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
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.
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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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Before launching into the post, it’s certainly appropriate to contextualize my original blog within the parameters of our contemporary timeframe. To do that, I note that post was about a young lion, Barack Obama, coming into what would become his era. Two years ago, the Democratic Party, via virtual Convention, officially installed Joe Biden as its nominee. Whereas Obama was one of the youngest to ever carry the banner, Biden is the oldest. That bit of history/trivia was augmented by his selection of Kamala Harris as his running mate. She was the fourth woman to be part of a Presidential Ticket, the third as a VP Candidate, and the first woman of color. Biden had two previous unsuccessful runs. His 2020 effort determined that he was able to register the third time as the charm, while Senator Harris broke the proverbial glass ceiling for women on a ticket.
By contrast, the GOP conducted its Convention, part virtual, part in person, part in Charlotte, and part at the White House. The virtual aspects of the Conventions were necessitated due to COVID-19. Donald Trump, of course, was the Party’s nominee, as expected (at least by me) he retained Mike Pence, his first term VP, as his running mate. I mention it in passing, because there was speculation in some corners that Trump would replace Pence, perhaps with a woman. While Trump and his loyalists like to brand him as an anti-establishmentarian, the thought that he’d engage in such a high risk, low reward gambit struck me as unlikely. If there were any present-day pol that was unlikely to elevate a woman to his second-in-command, the name Donald Trump leapt out at me. Maybe next time. Enough about the conventions.
Tempus fugit (Time Flies)! Saturday marked a significant milestone in the life and development of “Break It Down!” I initiated this blog August 20, 2007, on a lark…almost a dare. That was fifteen years (and 782 editions) ago. Having related the story several times over the past several years, I will not repeat the complete details today.
I will note, however, that on that summer’s eve, I contemplated and discussed, in five paragraphs, the experience, or in reality the lack thereof, of then Senator Barack Obama, as he navigated the early stages of his historic Presidential Campaign.
So, this was the message in Post #1; five brisk paragraphs and a sign-off:
In an apparent calculated act of derring-do, Obama declares the virtue of inexperience. Gotta love it!
Personal footnote of recollection: I recall Jimmy Carter running the classic “anti-Washington” (i.e., lack of Capitol Hill experience) campaign in ’75-76. You know what, it worked.
The problem was, once JC sent all the reigning bureaucrats & policy wonks home, he was left with an assembly of newbies who didn’t understand how to get things done in DC. The result was that a very smart guy, genuine humanitarian, and erstwhile successful leader presided over what was widely perceived as a disastrous presidency. President Carter’s solitary term was fraught with innumerable policy failures (see the Shah of Iran, double-digit inflation, runaway gas prices, & the outrageous Interest/Mortgage rate morass) and public relations gaffes (remember the killer rabbit, and the failed helicopter gambit).
Fortunately for him he was able to live long enough and subsequently do enough good deeds to distance himself from most of an unremarkable tenure as a one-term president, followed by a resounding defeat by that cowboy actor Teflon guy.
Of course, none of that has anything to do with Obama…except in the unlikely event he prevails. If he does, let’s hope he doesn’t take that inexperience thing too far. As W constantly reminds us, getting to the White House is one thing (after all, he’s done it twice), providing prudent and effective leadership once there is quite another.
’06!
Posted on Mon, Aug. 20, 2007
As I wrap this up in 2022, it is with a completely different appreciation for what an inexperienced Barack Obama brought to his job, vis-à-vis what an even more politically inexperienced Donald Trump brought to the job for eight years later. Mr. Obama inherited a fragile country with a downward spiraling economy, a nearly double-digit employment rate, and a foreboding 700,000+ job losses per month. By the time he left 8 years later, the unemployment rate had been halved, to less than 5%, the country enjoyed the longest period of consecutive job gains, 75 months, in history, over 11 million jobs had been added, including 1.2 million in his last 6 months in office, while the Dow Jones rose from a slumping 7,949 when he took office to 19, 887 when he exited. No President controls every single lever that triggers all that happens during his (it has been all men so far) tenure. When things go south, POTUS occupies the space where the proverbial buck stops. Conversely, when things trend rosy, the occupant at 1600 PA Ave. gets a fair amount of the accrued shine.
In that light, Mr. Trump entered office in a much different environment, benefiting from what can rightfully be called the Obama Recovery. Let’s be clear. There remains work to be done. But anyone who suggests that Obama didn’t bequeath more and better than he inherited is full of bovine excrement. Full stop!
With that said, in the salad days of the Trump Administration, he surely delighted his base. At least the ones with whom I have spoken believe he’s the cat’s meow, and they say (whether they believe it or not) he did exactly what they hoped for when they voted for him. I would suggest that anyone who didn’t vote for, or support him, or who is undecided about supporting him, should let that sink in for a moment or two, or twenty.
Team Trump contended Democrats, liberals, the Main-Stream Media, and some nebulous ill-defined entity referred to as the deep state, were solely responsible for all that stymied or delayed even potential successes by the Trump Administration. So, healthcare, travel ban (or whatever appellation one cares to affix to it), Transgender Military Policy, Charlottesville Messaging, the Obama wiretapping claim, the Flynn firing, the Comey firing, the Spicer firing, the Priebus firing, the Scaramucci firing, the Bannon firing, and oh by the way dare I say, his tweets…Can we really blame all that on the Party that held a minority in both Houses for two years, and that held only one House of Congress for the latter two years, or on a media that has no votes, and presumably no say in who Trump hires in the first place, or fires for that matter, or on the deep state, wherever the Sam Hill that is located?
It took four years, two impeachments, the country’s most successful election (by the numbers), and an attempted coup, but Joseph Robinette Biden unseated Donald John Trump. He inherited a global pandemic, a crippled economy, a near 20-year war, and a country more polarized than it’s been in decades. The transition has created a space to exhale, even though the Big Lie still echoes in many corners of our country. Freedom won on November 3, 2020. In fact, I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the on-going national catastrophe that began January 6, 2020, and still ravages our national psyche. As we continue to see the fruits of a continuously unfurling fact pattern, Trump supporters are increasingly forced to resort to evermore creative renditions of what happened that day. As I like to say, “slowly, surely, inexorably, it’s coming into focus. I don’t know whether it will matter…but we will come to know the fine details of what happened; and why.
Meanwhile, with an evenly divided Senate, if one charitably views Senators Manchin and Sinema as Democrats, and a slim advantage in the people’s House, President Biden’s first two years netted low unemployment, high job numbers support for Ukraine, SCOTUS’s first Black female Justice, the American Rescue Plan, a new gun law, the Inflation Reduction Act, an infrastructure law, renewed support for NATO, a veterans act, 70+ days in a row of falling gas prices (and yes, they were too high to begin with, but that is a global phenomenon), and the elimination of Al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri. It’s not perfect, but two months ago, there was probably not a Democrat or Republican operative who’d have believed you, were you to assert that Biden and the Dems would be able to check off that litany of items before the midterms.
With that I mind, I am inclined to look back on the first time I wrote, “Obama Plays the Experience Card,” and conclude that we (who should be a grateful nation) were very well served by that guy from Honolulu. So today, my emphasis is…“Obama Plays the Inexperience Card Redux ’22!
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In seems like it was just yesterday when every conservative, and every rightwing outlet was at once mocking the left, and disparaging anyone connected with, and certainly anyone who ever uttered the phrase, “Defund the police.” No matter how nuanced the explanation, and no matter how well-researched and thoughtfully articulated the distinction between the words and the actual meaning of the phrase, Democrats of all stripes were affixed with the neck anchor of leaving streets all over America bereft of those designated to protect and serve; the men (and women) in blue. America’s finest, if you will.
Well, glory be, the worm has turned. Over the last 10 days the right appears to have lost its ever-loving mind. From right wing news outlets to the Halls of Congress, the conservative community, at least those tethered to Donald Trump have taken to pretty much any available forum and are calling not only for defunding the FBI, but for the assassination of the Attorney General, and any FBI Agent associated with the August 8, search of Mar-a-Lago, also known as Donald Trump’s, very fine home.
It’s almost as if Mr. Trump’s coterie of supporters and sycophants have elevated him above the law and the land. When Kathy Griffin joked about decapitating Trump (imagine a comedian making a joke, even one in poor taste), his supporters moved apace to obliterate her career. She’s barely been heard from since. Yet, when Trump’s handpicked FBI Director dared execute a legal warrant, complete with probable cause (try to envision the burden of proof necessary to obtain a warrant to search the premises of a dude who used to be POTUS), the virtual mob wanted him, and anyone carrying out the search, killed. I can almost see the Mike Pence’s head nodding in recognition of the fix in which Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray, find themselves. Thinking about it in retrospect, the outlandish and chaotic events of January 6 do seem aligned with the murderous civil war that so many Trump acolytes are openly calling for, giving voice and lending support.
And lest anyone be inclined to take lightly this call to arms, just three days after the search, on Thursday, an armed man tried to breach the FBI’s Cincinnati field office. The suspect, Ricky Shiffer, had an AR-15, a nail gun, and was clad in body armor. A social media account, bearing his name referenced an attempt to storm an FBI office that day, and also called for violence against the agency. After a standoff that lasted hours, Shiffer was shot and killed.
I’m not going to detail a running list of Shiffer’s social media commentary, some of which ran concurrent to his episodic adventure with the FBI. I will, however, cite one example.
Ricky Shiffer
@rickyshifferjr
“Well, I thought I had a way through bullet proof glass, and I didn’t. If you don’t hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I., and it’ll mean either I was taken off the internet, the F.B.I. got me, or they sent the regular cops while”
Aug 11, 2022, 06:29
The message trailed off. It’s likely Mr. Shiffer became otherwise occupied.
To conclude my citation of the social media screed, these three posts appeared on a Pro-Trump Forum:
“Lock and load.”
“Kill all feds.”
“I’m just going to say it. Garland needs to be assassinated. Simple as that.”
It appears, this is where we are. Trump partisans have self-righteously drawn a line in the sand. “Back The Blue…Defund the FBI!”
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I am impelled to write about this. There are no citations, no source materials, just my opinion. It’s straight forward; there is really, not a lot to say.
Over the past 48 hours, much discourse has ensued regarding Monday’s FBI search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. I have noticed numerous outlets, especially those that tilt conservative, characterize the encounter using terms such as raid, or siege. These terms carry a negative connotation, and are rightfully, understandably, received as trigger words.
Some non-conservative outlets have also used the term raid in connection with the FBI’s search. From my vantage point, there is one simple, but huge problem with that characterization. Let’s begin by defining raid.
Raid (Merriam-Webster)
(Noun):
A hostile or predatory incursion
A surprise attack by a small force
A brief foray outside one’s usual sphere
A sudden invasion by officers of the law
A daring operation against a competitor
The recruiting of personnel from competing organizations
The act of mulcting public money
An attempt by professional operators to depress stock prices by concerted selling
(Verb)
To conduct or take part in a raid
To make a raid on
When Trump, who was the first to share the news of the FBI’s visit and search, announced it, he engaged in rhetorical escalation, claiming his estate was under siege, when he declared, “My beautiful home, Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents.” He added, for effect, I’m sure, “They even broke into my safe.”
For further elucidation, let’s also define siege.
Siege (Oxford Languages)
(Noun):
“A military operation in which enemy forces surround a town or building, cutting off essential supplies, with the aim of compelling the surrender of those inside.”
“An operation in which police or other forces surround a building and cut off supplies, with the aim of forcing an armed person to surrender.”
“A prolonged period of misfortune.”
What it was. The FBI obtained a search warrant authorizing it to secure presidential records and or any classified material. In January, the National Archives and Records Administration retrieved 15 boxes documents and other items that Archives officials said should have been turned over when Trump left the White House. While archivists continued to seek additional records, his advisers indicated Trump resisted relinquishing the materials for months.
One person who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity, said agents were conducting a court-authorized search as part of a long-running investigation of whether documents — some of them top-secret – were taken to Mar-a-Lago. That could be a violation of the Presidential Records Act, which requires the preservation of memos, letters, notes, emails, faxes, and other written communications related to a president’s official duties.
By all accounts, the visit did not entail, as one conservative commentator maintained, “kicking the doors in.” The agents knocked, were admitted into the estate, and upon the authority granted them by the warrant, performed their investigation. The encounter was said to last roughly from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. There were no reports, unlike January 6, of anyone being gored, shot, or killed, or of the premises having been ransacked. “Definition Of A Raid/Siege: This Was Not That!”
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BREAK IT DOWN! 