Since Monday’s search of former president Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property by the FBI, Trump, Trump supporters, and right-wing media have all been accusing the government of executing a political vendetta and speculating that FBI agents might have planted evidence on the property.
The connection between DT holding on to nuclear classified materials and the willingness of DT and associates ... with proper compensation ... to set up Saudi Arabia and MBS with the knowledge and capability to become a nuclear power ... if true which we do not know at this point ... would point straight to Treason against the United States of America by DJT. I wish this lousy movie would end and we could be done with it and its continual distractions keeping us from focusing on moving forward with hope and a better world.
Yes, and it also makes me wonder if there is one agent on Trump's Secret Service detail who heard this sort of thing being discussed and decided his loyalty to Trump did not extend to covering up espionage and treason.
Agreed, Ted. While the media has, so far focused mostly on the (also quite possible) sell-to-the-highest-bidder theory the one spoken only in hushed tones is that it was his insurance policy to hold the United States of America hostage as his get-out-of-jail-free card,.....give me a full pardon past/present/future and $20b or I release these docs to,....fill in the blank with any of the authoritarians whom he openly idolizes.
He could be considered a flight risk except that it is hard to imagine virtually any country in the world wanting him as he offers them nothing but liability and pain. Without such documents he is literally the "man" without a country.
He is already in and about to be in far more debt than he has assets, esp once L James invokes the NY "corporate death penalty" to seize whatever's left not to mention the serious potential of prison. Using the contents of those obviously intentionally stolen boxes as part of his Revenge motive must be considered as Garland and the DOJ (good name for a band BTW) eventually look at charges. The Espionage Act will have to become a consideration should the contents prove to contain what gave them cause to take them back.
Could be all three. Knowing how he loves lucre, my first thought is that he is going to sell them to the highest bidder. Once again I also felt a flush of anger at those who dissed HRC in 2016 and did not get out to vote or voted for Jill not green Stein. I don't know whether to breath a sigh of relief that we dodged some kind of bullet or worry about what else this monster has done to destroy the country. And he also continues to incite others to do nefarious deeds. I confess that I am not at all sorry the January 6th insurrectionist is dead in an Ohio cornfield.
Voting for Jill Stein was supported and encouraged heavily by Russian IRA Active Measures, Big time. Propaganda works. No one is immune from time to time. The uneducated, isolated, the aggrieved, the apathetic are most vulnerable. Reach out to those folks and help them understand reality.
😔 I find the Stein-ways are a bit more responsive to logic than the trump-pits. But both still a waste of time. Instead we are approaching moderate Republicans to vote for moderate Democrats, finding common ground.
Elections have consequences as we have seen much to the dismay of most of us. So, I don't care what the DNC did or didn't do. The enemy was clear and yet even after that monster was elected, people were hanging on to the idea that politics is not about the reality presented to us at the moment. Progress is slow, but as we have seen, it can come undone very quickly.
You don’t have to believe the Russian IRA influenced splitting the democratic ticket in more than one way. However it is true. No one wants to believe they are vulnerable to propaganda…but we all are vulnerable for all be reason or another.
I was speculating. I do think when I read about the nuclear documents, I gasped. I am fully cognizant of the ongoing destruction caused by death star which is why I have that as one of his nicknames. I see him as a death star rocketing throughout this country and the world and along with the party of death giving us plenty to gasp about and maybe hope that nothing nefarious happens because of these documents.
Saudis paying Mnuchin to manage funds could be legitimate. He has a history of being very good at it. The same cannot be said of Kushner. For that matter, the legit hiring of Mnuchin could have been done at least partly in an attempt to cover up the payoff to Jared.
Absolutely. That was my only thought when the news broke. Everybody questioned why $2b to J who they assessed as having no qualifications to run an investment firm.
That's the first thing I thought about when reading Heather's revelation. With all of the information I heard last night, I never heard a word about the Saudi connection to the nuclear documents. Heather does it yet again!
Thanks, Sharon. I watched several MSNBC programs last evening, but none of them mentioned the possible Saudi connection. There's just so much floating around out there.
This, plus last week’s NY Times piece on the Claremont Institute, and add in Trump’s success at positioning himself as an aggrieved, persecuted, victim ( from his castles in Fl & NJ ) and you have the stuff of nightmares. Can we ask Mel Brooks to an hysterical satire a la The Producers to deflate Trump’s trial balloon?
Oh! But Jared has an investment fund where he is managing the $$$??? Surely his mismanagement of the properties he inherited (sounds familiar) were not of grave concern by the Saudis!
The advisory board for the Saudi funds gave Mnuchin high marks. They also rated Kushner very low and strongly advised against putting any money into Jared's hands. Jared's buddy Prince Bone Saw over-ruled them.
I’ve almost forgotten what a normal world is like. Where we worried about the future for our children and the environment. And planned and legislated. I’m more than tired of TFG taking up all the oxygen in the room. I bet he loves every minute of the attention he’s getting. Imagine solitary confinement.
I don't think he feels any stress. Otherwise he would long gone. I think the narcissistic sociopathic "qualities" mean you have no conscience, you just focus on what's ahead. Perhaps the cruelty of his father made Trump's brain re-wire in a protective way that shield him from everything, a survival mechanism. There was that article about his psychological make up that said "normal" people can't look at him and judge him by any common standards because he is quite unique in the way his brain works. We just cannot understand what goes on his brain. Scary.
I believe he is pretty paranoid right now, breaking through the narcissistic shield he creates that allows him to believe all sorts of crazy things, like the Big Lie. I think that shield is cracked and when he finds out he cannot hold a federal office EVER, he'll no longer have lies to protect his ego. He'll find he's the ultimate LOSER.
Yeah, I think it will be very interesting to see how he responds to what's ahead. He may literally lose it and get even kookier than he already is. I wonder about the Josh Hawley's, Ron DeSantis's, Ted Cruz's, Marjorie Taylor Greene's, Lauren Boebart's, etc -- people who seem to be following in his crazy footsteps. What will undo them? How much pressure will they be able to withstand before they crack? Interesting times.
So true....his brain, possibly through his unstable, weird childhood, is hardened over with evil narcissisisms(if that's a word) .....however, how does this explain the gray matter of his MAGA followers, and more amazingly, his political minions who are educated in the world of law and politics. Don't they have families that are embarrased by their "off" behavior? Who are these ppl? Many our friends and family who were raised with the same principles and morales as us.
It is truly a study in the psychology of man (and woman).
Malignant democidal sociopathic narcissists have no conscience. Need to teach that to everyone in high-school to watch for those signs in ...maybe then we'd elect or hire better , compassionate leaders
That is exactly why a friend used to say she wanted to see him exit Air Force One, trip at the top of the stairs and fall, breaking his neck and dying immediately on the tarmac--all on tape. We used to speculate that Melania might give him a lil' shove, as well.
Maybe trump is simply revealing the true “normal” of life. Overarching our daily routines is a web, a system of commerce, totally entwined and fueled by vice and corruption. The cloud cover we usually have had in the past blocked its view. With trump, there are so many breaks in the clouds we begin to see the Mount Olympus of corruption and the actions of the gods who inhabit it quite visibly. True democratic capitalism does not exist it appears. Capitalism is always infiltrated by vice and corruption evidently. Kudos to Garland for the rock of justice he’s trying to roll uphill.
Well said, Michelle. Thank you. Even the "average" business person, the not-so-bad people who play loose with business ethics can be swept up into more nefarious plots that they may not completely understand.
Since the October 2016 release of the Billy Bush tape, every day some information is revealed that would end the political career of any normal human being. And yet, still he persists.
He used “Christian training 101” with his minions. Believe in only me as your savior and salvation. The devil does not speak the truth. The devil will deceive you. I alone speak the truth. Worship me. Repeat …Repeat…Repeat on Fox.
I imagine tfg will spend his 'second term' in prison, and if luck will have it, more than 4 years - if the suspicions are coming true about the nuclear classified material and tfg is/was selling related documents to Saudi A and other 'donors' (to his personal bank account) there is hope that a few more of the 70 M trumpers are getting to their senses... I do count on it this time.
With Trump—who handed the Russians a highly placed Israeli spy in Putin’s sphere for free? He thought Putin his BFF. Of course he’d sell US nuclear info to the Saudis—the no more freebies.
From what I see in Michigan, I don't think all the 71 million who voted for tRump are trumpers. They just voted Republican as they always have done. And now a goodly percent are smart enough to see the damage he did to their business, health and democracy.
Irenie, I would prefer that he be in a small cell with Giuliani or Mark Meadows or Eastman. Imagine them together in tiny quarters - the NO EXIT they each deserve.
Still playing the same tune that brought him to office. Damn the government. Who took the cookie from the cookie jar? Not me! Still pounding the table with his shoe. Regurgitating his never ending story trying to keep the echoes alive. His followers now drowning in a soup of lies. The very borsch choking their words. Sound bites no longer connecting. Disintegrating. Realization breaking the fog baring the jackals. The promises fading back into Lethe. Collapsing, sinking, fading, shrouding, history moving on.
History doesn't move on. It just repeats itself, like a circular fluorescent light bulb. About a hundred years ago, William Allen White, the liberal editor of the Emporia (KS) Gazette, may have been exaggerating when he wrote about the futility of trying to reach out to those in a Christian White Supremacist anti-immigrant group that condoned violence. The group, of course, was the resurrected Ku Klux Klan, but in my opinion, his words seem to hold true about today’s foes of democracy as well. He wrote that ‘No arguments you may use, no facts you may present, no logic you may array will in the slightest affect these people … They have no capacity for receiving arguments, no minds for retaining or sifting facts and no mental processes that will hold logic. If they had any of these they would not be Kluxers’ Just replace ‘Kluxers’ with today’s QAnon believers and their ilk. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Very disturbing. Of course we’ve been warned many times before to stay vigilant or our experiment of democracy could be dismantled. To think a Carnival Barker was put in power to facilitate this very task. Let’s hope the “Librarians” take him down ( as Stephen Colbert quipped on air)!
I think Jack your words resonate in the connection. I think also that the better angels cannot be heard above the din and clamor of their rage inspired perhaps by their very impotence in a world collapsing inwards, leaving them out in the cold. When so many are dispossessed within their own society they lash out. With Trump to rally around he used them badly. He aimed their vitriolic discontent. He buried their better angels.
They are not buried. It may take a long time, a very long time, but Lincoln's words predicting that 'the mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature” will ultimately again prove to be true. He was appealing, without success, to the secessionists of 1861. It took four bloody years for that to happen, but then we soon lost access to those mystic chords, and we still await those better angels again taking charge and showing us the way. Hang in there, and advise your children to do the same.
The way to get him is to stop talking about him. I thought it would end but there is no end to this. Take his platform, social media yet he's still center stage. Every time I hear that voice the hair on the back of my neck stands up.
Cathy, you raise the point that HCR raised in today's Letter, 'Tonight, Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey, Perry Stein, and Shane Harris at the Washington Post broke the story that the FBI agents at Mar-a-Lago were looking for documents relating to nuclear weapons, underscoring that the search was imperative. We don’t know any more than that, and heaven knows that’s bad enough.'
'But what springs to mind for me is the plan pushed by Trump’s first national security advisor, Michael Flynn, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and fundraiser and campaign advisor Tom Barrack, to transfer nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. In 2019, whistleblowers from the National Security Council worried that their efforts might have broken the law and that the effort to make the transfer was ongoing. The plan was to enable Saudi leaders to build nuclear power plants, a plan that would have yielded billions of dollars to the investors but would have allowed Saudi Arabia to build nuclear weapons.'
The most recent information about the Saudi's interest in being nuclear-weapons ready that I found was in the Bulletin of Atom Scientists.
'Will Seoul and Washington make Riyadh nuclear-weapons ready?
'Iran’s nuclear program, oil, and human rights dominated Biden’s much-anticipated first presidential trip to the Middle East earlier this month. But there is one topic President Biden chose not to showcase during his visit with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud—the Kingdom’s most recent interest in nuclear energy—and the nuclear weapons proliferation concerns that come with it.'
'Only weeks before Biden’s visit, Riyadh invited South Korea, Russia, and China to bid on the construction of two large power reactors. On that bid, Korea Electric Power Company (KEPCO) is the most likely winner. KEPCO has already built four reactors for Riyadh’s neighbor, the United Arab Emirates, and is the only vendor to bring a power reactor of its own design online in the Middle East. South Korea also is the only government to provide reliable, generous financing, free of political strings—something neither Moscow nor Beijing can credibly claim.'
'And then, there’s this: Any Korean sale would be covered by a generous 2011 South Korean nuclear cooperative agreement with Riyadh that explicitly authorizes the Saudis to enrich any uranium it might receive from Seoul. Under the agreement, Riyadh could enrich this material by up to 20 percent, without having to secure Seoul’s prior consent.'
'That should set off alarm bells.'
'Do the Saudis want a bomb? In 2018, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman announced that “if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible.” As if to prove the point, late in 2020, word leaked that the Saudis have been working secretly with the Chinese to mine and process Saudi uranium ore. These are steps toward enriching uranium—and a possible nuclear weapon program.'
'Unlike the Emirates, which legally renounced enriching uranium or reprocessing spent fuel to separate plutonium, the Kingdom insists on retaining its “right” to enrich. Also, unlike most members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Saudi Arabia refuses to allow intrusive inspections that might help the IAEA find covert nuclear weapons-related activities, if they exist, under a nuclear inspections addendum known as the Additional Protocol.'
'Saudi Arabia’s enrichment program and refusal to adopt the Additional Protocol, doubled with a possible permissive South Korean reactor sale, could spell trouble. South Korea currently makes its nuclear fuel assemblies using imported uranium, which mainly comes from Australia. This ore is controlled by Australia’s uranium export policy, which requires that the uranium be monitored by the IAEA and that materials derived from it not be retransferred to a third country without first securing Australia’s consent. Yet, if Seoul decides to pass Australian uranium on to Riyadh, the Saudis are free to enrich it up to 20 percent at any time without having to secure anyone’s approval. In addition, Riyadh could proceed to enrich this material without having to agree to intrusive IAEA inspections under the Additional Protocol, making it easier for Riyadh to enrich beyond 20 percent uranium 235 without anyone knowing.' . (BulletinofAtomicScientists) See link below to read the entire report.
Actually, one of those. The Saudis have shown little interest in destroying Israel, and are under no threat from that direction. Iran, on the other hand, is clearly an aggressive power, funding military troubles all over the region and constantly making threats. In fact, once Iran started up with its regional threats, the Saudis actively stopped rants against Israel (which they had allowed on the general principle of complain about someone else) and told their people to concentrate on the real threat: Iran.
Superb work FERN. I expect the controlling Florida Magistrate Judge where Garland/ DOJ's Motion is pending today to handle the National Security matters appropriately. The Maagistrate will have the relevant Court Order(s) on the digital Docket website. Likely, thebulletin.org is a good source for tracking these issues although WAPO has a decades long history of dealing with important national security matters. May be a fruitful area for a Freedom of Inormation Act ( FOIA) request. Thank you. :)
Fern, thank you for your link. It’s more than the elephant in the room. I subscribe to the Bulletin and on any given day, it’s scary. Right now on the Doomsday Clock we’re 100 seconds to midnight.
How would she know Ted? She has been removed from DJT's circle for a long time. Are you thinking about what may have been learned by work of the House Committee's 1/6 investigations?
Holy crap Fern. This is very unsettling. And to realize there's a connection between the Saudi's and deer in the headlights Kushner and nuclear planning - words escape me!
How much will we learn about the depth and corrupt connections woven through the fabric of the USA? It is a horrifying realization as is the web that we have been trapped within.
Article sure pricks at the underlying nagging fear in so many tfg. and associates maneuvers over the last far too many long years. Thank you for the link.,
Cathy, I woke up thinking just such things. My thoughts were about Russia and the connections with the amount of money they fed to TFG. His son exclaimed that they were funneling the most money of anyone into their real estate ventures. Why? But the Saudi nuclear thing is really scary....
Perhaps the greatest crime of this whole drama has been "its continual distractions". TFG walks into a room or picks up a mic. The oxygen of the nation is sucked out. He commands attention by being outrageous. As awful as it is, it is also entertainment for the masses. It IS like a lousy movie where the suspense is constantly "what will he do or say next?" He's like the Joker in a Batman movie. Cable news is a virtual "Colosseum" which I can't ignore because it is regurgitated all over the "print" media I read. I want to read about progress! Solutions! I get so weary.
But, no! I'll grab another coffee. Power up my attitude. I can walk and chew gum. I will do my political duty and stay engaged. TFG is not taking away my personal power. And after I have had a fine day with my personal pursuits, I will pour a martini with my favorite gin and raise my glass - a toast to Merrick Garland and the FBI. Salut!
Think of all the positive and constructive things that Americans, their legislators, their governors, the pundits could be discussing! We could have moved from should all Americans have access to affordable health care to HOW. We could be in a lather about how to provide clean drinking water. We could be talking about providing truly equal educational opportunities to all our kids - instead of wasting thousands of talented brains by zip code funding of schools. We could be talking about coping with floods and fires...and maybe planning the strategic retreat from our coastlines. It's critical that we reduce emissions. But in the meantime we are ignoring what we have to do to adjust to the inevitable rising of the waters...
Talk about Nero fiddling while Rome burns!
Put this guy away. Outvote the bigots. End this terrible film. And...no sequels, please! Work to do.
Even some who seek the truth about what's happening to our country use words, such as 'drama', 'entertainment, 'lousy movie', 'suspense', and 'Batman' to describe it. It is as though Trump's duplicitous and destructive acts are the stuff of showbusiness. While you don't believe that for a minute, our language has been corrupted in a way that masks the deep down destruction he and his enablers have done to our government and civil society.
And that speaks to a core problem. TFG, the 45th President of the US had NO qualifications to be such. None. Yet millions voted for an "entertainer'. A con man. A TV dude who channeled their frustration and then did nothing for them.
Most of us though (by popular vote numbers) DID vote for the most qualified candidate in US history to be president. But “those emails……”. How quickly a Dem can be disqualified, vs a gop. “If you can’t Beat ‘em. Cheat ‘em!” ( We should make signs and place them outside gop offices.)
Hasn’t the GOP been pushing professional entertainers as their front man for quite some time? Isn’t the loud voice of their media the box office promotional debauchery of show biz?
Yes. Eyes and efforts forward. Wallowing in the misery that is trump is the deterrent that gave him 4 yrs in office. That’s on us, We the People who elected him. We MUST focus and secure a greater majority in Congress in November. A tsunami vote for democracy is our only response. And personally, as soon as this forum reflects less discussion of trump and more discussion of our focus, that will be a sign to me that we are in the lead.
Beto did it with one forceful response to gross disrespect in a room that erupted in support. A visceral reaction. There are SO MANY MORE OF US that are the same.
I was going to comment just this, but you said it so much better. Elect a reality TV star, get a reality TV show. Except this drama has nuclear weapons.
We can only move forward by voting out the traitors and would-be traitors, Cathy. It won’t just “go away”. The nail gun attack and brandishing an AK 15 weapon at the FBI field office in Cleveland is a chilling news item today. It means armed citizens, some to the teeth, are coming for our lives. The nuclear threat, Kushner’s financial and other ties to the Saudis and the recent golf tournament hosting the Saudis at T’s club in New Jersey should be reason enough to investigate those ties and of course, to retrieve wrongfully removed documents. I am sure Garland is not missing a trick….
This is what first came to me after hearing yesterday what could be in those docs. I couldn't remember which resort the Saudis were at OR if it was still scheduled. What if that information is missing after they go through everything they just got back? What if copies were made to a flash drive and they are now in the wrong hands???
Chump will go to his grave with vengeance on his mind, and greed in his ugly “heart.” What happens when you open Pandora’s box. My fear on Nov 9, 2016. The nightmare plays out…
“Guns of Navarone,” anyone remember scopolamine, a “truth serum?” What we could ask Trump about his secret conversations with Putin, Jared Kushner about his $2 billion deal with the Saudis…But, “Truth-inducing drugs are considered unconstitutional and unethical under international law, and are classified as a form of torture.”
Ah, yes . . . When Gregory Peck intentionally told the injured Anthony Quayle that their plans had changed - an intentional falsehood knowing Quayle would fall into the Nazi's hands and be "scopolanined" about what the team was up to. Gotta see that movie again! (Anything to detract from the grind of Trumpworld lies and villainy . . . ) Go, DOJ!
Cathy, I'm waiting excitedly for "this lousy movie" to continue. I want to see the bad guys caught and proecuted to the fullest extent possible, regardless of their previous positions of privilege and power. It seems more and more likely, with evidence continuing to mount, that they will indeed be prosecuted, at least to some extent. Then I think we will all breath a sigh of relief that justice prevailed and our constitution held up to the challenge. Otherwise, all nefarious Trumpian operators will break out of any current restraints and run rough shod over the USofA and democracy world wide. The idea of democracy will never die but it will be one heck of job to restablish it here in our country where we seem to have so many Trump followers, people who don't really believe in democracy or at least will vote for a guy like T while they don't understand that his intent is to erode democracy. The good news is that now they have been revealed and we know our enemy. But the fight will be ahead of us.
And Google: Judd Legum Nuclear Whistleblower 2019 to read what he reported.
Well...my sister told me in 2019 that she was voting for Trump again because "he's a businessman and the country needs to be run like a business." Fool!
In 2021 she told me that I am too political. We have not spoken since. I have more years behind me than I have in front of me. I've decided to spend my time with people who live in reality.
The word "treason" is so overused these days, but seriously -- *would* this be treason? I don't think so, but I'm no expert and I'd love to hear from someone who knows the subject. Here's what 18 U.S. Code § 2381 says about treason:
"Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States."
Can Saudi Arabia be considered an enemy of the U.S.? I don't think so. Iran, maybe, but not Saudi. Giving, selling, or trading secrets to Saudi certainly qualifies as espionage (and probably a few other crimes), but I've got my doubts about treason.
Sorry but this busy movie continues. Think The Pentagon Papers where Daniel Ellsberg copied classified papers. The DOJ now has boxes of papers but we must ''think out of the box' too.
Not treason, but felonious, certainly. (Treason is defined by the Constitution, narrowly. Under the British crown, anything the king or queen did not like could be treason. The Framers wanted to avoid a situation like that, and our experience with T___p has proved their wisdom.)
Let's step back and consider what may have been happening behind the scenes. The Justice Department has known for some time that Trump has classified documents and learned that they included nuclear secrets. So sensitive that they're classified as more secret than top secret. And why paper versions, which meant they had to be printed out?
All this must have set off blaring alarms across national intelligence agencies, which the Justice Department no doubt notified. What has the CIA been doing, and what has it learned? And what about the other agencies? Has Trump literally sold out the country? Has he revealed secrets that endangered us or perhaps brave spies working on our behalf? Or has he sold information that agencies had collected about other countries, including our adversaries? Or all of the above?
It's all mind-blowing. It more than hard to fathom. It appears nearly certain that the former president has committed serious felonies involving some of the nation's most secret intelligence information. But we also have to begin pondering whether Trump committed espionage.
'Let's step back...' Michael! What is the distance from which we have stepped back, thereby, permitting Trump to get away with not paying his taxes as warranted, destroying the county's governmental agencies, weaponizing the DOJ...taking government documents to Mar-a-Largo? This country's lack of guardrails and enforcement is as shocking as Trump and those in the business of attempting to overthrow our tottering government. Ah, but the two go together like a horse and carriage. Would Trump and his ilk have gotten where they are if our economic system and the Rule of Law didn't bend their arcs in favor of Wall Street and Big Business as well as the ultrarich and propertied class?
To Michael's point and Fern's folo: John Brennan, former CIA director, said on MSNBC last night that the reason they were paper documents is that the ultra secret, as in beyond "top" were never on any kind of server. Only paper. The ultra secret classification, if this is indeed what they were Brennan said, meant that even he, as the CIA director would never have seen them.
There were guardrails, maybe not enough, in part because this was a crime beyond imagining.
As stated the guardrails are clearly not adequate, and isn't it the role of protecting government secrets to imagine treasonous actors within and outside of government?
Agree, the guardrails are not adequate. Were never accurate. Who makes the rules when a crook can be elected. All the way down the line, there have been signs that we could be in danger. How many people have access to all the docs in the Whitehouse, esp when there aren't locks on the doors? We need policies and protection as if every leader has the potential to be compromised, even an honest leader.
Irenie, Given, DJT's obvious 'disloyalty' to the country, his destructive and unstable behavior the string of negatives is how long, so how could he have been permitted to leave the WH with cartons of government documents? He corrupted everything and everyone he could. He was not being monitored. DJT is a known quantity, and he revealed the sort of known quantity our country had become.
Fern, TFG’s disloyalty is a known and so ironic when he fired smart and highly qualified people who were loyal to our country. The monitors. But would not swear loyalty to him.
isn't it odd that there's a whole big process to gain 'security' clearance.. yet the prez (maybe also the veep?) are exempt???? why is that??? and shouldn't that be changed???
Why would any one person, especially a person with zero technical knowledge, be able to get their hands on these documents? Shouldn't they be in a secured room with video surveillance?
From the beginning my primary concern with Trump was he was going to monetize the presidency and that the easiest and obvious way to do that is selling or trading national security secrets. My fear that Trump was a threat to national security was soon vindicated when he had his first "private" meeting with Putin.
Trump's Achilles heel is his personal and business tax returns. The lengths he went to to prevent their release was a huge tell. Trump is a charlatan who operates on top of a house of cards. He's a four-time loser who no bank in this country would touch. Any success he has had is fleeting and usually at the expense of others. Maybe not today, but leading up to 2016, he survived at the mercy of Putin and Russian oligarchs. He ran for president to bail himself out of more financial difficulties. His desperation to be president is because it's his ticket to fame and fortune. But, you all know this.
There is no way Trump should have been allowed to serve as president until all his tax records and business dealings were fully vetted. The lack of guardrails and enforcement with regard to vetting a president is astounding.
Fern, for my money this comment was one of your bests because it goes straight to the heart of the matter - this is what is wrong with the government, the economy and the country as a whole! Brilliant comment!! Thanks
And a good morning to you from here in beautiful, sunny and cool Cuenca Ecuador. I love YT music videos and will add this to my library. Stevie Wonder is truly a wonder! There is a part of me that would like to know what made you think to send me this video.
When I think of you, I always imagine you as a person surrounded by a voluminous library filled with facts and information, all carefully organized, catalogued and researchable. Of course, nowadays these libraries are easily created on a computer. You are both a resource and resourceful and I respect your faithfulness to referencing yours and other's comments.
On the other hand, I'm quite the opposite. I'm ADHD and woefully undisciplined. I too often spout off with emotion and passion. My comments often sound like someone hopped up on coffee while your comments are a model of composure and sensibility.
Fortunately, there are seats for both of us at the same table and I'm glad we have the opportunity to share a meal from time to time.
Have a wonderful Saturday in New York City. (And just like that my mind jumps to a flashback - Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's LOL)
Vivian, We came together here on the forum. We bonded and fully expressed what we have been thinking and feeling as Americans. On his special day, the list of files taken from former President's home included materials marked as top secret, meant to be seen only in government facilities. The monumental Inflation Reduction Act will be signed soon, and inflation has been slowly going down. Thank you for being among us, Vivian. It has been a good day. We will work hard to make more good days. Salud!
Oh, Suz, I just wrote what we all know. You point out, however, that for some reason we do not say this one most terrible truth we are living. Is it that we cannot reckon with how seriously our country and the people have been diminished by an immoral and indecent, sociopath?
Thank you, Fern. I was actually referring to your last sentence:
"Would Trump and his ilk have gotten where they are if our economic system and the Rule of Law didn't bend their arcs in favor of Wall Street and Big Business as well as the ultrarich and propertied class?" <-- THIS is to me the bigger issue, the one most terrible truth we are living. THIS is what allows the sociopath et al to diminish us and all we cherish.
He couldn't be bothered to even read daily security briefings, he just loves to lord it over people, like on his "reality" show. He's a wealth dabbler; Miss America, wine, steaks, the airline, the "university", military commander, even truck driver:
Because Israel has been courted by Republicans specifically for many years.
IF it is true that Saudi Arabia—an Arab country—is trying to get nuclear information from Trump, that would be a reversal of American policy of the last five decades (to support Israel).
It would also compound the trouble Trump caused when he reportedly threw an Israeli spy under the bus in 2017. I don’t recall hearing whether that spy was extracted alive or whether he was killed.
The U.S. might start to look like not a very reliable ally.
Israel doesn't need them. It already has the bomb. This all so bizarre. Also you cannot erect enough guardrails for the likes of Trump. There already are many....he just ignores them.
He was not alone in his actions. Republicans wanted total power. Not sure they realized their idiot, so-called "businessman" would sell his soul and our top secret nuclear information to the highest bidder.They just wanted full control of our country. They installed a madman like hitler. This lies at their feet and rupert's, who is fully anti-American and should be arrested and defrocked of his citizenship which he has un-earned a thousandfold. They all should be.
The credentials and specializations of Attorney Gonzalez and Jay Bratt show a big dot connection to follow the money! Let's hope the net catches all the bad players.
"The DOJ motion to unseal the search warrant tells us a bit more. It was signed by U.S. Attorney Juan Gonzalez and by Jay Bratt, the chief of the department’s counterintelligence section."
If the dreaded ‘deep state’ exists, trump copied it to work for him! Agreed! Where were the safeguards?
I see a pattern here culminating on Jan 6, where NO person of highest authority in our security apparatus was willing to defy t3ump and properly secure the Capitol building and the lives of the Capitol,police!
Because its all so mind blowing, I have to admit, it makes me wonder about the timing of Ivana’s death and IF she’s really in the grave at the golf course. And if so, what’s in the casket with her?
I'd been half joking that Trump would not save anything he couldn't monetize or leverage. Oh my prophetic soul! Nuclear documents. Bingo.
Yes, Saudi Arabia, but also less stable entities in the former Soviet sphere where the Trumps have money laundering hotel projects. Then friends Xi and Kim. Putin. Orban. Highest bidders. Sanctuary rather than jail?
And don't forget Republican militias. Trump took domestic terrorism viral, he took it to the streets and to the Capitol. The GOP has 'gone nuclear' metaphorically. Are you ready to bet they wouldn't resort to an actual nuclear option? Holy tactical weapons Batman.
Today George Will was s#!++ing his pants in WaPo about 'social comity and domestic tranquility'. Like a typical abuser, saying DOJ forced the violent GOP reaction. What is Will so afraid of that he jumped on the Trump/GOP bandwagon so quickly and vehemently?
But George wasn’t a trumpanzee, so he said. That “blame libtards for everything” is ingrained to the bone. And the core of everything that I ever read that he wrote.
OMGosh. And Buckley begat Will and Will begat Bannon, Jones, et al. Don't let the thin veneer of sophomoric wannabe erudition fool you. No significant daylight between them. Will's entire opus is an exercise in specious and fallacious rhetoric -outright lies tricked out in Lit and Philo 101 allusions - constructing a parallel universe of alternative facts. Will wrinkled his effete little nose at the stench of arriviste Trump's ignorance and vulgarity, but Will's objection to Trump was about style not substance. Having Trump's brand on the mandarin GOP agenda was merely distasteful to Will, not entirely objectionable. 'One doesn't say/do those things out loud old son. It just isn't done.'
You said it all more succinctly.
(Full disclosure: My first LTE in WaPo was a dissection/correction of Will's lies about rent control/stabilization in NYC. Something any NYC renter could have see through. Decades ago. I've never read a column of his where he didn't twist the facts to fit his bent. I don't know enough about baseball to judge those.)
No, but I keep thinking this, this, will finally wake a general sense of outrage and demand for reform, and may times been disappointed. Yet it now seems like maybe a turn point has begun. It has better be, and we and I need to see about keeping it going.
Republicans have slowly and methodically eroded government - they definitely do not want reforms. And Democrats doing something? - don't hold your breath.
He reportedly did read Mein Kampf, put whatever brain cells he had into doing the plans one better. The only shock is the extent of his depravity and that of his devoted weaponized sheep. But we had plenty of warning.
One stand-out comment I remember from Ivana Trump before the 2016 election was that Mein Kampf was the only book Trump ever kept on his bedside table. Mein Bible indeed!
Yes, Anne-Louise. Hitler's "Second Book" was a 1928 transcript of his thoughts on international affairs, Germany's needs, and what should be their next steps in foreign policy. (Hitler didn't write his books; he dictated them, so they read like s/w disjointed speeches.) It wasn't published in Germany until long after the war. I understand questioning why someone would translate and publish Hitler's thinking, but I think what's useful about it--and Mein Kampf as well--is that he says (endlessly) exactly what he later set out to do. It wasn't a secret; it was part of the massive propaganda campaign.
I do, however, think that the notion that Trump ever read it is highly unlikely. Trump didn't read one-page briefs, and both books require slogging through muddy verbiage to dig out the main points.
Merrick Garland is brave and I am grateful! I have been afraid as the right wing press has whipped up the crazies again into a fury over him doing his job and doing it well, and I have decided that I am not going to march in a local parade this weekend with our governor because I do not want to be shot by a crazy Republican with an AR-15 rifle or AK-47 as has become so popular of late. I resent that Republicans have made the United States unlivable. I have always said that Trump is a traitor! He is an enemy agent. He is not and never has acted in the interests of the American country or its people. When he was first running for office I used to "jokingly" tell my husband and daughter at dinner that his wife was a deep cover Russian spy whose mission was to marry an American of means, get him up into the White House so he could destroy the American stability. NO president has done that more successfully than Donald Trump. They would accuse me of reading too many Stasi books, which may be true. However Trump is following the autocrats playbook and the Republicans who are going along with him are also enemies of the state. They are acting as foreign agents. It does not matter which country you name, Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, Syria. They are all contributing to the destabilization of the USA that Donald Trump has set in motion in such a deep and insidious way and continues to do so. So is the Right Wing news media. I read that Rupert Murdoch seems to be tiring of Trump. Well, he is an enemy agent too. So, are Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Ainsley Earhardt, Brian Kilmeade, Roger Ailes and more of the Fox Fake News Team. Selling nuclear secrets to the Saudis, North Koreans, Russians or whomever is bad business. I noticed that once that was out the in the Washington Post today the commentary changed to being very critical of Trump, from earlier today and yesterday when discussion of the search was filled with Republican bullying claims and Bot-like commentary. I personally would like to deport him back to his home country, which might be Russia, but could be North Korea. Ideally it would be some small island in the Arctic circle. Again, it is terrifying to live her with the amount of violence that the Republican cult members have whipped up under Donald Trump. This report of the Ricky Walter Shiffer being shot is the first time I am not cringing at police overreach and violence in my entire life when I hear that someone is killed. Who shoots with a nail gun into an FBI office? I am now wanting the police to protect us from these crazies. The supreme court certainly did not. I also would like to see every Republican that promotes violence or overthrowing the rule of law in prison. Preferably on an island in the Arctic Circle. Can the USA buy or claim some property there for a penal colony for dangerous political prisoners?
Morning Lynell. The USA is certainly not now the 60s New York where my wife spent her teen years nor the 70s when I first did a cross country road trip......and we are the Woodstock generation. Some of have become adult human beings whilst those that haven't have run things into the ground like this; spoiled brats, without values other than money, without consideration for anything other than self.....a ransid but perpetual part of history since the European invasion.
According to things I've read, there are Youtube videos that suggest that a nail gun will penetrate ballistic glass or bullet proof glass such as used at the FBI headquarters. He wasn't nuts. He had planned ahead. More media need to explain why he had a nail gun. It sounds kooky but there was method to it.
Reading his "statement" about not opposing release, you see what the Enemy will be saying tomorrow about the warrant and the receipt. It's Just the Democrats going after Dear Leader.
Hopefully if the pressure keeps building like this, he'll finally do the right thing and have his massive fatal myocardial infarction, mid-rant in front of the droolers.
My sense of karma doesn't allow me to wish death upon anyone. But a stroke that silences him and removes his ability to communicate - even through the written word. That would be fine. Maybe better.
I fear doing "the right thing" will spark right-wing conspiracy theories that he was murdered by the left; and worse, that a "mourning" nation will elect a Repub replacement to make amends. (I can't believe I just wrote this)
Oh, I am so sorry to traumatize you today, Mobiguy. I gagged myself typing it out. Imagine him wearing a big diaper...to catch...or never mind, that would be even more distasteful.
Okay, after reading all the news I can stomach today, I just rinsed my brain out with these delightful baby elephant friends and I feel much better again. Enjoy!
I am still traumatized by those. I believe there was also a huge blow-up balloon of him in diapers that traveled to various countries including the UK where I have family.
I see TFG's statement about not being opposed to the release as another big lie. Of course he doesn't want the search warrant documents released! His lawyers will find some reason to oppose release and he'll put the onus on them. Then he can tell his fetid followers that he had nothing to hide, but his lawyers made him object.
The drama-king celebrity knows exactly how to keep the tension up in his audience. He has to oppose it in order to keep the coffers filled as long as possible from his cult.
And to monetize it. I am always amazed that these stupid people don't stop to think "why can't a "billionaire " pay his own legal fees? why does he need my money?"
I tell you what, Miselle, if'n I was a die-hard before, after taking one look at the buildings that are Mar-A-Lago (as seen on TV), I'd take my donor $ and split - tout de suite!
Back when he was still in the WH, he did something that pissed me off (what? GOD ONLY KNOWS!! It was daily, sometimes several times daily!) and on a news feed comment area, I suggested that we all DoorDash or UberEats some Mickey D's to him. I was hoping enough hamberders and Diet Cokes would do him in. I don't know how he stays alive, I mean that seriously!! I think he sold his soul to Satan.
Trevor Noah/The Daily Show, did a sketch this week where he opened up the safe at Mar a Largo and it was full of McDonald's hamburgers. Very funny and pathetic at the same time.
Don't laugh TC but he's not like us. Trump thrives on chaos. He's an insufferable narcissist that is either a sociopath or psychopath, depending on who's doing the evaluation. But of course, you/we know all this.
I’m not surprised….I grew up in New York City. We have been dealing with his nefarious bullshit for two generations. When he was elected, we knew T was for “trouble” and ‘turmoil” and now “Treason”…..
With full blown Alzheimer's my father-in-law recoiled when he was told trump was president. He did the Elayne comment/move from Seinfeld " Get Out"! Followed by "how did that happen, that man is evil!" Pretty much says it all!
Janet, I completely understand your father-in-law’s response. We all felt that way, actually. I stayed up until results were tallied and reality of this terrible event hit home. Living in Florida at the time, six miles from Mar-A-Lardo (Michael Cohen’s nickname…btw), mostly Irish and Italian Catholics from up north. I learned from the election they were all Trumpers. Except for one woman from New Jersey who was a real friend. I was in bed for a week, unable to go out, even for groceries. It was bad. I sold that place in 2019 and was relieved to be out of there. OMG.
I did the primal scream after the Ohio results came through . . . . and lost my mind. My adult children said they would be living with the results of that election (particularly the SCOTUS appointments) for the rest of their lives; and definitely not in a good way!
In addition to the unbearable politics, FL is about 6" above sea level and surrounded on 3 sides by water. Hurricanes and climate change could well make the place uninhabitable except for alligators! I feel your relief in being out of there!
Elizabeth, After that election, I had a relapse of my PTSD and ended up in a worse place than just bed! I gave every penny to Democratic Party Candidates in 2020 not only for my country but so I wouldn't have an even bigger relapse!
Wow! One could never have envisioned this, but when you look back on history, which Heather helps us so expertly to do, you see the signs. Roger Stone worked with Roy Cohen, a right wing zealot working for McCarthy. These treasonous roots run deep as we are learning and re-learning. Take good care and fasten your seatbelt!
I worked for a narcissist, and I saw every last trait in tfg when he ran. I spoke against his becoming president, but I live in a ruby red state. He lived up (or down) to every expectation I had.
I agree! The old Trickle Down Economics Theory of the Conservatives broke the back of the middle and working class people in this country, and elevated the power of Corporate America. Those heirs of Corporate Empires seem to be the ones funding and pushing the Fascist Movement. Not only do they want all the Money in our society, but now they want absolute Political unchecked power too!
We felt the same way, so after thirty-one years spending winters in north FL, we sold our FL home too and left the state to the people who have changed an environmentally beautiful place into a toxic waste land. Retreat and regroup. JPD
“The norther you go, the souther you get….” I still love the natural beauty that first drew me to Florida. It’s the humans I couldn’t take. But there are beautiful people there as well.
Thank you, Elizabeth. There is a strong cohort of actively engaged Floridians here on HCR who daily fight against the " Floriduh" image and trumpism and desantism. Val Demings is fighting against it. The Dem in Palm Beach and his friends who paid to fly the sky banner " HaHaHaHaHaHa" in the face of Trump supporters at Mar-A-Lago are fighting it.
Yes our iguanas fall out of trees in the winter; yes we are in mortal combat with pythons; yes alligators eat our pets and some of us; yes we have " Village people " ( mostly from the Northeast) who careen around in golf carts flying Trump flags; yes, we wear flip- flops year round; yes Miami is already sinking. But scratch our Hiassen surface and get out from behind Ron's growing derriere and there is more than meets the eye. We are here on HCR, that ought to tell you something in itself. We miss you!
If any of you Florida Democrats want a place to retreat to, Come to Michigan! All our Statewide offices are held at the Moment by Democrats and all but one is a competent Woman. We still have a livable climate and the longest freshwater shoreline in the world. That means we will be the last to run out of water. We have great Universities and we will soon see the results of the Voter enishiated non partisan redistricting Commission on the makeup of our legislative branch and Congressional Delegation, but in November, we have another voter enishative that guarantees Reproductive Freedom for All. Although this is coming up for a vote on the Nov ballot, it is most likely to pass. We are angry at the Dobbs Decision so in a 6 week time period, we collected over 975,000 valid signatures to place it there. The most signatures for a ballot proposal in Michigan History! Plus the Travis City area was just chosen as the number one best place to retire to in America by the Real Estate industry. Home prices are reasonable and plenty of activities. Many trails and a beautiful beach plus delightful parks, good school system. ( no talk of "woke" warfare). Our Upper Peninsula has lovely Porcupine Mountains and terrific State &National Parks, surrounded by unspoiled wilderness and water. Southeastern Michigan has many cultural jewels and Major League Sports. Michigan is no longer a Gerrymandered State, Fascists only seem to have a foothold in south central and southwestern Michigan. We are also carrying a large budget surplus and there is no sales tax on food. We are a Medicaid Expansion State too. The Ann Arbor area is a bastion of Progressive thought and ideas!
Some of my closet friends are Michiganders and all are very progressive. Do you know Jeff Cohen and Roots Action or FAIR? He lives and writes in New York State now, but he grew up in Detroit. I would love to come to Michigan sometime. Thanks for your enthusiastic outlook on your beloved state!
But not by his lonesome. Trump is the creation of a party that sold it's "soul" for the prospect of unlimited power. It's been on that path for at least four decades.
With Rupert being the reason that Roger Stone, Newt and their ilk have been able to corrupt Repub politics to a treasonous level. Thanks Ronnie, the purveyor of “good old boy” evil.
“FBI searched Trump’s home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources say”. Do the dots connect back to Jared Kushner‘s unprecedented receipt of $2 billion to establish a business he is clearly unqualified to run?
We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both” — Justice Louis Brandeis
I was in the investment business for a number of years so "following the money" was literally a way of life! :) There were times (particularly around 2008/09) I was put down as being ignorant or negative because I "asked too many questions". During a brief tenure in local politics, I was regularly raked over the coals because I definitely asked too many questions. According to one of the old cronies, I wasn't supposed to do that -I was supposed to only listen. My husband kept saying - follow the money and you'll get the answers.
The industry changed dramatically over the years and by 2009, I'd had it. Due diligence was not looked upon favorably and I couldn't continue with the cognitive dissonance. An ethical compass was not looked upon favorably and of course being an "older" woman (early 50's) was the kiss of death for re-employment!
Good grief! Such nonsense to employ so soon after the fall of Enron! That’s willful corruption on the industry’s part. Janet, I’m sorry you—and likely many others of strong character—suffered at the hands of those degenerates!
Of course TFG took classified nuclear documents to sell or barter with the Saudi Prince. Why should Former Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin get $2 billion from MBS to play investment banker with and the former guy nothing? Especially after Jared got $1 billion too!
He is an orange cry baby throwing a tantrum with nuclear national security.
Mnuchin got one billion to run investments, which he is well qualified to do and apparently that's a normal pay for what he was going to do. Kushner got the $2 billion, over the objections of the Saudi fund's investment advisory committee because he is clearly horrible at managing money. The Saudi prince - the one whose thugs dismembered a journalist - overruled his advisory committee to give Jared the money with some platitudes about building relationships. Not suspicious at all, not at all....
If the nuke documents were intended for the Saudis, they probably already have them, or copies at any rate. Who knows what other plans he might have. Trump doesn't seem to hesitate when he sees an opportunity. He couldn't have collected all that stuff without getting someone to do it for him because he seems to specialize in collecting minions, so I would be surprised to learn that N. Archive/FBI investigators haven't already interviewed his WH staff. It will be interesting to learn the scope of all the documents Trump took with him. He's probably in for something more than another IRS audit.
Yeah, Lynell, it seems like a good bet that whoever pulled documents for him helped the archivists compile a picture of what he took away, and might also have helped to fill out the picture of what was missing from the documents he returned--and maybe talked to WaPo. So if this investigation has been going on for a while, like maybe most of the time Garland has been in office, I wonder if it casts a light on what looked like a lack of interest on Garland's part in what the J6 panel was up to. I have read that DOJ was hiring like mad to staff up for J6 prosecutions. That undertaking alone would take up managerial bandwidth. Then there is the problem of staying on top of all the cases and metering resources among all the new hires who individually feel the need to demonstrate their value. Could it be that Garland delegated more of the J6 work than one would expect because it had turned into a factory with levels of oversight and he needed to focus more attention on the missing nuclear documents? Plus God knows whatever nightmares the public has yet to know about? If you asked him, Garland would probably say no. But big organizations take on lives of their own and Garland had to rebuild the institution at DOJ. And we've been watching (scary) shiny objects and still probably don't know a fraction of what's been on his plate. OK, all conjecture. I'll stop now.
I wouldn't argue with your conjecture, Jim. I do believe Garland has not been sitting on his hands this whole time. My good neighbor friend up the road is a retired law enforcement officer for the county that we live in. The stories she can tell! One was about a guy that murdered his wife and chopped her up in pieces that he buried far and wide. It took them 9 years to get the goods on him; but sure enough in Cold Case fashion, they finally got their man!
OK, you've got me going. This is getting a little far afield, but you'll see the point of departure from your story. We had a case in the early 80's where Rolf Neslund, an 80 year-old Port of Seattle maritime pilot steered a container ship into an open drawbridge and completely disabled it. He retired in disgrace to his home on an island where he and his wife could drink and fight in private. At some point Rolf went missing and his wife claimed he had gone back to Norway to visit relatives. An investigation ensued and eventually the wife, Ruth, and her brother were convicted of killing him, cutting him up and incinerating the pieces. What isn't part of the official story is that at some point before her conviction, and I can't swear to it but I think it was sometime after the investigation was opened, Ruth showed up at a local community barbeque and donated all the hamburger they would need for the event. The local punch line was, "There's a little bit of Rolf in all of us." File it under You Can't Make This Stuff Up.
I live a sheltered life, so am always dazzled by what folk are up to.
Shades of "Fried Green Tomatoes - 1991," where "The secret's in the sauce!" and one rabbit hole (yours) leads to another (mine).
I couldn't find the footage where Cecily Tyson said that to the guy eating the barbecue. But in case you are interested in seeing the movie, here's a trailer of the dark part of this comedy/drama:
‘Donald J. Trump’s efforts to politicize the law enforcement system have now become his shield as he tries to deflect accusations of wrongdoing.’
The following are excerpts from Peter Baker’s summary report in the New York Times on Mr. Trump’s repeated efforts. while president to weaponize the Justice Department and the F.B.I. on his own behalf.
‘Two days after the 2020 election that Donald J. Trump refused to admit he lost, his oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., made an urgent recommendation: “Fire Wray.”
‘The younger Mr. Trump did not explain in the text he sent why it was necessary to oust Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director his father himself had appointed more than three years earlier. He did not have to. Everyone understood. Mr. Wray, in the view of the Trump family and its followers, was not personally loyal enough to the departing president.’
‘Throughout his four years in the White House, Mr. Trump tried to turn the nation’s law enforcement apparatus into an instrument of political power to carry out his wishes. Now as the F.B.I. under Mr. Wray has executed an unprecedented search warrant at the former president’s Florida home, Mr. Trump is accusing the nation’s justice system of being exactly what he tried to turn it into: a political weapon for a president, just not for him.’
‘…Just as he asserted on Monday that the F.B.I. search was political persecution, he made the same claim on Wednesday about the New York attorney general’s unrelated investigation of his business practices as he invoked his Fifth Amendment right to avoid testifying because his answers could incriminate him.'
“Now to flip the script and falsely claim that he’s the victim of the exact same tactics that he once deployed is just the rankest hypocrisy,” said Norman L. Eisen, who served as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the first Trump impeachment. “But consistency, logic, evidence, truth — those are always the first to go by the board when a democracy comes under assault from within.” (NYTimes) See link below for article, which has been gifted.
‘Two days after the 2020 election that Donald J. Trump refused to admit he lost, his oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., made an urgent recommendation: “Fire Wray.”
Do you think he's sorry he didn't take his son's advice?
Former President Donald Trump is a criminal at large and his actions with highly sensitive documents that instruct on the technology involved in building nuclear reactors is proof of his treasonous intentions. This technology was apparently intended for the Saudi Arabians in order for them to build nuclear reactors that would reap billions in profits to Donald Trump, the Saudi Arabians and trumps treasonous band of co-conspirators.
This should put a wet blanket on the fire storm that erupted over the FBI search of Donald Trump‘s Mara Largo home. The loud whining from Trump and his right wing fascist partners has all been silenced by the reality that Donald Trump is a traitor to every Single American and it is the hope of every law abiding Citizen the Donald Trump, once found guilty of these treasonous felonies, be put to death at the end of a hangman’s rope.
Federal prison will only allow him to continue his dirty work and continue his attempts to overthrow our American democracy in favor of a Trump lead autocratic dictator ship.
Federal prison will simply be a place where Donald Trump can act as a leader in exile and still fight for the horrific and illegal government that he is so much in favor of. he must be put to death, There is no other viable solution.
All of his co-conspirators and partners in this heinous attempt should also receive the same death penalty, even if it involves sitting members of Congress!
I am with you emotionally. But here is the problem with death penalty sentences. They usually don't actually happen because our court system is so complex with appeals upon appeals. Then there were the faulty death drugs and more law suits. Executions in the US take decades to happen if they ever do. Realistically, we might be better served by taking over a prison facility that houses non-violent drug offenders - release them with a stipend. Then create a penal colony for traitors within our government. I want to be in charge of the cafeteria menu.
Although I appreciate the humor in your reply to my comment, hanging is not supposed to be a humane method of execution and traitors are not entitled to any “health benefits“ of a humane execution. Traitors should be put to death slowly and painfully and that would serve as a reminder of those who would commit these heinous crimes against the American people that their execution won’t be humane nor painless.
While I agree that it’s more than likely that t planned & was likely implementing selling nuclear power plant top secret plans to the KSA, thus breaking our own Atomic Energy Act as well as, obviously, failing to implement a 123 Agreement of nonproliferation requirements, & that he likely had the help of his SIL Jared & his old buddy Barrick, the idea of implementing the death penalty is abhorrent to myself & to many others. And hanging? Are you serious? I can’t imagine our government sanctioning such an act, especially as Garland has instituted a moratorium on federal executions. Do we really need to help the gop in turning our country back to the days of the Wild West while also making a martyr of t & his ilk?
How many people had never heard of the National Archives before all of this? More "complementary" civics lessons. And thank goodness for librarians and archivists.
Thank goodness, indeed! People doing genealogical research in the US know the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) well: among the holdings in its multiple main archives are US Census records. Another of NARA's responsibilities is to administer and staff each of the extant presidential libraries (see https://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/about) AND to choose which of the documents and artifacts in NARA'S keeping to house in a given presidential library. Clearly this entails that the goods have to be in NARA's possession, as required by law. The assertion that some prior president himself took whatever number of boxes of records neither holds water nor excuses a more recent officeholder from breaking that law.
Up to June 2019, trump accused people of committing treason 24 times . . . in the best of irony it is possible trump and the criminal cabal gets dozens of treasonous charges lodged against them.
The documents that were seized were paper. trump wouldn't know how to operate a copy machine or find a file unless it was on the end of a roll of toilet paper. Therefore, at some point someone made copies and physically packed those documents in boxes to be transferred to FL under the direction of trump. Who would those people be? Hmmm . . . . following the money trail, the net is getting a bit wider.
Someone this morning who worked in the top secret echelons, stated that the highest level materials were never put into computers and only printed so they could not be easily hacked and sold. They were printed for safe-keeping. Whilst the orange flambé dangled his shiny objects relentlessly in rallies and on twitter and faux, the family and party were destroying our country behind the scenes. Money, power, global connections. This is capitalists gone so awry to is evil.And we pay for them. We pay for organizations and politicians, we pay, we pay, we pay. They suck our energy like modern day slave owners. We are being bled by the controllers of the Matrix. Change must be strong and swift to oust them and build America in a true, egalitarian way not based on white elites who feel they are supreme over all others. They have had their time. It is our time to flush the filth that do not even care about the safety of young ones in our schools. How fricking despicable can a party of mongrels get? We need martial law, or a martial Wall, against all of them.
I have stood by Garland. He and our Justice system have been doing very deep gardening. I am reminded that Jamie Raskin said that what they have found will "...blow the roof off the house." Thank you, thank you. There are high treasons why this had to be taking so long. I thought it was Russian connections, but the nuclear secrets is just a mind-blowing cause for treasonous heads to roll, literally, at this point. Usually a pacifist, I think it is time to bring out that gallows the seditionists built at the Capital. Some real head-rolling might make the rest of the American nazis think twice, if that is even a possibility.
In Virginia v. John Brown, he was found guilty on all three charges and hanged. Edwin Coppie (also known as Edwin Coppock) and Aaron Dwight Stevens were also charged, convicted, and hanged for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia and other crimes. However, my research indicates that Aaron Dwight Stevens, an abolitionist, took part in John Brown's raid to free slaves and was executed in 1860 for treason against Virginia. William Bruce Mumford, convicted of treason and hanged in 1862 for tearing down a United States flag during the American Civil War.
If Mumford's crime of tearing down an American flag resulted in treason and execution, that is pretty mild compared to duck l'orange's crimes and those of his comrades. Le Duck did fondle our flag in public. In light of all his crimes, think about that flag fondle metaphor in how that perverted celebrity _ _ _ _ ed us royally. Aided and abetted by his cult of republicans. Technically, it has been a gang rape of our entire country. Lady Liberty & Lady Justice. Have at them, girls! (Ironic as they take away women's rights...I don't think so, misters, we are not laying down our rights, our bodies or our country as Handmaidens for you).
Historical research indicates that, in the past, Congress gets to decide the punishment of treasonous persons. Well, so much for that with a boatload of treasonous rethuglicans and traitors in our current Congress. How did we really get here--we need to NEVER forget. I am sure our traumatized amygdala's will provide the memories for generations.
thank you, Pensa! another excellent lesson in our American history... and it's bizarre as ever. traitors and the judgements against them... wow.
yes, today's Congress is full of its own unrepentant traitors (including Raphael) who STILL voted late Jan 6 to wee hours on Jan 7 ... to NOT certify election. unbelievable! not qualified to take on any such decisions about their own ringleader's treasonous accusations.
When a suspected breach of security occurs (due to a threat that classified information had been released to unauthorized people/govts), a pretty extensive assessment is required to determine the extent of the damage.
We’re just getting started…
Tweet from retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling
The connection between DT holding on to nuclear classified materials and the willingness of DT and associates ... with proper compensation ... to set up Saudi Arabia and MBS with the knowledge and capability to become a nuclear power ... if true which we do not know at this point ... would point straight to Treason against the United States of America by DJT. I wish this lousy movie would end and we could be done with it and its continual distractions keeping us from focusing on moving forward with hope and a better world.
Kinda makes you wonder about the $2B MBS gave Kushner, doesn’t it?
Another dot connects!!
Yes, and it also makes me wonder if there is one agent on Trump's Secret Service detail who heard this sort of thing being discussed and decided his loyalty to Trump did not extend to covering up espionage and treason.
Kushner 1b. Steve Mnuchin 2billion. Was Donnie jealous and just wanted in on the action?
Or did he steal the docs as some sort of collateral against the federal government investigating his other crimes?
Or like Putin, he also suffers from kleptocracy/kleptomaniac? It’s so weird!
https://www.businessinsider.com/kusner-mnuchin-raised-combined-3-half-billion-arab-monarchies-report-2022-5
Agreed, Ted. While the media has, so far focused mostly on the (also quite possible) sell-to-the-highest-bidder theory the one spoken only in hushed tones is that it was his insurance policy to hold the United States of America hostage as his get-out-of-jail-free card,.....give me a full pardon past/present/future and $20b or I release these docs to,....fill in the blank with any of the authoritarians whom he openly idolizes.
He could be considered a flight risk except that it is hard to imagine virtually any country in the world wanting him as he offers them nothing but liability and pain. Without such documents he is literally the "man" without a country.
He is already in and about to be in far more debt than he has assets, esp once L James invokes the NY "corporate death penalty" to seize whatever's left not to mention the serious potential of prison. Using the contents of those obviously intentionally stolen boxes as part of his Revenge motive must be considered as Garland and the DOJ (good name for a band BTW) eventually look at charges. The Espionage Act will have to become a consideration should the contents prove to contain what gave them cause to take them back.
“Kim Jong Ill and I exchanged wonderful love letters”
…with nuclear national security secrets?
Who says “Donnie” wasn’t in on it? How much do Kushner & Mnuchin’s billions kicks back to the don?
Could be all three. Knowing how he loves lucre, my first thought is that he is going to sell them to the highest bidder. Once again I also felt a flush of anger at those who dissed HRC in 2016 and did not get out to vote or voted for Jill not green Stein. I don't know whether to breath a sigh of relief that we dodged some kind of bullet or worry about what else this monster has done to destroy the country. And he also continues to incite others to do nefarious deeds. I confess that I am not at all sorry the January 6th insurrectionist is dead in an Ohio cornfield.
Voting for Jill Stein was supported and encouraged heavily by Russian IRA Active Measures, Big time. Propaganda works. No one is immune from time to time. The uneducated, isolated, the aggrieved, the apathetic are most vulnerable. Reach out to those folks and help them understand reality.
The ones I know are unreachable.
Same here. Focus time and energy to the non voter. Don’t waste time trying the impossible… conversion of a MAGA.
I do think a lot of Republican suburban women will vote Democratic due to The Dobbs decision. Or I’d like to hope so.
😔 I find the Stein-ways are a bit more responsive to logic than the trump-pits. But both still a waste of time. Instead we are approaching moderate Republicans to vote for moderate Democrats, finding common ground.
Elections have consequences as we have seen much to the dismay of most of us. So, I don't care what the DNC did or didn't do. The enemy was clear and yet even after that monster was elected, people were hanging on to the idea that politics is not about the reality presented to us at the moment. Progress is slow, but as we have seen, it can come undone very quickly.
You don’t have to believe the Russian IRA influenced splitting the democratic ticket in more than one way. However it is true. No one wants to believe they are vulnerable to propaganda…but we all are vulnerable for all be reason or another.
I was speculating. I do think when I read about the nuclear documents, I gasped. I am fully cognizant of the ongoing destruction caused by death star which is why I have that as one of his nicknames. I see him as a death star rocketing throughout this country and the world and along with the party of death giving us plenty to gasp about and maybe hope that nothing nefarious happens because of these documents.
I pray you are wrong but it’s a question in my head as well. He’s had these documents for over a year and a half.
K got 2B, M got 1. Part of what makes it seem nefarious is that normally it would have been the other way around.
Saudis paying Mnuchin to manage funds could be legitimate. He has a history of being very good at it. The same cannot be said of Kushner. For that matter, the legit hiring of Mnuchin could have been done at least partly in an attempt to cover up the payoff to Jared.
Absolutely. That was my only thought when the news broke. Everybody questioned why $2b to J who they assessed as having no qualifications to run an investment firm.
As Heather says, "follow the money". That is what tfg is all about!
Thank you, dot-connector Cindy!
That's the first thing I thought about when reading Heather's revelation. With all of the information I heard last night, I never heard a word about the Saudi connection to the nuclear documents. Heather does it yet again!
I heard it yesterday for the first time on MSNBC.
Thanks, Sharon. I watched several MSNBC programs last evening, but none of them mentioned the possible Saudi connection. There's just so much floating around out there.
This, plus last week’s NY Times piece on the Claremont Institute, and add in Trump’s success at positioning himself as an aggrieved, persecuted, victim ( from his castles in Fl & NJ ) and you have the stuff of nightmares. Can we ask Mel Brooks to an hysterical satire a la The Producers to deflate Trump’s trial balloon?
Oh! But Jared has an investment fund where he is managing the $$$??? Surely his mismanagement of the properties he inherited (sounds familiar) were not of grave concern by the Saudis!
The advisory board for the Saudi funds gave Mnuchin high marks. They also rated Kushner very low and strongly advised against putting any money into Jared's hands. Jared's buddy Prince Bone Saw over-ruled them.
AND the private plane tRump is so proud of, compliments to Putin.
ya think?
And what has already been transferred to secure that pay out to Jared.
Cindy, but did it really go to Kushner?
Immediately!
Yes, definitely.
Not “kinda”. Does. Even more than before.
I’ve almost forgotten what a normal world is like. Where we worried about the future for our children and the environment. And planned and legislated. I’m more than tired of TFG taking up all the oxygen in the room. I bet he loves every minute of the attention he’s getting. Imagine solitary confinement.
I am exhausted with his constant—and I do mean never-ending—hyperbolic whining and complaining. Wish he would just. shut. up.
Or maybe expire.
I can not understand how his heart continues to beat under constant stress.
I don't think he feels any stress. Otherwise he would long gone. I think the narcissistic sociopathic "qualities" mean you have no conscience, you just focus on what's ahead. Perhaps the cruelty of his father made Trump's brain re-wire in a protective way that shield him from everything, a survival mechanism. There was that article about his psychological make up that said "normal" people can't look at him and judge him by any common standards because he is quite unique in the way his brain works. We just cannot understand what goes on his brain. Scary.
I believe he is pretty paranoid right now, breaking through the narcissistic shield he creates that allows him to believe all sorts of crazy things, like the Big Lie. I think that shield is cracked and when he finds out he cannot hold a federal office EVER, he'll no longer have lies to protect his ego. He'll find he's the ultimate LOSER.
I don’t think he “believes” any of it. He’s “using it” as a grift, a con, because it works!
Yeah, I think it will be very interesting to see how he responds to what's ahead. He may literally lose it and get even kookier than he already is. I wonder about the Josh Hawley's, Ron DeSantis's, Ted Cruz's, Marjorie Taylor Greene's, Lauren Boebart's, etc -- people who seem to be following in his crazy footsteps. What will undo them? How much pressure will they be able to withstand before they crack? Interesting times.
So true....his brain, possibly through his unstable, weird childhood, is hardened over with evil narcissisisms(if that's a word) .....however, how does this explain the gray matter of his MAGA followers, and more amazingly, his political minions who are educated in the world of law and politics. Don't they have families that are embarrased by their "off" behavior? Who are these ppl? Many our friends and family who were raised with the same principles and morales as us.
It is truly a study in the psychology of man (and woman).
Malignant democidal sociopathic narcissists have no conscience. Need to teach that to everyone in high-school to watch for those signs in ...maybe then we'd elect or hire better , compassionate leaders
Precisely.
He has Hitler attributes.
Attempted like
Me, too. I keep thinking those hamberders have to kick in sometime!
Be still his beating heart,....
Best yet!!!
Then they would paint him as a martyr! Imagine THAT!!
That is exactly why a friend used to say she wanted to see him exit Air Force One, trip at the top of the stairs and fall, breaking his neck and dying immediately on the tarmac--all on tape. We used to speculate that Melania might give him a lil' shove, as well.
Did you see yesterday opinion piece in WaPo on Trump's whining. It was excellent. Another rich, powerful white guy abused by the justice system.
He reminds me of an annoying mosquito.
Yes, constantly a high pitched hum. But we can swat the mosquito.
I am hoping for the latter....chocking on a McDonald's burger.
A new concept. Chocking? With a bit of imagination it will come to me. Yes Miselle made it clear. You can chock on a hamberder.
I choked.
Like Jeffrey Epstein… 🫢
The latter 🙏
Oh, I could dream. Never to see his evil visage or hear those whinny lies ever again.
Or that shoulder twitch- -
Maybe trump is simply revealing the true “normal” of life. Overarching our daily routines is a web, a system of commerce, totally entwined and fueled by vice and corruption. The cloud cover we usually have had in the past blocked its view. With trump, there are so many breaks in the clouds we begin to see the Mount Olympus of corruption and the actions of the gods who inhabit it quite visibly. True democratic capitalism does not exist it appears. Capitalism is always infiltrated by vice and corruption evidently. Kudos to Garland for the rock of justice he’s trying to roll uphill.
Well said, Michelle. Thank you. Even the "average" business person, the not-so-bad people who play loose with business ethics can be swept up into more nefarious plots that they may not completely understand.
Since the October 2016 release of the Billy Bush tape, every day some information is revealed that would end the political career of any normal human being. And yet, still he persists.
He used “Christian training 101” with his minions. Believe in only me as your savior and salvation. The devil does not speak the truth. The devil will deceive you. I alone speak the truth. Worship me. Repeat …Repeat…Repeat on Fox.
I imagine tfg will spend his 'second term' in prison, and if luck will have it, more than 4 years - if the suspicions are coming true about the nuclear classified material and tfg is/was selling related documents to Saudi A and other 'donors' (to his personal bank account) there is hope that a few more of the 70 M trumpers are getting to their senses... I do count on it this time.
Can anyone wrap their head around the idea of a (former) PRESIDENT stealing and then selling nuclear technology to ANYONE?
Easy for me, I expect the worst from the worst. It’s unprecedented for the USA to have had a career criminal as president. Ye hear that MSM…
Not until death star occupied the WH. Worst mistake ever to have him there.
With Trump—who handed the Russians a highly placed Israeli spy in Putin’s sphere for free? He thought Putin his BFF. Of course he’d sell US nuclear info to the Saudis—the no more freebies.
I cannot. Even with the evidence in front of me.
Buhler!!
Not as long as Rupert spews the antidote to reason with every utterance by the crew of blathering idiots
From what I see in Michigan, I don't think all the 71 million who voted for tRump are trumpers. They just voted Republican as they always have done. And now a goodly percent are smart enough to see the damage he did to their business, health and democracy.
Agree. Several cousins and old friends in Oakland County fit the bill. Voted for him once because he was 'better for business/taxes.'
Imagine being his guard!
lol Cathy !
Irenie, I would prefer that he be in a small cell with Giuliani or Mark Meadows or Eastman. Imagine them together in tiny quarters - the NO EXIT they each deserve.
Hell is, indeed, other people. Sartre put it so well.
Yes! He'd go mad or be killed shortly.
Just everyone be quiet about him. His Schtick is outrage-reaction-be outraged at the reaction. Just stop falling for it—he hates being ignored.
I will never forget the then president admitting in 2016 that Trump may be terrible for the nation, but he’s great for CNN’s ratings.
Les Moonves said the same thing in re: CBS.
Still playing the same tune that brought him to office. Damn the government. Who took the cookie from the cookie jar? Not me! Still pounding the table with his shoe. Regurgitating his never ending story trying to keep the echoes alive. His followers now drowning in a soup of lies. The very borsch choking their words. Sound bites no longer connecting. Disintegrating. Realization breaking the fog baring the jackals. The promises fading back into Lethe. Collapsing, sinking, fading, shrouding, history moving on.
History doesn't move on. It just repeats itself, like a circular fluorescent light bulb. About a hundred years ago, William Allen White, the liberal editor of the Emporia (KS) Gazette, may have been exaggerating when he wrote about the futility of trying to reach out to those in a Christian White Supremacist anti-immigrant group that condoned violence. The group, of course, was the resurrected Ku Klux Klan, but in my opinion, his words seem to hold true about today’s foes of democracy as well. He wrote that ‘No arguments you may use, no facts you may present, no logic you may array will in the slightest affect these people … They have no capacity for receiving arguments, no minds for retaining or sifting facts and no mental processes that will hold logic. If they had any of these they would not be Kluxers’ Just replace ‘Kluxers’ with today’s QAnon believers and their ilk. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Very disturbing. Of course we’ve been warned many times before to stay vigilant or our experiment of democracy could be dismantled. To think a Carnival Barker was put in power to facilitate this very task. Let’s hope the “Librarians” take him down ( as Stephen Colbert quipped on air)!
Indeed, Sharon. Ben Franklin... "... a republic, IF you can keep it" ... wise words of warning from the beginning
I think Jack your words resonate in the connection. I think also that the better angels cannot be heard above the din and clamor of their rage inspired perhaps by their very impotence in a world collapsing inwards, leaving them out in the cold. When so many are dispossessed within their own society they lash out. With Trump to rally around he used them badly. He aimed their vitriolic discontent. He buried their better angels.
They are not buried. It may take a long time, a very long time, but Lincoln's words predicting that 'the mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature” will ultimately again prove to be true. He was appealing, without success, to the secessionists of 1861. It took four bloody years for that to happen, but then we soon lost access to those mystic chords, and we still await those better angels again taking charge and showing us the way. Hang in there, and advise your children to do the same.
Just check out https://journalism.ku.edu/about-william-allen-white. He won a Pulitzer prize along the way.
The way to get him is to stop talking about him. I thought it would end but there is no end to this. Take his platform, social media yet he's still center stage. Every time I hear that voice the hair on the back of my neck stands up.
With no connection to the outside world! A narcissist’s nightmare.
I had occasion to re-read some old blog entries of mine from up to ten years ago. I used to have a much lighter send of humor.
Feeling the same way.
Irenie you are not alone! I am too old for this ....crap!
Cathy, you raise the point that HCR raised in today's Letter, 'Tonight, Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey, Perry Stein, and Shane Harris at the Washington Post broke the story that the FBI agents at Mar-a-Lago were looking for documents relating to nuclear weapons, underscoring that the search was imperative. We don’t know any more than that, and heaven knows that’s bad enough.'
'But what springs to mind for me is the plan pushed by Trump’s first national security advisor, Michael Flynn, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and fundraiser and campaign advisor Tom Barrack, to transfer nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. In 2019, whistleblowers from the National Security Council worried that their efforts might have broken the law and that the effort to make the transfer was ongoing. The plan was to enable Saudi leaders to build nuclear power plants, a plan that would have yielded billions of dollars to the investors but would have allowed Saudi Arabia to build nuclear weapons.'
The most recent information about the Saudi's interest in being nuclear-weapons ready that I found was in the Bulletin of Atom Scientists.
'Will Seoul and Washington make Riyadh nuclear-weapons ready?
'Iran’s nuclear program, oil, and human rights dominated Biden’s much-anticipated first presidential trip to the Middle East earlier this month. But there is one topic President Biden chose not to showcase during his visit with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud—the Kingdom’s most recent interest in nuclear energy—and the nuclear weapons proliferation concerns that come with it.'
'Only weeks before Biden’s visit, Riyadh invited South Korea, Russia, and China to bid on the construction of two large power reactors. On that bid, Korea Electric Power Company (KEPCO) is the most likely winner. KEPCO has already built four reactors for Riyadh’s neighbor, the United Arab Emirates, and is the only vendor to bring a power reactor of its own design online in the Middle East. South Korea also is the only government to provide reliable, generous financing, free of political strings—something neither Moscow nor Beijing can credibly claim.'
'And then, there’s this: Any Korean sale would be covered by a generous 2011 South Korean nuclear cooperative agreement with Riyadh that explicitly authorizes the Saudis to enrich any uranium it might receive from Seoul. Under the agreement, Riyadh could enrich this material by up to 20 percent, without having to secure Seoul’s prior consent.'
'That should set off alarm bells.'
'Do the Saudis want a bomb? In 2018, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman announced that “if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible.” As if to prove the point, late in 2020, word leaked that the Saudis have been working secretly with the Chinese to mine and process Saudi uranium ore. These are steps toward enriching uranium—and a possible nuclear weapon program.'
'Unlike the Emirates, which legally renounced enriching uranium or reprocessing spent fuel to separate plutonium, the Kingdom insists on retaining its “right” to enrich. Also, unlike most members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Saudi Arabia refuses to allow intrusive inspections that might help the IAEA find covert nuclear weapons-related activities, if they exist, under a nuclear inspections addendum known as the Additional Protocol.'
'Saudi Arabia’s enrichment program and refusal to adopt the Additional Protocol, doubled with a possible permissive South Korean reactor sale, could spell trouble. South Korea currently makes its nuclear fuel assemblies using imported uranium, which mainly comes from Australia. This ore is controlled by Australia’s uranium export policy, which requires that the uranium be monitored by the IAEA and that materials derived from it not be retransferred to a third country without first securing Australia’s consent. Yet, if Seoul decides to pass Australian uranium on to Riyadh, the Saudis are free to enrich it up to 20 percent at any time without having to secure anyone’s approval. In addition, Riyadh could proceed to enrich this material without having to agree to intrusive IAEA inspections under the Additional Protocol, making it easier for Riyadh to enrich beyond 20 percent uranium 235 without anyone knowing.' . (BulletinofAtomicScientists) See link below to read the entire report.
https://thebulletin.org/2022/07/will-seoul-and-washington-make-riyadh-nuclear-weapons-ready/
Blow the top off this subterfuge, Fern. Way to go
And yet, Saudi Arabia could be "solar energy central"
The Saudis want nuclear weapons for 2 reasons: Iran and Israel.
Actually, one of those. The Saudis have shown little interest in destroying Israel, and are under no threat from that direction. Iran, on the other hand, is clearly an aggressive power, funding military troubles all over the region and constantly making threats. In fact, once Iran started up with its regional threats, the Saudis actively stopped rants against Israel (which they had allowed on the general principle of complain about someone else) and told their people to concentrate on the real threat: Iran.
That is not how Saudi Arabia will have nuclear weaponry, Hugh.
Sure - I'm horribly aware of that reality - not a good look!
Superb work FERN. I expect the controlling Florida Magistrate Judge where Garland/ DOJ's Motion is pending today to handle the National Security matters appropriately. The Maagistrate will have the relevant Court Order(s) on the digital Docket website. Likely, thebulletin.org is a good source for tracking these issues although WAPO has a decades long history of dealing with important national security matters. May be a fruitful area for a Freedom of Inormation Act ( FOIA) request. Thank you. :)
Thank you, Bryan. I appreciate the ways in which you carry our research forward.
Fern, thank you for your link. It’s more than the elephant in the room. I subscribe to the Bulletin and on any given day, it’s scary. Right now on the Doomsday Clock we’re 100 seconds to midnight.
https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/
No sweet dreams for anyone.
I’m wondering now how long Liz Cheney has known about tfg’s nuclear monkey business?
How would she know Ted? She has been removed from DJT's circle for a long time. Are you thinking about what may have been learned by work of the House Committee's 1/6 investigations?
This is fascinating and I need some graphic designer to put this angle together in a graphic
Very good idea Sarah.
Holy crap Fern. This is very unsettling. And to realize there's a connection between the Saudi's and deer in the headlights Kushner and nuclear planning - words escape me!
How much will we learn about the depth and corrupt connections woven through the fabric of the USA? It is a horrifying realization as is the web that we have been trapped within.
I would love to share your write up on this EVERYWHERE!
I think this would sow seeds of doubt in even his staunchest supporters. Maybe very, very shallow seeds but seeds none the less.
Would his staunchest supporters take the time to read anything with this much information… especially pointing out trumps corruption?
If only what you write could be true. Please do as you suggest. Thank you for your effort and determination.
Article sure pricks at the underlying nagging fear in so many tfg. and associates maneuvers over the last far too many long years. Thank you for the link.,
Cathy, I woke up thinking just such things. My thoughts were about Russia and the connections with the amount of money they fed to TFG. His son exclaimed that they were funneling the most money of anyone into their real estate ventures. Why? But the Saudi nuclear thing is really scary....
Perhaps the greatest crime of this whole drama has been "its continual distractions". TFG walks into a room or picks up a mic. The oxygen of the nation is sucked out. He commands attention by being outrageous. As awful as it is, it is also entertainment for the masses. It IS like a lousy movie where the suspense is constantly "what will he do or say next?" He's like the Joker in a Batman movie. Cable news is a virtual "Colosseum" which I can't ignore because it is regurgitated all over the "print" media I read. I want to read about progress! Solutions! I get so weary.
But, no! I'll grab another coffee. Power up my attitude. I can walk and chew gum. I will do my political duty and stay engaged. TFG is not taking away my personal power. And after I have had a fine day with my personal pursuits, I will pour a martini with my favorite gin and raise my glass - a toast to Merrick Garland and the FBI. Salut!
Think of all the positive and constructive things that Americans, their legislators, their governors, the pundits could be discussing! We could have moved from should all Americans have access to affordable health care to HOW. We could be in a lather about how to provide clean drinking water. We could be talking about providing truly equal educational opportunities to all our kids - instead of wasting thousands of talented brains by zip code funding of schools. We could be talking about coping with floods and fires...and maybe planning the strategic retreat from our coastlines. It's critical that we reduce emissions. But in the meantime we are ignoring what we have to do to adjust to the inevitable rising of the waters...
Talk about Nero fiddling while Rome burns!
Put this guy away. Outvote the bigots. End this terrible film. And...no sequels, please! Work to do.
Even some who seek the truth about what's happening to our country use words, such as 'drama', 'entertainment, 'lousy movie', 'suspense', and 'Batman' to describe it. It is as though Trump's duplicitous and destructive acts are the stuff of showbusiness. While you don't believe that for a minute, our language has been corrupted in a way that masks the deep down destruction he and his enablers have done to our government and civil society.
And that speaks to a core problem. TFG, the 45th President of the US had NO qualifications to be such. None. Yet millions voted for an "entertainer'. A con man. A TV dude who channeled their frustration and then did nothing for them.
Hopefully, the "unmasking" has begun...
Most of us though (by popular vote numbers) DID vote for the most qualified candidate in US history to be president. But “those emails……”. How quickly a Dem can be disqualified, vs a gop. “If you can’t Beat ‘em. Cheat ‘em!” ( We should make signs and place them outside gop offices.)
Hasn’t the GOP been pushing professional entertainers as their front man for quite some time? Isn’t the loud voice of their media the box office promotional debauchery of show biz?
Yes. Eyes and efforts forward. Wallowing in the misery that is trump is the deterrent that gave him 4 yrs in office. That’s on us, We the People who elected him. We MUST focus and secure a greater majority in Congress in November. A tsunami vote for democracy is our only response. And personally, as soon as this forum reflects less discussion of trump and more discussion of our focus, that will be a sign to me that we are in the lead.
Beto did it with one forceful response to gross disrespect in a room that erupted in support. A visceral reaction. There are SO MANY MORE OF US that are the same.
Let’s go!
🗽
Thank you Bill. Indeed, the marginal costs of debating Mr. Potato Head and young adult fiction rather than issues that have importance are staggering.
I was going to comment just this, but you said it so much better. Elect a reality TV star, get a reality TV show. Except this drama has nuclear weapons.
Yup
We can only move forward by voting out the traitors and would-be traitors, Cathy. It won’t just “go away”. The nail gun attack and brandishing an AK 15 weapon at the FBI field office in Cleveland is a chilling news item today. It means armed citizens, some to the teeth, are coming for our lives. The nuclear threat, Kushner’s financial and other ties to the Saudis and the recent golf tournament hosting the Saudis at T’s club in New Jersey should be reason enough to investigate those ties and of course, to retrieve wrongfully removed documents. I am sure Garland is not missing a trick….
“The nuclear threat, Kushner’s financial and other ties to the Saudis and the recent golf tournament hosting the Saudis at T’s club in New Jersey…”
LET
THESE
WORDS
SINK
IN
This is what first came to me after hearing yesterday what could be in those docs. I couldn't remember which resort the Saudis were at OR if it was still scheduled. What if that information is missing after they go through everything they just got back? What if copies were made to a flash drive and they are now in the wrong hands???
It’s far more scary…
Trump was in the WH for FOUR YEARS…
how many other horses are already out of the barnS (my emphasis)
We really have no
}>£+]{!! idea what else has been divulged to very bad players
My mind seems to be in a loop and spouting "Whoa" "Wow". Time to take a break.
OMG Rebecca, I never thought of that. I hope they weren't too late if that is what this is all about.
Ditto a million times!
Chump will go to his grave with vengeance on his mind, and greed in his ugly “heart.” What happens when you open Pandora’s box. My fear on Nov 9, 2016. The nightmare plays out…
“Guns of Navarone,” anyone remember scopolamine, a “truth serum?” What we could ask Trump about his secret conversations with Putin, Jared Kushner about his $2 billion deal with the Saudis…But, “Truth-inducing drugs are considered unconstitutional and unethical under international law, and are classified as a form of torture.”
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/drugs-history-you-asked/what-truth-serum
I agree, Ellie! Slip Trump a “mickey”, please somebody! Let him spill all that he knows.
Trumps existence is a form of torture!
Or a Master Class in the fragility of democracy.
Ah, yes . . . When Gregory Peck intentionally told the injured Anthony Quayle that their plans had changed - an intentional falsehood knowing Quayle would fall into the Nazi's hands and be "scopolanined" about what the team was up to. Gotta see that movie again! (Anything to detract from the grind of Trumpworld lies and villainy . . . ) Go, DOJ!
Pity.
👍🏻
Cathy, I'm waiting excitedly for "this lousy movie" to continue. I want to see the bad guys caught and proecuted to the fullest extent possible, regardless of their previous positions of privilege and power. It seems more and more likely, with evidence continuing to mount, that they will indeed be prosecuted, at least to some extent. Then I think we will all breath a sigh of relief that justice prevailed and our constitution held up to the challenge. Otherwise, all nefarious Trumpian operators will break out of any current restraints and run rough shod over the USofA and democracy world wide. The idea of democracy will never die but it will be one heck of job to restablish it here in our country where we seem to have so many Trump followers, people who don't really believe in democracy or at least will vote for a guy like T while they don't understand that his intent is to erode democracy. The good news is that now they have been revealed and we know our enemy. But the fight will be ahead of us.
Back in April 2022:
https://www.americanoversight.org/american-oversight-sues-for-records-related-to-trump-administrations-attempted-saudi-nuclear-deal
And Google: Judd Legum Nuclear Whistleblower 2019 to read what he reported.
Well...my sister told me in 2019 that she was voting for Trump again because "he's a businessman and the country needs to be run like a business." Fool!
MK, What does she say in 2022?
In 2021 she told me that I am too political. We have not spoken since. I have more years behind me than I have in front of me. I've decided to spend my time with people who live in reality.
I recognized names of legitimate people (in my opinion) on American Oversight. https://www.americanoversight.org/about
https://www.americanoversight.org/our-team
Cathy How ironic that Trump has been ‘nuked’ on his own petard.
The word "treason" is so overused these days, but seriously -- *would* this be treason? I don't think so, but I'm no expert and I'd love to hear from someone who knows the subject. Here's what 18 U.S. Code § 2381 says about treason:
"Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States."
Can Saudi Arabia be considered an enemy of the U.S.? I don't think so. Iran, maybe, but not Saudi. Giving, selling, or trading secrets to Saudi certainly qualifies as espionage (and probably a few other crimes), but I've got my doubts about treason.
Feel exactly the same, Cathy.
The treasonous lending of info prob already compensated with Saudi gold. Wonder where that treasure is buried?
🗽
It answers the question of why the Saudis gave Jared $2BN.
I'm getting fat on popcorn.
Seems Like a soap As The Worm Turns
Yep
Sorry but this busy movie continues. Think The Pentagon Papers where Daniel Ellsberg copied classified papers. The DOJ now has boxes of papers but we must ''think out of the box' too.
Not treason, but felonious, certainly. (Treason is defined by the Constitution, narrowly. Under the British crown, anything the king or queen did not like could be treason. The Framers wanted to avoid a situation like that, and our experience with T___p has proved their wisdom.)
Poetic license then. You say “felonious”, I say “treason-onius”…
A joke!
Let's step back and consider what may have been happening behind the scenes. The Justice Department has known for some time that Trump has classified documents and learned that they included nuclear secrets. So sensitive that they're classified as more secret than top secret. And why paper versions, which meant they had to be printed out?
All this must have set off blaring alarms across national intelligence agencies, which the Justice Department no doubt notified. What has the CIA been doing, and what has it learned? And what about the other agencies? Has Trump literally sold out the country? Has he revealed secrets that endangered us or perhaps brave spies working on our behalf? Or has he sold information that agencies had collected about other countries, including our adversaries? Or all of the above?
It's all mind-blowing. It more than hard to fathom. It appears nearly certain that the former president has committed serious felonies involving some of the nation's most secret intelligence information. But we also have to begin pondering whether Trump committed espionage.
'Let's step back...' Michael! What is the distance from which we have stepped back, thereby, permitting Trump to get away with not paying his taxes as warranted, destroying the county's governmental agencies, weaponizing the DOJ...taking government documents to Mar-a-Largo? This country's lack of guardrails and enforcement is as shocking as Trump and those in the business of attempting to overthrow our tottering government. Ah, but the two go together like a horse and carriage. Would Trump and his ilk have gotten where they are if our economic system and the Rule of Law didn't bend their arcs in favor of Wall Street and Big Business as well as the ultrarich and propertied class?
To Michael's point and Fern's folo: John Brennan, former CIA director, said on MSNBC last night that the reason they were paper documents is that the ultra secret, as in beyond "top" were never on any kind of server. Only paper. The ultra secret classification, if this is indeed what they were Brennan said, meant that even he, as the CIA director would never have seen them.
There were guardrails, maybe not enough, in part because this was a crime beyond imagining.
As stated the guardrails are clearly not adequate, and isn't it the role of protecting government secrets to imagine treasonous actors within and outside of government?
Agree, the guardrails are not adequate. Were never accurate. Who makes the rules when a crook can be elected. All the way down the line, there have been signs that we could be in danger. How many people have access to all the docs in the Whitehouse, esp when there aren't locks on the doors? We need policies and protection as if every leader has the potential to be compromised, even an honest leader.
Irenie, Given, DJT's obvious 'disloyalty' to the country, his destructive and unstable behavior the string of negatives is how long, so how could he have been permitted to leave the WH with cartons of government documents? He corrupted everything and everyone he could. He was not being monitored. DJT is a known quantity, and he revealed the sort of known quantity our country had become.
Fern, TFG’s disloyalty is a known and so ironic when he fired smart and highly qualified people who were loyal to our country. The monitors. But would not swear loyalty to him.
A crime that only a handful of people were in a position to commit!
isn't it odd that there's a whole big process to gain 'security' clearance.. yet the prez (maybe also the veep?) are exempt???? why is that??? and shouldn't that be changed???
Good point.
Why would any one person, especially a person with zero technical knowledge, be able to get their hands on these documents? Shouldn't they be in a secured room with video surveillance?
From the beginning my primary concern with Trump was he was going to monetize the presidency and that the easiest and obvious way to do that is selling or trading national security secrets. My fear that Trump was a threat to national security was soon vindicated when he had his first "private" meeting with Putin.
Trump's Achilles heel is his personal and business tax returns. The lengths he went to to prevent their release was a huge tell. Trump is a charlatan who operates on top of a house of cards. He's a four-time loser who no bank in this country would touch. Any success he has had is fleeting and usually at the expense of others. Maybe not today, but leading up to 2016, he survived at the mercy of Putin and Russian oligarchs. He ran for president to bail himself out of more financial difficulties. His desperation to be president is because it's his ticket to fame and fortune. But, you all know this.
There is no way Trump should have been allowed to serve as president until all his tax records and business dealings were fully vetted. The lack of guardrails and enforcement with regard to vetting a president is astounding.
Fern, for my money this comment was one of your bests because it goes straight to the heart of the matter - this is what is wrong with the government, the economy and the country as a whole! Brilliant comment!! Thanks
It's still morning here in NYC, Chips.
For you from Stevie and Fern:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YLDydokJ_s
And a good morning to you from here in beautiful, sunny and cool Cuenca Ecuador. I love YT music videos and will add this to my library. Stevie Wonder is truly a wonder! There is a part of me that would like to know what made you think to send me this video.
When I think of you, I always imagine you as a person surrounded by a voluminous library filled with facts and information, all carefully organized, catalogued and researchable. Of course, nowadays these libraries are easily created on a computer. You are both a resource and resourceful and I respect your faithfulness to referencing yours and other's comments.
On the other hand, I'm quite the opposite. I'm ADHD and woefully undisciplined. I too often spout off with emotion and passion. My comments often sound like someone hopped up on coffee while your comments are a model of composure and sensibility.
Fortunately, there are seats for both of us at the same table and I'm glad we have the opportunity to share a meal from time to time.
Have a wonderful Saturday in New York City. (And just like that my mind jumps to a flashback - Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's LOL)
Thanks to each of you...amazing thread
Vivian, We came together here on the forum. We bonded and fully expressed what we have been thinking and feeling as Americans. On his special day, the list of files taken from former President's home included materials marked as top secret, meant to be seen only in government facilities. The monumental Inflation Reduction Act will be signed soon, and inflation has been slowly going down. Thank you for being among us, Vivian. It has been a good day. We will work hard to make more good days. Salud!
Salud Fern…y mil gracias. It’s a privilege to be here on this special day with more to come for sure.
Hi Chips, Thank you,
BIG Standing O... and Wild Applause for you, Fern!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for pointing out the most obvious-yet-ignored factor in America today.
Oh, Suz, I just wrote what we all know. You point out, however, that for some reason we do not say this one most terrible truth we are living. Is it that we cannot reckon with how seriously our country and the people have been diminished by an immoral and indecent, sociopath?
Thank you, Fern. I was actually referring to your last sentence:
"Would Trump and his ilk have gotten where they are if our economic system and the Rule of Law didn't bend their arcs in favor of Wall Street and Big Business as well as the ultrarich and propertied class?" <-- THIS is to me the bigger issue, the one most terrible truth we are living. THIS is what allows the sociopath et al to diminish us and all we cherish.
Well, he certainly never practised presidency.
nope ... wasn't on his agenda
He couldn't be bothered to even read daily security briefings, he just loves to lord it over people, like on his "reality" show. He's a wealth dabbler; Miss America, wine, steaks, the airline, the "university", military commander, even truck driver:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/vroom-vroom
Robert Reich claimed that Trump would have been richer had he parked his inheritance in an index fund; but that would have not been so much fun.
I think Warren Buffett was the first to point that out. But where would he put his name?
The power addicts, especially in a vacuum of humanity.
If true, it’s clearly treason.
I wonder what Israel is thinking right now?
"If true, it’s clearly treason.
I wonder what Israel is thinking right now?"
I wonder why you are thinking of Israel right now?
Because Israel has been courted by Republicans specifically for many years.
IF it is true that Saudi Arabia—an Arab country—is trying to get nuclear information from Trump, that would be a reversal of American policy of the last five decades (to support Israel).
It would also compound the trouble Trump caused when he reportedly threw an Israeli spy under the bus in 2017. I don’t recall hearing whether that spy was extracted alive or whether he was killed.
The U.S. might start to look like not a very reliable ally.
Israel doesn't need them. It already has the bomb. This all so bizarre. Also you cannot erect enough guardrails for the likes of Trump. There already are many....he just ignores them.
He was not alone in his actions. Republicans wanted total power. Not sure they realized their idiot, so-called "businessman" would sell his soul and our top secret nuclear information to the highest bidder.They just wanted full control of our country. They installed a madman like hitler. This lies at their feet and rupert's, who is fully anti-American and should be arrested and defrocked of his citizenship which he has un-earned a thousandfold. They all should be.
Murdoch literally bought his citizenship legally by promising to invest in the US.
Great point Cindy. If this goes down as we're thinking, this would be a huge betrayal to Israel.
All of the above, we gave the keys to the kingdom to the devil’s disciple
The credentials and specializations of Attorney Gonzalez and Jay Bratt show a big dot connection to follow the money! Let's hope the net catches all the bad players.
"The DOJ motion to unseal the search warrant tells us a bit more. It was signed by U.S. Attorney Juan Gonzalez and by Jay Bratt, the chief of the department’s counterintelligence section."
If the dreaded ‘deep state’ exists, trump copied it to work for him! Agreed! Where were the safeguards?
I see a pattern here culminating on Jan 6, where NO person of highest authority in our security apparatus was willing to defy t3ump and properly secure the Capitol building and the lives of the Capitol,police!
Trump would not have held for one day information he could monetize.
Because its all so mind blowing, I have to admit, it makes me wonder about the timing of Ivana’s death and IF she’s really in the grave at the golf course. And if so, what’s in the casket with her?
Begin?
I'd been half joking that Trump would not save anything he couldn't monetize or leverage. Oh my prophetic soul! Nuclear documents. Bingo.
Yes, Saudi Arabia, but also less stable entities in the former Soviet sphere where the Trumps have money laundering hotel projects. Then friends Xi and Kim. Putin. Orban. Highest bidders. Sanctuary rather than jail?
And don't forget Republican militias. Trump took domestic terrorism viral, he took it to the streets and to the Capitol. The GOP has 'gone nuclear' metaphorically. Are you ready to bet they wouldn't resort to an actual nuclear option? Holy tactical weapons Batman.
Today George Will was s#!++ing his pants in WaPo about 'social comity and domestic tranquility'. Like a typical abuser, saying DOJ forced the violent GOP reaction. What is Will so afraid of that he jumped on the Trump/GOP bandwagon so quickly and vehemently?
But George wasn’t a trumpanzee, so he said. That “blame libtards for everything” is ingrained to the bone. And the core of everything that I ever read that he wrote.
OMGosh. And Buckley begat Will and Will begat Bannon, Jones, et al. Don't let the thin veneer of sophomoric wannabe erudition fool you. No significant daylight between them. Will's entire opus is an exercise in specious and fallacious rhetoric -outright lies tricked out in Lit and Philo 101 allusions - constructing a parallel universe of alternative facts. Will wrinkled his effete little nose at the stench of arriviste Trump's ignorance and vulgarity, but Will's objection to Trump was about style not substance. Having Trump's brand on the mandarin GOP agenda was merely distasteful to Will, not entirely objectionable. 'One doesn't say/do those things out loud old son. It just isn't done.'
You said it all more succinctly.
(Full disclosure: My first LTE in WaPo was a dissection/correction of Will's lies about rent control/stabilization in NYC. Something any NYC renter could have see through. Decades ago. I've never read a column of his where he didn't twist the facts to fit his bent. I don't know enough about baseball to judge those.)
i was not fooled but I know some smart people who bought his bull schitt, smell and all.
Indeed, Suz, I second!
George Will does not have all his faculties and should have been put out to pasture 20 years ago.
I am not enjoying this movie.
No, but I keep thinking this, this, will finally wake a general sense of outrage and demand for reform, and may times been disappointed. Yet it now seems like maybe a turn point has begun. It has better be, and we and I need to see about keeping it going.
But will Rupert turn on him. That is the question nobody asks.
As long at the propaganda machine is turned on, the brainwashed will not have a chance of waking up.
Already happened. Rupert is now promoting DeSantis instead of Trump.
Well that seems to be going from bad to worse!
Republicans have slowly and methodically eroded government - they definitely do not want reforms. And Democrats doing something? - don't hold your breath.
Even the popcorn isn't very good any more.
At my house, it got stale years ago, Dave.
He reportedly did read Mein Kampf, put whatever brain cells he had into doing the plans one better. The only shock is the extent of his depravity and that of his devoted weaponized sheep. But we had plenty of warning.
One stand-out comment I remember from Ivana Trump before the 2016 election was that Mein Kampf was the only book Trump ever kept on his bedside table. Mein Bible indeed!
Not Mein Kampf. It was a book of Hitler's speeches.
Just as bad….
Another myth exploded...
You mean, somebody actually translated Hitler's SPEECHES into English? and published them?
Yes, Anne-Louise. Hitler's "Second Book" was a 1928 transcript of his thoughts on international affairs, Germany's needs, and what should be their next steps in foreign policy. (Hitler didn't write his books; he dictated them, so they read like s/w disjointed speeches.) It wasn't published in Germany until long after the war. I understand questioning why someone would translate and publish Hitler's thinking, but I think what's useful about it--and Mein Kampf as well--is that he says (endlessly) exactly what he later set out to do. It wasn't a secret; it was part of the massive propaganda campaign.
I do, however, think that the notion that Trump ever read it is highly unlikely. Trump didn't read one-page briefs, and both books require slogging through muddy verbiage to dig out the main points.
Maybe she didn’t know the difference?!
Ivana reported the speeches. Someone else later mistakenly said it was Mein Kampf.
Maybe the Cliff Notes, but I doubt it. LOL
The published a picture-book version?
Merrick Garland is brave and I am grateful! I have been afraid as the right wing press has whipped up the crazies again into a fury over him doing his job and doing it well, and I have decided that I am not going to march in a local parade this weekend with our governor because I do not want to be shot by a crazy Republican with an AR-15 rifle or AK-47 as has become so popular of late. I resent that Republicans have made the United States unlivable. I have always said that Trump is a traitor! He is an enemy agent. He is not and never has acted in the interests of the American country or its people. When he was first running for office I used to "jokingly" tell my husband and daughter at dinner that his wife was a deep cover Russian spy whose mission was to marry an American of means, get him up into the White House so he could destroy the American stability. NO president has done that more successfully than Donald Trump. They would accuse me of reading too many Stasi books, which may be true. However Trump is following the autocrats playbook and the Republicans who are going along with him are also enemies of the state. They are acting as foreign agents. It does not matter which country you name, Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, Syria. They are all contributing to the destabilization of the USA that Donald Trump has set in motion in such a deep and insidious way and continues to do so. So is the Right Wing news media. I read that Rupert Murdoch seems to be tiring of Trump. Well, he is an enemy agent too. So, are Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Ainsley Earhardt, Brian Kilmeade, Roger Ailes and more of the Fox Fake News Team. Selling nuclear secrets to the Saudis, North Koreans, Russians or whomever is bad business. I noticed that once that was out the in the Washington Post today the commentary changed to being very critical of Trump, from earlier today and yesterday when discussion of the search was filled with Republican bullying claims and Bot-like commentary. I personally would like to deport him back to his home country, which might be Russia, but could be North Korea. Ideally it would be some small island in the Arctic circle. Again, it is terrifying to live her with the amount of violence that the Republican cult members have whipped up under Donald Trump. This report of the Ricky Walter Shiffer being shot is the first time I am not cringing at police overreach and violence in my entire life when I hear that someone is killed. Who shoots with a nail gun into an FBI office? I am now wanting the police to protect us from these crazies. The supreme court certainly did not. I also would like to see every Republican that promotes violence or overthrowing the rule of law in prison. Preferably on an island in the Arctic Circle. Can the USA buy or claim some property there for a penal colony for dangerous political prisoners?
I like what you've said, Linda. "...Republicans have made the United States unlivable" is especially so horrifyingly true.
Morning Lynell. The USA is certainly not now the 60s New York where my wife spent her teen years nor the 70s when I first did a cross country road trip......and we are the Woodstock generation. Some of have become adult human beings whilst those that haven't have run things into the ground like this; spoiled brats, without values other than money, without consideration for anything other than self.....a ransid but perpetual part of history since the European invasion.
Morning, Stuart! Your comments are so true. It's a global disease, I venture to say, but as with all things, the USA is #1 in that department!
Europe would seem to be, as alwaysn just a few years behind you; same problem, same people, same results
💯
Agree and it makes me sooo sad.
We already have Guantanamo. We could use that.
I wanted it colder and more isolated.
According to things I've read, there are Youtube videos that suggest that a nail gun will penetrate ballistic glass or bullet proof glass such as used at the FBI headquarters. He wasn't nuts. He had planned ahead. More media need to explain why he had a nail gun. It sounds kooky but there was method to it.
Definitely wasn't random! Democrats should be linking this to Trump's over-the-top call to action.
Linda, I cannot disagree with one iota of what you have said. Not one thing!
Our minds are in sync
Reading his "statement" about not opposing release, you see what the Enemy will be saying tomorrow about the warrant and the receipt. It's Just the Democrats going after Dear Leader.
Hopefully if the pressure keeps building like this, he'll finally do the right thing and have his massive fatal myocardial infarction, mid-rant in front of the droolers.
My sense of karma doesn't allow me to wish death upon anyone. But a stroke that silences him and removes his ability to communicate - even through the written word. That would be fine. Maybe better.
The more I think about this, the more I agree. He shouldn't even have Don Hector's bell.
I fear doing "the right thing" will spark right-wing conspiracy theories that he was murdered by the left; and worse, that a "mourning" nation will elect a Repub replacement to make amends. (I can't believe I just wrote this)
Yes, he must remain alive. He must pay consequences in front of his jackbooted red-hats. They must see their emperor without any clothes.
Wow, that last image is going to stick with me all day...
Oh, I am so sorry to traumatize you today, Mobiguy. I gagged myself typing it out. Imagine him wearing a big diaper...to catch...or never mind, that would be even more distasteful.
Only mudslinging I care to be doing. Yay Pensa!
🗽
Okay, after reading all the news I can stomach today, I just rinsed my brain out with these delightful baby elephant friends and I feel much better again. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqXC5WQPb_0
Oh, Pensa. What a find! Thank you. I feel much better, too!
LOL, from top to bottom, Pensa!
Back in 2016 an artist made naked statues of him and put them up around the country.
I am still traumatized by those. I believe there was also a huge blow-up balloon of him in diapers that traveled to various countries including the UK where I have family.
Seeing him starkers was definitely traumatizing.
Lordy, the sequel to the darkest time for America.
I see TFG's statement about not being opposed to the release as another big lie. Of course he doesn't want the search warrant documents released! His lawyers will find some reason to oppose release and he'll put the onus on them. Then he can tell his fetid followers that he had nothing to hide, but his lawyers made him object.
The drama-king celebrity knows exactly how to keep the tension up in his audience. He has to oppose it in order to keep the coffers filled as long as possible from his cult.
And to monetize it. I am always amazed that these stupid people don't stop to think "why can't a "billionaire " pay his own legal fees? why does he need my money?"
I tell you what, Miselle, if'n I was a die-hard before, after taking one look at the buildings that are Mar-A-Lago (as seen on TV), I'd take my donor $ and split - tout de suite!
Thanks, Suz. I didn't see it yet today.
Back when he was still in the WH, he did something that pissed me off (what? GOD ONLY KNOWS!! It was daily, sometimes several times daily!) and on a news feed comment area, I suggested that we all DoorDash or UberEats some Mickey D's to him. I was hoping enough hamberders and Diet Cokes would do him in. I don't know how he stays alive, I mean that seriously!! I think he sold his soul to Satan.
Trevor Noah/The Daily Show, did a sketch this week where he opened up the safe at Mar a Largo and it was full of McDonald's hamburgers. Very funny and pathetic at the same time.
Don't laugh TC but he's not like us. Trump thrives on chaos. He's an insufferable narcissist that is either a sociopath or psychopath, depending on who's doing the evaluation. But of course, you/we know all this.
You speak from my heart
I pray for your last paragraph every single day
And we are still surprised at the knots the former president tied this country in.
I’m not surprised….I grew up in New York City. We have been dealing with his nefarious bullshit for two generations. When he was elected, we knew T was for “trouble” and ‘turmoil” and now “Treason”…..
With full blown Alzheimer's my father-in-law recoiled when he was told trump was president. He did the Elayne comment/move from Seinfeld " Get Out"! Followed by "how did that happen, that man is evil!" Pretty much says it all!
Janet, I completely understand your father-in-law’s response. We all felt that way, actually. I stayed up until results were tallied and reality of this terrible event hit home. Living in Florida at the time, six miles from Mar-A-Lardo (Michael Cohen’s nickname…btw), mostly Irish and Italian Catholics from up north. I learned from the election they were all Trumpers. Except for one woman from New Jersey who was a real friend. I was in bed for a week, unable to go out, even for groceries. It was bad. I sold that place in 2019 and was relieved to be out of there. OMG.
I did the primal scream after the Ohio results came through . . . . and lost my mind. My adult children said they would be living with the results of that election (particularly the SCOTUS appointments) for the rest of their lives; and definitely not in a good way!
In addition to the unbearable politics, FL is about 6" above sea level and surrounded on 3 sides by water. Hurricanes and climate change could well make the place uninhabitable except for alligators! I feel your relief in being out of there!
It seems to me that predatory sociopathy is the technical name for "evil", and Trump is in a prime example.
Elizabeth, After that election, I had a relapse of my PTSD and ended up in a worse place than just bed! I gave every penny to Democratic Party Candidates in 2020 not only for my country but so I wouldn't have an even bigger relapse!
Wow! One could never have envisioned this, but when you look back on history, which Heather helps us so expertly to do, you see the signs. Roger Stone worked with Roy Cohen, a right wing zealot working for McCarthy. These treasonous roots run deep as we are learning and re-learning. Take good care and fasten your seatbelt!
I worked for a narcissist, and I saw every last trait in tfg when he ran. I spoke against his becoming president, but I live in a ruby red state. He lived up (or down) to every expectation I had.
I agree! The old Trickle Down Economics Theory of the Conservatives broke the back of the middle and working class people in this country, and elevated the power of Corporate America. Those heirs of Corporate Empires seem to be the ones funding and pushing the Fascist Movement. Not only do they want all the Money in our society, but now they want absolute Political unchecked power too!
Hi Elizabeth,
We felt the same way, so after thirty-one years spending winters in north FL, we sold our FL home too and left the state to the people who have changed an environmentally beautiful place into a toxic waste land. Retreat and regroup. JPD
“The norther you go, the souther you get….” I still love the natural beauty that first drew me to Florida. It’s the humans I couldn’t take. But there are beautiful people there as well.
Thank you, Elizabeth. There is a strong cohort of actively engaged Floridians here on HCR who daily fight against the " Floriduh" image and trumpism and desantism. Val Demings is fighting against it. The Dem in Palm Beach and his friends who paid to fly the sky banner " HaHaHaHaHaHa" in the face of Trump supporters at Mar-A-Lago are fighting it.
Yes our iguanas fall out of trees in the winter; yes we are in mortal combat with pythons; yes alligators eat our pets and some of us; yes we have " Village people " ( mostly from the Northeast) who careen around in golf carts flying Trump flags; yes, we wear flip- flops year round; yes Miami is already sinking. But scratch our Hiassen surface and get out from behind Ron's growing derriere and there is more than meets the eye. We are here on HCR, that ought to tell you something in itself. We miss you!
If any of you Florida Democrats want a place to retreat to, Come to Michigan! All our Statewide offices are held at the Moment by Democrats and all but one is a competent Woman. We still have a livable climate and the longest freshwater shoreline in the world. That means we will be the last to run out of water. We have great Universities and we will soon see the results of the Voter enishiated non partisan redistricting Commission on the makeup of our legislative branch and Congressional Delegation, but in November, we have another voter enishative that guarantees Reproductive Freedom for All. Although this is coming up for a vote on the Nov ballot, it is most likely to pass. We are angry at the Dobbs Decision so in a 6 week time period, we collected over 975,000 valid signatures to place it there. The most signatures for a ballot proposal in Michigan History! Plus the Travis City area was just chosen as the number one best place to retire to in America by the Real Estate industry. Home prices are reasonable and plenty of activities. Many trails and a beautiful beach plus delightful parks, good school system. ( no talk of "woke" warfare). Our Upper Peninsula has lovely Porcupine Mountains and terrific State &National Parks, surrounded by unspoiled wilderness and water. Southeastern Michigan has many cultural jewels and Major League Sports. Michigan is no longer a Gerrymandered State, Fascists only seem to have a foothold in south central and southwestern Michigan. We are also carrying a large budget surplus and there is no sales tax on food. We are a Medicaid Expansion State too. The Ann Arbor area is a bastion of Progressive thought and ideas!
Some of my closet friends are Michiganders and all are very progressive. Do you know Jeff Cohen and Roots Action or FAIR? He lives and writes in New York State now, but he grew up in Detroit. I would love to come to Michigan sometime. Thanks for your enthusiastic outlook on your beloved state!
I knew we were in for troubling times when Trump became president, but never could have imagined what has come to pass.
The very thought of chump with presidential powers made my blood run cold. It is still
Wait a minute--- isn't "toil and turmoil/trouble" a witches chant? How fricking appropriate for the orange flambé warlock.
Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble. But he’s no warlock. Just an ordinary creepy fascist.
Agree Elisabeth. Surprised is not even close to what I’m feeling.
🗽
But not by his lonesome. Trump is the creation of a party that sold it's "soul" for the prospect of unlimited power. It's been on that path for at least four decades.
With Rupert being the reason that Roger Stone, Newt and their ilk have been able to corrupt Repub politics to a treasonous level. Thanks Ronnie, the purveyor of “good old boy” evil.
Before that. Nobody remembers or was taught about the coup of 1933. Shocked I was,
But — growing less surprised by the hour these days!
Here’s a link to the Washington Post article
“FBI searched Trump’s home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources say”. Do the dots connect back to Jared Kushner‘s unprecedented receipt of $2 billion to establish a business he is clearly unqualified to run?
https://wapo.st/3dtMXqd
Always follow the money!
We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both” — Justice Louis Brandeis
❤️
Ah, yes! As our dear Professor Richardson so frequently exhorts us to do.
I was in the investment business for a number of years so "following the money" was literally a way of life! :) There were times (particularly around 2008/09) I was put down as being ignorant or negative because I "asked too many questions". During a brief tenure in local politics, I was regularly raked over the coals because I definitely asked too many questions. According to one of the old cronies, I wasn't supposed to do that -I was supposed to only listen. My husband kept saying - follow the money and you'll get the answers.
I applaud you for your professional skepticism and for exercising due diligence. Rubber stamps never do that!
The industry changed dramatically over the years and by 2009, I'd had it. Due diligence was not looked upon favorably and I couldn't continue with the cognitive dissonance. An ethical compass was not looked upon favorably and of course being an "older" woman (early 50's) was the kiss of death for re-employment!
Good grief! Such nonsense to employ so soon after the fall of Enron! That’s willful corruption on the industry’s part. Janet, I’m sorry you—and likely many others of strong character—suffered at the hands of those degenerates!
People who don't ask questions are afraid they won't like the answer.
Always follow the money - in business and politics, especially when the two coincide.
Of course TFG took classified nuclear documents to sell or barter with the Saudi Prince. Why should Former Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin get $2 billion from MBS to play investment banker with and the former guy nothing? Especially after Jared got $1 billion too!
He is an orange cry baby throwing a tantrum with nuclear national security.
Mnuchin got one billion to run investments, which he is well qualified to do and apparently that's a normal pay for what he was going to do. Kushner got the $2 billion, over the objections of the Saudi fund's investment advisory committee because he is clearly horrible at managing money. The Saudi prince - the one whose thugs dismembered a journalist - overruled his advisory committee to give Jared the money with some platitudes about building relationships. Not suspicious at all, not at all....
Thanks, Joan. I feel oh so much better now! /s
Heather writes..."Jay Bratt, the chief of the department’s counterintelligence section."
Bratt's full title (he has a DOJ email) as reflected on Motion to Unseal search warrant filed in court reads,
CHIEF
Counterintelligence and Export Control Section
National Security Division.
Hmmmm...."EXPORT" as in leave the country..."Counterintelligence".
Export-classified-Counterintelligence...sounds like bit more than 'library fines for overdue books 'from the National Archives!
"Export Control," control what we export!
If the nuke documents were intended for the Saudis, they probably already have them, or copies at any rate. Who knows what other plans he might have. Trump doesn't seem to hesitate when he sees an opportunity. He couldn't have collected all that stuff without getting someone to do it for him because he seems to specialize in collecting minions, so I would be surprised to learn that N. Archive/FBI investigators haven't already interviewed his WH staff. It will be interesting to learn the scope of all the documents Trump took with him. He's probably in for something more than another IRS audit.
Agree, Jim, about collecting all that stuff himself.
Yeah, Lynell, it seems like a good bet that whoever pulled documents for him helped the archivists compile a picture of what he took away, and might also have helped to fill out the picture of what was missing from the documents he returned--and maybe talked to WaPo. So if this investigation has been going on for a while, like maybe most of the time Garland has been in office, I wonder if it casts a light on what looked like a lack of interest on Garland's part in what the J6 panel was up to. I have read that DOJ was hiring like mad to staff up for J6 prosecutions. That undertaking alone would take up managerial bandwidth. Then there is the problem of staying on top of all the cases and metering resources among all the new hires who individually feel the need to demonstrate their value. Could it be that Garland delegated more of the J6 work than one would expect because it had turned into a factory with levels of oversight and he needed to focus more attention on the missing nuclear documents? Plus God knows whatever nightmares the public has yet to know about? If you asked him, Garland would probably say no. But big organizations take on lives of their own and Garland had to rebuild the institution at DOJ. And we've been watching (scary) shiny objects and still probably don't know a fraction of what's been on his plate. OK, all conjecture. I'll stop now.
I wouldn't argue with your conjecture, Jim. I do believe Garland has not been sitting on his hands this whole time. My good neighbor friend up the road is a retired law enforcement officer for the county that we live in. The stories she can tell! One was about a guy that murdered his wife and chopped her up in pieces that he buried far and wide. It took them 9 years to get the goods on him; but sure enough in Cold Case fashion, they finally got their man!
OK, you've got me going. This is getting a little far afield, but you'll see the point of departure from your story. We had a case in the early 80's where Rolf Neslund, an 80 year-old Port of Seattle maritime pilot steered a container ship into an open drawbridge and completely disabled it. He retired in disgrace to his home on an island where he and his wife could drink and fight in private. At some point Rolf went missing and his wife claimed he had gone back to Norway to visit relatives. An investigation ensued and eventually the wife, Ruth, and her brother were convicted of killing him, cutting him up and incinerating the pieces. What isn't part of the official story is that at some point before her conviction, and I can't swear to it but I think it was sometime after the investigation was opened, Ruth showed up at a local community barbeque and donated all the hamburger they would need for the event. The local punch line was, "There's a little bit of Rolf in all of us." File it under You Can't Make This Stuff Up.
Here's a link to the official Neslund story in case you're interested: https://www.historylink.org/File/8137
I live a sheltered life, so am always dazzled by what folk are up to.
Shades of "Fried Green Tomatoes - 1991," where "The secret's in the sauce!" and one rabbit hole (yours) leads to another (mine).
I couldn't find the footage where Cecily Tyson said that to the guy eating the barbecue. But in case you are interested in seeing the movie, here's a trailer of the dark part of this comedy/drama:
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrC3CK.X_dibFwA5R0PxQt.;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Nj?p=the+secret%27s+in+the+sauce%2C+fried+green+tomatoes&type=fc_A30C76C6185_s58_g_e_d040122_n1009_c8¶m1=7¶m2=eJw1jEEOgjAQRa8yS0nMMNMWkHAMV4a4qFChoVAiEIynd0h0Ne%2F9nz%2Bdb%2Bvqfr0xkdZG1%2Bf7JC5WCh4VGWKlRBqRi1w%2FC%2BgCWREqY1DpI%2B1clHhbBDcrNMaPD8GmGRKcdj%2B1cV9gWoEJqQIJclPBOzcJ2HkObnePwa9pJn91DqehX8dwhuAHB51rhphA07%2Fi6FImg4QZs8ILw2Kf9uX%2FM9d2v55VqdEUXxKeP6w%3D&hsimp=yhs-2212&hspart=fc&ei=UTF-8&fr=yhs-fc-2212#id=10&vid=eecfe1dedea8a9e50b32cd54a089fbe8&action=view
Now that's what I'd call tampering with the evidence. Thanks, Lynell.
Suz, IMO, Biden went for us, to try to find a way to ease the rising gas prices. Could it be just that simple?
could be, Lynell... don't really know
‘Donald J. Trump’s efforts to politicize the law enforcement system have now become his shield as he tries to deflect accusations of wrongdoing.’
The following are excerpts from Peter Baker’s summary report in the New York Times on Mr. Trump’s repeated efforts. while president to weaponize the Justice Department and the F.B.I. on his own behalf.
‘Two days after the 2020 election that Donald J. Trump refused to admit he lost, his oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., made an urgent recommendation: “Fire Wray.”
‘The younger Mr. Trump did not explain in the text he sent why it was necessary to oust Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director his father himself had appointed more than three years earlier. He did not have to. Everyone understood. Mr. Wray, in the view of the Trump family and its followers, was not personally loyal enough to the departing president.’
‘Throughout his four years in the White House, Mr. Trump tried to turn the nation’s law enforcement apparatus into an instrument of political power to carry out his wishes. Now as the F.B.I. under Mr. Wray has executed an unprecedented search warrant at the former president’s Florida home, Mr. Trump is accusing the nation’s justice system of being exactly what he tried to turn it into: a political weapon for a president, just not for him.’
‘…Just as he asserted on Monday that the F.B.I. search was political persecution, he made the same claim on Wednesday about the New York attorney general’s unrelated investigation of his business practices as he invoked his Fifth Amendment right to avoid testifying because his answers could incriminate him.'
“Now to flip the script and falsely claim that he’s the victim of the exact same tactics that he once deployed is just the rankest hypocrisy,” said Norman L. Eisen, who served as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the first Trump impeachment. “But consistency, logic, evidence, truth — those are always the first to go by the board when a democracy comes under assault from within.” (NYTimes) See link below for article, which has been gifted.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/10/us/politics/trump-fbi-justice-department.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DFDm8aiPkORJCH_0bRZKF4IMcpwjGDAdFLMfotWeduz-RSekBgUwCyvp6JnohDIzkwrcj7eFIK6K_3fOJy9y72PC7-If1jxba7slWMOTLoUfSI02lwIwoyvZdndAm1in1Zx7PBE7Ei3IJ5iqtwVplqVHxXMnnxyvroAhp5PdqHaAiNqVVlHrEEBkyA2IKU-LkCcw5NCFPZTHsZ4Gg06NhUOtJ_L7-oZld7O5K42eNNfzQueIS5BJQxRJzWn6FpsNPPrx-Py8m3zpYmBcwkR4dqNcdCSpsxZlRhoT8&smid=url-share
Rankest hypocrisy, damn that applies across the board
Thank you, Fern!
Good morning, Lynell. I have to catch up with the string of gems you have mounted this morning.
Haha, morning, Fern! No gems from me today...just the string!
Every accusation is an admission. Every. Single. One.
‘Two days after the 2020 election that Donald J. Trump refused to admit he lost, his oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., made an urgent recommendation: “Fire Wray.”
Do you think he's sorry he didn't take his son's advice?
Former President Donald Trump is a criminal at large and his actions with highly sensitive documents that instruct on the technology involved in building nuclear reactors is proof of his treasonous intentions. This technology was apparently intended for the Saudi Arabians in order for them to build nuclear reactors that would reap billions in profits to Donald Trump, the Saudi Arabians and trumps treasonous band of co-conspirators.
This should put a wet blanket on the fire storm that erupted over the FBI search of Donald Trump‘s Mara Largo home. The loud whining from Trump and his right wing fascist partners has all been silenced by the reality that Donald Trump is a traitor to every Single American and it is the hope of every law abiding Citizen the Donald Trump, once found guilty of these treasonous felonies, be put to death at the end of a hangman’s rope.
Federal prison will only allow him to continue his dirty work and continue his attempts to overthrow our American democracy in favor of a Trump lead autocratic dictator ship.
Federal prison will simply be a place where Donald Trump can act as a leader in exile and still fight for the horrific and illegal government that he is so much in favor of. he must be put to death, There is no other viable solution.
All of his co-conspirators and partners in this heinous attempt should also receive the same death penalty, even if it involves sitting members of Congress!
I am with you emotionally. But here is the problem with death penalty sentences. They usually don't actually happen because our court system is so complex with appeals upon appeals. Then there were the faulty death drugs and more law suits. Executions in the US take decades to happen if they ever do. Realistically, we might be better served by taking over a prison facility that houses non-violent drug offenders - release them with a stipend. Then create a penal colony for traitors within our government. I want to be in charge of the cafeteria menu.
Although I appreciate the humor in your reply to my comment, hanging is not supposed to be a humane method of execution and traitors are not entitled to any “health benefits“ of a humane execution. Traitors should be put to death slowly and painfully and that would serve as a reminder of those who would commit these heinous crimes against the American people that their execution won’t be humane nor painless.
Leonard, It appears that Bill wants to participate in the scenes he creates.
Wow, but a wet blanket on the firestorm has not happened yet. And the whining has not been silenced. Waiting for a sea change…
No sea change until Fox changes--and even then, the Trumpers and Trumpetts will not believe it.
While I agree that it’s more than likely that t planned & was likely implementing selling nuclear power plant top secret plans to the KSA, thus breaking our own Atomic Energy Act as well as, obviously, failing to implement a 123 Agreement of nonproliferation requirements, & that he likely had the help of his SIL Jared & his old buddy Barrick, the idea of implementing the death penalty is abhorrent to myself & to many others. And hanging? Are you serious? I can’t imagine our government sanctioning such an act, especially as Garland has instituted a moratorium on federal executions. Do we really need to help the gop in turning our country back to the days of the Wild West while also making a martyr of t & his ilk?
How many people had never heard of the National Archives before all of this? More "complementary" civics lessons. And thank goodness for librarians and archivists.
Thank goodness, indeed! People doing genealogical research in the US know the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) well: among the holdings in its multiple main archives are US Census records. Another of NARA's responsibilities is to administer and staff each of the extant presidential libraries (see https://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/about) AND to choose which of the documents and artifacts in NARA'S keeping to house in a given presidential library. Clearly this entails that the goods have to be in NARA's possession, as required by law. The assertion that some prior president himself took whatever number of boxes of records neither holds water nor excuses a more recent officeholder from breaking that law.
Up to June 2019, trump accused people of committing treason 24 times . . . in the best of irony it is possible trump and the criminal cabal gets dozens of treasonous charges lodged against them.
https://www.axios.com/2019/06/16/trump-treason-russia-investigation-new-york-times
The documents that were seized were paper. trump wouldn't know how to operate a copy machine or find a file unless it was on the end of a roll of toilet paper. Therefore, at some point someone made copies and physically packed those documents in boxes to be transferred to FL under the direction of trump. Who would those people be? Hmmm . . . . following the money trail, the net is getting a bit wider.
Someone this morning who worked in the top secret echelons, stated that the highest level materials were never put into computers and only printed so they could not be easily hacked and sold. They were printed for safe-keeping. Whilst the orange flambé dangled his shiny objects relentlessly in rallies and on twitter and faux, the family and party were destroying our country behind the scenes. Money, power, global connections. This is capitalists gone so awry to is evil.And we pay for them. We pay for organizations and politicians, we pay, we pay, we pay. They suck our energy like modern day slave owners. We are being bled by the controllers of the Matrix. Change must be strong and swift to oust them and build America in a true, egalitarian way not based on white elites who feel they are supreme over all others. They have had their time. It is our time to flush the filth that do not even care about the safety of young ones in our schools. How fricking despicable can a party of mongrels get? We need martial law, or a martial Wall, against all of them.
I have stood by Garland. He and our Justice system have been doing very deep gardening. I am reminded that Jamie Raskin said that what they have found will "...blow the roof off the house." Thank you, thank you. There are high treasons why this had to be taking so long. I thought it was Russian connections, but the nuclear secrets is just a mind-blowing cause for treasonous heads to roll, literally, at this point. Usually a pacifist, I think it is time to bring out that gallows the seditionists built at the Capital. Some real head-rolling might make the rest of the American nazis think twice, if that is even a possibility.
In Virginia v. John Brown, he was found guilty on all three charges and hanged. Edwin Coppie (also known as Edwin Coppock) and Aaron Dwight Stevens were also charged, convicted, and hanged for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia and other crimes. However, my research indicates that Aaron Dwight Stevens, an abolitionist, took part in John Brown's raid to free slaves and was executed in 1860 for treason against Virginia. William Bruce Mumford, convicted of treason and hanged in 1862 for tearing down a United States flag during the American Civil War.
If Mumford's crime of tearing down an American flag resulted in treason and execution, that is pretty mild compared to duck l'orange's crimes and those of his comrades. Le Duck did fondle our flag in public. In light of all his crimes, think about that flag fondle metaphor in how that perverted celebrity _ _ _ _ ed us royally. Aided and abetted by his cult of republicans. Technically, it has been a gang rape of our entire country. Lady Liberty & Lady Justice. Have at them, girls! (Ironic as they take away women's rights...I don't think so, misters, we are not laying down our rights, our bodies or our country as Handmaidens for you).
Historical research indicates that, in the past, Congress gets to decide the punishment of treasonous persons. Well, so much for that with a boatload of treasonous rethuglicans and traitors in our current Congress. How did we really get here--we need to NEVER forget. I am sure our traumatized amygdala's will provide the memories for generations.
thank you, Pensa! another excellent lesson in our American history... and it's bizarre as ever. traitors and the judgements against them... wow.
yes, today's Congress is full of its own unrepentant traitors (including Raphael) who STILL voted late Jan 6 to wee hours on Jan 7 ... to NOT certify election. unbelievable! not qualified to take on any such decisions about their own ringleader's treasonous accusations.
our traumatized amygdala = big ass headache
❤️❣️
I've wondered why paper copies? Why not scan instead of copy? It would be much easier to move a USB/hard drive than paper.
@MarkHertling
One last tweet for tonight….
When a suspected breach of security occurs (due to a threat that classified information had been released to unauthorized people/govts), a pretty extensive assessment is required to determine the extent of the damage.
We’re just getting started…
Tweet from retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling