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31.Aug.2022 Permanent URL to this day's entry

Boxing Day Permalink to this item

Marcy Wheeler's "emptywheel" blog follows top-of-the-news court cases in far more detail than I could hope to, which means I enjoy reading her posts, and can't keep up with them, either. In the matter of Orange Croesus and the Purloined Papers, this entry dated today: Christina Bobb Claimed No Copies of the Stolen Classified Documents Had Been Made.

You may recall that Ms. Bobb is working for the former guy as “Custodian of Records,” a title which has "Fall Gal" written all under it. And that she provided a signed CERTIFICATION to the DOJ that said:

Based upon the information that has been provided to me, I am authorized to certify, on behalf of the Office of Donald J. Trump, the following:

  1. A diligent search was conducted of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Florida;
  2. This search was conducted after receipt of the subpoena, in order to locate any and all documents that are responsive to the subpoena;
  3. Any and all responsive documents accompany this certification; and
  4. No copy, written notation, or reproduction of any kind was retained as to any responsive document.

She may be hoping that "true and correct to the best of my knowledge," and "based upon the information that has been provided to me" will keep her out of jail, but it could be tricky. Lots of people were quick to point out the disparity between copies "made" in the headline, and copies (or "reproduction of any kind") "retained." Without breaking into any rocketry science textbooks, we can imagine that the former guy's reference to all that stuff he held onto that he wasn't supposed to, actually, as "mine," means that he has been using it to blackmail frenemies, plot revenge, and monetize by selling to the highest bidder. Maybe some of it made its way to Saudi Arabia to lubricate that $2 billion that Jared got as a parting gift for being a "Senior Advisor."

We don't know what basis Bobb had for making her certification, but given that her June statement that everything that was supposed to be turned over had been has been proven false by the proceeds of the executed search warrant, we have to wonder about the "diligent" search, and the "no copies were retained" claims as well. It seems like she's in a heap of trouble now, and not the first "custodian" (or lawyer) of Trump's that was left holding a bag, under a bus.

Greg Sargent imagines something, anything, might finally stick to the teflon Don. We don't lack for evidence: the damning new DOJ filing implicates Trump more deeply than ever. Sargent calls it the "hoarding of national security secrets," but that would be the best case scenario. It seems certain he and his minions have done more than squirreling away souvenirs.

I had a fundraising email with Donald Trump Jr.'s name on it in my spam bucket this morning. Among the "demands" (surrounding the begging for contributions, they're worse than panhandlers on the street) was this:

I, for one, DEMAND JUSTICE for my father.

So say we all, Donnie, so say we all.

P.S. Speaking of former lawyers holding bags under buses, Michael Cohen busted out his TikTok moves to warn us about FG "holding this country hostage" to dodge that demand for justice.

27.Aug.2022 Permanent URL to this day's entry

All that and a Pronto Pup Permalink to this item

Our afternoon at the fair included a visit to the large photography exhibit, and a look in at the poultry and rabbits. Two days from the end, most of the birds had gone home, but there were some good representatives left. The outdoor part of the walk went by the old farm engines, kept oiled and running, and burping a mild backfire periodically. The old guys who keep them running can probably relate. D&B Supply was hoping to sell wood stoves on a hot day in August, but no takers.

Fair Foto

Then, to work, at the Ada County Democrats booth, for a 3+ hour shift of cheerfully accosting passers-by about their registration status, helping them find their legislative district if they didn't know it, and providing candidate literature and cheerful conversation. Or, providing an opportunity for the airing of grievances for those who blame Democrats for everything that's going wrong. Ironically, Idaho has been run by a Republican super-majority for so long that they should have taken their grievances around the corner to the other side's (larger, and more swarmed) booth. But there are always national issues that are the Democrats' fault. If all else was failing, The Border.

Forgiveness of student loans was top of mind for one fellow a bit older than me, Viet Nam vet. After a long and apparently successful career, by god he paid his own way (after his government benefits). Jeanette and I chipped in that yes, we paid off our student loans too, but we weren't actually having a debate, so we didn't get into the subject of the difference in the cost of higher education 50 years on. He had a lot of anger that we couldn't help him with.

One woman slyly inquired what we meant by the "Meaningful Tax Reform" sign, in order to complain that Boise's Democratic mayor had "raised our taxes, twice." Her husband stood to the side, silent, thinking about how he'd rather be golfing, while she went on. Country club Republicans, I was thinking, what the hell do they have to be angry about? They weren't paying attention (or maybe hadn't moved here yet) when Jim Risch had his little stint at Governor in 2006, and a special session of the legislature started the big shift of property tax off of commercial property and onto homeowners.

Another guy latched onto the "Living Wage" sign, wants the minimum wage to be tied to age. Teenagers shouldn't be getting so much money, is the idea, but when the fast food free market is ready to pay them $14/hr or more, what are you going to do? I wasn't in on that particular discussion, but I did offer a bit of l'esprit de l'escalier to the women who were: some 18 year-olds are parents. Could be more of them, soon. At any rate, when the friendly banter had played out, he strolled off to rejoin his wife, who had been standing off at an "I'm not actually with him" distance, and she was heard to ask him, "Did you win?" She's been on the losing side a few times, it sounded like.

There were just enough people expressing gratitude for our presence, interest in what we had on offer (including voter registration forms), and yes, concern about how far off the rails their Republican Party has gone to buoy our spirits above the indifference, and more direct hostility. On the other side of the Mattress Firm sales area, a t-shirt seller with a mostly black-and-flag palette wasn't moving the LET'S GO BRANDON product, and no one talked about how someone should kill Joe Biden (the way they had last year, as one of my booth-mates described to me). So, ah, things are looking up?

I stepped out of the welcome A/C and into the heat of the afternoon to see about sustenance, and figured the long-standing Pronto Pup was as convenient as anything? Only $7 apiece for a hot dog on a stick with baked batter and slathered mustard. The sign said something about "family" and how many years they'd been doing this, and I asked the young woman at the register if she was part of the Pronto Pup family, and she said with a big smile, "I am now!" I mentioned my booth work, and she gave a bit of cheery, non-partisan commiseration.

We were on our way out as the evening crowd was swelling for the free-with-admission-but-limited-seating-gates-open-at-6:00, last of 5 grandstand shows. Get a load of this promo:

"His other hits that reached the No. 1 spot include such memorable songs as “Good Directions,” “Let Me Down Easy,” “People Are Crazy,” “That’s How Country Boys Roll,” “Hey Girl,” and “We Are Tonight.” Billy Currington’s latest album, Summer Forever, is a collection of songs that will take the listener on a riveting musical journey that leaves them breathless at the end of the ride."

We were safe at home well before the sirens. Turns out there was one person stabbed, another apparently "accidentally shot by a self-inflicted gunshot wound." A fight broke out in the parking lot, don't you know. Over a parking space, would be my guess. Traffic was well-bolloxed at 6:30, I can only imagine what 9:45 was like. The Ada County Sheriff Twitter account outlined the story at 11:17pm:

"...Deputies quickly closed the parking lot and fair gates as people were running away from the fight

"As deputies were looking for suspects and trying to figure out what was going on and keeping fair goers safe, people were not able to leave the parking lot or the fair and that caused a lot of confusion and concern

"Depties have located some but not all the people who were involved in the fight. The two people who are injured are being treated right now. The parking lot and fair gates have been reopened and there does not appear there is any active public safety threat at this time

At 11:32pm, the parking lots were "still very full and traffic is moving slowly," ay yi yi, aren't you glad you didn't stay late? Rounding out the experience, a 0 Following, 0 Followers Twitter user itching for a fight replied to the Sheriff:

"Pretty much a government controlled world no freedom here, held without approval all rights taken and held prisoner. Awesome what a joke"

"Never hold people against their will.. bad things will happen, this is a free country..."

Fair Foto 2022

26.Aug.2022 Permanent URL to this day's entry

Animal metaphor reconsideration Permalink to this item

The advent of Facebook has led me to a pattern of illustrating pithy thoughts with photographs, even as the blog here remains relatively under-illustrated. It's not as bad as the early years with a 2Mpx camera and storage space too precious to show even the whole of what that could do. But still. Two images come to mind this morning: first, that closest-ever encounter with a north Idaho moose, at the trailhead to Big Fisher Lake. My granddaughter had loaded up and started hiking from the truck to the trail as I was putting the final touches on my pack when she called out to me, with enough alarm to grab my instant attention.

I looked up to see her, the moose, and the trailhead, as the moose was sizing up her, me, and the big red truck. As a take-charge kind of guy, I figured I should break up the party and strode over to put myself between my girl and the moose. Waved my arms and shouted or something, and encouraged the moose to continue the way it was going, which was crashing through dense brush down to the nearby creek, opposite the trail. It's hard to account for what one does in extremis; in retrospect, it probably would have been smarter to tell her to back away slowly, to get closer to me, and the cover of the truck if need be. We were a little edgy getting started from there, wondering if we might bump into others, but did not.

Other than the comic doofus of Bullwinkle (a staple of my childhood), moose are rare enough that they don't seem to have acquired many memes, but "large and in charge" comes to mind. Also, moose pretty much always have the right of way.

The second image was gathered in the boulder field at the bottom of the talus below the Big Fisher headwall. I can set the scene, at least, lower left of this photo:

Big Fisher L., Aug. 2010

Later that day, I went for a solo wander around the lake and up into the boulders, now in full sun. After writing in my journal, and then sitting quietly for a long while, I heard a noise of a small animal near me. Expecting a pika, perhaps, I was instead treated to a personal visit from three least weasels. The three of them skittered and weaseled around me and the boulders, and I sat wide-eyed and still, other than turning my head to try to follow the action. Eventually, I took a chance at breaking the spell, trying to dig my camera out of my daypack, but they were gone before I could get it out. (Two years earlier, Snowmanradio captured this lovely portrait of one at the British Wildlife Centre; cute as a bug's ear, I'm sure you will agree.)

My history is now divided into "before" and "after"; in the latter, I'm reluctant to use "weasel" metaphors in a derisive way. The genus is full of handsome, clever, sleek, shape-shifting species. And the family as well, with various Badgers, Otters, the Wolverine, and the namesake of the lake itself, the Fisher.

The antidote to semi-fascism Permalink to this item

I guess it's a big deal that Joe Biden finally (?) used the "F" word, or at least half of it. As Heather Cox Richardson recounts in her latest daily, in "a barn-burning speech to the Democratic National Committee in Rockville, Maryland," Biden is highlighting the line between "the MAGAs and mainstream Republicans. Speaking at a reception before the main event, he said:

“What we’re seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy. It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the — I’m going to say something — it’s like semi-fascism.”

The "beginning or the death knell" is a hell of an alternative, isn't it? And I'm not sure fascism actually comes in a "semi" flavor, but we might be about to find out. More from the Washington Post report of the "fiery" speech in Rockville:

“The MAGA Republicans don’t just threaten our personal rights and economic security. They’re a threat to our very democracy. They refuse to accept the will of the people. They embrace — embrace — political violence. They don’t believe in democracy.

“This is why in this moment, those of you who love this country — Democrats, independents, mainstream Republicans — we must be stronger.”

And this nice touch:

As if on cue, the rally was interrupted by a heckler yelling, “You stole the election!” The crowd booed as the man was escorted out, holding his two fingers up like President Richard M. Nixon and taking a brief bow.

Old Joe is taking the gloves (and jacket) off and rolling up his sleeves.

“I want to be crystal-clear about what’s on the ballot this year. Your right to choose is on the ballot this year. The Social Security you paid for from the time you had a job is on the ballot. The safety of our kids from gun violence is on the ballot.

“The very survival of our planet is on the ballot. Your right to vote is on the ballot. Even democracy. Are you ready to fight for these things now?”

The reporter didn't say, but you can hear the crowd's YEAH! all the same.

25.Aug.2022 Permanent URL to this day's entry

Then we got to talking about student debt Permalink to this item

In the realm of lowered generational aspiration, (paying for) education ain't what it used to be. Rebecca Solnit posted an instructive essay on Facebook yesterday, starts like this:

"The story of student debt is inseparable from the country's swing to the right that produced tax cuts that meant public education got a lot more expensive, paid for by students rather than by society via taxes on people already established. The people with means gave themselves a break and dumped a burden on the young, in other words. A lot of individual stories exist within the context of this collective story. Which is important to remember because it could be reversed and because it undoes the story that it's individual failing that produced the debt crisis (or that the young should just buck up like grandpa did when the UC system was free).

"And yeah, there could be footnotes about how private universities jacked up their prices and scam for-profit colleges bilked the naive and how metastasizing bureaucracy also made education a lot more expensive. But this transfer from the public to the private via the tax cuts and the gutting of funding for colleges is a key piece of the story.

"There could be other footnotes about how people back when higher education was cheap to free were able to be idealists, to take risks, to make mistakes. ..."

Along with Solnit, "I caught the tail end of that," even if I didn't exactly sprint through college (the first time). The 1980s had a real "doors slamming shut behind me" feel to them, even though the issue wasn't on my radar. I paid off my low-interest, small student loan for my second, sprinting time through as quickly as I could, while working on a 10.5%, 15-year mortgage for the house we're still living in.

Solnit highlights Astra Taylor's work, organizing "collective thinking" that made The Case for Economic Disobedience and Debt Abolition, published by Haymarket Books. She introduced the 2020 book, Can't Pay Won't Pay in an hour-long Jan. 2021 town hall. Here's the nut of it in a one minute clip. (Would've made it longer, but YouTube's "create a clip" limit.)

"The fact is that most people can't dig themselves out [from the resulting cumulative debt]. Three quarters of people take their debt to the grave. Americans die holding $62,000 of debt, on average."

Predatory lending is "more than a trap; it's a form of social control." It's good for Army recruiting, for example! Compare that average debt on death to the statistic Solnit provides: "The average student graduates from college with $35,000 in student debt," before the miracle of compound interest kicks in.

I'm now so far out of school that I barely knew there was a "student debt movement," and here Perry Bacon Jr. says it forced Joe Biden's hand, despite "many prominent left-leaning figures, most notably Biden himself, hav[ing] long been lukewarm about debt cancellation." And on the right, well, somebody thought Betsy Devos as Secretary of Education would be the ultimate punk of the left, and they weren't far off.

In March, 2021, the NYT described (gift link!) how "after a class-action lawsuit made it impossible to stall any longer, her agency built what amounted to an assembly line of rejection," denying "nearly 130,000 claims — far surpassing the 9,000 rejections in the prior five years — with a system that pressured workers to speed through applications in a matter of minutes, according to internal Education Department documents filed in federal court."

Thank goodness we elected Joe Biden, eh. Nancy McDonald Ladd dispatches the "It's Not Fair!" argument:

"'[F]airness' is a paltry and spiritually bereft little thing fit only for schoolyards and middle-school exams. From Jesus' Parable of the Talents to the detachment from outcome in the Buddhist tradition, every single grown-up spiritual doctrine seeks something greater than "fairness." If you are even a moment older than 13 years old, don't talk to me about fairness. Talk to me about survivability. Talk to me about what it takes for all of us to make it through. Talk to me about grace and possibility and work and worry and meaningful change."

Also, this:

A brief history:

A bunch of very rich people sold a bunch of very shady loans which went belly up in 2008. The government gave them $1.2 trillion bc if they hadn't, the economy would've collapsed

These same people are now screaming mad a nurse is getting $10k for student loans.

— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) August 24, 2022

P.S. Will Bunch went back to the genesis of the movement for his fresh-out book, After the Ivory Tower Falls. His latest newsletter focuses on work still to be done: Biden’s big move on student loans only a first step toward making American college great again.

"Act Three launches now — and the outcome is very much in the air. Can America undo the damage caused by 40-plus years of privatized college, and make higher education the public good it always should have been?"

23.Aug.2022 Permanent URL to this day's entry

SEVEN HUNDRED PAGES OF CLASSIFIED MATERIAL Permalink to this item

And stuff. For starters. Just for starters. Before the execution of the search warrant a Mar-a-Lago. A Former Guy-friendly journo released the May 10 letter from Debra Steidel Wall, Acting Archivist of the United States, to one of FG's myriad lawyers. This was after the National Archives "just asked" for the material that is legally within their purview, and that FG made off with after he lost the 2020 election and was evicted from the White House. The Archives had been just asking "throughout 2021" the letter said. The first 15 boxes that were returned "items marked as classified national security information, up to the level of Top Secret and including Sensitive Compartmented Information and Special Access Program materials." The letter says there were "over 100 documents with classification markings, comprising more than 700 pages[, some including] the highest levels of classification."

"Access to the materials is not only necessary for purposes of our ongoing criminal investigation, but the Executive Branch must also conduct an assessment of the potential damage resulting from the apparent manner in which these materials were stored and transported and take any necessary remedial steps. Accordingly, we are seeking immediate access to these materials so as to facilitate the necessary assessments that need to be conducted within the Executive Branch."

The acting archivist considered, and dismissed the "protective" claim of executive privilege that our former executive has no standing to assert on behalf of the executive branch, let alone himself.

That was in April. Before another tranche was delivered in June, and another Trump lawyer, Christina Bobb said ok, that's everything then. "To the best of her knowledge," ha ha. Here's Heather Cox Richardson picking up the story.

"[O]n June 22 the Justice Department subpoenaed the security video tapes from the ['storage'] area, which showed people moving the documents. Hence the search warrant, which the FBI executed two weeks ago, finding yet more documents, including some in a closet in Trump’s office. Some had the highest possible level of classification. It remains unclear whether any U.S. documents remain at Mar-a-Lago."

The story in the NYT says said journo, John Solomon, "who also serves as one of the former president’s representatives to the archives" made an appearance on Steve Bannon's podcast and "tried to suggest that Ms. Wall’s letter somehow implicated President Biden in the struggle over the classified documents." The "struggle."

"In fact, the letter could further implicate Mr. Trump in a potential crime. It confirmed, for instance, that the former president had kept at Mar-a-Lago documents related to Special Access Programs, some of the nation’s most closely-held secrets, even before the F.B.I. searched the property. The search was as part of an inquiry into whether Mr. Trump had willfully retained highly sensitive national defense papers and obstructed a federal investigation."

And of course the criming wasn't just after he left the White House. It was standard operating procedure during his administration. Back in the day, ICE officials were told to wipe their phones on exit. Just to, you know, tidy things up around here.

To sum it up, yes, Donald J. Trump did willfully remove documents that were not his to possess. An open and shut case. (The damage to national security will take more time to clean up.)

You don’t steal classified intelligence to write memoirs. You steal it to sell to our enemies. Especially if you’re a notorious thief and traitor. This was his ‘payback’ for the American people rejecting him and ‘leverage’ over those who could expose him/hold him accountable.

— Andrew Wortman 🏳️‍🌈🇺🇸 (@AmoneyResists) August 23, 2022

P.S. Lead headline in the ConservativeHQ daily screed set, I am not making this up: "Why Aren’t Republicans Campaigning On Law And Order?"

18.Aug.2022 Permanent URL to this day's entry

Do not be this guy Permalink to this item

Sunrise photo

After the sunrise drive to the lake, a lovely sailing session, back home, breakfast, I had an appointment at the clinic, a freeway drive away. I was in a quiet, reflective mood, and the appointment went as expected, and not long. Back to Eagle Road for the return, there was a long wave of southbound traffic. I waited my turn a while. Bit of an opening in the four lanes of flow, and someone signaling and slowing to turn right, I seized my chance, worked to merge to the 2nd lane as I made sure no one was bearing down on me. But whoops, a guy in the right lane coming up fast behind the fellow who turned, and me. For a brief, shining moment, I Was In His Way.

He laid on the horn. Fine, whatever, let it all out, my man, but I can't change what just happened. More horn, in case I missed the first one? We were approaching the next light, and we'd both have to slow down from 30, 40, 50, whatever in a moment. And I was out of his way. It should have been over.

But no! He was still accelerating so that he could get alongside me, communicate his vein-popping anger at me cutting in front of him, for that one moment. I gave him a nod and a shaka. Hang loose. He didn't take the suggestion.

It didn't turn into a road rage incident for the evening news, at least. And I'm pretty sure I've been that guy on occasion, but I have to say, I don't want to be that guy ever, ever again. Nobody should be that guy. Just chill. Even if somebody makes a mistake. No crunch, no foul, and just get on with your day, 'kay?

17.Aug.2022 Permanent URL to this day's entry

Setting the records straight Permalink to this item

Jim Jordon addresses me as "Patriot" in his latest fundraising email, which features the word RAID in the first sentence. You can guess. But you don't have to guess, the subject says it all: They're coming for YOU! I can understand why Jim Jordan might think they're coming for him, at least.

But speaking of Myths and Misunderstandings Relating to the Mar-a-Lago Documents Investigation, here's a former government information security professional (2000-2019) with a readable overview of the facts. Not to steal his thunder, but let's put the facts in front of the myths, shall we?

If you're having trouble keeping all the investigations of the former guy straight, join the club! The New York Times has an explainer of the Big Five:

The last of those seemed to have petered out, but now it appears Trump Co CFO Allen Weisselberg is going to fall on his sword (and not cooperate with the investigation of the Capo dei capi).

"While Mr. Weisselberg, 75, is facing financial penalties as well as up to 15 years in prison if convicted by a jury, a plea deal would avoid a high-profile trial and spare him a lengthy sentence. Two people with knowledge of the matter said that Mr. Weisselberg was expected to receive a five-month jail term. With time credited for good behavior, he is likely to serve about 100 days."

"Good behavior." Seems about white.

11.Aug.2022 Permanent URL to this day's entry

That's what he said Permalink to this item

Our member of the House, Rep. Mike Simpson put out an embroidered placard of a statement about the judicially approved, lawful search warrant executed a Mar-a-Lago, looking for misappropriate material that belongs in the National Archives. In addition to the 15 boxes that were recovered in February.

Our lawmaker, like many other members of his party are doing, refers to this law enforcement action as a "raid," and graphically splutters with indignation. "Hypocritical obsession" makes an appearance, along with (I am not making this up) Hillary Clinton's emails.

In his wind-up, with casual disregard for its supreme irony, he declares that "those who are responsible for this unjustified act need to be held accountable."

Today, the NYT is out with more details than either TrumpCo or the DOJ have provided. Guess what? A subpoena preceded the search warrant to retrieve material from the former guy. "This spring." Attempting judicious steps toward getting compliance. There was also a subpoena for surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago, "which could have given officials a glimpse of who was coming in and out of the storage area, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. They received footage specifically from areas of the club where they believed the documents might have been stored, the person said."

When it came down to the search warrant, that "was broad, allowing the agents to investigate all areas of the club where classified materials might have been stored. They went through the basement, Mr. Trump’s office and at least part of his residence at the club." And they left behind "a two-page manifest of what was taken." If either the warrant or that manifest were equivocal, or the least bit exculpatory, you can be sure TrumpCo would have been waving them about. Then this golden nugget:

"Some senior Republicans have been warned by allies of Mr. Trump not to continue to be aggressive in criticizing the Justice Department and the F.B.I. over the matter because it is possible that more damaging information related to the search will become public."

Mike Simpson should have a word with said senior Republicans, maybe, before he keeps talkin' about stuff that he don't know.

Yesterday, Philip Bump reported in the Washington Post, that oh by the way, Citizen Trump may have broken a law that President Trump made a felony. Legislation introduced by Devin Nunes, don't you know. And Tuesday night, Nunes' former aid, the inestimable Kash Patel told Fox News "definitively" that "President Trump was a transparency president." Hiding stuff he magically declassified in the nick of time in the Mar-a-Lago crypts. Back in May, Patel's song and dance was about "whole sets of materials" that Trump "thought the American public should have the right to read themselves." They just hadn't gotten around to getting them out of storage and into the public eye?

That's what she said Permalink to this item

It's a campaign ad, OK, but the statement from Wyoming's sole member of the House of Representatives is a marker of our times. If unheeded, it may well be our republic's epitaph. The Honorable Liz Cheney:

"America cannot remain free if we abandon the truth....

"Like many candidates across the country, my opponents in Wyoming have said that the 2020 election was 'rigged,' and 'stolen.' No one who understands our nation's laws, no one with an honest, honorable, genuine commitment to our constitution would say that.

"It is a cancer that threatens our great republic.

"If we do not condemn these lies, if we do not hold those responsible to account, we will be excusing this conduct, and it will become a feature of all elections. America will never be the same."

10.Aug.2022 Permanent URL to this day's entry

Tables turning Permalink to this item

Judd Legum hit the nail on the head this morning with a tweet responding to Perry Stein's WaPo "Justice" piece, risibly headlined to imply the search of Mar-a-Lago shows the DOJ is "politicized." Or something. I didn't take the jump, because Legum's point is more important. Let's shout it out for all the people in the back ("half of America," as all the leading RW sycophants are saying): Political journalism is plagued by omission bias.

"There is an assumption that inaction by the DOJ would be apolitical. But a decision to ignore evidence of criminal behavior because Trump is a powerful figure would be an intensely political."

Snippet of shop window display

That's been the case since "the Golden Escalators" scene. Trump's fraudulent business practices, tax cheating, immoral behavior and well of corruption have been a largely open book from before the get-go, and the one durable talent he's shown is for getting away with it. The very same Republicans who called him out with accurate derision on his way up folded like cheap suits once it was clear he had successfully hijacked the Republican Party, and then seized power. Here's GQ's June, 2016 collection, for example. Con artist, bankrupt, "going to shatter and fracture the Republican Party and the conservative movement," said Marco Rubio. Done, and done. Vulgar. "Utterly amoral," "a pathological liar," said the younger Ted Cruz. "He's a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. He doesn't represent my party," said Lindsey Graham.

Rick Perry decried Trump's "barking carnival act [with] a toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense that will lead the Republican Party to perdition if pursued," with you-can't-make-this-up foreshadowing: in an address at the Willard Hotel in downtown Washington.

Let no one be mistaken: Donald Trump’s candidacy is a cancer on conservatism, and it must be clearly diagnosed, excised and discarded.

Perry also declared “I will not go quiet when this cancer on conservatism threatens to metastasize into a movement of mean-spirited politics that will send the Republican Party to the same place it sent the Whig Party in 1854: the graveyard,” but, well, he did kind of go quiet after he got to be Secretary of Energy ("oops"), and part of the doo-wop chorus at that 2017 Boy Scout Jamboree, saluting the Scout Law's enumeration of all the qualities the former guy lacks: Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. (It's like he hit the duodenariofecta.)

But now the National Archives aren't having it, and good for them, good for the DOJ, good for the FBI, and good for the American people. Just for the record, the FBI executed a legal search warrant a Mar-a-Lago (not a "raid"), and neither they nor the DOJ are in the business of publishing that sort of thing. The recipient of the warrant could publish it, along with the search inventory they will have been provided, and if they didn't have anything to hide, they for sure would do that.

By comparison, one person responds to Legum's point, inaction would be political. We saw this in the treatment of witnesses against Kavanaugh ignored." Christopher Wray's FBI turned in the tips to the White House counsel's office, which rendered Mr. K's second background investigation into "a White House-directed bag job of no value whatsoever," as Charles P. Pierce put it, after Wray answered questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee just a week ago. That is how you politicize the Department of Justice.

Before I could get all my thought ducks in a row for this morning's blog post, here's NYU's Jay Rosen to update us that "the Post has changed [the "depoliticize"] headline, which was painfully under-thought." The new headline, and ok, I guess I'll link to it, FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago lands Merrick Garland in a political firestorm. I guess "wholly fabricated outrage" was over the length limit.

P.S. Something about the theme of "omission" reminded me of one of my early web essays (before "blog" had hit the mainstream). I tracked it down, datelined May, 2000, but the Comdex reference is 1999, for sure. Not exactly on point today, but a period piece you might find interesting, with a political twist at the end: What are you overlooking?

9.Aug.2022 Permanent URL to this day's entry

Searching for lies in all the right places Permalink to this item

Hoo boy, we've got some excitement now. The FBI convinced a federal magistrate judge to sign off on a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago, and they executed a lawful search (we presume). Or, as the exploding heads of the former guy's army of quisling puts it, A RAID!

If you're as upset by this as I am (or even a little bit more than "not at all, actually"), it might be TIME FOR SOME FUNDRAISING. Let's check the spam bucket. "Mike Pompeo," via news@theamericanfreedom.com says the search warrant was "shameful." (Has he seen it, I wonder? Not that that would matter for fundraising.) If you be very afraid, send money? Yes, he put it in bold face and underline:

"Remember this: if they will go after a former President, they will go after you."

The fine print says his email was PAID FOR BY CHAMPION AMERICAN VALUES. NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE’S COMMITTEE so that's cool, he's just freelancing on the outrage of the day.

Bee in lavender photo

There are many more third-tier politicians looking to grab them some. Here's a guy running for NC-13 I've never heard of, Bo Hines, says he's "Trump-endorsed," pulling out the stops in three colors with highlighting and links and what-not, buttons to press to send him money to "SUPPORT PRESIDENT [sic] TRUMP" as if he's going to share? Ha ha.

And of course Gov. Ron DeSantis, who says he is "STUNNED." Oh wait, that's weird, he didn't say anything about the MAL kerfuffle, just worried about some candidate he's supporting (in Nevada) slipping behind in fundraising. Jim Jordan's keyword is WEAPONIZED. Turn your fury into a donation for... Jim Jordan, natch!

FPOTUS hisself weighed in, claims the "large group of FBI agents" "raided," and "occupied" his "beautiful home," a.k.a. golf club.

"[I]t's important that you know that it wasn't just my home that was violated - it was the home of every patriotic American who I have been fighting for since that iconic moment I came down the Golden Escalators in 2015."

That iconic moment. "Paid for by Save America JFC, a joint fundraising committee of Save America and Make America Great Again PAC. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee." More golden oldies from the NRSC. WITCH HUNT! Buy a t-shirt! The RNC dipped a beak in. Kevin McCarthy wants some of your money too, because UNPRECEDENTED, and DEMANDING AN INVESTIGATION. Also, Chuck Grassley. TEAM SCALISE, a joint fundraising committee authorized by and to benefit SCALISE FOR CONGRESS and EYE OF THE TIGER PAC. ("DROP EVERYTHING," he says.) JD Vance, under cover of The "Trump Strategy Team."

McCarthy also put out a blast threatening to come after Attorney General Merrick Garland, right after he gets to be Speaker of the House.

It's bathetic, to be sure, but dark as hell. Will Bunch's latest newsletter, Trump’s crimes spark a Mar-a-Lago raid — but don’t look away from the fascism, touches on the latter, as the FBI search threatens to drive last week's CPAC shitshow out of the news, while the cauldron is still bubbling.

"While the news media has largely turned off Trump rallies due to his tiresome obsession with 2020, the ex-president used CPAC as an opportunity to finally roll out a vision for what a second term in January 2025 might look like — making his past invocations of “American carnage” feel like Disneyland. Perhaps Trump was motivated by coming after the political strongman of Europe, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. If CPAC wanted a taste of fascism, it would be a former U.S. president that offered the real deal, and not some Eastern European."

5.Aug.2022 Permanent URL to this day's entry

Stuff I didn't learn in school Permalink to this item

My first choice for headline was "they didn't teach me," but at this point, who can say what they tried to do? (Can you be taught, but not learn, or are the two actions inextricably linked?) At any rate, I don't remember hearing what Heather Cox Richardson has pointed out multiple times, but maybe not as succinctly as in her Aug. 4 Letter's opening paragraph:

"Congress established the Department of Justice in 1870, overseen by the attorney general, to protect civil rights in the southern states after state legislators and state law enforcement officers refused to treat their Black neighbors as equals. If the states would not honor the principle of equality before the law, the federal government would."

152 years later, we're still right there. Three DOJ projects now in process:

4.Aug.2022 Permanent URL to this day's entry

Some truth will out Permalink to this item

A bit late kicking off the 268th monthly edition of the blog. It's the same old onion (not to be confused with The Onion), being deconstructed to expose more and more of the rot in the core. I did not know Alex Jones' Infowars tagline before reading the latest installment of Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American. It might be the truest thing on the site: “There’s a War on For Your Mind!”

Partial image of p.77 of Senate report

She reread one of the seminal documents of our recent history, the Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russian interference in the 2016 election with its heightened relevance in the moment. (I still haven't gotten around to a first full read of its 5 volumes and additional views. It comes in PDF if you like, 1,348 pages with >60% whitespace and a ton of redactions.) In (her) summary:

"During the Trump administration, after an extensive investigation, the Republican-dominated Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that “the Russian government engaged in an aggressive, multifaceted effort to influence, or attempt to influence, the outcome of the 2016 presidential election... by harming Hillary Clinton’s chances of success and supporting Donald Trump at the direction of the Kremlin.”

"But that effort was not just about the election. It was “part of a broader, sophisticated, and ongoing information warfare campaign designed to sow discord in American politics and society…a vastly more complex and strategic assault on the United States than was initially understood…the latest installment in an increasingly brazen interference by the Kremlin on the citizens and democratic institutions of the United States.” It was “a sustained campaign of information warfare against the United States aimed at influencing how this nation’s citizens think about themselves, their government, and their fellow Americans.”

And you have to say, the effort has paid off remarkably well, with the breadth of its unexpected success emboldening Vladimir Putin in his dream of Soviet resurrection.

Alex Jones slots into the story, "not limited to foreign nationals." It's necessary to talk about George Orwell, Hannah Arendt, the sorry cuckolds of the GOP House members, and that as-yet not positively identified George W. Bush aide's pithy take on the "reality-based community," declared passé. (We think it was Karl Rove; why wouldn't Turd Blossom want to take credit and admit it, I wonder?)

And Alex Jones' doofus attorney who—whoops-a-daisy—misforwarded "a digital copy of two years’ worth of the texts and emails on Jones’s phone and, when alerted to the error, didn’t declare it privileged."

“This is your ‘Perry Mason’ moment,” Jones responded, a reference to the fictional lawyer famed for his stunning 11th-hour courtroom reveals. “I gave them my phone.”

"[Attorney Mark] Bankston noted Jones had testified under oath that he personally searched his cellphone for Sandy Hook text messages and was unable to find any. Bankston asked, “You know what perjury is, right? I just want to make sure you know before we go any further.”

(Jones said he did know, but "I'm not a tech guy.") Weirdly enough, Jones already lost the lawsuit and was found responsible for all damages" because he adamantly refused to hand over evidence. Now he's got a stack of criminal liability on top of a multimillion dollar L.

The story's not too technically complicated, and is explained in the middle of Dan Solomon's Twitter thread. Bankston "did not believe the phone [data] was placed in the folder intentionally," and notified opposing counsel, "who under Texas law had ten days to respond that the materials were transmitted in error."

Man, that must've been the longest ten days of Bankston's life waiting to see if it would be pulled back. But no! The two year poached oeuvre will cover January 6, conveniently enough, and there are other prosecutors (and the January 6 Committee) that will be keen to thumb through the contents. Even with all the Fifth refusals Jones gave the committee, there's a lot of perjury in the air.

Update:

The obscenity is not that Alex Jones is like this. The obscenity is that millions of Americans love and admire and support Alex Jones being like this, and make him filthy rich for being like this.

We have met the enemy and he is us.

— SomewhatProblematicCrossExaminationHat (@Popehat) August 3, 2022

raveling

Tom von Alten
ISSN 1534-0007