Republicans often use titles that confuse or just plain lie about issues or organizations to make themselves look better. I never call anti-abortion groups "pro-life" groups just because they chose that name. It's totally misleading for several reasons. And we all know, as Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out tonight, that Fox News is not a real news network, so he doesn't use the word "News" when he refers to that network. Why use their titles and help them market a lie to the public on behalf of insurrectionists?
I think Representative Daniel Goldman announced a much better title for McCarthy's "Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government." It's easier to say and much more accurate. Representative Goldman calls it "The Republican Committee to Obstruct Justice."
Curiously, Weisselberg remains an employee of the Trump Organization and will be on “paid leave” while serving a prison sentence for defrauding the Trump Organization.
Of course. Mafia guys go on "paid leave" when they go to prison for the organization and the boss, and they keep their secrets.
I am not going to stay awake at night worrying about the GQP’s alleged investigations but I am as upset as you are at Garland. It baffles me that he and the people in the DOJ are more concerned about their optics rather than the atrocious crimes committed by members of Congress. This is a race between the turtle and rabbit but I won’t give credence to the turtle. I will, however, give it to the snail that tripped the turtle up in trying to get to the finish line. Brazil acted quickly and succinctly. The US did not. Honestly, we have too many lawyers, too many laws. How about the law of “One and Done”?
Your negative tone reflects, what I suspect, most of us are feeling. The progress we've made in the past two years feels like it's being wiped out as we watch. It's exhausting, but we just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other, doing whatever we can to fight back. I can't help the feeling that it's a losing battle, but I also have to believe that we will be successful.
I constantly hear from my fellow left-of-center friends who despair of ever seeing Trump in the docket. My attempts to assure them that the wheels of justice ARE grinding, however slowly, elicit reactions ranging from doubt to derision. But tonight Robert Hubbell places these attenuated investigations in a proper context, giving me hope that at least ONE of these will lead to an indictment. He raises an interesting point--that the reluctance of Atty. Gen. Garland to prosecute may reflect his fear of the inevitability of just one Trumpist juror leading to a hung jury. I hope this isn't the case, as bringing Trump before the bar is I think the crucial event. Should a jury fail to convict due to one or two holdouts practicing jury nullification, so be it. Trump has proclaimed his "exoneration" in his impeachment trials because "only" 57 US Senators thought him guilty, and he may well try to spin the facts if "only" 10 or 11 jurors consider him guilty. But we--and the nation--know better, to say nothing of history. As for the stark comparison Robert makes between how the Brazilian political establishment deals with insurrection and our scattershot approach, I take a certain solace in our difficulty of having one political faction criminally pursue its predecessor. It should be difficult, indeed near impossible. The detritus left by Donald Trump is epic in scope; it is far more comforting to me than disturbing that our system makes retribution, however deserved, extremely difficult.
I do believe that Jack Smith will do his job rapidly and well. He knows how to prosecute dictators. He knows their wiley ways. He certainly has not been wasting any time. Maybe this will be the real Ground Hogs Day celebration!
I've given up on Merrick Garland. He has not been a prosecutor for over 24 years. He's been a judge and just seems to completely lack a sense of urgency. There is not much that is going to get done in the next two years.
However, If the extremists in the US House are going to waste our taxpayer dollars on sham investigations perhaps the Senate can conduct some legitimate investigations in the months ahead:
1. The Secret Service: the missing texts from January 6, staffing levels and quality of staffing and other concerns.
2. The IRS under the former director: Why weren't the former President's taxes audited for a number of years when he was in office. Why is it taking over 2 years for the IRS to process a late relative's estate tax return. Why wasn't my last estimated tax payment check (I never pay online to the IRS.) not cashed for 3 weeks!
3. Elon Musk. I've been off Twitter for almost two months. I really like Post.News. I've read and heard that Twitter has become a complete cesspool of far right hate, descriptions of disgusting things that I would not even write here, and threats of violence. The misogynist Andrew Tate has been arrested and held in Romania on charges of organized crime, human trafficking and rape. Yet he or someone in his crime syndicate are still posting on Twitter. I'm no lawyer, but isn't there something legally that can be done?
4. The Federal Election Commission (FEC): Are campaign finance reports even audited at all anymore. Who is in charge there? What are their qualifications? Shouldn't they get performance reviews at least annually?
5. Fake charities such as JD Vance's charity set up to combat the opiod epidemic. This charity was found by Business Insider to be a charade as his top political advisor was paid by the charity.
6. Fraud that was prevalent with the Paycheck Protection Program.
Jim Jordan ignored a J6 subpoena, yet now chairs Judiciary. Steve Bannon, still out on bail, is said to have advised Bolsonaro, likely providing him the insurrection blueprint. Yikes.
Okay, so I’m sleeping soundly, but waking very early, in the potential twilight of our democracy! If Trump and his co-conspirators are not indicted, I think the rule of law will be degraded, if not erased. Even if just one Trumpist hangs the jury, the facts will play out in an even more dramatic way than they did in the J6 sessions, and we the American people will see what really happened. And even the MAGA crowd will know in their little hearts that it was wrong.
You're pinning a lot of hope on Jack Smith. It's very understandable as no one else seems a better bet. But what I wish was that there were a few good republicans out there. A few who join George Conway in calling out the indefensible. Did you read that the current seditionists called in Sean Hannity for a love fest in the office building for the House? Have they no shame?
Rep. Andy Ogles, a freshman Congressman from Tennessee, said on CSPAN this morning that the somewhat heated conversation between him and McCarthy during the fight to elect a Speaker was the result of a text he received from the “donor class” urging him to switch his vote to McCarthy.
There you have it. A frank, casual admission by a member of Congress that monied interests, who have easy access to elected officials, are able to text them directly and demand they vote a certain way. How many of us have our Representatives cell phone number?
And stay focused on Hakeem Jefferies. His acceptance speech is outstanding...and it builds as it goes on. As Robert reminded us, Jefferies spoke without reading with clarity and force. McCarthy read his dull speech as if evenhe was not convinced..
I appreciate you drawing attention to the importance of accountability and consequences. It is also important that all understand the significance and importance of the accountability be relatively swift so that it is evident that it is directly connected to the events demanding accountability. It is also important that the consequences are proportional to the offences demanding accountability. We are already seeing that accountability for the events of January 6th are too long delayed and when delivered may not be proportional to the offences demanding consequences.
Accountability and consequences are what protect democracy and the Rule of Law. Accountability and consequences protect our institutions that protect us all as well as our rights, freedom, and liberty. The absence of accountability and consequences endanger us all and our future.
I am feeling so sad, so hopeless, so angry, so disappointed, so worried about the governance of our country; about accountability for political leaders’ crimes; about our future under the insidious hands of the group of twenty; about Trumpism that has seeped into all branches of government and social media; about Jim Jordan who as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee will be investigating the investigators; about Garland’s slowness in prosecutions, and now the news of finding
Classified Documents in Biden’s office. All of this and more weighs on me who is normally a very positive and can do person
As to Stern's op-ed about the one jurror: it infuriates me to point of wanting to do violence when prosecutors are more concerned about their win/loss percentage than they are about seeking justice. Too many women who've been sexually assaulted know that little dance. It's hurtful, it undermines faith in "the rule of law", and it tells those who have been injured that they don't count. At this point I feel like we're being told our collective horror, trauma, and the injuries to our country from the January 6th attempt to overthrow the 2020 election results just don't matter, because the prosecutors might lose. Pretty pathetic justice system if that's the case.
Republicans often use titles that confuse or just plain lie about issues or organizations to make themselves look better. I never call anti-abortion groups "pro-life" groups just because they chose that name. It's totally misleading for several reasons. And we all know, as Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out tonight, that Fox News is not a real news network, so he doesn't use the word "News" when he refers to that network. Why use their titles and help them market a lie to the public on behalf of insurrectionists?
I think Representative Daniel Goldman announced a much better title for McCarthy's "Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government." It's easier to say and much more accurate. Representative Goldman calls it "The Republican Committee to Obstruct Justice."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/10/mccarthy-investigations-weaponization-biden-mexico/
Curiously, Weisselberg remains an employee of the Trump Organization and will be on “paid leave” while serving a prison sentence for defrauding the Trump Organization.
Of course. Mafia guys go on "paid leave" when they go to prison for the organization and the boss, and they keep their secrets.
I am not going to stay awake at night worrying about the GQP’s alleged investigations but I am as upset as you are at Garland. It baffles me that he and the people in the DOJ are more concerned about their optics rather than the atrocious crimes committed by members of Congress. This is a race between the turtle and rabbit but I won’t give credence to the turtle. I will, however, give it to the snail that tripped the turtle up in trying to get to the finish line. Brazil acted quickly and succinctly. The US did not. Honestly, we have too many lawyers, too many laws. How about the law of “One and Done”?
Your negative tone reflects, what I suspect, most of us are feeling. The progress we've made in the past two years feels like it's being wiped out as we watch. It's exhausting, but we just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other, doing whatever we can to fight back. I can't help the feeling that it's a losing battle, but I also have to believe that we will be successful.
I constantly hear from my fellow left-of-center friends who despair of ever seeing Trump in the docket. My attempts to assure them that the wheels of justice ARE grinding, however slowly, elicit reactions ranging from doubt to derision. But tonight Robert Hubbell places these attenuated investigations in a proper context, giving me hope that at least ONE of these will lead to an indictment. He raises an interesting point--that the reluctance of Atty. Gen. Garland to prosecute may reflect his fear of the inevitability of just one Trumpist juror leading to a hung jury. I hope this isn't the case, as bringing Trump before the bar is I think the crucial event. Should a jury fail to convict due to one or two holdouts practicing jury nullification, so be it. Trump has proclaimed his "exoneration" in his impeachment trials because "only" 57 US Senators thought him guilty, and he may well try to spin the facts if "only" 10 or 11 jurors consider him guilty. But we--and the nation--know better, to say nothing of history. As for the stark comparison Robert makes between how the Brazilian political establishment deals with insurrection and our scattershot approach, I take a certain solace in our difficulty of having one political faction criminally pursue its predecessor. It should be difficult, indeed near impossible. The detritus left by Donald Trump is epic in scope; it is far more comforting to me than disturbing that our system makes retribution, however deserved, extremely difficult.
I do believe that Jack Smith will do his job rapidly and well. He knows how to prosecute dictators. He knows their wiley ways. He certainly has not been wasting any time. Maybe this will be the real Ground Hogs Day celebration!
I've given up on Merrick Garland. He has not been a prosecutor for over 24 years. He's been a judge and just seems to completely lack a sense of urgency. There is not much that is going to get done in the next two years.
However, If the extremists in the US House are going to waste our taxpayer dollars on sham investigations perhaps the Senate can conduct some legitimate investigations in the months ahead:
1. The Secret Service: the missing texts from January 6, staffing levels and quality of staffing and other concerns.
2. The IRS under the former director: Why weren't the former President's taxes audited for a number of years when he was in office. Why is it taking over 2 years for the IRS to process a late relative's estate tax return. Why wasn't my last estimated tax payment check (I never pay online to the IRS.) not cashed for 3 weeks!
3. Elon Musk. I've been off Twitter for almost two months. I really like Post.News. I've read and heard that Twitter has become a complete cesspool of far right hate, descriptions of disgusting things that I would not even write here, and threats of violence. The misogynist Andrew Tate has been arrested and held in Romania on charges of organized crime, human trafficking and rape. Yet he or someone in his crime syndicate are still posting on Twitter. I'm no lawyer, but isn't there something legally that can be done?
4. The Federal Election Commission (FEC): Are campaign finance reports even audited at all anymore. Who is in charge there? What are their qualifications? Shouldn't they get performance reviews at least annually?
5. Fake charities such as JD Vance's charity set up to combat the opiod epidemic. This charity was found by Business Insider to be a charade as his top political advisor was paid by the charity.
6. Fraud that was prevalent with the Paycheck Protection Program.
Thank you for your thoughts.
Jim Jordan ignored a J6 subpoena, yet now chairs Judiciary. Steve Bannon, still out on bail, is said to have advised Bolsonaro, likely providing him the insurrection blueprint. Yikes.
Mr. Hubbell, Thank you again for your accurate coverage of the complex series of events. We appreciate the work you do. Rest as you need it.
Okay, so I’m sleeping soundly, but waking very early, in the potential twilight of our democracy! If Trump and his co-conspirators are not indicted, I think the rule of law will be degraded, if not erased. Even if just one Trumpist hangs the jury, the facts will play out in an even more dramatic way than they did in the J6 sessions, and we the American people will see what really happened. And even the MAGA crowd will know in their little hearts that it was wrong.
You're pinning a lot of hope on Jack Smith. It's very understandable as no one else seems a better bet. But what I wish was that there were a few good republicans out there. A few who join George Conway in calling out the indefensible. Did you read that the current seditionists called in Sean Hannity for a love fest in the office building for the House? Have they no shame?
Rep. Andy Ogles, a freshman Congressman from Tennessee, said on CSPAN this morning that the somewhat heated conversation between him and McCarthy during the fight to elect a Speaker was the result of a text he received from the “donor class” urging him to switch his vote to McCarthy.
There you have it. A frank, casual admission by a member of Congress that monied interests, who have easy access to elected officials, are able to text them directly and demand they vote a certain way. How many of us have our Representatives cell phone number?
Yes, he did switch his vote.
And stay focused on Hakeem Jefferies. His acceptance speech is outstanding...and it builds as it goes on. As Robert reminded us, Jefferies spoke without reading with clarity and force. McCarthy read his dull speech as if evenhe was not convinced..
I appreciate you drawing attention to the importance of accountability and consequences. It is also important that all understand the significance and importance of the accountability be relatively swift so that it is evident that it is directly connected to the events demanding accountability. It is also important that the consequences are proportional to the offences demanding accountability. We are already seeing that accountability for the events of January 6th are too long delayed and when delivered may not be proportional to the offences demanding consequences.
Accountability and consequences are what protect democracy and the Rule of Law. Accountability and consequences protect our institutions that protect us all as well as our rights, freedom, and liberty. The absence of accountability and consequences endanger us all and our future.
I am feeling so sad, so hopeless, so angry, so disappointed, so worried about the governance of our country; about accountability for political leaders’ crimes; about our future under the insidious hands of the group of twenty; about Trumpism that has seeped into all branches of government and social media; about Jim Jordan who as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee will be investigating the investigators; about Garland’s slowness in prosecutions, and now the news of finding
Classified Documents in Biden’s office. All of this and more weighs on me who is normally a very positive and can do person
As to Stern's op-ed about the one jurror: it infuriates me to point of wanting to do violence when prosecutors are more concerned about their win/loss percentage than they are about seeking justice. Too many women who've been sexually assaulted know that little dance. It's hurtful, it undermines faith in "the rule of law", and it tells those who have been injured that they don't count. At this point I feel like we're being told our collective horror, trauma, and the injuries to our country from the January 6th attempt to overthrow the 2020 election results just don't matter, because the prosecutors might lose. Pretty pathetic justice system if that's the case.