Today is Friday, July 14, 2023. In a daring act of desperation, the would-be heir apparent to Benito Mussolini – or any other former dictator – is seeking a new court order to essentially neutralize the Fulton County investigation into the former president’s conduct after he lost the 2020 election, as potential indictments loom in Georgia. This outrageous new attempt to delay justice is covered in a CNN article by Marshall Cohen entitled “Trump asks courts to throw out evidence and disqualify DA in Georgia probe of 2020 election aftermath.”

The principal architect of the January 6,2021, insurrection had his lawyers file petitions this week attempting to throw out the evidence collected last year by a special grand jury, banning prosecutors from presenting that material to a newly empaneled grand jury that has charging powers, and disqualifying District Attorney Fani Willis from any related proceedings.

The explanation as to why Dumpf should be let off from this new investigation into his criminal conduct beggars all rationality, as the attorneys say that letting the investigation proceed would lead to “a violation of his fundamental constitutional rights,” while he “seeks his Party’s nomination for the Presidency of the United States.” So if someone like Al Capone wants to run for president, he should be cleared of all impending charges against him just because he’s a candidate for office! What bullshit! How could anyone take seriously the contentions of the former president’s legal team here? This ridiculous filing should be thrown into the wastepaper basket by the Fulton County Superior Court as well as the Georgia Supreme Court, two of the judicial bodies that received the petitions from Dumpf’s lawyers.

Throughout the probe, Willis used a “special purpose grand jury” to hear evidence from 75 witnesses, including advisers to Dumpf, his former attorneys, White House aides, and Georgia officials. Here one should just sigh in disbelief over what Dumpf’s lawyers have said about this constitutional exercise of seeking justice, as they argued that these special grand juries are themselves unconstitutional.

So far, the former president has previously attempted -without success – to shut down the state-level investigation in Georgia, which has zeroed in on his efforts to overturn the results there in 2020. Let this be a guide to the newest desperate attempt to throw out a just and fair investigation into the ex-president’s criminal conduct in trying to declare himself the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

As the temperature definitely rises in the Dumpf camp over more possible indictments being handed down, the nation is under a dangerous week-long heat wave that is predicted to only worsen this weekend, putting more than 90 million people under heat alerts. This sweltering weather alert for the country is the focus of a CNN online article by Eric Zerkel entitled “A week-long heat wave will intensify this weekend and push temperatures close to 130 degrees.”

This horrible weather is the result of a heat dome that has intensified and is expected to reach peak strength over parts of the western United States. This dome is so formidable that the National Weather Service in Phoenix called it “one of the strongest high pressure systems this region has ever seen.”

As you might know, it’s already been dangerously hot for weeks in Texas, Florida, and Arizona, where Phoenix is in the middle of a likely record-breaking streak of consecutive 110-degree days, forcing many businesses and parks to close or readjust their hours. The low temperature in Phoenix might not drop below 90 degrees for eight consecutive days, which is another record.

The heat could be so intense that forecasters have suggested that Las Vegas residents avoid the outdoors between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., with the city forecast expected to challenge its all-time temperature of 117 degrees on Sunday. “It won’t get much cooler at night, with low temperatures nearing 90 degrees – a particularly dangerous side effect of the climate crisis.”

The hottest place on Earth, California’s Death Valley, could reach rare highs, with 130 degrees possible on Sunday, forecasters at the National Weather Service told CNN. It has only happened a handful of times, one of which is the all-time global record high temperature of 134 degrees!

This kind of extreme heat is definitely one of the hallmarks of human-caused climate change, as unprecedented temperatures are being seen in other parts of the world, like China, where it could experience one of its hottest summers ever and an ongoing “Cerberus” heat wave, which threatens to topple European temperature records. It all adds up to what could be the hottest year on record.

Talking about how deadly this heat is for humans, Dr. Matthew Levy of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine told CNN, “Make no mistake about it: This heat is deadly, and being in it for long periods of time is deadly.”

To illustrate how deadly this heat is for humans, Phoenix’s Maricopa County has seen 12 lives lost to the scalding temperatures, whereas 425 people were killed last year because of the extreme heat. To deal with the situation, the city has opened “respite centers” to help provide relief and the state has asked residents to keep their vehicles stocked with water.

Even if we survive the uncomfortable heat this weekend, there are signs that it won’t go away after this time. Longer-term temperature outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center point to above normal temperatures across Southern California, the Southwest, South, and Florida all through next week.

If this heat-breaking weekend is not symptomatic of our current climate crisis, then what is? one must ask. Are we beyond the point of no return in stemming the devastating effects of climate change? I strongly believe that time is running out for the human race. The first measure to try to halt the inevitable effects of climate change is voting for representatives or senators who do not deny this phenomenon exists. That should be the litmus test of having anyone voted into public office. Other than that, the least we can do is recognize the symptoms of heat stroke – confusion and agitation – and stay out of the punishing sun when it’s too hot outside. And please, don’t engage in any outside activities like jogging and gardening or whatever. Also stay hydrated all the time.

In light of this new threat to our safety, have a good weekend anyway. The weather will be warm both days, with Saturday boasting temperatures around 89 degrees, and Sunday just in the low 80s, with a chance of rain. The temps for the rest of the week do not look too bad: high 80s mostly with rain expected for Thursday and Friday.

By the way, I will not be here again on Saturday since I will be entertaining my friend “Jake” practically the whole day. We haven’t seen each other since February and there’s a whole lot to catch up with. Jake likes to stay about 12 hours if he can.

Stay safe and be well.