Hasta La Gadget!

The big headline at the Washington Post website today reads: “Trump For President? Mogul Says He’s Serious About Running In 2016.” The story notes that Trump has “hired staffers in key primary states, retained an election attorney and delayed signing on for another season as host of NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice.” It certainly sounds like he’s serious, in other words. May I just take a moment to speak for all of America’s political pundits, celebrity-watchers and late-night comedians, as I openly beg for such rich pastures of political amusement: “Please run, Donald. Please?”

Right next to this juicy headline was a seemingly unrelated story: “Marijuana Set To Be Legalized In D.C. At Midnight.” Well, not a moment too soon, since the best possible way for everyone inside the Beltway to contemplate a Trump candidacy (much less a Trump presidency) is, quite obviously, stoned out of their gourds.

Cynics will note that Trump has teased us all with his possible candidacy repeatedly in the past, without ever actually throwing his hat in the ring. The big man addresses such qualms in the article: “Everybody feels I’m doing this just to have fun or because it’s good for the brand. Well, it’s not fun. I’m not doing this for enjoyment. I’m doing this because the country is in serious trouble.” Speak for yourself, Donald, since it would indeed be lots and lots of fun for the rest of us, with plenty of enjoyment guaranteed for all. It’ll be huge (to borrow a favorite Trump phrase).

A favorite liberal metaphor from the last few election cycles is talking about the “clown car” on the Republican side. As at the circus, just when you’d swear there could not possibly be any more room in the tiny little car, another clown pops out into the limelight. But if Donald Trump runs, we’ll have to expand this metaphor to a “clown bus,” since his ego is just too massive to fit inside any tiny little car.

No word yet from the rest of the Republican field, but it’s not hard to imagine them privately horrified at the prospect of facing Trump out on the campaign trail. Trump, if nothing else, is his own man. He says exactly what he feels or believes, with absolutely no filter whatsoever. This won’t get him elected president, but it could create an absolute minefield for the rest of the Republicans, as reporters gleefully ask them about the most recent quip from Trump. Journalists will practice in front of mirrors (so they don’t break down into peals of laughter) asking questions such as: “So what do you think about Trump’s idea of just going ahead and forcibly annexing Cuba?”

In fact, the most infamous of past Trumpisms could also provide an interesting campaign moment. Will Donald demand to see Ted Cruz’s birth certificate? Logically, if Trump honestly believes Barack Obama is not constitutionally qualified to be president because he wasn’t born in America, then wouldn’t the same standard have to be used for Canadian-born Cruz? I mean, what is the difference? That right there could provide an amusing debate moment for everyone.

Donald Trump is a walking, talking joke. The snarky headlines just write themselves, in fact (“Trump Announces Veep Choice: That Furry Animal On His Head”). But he’s not alone in his delusion that he’d make a fine president, even though he has no political experience whatsoever (defined as: getting elected to any political office, anywhere). There are other contenders in the Republican field of presidential wannabes that also have zero political experience, after all (Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson spring immediately to mind).

The basic problem stems from business leaders thinking that everyone agrees with them when they are weighing their political chances. In business, powerful people are surrounded by an army of brown-nosers whose sole job it is to stroke the ego of the boss. They are paid to do so, some of them quite handsomely. But the flip side of this situation is that there aren’t enough yes-men and yes-women in existence to actually elect the boss leader of the country.

Trump is even more egregious in this behavior than most. After all, he’s built a television brand out of a show that could easily have been subtitled: “People Compete To Kiss Trump’s Ass” (and its later celebrity incarnation: “Semi-Famous People Compete To Kiss Trump’s Ass”). But while egomaniacal blowhardism is certainly entertaining for the masses to watch, that doesn’t mean they want a White House version of the show.

Trump will never fully recognize this fact until he actually does run, though. Putting snark aside for just one quick moment; if the choice is between Trump running once and getting badly beaten and Trump teasing a presidential run every four years like clockwork for the rest of eternity, it’d obviously be better for all concerned if he just went ahead with a campaign and got it over with. But it’s hard to be even momentarily serious when considering the prospect of a Trump presidential campaign, isn’t it?

Which is why I would get right down on my knees and beg Donald Trump to officially declare his candidacy for the highest office in the land. Please, Donald? America is waiting for a Trump campaign! With Sarah Palin sidelined, don’t the voters deserve some sort of priceless comic relief for the next year or two? Political pundits would be enthusiastic as heck about writing “Latest Trump Gaffe” columns, I can promise you that. Not to mention “Republican Candidates Squirm While Responding To Trump Comment” — which would indeed double the fun!

So while I have no idea what the Republican voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina think about Trump, I heartily encourage Donald Trump to swan dive into the 2016 presidential campaign, and make the biggest possible splash he can manage.

Please run, Donald.

Pretty please?

Chris Weigant blogs at:

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The highest criminal court in Texas has granted a rare hearing to review allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in the high-profile death row case of British national Linda Carty.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ Wednesday decision is potentially a much-sought break for Carty, 56, who is facing the death penalty for a 2002 capital murder conviction. After new evidence is put before the trial court, it will decide if she will finally get an appeal.

Her three previous attempts at an appeal hearing were unsuccessful.

“My understanding is that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rarely grants a hearing in such matters,” Carty’s attorney, Michael Goldberg, told The Huffington Post by phone from Russia. “It’s tremendous. It’s unbelievable.”

Lynn Hardaway, a Harris County district attorney, agreed: “It does happen, but very infrequently.”

Carty was convicted for the 2001 kidnapping and murder of her neighbor, Joana Rodriguez. Prosecutors claimed Carty was so desperate for a baby to save her common-law marriage that she schemed to steal Rodriguez’s newborn son and pass him off as her own. Rodriguez was found dead a day after being abducted; the baby survived the ordeal unharmed.

Affidavits signed in 2014 by the state’s star witness, Christopher Robinson, and a retired DEA agent who recruited Carty as an informant allege that Harris County Assistant District Attorney Connie Spence coached, coerced and otherwise threatened witnesses to seal a conviction, according to the Houston Chronicle. Robinson is among four co-defendants who testified against Carty; in doing so, he secured a life sentence without the death penalty.

Carty has maintained her innocence from the start, and her plea has attracted considerable attention from British media, celebrities and U.K.-based supporters. Carty, who was born in St. Kitts, then a British territory, emigrated to the United States and holds dual citizenship.

Assistant District Attorney Roe Wilson, who handles capital appeals for Harris County, previously told the Chronicle the state would launch an investigation if the court agreed Carty’s case deserve a closer look.

Hardaway told HuffPost Wednesday the allegations of misconduct are “claims the office takes very seriously. We have been investigating and we will file a response.”

She also noted that Carty’s lawyers had requested the review hearing based additional counts as well — including Carty’s long-standing claim of innocence — but the court rejected half of them.

Goldberg said his firm Baker Botts, which has fought pro bono for Carty for nearly ten years, is nonetheless pleased: “The entire Baker Botts team is so happy Linda is finally getting her first real, transparent hearing.”

A date for the hearing has not yet been set.

Police in Washington state fired 17 shots at an unarmed Mexican migrant on Feb. 10, hitting him as many as six times, authorities said Wednesday.

Wednesday’s statement from the Tri-Cities Special Investigations Unit, a squad of officers from four police departments assigned to investigate the killing of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, is the first time authorities have confirmed how many shots police fired during the confrontation over rock-throwing. The statement said five or six shots struck Zambrano-Montes.

A bystander used a cell phone to record the shooting of Zambrano-Montes, 35, in Pasco, Washington, setting off local protests and attracting national media attention as the video circulated online.

Police fired at Zambrano-Montes to stop him from throwing rocks at passing cars, according to Wednesday’s statement. When officers confronted him, he threw rocks at the officers, even after they tried to use tasers to stop him, according to the release.

Consejo Latino, a Pasco-based civic group, has questioned whether the killing was justified. Rick Rios, one of the group’s co-founders, said the number of errant police shots indicated a problem with police training.

“They were just spraying bullets everywhere,” Rios told The Huffington Post. “That shows no concern for the public. … These are highly trained officers, as we’ve been told over and over again. They were probably no more than 15 feet away from him.”

In the weeks before the killing, Consejo Latino had pressed the police to address what Rios described as a “communication gap” between the largely Hispanic public in the agricultural town of 68,000 and the majority-white police department.

The press release says the final analysis from the medical examiner is expected to be completed within a month. Transcriptions of witness statements and a toxicology report also will not be available for weeks.

“At this time we know Antonio Zambrano-Montes was not shot in the back,” the statement says.

The Special Investigations Unit called on demonstrators to act respectfully and noted that so far, “demonstrations have proven peaceful.”

The killing touched off protests in the town, which is home to a large number of migrant workers. The New York Times and other observers have compared the killing of Zambrano-Montes with that of Michael Brown, the unarmed black man killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, touching off nationwide protests and sustained news attention.

In the video, officers appear to shoot at Zambrano-Montes, then chase him across a busy street as he fled with his hands up. When he stopped and turned toward the police, they fired again, killing him.

The attorney representing Brown’s family in Missouri, Benjamin Crump, also will represent Zambrano-Montes’ family.

Zambrano-Montes’ death was the fourth police killing in Pasco in less than a year, according to The Associated Press.

Lytro — maker of “shoot now, focus later” cameras — is diving into the virtual reality and video market, following an investment of $50 million led by GSV Capital. The market shift means Lytro will lay off 25 – 50 of its 130 employees, and at the s…

Lizard Squad was back in the news today amidst speculation that it had hacked Lenovo’s website . Whether or not that’s true, we can all agree that Lizard Squad is a freakin’ great name for a hacker crew.

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