The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    [Trump/Russia/GOP/Mediagate] Unraveling conspiracies

    By PeraclesPlease on Sun, 10/09/2022 - 2:02pm |

    Third (or fourth?) in a series of long threads as investigations unfold, now in Mar-a-Lago's stolen docs, Tom Barrack's trial, Maggie's book tour to make herself feel journalistic vs deceptive & opportunistic, waiting for Durham to blow another Trumped -up perjury-only case, and of course watching The Donald face the NY & Georgia AG's along with his other meltdowns.

    Previous threads here:

    http://dagblog.com/reader-blogs/trumprussiagopgate-sock-puppet-org-buste...

    http://dagblog.com/reader-blogs/barr-trumps-soiled-reputations-35202

    And now Maggie's deflection:

     

    Imagine If Maggie Had Reported that Vladimir Putin Dictated Trump's June 9 Meeting Cover Story?https://t.co/9QWEuBKdzU

    — emptywheel (@emptywheel) October 9, 2022

     

    And Michael + Charlie Flynn's grift

     

    There are people who are denied security clearances because of family members, but Mike Flynn cheers for Putin while his brother is the commander of the US Army Pacific. https://t.co/iN0jRE4gUY

    — Rachel Vindman (@natsechobbyist) October 9, 2022

     

     

    • 62637 reads

    Comments

    Hillary emails not like Trump docs

    (not mentioned is that Trump saw a year of Hillary email bashing, and still chose to communicate with private, non-preserved PRA emails, and most around him were doing the same and actively deleting records they knew should be preserved)

    Are the FBI and Justice Department treating Donald Trump's handling of classified info differently than they treated Hillary Clinton's?

    Here's why the cases are actually different, based on official records.https://t.co/JEXBDQwIu4

    — Mike Levine (@MLevineReports) August 31, 2022

     


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 10/09/2022 - 2:07pm


    by artappraiser on Mon, 10/10/2022 - 12:53am


    by artappraiser on Mon, 10/10/2022 - 1:43am

    Goodman is -

    Former Special Counsel @DeptofDefense

    Co-editor-in-chief @just_security

    Chaired Professor NYU Law. Former Chaired Professor Harvard Law.

    Co-director @RCLS_NYU


    by artappraiser on Mon, 10/10/2022 - 2:34pm

    ETTD:


    by artappraiser on Mon, 10/10/2022 - 5:26pm

    Supreme Court rejects Trump request on Mar-a-Lago documents https://t.co/zpqOnWq1Qg pic.twitter.com/OVcinUZzpu

    — Thomas E. Ricks (@tomricks1) October 14, 2022

    sub-heading The one-sentence order amounted to a quick and sharp denial of an emergency request by the former president

    (must say I adore Tom's personal choice of photo illus. to tweet the news, even tho it obliterated the text, it represents the gist well! laugh)


    by artappraiser on Thu, 10/13/2022 - 10:47pm

    Back to New York fraud...


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 10/14/2022 - 3:42am


    by artappraiser on Fri, 10/14/2022 - 10:06am


    by artappraiser on Fri, 10/14/2022 - 10:11am

    This confirms reporting that Pelosi had warned it would take days to return to the chamber for the vote and Pence insisted on getting back in quickly https://t.co/xSBSOJSuNi

    — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 14, 2022


    by artappraiser on Fri, 10/14/2022 - 10:16am


    by artappraiser on Sat, 10/15/2022 - 5:08am


    by artappraiser on Sat, 10/15/2022 - 3:27pm

    Slim Jim Pelosi tells her friend Pence that she's worried about him

    Also too she's hoping to be able to punch Trump in the face:

    She must be quite the mom....


    by artappraiser on Sat, 10/15/2022 - 3:34pm


    by artappraiser on Sat, 10/15/2022 - 9:57pm

    Declaring bankruptcy?


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 10/16/2022 - 2:27am


    by artappraiser on Tue, 10/18/2022 - 3:49am


    by artappraiser on Tue, 10/18/2022 - 3:50am

    More on Tulsi Gabbard:


    by artappraiser on Tue, 10/18/2022 - 3:48pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 10/19/2022 - 8:56am

    pants on fire -

    I am reminded of what a fancy attorney I had to hire once said to me: repeat after me - you knew nothing about this (the last thing you need is to be accused of fraud)...


    by artappraiser on Wed, 10/19/2022 - 11:08pm

    Trump said it to a court. Not to a crowd where it doesn't matter. To a court. Where misrepresentation counts.


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 10/20/2022 - 2:20pm


    by artappraiser on Thu, 10/20/2022 - 3:00pm


    by artappraiser on Fri, 10/21/2022 - 5:46pm


    by artappraiser on Fri, 10/21/2022 - 6:03pm

    The grift keeps on keeping on


    by artappraiser on Fri, 10/21/2022 - 6:17pm

    ^ p.s. note Lindsay Graham is included in the lineup!


    by artappraiser on Fri, 10/21/2022 - 6:19pm

    just for PP, more Roger Stone grifting from the confab, trying out being a hell-and-brimstone evangelical preacher:


    by artappraiser on Sat, 10/22/2022 - 2:50am


    by artappraiser on Fri, 10/21/2022 - 7:05pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 10/22/2022 - 3:58pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 10/23/2022 - 11:32am


    by artappraiser on Sun, 10/23/2022 - 1:41pm

     The grift never stops:


    by artappraiser on Sun, 10/23/2022 - 1:46pm


    by artappraiser on Sun, 10/23/2022 - 10:10pm

    Jack Shafer listened to the Woodward tapes so we don't have to:

    The Awesome Futility of Interviewing Donald Trump

    Even Bob Woodward can’t get a straight answer out of Trump.

    @ Politico.com, Oct. 25

    excerpt, after he sums up in a list

    [....] The crowning lesson of the Trump era, one that Woodward appears to have gleaned from his reporting, is that only one subject fully engages Trump’s interest, and that is Trump. Having Woodward approach him to serve as his Boswell apparently caused Trump’s ego to go def con 3. Elsewhere on the tapes, Trump refers to Woodward as “a great historian” and “the great Bob Woodward.” Trump appears to have understood from the beginning that the service of his ego might backfire, yet he would still take the risk. In the 14th interview session, Trump says to Woodward, “You’re probably going to screw me. Because, you know, that’s the way it goes. Look, [George W.] Bush sat with you for hours and you screwed him. But the difference was, I ain’t no Bush.” [....]


    by artappraiser on Tue, 10/25/2022 - 7:33pm

    stinks to high heaven, doing it anyway


    by artappraiser on Mon, 10/24/2022 - 4:38pm

    on Clarence Thomas on Graham:


    by artappraiser on Tue, 10/25/2022 - 8:07pm


    by artappraiser on Tue, 10/25/2022 - 1:59pm

    NBC News: Hope Hicks is before the Jan. 6 Committee TODAY for a deposition. @MSNBC

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 25, 2022

    Top Trump aide Hope Hicks to meet with the House January 6 committee https://t.co/yCVqXTpFkA

    — CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 25, 2022


    by artappraiser on Tue, 10/25/2022 - 2:24pm


    by artappraiser on Thu, 10/27/2022 - 12:23am

    Maggie as as Trump whisperer

    (Keep everyone just enough distracted)

    https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/10/09/imagine-if-maggie-had-reported-tha...

    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 10/27/2022 - 8:55am

    #1 most read story at Politico right now & kinda riveting: Judge to consider unsealing Trump grand jury filings

    The Justice Department and attorneys for the former president have until Nov. 15 to respond to media requests to reveal court actions

    By KYLE CHENEY and JOSH GERSTEIN @ Politico.com, updated 10/26/2022 07:26 PM EDT​

    A federal judge is considering whether to unseal secret court documents detailing former President Donald Trump’s effort to prevent former aides from providing testimony to a grand jury investigating efforts to subvert the 2020 election.

    Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday asked the Justice Department to weigh in on unsealing requests made by two media organizations: POLITICO on Oct. 18 and the New York Times on Oct. 21.

    Howell’s request comes as Trump has been quietly waging — and losing — a court battle in recent weeks to prevent former aides from testifying to the grand jury.

    Marc Short, former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, testified before a grand jury last Thursday just hours after a federal appeals court panel rejected a last-ditch appeal by Trump lawyers seeking to raise executive privilege concerns about the appearance.

    After a rushed series of filings, three D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals judges — Karen Henderson, Robert Wilkins and Florence Pan — turned down the emergency stay request at about 7 p.m. on the evening before Short testified, according to a court docket POLITICO reviewed that reflects the closed-door legal battle.

    Trump’s team could have sought relief from the Supreme Court following that rejection, but such an application has yet to be filed in the dispute.

    The appeals court panel’s ruling was the result of a four-month fight that was initiated on June 10 over testimony related to grand jury subpoenas pertaining to the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. That fight began around the same time Short first appeared before federal investigators. But it accelerated rapidly on Sept. 28, when Howell ruled against Trump. The nature of the ruling remains sealed but it pertained to two grand jury subpoenas that Trump had challenged.

    The identity of the recipients of those subpoenas is not clear, though the timing suggests they were connected to testimony from Short and Greg Jacob, Pence’s chief counsel.

    POLITICO moved to unseal Howell’s Sept. 28 ruling and related filings last week. On Wednesday, Howell ordered the Justice Department and Trump attorneys to respond to that motion by Nov. 15. The New York Times filed a similar unsealing motion on Friday.

    The Washington Post first reported on the appeals court ruling, but the identity of the judges who decided the matter and the precise timeline of Trump’s secret battle has not previously been reported. CNN first reported that Jacob, too, was the subject of Howell’s September ruling and Trump is mounting a separate challenge to potential testimony by former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and his then-deputy, Pat Philbin.

    Short was at the courthouse for more than three hours on Oct. 13, but had little to say to reporters as he left. “I got nothing to offer you,” he said. He did not respond to subsequent requests for comment.

    The rejection of Trump’s attempts to block testimony from his former White House aides was just the latest snub handed to him by the federal courts.

    Just a few hours after Short left court, the Supreme Court — without any noted dissent — rebuffed Trump’s first effort to involve the justices in the separate criminal investigation into his storage of White House records at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

    That defeat followed other high court rebuffs of Trump dating back to the 2020 election, as well as rulings that cleared the way for local prosecutors in New York to obtain his financial records and for House investigators to get White House records relating to Jan. 6.

    The legal clash around Short’s testimony intensified after Howell issued a sealed ruling against Trump on Sept. 28, court records show.

    Howell’s ruling dismissed attempts by the former president to postpone the hearings while claims of executive privilege were litigated. It came just six days after three of Trump’s attorneys visited the federal courthouse to plead their case. Their exit from the building following their Sept. 22 appearance was captured by photographers camped out outside.

    Howell’s ruling effectively compelled Short to testify. Short had previously appeared for questioning by federal prosecutors in June pursuant to a grand jury subpoena, but he limited his testimony to avoid immediate questions about Trump’s claims of privilege.

    On Oct. 11, two weeks after Howell’s order, Trump sought an emergency stay of her decision from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Henderson, Wilkins and Pan demanded a response of up to 5,200 words to that motion from the Justice Department by 4 p.m. on Oct. 12, an unusually rapid timetable even for emergency motions.

    Henderson was appointed by President George H.W. Bush. Wilkins and Howell are appointees of President Barack Obama. Pan is the D.C. Circuit’s newest judge, appointed by President Joe Biden.

    The appeals court’s docket gives no indication that any judge dissented from the ruling last week. Asked about the matter the following day, a court clerk said the panel’s order on the emergency stay remained under seal.

    All of the parties’ filings before the appeals court panel also remain under seal. Trump’s appeal remains pending, so he could still ask the D.C. Circuit to dive into the legal issues and produce a formal ruling on whether he has a right to block testimony from other White House aides or advisers. He may still take the emergency matter to the Supreme Court to prevent additional witnesses from testifying.

    A spokesperson for Trump declined to comment. The Justice Department also declined to comment.

    The secret legal battle appears similar to one fought in 2018 against then-special counsel Robert Mueller’s team. Back then [....]


    by artappraiser on Thu, 10/27/2022 - 10:55pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 10/30/2022 - 1:44am

    The Trump Tapes: 20  interviews that show why he is an unparalleled danger

    By Associate editor

    Oct. 23 at 2:00 p.m.

    Not a nothing burger for him to agree to that headline.


    by artappraiser on Mon, 10/31/2022 - 3:08am

    Cracking, tho?


    by artappraiser on Mon, 10/31/2022 - 3:24am

    Milk that Victimhood


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 10/31/2022 - 3:58am

    fighting to protect the tax records til his dying day and possibly beyond:


    by artappraiser on Mon, 10/31/2022 - 1:16pm

    actually very consistent with the majority's "states rights" focus


    by artappraiser on Tue, 11/01/2022 - 3:36pm

    Again delays til after the elections.


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 11/01/2022 - 5:33pm

    Here's what changed in Dinesh D'Souza's '2,000 Mules' book after it was recalled

    By  @NPR.org, Oct. 25

    After an abrupt recall and a two-month delay - along with the threat of possible legal action - the election denial book 2,000 Mules has reached bookstores, though with a few significant changes.

    Most notably, a passage in the recalled version of the book that accused specific, named nonprofit organizations of involvement in illegal "ballot trafficking" has been rewritten, softening certain claims and outright removing the names of the groups. Separately, sections of the book that purported to link election fraud to antifa and the Black Lives Matter movement have also been deleted [....]


    by artappraiser on Wed, 11/02/2022 - 2:06am


    by artappraiser on Wed, 11/02/2022 - 8:01pm

    He'll be Judas to MAGA hats, or maybe Cain walking the earth as an outcast wherever he goes.


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 11/02/2022 - 8:03pm

    Roger Stone, cone out, wherever you are ..


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 11/02/2022 - 9:36pm

    all from Haberman's feed, not even sure that's everything.


    by artappraiser on Wed, 11/02/2022 - 10:50pm

    This is your MAGA Party on drugs - and Roger Stone's best buds - any questions?

     


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 11/03/2022 - 4:33am

    More unhinged murderous-traaonous planning behavior


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 11/03/2022 - 4:38am


    by artappraiser on Thu, 11/03/2022 - 10:37am

    “Ron DeSanctimonious”
    pic.twitter.com/MDawuZcBam

    — Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) November 6, 2022

    ——> https://t.co/TnCg9oJzyE

    — Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) November 6, 2022


    As some Republicans have noted, he’s deploying this quip as DeSantis is up for re-election next week.

    — Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) November 6, 2022

    DeSantis is very popular.

    I have been here in Ft. Myers since before Ian struck.

    Nobody, and I mean nobody, could have done a better job for the people of this state.

    I am a Trump girl, but he needs to watch this rhetoric. I don't like it, and others don't either.

    — Patsy (@JohnSmithJr147) November 6, 2022

    If I had to vote in republican primary tomorrow it would be for DeSantis.

    — Donna Lynne (@DonnaW06060827) November 6, 2022

    This was bad taste on Donald's part...

    — Jay Matthews (@JayMatthews333) November 6, 2022

    thread of replies continues...


    by artappraiser on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 4:51am


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 6:53am

    I had no idea how passionate De Santis supporters had become. For them, it's almost like Trump turned into Biden overnight:


    by artappraiser on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 12:06pm

    a theory about the GOP divide:


    by artappraiser on Sun, 11/06/2022 - 3:43pm


    by artappraiser on Fri, 11/11/2022 - 1:38am

    The top of this thread is bitchin about Maggie BUT here she's not beating around the bush:


    by artappraiser on Fri, 11/11/2022 - 1:43am

    Addressed elsewhere - it's certainly possible he had Sessions (not Barr) point federal resources at helping DeSantis out. Nice of him to admit in print.

    http://dagblog.com/comment/321876#comment-321876


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 11/11/2022 - 4:50am


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 11/11/2022 - 10:15am


    by artappraiser on Tue, 11/15/2022 - 6:12pm


    by artappraiser on Thu, 11/17/2022 - 12:48pm

    That'd be good, wouldn't it?


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 11/17/2022 - 5:14pm


    by artappraiser on Fri, 11/18/2022 - 3:08am


    by artappraiser on Fri, 11/18/2022 - 9:21pm

    By @ WashingtonPost.com, Nov 18

    Jack Smith — the special counsel tasked with investigating former president Donald Trump’s possible mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago Club and residence and key aspects of the Jan. 6 probe — is a longtime federal prosecutor and seasoned investigator.

    “Mr. Smith will begin his work as special counsel immediately and will be returning to the United States from The Hague,” Garland said Friday afternoon in announcing his choice of Smith, who is currently serving as a war crimes prosecutor with the International Criminal Court. “Throughout his career, Jack Smith has built a reputation as an impartial and determined prosecutor who leads teams with energy and focus to follow the facts wherever they lead.”

    In a statement Friday, Smith promised to conduct the investigations and any possible prosecutions “independently.”

    “The pace of the investigations will not pause or flag under my watch. I will exercise independent judgment and will move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate,” he said.

    Smith’s career as a prosecutor began in Manhattan in the early 1990s, where he earned a reputation as a hard worker.

    “I don’t think I was very talented, but you field a lot of groundballs, you’re a good shortstop,” Smith once told the Associated Press about those early days.

    He went on to spend nearly a decade as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn.

    Smith was a federal prosecutor on a case in which the defendant, Ronnell Wilson, was sentenced to death for killing two police officers. But a federal appeals court overturned the death sentence in 2010 on grounds that prosecution violated Wilson’s constitutional rights by telling a jury that Wilson’s refusal to testify during the penalty phase undermined his claims of remorse. Smith had told the jury that Wilson “has an absolute right to go to trial, put the government to its burden of proof, to prove he committed these crimes, but he can’t have it both ways,” according to a New York Times report at the time. The case continued for years until 2016, when a federal judge ruled that Wilson could not be sentenced to death because he was considered intellectually disabled.

    Smith left the job in Brooklyn in 2008 to become a war crimes prosecutor at the ICC. Smith returned to the Justice Department in 2010, taking over the Public Integrity Section at a time when it had been battered by an embarrassing reversal of the conviction of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).

    At the time, he described taking a fiercely independent view of the job.

    “If I were the sort of person who could be cowed — ‘I know we should bring this case, I know the person did it, but we could lose, and that will look bad’ — I would find another line of work,” he told the New York Times. “I can’t imagine how someone who does what I do or has worked with me could think that.”

    He left the agency in 2017 and returned to The Hague the next year.

    At the ICC he was investigating war crimes committed in Kosovo.

    Though the special counsel appointment begins immediately, Smith was not at Friday’s announcement, due to a recent bike accident that required knee surgery.

    He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Oneonta and Harvard Law School. He was widely recognized for his work having received the U.S. Department of Justice Director’s Award as well as the U.S. Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service.

    Smith was previously vice president and head of litigation for the Hospital Corporation of America, one of the largest nonprofit health-care providers in the United States. Before that, from February 2015 to August 2017, he served as first assistant U.S. attorney and acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.

    Smith previously supervised the litigating process of complex public corruption cases across the country as the head of the Public Integrity Section. Before that, he coordinated investigations of foreign government officials for genocide and war crimes in the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor.

    Before joining the ICC, Smith spent nearly a decade in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York, where he spent time as the head of criminal litigation. In that position, Smith oversaw about 100 criminal prosecutors working on varied areas including terrorism, violent crime and gangs, along with white-collar crimes.

    Devlin Barrett, Michael Kranish and Alice Crites contributed to this report.


    by artappraiser on Fri, 11/18/2022 - 10:09pm

    New Bill Barr interview on Trump: “I personally think that they probably have the basis for legitimately indicting the president .. They probably have the evidence .. I think it’s becoming increasingly more likely.” pic.twitter.com/89uuJOyEOO

    — Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 19, 2022

     


    by artappraiser on Fri, 11/18/2022 - 9:43pm

    Bill Barr is a crooked bastard, responsible for keeping Trump from paying for his blatantly illegal activities through lots of interference that he promised just to get his job (NYT op-ed) and then resigning 2 fucking weeks before Jan 6 as if the asshole didn't know what was going on while the highest law enforcement officer in the nation.

    If you look up his Wikipedia under Career, you'll see he's been corruptly blocking investigations like this his entire professional life. Slimy dick. Yet he goes on talk shows and nobody grills his inexplicable behavior, just let him talk about his book.

    The crap Barr did to quash the Mueller investigation is especially heinous - he had his butt boys go through all Mueller's description of Trump's likely illegal behavior and explain every one away, totally running interference for him. And then Barr hid that memo, miaeading to a pre-ordained outcome, - for 3 years til an FOIA finally called him out

     


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 11/19/2022 - 2:14pm

    The day before Trump announced he was running for president again, he was at Trump Tower for a signing of a new real-estate deal with the government of Oman @EricLiptonNYT https://t.co/WkFl5xzaEy

    — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 20, 2022

     


    by artappraiser on Sun, 11/20/2022 - 6:45pm


    by artappraiser on Sun, 11/20/2022 - 11:46pm


    by artappraiser on Mon, 11/21/2022 - 6:40pm


    by artappraiser on Mon, 11/21/2022 - 6:44pm


    by artappraiser on Tue, 11/22/2022 - 2:42pm

    ^ among other things, looks to me like the entire Supreme Court believes you gotta pay your Federal taxes, go figure (maybe cause they themselves are part of the Federal government and are paid by those taxes? wink)

     


    by artappraiser on Tue, 11/22/2022 - 2:58pm

    Smart advance thinking against the inevitable, doing it while he's still Chairman, House Ways & Means Subcommittee on Oversight.

    Today I’m asking the Justice Department to open an official criminal investigation of donald trump’s corruption of the IRS to attack his enemies. pic.twitter.com/gyCeLMgLhH

    — Bill Pascrell, Jr. (@BillPascrell) November 15, 2022

    Imagine saying this with a straight face when the chief of staff of the president you supported just days ago confirmed that he tried to get the IRS to go after specific enemies of his. https://t.co/9l1bigfzRO

    — Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) November 18, 2022

    by artappraiser on Tue, 11/22/2022 - 8:46pm

    On the Special Master appeal going on today as regards the Mar-a-Lago raid -


    by artappraiser on Tue, 11/22/2022 - 2:47pm

    two major dittoes:


    by artappraiser on Tue, 11/22/2022 - 2:54pm

    thread from Daily Beast reporter from the Manhattan courtroom where the tax trial against Trumpco is going on -

     

     


    by artappraiser on Tue, 11/22/2022 - 8:51pm


    by artappraiser on Tue, 11/22/2022 - 9:51pm


    by artappraiser on Fri, 11/25/2022 - 4:13pm


    by artappraiser on Fri, 11/25/2022 - 10:26pm


    by artappraiser on Fri, 11/25/2022 - 11:43pm


    by artappraiser on Fri, 11/25/2022 - 11:44pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 11/29/2022 - 2:43am

    Simonyan from Russia Today - "we didn't want this", "the territories that are now ours", other Truth Speak...
    Every American who was on that channel should make a huge apology - they were all used badly.


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 11/29/2022 - 8:51am

    Oath Keepers down for count


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 11/29/2022 - 5:42pm

    A conviction for 'seditious conspiracy' is a major major thing in the history of our country.


    by artappraiser on Tue, 11/29/2022 - 6:01pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 11/30/2022 - 8:20am


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 11/30/2022 - 8:57am

    Twitter embed's not working.

    Let's see if hard coded embedding works???

    ====

     


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 11/30/2022 - 8:59am


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 11/30/2022 - 9:39am


    by artappraiser on Wed, 11/30/2022 - 6:10am

    Verdict in Trump Organization Trial Could Come Down to 3 Little Words - paywall-free NYTimes piece via MSN.com.

    By Ben Protess, Jonah E. Bromwich and William K. Rashbaum (reporters who would know), 3 hrs ago.

    by artappraiser on Wed, 11/30/2022 - 3:25pm

    Got to admit it: I'M SO EXCITED -

    that it's down to the wire with the GOP taking over makes it all the more exciting....


    by artappraiser on Wed, 11/30/2022 - 4:26pm

    I see I'm not alone -


    by artappraiser on Wed, 11/30/2022 - 4:29pm

    Trump MarALago appeal tossed

    Trump's judicial hits keep on coming


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 12/01/2022 - 6:38pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 12/02/2022 - 11:48am

    tweet has a useful image:


    by artappraiser on Fri, 12/02/2022 - 6:09pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 12/02/2022 - 7:08pm


    by artappraiser on Fri, 12/02/2022 - 9:17pm

    Porter on to Trump bribery

    (see if they get to Roger Stone & the high profile pardon bribery Marcy's been talking about for a while)

    https://www.rawstory.com/trump-bribery/


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 12/03/2022 - 1:46am


    by artappraiser on Sat, 12/03/2022 - 7:49pm

    I think inauguration has swearing allegiance to the Constitution. How will that work, just change the rules, swear allegiance to Trump?


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 12/04/2022 - 4:08am

    even Chase can't figure out how that would work and he advertises podcasts with the likes of Steve Bannon and Roger Stone...


    by artappraiser on Sun, 12/04/2022 - 4:23am


    by artappraiser on Sun, 12/04/2022 - 7:13am


    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/06/2022 - 3:29pm

    and here's the fate of the laptop girl:


    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/06/2022 - 7:49pm


    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/06/2022 - 4:15pm

    Only $1.6M (civil suit can add $250M)


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 12/06/2022 - 4:31pm

    NYTimes on the Trump Org guilty verdict - they have set up a "Live" news page with lots of stories by reporters who have done deep dives into Trump taxes -

    Guilty verdicts on all charges in the Trump Org trial, follow along here --> https://t.co/m0F6xuY6Qj

    — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 6, 2022

    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/06/2022 - 4:57pm

    Today these and other law enforcement officers will receive the Congressional Gold Medal for heroically defending democracy on January 6. What a debt our nation owes them. ⁦@libradunn⁩ ⁦@SergeantAqGo⁩ ⁦@SemperWry⁩ pic.twitter.com/tuxNkpWyUj

    — David Laufman (@DavidLaufmanLaw) December 6, 2022

    Capitol Police valiantly defended our democracy when it came under attack on January 6.

    Many still bear the physical and mental scars of that awful day.

    Today, we honor them with Congressional Gold Medals, the highest honor Congress can bestow.

    Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

    — Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) December 6, 2022

    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/06/2022 - 4:33pm

    ^  so I'm wondering whether all those tweets and other internet comments by lefty racial warriors claiming on Jan. 6 (including on lowly Dagblog) that the cops were complicit with the stormers will finally be erased?


    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/06/2022 - 4:46pm


    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/06/2022 - 5:20pm

    If you used all your chits for Vanity Fair, here's the same at Law & Crime:


    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/06/2022 - 7:21pm

    Supreme Court Rejects Conspiracy Theory-Laden Case Against Dominion Voting Systems

    By Colin Kalmbacher @ LawandCrime.com, Dec 5

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday morning declined to take up a case where a group of voters sued a private and prominent voting machine company under the statute that authorizes federal civil rights lawsuits to be filed against government agents and state actors.

    In an orders list, with no discussion or noted dissent, the nation’s high court denied certiorari in the case stylized as Kevin O’Rourke, et al. v. Dominion Voting Systems, et al., effectively dismissing the case. [....]


    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/06/2022 - 7:12pm

    Jan6 prediction - historical


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 12/06/2022 - 9:18pm


    by artappraiser on Wed, 12/07/2022 - 4:13am


    by artappraiser on Wed, 12/07/2022 - 4:02pm

    Derkatch -


    by artappraiser on Wed, 12/07/2022 - 10:36pm

    more on Derkatch as a Kremlin asset- Laura Rozen thread:

    https://t.co/dghyKnDK0X

    — .display (@air0ee) December 7, 2022

    same language that Treasury used in its designation statement in 2020 https://t.co/jXeGsYHqSZ

    — Samuel Rubenfeld (@srubenfeld) December 7, 2022

     


    by artappraiser on Thu, 12/08/2022 - 2:32pm


    by artappraiser on Wed, 12/07/2022 - 10:40pm

    Got to admire them for brazen overreach and chutzpah.


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 12/08/2022 - 5:56am

    A hint on his new grift?


    by artappraiser on Thu, 12/08/2022 - 5:07pm

    Not so new/tried but true


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 12/08/2022 - 6:26pm

    70-year-old career ratf*cker realizes he doesn't have a president in his pocket for a pardon, turns to Jesus to help.
    And the rubes will lap it up. Not sure the judge will. Jan6 indictment within 2 months? Can he wear Brooks Brothers in lockup?


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 12/09/2022 - 5:04am


    by artappraiser on Sat, 12/10/2022 - 6:52am

    12/18/2020 Trump WH tweet (see longer thread)

    Barr had already given his resignation, effective 23 Dec, @AviehKovler & others  were already tweeting & reporting what he saw as the blueprint of the gathering insurrection, and Twitter was a key organizing tool for the Trump Extended Crime Family, banned by the platform after Jan 6 (and justified by Trump's GOP- hobbled impeachment in Jan 2021 and later House Jan 6 committee investigation, now reversed by Elon's use of a Moscow-compromised half-journalist.

     


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 12/11/2022 - 8:31am

    $44billion of QAnon love.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 12/11/2022 - 8:44am

    What a fucking asshat. With 36k comments on his retarded little quips.

    What is the short- to long-term damage of this cheerleader for rightiat causes? And who's he working for, presuming not just his own ego?


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 12/11/2022 - 10:32am

    Now Matty gets 50k retweets, 170k likes. Wacko.

    And speaking of Breitbart, here we've got Elon attacking Sussmann who was acquitted against Billy Barr's Durham, the 2nd time Durham completely failed to get a conviction on a single charge (his 3rd case pled out on an obvious mistake, got 0 jail time).  Byron York as a dependably duplicitous right-wing lackey contends that he thinks Sussmann still lied despite being cleared of lying to the FBI because... DC's too liberal and Hillary got to the jury. I guess it has to be a trial held in Clarence Thomas's butthole to be legit. Shit be crazy.

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/12/08/elon-musk-calls-out-sussma...


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 12/11/2022 - 1:32pm

    Seems to me too often Peracles is concluding that everything is still about Trump and Putin and secondarily, GOP vs.the Dems. A grand conspiracy which if one could only uncover it...(sounds familiar...)

    Just sayin' - that is the way your rants often come across to me.

    I let go of that frame long time ago, I find it an extremely faulty way of figuring out the "brave new world.'

    A reminder from another ancient personality -

    One constant since the beginning of time might be change, however, the fear of change is also a constant. Since times immemorial, humans have liked routine. It makes us feel in control of our lives.Sep 9, 2020

    It might be comforting to think 'it's all a plot' by Breitbart, Musk & Putin, but I don't see it as reality.


    by artappraiser on Sun, 12/11/2022 - 7:21pm

    Trump set out to poison all the wells as quickly as possible - gutting the civil service as deep as he could manage, tainting all operations as best he could. Louis DeJoy is one of the more visible holdovers. Durham is a 1-man PR grift put in place by Barr/Trump. The Mar-a-Lago judge Cannon is an extreme example of the numerous highly partisan and lesser qualified people Trump out into the judiciary. Trump has maintained way overloaded influence on the GOP 2 1/2 years after his foaled coup - a coup that took time to appreciate just how bad it was, and that requires rethinking all Trump's other poisonous acts in office - easy to think "not so bad, we'll survive", yet in many cases you discover it's worse than you thought.

    November's election damaged him, along with all his other losses, but the guy is very tricky, and his skill in this nebulous terrain became much more pronounced, however ridiculous he often looks. 

    Re: "conspiracy", with Butina and NRA/GOP you might talk conspiracy. Just 6 years later - 4 after she was caught, you don't need the backroom dealing she pulled off. Tucker Carlson is openly pro-Russian, anti-Ukraine. Bashing Paul Pelosi's head with a hammer is openly excused and somewhat cheered. There is simply a divide in thought and opinion - largely brought about by Trump even though he's fading. This isn't entirely true - 10 years ago conservatives would drive gas guzzlers to own the tree hugging libs, etc. But now it's just lining up on 2 sides of the fence. The Trump era is ending. The GOP vs Dems standoff may be growing. Will there be a real seachange post-Trump? Not sure. Herschel Walker's relative success, losing by only 100k votes despite being a horrid horrid candidate, is a sign of just how bad it is. You can shoot someone on Main St, but as long as you have an R by your name, the rubes will support. The Dems aren't that steadfast - they eat their own 


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 12/11/2022 - 9:54pm

    I don't know what to say about how horrible you think u.s.a. prospects are, since I know that you already basically moved to another country devil, you'll just have to live with it, there is no other planet available at the current time.


    by artappraiser on Mon, 12/12/2022 - 12:42am

    It's a small small world after all, so my exodus needed a SpaceX-like trajectory, and even there I'd be indebted & subject to the whims of you-know-who. There is no terminal velocity, just terminal state.
    Still, the youth of tomorrow will make everything alright, amirite?
    Clicking my heels as I typ...


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 12/12/2022 - 3:00am

    Is it "conspiracy" or just mass influx of repeated disinfo or bad/mistaken info?
    Here's the oft-propagated "Fauci funded gain of function in Wuhan" accusation.
    Will that put an end to it? Hardly. Is it "conspiracy"? Hard to say anyone's really
    collaborating to keep this alive - it's millions of tiny (debunked but nevermind)
    shrieks on the internet.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 12/12/2022 - 7:17am

    Ideally, this crime should be the far more important one over Jan. 6; unfortunately our rule of law isn't optimal for fighting it (nor is it optimal in most democratic countries precisely because fighting a pandemic requires temporarily blocking certain freedoms, still, not doing so purely for narcissistic motives is incredibly egregious) -


    by artappraiser on Mon, 12/12/2022 - 5:34pm

    Dereliction of COVID duty while planning a coup & obstructing Congressm 

    Of course Trump dismantled much of CdC's protection and response capabilities in 2018 to "save money" and prolly put his guys in, and then downplayed protective devices like masks as the pandemic got going, and continually lied & obstructed the states' disease response,so yes, a consistent criminal mess with blood on his hands the whole pandemic.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 12/12/2022 - 11:18pm


    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/13/2022 - 3:16am

    Wait, is "everything still about Trump and secondarily, GOP vs.the Dems. A grand conspiracy which if one could only uncover it...(sounds familiar...)"???

    I'd closed up shop under good advice !?!??


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 12/13/2022 - 4:12am

    how is it exactly a 'grand conspiracy' if all these guys were panicking at the last minute, texting traitorous thoughts? what was the 'plan'? to panic at the last minute? they thought they were going to win. either breathtaking geniuses or miserable failures, can't be both


    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/13/2022 - 5:03am

    The conspiracies had gone on for weeks - starting even before the election, preparing their Stop the Steal efforts. That's how they bussed QAnon & Proud Boys & Oathkeepers nationwide to the Mall. It's how they coordinated lawsuits and false slates of electors in multiple states. Lots more activity kicking in from say 13 Dec.
    The sausage-making of a conspiracy doesn't have to be pretty - half the time they were looking for some flimsy statement from the Founding Fathers or precedent back in Civil War days or anything to allow them to publish and amplify a good-enough theory. Just because someone like Rudy Giuliani is a goofball doesn't mean his activities wouldn't bear fruit. Herschel Walker was an atrocious, thoroughly unqualified and full-of-scandal candidate, yet he lost by only 2.8% (yes, that's democracy in action, but just saying jokey incompetent fools can still luck into a win).
    Trump himself is a breathtaking genius for the parts he does well, as odd a character as he is. Some of his followers & enablers can be quite smart, but for a massive operation like "Stop the Steal/reverse the count", he needs lots of people doing stuff, not just Einsteins. And no, they weren't "miserable failures" - they came super close, as becomes more and more apparent, even though they certainly weren't "breathtaking geniuses". Your "can't be both" framing is irrelevant. They did what they did. And while 2020 looked a lot different than 2016, it's also quite possible - but not guaranteed, as the FBI warned social media platforms - they'll come up with a 3.0 version for 2024 (or earlier) that might look completely different.


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 12/13/2022 - 6:07am

    great point:


    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/13/2022 - 4:57am

    Yet they'll quite likely continue to convince all but the wonkiest that Hunter Biden & Twittergate are worse than anything else that's happened in the last 6 years. Does any Republican still (or ever did) tie Trump to the disastrous Covid handling? Is the new improved Tucker Carlson going to let *any* of this fallout persuade his rightwing audience? Im not sure anyone's persuaded these days of anything, just another generation's growing up with its own perspective, and the rest of us are hardened. (Not that the right wing didn't think a lot different in 1980, so I guess I contradict myself - but aside from Fox and a fullcourt disinfo press, I"m not sure how to define a workable antidote. "Bidenism" is vague, and largely requires 40 years of experience, and still doesn't much quell the daily calls for impeachment.


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 12/13/2022 - 6:12am

    Think you way overemphasize the impact of wingers calling for 'impeachment' and the like. It really wasn't that different all my life and before that, think John Birch Society. 30% are susceptible to right wing nuts. It's just that they have social media now.

    AGAIN, look at the election; voters as a whole said we don't want extremists.They split-ticket voted to say that!

    Does Biden seem worried? Obama? Are they screaming in private about a Joe McCarthy? Do they obsess every day about what Ted Cruz is up to? Do you see them worry about Americans who support Putin?

    35 GOP supporters of Trump 'coup' still leaves 178 GOP. MTG and Braebert are only 2 of 218. Do you pay any attention to what the others are saying, or just the bullshit performance artists like Trump?

     


    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/13/2022 - 8:29am

    P.S. just happened to revisit my headline Georgia GOP Lt. Gov. bashes Herschel Walker before election is over


    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/13/2022 - 8:49am

    Ok, he obviously was. And it's his own party, mostly predicting defeat. I remember 100s of Dems and independents saying worse of Hillary "before election over". Not the same as calling for impeachment, or the total war declared on Obama to not pass any legislation of his. The party's gotten really weird over time 


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 12/13/2022 - 9:49am

    I do not remember people callu g for impeachment *before* someone took office. Maybe it happened, i just didn't notice...


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 12/13/2022 - 9:45am

    Garland following the money - Sydney Pollock, Patrick Byrne, Carlos Fuentes, Alex Jones...

    With 1000 indicted or under investigation, plus mobile phones to lengthily crack and financial records to track - how all these ppl converged on the Capitol, who arranged & financed it... a time-consuming investigation. 

    https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/12/13/follow-the-money-merrick-garland-t...

    Just the number of citizen investigators tracking down people from photos & vids is hugely amazing. I imagine with only the FBI it'd be much farther away.


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 12/14/2022 - 10:19am

    (considering the size of DHS, i don't know that 300 is that significant)


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 12/13/2022 - 7:17am

    Settle in, nothing happening soon (like I said when he was president, he's not going away unless he dies)


    by artappraiser on Thu, 12/15/2022 - 12:41pm

    They just got Trump's taxes - Garland is following the money. It'd be dumb to ignore what could be mouch more straightforward, convictable evidence just to push through.This particular grand jury is 3 1/2 more months.The people named on Meadows' memo will get some review.

    Meanwhile, Rudy's days of impunity seem over.

    Attorney disciplinary regulators recommended Rudy Giuliani be disbarred after a DC Bar committee announced a prelim. finding that he likely committed misconduct in pressing Trump’s failed postelection challenge in Pennsylvania.

    Story, with more to come: https://t.co/h9yDWANeyl

    — Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) December 15, 2022

     


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 12/15/2022 - 6:09pm

    Marcy's been noting one very busy DoJ lawyer now clearing her docket since Jack Smith arrived, prolly going for something (or one) big.

     


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 12/15/2022 - 6:21pm

    Monday:


    by artappraiser on Sat, 12/17/2022 - 12:40am

    Which is all good and well, and provides some cover potentially, but I'd guess Jack Smith will proceed at his own pace (fast) and choose the targets that are ready to fall.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 12/17/2022 - 4:23am

    With his legal/congressional background, Lawrence does a good summary of what Jack Smith is up to:


    by artappraiser on Sat, 12/17/2022 - 11:40pm

    I'm guessing it really means they're getting enough evidence to join GA, PA, and AZ as a coordinated crime, separate from the state charge.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 12/18/2022 - 1:18am

    Seth: Ginni's coup

    (quite a huge read as Abramson likes doing.

    Presumably someone will wade through more than I for the juiciest takeaways)

    https://sethabramson.substack.com/p/new-two-men-very-close-to-ginni-thom...

    Perhaps skim & jump to conclusion

    Also thought this worth noting: (will follow up in a bit) 

    (didn't copy & couldnt find it again)


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 12/18/2022 - 3:04am

    My new congressperson (due to redistricting):


    by artappraiser on Mon, 12/19/2022 - 2:53am

    The Jan 6 investigation also owes deep gratitude to online citizen investigators finding pics & videos and cross-checking with various social media, records, etc. Thousands of insurrectionists to find evidence on, which law enforcement would have struggled to do itself.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 12/19/2022 - 5:10am

    States' Rights (to prosecute in parallel)

    5 states putting Trump's crew on trial along with the DoJ would be a lovely symphony. Still a dream, but...


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 12/19/2022 - 11:49am

    examples of some Trump pre-emptives from yesterday for the public congressional hearing starting in a few minutes:

     


    by artappraiser on Mon, 12/19/2022 - 1:03pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 12/19/2022 - 6:59pm


    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/20/2022 - 2:17pm


    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/20/2022 - 10:44pm

    Trump's audit excuse was total fiction:

    “And I think what I find surprising… is the irs did no audits at all until such time as the day they received Mr. Neal's request for these documents… I think you will see tens of millions of dollars in these returns that were claimed without adequate substantiation” pic.twitter.com/pyxQPdLiz8

    — Acyn (@Acyn) December 21, 2022

    but wait, there's more

    The IRS didn’t audit Trump’s taxes despite it being MANDATORY for sitting Presidents. pic.twitter.com/WOrR2b7X17

    — chris evans (@notcapnamerica) December 21, 2022


    by artappraiser on Tue, 12/20/2022 - 11:07pm


    by artappraiser on Wed, 12/21/2022 - 9:10am


    by artappraiser on Wed, 12/21/2022 - 5:20pm


    by artappraiser on Wed, 12/21/2022 - 5:29pm

    I'm less & less worried releasing his taxes sets a bad precedent. It's so far out there, it points out the need for greater diligence.


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 12/21/2022 - 7:06pm

    listening to it being discussed on CNN right now including with journalist Catherine Rampell who has basically specialized on this for a long time and she says they honestly really don't know yet why that happened - why he wasn't audited - it points to problems at the IRS that still need to be investigated, whatever the reason, that the reason may not be so simple as many suspect. I.E. rather than just kowtow to Trump, they could kowtow to all fancy bigshot tax accountants because of inferiority complex or not competent enough to handle returns this complex....


    by artappraiser on Wed, 12/21/2022 - 11:48pm

    Possibly, but FBI got the word quick that they'd be fired for investigating Trump, and in many cases they were, which certainly limited others' curiosity and perseverance.

    I don't know if similar happened at IRS, but i get the unverified feeling that theye often the whipping boy for political bosses' disgruntlement, and whistleblowing hasn't been too effective or safe to do. If you want to commit career suicide, go ahead, but don't expect laurels.


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 12/22/2022 - 3:16am

    Zuck in the dark re Cambridge


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 12/20/2022 - 9:51pm


    by artappraiser on Thu, 12/22/2022 - 1:47am


    by artappraiser on Thu, 12/22/2022 - 5:14pm

    Florida CrayCray thread


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 12/23/2022 - 7:15pm

    Greenberg not having Happy Holidays, tho:

    Former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg gets 11 years in prison

    BY WILL ROBINSON-SMITH AND KEVIN CONNOLLY ORANGE COUNTY
    UPDATED 11:57 AM ET DEC. 01, 2022

    ORLANDO, Fla. — The former tax collector for Seminole County, Joel Greenberg, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Thursday. He found out his fate in a courtroom in the Middle District of Florida in the second day of sentencing proceedings.

    What You Need To Know

    •  Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty to six federal charges in May 2021
    •  An alleged victim of Greenberg is calling on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to further investigate agency oversight failures at the Seminole Co. Tax Collector office
    •  The federal judge in this case will make the ultimate determination on the sentence for Greenberg
    • Sentencing proceedings are expected to resume at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1
       
    • RELATED: Former Seminole tax collector seeks reduced sentence after aiding investigations [.....]

    by artappraiser on Sat, 12/24/2022 - 4:32am

    He learned a new word:


    by artappraiser on Sat, 12/24/2022 - 8:55pm

    Claire's his old girlfriend in Scroodged (they mention Trump Tower in the film - I'm sure he's a fan while Home Alone)

    Christmas can be such a sad tím for the old and greedy.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 12/25/2022 - 1:45am

    Did a missed deadline save us? (Long thread)


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 12/25/2022 - 1:40am

    Longer Thread


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 12/25/2022 - 8:10pm

    a little reminder that Jared & Ivanka are Modern Orthodox Jews, as are their children via her conversion on marriage, not 'Christians' in any way:

     


    by artappraiser on Mon, 12/26/2022 - 5:11pm

    Another day, another Trump regime story


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 12/26/2022 - 6:04pm

    How Trump souborms perjury

    (helps to pay for the testimony you then get)


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 12/26/2022 - 11:32pm


    by artappraiser on Thu, 12/29/2022 - 5:03am

    speaking at an event with Eric Trump, Mike Flynn and others.

    Geo. H. W. Bush was leader of the 4th Reich and


    by artappraiser on Thu, 12/29/2022 - 12:47pm


    by artappraiser on Fri, 12/30/2022 - 1:51pm


    by artappraiser on Fri, 12/30/2022 - 10:23pm


    by artappraiser on Fri, 12/30/2022 - 10:40pm

    Jan. 6 Committee put links out to all the transcripts they are releasing, the links are relayed in the 4 tweets starting here


    by artappraiser on Fri, 12/30/2022 - 10:58pm

    oh joy, if true, looks like the start of a "stop the steal" international populist demagogue junta:

    Bolsonaro has left #Brazil & flown to the U.S., without waiting for Lula's inauguration on Sunday. According to reports, he'll instead be spending time at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. His lawyers reportedly advised him to leave early under threat of arrest. https://t.co/oDGdwc1jwn pic.twitter.com/zWoXfjffMG

    — Michael Fox (@mfox_us) December 30, 2022


    In his last live today — his 1st real public speech since Nov. 1 — Bolsonaro told supporters he was sorry he wasn't able to organize a coup against Lula's inauguration, something he said he was working on silently in the background since Lula's victory. https://t.co/oDGdwc1jwn

    — Michael Fox (@mfox_us) December 30, 2022

    Jail Bolsonaro leaves Brazil on an armed forces plane bound for Florida just 2 days before the inauguration of Lula Da Silva, in which he would have to transfer the presidential sash to him. https://t.co/XfdjRglVAZ

    — alegna cesho journalist (@AlegnaCesho) December 31, 2022

    by artappraiser on Sat, 12/31/2022 - 12:53am

    Michael Cohen, Dec. 23:


    by artappraiser on Sat, 12/31/2022 - 1:14am


    by artappraiser on Sat, 12/31/2022 - 1:16am

    just a reminder for New Yorkers of all political stripes -


    by artappraiser on Mon, 01/02/2023 - 2:52pm


    by artappraiser on Mon, 01/02/2023 - 7:10pm


    by artappraiser on Mon, 01/02/2023 - 11:47pm


    by artappraiser on Tue, 01/03/2023 - 12:36am

    Oh my, a reminder of the clown show

    "yes, kids - this is how government works"


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 01/04/2023 - 9:24pm


    by artappraiser on Thu, 01/05/2023 - 9:57pm

    The Justice Department’s investigation of the Capitol attack, already the largest it has ever conducted, has resulted in 900 arrests, with the potential for scores or hundreds more to come.

    WASHINGTON — The investigation into the storming of the Capitol is, by any measure, the biggest criminal inquiry in the Justice Department’s 153-year history.

    And even two years after Jan. 6, 2021, it is only getting bigger.

    In chasing leads and making arrests, federal agents have already seized hundreds of cellphones, questioned thousands of witnesses and followed up on tens of thousands of tips in an exhaustive process that has resulted so far in more than 900 arrests from Maine to California.

    But the inquiry, as vast as it has been, is still far from complete: Scores, if not hundreds, more people could face charges in the year — or years — to come, spread out over the course of many months so as not to flood the courts.

    The Capitol siege investigation, as the government likes to call it, has been, among other things, a highly publicized and sophisticated effort to bring to justice extremist groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers militia. Both played central roles in attacking the Capitol and disrupting a pillar of American democracy on Jan. 6: the lawful transfer of presidential power.

    But it has also lumbered on at a quieter level, with a series of less prominent trials and arrests that have touched the lives of more ordinary people: the members of the mob who may not have planned for violence but nonetheless broke into the Capitol that day — many after falling victim to the lies about election fraud spread by President Donald J. Trump.

    At the same time, the inquiry into what happened at the Capitol has served as the backdrop to the special counsel investigation that is examining the roles that Mr. Trump and several of his aides and lawyers played in a broader attempt to overturn the results of the election. That investigation, which has so far rested largely on cellphone seizures and grand jury subpoenas, will ultimately have to determine whether Mr. Trump’s norm-shattering efforts to remain in power actually violated any federal laws.

    No matter where these inquiries end up, the attempts to fully understand the events leading up to Jan. 6 and to hold accountable those who inspired or took part in them has already tested the Justice Department, straining its resources, pushing it into novel legal territory and exposing it to vehement political attacks.

    But over and over, the judges who have overseen criminal cases in Federal District Court in Washington have asserted that the exertions have been worth it.

    “People need to ask themselves what conditions could have created that to happen and be honest with yourself when you’re asking the question,” Judge Amit P. Mehta said of Jan. 6 at a hearing in September [.....]


    by artappraiser on Fri, 01/06/2023 - 11:15am


    by artappraiser on Fri, 01/06/2023 - 11:24am


    by artappraiser on Fri, 01/06/2023 - 12:14pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 01/07/2023 - 11:40am

    I just don't necessarily buy that, as I watched the voting all nignt on CNN and it was extremely chaotic and every switch at the end was clearly a surprise, starting with Gosar and the way he paraded out like he was in shame I think that is giving genius agency to these players when they are really all idiots. They certainly weren't consulting their lawyers! They clearly didn't do what they told McCarthy they would do up to the last minute. It really was chaos and the main takeaway is: does not bode well for his "leadership" and ther in the future, that he cannot hold them to a deal for more than a few minutes!  It's all individual chaotic actors, no teamwork, none at all, certainly not enough teamwork to execute a conspiracy or plan of any kind.


    by artappraiser on Sat, 01/07/2023 - 2:50pm

    p.s. I think the most important influence of Trump is: they think, like he does, that individual celebrity will save them, that in the end, they don't need anyone else.


    by artappraiser on Sat, 01/07/2023 - 2:53pm

    Well, they let him play the deal-maker/last-minute hero, whether they wanted to or not. It's amazing how much oxygen Trump still takes up on any given day.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 01/07/2023 - 3:00pm

    So I'm wondering if Sheila Jackson Lee is part of the plot?

    Really doesn't look like she's ready to vote to send him to the hoosegow, just sayin.

    Sometimes Marcie's  'they are bad people, let's dig up every single thing we can find to confirm our bias" conspiracy stuff just hits me as a little delusionary. Too much digging, sometimes is: too much, where one starts to see spiderwebs that aren't there. Sometimes coming up for fresh air and seeing what's actually going on is a good idea, i.e. what people are really doing as people. Not spinning and building a legal case in the style of our ADVOCACY system of law from documents, but actually looking at what's really happening.


    by artappraiser on Sun, 01/08/2023 - 2:30am

    In general Marcie focuses on deep dives into texts no one else reads - less conspiracy, more thoroughness and connecting the dots.

    Here Chuck Johnson maybe set her off - i don't know his history so much.

    But the interesting background, for example what was offered up in the vote (again, not conspiracy - noting the actual details & ramifications)


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 01/08/2023 - 5:21am


    by artappraiser on Mon, 01/09/2023 - 10:56pm

    Seems to pre-date Jack Smith FWIW.

    Meanwhile:


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 01/10/2023 - 2:59am


    by artappraiser on Tue, 01/10/2023 - 7:14pm