It being Groundhog Day today, what better earworm than Frankie Yankovic playing “The Pennsylvania Polka”? Because if you’ve ever seen Groundhog Day, you’ll immediately associate the music with Bill Murray’s karmic transformation over (and over) the eponymous day in Punxsutawney, Penn.
Here’s a bonus: the chase sequence from the film. This never grows old.
You may be aware that a federal jury in Manhattan last week took all of less than three hours to award writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3M in damages (of which $65M was punitive) in her defamation suit against the Kleptocrat.
A couple of things—the award in her previous lawsuit (for sexual
assault and defamation) was $5M, of which $300K was punitive. That jury, in May
2023, found that Cadet Bonespurs did assault Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman’s
dressing room in the 90s and then he defamed her by calling her a liar. In that
trial, the primary attorney for the defendant was Joseph Tacopina, an
experienced litigator, who was crass and pretty bolshie on behalf of his
client. But he did not piss off the judge and jury by disrespecting them and he
kept Bonespurs out of the courtroom because he understood that his client’s
worst enemy was the client’s inability to STFU.
This time around, the Kleptocrat fired Joey Tacos just before
the trial opened and went with Alina Habba, whose pre-Klepto experience was
largely limited to representing a parking lot owned by her husband. (Her
experience with Bonespurs has been less than stellar: she and her client were sanctioned
a year ago to the tune of nearly $1M for filing a frivolous RICO lawsuit
against Hillary Clinton, James Comey and half of Washington, D.C.) It showed in
her performance throughout the trial—the woman doesn’t have the most elementary
understanding of even how to enter evidence into the record. The kind of thing
you could pick up from watching reruns of Perry Mason episodes on TBS. This
was in addition to Bonespurs’ antics in the courtroom—muttering audibly his
objections to various things, shaking his head, even swanning out of the
courtroom during plaintiff’s counsel’s closing argument. Every orange pore
oozed contempt for the judge, the jury, the process and even the notion of
justice. Evidently juries notice this kind of thing.
(Also, I’m guessing it was very uncomfortable having to sit on that
wooden chair in a full diaper and girdle.)
So the Find Out part of this life experience cost him $83.3.
Habba swore on Friday they’ll appeal the outrageous judgment (although
there appear to be no legal grounds for an appeal; Judge Lewis Kaplan was
careful to ensure that). "We are just getting started," she said; actually, she was just getting finished. If he carries through, he’ll have to post a bond of
about $92M with the court (award plus interest) and that will have to be either
his money or through a bonding company (if he can find one that will take the
risk of fronting a notorious no-pay guy), which would also cost him fees in
addition to the $92M.
Either way, Habba found out Tuesday what every human on the face
of the planet could have predicted: the Kleptocrat is dumping her for a
yet-to-be-named legal draft pick. She found out via a post on his lame-ass
social network:
Now we see if there are any law firms willing to take him on.
And if there are any non-spousal parking lots willing to take
her on.
I was looking up on my walk yesterday—clouds not as interesting as on Monday, but I noticed that the trees look as though they’re thinking very seriously about coming into bud.
Well, we'll have to see what Punxsutawny Phil has to say about things on Friday.
Joni Mitchell was right—clouds are fascinating. You don’t even need the fire of a sunset or sunrise to find beauty in them.
Viz: yesterday morning’s walk.
Last Thursday was the first day in a week and a half that I could take my morning walk. (The People’s Republic don’t have no truck with clearing snow from sidewalks, so I had to wait until it melted.) It was also warm enough that not even halfway into my circuit I had to peel off my hoodie.
Friday it was 64F when I went out; I didn’t even bother with the
hoodie. It made it to 72F and I had my patio door open all day. In January.
Well, I’m grateful to be able to get back into the walks. I do
not do well if I can’t get out and get the muscles moving.
But also, on Thursday, I noticed these little guys starting
their annual visit.
By yesterday they were spreading, and making me so happy.
If they can pop up and thrive, so can I.