A late news dump tonight: the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol has subpoenaed from the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) the text messages between agents on January 5 and January 6, 2021, that it learned Wednesday had been deleted. Chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) told Secret Service director James Murray, who recently announced his upcoming resignation, that the committee wants all the texts by July 19, 2022.
I live in Boston but am a native Southerner, and it has never made a shred of sense to me that people like Davis, Lee and Forrest were not prosecuted. The last of the three, in particular, went on to do considerable damage as a Klansman. I hope Garland will be every bit as bold as Fani Willis and bring Trump and every last one of the people who were involved in the planning of the insurrection to trial. To do any less than that is tantamount to acquiescence.
I totally agree with you.To do nothing to these insurrectionists, like they did after the Civil War, will set the country up for more uprisings.This is a valuable lesson to be learned from history .I have heard and have read that some newscasters and others think that holding those accountable for January 6 would be too divisive for the country to which I would reply that to not hold those accountable would set up such a dangerous precedent that our democracy would not be able to survive.
To go even further, while I think President Ford meant well, his pardon of Nixon which, he explained, was "...in the best interests of the country." was probably among the more egregious mistakes ever made by our government.
That's for sure. Ford was the puppet of his party when he pardoned Nixon and let him skate. In that vein, I don't believe Ford meant well. He simply agreed to do what his masters told him to do.
Then, Bush Sr. pardoned all the Iran-Contra criminals as he gave some variation of "for the good of the nation" or "so the nation can move forward."
Then, the 2008-9 bailouts of the Wall Street Investment Bankers. Not even one of the guilty was brought to court much less prosecuted and punished.. While Iceland, a country with 1% of our population and probably 1% of our economy, sent 29 bankers to prison and fixed their system so that banker scam won't happen again. The bailouts were the biggest extortion scam of the national treasury to ever happen. Goldman Sachs, for one example, was overleveraged 330 times the actual amount of capital they had in possession. They got bailed out for every penny of the vast amount they had speculated, and the immense bonuses still went to the banking firms.
To see the insurrectionists not face serious jail time for their actions on J6 (as well as their preparations beforehand and coverup afterwards) is to say our laws are meaningless.
I'm not as sure as you are about that. Ford was guided by the 1915 Supreme Court opinion that acceptance of a pardon is an admission of guilt. That reasoning was explained to Nixon before he accepted the pardon. Ford felt so strongly that his reasoning was correct that he kept a copy of the relevant Burdick quote in his wallet.
Those other cases pale in comparison to sedition. It is becoming clearer by the day that the Trump Insurrection was an extra-legal, unconstitutional attempt to stay in power.
That's a very good cover, however he was pardoned. The act of pardoning the perpetrator of the crime, particularly of one who holds a high office and is supposedly deserving of public trust, should be held accountable of the criminal act and violating not just the public trust, but our standing globally. I and many people were angered by the pardon and the reasons why... "we need to move on from this", and other vague excuses.
Great thread here. Ironically, the bailouts to Goldman and friends ought have generated violent protests - IF that is how you get the elites attention. And the @insurrectionist have not targeted the true source of their rage. I’m not advocating violence here but remain astonished that the moneyed class gets a pass in our politics.
Essencially the cold hearted bankers who use paper to rob get a pat on the back, while the enraged peons who use their bare hands to get justice, get jail time
Heydon Buchanan; I agree 100+% with your last paragraph. The people of this country, those that really care, are absolutely disgusted with the toothless response to those who openly disregard our Laws. They mock our Constitution…then quickly run and hide behind it. Let some poor law abiding citizen struggling to keep his head above water mis-step only slightly and he or she is punished. Now tRump is toying with us and “considering” running again for President…when he should be in jail, frantically fighting to prove innocence…which he definitely is not! What is happening to our once proud nation?
1. The response hasn't been toothless. The DOJ has been working through the largest, most complex case in it's history (800 perps and counting). The more convictions they get the more cooperation they get.
2. The noose is tightening as more and more of Trump's inner circle is indicted.
3. Like it or not (I don't), former presidents are not ordinary citizens. In order to indict AND convict one, the DOJ must gather irrefutable evidence that will withstand brutal examination by the most ruthless attorneys Trump can force the RNC to pay for.
4. Trump's fear is palpable; his normally irrational behavior is off the charts and it seems that each day he makes things just a little worse for himself (witness tampering anyone?).
6. Watergate was nothing compared to Jan 6 and it took years to prosecute the Watergate miscreants. Of the 69 indicted, 48 were found guilty. John Mitchell didn't to to prison until 1977.
MisTBlu; I hear you…But! First of all…tRump isn’t a regular former President…general consensus is..he’s nothing more than a common criminal, true he’s not been indicted nor convicted…yet?. His alleged crime isn’t petty…it’s the attempted overthrow of our Democracy. The timing of this entire matter worries me no end…with the Midterms on our doorstep and the 2024 Presidential election next year…we could be faced with disaster should the RR (Repugnant Republicans) prevail and God forbid, tRump or one of his ilk, regains the Presidency! Some of the Doomsday Media pundits are predicting a takeover of the House and Senate…Then what???? Color me scared for our Country! I really hope you’re right!
I can't "like" this so I'll say it with more words--Absolutely correct. The banking bailout was a disaster---help for the wealthy, NO HELP for the ordinary folks who lost houses, credit, and more....... The rich get richer........
I don't know if I see Goldman Sachs bankers as being directly connected to the white supremacist cause, but I imagine there is some overlap in their interests, particularly since the billionaires have obviously been goading the rabble for some time through the politics of resentment.
I don't see it that way. Most of the people in the country were astonished! It was a complete GOP setup for future crimes. Many of us saw it for just what it was.
The GOP have been trying to get even for the Nixon thing ever since, evidence be damned. One irrational scheme after another. I thought Newt Gingrich and his "Contract with America", whatever the hell that was supposed to mean, took the cake until recently. But the GOP had to keep it up, and set us all up for where we are now. How in the world did that once respected and essential part of political discussion sink so low that a large proportion became Trump's toadies? That's exactly what the House has been working on, and what Heather and other insightful writers have been trying to help us understand for years. But none of us could have expected to end up where we are now. And I hope it is a lesson that keeps us from it again.
I believe HCR said that had Nixon not been pardoned it is her belief that Trump never would have been president. Please correct me if I’m wrong with this.
I would agree. The operative words though are "I would". Meaning, I would agree as long as I felt great confidence in the case as it was being presented. We must always remember we are dealing with 'human beings' throughout every aspect of a matter. And, us "humans" can be a devious lot if left unchecked.
The vast majority of Americans, Ford possibly among them, were not, and are still not, aware that Nixon was a Traitor to Our Country and our Service personnel in Vietnam.
The blood of everyone killed or wounded after the Spring of 1968 is on his hands.
Until many years later, only a very few knew.
After the Tet Offensive in early 1968, Walter Cronkite toured Viet Nam, then gave the Country his personal opinion that the war was not winnable. LBJ realized that it must be ended. He then undertook very secret Peace overtures with Uncle Ho to bring our debacle to an end.
Very secret, yet somehow Tricky Nixon found out and immediately undermined them by promising Uncle Ho 'to wait and he would get a better deal from him", if elected"
Needless to say, Nixon sold out both his country, Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand.
Somewhere in the LBJ Library is a taped conversation of LBJ and Ev Dirksen discussing how to deal with Nixon. Once again, the decision not deal with Nixon's Treason was arrived at.
How many lost loved ones between the Spring of 1968 and our Evacuation??
Absolutely true! Justice is when the consequences happen to people as a result of their actions. You rob a bank; you get arrested, tried, convicted, and imprisoned. As a student in the late 60’s/early 70’s in rural NC learning about the Civil War, I received a healthy dose of how “unfair” the South was treated after the war. The leaders of that rebellion should have been tried, imprisoned or hanged. I was taught what a “gentleman” Robert E. Lee was. He resigned from the US Army to take up arms against the US. He was a traitor who dressed well and cut a fine figure on a horse. He enslaved people. He was a human trafficker and wanted to continue to do so and even expand that trafficking into other areas. The Confederacy was a manifestation of the poisonous infection of racism. We are STILL dealing with that infection today! The planners and perpetrators of January 6 MUST be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. The accountability must go all the way to the top. If Garland won’t investigate and go where the facts lead, he should resign or be removed. He is not upholding the law by doing nothing.
I agree with you Jenn, but if Garland is trying to avoid indicting Trump, I suspect that's because he and Biden see the political risks in the same light. This kind of political calculation, however, is what led Obama to stay quiet when, in September 2016, he learned of the Russians' attempt to help Trump and, the next month, when Comey decided to reopen the investigation of Hillary's emails. Both decisions backfired and played crucial roles in electing Trump.
We have allowed a culture of impunity to grow in this country, and it's hard to imagine what the day of reckoning will be like if Trump is not prosecuted.
Heck. Isn't this what marriage counseling is about? If you don't speak up and you don't make it clear what a crossed line looks like, blaming your spouse is missing the point.
I hadn't read this, Jenn, when I dove in to the topic similarly. I am gratified to see how many in this group see it the way that I do. And, you know what, it is gratifying because most of us know so many people who bought the lies about those noble generals hook, line and sinker. It gives us a look into why it is so hard to change people's minds when we realize how painful it's been to learn that many of your own "historical heroes" were on the wrong side and not heroes at all. Robert E. Lee is a great example; Thomas Jefferson, too. Jim Bowie, the Alamo defenders. There is so much to absorb and rethink. But how long to we let people get away with breaking laws? And the same people who want to pardon criminals who really are unrepentant criminals ... I give you the Senate hearings for our newest Supreme Court Justice. What were the Republican Senators after? The idea that Ketenji Brown Jackson had been "too soft on crime" as a judge.
The soft on crime regressive Republicans who voted to acquit Trump in both of his impeachments. Those regressives just basically threw out the rule of law. No person should be above the law. The DOJ memo regarding accountability of the president was simply an opinion (what someone thought), not a clause in the Constitution, which the radical regressives are working so hard to dismantle via the highest court. (The stench bench should NEVER be able to rid themselves of this odiferous moniker.) Clarence Thomas should be impeached, but that is a story for another day. We have neglected to maintain our system of governance, the rot and evil termites are ruining its infrastructure, not to mention how the regressives keep swinging a wrecking ball against it. 😡😢
My experience growing up in Mississippi in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Jenn, was similar to yours. I was fed a steady diet of Lost Cause propaganda about the greatness of Robert E. Lee, the gallantry of Stonewall Jackson, etc. I was sent to an all-white “segregation” academy where I learned a white-washed version of history, my father and the fathers of all the white kids I grew up with were members of the Citizens’ Council, and I saw first-hand how they conspired to keep Black people from being able to vote. If they didn’t like the laws of the land, they ignored them and unless they committed murder--and sometimes even if they did, as in the case of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, who tortured and killed Emmett Till--their crimes went unpunished. Those who committed crimes on January 6 need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Otherwise, we’ve only seen the beginning of what they will do.
I can't imagine growing up in place so steeped in that kind of indifferent hate. For much of my life, I've been haunted by the church bombing that killed those four little girls. Think how many people had to know about who did that, and kept quiet for all those years. Multiply again and again. It is no surprise that people simply came to accept that as normal, when there is no public recognition that it is not normal and not acceptable in the kind of society we pretended to live in.
Richard Rubin wrote a good book about race and murder in the Mississippi Delta called CONFEDERACY OF SILENCE. It’s a title that suggests how that society functioned and to a degree still does. And Beverly Lowry is about to publish an even better book on the subject called DEER CREEK DRIVE. It’s no wonder so many of us from that part of the world became novelists. Fiction thrives on secrets, and we lived in a place with the most peculiar kind of secrets--namely, those that everyone knows but no one tells.
Thanks, Jenn, for fleshing out Lee's real character. Even as a northern, I do not remember ever hearing about his being a traitor, which is the correct characterization. These points should be made, imo, even to grade schoolers to reinforce the notion of our united states.
I put no salt whatsoever in how the media frames rule of law as too divisive. Pshaw. The rule of law is there for that very reason. The confederacy made “new laws” to preserve slavery. They were defeated and then excused. Now, we encounter that same attitude. The woodshed, I say.
The “confederacy” has never gone away. Trump supposedly “draining the swamp” exposed it hiding in the muck.
I think it's very interesting that a bunch of liberals are using the phrase "rule of law"!
As a fellow progressive, I agree with you. But hasn't the other side claimed to be the only party that cares about the rule of law? It makes my head spin to think about the levels of hypocricy that course through our politicial exchanges.
Punishing those guilty of crimes is “divisive” if you side with those who committed the crimes. Or if sitting on the fence, seeing which way the wind will blow is your preference, as it seems to be in much of the media.
“And the Department of Justice requested that the first defendant from the January 6 insurrection to be convicted at trial, Guy Reffitt, be sentenced to 15 years in prison. This is an upward adjustment of sentencing guidelines because the department is asking the judge to consider Reffitt’s actions as terrorism, since the offense for which he was convicted ‘was calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct.’” Damn straight.
Well, I’ll be reading and re-reading this today several times. And grateful that our Department of Justice will follow the rule of law and demonstrate that the scholars musing on the restoration of democracy after a revolting revolt of authoritarianism are correct. Enforce the rule of law.
If I never see the confederate flag again, that might help me to dispel the image of seeing it walk through the halls of my Capitol Bldg during the insurrection. And your Capitol. And our Capitol. Gov DeSantis wants to burn books in this state. I say burn those rotten symbols of treason against the United States of America. I’ll start by gathering a few of them off the obnoxious pickup trucks driving freely on the streets in my community.
I can relish the thought of sentencing guidelines to be imposed on the prosecuted top dogs of this new civil war from the Willard Hotel. And the White House.
There was a podcast, “Will Be Wild,” about the J6 event(s). One of the episodes was about the Reffits. Remember his son alerted the FBI to him? He threaten to kill his kids if anyone ratted? His wife was interviewed, a sympathetic person (if a little misguided).
Love your spirit, Christine. Heads up tho. This from the SPLC "Three Percenterism is not a group, but a sub-ideology or common belief that falls within the larger antigovernment militia movement. Three Percenters (also known as III%ers or Threepers) claim that only 3% of American colonists fought against the British during the American Revolution, a claim that has never been proven."
One has to wonder. Will the scum now sentenced fulfill the quest for retribution that the great granddaddies evaded? The gentlemen who congregated at the Willard, sucking on $30 single malts should be first in line for sentencing. Unidad!
And everyone at that midnight meeting on 18 Dec. Except Pat Cippalone. At least convicted to prevent them running for office ever again. Absolute sedition.
I could hardly bare to see the Capitol building during the Capitol 4th. I should be able to look with pride at it instead of seeing it swarming with insurrectionists and being desecrated by them. As for the stars and bars, I would happily burn every one. One of the worst negative people on Next Door proudly flies them. This is the dope who chastised me for having solar panels because they were probably made in China. We had someone just down the street flying one. I live in a very diverse neighborhood with lots of Hispanics and others.
Next time he says that, tell him to get back to his own home and discard everything “Made in China” or with parts “Made in China”. And then look at what he’s got left.
Salud, Christine. I thought about that, including those flags. I did wonder what she would be wearing among other things. She had four kids go through the public schools, but no voting for school budgets of course. Then we had a problem getting our local fire district funded as it should be and she was a leading light on opposing that. It took three tries. You would be surprised how many people think they can handle emergencies on their own.
They are always first in line for federal aide we all pay for. I pushed back against that crap long before Trump, and their solutions are just as absurd next door as they are at a trump rally. That will never change, but I suspect your stars and bars will disappear fairly soon. It really is like tattooing 'asshole' on their foreheads.
My husband was involved in unemployment insurance for the state. The loudest naysayers were first in line. One so called "Christian" who lived across the street from his brother deigned to call him in the evening and thought he was going to get some special help. Nope. Pamela on Next Door and the Oregunians haven't figured out that they are assholes and I think they don't care if they annoy people.
Regarding Next Door. I recently learned that you can click on the dots in the upper corner of each post and mute the poster in all future comments. Such a relief.
Nobody can get by our house right now as out front is a big sewer project in the road and across the street. We can access on a side street, but our corner is closed, so no one would see these
Too bad about your experience with Next Door. Whoever monitors the area where you live is remiss in letting those posts and subsequent threads continue.
We have some good monitors, but the really good one has had to deal with very sad stuff. I see she is back on. One of them didn't like that people were saying about fireworks and the 4th of July and just deleted those who disagreed with him.
He is new to me. The one who is back is wonderful and helps people out also. She keeps us apprised of LE actions, accidents, and tells people where to go for help. She has shut off comments at times as they can get pretty rude. Of course, the rude people are the ones who howl loudest about censorship.
Every politician of the CSA, every military officer, should have been taken out and hanged. South Carolina should have had every building knocked down, every tree cut down, every field salted. Like Rome did to Carthage. It should be the South Carolinian Desert today.
Hey - the buildings and the land were not the issue - what good, other than "The vengeance is mine" would that have done? "To Carthage then I came, burning, burning" (TSEliot).
I agree that those responsible for inciting the rebellion, as well as those fighting for it should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and if that resulted in hanging, well then, so be it. But to lay waste to the landscape in the manner you describe would have punished too many innocents; I'm thinking specifically of Black and indigenous people.
This is fascinating. I would like to ask our Black substack community members what THEY see and feel in the southern landscape. (Bill Willis-- can you help with this?)
Being from the west coast and New England, my dips into the southern landscape truly impact my sensibilities as a white woman, too aware of history. More so when my husband and I were granted a stay in what I would refer to as an antebellum home in Maryland, with my step-grandfather's friends during his memorial weekend in 1998. We drove through the brick-walled estate, into the circular driveway, to find a huge home with white columned porticos. When we knocked on the door, a very kind, Black elderly woman in a maid's outfit answered the door—let's call her Alta. (I don't think she had white gloves on, but it felt like she did in my memory).
We were pretty shocked and tried to figure out which century we were in. Was this real? A movie set? No, this was real. Through my delicate questioning, the kind, white owners told us about the maid's family who had been slaves on that estate for several generations. Alta, and her father who was very old and infirmed, had been the last of their "inherited, family members." I am not sure I was able to hide my incredulousness at what I was actually witnessing and hearing. Alta was about my mother's age, 63 at that time.
The next morning, my husband and I rose from our canopied bed in one of the flowered wall-papered guest rooms, and went to the kitchen in search of the British necessity of life, a cup of tea. We found Alta busy in the kitchen preparing breakfast. We sat at the little kitchen table. She said she would serve us in the dining room. We told her we were fine in the kitchen and chatted with her while she worked and told us a little about her life on the estate. Her children were the first generation to able to go to college and she was very proud of them. The Lady of the House told us, later, that and her husband took care of all the health and education of their "family members," including the care of Alta's father who had "lived" there all his life.
The Lady of the house heard us talking in the kitchen. She came in and appeared very surprised to find us there all chatting together. We were ushered into the dining hall and proceeded to have tea with The Lady. After more some chatting, she disclosed her shock that we had actually TALKED with Alta and gave her a present—syrup from Vermont. She said NONE of her friends would ever speak to a servant. Really?? She liked that we did not follow those "old rules." Even as I write this, despite how kind the owners of the house were, I was quite shaken at the entire setting. I was shaken that Alta and her father were referred to as "members of their family." No member of my family stays in the kitchen wearing a maid's outfit and not spoken to by friends of my other family members.
When I see plantations and antebellum houses, I see chains, whips, slavery, white power and oppression. Pure and simple. I see statues to white men of power. I see inherited human beings treated as less than second class. I am very uncomfortable in the south. I have been very uncomfortable when I have southern clients in my boarding schools here in the north. They do not fit in, there are huge clashes between the students from the north who question the Confederacy and racism. One female student said she hated being at school up here because no one understands the conventions and the good things about the south. She did not last long. Other boys from the south used words about our students of color that alienated them when they could not understand that that was racist. To be a therapist for some of these kids felt like the universe really wanted to challenging me to be a blank slate, and there are just certain I cannot be blank about very easily. I had to pose my questions to carefully as to why the other students might be feeling offended by southern stances and comments. I tried to keep myself out of it. I may have been a bit indelicate sometimes. But it is how they are raised. And being in the north, I hope helped them to see and experience something different. But as they don't feel comfortable here, I don't feel comfortable there, even with my privileged skin.
That landscape, for me, feels like memory museums of hell, that aren't finished making memories. Yet, I hate destruction and waste of resources. So I am as as torn as ever by this morning's discussion as much as I was the day in 1998 when I drove up into that circular driveway.
Thanks for sharing this story. I so appreciate the truth of it all. As a descendant of enslaved Africans and white slave owners I must say southern “traditions” are so jarring to many because they’re visible. I grew up in the North and the subtle but ever present racism we live with is just as insidious if not more so because people pretend it’s not happening in the North. Racism is everywhere in America.
Gina, thank YOU for saying the appreciated, painful truth: racism plagues the country, not merely one region. Growing up in AL and living in TN since college, I can proudly confirm that my teen daughters and I are part of a sizeable, vocal wave of change that crosses ages, races, and beyond — just one wave among quite a few.
Pensa, thank you for sharing these memories and thoughts with us. I haven't been in the south since 1965, and as a California girl, I was shocked to see separate drinking fountains. I'm sure we saw other segregated facilities, but that's the one that has always stuck in my mind, maybe because it was the first indication I saw of the "culture" of the south.
What always struck me about the separate drinking fountains in Florida in the 60s was how different they were. The “white” fountains were part of a box unit that chilled the water, while the “black” fountains were the simple china units with a drinking spigot, like the ones we had in older northern schools at the time.
I’m amazed you’re thinking that restoring the land and giving it back to the former slave owners benefitted Black people? How is this so..the government allowed former slave owners to continue to oppress, maim and kill Black folks-with no repercussions. This has been going on for centuries-
How very Old Testament of you TC. I’d rather spare the trees and fields. The earth is blameless in all this. But, yes, we should have hanged the bastards.
Writing this late in the day. Incredible to me the space given to criticizing, sometimes chastising your assessment, TC, of proper consequence for treason committed against the United States government by a state that seceded from the Union in order to carry on slave labor and trade.
It’s odd to me about what people feel about punishment. People have expressed that what you suggest was going too far. Many people also suggested that charging Nixon would be going too far. People today suggesting that Atty Gen Garland “afraid” to prosecute trump because it will cause riots in the streets snd more violence.
It’s all the same thing. What I want to know is how people think that a pardon for treason or not prosecuting or not administering a severe consequence helps exactly what? Ending that kind of behavior?
And quite frankly, wonder what people would say if it wasn’t rich, powerful white men with lots of money? That might try to strike back. Please. To me, there is little that can be humanly worse than what southern men men did to other human beings to grow their cotton empires on their whip scarred backs and then said fuck you to the Union and seceded…thinking they could make it without the North. What a joke. Sounds like Texas today. Same shit happening again. And Nazi Germany copied our caste model. Why not? Appeared to work quite well. Salting every cotton field would not have created a desert for eternity, but it damn well would have been a lesson for anyone thinking of giving treason a shot again.
Saw this on Twitter about Trump’s mob connections. There was another article that talks about why the FBI never came forward with info on Trump before the election and why it is reluctant to do so now.
Your lengthy link worked fine, at least for me. Obviously, however, it was a bit too difficult for Republicans to access and read, let alone comprehend, so they gave their party away, turning it into a Russian-patronized brothel, and were content to be the pimps. And what about the millions (74,000,000 in 2020) who voted for the defeated former president? They didn't get anything for their votes except perhaps an overseas-made red hat, and his private and well-hidden contempt.
And if that is 'the tribe' membership that they so desired, it is time for everyone else to discredit and if need be, destroy, that 'tribe.' I'm reminded of that recent 'prequel' to the Soprano's TV series, in which a child growing up in a tribe's unsavory environment yearned to become and indeed did become a member of that tribe. In normal times, this would be a matter for sociologists to deal with, but today it is everyone's concern.
Fascinating. I find it especially so following the tragic "fall" of Ivana on the eve of her former husband and her kids having to testify about tax fraud. In Russia, people tend not to fall down stairs, but off balconies - when they are not being poisoned or shot.
While the prosecution of TFP will be a great “disturbance“ in this country, the failure to do so will damage our democracy, the rule of law and lead to a level of anti-democratic anarchy. Risks are great such as the potential for an acquittal but I don’t see another way forward. Democracy is in for a very rough ride no matter which trail we take.
Indeed, Steve Yarbrough. Indeed! And then we have Uvalde. How many racist cops ignored the killer? How many? All services. The gun lobby types. On the border, thinking wetbacks. Color. Abbott lies. From the get go. Official lies. Always. Kids of color killed in the Land of the Free, a bloodbath hidden for weeks, Texas, Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis, Josh Hawley, Lindsey Graham, the Republican Senate, the SCOTUS stench...
Your sentence yesterday about Ken Paxton being indicted 7 years ago with no trial yet still haunts me. Have politicians ever gone to jail? Or just Martha Stewart?
Paxton being under indictment for felony security fraud (seven years and still no trial) is just the beginning!
The FBI also is investigating corruption allegations against Paxton. At least eight top staff members in the Texas Attorney General’s office have accused him of abuse of office violations for favors given in return for political donations. These whistleblowers have either resigned or been fired. Plus, questions remain about his role in the January 6 insurrection.
Under his supervision, the Texas Attorney General’s Office spent $2.2 million and 22,000 hours examining non-existent voter fraud and ultimately finished only three cases!
To date, Texas taxpayers have funded $45,000 of Paxton’s own legal defense as the State Bar of Texas considers professional misconduct charges against him related to his disingenuous efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
This is just not normal! There seems to be no end to the corrupt practices of the Texas AG. There’s an election less than four months away, if he’s not in jail by then (which is extremely doubtful), he should at least be voted out of office!
AG Ken Paxton declines to sue candidates, officials who owe $700K in unpaid campaign violation fines
For the past two and a half years, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has declined to sue hundreds of candidates and elected officials who altogether owe more than $700,000 to the state in unpaid fines for campaign reporting violations.
Campaign finance laws are meant to give the public insight into politicians’ possible influences and allow voters make informed decisions and hold officeholders accountable.
The Texas Ethics Commission levies the fines against candidates and elected officials who, for example, fail to file reports on their campaign fundraising and spending in a timely manner. Other violations include filing inaccurate or incomplete reports, misusing campaign or public funds for personal benefit, or producing and distributing misleading political advertising.
ISSUES OF HIS OWN: AG Ken Paxton refuses to disclose his property addresses to the Texas Ethics Commission
The state has few restrictions on political spending by design, with the laws supported by Republican lawmakers who generally oppose government regulation. It’s one of only 11 states that put no limits on individual contributions to campaigns.
And the Texas Ethics Commission, the regulatory agency in charge of enforcing those laws, doesn’t have many tools at its disposal to go after scofflaws aside from letter notifications. Its last line of defense against delinquent filers is to refer their cases to the attorney general’s office.
“We have very few rules when it comes to campaign finance in Texas, and the few that we do have are not enforced, clearly,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas, a government watchdog group. “What’s the point of even having the rules?”
Refusing to collect the fines is the latest exhibit of the antagonistic relationship between Paxton and the Texas Ethics Commission. In recent years, Paxton’s office has questioned the constitutionality of the agency’s work, and though his office is charged with defending state agencies in court, he has declined to defend it against a still-ongoing suit filed by political allies of his who seek to gut the agency. The unusual move has cost the state over $1 million by forcing it to seek outside counsel.
Paxton did not respond to a request for comment, but in the past his office has called the agency indefensible.
“All of our decisions are guided by the same principle: We take the duty to defend the state seriously and routinely defend agency enforcement actions whenever consistent with our duty to uphold the Constitution,” Paxton’s then-spokesman Marc Rylander said in 2018. “However, where we determine those two duties are in conflict, our first obligation is to defend the Constitution and the basic rights it guarantees to each and every Texan.”
Paxton, a Republican, is seeking a third term this fall. He has been under indictment on felony securities fraud charges since 2015 and is under FBI investigation after his former aides accused him of taking bribes and abusing the power of his office to help a friend and campaign donor.
He also faces discipline from the Texas State Bar for filing what the bar deemed a frivolous lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 election results. Paxton has denied any wrongdoing.
During primary season early this year, Paxton also filed his own campaign finance reports late or incomplete multiple times, though he avoided fines and issued corrections when necessary. One of the reports was missing donor information accounting for nearly all of the $2.8 million he raised during the reporting period. The campaign took almost two weeks to revise it.
The majorities in those states are trapped democrats. In at least six red states, democrats outvoted GQP 3 to 1. They have shaken and stirred the rules for minority success, regardless of the will of the majority. They need consequences and justice, not succession.
I find it hard to believe they''ve outvoted GOPers 3:1. I'd like to see the detailed stats. Still, if it's true, we do need consequences and justice rather than secession (note spelling of this latter word).
Hey! I live in TX, too, and am tired of the nonsense. I keep voting against these blankety- blank-blanks and still hope for changes for the better. Absolutely No talk about secession, please. I am a United States citizen first!
He will not be charged until they are done putting his partner through the wringer and squeezing every bit of evidence from him. His sentencing is due very soon.
And then Gaetz will be taken to the woodshed. He will not see another term in Congress. For a few reasons.
ahhh, the November election will probably put Mr. Forehead back in office. I do not believe the constituency is ready to toss him aside. They have not yet,
Martha’s not a politician. She was busted for insider trading. A few years ago the top NY State Senators after a long investigation were found guilty of taking bribes. But for years we all knew they were corrupt. The wheels of Justice turn very slow for White Color crime especially politicians. And speaking of speed that does not appear to be the DOJ and Atty. Garland’s specialty. He would have been better staying a judge. That Jan. 6th Committee were better investigator and quicker. Sorry I do tend to go off topic.
This DOJ does not leak because they don't want people to know they are targets. Please remember that they have indicted the leadership of both the Proud Boys and the Oath keepers for seditious conspiracy. They are also responsible for Bannon's ploy on his contempt charge trial not working. Some charges are easy to prove, but the latter is not one of them. Prosecutors always want an airtight case.
I agree with you, Michelle. This is a very deep, dark difficult case filled with a lot of bad eggs, both foreign and domestic. This will be like indicting the mob-- which it is. The modern, white supremacist mob behaving like Nazis, infiltrating and taking over our country and brainwashing vulnerable. Repeating history. Will we ever stop?
Yes and for certain charges, you want a case that the defendants can't weasel around. They were just waiting for someone to give them carte blanche and death star donny did just that. Worst thing to happen since the Civil War. But her emails. Every day I think about how rude and uncaring people have become. Last night the Oregunians down the street were popping off fireworks. Also one of them leaves, maybe for work, nearly every night and has a loud car and steps on it as he roars down the street.
"They [Confederate symbols] have made a spectacular comeback since the 1980s until finally, on January 6, 2021, the Confederate battle flag flew in the U.S. Capitol."
Of course this is a result of Reagan's institution of Nixon's Southern Strategy. And the Republican embrace of racist right wing religious extremism. And the Reagan/GOP assault on the legitimacy of the United States government in service of plutocrats who paid them the big money to be unburdened of government regulation and taxation. Money funneled also to Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society to be filtered through corrupt shell corporations to fund the corruption of the judiciary. And some of which may have helped fund a Ginni Thomas/Leonard Leo allied entity involved in facilitating participation in the Republican Jan 6 insurrection.
Thank you lin. we should never forget Nixon's, Reagan's and the GQP 's roles in the perfidy of conceiving of and re-igniting the "Southern strategy" and continuing to fire up those who still--after a hundred and fifty years--believe in the "Lost Cause" mythology.
An interesting first hand account of the seeds of the Southern hagiography replacing history with alternative 'facts' - by a not entirely unsympathetic Northern writer with his own racist stance - can be found in Henry James' The American Scene in his notes on a visit to Richmond. The entire book is very interesting - if you take it in bits to have time to tamp down the moral revulsion it awakes.
The Northern writer I mention is Henry James - an American born and largely American raised itinerant ex pat, who late in life settled in England. In 1904 he made a lecture tour and sentimental journey to the United States. The resulting The American Scene is a work of non fiction; it is James' musings on his visit home - in which he waxes indignant at: not knowing 'whose sons these are' who now cross his beloved Harvard yard'; 'the truculent Italian workers so picturesque on hillsides in Italy and so jarring on estates in his beloved Newport Rhode Island'; the 'immigrants taking over his beloved old New York with their arrogant expectation of acceptance.'; and saving some of his worst spleen for 'the large proboscis inhabitants of the fetid aquarium of the Lower East Side. Jews who whatever they make of the English language, will never make anything of it recognizable as English literature.' (Well we showed him;)
Of his visit to Richmond James describes the avant la lettre right wing extremist revisionism of the defeated South. The hagiography by which Civil War traitors were raised up in the public square and magicked into heritage heroes. Where to justify 'the noble cause' (of slavery), sharing the empirically confirmed facts was banned from the public discourse of schools, libraries, news media, politics, church pulpits, and political platforms. It is worth reading as a prescient foreshadowing of the bedeviling things dominating Republican strategy, tactics, and rhetoric today. In short, the GOP Southern Strategy.
Although in The American Scene James acknowledges 'the slave scheme as flying in the face of history and Christendom' in his novel The Bostonians James shows great affinity and affection for his hero, a financially ruined Mississippi plantation owner moved North to find work and battling Boston feminists for James befuddled young heroine - who only needs to learn that what she really needs in life is a strong man.
lin, your well-written letter alone made my foray into the comments today worthwhile. Not that there weren't others worth reading, but yours illuminated something essential about America that we aren't very keen to take a close look at.
Plainly, the “southern strategy” is just racism as it has been practiced in America since the beginning-it didn’t just start with Nixon and Reagan. White men invented racism with propaganda and lies to divide and conquer the people. Race is a made-up concept. It was codified into laws from the beginning. The color of human beings’ skin does not make someone better or lesser than anyone. We’ve lived with these lies so long people think race is a legitimate concept. White people in power continue to use race as a tool to maintain control over the masses.
Gina, 'Southern strategy', was the term used for how the Republicans during the Reagan and Nixon years would marshal the racism to their advantage and thus reduce the Democratic Party's strength in the South.
I’m clear about what the southern strategy is-my point was call it whatever you want-the Saale strategy has been going on since the beginning. The 13th, 14th and 15th amendments were supposed to guarantee Black folks equal rights. So why did we even need the Voting Rights Act in the 60s. I’ve read lots of newspaper accounts from the 1870s onward about how this strategy was used throughout time. My family’s slave owner was a state legislator who relied on these tactics after the civil war.
It’s a shame nobody listens to anthropologists who point out where we all came from, namely Africa. Skin color relates to how close to the Equator one’s very distant ancestors lived. Biologists do not see race as a useful concept.
ThankYou. It is an absolute guilty pleasure to participate. Mostly writing Letters to Editors, organizing, and already knocking on doors for candidates.
Me too, Lin. But so glad to see you past couple days. How are your action and organizing efforts going? Are there candidate campaigns you’d like us to support?
Always but especially in tRUMPs case, Follow the money. He says it's about power but no, especially in his case, its about money. How much does he owe the Russian mafia? And how is that concerned with Putin and his war?
For the Trump family access to political power has always translated into access to money. Running for and Holding political office was just more direct access. The Trump fortune is an indictment of political complicity in illicitly amassing intergenerational wealth.
Leonard Leo is in NE Harbor on Mt. Desert Island. He held a major fundraiser shindig for Susan Collins after she voted for Kavanaugh. His presence on the island, which is predominantly Democratic in its voting patterns, has created problems for residents as he tries to use his money to insert himself in community entities with a history of tolerance but where he is such an avatar of evil that he and his family are not wanted.
It is not exactly that simple. Maine voters are inertial and don't bother to notice that Collins talks bi partisan talk but walks almost lock step with the Republican cynics, hypocrites, and right wing extremists. Most recently Collins has resorted to embracing Jim Crow states rights arguments to defend voting against civil rights protections.
Not original - I just appropriated and repurposed the term. It is so difficult to find words for people like Leonard Leo. John Milton may have said it best "by merit raised to that bad eminence." Of course, he was describing Satan. But that term is overused.
It is complicated - shun or confront. It is not entirely either/or. And it creates problems for cash strapped local entities and their boards of directors.
The imminent threat, from wedding intense personal conviction with politics and the calculated and opportunist manipulation of this fervor for political gain, appears to run rampant in today’s Republican party. Perhaps a constant in societies throughout the ages, it may very well be particularly rampant in conservative politics today, both here and globally….or at least it seems that way to me.
NE Harbor is fine. Bar Harbor is the biggest bluest town. Wherever you go on MDI you'll run the risk of MAGAs and miscreants. Don't let it ruin your wonderful visit.
I thoroughly recommend the free Island Explorer bus system. Parking in a bear unless you pick a spot very early. Dorr Mountain has a wonderful variety of trails, including a connector to Cadillac. Bar Harbor Bikes on Cottage Street in Bar Harbor is the best rental to explore the Carriage Trails. Side Street Cafe, MtDesert Bakery, Slice of Eden, and the best of best SweetPeas Farm Cafe and C-Rays Lobsters are favorites with locals and visitors.
Yup. Roger Stone, Paul Manafort et al. David Duke was slobbering over and selling Putin as the great white christian hope before Tucker Carlson was. The Kochs go back to the John Birch Society. Etc and so forth.
Thank you, Professor Heather Cox Richardson for your historical perspective on a story that did not end even with the Civil War. And the devastation and loss of life on both sides. For many in the South today, the Civil War lives on. Consequences and prosecution for 1/6 Insurrectionists must be today’s story if we are to ever prevent future acts of Terrorism against the People, the Constitution and the Nation, the United States of America. You wrote what every citizen must hear: “While U.S. leaders after the Civil War thought their best hope of building a nation based on racial equality was to avoid prosecutions, scholars who study the restoration of democracy after an authoritarian crisis are very clear: central to any such restoration is enforcing the rule of law.”
Irenie, you pointed out the most powerful of Heather Cox Richardson's comments in the hundreds of letters she has written. We have witnessed an an attempt at a replay of American History and hopefully we get it right this time.
The “rule of law” established and maintained slavery for centuries. The laws are written and enforced for the purpose of maintaining “freedom and liberty” for white people in America. We see it every day. A young Black man can be gunned down with 60 bullets while young white men who commit mass killings and be taken into custody without shots being fired. Excuse me if I find it hard to trust in America’s laws.
Yes, the rule of law. However, the law has to be just and enforced in a uniform way. The right will exploit the laws they pass to reward friends and punish enemies (i.e., us, in their eyes). And they will be more emboldened than ever once they say they have the law on their side. Our nation is in crisis. If we don't take the country back in 2022 and 2024... It is way past time to set off all the alarms far and wide to wake up those who are sleeping through the attack on their (and our) freedom.
Gina and Duke, “Yes, the rule of law. However, the law has to be just and enforced in a uniform way.” So true. Hasn’t the South distorted Civil Rights laws from post Civil War to even currently? Including Amendments. Roe? Voting? So we can’t rest.
Heather is saying (and has said in greater detail in two of her books) what I SAW and heard for 24.5 years in the Army, surrounded by a large number of peers from the South and West who believe the truckload of guano that is The Lost Cause. At least partially they do. I absolutely believe if the U.S. military is not quietly but dutifully looking at its ranks in these years and reinforcing oaths to the constitution (and yes, looking for ANY ties to any of this seditious crap), yes, we will have the seeds for THE EXACT SAME THING. Make no mistake--if we have any sort of second civil conflict, it will be in large part because we never fully reckoned with it to begin with. We killed each other to the tune of 620,000 people (and yes, because of slavery) but couldn't look in the mirror and truly RECKON with all we'd done (or finish the necessary purging of the source of it all. Nope--we merely transformed it into ANOTHER era of shameful history). Here we are again now. Whatever comes to pass, this insidious aspect of our culture must be extirpated. Yes, acknowledged, learned about etc (like Naziism), but never allowed again. It's a lie (the original Big Lie), it's poison and we're STILL paying for it.
Same needs to be done with law enforcement of any kind. In 2020, my 80+ yo neighbor was struck in the back while running away from the curb (where she was chatting with neighbors) from a 54yo man who ran on to her property striking her on the shoulder from behind nearly knocking her to the ground. He has III Percent tags on the front of his jacked up truck and a large Confederate flag hangs in his garage. There were 4 witnesses to this attack, a felony in FL due to her age. She asked to press charges because he had been a threat for years. St. Johns County Sherriffs (St. Augustine) failed to do so. She is terrified. (Much more to this Story, of course, but these are the salient facts.)
This is so disheartening. I worked in victim advocacy for a number of years and a big piece of our role in those years was making sure a report was even taken. This is why we sat with victims for law enforcement reports and forensic evidence collection, and why with the survivor's permission would make calls to victim advocacy at the DAs office and also call the DA. If this woman wants charges pressed, they should be taken up. If the rule of law is available to one it should be available to all, or the whole thing is a sham.
Unfortunately, the local Sherriff's office has a bad reputation, which I had taken with a grain of salt until I saw this happen first hand. Now, I believe all of it!
And since this article, the family hired a private investigator from out-of-state who was conveniently murdered after just a couple of months in the area.
More than one can dream of. Bruce Springsteen said it all, back in 2016. “When you let that genie out of the bottle - bigotry, racism, intolerance - they don’t go back in the bottle that easily, if they go back in at all. Whether it’s a rise in hate crimes, people feeling they have a license to speak and behave in ways that previously were considered un-American, and are un-American. That’s what he’s appealing to. My fears are that those things find a place in ordinary, civil society.” His words have haunted me since, more every day…
That is because hatred is being allowed to be cultivated and incited by leaders whose full intentions are to divide and conquer via hatred and fear. Tactics of authoritarianism.
Exactly so. There are far, far too many of that ilk in the ranks of those who "protect and serve". I chose those words because they do, indeed protect (property) and serve (wealthy people) and have no duty to intervene when it might be dangerous to them.
I feel the weight of the tarnished badge of law enforcement; what I thought was a noble undertaking was in truth, based on the above sentence.
Frank Wilhoit: “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition …There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”
That needs to be repeated over and over. There are endless examples. Conservatism has nothing to do with conservation. You can’t make me! But I can make you!
And Ally, I suggest that “feeling the weight” aptly described in your stead referring to law enforcement (my weight in public education), is powerful. We bear it and acknowledge it because we know change must happen. And then it does. Because we accepted the weight, we are rewarded when a profession is redeemed and the cracks of darkness vanquished.
Salud, Sister. Happy hour late this weekend. Getting to it this afternoon! 🗽🇺🇸🥂
The Secret Service must now be included among the law enforcement agencies, some of whose members have been politicized over the years with right-wing, if not conspiratorial, ideas. It probably will take a few decades to rid our country of the poisons with which the defeated former president infected it or resurrected from the "Lost Cause.' We need an honest Republican Party to help accomplish that. We do not have one. The Democrats cannot, AND SHOULD NOT, have to do it alone.
Guns and random violence grow like weeds in the soil of our discontent. I watch with horror. My actions, votes and feedback seem to matter less and less. Though heartbroken, we must resist and vision a better future. This cannot stand.
This is a disgusting act of violence against an elderly woman no matter what the political aspects of it are. Add that and it makes it clear that the Sheriff's dept is deeply entrenched in political influence. What about the prosecutor's office? Generally charges aren't brought by law enforcement, who in theory investigate: it is the prosecutor's office who then takes charges to a grand jury. So something is way out of wack here. Is the ACLU involved? If not, they should be. It's not too late.
As I said above, there is more to the story but I wanted to be brief in making my point in re identifying and removing from law enforcement those who are members of these organizations. I recommended my neighbor contact the local State Attorney's office whose role it is to determine whether to prosecute. She declined. She is in fear and was shocked this happened (as we all were) and was concerned where pursuing the matter would lead. It was her case and not mine to bring.
Thank you for your perspective, Robert. Is there a space for people in the military to report this kind of thing or is it like reporting sexual abuse and gets absorbed into the system and disappears? I am concerned about this, and also in the police. Both are experiencing low recruitment interest. What will be the ramifications of that? Will it mean they lower the bar for new recruits? Hopefully this is a subject that is not going without notice.
Speaking for law enforcement, I can tell you that more than half of the people who are hired (at least locally, and measured anecdotally from what I see in the various "new hire congratulations" announcements) are military veterans. Given that the percentage of military veterans in that age group represents a fraction of the population, this is a scary trend to see. In my hire group in 1985. it was about a 20% ratio. Today, it is closer to 60%.
And State of Florida announced recently that military vets who have not yet completed their bachelor’s degree course of study, will automatically be issued temporary teacher certification in the State of Florida. Only military vets. One cannot (previously) get a temp cert unless one holds a degree in good standing.
Hmmm. Can it be because DeSantis is looking for more teachers willing to carry in schools?
Carry ideas , not just weapons. Years ago, there were tax incentives to hire vets. My former private school hired a 3-tours of duty in Iraq vet to run a middle school, among other vets. Experience with kids, none. He thought that misbehaving kids had liberal parents, only possible explanation.
This sounds dangerous. The militarization of police has been a frightening trend and knowing soldiers now comprise more than half of our police force horrifies me.
That is a sad story which reflects (I believe) most of us. Certainly it has been hard for me to realize that my profession is nowhere near as "noble" as I thought it was.
I have such conflicting feelings about this subject, but coming to grips with the reality; my years in child welfare brought me in touch with many compassionate law enforcement officers (although the older ones were uncomfortable with sexual molest allegations) and I always was proud of our military. My stepson is a pastor and also a police officer and we’ve been flying the Thin Blue Line Flag…now I’m not so sure about that! But it’s mainly been in support of him and the job he does. My eyes are more open to comments made by former and current cops I meet randomly, and I cringe at what they say either openly, or quietly. And yes, I have seen the large numbers of ex-military going into law enforcement…it’s almost a given since law enforcement is a paramilitary operation and they would be so comfortable with that. I’m glad that these folks in J6 are finally seeing some consequences.
Recalling a few years back when I attended a training at the state National Guard HQ. Sone kind of breaking news happened and all the soldiers and leadership collapsed into the cafeteria to watch. On Fox news. The military could take a first step of assuring that NPR/PBS is the broadcast news source for any public screen at a military installation.
Would you be willing to estimate, based on your many years of close observation, the percentage of high-level officers, colonel up, say, who are Trump supporters?
I would not. I have no idea TBH. If I had to guess, I would say it's at-most 25%, possibly much less. I know the Chairman and the current Chiefs despise him. I think what's problematic and hard to discern is those in a gray area--those who have no love of the man, but had he actually enacted a military coup, have not done the necessary deep thinking required to decide whether his actions required support or defiance. No, I do not think you'd see a 50-50 split--not for Trump. But...what if a much less bombastic, more intelligent, less overt in his machinations type of leader were involved--a DeSantis type? Then, I think we might have a problem...
Thanks for responding. I think you’re right to worry about the difficulties officers face in making judgments about the validity of orders. Law professors who have spent years delving into questions of constitutionality find such questions to be nuanced and tricky, and they have months to ponder them. Military officers have to make such judgments in the heat of the moment. It’s a lot to ask of anyone. What most worried me between the election and the inauguration was the possibility of Trump declaring martial law and military leaders having to decide on the legality of the order. And, as you pointed out, we’re far from out of the woods. It appears that 99% of the Republican leadership and at least 70 million citizens find white, kleptocratic autocracy preferable to a government with a negative view of systemic white advantage. It will take a miracle to prevail in November, and even if that miracle occurs, we will still have to deal with the 70 million and the politicians who pander to them.
Well, frankly, if we vote in the numbers THEY do, we'll win just about every time. Not in every state, but certainly overall. We (middle America and parts of the Left) do it to ourselves, frankly. I get all the stuff with suppression and gerrymandering--that should fire us up MORE, not make people talking in defeatist tones before the election--that riles ME up. I'm sorry, but I was in Iraq twice--where I saw 90% of populaces--many of whom were openly threatened with death if they voted--come to polls anyway and vote. So, I really don't want to hear excuses. For individuals who've had their ballots invalidated or been made to re-register numerous times, yes--I've talked with such folks and I know they are out there. But...for the 30% of the populace that, at a minimum, ALWAYS finds a way to "not be bothered"? Nope, can't abide them. Say want you want about Far Right delusionists and Trumpists, they do better getting to the polls, and it's NOT just because they're less suppressed.
Nothing Democrats can do is more important than getting out the vote. Especially not messaging, which on the Democratic side is necessarily nuanced and on the Republican side needs no more than the word “woke.” Democrats would have been better off if they had invested a billion a year or more in on-the-ground, GOTV efforts for the past couple decades. Unfortunately, we didn’t, and we still don’t. I’ve been a Democratic activist for 60 years, starting at age 18, which was before I could vote. During that time, negative political outcomes have outnumbered positive ones by at least two to one. That informs my outlook. I find justified optimism inspirational but view unfounded optimism as happy talk. My direct GOTV efforts consume twenty to thirty hours a month of my time. In addition I contribute enough money to support eight hours a month of paid, on the ground, young Latino activists in a winnable (barely) district in the Central Valley. Not much but unfortunately all I can muster.
Wow, what a day, indeed! We must see rule of law enforced here or we are doomed as a democracy. No more playing nice-y nice, we must make treason and sedition real crimes with clear consequences, anything less only ensures the takeover of our country by these very same republican terrorists.
It is clear the President of our country led the revolution against this country. These people answered the President’s call. The leaders of the revolution Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Giuliani, Flynn, all need to go to trial and held accountable as well as the minions who answered the call to the uprising. What about the congress people who supported and contributed to the insurrection. They are in positions of power and supported people partaking in the insurrection. I am amazed we allow our congress people to promote violence overtly and covertly. Are there no code of ethics for these people? Most professional people need to adhere to a code of ethics. Of course then we have Clarence Thomas and Ginni Thomas part of this. Time for him to step down. When are we going to stop confirming Supreme Court justices who have a history of abusing woman?
Thomas will never step down of his own volition--he has said that he "wants revenge" for the "humiliation" he "suffered" during his confirmation. He has held on to that grudge for three decades--how is that a judicial temperament???
"“I went to law school with him,” said Clinton, a 1973 graduate of Yale Law School. (Thomas received his J.D. from the school a year later.) “He’s been a person of grievance for as long as I’ve known him. Resentment, grievance, anger.”
Such good questions. We are really seeing how there seems to be very little in the way of law or codes of ethics for our leaders. I guess they worry about the shoe on the other foot, but in spite of my bias, I have a hard time seeing anything that compares to what the GOP members are doing. Although if the courts are "conservative," will they be blind? And how does our congress review and update a code in such a divisive and extremist environment?
Glad to read this letter from HCR, particularly about how our nation's failure to address the insurrection, costs, death and authoritarian ideas of the Confederacy. We are still living with the damage today.
I recommend reading "Race and Reunion" by David W. Blight. Published in 2001. It means even more today, 21 years later. You can see the ghosts of the Confederates walking our nation at will today. Imposing themselves. Their spirits have recently inhabited the White House. They sit in Congress and have taken over the US Supreme Court. They must be exorcised from our nation. It's rather auspicious that they wore "gray", living on as ghosts and spirits, haunting the nation, while the Union wore "blue" now used to describe Democrats. "Red" of course is for all the blood.spilled over these many years of conflict and crimes against blacks and civil and voting rights activists.
Yes. And David, people of color in our country have been dealing with those "ghosts" everyday, throughout their lives, and are built into the white caste foundations since the discovery of our country. Makes one believe in white reincarnation throughout the ages.
We’re in a heap of trouble because so many members of Congress took part in the coup. This is one of the reasons the GOP continues to double down with the Big Lie and with an authoritarian takeover attempt at every level, including subverting elections going forward. Every good prosecution of criminal enterprises starts by flipping minor players to testify against those higher in the food chain. Trump and his immediate co-conspirators must be prosecuted. But I don’t readily see a way to prosecute all involved members of Congress that won’t harden their resistance. They won’t allow their political party or power base to be destroyed, either. And there are big money and media dominance fueling their efforts. South Africa found a way, at least for awhile, to build a new form of nationhood beyond apartheid with its Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Our situation is unique. I would love to see historic instances in some ways comparable to ours to show a way out.
You are so right Gary. Does the Executive Branch call for a "Truth & Reconciliation Committee" or is it up to my seditionist Congressperson, and his 146 seditionist peers to do it, or the 6 seditionist members of SCOTUS? Ah, WE must vote.
And some of those members, should they win the House in the 2022 Midterms, have quite a list of impeachments they wish to pursue. Here are a few of the names on their impeachment list: Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Merrick Garland and other Cabinet Members, Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney are all being mentioned. Jim Jordan is leading the charge on this.
Think of the massive indictments Garland and his team of prosecutors are charged with. Nothing like this has ever happened in our country. If all the bad eggs are indicted, our Hall of Congress will be a skeleton congress of democrats. I think that will be a good thing for the moment. But what do we do when the party of treason gets wiped out? I would say we party, but we must deal with the void. Who steps in when a lawmaker steps down or dies? Or is imprisoned for treason?
There is so much to unpack in your comment Gary. I have given considerable thought to what you have posited and can offer a few thoughts.
There is no other country quite like the U.S. At times, some have touted with pride our diversity but in fact that diversity is the source of all the dysfunction that has percolated throughout our relatively very short history. I have come to believe that tribalism is part of the DNA of the human race. LIke oil and water, we cannot blend what is "unblendable." You cannot unite people who choose to believe they are not equals - this is at the core of tribalism. People naturally see differences before they see similarities.
As you say, as a country our situation is unique. We are most similar to ancient Rome or the British Empire in trying to meld together people of very different conditions whether that be race, religion or creed. People, rightfully so, refuse to go along to get along. People who hold different beliefs refuse to subjugate themselves to the rule of people who are not like them. Ultimately, this led to the fall of Rome and the dismantling of the British Empire. In our short history, there's no evidence that Americans have found the will to live in harmony
I can find no solution, no way out of our self-made dilemma. We created a system of government that is ungovernable. Our form of democracy as set forth in the Constitution requires people to act in good faith, which is something that is in very short supply in the human condition. More people than not are wired to act in their own best interests. We are all, to some degree, self-serving. It is part of our survival instinct which some people have in the extreme.
The coup de grace is intertwine the American lifeblood of capitalism with political grifters and we have the best government money can buy. From its outset, America was vulnerable to becoming a country controlled by the wealthy elite, or the robber barons. We are either on the way to becoming a plutocracy or kleptocracy. Either way, we have a ready-made two-party political system that can be exploited, and a society that is easy to divide and conquer. We are a country that had it all and handed it over to the wealthy with nary a fight.
That is very well reasoned. However we are in the present and have a chance to respond to the situation. This moment is not yet frozen in history. Plutocracy or kleptocracy are already here. Authoritarian fascist rule is trying to assert itself. We can vote and work to turn out votes in the mid-terms and litigate when Republicans try to subvert the will of the electorate. I am thinking about what we must do and don’t know whether we will succeed. And we are in this situation in large part because we don’t have 50 Democratic senators. Joe Manchin said in a radio interview this week that his actions cannot be predicted because there is a “D” next to his name. He doesn’t identify with being a Democrat. I don’t mean this last comment to be a conversation stopper but can only take my small actions and watch — not too closely for peace of mind — to see how this all unfolds.
Those kids should get medals of freedom! Seriously. What a difficult thing to do. And how many kids just repeat what their parents say and do? These kids somehow got the smart genes.
Boy, this Letter was like music to my ears! Thank you, Heather, for the uplift. I certainly needed it and I bet others do too.
Bannon is sure tiring, isn’t he? Tries to work all of the angles to get out of being in court but his whining is catching up to him. It will be nice to see him in stripes.
I’m exhausted and have missed reading and responding to your posts for a week or so. That said, this evening’s post provided a glimmer of hope.
“… scholars who study the restoration of democracy after an authoritarian crisis are very clear: central to any such restoration is enforcing the rule of law.“
Another issue is connected to this analysis i.e.January 6, 2021 comparison to post-U.S. Civil War/Post-Reconstruction clemency: If Black people ever had attempted the acts of the January 6th attackers, on the Capitol, not many would be alive to stand trial. Our nation needs to acknowledge the difference in treatment of rightwing whites vs people of color and progressives.
There is so much more I could’ve written. If anyone wants to collaborate to deepen and widen this response with me, it
Can be done cooperatively. My brother pointed out that those who are enraged, viewing BLM movement activists treated with way too much leniency… continue to stay silent regarding the crimes
committed against democracy and the people on 1-6-2021.
IT’S A DO OVER. HERE WE GO AGAIN. ONCE WASN’T ENOUGH!
After the Civil War ‘___there was never a legal reckoning for even the leaders of those who had tried to destroy the nation…’
‘…scholars who study the restoration of democracy after an authoritarian crisis are very clear: central to any such restoration is enforcing the rule of law.”
“This time, though, there is a chance to change the story.” (Letter)
It has been 556 days since the attempted insurrection at The US Capitol. When did we start asking… and then screaming where’s the Department of Justice? Merrick Garland is our ‘Waiting for Godot’.
The lawyers –Laurence Tribe, Adam Schiff, Andrew Weissmann. --have been screaming, too!
How long are Trump and the rest of traitors going to run free through our teetering democracy?
While we wait:
'Idaho Republicans poised to reject 2020 election results'
'BOISE — The Idaho Republican Party will consider 31 resolutions at its three-day convention starting Thursday, including one already adopted by Texas Republicans that President Joe Biden isn't the legitimate leader of the country.'
'The Idaho resolution in the deeply conservative state that Donald Trump won with 64% of the vote in 2020 is nearly identical to the Texas resolution that was passed last month, stating: "We reject the certified results of the 2020 presidential election; and we hold that acting president Joseph Robinette Biden was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States."
'Both the Idaho and Texas resolutions contend that secretaries of state circumvented their state legislatures, even though both states have Republican secretaries of state.' (AP) See link below.
So, while we are waiting for 'Godot', the Republican Party keeps rolling on and Trump threatens us with another reign.
Fern, while I greatly appreciate your fervor, we have only one chance to kill the king. It has to be done right, with the DOJ methodically beginning with the small fry, flipping them as they go up the food chain, while the J6 Committee exposing the top sharks, with enough proof to both begin indictments, and to convince the Court of Public Opinion, which includes We, The People, as well as the media, and even Fux news. In the meantime, the Republican Party is quietly splitting.
I agree that things are happening behind the scenes but we are not privy to them. It is hard to be patient, but we see things happening and we must trust a man who has dealt with the mob.
A year and a half ago, this was written about Merrick Garland from the Brennan Center. I have to trust in Garland and the way he and his tight-lipped team are working. There is no other option at this date. He is ethical and thorough. We are just exhausted and full of fear. This is our moment about being patience and staying focused and supportive. Let us see if America can be mature enough to meet this moment and support Biden and Garland.
If you are worried, then write a letter to Garland and Biden and personally tell them your fears of how long this is taking and fears that nothing will happened to the leaders and lawmakers still in our employ. And then do constructive things with your angst. It is hard for me, too, but I am determined to be a warrior and stay positive and trust that our democracy is not too broken to still work.
It is what jumped into my head when you told her to stay busy. I think it's funny. Frankly this is how I see Garland at this point. He has got to descend from his ivory tower and make a significant indictment now.
Meanwhile crazies like Kirk are given encouragement to say "Defy the Government." because all the seditionists are running around free. Enough.
MaryPat, I was not commenting with 'fervor'. What I wrote has been said by some of the most esteemed lawyers in the county and they have been writing it for quite some time.
'Attorney General Merrick Garland’s former law professor thinks he should indict Trump'
'U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland should indict former President Donald Trump on crimes related to the January 6 insurrection, his former law professor said on Greater Boston.'
'Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, taught Garland as a student. "If Merrick Garland is awake, I think he is, if he's as smart as I think he was as a student, he's got to be about to indict," he said....'
'We could see another January 6': Retired federal judge's testimony strikes a chord at hearing'
'Ex-prosecutor says Donald Trump is 'guilty of numerous felony violations'
What is 'seditious conspiracy'? Could Trump face criminal charges for role in Jan. 6 insurrection?
"We shouldn't assume that the attorney general is asleep at the switch," Tribe continued. "I would love to think that's true, but we will have to see. The proof is going to be in the pudding and here the pudding is going to look like an indictment I hope."
'Former Federal Judge Nancy Gertner also said Trump should be indicted. She said it looks like his fingerprints are on several plots including witness tampering, the insurrection and fake electors.'
"I thought that what the [January 6] committee was doing, which was very clever, was beginning with [John] Eastman and [Rudy] Giuliani and [Michael] Flynn, and once you establish their conspiracy with Trump, that it would then be inevitable that Trump would be indicted," she said.'(GBH)
Much stronger language has been used to state that Trump should have been indicted by now. Lawrence Tribe, Adam Schiff and Andrew Weissmann have been broadcasting it.
'Merrick Garland Should Investigate Trump’s 2020 Election Schemes as a ‘Hub and Spoke’ Conspiracy'. Weissman's essay in NYTimes is linked below. Sorry, I ran out of gifting option.
It is not one or the other. Of course it is a matter of doing it right. Being slow doesn't indicate right or wrong. It's all in the cooking. There are different options one can take. I suggest that you read the Weissmann Essay I linked in my comment to MaryPat. I have run out of the gifting privilege with the NY Times until the end of the month.
Disagreement can nourish the mind, MaryPat. I have not come across any notable legal experts expressing your opinion for a least a month. I hope that you read Weissmann essay, which I linked.
Gail, Thank you for the link, which covered Eastman's legal efforts to protect his phone from seizure. I am aware of the DOJ''s activities in that area and others known to the public. A focus of my comment was criticisms of the Department's performance with reference to Trump and those most involved in plots to overturn the government. One of Garland's critics is Andrew Weissmann. I have provided a link to his essay in the NY Times, which outlines his point of view. Unfortunately, I have run out of my gifting privilege for the month. The link is below.
'Merrick Garland Should Investigate Trump’s 2020 Election Schemes as a ‘Hub and Spoke’ Conspiracy'
'Andrew Weissmann (@AWeissmann_), a former Justice Department prosecutor and senior prosecutor in Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation, is a professor of practice at the New York University School of Law and the author of “Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation.”
MaryPat, While a difference between us about the DOJ is uncomfortable as you are my closest subscriber friend, perhaps, it is best for friends to work together on something as important as this. I just came to the point of wanting to examine what the DOJ is doing and not doing. with reference to indicting Trump and those most responsible for planning the coup. Of course, that the work is done in secret makes 'knowing' more than an obstacle. The lawyers that have been banging their drums for action have worked for DOJ, been criminal prosecutors and or experts in constitutional law... top dogs. They know about the processes and the time it takes to put big criminal cases together. As this concerns a former president and a plot to overthrow the government, there has not been a case like this. So more questions. What to indict Trump on? This subject so consequential to our democracy radiates with questions. Andrew Weissmann is suggesting an option in the essay I linked for you, which he believes the DOJ is not taking.
The combination of not knowing if Trump and the circle most closely involved in the coup will be indicted; how little time is left before the midterms; the country's continuing movement toward autocracy and the warnings of legal experts made it uncomfortable for me to just sit and wait. I want to know more, to read what the drummers are writing and to listen to them. They are not a crowd of rabble rousers or a gang powerbrokers determined to gain control. They are in the same class of as Garland, but they are not satisfied with what they see as an insufficient amount of action on the part of DOJ. The point of my initial comment to you was can we know more while we wait?
MaryPat, Have you read Andrew Weissmann's Essay, 'Merrick Garland Should ' Investigate Trump's 2020 Election Schemes as a 'Hub and Spoke' Conspiracy? I can copy the entire piece if the link didn't work for you. Please let me know.
The opinion that the DOJ has been operating in slow-motion with regard to Trump and others involved in the coup does not mean as you state, '... It has to be done right, with the DOJ methodically beginning with the small fry,' -- Being 'slow' or 'late' to indict, if that does happen, does not guarantee that the process and timing employed by the DOJ were correct. Andrew Weissmann's essay will acquaint you with another legal option concerning this crucial matter.
We are running out of time. The January 6 Committee will be disbanded the second the Republicans are sworn in if they take the House in 2022. (And it will be a miracle if they don't. See 538 Poll.)
Bottom line. Merrick needs a good faith prosecution at the very least. Jim Jordan will be a good start. Until these people face at least a small dose of reckoning for their actions on January 6 they will continue to prevail in their work of dismantling the Democracy.
Americans need to see some Justice being served. The malaise affecting Americans will surely hurt at the Polls.
Someone just posted a new Business Insider report that Mark Meadows will probably testify, since it appears tRump is throwing him under the bus. tRump is no longer good for business, which means not good for the Republican Party.
Justice Ketanji, Ketanji Brown Jackson, the fabulous Cass Hutchinson and Heather Cox Richardson PhD will lead the women that just may save us from the Confederacy, the Confederate Flag totting racists that hate felling the white supremacists that kill.
In my lifetime, I've had the pleasure of having friends, schoolmates, coworkers, etc who are women of color. Many of them are incredibly resistant in spite of all that is thrown up against them and they do not suffer fools. While the liberals might be outnumbered in the SCOTUS, I hold great hope that Justice Jackson's presence evens the score a bit, I have hope her perspective will carry greater weight than one might think of a single voice.
BTW Sandy, please continue to post: tRump will be charged, convicted and jailed!!
I live in Boston but am a native Southerner, and it has never made a shred of sense to me that people like Davis, Lee and Forrest were not prosecuted. The last of the three, in particular, went on to do considerable damage as a Klansman. I hope Garland will be every bit as bold as Fani Willis and bring Trump and every last one of the people who were involved in the planning of the insurrection to trial. To do any less than that is tantamount to acquiescence.
I totally agree with you.To do nothing to these insurrectionists, like they did after the Civil War, will set the country up for more uprisings.This is a valuable lesson to be learned from history .I have heard and have read that some newscasters and others think that holding those accountable for January 6 would be too divisive for the country to which I would reply that to not hold those accountable would set up such a dangerous precedent that our democracy would not be able to survive.
To go even further, while I think President Ford meant well, his pardon of Nixon which, he explained, was "...in the best interests of the country." was probably among the more egregious mistakes ever made by our government.
That's for sure. Ford was the puppet of his party when he pardoned Nixon and let him skate. In that vein, I don't believe Ford meant well. He simply agreed to do what his masters told him to do.
Then, Bush Sr. pardoned all the Iran-Contra criminals as he gave some variation of "for the good of the nation" or "so the nation can move forward."
Then, the 2008-9 bailouts of the Wall Street Investment Bankers. Not even one of the guilty was brought to court much less prosecuted and punished.. While Iceland, a country with 1% of our population and probably 1% of our economy, sent 29 bankers to prison and fixed their system so that banker scam won't happen again. The bailouts were the biggest extortion scam of the national treasury to ever happen. Goldman Sachs, for one example, was overleveraged 330 times the actual amount of capital they had in possession. They got bailed out for every penny of the vast amount they had speculated, and the immense bonuses still went to the banking firms.
To see the insurrectionists not face serious jail time for their actions on J6 (as well as their preparations beforehand and coverup afterwards) is to say our laws are meaningless.
Thank you for publishing that litany of shame!
I'm not as sure as you are about that. Ford was guided by the 1915 Supreme Court opinion that acceptance of a pardon is an admission of guilt. That reasoning was explained to Nixon before he accepted the pardon. Ford felt so strongly that his reasoning was correct that he kept a copy of the relevant Burdick quote in his wallet.
Those other cases pale in comparison to sedition. It is becoming clearer by the day that the Trump Insurrection was an extra-legal, unconstitutional attempt to stay in power.
That's a very good cover, however he was pardoned. The act of pardoning the perpetrator of the crime, particularly of one who holds a high office and is supposedly deserving of public trust, should be held accountable of the criminal act and violating not just the public trust, but our standing globally. I and many people were angered by the pardon and the reasons why... "we need to move on from this", and other vague excuses.
Great thread here. Ironically, the bailouts to Goldman and friends ought have generated violent protests - IF that is how you get the elites attention. And the @insurrectionist have not targeted the true source of their rage. I’m not advocating violence here but remain astonished that the moneyed class gets a pass in our politics.
They're well-hidden so most people don't get who oughta be their target. MSM is pretty complicit...
Essencially the cold hearted bankers who use paper to rob get a pat on the back, while the enraged peons who use their bare hands to get justice, get jail time
Signed,
Not a Proud Anerican
Heydon Buchanan; I agree 100+% with your last paragraph. The people of this country, those that really care, are absolutely disgusted with the toothless response to those who openly disregard our Laws. They mock our Constitution…then quickly run and hide behind it. Let some poor law abiding citizen struggling to keep his head above water mis-step only slightly and he or she is punished. Now tRump is toying with us and “considering” running again for President…when he should be in jail, frantically fighting to prove innocence…which he definitely is not! What is happening to our once proud nation?
1. The response hasn't been toothless. The DOJ has been working through the largest, most complex case in it's history (800 perps and counting). The more convictions they get the more cooperation they get.
2. The noose is tightening as more and more of Trump's inner circle is indicted.
3. Like it or not (I don't), former presidents are not ordinary citizens. In order to indict AND convict one, the DOJ must gather irrefutable evidence that will withstand brutal examination by the most ruthless attorneys Trump can force the RNC to pay for.
4. Trump's fear is palpable; his normally irrational behavior is off the charts and it seems that each day he makes things just a little worse for himself (witness tampering anyone?).
6. Watergate was nothing compared to Jan 6 and it took years to prosecute the Watergate miscreants. Of the 69 indicted, 48 were found guilty. John Mitchell didn't to to prison until 1977.
MisTBlu; I hear you…But! First of all…tRump isn’t a regular former President…general consensus is..he’s nothing more than a common criminal, true he’s not been indicted nor convicted…yet?. His alleged crime isn’t petty…it’s the attempted overthrow of our Democracy. The timing of this entire matter worries me no end…with the Midterms on our doorstep and the 2024 Presidential election next year…we could be faced with disaster should the RR (Repugnant Republicans) prevail and God forbid, tRump or one of his ilk, regains the Presidency! Some of the Doomsday Media pundits are predicting a takeover of the House and Senate…Then what???? Color me scared for our Country! I really hope you’re right!
Great summation of how we got here. Thank you.
I can't "like" this so I'll say it with more words--Absolutely correct. The banking bailout was a disaster---help for the wealthy, NO HELP for the ordinary folks who lost houses, credit, and more....... The rich get richer........
I don't know if I see Goldman Sachs bankers as being directly connected to the white supremacist cause, but I imagine there is some overlap in their interests, particularly since the billionaires have obviously been goading the rabble for some time through the politics of resentment.
Well enumerated, Heydon.
When has a Republican president, since Eisenhower, NOT been a puppet, a front man?
Attempted like
I don't see it that way. Most of the people in the country were astonished! It was a complete GOP setup for future crimes. Many of us saw it for just what it was.
The GOP have been trying to get even for the Nixon thing ever since, evidence be damned. One irrational scheme after another. I thought Newt Gingrich and his "Contract with America", whatever the hell that was supposed to mean, took the cake until recently. But the GOP had to keep it up, and set us all up for where we are now. How in the world did that once respected and essential part of political discussion sink so low that a large proportion became Trump's toadies? That's exactly what the House has been working on, and what Heather and other insightful writers have been trying to help us understand for years. But none of us could have expected to end up where we are now. And I hope it is a lesson that keeps us from it again.
I believe HCR said that had Nixon not been pardoned it is her belief that Trump never would have been president. Please correct me if I’m wrong with this.
My comment was directed at the reason given at the time for pardoning Nixon. I absolutely agree with HCR, hence my comment that it was a GOP setup.
I would agree. The operative words though are "I would". Meaning, I would agree as long as I felt great confidence in the case as it was being presented. We must always remember we are dealing with 'human beings' throughout every aspect of a matter. And, us "humans" can be a devious lot if left unchecked.
Exactly. Ford meant in the ‘Best interest of the GOP’
The vast majority of Americans, Ford possibly among them, were not, and are still not, aware that Nixon was a Traitor to Our Country and our Service personnel in Vietnam.
The blood of everyone killed or wounded after the Spring of 1968 is on his hands.
Until many years later, only a very few knew.
After the Tet Offensive in early 1968, Walter Cronkite toured Viet Nam, then gave the Country his personal opinion that the war was not winnable. LBJ realized that it must be ended. He then undertook very secret Peace overtures with Uncle Ho to bring our debacle to an end.
Very secret, yet somehow Tricky Nixon found out and immediately undermined them by promising Uncle Ho 'to wait and he would get a better deal from him", if elected"
Needless to say, Nixon sold out both his country, Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand.
Somewhere in the LBJ Library is a taped conversation of LBJ and Ev Dirksen discussing how to deal with Nixon. Once again, the decision not deal with Nixon's Treason was arrived at.
How many lost loved ones between the Spring of 1968 and our Evacuation??
Consequences and Justice matter in a democracy.
Absolutely true! Justice is when the consequences happen to people as a result of their actions. You rob a bank; you get arrested, tried, convicted, and imprisoned. As a student in the late 60’s/early 70’s in rural NC learning about the Civil War, I received a healthy dose of how “unfair” the South was treated after the war. The leaders of that rebellion should have been tried, imprisoned or hanged. I was taught what a “gentleman” Robert E. Lee was. He resigned from the US Army to take up arms against the US. He was a traitor who dressed well and cut a fine figure on a horse. He enslaved people. He was a human trafficker and wanted to continue to do so and even expand that trafficking into other areas. The Confederacy was a manifestation of the poisonous infection of racism. We are STILL dealing with that infection today! The planners and perpetrators of January 6 MUST be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. The accountability must go all the way to the top. If Garland won’t investigate and go where the facts lead, he should resign or be removed. He is not upholding the law by doing nothing.
I agree with you Jenn, but if Garland is trying to avoid indicting Trump, I suspect that's because he and Biden see the political risks in the same light. This kind of political calculation, however, is what led Obama to stay quiet when, in September 2016, he learned of the Russians' attempt to help Trump and, the next month, when Comey decided to reopen the investigation of Hillary's emails. Both decisions backfired and played crucial roles in electing Trump.
We have allowed a culture of impunity to grow in this country, and it's hard to imagine what the day of reckoning will be like if Trump is not prosecuted.
Heck. Isn't this what marriage counseling is about? If you don't speak up and you don't make it clear what a crossed line looks like, blaming your spouse is missing the point.
Right. But I think we're at a scale closer to divorce and filing charges.
I hadn't read this, Jenn, when I dove in to the topic similarly. I am gratified to see how many in this group see it the way that I do. And, you know what, it is gratifying because most of us know so many people who bought the lies about those noble generals hook, line and sinker. It gives us a look into why it is so hard to change people's minds when we realize how painful it's been to learn that many of your own "historical heroes" were on the wrong side and not heroes at all. Robert E. Lee is a great example; Thomas Jefferson, too. Jim Bowie, the Alamo defenders. There is so much to absorb and rethink. But how long to we let people get away with breaking laws? And the same people who want to pardon criminals who really are unrepentant criminals ... I give you the Senate hearings for our newest Supreme Court Justice. What were the Republican Senators after? The idea that Ketenji Brown Jackson had been "too soft on crime" as a judge.
The soft on crime regressive Republicans who voted to acquit Trump in both of his impeachments. Those regressives just basically threw out the rule of law. No person should be above the law. The DOJ memo regarding accountability of the president was simply an opinion (what someone thought), not a clause in the Constitution, which the radical regressives are working so hard to dismantle via the highest court. (The stench bench should NEVER be able to rid themselves of this odiferous moniker.) Clarence Thomas should be impeached, but that is a story for another day. We have neglected to maintain our system of governance, the rot and evil termites are ruining its infrastructure, not to mention how the regressives keep swinging a wrecking ball against it. 😡😢
Jenn! You’re my new hero!
Attempted like
I like this. Okay thanks, Citizen60!
My experience growing up in Mississippi in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Jenn, was similar to yours. I was fed a steady diet of Lost Cause propaganda about the greatness of Robert E. Lee, the gallantry of Stonewall Jackson, etc. I was sent to an all-white “segregation” academy where I learned a white-washed version of history, my father and the fathers of all the white kids I grew up with were members of the Citizens’ Council, and I saw first-hand how they conspired to keep Black people from being able to vote. If they didn’t like the laws of the land, they ignored them and unless they committed murder--and sometimes even if they did, as in the case of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, who tortured and killed Emmett Till--their crimes went unpunished. Those who committed crimes on January 6 need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Otherwise, we’ve only seen the beginning of what they will do.
I can't imagine growing up in place so steeped in that kind of indifferent hate. For much of my life, I've been haunted by the church bombing that killed those four little girls. Think how many people had to know about who did that, and kept quiet for all those years. Multiply again and again. It is no surprise that people simply came to accept that as normal, when there is no public recognition that it is not normal and not acceptable in the kind of society we pretended to live in.
Richard Rubin wrote a good book about race and murder in the Mississippi Delta called CONFEDERACY OF SILENCE. It’s a title that suggests how that society functioned and to a degree still does. And Beverly Lowry is about to publish an even better book on the subject called DEER CREEK DRIVE. It’s no wonder so many of us from that part of the world became novelists. Fiction thrives on secrets, and we lived in a place with the most peculiar kind of secrets--namely, those that everyone knows but no one tells.
Thanks, Jenn, for fleshing out Lee's real character. Even as a northern, I do not remember ever hearing about his being a traitor, which is the correct characterization. These points should be made, imo, even to grade schoolers to reinforce the notion of our united states.
Boom! You nailed it!
You are so right!
Big ❤️!
I put no salt whatsoever in how the media frames rule of law as too divisive. Pshaw. The rule of law is there for that very reason. The confederacy made “new laws” to preserve slavery. They were defeated and then excused. Now, we encounter that same attitude. The woodshed, I say.
The “confederacy” has never gone away. Trump supposedly “draining the swamp” exposed it hiding in the muck.
Unita, Victoria. 🗽
Some members of that media may be charged. Fox "info-tainment" played and are playing treasonous games, and the committee has evidence.
To the woodshed — yes!
Draining the swamp exposed the Confederacy hiding in the muck — oh my, perfect!
(Heart feature not working, again.)
I think it's very interesting that a bunch of liberals are using the phrase "rule of law"!
As a fellow progressive, I agree with you. But hasn't the other side claimed to be the only party that cares about the rule of law? It makes my head spin to think about the levels of hypocricy that course through our politicial exchanges.
Why Heather wrote "How the South Won the Civil War" ... because essentially, they did. Here's our evidence.
The divisiveness was in the undertaking of the insurrection, not in the prosecution of those who did.
Punishing those guilty of crimes is “divisive” if you side with those who committed the crimes. Or if sitting on the fence, seeing which way the wind will blow is your preference, as it seems to be in much of the media.
If we’re going to have violence, let’s at least have it in favor of the rule of law.
“And the Department of Justice requested that the first defendant from the January 6 insurrection to be convicted at trial, Guy Reffitt, be sentenced to 15 years in prison. This is an upward adjustment of sentencing guidelines because the department is asking the judge to consider Reffitt’s actions as terrorism, since the offense for which he was convicted ‘was calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct.’” Damn straight.
Well, I’ll be reading and re-reading this today several times. And grateful that our Department of Justice will follow the rule of law and demonstrate that the scholars musing on the restoration of democracy after a revolting revolt of authoritarianism are correct. Enforce the rule of law.
If I never see the confederate flag again, that might help me to dispel the image of seeing it walk through the halls of my Capitol Bldg during the insurrection. And your Capitol. And our Capitol. Gov DeSantis wants to burn books in this state. I say burn those rotten symbols of treason against the United States of America. I’ll start by gathering a few of them off the obnoxious pickup trucks driving freely on the streets in my community.
I can relish the thought of sentencing guidelines to be imposed on the prosecuted top dogs of this new civil war from the Willard Hotel. And the White House.
Unidad! 🗽🇺🇸
There was a podcast, “Will Be Wild,” about the J6 event(s). One of the episodes was about the Reffits. Remember his son alerted the FBI to him? He threaten to kill his kids if anyone ratted? His wife was interviewed, a sympathetic person (if a little misguided).
I do remember. Vile man and vile organization that spreads hate and dissent.
Lock ‘em up.
Salud, MLM. 🗽
It doesn't surprise me one bit that Reffitt has a history of domestic violence.
Love your spirit, Christine. Heads up tho. This from the SPLC "Three Percenterism is not a group, but a sub-ideology or common belief that falls within the larger antigovernment militia movement. Three Percenters (also known as III%ers or Threepers) claim that only 3% of American colonists fought against the British during the American Revolution, a claim that has never been proven."
One has to wonder. Will the scum now sentenced fulfill the quest for retribution that the great granddaddies evaded? The gentlemen who congregated at the Willard, sucking on $30 single malts should be first in line for sentencing. Unidad!
And everyone at that midnight meeting on 18 Dec. Except Pat Cippalone. At least convicted to prevent them running for office ever again. Absolute sedition.
Hmmmm. I do approve of single malts, but not scum.
Discerning is good. I preferred Bullfeathers to The Willard. Less refined patrons, most of whom bought their suits off the rack.
LOL.
I could hardly bare to see the Capitol building during the Capitol 4th. I should be able to look with pride at it instead of seeing it swarming with insurrectionists and being desecrated by them. As for the stars and bars, I would happily burn every one. One of the worst negative people on Next Door proudly flies them. This is the dope who chastised me for having solar panels because they were probably made in China. We had someone just down the street flying one. I live in a very diverse neighborhood with lots of Hispanics and others.
Next time he says that, tell him to get back to his own home and discard everything “Made in China” or with parts “Made in China”. And then look at what he’s got left.
Salud, Michele. 🗽
Salud, Christine. I thought about that, including those flags. I did wonder what she would be wearing among other things. She had four kids go through the public schools, but no voting for school budgets of course. Then we had a problem getting our local fire district funded as it should be and she was a leading light on opposing that. It took three tries. You would be surprised how many people think they can handle emergencies on their own.
They are always first in line for federal aide we all pay for. I pushed back against that crap long before Trump, and their solutions are just as absurd next door as they are at a trump rally. That will never change, but I suspect your stars and bars will disappear fairly soon. It really is like tattooing 'asshole' on their foreheads.
My husband was involved in unemployment insurance for the state. The loudest naysayers were first in line. One so called "Christian" who lived across the street from his brother deigned to call him in the evening and thought he was going to get some special help. Nope. Pamela on Next Door and the Oregunians haven't figured out that they are assholes and I think they don't care if they annoy people.
My pride in our country vanished with Bush v Gore. The beginning of the end imo.
That was when I realized Republicans are not really big fans of a democracy which allows other people’s votes to count.
Regarding Next Door. I recently learned that you can click on the dots in the upper corner of each post and mute the poster in all future comments. Such a relief.
: )
I sometimes read the post, but rarely comment. I did block her on Facebook.
Hang an American flag. With solar panels, and a We Are a Welcoming Home in English and Spanish sign. Scramble their brains
Nobody can get by our house right now as out front is a big sewer project in the road and across the street. We can access on a side street, but our corner is closed, so no one would see these
Too bad about your experience with Next Door. Whoever monitors the area where you live is remiss in letting those posts and subsequent threads continue.
We have some good monitors, but the really good one has had to deal with very sad stuff. I see she is back on. One of them didn't like that people were saying about fireworks and the 4th of July and just deleted those who disagreed with him.
Thoroughly rotten, that monitor.
He is new to me. The one who is back is wonderful and helps people out also. She keeps us apprised of LE actions, accidents, and tells people where to go for help. She has shut off comments at times as they can get pretty rude. Of course, the rude people are the ones who howl loudest about censorship.
Every politician of the CSA, every military officer, should have been taken out and hanged. South Carolina should have had every building knocked down, every tree cut down, every field salted. Like Rome did to Carthage. It should be the South Carolinian Desert today.
Hey - the buildings and the land were not the issue - what good, other than "The vengeance is mine" would that have done? "To Carthage then I came, burning, burning" (TSEliot).
Feels great - but that's not much help.
Yes, they probably needed a Marshall Plan and Nuremberg type trials. Also President Andrew Johnson was not on the right side
Andrew Johnson was Lincoln's biggest mistake.
Agreed! Moreover, I oppose “capital” punishment!
Not the issue? Surely you jest. The land and how they chose to work it to build their southern antebellum empires with slave labor, WAS the issue.
Poisoning the land would assure it would never hold value for former slaves.
"thus always to traitors."
It would be a permanent reminder of "thus always to traitors."
But not the kind of reminder we need, TC. In your better moments you recognize that.
I agree that those responsible for inciting the rebellion, as well as those fighting for it should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and if that resulted in hanging, well then, so be it. But to lay waste to the landscape in the manner you describe would have punished too many innocents; I'm thinking specifically of Black and indigenous people.
This is fascinating. I would like to ask our Black substack community members what THEY see and feel in the southern landscape. (Bill Willis-- can you help with this?)
Being from the west coast and New England, my dips into the southern landscape truly impact my sensibilities as a white woman, too aware of history. More so when my husband and I were granted a stay in what I would refer to as an antebellum home in Maryland, with my step-grandfather's friends during his memorial weekend in 1998. We drove through the brick-walled estate, into the circular driveway, to find a huge home with white columned porticos. When we knocked on the door, a very kind, Black elderly woman in a maid's outfit answered the door—let's call her Alta. (I don't think she had white gloves on, but it felt like she did in my memory).
We were pretty shocked and tried to figure out which century we were in. Was this real? A movie set? No, this was real. Through my delicate questioning, the kind, white owners told us about the maid's family who had been slaves on that estate for several generations. Alta, and her father who was very old and infirmed, had been the last of their "inherited, family members." I am not sure I was able to hide my incredulousness at what I was actually witnessing and hearing. Alta was about my mother's age, 63 at that time.
The next morning, my husband and I rose from our canopied bed in one of the flowered wall-papered guest rooms, and went to the kitchen in search of the British necessity of life, a cup of tea. We found Alta busy in the kitchen preparing breakfast. We sat at the little kitchen table. She said she would serve us in the dining room. We told her we were fine in the kitchen and chatted with her while she worked and told us a little about her life on the estate. Her children were the first generation to able to go to college and she was very proud of them. The Lady of the House told us, later, that and her husband took care of all the health and education of their "family members," including the care of Alta's father who had "lived" there all his life.
The Lady of the house heard us talking in the kitchen. She came in and appeared very surprised to find us there all chatting together. We were ushered into the dining hall and proceeded to have tea with The Lady. After more some chatting, she disclosed her shock that we had actually TALKED with Alta and gave her a present—syrup from Vermont. She said NONE of her friends would ever speak to a servant. Really?? She liked that we did not follow those "old rules." Even as I write this, despite how kind the owners of the house were, I was quite shaken at the entire setting. I was shaken that Alta and her father were referred to as "members of their family." No member of my family stays in the kitchen wearing a maid's outfit and not spoken to by friends of my other family members.
When I see plantations and antebellum houses, I see chains, whips, slavery, white power and oppression. Pure and simple. I see statues to white men of power. I see inherited human beings treated as less than second class. I am very uncomfortable in the south. I have been very uncomfortable when I have southern clients in my boarding schools here in the north. They do not fit in, there are huge clashes between the students from the north who question the Confederacy and racism. One female student said she hated being at school up here because no one understands the conventions and the good things about the south. She did not last long. Other boys from the south used words about our students of color that alienated them when they could not understand that that was racist. To be a therapist for some of these kids felt like the universe really wanted to challenging me to be a blank slate, and there are just certain I cannot be blank about very easily. I had to pose my questions to carefully as to why the other students might be feeling offended by southern stances and comments. I tried to keep myself out of it. I may have been a bit indelicate sometimes. But it is how they are raised. And being in the north, I hope helped them to see and experience something different. But as they don't feel comfortable here, I don't feel comfortable there, even with my privileged skin.
That landscape, for me, feels like memory museums of hell, that aren't finished making memories. Yet, I hate destruction and waste of resources. So I am as as torn as ever by this morning's discussion as much as I was the day in 1998 when I drove up into that circular driveway.
Thanks for sharing this story. I so appreciate the truth of it all. As a descendant of enslaved Africans and white slave owners I must say southern “traditions” are so jarring to many because they’re visible. I grew up in the North and the subtle but ever present racism we live with is just as insidious if not more so because people pretend it’s not happening in the North. Racism is everywhere in America.
Gina, thank YOU for saying the appreciated, painful truth: racism plagues the country, not merely one region. Growing up in AL and living in TN since college, I can proudly confirm that my teen daughters and I are part of a sizeable, vocal wave of change that crosses ages, races, and beyond — just one wave among quite a few.
💙❤️💛🖤🤎🤍💙
Pensa, thank you for sharing these memories and thoughts with us. I haven't been in the south since 1965, and as a California girl, I was shocked to see separate drinking fountains. I'm sure we saw other segregated facilities, but that's the one that has always stuck in my mind, maybe because it was the first indication I saw of the "culture" of the south.
What always struck me about the separate drinking fountains in Florida in the 60s was how different they were. The “white” fountains were part of a box unit that chilled the water, while the “black” fountains were the simple china units with a drinking spigot, like the ones we had in older northern schools at the time.
I’m amazed you’re thinking that restoring the land and giving it back to the former slave owners benefitted Black people? How is this so..the government allowed former slave owners to continue to oppress, maim and kill Black folks-with no repercussions. This has been going on for centuries-
First sentence would have been enough, maybe would have deterred a future Lindsay Graham and his ilk
I agree, Jeri. Why punish the slaves even more.
How very Old Testament of you TC. I’d rather spare the trees and fields. The earth is blameless in all this. But, yes, we should have hanged the bastards.
I drive through SC to go to Florida to visit family. I think about the Civil War and all that harm and destruction every time I drive through SC.
And you're blind to it in FL?? (Not to mention VA, NC, and GA, which you also drive through?)
Why cut down the trees?! Should they shoot the horses too? Senseless destruction ... draw the line and show respect for life.
Writing this late in the day. Incredible to me the space given to criticizing, sometimes chastising your assessment, TC, of proper consequence for treason committed against the United States government by a state that seceded from the Union in order to carry on slave labor and trade.
It’s odd to me about what people feel about punishment. People have expressed that what you suggest was going too far. Many people also suggested that charging Nixon would be going too far. People today suggesting that Atty Gen Garland “afraid” to prosecute trump because it will cause riots in the streets snd more violence.
It’s all the same thing. What I want to know is how people think that a pardon for treason or not prosecuting or not administering a severe consequence helps exactly what? Ending that kind of behavior?
And quite frankly, wonder what people would say if it wasn’t rich, powerful white men with lots of money? That might try to strike back. Please. To me, there is little that can be humanly worse than what southern men men did to other human beings to grow their cotton empires on their whip scarred backs and then said fuck you to the Union and seceded…thinking they could make it without the North. What a joke. Sounds like Texas today. Same shit happening again. And Nazi Germany copied our caste model. Why not? Appeared to work quite well. Salting every cotton field would not have created a desert for eternity, but it damn well would have been a lesson for anyone thinking of giving treason a shot again.
Salud, TC. 🗽
Saw this on Twitter about Trump’s mob connections. There was another article that talks about why the FBI never came forward with info on Trump before the election and why it is reluctant to do so now.
https://newrepublic-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/newrepublic.com/amp/article/143586/trumps-russian-laundromat-trump-tower-luxury-high-rises-dirty-money-international-crime-syndicate?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16578373353433&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fnewrepublic.com%2Farticle%2F143586%2Ftrumps-russian-laundromat-trump-tower-luxury-high-rises-dirty-money-international-crime-syndicate.
This is the second article, not sure why it gives me such long addresses. If they don’t work, I can try a different way.
https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/government-integrity/fbi-cant-tell-trump-russia/
Your lengthy link worked fine, at least for me. Obviously, however, it was a bit too difficult for Republicans to access and read, let alone comprehend, so they gave their party away, turning it into a Russian-patronized brothel, and were content to be the pimps. And what about the millions (74,000,000 in 2020) who voted for the defeated former president? They didn't get anything for their votes except perhaps an overseas-made red hat, and his private and well-hidden contempt.
They got to be members if the tribe.
And if that is 'the tribe' membership that they so desired, it is time for everyone else to discredit and if need be, destroy, that 'tribe.' I'm reminded of that recent 'prequel' to the Soprano's TV series, in which a child growing up in a tribe's unsavory environment yearned to become and indeed did become a member of that tribe. In normal times, this would be a matter for sociologists to deal with, but today it is everyone's concern.
Fascinating. I find it especially so following the tragic "fall" of Ivana on the eve of her former husband and her kids having to testify about tax fraud. In Russia, people tend not to fall down stairs, but off balconies - when they are not being poisoned or shot.
Wow... just wow... read both of those articles. Oh my... way out of our league...
While the prosecution of TFP will be a great “disturbance“ in this country, the failure to do so will damage our democracy, the rule of law and lead to a level of anti-democratic anarchy. Risks are great such as the potential for an acquittal but I don’t see another way forward. Democracy is in for a very rough ride no matter which trail we take.
Indeed, Steve Yarbrough. Indeed! And then we have Uvalde. How many racist cops ignored the killer? How many? All services. The gun lobby types. On the border, thinking wetbacks. Color. Abbott lies. From the get go. Official lies. Always. Kids of color killed in the Land of the Free, a bloodbath hidden for weeks, Texas, Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis, Josh Hawley, Lindsey Graham, the Republican Senate, the SCOTUS stench...
Your sentence yesterday about Ken Paxton being indicted 7 years ago with no trial yet still haunts me. Have politicians ever gone to jail? Or just Martha Stewart?
Thanks professor.
Paxton being under indictment for felony security fraud (seven years and still no trial) is just the beginning!
The FBI also is investigating corruption allegations against Paxton. At least eight top staff members in the Texas Attorney General’s office have accused him of abuse of office violations for favors given in return for political donations. These whistleblowers have either resigned or been fired. Plus, questions remain about his role in the January 6 insurrection.
Under his supervision, the Texas Attorney General’s Office spent $2.2 million and 22,000 hours examining non-existent voter fraud and ultimately finished only three cases!
To date, Texas taxpayers have funded $45,000 of Paxton’s own legal defense as the State Bar of Texas considers professional misconduct charges against him related to his disingenuous efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
This is just not normal! There seems to be no end to the corrupt practices of the Texas AG. There’s an election less than four months away, if he’s not in jail by then (which is extremely doubtful), he should at least be voted out of office!
IN TODAY’S SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS NEWS:
AG Ken Paxton declines to sue candidates, officials who owe $700K in unpaid campaign violation fines
For the past two and a half years, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has declined to sue hundreds of candidates and elected officials who altogether owe more than $700,000 to the state in unpaid fines for campaign reporting violations.
Campaign finance laws are meant to give the public insight into politicians’ possible influences and allow voters make informed decisions and hold officeholders accountable.
The Texas Ethics Commission levies the fines against candidates and elected officials who, for example, fail to file reports on their campaign fundraising and spending in a timely manner. Other violations include filing inaccurate or incomplete reports, misusing campaign or public funds for personal benefit, or producing and distributing misleading political advertising.
ISSUES OF HIS OWN: AG Ken Paxton refuses to disclose his property addresses to the Texas Ethics Commission
The state has few restrictions on political spending by design, with the laws supported by Republican lawmakers who generally oppose government regulation. It’s one of only 11 states that put no limits on individual contributions to campaigns.
And the Texas Ethics Commission, the regulatory agency in charge of enforcing those laws, doesn’t have many tools at its disposal to go after scofflaws aside from letter notifications. Its last line of defense against delinquent filers is to refer their cases to the attorney general’s office.
“We have very few rules when it comes to campaign finance in Texas, and the few that we do have are not enforced, clearly,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas, a government watchdog group. “What’s the point of even having the rules?”
Refusing to collect the fines is the latest exhibit of the antagonistic relationship between Paxton and the Texas Ethics Commission. In recent years, Paxton’s office has questioned the constitutionality of the agency’s work, and though his office is charged with defending state agencies in court, he has declined to defend it against a still-ongoing suit filed by political allies of his who seek to gut the agency. The unusual move has cost the state over $1 million by forcing it to seek outside counsel.
Paxton did not respond to a request for comment, but in the past his office has called the agency indefensible.
“All of our decisions are guided by the same principle: We take the duty to defend the state seriously and routinely defend agency enforcement actions whenever consistent with our duty to uphold the Constitution,” Paxton’s then-spokesman Marc Rylander said in 2018. “However, where we determine those two duties are in conflict, our first obligation is to defend the Constitution and the basic rights it guarantees to each and every Texan.”
Paxton, a Republican, is seeking a third term this fall. He has been under indictment on felony securities fraud charges since 2015 and is under FBI investigation after his former aides accused him of taking bribes and abusing the power of his office to help a friend and campaign donor.
He also faces discipline from the Texas State Bar for filing what the bar deemed a frivolous lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 election results. Paxton has denied any wrongdoing.
During primary season early this year, Paxton also filed his own campaign finance reports late or incomplete multiple times, though he avoided fines and issued corrections when necessary. One of the reports was missing donor information accounting for nearly all of the $2.8 million he raised during the reporting period. The campaign took almost two weeks to revise it.
https://www.expressnews.com/politics/texas/article/AG-Ken-Paxton-removes-one-more-tooth-from-17305389.php?sid=5d9dfd847e555433411ca2cc&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=news_a&utm_campaign=SAEN_ExpressBriefing
Paxton ought to be in jail, being finely ground by the wheels of justice.
Texas truly need to succeed from the union. I have kids and grands living there but I'll just get a passport to go see them!
The majorities in those states are trapped democrats. In at least six red states, democrats outvoted GQP 3 to 1. They have shaken and stirred the rules for minority success, regardless of the will of the majority. They need consequences and justice, not succession.
I find it hard to believe they''ve outvoted GOPers 3:1. I'd like to see the detailed stats. Still, if it's true, we do need consequences and justice rather than secession (note spelling of this latter word).
I'm all for their secession. And they can take other red states with them!
See my statement above,.please.
Hey! I live in TX, too, and am tired of the nonsense. I keep voting against these blankety- blank-blanks and still hope for changes for the better. Absolutely No talk about secession, please. I am a United States citizen first!
secede
No way TX can “succeed.”
I even googled that🙄
Please see above.
More of the "good ol' boys" protecting one another. A very old game that needs new rules of enforcement.
👍🏼
A number of people involved with Watergate served time.
John Mitchell among them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:People_convicted_in_the_Watergate_scandal
G Gordon liddy
Ty
Paxton is still in court over those indictments …… unbelievable I know
So is Matt Gaetz. Never been charged. Still being “investigated “.
He will not be charged until they are done putting his partner through the wringer and squeezing every bit of evidence from him. His sentencing is due very soon.
And then Gaetz will be taken to the woodshed. He will not see another term in Congress. For a few reasons.
Salud, HHRose. 🗽
This is my hope.
ahhh, the November election will probably put Mr. Forehead back in office. I do not believe the constituency is ready to toss him aside. They have not yet,
Money and power slow things down. I pray they will eventually pay for their crimes.
Texas has been taken over by cretins, he’s only one of many.
TX does NOT stand alone in that regard, does it?
Texas has been run by cretins since 1836.
Ann Richards was a ray of sunshine. Oh, what Texas could've been.
Indeed, but she was an anomaly.
Martha’s not a politician. She was busted for insider trading. A few years ago the top NY State Senators after a long investigation were found guilty of taking bribes. But for years we all knew they were corrupt. The wheels of Justice turn very slow for White Color crime especially politicians. And speaking of speed that does not appear to be the DOJ and Atty. Garland’s specialty. He would have been better staying a judge. That Jan. 6th Committee were better investigator and quicker. Sorry I do tend to go off topic.
This DOJ does not leak because they don't want people to know they are targets. Please remember that they have indicted the leadership of both the Proud Boys and the Oath keepers for seditious conspiracy. They are also responsible for Bannon's ploy on his contempt charge trial not working. Some charges are easy to prove, but the latter is not one of them. Prosecutors always want an airtight case.
I agree with you, Michelle. This is a very deep, dark difficult case filled with a lot of bad eggs, both foreign and domestic. This will be like indicting the mob-- which it is. The modern, white supremacist mob behaving like Nazis, infiltrating and taking over our country and brainwashing vulnerable. Repeating history. Will we ever stop?
Yes and for certain charges, you want a case that the defendants can't weasel around. They were just waiting for someone to give them carte blanche and death star donny did just that. Worst thing to happen since the Civil War. But her emails. Every day I think about how rude and uncaring people have become. Last night the Oregunians down the street were popping off fireworks. Also one of them leaves, maybe for work, nearly every night and has a loud car and steps on it as he roars down the street.
Fani Willis for US AG!
I think you've hit the nail on the head: Garland moves/thinks like a judge, not a prosecutor.
Yes I knew martha Stewart is not a politician, just a woman in a man's world.
Just Martha, and well, John Mitchell. My favorite memory of Watergate, except for Nixon’s farewell…
"They [Confederate symbols] have made a spectacular comeback since the 1980s until finally, on January 6, 2021, the Confederate battle flag flew in the U.S. Capitol."
Of course this is a result of Reagan's institution of Nixon's Southern Strategy. And the Republican embrace of racist right wing religious extremism. And the Reagan/GOP assault on the legitimacy of the United States government in service of plutocrats who paid them the big money to be unburdened of government regulation and taxation. Money funneled also to Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society to be filtered through corrupt shell corporations to fund the corruption of the judiciary. And some of which may have helped fund a Ginni Thomas/Leonard Leo allied entity involved in facilitating participation in the Republican Jan 6 insurrection.
Thank you lin. we should never forget Nixon's, Reagan's and the GQP 's roles in the perfidy of conceiving of and re-igniting the "Southern strategy" and continuing to fire up those who still--after a hundred and fifty years--believe in the "Lost Cause" mythology.
An interesting first hand account of the seeds of the Southern hagiography replacing history with alternative 'facts' - by a not entirely unsympathetic Northern writer with his own racist stance - can be found in Henry James' The American Scene in his notes on a visit to Richmond. The entire book is very interesting - if you take it in bits to have time to tamp down the moral revulsion it awakes.
Not certain I can take much more revulsion…
Oh Fern. Seriously?
The Northern writer I mention is Henry James - an American born and largely American raised itinerant ex pat, who late in life settled in England. In 1904 he made a lecture tour and sentimental journey to the United States. The resulting The American Scene is a work of non fiction; it is James' musings on his visit home - in which he waxes indignant at: not knowing 'whose sons these are' who now cross his beloved Harvard yard'; 'the truculent Italian workers so picturesque on hillsides in Italy and so jarring on estates in his beloved Newport Rhode Island'; the 'immigrants taking over his beloved old New York with their arrogant expectation of acceptance.'; and saving some of his worst spleen for 'the large proboscis inhabitants of the fetid aquarium of the Lower East Side. Jews who whatever they make of the English language, will never make anything of it recognizable as English literature.' (Well we showed him;)
Of his visit to Richmond James describes the avant la lettre right wing extremist revisionism of the defeated South. The hagiography by which Civil War traitors were raised up in the public square and magicked into heritage heroes. Where to justify 'the noble cause' (of slavery), sharing the empirically confirmed facts was banned from the public discourse of schools, libraries, news media, politics, church pulpits, and political platforms. It is worth reading as a prescient foreshadowing of the bedeviling things dominating Republican strategy, tactics, and rhetoric today. In short, the GOP Southern Strategy.
Although in The American Scene James acknowledges 'the slave scheme as flying in the face of history and Christendom' in his novel The Bostonians James shows great affinity and affection for his hero, a financially ruined Mississippi plantation owner moved North to find work and battling Boston feminists for James befuddled young heroine - who only needs to learn that what she really needs in life is a strong man.
Sheesh. Lit 101.
lin, your well-written letter alone made my foray into the comments today worthwhile. Not that there weren't others worth reading, but yours illuminated something essential about America that we aren't very keen to take a close look at.
Lin, My poor attempts at clarification are gone. Your own is quite enough and far better.
Plainly, the “southern strategy” is just racism as it has been practiced in America since the beginning-it didn’t just start with Nixon and Reagan. White men invented racism with propaganda and lies to divide and conquer the people. Race is a made-up concept. It was codified into laws from the beginning. The color of human beings’ skin does not make someone better or lesser than anyone. We’ve lived with these lies so long people think race is a legitimate concept. White people in power continue to use race as a tool to maintain control over the masses.
Gina, 'Southern strategy', was the term used for how the Republicans during the Reagan and Nixon years would marshal the racism to their advantage and thus reduce the Democratic Party's strength in the South.
I’m clear about what the southern strategy is-my point was call it whatever you want-the Saale strategy has been going on since the beginning. The 13th, 14th and 15th amendments were supposed to guarantee Black folks equal rights. So why did we even need the Voting Rights Act in the 60s. I’ve read lots of newspaper accounts from the 1870s onward about how this strategy was used throughout time. My family’s slave owner was a state legislator who relied on these tactics after the civil war.
Yes. Prior to the Southern Strategy, Republicans did not, in living memory, anyway, use overt racism as a political tool.
It’s a shame nobody listens to anthropologists who point out where we all came from, namely Africa. Skin color relates to how close to the Equator one’s very distant ancestors lived. Biologists do not see race as a useful concept.
It’s an absolute pleasure to hear from you again, lin! I, for one, have missed your voice.
ThankYou. It is an absolute guilty pleasure to participate. Mostly writing Letters to Editors, organizing, and already knocking on doors for candidates.
Me too, Lin. But so glad to see you past couple days. How are your action and organizing efforts going? Are there candidate campaigns you’d like us to support?
Salud! 🗽
Always but especially in tRUMPs case, Follow the money. He says it's about power but no, especially in his case, its about money. How much does he owe the Russian mafia? And how is that concerned with Putin and his war?
For the Trump family access to political power has always translated into access to money. Running for and Holding political office was just more direct access. The Trump fortune is an indictment of political complicity in illicitly amassing intergenerational wealth.
This is my lingering question also. Will we eventually understand tfg's indebtedness to Russia/Russian oligarchs? Or has it been forgotten?
Sadly, Leo summers here in Maine. As does Tucker Carlson.
Leonard Leo is in NE Harbor on Mt. Desert Island. He held a major fundraiser shindig for Susan Collins after she voted for Kavanaugh. His presence on the island, which is predominantly Democratic in its voting patterns, has created problems for residents as he tries to use his money to insert himself in community entities with a history of tolerance but where he is such an avatar of evil that he and his family are not wanted.
Oh, that explains why Collins "believed" Kavanaugh.
It is not exactly that simple. Maine voters are inertial and don't bother to notice that Collins talks bi partisan talk but walks almost lock step with the Republican cynics, hypocrites, and right wing extremists. Most recently Collins has resorted to embracing Jim Crow states rights arguments to defend voting against civil rights protections.
😣
Yeah.
“avatar of evil.” Excellent coinage that pretty well describes the Republican Party today! Thanks, lin!
Not original - I just appropriated and repurposed the term. It is so difficult to find words for people like Leonard Leo. John Milton may have said it best "by merit raised to that bad eminence." Of course, he was describing Satan. But that term is overused.
Leo is definitely a resident who uses he’ll as his home base.
I hope they continue to shun that nasty piece of work. He shouldn't be allowed to buy his way into acceptance.
It is complicated - shun or confront. It is not entirely either/or. And it creates problems for cash strapped local entities and their boards of directors.
Would Chirsto-fascist be appropriate as well?
Ha!
Fascists for Jesus?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_fascism.
The imminent threat, from wedding intense personal conviction with politics and the calculated and opportunist manipulation of this fervor for political gain, appears to run rampant in today’s Republican party. Perhaps a constant in societies throughout the ages, it may very well be particularly rampant in conservative politics today, both here and globally….or at least it seems that way to me.
Sooo depressing!
Yes. Carlson's summer place is in my old home town. Makes me sick.
Playground of the craven, criminal, and complicit. Historically has been. But even that context, Leo stands out.
Please share where so when I head up in a couple weeks I can avoid!!
NE Harbor is fine. Bar Harbor is the biggest bluest town. Wherever you go on MDI you'll run the risk of MAGAs and miscreants. Don't let it ruin your wonderful visit.
I thoroughly recommend the free Island Explorer bus system. Parking in a bear unless you pick a spot very early. Dorr Mountain has a wonderful variety of trails, including a connector to Cadillac. Bar Harbor Bikes on Cottage Street in Bar Harbor is the best rental to explore the Carriage Trails. Side Street Cafe, MtDesert Bakery, Slice of Eden, and the best of best SweetPeas Farm Cafe and C-Rays Lobsters are favorites with locals and visitors.
MDI is one of my favorite places on earth. :)
State's Rights to block them at the border?
Reagan and Nixon’s scruffy leftovers, along with all the corporate cash was the trifecta
Yup. Roger Stone, Paul Manafort et al. David Duke was slobbering over and selling Putin as the great white christian hope before Tucker Carlson was. The Kochs go back to the John Birch Society. Etc and so forth.
Thank you, Professor Heather Cox Richardson for your historical perspective on a story that did not end even with the Civil War. And the devastation and loss of life on both sides. For many in the South today, the Civil War lives on. Consequences and prosecution for 1/6 Insurrectionists must be today’s story if we are to ever prevent future acts of Terrorism against the People, the Constitution and the Nation, the United States of America. You wrote what every citizen must hear: “While U.S. leaders after the Civil War thought their best hope of building a nation based on racial equality was to avoid prosecutions, scholars who study the restoration of democracy after an authoritarian crisis are very clear: central to any such restoration is enforcing the rule of law.”
Irenie, you pointed out the most powerful of Heather Cox Richardson's comments in the hundreds of letters she has written. We have witnessed an an attempt at a replay of American History and hopefully we get it right this time.
The “rule of law” established and maintained slavery for centuries. The laws are written and enforced for the purpose of maintaining “freedom and liberty” for white people in America. We see it every day. A young Black man can be gunned down with 60 bullets while young white men who commit mass killings and be taken into custody without shots being fired. Excuse me if I find it hard to trust in America’s laws.
Understandable.
Yes, the rule of law. However, the law has to be just and enforced in a uniform way. The right will exploit the laws they pass to reward friends and punish enemies (i.e., us, in their eyes). And they will be more emboldened than ever once they say they have the law on their side. Our nation is in crisis. If we don't take the country back in 2022 and 2024... It is way past time to set off all the alarms far and wide to wake up those who are sleeping through the attack on their (and our) freedom.
Gina and Duke, “Yes, the rule of law. However, the law has to be just and enforced in a uniform way.” So true. Hasn’t the South distorted Civil Rights laws from post Civil War to even currently? Including Amendments. Roe? Voting? So we can’t rest.
Heather is saying (and has said in greater detail in two of her books) what I SAW and heard for 24.5 years in the Army, surrounded by a large number of peers from the South and West who believe the truckload of guano that is The Lost Cause. At least partially they do. I absolutely believe if the U.S. military is not quietly but dutifully looking at its ranks in these years and reinforcing oaths to the constitution (and yes, looking for ANY ties to any of this seditious crap), yes, we will have the seeds for THE EXACT SAME THING. Make no mistake--if we have any sort of second civil conflict, it will be in large part because we never fully reckoned with it to begin with. We killed each other to the tune of 620,000 people (and yes, because of slavery) but couldn't look in the mirror and truly RECKON with all we'd done (or finish the necessary purging of the source of it all. Nope--we merely transformed it into ANOTHER era of shameful history). Here we are again now. Whatever comes to pass, this insidious aspect of our culture must be extirpated. Yes, acknowledged, learned about etc (like Naziism), but never allowed again. It's a lie (the original Big Lie), it's poison and we're STILL paying for it.
Same needs to be done with law enforcement of any kind. In 2020, my 80+ yo neighbor was struck in the back while running away from the curb (where she was chatting with neighbors) from a 54yo man who ran on to her property striking her on the shoulder from behind nearly knocking her to the ground. He has III Percent tags on the front of his jacked up truck and a large Confederate flag hangs in his garage. There were 4 witnesses to this attack, a felony in FL due to her age. She asked to press charges because he had been a threat for years. St. Johns County Sherriffs (St. Augustine) failed to do so. She is terrified. (Much more to this Story, of course, but these are the salient facts.)
This is so disheartening. I worked in victim advocacy for a number of years and a big piece of our role in those years was making sure a report was even taken. This is why we sat with victims for law enforcement reports and forensic evidence collection, and why with the survivor's permission would make calls to victim advocacy at the DAs office and also call the DA. If this woman wants charges pressed, they should be taken up. If the rule of law is available to one it should be available to all, or the whole thing is a sham.
Unfortunately, the local Sherriff's office has a bad reputation, which I had taken with a grain of salt until I saw this happen first hand. Now, I believe all of it!
A Mother’s Death, a Botched Inquiry and a Sheriff at War https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/17/us/michelle-oconnell-jeremy-banks.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuonUktbcrIhkTlUaBCbIRp8irxaGiPzLzfk7jXj4KiWRTXNAwv4YBpnF8U7LZrElZ8c2237TYu59B4IVZa44yP5DbQsqQhO0o5CAldNbeSw_9o7qUyZohJ6dGO1o-zWvPmTkcaJ2meS14Rjeama6C6XPwDZ2clYe1Jhgcl-t3nECzr6UUbImn4kjgopyQ8xyVjwCZyKVvvf3CxoYON6OaxzU6QheSPgOEHiI3obas-RcBV0UXVHWT3p_4nI-7sddOb4UP6X5Kh0gcanukK83r-xFj_FWZ9KzscXqd4w
And since this article, the family hired a private investigator from out-of-state who was conveniently murdered after just a couple of months in the area.
Feeling sick at that. That means the whole community is being essentially held hostage. Beyond frightening.
Exactly! All of the witnesses were women. I moved last summer.
OMG, that's awful! There seem to be so many out there just itching for a fight, and feeling justified/righteous as their leaders egg them on.
More than one can dream of. Bruce Springsteen said it all, back in 2016. “When you let that genie out of the bottle - bigotry, racism, intolerance - they don’t go back in the bottle that easily, if they go back in at all. Whether it’s a rise in hate crimes, people feeling they have a license to speak and behave in ways that previously were considered un-American, and are un-American. That’s what he’s appealing to. My fears are that those things find a place in ordinary, civil society.” His words have haunted me since, more every day…
That is because hatred is being allowed to be cultivated and incited by leaders whose full intentions are to divide and conquer via hatred and fear. Tactics of authoritarianism.
Exactly so. There are far, far too many of that ilk in the ranks of those who "protect and serve". I chose those words because they do, indeed protect (property) and serve (wealthy people) and have no duty to intervene when it might be dangerous to them.
I feel the weight of the tarnished badge of law enforcement; what I thought was a noble undertaking was in truth, based on the above sentence.
Frank Wilhoit: “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition …There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”
That needs to be repeated over and over. There are endless examples. Conservatism has nothing to do with conservation. You can’t make me! But I can make you!
And Ally, I suggest that “feeling the weight” aptly described in your stead referring to law enforcement (my weight in public education), is powerful. We bear it and acknowledge it because we know change must happen. And then it does. Because we accepted the weight, we are rewarded when a profession is redeemed and the cracks of darkness vanquished.
Salud, Sister. Happy hour late this weekend. Getting to it this afternoon! 🗽🇺🇸🥂
The Secret Service must now be included among the law enforcement agencies, some of whose members have been politicized over the years with right-wing, if not conspiratorial, ideas. It probably will take a few decades to rid our country of the poisons with which the defeated former president infected it or resurrected from the "Lost Cause.' We need an honest Republican Party to help accomplish that. We do not have one. The Democrats cannot, AND SHOULD NOT, have to do it alone.
Guns and random violence grow like weeds in the soil of our discontent. I watch with horror. My actions, votes and feedback seem to matter less and less. Though heartbroken, we must resist and vision a better future. This cannot stand.
Well said, Diane. Thank you.
This is a disgusting act of violence against an elderly woman no matter what the political aspects of it are. Add that and it makes it clear that the Sheriff's dept is deeply entrenched in political influence. What about the prosecutor's office? Generally charges aren't brought by law enforcement, who in theory investigate: it is the prosecutor's office who then takes charges to a grand jury. So something is way out of wack here. Is the ACLU involved? If not, they should be. It's not too late.
As I said above, there is more to the story but I wanted to be brief in making my point in re identifying and removing from law enforcement those who are members of these organizations. I recommended my neighbor contact the local State Attorney's office whose role it is to determine whether to prosecute. She declined. She is in fear and was shocked this happened (as we all were) and was concerned where pursuing the matter would lead. It was her case and not mine to bring.
😠
Thank you for your perspective, Robert. Is there a space for people in the military to report this kind of thing or is it like reporting sexual abuse and gets absorbed into the system and disappears? I am concerned about this, and also in the police. Both are experiencing low recruitment interest. What will be the ramifications of that? Will it mean they lower the bar for new recruits? Hopefully this is a subject that is not going without notice.
Speaking for law enforcement, I can tell you that more than half of the people who are hired (at least locally, and measured anecdotally from what I see in the various "new hire congratulations" announcements) are military veterans. Given that the percentage of military veterans in that age group represents a fraction of the population, this is a scary trend to see. In my hire group in 1985. it was about a 20% ratio. Today, it is closer to 60%.
And State of Florida announced recently that military vets who have not yet completed their bachelor’s degree course of study, will automatically be issued temporary teacher certification in the State of Florida. Only military vets. One cannot (previously) get a temp cert unless one holds a degree in good standing.
Hmmm. Can it be because DeSantis is looking for more teachers willing to carry in schools?
Carry ideas , not just weapons. Years ago, there were tax incentives to hire vets. My former private school hired a 3-tours of duty in Iraq vet to run a middle school, among other vets. Experience with kids, none. He thought that misbehaving kids had liberal parents, only possible explanation.
This sounds dangerous. The militarization of police has been a frightening trend and knowing soldiers now comprise more than half of our police force horrifies me.
My upbringing set my default for trusting law enforcement. My age and experience says otherwise.
That is a sad story which reflects (I believe) most of us. Certainly it has been hard for me to realize that my profession is nowhere near as "noble" as I thought it was.
I have such conflicting feelings about this subject, but coming to grips with the reality; my years in child welfare brought me in touch with many compassionate law enforcement officers (although the older ones were uncomfortable with sexual molest allegations) and I always was proud of our military. My stepson is a pastor and also a police officer and we’ve been flying the Thin Blue Line Flag…now I’m not so sure about that! But it’s mainly been in support of him and the job he does. My eyes are more open to comments made by former and current cops I meet randomly, and I cringe at what they say either openly, or quietly. And yes, I have seen the large numbers of ex-military going into law enforcement…it’s almost a given since law enforcement is a paramilitary operation and they would be so comfortable with that. I’m glad that these folks in J6 are finally seeing some consequences.
Recalling a few years back when I attended a training at the state National Guard HQ. Sone kind of breaking news happened and all the soldiers and leadership collapsed into the cafeteria to watch. On Fox news. The military could take a first step of assuring that NPR/PBS is the broadcast news source for any public screen at a military installation.
That would be an essential first step to curtailing the brainwashing of our Guard and military personally. No Faux News.
Would you be willing to estimate, based on your many years of close observation, the percentage of high-level officers, colonel up, say, who are Trump supporters?
I would not. I have no idea TBH. If I had to guess, I would say it's at-most 25%, possibly much less. I know the Chairman and the current Chiefs despise him. I think what's problematic and hard to discern is those in a gray area--those who have no love of the man, but had he actually enacted a military coup, have not done the necessary deep thinking required to decide whether his actions required support or defiance. No, I do not think you'd see a 50-50 split--not for Trump. But...what if a much less bombastic, more intelligent, less overt in his machinations type of leader were involved--a DeSantis type? Then, I think we might have a problem...
Thanks for responding. I think you’re right to worry about the difficulties officers face in making judgments about the validity of orders. Law professors who have spent years delving into questions of constitutionality find such questions to be nuanced and tricky, and they have months to ponder them. Military officers have to make such judgments in the heat of the moment. It’s a lot to ask of anyone. What most worried me between the election and the inauguration was the possibility of Trump declaring martial law and military leaders having to decide on the legality of the order. And, as you pointed out, we’re far from out of the woods. It appears that 99% of the Republican leadership and at least 70 million citizens find white, kleptocratic autocracy preferable to a government with a negative view of systemic white advantage. It will take a miracle to prevail in November, and even if that miracle occurs, we will still have to deal with the 70 million and the politicians who pander to them.
Well, frankly, if we vote in the numbers THEY do, we'll win just about every time. Not in every state, but certainly overall. We (middle America and parts of the Left) do it to ourselves, frankly. I get all the stuff with suppression and gerrymandering--that should fire us up MORE, not make people talking in defeatist tones before the election--that riles ME up. I'm sorry, but I was in Iraq twice--where I saw 90% of populaces--many of whom were openly threatened with death if they voted--come to polls anyway and vote. So, I really don't want to hear excuses. For individuals who've had their ballots invalidated or been made to re-register numerous times, yes--I've talked with such folks and I know they are out there. But...for the 30% of the populace that, at a minimum, ALWAYS finds a way to "not be bothered"? Nope, can't abide them. Say want you want about Far Right delusionists and Trumpists, they do better getting to the polls, and it's NOT just because they're less suppressed.
Nothing Democrats can do is more important than getting out the vote. Especially not messaging, which on the Democratic side is necessarily nuanced and on the Republican side needs no more than the word “woke.” Democrats would have been better off if they had invested a billion a year or more in on-the-ground, GOTV efforts for the past couple decades. Unfortunately, we didn’t, and we still don’t. I’ve been a Democratic activist for 60 years, starting at age 18, which was before I could vote. During that time, negative political outcomes have outnumbered positive ones by at least two to one. That informs my outlook. I find justified optimism inspirational but view unfounded optimism as happy talk. My direct GOTV efforts consume twenty to thirty hours a month of my time. In addition I contribute enough money to support eight hours a month of paid, on the ground, young Latino activists in a winnable (barely) district in the Central Valley. Not much but unfortunately all I can muster.
Wow, what a day, indeed! We must see rule of law enforced here or we are doomed as a democracy. No more playing nice-y nice, we must make treason and sedition real crimes with clear consequences, anything less only ensures the takeover of our country by these very same republican terrorists.
It is clear the President of our country led the revolution against this country. These people answered the President’s call. The leaders of the revolution Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Giuliani, Flynn, all need to go to trial and held accountable as well as the minions who answered the call to the uprising. What about the congress people who supported and contributed to the insurrection. They are in positions of power and supported people partaking in the insurrection. I am amazed we allow our congress people to promote violence overtly and covertly. Are there no code of ethics for these people? Most professional people need to adhere to a code of ethics. Of course then we have Clarence Thomas and Ginni Thomas part of this. Time for him to step down. When are we going to stop confirming Supreme Court justices who have a history of abusing woman?
Thomas will never step down of his own volition--he has said that he "wants revenge" for the "humiliation" he "suffered" during his confirmation. He has held on to that grudge for three decades--how is that a judicial temperament???
"“I went to law school with him,” said Clinton, a 1973 graduate of Yale Law School. (Thomas received his J.D. from the school a year later.) “He’s been a person of grievance for as long as I’ve known him. Resentment, grievance, anger.”
June 2022 Hilary Clinton
Exactly. He’s an angry, vengeful, self-righteous man.
A worm by any measure, boo hoo
Such good questions. We are really seeing how there seems to be very little in the way of law or codes of ethics for our leaders. I guess they worry about the shoe on the other foot, but in spite of my bias, I have a hard time seeing anything that compares to what the GOP members are doing. Although if the courts are "conservative," will they be blind? And how does our congress review and update a code in such a divisive and extremist environment?
ICYMI, apparently there isn't a Code of Ethics for SCt Justices.
Glad to read this letter from HCR, particularly about how our nation's failure to address the insurrection, costs, death and authoritarian ideas of the Confederacy. We are still living with the damage today.
I recommend reading "Race and Reunion" by David W. Blight. Published in 2001. It means even more today, 21 years later. You can see the ghosts of the Confederates walking our nation at will today. Imposing themselves. Their spirits have recently inhabited the White House. They sit in Congress and have taken over the US Supreme Court. They must be exorcised from our nation. It's rather auspicious that they wore "gray", living on as ghosts and spirits, haunting the nation, while the Union wore "blue" now used to describe Democrats. "Red" of course is for all the blood.spilled over these many years of conflict and crimes against blacks and civil and voting rights activists.
Yes, exorcising should be accomplished and soon. We cannot dare wait.
Yes. And David, people of color in our country have been dealing with those "ghosts" everyday, throughout their lives, and are built into the white caste foundations since the discovery of our country. Makes one believe in white reincarnation throughout the ages.
And HCR's "How the South Won the Civil War"
We’re in a heap of trouble because so many members of Congress took part in the coup. This is one of the reasons the GOP continues to double down with the Big Lie and with an authoritarian takeover attempt at every level, including subverting elections going forward. Every good prosecution of criminal enterprises starts by flipping minor players to testify against those higher in the food chain. Trump and his immediate co-conspirators must be prosecuted. But I don’t readily see a way to prosecute all involved members of Congress that won’t harden their resistance. They won’t allow their political party or power base to be destroyed, either. And there are big money and media dominance fueling their efforts. South Africa found a way, at least for awhile, to build a new form of nationhood beyond apartheid with its Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Our situation is unique. I would love to see historic instances in some ways comparable to ours to show a way out.
You are so right Gary. Does the Executive Branch call for a "Truth & Reconciliation Committee" or is it up to my seditionist Congressperson, and his 146 seditionist peers to do it, or the 6 seditionist members of SCOTUS? Ah, WE must vote.
And some of those members, should they win the House in the 2022 Midterms, have quite a list of impeachments they wish to pursue. Here are a few of the names on their impeachment list: Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Merrick Garland and other Cabinet Members, Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney are all being mentioned. Jim Jordan is leading the charge on this.
Garland must prosecute. Now.
Think of the massive indictments Garland and his team of prosecutors are charged with. Nothing like this has ever happened in our country. If all the bad eggs are indicted, our Hall of Congress will be a skeleton congress of democrats. I think that will be a good thing for the moment. But what do we do when the party of treason gets wiped out? I would say we party, but we must deal with the void. Who steps in when a lawmaker steps down or dies? Or is imprisoned for treason?
Special elections are held when a lawmaker dies. I would think that is what would happen.
Might have to be expansive elections across the land...
There is so much to unpack in your comment Gary. I have given considerable thought to what you have posited and can offer a few thoughts.
There is no other country quite like the U.S. At times, some have touted with pride our diversity but in fact that diversity is the source of all the dysfunction that has percolated throughout our relatively very short history. I have come to believe that tribalism is part of the DNA of the human race. LIke oil and water, we cannot blend what is "unblendable." You cannot unite people who choose to believe they are not equals - this is at the core of tribalism. People naturally see differences before they see similarities.
As you say, as a country our situation is unique. We are most similar to ancient Rome or the British Empire in trying to meld together people of very different conditions whether that be race, religion or creed. People, rightfully so, refuse to go along to get along. People who hold different beliefs refuse to subjugate themselves to the rule of people who are not like them. Ultimately, this led to the fall of Rome and the dismantling of the British Empire. In our short history, there's no evidence that Americans have found the will to live in harmony
I can find no solution, no way out of our self-made dilemma. We created a system of government that is ungovernable. Our form of democracy as set forth in the Constitution requires people to act in good faith, which is something that is in very short supply in the human condition. More people than not are wired to act in their own best interests. We are all, to some degree, self-serving. It is part of our survival instinct which some people have in the extreme.
The coup de grace is intertwine the American lifeblood of capitalism with political grifters and we have the best government money can buy. From its outset, America was vulnerable to becoming a country controlled by the wealthy elite, or the robber barons. We are either on the way to becoming a plutocracy or kleptocracy. Either way, we have a ready-made two-party political system that can be exploited, and a society that is easy to divide and conquer. We are a country that had it all and handed it over to the wealthy with nary a fight.
That is very well reasoned. However we are in the present and have a chance to respond to the situation. This moment is not yet frozen in history. Plutocracy or kleptocracy are already here. Authoritarian fascist rule is trying to assert itself. We can vote and work to turn out votes in the mid-terms and litigate when Republicans try to subvert the will of the electorate. I am thinking about what we must do and don’t know whether we will succeed. And we are in this situation in large part because we don’t have 50 Democratic senators. Joe Manchin said in a radio interview this week that his actions cannot be predicted because there is a “D” next to his name. He doesn’t identify with being a Democrat. I don’t mean this last comment to be a conversation stopper but can only take my small actions and watch — not too closely for peace of mind — to see how this all unfolds.
We desperately need such a commission, but have no Mandala
The Select Committee is our Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but those who need to participate are watching Fox.
Dumbassed roper of goats Reffitt got turned in by his kids.
Yes, I love that!
Those kids should get medals of freedom! Seriously. What a difficult thing to do. And how many kids just repeat what their parents say and do? These kids somehow got the smart genes.
Apoarently not too difficult as he has been abusing them for years.
👍🏼
Boy, this Letter was like music to my ears! Thank you, Heather, for the uplift. I certainly needed it and I bet others do too.
Bannon is sure tiring, isn’t he? Tries to work all of the angles to get out of being in court but his whining is catching up to him. It will be nice to see him in stripes.
For people who hate government and taxes, he and Trump et al. are sure burning through taxpayer dollars with all their nonsense.
They love taxpayer dollars, it’s what they steal
It will bliss not to see him at all!
I think that about chump, every waking moment. Wish to live so long, but maybe not.
Thank you for this. It is always so illuminating to see the reference of historical events
Thank you Heather.
I’m exhausted and have missed reading and responding to your posts for a week or so. That said, this evening’s post provided a glimmer of hope.
“… scholars who study the restoration of democracy after an authoritarian crisis are very clear: central to any such restoration is enforcing the rule of law.“
Boy, have we some catching up to do.
Another issue is connected to this analysis i.e.January 6, 2021 comparison to post-U.S. Civil War/Post-Reconstruction clemency: If Black people ever had attempted the acts of the January 6th attackers, on the Capitol, not many would be alive to stand trial. Our nation needs to acknowledge the difference in treatment of rightwing whites vs people of color and progressives.
TRUTH!!
There is so much more I could’ve written. If anyone wants to collaborate to deepen and widen this response with me, it
Can be done cooperatively. My brother pointed out that those who are enraged, viewing BLM movement activists treated with way too much leniency… continue to stay silent regarding the crimes
committed against democracy and the people on 1-6-2021.
IT’S A DO OVER. HERE WE GO AGAIN. ONCE WASN’T ENOUGH!
After the Civil War ‘___there was never a legal reckoning for even the leaders of those who had tried to destroy the nation…’
‘…scholars who study the restoration of democracy after an authoritarian crisis are very clear: central to any such restoration is enforcing the rule of law.”
“This time, though, there is a chance to change the story.” (Letter)
It has been 556 days since the attempted insurrection at The US Capitol. When did we start asking… and then screaming where’s the Department of Justice? Merrick Garland is our ‘Waiting for Godot’.
The lawyers –Laurence Tribe, Adam Schiff, Andrew Weissmann. --have been screaming, too!
How long are Trump and the rest of traitors going to run free through our teetering democracy?
While we wait:
'Idaho Republicans poised to reject 2020 election results'
'BOISE — The Idaho Republican Party will consider 31 resolutions at its three-day convention starting Thursday, including one already adopted by Texas Republicans that President Joe Biden isn't the legitimate leader of the country.'
'The Idaho resolution in the deeply conservative state that Donald Trump won with 64% of the vote in 2020 is nearly identical to the Texas resolution that was passed last month, stating: "We reject the certified results of the 2020 presidential election; and we hold that acting president Joseph Robinette Biden was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States."
'Both the Idaho and Texas resolutions contend that secretaries of state circumvented their state legislatures, even though both states have Republican secretaries of state.' (AP) See link below.
So, while we are waiting for 'Godot', the Republican Party keeps rolling on and Trump threatens us with another reign.
https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-biden-donald-trump-united-states-texas-74470f52173627eba7692821d0182308
Fern, while I greatly appreciate your fervor, we have only one chance to kill the king. It has to be done right, with the DOJ methodically beginning with the small fry, flipping them as they go up the food chain, while the J6 Committee exposing the top sharks, with enough proof to both begin indictments, and to convince the Court of Public Opinion, which includes We, The People, as well as the media, and even Fux news. In the meantime, the Republican Party is quietly splitting.
I agree that things are happening behind the scenes but we are not privy to them. It is hard to be patient, but we see things happening and we must trust a man who has dealt with the mob.
A year and a half ago, this was written about Merrick Garland from the Brennan Center. I have to trust in Garland and the way he and his tight-lipped team are working. There is no other option at this date. He is ethical and thorough. We are just exhausted and full of fear. This is our moment about being patience and staying focused and supportive. Let us see if America can be mature enough to meet this moment and support Biden and Garland.
If you are worried, then write a letter to Garland and Biden and personally tell them your fears of how long this is taking and fears that nothing will happened to the leaders and lawmakers still in our employ. And then do constructive things with your angst. It is hard for me, too, but I am determined to be a warrior and stay positive and trust that our democracy is not too broken to still work.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/merrick-garland-man-again-meets-moment
"Constructive things.." Like playing the violin as the Titanic sank?
Is that snark?
It is what jumped into my head when you told her to stay busy. I think it's funny. Frankly this is how I see Garland at this point. He has got to descend from his ivory tower and make a significant indictment now.
Meanwhile crazies like Kirk are given encouragement to say "Defy the Government." because all the seditionists are running around free. Enough.
MaryPat, I was not commenting with 'fervor'. What I wrote has been said by some of the most esteemed lawyers in the county and they have been writing it for quite some time.
'Attorney General Merrick Garland’s former law professor thinks he should indict Trump'
'U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland should indict former President Donald Trump on crimes related to the January 6 insurrection, his former law professor said on Greater Boston.'
'Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, taught Garland as a student. "If Merrick Garland is awake, I think he is, if he's as smart as I think he was as a student, he's got to be about to indict," he said....'
'We could see another January 6': Retired federal judge's testimony strikes a chord at hearing'
'Ex-prosecutor says Donald Trump is 'guilty of numerous felony violations'
What is 'seditious conspiracy'? Could Trump face criminal charges for role in Jan. 6 insurrection?
"We shouldn't assume that the attorney general is asleep at the switch," Tribe continued. "I would love to think that's true, but we will have to see. The proof is going to be in the pudding and here the pudding is going to look like an indictment I hope."
'Former Federal Judge Nancy Gertner also said Trump should be indicted. She said it looks like his fingerprints are on several plots including witness tampering, the insurrection and fake electors.'
"I thought that what the [January 6] committee was doing, which was very clever, was beginning with [John] Eastman and [Rudy] Giuliani and [Michael] Flynn, and once you establish their conspiracy with Trump, that it would then be inevitable that Trump would be indicted," she said.'(GBH)
Much stronger language has been used to state that Trump should have been indicted by now. Lawrence Tribe, Adam Schiff and Andrew Weissmann have been broadcasting it.
'Merrick Garland Should Investigate Trump’s 2020 Election Schemes as a ‘Hub and Spoke’ Conspiracy'. Weissman's essay in NYTimes is linked below. Sorry, I ran out of gifting option.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/11/opinion/january-6-trump-merrick-garland.html
Do it quick or do it right?
It is not one or the other. Of course it is a matter of doing it right. Being slow doesn't indicate right or wrong. It's all in the cooking. There are different options one can take. I suggest that you read the Weissmann Essay I linked in my comment to MaryPat. I have run out of the gifting privilege with the NY Times until the end of the month.
A watched pot never boils😊
Oh. Good.
Fern we will have to agree to disagree.
Disagreement can nourish the mind, MaryPat. I have not come across any notable legal experts expressing your opinion for a least a month. I hope that you read Weissmann essay, which I linked.
I found this interesting. https://terikanefield.substack.com/p/john-eastman-loses-again?r=6ptqj&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Gail, Thank you for the link, which covered Eastman's legal efforts to protect his phone from seizure. I am aware of the DOJ''s activities in that area and others known to the public. A focus of my comment was criticisms of the Department's performance with reference to Trump and those most involved in plots to overturn the government. One of Garland's critics is Andrew Weissmann. I have provided a link to his essay in the NY Times, which outlines his point of view. Unfortunately, I have run out of my gifting privilege for the month. The link is below.
'Merrick Garland Should Investigate Trump’s 2020 Election Schemes as a ‘Hub and Spoke’ Conspiracy'
'Andrew Weissmann (@AWeissmann_), a former Justice Department prosecutor and senior prosecutor in Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation, is a professor of practice at the New York University School of Law and the author of “Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/11/opinion/january-6-trump-merrick-garland.html
MaryPat, While a difference between us about the DOJ is uncomfortable as you are my closest subscriber friend, perhaps, it is best for friends to work together on something as important as this. I just came to the point of wanting to examine what the DOJ is doing and not doing. with reference to indicting Trump and those most responsible for planning the coup. Of course, that the work is done in secret makes 'knowing' more than an obstacle. The lawyers that have been banging their drums for action have worked for DOJ, been criminal prosecutors and or experts in constitutional law... top dogs. They know about the processes and the time it takes to put big criminal cases together. As this concerns a former president and a plot to overthrow the government, there has not been a case like this. So more questions. What to indict Trump on? This subject so consequential to our democracy radiates with questions. Andrew Weissmann is suggesting an option in the essay I linked for you, which he believes the DOJ is not taking.
The combination of not knowing if Trump and the circle most closely involved in the coup will be indicted; how little time is left before the midterms; the country's continuing movement toward autocracy and the warnings of legal experts made it uncomfortable for me to just sit and wait. I want to know more, to read what the drummers are writing and to listen to them. They are not a crowd of rabble rousers or a gang powerbrokers determined to gain control. They are in the same class of as Garland, but they are not satisfied with what they see as an insufficient amount of action on the part of DOJ. The point of my initial comment to you was can we know more while we wait?
MaryPat, Have you read Andrew Weissmann's Essay, 'Merrick Garland Should ' Investigate Trump's 2020 Election Schemes as a 'Hub and Spoke' Conspiracy? I can copy the entire piece if the link didn't work for you. Please let me know.
The opinion that the DOJ has been operating in slow-motion with regard to Trump and others involved in the coup does not mean as you state, '... It has to be done right, with the DOJ methodically beginning with the small fry,' -- Being 'slow' or 'late' to indict, if that does happen, does not guarantee that the process and timing employed by the DOJ were correct. Andrew Weissmann's essay will acquaint you with another legal option concerning this crucial matter.
Convince Fux “news,” not a chance in hell
We are running out of time. The January 6 Committee will be disbanded the second the Republicans are sworn in if they take the House in 2022. (And it will be a miracle if they don't. See 538 Poll.)
Bottom line. Merrick needs a good faith prosecution at the very least. Jim Jordan will be a good start. Until these people face at least a small dose of reckoning for their actions on January 6 they will continue to prevail in their work of dismantling the Democracy.
Americans need to see some Justice being served. The malaise affecting Americans will surely hurt at the Polls.
I sure wish I shared in your optimism.
Someone just posted a new Business Insider report that Mark Meadows will probably testify, since it appears tRump is throwing him under the bus. tRump is no longer good for business, which means not good for the Republican Party.
Tell that to the money
Justice Ketanji, Ketanji Brown Jackson, the fabulous Cass Hutchinson and Heather Cox Richardson PhD will lead the women that just may save us from the Confederacy, the Confederate Flag totting racists that hate felling the white supremacists that kill.
In my lifetime, I've had the pleasure of having friends, schoolmates, coworkers, etc who are women of color. Many of them are incredibly resistant in spite of all that is thrown up against them and they do not suffer fools. While the liberals might be outnumbered in the SCOTUS, I hold great hope that Justice Jackson's presence evens the score a bit, I have hope her perspective will carry greater weight than one might think of a single voice.
BTW Sandy, please continue to post: tRump will be charged, convicted and jailed!!
Your voice in God’s ear, thanks. Sandy