Watched something on #evidence in education, someone said "Think #Bias!" and the subtitles rendered this as "think by ass" and I will never not hear those three words every time I open a research paper.
Cross-examination of #MichaelCohen resumes, an opportunity for the defense to poke holes in his testimony & perhaps trip up or provoke the state’s key witness. The questioning of Cohen, #Trump’s fmr fixer, is the beginning of the end of Trump’s #criminal trial, which began April 15 & might conclude before Memorial Day weekend at this pace.
The Manhattan DA investigator #MichaelCohen was texting, Jeremy Rosenberg, was reportedly taken off the case after becoming close w/Cohen. #Blanche asks Cohen about the texts, but Prosecutor Susan #Hoffinger asked for a mid-cross #VoirDire, to question Cohen about the #evidence.
When she established that the texts had been taken out of context, she called for a #sidebar. Her objection was sustained, so Blanche is prevented from doing whatever he was trying to do.
#Trump has his posse again. Today it’s more #Republican elected officials. Today, Trump will be joined by the #House speaker, #MikeJohnson, as well as #NorthDakota’s governor, #DougBurgum, a contender to be Trump's running mate. Also present will be Representatives #ByronDonalds & #CoryMills of Florida, & #VivekRamaswamy, who was one of Trump's primary rivals this year. Both Donalds & Ramaswamy are longshot hopefuls to be Trump's running mate.
Prosecutors are arguing that #Trump’s sign-off on the repayment plan, along w/his knowledge that #MichaelCohen would be falsely reimbursed for “#legal services,” indicates that he approved of what they say was a #crime.
There’s mountains of documentary #evidence that #Cohen was paid for legal services he didn’t actually provide, & that these were reimbursements. The question of what Trump knew relies mostly on Cohen’s testimony.
#Hoffinger makes clear that #MichaelCohen chose to testify & help the case despite not getting what he wanted.
Hoffinger, preparing for the defense's cross-examination, asks Cohen about the cell phones from which #evidence was pulled. The defense has tried to raise questions about when those phones were obtained & whether the evidence on them may have been manipulated.
Hoffinger asks if Cohen altered or modified the recording he made of #Trump.
He responds: “No, ma’am.”
#Evidence is displayed in the courtroom, including texts about the deal.
The text message exchanges we're seeing are dated June 16, 2016, one month before the #RNC, when #Trump formally accepted the #Republican Party's nomination. While behind the scenes, his fixer, #MichaelCohen, was frantically trying to ensure that Playboy model #KarenMcDougal would not go public w/her story about having had sex w/Trump.
#MichaelCohen says that the recording he made of himself talking to #Trump cuts off because a bank employee called him & he
"must have believed" the call was important.
But Cohen says he continued to speak to Trump about the #HushMoney deal w/ #KarenMcDougal after the recording ended.
This is another piece of #evidence that Trump's lawyers have sought to delve into, questioning why the call ended abruptly suggesting that Cohen may have manipulated evidence.
The jury sees a text from Howard to Cohen on 25 Oct, 2016, in which Howard says they need to get the deal done w/ #StormyDaniels or it would look “awfully bad" for everyone. #MichaelCohen testifies that they all understood the effect her story would have on #Trump's campaign if it came out so close to the election & on top of the #AccessHollywood tape. This is important contextual #evidence. The defense is arguing that Trump's motivation was to protect his family.
Prosecutors have done a painstaking job of using hard #evidence like phone records, text msgs & emails to corroborate the Cohen’s testimony, knowing in advance that his credibility would come under assault on cross-examination.
One of the important things
Hoffinger did was to explain, thru #MichaelCohen, why there were no emails w/ #Trump: because Trump didn't believe in email or, at that time, texting.
charges are falsifying business records to hide #HushMoney payments in lead up to 2016 election to #influence electorate
just one Trump supporter at the courthouse draped in a Trump flag.
#StormyDaniels's lawyer, #KeithDavidson, to return to stand. He negotiated the hush-money payment at the center of the case, & is expected to lay out details of the deal.
#Trump defense finally agreed to stipulate to a piece of #evidence — a WaPo article about the #AccessHollywood tape — w/o questioning a witness about it.
The agreement, called a stipulation, was read aloud to the jury & Justice Merchan explains the concept to the jury (for the 1st time bc Trump team hasn’t yet agreed on fact evidence hence the custodial witnesses).
Merchan tells the jury that a #stipulation is info the parties have agreed to w/o the need to call a witness.
#Blanche made a point of saying that the activities detailed in the charges took place from 2015 to 2017, "years & years ago.”
That is irrelevant, & seriously not that long ago.
"Use your common sense, we're New Yorkers. It's why we're here,” appealing to the jurors as one of them, telling them he trusts that they'll decide the case based purely on the #evidence. "If you do that, there will be a very swift - a very swift - not guilty verdict," he concluded.
#Steinglass asked #Pecker to recount his work cell phone number at the time.
That may seem small but it's important — it's a good bet that those numbers will come up when #evidence is presented.
#Trump leaned forward on the defense table as he listened to Pecker's testimony. As Pecker spoke about editor meetings, Trump passed notes to 2 of his lawyers before reportedly “glaring” at Pecker on the stand.
A #juror was quickly dismissed at the start. She was among the 7 already selected, she said she was very worried that despite the fact the court ruled to keep jurors’ name secret, she would still be exposed & targeted.
The jury in the #TrumpTrial is going to see a lot of paperwork #evidence, & prosecutor Joshua Steinglass explained to the prospective #jurors.
“As jurors you’re going to have to analyze the evidence, apply your common sense & draw the appropriate conclusions from that evidence. You’re going to have to roll up your sleeves & get into the weeds a little bit,” Steinglass said
That evidence will include voluminous checks, emails, invoices & texts, he said.
Another prospective juror interviewed by Necheles, says she is very "centrist." She says she appreciates #democracy & a diversity of #political opinion. But, says, "I really don't think this case is about my #personal politics, this case is ultimately about the #evidence & the #facts presented." She concludes by saying that her family background "comes from #totalitarian regimes," & that bc of that, she believes in "innocent until proven guilty."
The social norm is constructed: not naturally occurring but created by the society in which it is found.
Hence there are no actions which in themselves are inherently #abnormal or universally condemned by all societies at all times. Deviance is thus situational and contextual.
Rough contact and impact peak around the age of seven. This is gradually replaced by peer monitoring in the years that follow.
Isabelle Clair: "Adolescence is a very normative age. At middle school, "there's a very tough relationship to what's the right thing to do".
Margot Déage: "Physical violence is much more prevalent in elementary/primary school, then decreases in middle school, and progressively through high school."
Margot Déage: "A girl who does not belong to a boy or a man can fall into the category of whore at any time, whatever her clothes or sexual practices."
Margot Déage: "Being in a position to say who’s a whore and who’s a good girl is a power in itself within the girls’ group, a power that is strongly mobilised by certain girls. The ones who can fall, in general, are the hardest on the matter."
"#Forensic Architecture has documented the mass displacement of Palestinian civilians being carried out by the Israeli #military [… which] has repeatedly abused the humanitarian measures of evacuation orders, ‘safe routes’, and ‘safe zones’, and failed to comply with the laws governing their application within a wartime context. These patterns of systematic violence and destruction have forced Palestinian civilians from one unsafe area to the next." https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/humanitarian-violence-in-gaza@israel
The #evidence against #Trump & his 17 co-defendants in #Georgia is the same whether presented by Fani #Willis or any other prosecutor. The same.
Would it have made a difference in their deliberations If the grand jurors knew or suspected that Willis was having an affair with a co-worker? Maybe, but only if it caused them to doubt the evidence. After all. Willis wasn't a jilted lover of Trump or a co-defendant or one of their attorneys.
Even when the #evidence is undeniable and overwhelming, as with #Gaza, the official willful “ignorance” finds a way to be maintained. #International#legal norms regarding war, genocide, etc. were in the first place formulated by #colonial powers to protect their own lynchings, ethnic cleansings, civilian bombings, and other “civilizing” practices from consequence.