;)
September 8, 2022
Afternoon Update:
U.K. Queen Elizabeth II has died. The New York Times is liveblogging developments. ~~~
~~~ Elizabeth's New York Times obituary is here.
The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 8, 2022
The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/VfxpXro22W
~~~ The Guardian's main story, is here. Currently, the front page of both the U.K. & U.S. edition have numerous related stories. ~~~
~~~ A statement by President Biden & First Lady Jill Biden is here.
** Perry Stein & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department said it would appeal a federal judge's decision to appoint a special master to sift through thousands of documents the FBI seized from Donald Trump's Florida residence on Aug. 8, according to a Thursday court filing.... The Justice Department wrote in a brief filing that it would be appealing the decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In a separate, simultaneous court filing, prosecutors asked Cannon to stay her Sept. 5 decision on two key points: her order to temporarily halt a significant portion of the FBI investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information, and to allow a special master to review the classified material that is among the documents seized as part of a court-authorized search at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club on Aug. 8.... Barring the FBI from using the classified material in the investigation 'could impede efforts to identify the existence of any additional classified records that are not being properly stored -- which itself presents the potential for ongoing risk to national security,' prosecutors wrote -- the first time they have suggested in court filings that there could be more unsecured classified material they have yet to find." Emphasis added. This story has been updated. ~~~
~~~ According to Andrew Weissmann, in an MSNBC appearance, DOJ lawyers explained very, very nicely to the judge why she didn't understand WTF she was doing. They not only explained in exquisite detail how she was endangering national security with her little concerns about Trump's "reputation," but also why you don't give a thief the opportunity to pick through the stolen goods to see what-all he might really, really want to keep. Marie: As for me, I still would have taken more of an Aileen-you-ignorant-slut approach.
Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "A book by a former top federal prosecutor offers new details about how the Justice Department under ... Donald J. Trump a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/nyregion/geoffrey-berman-trump-book.html" target="_blank">sought to use the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan to support Mr. Trump politically and pursue his critics -- even pushing the office to open a criminal investigation of former secretary of state John Kerry. The prosecutor, Geoffrey S. Berman, was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York for two and a half years until June 2020, when Mr. Trump fired him.... The book paints a picture of Justice Department officials motivated by partisan concerns in pursuing investigations or blocking them; in weighing how forthright to be in court filings; and in shopping investigations to other prosecutors' offices when the Southern District declined to act." Read on. ~~~
~~~ Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Donald Trump's second attorney general, William Barr, is stupid, a liar, a bully and a thug, according to a hard-hitting new book by Geoffrey Berman, the US attorney for the southern district of New York whose firing Barr engineered in hugely controversial fashion in summer 2020. 'Several hours after Barr and I met,' Berman writes, 'on a Friday night, [Barr] issued a press release saying that I was stepping down. That was a lie. A lie told by the nation's top law enforcement officer.'... Berman describes clashes on issues including the prosecution of Michael Cohen, Trump's former fixer, and the Halkbank investigation, concerning Turkish bankers and government officials helping Tehran circumvent the Iran nuclear deal." Read on.
Grifters Gotta Grift. DOJ Is Investigating Another Trump Scheme. Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "A federal grand jury in Washington is examining the formation of -- and spending by -- a super PAC created by Donald J. Trump after his loss in the 2020 election as he was raising millions of dollars by baselessly asserting that the results had been marred by widespread voting fraud. According to subpoenas issued by the grand jury, the contents of which were described to The New York Times, the Justice Department is interested in the inner workings of Save America PAC, Mr. Trump's main fund-raising vehicle after the election. Several similar subpoenas were sent on Wednesday to junior and midlevel aides who worked in the White House and for Mr. Trump's presidential campaign.... The new subpoenas appeared to have been issued by a different grand jury in Washington than the one that has been gathering evidence about the so-called fake electors plan...." The ABC News story, which broke the news, is here. ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE, Another Trumpy Grifter Is Charged. Chelsia Marcius, et al., of the New York Times: "Stephen K. Bannon, who once served as top adviser to ... Donald J. Trump, surrendered to the Manhattan district attorney's office on Thursday and was expected to face charges later in the day. The indictment, unsealed Thursday morning, charges Mr. Bannon with two felony counts of money laundering, two counts of conspiracy and a felony count of scheming to defraud in connection with his work with We Build the Wall Inc." The story has been updated. CNN's story is here.
Glenn Rifkin of the Washington Post: "Bernard Shaw, a journalist who left network TV in 1980 for the uncertainty of anchoring at the first 24-hour cable news network -- CNN -- and whose steady-under-missile-fire coverage from Baghdad during the Persian Gulf War helped elevate the outlet to global prominence, died Sept. 7 at a Washington-area hospital. He was 82." CNN's obituary is here.
~~~~~~~~~~
U.K. Caroline Davies of the Guardian: "Doctors have expressed concern for.. Queen [Elizabeth]'s health and recommended she remain under medical supervision, Buckingham Palace has said.... Concerns over the health of the 96-year-old head of state escalated when she pulled out of a virtual privy council meeting on Wednesday after doctors ordered her to rest. Prince Charles was at her side, and Prince William was travelling to be with her. A Clarence House spokesman said: 'Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall have travelled to Balmoral.' A Kensington palace spokesman said: 'The Duke of Cambridge is travelling to Balmoral.'" CNN is portraying the situation as dire. ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates are here.
Robin Pogrebin of the New York Times: On Wednesday, President Biden unveiled the official portraits of Barack & Michelle Obamas in the East Room of the White House. "The portraits, commissioned by the White House Historical Association, have been a well-kept secret, along with the identity of their artists: Robert McCurdy, who painted the former president, and Sharon Sprung, who painted the former first lady.... Mr. Obama praised the artists. 'I want to thank Sharon Sprung for capturing everything I love about Michelle: her grace, her intelligence and the fact that she's fine,' he said, to cheers. 'And I want to thank Robert McCurdy for taking on a much more difficult subject.' President Biden was joined by his wife, Jill, for the formal unveiling in the East Room, where they made clear their affection for the Obamas.... The portraits are typically unveiled during the first term of a president's immediate successor.... But Mr. Trump did not schedule the ceremony.... It is not clear whether Mr. Biden will decide to host an event for Mr. Trump when his portrait is ready. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, dodged the question at a briefing on Tuesday." A Politico report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, I think President Biden should hold the ceremony. In a commemorative White House basement closet labeled "The Mold Room -- Top Secret." And that's where the portraits should stay. ~~~
~~~ Eugene Scott & Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "In her first White House visit since the end of Barack Obama's presidency, Michelle Obama spoke to the importance of honoring long-held traditions -- including upholding a democracy -- during the historic unveiling of the official Obama portraits, a custom that had been on hold during the Trump administration.... Michelle Obama used her moment from the podium to remind listeners of just how presidents are elected and how they ought to the leave the White House -- a thinly veiled swipe at [Donald] Trump and those who continue to support his false claims [that he won the 2020 election]. 'The people, they make their voices heard with their vote,' she said. 'We hold an inauguration to ensure a peaceful transition of power. Those of us lucky enough to serve work, as Barack said, as hard as we can for as long as we can, as long as the people choose to keep us here and once our time is up, we move on. And all that remains in this hallowed place are our good efforts.... Our democracy is so much stronger than our differences. And this little girl from the South Side is blessed beyond measure to have felt the truth of that fuller story throughout her entire life.'" ~~~
Video of full ceremony. President Biden begins speaking at about 5:45 min. in: ~~~
Glenn Thrush & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The Justice Department faces a complex and consequential decision this week: whether to appeal all, part or none of a court order requiring it to turn over to an independent arbiter materials seized last month from Donald J. Trump's home in Florida. The ruling, issued by Judge Aileen M. Cannon on Monday, is more likely to delay than derail the investigation into Mr. Trump's retention of highly classified documents belonging to the government.... The case presents the department with several tough calls, requiring a careful balance between the desires to speedily resolve the investigation and to limit an expansion of executive power espoused by Mr. Trump's team.... Department officials are expected to oppose the judge's call for the arbiter, known as a special master, by a midnight deadline on Friday. The question is whether they will mount a narrow approach geared at extracting relatively small concessions from the judge, to speed up the independent review, or if they plan a more comprehensive, riskier appeal to reverse what they see as a dangerous enhancement of presidential power. Over the past several days, senior officials at the department have been huddling to game out options." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I would begin the pleading with, "Aileen, you ignorant slut...." That should work.
Michael Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Wednesday, Rolling Stone reported that ... Donald Trump told White House officials that he would protect documents that he believed would expose the Russia investigation as a hoax and reveal a 'Deep State' conspiracy to destroy his presidency. 'At the end of his presidency, Trump and his team pushed to declassify these so-called "Russiagate" documents, believing they would expose a "Deep State" plot against him,' reported Adam Rawnsley and Asawin Suebsaeng. '... Trump told several people working in and outside the White House that he was concerned Joe Biden's incoming administration -- or the "Deep State" -- would supposedly "shred," bury, or destroy "the evidence" that Trump was somehow wronged.'"
Luke Broadwater & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Democrats and liberal groups, determined to find a way to bar ... Donald J. Trump from returning to office, are preparing a variety of ways to disqualify him, including drafting new legislation and readying a flurry of lawsuits seeking to use an obscure clause in the Constitution to brand him an insurrectionist. The plans amount to an extraordinarily long-shot effort to accomplish what multiple investigations of Mr. Trump have failed to do: foreclose any chance that the former president could regain power, whether voters want him to or not. They reflect the growing concern among Democrats and liberal activists seeking to find a way to end the political careers of the former president and the officials who helped him try to cling to the presidency, including through several new and in some cases arcane strategies.... The push gained momentum this week when a judge in New Mexico removed Couy Griffin from his post as commissioner of New Mexico's Otero County, branding him an insurrectionist for his participation in the Jan. 6 riot and for helping to spread the election lies that inspired it."
Adam Goldman & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors issued a subpoena to [William Russell,] a personal aide to ... Donald J. Trump[,] as part of the investigation into the events leading up to the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, people familiar with the matter said. The move suggests that investigators have expanded the pool of people from whom they are seeking information in the wide-ranging criminal investigation into efforts by Mr. Trump and his allies to reverse his loss in the 2020 election and that agents are reaching into the former president's direct orbit.... [Russell] continued to work for Mr. Trump ... after he left office...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Includes great photo of Russell, apparently in D.C., balancing a file box & thick file folder -- both of which look in danger of falling to the ground -- while towing a bunch of other stuff, including a suitcase, in his other hand. Would those files include some top-secret docs, Mr. Russell?
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "MAGA Republican leaders take umbrage at being accused of 'semi-fascism.'... It's just their taste in authoritarian figures skews toward the classics. They're old-school -- 1st century B.C. old. 'Hail, Caesar' goes down so much easier than 'Heil Hitler.' J.D. Vance, the Republican Senate nominee in Ohio, is one resident of this newly platted Caesarian section, as a recent profile in the Cleveland Plain Dealer showed. It referred to a year-old interview Vance gave on a far-right podcast in which he spoke approvingly of Curtis Yarvin, a self-proclaimed monarchist who argues for an American Julius Caesar to take power.... [A] former Trump adviser, Michael Anton, hosted a Claremont Institute podcast with Yarvin about the desirability of an 'American Caesar.'... For MAGA Republicans, all roads lead to Roman imperialism." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Picture Donald Trump in a toga. Please, Jupiter, save us.
Marianne Levine of Politico: "Chuck Schumer said the Senate would vote on legislation to protect same-sex marriage in the coming weeks, forcing Republicans to take a stance ahead of the midterm elections.... Schumer's announcement comes as Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) are working to shore up the 10 GOP votes necessary to pass their bill to codify same-sex marriage.... Meanwhile, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the most vulnerable GOP incumbent, said recently he won't support the bill in its current form, despite saying earlier this summer he saw 'no reason to oppose' it.... The Senate push comes after the House passed legislation in July to protect same-sex marriage, with support from 47 House Republicans."
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Texas ruled Wednesday that the Affordable Care Act's process for determining what kinds of preventive care must be fully covered by private health insurance is unconstitutional, ramping up yet another legal battle over the 12-year-old law. The ruling, by Judge Reed O';Connor of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, could jeopardize millions of Americans' access to preventive services, including cancer screenings, alcohol abuse counseling and drugs that prevent H.I.V. infection. It does not take effect immediately, however, and legal experts said the Biden administration would almost certainly appeal. Judge O'Connor concluded that the Preventive Services Task Force -- a volunteer panel of experts that recommends what kinds of preventive care must be covered under the law -- violated the Constitution because its members are not appointed by the president or confirmed by the Senate, yet its recommendations become binding. The ruling also took explicit aim at the H.I.V. drug regimen known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, saying the law's requirement that it be fully covered violated the religious freedom of a plaintiff in the case, Braidwood Management."
Marie: Yesterday, a contributor wrote that some prominent Americans, including "Justice" Sam Coathanger Alito, had signed up for the far-right paramilitary group Oath Keepers. I haven't found any printed confirmation of that. I've asked the contributor for a reliable source. I'll let you know. In the meantime, please keep an open mind. ~~~
~~~ Update: I have been working with the person who claimed that a number of famous politicians & three Supreme Court justices turned up on the Oath Keepers membership list, but so far I haven't come up with a thing that verifies these claims. At this point, I doubt it's true these individuals belong or belonged to Oath Keepers. My guess is that the site this contributor found was a hoax, but I could still be proved wrong.
Katharine Seelye of the New York Times: "Anne Garrels, an international correspondent for NPR who reported from the front lines of major conflicts around the world, including during the American 'shock and awe' bombing of Baghdad in 2003, died on Wednesday at her home in Norfolk, Conn. She was 71." NPR's obituary for Garrels is here.
Beyond the Beltway
Colorado. Jeremy Harlan of CNN: "Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who lost the GOP nomination for Colorado secretary of state earlier this year, pleaded not guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges Wednesday afternoon, six months after a county grand jury indicted her following an election security breach investigation by local authorities. District Judge Matthew Barrett set Peters' trial for March 6, 2023."
Michigan. Ed White of the AP: "A judge on Wednesday struck down Michigan's 1931 anti-abortion law, months after suspending it, the latest development over abortion rights in a state where the issue is being argued in courtrooms and, possibly, at the ballot box. The law, which was long dormant before >the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, violates the Michigan Constitution, said Judge Elizabeth Gleicher. 'A law denying safe, routine medical care not only denies women of their ability to control their bodies and their lives -- it denies them of their dignity,' Gleicher of the Court of Claims wrote. 'Michigan's Constitution forbids this violation of due process.' The decision comes as the Michigan Supreme Court is considering whether to place a proposed amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot that would add abortion rights to the state constitution. A Friday deadline is looming. Supporters submitted more than 700,000 signatures, easily clearing the threshold. But a tie vote by the Board of State Canvassers over spacing issues on the petition has kept it off the ballot so far."
Bob Ortega, et al., of CNN: "The evening before Michigan's state primary, Wayne County GOP leaders held a Zoom training session for poll workers and partisan observers -- warning them about 'bad stuff happening' during the election and encouraging them to ignore local election rules barring cell phones and pens from polling places and vote-counting centers.... Some participants raised concerns about being tossed out if they broke the rules. 'That's why you got to do it secretly,' [Cheryl Costantino, the GOP county chairwoman and host of the call,] replied.... During the Wayne County training call..., the presumption that Democrats cheat -- thus justifying Republican rule-breaking -- permeated the discussion. It offers a snapshot of one of the ways Trump-backing, MAGA-minded conspiracy theorists are intervening in the election process across the country, sometimes encouraging poll workers or volunteer observers to violate election rules in hopes of finding evidence that Democrats might be doing the same. It's an approach election experts fear could spur chaos and conflict in November's mid-term elections and in 2024."
Nevada. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "A county official in Las Vegas was arrested on a murder charge on Wednesday, hours after the police searched his home in connection with the fatal stabbing of a reporter at The Las Vegas Review-Journal, the district attorney said. The official, Robert Telles, the Clark County public administrator, was taken into custody in the killing of the reporter, Jeff German, according to the Clark County district attorney, Steven B. Wolfson. Mr. Telles was wheeled out on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance after the police returned to his home in tactical gear, The Review-Journal reported.... Mr. Telles, a Democrat elected in 2018, lost a June primary after he was the focus of investigative stories by Mr. German, who detailed claims that Mr. Telles had presided over a hostile work environment and had engaged in an 'inappropriate relationship' with a staff member. Mr. Telles and the staff member denied the accusations." The AP's report is here.
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Thursday are here: U.S. "Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced $675 million in new weapons transfers to Kyiv at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, during a trip for the latest meeting of allied defense ministers supporting Ukraine. The delivery will deploy arms and munitions to Kyiv from U.S. Department of Defense inventories. The package includes more rounds for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems..., a U.S. official told The Washington Post earlier, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will announce $2 billion more in 'security assistance' to bolster Ukraine and 18 of its neighbors, including NATO allies and regional partners 'who are most potentially at risk for future Russian aggression,' the State Department added. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians including children have been interrogated, detained or forcibly deported to Russia, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the Security Council on Wednesday. She cited witness testimony and reporting from groups including Human Rights Watch. The State Department described the 'so-called filtration operations' as a Kremlin campaign to forcibly deport, disappear and imprison Ukrainians who it 'decides could be a potential threat' to its control."
News Lede
Guardian: "The fugitive wanted over a mass stabbing in Canada that killed 10 people and injured 18 has died in hospital after his arrest, police have confirmed, with sources saying his death was the result of self-inflicted wounds. Myles Sanderson went into 'medical distress' after his arrest and was taken to hospital where he died, Royal Canadian Mounted police assistant commissioner Rhonda Blackmore said in a press conference on Wednesday night. Police found a knife in the truck, which officers had rammed off the road into a ditch, but Blackmore would not comment on the cause of his death. Sources familiar with the situation earlier confirmed to the Guardian that Sanderson died shortly after being taken into custody, after police rammed his stolen vehicle. They said he had died as a result of self-inflicted injuries. Police sources gave similar accounts to Canadian media outlet Global News and Associated Press."
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Reader Comments (18)
As usual, confederate fascists don’t know the first thing about history. They want an American Caesar? Great. Put Fatty in a toga and stick a laurel wreath on that blowsy orange bird’s nest. Then get out of the way. Caesar was murdered.
And if you’re gonna stuff that fat fuck in a toga, you’ll have to get one from Abdul the Tent Maker. Nothing off the rack will fit that blob.
When the Trump portraits are painted Donald will look quite spiffy in a stylish orange jumpsuit. Melanoma will be hard to pose as she will have to be modeling the "I really don't care, do you?" jacket.
Mentioned irony and the Oath Keepers yesterday, believing that a healthy sense of the absurd absent in those clowns can inoculate us from doing many foolish things. Without that sense, the field of stupid behavior remains wide open.
This morning's news item about the stabbing death of the Las Vegas reporter reminds me of the old scene that has parents of children who are hitting one another threatening them with a spanking...
Back in the day I sometimes wondered if the obvious irony of the situation was sufficient counter to the natural urge to impose physical punishment on those misbehaving. I'm sure my father didn't wonder at all.
So now I read a man who objected to stories about him creating and maintaining a hostile work environment decides to murder his accuser?
Seems because the absurd and the deadly often go hand in hand, the absurd is often not funny, and maybe in contemporary America getting less funny all the time.
It's a lesson I'm still learning.
Ken: Yes, back in the day––spare the rod, spoil the child-- mishandling was the way to go. I once watched an irate mother bite her child's cheek ––"show him how that hurts!" she said.
To veer off on last night's coverage of the Obama portraits makes me smile. You want to see a class act––-this is it. The contrast between that administration and the last is so startling it almost defies reality.
The question posed this morning as to whether the Bidens will honor the tradition of portrait unveiling of the past president and first Lady hangs in midair, swinging left, then right and back again. Let's not follow the tight fisted sick, scurrilous sop –--let's follow the class actors––"When they go low, we go high," plus perhaps it will be a punch in the gut––a good dose of embarasment? Nah–––just wishhful thinking I reckon.
A federal judge in Texas–-Reed O'Connor–-a good Irish Catholic?–– ruled yesterday that requiring employers to provide coverage for medication that prevents the transmission of HIV violates the religious rights of employers ( nay––not rights, but homophobic tenancies and holy mother fuckers). Once again humanity for man takes a back seat to those who hold the purse strings and those who lack that humanity for man.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/judge-employers-hiv-drugs-religious-rights_n_6318c376e4b0ed021dedcc8c
A federal judge in Texas–-Reed O'Connor–-a good Irish Catholic?–– ruled yesterday that requiring employers to provide coverage for medication that prevents the transmission of HIV violates the religious rights of employers ( nay––not rights, but homophobic tenancies and holy mother fuckers). Once again humanity for man takes a back seat to those who hold the purse strings and those who lack that humanity for man.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/judge-employers-hiv-drugs-religious-rights_n_6318c376e4b0ed021dedcc8c
PD Pepe
P.D.
This from the WAPO is apropos to your last post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/07/supreme-court-religious-right-antidiscrimination-laws/Indeed.
As Everett Eclectic (a friend of mine) commented:
"Religion is a whatever I say is true machine. People just blame what they say on someone else: God."
It's real handy.
BTW, most Post comments (over 2000) were in the same vein...
PD,
Class is the word when thinking of the White House ceremony unveiling the Obama portraits. The former president and First Lady were gracious, thoughtful, generous, and avuncular. Their connection with the Bidens is clearly genuine and sincere.
Barack Obama was, as always, quick to compliment and humorously self-deprecating. I especially enjoyed his crack about the tan suit, a wardrobe selection that once drove the usual rabble of racist wingers into a frenzy. I’m sure there was plenty of teeth gnashing over his sly poke at their idiocy.
One can only imagine what an unveiling of the Trump pictures will be like. Fatty’s image will no doubt cast him, at his demand, as a conquering god-like figure. Don’t know if Melanie’s pitcher’ll depict her in her “Don’t really care” jacket or in her teeny bikini Bond Girl pose complete with automatic weapon, but if the artist has any sense of propriety, he or she won’t forget to include the usual snide disdain barely concealed behind her standard rictus.
What a pair.
And the event won’t be complete without the usual Trump chest thumping, grievance airing, and score settling, because what’s a supposedly light hearted moment in the White House without a Trump pissing all over it.
At least we had eight years with two class acts prior to the greedy pigs who oinked their way into the White House in 2016.
Okay, so explain this to me.
The Orange Traitor has claimed that all those top secret documents he stole and had lying around his gaudy Florida mausoleum for spies and donors and the cleaning lady to ogle, were immediately made Not Top Secret Anymore by his Declassify Magic Wand. In other words, he wanted something declassified, it was: Presto-Change-O-Treason-O. No more classified document.
Right? He said that, correct? Yes. He did.
But now he claims that there are a mess-o-papers “proving” that Russian collusion was a hoax (ever notice how many hoaxes surround this loser? Dozens! Small hands, hoax. Russian election help, hoax. Weird peenie, hoax. Payoffs to hookers, hoax. No tax payments, hoax. Attempted bribery of Ukraine president, hoax. Makes you wonder…).
BUT, now he’s making two other claims. First, he and toady Mark Meadows worked right up until Biden’s inaugural to declassify all those reports “proving” Russia had nothing to do with getting his fat ass elected. What happened to the magic wand?
Next is the idea that, ooooh, that mean Joe Biden will destroy those exonerating documents!
Thus, he can say “Well, there were thousands of documents, MILLIONS even, proving my innocence, but Joe Biden burned them during a devil worship ceremony which featured the sex trafficking of nice white Christian children.
So, another “dog ate my homework” lie.
But if he had a standing order to declassify anything he touched, why hasn’t he gone on Sean Hannity waving these supposedly explosive documents around?
The only explanation is Donald Trump: a lying sack of shit any way you look at it.
And here’s something interesting.
A website designer who is deathly afraid that she might be asked by some icky trans person, or some equally awful gay or lesbian type to make a grooming website for brainwashing nice children into getting a sex change operation, is going before the Theocrat Court.
Her case is being brought by something called ADF (Alliance Defending Freedom, or maybe Assholes for Defenestration of Freedom). ADF specializes in these sorts of Christianist attacks. Two things: no one (icky or awful) has actually tried to hire this person to make an LGBTQ website…this is just in case.
Two, Amy Phony Barrett will be weighing in on this case. But, ooops! She already has a relationship with ADF. They’ve paid her to come speak before their people. Five times.
Conflict of interest? ‘Course not!
No conflict, as long as her pals get the right decision.
https://www.rawstory.com/supreme-court-docket-2658159280/
Whatever happened to all the supposed sealed indictments that were put on the shelves waiting for TFG's reign to end?
@Akhilleus: Of course Trump's story makes no sense. He is juggling so many balls in the air that he's bound to drop some. There are a couple of problems with the Secret Declassification Coder Wand.
First, that would mean that whatever classified docs he had at Mar-a-Lardo are no longer classified, so all of us can see all of them. Now it's true that he says they relate to Russiagate & all the other -gates, but that doesn't seem to be the case. For instance, what does a document about Emmanuel Macron have to do with Russiagate?
Second, and I find this fundamentally problematic, whether he knows it or not, Trump isn't president* anymore. I think we have to assume under the Secret Declassification Coder Wand Theory, all presidents* & presidents get the secret wands. It can't be just for presidents*, can it? So if Trump has a Secret Declassification Coder Wand, wouldn't Biden also have a Secret Reclassification Coder Wand? Couldn't Biden just say -- or even write down -- everything Trump declassified with his secret wand is now reclassified tippy-top secret?
QE2 ain’t feeling well. Anyone who hits 90 something and is still living in multiple castles as the titular head of a country, and has been doing so years before before anyone had heard of Elvis Presley, has had a pretty good run.
The old girl’s done alright.
The schadenfreude part of my brain envisions the following: Elizabeth goes to her reward and Charles, who has been waiting to be king since he rode his first polo pony, dies from an aneurism caused by falling off too many of them.
Jesus! Looks like a lot of people read RC, including god.
Adios, Elizabeth. And now…watch out, Charlie!
Former US Attorney Geoffrey Berman has a new book coming out detailing some of the pressure TFG put on the DOJ.
He says they tried to interfere in the prosecution of Michael Cohen and tried to scub Individual-1 from the plea deal. They went after Greg Craig, former Obama White House lawyer, to "even things out" for indicting Chris Collins and Duncan Hunter. And tried to have John Kerry prosecuted for violating the Logan Act because he criticized Trump over his sabotaging of the Iran nuclear deal.
I'm sure this is once again just the tip of the iceberg of corruption Trump and his cronies put people under.
The DOJ just dropped the shoe..
Imagine Alito is already consulting his favorite book of 17th C. precedents to support his eventual no vote on the DOJ's appeal of the S-M (that's special master) requirement.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/08/justice-appeals-trump-documents-special-master/?
TFG is probably thinking, "Wow. Now that the old bag has died. What do I need to do to stay in the limelight these next two weeks?"
@unwashed: I'm sure you're right. So far, the Trump strategy seems to be to get DOJ or some other law enforcement agency to drop a bombshell a day. Last night, it was the news that a grand jury is investigating his stolen-election fundraising grift. Today it's that, yeah, he's still hiding sensitive documents he stole from the feds.