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Unfortunately, the judge appointed to the case, Eileen Cannon, has a track record of siding with Trump, so depending on who she allows on the jury and what she allows to be presented in evidence there’s a good chance he may get away with a slap on the wrist after a year or two of legal argument, appeals and delays. There won’t be a quick result in this case and there’s a good chance that the jury will include a fair number of Trump supporters who won’t want to find him guilty.

Never too late... May 1978

From a few years ago but still interesting: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/15/the-seven-faces-of-donald-trump-a-psychologists-view

National Geographic followed her journey and wrote it up in the magazine. She attracted a lot of attention at the time.

His first mass email scamming for money went out to his supporters less than an hour after he found out he was indicted. Add to that his Truth Social blitz and it’s clear he’s milking this for all it’s worth.

... and 10 figure log tables and slide rules.

Hawke Eye...

I suspect that these cases will still take years to run their course given the inevitable appeals that will follow any convictions. Then if Trump actually gets in again the chances of him ever going to jail will be even more unlikely. If he has been convicted he could simply pardon himself.

Given that they seem to have everything they need, why not ask them what they would like? You have a lot more chance of them appreciating what you give them that way, even though it’s a somewhat transactional approach to gift giving.

Not much chance on the first and even less on the second with the collection of misfits and anarchists who are currently running the Republican show.

I've wondered what the attraction of dash cams is. Very occasionally they capture something useful, but who watches all the other hours of boring footage and what do they do with it all?

You may be right OldK but I wonder if the Western experts are saying that more for the benefit of the Russians and the media than the Ukrainian armed forces.

Although the US has now relented on the F16's and training of Ukrainian pilots is likely to commence soon, the reports also say that it will take many months before any NATO aircraft are seen in the conflict. I wonder how true that is or whether they are deliberately downplaying the time it will take. I would have thought it would not take too long to train experienced fighter pilots to fly these planes and learn the systems. Maintenance and support would be another issue, and I suppose the logistics of providing adequate facilities could take a while if they have to set up in Ukraine.

I think China see us as something of a blot on their landscape given our geographical position and the fact that we have a lot of what they want but we lack the respect they feel we should give them. A group of us spent five weeks travelling in China in 2010. It was a great trip and we all liked the Chinese people but I remember our guide in Chengdu was a bit of a bombastic type. The conversation got onto how he viewed Australia. He said, ‘Well, there’s only 25 million of you’. Chengdu’s population is about 21 million. I think the Chinese leadership sees us in much the same way.

The Americans would take a dim view of Ukraine dealing with the Taliban to get their abandoned equipment, most of which has probably been trashed by now.

Looks like the Ukrainians may finally get some F16’s, although who knows when.

Well if Uganda doesn’t go first, which seems like a pretty safe bet, I guess Russia has just ruled itself out of the game too. Provided you trust the Russians of course.

What made you think it was a good idea to get on a skateboard?

I hit an emu a few years ago at 100kph. It bounded out of the bush just in time to hit the left front side of the car, tore the wing mirror off and smashed the passenger side window resulting in a cloud of glass flying around my brother-in-law's head. As I slowed down I saw him heading back into the bush apparently none the worse apart from ruffled feathers and a few bruises. $3,000 worth of damage to the car according to the insurance company.

Now I’ll have to watch it again to see if you’re right, Nev.

Pity. Basically saying Putin can’t win because his plan A has failed, he has no plan B, but can’t afford to lose because Russia doesn’t like losers, and so has to keep going with plan A because he has no other options. Can’t win, can’t lose, can’t stop.

My mother only learned to drive in her early forties. Got her licence but never had a lot of confidence and only drove a few times. She died at 94 with a current licence and flawless driving record.

Interesting article: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/09/opinion/putin-ukraine-war.html

Liz Chaney has just released an ad criticising Trump and saying again that he's unfit to be president. I wonder if she's thinking about running next year. She's shown that she is level headed and has principles that she's prepared to stand behind. That would probably get her a good deal of support from a lot of moderate Republicans who don't like Trump, swing voters, and even from a sizeable number of Democrats who think Joe Biden is too old. Maybe even Mitch McConnell would get behind her - at least if he thought she could win, because that's his only yardstick for deciding who to support.

During the war, Churchill had the Bank of England’s gold reserves secretly sent to Canada (Operation Fish) because he was worried the Germans would get it.