Notices by Teri Kanefield (teri_kanefield@mastodon.social), page 3

My political statment for the day: Toilet paper is free in schools and elsewhere, so tampons and sanitary napkins should be free.

Adding: I know, I'm a dangerously radical liberal.

I ordered my Harris for President yard sign. I really wanted one that said Girl Boss.

Popping in to say hello. I'm working my way through what I think are the last set of corrections for my next book. When I'm finished I'll have more time for voter protection work.

I do have a new friend named Lizzie. I see her all over our yard. My family believes we have more than one lizard, but I've never seen two at the same time. I think there is only one, and she follows me everywhere. She keeps her distance and watches me.

Has Vance made any slurs about lizard ladies?

Biden posted this link and asked people to show support for Kamala.

I showed my support.
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/social-bfp-july-2024-v2

Well.

@StephanieJones is on a roll. Instead of reposting each of her substack pieces, I'll just send you here:
https://stephaniejones2.substack.com

I've mentioned Stephanie a few times. I've tried to get her to be more active here, but she really doesn't do much on social media.

Adding: She is very accomplished. There is no room here for her resume. Among other things she served on the Congressional committee investigating the J6 attack.

From @StephanieJones

The "Biden Replacement Theory": A Joke That's Not Funny

https://open.substack.com/pub/stephaniejones2/p/the-biden-replacement-theory-a-joke?r=4hf2m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Hi, everyone,

I have some sad news about JJ and a bit about the Supreme Court.

Earlier in the week, before sadness struck, I wrote a few pages about the Supreme Court in answer to a question. I included that.

I didn't end up doing much proofreading, so if you see any errors (or unbearably clunky sentences) feel free to let me know.

Click here to read: https://terikanefield.com/some-sad-news-and-a-bit-about-the-supreme-court/

(If you get the error, wait a minute and try again.)

I have this week's blog post ready.

If anyone will like this one, it's my Fediverse readers because it's super nerdy. I even took issue with Immanuel Kant.

I started to write about more mundane things like arrest procedures and arraignments, and then I got caught up in more interesting issues like why we even have criminal law.

It's here: https://terikanefield.com/criminal-law-and-procedure-part-2-why-criminal-law/

If you get the error message, it's all Mastodon's fault. Just wait a minute and try again.

Dear Technical and Internet Gurus:

Is Google Analytics accurate?

My weekend blog post is ready:

https://terikanefield.com/criminal-law-and-criminal-procedure-part-1/

I followed the suggestion I received from Mastodon readers:

Everything you ever wanted to know about criminal law and criminal procedure.

This is Part 1

Topics include:

💠 What is a crime?
💠 To criminalize or not to criminalize (that is the question)
💠 Las Vegas Handle popping
💠 When rape was a property crime
💠Why all crimes are not prosecuted.
💠And more, including a test. ( But don't worry. It's multiple choice and easy.)

I have been cautioning against what I call "what if" rabbit holes since 2019.

The problem with being in a "what if" rabbit hole is you are in a hole and can't see anything.

You lose your range of vision. Literally, you have no perspective.

You also can't think about real problems while you are worried about "what if."

Nobody can be productive lost in a hole.

If a "what if" thing happens, we deal with it.

Reminder:

It is not a good idea to respond to every bit of craziness in the news.

By "crazy" I mean speculation.

If we respond (click) all are encouraging craziness.

People click, and the people spreading crazy get rich and they have an inventive to continue.

Traditional news publishers learn that there is $$ in spreading crazy.

In the past, people saw speculation, felt worried and asked me how things work.

We are then part of the cycle.

Let's not be part of the problem.

My weekly blogging cycle:

Sunday: Whew! Do something fun.

Monday - Thursday: Do the kind of writing I get paid for, which means pleasing editors.

Thursday: Think: "I have no idea what to write for this week's blog post. Maybe I won't write anything. Maybe I don't like blogging any more. It's a pain."

Friday: Idea 💡

Saturday: Write furiously. "I love writing! I actually enjoy spending Saturday writing a blog post!"

(Why I like blogging: No editors. I can write whatever I want to write.)

I want to move away from writing about whatever is in the news and write more generally about the law, and even my legal work.

I think that helps people better understand the larger picture of how the law works, which in turn helps with understanding legal news.

This week's blog post: All About Appeals.

https://terikanefield.com/all-about-appeals/

Includes insights into the work of a criminal defense appellate lawyer.

For example, my cycle with cases:

It's important not to accidently write the sentence in this form: "Trump is appealing."

(I will show myself out.)

Judges have a lot of discretion, so the standards for reversal on appeal are high hurdles for the defendant.

Only in the rarest of cases (not applicable here) would a jury's factual findings be questioned. Juries are the final arbiters of facts.

As always I am making no predictions about outcome. I am observing that if you hear "this is an appealable issue" keep in mind a large gap between "appealable" and "winable."

2/

I'm over my temper tantrum.

Unfortunately I was enjoying a lovely break on the beach, logged into Mastodon and saw some ugly.

I have been promising myself to start moving away from commenting on what is happening in the moment and talk about more general legal issues. It invites less anger and hate.

Like everyone else, I'm relieved that it wasn't a hung jury or acquittal.

I have no doubt there will be an appeal because there are appealable issues.

But appealable does not mean winable.

1/

The three possible predicate crimes are:

(1) To violate campaign reporting laws (FECA),

(2) tax violations

(2) falsification of one of these business records:

(i) the bank records associated the shell company Cohen created, ; (ii) the bank records associated with Michael Cohen’s wire to Keith Davidson; (iii) the invoice from Investor Advisory Services Inc. to Resolution Consultants LLC; and (iv) the 1099-MISC forms that the Trump Organization issued to Michael Cohen.

2/

It looks like the jury instructions in the Trump Manhattan case will soon be available in transcript form. When they are available I plan to analyze them.

Jury instructions are key. Not everything bad or immoral is a crime. To be convicted of a crime, the prosecution has to present evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to prove each element of a specific crime.

Because of how complicated this charging document is (predicate crimes for predicate crimes) the jury instructions will give the roadmap.