JUST WONDERING

 Before we get to what is on our mind, let us say a fond farewell to Sports Illustrated. 

SI was a magazine that covered sports. For you lawyers under 30 or DeSantis Judges, a magazine was a collection of articles and pictures, in actual physical form that, if you subscribed, was delivered in the mail. The mail was physical documents like magazines, letters, and bills that had your home or office address and was brought to you by a US government employee. The cost of the service was paid via a stamp that was purchased from a post office. 

SI had a great collection of writers like Frank DeFord, Rick Riley, Dan Jenkins, Jim Murray (from LA), Peter Gammons on baseball, Leigh Montville- a curmudgeon from Boston, George Plimpton, and others. It was superb journalism and sports writing and this week SI fired everyone. Maybe AI will write SI, but we won't read it. RIP SI. 

JUST WONDERING. 

Unlike appellate courts, we like hypotheticals. So indulge us. 

Let's say the Republican candidate for president is convicted of criminal charges in the State of New York. And then he is convicted of federal charges in District Court in Washington DC over the summer/fall. And then he wins the presidential election. And then he is sentenced to 60 months in prison. 

Does the BOP have the facilities for a State dinner? 

In the event of a nuclear attack, will someone have to file an emergency petition for release so POTUS can be taken on Air Force One to a secure facility? We note that in the event of a submarine launched ballistic missile attack the president has about 7 minutes to get out of dodge. We can't get the BOP to do anything in less than 70 minutes much less 7. 

Will the cabinet have to go to Coleman? And will anybody be allowed to being in cell phones or will POTUS have to stand in line like everyone else to use the phone? 

Given his penchant for firing lawyers, do you think for some commissary and a payment to a relative on the outside that he hires a jailhouse lawyer to do his appeal? Given his penchant for firing Secretaries of Defense, and Attorney Generals, do you think he appoints a cellmate as an interim cabinet member not needing senate approval?

Does the probation officer who does the PSR have to get security clearance? 

The questions just go on and on. What we know for sure is that while the framers approved of flogging (which isn't a half bad idea....nah skip it) and the entire judiciary of the United States appointed after 2000 firmly believes that whatever was good enough for the framers is good enough now, the Constitution does not disqualify felons, rapists, or liars from holding office as President. Better we have an American convicted of some 90 felonies, than some guy born in, let's say for argument's sake, Africa. 

And make no mistake about this. More than 40% of the voters in this upcoming election firmly believe 1) global warming is fake news; 2) the 2020 presidential election was stolen through a conspiracy involving a dead Venezuelan dictator, and in a remarkable sting of bad luck, every single judge assigned to the former president's cases is bad, biased, and out to get him- much like all of his former secretaries of defense. 

In other words, this guy has worse luck than the Buffalo Bills, and that is saying a lot! 

Anyway, this is a whole lot to think about, and time is running out to make some decisions.