There are several media articles the past few days about Michael Cohen having taped Donald Trump two months before the election when they were discussing a $150,000 payment to American Media (owner of the Enquirer) that would then go to Karen MacDougal for telling her story about having an affair with Trump. Unbeknownst to Macdougal, American Media had agreed not to publish it.

Ms. McDougal says she began a nearly yearlong affair with Mr. Trump in 2006, shortly after Mr. Trump’s wife, Melania, gave birth to their son Barron. Ms. McDougal sold her story for $150,000 to The National Enquirer, which was supportive of Mr. Trump, during the final months of the presidential campaign. But the tabloid sat on the story, which kept it from becoming public. The practice, known as “catch and kill,” effectively silenced Ms. McDougal for the remainder of the campaign.Because she'd be signing a non-disclosure agreement, she couldn't tell or sell her story elsewhere if American Media didn't publish it.

New York is a state that allows taping provided one participant to the conversation agrees. But Cohen is a lawyer, talking to Trump, his purported "client". Is there a privilege or ethics rule that comes into play here? [More...]

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

It's virtually unanimous: Donald Trump pooped on himself and the United States today at his big Helsinki summit. The adjectives for his pitiful performance are boundless, and coming from both sides.

The New York Times:

Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, called it “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.”

The cover of tomorrow's NY Daily News shows Trump shooting Uncle Sam, with a caption "Open Treason".

Former CIA Director John Brennan:

Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of “high crimes & misdemeanors.” It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???

[More...]

Our last open thread is full. I'd like nothing better than to hang around today and chat, but I'm about to head up to the jail in Georgetown. Georgetown is the last exit on I-70 heading west from Denver before the Eisenhower tunnel. It's a beautiful day for the ride.

I know there's a Russian indictment and a new Supreme Court Justice and Donald Trump is out of the Country. Rising on the UK Music charts: Green Day's "American Idiot".

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Sorry, I've been running around and meeting deadlines and today I have to drive to the state prison in Limon (90 miles away) and tomorrow to the jail in Georgetown (50 miles away) and it's 99 degrees here. The plumbing pipes are being replaced in my building so for three weeks the water has been shut off from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. No water, no shower, no toilet use. Really a pain.

I'll be back as soon as I can. This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Kim Dotcom lost a big case today in the New Zealand Court of Appeals. The court ruled that "all pathways" of the U.S. for his extradition are open. Here is the court's press release, the summary of the judgment and the 120 page decision is here.

The Court confirmed that the principle of dual criminality is alive and well -- but that didn't save Dotcom, even though New Zealand doesn't have a specific law criminalizing copyright infringement.

Legislative history, English and Canadian authority and principles of extradition law all suggest that the conduct with which a person is charged must be criminal under both United States and New Zealand law before they can be extradited.

In making that finding, the court overuled a Canadian case, Cullinane v United States of America [2003] 2 NZLR 1 (CA) is overruled.

So on what grounds did they authorize the extradition?

Donald Trump pressed his aides on why the U.S. couldn't just invade Venezuela. He also floated the idea to leaders of Latin and South American countries, like Juan Manuel Santos, the President of Colombia.

He raised it again at a dinner, and even told the foreign leaders his staff said he shouldn't talk about it:

Then in September, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Trump discussed it again, this time at greater length, in a private dinner with leaders from four Latin American allies that included Santos, the same three people said and Politico reported in February. The U.S. official said Trump was specifically briefed not to raise the issue and told it wouldn’t play well, but the first thing the president said at the dinner was, “My staff told me not to say this.” Trump then went around asking each leader if they were sure they didn’t want a military solution, according to the official, who added that each leader told Trump in clear terms they were sure.

Will America survive a reality TV star with zero political experience who knows nothing about history and is viewed around the world as an unpredictable petulant child to be snickered at and swatted away like a fly? Probably, but we'll never be the same. In one and half years, the idea of America as the beacon of liberty in the world has become a joke.

I wish the media would stop comparing Mexico's presumed next President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to Donald Trump.

López Obrador could not be more different than Donald Trump. He's been a "leftist" all his life. His beef is with official corruption and the "power mafia" in politics, and poverty.

He does not want to escalate the war on drugs. End the corruption and poverty and you will end the violence. He is open to considering legalizing drugs and amnesty for traffickers. [More..]

I've been busy at work and not reading much news. It's usually about Donald Trump.

I'm taking the weekend off from him. I'll follow the election news in Mexico instead. The past two weeks on Senor de los Cielos, Aurelio (the drug trafficker loosely based on Amado Carrillo Fuentes who reportedly died in 1997 after plastic surgery) has been kidnapping each presidential candidate and then grilling them on their position on legalizing drugs and extradition. He's trying to decide which one to make President. One is obviously a takeoff onAndrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). Aurelio doesn't like him much. In real life, Lopez-Obrador is way ahead in the polls. He's described as a leftist, and this isn't his first rodeo, so I don't know why so people are comparing him to Trump.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Just yesterday I wrote about how important it is to consider that whoever is elected president will decide who serves on the Supreme and other federal courts. Today Justice Kennedy announced his retirement. Unfortunately, since voters in some important states that should have gone blue in 2016 voted for Donald Trump, we are in for a dismal few years of replacement judges.

Hypocritical Republicans of course want the Senate to swiftly confirm whoever Trump picks. Not so fast. Remember when Republicans wouldn't vote on Obama's choice for a Supreme Court justice because it was too close to the election and they wanted the victor in the election to choose? Well, what's good for the goose may be good for the gander. Sen. Schumer is promising there will be no vote on a Trump-selected replacement for Kennedy before the elections.

In a 5-4 decision today, the Supreme Court upheld Trump's odious travel ban. (Opinion is here).

A positive note in the ruling: It finally overrules the Court's ruling in Korematsu v. U.S approving Japanese interment camps. [More...]

The Forward has an article titled "Why Stephen Miller Is The Most Hated Jew In America — By Fellow Jews"

How did we get stuck with him? Michael Wolff, in his book Fire and Fury, says Steve Bannon, who brought him on board, used to refer to Miller as "my typist." [More...]