A conversation about what's going on in the world at any given point in time…and what I think about it. Occasionally, guest bloggers may appear. Viewer comments are welcome. Peace! Alpha Heel
Just as was the case last week; any week really, there’s a lot going on in the land. Many subjects would make for ripe, and interesting topics of conversation. Mr. Trump’s attorneys are said to be negotiating testimony by Trump, under oath, before the January 6 Committee, the Supreme Court ruled that Lindsey Graham must testify in the Georgia Inquiry, Liz Cheney hit the stump in Michigan…for a Democrat (Elissa Slotkin), Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was assaulted early Friday morning in their home; attacker was looking for the Speaker, and wanted to break her kneecaps, and to kill her if she didn’t admit to his version of the truth (according to his own testimony), Republicans, including Trump, and Trump, Jr. joked about the Pelosi incident, while the owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, shared a post from a noted conspiracy theory site to highlight the episode, Harvard University and the University of North Carolina are appearing before the Supreme Court in what is likely a last ditch effort to salvage some modicum of what’s left of race-conscious university admissions (Affirmative Action), in a Hail Mary that seems to have worked, at least in the short term, Chief Justice Roberts temporarily halted the release of Trump’s tax records, Mehmet Oz’s research was rejected in 2003, resulting in a two-year ban by the American Association of Thoracic Surgery, Twitter (under new management) is considering offering a new verification feature…for a price (possibly $8 a month, down from an earlier estimate of $20), and it’s November, Thanksgiving and Black Friday are coming.
All 10 of those items might make someone’s Top 10. However, just like last week, I opine, none of them trumps (pun intended) the need to vote. Election Day is next Tuesday. North Carolina Early Voting began Thursday, October 20, and ends Saturday, November 5, at 3:00 p.m. If you’re a North Carolina resident, and you haven’t already voted; make a plan, and get it done.
As I indicated in last week’s post, I’m using my voice, last week and this week, and dedicating this space to urging you to vote. It’s my commitment, and your civic duty…”Vote ’22 Part 2!”
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As per usual, there is a cornucopia of topics worthy of elevating to this space today. Mass shootings continue, unabated. The January 6 Committee is interviewing a series of high-profile Trump Lieutenants. The Justice Department is battling heroically to overcome the hedge of protection formed by the privilege barrier protecting Trump’s top attorneys from providing additional testimony. Ukraine alleges that Putin may be contemplating the use of a dirty bomb. President Biden issued a sharply worded warning against that possibility. Inflation rages. Interest rates are rising. Ye appears to be off his meds. Herschel is still Herschel. Covid-19 is still here.
In my humble opinion, while those items comprise a formidable Top 10, in the near term, none of them is more important than the need to be registered, and to exercise your franchise. Election Day is November 8; Early Voting has commenced in most states that allow it. I will use my voice, and this platform this week and next, to encourage you to attend to your civic duty.
Elections are always partisan matters. This one is no exception. The GOP will Biden-bash and tell you inflation and crime are what bedevil us, and…since Joe’s in charge, it’s his fault. Moreover, they will tell you, they and their largely Trumpian ways are the bromide for what ails us. Don’t fall for the okie-doke. They are not.
Yes, inflation is soaring…worldwide, fueled significantly by the war in Ukraine, the global pandemic, and supply chain disruption. Look around the globe.
Crime is out of control in Blue cities and states…they will tell you. Not so fast. In a new study from the center-left think tank Third Way, research shows that states won by Trump in 2020 have higher murder rates than those carried by Biden. The highest murder rates, the study found, are often in conservative, rural states. According to the study, murder rates in the 25 states Trump carried in 2020 are 40% higher overall than in the states Biden won. The analysis was based on 2020 data because 2021 data was not yet available.
The current unemployment rate is 3.5% – a 50-year low. There have been 10 million jobs created, including almost 700,000 manufacturing jobs during Biden’s first two years in office, and there are still 3 months for which the numbers haven’t been tabulated and two months left in the year.
Without a doubt, there is work to be done. Democrats are doing that work. They passed legislation, in some cases, without a single Republican vote (just as they did with Obamacare in the previous Democratic administration), including the Inflation Reduction Act, to lock in lower health care premiums for 13 million Americans and lower prescription drug prices for seniors.
Partly because of the administration’s actions – including a historic release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve – gas prices are decreasing. They’re down $1.20 since their peak this summer and just this week they fell another 10 cents. That’s adding up to real savings for families. Republicans will tell you gas was much lower during Trump’s term. What they will not tell you is, gas was low because of the pandemic lock downs (incidentally, for which they blamed Democrats), and they howled non-stop about how the low prices were hurting businesses. All of that may be true, but d… it, you can’t have it both ways. You can’t complain about it in real time and try to credit Trump for it now. That is, not unless you are now, in retrospect, willing to blame his irrational behavior for making the effects of the pandemic worse. (That did happen).
I didn’t think so!
However, while there is progress, the advances are is at risk. In our vote, Americans face a choice. One that augurs two vastly different visions for America.
As President Biden said of the GOP, “Republican members of Congress are doubling down on mega, MAGA trickle-down economics that benefit the wealthy and big corporations. They’ve laid their plan out very clearly. It would raise your costs and make inflation worse.”
The Biden administration gave Medicare the authority and flexibility to negotiate lower drug prices. Out-of-pocket prescription drug costs were capped at $2,000 a year for seniors and seniors’ monthly insulin payments were capped at $35 a month. Big Pharma and scores of lobbyists spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to prevent health care savings for Americans.
Many Republicans in Congress are calling to roll back these provisions that lower prescription drug costs – some of which take effect in January. That means the $2,000 cap on prescription drugs for seniors would be gone. The $35-a-month cap on insulin for seniors would be gone. The average savings on health care premiums of $800 a year for millions of Americans would be gone. Republicans would increase those everyday costs.
Dems are requiring the biggest corporations begin to pay their fair share in taxes. In 2020, 55 of the wealthiest corporations in America paid zero dollars in federal income tax. No longer. President Biden signed into law a 15% corporate minimum tax. And no one earning less than $400,000 a year will pay more in federal taxes.
Republicans plan to cut taxes for the wealthy, and some aim to cut Social Security and Medicare for seniors. Rick Scott, the Senator from Florida who is in charge of electing Republicans, has a plan requiring Congress to vote every five years on keeping, cutting or eliminating Social Security and Medicare. Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin has proposed putting Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block every single year.
You are faced with a choice. Vote for Democrats and protect Social Security and Medicare.
It should be easier, not more difficult, for hard-working Americans to get by. Biden acted to ease the burden of student debt for families recovering from the pandemic. Republicans criticized the move, of course, but it helps working- and middle-class Americans as they recover from the pandemic. GOP criticism was especially tone deaf, considering those same Republican officials voted for a $2 trillion tax giveaway that mainly benefitted wealthy Americans and the biggest corporations.
Many Republicans in Congress want to pass a national ban on abortion. Biden would veto it, but he needs more Dems, and to retain both Houses of Congress. In a best-case scenario, Dems would codify Roe v. Wade in January.
Democracy in America is being tested. “Nothing about democracy is guaranteed. You have to defend it. Protect it. Choose it.”
Joe Biden is confident that, just as they did in 2020, the American people will again vote in record numbers and make it clear that democracy is a value that both defines us and unites us as Americans. I, on the other hand, am not so sure.
I do however concur, the stakes couldn’t be higher; the choice couldn’t be clearer.
Tuesday after next, the American people will decide whether we keep moving forward or go backward…”Vote ’22: Part 1!”
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People, including my friends and family…who am I kidding, especially my friends and family, ask me why I write about Trump so often? His adoring supporters would be quick to call it TDS, commonly known as Trump Derangement Syndrome.
For the record, it’s not that. I write about him, because whether I (or you, or they, for that matter) like it or not, the guy is in the news every day, every single day. And not just CNN, or the NYT, or WaPo. Watch Fox News any day. Every day. Let me know when a day passes without him being mentioned. Granted, he’s discussed in different lights, depending on the media outlet, but liberal, or conservative, he is bound to be the subject of discussion, sooner or later. Every. Single. Day.
Several outlets reported Monday that documents revealed the Secret Service paid upward of $1.4 million to former President Trump’s company, renting rooms for as much as $1,185 a night, or almost six times the normal maximum hotel rate the federal government pays for traveling employees. This seemingly outrageous deviation from standard practices was reported more than once in real time. Each time it was knocked down by various Trump mouthpieces. Who you gonna believe?
House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York, called the rates exorbitant. She added, they raise “significant concern about the former president’s self-dealing” and may have been “a taxpayer-funded windfall” for Trump properties.
Rep. Maloney indicated that her panel has sought a full accounting from the Secret Service on taxpayer money spent at Trump properties for more than two years, to no avail. In a letter to Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle on Monday, Maloney said the committee found over 40 instances in which the agency paid Trump properties more than the maximum government rate to rent hotel rooms, based on records in hand.
The letter cited one instance in which the agency paid $1,185 a night for rooms when a protective detail accompanied Donald Trump, Jr. to the Trump-owned Mar-a-Lago resort in November 2017. Placed in context, the maximum government rate for the area is $201 per night.
In another instance, Secret Service agents accompanying Eric Trump, also one of the former president’s sons, paid $1,160 a night at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, though the maximum government room rate for the city is $242 per night.
Maloney’s letter indicated Trump company officials claimed they charged only “minimal fees” for government officials who traveled with the former president and stayed at his properties. The temptation is to just add this to the ledger of 30k+ lies and misleading statements attributed to Trump during his time in office. While I’m uninclined to make that case in this post, you are free to use your own discretion.
Eric Trump said Monday, in an emailed statement, accommodations for the Secret Service or other government agencies “were provided at cost, heavily discounted, or free.”
He went on, “The company would have been substantially better off if hospitality services were sold to full-paying guests, however, the company did whatever it took to accommodate the agencies to ensure they were able to do their jobs at the highest levels.” LOLOL!
Special Agent Steve Kopek, spokesperson for the Secret Service said the Secret Service has received the committee’s letter about hotel charges, and “the agency will respond directly to the committee with the requested information.”
In Rep. Mahoney’s letter, she noted, of documents the Secret Service has provided so far, there is missing information, including, other stays at Trump properties. This includes, but is not limited to, Secret Service room expenses at Mar-a-Lago identified in a 2019 Government Accounting report. The documents also do not include any foreign Trump properties or travel after September 15, 2021. The agency continues to provide protection for Trump.
Government room rates are based on average rates for hotels in the area at the time of year. Agencies generally keep lodging costs at or below those rates, with requests to exceed those rates triggering special scrutiny. Beginning in 2017, the Secret Service was granted extra flexibility to exceed government rates when paying for employees on protective details.
During his presidency, Trump reportedly visited properties he owned 547 times, including 145 visits to his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, according to the House Oversight and Reform Committee. When it came time for the US to host the Group of Seven Summit for world leaders, he also chose one of his properties, the Trump National Doral Miami, though he later backtracked due to criticism.
If this were emblematic of a single curious instance of Donald Trump straying from accepted protocols and principles, it would still be damnable, but possibly defensible. A single curious instance? Maybe. But this is not a case of a single curious instance. It conforms with Trump’s pattern and practice; standard operating procedure if you will. Unless you are just down with Trump, no matter what he says or does, and let’s face it, some people are, this requires an interventive reckoning…”Slowly, Surely, Inexorably: Truth Crushed to the Ground Will Rise Again!”
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This is a short post, predicated on “the science,” but also on my opinion.
As I travel in my own orbit, near and far, I continue to be mindful of Covid-19. President Biden fast forwarded what his administration had intended to be a gradual assent out of the pandemic era. While the administration had plotted a step-by-step course to arrive at post-covid status, the President declared in a “60-Minutes” interview on Sunday, September 18, that, “We still have a problem with Covid. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over.”
Suffice it to say, the declaration surprised a few people. His own senior health officials among them, many of whom only learned about the President’s remarks from tweets and news headlines.
When the White House staff reviewed the transcripts after the interview was taped, it did not alert its Covid team. It’s fair to say the announcement met with mix reviews internally, but some argued that the virus is in a manageable state, and it was time to frame it as such.
That may well be, but at the end of August, not that long ago, a Bivalent (Third) Booster was approved. The CDC recommends that everyone 5 and older, including people who are immunocompromised, and received a third dose of Pfizer or Moderna, receive a booster dose.
There are two types of approved boosters:
Bivalent (updated) Booster: either Moderna or Pfizer, given 2 months after the completion of a primary series or a monovalent (original booster or a 3rd dose (only for immunocompromised people)
Moderna bivalent booster is authorized for ages 18 and up
Pfizer bivalent booster is authorized for ages 12 and up.
Monovalent (original) booster: ONLY Pfizer and is only for ages 5-11 years.
While booster doses are available for everyone age 5 and older, they are strongly recommended (by the CDC) for people older than 50, people who live in long-term care facilities and anyone who received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
I understand, there are those who dismissed Covid, and others who shunned vaccines. This is not a beat you over the head kind of post. You do you. Consider this one of the circulars in your utility bill…or that you used to get that way, in the event you’ve gone completely digital. Read it, or toss it, at your own discretion.
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For the better part of two years, I’ve told anyone who would deign to listen that the GOP is on a mission, if not single-mindedly, assuredly, first and foremost, to ensure that the anointed one, a.k.a. Donald Trump is held harmless for undertaking myriad shenanigans. If that wasn’t clear after two impeachments, both of which resulted in party impresarios all but laughing Democrats out of the Chamber, the fact that 147 Republicans voted to overturn election results on January 6, eight senators and 139 representatives, should have provided enough persuasion. Alas, for far too many, it did not.
Oh, did I fail to mention that prior to the vote in which 147 Americans elected to protect our democracy, voted to undo it, a violent mob breached the Capitol and threatened the lives of those very officials? I did fail to mention it; and so, did they, in their attempt to overthrow a duly executed election. Fortunately, failure was the GOP flavor-of-the-day. The insurrection/attempted coup failed, the effort to overturn the election failed, the apparent desired assassination of Vice President Mike Pence failed, and most notably, the drive to retain the Magnate of MAGAdom as Commander-in-Chief…failed.
But anyone who’s paid even a modicum of attention to the denizens of TrumpWorld knows they are indefatigable; quit is not in their vocab. And, in the event they thought about it, he’d wave his Svengali-like wand, and they’d be instantly re-energized.
In the ensuing 21 months, a lot has transpired. Little, if any of it, surprising. A House of Representatives Committee comprised of 7 Democrats and 2 Republicans and investigated the events of January 6. They have held 8 hearings, and are scheduled to hold one more, most likely its last. The 9th hearing would have been held last Wednesday, but Hurricane Ian ravaged Florida during the week, and the committee delayed the hearing. Thursday, October 13, has been floated as the possible date.
The hearings have been Must-see TV for CNN and MSNBC, and not surprisingly garnered little coverage and scant viewership on Fox. That’s as expected, of course. Trump has endeavored to paint the hearings as a form of political vendetta by his political rivals. He revels as such a dichotomy, and his supporters, surrogates, and sycophants eat it up, hook, line, and sinker.
Never mind that in addition to all the havoc he created, or stoked, related to January 6, the FBI searched his estate in July and found thousands of documents, including more than 100 Classified as Top Secret, that should have been turned over to the National Archives. Trump, or his spokesperson is alleged to have claimed all the documents had been returned. Let’s be clear, they should not have been taken in the first place, a review by the National Archives revealed that a great many documents were still missing.
This led to a visit and subsequent search of Mar-a-Lago by the FBI. Trump and his most ardent defenders maintained, vociferously at some points, that all the Archives staff had to do was ask (nicely< I suppose), and he’d have returned the documents. Interestingly, it turns out, they had been doing just that since early 2020. The effort to follow that tack continued until at least June 2022. At that point, it seemed apparent that the former president had no intention of returning the requested material. In Trump’s divergent approach to responding, he asked a lawyer to tell Archives that all the material had been returned. The attorney, believing this not to be the case declined to make that assertion. Pretty much simultaneously, in other spaces, Trump just audaciously claimed the documents were his. At other times, he argued he had declassified the material…which he said he could do with his mind…simply by thinking about it. And Republicans claim Biden is operating at diminished capacity.
Dean Obeidallah, in an opinion piece, which appeared at cnn.com Monday, argued, “If the GOP wins control of the House of Representatives this November, it will become the “protect Donald Trump from prosecution” caucus. That’s the message we’ve been hearing with increasing frequency from Trump-loving Republicans since August 8, when FBI agents searched the former President’s Mar-a-Lago residence.”
Many in the GOP were incensed by the search. There were immediate calls to “defund the FBI” by some highly vocal GOP lawmakers such as Reps. Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar. Republican candidates for Congress from North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and elsewhere echoed that call – all part of an effort to stop the investigation of Trump.
You probably don’t need to be reminded; this is the same GOP that slammed Democrats for using the term “defund the police” after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. But when it comes to the defense of Trump, hypocrisy doesn’t matter. In fact, it’s likely the order of the day.
Last Thursday – with little media fanfare – the official Twitter account for GOP members of the House Judiciary Committeetook matters a step further: During a floor debate on a measure to provide additional funding to the Department of Justice, the accounttweeted: “Why would anyone support a bill that gives $140 MILLION to the same Department of Justice that raided President Trump’s home?”
We have gone from some Republicans wanting to defund the FBI to lawmakers seeking to withhold funding to the DOJ, all seemingly to protect their beloved leader.
Republicans have no qualms playing hardball to defund something they don’t approve of. For example, in 2013, Republicans so desperately wanted to defund the Affordable Care Act – President Barack Obama’s landmark health care bill – that they caused a 16-day partial government shutdown.
I have heard for some time that “GOP lawmakers are preparing a buffet of investigations” aimed at the FBI and Democratic members of congress, in response to its investigation of Trump. Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, a member of the Judiciary Committee, told Politico that “we ought to do a deep dive into ensuring that the FBI is focused on organized crime, combating crime, and not witch-hunting Americans.”
“Witch-hunting,” of course, is a reference to any investigation into the GOP’s beloved leader Trump.
A CBS poll released September 25found that 65% of Republicans respondents said that “loyalty” to Trump is “important.” GOP leaders get that, and as a result, they must defend Trump at all costs – including possibly hampering an investigation into Trump’s possible crimes.
Moreover, certain Republican lawmakers are talking about impeaching President Joe Biden if they regain control of the House. On September 25,speaking about the likelihood of impeaching Biden if the GOP regains control of the House, Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” “I believe there’s pressure on the Republicans to put that forward and have that vote.”
GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz joined the impeachment chorus last week while appearing on a podcast hosted by Steve Bannon, the former Trump adviser who was recently indicted in New York on money laundering and other fraud-related charges. Bannon pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Gaetz said that impeaching and investigating Biden would be high on the agenda of a GOP-led House.
“If we don’t engage in impeachment inquiries to get the documents and the testimony and the information we need, then I believe that our voters will feel betrayed and that likely, that could be the biggest win the Democrats could hope for in 2024, when it really matters to investigate them and to hold them accountable,” Gaetz said.
The Florida Republican added that if his party takes control of the chamber “bill-making” would be “a far, far diminished priority.”
From Republicans enacting laws barring women from controlling their own bodies to GOP bans on books to the cruelty of how certain GOP governors have treated Latino immigrants seeking a better life, the election will give voters the opportunity to accept or reject such extreme policies. And now, we have another issue to add to the mix: the GOP’s threats to defund or hamstring law enforcement if it pursues Trump.
Anyone who believes that Trump is above the law should obviously vote Republican in November. But for countless Americans who believe that all of us – including the rich and politically connected like Trump – should all be treated equally under the law, the choice is equally clear. “(Protect) Trump or Bust: The GOP Agenda!”
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With visions of Josh (Haulin’-Azz) Hawley sprinting through the Capitol, I imagined General Paxton feinting and stutter stepping away from the steely-eyed process server, just trying to do his job. Oh yeah, that’s Attorney General (AG), not a military General. I’m not sure whether that makes the image better or worse. On the one hand, it was not an actual American serviceman, designated as a leader of men (and women) resorting to this pusillanimous tactic. On the other hand, the guy is the highest-ranking legal officer in the great state of Texas; the land where they say everything is big. I’m not sure what that makes Paxton. The Big Chicken?
Oh wait; I have led with the middle of the story. ICYMI, Mr. Paxton is at or near the center of a controversy in Texas about abortion access. He was subpoenaed as part of a lawsuit filed last month by several abortion rights groups, seeking to block Texas officials from bringing cases under Texas’ abortion bans for conduct that happened out of state before Roe v. Wade was overturned.
The affidavit says two subpoenas were issued for Paxton, one under his professional title as attorney general, and another addressed to him individually.
Day before yesterday, Ernesto Martin Herrera served the subpoenas to Paxton at his home, according to the affidavit. Mr. Herrera knocked on the front door and a woman opened it. He indicated he was there to give Mr. Paxton important legal documents. She said Paxton was on the phone and was in a hurry to leave. Herrera left his card and returned to his car.
About an hour later, a car drove into the home’s garage and Paxton exited the vehicle.
“I walked up the driveway approaching Mr. Paxton and called him by his name. As soon as he saw me and heard me call his name out, he turned around and RAN back inside his house through the same door in the garage.”
Later, according to the affidavit, his wife, State Senator Angela Paxton, started the truck. Several minutes later Ken Paxton ran out the door and into the car, trying to avoid Herrera. Mr. Herrera says he again yelled Paxton’s name, saying he had legal documents, but Paxton continued toward the truck.
When Herrera determined Paxton was not going to take the subpoenas from his hand, the affidavit says he yelled to Paxton that he was serving him with legal documents and left them on the ground.
Paxton left in the truck and left the documents on the ground; Herrera said in the affidavit.
AG Paxton responded to the allegation via tweets, saying he is being attacked for trying to “Avoid a stranger lingering outside my home.”
“This is a ridiculous waste of time and the media should be ashamed of themselves.”
“All across the country, conservatives have faced threats to their safety – many threats that received scant coverage or condemnation from the mainstream media.”
“It’s clear that the media wants to drum up another controversy involving my work as Attorney General, so they’re attacking me for having the audacity to avoid a stranger lingering outside my home and showing concern about the safety and well-being of my family.”
Was audacity really the right choice of words there? I digress!
Yesterday, Judge Robert Pitman ruled that Paxton does not have to appear at a hearing related to the abortion access lawsuit after an affidavit alleged that he ran away twice from a person who was serving him with a subpoena related to the lawsuit. Pitman also granted Paxton’s emergency motion to seal the documents.
The Judge said, “Plaintiff’s actions have caused a serious risk” for Paxton because the process server was “unidentified” and “loitered” at the Attorney General’s home for over an hour, repeatedly shouted at him, and accosted both the Attorney General and his wife, a Senator in the Texas legislature. He feared for his safety and refused to engage with the strange man who was lurking outside of his home and repeatedly shouting at him.”
So, what’s the moral of this story? It is indeed good to have friends in high places…even when high places are your stomping grounds! Looking at this incident in retrospect, Herrera is lucky Paxton didn’t default to Stand your ground. “When Fact Is Stranger Than Fiction: You Can’t Make Up This Stuff!”
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There’s an argument to be made that second and third hand news is not news at all, just rumor and conjecture. The thing is that’s how news is typically conveyed. After all, when was the last you were at the front line of a war zone, or in a room with the Royals, or at the table when OPEC decided how much to charge for a barrel of oil? That’s right, when you get down to it, what passes for news is handed down by someone, verbally, or in writing, who got it from someone else, almost all the time.
In these ideologically divided and fraught times, often, the version of the news you choose to embrace depends upon the source, and which way you lean politically. How else does one explain after watching a guy flout convention and norms for the last seven years, nearly as many Americans who don’t trust him, are ready to pledge their support and vote for him to be President of the country? Again!
With that preamble, I want to take a few minutes to explore, for your edification, one of the latest episodes of “What Will He Do Next?
Perhaps you know D. Trump sought and was granted a special master to review the documents the FBI seized when they searched Mar-a-Lago. Judge Aileen Cannon, a Florida US District Judge, appointed by D. Trump, not only agreed to accede to the Trump request, but with DOJ sign-off, assigned a judge approved by Trump, to serve in the capacity of Special Master.
Judge Dearie is a seasoned and widely respected jurist. He showed skepticism of Trump’s arguments about how the review should proceed, while stressing a desire to move quickly. His appointment order – issued by Judge Cannon – said he must finish his review by the end of November.
Judge Cannon ordered the third-party review, in response to a Trump lawsuit claiming that the review was necessary to filter out materials covered by attorney client privilege, as well personal items that do not belong in the hands of the investigators. It should be noted that lawsuit may have the ultimate effect of running out the clock, as Republicans expect to wrest control of the House of Representatives in the upcoming midterm elections. If that happens as anticipated, a GOP led House will not only quash the current January 6 Hearings, but will likely initiate numerous hearings on Democrats, and possibly launch impeachment hearings against President Biden because, well because Democrats impeached Trump, and if they control the House…they can. But I digress.
As Judge Dearie starts sifting through the approximately 11,000 documents seized at Mar-a-Lago, the DOJ has asked an appeals court to revive its criminal investigation into the materials marked as classified, as Judge Cannon blocked investigators from using the seized materials during the special master review.
Here are a few takeaways from yesterday’s hearing in front of Judge Dearie:
Judge Dearie puts Trump on notice that he will need to put up or shut up on declassification
Judge Dearie indicated that he would not have much patience for Trump trying to muddy the waters around the classification status of documents marked as classified, especially if he opts not to produce evidence supporting the claims the records should not be treated as classified.
“If the government gives me prima facia evidence that these are classified documents, and you, for whatever reason, decide not to advance any claim of declassification, I’m left with a prima facia case of classified documents, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s the end of it,” Dearie told Trump’s lawyers at the hearing.
Jim Trusty, a Trump attorney, said they were not able to fully disclose their defense until they could see the documents.
Judge Dearie, who acknowledged there was political strategy at play, also added there was the practical issue of what recommendations he would need to make to Judge Cannon. He added, “My view of it is you can’t have your cake and eat it.”
Judge Dearie emphasizes need for speed, putting any Trump delay tactics in jeopardy
Judge Dearie referenced his November 30 deadline, already after the aforementioned midterms, as he made clear that the review was going to need to move quickly.
“I’m not going to hurry, but we have a lot to do and a relatively short period of time,” he said.
He made that comment after the Trump team had sought, in their letter Monday, to push back some of the interim deadlines proposed in a draft plan circulated among the parties. Specifically, Trump’s attorneys objected to a proposed October 7 deadline for them to inspect and categorize the materials Judge Dearie has been tapped to review.
During the hearing, Trusty denied they were seeking to revise the schedule as a delay tactic. (Wink, wink.)
“It’s not to be in favor of delay, we want resolution on these things, too.”
Not surprisingly, Dearie did not seem to buy their arguments on the timeline.
There was tension over whether Trump or the judge should even see the sensitive materials
Judge Dearie stressed that he took seriously the need to protect government secrets, noting the “very strong obligation” that the government must ensure that highly sensitive information does not get out.
He remarked that if he can make his recommendation to Cannon about certain classified documents without exposing himself or Trump’s lawyers to the material, he would do so.
“It’s a matter of need to know.” Judge Dearie said, referring to the standard in court cases that is used to determine when even those with a security clearance can view classified materials.
Justice Department attorney, Julie Edelstein, noted that some of the department’s own investigators don’t yet have the special clearances they need to view the particularly sensitive documents.
Trump’s team pushed back on the idea that they could be barred from looking at some of the sensitive materials. Trusty said that it is “kind of astounding to hear the government say that the (former) President’s lawyers don’t have a need to know.”
Judge Dearie brings a serious and focused approach to the job
From the moment he stepped into the courtroom, there were signals that Judge Dearie was viewing the job seriously and had thought through the task at hand.
He took the bench wearing a dark navy pinstripe suit; in the role, he is not serving as a judge, but as an adviser to the district court in Florida.
At the outset, Judge Dearie cut directly to the chase, not belaboring any points.
“I am going to do the best I can with the time available to us.”
He also indicated he saw his role as limited, as he stressed that he would follow closely the instructions from the judge in Florida who appointed him. He told the parties he was tasked with making a “discrete” number of legal judgments.
DOJ hints it may go to SCOTUS if it needs to
While the planning around the special master review is playing out, the Justice Department has also asked the 11th Circuit to intervene in the dispute, and on Tuesday, the government’s attorneys signaled they’d turn to the Supreme Court if need be. Of course, it’s entirely possible Trump’s interests may hold sway there.
The Justice Department is asking for the appeals court to lift the hold Judge Cannon placed blocking the use of the materials marked as classified in the Justice Department’s criminal probe. The DOJ is also asking that those documents be excluded from the special master review.
If the 11th Circuit rules against the DOJ, Edelstein suggested, it would “most likely consider other appellate options at that point,” raising the possibility the Justice Department could ask the Supreme Court to intervene.
Much still unsettled about the next steps
The hearing ended with much still undetermined regarding the timing of the review’s next steps.
Judge Dearie gave Trump’s lawyers until Friday to say which vendor, among the options put forward by the Justice Department, should be used for scanning and hosting copies of the records for the parties to access through the review. The rest of the timeline has yet to be set.
After the documents are scanned and made available to the parties, the next step would be for the documents to be logged according to the four categories set out by Judge Cannon, with any disagreements between the parties about how records should be logged then brought to Judge Dearie for his take. From there, Judge Dearie will make recommendations to Judge Cannon for how those disagreements should be resolved.
The four categories Judge Cannon has laid out are personal documents that are claimed as privileged, personal documents that are not privileged, presidential records that are claimed as privileged, and presidential records that are claimed as not privileged.
If one thing is clear from the early going, it is that in picking Judge Dearie, Team Trump may not have secured the lackey they’d hoped would ease their task. It’s still early, but so far, it appears Judge Dearie is playing it straight. “Order In The Court: Special Master Style!”
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This post appeared originally in this space on September 7, 2011, commemorating the 10th Anniversary of Nine-Eleven.. It was re-purposed and presented September 11, 2013, September 13, 2017, September 12, 2018, September 11, 2019, September 8, 2021 (20th Anniversary), and again today, September 14, 2022.
As I re-post this vintage edition of “Break It Down,” today is three days after the Twenty-first Anniversary of Nine-Eleven. I am ever mindful that it’s both, a day America will never forget, and a day that forever changed America’s worldview. In the span of 81 minutes in one late summer’s morning, in the second year of the new millennium, 19 Saudis grabbed America by its collective gonads, and squeezed. Unimaginably hard. We blinked. We gathered ourselves, but regrouping was a process. We fundamentally changed the way we meet and greet the world. We are more guarded, and security has a whole new meaning. We even invented an entirely new federal governmental agency (Homeland Security) to guard our public security, and monitor anti-terrorism, border security, immigration and customs, cyber security, and disaster prevention and management.
(From the Archives, September 7, 2011)
Do you remember where you were, Tuesday, September 11, 2001? This week we observed the 21th Anniversary of the day that has come to be known simply as, Nine-Eleven (9/11). That day 21 years ago, America lost, in one fell swoop, any notion of its blissful innocence, its long-standing appearance of invulnerability, and its deeply ingrained sense of security. By some accounts, what it retained is its self-righteous (some would say) belief in American Exceptionalismandentitlement; but that is a conversation for another post.
Suddenly we were at war, and the fight had uncharacteristically come to us, straightway. This battle was personal, and it was on our home turf; no longer some shadowy ideological military exercise, or guerrilla warfare episode, played out on foreign soil, half a world away.
U.S. House of RepresentativesJoint Resolution 71 was introduced with 22 co-sponsors (11 Republicans and 11 Democrats) and approved by a vote of 407-0 on October 25, 2001 (with 25 members not voting). The bill passed unanimously in the Senate on November 30, 2001. The Resolution requested that the President designate September 11th each year as Patriot Day. President George W. Bush signed the Resolution into law December 18, 2001 (as Public Law 107-89).
On this day, the President directs that the American flag be flown at half-staff at individual American homes, at the White House, and on all U.S. government buildings and establishments, home and abroad. This year President Biden, as President Trump and President Obama did before him, deemed the day one of National Remembrance and Service.
Even after 21 years; more than two decades worth of context building, and development of perspective, the numbers behind Nine-Eleven are chilling. Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives, and thousands of others were injured, and many more sustained post-event traumas. Examples of the carnage include:
2,977 Victims killed (not including the 19 hijackers)
2,606 Killed at the World Trade Center Towers
87 Killed on American Flight/NYC World Trade Center North Tower
60 Killed on United Flight 175/NYC World Trade Center South Tower
A Medical Examiner will continue to try to identify remains in the hope new technology will lead to the identification of other victims. The death and destruction of Nine-Eleven led to the so-called Global War on Terror. Mostly the front lines have been in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, a central intent of the action has been to prevent a recurrence of Nine-Eleven-like events on U.S. soil.
The initial thrust began October 7, 2001 when the U.S., British, and Coalition forces invaded Afghanistan, and in March 2002, when the U.S. and Coalition forces launched Operation Anaconda and the Taliban suffered significant losses, and left the region. In the interim, involvement in the region has ebbed and flowed, but the war, which the Obama Administration referred to as Overseas Contingency Operation, continues. The War in Afghanistan is officially the longest war in American History. We have for some time been in the “every day is a new record” era.
U.S. Intelligence sources pointed to Al-Qaeda as the probable instigator behind Nine-Eleven. It’s leader, Osama bin Laden initially denied involvement. Over time, bin Laden became more emboldened, first conceding involvement, and ultimately admitting that he was instrumental in masterminding the horrific attacks. During his Presidential Campaign, Mr. Obama declared he would not relent in the hunt for Osama. The elusive terrorist was thought to be hiding in Pakistan. Mr. Obama stated bluntly that if reliable intelligence pinpointed bin Laden, he would deploy U.S. forces to find and kill him, which he did on May 2, 2011.
The good news is, over the course of the past twenty-one years, there have been no repeat Nine-Eleven scale events on U.S. soil. That result is partly due to fastidiously focusing on prevention efforts, partly a result of fortuitous failures of would-be terrorists, and partly a function of the fateful intervention of alert by-standers. Last year, President Trump negotiated an agreement to end America’s longest (20 years) war by May of 2021. President Biden, who succeeded Mr. Trump, committed to honor the agreement. Ultimately, he pulled American troops out of Afghanistan by August 31st. a pledge he ultimately honored, despite numerous suggestions, for a variety of reasons, that he abandon it.
As we place the commemoration of Patriot Day 2021 in the rearview mirror, and twenty-one years of Nine-Eleven related memories with it, Americans are still advised to be on high alert for potential incursions by terrorists, most likely of the lone wolf variety, where one person acts in solo fashion. So here we are, “Nine-Eleven: Forever Etched Upon The American Psyche!”I trust you had a productive Day of Remembrance and Service.
To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right-hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.”Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.
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This post appeared originally in this space on August 31, 2011. It was re-purposed and presented again September 3, 2014, September 7, 2016, September 6, 2017, September 5, 2018, September 4, 2019, September 9, 2020, and once again today, September 7, 2022).
As you know, Monday was Labor Day. As with most holidays, I knock it down a few notches so readers can enjoy their time off, and ease into a vintage post, if they so choose. At its core, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Labor Day in the United States was designed to commemorate the creation of the labor movement; dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. The holiday focuses on contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
First observed in September 1882, the event has always been observed on the first Monday of the month of September. Initiated by the Central Labor Union of New York, the celebration became a federal holiday in 1894.
In addition to its formal structure and purpose, Labor Day has several symbolic associations. It is considered:
The unofficial “End of Summer”
The last 3-Day warm weather weekend for vacationers
By High Society standards, the last day for which it is appropriate for women to wear white
The conventional kick-off of the hard-core political campaign season
Back–to-School shopping
Labor Day also validates and recognizes an often-controversial mechanism that frequently divides American opinion: labor unions.
Scorned by many who fancy themselves as Free EnterpriseCapitalists, unions and their members have not only been actively involved historically, in debates that framed public policy for American workers, they have won or forced hard-earned concessions that in the shimmering glow of reflective perspective, must be considered to have fundamentally altered the playing field (known as the workplace), including:
Pensions
Health Care Benefits
Paid Vacations
Equal Pay to women
The Development of Child Labor Laws
The 5-Day Work Week
The 40-Hour Work Week
The8-Hour Workday
Worker’s Compensation benefits
Female Flight Attendants permitted to marry
These and many other important cherished and beneficial employee rights are attributable to the efforts of the American Labor Movement. However, this post is not an ode to Labor Unions. For all their well-deserved accolades, unions also have downside effects. They can create or contribute to:
The potential for strikes
Additional costs to all employees (membership dues; whether a member or not)
Loss of individuality (ability to represent oneself in a grievance)
Burdensome salary demands (relative to the market)
Loss of profits (and/or pay) due to strike
Inefficient & ineffective contracts
Increased unemployment due to failure to reach agreement w/management
The first Labor Day celebration was led by a Labor Union. The history of the Day has been linked, inextricably, with Labor organizations, ever since. But it is the American Worker the Day was intended to commemorate.
Meanwhile, contemplate, “Labor Day: It’s All About The Workers Redux ’22!” While we’ve got plenty of issues to temper our enthusiasm, we should still celebrate America’s Labor Movement, and the phenomenal workers it represents.
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On Sunday night, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham claimed there would be, “riots in the street” if Donald Trump were to be prosecuted for improperly handling classified documents, an imbroglio which has already led to an FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago estate. Graham joined what has become a cacophony of prominent GOP voices defending the former President, despite mounting evidence to support investigating Trump and his associates.
The search, which numerous outlets have referred to as a raid, was preceded, not only by a duly authorized warrant, approved by a Trump appointed Judge, but also carried out by the FBI, an agency still led by a Trump appointee, and executed under the watchful eyes of Trump’s very own Secret Service detail. In other words, it was far from a raid. The agents did not, as has been frequently alleged, arrive at 6:30 in the morning, or knock down the door. They arrived at 9 or 10 a.m., were escorted through the property, and left an itemized list of the materials they retrieved while searching the property.
The trending theory of the case, proffered by Trump supporters is, this is all just another highly politicized effort to take down their beloved icon…who never did anything but sacrifice himself and no small portion of his inestimable (if you ask him) fortune, to MAGA. Interestingly this most recent drama was led by the FBI.
A word about the FBI:
First, let’s put that into context. FBI is synonymous with GOP. It was created in 1924. In the 98 years of its existence, every director, every single on, bar none, which means including the current holder of the Title, has been a Republican. That this agency is even purported to be the tip of the spear for some premeditated take down of the former Republican President, is the height of a cynical flight of fancy. Pure poppycock!
Second and alternately, what it does sound and feel like is, an all hands on deck effort to save a sinking ship; ironically, a ship that sailed, nearly two years ago. Trump and a few of his most loyal supporters have been attempting to re-run the 2020 Election, and to orchestrate a different outcome. An outcome in which, of course, he wins.
Few things are sadder to watch than a former elected official, who refuses to give it up, after he has clearly lost it. Trump lost the 2020 Election in the People’s Court (aka the voting booth), and in the law of the land’s courts. He lost elections in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. To add injury to insult, he lost court battles in, or had cases denied, dismissed, dropped, or rejected in all those states, plus in ruby red Texas. The decision wasn’t close. He lost, or had cases denied, dismissed, dropped, or rejected in more instances than there are states. His team prevailed in only twice out of more than 60 cases.
I have no idea whether the Senior Senator from South Carolina was correct in his assessment. No matter, he made the call. At this point, all that remains to be seen is whether Trump is above the law, or…”In These Streets: Riots!”
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BREAK IT DOWN! 