A zillion stories about Trump case — but bottom line is he is getting charged and it will be in DC. And this week. Open issues are whether others may be charged and whether they will be in DC or FLA. - Andrew Weissman on Twitter.

Let's hope so and regarding Trump one has to be philosophical. These indictments and the E Jean Carooll verdict are going into the history books and Trump will never be able to pardon himself out of that.

I am worried about the relentless attacks on China coming from the right. These attacks have driven China much closer to Russia which no doubt thrills Putin.

Back during the 2016 Pres campaign Trump seemed obsessed with China and how they were taking advantage of us. Did the right begin to take their cues from him which has led to the dangerous rift we have today with China?

@BreakingNews Trump's going to love this 😄.

"Careening towards bankruptcy': DeSantis slams debt deal" - Politico

This remark by DeSantis shows how extreme he is. He's no better than Trump and I am worried.

The jazz show on NPR here in the Miami area and I believe nationally runs from 9:30 pm to 1:00 am and it's a very relaxing way to wind down the night.

@heyyou I am glad you shared and I know about addiction and how hard it is to stop. Is there someone you can talk to, a therapist and AA has helped so many. None of us are perfect and you deserve to have a life of peace and happiness and I hope you can recover and live the life you were meant to live but you need support to get there and there are so many professionals ready to help.

"I would’ve taken the default if you had to, if you didn't get it right,” Trump said on the Des Moines radio station News Radio 1040 WHO. “

Another reminder of who Trump is. We would be on our way to default right now if he were President and if two years from now he is sitting in the Oval Office that could very well be our future.

And on so many issues Trump knows he won't have to face the voters again and so there will be no guard rails. His supporters are in denial about this

"Republicans got outsmarted by a President who can’t find his pants" - Rep Nancy Mace.

Notice the dig at Biden about how he is not "all there". It's common for many in the GOP to make these kinds of jokes. And you have to wonder have they seen alzheimers up close because that is what they are joking about when they continously make these "can't find his pants" remarks. My guess is they haven't seen it up close. At least I hope not because if they had they would never joke like this.

@C_H_Antony I just think it would be better for members of the progressive caucus to say "I don't like the cuts in this bill and I will fight to restore those cuts and fight for a Democratic House in 2024. But right now I have to think of my constituents 20 percent of whom rely on social security which will stop in June if we default". Because the right could care less if we default and social security medicare, medicaid etc goes away.

@C_H_Antony But let's say the debt ceiling bill was hanging by a thread in Congress and that AOC's vote would make the difference between default or passing the bill. Would she vote yes at that point? If the answer is yes than she knows what the correct vote is - a yes to avoid a catastrophic default.

@mcfate Agree, initially I wanted to support AOC because she experiences alot of harassment from the right. And I will still stick up for her in that regard but she is the other side of the coin from Chip Roy. Neither care if the US defaults and they are proving that with their no votes.

"US debt ceiling: Hakeem Jeffries urges Democrats to vote for bill as AOC says she won’t" – UK Guardian.

And the above headline from the Guardian is an example of what I mean. Hakeem Jeffries is a serious legislator who cares about his constituents and though he is not happy with the bill he knows the devastation a default would cause.

AOC is willing to risk default because it's better to look pure than put your constituents first. We need to remember who voted no risking default

It's important to pay attention to who in Congress votes no on the debt ceiling bill regardless of whether they are on the right or left because what they are telling us with their no vote is that they don't care if the US defaults. They don't care if social security payments, veterans benefits, any sort of government assistance stops or if people's 401K's take a nose dive. That's what defaulting will mean and the extremes on the right or left in Congress don't care if they vote no.

I am about 40 pages in to Lawrence Block's A Drop of the Hard Stuff. It's book 17 in his excellent Matthew Scudder mystery series and maybe I should wait until I finish the book but I am having such a good time that I had to share.

If you have never read Lawrence Block A Drop of The Hard Stuff is a very good place to begin even though it's the 17th book in the series. Lawrence Block does a very good job of catching you up on who Matthew Scudder is and the writing is first rate

# CoSo Books

@LnzyHou I think you are right. I am worried about the general election and who decides to run 3rd party because that could really hurt Biden.

In the news Liz Cheney gave the graduation address at Colorado College. About half of the students turned their backs to her when she began her speech. I thought at first these students were Trump supporters but no they are liberals upset with Liz Cheney's conservative views.

I was upset to hear this. I disagree with Liz Cheney on issues but I so respect her for her courage in putting country over party. Liz Cheney gave a great speech and the audience applauded at the end.

@Cryspeg I understand if a small publishing house can't afford professional readers. But I know what you mean about excruciating. And then you have the opposite where someone really does know how to read. The man who does the audio version of the Louise Penny books does it very well.

@researchagain I am wondering if some authors who maybe don't have big bestsellers decide to read the audio book version themselves because hiring a reader is too expensive. Not sure how the business works but agree the author should have known better or had people around her who could say in a delicate way, look you are not the best reader of your own material.

@singlemaltgirl That's true because audio reading requires acting skills and a writer may have written a very fine book. That doesn't mean they are the right person to read it.

As we all know who does the reading of an audio book matters a great deal. A good reader can enhance the book tremendously. A bad reader can ruin the book. I was reminded of this today when I decided to read a memoir that came recommended to me in an audio version. Big mistake. The reader read the book in a flat bored tone and here is the thing, the reader is the author of the memoir.