I understand the rationale for lifetime appointments to supposedly reduce or eliminate political pressure on Federal and Supreme Court judges. But how many other jobs, especially ones this important, have a similar, nearly bullet-proof guarantee, with only impeachment as a rarely-used remedy for incompetence?
FBI executed search warrant at Mar-a-Lago
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Yoused
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Individual-ONE tried to get rid of Dr. Fauci but was unable to touch him. Louis Dejoy has been difficult to deal with as well, and although his term is only 5 years, it looks like he is close to burning the USPS to the ground. And those jobs are even harder to target than just simple impechment.
rdrr
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I'd say it's only the judgeships that are dangerous lifetime appointments. I understand the Fauci hate, but he wasn't appointed, and even though he bungled a few things during Covid, he at least has the qualifications to get the job. Cannon didn't have the qualifications.
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The Fauci hate is beyond belief. All a part of the GOP relatively recent war-on-experts. That’s one way to go, if you don’t like what experts are saying. I’d just adjust to objective truth but I can’t pretend to understand how MAGAs think, they’re far beyond me.
Renzatic
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Justice Department has asked for Trump’s lawyers to be held in contempt. I’m sure finding more classified documents this week has done nothing to calm DoJ frustration.
Lawyers for Trump - if not outright corrupt themselves - are probably in a bind over having to choose to defend their client or stonewall the DoJ.
apple.news
The fact that they keep searching and finding documents should prove to republicans how corrupt and irresponsible Trump is. Storing classified government documents in storage? At his golf club? Losing track of them (or lying and holding onto them) means it’s time for republicans to stop defending Trump. Don’t tell me you’re upset about Hillary’s “carelessness” while defending this brazen theft and irresponsibility.
Lawyers for Trump - if not outright corrupt themselves - are probably in a bind over having to choose to defend their client or stonewall the DoJ.
Justice Department asks judge to hold Trump team in contempt over Mar-a-Lago case — The Washington Post
The request came after months of mounting frustration from the Justice Department with the former president’s lawyers.
apple.news
The fact that they keep searching and finding documents should prove to republicans how corrupt and irresponsible Trump is. Storing classified government documents in storage? At his golf club? Losing track of them (or lying and holding onto them) means it’s time for republicans to stop defending Trump. Don’t tell me you’re upset about Hillary’s “carelessness” while defending this brazen theft and irresponsibility.
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Makes you wonder how many other people have seen them, intentionally or otherwise, and US citizens or otherwise. Not just the recent finds, But all of them.
Wouldn't be shocked at all if it's the case that intelligence operatives from countries hostile to the US have had a few peeks. In exchange for money, of course.
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I think mule should be changed to ass.
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The gospels of Covidicus are known for being devoid of language that could cause impure thoughts. And facts, another tool of the devil. 13 pages are dedicated to The Lord’s wrath against the public education system.
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Seems that the lawyers have yet to reaffirm that all documents have been handed over - they already screwed that up once by testifying they had returned all documents when they had not - you can argue whether it was because they lied or were grossly inept. My money is both.
But it seems the DoJ has had issues getting them to follow up… they were court-ordered to hire a party to do a search, and yet more documents were found.
The fact Trump took and has continued to hold onto documents after repeatedly being ordered to do so by the most powerful body of law is fact. It’s not a theory or a guess, it’s history. So now what? At what point is breaking the law and continuing to break the law not worth getting a late-night warrant and arresting someone at 4am, someone who is just another citizen in the eye of the law - a problem? “Because he’s a former president” is a “there’s no rule saying a dog can’t play basketball” argument.
The DoJ is STILL cooperating to get the government’s own stuff back, and Trump is now proven to have still been in active violation of the law. Time to get over the fear of what could happen after an arrest of a former president. Time to get over guessing and getting to finding out. I’m ok with the DoJ taking their time to get there, but if that’s not the end result it’s very arguable far more people could be pissed off than if he is arrested.
I’m ok if something comes out and proves he’s innocent. I don’t expect that and would bet money on it, but it just means I don’t have a closed mind. But that should need to come out at a trial, because right now, there’s clearly enough for an arrest and trial. And I get these things take time, but he’s already earned himself an arrest many times over.
But it seems the DoJ has had issues getting them to follow up… they were court-ordered to hire a party to do a search, and yet more documents were found.
The fact Trump took and has continued to hold onto documents after repeatedly being ordered to do so by the most powerful body of law is fact. It’s not a theory or a guess, it’s history. So now what? At what point is breaking the law and continuing to break the law not worth getting a late-night warrant and arresting someone at 4am, someone who is just another citizen in the eye of the law - a problem? “Because he’s a former president” is a “there’s no rule saying a dog can’t play basketball” argument.
The DoJ is STILL cooperating to get the government’s own stuff back, and Trump is now proven to have still been in active violation of the law. Time to get over the fear of what could happen after an arrest of a former president. Time to get over guessing and getting to finding out. I’m ok with the DoJ taking their time to get there, but if that’s not the end result it’s very arguable far more people could be pissed off than if he is arrested.
I’m ok if something comes out and proves he’s innocent. I don’t expect that and would bet money on it, but it just means I don’t have a closed mind. But that should need to come out at a trial, because right now, there’s clearly enough for an arrest and trial. And I get these things take time, but he’s already earned himself an arrest many times over.
lizkat
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Well from almost the get-go of Trump's presidency, it was clear to anyone interested that Mar-a-Lago would be the place to get some dinner invites or better yet a club membership or some kind of job, temporary or otherwise, for any assets a hostile power might have on standby.
This lout has been completely careless about protocols and rules since before he was even elected. Why would rules about document handling and security matter to him anyway, unless Hillary's emails...
Nothing really matters to Trump except money and whether he's the center of attention. Sometimes the latter even outweighs the former, since he hasn't always the judgment or impulse control to prioritze even those two things. I'm sure he enjoyed the media brouhaha over details of that dinner. Also sure it drew attention in places around the world, not all of them headed up by friends of the USA.
lizkat
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I'd be ok with that if the "something" was a cute internet cat with a basket full of cute internet kitties all swearing that Trump has been maligned unfairly because not only does he love dogs and cats he loves Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden and the truth-laden truthfulness of his two impeachments for which he is heartily sorry McConnell arranged faux mulligans and he'd be happy to serve time if Mitch did too.
But Twitter has no algos capable of "trending" pics of those kitties right now, since the six people left on staff are having to work hard to bear up under the weight of impending World Cup quarterfinals and people trying to finish downloading their Twitter data so they can check out permanently sometime this century.
Short of all that I hope grizzly bear Jack Smith swats Trump into an orange jump suit with an assist from Merrick Garland and the sworn testimony of some people who freely decided the truth matters after all.
lizkat
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One of the WaPo's right-leaning columnists, Hugh Hewitt, has outdone himself making excuses for Trump this time out the box. Buried in there somewhere is this suggestion:
Honestly Hewitt is as good as a pill for remedy of low blood pressure. If yours is high, don't ever read him.
(He served in the Reagan Administration in a number of positions and has also served as president of the Nixon library.)
In that same column, Hewitt proposes that instead of indicting Trump, DoJ should use the path offered to Nixon's first VP, that penny-ante crook Spiro Agnew: a nolo contendere plea to his former grifting as a Maryland governor... and passage into private life with political obscurity.
The ‘Agnew Option’ could be a way out for Trump — and America (paywall removed)
Hah, hah, nice try, Mr. Hewitt.
Trump makes the ghost of Spiro Agnew look like a Sunday school teacher. And Trump has lied to us so many times that there's no point in imagining that he'd keep "his word" on staying out of politics in exchange for not getting indicted.
Why the WaPo even printed that Hewitt column escapes me really, unless they weren't sure of having a suitably amusing editorial cartoon ready for today's edition.
"Only those who have never worked in a White House can doubt that papers often get mixed up in the chaos of a transition, and Trump’s power to declassify when he was president was unlimited."
Yeah, okay. And so this is why when the search of Mar a Lago was conducted, there were classified documents found not just in boxes but in Trump's DESK DRAWER.Honestly Hewitt is as good as a pill for remedy of low blood pressure. If yours is high, don't ever read him.
(He served in the Reagan Administration in a number of positions and has also served as president of the Nixon library.)
In that same column, Hewitt proposes that instead of indicting Trump, DoJ should use the path offered to Nixon's first VP, that penny-ante crook Spiro Agnew: a nolo contendere plea to his former grifting as a Maryland governor... and passage into private life with political obscurity.
The ‘Agnew Option’ could be a way out for Trump — and America (paywall removed)
Hah, hah, nice try, Mr. Hewitt.
Trump makes the ghost of Spiro Agnew look like a Sunday school teacher. And Trump has lied to us so many times that there's no point in imagining that he'd keep "his word" on staying out of politics in exchange for not getting indicted.
Why the WaPo even printed that Hewitt column escapes me really, unless they weren't sure of having a suitably amusing editorial cartoon ready for today's edition.
rdrr
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As earlier today I was reading Hewitt's latest and his suggestion of Trump utilizing the "Agnew Option,", my jaw dropped open, nearly hitting the floor, and I thought, "is this guy for real??" Sheesh!! As far as I'm concerned, way out in LaLaLand, this chap and his suggestion, and yes, I'm surprised that the paper even published this. Haven't gone back in later today to read the comments, but I'll bet there are plenty on this particular bit of writing!
hmmmmm......the Agnew Option......I recognize and share the desire for Trump to face punishment for his many crimes, but the "Agnew Option" might be what's needed to get the country past the crisis that Trump on trial will cause.
I don't expect this will be a popular opinion tho
I don't expect this will be a popular opinion tho
mac_in_tosh
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I assume that Mr. Hewitt has some minimum amount of intelligence in order to write for the WaPo, so I can only conclude that he is being intentionally disingenuous and partisan. I'm sure that his statement needn't much deconstructing here, but let's do it.
As for papers getting mixed up, okay, but if that happens and a former president discovers them in his residence he should immediately return them. Trump didn't do that. He intentionally withheld them, even defying a subpoena, and there are still missing documents.
Declassification is not done with the snap of fingers or just by thinking about it. There's a procedure that must be followed which Trump didn't do. And even if he could declassify documents in such a trivial way, does anyone think he actually read the hundreds of documents and carefully considered the national security implications of declassifying them, a guy who couldn't even read a short daily national security briefing?
I just don't get how people on the right continue to make excuses for someone who incited a violent attack on the Capitol to block the lawful transition of power and enjoyed watching it on t.v. for over three hours and who stole top secret documents and obstructed attempts to recover them. And this is after years of telling us how they stand for law and order and strict constitutionalism. Oh, and Trump gets a pass with the whole family values thing despite cheating on all three of his wives and paying hush money to a porn star. Is their hatred of progressive policies so strong that they would tolerate such a monster?
You know, when this issue of unreturned documents first arose, before we really knew any details, I figured there could be a possibility Trump and his administration misplaced documents- especially if you consider that Trump apparently didn’t believe he was leaving office and refused to have things packed until the last minute, meanwhile, a bunch of his people have quit over the 1/6 fiasco. That might be a reasonable excuse if it didn’t change so many times.
But the excuses and defenses have changed so many times, in such a short period of time. First it was said to be a complete overreaction because his lawyers had been cooperating and this was akin to having an FBI raid over a late library book. Then his defense escalated into this being targeted political prosecution. Then suddenly, it was claimed all the documents were actually declassified via his supposed verbal standing order for declassification… because allegedly it is normal to declassify top secret documents so you can bring them home to read. Next it was the documents are all protected by attorney-client privilege. And honestly I stopped paying attention at that point.
I can only speculate on his motive at this point- there’s probably a variety, the common thread of most motives likely being his pathological narcissism. I suppose it’s possible some of the documents were accidentally misplaced, but it’s hard to believe at this point that would be the whole story.
The problem with this case is that we may never know what these documents were. I would hope if they do prosecute him, that the public will have a better idea what these files were about. I’m not saying declassify them, but ie explain what type of nuclear secrets he had. His rabid sycophants are going to call this a witch hunt regardless of the gravity of the information and the severity of his motives. But having more information for the public will make a much more compelling case in the court of public opinion.
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Nope. Indict, arrest and convict his ass.
