobson@maynardnexsen.com <cdobson@maynardnexsen.com>; jwilson@birminghambar.org <jwilson@birminghambar.org>; Ross Cohen <rcohen@bakerdonelson.com>; spratling@wskllp.com <spratling@wskllp.com>; Mark Ezell <mee@ezell-law-llc.com>; John Steiner <john@steinerlawllc.com>; spoer@scottdukeslaw.com <spoer@scottdukeslaw.com>; ddowd@burr.com <ddowd@burr.com>; Chris Christie <chris.christie@dentons.com>; Gwen Windle <gwindle@charter.net>; hello@waterssullivan.com <hello@waterssullivan.com>; ryeilding@bradley.com <ryeilding@bradley.com>; glondon@burr.com <glondon@burr.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2024 at 02:57:08 PM CDT
Subject: What will Trump be and do as POTUS
Hello again, Alabama lawyers:
None here seem sufficiently bothered by my emails to put a block of my email address on their email account, or to ask me to remove them from this email list.
So, what the heck.
It is down to the wire, and below is the current state of "What will Trump be and do as POTUS" that I am drafting at The Final Battle against Donald J. Trump: What will Trump be and do as POTUS .
Thank you very much.
[current state of "What will Trump be and do as POTUS" omitted]

Email to Alabama TV stations
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: shannon.isbell@wbrc.com <shannon.isbell@wbrc.com>; Susana Schuler <susana.schuler@hearst.com>; brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com <brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com>; jama.killingsworth@waff.com <jama.killingsworth@waff.com>; Mike Wright <mwright@waaytv.com>; Kay Norred <knorred@wvua23.com>; rmartin@cbs42.com <rmartin@cbs42.com>; Baylor Long <blong@hearst.com>; dwingard@wsfa.com <dwingard@wsfa.com>; news@mynbc15.com <news@mynbc15.com>; randy.merrow@fox10tv.com <randy.merrow@fox10tv.com>; gmcdonald@waka.com <gmcdonald@waka.com>; comments@abc3340.com <comments@abc3340.com>; newstip@abc3340.com <newstip@abc3340.com>; wvtm13@wvtm.com <wvtm13@wvtm.com>; dlamb@cbs42.com <dlamb@cbs42.com>; mnelson@ua.edu <mnelson@ua.edu>; alfranks@uab.edu <alfranks@uab.edu>; jzb0124@auburn.edu <jzb0124@auburn.edu>; mcarey@samford.edu <mcarey@samford.edu>; cofieldj@montevallo.edu <cofieldj@montevallo.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2024 at 04:00:41 AM CDT
Subject: What Trump will be and do as POTUS
The Final Battle against Donald J. Trump: What Trump will be and do as POTUS

Email to Alabama Republicans and Democrats
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: algop@algop.org <algop@algop.org>; blumber@hiwaay.net <blumber@hiwaay.net>; oshaw@knology.net <oshaw@knology.net>; jwezell2012@gmail.com <jwezell2012@gmail.com>; claycogop@gmail.com <claycogop@gmail.com>; cummingsresearch@hotmail.com <cummingsresearch@hotmail.com>; elmoregop@gmail.com <elmoregop@gmail.com>; Fayettecountyalabamagop@gmail.com <fayettecountyalabamagop@gmail.com>; "fayettecountyalabamagop@gmail.com" <fayettecountyalabamagop@gmail.com>; genevacountygop34@gmail.com <genevacountygop34@gmail.com>; jeffcogopal@gmail.com <jeffcogopal@gmail.com>; lawrencealgop@yahoo.com <lawrencealgop@yahoo.com>; leecountyalabamagop@gmail.com <leecountyalabamagop@gmail.com>; lcrecsecy@gmail.com <lcrecsecy@gmail.com>; Party@mgop.org <party@mgop.org>; "party@mgop.org" <party@mgop.org>; gopmobilecounty@gmail.com <gopmobilecounty@gmail.com>; monroecountyalgop@gmail.com <monroecountyalgop@gmail.com>; montgomerygop@mgmgop.com <montgomerygop@mgmgop.com>; garydhead@hotmail.com <garydhead@hotmail.com>; chairman@shelbyalgop.com <chairman@shelbyalgop.com>; chairman@stclaircountyalabamagop.com <chairman@stclaircountyalabamagop.com>; membership@degagop.org <membership@degagop.org>; TallaGOP@outlook.com <tallagop@outlook.com>; "tallagop@outlook.com" <tallagop@outlook.com>; tuscalgop@gmail.com <tuscalgop@gmail.com>; contact@aldemocrats.org <contact@aldemocrats.org>; houstoncountydems@gmail.com <houstoncountydems@gmail.com>; chair@baldwindemocrats.org <chair@baldwindemocrats.org>; info@chiltoncountydems.org <info@chiltoncountydems.org>; chair@limestonedemocrats.org <chair@limestonedemocrats.org>; chair.jeffersoncountydems@gmail.com <chair.jeffersoncountydems@gmail.com>; chair@mobiledems.org <chair@mobiledems.org>; shelbycountydems65@gmail.com <shelbycountydems65@gmail.com>; cleburnealdemocrats@gmail.com <cleburnealdemocrats@gmail.com>; tuscaloosadems@gmail.com <tuscaloosadems@gmail.com>; mtnbrookdems@gmail.com <mtnbrookdems@gmail.com>; hooverdemocrats@gmail.com <hooverdemocrats@gmail.com>; montgomerycountydemocrats@gmail.com <montgomerycountydemocrats@gmail.com>; info@madisoncountydemocrats.com <info@madisoncountydemocrats.com>; RocketCityDems@gmail.com <rocketcitydems@gmail.com>; "rocketcitydems@gmail.com" <rocketcitydems@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2024 at 10:04:08 AM CDT
Subject: What Trump will be and do as POTUS
The Final Battle against Donald J. Trump: What Trump will be and do as POTUS

Email
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: lane.mclelland@ua.edu <lane.mclelland@ua.edu>; wbrewbak@law.ua.edu <wbrewbak@law.ua.edu>; jos.smith@ua.edu <jos.smith@ua.edu>; bsbutler@ua.edu <bsbutler@ua.edu>; alex.house@ua.edu <alex.house@ua.edu>; knorred@wvua23.com <knorred@wvua23.com>; jmccain@maynardcooper.com <jmccain@maynardcooper.com>; pfoster@algop.org <pfoster@algop.org>; contact@aldemocrats.org <contact@aldemocrats.org>; jvance@law.ua.edu <jvance@law.ua.edu>; letters@thecrimsonwhite.com <letters@thecrimsonwhite.com>; tuscaloosadems@gmail.com <tuscaloosadems@gmail.com>; mtnbrookdems@gmail.com <mtnbrookdems@gmail.com>; hooverdemocrats@gmail.com <hooverdemocrats@gmail.com>; montgomerycountydemocrats@gmail.com <montgomerycountydemocrats@gmail.com>; info@madisoncountydemocrats.com <info@madisoncountydemocrats.com>; Cathleen Erwin <coe0001@auburn.edu>; amcewan@samford.edu <amcewan@samford.edu>; mwithers@samford.edu <mwithers@samford.edu>; jcobia@samford.edu <jcobia@samford.edu>; dburch1@samford.edu <dburch1@samford.edu>; Christopher Jones <jonesc1@uab.edu>
Sent: Friday, November 1, 2024 at 06:22:41 PM CDT
Subject: What Trump will be and do as POTUS
233 Mental Health Professionals Spell Out Dangers Of Donald Trump In Chilling Letter
For filing in The Final Battle against Donald J. Trump: What Trump will be and do as POTUS.
Email addressees on this email are email addressees on emails posted on Be An Alabama Rootstriker* with Rob Shattuck: Presidential debate in Tuscaloosa & ABA Democracy Task Force conversation event
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, October 24, 2024

Discussion re Alabama lawyers against Donald Trump

This blog entry will be for discussion, supportive or disagreeing, regarding The Final Battle against Donald J. Trump: Statement of Alabama lawyers against Donald Trump and will record solicitations of Alabama lawyers and others to express views.


Email to Alabama lawyers
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: Brannon Buck <bbuck@badhambuck.com>; Terri B. Lovell <terri.lovell@alabar.org>; mckinney@watsonmckinney.com <mckinney@watsonmckinney.com>; suzanneduffey@mc-ala.org <suzanneduffey@mc-ala.org>; flatta@burr.com <flatta@burr.com>; wbrewbak@law.ua.edu <wbrewbak@law.ua.edu>; sgarrett@bsol.com <sgarrett@bsol.com>; ccampbell@faulkner.edu <ccampbell@faulkner.edu>; blakehudson@samford.edu <blakehudson@samford.edu>; christy.crow@jinkscrow.com <christy.crow@jinkscrow.com>; richard.raleigh@wbd-us.com <richard.raleigh@wbd-us.com>; daoffice@baldwincountyal.gov <daoffice@baldwincountyal.gov>; baldwinDA@baldwincountyal.gov <baldwinda@baldwincountyal.gov>; "baldwinda@baldwincountyal.gov" <baldwinda@baldwincountyal.gov>; bob@schreiberadr.com <bob@schreiberadr.com>; jvance@law.ua.edu <jvance@law.ua.edu>; jws@willsellers.com <jws@willsellers.com>; cdobson@maynardnexsen.com <cdobson@maynardnexsen.com>; jwilson@birminghambar.org <jwilson@birminghambar.org>; Ross Cohen <rcohen@bakerdonelson.com>; spratling@wskllp.com <spratling@wskllp.com>; Mark Ezell <mee@ezell-law-llc.com>; John Steiner <john@steinerlawllc.com>; spoer@scottdukeslaw.com <spoer@scottdukeslaw.com>; ddowd@burr.com <ddowd@burr.com>; Chris Christie <chris.christie@dentons.com>; Gwen Windle <gwindle@charter.net>; hello@waterssullivan.com <hello@waterssullivan.com>; ryeilding@bradley.com <ryeilding@bradley.com>; glondon@burr.com <glondon@burr.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2024 at 01:38:07 PM CDT
Subject: Statement of Alabama lawyers against Donald Trump
Dear fellow Alabama lawyers:
For what it's worth, I have converted "AMERICA'S CLOSING ARGUMENT AGAINST DONALD J. TRUMP" into "Statement of Alabama lawyers against Donald Trump" that is at https://trumptweet.blogspot.com/2024/10/statement-of-alabama-lawyers-against.html.
How many Alabama lawyers will be moved to comment publicly on this matter before election day remains to be seen.
In the fourteen months of work I have done related to the American Bar Association's Task Force for American Democracy, I have emailed numerous lawyers in other states, and I expect to email the "Statement of Alabama lawyers against Donald Trump" to them for however it may move them to make public comment in their states about this subject.
Thank you for your consideration.

First email to other states' lawyers
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: tony@dglattorneys.com <tony@dglattorneys.com>; icadle@bakerdonelson.com <icadle@bakerdonelson.com>; brittanie.browning@akerman.com <brittanie.browning@akerman.com>; info@sdbar.net <info@sdbar.net>; ddinkla@iowabar.org <ddinkla@iowabar.org>; pchant@coopercargillchant.com <pchant@coopercargillchant.com>; kmahan@hinckleyallen.com <kmahan@hinckleyallen.com>
Cc: Terri B. Lovell <terri.lovell@alabar.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2024 at 06:52:27 PM CDT
Subject: Statement of Alabama lawyers against Donald Trump
Dear other states' lawyers,
I have previously emailed you in connection with the work I have done during the past 14 months regarding the American Bar Association's Task Force for American Democracy.
In Alabama I am currently soliciting Alabama lawyers to sign "Statement of Alabama lawyers against Donald Trump" that is set out at https://trumptweet.blogspot.com/2024/10/statement-of-alabama-lawyers-against.html.
For what it is worth, I am sending you this email to encourage you and other lawyers in your states to make public statements to your state's citizens about this subject.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Rob Shattuck
Mountain Brook AL
[Email addresses on this email are of non-Alabama lawyers from Be An Alabama Rootstriker* with Rob Shattuck: American Bar Association "Task Force for American Democracy"]

Second email to other states' lawyers
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: marty@mitchellmeadows.com <marty@mitchellmeadows.com>; emyang@wstrongllc.com <emyang@wstrongllc.com>; maria.engles@pabar.org <maria.engles@pabar.org>; tcooley@detroitlawyer.org <tcooley@detroitlawyer.org>; pgroth@varnumlaw.com <pgroth@varnumlaw.com>; jen@jlawlegal.com <jen@jlawlegal.com>; ddietrich@weldriley.com <ddietrich@weldriley.com>; emil@ovblaw.com <emil@ovblaw.com>; fitzpatricka@corneillelaw.com <fitzpatricka@corneillelaw.com>; mjm@mmmmlaw.com <mjm@mmmmlaw.com>; jcoatsworth@margolisedelstein.com <jcoatsworth@margolisedelstein.com>; Marla.Presley@jacksonlewis.com <marla.presley@jacksonlewis.com>; "marla.presley@jacksonlewis.com" <marla.presley@jacksonlewis.com>; jonathan.koltash@gmail.com <jonathan.koltash@gmail.com>; president@mnbars.org <president@mnbars.org>; julie@cblawoffices.org <julie@cblawoffices.org>; BT@taylorgomezlaw.com <bt@taylorgomezlaw.com>; "bt@taylorgomezlaw.com" <bt@taylorgomezlaw.com>; Jeff Carton <jcarton@denleacarton.com>; rudipa@yahoo.com <rudipa@yahoo.com>; Linda Dolce <ldolce@denleacarton.com>; neal.katyal@hoganlovells.com <neal.katyal@hoganlovells.com>; chris.twyman@cbtjlaw.com <chris.twyman@cbtjlaw.com>; bill@gentrylawfirm.law <bill@gentrylawfirm.law>; javoynestatebarofga@gmail.com <javoynestatebarofga@gmail.com>; enneth.mitchell@cobbcounty.org <enneth.mitchell@cobbcounty.org>; "kenneth.mitchell@cobbcounty.org" <kenneth.mitchell@cobbcounty.org>; veronica.rogusky.cox@eeoc.gov <veronica.rogusky.cox@eeoc.gov>; brittanie.browning@akerman.com <brittanie.browning@akerman.com>; bert@gatrialattorneys.com <bert@gatrialattorneys.com>; shiriki.jones@coyote.com <shiriki.jones@coyote.com>; jlewis@khlawfirm.com <jlewis@khlawfirm.com>; david@lipscomblaw.com <david@lipscomblaw.com>; gspencer@naacpldf.org <gspencer@naacpldf.org>; martinvalbuenapc@bellsouth.net <martinvalbuenapc@bellsouth.net>
Sent: Friday, October 25, 2024 at 02:05:18 PM CDT
Subject: Statement of Alabama lawyers against Donald Trump
Dear other states' lawyers,
I have previously emailed you in connection with the work I have done during the past 14 months regarding the American Bar Association's Task Force for American Democracy.
In Alabama I am currently soliciting Alabama lawyers to sign "Statement of Alabama lawyers against Donald Trump" that is set out at https://trumptweet.blogspot.com/2024/10/statement-of-alabama-lawyers-against.html.
For what it is worth, I am sending you this email to encourage you and other lawyers in your states to make public statements to your state's citizens about this subject.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Rob Shattuck
Mountain Brook AL
[Email addresses on this email are of non-Alabama lawyers from Be An Alabama Rootstriker* with Rob Shattuck: Interim Alabama report to ABA Task Force for American Democracy and
Be An Alabama Rootstriker* with Rob Shattuck: Battleground states' lawyers and ABA Task Force for American Democracy except for duplicates from previously]
Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Statement of Alabama lawyers against Donald Trump

[solicitation and discussion about this statement is at The Final Battle against Donald J. Trump: Discussion re Alabama lawyers against Donald Trump]

Statement of Alabama lawyers against Donald Trump [draft]

The undersigned Alabama lawyers urge the defeat of Donald Trump in the 2024 election and express the following in support of our urging the defeat of Donald Trump.

American Bar Association Task Force for American Democracy

In August 2023 the American Bar Association, pronouncing that "our American democracy is in peril," created a Task Force for American Democracy, the mission of which was to: (i) bolster voter confidence in elections by safeguarding the integrity and non-partisan administration of elections, and by providing support for election workers and officials; (ii) educate Americans on democracy and the rule of law and why they are foundational to every aspect of American lives; and (iii) suggest ideas to the American people for improving and strengthening our democracy and our elections. A year-long set of Task Force activities were set forth in the link Our Work (americanbar.org). 

In August 2024 the ABA House of Delegates passed a policy adopting a “Statement of Principles” for protecting democracy (ABA House of Delegates passes policy adopting “Statement of Principles” protecting democracy) and the Task Force issued a
Task Force Analysis Report.

In her introductory to the Task Force Analysis Report, ABA President Mary Smith wrote:
Through extensive research, community engagement via listening tours and numerous consultations, the Task Force has identified key issues undermining our democratic institutions. Notably, the rise of misinformation, the normalization of political violence and a growing disillusionment with democratic governance have emerged as critical concerns. Our observations indicate that these issues are exacerbated by a polarization that has infiltrated the very fabric of our society, making reasoned, bipartisan dialogue more crucial than ever
. . .
I invite you to view the current analysis as a call to action for all legal professionals to reinforce their commitment to justice, equity and democratic integrity.

Qualifications regarding this statement  

In making this statement, we are greatly affected by the polarization of the country, the rise of misinformation, inabilities and impairments of agreement on facts, and difficulties of evaluating things that are uncertain and that call for opinion .

In our profession, we endeavor to diligently attune ourselves to the truth or falsity of alleged facts, the motivations and intentions of human beings, and assessing likelihoods about things that are uncertain.

In making this statement, we are applying our knowledge and understanding we think we have about the law (including the Constitution) and the U.S.  political system, 

This statement discusses several subjects and gives our opinions concerning the subjects, which are the basis of our urging that Donald Trump be defeated in the 2024 election.

I. Non-acceptance of the 2024 election results

For four years the United States has been buffeted in the extreme about whether the 2024 Presidential election results will be accepted by the candidates and the American people.

Much effort has been made by some parties to achieve the goal that the 2024 Presidential election results will be accepted by the candidates and the American people.

Also, there are parties who want a situation in which the 2024 Presidential election results will not be accepted by the candidates and the American people, and these parties have been working for four years to create that situation.

In our opinion, Donald Trump is the reason why the United States is in a situation that the 2024 Presidential election result will not be accepted by him if he does not win the 2024 election, and that such result will not be accepted by tens of millions of voters who support Donald Trump.

In our opinion, virtually all blame is on Donald Trump that the United States is in foregoing situation, and in our opinion the United States would not be in such situation if Donald Trump had done things otherwise for the past four years.

In our opinion, this situation that has been created by Donald Trump has created great danger and risk for the United States and its democracy.

In our opinion, if Kamala Harris is elected President, and Donald Trump is defeated, that will go a long way to fixing the dangerous situation that Donald Trump has created regarding election results being accepted or not being accepted by candidates and voters.

On the other hand, if Donald Trump is elected President, our opinion is that the dangerous situation that Donald Trump has created regarding election results being accepted or not being accepted by candidates and voters will persist and continue as a big problem for democracy in the United States.

II. Rule of law and unchecked power

History is filled with the quest of human beings for power.

While power can used to benefit others, there is great risk that power will be sought for selfish and self-seeking reasons in the extreme, in which case the power seeker cares not about whether others are benefitted or harmed by the power-seeker's exercise of power except to the extent the power-seeker makes self-interested calculations about how benefit or harm to others helps or hurts his or her power seeking.

Further, the more that power seeking is self-serving,  the more inclined the power seeker is to lie, deceivve, manipulate, and coerce others in order for the power seeker to increase his or her power.

Also, the more that power seeking is only self-serving, the more that more power is desired.

Further, the more power seekers are only self-serving, the more they are prone to obtain the service of other persons who are similarly self-serving in their own power-seeking, and who are similarly inclined to lie, deceive, manipulate, and coerce others in order to increase the power of the person they are serving and help their own power-seeking as well.

The Founding Fathers knew well about power seeking by human beings, the risk of power seeking being self-serving in the extreme to the detriment of others, and the extreme perniciousness of what self-serving power-seekers will do for more power, and the Founding Fathers gave great attention in Constitution they drafted to checking the powerful drive of human beings to gain and increase their power.

American history has 250 years of history of power seeking by human beings in various situations; there have been many accumulations of great power; and United States has gotten through the same.

Donald Trump is unprecedented in American history in his unchecked power seeking that, in our opinion, is selfish in the extreme. In our opinion, Trump has deceived millions of Americans into believing that there is nothing that Trump has ever done that is wrong, and that Trump will be able to immediately fix America's many difficult problems, when, in fact, these many difficult problems will take arduous work by the President, Congress, and the American people overcome.

Kamala Harris has her own power-seeking motivations, but, in our opinion, those will be checked in the regular ways that 250 years of power-seekers in the United States have been checked.

Special mention of Department of Justice
As regards the rule of law and the danger of Donald Trump's unchecked power-seeking, special mention is made of role of the Department of Justice. There is a tension between the DOJ being part of the President's executive branch of government and at the same time being independent of the President in acting to enforce the rule of law against the President. There has been experimentation with Independent Counsels and Special Counsels. This tension came especially to the fore in Watergate, and it is a tension that has lurked for decades. 
The rule of law has been shaken to its core as regards January 6th case and the documents case that have been brought against Trump.
In our opinion, Donald Trump is likely to destroy any independence of the Department of Justice if he becomes President, and this will do lasting damage to the rule of law in American democracy.


III. Trump's substantive issues

Donald Trump has substantive issues, such as the economy and inflation and immigration, that, in the minds of millions of voters, weigh in favor of voting for him.

In our urging that Donald Trump be defeated in the 2024 election, we are of the opinion that the truth about such substantive issues is not as Trump's millions of supporters have been deceived into believing by Trump, and they are in no way reason for voting for Donald Trump when weighed against the harms, damages and risks that are discussed above if Donald Trump is elected President.

We discuss in this statement Donald Trump's top issues of the economy and inflation and immigration.

A. Economy and inflation

There is a great financial and psychological malaise of the American people connected to prices being much higher compared to four years ago.

The factors that have brought about the higher prices are complex, and governmental actions taken during the past four years were far from being black and white in their rightness or wrongness for Americans, and, as is frequently the case, such actions were in the face of uncertainty about what would exactly result from the actions.

COVID-19 put the United States in an unprecedented dire condition in 2020, and huge amounts of governmental spending was agreed to be needed to support the economy until the pandemic was gotten under control.

This governmental spending, and other factors involved with the pandemic, ultimately resulted in inflation, and the inflation has been bad.

No one knew what would have happened to the economy if there had not been the huge amounts of governmental spending to support the economy until the pandemic was gotten under control.

Donald Trump has deceived millions of Americans into believing that the Democrats have been evilly intent on destroying the United States during the past four years with the governmental actions that have been undertaken to extricate the country from the dire condition it was in, and that if Trump had been President during such four years, the United States, under his leadership, would have magically gotten through the pandemic without being subject to the tension between governmental spending keeping the economy afloat and the tendency of the governmental spending to cause inflation. 

Understanding the complex factors that have brought about the much higher prices compared to four years ago leads to questions about what can and should be done going forward to lessen the financial and psychological malaise of the American people connected to prices being much higher compared to four years ago.

Conventional economic wisdom about how to bring down inflation is for interest rates to be raised and that there be a slowdown in the economy, and maybe even a recession is needed to get control of inflation. This happened in the late 1970's when interest rates were raised to near 20%, the economy went into a recession at the start of 1980, which lasted a number of months until the American economy pulled out of the recession.

In the inflation that started in 2021, the governmental response has been to raise interest rates, and since then the country has been looking out for whether the economy would have a "soft landing," (i.e., inflation being gotten under control without a recession). The country is still poised on that concern.

Donald Trump does not want Americans to understand the foregoing and wants Americans to be stupid about the economy and inflation and believe the Democrats caused the inflation and, if Trump had been President, the country could have gotten through the pandemic without being affected by the trade-off between governmental spending to keep the economy going and tendency of that to cause inflation.

The governmental and societal challenges in this regard are in the face of evolving conditions that add difficulties.

One evolving condition is that of artificial intelligence and the uncertainty and anxiety that AI has introduced regarding people's jobs.

Second is the long term effects of remote working that has come about from the pandemic. Employees have come to like the freedom and flexibility of remote working, and employers are hard at trying to evaluate the effects on productivity.

The selfish power-seeking Trump has deceived millions of Americans into believing that, if he is elected President, he will magically fix their psychological and financial malaise caused by the inflation and other factors. 
 
B. Immigration 

Burgeoning global population, widespread local wars, poverty, food insecurity and climate change are causing large scale migrations of people around the world. Developed nations, including the United States, have been under intense pressures from this and will continue under immense pressure for many years to come.

We believe that America's immigration laws need comprehensive reform, and that has been held hostage by the political extremes..

Kamala Harris says, if she wins, she will immediately seek passage of the bipartisan bill that Trump told the Republicans in Congress that they should not pass. 

Trump says, if he wins, he will undertake mass deportation of illegal immigrants. Currently, this is supported by a majority of Americans. Majority of Americans support mass deportation, poll shows (thehill.com)

Some argue that mass deportation would be an economic disaster for the country. Trump’s Plans for Mass Deportation Would Be an Economic Disaster | Washington Monthly

Trump has done a lot of fear mongering about illegal immigrants. We watched 20 Trump rallies. His racist, anti-immigrant messaging is getting darker. - POLITICO

While illegal immigration is a very serious problem for the United States that needs addressing, we do not believe the difference between a Trump administration warrants voting for Trump in the face of the extreme risks to the United States of an unchecked power-seeking Donald Trump

IV. Trump's unchecked power seeking

Having discussed the foregoing two substantive issues favoring Trump, we make further discussion about the dangers of Donald Trump's unchecked power-seeking if he is elected President.

Most people have a lot of information for making their own evaluations about how selfish and self-serving Trump is in his power-seeking and the extent to which Trump cares or does not care about others in Trump's exercising his power and how much Trump lies, "cons", deceives, manipulates, and coerces others in order to increase his power and the extent to obtained the service of persons who are similarly selfish and self-serving in their own quests for power and who similarly inclined to lie, "con", manipulate, and coerce others in order to increase Trump's power as well as their own power.

In making that evaluation, one may think about Kamala Harris in comparison and her power-seeking, how selfish and self-seeking it is in disregard of others and what lying, "conning," deceiving, manipulating and coercing of others Kamala Harris is willing to do.

Most successful politicians are ambitious and want power and their care for others in how they exercise their power is variable. They are, however, subject to restraints in how they accumulate their power.

Kamala Harris has been a very ambitious politician and has sought to increase her power. One could even say that, in 2019, Kamala Harris did her share of political pandering to advance her ambitions.

Trump has persuaded his followers that he made enormous personal sacrifice in running for President and he was not at all motivated by selfish and self-serving power-seeking.

In our view, Trump, in running for President, was almost exclusively motivated to serve himself and by lust to be the most powerful human being on the planet.

Further, Trump has succeeded in an unprecedented way to free himself from shackles and constraints on his power seeking.

Take, for example, when all his advisors were telling him he lost the 2020 election and he should accept that he lost. Trump, in his lust for power and to keep power, did not accept the constraint of his defeat in the election, undertook to overturn the 2020 election and got his minions to aid him in doing that.

Trump was willing to risk that he engaged in criminal activity in seeking to overturn the 2020 election. If Trump wins the 2020 election, he will be validated that there is nothing that can constrain his power-seeking, and no one around him if he wins will dare suggest to Trump that he cannot or should not do anything that Trump wishes to do.

There is no predicting what Trump will wish to do if he is elected, or what will motivate him about what he wishes to do. Trum may decide he wants mass deportation to take place, or he may decide he does not wish for mass deportation to take place. He may decide that he wants to impose huge tariffs to be imposed to show he can do whatever he wants, even if the economy is very badly affected, and any Republican Senator who votes to override his tariffs will be mercilessly punished by Trump. 

Maybe Trump will want to use his Presidential position to benefit his businesses and increase his family's wealth. There will be no advisor around Trump who will suggest he has a conflict of interest in exercising his Presidential power in that fashion.

Maybe Trump is angry about the embarrassment that Zelenski and Ukraine caused Trump in the form of the first impeachment, and Trump will withdraw support for Ukraine for that personal reason and Trump will not care whether such withdrawal of aid to Ukraine is or is not in the best interest of the United States.

Hopefully voters will think about the unchecked power-seeking by Trump that they will enable if Trump is elected President in 2024.

V. Conclusion

In our opinion there was deleterious situation of politics and governance in United States that existed in 2016 that resulted in Trump being elected in 2016 and that situation is largely unchanged in 2024.

In our opinion, the United States learned and experienced with Donald Trump in his four years as President that Trump abjectly failed to do positive things that he could have done for the politics and governance of American because Trump was selfishly interested only in his own power and increasing that power, and Trump instead has greatly damaged politics and governance in America, and Trump is much worse for America than the deleterious situation of 2016 that continues in 2024 and that is need of much work by the President, Congress and the American people to make improvements.
Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, October 20, 2024

Closing arguments of other Alabamians re 2024 Presidential election

Email to Alabama lawyers
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: Brannon Buck <bbuck@badhambuck.com>; Terri B. Lovell <terri.lovell@alabar.org>; mckinney@watsonmckinney.com <mckinney@watsonmckinney.com>; suzanneduffey@mc-ala.org <suzanneduffey@mc-ala.org>; flatta@burr.com <flatta@burr.com>; wbrewbak@law.ua.edu <wbrewbak@law.ua.edu>; sgarrett@bsol.com <sgarrett@bsol.com>; ccampbell@faulkner.edu <ccampbell@faulkner.edu>; blakehudson@samford.edu <blakehudson@samford.edu>; christy.crow@jinkscrow.com <christy.crow@jinkscrow.com>; richard.raleigh@wbd-us.com <richard.raleigh@wbd-us.com>; daoffice@baldwincountyal.gov <daoffice@baldwincountyal.gov>; baldwinDA@baldwincountyal.gov <baldwinda@baldwincountyal.gov>; "baldwinda@baldwincountyal.gov" <baldwinda@baldwincountyal.gov>; bob@schreiberadr.com <bob@schreiberadr.com>; jvance@law.ua.edu <jvance@law.ua.edu>; jws@willsellers.com <jws@willsellers.com>; cdobson@maynardnexsen.com <cdobson@maynardnexsen.com>; jwilson@birminghambar.org <jwilson@birminghambar.org>; Ross Cohen <rcohen@bakerdonelson.com>; spratling@wskllp.com <spratling@wskllp.com>; Mark Ezell <mee@ezell-law-llc.com>; John Steiner <john@steinerlawllc.com>; spoer@scottdukeslaw.com <spoer@scottdukeslaw.com>; ddowd@burr.com <ddowd@burr.com>; Chris Christie <chris.christie@dentons.com>; Gwen Windle <gwindle@charter.net>; hello@waterssullivan.com <hello@waterssullivan.com>; ryeilding@bradley.com <ryeilding@bradley.com>; glondon@burr.com <glondon@burr.com>
Sent: Monday, October 21, 2024 at 03:32:20 PM CDT
Subject: AMERICA'S CLOSING ARGUMENT AGAINST DONALD J. TRUMP
Dear Alabama lawyers,
I am drafting an "AMERICA'S CLOSING ARGUMENT AGAINST DONALD J. TRUMP" at https://trumptweet.blogspot.com/2024/10/americas-closing-argument-against.html.
Also, I am collecting "closing arguments" of other Alabamians regarding the Presidential election and am putting links to the same (and even possibly will set them out in full) at https://trumptweet.blogspot.com/2024/10/closing-arguments-of-other-alabamians.html.
I solicit any participation in this effort of mine that Alabama lawyers care to give in these closing days of the election.
Thank you. Email to Alabama TV stations, chambers of commerce and economics professors re: "Will you elite Alabamians keep regular Alabamians stupid about the economy and inflation?"
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: kyle@westalabamachamber.com <kyle@westalabamachamber.com>; susan.wilhelm@finance.alabama.gov <susan.wilhelm@finance.alabama.gov>; djblakley@ua.edu <djblakley@ua.edu>; info@innovatealabama.org <info@innovatealabama.org>; justice.smyth@tcoeda.com <justice.smyth@tcoeda.com>; Steve Ammons <sammons@birminghambusinessalliance.com>; director@homewoodchamber.org <director@homewoodchamber.org>; chamber@vestaviahills.org <chamber@vestaviahills.org>; rfigh@montgomerychamber.com <rfigh@montgomerychamber.com>; chamberinfo@shelbychamber.net <chamberinfo@shelbychamber.net>; pelhamchamberofcommerce@gmail.com <pelhamchamberofcommerce@gmail.com>; sandra@leedsareachamber.com <sandra@leedsareachamber.com>; nhewston@mobilechamber.com <nhewston@mobilechamber.com>; cfranklin@bcatoday.org <cfranklin@bcatoday.org>; wnewman@bcatoday.org <wnewman@bcatoday.org>; tstacy@aptv.org <tstacy@aptv.org>; rscott@aptv.org <rscott@aptv.org>; clshook@uab.edu <clshook@uab.edu>; kmpalan@ua.edu <kmpalan@ua.edu>; nlz0003@auburn.edu <nlz0003@auburn.edu>; stjones@samford.edu <stjones@samford.edu>; cgarrity@montevallo.edu <cgarrity@montevallo.edu>; motiibb@montevallo.edu <motiibb@montevallo.edu>; dsutter@troy.edu <dsutter@troy.edu>
Cc: shannon.isbell@wbrc.com <shannon.isbell@wbrc.com>; Susana Schuler <susana.schuler@hearst.com>; brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com <brendan.kirby@fox10tv.com>; jama.killingsworth@waff.com <jama.killingsworth@waff.com>; Mike Wright <mwright@waaytv.com>; Kay Norred <knorred@wvua23.com>; rmartin@cbs42.com <rmartin@cbs42.com>; Baylor Long <blong@hearst.com>; dwingard@wsfa.com <dwingard@wsfa.com>; news@mynbc15.com <news@mynbc15.com>; randy.merrow@fox10tv.com <randy.merrow@fox10tv.com>; gmcdonald@waka.com <gmcdonald@waka.com>; comments@abc3340.com <comments@abc3340.com>; newstip@abc3340.com <newstip@abc3340.com>; wvtm13@wvtm.com <wvtm13@wvtm.com>; dlamb@cbs42.com <dlamb@cbs42.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2024 at 05:42:13 PM CDT
Subject: Will you elite Alabamians keep regular Alabamians stupid about the economy and inflation?
Dear Alabama chambers of commerce and economics professors:
I sent you an email only a week ago and am importuning you (and Alabama TV stations) once again regarding this matter.
I am drafting an "AMERICA'S CLOSING ARGUMENT AGAINST DONALD J. TRUMP" at https://trumptweet.blogspot.com/2024/10/americas-closing-argument-against.html, in which I have the following discussion about the economy and inflation:
A. Economy and inflation
There is a great financial and psychological malaise of the American people connected to prices being much higher compared to four years ago.
The factors that have brought about the higher prices are complex, and governmental actions taken during the past four years were far from being black and white in their rightness or wrongness for Americans, and, as is frequently the case, such actions were in the face of uncertainty about what would exactly result from the actions.
COVID-19 put our country in an unprecedented dire condition in 2020, and no one knew exactly what governmental actions should be undertaken to extricate the country from its dire condition. https://trumptweet.blogspot.com/2020/05/our-countrys-dire-condition.html.
The selfish power-seeking Trump has conned millions of people into believing that the Democrats been evilly intent on destroying the country during the past four years with the governmental actions that have been undertaken to extricate the country from the dire condition it was in.
In this regard, I contend that Trump and the Repbulicans have made millions of Americans stupid on this subject. https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2024/10/you-stupid-stupid-people.html
This stupidity needs correcting, and efforts are being made to do that as indicated at It's the economy and inflation, stupid.
Understanding the complex factors that have brought about the much higher prices compared to four years ago leads to questions about what can and should be done going forward to lessen the financial and psychological malaise of the American people connected to prices being much higher compared to four years ago.
Conventional economic wisdom about how to bring down inflation is for interest rates to be raised and that there be a slowdown in the economy, and maybe even a recession is needed to get control of inflation. This happened in the late 1970's when interest rates were raised to near 20%, the economy went into a recession at the start of 1980, which lasted a number of months until the American economy pulled out of the recession.
In the inflation that started in 2021, the governmental response has been to raise interest rates, and since then the country has been looking out for whether the economy would have a "soft landing," (i.e., inflation being gotten under control without a recession). The country is still poised on that concern.
The governmental and societal challenges in this regard are in the face of evolving conditions that add difficulties.
One evolving condition is that of artificial intelligence and the uncertainty and anxiety that AI has introduced regarding people's jobs.
Second is the long-term effects of remote working that has come about from the pandemic. Employees have come to like the freedom and flexibility of remote working, and employers are hard at trying to evaluate the effects on productivity.
The selfish power-seeking con man Trump wants to deceive millions of people into believing that all they have to do is make him President and he will immediately fix everything and make everything beautiful for the American people. Con man Trump talks about his being a smart President who can do this for the American people when what con man Trump really wants is for American people to stupidly believe the things con man Trump says to them.
Can any of you make an affirmation that the above discussion fairly corrects the messaging that Trump and the Republicans do about the economy and inflation that I contend makes regular Alabamians stupid about the subject. If the discussion does not fairly do that, can you please suggest changes in the discussion that makes the discussion "fair."
Then can Alabama TV stations (which are copied on this email) find ways to lessen the stupidity of their viewers about the economy and inflation that Trump and the Republicans have caused?
In the seriousness of the stakes that are involved in the election, I hope my importuning of you (and Alabama TV stations) on this matter is not objectionable to you.
Thank you for your consideration.
Posted by at No comments:

AMERICA'S CLOSING ARGUMENT AGAINST DONALD J. TRUMP

[This "AMERICA'S CLOSING ARGUMENT AGAINST DONALD J. TRUMP" is in the works. As my drafting progresses, I solicit suggestions from readers. Also, I will collect "closing arguments" of other Alabamians and put links to them or even possibly set them out in full at https://trumptweet.blogspot.com/2024/10/closing-arguments-of-other-alabamians.html. I will make discussion of the same at the foregoing link.]


AMERICA'S CLOSING ARGUMENT AGAINST DONALD J. TRUMP

The approach of this closing argument against Donald J. Trump is first to indicate the history of my opposition to Trump, next to discuss Trump's unchecked power seeking, then to discuss substantive issues that favor Trump, and finally to evaluate whether Trump's unchecked power seeking outweighs the substantive issues that favor him.

History

In the above PEOPLE'S CLOSING ARGUMENT AGAINST HILLARY CLINTON AND FOR DONALD TRUMP from 2016, I said:
 
The iron triangle of the politicians, lobbyists and "special interests" in Washington DC have the people over the barrel. They profit greatly in corrupt ways, and the people are harmed by bad laws, bad regulations, and government waste and fiscal irresponsibility that result. The establishment keeps the people polarized so they don't unite to "drain the swamp". The establishment thrives in rancorous and destructive hyper-partisanship, and even foments the same.
, , ,
If one believes that the political system is broken, almost every other issue raised in this election is secondary. There needs to be honest acknowledgment that the issues present difficult problems that are not susceptible to easy solutions and that ultimately have to be worked out in the political system that includes the President and Congress. A polarized electorate, a failed Congress, and turmoil will persist until the country, including Congress, addresses the broken political system.
Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have already turned a lot upside down in Democratic and Republican politics. If Donald Trump is elected President, much will be thrown up in the air in Washington DC. This will be particularly true about Congress, which will be confronted with a political earthquake having occurred and will have to decide what has gone wrong in the country's political system and what the country should do about its political system.
No one knows what will be the outcome of the political earthquake if Donald Trump is elected President.
There is risk for all concerned. The paramount question for everyone should be, "Do I want the failed, corrupt status quo to continue with Hillary Clinton and perhaps never have a chance again for the people to make a change? Or do I want to take a chance with the political earthquake of Donald Trump being elected President?"
The country has never been presented with such a Presidential candidate as Donald Trump. On the one hand, he did what no one 18 months ago thought ever possible, and has turned the Republican Party upside down. On the other hand, Donald Trump has been appalling to millions of people in how he has conducted his campaign.
As appalling as Donald Trump may be, he also may be the people's last chance at getting back a government of, by and for the people. Bernie Sanders previously bore the people's mantle, but now it is down to Donald Trump.
Those who are appalled by Donald Trump have to confront this question: If you are appalled, are you nonetheless willing to allow Donald Trump to be President because he is your last chance to get back a government of, by and for the people?

I voted for Donald Trump on November 8, 2016.

By February 2017, I had turned against Donald Trump, and have been making the case against him ever since, as laid out in this blog and in many entries in my blog at https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/

Trump's unchecked power seeking 

History is filled with the quest of human beings for power. 

While power can used to benefit others, the risk is that power can be easily sought for selfish and self-seeking reasons in the extreme, in which case the power seeker cares not at all about whether others are benefitted or harmed by the power-seeker except to the extent the power-seeker makes self-interested calculation about how benefit or harm to others helps or hurts the power seeker in his power seeking.

Further, the more that power seeking is selfish and self-interested, the more inclined the power seeker is to lie, "con", manipulate, and coerce others in order for the power seeker to increase his or her power.  

Also, the more that power seeking is selfish and self-interested, the more that more power is desired. 

Selfish and self-seeking power seekers are further especially prone to obtain the service of persons who are similarly selfish and self-serving in their own quests for power, and who are similarly inclined to lie, "con", manipulate, and coerce others in order to increase the power of the person they are serving and helps in own power-seeking as well.

The Founding Fathers knew well about power seeking by human beings, the risk of power seeking being selfish and self-seeking in the extreme to the detriment of others, and the extreme perniciousness of what selfish power-seekers will do for more power, and the Founding Fathers gave great attention in Constitution they drafted to checking the powerful drive of human beings to gain and increase their power.

American history has 250 years of history of power seeking by human beings in various situations; there have been many accumulations of great power; and America has gotten through the same.

Trump is unprecedented in American history in his unchecked power seeking that is selfish and self interested in the extreme. Trump has conned millions of Americans into believing that there is nothing Trump has ever done is wrong and that Trump will be able to immediately fix America's many difficult problems, when, in fact, these many difficult problems will take arduous work by the President, Congress, and the American people.

Kamala Harris has her own power-seeking motivations, but those will be checked in the regular ways that 250 years of power-seekers in America have been checked.

This difference between Trump and Harris is enough, I believe, to tip the balance in favor of Harris after consideration of the substantive issues that favor Trump discussed below. More discussion about this follows.

Substantive issues favoring Trump

A. Economy and inflation

There is a great financial and psychological malaise of the American people connected to prices being much higher compared to four years ago.

The factors that have brought about the higher prices are complex, and governmental actions taken during the past four years were far from being black and white in their rightness or wrongness for Americans, and, as is frequently the case, such actions were in the face of uncertainty about what would exactly result from the actions.

COVID-19 put our country in an unprecedented dire condition in 2020, and no one knew exactly what governmental actions should be undertaken to extricate the country from its dire condition.  https://trumptweet.blogspot.com/2020/05/our-countrys-dire-condition.html.

The selfish power-seeking Trump has conned millions of people into believing that the Democrats been evilly intent on destroying the country during the past four years with the governmental actions that have been undertaken to extricate the country from the dire condition it was in.

In this regard, Trump has made millions of Americans stupid on this subject. https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2024/10/you-stupid-stupid-people.html

This stupidity needs correcting, and efforts are being made to do that as indicated at https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2024/09/its-economy-and-inflation-stupid.html.

Understanding the complex factors that have brought about the much higher prices compared to four years ago leads to questions about what can and should be done going forward to lessen the financial and psychological malaise of the American people connected to prices being much higher compared to four years ago.

Conventional economic wisdom about how to bring down inflation is for interest rates to be raised and that there be a slowdown in the economy, and maybe even a recession is needed to get control of inflation. This happened in the late 1970's when interest rates were raised to near 20%, the economy went into a recession at the start of 1980, which lasted a number of months until the American economy pulled out of the recession.

In the inflation that started in 2021, the governmental response has been to raise interest rates, and since then the country has been looking out for whether the economy would have a "soft landing," (i.e., inflation being gotten under control without a recession). The country is still poised on that concern.

The governmental and societal challenges in this regard are in the face of evolving conditions that add difficulties.

One evolving condition is that of artificial intelligence and the uncertainty and anxiety that AI has introduced regarding people's jobs.

Second is the long term effects of remote working that has come about from the pandemic. Employees have come to like the freedom and flexibility of remote working, and employers are hard at trying to evaluate the effects on productivity.

The selfish power-seeking con man Trump wants to deceive millions of people into believing that all they have to do is make him President and he will immediately fix everything and make everything beautiful for the American people. Con man Trump talks about his being a smart President who can do this for the American people when what con man Trump really wants is for American people to stupidly believe the things con man Trump says to them.
 
B. Immigration 

Burgeoning global population, widespread local wars, poverty, food insecurity and climate change are causing large scale migrations of people around the world. Developed nations, including the United States, have been under intense pressures from this.

America's immigration laws need comprehensive reform, and that has been held hostage by the political extremes. https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2018/01/joint-town-hall-script.html.

Kamala Harris says, if she wins, she will immediately seek passage of the bipartisan bill that Trump told the Republicans in Congress that they should not pass. 

Trump says, if he wins, he will undertake mass deportation of illegal immigrants. Currently, this is supported by a majority of Americans. Majority of Americans support mass deportation, poll shows (thehill.com)

Some argue that mass deportation would be an economic disaster for the country. Trump’s Plans for Mass Deportation Would Be an Economic Disaster | Washington Monthly

Trump has done a lot of fear mongering about illegal immigrants. We watched 20 Trump rallies. His racist, anti-immigrant messaging is getting darker. - POLITICO

Voters should consider how selfish and self-serving Trump is in his power-seeking, whether Trump is trying to them for his selfish reasons about the immigration issue, whether voters' views about the immigration issue have been unduly distorted by Trump, and whether the voter should vote for Trump based on the immigration issue notwithstanding Trump's selfish power-seeking.

C. [other substantive issues to be discussed]

Evaluating Trump's unchecked power-seeking

Most people have a lot of information for making their own evaluations about how selfish and self-serving Trump is in his power-seeking and the extent to which Trump cares or does not care about others in Trump's exercising his power and how much Trump lies, "cons", deceives, manipulates, and coerces others in order to increase his power and the extent to obtained the service of persons who are similarly selfish and self-serving in their own quests for power and who similarly inclined to lie, "con", manipulate, and coerce others in order to increase Trump's power as well as their own power.

In making that evaluation, one may think about Kamala Harris in comparison and her power-seeking, how selfish and self-seeking it is in disregard of others and what lying, "conning," deceiving, manipulating and coercing of others Kamala Harris is willing to do.

Most successful politicians are ambitious and want power and their care for others in how they exercise their power is variable. They are, however, subject to restraints in how they accumulate their power.

Kamala Harris has been a very ambitious politician and has sought to increase her power. One could even say that, in 2019, Kamala Harris did her share of political pandering to advance her ambitions.

Trump has persuaded his followers that he made enormous personal sacrifice in running for President and he was not at all motivated by selfish and self-serving power-seeking.

I would say Trump, in running for President, was almost exclusively motivated to serve himself and by lust to be the most powerful human being on the planet.

Further, Trump has succeeded in an unprecedented way to free himself from shackles and constraints on his power seeking.

Take, for example, when all his advisors were telling him he lost the 2020 election and he should accept that he lost. Trump, in his lust for power and to keep power, did not accept the constraint of his defeat in the election, undertook to overturn the 2020 election and got his minions to aid him in doing that.

Trump was willing to risk that he engaged in criminal activity in seeking to overturn the 2020 election. If Trump wins the 2020 election, he will be validated that there is nothing that can constrain his power-seeking, and no one around him if he wins will dare suggest to Trump that he cannot or should not do anything that Trump wishes to do.

There is no predicting what Trump will wish to do if he is elected, or what will motivate him about what he wishes to do. Trum may decide he wants mass deportation to take place, or he may decide he does not wish for mass deportation to take place. He may decide that he wants to impose huge tariffs to be imposed to show he can do whatever he wants, even if the economy is very badly affected, and any Republican Senator who votes to override his tariffs will be mercilessly punished by Trump. 

Maybe Trump will want to use his Presidential position to benefit his businesses and increase his family's wealth. There will be no advisor around Trump who will suggest he has a conflict of interest in exercising his Presidential power in that fashion.

Maybe Trump is angry about the embarrassment that Zelenski and Ukraine caused Trump in the form of the first impeachment, and Trump will withdraw support for Ukraine for that personal reason and Trump will not care whether such withdrawal of aid to Ukraine is or is not in the best interest of the United States.

Hopefully voters will think about the unchecked power-seeking by Trump that they will enable if Trump is elected President in 2024.

Conclusion

I think the deleterious situation of politics and governance in America that existed in 2016 that caused me to vote for Trump in 2016 is largely unchanged in 2024.

I have concluded, however, that what America has learned and experienced with Donald Trump in his four years as President is that Trump abjectly failed to do positive things that he could have done for the politics and governance of American because Trump was selfishly interested only in his own power and increasing that power, and Trump instead has greatly damaged politics and governance in America, and Trump is much worse for America than the deleterious situation of 2016 that continues in 2024 and that is need of much work by the President, Congress and the American people to make improvements.

[to be continued and further revised]

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