Today is Thursday, Match 21, 2024. I was AWOL yesterday as I explained the day before: Elliot and I were entertaining our adopted “niece,” “Esther,” in the evening since Elliot had to orient her to the routine of taking care of Atticus this coming weekend as we drive to Weston, Massachusetts, to gather with Elliot’s daughter and family. We are also going to see Elliot’s closet friend on Sunday on the way down from Weston in West Hatford, Connecticut, for lunch. Instead of going out, we had dinner delivered from Spicy C, on Austin Street. We then put Esther in an Uber since she commented how tired she was from working all day. She didn’t leave that late: possibly sometime after 8.

After that, we proceeded to watch an old film on the life and career of that 20s-30s bombshell, Mae West, called, simply, Mae West, starring Ann Jillian and James Brolin in the role of her longterm lover, Jim Timony. The estimable Piper Laurie (who I’ve actually met at a recent TCM Festival in Hollywood, a few years back) portrays West’s long-suffering mother, Matilda, who is psychologically abused by West’s Irish father, but is able to encourage a younger Mae to pursue a career in show business, always declaring her very special. So we watched the one-hour, 40-minute film on Amazon Prime. When that ended, it was already too late to write my blog. Which, incidentally, passed the four-year mark on March 17, I believe. I just wanted to mention that. No laurels, please.

A very good piece of news: New York Attorney General (AG) Letitia James is taking the first steps in seizing Donald Duck’s assets as a result of the massive judgment against him in the New York civil fraud case earlier in the month. Kara Scannell writes an online CNN article entitled “New York Attorney General takes initial step to prepare to seize assets.”

Here the AG’s office has filed judgments in Westchester County, the first indication that the state is preparing to try to seize Donald Chump’s golf course and private estate north of Manhattan, known as Seven Springs.

State lawyers entered the judgments with the clerk’s office in Westchester County on March 6, just one week after Judge Arthur Engoron made official his $464 million decision against Drumpf, his sons Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization.

The decision against the Orange Turd and the difficulty the former president is having securing a bond while he appeals the verdict strikes at the very heart of Dump’s image as a billionaire as he attempts to raise more cash for both his legal bills and third run for the White House.

Entering a judgment would be the first step a creditor would take to attempt to recover property. Additional steps, such as putting liens on assets or moving to foreclose on properties, or taking other actions in court would follow, if the asset is going to be seized.

The former insurrectionist now has four days to satisfy the judgment or sway an appeals court – let’s hope this court rejects his request, finally – to allow him to post a smaller amount or defer posting the payment until after the appeal.

And poor victim Donald Duck posted on his social media platform that the amount of the judgment was “VERY EXPENSIVE.” What the fuck did he think it would be? He whined that it was “not possible for bonding companies to do in such a high amount.” Poor baby! We have pity for him, don’t we?

Even though this news development is encouraging initially, the process to seize assets would not be quick or easy. The 77-year-old toddler has structured his business by setting up limited liability companies for nearly every property or asset – over 300 in total – which ultimately are controlled by his trust.

Nikos Passas, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern University, said that “Sorting this out is not going to be simple and it’s not going to be quick” because his properties are “complexly organized and he is not on paper the owner and therefore a judgment against him would not be executable.”

But, as Attorney General James could do, according to Passas, is “also obtain bank levies and go after the bank assets. She could put liens on properties. There are all kinds of things that she’s able to do in an effort to collect.”

What Passas sees this measure against Drumpf actually doing is completely undermining his brand – the brand that he used to gloat about in the past – and states, “In the end I think this could very much mean the end of Trump business in New York and not only – it could spell trouble in other jurisdictions too.”

Now Donald Duck has been exposed as the fraud that he really is with his inability to secure that bond in such a huge amount.

Another measure that will certainly rankle the Master Delayer is the news that the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, has recently stated that no additional delay is needed in Dump’s hush money criminal trial in which he just blasted Dump’s “grab-bag of meritless” filings in a new online CNN article by Kara Scannell (she again!) and Jeremy Herb entitled “Manhattan DA says no additional delay needed in Trump hush money criminal trial, blasts ‘grab-bag of meritless’ filings.”

Thus Manhattan prosecutors say fewer than 270 documents recently turned over to Donald Duck by federal authorities are new and relevant to the criminal case involving hush money payments and no further delay is warranted. Yippee!

Prosecutors with the Manhattan DA’s office also told the judge that no sanctions were warranted and placed the blame squarely on Dump’s attorneys for the late disclosure of records from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.

The very innocent victim asked Judge Merchan to dismiss the indictment – fuck, no – and delay the trial for 90 days, alleging prosecutors withheld information from them involving the federal prosecution of Michael Cohen, Dump’s former fixer and a key witness for the state.

In a series of filings today, the DA’s office accused Chump’s lawyers of trying to allege a “grab-bag of meritless discovery arguments in the latest of a long series of attempts to evade responsibility for the conduct charged in the indictment.” Hell, yes.

The DA added, “Defendant’s motion and subsequent filings are a transparent attempt to shift the focus away from his own criminal conduct by pursuing remedies to which he is not entitled, including dismissal, a lengthy adjournment, and preclusion of evidence.” Very well put, Mr. Bragg.

The trial was supposed to start next week, March 25, which it should have, but the judge postponed it to until at least April 15 (tax day) over the dispute. The judge is holding a hearing next Monday to discuss the discovery issues and potentially settle on a new trial date.

Prosecutors argue now that the trial should not be delayed any further. Merchan is holding a hearing on Monday, March 25, to discuss the matter. Let’s hope that the judge is reasonable enough to side with the prosecutors’ argument that further delay is unwarranted and let him set a new trial date in early April. Let’s get this man behind fucking bars already!

Well, this is my last blog before Sunday, I guess, since we’re leaving early tomorrow for Massachusetts. I’ve heard that a new storm system is expected to arrive on Saturday. Ugh! However, it’s supposed to be rain-free on Sunday – but very windy, according to my weather app.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

Stay safe and be well.