I am so tired, tired, tired of reading about Trumps Vengeance Train.
These are the people who belong in jail, along with their cowardly leader who is calling the filthy shots.
Donald Trump is such a crybaby, if anyone opposes him in any way, he sics his throng of vengeance monkeys on them.
The cruelty is the point.
And Merrick Garland , cowering before them , is useless.
This is how this country has become a caldron of simpering fear, because of one deranged man , appointed by Putin to be the Chief manipulator of the Justice Department and all of the federal institutions he is afraid of .
No wonder no charges were brought by the Justice Department for two years after he ( Donald Trump) attempted to overthrow the duly elected president by his well practiced lies. He’s lied about everything.
He was a lousy president, but a great liar in chief who even now continues his attacks on democracy on a daily basis.
He has done more for pushing hate in this country , than anything else.
He continues to be the best voice for fear mongering.
He’s violated every tenet of reasonable adherence to warnings by the judges
regarding the use of his hate speech intimidating witnesses and opponents of his slimy mob like behaviours.
Merrick Garland should step down .
He has totally aborted any reasonable attempts at quelling this madness.
Yet there seems to be no one, especially no judge, willing to place a gag order on the filth he's spewing from his mouth. I'm reminded of Osama bin Laden, who did no violence himself, but inspired others through his rhetoric to commit great atrocities.
I’m sick of all the bull 💩about Hunter Biden. The guy has had a drug problem sndand is, has been, working his backside off to get and stay clean. Is this a reason to persecute him because nothing can be found on his father, our President?
I want to know where all of these Republicans were with all the dealings Trumps son-in-law m, Jarrod, and his daughter, whom were both working in the White House, and their dealings with Saudi Arabia? They’re still dealing with Saudi Arabia!
Why were these same bunch of Republicans raising pure hell, calling fir investigations, and all this other stuff they’re doing with Hunter Biden?
I would think that doing a couple multi-BILLION dollar deals with Saudi Arabia, while working for the United States government, under the behest of you dear father, or father-in-law, would call for some investigations!
If the Trumpublicans were as worried about the economy, the debt, the budget, the climate, the infrastructure, and everything else going on in this country, this country would be a lot better off. President Biden would’ve able to get things dive in Congress that needs to be done, starting with the budget!
Now, these clowns have been back one week from break. Not one thing has been accomplished in the House of Representatives to benefit the American people. Not one thing. Another week wasted! They have wasted 9 months in the House of Representatives by not accomplishing a damn thing. All they’ve done is nothing bit try to investigate President Biden, and every member of his family.
I want to know where Merrick Garland stands as to the crimes of Jared and Ivanka. Hunter Biden is not in public office, neither are Ivanka and Don Jr, both are guilty of crimes worse than Hunters, yet that right winger, Garland, has not appointed a special counsel to investigate them.
Another item that reveals Garland for who he really is.
Then again Garland is a problem created by Biden, and the chicken comes home to roost.
My sentiments exactly. Those two should be under a jail, right along with Frumpy. It’s crazy how the Trumpublicans can cause all thus, wasting millions of tax dollars investigating 💩💩💩💩that has no need being investigated. Calling fir impeachment when they have nothing to impeach on.
In the meanwhile, this nation is going to go into default, shutdown, run out if money, because the Trumpublicans are pissed iff they can’t get their fearless leader back in the White House to turn this Democracy into a Dictatorship.
Not quite my dead, either you are too young and haven't followed the news and politics, are you are willfully blind to the fact. That Garland was not Obama's big choice. There was a Supreme court vacancy, and Obama wanted to fill it with anyone that could pass the grilling and opposition of the Republicans, so he asked the arch Right Wing senator of that decade, Orrin Hatch R-UT for his choice of candidate, and he chose another right winger, Merrick Garland. Mitch McConnell with an election coming up, was not about to give Obama a win, so despite the ideological brother hood of McConnell and Garland, McConnell refused to let Garland come up for a vote. If he had, people like you, and knee jerk apologists, would find themselves dismayed by a right winger, and a man who actually worked for the Federalist Society, sitting on the seat contaminated by bigots and crooks, and instead of Gorsuch voting with the other five right wingers,it would be Garland.
Biden selected Garland,because he was guided by advisors, and was friends of Mitch (he considers Mitch McConnell a friend), in fact he considers all Sen ate Republicans as friends it's a club, a little tribe and Biden is part of it, over 30 years in the senate and mentored and nurtured by Dixiecrat racisist like Eastland and Thurmond, we are fortunate in that he has done a slight turnaround, at least in the culture war. I give him credit for signing the Defense of Marriage act which legalized LGBT marriage through out the country, and for advising Obama not to have the government defend against Obergefell
Which in itself is an example of the DOJ, taking direction from the Executive, meanwhile Biden because of Republican carping and his fear of disturbing the status quo and institutions has handicapped himself, by keeping hands of the DOJ,, something that Trump didn't do, as he used Bill Barr as his personal lawyer and has gotten away with it.
So much for taking the High Road ,doing so spells the end of Democracy.
And, we were all witness to months of discussion on the Republicans not considering Obama's final nominee, some not even willing to meet with him. [Garland was originally appointed to a District Court by Bill Clinton.] But, for decades, the Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell for decades, declared he would vote against anything any Democratic President puts forth. That's all I know for now. [And now McConnell is too infirm to speak up and present another point of view such as to support Ukraine fully.]
Thanks I do know all of that, but thanks for reminding me the problem started with neo Liberal, corporate crony Bill Clinton. Yet it was Mitch that vetted Garland to Obama. Vetted by the arch right winger in the Senate at the time. And it was Biden who made him AG, and his decision is the snake that swallowed his own tail. Bidens' bipartisan beliefs, left DOJ, DOD, NSA, HSA, and other vital cabinets staffed by Trump appointees. A situation he could have remediedd had he not revoked Trumps EO 13957, that embedded his political appointments like Weiss as full protected civil servants, replacing the previously protect civil servants, and yet the media and Democratic party are mum, and Bidens advisors made a point of having his first offical act to revoke Trumps EO with EO 14003, which he could have used to undue the damage Trump did.
Besides, Bernie Sanders should have been nominee -- he had millions & millions of supporters! Then, out of nowhere, a meek insider cones outta' nowhere & is nominee?!? We were robbed of a smart, strong man who is not afraid to speak the truth & to defend with all his might, the common man... that's Bernie Sanders! Things must be led from the top, down. I appreciate what Biden was able to do, but he's too nice & believes his old Senate pals in GOP are still good conservatives ~ can't see what rhey are now.
A quality Supreme Court Nominee is not at all the same qualities needed to head the Jusice Dept & be US Att'y General. Garland would've made an excellent SCOTUS! McConnell lied & cheated to not allow Obama his rightful pick for SCOTUS; Then, brazenly breaks the same rule he used, in order to further stack the Court. It now keans so far to the right-eing that I'm shocked it doesn't topple over. And, well whad'ya know...?? We gave dirty Justices -- SCOTUS JUDGES BREAKING THE LAW & GIVING LAME EXCUSES, OR ACTING LIJE LAWS DON'T APPLY TO THEM!
Shocking just how corrupt USA has become in such a short time!
This time since 2016, will forever be known as, "the downfall & demise of American democracy".
There is one point on which our disagreement is intense. I don't trust Garland for the following reasons
1. He was vetted to Obama for SCOTUS by the arch right winger Orrin Hatch R-UT
2, He served as moderator for the Federalist society, (ergo he is a Federalist) (to forestop a response the Federalist society of Ike is not the Federalist Society of today, but it was still arch conservative, appointees like Brennan changed their tune once they were no longer beholden to the PTB;
3. He did not move on Trump or the J6 conspirators until shamed into it by peers and the J6 committee. And even then the only perps he pursued were the peons, who were used as cannon fodder, by the congressional institigators who have yet to be even investigate or indicted (Boebert, Jordan, Comer, Biggs, Hawley for starters.
His duplicity is on full display now as he has appointed a special counsel, a Trump humping attorney.. Weiss, embedded in DOJ, by Trumps Schedule F (EO 13957) While not even mentioning the worse crimes of Ivanka and Jr.
That's for starters, and if you or anyone else wants to deify Garland, consider his track record to date. He was forced by peers and public, into appointing Jack Smith as special counsel.
I have to agree wholeheartedly with you, Patricia. I’m super disappointed in Merrick Garland.
I’m guessing he’s slow walking everything he goes because he wasn’t approved for the Supreme Court when he was nominated for it,
I’m also really disappointed in the fact that not one indictment has come against and sitting member in the Senate, or House of Representatives. And every one of us can name off at least half-dozen or so in both chambers that need to be inducted, arrested, and criminally tried for their parts in the planning, carrying out, and execution of the January 6th insurrection and the attempt to keep Trump in power.
I read it, William, and frankly, I have to agree with you. But, on one point, I am going to ask about. Weiss was put on Hunter Biden during the Trump administration? Is that not correct?
That’s one thing. Second, Garland was actually put between the proverbial “rock and hard place”. I served in law enforcement for over 26 years, and although I’m no lawyer by any sense whatsoever, nor would I ever wish to be. But when the January 6 Committee began their investigation, I felt that they were stepping all over the DOJ and the ‘investigation’ that was being conducted there.
Now, having said this, before you climb in my back, yes, in my profession opinion, Garland was definitely slow walking this, and other investigations. At least he wasn’t being forthcoming’ with information about any investigation. I do recall his reply to questioning about the investigation once. Gus statement was “as with all investigations, you must start at the bottom and work your way up.” This is absolutely correct. That’s how it’s done. And, with thus incident alone, we are talking about events that led up to January 6th, January 6th rally, January 6th march to the Capital, the incident(s) at, around, in, the Capital, and the events after the incident at the Capital. So, I knew, from a professional investigator that this was going to take a very very long time to close any part of this mess.
To start with, this entire thing was a cluster f*ck! And that’s putting it mildly. There was no way that the officers at the Capital could hold back, or even detain this crowd. They had no backup. None was ordered by the one person who was responsible to order it, so, after the ‘riot’, ‘attempted coup’, ‘assault’ on the Nation’s Capital, these perpetrators left and went home! Bullshit! The only person physically shot that day was the woman, whom was killed, when she and her cohorts were attempting to break into the Senate chambers.
These officers were ORDERED not to engage with physical, or deadly, force. ORDERED!!! By a whimpering Chief that was as gutless as a baby jackass!
Anyway, no military showed up, no assistance from any other federal, local, or state law enforcement agencies showed up. If they had, this crowd would have been able to have been detained. IF the correct orders would have been given right from the beginning, there would have never been the first person illegally entering the Nation’s Capital. There would have been bodies laying in the steps.
Once thus cried was able to leave, the first, and hardest thing was identification of all of these people. To date, there’s been well over 1,300 identified, arrested, and of that, I think over 300 have been found guilty of numerous charges, and sentenced to everything from long probation to lengthy prison sentences. So, with everything leading up to, and after this incident, SOMEONE at DOJ has been rather busy.
Now, after saying all if this, yes, Garland was way to slow with appointing Jack Smith. Actually, I think I would have fine this right from the get go. And I’m not understanding why this wasn’t done. I feel that Garland, as was other Trump appointees, were left in their positions for a reason. Garland’s DOJ has already started the investigation into January 6th, the 2020 election fraud claims, and so much more that was going on with all of that. It all honesty, changing him world have meant changing the upper echelon immediately under him in the department. That couldn’t happen at that time. It would have created too much chaos in the department. As for other federal offices where the Trump appointees were left to remain. If you recall, Trump ordered them that there could be no communication with Biden, Harris, or any member of their Transition Team. Plus, Trump ordered all records destroyed, immediately. No records were to be in any department by January 20th, 12 noon when Biden was to be sworn in.
So, after the inauguration, I FEEL that Biden left these people in place so he could at least find out what the hell was going on with their department to try to piece this government back together. It’s been an uphill battle for him and Harris this entire administration. This is the first time in modern history that any such act has ever happened after an election. This is the first time that there’s not been a peaceful transfer of power. Thus us the first time that we have ever had a sitting president lose an election, and try to remain in power extorting to such violence, and basically attempt to turn this Democracy into a dictatorship.
Weiss was indeed a Trump appointee as are the most virulent lawyers in the DOJ,, not to mention the DoD, NHS, CBP, DHS. all not only appointed by Trump but embedded as a protected class of civil servants, who took the place of a class of protected civil servants, made at will employees by his EO 13957, and stupidly revoked by Bidens first EO, 14003.
But it was Weiss on his own initiative started to investigate Hunter, and finally he begged Garland to appoint him special counsel and Garland gladly complies, Meanwhile no one in the DoJ showed the same enthusiasm for investigating Ivanka and Jr. Neither Hunter nor Trumps kids are members of the Government, but that hasn't stopped selective prosecution by Garland.
As regards Jan 6. First the invasion was kicked off by a tweet from Boebert, when the first challenge (Arizona) was made by prearrangement with the conspirators in congress and the White house, by Boevert when she tweeted 1776, that was the go signal, the J6 committee knows that, but Liz Cheney steered all inquiries away from Republican congress critters, and focused the committee on Trump.
Weeks before J6, Trump replaced the Sec of the Army and Sec of Defense with cronies, who were briefed to play their part in the insurrection, basically they were told not to answer the phones on J6, when the Capitol would be assaulted. The traitor sitting at the phone desk was the Treasonous subversive Gen Mike Flynn's brother, Lt Gen Charles, since promoted and made commander of Pacific Forces (by Biden)
While Pelosi and Schumer as well as other members of Congress tried to call the Pentagon, to release the National Guard, Trumps "acting" secretaries ignored the calls. Finally the Governor Maryland was called and he released the Emergency Response Force of the Maryland State Police, then the Maryland national guard, and they expelled the insurrectionists, the D.C. National Guard was also released, after the Maryland Guard.
The whole afffair was preplanned and coordinated between the White House, secret service, even the FBI and DHS and NSA, all of those organizations are staffed with conservatives and Trump humpers at that. That Biden hasn't saw fit to clean the Aegean stable is on him, a political coward at the minimum, afraid of antagonizing the MAGAts and Christian Right (both of whom control a lot of votes).
Trump humping Weiss indicting Hunter, well that is on Joe, starting with appointing Merrick and not cleaning DoJ and other Trump humping agencies like DHS and Treasury (Secret service and IRS agents, not to mention the FBI, of Trump humpers.
Chickens come home to roost. As regards him personally, he is reaping what he sowed, as regards for our diverse country and our Democracy I shudder in fear, and if I wasn't myself a few years from my own extinction, I would be finding a way to migrate to Canada, NZ, Costa Rica and Panama. I personally prefer Panama as I lived there three years, and until Citibank bamboozled them into using Credit Cards, there was virtually no inflation and prices were reasonable, bu Panamanians like Americans are addicted to debt, buy now, pay later, and thus the accumulated interest is decreasing the value of the Balboa.
By the way the Bank of Panama, is an offshore branch of the Federal Reserve, apparently through Citigroup, all of that authorized by the Edge Act (Liberia also). They use our paper dollars and their coinage is minted by the US mint in Philadelphia, of the same weight and size as our coins. On return to the states, I used the Panamanian coins in American vending machines, except for the commemorative $10 coin, the size of a Silver Dollar, still have it.
Ergo Panama is a charade of a sovereign nation, which George H.W. Bush violated without any objection or condemnation from the UN, if it were a sovereign nation, he would have been called on the carpet.
By the way I met Noriega when he was the Deputy for Transportation, he was a ruthless shady character then, I was in performance of official duties, he played the roll of bagman for cocaine that was flowing out of Nicaragua and Colombia,with the blessing of the CIA and govenment. He got into trouble because he committed the cardinal sin of a bagman, that is dipping his grubby fingers into the bag, and that could not stand.
By the way, Avenida Balboa, which ran along the Pacific ocean, and was and probably is scenic and beautiful is where the Papal Embassy is located,and next to it, then, was the CIA bank, Merchant Midland. I drove past them every day on my way to work.
As usual I wander far afield.
As regards Garland he didn't wait far too long to take on the insurrectionist, it took him over a year to even indict the low level idiots who see Trump as their savior and avatar.
He was shamed into it by J6 and peer criticism,other wise he wouldn't even prosecuted the low level insurrectionist most of whom, his Trump humping attorneys recommended a virtual slap on the wrists with misdemeanors, not felonies which they all deserved.
Also he has not even considered indicting Matt Gaetz who is guilty of violating the Mann Act and statutory rape, nor George "Santos" whatever his real name is, who is guilty of lies, violating campaign laws, corruption and who knows what else, while Gaetz is leading the charge to destroy our country
And once again Biden the weaks fault his lack of a spine, is coming back to bite him and our nation, as the real perps,in Congress and the former White house, save for Trump, are even being investigated, much less prosecuted by Garland.
Meanwhile a courageous County Prosecutor in Georgia is doing the work Garland should be doing, He even "spun the wheel" to enable Trump humping judge Aileen Cannon, to rule over Trumps crimes in Mar a Lago, By the way, it is a shoddy excuse to prosecute Trump in Florida, because that is where the crime occurred. That is a lie, because it occurred in DC, when Walt Nauta and his staff, loaded those boxes on the plane for transport to Florida.
We are being bull shitted and our "liberal press" is an accomplice.
Its totally absurd. Republicans act primarily as a clearinghose for manipulative media propaganda, and they must constantly bombard the public with bullshit to prevent people from understanding not only what's true but what's important. Thom goes a long way towards helping them with this today, given the almost total lack of information here about Smith's indictments - perhaps the most important legal prosecutions since the civil war. Yesterday's piece was seemingly written by someone who went up into a spaceship in June and who had no access to any information about Smith's cases and indictments over the last couple of months .
I am someone who is a subscriber to the Hartmann report and hasn't seen the notice about how you're the moderator of everything in this forum.
I am also the one who tried to inform you that the NY Law of defamation applies to you when you make false statements about people or create false labels for people who are not public figures and publish those statements to a forum like this. (Although, as in other cases, you seemingly failed to grasp the gist of that!)
William, just forget this piece of 💩💩💩💩! He’s not worth raising your blood pressure over, nor wasting time to communicate with. You can’t communicate with MAGA 🐑🐑🐑🐑!
The only thing I don't like is Fox News parading as liberal commentary. Anyone looking at your description of Justice Brennan can see who the real troll is. It's one thing to constantly publish stupid shit that any decent law student would correct, it's another thing for attacking someone personally for doing so.
I call B.S. on your defense of Garland.Why is he so important to you, are you a relative or a gopher?
Garland's indictments. You mean his indictment of Gaetz (laughs), his indictments of Ivanka and Jr for their well known and documented crimes, or just those of Hunter Biden.
His indictment of low level insurrectionists and giving the instigators in Congress a pass?
Maybe you mean appointing Jack Smith, after being subject to peer and public pressure after the J6 hearings.
So far, all he has gotten out of being a Biden is excessive prosecution.
He is the ADULT son of the president, who has no actual control over him.
He is also a sad, fucked up addict.
How many American families have to deal with the same?
This extreme bullying permeates every corner of the MAGA world and is unleashed on every public outlet available to Democrats and Progressives.
I commented a few days ago on the public page of my governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham. The post was a tribute to the heroes of 9-11. I commented “Thank You Governor”. This unleashed a torrent of bile that would have scared me if there was any way at all for them to find my physical location.
Some of it was anti-Semitic, such as the reply saying “shut the fuck up, Big Nose bitch”.
Some was just full of hatred for any and all democrats. It bled over into my Facebook messages. A few suggested I kill myself. One hoped I would have a fatal heart attack with my family watching. I reported all of it and blocked them all without responding. Facebook says none of this violates their supposed “community standards”.
None of this is personal. They don’t know me. They just want to exterminate Jews and Democrats. This is how the holocaust started.
I remember Biden taking a stand at the beginning to not let his presidency or his life be about Trump. Then, I remember his decision to stay out of any legal matter involving his son Hunter. I think both decisions were wise.
The individuals behind MAGA want to start a civil war in the US. Some knowingly, others are having their bigotries and fear played upon to this ideological end. You are right to compare this vile scapegoating to the initial historic stages of the Holocaust. The men and women directly involved in that movement also believed that exterminating The Others would prove a Final Solution to their grievances.
Yes , and pathetically there were soon to be victims, who refused to believe that Hitler meant what he wrote in Mein Kampf, or in is many speeches, even after Kristal Knacht, in at least one instance saying that, that Hitler fellow can't be that bad.,like someone sleeping on a active rail road track.
And then there was war weary England and France, the only country that saw the threat was Poland.
Speaking of chickenshit, various legal experts now use that specific term to describe what Nixon resigned over with respect to the Watergate scandal, as compared to what's involved in Smith's and Willis' indictments. Maybe Thom will write about this as well at some point.
You really do have a case against Thom, don't you. Always flagellating , berating and beating a dead horse (not that Thom is a dead horse) but the cliche applies.
Why do you even bother to read and comment? Looking for an opportunity to berate Thom. Whose side on you own, certainly not the side of Democracy, equality and freedom.
I agree and do hope Hartmann investigates this history too.
It is still not clear to me exactly what the Nixon era was really about. In hindsight it seems to have been a political battle between reactionaries which extreme neo liberalists won in order to deregulate the economy.
From what I might misremember Nixon’s administration tried to introduce a Guaranteed Basic Income to ameliorate the inevitable socio economic iniquities attendant upon the introduction of fiat money.
Then…Watergate.
A clarification on the timing of his deserved criminal conviction and any link to the rise of a US corporate oligarchy would be welcome.
Good point. The clean water act, the EPA, all Nixon, with the exception of his Southern Strategy, and his treason with Vietnam in the Paris Peace accords, he was a liberal, in the same way that LBJ, a Southern Democrat was a liberal, but a captive of the media and MIC that wanted a war (war is profitable for both)
In a way, Nixon was more liberal than Biden, who was sponsored, guided,mentored by the Senates most virulent Dixiecrats, Eastland and Thurmond,surely what engrams he picked up influence his thinking today.
I’m so angry over this Hunter Biden and the day care that has become the House of Representatives and Feckless Quevin the director of dipshittyness. I want to know why Democrats are keeping their lips zipped. Not speaking up how the inexistent law that drug addicts cannot purchase guns, that Hunter is being charged with something that isn’t illegal scares the daylights out of me. If it’s for lying on a legal doc, how about Tuberville lying about where he lives and the same with TN Speaker of the House. Many Republicans seem to have the same issue of not knowing where home is.
Republicans not knowing where they live is incompetence, it’s also illegal but no one’s going after them for clearly breaking real laws. Why is that?
For Democrats to stay quiet and not making a peep referring to Jared and Ivanka Kushner and their ill begotten gains is every bit as cowardly as Donald Trump’s bone spurs.
Democrats, how are you allowing this to go unanswered? Open your mouths and start defending our laws. Hunter Biden is being railroaded to prison while the likes of Kyle Rittenhouse had broken no laws by planning to go to a demonstration where he singled out 2 people he felt he had the right to declare himself judge, jury and executioner. Fine, fine, that’s all fine, sure it was done all above board legally.
But the nonexistent law that checking a box stating you’re not addicted to drugs when you are is unenforceable since it was found to be an infringement on Americans 2nd A rights to keep drug addicts from purchasing guns.
I guess I could use the argument that all the democratic institutions in our country could scream from the rooftops that this has no standing in a court of law would be completely ignored by news outlets and mainstream media to report that Joe Biden is still old. But leaving Trump’s age and serious mental health/delusions of grandeur over shadowed by his complete lack of human dignity and that he’s nothing but a downright evil bastard cannot be discussed??
I’m so over Merrick Garland and his rolling over every time something might inadvertently, possibly, could have the appearance of being partisan. So he’ll just sit here with his thumbs up his backside appearing to have never seen the inside of a courtroom.
Enough is enough. Democrats, start demanding answers. I know I want to know why the DOJ seems to be hellbent on shredding Americans rights and letting made up charges stand , and this isn’t the first time.
Democrats are timid, consensus seekers, they still believe America is the same as in the 1970's, and we are paying the price. There really does need to be a ground swell of shaming, to jerk them out of their somnolence, and become aggressive.
Aggression works, capture the lizard brain, and the prize is yours. That's he secret the Republicans have long known, at least since Newt Gingrich, Roger Ailes and Frank Luntz
People are motivated by fear, and the Republicans have perfected the ability to agitate the Lizard Brain in their favor, while Democrats delude themselves into thinking that people are rational, and economic. Those that are financially distressed don't vote, or if they do they vote for the party that captures the lizard brain. Those that are well off, take their situation for granted. And fear their loss of power and security, of which the Republicans are experts at invoking fear.
We are in a crisis of a lack of critical thinking in this country brought on by years of simplistic right wing gaslighting. The hate machines of the right leaning “news” media from Limbaugh (sorry good riddance), Beck, Huckabee, “Faux Snooze”, have produced mind melted inbred morons who have nothing but hate directed towards anything or anyone they fear, perceive as different or don’t understand facts and reality. Unfortunately some of these low information cretins have somehow been elected to office. These evil cretinous people in power are hell- bent on forcing their fascist conspiracy fueled ideology on the rest of us by electing a mob boss rapist/ traitor criminal for president and still worshiping him as the answer to all their grievances. Also unfortunately many in the military and law enforcement believe in that same ideology. It’s now coming out that the DOJ were very aware of Jan 6 militias’ involvement but because they were considered “good ole boys “and “patriotic” participants the intel was waved off. And of course we know tRump installed his “yes” men and women in core government positions to overlook his criming. Someday this horrific tRump right wing episode as well as the corruption of the Republican Party from Reagan to the present will be documented in all its dirty and dark political shenanigans, hopefully as an indictment of the rot and corruption of excessive dark money in our political system.
You've got it half-right because you ignore the left-wing gaslighting that directs liberals to support judgment-addled warmongers like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. The Trump episode will end only when liberals realize that MSNBC and NPR are sources of propaganda for the imperialist oligarchy, which might sound preferable to a fascist theocracy but one ultimately leads to the other.
I almost agree, But calling the US Imperialist, is just wrong, well there was the Bush crime family,and Trump who is a Putinist, who is an imperialist.
I admit and charge the U.S. with economic imperialism, but because they too are beholden to international corporations and financial powers like the World Bank and IMF, or even Citibank, Goldman Sachs, , and bank of America.
But the US is not imperialist like it was when it occupied the Philippines, which it no longer does. However it does dabble, at the behest of banks and corporations in the internal affairs of countries, like overthrowing Mossadegh, which led to the Mullahcracy in Iran, and trying to pull of a coup and destabilize Venezuela because Chavez had the audacity to think that Venezuela owned its own oil, thus causing anguish and anger to Exxon Mobil, who thought it was theirs. and want it back.
Another unintended consequence by fellating Exxon Mobil, the government (mostly Republican controlled) has forced Maduro to partner with the Russians and Chinese, just as they did to Cuba when Castro ran the mafia and i'ts homegrown elite to Miami, leaving Castro to turn to Russia for support.
And not having learned a lesson, they have done the same to Africa and the Mideast.
Resulting in those countries forming an alliance with Russia and China, one that they will regret, most certainly, but people live for today and the hell with the morrow.
Check out the list of the Association of Primary Dealers in Government Securities to find the real bosses and of course the chemical carbon industry cabal, and now Big Tech
Thom, I've been meaning to ask you for several months: Where are the millionaire/billionaire democrat club? I thought there is one?? They never created a radio station to stand up to Fox et al? But, they could between 10 of them donate a huge amount to Free Speech TV or even more if a few more of them donated???? Biden is too much of a good guy as he should of gotten rid of all the Trump appointees and had a Special Council to investigate Jared and Ivanka. What have the dems learned over the last three decades? Clinton so called scandals of the 90's and only got him on a lie about mutual consent and John Kerry in 2000's, then Obama birth place, Hillary Clinton again, and now Biden.
Good question. There may be a few, but millionaires today are a dime a dozen. Billionaires are where the power is. George Soros is a billionaire, he does do some philanthropic and political contributions, but he doesn't really get involved where it matters, by owning media, and financing candidates where it matters.
Correction-- Biden is to weak and entrenched in a corrupted system of "compromise" and "bipartisanship" to get rid of all the Trump appointees, which of course he should have. And he is too much like a Republican not to empathize with them.
I have patiently been waiting but this administration has failed in so many ways to hold the GOP perpetrators accountable. Also the states have these same issues all assaults on our democracy. They will get away with it because Biden needs to swing badly. Look at congress. Everyday we see children elected in high power seats collecting taxpayer funded money while democracy is under assault
Where does Soros but his money where it counts? I thought Gates' were donating to both sides. Thirdly I think that is a great place to put his money as the oceans are part of our survival or disastrous destruction.
There is no real opposition to corrupt transnational corporate oligarchs in the Big Three English speaking postwar democracies (USA,UK AUS) because they have already entirely captured mass media. I place the inflection point of their taking absolute control just after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Murdoch and his transnational mobster owned media cartel spend good money making sure that any ‘opposing’ voices are kept on a short controlled leash, convenient for playing the binary politics game for the gullible mass voter.
GB’s present day ‘Labour’ party are a recent example. Entirely owned by Murdoch as is the Conservative party.
They will Catch and Kill any real opposition whether by character assassination - GB’s Jeremy Corbyn or the Biden family - or actual assassination
- as in the GB’s last true Labour party leader the still much missed John Smith.
So Hunter is being treated like a black man or a poor man. Selective treatment is not Justice.
You don't have to push the d o j very hard to fold when most of them are Trump sympathizers and democracy hating fascists themselves including Merrick Garland.
I have observed over time that all of the religious theocratic Nations are third world. Apparently, the trickle down theory doesn't work, somebody needs to tell the right wing airheads, the truth, but religious people are religious because they can't handle the truth. Raising the minimum wage has helped fund social security and can get us out of deficit spending that the Republicans have caused by obstruction and tax cuts for the wealthy, unfunded wars, bank bailouts and Trump grafting. With the price of oil going up thanks to Russia and Saudi Arabia, there will be inflation, caused by the right wingers. Also with global warming and floods and droughts there will be food shortages in the future which will cause inflation, caused by the right wingers. If that is not bad enough, supply chain disruptions will happen due to greed and that will cause inflation. The GOP billionaires want to blame inflation on Biden and on the minimum wage, which is the only thing keeping America going right now. While they own it.
Everyday the assault on democracy continues and those we have elected fail to address these issues plus the ongoing COVID spread. We have elected officials encouraging no masks no vaccines which affects the health of all. They caved in to no masks. These are GOP and can be viewed as failure. This can be prevented but this administration fails to be bold.
Also Biden had a chance to expunge all of the Trump humpers from DOJ, DOD, NHS, NSA, etc
by using Trump's EO 13957 that created Schedule F civil servants, who then replaced protected civil servants, but in service to his bipartisan ideology of compromising and losing, he revoked it with EO 14003, on his first day in office, thus tying his hand behind his back. He could have used Trump's EO to rid DOJ, etc of Trump humpers, but his failure resulted in Trump humping Weiss chasing after Hunter.
He has only himself to blame, and if this leads to a Trump presidency, then we will all suffer, including the Trump humpers.
Right, because just like William Brennan, perhaps the most important liberal democrat to ever sit on the Court, Garland once moderated a panel at Federalist society.
Again, mirroring other comments today, its clear you understand nothing at all about the DOJ or federal criminal prosecutions, havent read any of the indictments, and would never even think about whether Garland's success or failure may largely depend on whether the DOJ is following its enforcement manual and standard procedures, something that hundreds or perhaps thousands of expert prosecutors and attorneys could assess based on the way things work in our legal system.
Instead you fall for these seemingly right-wing-funded assassinations of someone that was not only "foolishly" appointed AG by Biden, but was nominated to the Supreme Court by a constitutional law professor named Barack Obama.
I try to avoid personalizing comments but here you constantly personalize every single issue, in this case its Garland. After you read this it will be me - a so-called "Putin puppet" or whatever dumb label you assign.
How ignorant, naive and gullible to promote the character assassination of the man who is perhaps the most well-respected lawyer in the field and perhaps in the best position of anyone to help save our democracy, who has successfully done all kinds of things you have repeatedly predicted on this forum would never, ever happen. Looking at all the erroneous things you've said - if it was me, I would be embarrassed and I might not continue to display my ignorance so boldly.
I try to avoid personalizing in comments, but your comments personalize everything, and usually contribute little more than ad hominem attacks on all kinds of people. The substance of my comments is not shared by just a majority of the experts in the public forum, its shared be effectively ALL of them. This is Glenn Kirschner, its Legal AF, strict scrutiny, harry litman, its McCabe's "jack" podcast, its all the expert guests on MSNBC - ALL of them, and there are many. But for it, you want to attack ME.
The old adage compares "opinions" to the part of the body that excretes waste - the adage is that everyone has one. So instead of pounding yours - which in connection with Garland has already proven to be so wrong and uninformed - every single day, why not cite something. Tell use what any reputable legal expert says, instead of the ridiculousness that appeals to uninfomed cranks.
Brennan was not a liberal, he was a conservative Republican , he was appointed by Ike, but when he became Justice, he had a broader view, perhaps because he was seated for life and no longer had to slop from the trough of donors. The Supreme court of the past, and the Federalist society of the past are not the same as today. Just like the Republican party of Ike is not the Republican party of Trump (nor will it be again).
As regards assassinating the character of Garland, I am only pointing out facts. What about Garland being vetted to Obama by the arch right winger of the Senate Orrin Hatch R-UT
Curious as to why you are so hell bent on defending Garland, with obfuscation and both sides ism.?
Its funny, I think a lot of people mistakenly think that Brennan was a republican because he was appointed by Ike.
This is wikipedia-level stuff.
It will tell you in the first paragraph who the leader of the liberal wing of the (what's now considered to have been a liberal) court, was. And that he was a Democrat.
Man, when you get things wrong you don't mess around. You really have to consider where you are getting your information from when wikipedia-level information tells you that Brennan was an outspoken liberal throughout his career, and played a leading role in the Warren Court's expansion of individual rights. Let alone that this fellow is one of the greatest American architects of modern constitutional principles that all progressives value.
Its a terrible thing to be so misinformed about someone so important, and so influential in all progressive viewpoints and constitutional analysis. We are referring to someone considered to be among the Court's most influential members, and what you just said could not be more wrong.
Of course I know wikipedia. I was an editor, until I lost interest and create(started) 8 articles, all of which war edited by other editors, no article belongs to the creator, the final product is often not what the OP started.
But I do know this about WP, each article has a watch list, and it is zealously guarded by editors who have a deeply personal interest, And if the don't like a contribution, then they revert it, and if you revert the revert you will get forwarded to a committed (also volunteers) and they will warn you about revert wars, and if you insist you get blocked or banned.
I once posted (using reliable secondary sources, like the Christian Monitor) about the treason of Nixon and Reagan, and was reverted. There is a talk page (left hand side) of WP articles which are more interesting than the articles themselves. I've witnessed and been engaged on these talk pages, and it is quite revealing. There are editors (all are volunteers) that have a religious,political, ideological or personal interest in an article, and hover over it to revert or modify any edit that invalidates, the myth that they wish to project. Most articles are innocous, but same evoke a strong response. Such as Icebreaker, by Suvrovov who explicitly proves that Stalin actually started WWII, or another clown who is a descendant of Puritans, when I tried to correct (using secondary sources) the Puritan myth, especially about the founding of America.
(Actually self governance started in 1619 in Virginia, when the crown granted the House of Burgess self governance.
The edits I tried to make on Reagan and Nixon, were reverted, and beware, there is a clique of editors that even meet in a conference, but even if they don't they are long time editors and belong to a clique that back each other up.
So much for WP when it comes to religion and politics. You would be amused to view the talk pages on Donald Trump, he has more than one page, and the Magats are all over it,
The thing about WP which is it's claim to objectivity is that it requires reliable secondary sources for your edits, but that doesn't matter when the antagonist is a member of the clique and knows how to play the guidelines and style game.
I am wrong, only because you say so, and you reach irrelevantly into the past (citing Brennan) as an excuse, and completely obfuscating the fact that the Federalist Society of old is not the Federalist Society of Leonard Leo.
The point you are trying to make is a red herring, a distraction and it doesn't work.
So quoting wikipedia does not influence me or validate you.
Cool. I only referenced Wikipedia to point out what's out there at the most basic level of analysis, so that perhaps anyone else might want to compare that source to you on basic facts about the most important justices of the last century. As for me, I long ago told you I have no interest in your comments and requested that you not constantly troll mine. The only primary comment of yours I responded to is the one that mimics what Fox News wants it's hapless viewers to believe about certain people, turned around so that supposed lefties come to the same false conclusions. All of it obviously based on a lack and mischaracterization of basic things about doj, that anyone familiar with it would see through. Many live in this media-concocted world where nobody reads source material but lawyers and judges can't and don't do that. And as I've pointed out before, there is a massive imbalance in the playing field due to laws and policies governing prosecutions- people like merrick garland really can't say much about this stuff, but while everyone else is trying to force the issues through a made up media lense, the court proceedings are real.
And every single day, these very kinds of debates about law and the people involved are raging in our courts where (even Republican) judges are telling certain people to take their crap theories and take their hypothetical speculation in bullshit and get it out of the court, and focus on what's true, and what can be proved.
I shudder to think how deeply embedded fascist cult members there may actually be throughout the federal government. A full inventory of the damage done (by 45 et al) may never be completed. As Milton Mayer wrote, I paraphrase, physically, the forms of the nation are the same, but the spirit is changed. "Now you live in a world of hate and fear ..."
Biden is letting this fester. These people are getting radicalized. We have nazis imbedded everywhere and Biden or Garland let it fester. 4 people were killed a few weeks ago. The assault on democracy continues and the nazis want to grab hold. Never imagined US this corrupt is mind boggling why this administration is letting it all rip.
If you read Smith's DC indictment you will see that the DOJ under Merrick Garland included a summary of how the DOJ itself had been compromised and weaponized under Trump to start investigating (or reporting that it was investigating) Giuliani and Trump's false allegations about voting fraud during the election. This important component of one of the most important legal cases in US history isnt even discussed in our media, and its hard to imagine that such information about the DOJ at large could be included in an indictment without Garland's input. THIS should be in the media more than anything about Hunter.
But information about how Merrick Garland does things that heroically support our democracy, and how that now supports Smith's ability to prosecute and convict these criminals...
simply just don't cut it around here, because it may contradict with the lazy, unsupported narratives about how (in the words of such legal "experts" as CNN's Brianna Keilar) Garland "dithered." Or, alternatively perhaps, the host of the "number one progressive radio show" just doesnt have an hour or so to read and assess the indictment that the prosecutors say "everyone should read" - that's seemingly the case, because no aspect of the indictments has really even been referenced in the Hartmann report - something that it perhaps shares with Fox News.
While it may seem real nice to have more stories about dithering, for this type of lazy media coverage all you need is CNN or twitter :
And we know that republicans must have stories like this to distract and deceive people so they dont focus on the extensive criminality of the trump horde being prosecuted for extensive crimes. And republicans win when this takes priority over the real criminal cases, as it does here today.
In contrast, there are a host of legal radio / podcast shows hosted by real legal experts like GLenn Kirschner who on a daily basis shred these stupid narratives and explain the real world of criminal prosecution.
To be more specific about how lacking these lazy Garland memes are, ask whether the DOJ has an enforcement manual and related policies, and ask whether - in a politically charged and politically risky environment, where the House is now controlled by republicans - its smart and appropriuate for Garland (at every step) to ensure that DOJ is following its standard policiesd and procedures without political bias.
This is such a basic point and its so lost here. Listen to or read ANY of the reputable legal experts to see how magnificently this DOJ has handled the Trump election and documents cases, and what heros both Garland and Smith are. Even fellow progressive radio host Dean Obeidallah takes Thom to school about this, saying recently that the public fails to recognize how much personal and professional risk these members of the DOJ are subjecting themselves to.
Yesterday's article was basically a "mockery of a travesty of a mockery of two travesties of a sham" (in the words of Woody Allen's character, on trial in "Bananas"), and today's isnt much better, as the Hartmann reports continues to ignore the essential aspects of the indictments and prosecutions of perhaps the most important legal cases since the civil war.
Apparently you have a need to not only defend Garland but to lionize him, why is that?
Garland is a fox in the henhouse, invited in by Biden. He never appointed a special counsel to investigate the Trump Children, but he did to investigat Hunter. He never apointed a speciall council to investiage and indict the J6 malefactors in Congress. He has not indicted Matt Gaetz, though there is plenty of evidence that Gaetz violated the Mann Act and is guilty of at least stautatory rape..
And as I repeatedly said, he was vetted to Obama by that arch right winger Orrin Hatch R-UT, and showed his true colors by being a moderator for the Federalist Society. Anyone ever employed by the Federalist Society, is an enemy of democracy, because that is what the Federalist Society, like Alexander Hamilton and many of our founding fathers, they were rich white men, who wanted to mold America into a new version of Royalty, complete with nobles, and thus enfranchised only white, property owning males.
Actually I have little knowledge of Garland himself, but a lot of experience in related areas, enough to see clear through people who bullshit about how things have worked at doj under this ag when they aren't sensitive to any of the typical factors that go into how cases are opened and prosecuted, especially these types of cases.
I too have said that what is going on reminds me of when the Nazis were rising to power. It has been clear since at least 2020 that Republicans are afraid of violence to their family from Trump incited vigilantes, and the White Supremacist militia and mobs. Prof Kathleen Belew details in her book Bring the War Home: White Power Movement and Para military America the ways that this group has been operating since right after the Vietnam War. Trump is the new proxy leader. Representatives Cheney (who then lost) and Kinzinger (who already was stepping down) were the only two Republicans brave enough to stand up to this vicious mob and be on the January 6 Committee. Kinzinger was moved by his beliefs as a Christian to do what was right. He also received threats to his family, and as far as I can see was basically driven out. I am glad that protection is being offered, but the people behind this should be in bars. The USA should follow what IL is doing, which is to use no cash bail. If you pose a danger you are locked up, and otherwise you are out without bail. There are so many Republicans and Republican supporters who should be behind bars because Fani Willis has rightfully defined their behavior as violating the RICO act. This is not democracy and has no place in the USA!
Bottom line: terrorism works. Thom, is there historical paradigm for slide down this rabbit hole to actually be arrested? Figured you were the one to ask.
Regarding a potentially useful historical paradigm I would highly recommend Christopher Clark’s recent masterpiece on a similarly socially turbulent period: Revolutionary Spring. Fighting for a New World 1848-1849: Allen Lane (2023).
I Googled, somehow wondered if focus was Europe, then saw same author has Going to War in 1914 book. thanks! Both of these periods in America special to me. (long story) I just don't know that the WWWeb, you know, isn't a wild card that defeats prior paradigms. Human nature was crappy before. Human nature on satellite? We are so self-screwed.
I am so tired, tired, tired of reading about Trumps Vengeance Train.
These are the people who belong in jail, along with their cowardly leader who is calling the filthy shots.
Donald Trump is such a crybaby, if anyone opposes him in any way, he sics his throng of vengeance monkeys on them.
The cruelty is the point.
And Merrick Garland , cowering before them , is useless.
This is how this country has become a caldron of simpering fear, because of one deranged man , appointed by Putin to be the Chief manipulator of the Justice Department and all of the federal institutions he is afraid of .
No wonder no charges were brought by the Justice Department for two years after he ( Donald Trump) attempted to overthrow the duly elected president by his well practiced lies. He’s lied about everything.
He was a lousy president, but a great liar in chief who even now continues his attacks on democracy on a daily basis.
He has done more for pushing hate in this country , than anything else.
He continues to be the best voice for fear mongering.
He’s violated every tenet of reasonable adherence to warnings by the judges
regarding the use of his hate speech intimidating witnesses and opponents of his slimy mob like behaviours.
Merrick Garland should step down .
He has totally aborted any reasonable attempts at quelling this madness.
And everyone is suffering because of it. .
Yet there seems to be no one, especially no judge, willing to place a gag order on the filth he's spewing from his mouth. I'm reminded of Osama bin Laden, who did no violence himself, but inspired others through his rhetoric to commit great atrocities.
It amazes me , on some level all fear. I keep hoping that there is a method to their madness.
I’m sick of all the bull 💩about Hunter Biden. The guy has had a drug problem sndand is, has been, working his backside off to get and stay clean. Is this a reason to persecute him because nothing can be found on his father, our President?
I want to know where all of these Republicans were with all the dealings Trumps son-in-law m, Jarrod, and his daughter, whom were both working in the White House, and their dealings with Saudi Arabia? They’re still dealing with Saudi Arabia!
Why were these same bunch of Republicans raising pure hell, calling fir investigations, and all this other stuff they’re doing with Hunter Biden?
I would think that doing a couple multi-BILLION dollar deals with Saudi Arabia, while working for the United States government, under the behest of you dear father, or father-in-law, would call for some investigations!
If the Trumpublicans were as worried about the economy, the debt, the budget, the climate, the infrastructure, and everything else going on in this country, this country would be a lot better off. President Biden would’ve able to get things dive in Congress that needs to be done, starting with the budget!
Now, these clowns have been back one week from break. Not one thing has been accomplished in the House of Representatives to benefit the American people. Not one thing. Another week wasted! They have wasted 9 months in the House of Representatives by not accomplishing a damn thing. All they’ve done is nothing bit try to investigate President Biden, and every member of his family.
I want to know where Merrick Garland stands as to the crimes of Jared and Ivanka. Hunter Biden is not in public office, neither are Ivanka and Don Jr, both are guilty of crimes worse than Hunters, yet that right winger, Garland, has not appointed a special counsel to investigate them.
Another item that reveals Garland for who he really is.
Then again Garland is a problem created by Biden, and the chicken comes home to roost.
My sentiments exactly. Those two should be under a jail, right along with Frumpy. It’s crazy how the Trumpublicans can cause all thus, wasting millions of tax dollars investigating 💩💩💩💩that has no need being investigated. Calling fir impeachment when they have nothing to impeach on.
In the meanwhile, this nation is going to go into default, shutdown, run out if money, because the Trumpublicans are pissed iff they can’t get their fearless leader back in the White House to turn this Democracy into a Dictatorship.
Garland was Obama's big choice...Supreme Court nominee....
Not quite my dead, either you are too young and haven't followed the news and politics, are you are willfully blind to the fact. That Garland was not Obama's big choice. There was a Supreme court vacancy, and Obama wanted to fill it with anyone that could pass the grilling and opposition of the Republicans, so he asked the arch Right Wing senator of that decade, Orrin Hatch R-UT for his choice of candidate, and he chose another right winger, Merrick Garland. Mitch McConnell with an election coming up, was not about to give Obama a win, so despite the ideological brother hood of McConnell and Garland, McConnell refused to let Garland come up for a vote. If he had, people like you, and knee jerk apologists, would find themselves dismayed by a right winger, and a man who actually worked for the Federalist Society, sitting on the seat contaminated by bigots and crooks, and instead of Gorsuch voting with the other five right wingers,it would be Garland.
Biden selected Garland,because he was guided by advisors, and was friends of Mitch (he considers Mitch McConnell a friend), in fact he considers all Sen ate Republicans as friends it's a club, a little tribe and Biden is part of it, over 30 years in the senate and mentored and nurtured by Dixiecrat racisist like Eastland and Thurmond, we are fortunate in that he has done a slight turnaround, at least in the culture war. I give him credit for signing the Defense of Marriage act which legalized LGBT marriage through out the country, and for advising Obama not to have the government defend against Obergefell
Which in itself is an example of the DOJ, taking direction from the Executive, meanwhile Biden because of Republican carping and his fear of disturbing the status quo and institutions has handicapped himself, by keeping hands of the DOJ,, something that Trump didn't do, as he used Bill Barr as his personal lawyer and has gotten away with it.
So much for taking the High Road ,doing so spells the end of Democracy.
Anything else you want to argue with me.
And, we were all witness to months of discussion on the Republicans not considering Obama's final nominee, some not even willing to meet with him. [Garland was originally appointed to a District Court by Bill Clinton.] But, for decades, the Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell for decades, declared he would vote against anything any Democratic President puts forth. That's all I know for now. [And now McConnell is too infirm to speak up and present another point of view such as to support Ukraine fully.]
Thanks I do know all of that, but thanks for reminding me the problem started with neo Liberal, corporate crony Bill Clinton. Yet it was Mitch that vetted Garland to Obama. Vetted by the arch right winger in the Senate at the time. And it was Biden who made him AG, and his decision is the snake that swallowed his own tail. Bidens' bipartisan beliefs, left DOJ, DOD, NSA, HSA, and other vital cabinets staffed by Trump appointees. A situation he could have remediedd had he not revoked Trumps EO 13957, that embedded his political appointments like Weiss as full protected civil servants, replacing the previously protect civil servants, and yet the media and Democratic party are mum, and Bidens advisors made a point of having his first offical act to revoke Trumps EO with EO 14003, which he could have used to undue the damage Trump did.
Enuff stupidity & blame to go around!
Besides, Bernie Sanders should have been nominee -- he had millions & millions of supporters! Then, out of nowhere, a meek insider cones outta' nowhere & is nominee?!? We were robbed of a smart, strong man who is not afraid to speak the truth & to defend with all his might, the common man... that's Bernie Sanders! Things must be led from the top, down. I appreciate what Biden was able to do, but he's too nice & believes his old Senate pals in GOP are still good conservatives ~ can't see what rhey are now.
A quality Supreme Court Nominee is not at all the same qualities needed to head the Jusice Dept & be US Att'y General. Garland would've made an excellent SCOTUS! McConnell lied & cheated to not allow Obama his rightful pick for SCOTUS; Then, brazenly breaks the same rule he used, in order to further stack the Court. It now keans so far to the right-eing that I'm shocked it doesn't topple over. And, well whad'ya know...?? We gave dirty Justices -- SCOTUS JUDGES BREAKING THE LAW & GIVING LAME EXCUSES, OR ACTING LIJE LAWS DON'T APPLY TO THEM!
Shocking just how corrupt USA has become in such a short time!
This time since 2016, will forever be known as, "the downfall & demise of American democracy".
The end.
There is one point on which our disagreement is intense. I don't trust Garland for the following reasons
1. He was vetted to Obama for SCOTUS by the arch right winger Orrin Hatch R-UT
2, He served as moderator for the Federalist society, (ergo he is a Federalist) (to forestop a response the Federalist society of Ike is not the Federalist Society of today, but it was still arch conservative, appointees like Brennan changed their tune once they were no longer beholden to the PTB;
3. He did not move on Trump or the J6 conspirators until shamed into it by peers and the J6 committee. And even then the only perps he pursued were the peons, who were used as cannon fodder, by the congressional institigators who have yet to be even investigate or indicted (Boebert, Jordan, Comer, Biggs, Hawley for starters.
His duplicity is on full display now as he has appointed a special counsel, a Trump humping attorney.. Weiss, embedded in DOJ, by Trumps Schedule F (EO 13957) While not even mentioning the worse crimes of Ivanka and Jr.
That's for starters, and if you or anyone else wants to deify Garland, consider his track record to date. He was forced by peers and public, into appointing Jack Smith as special counsel.
The Republicans are a lousy group of ‘new low ‘ politicians. The follow the tune of that jackass trump.
What really is a disappointment is the puny nature of the Justice Depts caving to their BS. Merrick Garland has proven himself a wimp.
I have to agree wholeheartedly with you, Patricia. I’m super disappointed in Merrick Garland.
I’m guessing he’s slow walking everything he goes because he wasn’t approved for the Supreme Court when he was nominated for it,
I’m also really disappointed in the fact that not one indictment has come against and sitting member in the Senate, or House of Representatives. And every one of us can name off at least half-dozen or so in both chambers that need to be inducted, arrested, and criminally tried for their parts in the planning, carrying out, and execution of the January 6th insurrection and the attempt to keep Trump in power.
Garland at best is a conservative Republican, at worse a co conspirator with the authoritarians. Se my response above to Sunny Lynn
I read it, William, and frankly, I have to agree with you. But, on one point, I am going to ask about. Weiss was put on Hunter Biden during the Trump administration? Is that not correct?
That’s one thing. Second, Garland was actually put between the proverbial “rock and hard place”. I served in law enforcement for over 26 years, and although I’m no lawyer by any sense whatsoever, nor would I ever wish to be. But when the January 6 Committee began their investigation, I felt that they were stepping all over the DOJ and the ‘investigation’ that was being conducted there.
Now, having said this, before you climb in my back, yes, in my profession opinion, Garland was definitely slow walking this, and other investigations. At least he wasn’t being forthcoming’ with information about any investigation. I do recall his reply to questioning about the investigation once. Gus statement was “as with all investigations, you must start at the bottom and work your way up.” This is absolutely correct. That’s how it’s done. And, with thus incident alone, we are talking about events that led up to January 6th, January 6th rally, January 6th march to the Capital, the incident(s) at, around, in, the Capital, and the events after the incident at the Capital. So, I knew, from a professional investigator that this was going to take a very very long time to close any part of this mess.
To start with, this entire thing was a cluster f*ck! And that’s putting it mildly. There was no way that the officers at the Capital could hold back, or even detain this crowd. They had no backup. None was ordered by the one person who was responsible to order it, so, after the ‘riot’, ‘attempted coup’, ‘assault’ on the Nation’s Capital, these perpetrators left and went home! Bullshit! The only person physically shot that day was the woman, whom was killed, when she and her cohorts were attempting to break into the Senate chambers.
These officers were ORDERED not to engage with physical, or deadly, force. ORDERED!!! By a whimpering Chief that was as gutless as a baby jackass!
Anyway, no military showed up, no assistance from any other federal, local, or state law enforcement agencies showed up. If they had, this crowd would have been able to have been detained. IF the correct orders would have been given right from the beginning, there would have never been the first person illegally entering the Nation’s Capital. There would have been bodies laying in the steps.
Once thus cried was able to leave, the first, and hardest thing was identification of all of these people. To date, there’s been well over 1,300 identified, arrested, and of that, I think over 300 have been found guilty of numerous charges, and sentenced to everything from long probation to lengthy prison sentences. So, with everything leading up to, and after this incident, SOMEONE at DOJ has been rather busy.
Now, after saying all if this, yes, Garland was way to slow with appointing Jack Smith. Actually, I think I would have fine this right from the get go. And I’m not understanding why this wasn’t done. I feel that Garland, as was other Trump appointees, were left in their positions for a reason. Garland’s DOJ has already started the investigation into January 6th, the 2020 election fraud claims, and so much more that was going on with all of that. It all honesty, changing him world have meant changing the upper echelon immediately under him in the department. That couldn’t happen at that time. It would have created too much chaos in the department. As for other federal offices where the Trump appointees were left to remain. If you recall, Trump ordered them that there could be no communication with Biden, Harris, or any member of their Transition Team. Plus, Trump ordered all records destroyed, immediately. No records were to be in any department by January 20th, 12 noon when Biden was to be sworn in.
So, after the inauguration, I FEEL that Biden left these people in place so he could at least find out what the hell was going on with their department to try to piece this government back together. It’s been an uphill battle for him and Harris this entire administration. This is the first time in modern history that any such act has ever happened after an election. This is the first time that there’s not been a peaceful transfer of power. Thus us the first time that we have ever had a sitting president lose an election, and try to remain in power extorting to such violence, and basically attempt to turn this Democracy into a dictatorship.
Weiss was indeed a Trump appointee as are the most virulent lawyers in the DOJ,, not to mention the DoD, NHS, CBP, DHS. all not only appointed by Trump but embedded as a protected class of civil servants, who took the place of a class of protected civil servants, made at will employees by his EO 13957, and stupidly revoked by Bidens first EO, 14003.
But it was Weiss on his own initiative started to investigate Hunter, and finally he begged Garland to appoint him special counsel and Garland gladly complies, Meanwhile no one in the DoJ showed the same enthusiasm for investigating Ivanka and Jr. Neither Hunter nor Trumps kids are members of the Government, but that hasn't stopped selective prosecution by Garland.
As regards Jan 6. First the invasion was kicked off by a tweet from Boebert, when the first challenge (Arizona) was made by prearrangement with the conspirators in congress and the White house, by Boevert when she tweeted 1776, that was the go signal, the J6 committee knows that, but Liz Cheney steered all inquiries away from Republican congress critters, and focused the committee on Trump.
Weeks before J6, Trump replaced the Sec of the Army and Sec of Defense with cronies, who were briefed to play their part in the insurrection, basically they were told not to answer the phones on J6, when the Capitol would be assaulted. The traitor sitting at the phone desk was the Treasonous subversive Gen Mike Flynn's brother, Lt Gen Charles, since promoted and made commander of Pacific Forces (by Biden)
While Pelosi and Schumer as well as other members of Congress tried to call the Pentagon, to release the National Guard, Trumps "acting" secretaries ignored the calls. Finally the Governor Maryland was called and he released the Emergency Response Force of the Maryland State Police, then the Maryland national guard, and they expelled the insurrectionists, the D.C. National Guard was also released, after the Maryland Guard.
The whole afffair was preplanned and coordinated between the White House, secret service, even the FBI and DHS and NSA, all of those organizations are staffed with conservatives and Trump humpers at that. That Biden hasn't saw fit to clean the Aegean stable is on him, a political coward at the minimum, afraid of antagonizing the MAGAts and Christian Right (both of whom control a lot of votes).
Trump humping Weiss indicting Hunter, well that is on Joe, starting with appointing Merrick and not cleaning DoJ and other Trump humping agencies like DHS and Treasury (Secret service and IRS agents, not to mention the FBI, of Trump humpers.
Chickens come home to roost. As regards him personally, he is reaping what he sowed, as regards for our diverse country and our Democracy I shudder in fear, and if I wasn't myself a few years from my own extinction, I would be finding a way to migrate to Canada, NZ, Costa Rica and Panama. I personally prefer Panama as I lived there three years, and until Citibank bamboozled them into using Credit Cards, there was virtually no inflation and prices were reasonable, bu Panamanians like Americans are addicted to debt, buy now, pay later, and thus the accumulated interest is decreasing the value of the Balboa.
By the way the Bank of Panama, is an offshore branch of the Federal Reserve, apparently through Citigroup, all of that authorized by the Edge Act (Liberia also). They use our paper dollars and their coinage is minted by the US mint in Philadelphia, of the same weight and size as our coins. On return to the states, I used the Panamanian coins in American vending machines, except for the commemorative $10 coin, the size of a Silver Dollar, still have it.
Ergo Panama is a charade of a sovereign nation, which George H.W. Bush violated without any objection or condemnation from the UN, if it were a sovereign nation, he would have been called on the carpet.
By the way I met Noriega when he was the Deputy for Transportation, he was a ruthless shady character then, I was in performance of official duties, he played the roll of bagman for cocaine that was flowing out of Nicaragua and Colombia,with the blessing of the CIA and govenment. He got into trouble because he committed the cardinal sin of a bagman, that is dipping his grubby fingers into the bag, and that could not stand.
By the way, Avenida Balboa, which ran along the Pacific ocean, and was and probably is scenic and beautiful is where the Papal Embassy is located,and next to it, then, was the CIA bank, Merchant Midland. I drove past them every day on my way to work.
As usual I wander far afield.
As regards Garland he didn't wait far too long to take on the insurrectionist, it took him over a year to even indict the low level idiots who see Trump as their savior and avatar.
He was shamed into it by J6 and peer criticism,other wise he wouldn't even prosecuted the low level insurrectionist most of whom, his Trump humping attorneys recommended a virtual slap on the wrists with misdemeanors, not felonies which they all deserved.
Also he has not even considered indicting Matt Gaetz who is guilty of violating the Mann Act and statutory rape, nor George "Santos" whatever his real name is, who is guilty of lies, violating campaign laws, corruption and who knows what else, while Gaetz is leading the charge to destroy our country
And once again Biden the weaks fault his lack of a spine, is coming back to bite him and our nation, as the real perps,in Congress and the former White house, save for Trump, are even being investigated, much less prosecuted by Garland.
Meanwhile a courageous County Prosecutor in Georgia is doing the work Garland should be doing, He even "spun the wheel" to enable Trump humping judge Aileen Cannon, to rule over Trumps crimes in Mar a Lago, By the way, it is a shoddy excuse to prosecute Trump in Florida, because that is where the crime occurred. That is a lie, because it occurred in DC, when Walt Nauta and his staff, loaded those boxes on the plane for transport to Florida.
We are being bull shitted and our "liberal press" is an accomplice.
You are retired law enforcement, William. I don’t have which branch/field, but your retired cop, aren’t you?
You have filled a lot of gaps in my knowledge that I didn’t have. I appreciate that.
Its totally absurd. Republicans act primarily as a clearinghose for manipulative media propaganda, and they must constantly bombard the public with bullshit to prevent people from understanding not only what's true but what's important. Thom goes a long way towards helping them with this today, given the almost total lack of information here about Smith's indictments - perhaps the most important legal prosecutions since the civil war. Yesterday's piece was seemingly written by someone who went up into a spaceship in June and who had no access to any information about Smith's cases and indictments over the last couple of months .
There you go again. An unremarkable defense of Trump with an obtuse both sides ism.
I can't help but notice that time and again you claim some exceptional legal knowledge, but actually never explain anything.
And what in the hell does Jack Smith got to do with the subject. Just another diversion.
Who are you really?
I am someone who is a subscriber to the Hartmann report and hasn't seen the notice about how you're the moderator of everything in this forum.
I am also the one who tried to inform you that the NY Law of defamation applies to you when you make false statements about people or create false labels for people who are not public figures and publish those statements to a forum like this. (Although, as in other cases, you seemingly failed to grasp the gist of that!)
There you go with the threats again. You are a public figure, by virtue of your postings.
The same tactic that Trump uses.
It is not litigous to ask questions, and since you don't answer the questions, you resort to threats.
I'm sure that I have cause for asking you to be blocked, because of your threats.
If you don't like he heat get out of the kitchen.
William, just forget this piece of 💩💩💩💩! He’s not worth raising your blood pressure over, nor wasting time to communicate with. You can’t communicate with MAGA 🐑🐑🐑🐑!
The only thing I don't like is Fox News parading as liberal commentary. Anyone looking at your description of Justice Brennan can see who the real troll is. It's one thing to constantly publish stupid shit that any decent law student would correct, it's another thing for attacking someone personally for doing so.
You are the one that brought Bennan into the conversation, as a means of deflecting criticism from Garland.
Gotcha..
I call B.S. on your defense of Garland.Why is he so important to you, are you a relative or a gopher?
Garland's indictments. You mean his indictment of Gaetz (laughs), his indictments of Ivanka and Jr for their well known and documented crimes, or just those of Hunter Biden.
His indictment of low level insurrectionists and giving the instigators in Congress a pass?
Maybe you mean appointing Jack Smith, after being subject to peer and public pressure after the J6 hearings.
What ever, you have a big fail.
This is the best reporting on the disgusting background to the politically motivated Hunter Biden indictment anywhere. Keep up the good work!
What they have on H. Biden is chickenshit.
So far, all he has gotten out of being a Biden is excessive prosecution.
He is the ADULT son of the president, who has no actual control over him.
He is also a sad, fucked up addict.
How many American families have to deal with the same?
This extreme bullying permeates every corner of the MAGA world and is unleashed on every public outlet available to Democrats and Progressives.
I commented a few days ago on the public page of my governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham. The post was a tribute to the heroes of 9-11. I commented “Thank You Governor”. This unleashed a torrent of bile that would have scared me if there was any way at all for them to find my physical location.
Some of it was anti-Semitic, such as the reply saying “shut the fuck up, Big Nose bitch”.
Some was just full of hatred for any and all democrats. It bled over into my Facebook messages. A few suggested I kill myself. One hoped I would have a fatal heart attack with my family watching. I reported all of it and blocked them all without responding. Facebook says none of this violates their supposed “community standards”.
None of this is personal. They don’t know me. They just want to exterminate Jews and Democrats. This is how the holocaust started.
And they do it on every one of our public spaces.
Why is this administration failing to be bold?
I remember Biden taking a stand at the beginning to not let his presidency or his life be about Trump. Then, I remember his decision to stay out of any legal matter involving his son Hunter. I think both decisions were wise.
So between rock and hard place. If they push back, they confirm propaganda that they have thumb on scale. Win-win for the bad guys.
The individuals behind MAGA want to start a civil war in the US. Some knowingly, others are having their bigotries and fear played upon to this ideological end. You are right to compare this vile scapegoating to the initial historic stages of the Holocaust. The men and women directly involved in that movement also believed that exterminating The Others would prove a Final Solution to their grievances.
Yes , and pathetically there were soon to be victims, who refused to believe that Hitler meant what he wrote in Mein Kampf, or in is many speeches, even after Kristal Knacht, in at least one instance saying that, that Hitler fellow can't be that bad.,like someone sleeping on a active rail road track.
And then there was war weary England and France, the only country that saw the threat was Poland.
This is true. And its responsive to the article.
Speaking of chickenshit, various legal experts now use that specific term to describe what Nixon resigned over with respect to the Watergate scandal, as compared to what's involved in Smith's and Willis' indictments. Maybe Thom will write about this as well at some point.
You really do have a case against Thom, don't you. Always flagellating , berating and beating a dead horse (not that Thom is a dead horse) but the cliche applies.
Why do you even bother to read and comment? Looking for an opportunity to berate Thom. Whose side on you own, certainly not the side of Democracy, equality and freedom.
I agree and do hope Hartmann investigates this history too.
It is still not clear to me exactly what the Nixon era was really about. In hindsight it seems to have been a political battle between reactionaries which extreme neo liberalists won in order to deregulate the economy.
From what I might misremember Nixon’s administration tried to introduce a Guaranteed Basic Income to ameliorate the inevitable socio economic iniquities attendant upon the introduction of fiat money.
Then…Watergate.
A clarification on the timing of his deserved criminal conviction and any link to the rise of a US corporate oligarchy would be welcome.
Good point. The clean water act, the EPA, all Nixon, with the exception of his Southern Strategy, and his treason with Vietnam in the Paris Peace accords, he was a liberal, in the same way that LBJ, a Southern Democrat was a liberal, but a captive of the media and MIC that wanted a war (war is profitable for both)
In a way, Nixon was more liberal than Biden, who was sponsored, guided,mentored by the Senates most virulent Dixiecrats, Eastland and Thurmond,surely what engrams he picked up influence his thinking today.
I’m so angry over this Hunter Biden and the day care that has become the House of Representatives and Feckless Quevin the director of dipshittyness. I want to know why Democrats are keeping their lips zipped. Not speaking up how the inexistent law that drug addicts cannot purchase guns, that Hunter is being charged with something that isn’t illegal scares the daylights out of me. If it’s for lying on a legal doc, how about Tuberville lying about where he lives and the same with TN Speaker of the House. Many Republicans seem to have the same issue of not knowing where home is.
Republicans not knowing where they live is incompetence, it’s also illegal but no one’s going after them for clearly breaking real laws. Why is that?
For Democrats to stay quiet and not making a peep referring to Jared and Ivanka Kushner and their ill begotten gains is every bit as cowardly as Donald Trump’s bone spurs.
Democrats, how are you allowing this to go unanswered? Open your mouths and start defending our laws. Hunter Biden is being railroaded to prison while the likes of Kyle Rittenhouse had broken no laws by planning to go to a demonstration where he singled out 2 people he felt he had the right to declare himself judge, jury and executioner. Fine, fine, that’s all fine, sure it was done all above board legally.
But the nonexistent law that checking a box stating you’re not addicted to drugs when you are is unenforceable since it was found to be an infringement on Americans 2nd A rights to keep drug addicts from purchasing guns.
I guess I could use the argument that all the democratic institutions in our country could scream from the rooftops that this has no standing in a court of law would be completely ignored by news outlets and mainstream media to report that Joe Biden is still old. But leaving Trump’s age and serious mental health/delusions of grandeur over shadowed by his complete lack of human dignity and that he’s nothing but a downright evil bastard cannot be discussed??
I’m so over Merrick Garland and his rolling over every time something might inadvertently, possibly, could have the appearance of being partisan. So he’ll just sit here with his thumbs up his backside appearing to have never seen the inside of a courtroom.
Enough is enough. Democrats, start demanding answers. I know I want to know why the DOJ seems to be hellbent on shredding Americans rights and letting made up charges stand , and this isn’t the first time.
Democrats are timid, consensus seekers, they still believe America is the same as in the 1970's, and we are paying the price. There really does need to be a ground swell of shaming, to jerk them out of their somnolence, and become aggressive.
Aggression works, capture the lizard brain, and the prize is yours. That's he secret the Republicans have long known, at least since Newt Gingrich, Roger Ailes and Frank Luntz
People are motivated by fear, and the Republicans have perfected the ability to agitate the Lizard Brain in their favor, while Democrats delude themselves into thinking that people are rational, and economic. Those that are financially distressed don't vote, or if they do they vote for the party that captures the lizard brain. Those that are well off, take their situation for granted. And fear their loss of power and security, of which the Republicans are experts at invoking fear.
I agree petulant children in high powered seats
We are in a crisis of a lack of critical thinking in this country brought on by years of simplistic right wing gaslighting. The hate machines of the right leaning “news” media from Limbaugh (sorry good riddance), Beck, Huckabee, “Faux Snooze”, have produced mind melted inbred morons who have nothing but hate directed towards anything or anyone they fear, perceive as different or don’t understand facts and reality. Unfortunately some of these low information cretins have somehow been elected to office. These evil cretinous people in power are hell- bent on forcing their fascist conspiracy fueled ideology on the rest of us by electing a mob boss rapist/ traitor criminal for president and still worshiping him as the answer to all their grievances. Also unfortunately many in the military and law enforcement believe in that same ideology. It’s now coming out that the DOJ were very aware of Jan 6 militias’ involvement but because they were considered “good ole boys “and “patriotic” participants the intel was waved off. And of course we know tRump installed his “yes” men and women in core government positions to overlook his criming. Someday this horrific tRump right wing episode as well as the corruption of the Republican Party from Reagan to the present will be documented in all its dirty and dark political shenanigans, hopefully as an indictment of the rot and corruption of excessive dark money in our political system.
You've got it half-right because you ignore the left-wing gaslighting that directs liberals to support judgment-addled warmongers like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. The Trump episode will end only when liberals realize that MSNBC and NPR are sources of propaganda for the imperialist oligarchy, which might sound preferable to a fascist theocracy but one ultimately leads to the other.
I almost agree, But calling the US Imperialist, is just wrong, well there was the Bush crime family,and Trump who is a Putinist, who is an imperialist.
I admit and charge the U.S. with economic imperialism, but because they too are beholden to international corporations and financial powers like the World Bank and IMF, or even Citibank, Goldman Sachs, , and bank of America.
But the US is not imperialist like it was when it occupied the Philippines, which it no longer does. However it does dabble, at the behest of banks and corporations in the internal affairs of countries, like overthrowing Mossadegh, which led to the Mullahcracy in Iran, and trying to pull of a coup and destabilize Venezuela because Chavez had the audacity to think that Venezuela owned its own oil, thus causing anguish and anger to Exxon Mobil, who thought it was theirs. and want it back.
Another unintended consequence by fellating Exxon Mobil, the government (mostly Republican controlled) has forced Maduro to partner with the Russians and Chinese, just as they did to Cuba when Castro ran the mafia and i'ts homegrown elite to Miami, leaving Castro to turn to Russia for support.
And not having learned a lesson, they have done the same to Africa and the Mideast.
Resulting in those countries forming an alliance with Russia and China, one that they will regret, most certainly, but people live for today and the hell with the morrow.
Check out the list of the Association of Primary Dealers in Government Securities to find the real bosses and of course the chemical carbon industry cabal, and now Big Tech
click on list of Primary Dealers to see who is who. https://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/primarydealers
Give it a rest . Thanks so much for your tiresome commentary.
Thom, I've been meaning to ask you for several months: Where are the millionaire/billionaire democrat club? I thought there is one?? They never created a radio station to stand up to Fox et al? But, they could between 10 of them donate a huge amount to Free Speech TV or even more if a few more of them donated???? Biden is too much of a good guy as he should of gotten rid of all the Trump appointees and had a Special Council to investigate Jared and Ivanka. What have the dems learned over the last three decades? Clinton so called scandals of the 90's and only got him on a lie about mutual consent and John Kerry in 2000's, then Obama birth place, Hillary Clinton again, and now Biden.
If I could I’d like this several times!!!!!!
Good question. There may be a few, but millionaires today are a dime a dozen. Billionaires are where the power is. George Soros is a billionaire, he does do some philanthropic and political contributions, but he doesn't really get involved where it matters, by owning media, and financing candidates where it matters.
Correction-- Biden is to weak and entrenched in a corrupted system of "compromise" and "bipartisanship" to get rid of all the Trump appointees, which of course he should have. And he is too much like a Republican not to empathize with them.
We have to stop meeting like this!
Agreed to some of what you say but keep hoping he will become more progressive as some of his actions have taken.
I have patiently been waiting but this administration has failed in so many ways to hold the GOP perpetrators accountable. Also the states have these same issues all assaults on our democracy. They will get away with it because Biden needs to swing badly. Look at congress. Everyday we see children elected in high power seats collecting taxpayer funded money while democracy is under assault
George Soros, Bill and Melinda Gates, and then there's a billionaire who is exploring the depths of the ocean--that takes $$$$.
Where does Soros but his money where it counts? I thought Gates' were donating to both sides. Thirdly I think that is a great place to put his money as the oceans are part of our survival or disastrous destruction.
There is no real opposition to corrupt transnational corporate oligarchs in the Big Three English speaking postwar democracies (USA,UK AUS) because they have already entirely captured mass media. I place the inflection point of their taking absolute control just after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Murdoch and his transnational mobster owned media cartel spend good money making sure that any ‘opposing’ voices are kept on a short controlled leash, convenient for playing the binary politics game for the gullible mass voter.
GB’s present day ‘Labour’ party are a recent example. Entirely owned by Murdoch as is the Conservative party.
They will Catch and Kill any real opposition whether by character assassination - GB’s Jeremy Corbyn or the Biden family - or actual assassination
- as in the GB’s last true Labour party leader the still much missed John Smith.
So Hunter is being treated like a black man or a poor man. Selective treatment is not Justice.
You don't have to push the d o j very hard to fold when most of them are Trump sympathizers and democracy hating fascists themselves including Merrick Garland.
I have observed over time that all of the religious theocratic Nations are third world. Apparently, the trickle down theory doesn't work, somebody needs to tell the right wing airheads, the truth, but religious people are religious because they can't handle the truth. Raising the minimum wage has helped fund social security and can get us out of deficit spending that the Republicans have caused by obstruction and tax cuts for the wealthy, unfunded wars, bank bailouts and Trump grafting. With the price of oil going up thanks to Russia and Saudi Arabia, there will be inflation, caused by the right wingers. Also with global warming and floods and droughts there will be food shortages in the future which will cause inflation, caused by the right wingers. If that is not bad enough, supply chain disruptions will happen due to greed and that will cause inflation. The GOP billionaires want to blame inflation on Biden and on the minimum wage, which is the only thing keeping America going right now. While they own it.
https://www.vox.com/climate/2023/3/14/23637780/willow-project-biden-oil-drilling-climate-change
Everyday the assault on democracy continues and those we have elected fail to address these issues plus the ongoing COVID spread. We have elected officials encouraging no masks no vaccines which affects the health of all. They caved in to no masks. These are GOP and can be viewed as failure. This can be prevented but this administration fails to be bold.
Biden is the author of his own problems. He appointed a right winger to Attorney General, and that right winger Attorney General Merrick B. Garland appointed U.S. Attorney David Weiss to serve as Special Counsel for the ongoing investigation and prosecutions referenced and described in United States v. Robert Hunter Biden, as well as for any other matters that arose or may arise from that investigation https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/appointment-special-counsel-2#:~:text=Attorney%20General%20Merrick%20B.%20Garland,may%20arise%20from%20that%20investigation.
Also Biden had a chance to expunge all of the Trump humpers from DOJ, DOD, NHS, NSA, etc
by using Trump's EO 13957 that created Schedule F civil servants, who then replaced protected civil servants, but in service to his bipartisan ideology of compromising and losing, he revoked it with EO 14003, on his first day in office, thus tying his hand behind his back. He could have used Trump's EO to rid DOJ, etc of Trump humpers, but his failure resulted in Trump humping Weiss chasing after Hunter.
He has only himself to blame, and if this leads to a Trump presidency, then we will all suffer, including the Trump humpers.
Right, because just like William Brennan, perhaps the most important liberal democrat to ever sit on the Court, Garland once moderated a panel at Federalist society.
Again, mirroring other comments today, its clear you understand nothing at all about the DOJ or federal criminal prosecutions, havent read any of the indictments, and would never even think about whether Garland's success or failure may largely depend on whether the DOJ is following its enforcement manual and standard procedures, something that hundreds or perhaps thousands of expert prosecutors and attorneys could assess based on the way things work in our legal system.
Instead you fall for these seemingly right-wing-funded assassinations of someone that was not only "foolishly" appointed AG by Biden, but was nominated to the Supreme Court by a constitutional law professor named Barack Obama.
I try to avoid personalizing comments but here you constantly personalize every single issue, in this case its Garland. After you read this it will be me - a so-called "Putin puppet" or whatever dumb label you assign.
How ignorant, naive and gullible to promote the character assassination of the man who is perhaps the most well-respected lawyer in the field and perhaps in the best position of anyone to help save our democracy, who has successfully done all kinds of things you have repeatedly predicted on this forum would never, ever happen. Looking at all the erroneous things you've said - if it was me, I would be embarrassed and I might not continue to display my ignorance so boldly.
I try to avoid personalizing in comments, but your comments personalize everything, and usually contribute little more than ad hominem attacks on all kinds of people. The substance of my comments is not shared by just a majority of the experts in the public forum, its shared be effectively ALL of them. This is Glenn Kirschner, its Legal AF, strict scrutiny, harry litman, its McCabe's "jack" podcast, its all the expert guests on MSNBC - ALL of them, and there are many. But for it, you want to attack ME.
The old adage compares "opinions" to the part of the body that excretes waste - the adage is that everyone has one. So instead of pounding yours - which in connection with Garland has already proven to be so wrong and uninformed - every single day, why not cite something. Tell use what any reputable legal expert says, instead of the ridiculousness that appeals to uninfomed cranks.
Brennan was not a liberal, he was a conservative Republican , he was appointed by Ike, but when he became Justice, he had a broader view, perhaps because he was seated for life and no longer had to slop from the trough of donors. The Supreme court of the past, and the Federalist society of the past are not the same as today. Just like the Republican party of Ike is not the Republican party of Trump (nor will it be again).
As regards assassinating the character of Garland, I am only pointing out facts. What about Garland being vetted to Obama by the arch right winger of the Senate Orrin Hatch R-UT
Curious as to why you are so hell bent on defending Garland, with obfuscation and both sides ism.?
Its funny, I think a lot of people mistakenly think that Brennan was a republican because he was appointed by Ike.
This is wikipedia-level stuff.
It will tell you in the first paragraph who the leader of the liberal wing of the (what's now considered to have been a liberal) court, was. And that he was a Democrat.
Man, when you get things wrong you don't mess around. You really have to consider where you are getting your information from when wikipedia-level information tells you that Brennan was an outspoken liberal throughout his career, and played a leading role in the Warren Court's expansion of individual rights. Let alone that this fellow is one of the greatest American architects of modern constitutional principles that all progressives value.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Brennan_Jr.
Its a terrible thing to be so misinformed about someone so important, and so influential in all progressive viewpoints and constitutional analysis. We are referring to someone considered to be among the Court's most influential members, and what you just said could not be more wrong.
https://www.brennancenter.org/
Of course I know wikipedia. I was an editor, until I lost interest and create(started) 8 articles, all of which war edited by other editors, no article belongs to the creator, the final product is often not what the OP started.
But I do know this about WP, each article has a watch list, and it is zealously guarded by editors who have a deeply personal interest, And if the don't like a contribution, then they revert it, and if you revert the revert you will get forwarded to a committed (also volunteers) and they will warn you about revert wars, and if you insist you get blocked or banned.
I once posted (using reliable secondary sources, like the Christian Monitor) about the treason of Nixon and Reagan, and was reverted. There is a talk page (left hand side) of WP articles which are more interesting than the articles themselves. I've witnessed and been engaged on these talk pages, and it is quite revealing. There are editors (all are volunteers) that have a religious,political, ideological or personal interest in an article, and hover over it to revert or modify any edit that invalidates, the myth that they wish to project. Most articles are innocous, but same evoke a strong response. Such as Icebreaker, by Suvrovov who explicitly proves that Stalin actually started WWII, or another clown who is a descendant of Puritans, when I tried to correct (using secondary sources) the Puritan myth, especially about the founding of America.
(Actually self governance started in 1619 in Virginia, when the crown granted the House of Burgess self governance.
The edits I tried to make on Reagan and Nixon, were reverted, and beware, there is a clique of editors that even meet in a conference, but even if they don't they are long time editors and belong to a clique that back each other up.
So much for WP when it comes to religion and politics. You would be amused to view the talk pages on Donald Trump, he has more than one page, and the Magats are all over it,
The thing about WP which is it's claim to objectivity is that it requires reliable secondary sources for your edits, but that doesn't matter when the antagonist is a member of the clique and knows how to play the guidelines and style game.
I am wrong, only because you say so, and you reach irrelevantly into the past (citing Brennan) as an excuse, and completely obfuscating the fact that the Federalist Society of old is not the Federalist Society of Leonard Leo.
The point you are trying to make is a red herring, a distraction and it doesn't work.
So quoting wikipedia does not influence me or validate you.
Cool. I only referenced Wikipedia to point out what's out there at the most basic level of analysis, so that perhaps anyone else might want to compare that source to you on basic facts about the most important justices of the last century. As for me, I long ago told you I have no interest in your comments and requested that you not constantly troll mine. The only primary comment of yours I responded to is the one that mimics what Fox News wants it's hapless viewers to believe about certain people, turned around so that supposed lefties come to the same false conclusions. All of it obviously based on a lack and mischaracterization of basic things about doj, that anyone familiar with it would see through. Many live in this media-concocted world where nobody reads source material but lawyers and judges can't and don't do that. And as I've pointed out before, there is a massive imbalance in the playing field due to laws and policies governing prosecutions- people like merrick garland really can't say much about this stuff, but while everyone else is trying to force the issues through a made up media lense, the court proceedings are real.
And every single day, these very kinds of debates about law and the people involved are raging in our courts where (even Republican) judges are telling certain people to take their crap theories and take their hypothetical speculation in bullshit and get it out of the court, and focus on what's true, and what can be proved.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/capitol-breach-cases
https://www.reuters.com/legal/justice-department-seeks-25-year-prison-sentence-oath-keepers-founder-rhodes-2023-05-06/
Sounds to me as though Paul Dans and Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 is already hard at work.
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2023/09/13/plan-25-republican-government
I shudder to think how deeply embedded fascist cult members there may actually be throughout the federal government. A full inventory of the damage done (by 45 et al) may never be completed. As Milton Mayer wrote, I paraphrase, physically, the forms of the nation are the same, but the spirit is changed. "Now you live in a world of hate and fear ..."
Biden is letting this fester. These people are getting radicalized. We have nazis imbedded everywhere and Biden or Garland let it fester. 4 people were killed a few weeks ago. The assault on democracy continues and the nazis want to grab hold. Never imagined US this corrupt is mind boggling why this administration is letting it all rip.
AND....
If you read Smith's DC indictment you will see that the DOJ under Merrick Garland included a summary of how the DOJ itself had been compromised and weaponized under Trump to start investigating (or reporting that it was investigating) Giuliani and Trump's false allegations about voting fraud during the election. This important component of one of the most important legal cases in US history isnt even discussed in our media, and its hard to imagine that such information about the DOJ at large could be included in an indictment without Garland's input. THIS should be in the media more than anything about Hunter.
But information about how Merrick Garland does things that heroically support our democracy, and how that now supports Smith's ability to prosecute and convict these criminals...
simply just don't cut it around here, because it may contradict with the lazy, unsupported narratives about how (in the words of such legal "experts" as CNN's Brianna Keilar) Garland "dithered." Or, alternatively perhaps, the host of the "number one progressive radio show" just doesnt have an hour or so to read and assess the indictment that the prosecutors say "everyone should read" - that's seemingly the case, because no aspect of the indictments has really even been referenced in the Hartmann report - something that it perhaps shares with Fox News.
While it may seem real nice to have more stories about dithering, for this type of lazy media coverage all you need is CNN or twitter :
https://twitter.com/dcjohnson/status/1637113059046227968
And we know that republicans must have stories like this to distract and deceive people so they dont focus on the extensive criminality of the trump horde being prosecuted for extensive crimes. And republicans win when this takes priority over the real criminal cases, as it does here today.
In contrast, there are a host of legal radio / podcast shows hosted by real legal experts like GLenn Kirschner who on a daily basis shred these stupid narratives and explain the real world of criminal prosecution.
To be more specific about how lacking these lazy Garland memes are, ask whether the DOJ has an enforcement manual and related policies, and ask whether - in a politically charged and politically risky environment, where the House is now controlled by republicans - its smart and appropriuate for Garland (at every step) to ensure that DOJ is following its standard policiesd and procedures without political bias.
This is such a basic point and its so lost here. Listen to or read ANY of the reputable legal experts to see how magnificently this DOJ has handled the Trump election and documents cases, and what heros both Garland and Smith are. Even fellow progressive radio host Dean Obeidallah takes Thom to school about this, saying recently that the public fails to recognize how much personal and professional risk these members of the DOJ are subjecting themselves to.
Yesterday's article was basically a "mockery of a travesty of a mockery of two travesties of a sham" (in the words of Woody Allen's character, on trial in "Bananas"), and today's isnt much better, as the Hartmann reports continues to ignore the essential aspects of the indictments and prosecutions of perhaps the most important legal cases since the civil war.
Apparently you have a need to not only defend Garland but to lionize him, why is that?
Garland is a fox in the henhouse, invited in by Biden. He never appointed a special counsel to investigate the Trump Children, but he did to investigat Hunter. He never apointed a speciall council to investiage and indict the J6 malefactors in Congress. He has not indicted Matt Gaetz, though there is plenty of evidence that Gaetz violated the Mann Act and is guilty of at least stautatory rape..
And as I repeatedly said, he was vetted to Obama by that arch right winger Orrin Hatch R-UT, and showed his true colors by being a moderator for the Federalist Society. Anyone ever employed by the Federalist Society, is an enemy of democracy, because that is what the Federalist Society, like Alexander Hamilton and many of our founding fathers, they were rich white men, who wanted to mold America into a new version of Royalty, complete with nobles, and thus enfranchised only white, property owning males.
Actually I have little knowledge of Garland himself, but a lot of experience in related areas, enough to see clear through people who bullshit about how things have worked at doj under this ag when they aren't sensitive to any of the typical factors that go into how cases are opened and prosecuted, especially these types of cases.
This is so outrageous!! The GOP has rigged everything! Even your vote can be easily taken away by many tricks they have pulled.
I too have said that what is going on reminds me of when the Nazis were rising to power. It has been clear since at least 2020 that Republicans are afraid of violence to their family from Trump incited vigilantes, and the White Supremacist militia and mobs. Prof Kathleen Belew details in her book Bring the War Home: White Power Movement and Para military America the ways that this group has been operating since right after the Vietnam War. Trump is the new proxy leader. Representatives Cheney (who then lost) and Kinzinger (who already was stepping down) were the only two Republicans brave enough to stand up to this vicious mob and be on the January 6 Committee. Kinzinger was moved by his beliefs as a Christian to do what was right. He also received threats to his family, and as far as I can see was basically driven out. I am glad that protection is being offered, but the people behind this should be in bars. The USA should follow what IL is doing, which is to use no cash bail. If you pose a danger you are locked up, and otherwise you are out without bail. There are so many Republicans and Republican supporters who should be behind bars because Fani Willis has rightfully defined their behavior as violating the RICO act. This is not democracy and has no place in the USA!
Bottom line: terrorism works. Thom, is there historical paradigm for slide down this rabbit hole to actually be arrested? Figured you were the one to ask.
Regarding a potentially useful historical paradigm I would highly recommend Christopher Clark’s recent masterpiece on a similarly socially turbulent period: Revolutionary Spring. Fighting for a New World 1848-1849: Allen Lane (2023).
I Googled, somehow wondered if focus was Europe, then saw same author has Going to War in 1914 book. thanks! Both of these periods in America special to me. (long story) I just don't know that the WWWeb, you know, isn't a wild card that defeats prior paradigms. Human nature was crappy before. Human nature on satellite? We are so self-screwed.