Search Results: signs of trust

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-wants-5-million-owes-003342949.html
Trump wants the $5 million he owes E. Jean Carroll held as cash, not as a bond, in a weird move that saves him just $55,000

In an unusual move that saves him just $55,500, Donald Trump has asked a federal judge in Manhattan to allow the $5 million he owes writer E. Jean Carroll to be held aside as cash, and not as a bond, while he appeals her May sex abuse and defamation trial victory.

It's a highly uncommon move, surety experts told Insider, noting that the only real benefit to going cash is the savings of a 1% bond premium.

"The only thing I could see as a reason for this is they don't want to spend the extra $55,000" to pay for the bond, said Mike Lapre, a senior vice president in the surety division of NFP, a global property and casualty broker.

"I guarantee there are companies that would write this bond for him," Lapre said. He noted that should the appeal drag out a year, the one-percent bond premium would have to be renewed, bringing Trump's cost to $110,000.

"He may just be trying to save a little money that way," Lapre told Insider.

Trump attorney Joe Tacopina filed the request Friday with US District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the defamation and sexual assault trial.

His law firm, Tacopina Seigel & DeOreo, is currently holding the $5,550,000 in trust, "which is 111% of the judgment amount and is consistent with the traditional security percentage of supersedeas bonds," Tacopina wrote the judge, using the legal name for appeal bonds.

His firm is prepared to "promptly" transfer that money to the court once the judge approves the cash-not-bond arrangement, he wrote.

Tacopina did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Carroll attorney Roberta Kaplan, who signed onto a proposed order for the judge to sign, allowing the arrangement, declined to comment.

Under the proposed order, the court would set up an interest-bearing account to hold Trump's $5.55 million.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/texas-lawmakers-religion-ten-commandments-classroom_n_644999e3e4b04997b57599c4
Texas Lawmakers Want Religious Indoctrination In Schools — May God Help Us All

In a disturbing yet not exactly surprising move, Republicans in the Texas statehouse have taken the first steps toward passing three bills that inject religion into public schools. One requires public schools to display “in a conspicuous place” the Ten Commandments in every classroom. Another measure will allow schools to require prayer and Bible reading time each school day for students and employees who give their consent to participate.
A third bill would ensure school employees the right to “engage in religious speech or prayer while on duty.”

It’s not the first effort by Texas Republicans to inject religion into public schools. In 2021, the state passed a law requiring schools to display donated “In God we trust” signs.

And if you think these bills don’t have a shot at passing muster in the U. S. Supreme Court (should they be appealed on constitutional grounds), guess again.

Texas lawmakers noted that the Supreme Court paved the way for these bills after it sided with Joe Kennedy, the high school football coach in Washington state who was fired for praying at football games. The court ruled that Kennedy was praying as a private citizen, not as an employee of the district.

Know who represented that coach? The First Liberty Institute, the organization that brought us Matthew Kacsmaryk, the federal judge in Texas who lit the legal fuse to ban the abortion medication mifepristone from the marketplace.
How delightfully incestuous.
Texas state Sen. Phil King, author of Senate Bill 1515, said the Ten Commandments are part of American heritage and it’s time to bring them back into the classroom.