Today, on the federal holiday of Labor Day, Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida granted former president Trump’s request for a special master to review the nearly 11,000 documents FBI agents seized in their search of the Trump Organization’s property at Mar-a-Lago on August 8.
This decision by Cannon makes me feel so sick to my stomach that I want to eat the refrigerator. As I read through Dr. Richardson's discussion, I began to understand why it's so frightening. We're right to feel worried. I'm so tired of the attack of the RWNJs on democracy and the rule of law. The vote seems so fragile facing off against this juggernaut of violence, disinformation, and downright deceit. Let's make it count this November 8th -- ten weeks away.
Robert Hubbell’s Substack essay in my box tonight after I received Professor Richardson’s LFAA barnburner, definitely kept the refrigerator at bay for me. So many affective and effective considerations by Hubbell.
I second Christine's motion! Here's a few snippets from Robert Hubbell:
"The maddening unfairness of yet another seeming “Trump exception” to the rule of law is dispiriting and upsetting. Not to worry! Trump stole national defense secrets on his way out the door, concealed that fact, and then lied about it when caught. There is no innocent explanation for his conduct, and there is nothing a special master can do to prevent the DOJ from indicting Trump. Delay? Maybe. Prevent? No."
"If Republicans hoped Trump would not be on the ballot in 2022, Trump is doing everything he can to dash their hopes. As Biden said in response to a heckler on Monday, 'Look, everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.' Trump is proving that in spades."
Since this "so-called judge" chose to attempt her cover-up with the "appearance" of equity, then by the same rules she herself may receive the very same treatment that "her side" has been providing to the FBI, CIA, POTUS, Garland and every other federal position that the thugs have been attacking. After all, it would only be "fair".
If Bill Palmer of Palmer Report is right "she just set fire to her own career"
Thank you for sharing that article and the link to it. This calmed my nerves:
"First, this ruling is legal gibberish on its face. There is nothing in this judge’s ruling that is in any way compatible with the law – meaning it’s precisely the kind of ruling that quickly and automatically gets overturned by the appeals court. Second, even if this judge’s ruling did contain any legally valid arguments, appointing a special master to oversee the sorting of evidence after it’s already been sorted is laugh out loud nonsense. Again, it’s precisely why this ruling won’t last five minutes on appeal."
Ahaha! Yes! That's the way I am looking at it, too. Darn it; so do we all have to leave our regular passions and contributions and learn the law and physically participate in dismantling this system and impeaching the people who clearly need to be impeached? Argghhh!!!
It would go to the 11th Circuit court in Atlanta and be ruled on by 11 judges. Thing is, 6 of those were appointed by T***p. One would hope they would recognise Cannon's ruling for what it is and their legal consciences would take over and they'd vote to rescind it. But at this point, who tf knows??
I wonder how many republicans who voted against rump’s impeachment are now sick to their stomachs…McConnell for sure has been on the toilet the whole night…
When this episode of history is written McConnell will be determined to be one of the biggest traitors to democracy and our rule of law there ever has been. He has been the enabler of the worst the country has ever produced.
It has nothing to do with conscience--even those who despise rump voted against impeachment to appease the base constituents whose votes they needed to stay in power. Now he's getting preferential treatment and coming back to haunt them. Poor McConnell....
I don't even think it's a question of a conscience. We had the answer to that when he ignored those audio recordings of the babies at the border crying for their mothers. I think McConnell is an old dog who's outlived an outfoxed almost everybody, lined his coffers with gold, put his stamp on the highest court in the land and his ego just wants to go out with one more win
I had not read Robert Hubbell before, but I will not miss him again! Thanks for the link... and an added benefit: you can listen and rest your weary eyes!
Yes. I have been reading other sources on Twitter that truly explain how idiotic the judge's decision was made. Not at all based on evidence and written with no logic or facts.
In corporations and all unequal societies where some individuals have more rights than others, then, crawling on one's knees, currying favor and "sucking up" become the way in which those deemed "lesser" (sometimes) rise into the ranks of the privileged and "superior".
In fact, in societies like the old Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and the American South during and well after slavery, "currying favor" was the only way for someone not already deemed acceptable to survive. Even if they knew they could never gain true entry to equality.
For 38 years I was a highly technical Ph.D. engineer in three of America's best failing corporations. Because of my farm experience where hard work makes one successful, and, then, similar outcomes in academia, I thought hard work would matter in a corporation.
American corporations are unequal societies where some folks are deemed superior and some are deemed unacceptable and work has nothing to do with the selection criterion.
To say I was wrong that work mattered would be a gross understatement.
ONLY after I learned that the only thing that counted was making sure my (white male) bosses five levels above me all thought I was appropriately docile, obedient and willing to crawl on my knees at all times in their presence did I begin my own progression of salary and position.
But, having attained a management position, then, after a few years, I rotated back to technical work and forgot about the game completely.
I was never going to be good at kissing ass and stopped practicing and instead bought a farm and, while still getting paid, got it going. Now? I am back where work matters, and, respect for those who are part of that work matters.
So, Republicans COMPLETELY understand that to get complete control of everyone which includes a LOT of people who are superior thinkers and doers, they need to get every one of the judges to CRAWL at their feet.
Like the judge described in today's letter.
Republicans also understand that eventually the rest of us will have to crawl on our knees too.....or else.
Mike S. It seems to me that you are describing what I envision as “White Planter Mentality”. Corporations are the Plantations. The view of the laborer is the same - that they are not worthy of real consideration. To make it to an elevated positionyou must bow to the master and live with cognitive dissonance.
Michele, not being a historian, I cannot say if the American corporation is "white planter mentality".
I CAN say, with certainty, that the most valuable and important skill in a corporation is the ability to say "YES, GREAT IDEA", immediately following hearing the dumbest, most stupid idea you have ever heard. Then, AFTER doing what makes sense, and, making the project successful, going back to the same boss you ignored and telling him about the outcome AND saying: "Remember when you told me "something he never thought of doing"?? "THAT was a GREAT IDEA".
So, sucking up is really a two part deal for folks like me.
1. Sucking up and saying yes to everything then....
2. AFTER doing whatever actually makes sense, without telling the boss, THEN, going back and gushing about how his ideas (which he has never heard of) made the project successful. He will look surprised only for a moment but then will assume he just forgot....
We watch a lot of South Korean shows on Netflix and I cringe every time someone bows to someone older or higher up the food chain or when someone good gets on their knees to some snart. Ancient practices still being practiced. I. Will. Go. Down. With. The. Ship. before I ever give in to the tossers.
Sucking up is actually a very, very low skill that anybody can do and it has outsize benefits given the low effort. So, where risk/work/reward is relevant sucking up is actually number 1 on the list of things YOU WANT TO DO in enemy territory IF you want to win.
That warm brown taste in your mouth that you will initially taste and smell will go away with practice and after you see results.
Then, once YOU get on the inside, YOU can be part of how things work and set in place rule based outcomes again.
BUT, if you don't do the crawing and sucking up you will be locked out.
So, I recommend that given the ease with which sucking up is available to us, and, the likely need to do it coming soon or right now, well,
just get in the groove and find a way to suck your way up in a Republican organization.
Why not? It is easy. One needs only to say a few chant phrases and do a few fist bumps to be admitted to the party.
Once in, you get to move where you want.
But, if you are not in.......then.....you will move where they want you.
Read more information about her. Like all the others, she has no knowledge of the Constitution, rule of law, and much more. She is a member of the Federalist Society. She is a danger now to our rule of law.
Yes she was as were all of the other Trump appointed judicial picks. This was one of my main reasons to not vote for Trump. I said before 2016- Do you want Trump to pick RBG's successor? I knew it was going to bad after he got the POTUS job. All of these judgeships, some lifetime appointees, are going to be around for a long time to haunt us.
That belief would be correct. Despite the presence in this country of thousands of politically conservative lawyers who could pass the American Bar Association's requirements, McConnell and Trump installed dozens of judges considered unqualified by the ABA. Why? Because their only job is to follow orders.
Pam, thank you for the laugh that gave me! I find I toggle back and forth between The Serenity Prayer and the Yogi Berra quote, "It ain't over till it's over". Sigh.
Read the opinion. Granting Special Master is an exercise of the court's powers in 'equity' for which Trump must show 'clean hands'. (See ft. 12.) Cannon merely says Trump and Archives "were engaged in conversations regarding records". Ahhh...NO! Trump's lawyers lied under oath in an affidavit saying no more records existed, hid records, disregarded a subpoena, disregarded requests to safeguard the records, disregarded requests to return them and lied about what records were in his possession. Mischaracterizing the clear record is partisan, unethical and disingenuous. NO ONE is mentioning her mischaracterization of the facts! Yeah everyone is outraged about her 'interpretation' of the law, BUT THE FACTS ARE NOT IN DISPUTE and she mischaracterizes them. Talk about 'activist judges' rather than 'following the law'. Anything that touches the GOP post Newt Gingrich is by definition corrupt and disingenuous.
Significant event in human history tend to be a confluence of varied conditions and actions so far as I have noticed, but it seems to me the the "GOP" relationship with rule of law began running off the rails with the blanket, preemptive pardon of Nixon; certainly with the election of Reagan.
I’m speechless. I was convinced that the deceit of rump’s attorneys was going to be the nail in his coffin, but it looks like this judge has the capacity to have been in cahoots with them. The wind has been knocked out of my sails and your astute analysis is sinking my boat. How could I have been so naive to have thought that the DOJ had the upper hand when it came to the rule of law?
Take ❤️ heart! It’s a long battle from search warrant to orange jump suit. Plenty of twists and turns along the road in all litigation. ‘In the long run, the arc of history bends towards justice.’ MLKing. If DOJ sticks with it and not wimp out like new DA in NYC, Trump gets convicted of something here.
I completely agree with you...it's just that the majority of all the relevant courts are rump appointees. I've put all my eggs in the Fani and Letitia baskets....
PS DOJ sort of screwed up here. Judge notes ‘no party asked for evidentiary hearing’. Mistake based on facts known publicly. Why not call Trump’s lying lawyer and people from Bada-Bing lounge (errr…Mar-a-Lago) documenting his lies and obstruction?! Pretty hard then to mischaracterize record. But no worries this is preliminary crap.
He is the “ original sin”. And with the courts now stacked. .. the whole scenario is like being in passenger seat watching as driver drives right over cliff. So frightening
We can't let even this stand. 'Partisan ruling' would imply according to 'party' platform or code of ethics or something like that. Instead, this is a rogue ruling granting special privileges to the one person who's done everything he knew to toss out democracy and rule of law to become dictator. We need to stop accepting this language and abuse of the word 'partisan' as if it's simply a difference in political views on how to accomplish 'rule of law.' It's not.
Correct, although nobody wants to say it, and, most of us including me don't want to believe it, we are already at war.
A war of words and perceptions (so far) and who wins will control our government and, unfortunately, the Republicans have had this war going on for 40 years while the rest of us worked for a living and tried to do the right thing.
Now? Pubs own almost all the media outlets (especially radio) and all of the rest of the media are starting to cower and suck up to the right wing so they don't get shut down after the next election.
But, that won't help.
The Republicans are prosecuting war, and, we have to wake up to it.
Who didn’t know it was coming. Years ago, a co-worker, with whom I had one political conversation, told me that The Heritage Society was the means by which the republicans would reshape our world. Never forgot that exchange, it has played out over and over…
As a semi-socialist Democrat, I am semi-appalled by yet another display of rigged outrage from the semi-fascist Republicans. The Republican dance of the whiners is stale. Trumpster pundits and politicians are tripping over each other in their rush to create the soundbite that elicits the most MAGA death threats. Aye, Joe, it is time to sink this right-wing ship of fools.
This Palmer post helped to calm the waters for me. And it leads me to wonder: The writer asserts that this is laughable and will not hold up on appeal, which should happen quickly. We all observe this as a classic trump move, in that you don’t have to actually HAVE something happen, you just need to have someone announce it will happen. This judge seems willing ( for whatever reason) to play ball, whereas, someone like Ukrainian President Zelensky wouldn’t. So look closely at this M.O. The ruling mucks up the smooth path of the investigation (but really no surprise there). AND he gets US all in a hysterical doom-dance. This plays to his base like high-fructose corn syrup in the bloodstream. Watch the money flow to him from his thankful supporters for once AGAIN “Owning the Libs.” So what if it doesn’t stand up on appeal? The Labor Day performance delivered what it was designed to deliver.
Michele Lyons-Russell -- You've given us the perfect image: "Hysterical doom-dance!" We've all been in so many of them over the past six to seven years! And that "[i]t plays to his base like high-fructose corn syrup in the bloodstream." Thanks for this.
Bill Palmer is Not Afraid of telling the truth. He's a straight shooter that gets the story usually right unlike the media which he accurately portrays as saying whatever they need to just to keep us tuned in or for clickbait,.....your well-stated "doom-dance".
The part he hasn't written about yet, but is likely coming is her connection (like all of their Handmaids and lemmings) to the Heritage Foundation. Leo Leo gives her "the call" with instructions on how to access her new off-shore retirement account so she won't have to worry about her career or future and to just repay her debt with the ruling she's been directed to give.
There are a lot of accounts that can be funded out of that new $1.6 billion from the oligarchs.
BK, Brilliant. They are bribing her, of course! How could I not see it. Keep reminding us. LeoLeo, I like it. LeoLeo and Loose Cannon. What a combo! And, of course, Darth Traitor, a la Colbert.
I just read somewhere - hopefully not hear and am repeating - that CNN went right hoping to capture many fox folks. It tanked. Now more are going from CNN to MSNBC.
‘Rule of law is a principle under which all persons, institutions, and entities are accountable to laws that are: Publicly promulgated. Equally enforced. Independently adjudicated.’
Has this country’s ‘Rule of Law’ always been this confusing? At least it is confusing to me. Today’s letter confirms my skepticism. Is our country’s Rule of Law actually based on who’s in power?
‘Today, on the federal holiday of Labor Day, Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida granted former president Trump’s request for a special master to review the nearly 11,000 documents FBI agents seized in their search of the Trump Organization’s property at Mar-a-Lago on August 8.’
‘That is, a Trump-appointed judge, confirmed by the Senate on November 13, 2020, after Trump had lost the election, has stepped between the Department of Justice and the former president in the investigation of classified documents stolen from the government’.
‘Legal analysts appear to be appalled by the poor quality of the opinion. Former U.S. acting solicitor general Neal Katyal called it “so bad it’s hard to know where to begin.” Law professor Stephen Vladeck told Charlie Savage of the New York Times that it was “an unprecedented intervention…into the middle of an ongoing federal criminal and national security investigation.” Paul Rosenzweig, a prosecutor in the independent counsel investigation of Bill Clinton, told Savage it was “a genuinely unprecedented decision” and said stopping the criminal investigation was “simply untenable.” Duke University law professor Samuel Buell added: “To any lawyer with serious federal criminal court experience…, this ruling is laughably bad…. Trump is getting something no one else ever gets in federal court, he’s getting it for no good reason, and it will not in the slightest reduce the ongoing howls that he’s being persecuted, when he is being privileged.” (Letter)
From the United States Courts ‘Overview - Rule of Law’
‘More than 200 years ago, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay published a series of essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution now known as Federalist Papers. In explaining the need for an independent judiciary, Alexander Hamilton noted in The Federalist # 78 that the federal courts "were designed to be an intermediate body between the people and their legislature" in order to ensure that the people's representatives acted only within the authority given to Congress under the Constitution.’
The American democratic system is not always based upon simple majority rule. There are certain principles that are so important to the nation that the majority has agreed not to interfere in these areas. For instance, the Bill of Rights was passed because concepts such as freedom of religion, speech, equal treatment, and due process of law were deemed so important that, barring a Constitutional Amendment, not even a majority should be allowed to change them.
Rule of law is a principle under which all persons, institutions, and entities are accountable to laws that are:
• Publicly promulgated
• Equally enforced
• Independently adjudicated
• And consistent with international human rights principles.
‘The courts play an integral role in maintaining the rule of law, particularly when they hear the grievances voiced by minority groups or by those who may hold minority opinions. Equality before the law is such an essential part of the American system of government that, when a majority, whether acting intentionally or unintentionally, infringes upon the rights of a minority, the Court may see fit to hear both sides of the controversy in court. (UnitedStatesCourts)’ See link below for more of an Overview of the Rule of Law from the United States Courts.
Withal, my question remains, ‘Is our country’s ‘Rule of Law’ malleable? Does it change depending on who’s in power? Finally, the United States Courts Overview of the Rule of Law ends with a disclaimer.
DISCLAIMER: These resources are created by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts for educational purposes only. They may not reflect the current state of the law, and are not intended to provide legal advice, guidance on litigation, or commentary on any pending case or legislation.
After 40 years of hammering, yes, the rule of law is malleable. Ask any black, brown, or poor individual who got 25 years for possession of marajuana, while their white, wealthy counterparts got probation, they will tell you just how malleable the rule of law is in this country on a day to day basis.
Nations, laws, are all made up of and by people, and as such are subject to all our foibles and better angels. Judge Cannon is the product of decades of work by the right to bend the court to their will. The left has finally woken up to this, and thanks to McConnol's taking the fillibuster out of the Senate confirmation process, Biden, et. al. have been confirming judges (qualified ones!) at a record clip, hammering out courts straight(er) again.
The DOJ was established to prevent citizens from unilaterally denying other citizens their rights. That this history has been taught as the DOJ was created to protect non-white people from having their rights denied by white people, misses the point when the "semi-facist" crowd, hellbent on going full facist, decrees only those who fall in line with them will enjoy Constitutional rights in this country every time they control the levers of justice.
"If you don't examine how democracy has died for people of color in this country, you might miss how freedom fades not in big bombastic moments, but in slow ongoing repression."
The Courts joining with MAGA forces to delay justice seems to side step the Criminal Action of illegal removal of the material and the subsequent lies by the former President and his legal representatives about the status of the material.
It seems to me that the nature of what is in the material while of paramount importance to National Security and subject to Criminal Investigation for Security Laws. But the acts of theft and subsequent illegal denial are already well documented.
I think the grounds for indictment are present in the established facts of the case. Let MAGA moil and toil to place their Leader above the Law as ordained by his Judges but why can’t the people get simple justice for obvious arrogance and downright theft?
The only silver lining is the egregiousness and obvious bias against the rule of law that it exemplifies.
The MAGA are losing the independents. The Democrats (and the citizens of this country) are winning the battle for the “hearts and minds” of the electorate.
This will not end well-- for Trump and company.
Hurt his reputation? He should have thought of that before he broke bad.
He has not had a reputation to be concerned about since the 1980s. Ask any New Yorker.
He hasn't had a good reputation since he punched a teacher in first grade, or was caught at age 11 throwing rocks at the toddler in a playpen next door.
Greg Olear and you have got it right. I know you can read this through, TC. Probably nod your head in agreement as you go. In fact, you’ve said so much of it before on It’s Another Fine Mess.
Hard going for me. It’s just so…so despicable. Hard for a woman to bear it.
Where is the cell that will hold them all? Soon, please.
This judge's concern for rump's reputation is the most laughable thing I've ever heard. I thought nothing could be more despicable than his lawyers lying to the DOJ, assuring that no document was left behind in Mar-a-lago, but undoubtedly Judge Cannon is cut from the same cloth....
THe past doesn't support the belief that our electorate's eyes and ears are open, and even less the idea they're educated enough to understand. Perhaps Roe vs. Wade will open their eyes, ears, and nose.
As H.L. Mencken observed 98 years ago during the Scopes Monkey Trial hysteria, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."
It is more of the language of the old south, the language of persecution and death. If trump, or the extreme right, don’t get everything that they want, it is because the world is out to destroy them and their greatness, their wonderful way of life. If one person on the left stoops to violence, the proud boys will pretend to shake in their boots while they lock and load in “self defense.“ The extreme right seeks “fairness” as the south sought “reconciliation.” But in truth the south sought conciliation on the part of the north, never offering any conciliatory gestures of its own.
Thank you for so clearly explaining the nature and implications of this absurd opinion. Tragically, it's unlikely that many MAGA supporters will read it or care. The future of our country is in the hands of wildly unqualified judges, power-mad GOP political leaders, reactionary GOP funders, and a gullible populist base. We CAN stop them if the rest of us mobilize millions of voters to vote to save our democracy in November and in every future election.
While I feel more comfortable staying home (in Baltimore), you have convinced me that I need join someone's campaign in Pennsylvania or some other nearby state.
I never thought I would witness the United States become a fascist state.
My state is among those that have enacted voter restriction laws after the 2020 election. The GOP has a tri-fecta of control with Republican governor, Senate, and House. My fear is.that even mass mobilization of voters may not succeed in casting out these scoundrels who have so rigged the system in their favor.
Be smart. Organizations such as Working America and The States Project do the research to determine where to most effectively invest our energy and donor dollars to shift the balance of power to Dems:
“Once you have the courts you can pretty much do whatever you want”. That is frightening and exactly the plan of the oligarchs, Federalist Society and republicans. Trump is again a useful idiot. I feel sure we will come out in droves to vote and hopefully win. But will that be enough?
With 2 more Dem senators, may the voting rights legislation breathe again. My dream and my donations go to that direction. BTW, everything Hitler did was legal, they passed the laws and had the courts. Only Ike stood in the way.
I written elsewhere that Judge Cannon's sortie into this case is completely illegitimate; I also believe the evidence will show that it occurred with the connivance of Trump's legal team, and that it was prearranged in order to obfuscate matters and to create further grounds for delay. On those grounds alone, I would like to see Judge Aileen Cannon ousted from the federal judiciary, by impeachment of necessary, but in all events, she should be placed on suspension from duty and prohibited from taking any part in the current proceedings. The issues she raised about fairness and legitimacy are entirely bogus. As I mentioned in my Facebook page posting, I practiced law for 52 years that included 12 years of service as a lawyer within the Federal Government, and I've never seen the kind of situation where a junior federal judge interposes herself into an ongoing criminal investigation overseen by another federal judge, invoking a false claim to jurisdiction over matters that she is not entitled to adjudicate. This is yet another example of the Trump administration's utter contempt for institutional norms and boundary setting guardrails that have been jettisoned time and again throughout the federal government during the four years that Donald Trump was President. Judge Cannon's radical departure from established norms needs to be halted in its tracks; if she were working in any other officer department within the federal Establishment, she would immediately be suspended from duty, and place on a fast track for her removal for cause. Two weeks ago, I believe on a Friday afternoon, Judge Cannon announced ex parte that she was inclined to grant the relief that the former president was demanding, all without evidence that there was even a justiciable case before her. It turns out that there is not: the documents seized by the FBI consisted of documents related to the National Defense or within the Intelligence Community, none of which the former president had any right, title, or interest in, insofar as their substantive content is concerned. The Department of Justice/FBI privilege evaluation team had already gone through what remained of the property seized to determine whether an evidentiary privilege existed (i.e., attorney-client privilege) that would preclude use of such property against the former president, should a criminal indictment and sue and trial follow. All that work is not done. The idea that Judge Cannon would now appoint a Special Master to rummage through 11,000 document pages that were obtained from the former president to see if by some remote chance a privileged document might now reveal itself to him or her after having been examined in detail by a small army of prosecutors, FBI agents and analysts, and personnel from the National Archives and Records Administration is patently absurd. It's time to bite the bullet and show Judge Cannon the door, and then get on with the investigation.
How does one even qualify a "special master" in a case such as this? The concept makes no sense to me.
The most salient theme of the modern GOP is entitlement to make rules for others and that no others may make rules they are obliged to follow. Sounds like tyranny to me.
That's just one of the problems. In order to review those documents the Special Master named in the Order of Reference would need to have the highest possible security clearance available in the government. The work would need to be done in one of those highly secure document viewing facilities that the intelligence community maintains. It's an impossible logistical problem precipitated by a junior federal judge who is a runaway freight train. As I suggested, she's the problem; get rid of her, and the government can go about its business. This is all a PR stunt anyway, so take the heat from the MAGAhats and move on. In the Justice Department filing of August 30, which you can download, the Justice Department stated that they wanted the Special Master's review to be done by someone they approved of, and who had the requisite security clearances; and that they wanted the entire review to be completed by September 30. I don't think that they can afford to play footsie with Judge Cannon; she's too much of a committed ideologue, and once she gets her foot in the door, there will be no getting rid of her. As I said, my solution would be to handle this as an internal personnel matter by the Administrative Office of the Courts. I would also serve her with the subpoena to appear before a magistrate judge and give a sworn statement about her prior contacts with the Trump legal team before, during,, and after she intervened in the case that until now is being handled by Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhardt. Give her a taste of her own medicine.
I think DoJ can force Cannon to resign, or else be prosecuted for interference with a federal criminal investigation. She deserves to go. As I said, this is a PR stunt. She can also be charged with conspiracy to delay or obstruct a federal criminal investigation, along with those who recruited her to run interference for Trump.
I don't know how long ago I fell in love with your legal mind, Arthur, but you just triggered those feelings all over again. Thank you for writing this, it really soothed my outrage of constant egregious behaviors the party of sedition commits constantly. Your wife is in no way in any danger...it is just "legal love."
Arthur, I think I read somewhere that six out of eleven judges in the appropriate appeals court are likewise FS appointees, which I do not find even slightly reassuring. Is Judge Cannon’s appointment a lifetime appointment? This is all just beyond upsetting. Thanks for your excellent post.
Arthur Silen, Two questions: First, in actuality, over the course of our country's history, how malleable is the 'rule of law' depending on who's in power? Second, in sum, could Judge Cannon's decision materially effect the DOJ with reference to prosecution of parties connected to the stolen classified government documents by the former president?
I went to sleep before this letter, still in the throes of COvid. But here I am in the middle of the night practically shaking with rage... Surrounded by the news of voter roles being purged and the gerrymandering going on I won't give up faith but the fear and gloom are threatening my state of mind. Yesterday both my husband and I decided to take a break from Twitter and try to sit tight until something significant happens to change the outlook. It's eating us up all day and all night! I just can't believe this!
Watch some good movies with your husband, or anything you can do in quarantine that you enjoy. Make a contract with him, NO NEWS for a few days and take care of yourselves.
Benedict Donald and bad judges will be here when you get back. So will we.
When I read your comment my eyes got moist, feeling cared for by the group where I feel so safe. Sounds corny but I'm always grateful to be a part of such a bright, educated, passionate group who know the truth and are as concerned as I am about our country and our precious democracy. It's so hard to sift through all the noise out there but in here I always find harmony and light! Thank you all❤️
I’m hoping Adam Kinzinger’s and Liz Cheney’s strong stand against Trump and his Magats influences Republicans to follow THEIR lead to protect our democracy and to vote against that dangerous Trumpist movement in November!
Actually, our little group (as Margaret Mead insisted could change the world) in northern Michigan has targeted "mainstream" Republicans because we've discovered the ones in our neighborhoods are disgusted with the MAGAts running our county commission and making decisions in our state and national capitols. We've put together voting record lists according to issue (women's health, gun control, small business, veterans...) to guide us in friendly discussions. It's working!
Help us elect Democrat Dr. Bob Lorinser for Congress (and send seditionist Jack Bergman back to his real home in Louisiana)!
And spend time outside ( if it's safe and not too hot where you are), listening to the sounds of birds, smelling the earth and plants, walking gently on a trail or just sitting on a bench. Take off your shoes and let your stress drain into the earth, feel the sun or moon or rain or breeze on your face. It isn't a cure, but it sure does help. It's part of how I "cope" with it all, every day ... that and yummy treats, a good salad, healthy food and unhealthy food, and plenty of binge TV watching, LOL -- not to trivialize your feelings at all, I'm right there with you. Add in climate change disasters, animal exploition,, or anything else you are passionate about, and it gets dangerously overwhelming. Rest and self nurturing are critical. It's not effortless, at least not for me, but the reward is worth the effort. I wish you a speedy recovery. Soak up some nature...🌞
For the past seven years, we have been hit non stop with preposterous lies, vicious attacks, savaging of our rule of law and any number of uncivil and undemocratic "malignancies" from the sick mind of the creature Dahlia Lithwick recently referred to as " the great greased watermelon that is the former president." A majority of Americans are suffering from this onslaught of constant fascist tactics blasted at us by a puffed and painted buffoon with his bullhorn of uncontrollable BS. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/08/facts-caught-donald-trump-documents.html
My wish for you and your husband, Cynthia, is that you work hard to stay away from the news for several days while you continue to recover. You need rest and you need peace. You already have one virus, don't expose yourself to another in your condition.
Whatever you miss by shielding yourself while you take care of your health will not be that important, no matter what it is. Please put yourself first. Very best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.
Thank you so much for such words of wisdom. I have always thought that TFG was the 'perfect' metaphor for the Virus ... and I pray that he is eradicated soon. From the universe as well as my life....
I keep promising myself that I will stay off Twitter and LinkedIn which appears to be more right wing. Then I read Heather's newsletter and post everywhere I can an get caught up in reading other tweets - among them those from the magamumpets which enrage me further.
Cynthia, I'm pretty sure I understand as well as someone who is not you can. Since you mention Twitter, I want to tell you that about 10 months ago I closed my account on there. It was causing me daily agony for about six years, but I felt so strongly that I couldn't "miss" anything. A therapist/body worker I see had been urging me and urging me to get off, but I just couldn't manage it. I tried many ways of not going down scary rabbit holes. Nothing really worked. Until a tipping point. Doesn't really matter what that was, I just suddenly knew that my health depended on me completely getting off. Now I read Heather every day. But I almost never look at the papers, and only in recent months have turned NPR back on occasionally. If they are doing one of their "both sides" things, or really anything that is too much, I turn it off.
I cannot tell you to get off Twitter. Just doesn't seem to work that way. However, if a moment comes when something tells you to close your account? Please listen to it. It's OK to miss most of it. Heather is enough. At least this is my experience after six brutal years on there and reading linked articles, and the Post, and Times, etc. It's still brutal, OF COURSE. But not the same level of daily assault. I still know how scary and angering things are. I still donate. I still write for Postcards to Voters. But I'm in my garden a lot more. I started painting again. (I'm an artist.) It. Is. Better.
Thanks so much for your wisdom. I'm trying to wean myself, there's only a few people I've been following, Heather of c,?and a few literary folks and bird folks... but it's so easy to go down some paths searching for some information to quell my angst or offer some information to help my worries subside. But it's like a bad drug. No relief so you 'take more'.
I'm pulling back, and hanging out here. And a few other letters I discovered here! Thanks again.... oh boy!
I'm going to fall back on something that I have counseled before: the concept of stagger breathing. As you can see from my profile pic, I play the tuba. We are often called upon to play a long, low note, or a moving pattern of notes that repeats over and over, sometimes for 20+ measures. Stagger breathing is where I breathe only on the odd numbered measures, and the other guy breathes only on the even numbered measures, thus assuring that that one note/pattern stays constant. Sometimes, only one of us is playing, but at all times at least one of us is.
You need to recover from the virus; stagger breathe, do other things that nourish you; we'll keep things going while you tend to your health, and come back when one of us needs to "fall out" for a while.
I'm trying to focus on my photography show that opens Saturday at a local gallery... my husband will be playing at the opening with me (he may be the bigger draw! : ) And after we finish hanging this afternoon I'm going to snuggle up on the couch and watch some movies, open to suggestions!
The rain hasn't stopped all day and that's a real source of joy!
I turned off all news yesterday because of announcement of her judgment. I saw that Heather already had her letter out early. Read first sentence and shut it down, dreading reading it today. I’m truly sick to my stomach. Arthur, how does anyone initiate your ideas. Is there any hope?
Because Trump claims to have declassified all the documents, I would think that Trump's list for Master Reviewer would be less rigorous than the DOJ's list. This stumbling block might force the Supreme Court to rule on whether a president can declassify material and to whom the documents belong.
And here is the punch line: The Supreme Court Justice who oversees cases in Florida is Clarence Thomas. Fasten your seat belts. We're in for a bumpy ride." (I forget the movie where that line comes from .. or to quote Grouch Marks "Our cook is goosed")
Regardless if the stolen documents were classified or not, he still broke the law by stealing them. Add to that the violations of the Espionage Act. This special master stuff is a distraction from what Trump and his cronies really did in stealing, hiding, and God knows what else with these documents.
Stuart, it seems headlines and the White House are his only goals these days - and staying out of prison. Poor pathetic Trump - he needs headlines like the rest of us need food. At least these headlines could remind people that he's a common lying thief. And probably traitor, too, given the likelihood that he traded/sold some of these classified docs to other countries or leaders. Or even to ultra-rich reactionaries like Murdoch, Thiel, Mercer, Koch, et. al.
I like to think of him as the Largest Lemming. The Lemming Leader. Ultimately he will find his cliff and he and his little lemmings will hurl themselves into the sea. The sound of their splashing will be as uneventful as their passing. Fish Poop smells like, well, fish poop.
I view Trump as a psychologically very sick man. Narcissists such as Trump view anything outside of themselves as being two-dimensional extensions of their own self.
I can hear you easily say that Trump has no sense of history, and no sense of Western Civilization. Heck, in Manhattan he lived just down the street from Lincoln Center, The Met, MOMA etc. If you asked Trump, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall", he would not know what to say.
I’m having a temper tantrum right now. This of all things was somehow the last damn straw. Judges are supposed to protect the rule of law. She did not do that. I hope she is disbarred over this. Gawd dammit. I need to eat strawberries to clean my mouth out after I read this decision today.
In plain English, Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida is an embarrassingly stupid white jurist chosen by a defeated fascist that claims fraud - on his way to his own prosecutions, certain convictions and sentencing.
It’s good that the obese liar - AG Bill Barr - finally awakened with the horses running the plains. He needs to apologize and take off 200 pounds - and dry out. Dry conservative straight up Martinis do not aid justice, Mr. Barr. Step away from your bar and apologize to the Bar that matters.
ARRRG! God the fascists really set this all up and we good people just try to go by the rules FOR THEM! Arrests and disbarments need to be made. This is a 40-60 year coup on democracy.
I you-tubed the Pennsylvania Rally. A half-hour warm-up of sentimental pop songs, then the tawny-haired (wigged), red-faced apparition, hands clapping, sashaying up and down, settles at the lectern and talks about himself, his Home, her e-mails, on and on and on. The idolaters in the chat column didn't even notice that there was nothing about Dr Oz (Dr Oz! like the Wizard, another charlatan!) Five minutes was all I could stand, but I wanted to see if any of them understood what they were witnessing. They didn't. Yes, sixty years in the making.
Misery loves company, so I am glad to sense that you are as outraged as I am at this decision. Taking into account the "harm to Trump's reputation" is a thinly veiled way of saying he is being treated with kid gloves. The FBI treated him with kid gloves, trying to get the papers they feared would be available to our enemies, for over a year. Once again, he threw a fit and got the delay he wanted. I imagine, since a special master will not be appointed for at least another few weeks, that the review will last well past the elections. And the liars in the MAGA Republican ranks will misconstrue this to say that the seizure was illegal, that the judge thinks he still can exert executive privilege, etc. Coming on top for FiveThirtyEight.com's latest projection that the Republicans will win the majority of the House in November (McCarthy as Speaker--Oh, my God), this day was a giant set back...or at least a realization.
I'm terrified Sandy, I feel like I'm sliding down an elevator shaft in slow motion.... last night just before falling asleep there was some chatter on Twitter about the ownership of MAL,, and how trump is actually an employee not the owner, and thereby there could be a loophole in all this? I couldn't stay awake so I thought maybe there's still a way to mail his axx? Heather actually retweeted a portion of the story,?so my fingers are crossed....
Let's hope this is an absurd complication from a judge clearly not qualified to rule on what's shaping up to be the most important national security court case in the nation's history. The order stopping the DOJ's investigation until a special master reviews the vast amount of materials raises serious questions about her impartiality. Same for her bizarre language about Trump's reputation.
Attorney General Merrick Garland now has yet another challenge in helping to save democracy.
“Once you have the courts, you can do pretty much what you want.”
So in other words, even though every single piece of paper TAKEN by the former president to his home belong NOT to him but to We the People, it LOOKS bad that We the People took them back from butter fingers?
And so says a federal judge in Florida appointed in November 2020 by the person taking 11,000 documents with him? Oops. I see. Our bad.
No wonder it’s not so ridiculous that he still tantrums about the need for one of his someones to overturn the election.
Oops. I see. Their bad.
Bah, bah black sheep, have you any wool? No sir, no sir, taken by white fools.
On Labor Day no less. I call that a smack down, Judge.
Only way forward is a Blue Tsunami in November. Roe, Not Woe, Roe your Vote.
I hear you, loud and clear, Sandy. Even through the rising deep thunder clouds in Florida. It’s what woke me up tonight to read Professor Richardson’s letter which had been posted “1 minute ago”.
A lesson learned I hope by all Democrats, that is push through those judges as the top priority. We are in a different political world now and TFG and his crew are determined to bully their way to victory. Still hoping most voters see through this circus.
And the Nazi's studied the American South during Jim Crow to design their system and their laws (which were not as harsh as the Jim Crow laws of the south).
I would suggest that this action by the "judge" opens the door for the DOJ to do away with its arbitrary rule of not issuing indictments or making any public pronouncements about investigations within 60 days of an election. After all if there can be "reputational harm" and "stigma" for TFG, then there can equally be "reputational harm" and "stigma" for the DOJ and Merrick Garland if they are perceived as not doing their job. And once again for those in the back of the room and for equally corrupt judges, only the sitting president CAN CLAIM EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE. How stupid can this broad be? I sincerely hope there's an appeal in the immediate future.
I doubt this judge is stupid. She's just compromised up to her eyeballs. Add her to the big pile of far right Republicans who spit on their oath of office.
There can be although that Circuit is notoriously right-leaning . It could end up at the Supremes but that would probably mean more delay and more fantastical, freelance lawmaking.
Perhaps Professor Richardson can ask Professor Jason Stanley of Yale, expert on fascism, what we can do to stop this abuse of the law, and stop the fascism which is on our doorstep.
Jason Stanley: "The challenges are enormous" . " How can we maintain a sense of common humanity?" "We can take comfort in histories of progressive social movements." The direct targets of fascist politics are refugees, feminists, labor unions, racial, religious, and sexual minorities.........and we can see the methods used to divide us.
OK, so the judge did her thing. The process hardly ends there. Her opinion is subject to review, and it's not clear that she even has jurisdiction. Let's wait until the special master is appointed and then goes through the process of getting a clearance. In the mean time, since most of the documents have already been reviewed, Garland should file charges based on what he already has. Also, he could ask the appropriate intelligence agencies to take custody of their items and force the special master to go through the process of being granted access to the appropriate facilities where they are then stored.
With Federalist picks like weak poorly educated embarrassingly unqualified Federal Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida clogging the courts, not to mention state governments and the voting ststems of those states, there’s no chance: we cannot keep the republic, Mr. Franklin.
There has to be some sort of balance in the universe. Situations have swung so far out of balance, I have to not give in to total despair, I have to believe that there will be justice.
This decision by Cannon makes me feel so sick to my stomach that I want to eat the refrigerator. As I read through Dr. Richardson's discussion, I began to understand why it's so frightening. We're right to feel worried. I'm so tired of the attack of the RWNJs on democracy and the rule of law. The vote seems so fragile facing off against this juggernaut of violence, disinformation, and downright deceit. Let's make it count this November 8th -- ten weeks away.
Robert Hubbell’s Substack essay in my box tonight after I received Professor Richardson’s LFAA barnburner, definitely kept the refrigerator at bay for me. So many affective and effective considerations by Hubbell.
Here’s a link, Laura and forum.
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/a-tale-of-two-speeches?r=l2aa7&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Gratitude to Substack authors.
🗽
I second Christine's motion! Here's a few snippets from Robert Hubbell:
"The maddening unfairness of yet another seeming “Trump exception” to the rule of law is dispiriting and upsetting. Not to worry! Trump stole national defense secrets on his way out the door, concealed that fact, and then lied about it when caught. There is no innocent explanation for his conduct, and there is nothing a special master can do to prevent the DOJ from indicting Trump. Delay? Maybe. Prevent? No."
"If Republicans hoped Trump would not be on the ballot in 2022, Trump is doing everything he can to dash their hopes. As Biden said in response to a heckler on Monday, 'Look, everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.' Trump is proving that in spades."
Since this "so-called judge" chose to attempt her cover-up with the "appearance" of equity, then by the same rules she herself may receive the very same treatment that "her side" has been providing to the FBI, CIA, POTUS, Garland and every other federal position that the thugs have been attacking. After all, it would only be "fair".
If Bill Palmer of Palmer Report is right "she just set fire to her own career"
https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/this-special-master-ruling-is-horse-crap-but-it-doesnt-really-help-donald-trump/46995/
Thank you for sharing that article and the link to it. This calmed my nerves:
"First, this ruling is legal gibberish on its face. There is nothing in this judge’s ruling that is in any way compatible with the law – meaning it’s precisely the kind of ruling that quickly and automatically gets overturned by the appeals court. Second, even if this judge’s ruling did contain any legally valid arguments, appointing a special master to oversee the sorting of evidence after it’s already been sorted is laugh out loud nonsense. Again, it’s precisely why this ruling won’t last five minutes on appeal."
Ahaha! Yes! That's the way I am looking at it, too. Darn it; so do we all have to leave our regular passions and contributions and learn the law and physically participate in dismantling this system and impeaching the people who clearly need to be impeached? Argghhh!!!
We may. Many people have done just that, especially Black Americans, when there seemed no other way.
Yes, I read Palmer and felt slightly better. I do agree with the headline...the decision is horse crap. Will the DOJ appeal?
A question for those of you who know the legal system far better than I do: who would hear the appeal? Thank you!
I am not a lawyer, but I think a Federal appeals court.
It would go to the 11th Circuit court in Atlanta and be ruled on by 11 judges. Thing is, 6 of those were appointed by T***p. One would hope they would recognise Cannon's ruling for what it is and their legal consciences would take over and they'd vote to rescind it. But at this point, who tf knows??
There’s always a job for a useful idiot
Hopefully
I wonder how many republicans who voted against rump’s impeachment are now sick to their stomachs…McConnell for sure has been on the toilet the whole night…
When this episode of history is written McConnell will be determined to be one of the biggest traitors to democracy and our rule of law there ever has been. He has been the enabler of the worst the country has ever produced.
I agree. He started his campaign before death star occupied the WH. He and death star are both loathsome destroyers.
Way more than an enabler. He was on the team that created this horror
Right!
Do you think he thinks that he's a good American? And that he's doing the right thing for our country? Seriously?'
Sophia, you’re assuming they have a conscience…
It has nothing to do with conscience--even those who despise rump voted against impeachment to appease the base constituents whose votes they needed to stay in power. Now he's getting preferential treatment and coming back to haunt them. Poor McConnell....
I don't even think it's a question of a conscience. We had the answer to that when he ignored those audio recordings of the babies at the border crying for their mothers. I think McConnell is an old dog who's outlived an outfoxed almost everybody, lined his coffers with gold, put his stamp on the highest court in the land and his ego just wants to go out with one more win
They did that to save themselves from the MAGA crowd and it worked. They are still in office and I think that's the only thing they care about.
Yes, that's exactly what I said in reply to MLMinET's comment....
Right!
McConnell is just as much to blame! He is just as evil as tfg!
Practically all of the rump administration was evil. His cabinet consisted of physically ugly people because their souls were empty....
None. Of. Them.
One can only hope.
Another success for ragged individualism?
Christine I read Hubbells essay as well right after I read Heather's remark. As much as I want to praise these articles, I detest their content.
This sickens me.
Yes, Fab. Perfectly put. I called on the Light tonight.
Be safe as well, Linda.
🗽
I feel a lot better after reading Hubbell. And I've broadcast Hubbell to my list of ~84. Thanks Christine.
That is a good post.
And if you can get through it, here is Greg Olear’s Substack post today from Prevail. A very stark description of the corrupt criminality that is the former and his ilk. https://gregolear.substack.com/p/the-ineluctable-criminality-of-the?r=l2aa7&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
🗽
Greg Olear (and Sarah Kendzior) have insight that I once believed was the left's version of a conspiracy theory. At this point, I believe them.
Thanks for this Christine. Another I just subscribe to.
Here is what Greg Olear wrote about TFG in February:
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/portrait-of-an-american-strongman
And what he wrote about George Orwell's "1984" in August:
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/sunday-pages-nineteen-eighty-four
Thanks
Thanks for sharing Christine! Just subscribed as well.
he's excellent!
I had not read Robert Hubbell before, but I will not miss him again! Thanks for the link... and an added benefit: you can listen and rest your weary eyes!
Same with me!!
Thanks, Christine! It really helps!
Oh thank you for this. It lowered my blood pressure which has been surging.
Thanks, Christine, for bringing this cool, well thought-out piece to our attention. Its conclusion seems unanswerable.
Thanks Christine. I subscribe and will stay up to read it. Salud.
thank you so much for this Christine! It is such an important read.
I feel better after reading Hubbell. Thank you for sharing this link Christine (FL)
I subscribed. Thank you for introducing me to someone else.
Same here Gailee.
Thanks for this link and I will be checking it out.
I am reading it now, as I write, and it is horrifying. This judge, could she have a more apt name? Cannon is clearly a Magat. Omg.
Clearly, it should be Loose Cannon.
Thank you for posting this.
Great post. Thank you.
Courage. The goal is in sight.
Yes. I have been reading other sources on Twitter that truly explain how idiotic the judge's decision was made. Not at all based on evidence and written with no logic or facts.
Actually, very logical for that judge. She wants to kiss up in the GOP.
Sandy,
EXACTLY correct.
In corporations and all unequal societies where some individuals have more rights than others, then, crawling on one's knees, currying favor and "sucking up" become the way in which those deemed "lesser" (sometimes) rise into the ranks of the privileged and "superior".
In fact, in societies like the old Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and the American South during and well after slavery, "currying favor" was the only way for someone not already deemed acceptable to survive. Even if they knew they could never gain true entry to equality.
For 38 years I was a highly technical Ph.D. engineer in three of America's best failing corporations. Because of my farm experience where hard work makes one successful, and, then, similar outcomes in academia, I thought hard work would matter in a corporation.
American corporations are unequal societies where some folks are deemed superior and some are deemed unacceptable and work has nothing to do with the selection criterion.
To say I was wrong that work mattered would be a gross understatement.
ONLY after I learned that the only thing that counted was making sure my (white male) bosses five levels above me all thought I was appropriately docile, obedient and willing to crawl on my knees at all times in their presence did I begin my own progression of salary and position.
But, having attained a management position, then, after a few years, I rotated back to technical work and forgot about the game completely.
I was never going to be good at kissing ass and stopped practicing and instead bought a farm and, while still getting paid, got it going. Now? I am back where work matters, and, respect for those who are part of that work matters.
So, Republicans COMPLETELY understand that to get complete control of everyone which includes a LOT of people who are superior thinkers and doers, they need to get every one of the judges to CRAWL at their feet.
Like the judge described in today's letter.
Republicans also understand that eventually the rest of us will have to crawl on our knees too.....or else.
Mike S. It seems to me that you are describing what I envision as “White Planter Mentality”. Corporations are the Plantations. The view of the laborer is the same - that they are not worthy of real consideration. To make it to an elevated positionyou must bow to the master and live with cognitive dissonance.
Michele, not being a historian, I cannot say if the American corporation is "white planter mentality".
I CAN say, with certainty, that the most valuable and important skill in a corporation is the ability to say "YES, GREAT IDEA", immediately following hearing the dumbest, most stupid idea you have ever heard. Then, AFTER doing what makes sense, and, making the project successful, going back to the same boss you ignored and telling him about the outcome AND saying: "Remember when you told me "something he never thought of doing"?? "THAT was a GREAT IDEA".
So, sucking up is really a two part deal for folks like me.
1. Sucking up and saying yes to everything then....
2. AFTER doing whatever actually makes sense, without telling the boss, THEN, going back and gushing about how his ideas (which he has never heard of) made the project successful. He will look surprised only for a moment but then will assume he just forgot....
Easy. Really. So easy it makes everyone laugh.
Yes! Yes Yes Yes!
We watch a lot of South Korean shows on Netflix and I cringe every time someone bows to someone older or higher up the food chain or when someone good gets on their knees to some snart. Ancient practices still being practiced. I. Will. Go. Down. With. The. Ship. before I ever give in to the tossers.
Hi Gailee,
Couple of thoughts for you.
Sucking up is actually a very, very low skill that anybody can do and it has outsize benefits given the low effort. So, where risk/work/reward is relevant sucking up is actually number 1 on the list of things YOU WANT TO DO in enemy territory IF you want to win.
That warm brown taste in your mouth that you will initially taste and smell will go away with practice and after you see results.
Then, once YOU get on the inside, YOU can be part of how things work and set in place rule based outcomes again.
BUT, if you don't do the crawing and sucking up you will be locked out.
So, I recommend that given the ease with which sucking up is available to us, and, the likely need to do it coming soon or right now, well,
just get in the groove and find a way to suck your way up in a Republican organization.
Why not? It is easy. One needs only to say a few chant phrases and do a few fist bumps to be admitted to the party.
Once in, you get to move where you want.
But, if you are not in.......then.....you will move where they want you.
Read more information about her. Like all the others, she has no knowledge of the Constitution, rule of law, and much more. She is a member of the Federalist Society. She is a danger now to our rule of law.
All that matters to the FS is her ideology. And her slavishness—she drove to Palm Beach so it would be more convenient for tfg.
She was chosen for a reason
She was chosen for a treason!!
Yes she was as were all of the other Trump appointed judicial picks. This was one of my main reasons to not vote for Trump. I said before 2016- Do you want Trump to pick RBG's successor? I knew it was going to bad after he got the POTUS job. All of these judgeships, some lifetime appointees, are going to be around for a long time to haunt us.
Sandy, she probably believes she owes the MAGATs her judgeship. Kissing up....more like licking ass.
That belief would be correct. Despite the presence in this country of thousands of politically conservative lawyers who could pass the American Bar Association's requirements, McConnell and Trump installed dozens of judges considered unqualified by the ABA. Why? Because their only job is to follow orders.
Who needs logic or facts? Table-pounding is where it's at!
👏👏👏
She’s a Maggat, Gailee. Sad emoji.
How about Maggot?
Yes. Let's call them what they are.
Thank you, I needed that.
Me too!
You and me, both, Gus. And a stiff drink wouldn't hurt.
Sandra, I'll go with more than one stiff drink! 🥃
Pam, thank you for the laugh that gave me! I find I toggle back and forth between The Serenity Prayer and the Yogi Berra quote, "It ain't over till it's over". Sigh.
I think the simple complexity of another Berra quote is appropriate:
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Sounds like the midterm election is a demonstrable fork in our political dinner plate.
So did I.
Hi Gus,
Hello back to ya!
But it's has been filled with concrete.
An absolutely partisan ruling!
Read the opinion. Granting Special Master is an exercise of the court's powers in 'equity' for which Trump must show 'clean hands'. (See ft. 12.) Cannon merely says Trump and Archives "were engaged in conversations regarding records". Ahhh...NO! Trump's lawyers lied under oath in an affidavit saying no more records existed, hid records, disregarded a subpoena, disregarded requests to safeguard the records, disregarded requests to return them and lied about what records were in his possession. Mischaracterizing the clear record is partisan, unethical and disingenuous. NO ONE is mentioning her mischaracterization of the facts! Yeah everyone is outraged about her 'interpretation' of the law, BUT THE FACTS ARE NOT IN DISPUTE and she mischaracterizes them. Talk about 'activist judges' rather than 'following the law'. Anything that touches the GOP post Newt Gingrich is by definition corrupt and disingenuous.
Significant event in human history tend to be a confluence of varied conditions and actions so far as I have noticed, but it seems to me the the "GOP" relationship with rule of law began running off the rails with the blanket, preemptive pardon of Nixon; certainly with the election of Reagan.
How about the GOP's penchant for first selecting idiots (Trump, Bush II) and then a raving narcissistic maniac?
👍🏼
I’m speechless. I was convinced that the deceit of rump’s attorneys was going to be the nail in his coffin, but it looks like this judge has the capacity to have been in cahoots with them. The wind has been knocked out of my sails and your astute analysis is sinking my boat. How could I have been so naive to have thought that the DOJ had the upper hand when it came to the rule of law?
They still have the upper hand. It’s the previous DOJ under the former with the losing hand.
Take ❤️ heart! It’s a long battle from search warrant to orange jump suit. Plenty of twists and turns along the road in all litigation. ‘In the long run, the arc of history bends towards justice.’ MLKing. If DOJ sticks with it and not wimp out like new DA in NYC, Trump gets convicted of something here.
I completely agree with you...it's just that the majority of all the relevant courts are rump appointees. I've put all my eggs in the Fani and Letitia baskets....
PS DOJ sort of screwed up here. Judge notes ‘no party asked for evidentiary hearing’. Mistake based on facts known publicly. Why not call Trump’s lying lawyer and people from Bada-Bing lounge (errr…Mar-a-Lago) documenting his lies and obstruction?! Pretty hard then to mischaracterize record. But no worries this is preliminary crap.
Newt is a sick and clever as Lee Atwater.. and GHWB.
And evil, don’t forget evil
She learned from Bill Barr.
😣
Do you think Newt will ever meet his punishment?
He is the “ original sin”. And with the courts now stacked. .. the whole scenario is like being in passenger seat watching as driver drives right over cliff. So frightening
No
:-(
👍🏼
OH!
We can't let even this stand. 'Partisan ruling' would imply according to 'party' platform or code of ethics or something like that. Instead, this is a rogue ruling granting special privileges to the one person who's done everything he knew to toss out democracy and rule of law to become dictator. We need to stop accepting this language and abuse of the word 'partisan' as if it's simply a difference in political views on how to accomplish 'rule of law.' It's not.
Suz,
Correct, although nobody wants to say it, and, most of us including me don't want to believe it, we are already at war.
A war of words and perceptions (so far) and who wins will control our government and, unfortunately, the Republicans have had this war going on for 40 years while the rest of us worked for a living and tried to do the right thing.
Now? Pubs own almost all the media outlets (especially radio) and all of the rest of the media are starting to cower and suck up to the right wing so they don't get shut down after the next election.
But, that won't help.
The Republicans are prosecuting war, and, we have to wake up to it.
More media is being bought by right wing billionaires. CNN and Politico are 2 examples.
The war started with the Lewis Powell letter to the Chamber of Commerce in 1971.
Well, until we start calling it as we see it, (as it actually IS) we won't get anywhere.
Exactly, fight back with all our might
It appears more and more that everything Trump and his minions touch becomes rotten.
VOTE!!!!!!
Who didn’t know it was coming. Years ago, a co-worker, with whom I had one political conversation, told me that The Heritage Society was the means by which the republicans would reshape our world. Never forgot that exchange, it has played out over and over…
"...Makes me feel so sick to my stomach that I want to eat the refigerator..."
A friend, making a scheduled phone call to me shortly after this news came in, said:
"You sound like someone just hit you in the stomach."
*
A precedent to delight all receivers of stolen goods.
Terrified.
Furious.
There's a lot of that going around lately....
❤️
Same, Sandy.
As a semi-socialist Democrat, I am semi-appalled by yet another display of rigged outrage from the semi-fascist Republicans. The Republican dance of the whiners is stale. Trumpster pundits and politicians are tripping over each other in their rush to create the soundbite that elicits the most MAGA death threats. Aye, Joe, it is time to sink this right-wing ship of fools.
With this judicial farce, the Repubicans are now full-blooded fascists.
They have Been fascists for quite sometime...
The icing on the fascist cake!
So...you only want to nationalize HALF the means of production?
No, Bern... nationalizing the means of production is the half of socialism we semi-socialists cut out.
Solidarity Occasionally!
Love is not quite all you need.
yeah, yeah, yeah...
This Palmer post helped to calm the waters for me. And it leads me to wonder: The writer asserts that this is laughable and will not hold up on appeal, which should happen quickly. We all observe this as a classic trump move, in that you don’t have to actually HAVE something happen, you just need to have someone announce it will happen. This judge seems willing ( for whatever reason) to play ball, whereas, someone like Ukrainian President Zelensky wouldn’t. So look closely at this M.O. The ruling mucks up the smooth path of the investigation (but really no surprise there). AND he gets US all in a hysterical doom-dance. This plays to his base like high-fructose corn syrup in the bloodstream. Watch the money flow to him from his thankful supporters for once AGAIN “Owning the Libs.” So what if it doesn’t stand up on appeal? The Labor Day performance delivered what it was designed to deliver.
https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/this-special-master-ruling-is-horse-crap-but-it-doesnt-really-help-donald-trump/46995/
Michele Lyons-Russell -- You've given us the perfect image: "Hysterical doom-dance!" We've all been in so many of them over the past six to seven years! And that "[i]t plays to his base like high-fructose corn syrup in the bloodstream." Thanks for this.
We will see. The appeals court is mostly trump appointed judges.
Bill Palmer is Not Afraid of telling the truth. He's a straight shooter that gets the story usually right unlike the media which he accurately portrays as saying whatever they need to just to keep us tuned in or for clickbait,.....your well-stated "doom-dance".
The part he hasn't written about yet, but is likely coming is her connection (like all of their Handmaids and lemmings) to the Heritage Foundation. Leo Leo gives her "the call" with instructions on how to access her new off-shore retirement account so she won't have to worry about her career or future and to just repay her debt with the ruling she's been directed to give.
There are a lot of accounts that can be funded out of that new $1.6 billion from the oligarchs.
BK, Brilliant. They are bribing her, of course! How could I not see it. Keep reminding us. LeoLeo, I like it. LeoLeo and Loose Cannon. What a combo! And, of course, Darth Traitor, a la Colbert.
Will anybody be able to shut Rupert’s treasonous crew up or squeeze a little truth out of them…. Rupert rules the fools, and they vote.
I just read somewhere - hopefully not hear and am repeating - that CNN went right hoping to capture many fox folks. It tanked. Now more are going from CNN to MSNBC.
Yes you are right about CNN’s shift. But where did you read it tanked? I’m eager to see some good news.
I cannot remember. It was a post on Twitter for sure. If I find it again, I'll let you know.
‘Rule of law is a principle under which all persons, institutions, and entities are accountable to laws that are: Publicly promulgated. Equally enforced. Independently adjudicated.’
Has this country’s ‘Rule of Law’ always been this confusing? At least it is confusing to me. Today’s letter confirms my skepticism. Is our country’s Rule of Law actually based on who’s in power?
‘Today, on the federal holiday of Labor Day, Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida granted former president Trump’s request for a special master to review the nearly 11,000 documents FBI agents seized in their search of the Trump Organization’s property at Mar-a-Lago on August 8.’
‘That is, a Trump-appointed judge, confirmed by the Senate on November 13, 2020, after Trump had lost the election, has stepped between the Department of Justice and the former president in the investigation of classified documents stolen from the government’.
‘Legal analysts appear to be appalled by the poor quality of the opinion. Former U.S. acting solicitor general Neal Katyal called it “so bad it’s hard to know where to begin.” Law professor Stephen Vladeck told Charlie Savage of the New York Times that it was “an unprecedented intervention…into the middle of an ongoing federal criminal and national security investigation.” Paul Rosenzweig, a prosecutor in the independent counsel investigation of Bill Clinton, told Savage it was “a genuinely unprecedented decision” and said stopping the criminal investigation was “simply untenable.” Duke University law professor Samuel Buell added: “To any lawyer with serious federal criminal court experience…, this ruling is laughably bad…. Trump is getting something no one else ever gets in federal court, he’s getting it for no good reason, and it will not in the slightest reduce the ongoing howls that he’s being persecuted, when he is being privileged.” (Letter)
From the United States Courts ‘Overview - Rule of Law’
‘More than 200 years ago, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay published a series of essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution now known as Federalist Papers. In explaining the need for an independent judiciary, Alexander Hamilton noted in The Federalist # 78 that the federal courts "were designed to be an intermediate body between the people and their legislature" in order to ensure that the people's representatives acted only within the authority given to Congress under the Constitution.’
The American democratic system is not always based upon simple majority rule. There are certain principles that are so important to the nation that the majority has agreed not to interfere in these areas. For instance, the Bill of Rights was passed because concepts such as freedom of religion, speech, equal treatment, and due process of law were deemed so important that, barring a Constitutional Amendment, not even a majority should be allowed to change them.
Rule of law is a principle under which all persons, institutions, and entities are accountable to laws that are:
• Publicly promulgated
• Equally enforced
• Independently adjudicated
• And consistent with international human rights principles.
‘The courts play an integral role in maintaining the rule of law, particularly when they hear the grievances voiced by minority groups or by those who may hold minority opinions. Equality before the law is such an essential part of the American system of government that, when a majority, whether acting intentionally or unintentionally, infringes upon the rights of a minority, the Court may see fit to hear both sides of the controversy in court. (UnitedStatesCourts)’ See link below for more of an Overview of the Rule of Law from the United States Courts.
Withal, my question remains, ‘Is our country’s ‘Rule of Law’ malleable? Does it change depending on who’s in power? Finally, the United States Courts Overview of the Rule of Law ends with a disclaimer.
DISCLAIMER: These resources are created by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts for educational purposes only. They may not reflect the current state of the law, and are not intended to provide legal advice, guidance on litigation, or commentary on any pending case or legislation.
https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/overview-rule-law#:~:
After 40 years of hammering, yes, the rule of law is malleable. Ask any black, brown, or poor individual who got 25 years for possession of marajuana, while their white, wealthy counterparts got probation, they will tell you just how malleable the rule of law is in this country on a day to day basis.
Nations, laws, are all made up of and by people, and as such are subject to all our foibles and better angels. Judge Cannon is the product of decades of work by the right to bend the court to their will. The left has finally woken up to this, and thanks to McConnol's taking the fillibuster out of the Senate confirmation process, Biden, et. al. have been confirming judges (qualified ones!) at a record clip, hammering out courts straight(er) again.
The DOJ was established to prevent citizens from unilaterally denying other citizens their rights. That this history has been taught as the DOJ was created to protect non-white people from having their rights denied by white people, misses the point when the "semi-facist" crowd, hellbent on going full facist, decrees only those who fall in line with them will enjoy Constitutional rights in this country every time they control the levers of justice.
"If you don't examine how democracy has died for people of color in this country, you might miss how freedom fades not in big bombastic moments, but in slow ongoing repression."
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/09/04/1120561788/historians-advise-the-president-the-problem-the-scholars-were-all-white
Steve,
Exactly, What...you...said.
Spot on!
The Courts joining with MAGA forces to delay justice seems to side step the Criminal Action of illegal removal of the material and the subsequent lies by the former President and his legal representatives about the status of the material.
It seems to me that the nature of what is in the material while of paramount importance to National Security and subject to Criminal Investigation for Security Laws. But the acts of theft and subsequent illegal denial are already well documented.
I think the grounds for indictment are present in the established facts of the case. Let MAGA moil and toil to place their Leader above the Law as ordained by his Judges but why can’t the people get simple justice for obvious arrogance and downright theft?
Exactly
I ate the food first, then the fridge.
Laura, I’ll join you at the refrigerator. Eating is so comforting....great comment!
Drinking works, too.
Even better 😵💫
The only silver lining is the egregiousness and obvious bias against the rule of law that it exemplifies.
The MAGA are losing the independents. The Democrats (and the citizens of this country) are winning the battle for the “hearts and minds” of the electorate.
This will not end well-- for Trump and company.
Hurt his reputation? He should have thought of that before he broke bad.
He has not had a reputation to be concerned about since the 1980s. Ask any New Yorker.
He hasn't had a good reputation since he punched a teacher in first grade, or was caught at age 11 throwing rocks at the toddler in a playpen next door.
Greg Olear and you have got it right. I know you can read this through, TC. Probably nod your head in agreement as you go. In fact, you’ve said so much of it before on It’s Another Fine Mess.
Hard going for me. It’s just so…so despicable. Hard for a woman to bear it.
Where is the cell that will hold them all? Soon, please.
🗽https://gregolear.substack.com/p/the-ineluctable-criminality-of-the?r=l2aa7&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Thanks, Christine, great article.
Thank you for the link. Yikes! But, NYers tried to warn ya.
Simply disgusting. Although Olear does articulate the criminality quite well.
This judge's concern for rump's reputation is the most laughable thing I've ever heard. I thought nothing could be more despicable than his lawyers lying to the DOJ, assuring that no document was left behind in Mar-a-lago, but undoubtedly Judge Cannon is cut from the same cloth....
Trump has a reputation and anyone with the slightest sense of objectivity knows precisely what it is.
So now there are two of us?
THe past doesn't support the belief that our electorate's eyes and ears are open, and even less the idea they're educated enough to understand. Perhaps Roe vs. Wade will open their eyes, ears, and nose.
As H.L. Mencken observed 98 years ago during the Scopes Monkey Trial hysteria, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."
It is more of the language of the old south, the language of persecution and death. If trump, or the extreme right, don’t get everything that they want, it is because the world is out to destroy them and their greatness, their wonderful way of life. If one person on the left stoops to violence, the proud boys will pretend to shake in their boots while they lock and load in “self defense.“ The extreme right seeks “fairness” as the south sought “reconciliation.” But in truth the south sought conciliation on the part of the north, never offering any conciliatory gestures of its own.
Exactly right!
2020 proves that statement.
Open their nose to smell "the stench"
Thank you for so clearly explaining the nature and implications of this absurd opinion. Tragically, it's unlikely that many MAGA supporters will read it or care. The future of our country is in the hands of wildly unqualified judges, power-mad GOP political leaders, reactionary GOP funders, and a gullible populist base. We CAN stop them if the rest of us mobilize millions of voters to vote to save our democracy in November and in every future election.
No. the future of the country is in OUR hands, not theirs. what WE do will determine what they get to do.
Agree, TC, a zillion %.
Hell will freeze over by a glacier descending upon it before I declare an iota of my and mine’s future in the hands of MAGAts.
🗽
Pray, brother.
Laurie, you are a good political analyst.
While I feel more comfortable staying home (in Baltimore), you have convinced me that I need join someone's campaign in Pennsylvania or some other nearby state.
I never thought I would witness the United States become a fascist state.
Thank you, Stuart. Being slightly cynical helps.
Oh yes, please do join a campaign! Candidates always need informed, caring volunteers!
Just sent Fetterman $$$.
Agreed, I can't even believe that we are saying these words! This is a bad movie... but it's not ending, nor is the end in site.
And this is what MUST BE DONE. Situation acute.
My state is among those that have enacted voter restriction laws after the 2020 election. The GOP has a tri-fecta of control with Republican governor, Senate, and House. My fear is.that even mass mobilization of voters may not succeed in casting out these scoundrels who have so rigged the system in their favor.
Mobilize voters, paying attention to Gen Z:
https://votersoftomorrow.org/about-us/
https://civicinfluencers.org/
Be smart. Organizations such as Working America and The States Project do the research to determine where to most effectively invest our energy and donor dollars to shift the balance of power to Dems:
https://www.workingamerica.org/
https://statesproject.org/why-states-matter/
https://www.grapevine.org/giving-circle/1XQhnyD/Tending-to-Democracy
Thank you Ellie. May I have your permission to post this on Twitter?
I’m sure Ellie would agree.
Go for it and thank you for spreading the word!
I was just about to ask the same!
Good move.
Thanks for the excellent resources Ellie!
Wow! Thanks for the links. We need to spread the word about these!
“Once you have the courts you can pretty much do whatever you want”. That is frightening and exactly the plan of the oligarchs, Federalist Society and republicans. Trump is again a useful idiot. I feel sure we will come out in droves to vote and hopefully win. But will that be enough?
With 2 more Dem senators, may the voting rights legislation breathe again. My dream and my donations go to that direction. BTW, everything Hitler did was legal, they passed the laws and had the courts. Only Ike stood in the way.
I written elsewhere that Judge Cannon's sortie into this case is completely illegitimate; I also believe the evidence will show that it occurred with the connivance of Trump's legal team, and that it was prearranged in order to obfuscate matters and to create further grounds for delay. On those grounds alone, I would like to see Judge Aileen Cannon ousted from the federal judiciary, by impeachment of necessary, but in all events, she should be placed on suspension from duty and prohibited from taking any part in the current proceedings. The issues she raised about fairness and legitimacy are entirely bogus. As I mentioned in my Facebook page posting, I practiced law for 52 years that included 12 years of service as a lawyer within the Federal Government, and I've never seen the kind of situation where a junior federal judge interposes herself into an ongoing criminal investigation overseen by another federal judge, invoking a false claim to jurisdiction over matters that she is not entitled to adjudicate. This is yet another example of the Trump administration's utter contempt for institutional norms and boundary setting guardrails that have been jettisoned time and again throughout the federal government during the four years that Donald Trump was President. Judge Cannon's radical departure from established norms needs to be halted in its tracks; if she were working in any other officer department within the federal Establishment, she would immediately be suspended from duty, and place on a fast track for her removal for cause. Two weeks ago, I believe on a Friday afternoon, Judge Cannon announced ex parte that she was inclined to grant the relief that the former president was demanding, all without evidence that there was even a justiciable case before her. It turns out that there is not: the documents seized by the FBI consisted of documents related to the National Defense or within the Intelligence Community, none of which the former president had any right, title, or interest in, insofar as their substantive content is concerned. The Department of Justice/FBI privilege evaluation team had already gone through what remained of the property seized to determine whether an evidentiary privilege existed (i.e., attorney-client privilege) that would preclude use of such property against the former president, should a criminal indictment and sue and trial follow. All that work is not done. The idea that Judge Cannon would now appoint a Special Master to rummage through 11,000 document pages that were obtained from the former president to see if by some remote chance a privileged document might now reveal itself to him or her after having been examined in detail by a small army of prosecutors, FBI agents and analysts, and personnel from the National Archives and Records Administration is patently absurd. It's time to bite the bullet and show Judge Cannon the door, and then get on with the investigation.
How does one even qualify a "special master" in a case such as this? The concept makes no sense to me.
The most salient theme of the modern GOP is entitlement to make rules for others and that no others may make rules they are obliged to follow. Sounds like tyranny to me.
That's just one of the problems. In order to review those documents the Special Master named in the Order of Reference would need to have the highest possible security clearance available in the government. The work would need to be done in one of those highly secure document viewing facilities that the intelligence community maintains. It's an impossible logistical problem precipitated by a junior federal judge who is a runaway freight train. As I suggested, she's the problem; get rid of her, and the government can go about its business. This is all a PR stunt anyway, so take the heat from the MAGAhats and move on. In the Justice Department filing of August 30, which you can download, the Justice Department stated that they wanted the Special Master's review to be done by someone they approved of, and who had the requisite security clearances; and that they wanted the entire review to be completed by September 30. I don't think that they can afford to play footsie with Judge Cannon; she's too much of a committed ideologue, and once she gets her foot in the door, there will be no getting rid of her. As I said, my solution would be to handle this as an internal personnel matter by the Administrative Office of the Courts. I would also serve her with the subpoena to appear before a magistrate judge and give a sworn statement about her prior contacts with the Trump legal team before, during,, and after she intervened in the case that until now is being handled by Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhardt. Give her a taste of her own medicine.
Thanks.
I guess that means they don't get to appoint Rudy Giuliani.
Sad (for Cannon and Trump).
I think DoJ can force Cannon to resign, or else be prosecuted for interference with a federal criminal investigation. She deserves to go. As I said, this is a PR stunt. She can also be charged with conspiracy to delay or obstruct a federal criminal investigation, along with those who recruited her to run interference for Trump.
I don't know how long ago I fell in love with your legal mind, Arthur, but you just triggered those feelings all over again. Thank you for writing this, it really soothed my outrage of constant egregious behaviors the party of sedition commits constantly. Your wife is in no way in any danger...it is just "legal love."
I have to agree with you Pensa_VT. After reading Arthur's take on this, my headache that had been forming has gone away. Thanks Arthur!
💞💞💞
Can you whisper this suggestion in the right person’s ear?
Thank you Arthur for calming my nerves.
💙
Arthur, I think I read somewhere that six out of eleven judges in the appropriate appeals court are likewise FS appointees, which I do not find even slightly reassuring. Is Judge Cannon’s appointment a lifetime appointment? This is all just beyond upsetting. Thanks for your excellent post.
Thank you!
Getting rid of her sounds simple, but is it?
Evidently it is very difficult and time consuming.
Arthur Silen, Two questions: First, in actuality, over the course of our country's history, how malleable is the 'rule of law' depending on who's in power? Second, in sum, could Judge Cannon's decision materially effect the DOJ with reference to prosecution of parties connected to the stolen classified government documents by the former president?
How would that happen? Who or what would initiate action against her?
Thank you for this comment, Arthur.
One of the times I wish I hadn't read Heather's letter just before bed. I don't know how to handle this.
I went to sleep before this letter, still in the throes of COvid. But here I am in the middle of the night practically shaking with rage... Surrounded by the news of voter roles being purged and the gerrymandering going on I won't give up faith but the fear and gloom are threatening my state of mind. Yesterday both my husband and I decided to take a break from Twitter and try to sit tight until something significant happens to change the outlook. It's eating us up all day and all night! I just can't believe this!
Cynthia,
PLEASE take a break and get well!
Watch some good movies with your husband, or anything you can do in quarantine that you enjoy. Make a contract with him, NO NEWS for a few days and take care of yourselves.
Benedict Donald and bad judges will be here when you get back. So will we.
Thank you for being one us.
🧙♂️🙏
When I read your comment my eyes got moist, feeling cared for by the group where I feel so safe. Sounds corny but I'm always grateful to be a part of such a bright, educated, passionate group who know the truth and are as concerned as I am about our country and our precious democracy. It's so hard to sift through all the noise out there but in here I always find harmony and light! Thank you all❤️
Me, too, Cynthia. Me, too!
I'm with you all the way Cynthia. Had to take a break this weekend and watch funny stuff on TV. It was very refreshing.
Yes! Great advice Gus! And think of all the Republicans who have legitimate security clearance who are now going to vote Democratic in November.
I’m hoping Adam Kinzinger’s and Liz Cheney’s strong stand against Trump and his Magats influences Republicans to follow THEIR lead to protect our democracy and to vote against that dangerous Trumpist movement in November!
Trump and his maggots?
Two or three of them?
Actually, our little group (as Margaret Mead insisted could change the world) in northern Michigan has targeted "mainstream" Republicans because we've discovered the ones in our neighborhoods are disgusted with the MAGAts running our county commission and making decisions in our state and national capitols. We've put together voting record lists according to issue (women's health, gun control, small business, veterans...) to guide us in friendly discussions. It's working!
Help us elect Democrat Dr. Bob Lorinser for Congress (and send seditionist Jack Bergman back to his real home in Louisiana)!
https://www.votedrbob.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw39uYBhCLARIsAD_SzMTvHbJLy3RV004Zvks0AFiVzZRa3m8BSFNfTB9YjvNuKfzhpPTzzJ8aAi7DEALw_wcB
7
And spend time outside ( if it's safe and not too hot where you are), listening to the sounds of birds, smelling the earth and plants, walking gently on a trail or just sitting on a bench. Take off your shoes and let your stress drain into the earth, feel the sun or moon or rain or breeze on your face. It isn't a cure, but it sure does help. It's part of how I "cope" with it all, every day ... that and yummy treats, a good salad, healthy food and unhealthy food, and plenty of binge TV watching, LOL -- not to trivialize your feelings at all, I'm right there with you. Add in climate change disasters, animal exploition,, or anything else you are passionate about, and it gets dangerously overwhelming. Rest and self nurturing are critical. It's not effortless, at least not for me, but the reward is worth the effort. I wish you a speedy recovery. Soak up some nature...🌞
For the past seven years, we have been hit non stop with preposterous lies, vicious attacks, savaging of our rule of law and any number of uncivil and undemocratic "malignancies" from the sick mind of the creature Dahlia Lithwick recently referred to as " the great greased watermelon that is the former president." A majority of Americans are suffering from this onslaught of constant fascist tactics blasted at us by a puffed and painted buffoon with his bullhorn of uncontrollable BS. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/08/facts-caught-donald-trump-documents.html
My wish for you and your husband, Cynthia, is that you work hard to stay away from the news for several days while you continue to recover. You need rest and you need peace. You already have one virus, don't expose yourself to another in your condition.
Whatever you miss by shielding yourself while you take care of your health will not be that important, no matter what it is. Please put yourself first. Very best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.
Thank you so much for such words of wisdom. I have always thought that TFG was the 'perfect' metaphor for the Virus ... and I pray that he is eradicated soon. From the universe as well as my life....
And our vote is the vaccine!!
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Cynthia. It's me, Lynell. You were among the first contacts I had on January 6, 2021. Your steady posts kept me sane as we navigated those hours.
To both you and your husband, take that needed break. We will be here for you whenever you need us. In the meantime, not to worry...We got this!
Cynthia,
Good health is key. Forget about all this human failing stuff for a bit, and, sit under some trees and watch the birds and nature for a while.
Then, after you are back in action, join a local Republican group and infiltrate it.
Then, become President of the local Republican group.
IF we all do this, then, guess what? We will be runnining the Republican Party.
Stellar, Mike!
Brilliant!
I keep promising myself that I will stay off Twitter and LinkedIn which appears to be more right wing. Then I read Heather's newsletter and post everywhere I can an get caught up in reading other tweets - among them those from the magamumpets which enrage me further.
Cynthia, I'm pretty sure I understand as well as someone who is not you can. Since you mention Twitter, I want to tell you that about 10 months ago I closed my account on there. It was causing me daily agony for about six years, but I felt so strongly that I couldn't "miss" anything. A therapist/body worker I see had been urging me and urging me to get off, but I just couldn't manage it. I tried many ways of not going down scary rabbit holes. Nothing really worked. Until a tipping point. Doesn't really matter what that was, I just suddenly knew that my health depended on me completely getting off. Now I read Heather every day. But I almost never look at the papers, and only in recent months have turned NPR back on occasionally. If they are doing one of their "both sides" things, or really anything that is too much, I turn it off.
I cannot tell you to get off Twitter. Just doesn't seem to work that way. However, if a moment comes when something tells you to close your account? Please listen to it. It's OK to miss most of it. Heather is enough. At least this is my experience after six brutal years on there and reading linked articles, and the Post, and Times, etc. It's still brutal, OF COURSE. But not the same level of daily assault. I still know how scary and angering things are. I still donate. I still write for Postcards to Voters. But I'm in my garden a lot more. I started painting again. (I'm an artist.) It. Is. Better.
Sending good thoughts to you for recovery.
Thanks so much for your wisdom. I'm trying to wean myself, there's only a few people I've been following, Heather of c,?and a few literary folks and bird folks... but it's so easy to go down some paths searching for some information to quell my angst or offer some information to help my worries subside. But it's like a bad drug. No relief so you 'take more'.
I'm pulling back, and hanging out here. And a few other letters I discovered here! Thanks again.... oh boy!
Yes, exactly: It's like a bad drug. No relief so you "take more." You're doing the best you can. Pulling back is great. <3 <3 <3
I'm going to fall back on something that I have counseled before: the concept of stagger breathing. As you can see from my profile pic, I play the tuba. We are often called upon to play a long, low note, or a moving pattern of notes that repeats over and over, sometimes for 20+ measures. Stagger breathing is where I breathe only on the odd numbered measures, and the other guy breathes only on the even numbered measures, thus assuring that that one note/pattern stays constant. Sometimes, only one of us is playing, but at all times at least one of us is.
You need to recover from the virus; stagger breathe, do other things that nourish you; we'll keep things going while you tend to your health, and come back when one of us needs to "fall out" for a while.
I'm trying to focus on my photography show that opens Saturday at a local gallery... my husband will be playing at the opening with me (he may be the bigger draw! : ) And after we finish hanging this afternoon I'm going to snuggle up on the couch and watch some movies, open to suggestions!
The rain hasn't stopped all day and that's a real source of joy!
"My Cousin Vinnie" comes to mind!
Perfect! ha! thanks! : )
Perfect, Ally. Thank you for all of us.
Read Robert’s newsletter, cited above. It will help.
Thanks ❤️
I hear you. I get it first thing in the morning over here in Europe. Big hugs.
Thanks ❤️ Right back atcha!
I turned off all news yesterday because of announcement of her judgment. I saw that Heather already had her letter out early. Read first sentence and shut it down, dreading reading it today. I’m truly sick to my stomach. Arthur, how does anyone initiate your ideas. Is there any hope?
Because Trump claims to have declassified all the documents, I would think that Trump's list for Master Reviewer would be less rigorous than the DOJ's list. This stumbling block might force the Supreme Court to rule on whether a president can declassify material and to whom the documents belong.
And here is the punch line: The Supreme Court Justice who oversees cases in Florida is Clarence Thomas. Fasten your seat belts. We're in for a bumpy ride." (I forget the movie where that line comes from .. or to quote Grouch Marks "Our cook is goosed")
Regardless if the stolen documents were classified or not, he still broke the law by stealing them. Add to that the violations of the Espionage Act. This special master stuff is a distraction from what Trump and his cronies really did in stealing, hiding, and God knows what else with these documents.
I suspect there is a protocol for declassifying top secret documents, not just recitation of a spell.
You would be right with your suspicion.
"Because I said so", just doesn't cut it.
"Because they're mine" or "I took them for my library" don't cut it either.
🤣🤣🤣 the word “library” referring to Trump in the same sentence…with all this gloom, I’m LOL at that thought!
Hilarious. He likely says "liberry".
I know....makes me laugh and laugh.
Pam, he comes from the land of, "All Mine". He must have been a nasty little shit from day one.
Daria, absolutely. Nasty and proud of it, I'd bet.
🤣🤣🤣 Thanks for the laugh J L. Much needed this morning.
Laurie, I fully agree with you and then some more.
Still, Trump might find this ruling to be useful in grabbing headlines which could - in his mind - return him to the White House.
Stuart, it seems headlines and the White House are his only goals these days - and staying out of prison. Poor pathetic Trump - he needs headlines like the rest of us need food. At least these headlines could remind people that he's a common lying thief. And probably traitor, too, given the likelihood that he traded/sold some of these classified docs to other countries or leaders. Or even to ultra-rich reactionaries like Murdoch, Thiel, Mercer, Koch, et. al.
I like to think of him as the Largest Lemming. The Lemming Leader. Ultimately he will find his cliff and he and his little lemmings will hurl themselves into the sea. The sound of their splashing will be as uneventful as their passing. Fish Poop smells like, well, fish poop.
Yes, you're right again.
I view Trump as a psychologically very sick man. Narcissists such as Trump view anything outside of themselves as being two-dimensional extensions of their own self.
I can hear you easily say that Trump has no sense of history, and no sense of Western Civilization. Heck, in Manhattan he lived just down the street from Lincoln Center, The Met, MOMA etc. If you asked Trump, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall", he would not know what to say.
It is the fascist, republican extremist party who are the sick ones. We need our DOJ to step up rapidly (gigantically wished-for oxymoron).
The movie is "All About Eve."
"Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night." Bette Davis in "All About Eve."
"All About Eve," (1950) with Bette Davis uttering the famous line.
Kathleen Fernandez - "All About Eve," (1950) with Bette Davis uttering the famous line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vEEh0GF_C8
😗😗😗😗let it not be
I’m having a temper tantrum right now. This of all things was somehow the last damn straw. Judges are supposed to protect the rule of law. She did not do that. I hope she is disbarred over this. Gawd dammit. I need to eat strawberries to clean my mouth out after I read this decision today.
In plain English, Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida is an embarrassingly stupid white jurist chosen by a defeated fascist that claims fraud - on his way to his own prosecutions, certain convictions and sentencing.
It’s good that the obese liar - AG Bill Barr - finally awakened with the horses running the plains. He needs to apologize and take off 200 pounds - and dry out. Dry conservative straight up Martinis do not aid justice, Mr. Barr. Step away from your bar and apologize to the Bar that matters.
You made me laugh, Sandy!
Beats crying.
No kidding!
They all should, never have so many been so vile for so long. Republican lawyers are a breed apart.
Good one, Sandy. You've been on a roll recently.
This woman (the "judge") was appointed by tfg AFTER he had lost the election.
ARRRG! God the fascists really set this all up and we good people just try to go by the rules FOR THEM! Arrests and disbarments need to be made. This is a 40-60 year coup on democracy.
I you-tubed the Pennsylvania Rally. A half-hour warm-up of sentimental pop songs, then the tawny-haired (wigged), red-faced apparition, hands clapping, sashaying up and down, settles at the lectern and talks about himself, his Home, her e-mails, on and on and on. The idolaters in the chat column didn't even notice that there was nothing about Dr Oz (Dr Oz! like the Wizard, another charlatan!) Five minutes was all I could stand, but I wanted to see if any of them understood what they were witnessing. They didn't. Yes, sixty years in the making.
...and who is paying her? And who helped with writing her doc? McConnell?
A chumpster of course
I think Trump nominated her in May 2020 but wasn’t approved by the Senate until after he lost in Nov. Ultimate blame rests on McConnell’s shoulders.
Joan, maybe ultimate, but blame also goes to the Dems who voted for her or who didn’t vote
They sag under the cumulative weight.
Misery loves company, so I am glad to sense that you are as outraged as I am at this decision. Taking into account the "harm to Trump's reputation" is a thinly veiled way of saying he is being treated with kid gloves. The FBI treated him with kid gloves, trying to get the papers they feared would be available to our enemies, for over a year. Once again, he threw a fit and got the delay he wanted. I imagine, since a special master will not be appointed for at least another few weeks, that the review will last well past the elections. And the liars in the MAGA Republican ranks will misconstrue this to say that the seizure was illegal, that the judge thinks he still can exert executive privilege, etc. Coming on top for FiveThirtyEight.com's latest projection that the Republicans will win the majority of the House in November (McCarthy as Speaker--Oh, my God), this day was a giant set back...or at least a realization.
Outraged? Yes. And frightened.
I'm terrified Sandy, I feel like I'm sliding down an elevator shaft in slow motion.... last night just before falling asleep there was some chatter on Twitter about the ownership of MAL,, and how trump is actually an employee not the owner, and thereby there could be a loophole in all this? I couldn't stay awake so I thought maybe there's still a way to mail his axx? Heather actually retweeted a portion of the story,?so my fingers are crossed....
and yes about Barr
He makes me sick too. Extremely sick.
Nail his axx, not mail it! Although perhaps we should just mail him off to Putin with a big red bow on his whatever....
😂 either works for me
KEM -"Coming on top for FiveThirtyEight.com's latest projection that the Republicans will win the majority of the House in November."
Yeah, scary. (from MediaBiasFactCheck)
𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹, 𝘄𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘆𝗘𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 (𝟱𝟯𝟴) 𝗟𝗲𝗳𝘁-𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁. 𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱.
Detailed Report
Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER
Factual Reporting: HIGH
Country: USA (45/180 Press Freedom)
Media Type: Website
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
Yes, its polling is the only one I pay attention to.
Let's hope this is an absurd complication from a judge clearly not qualified to rule on what's shaping up to be the most important national security court case in the nation's history. The order stopping the DOJ's investigation until a special master reviews the vast amount of materials raises serious questions about her impartiality. Same for her bizarre language about Trump's reputation.
Attorney General Merrick Garland now has yet another challenge in helping to save democracy.
“Once you have the courts, you can do pretty much what you want.”
So in other words, even though every single piece of paper TAKEN by the former president to his home belong NOT to him but to We the People, it LOOKS bad that We the People took them back from butter fingers?
And so says a federal judge in Florida appointed in November 2020 by the person taking 11,000 documents with him? Oops. I see. Our bad.
No wonder it’s not so ridiculous that he still tantrums about the need for one of his someones to overturn the election.
Oops. I see. Their bad.
Bah, bah black sheep, have you any wool? No sir, no sir, taken by white fools.
On Labor Day no less. I call that a smack down, Judge.
Only way forward is a Blue Tsunami in November. Roe, Not Woe, Roe your Vote.
🗽
A fucking outrage. Sandy
I hear you, loud and clear, Sandy. Even through the rising deep thunder clouds in Florida. It’s what woke me up tonight to read Professor Richardson’s letter which had been posted “1 minute ago”.
🗽
Time to go batt-shit.
EXACTLY... ONCE YOU HAVE THE COURTS, GAME, SET, MATCH... WE ARE FUCKED!!!
Any hope for us in light of Biden's appointments?
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/08/09/biden-has-appointed-more-federal-judges-than-any-president-since-jfk-at-this-point-in-his-tenure/
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2021/09/02/biden-is-appointing-judges-faster-than-trump-and-most-everyone-else-for-now/
Hope? SCOTUS matters, state officers matter, Secretary of State in each, impeaching a USDJ is no different than SCOTUS, as I recall.
Yes, Lynell. A good reminder today.
🗽
A lesson learned I hope by all Democrats, that is push through those judges as the top priority. We are in a different political world now and TFG and his crew are determined to bully their way to victory. Still hoping most voters see through this circus.
Hahaha, not in my neck of the woods.
I know what you mean.
Somebody studied Nazi strategy, from way before chump
And the Nazi's studied the American South during Jim Crow to design their system and their laws (which were not as harsh as the Jim Crow laws of the south).
11,000 documents. 11,000 votes. 11th circuit. Democracy in its 11th hour?
I would suggest that this action by the "judge" opens the door for the DOJ to do away with its arbitrary rule of not issuing indictments or making any public pronouncements about investigations within 60 days of an election. After all if there can be "reputational harm" and "stigma" for TFG, then there can equally be "reputational harm" and "stigma" for the DOJ and Merrick Garland if they are perceived as not doing their job. And once again for those in the back of the room and for equally corrupt judges, only the sitting president CAN CLAIM EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE. How stupid can this broad be? I sincerely hope there's an appeal in the immediate future.
I doubt this judge is stupid. She's just compromised up to her eyeballs. Add her to the big pile of far right Republicans who spit on their oath of office.
Follow the money.
That's a great question, whether there can be an appeal by DOJ.
There can be although that Circuit is notoriously right-leaning . It could end up at the Supremes but that would probably mean more delay and more fantastical, freelance lawmaking.
Read Christine's link to Robert Hubbell's post. It answers this.
Perhaps Professor Richardson can ask Professor Jason Stanley of Yale, expert on fascism, what we can do to stop this abuse of the law, and stop the fascism which is on our doorstep.
Jason Stanley: "The challenges are enormous" . " How can we maintain a sense of common humanity?" "We can take comfort in histories of progressive social movements." The direct targets of fascist politics are refugees, feminists, labor unions, racial, religious, and sexual minorities.........and we can see the methods used to divide us.
OK, so the judge did her thing. The process hardly ends there. Her opinion is subject to review, and it's not clear that she even has jurisdiction. Let's wait until the special master is appointed and then goes through the process of getting a clearance. In the mean time, since most of the documents have already been reviewed, Garland should file charges based on what he already has. Also, he could ask the appropriate intelligence agencies to take custody of their items and force the special master to go through the process of being granted access to the appropriate facilities where they are then stored.
I like that. I will sleep better tonight.
Can the January 6th committee subpoena these documents and in a sense over rule the Master Reviewer? I doubt it, but I am curious to ask.
With Federalist picks like weak poorly educated embarrassingly unqualified Federal Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida clogging the courts, not to mention state governments and the voting ststems of those states, there’s no chance: we cannot keep the republic, Mr. Franklin.
Please, keep the faith, Sandy!!
There has to be some sort of balance in the universe. Situations have swung so far out of balance, I have to not give in to total despair, I have to believe that there will be justice.
You and me both Miselle.