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I prefer reading these with my first cup of coffee early in the morning, but wowza, lots to unpack here! Lies, snarling, no tax audit, Jack Smith getting Jan 6 materials, republicans not wanting immigration reform, because, well..because

Thank you Professor! You made my night, and I will re-read with coffee tomorrow!

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See, every Jew I know (including me) is still patiently waiting for our space laser to show up in the mail. I could get the pin (https://dissentpins.com/collections/secret-jewish-space-laser) but what's the fun in that?

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If Stefan Passantino is ripe for disbarment for advising someone to lie during testimony, it seems to me that a bunch of other attorneys affiliated w/ Trump, his businesses, and his administration should be vulnerable also - for not notifying federal authorities about Trump's plan to overturn the election, for finding loopholes for Trump's years of lying and financial grift and cheating, and for helping his administration break and ignore laws for 4 years. Lawyers were disbarred for less as a consequence of their Watergate/Nixon-related crimes. I know some admirable attorneys who do stellar work. In sharp contrast are Trump's attorneys, including Bill Barr, who seem little better than their client in terms of integrity and allegiance to the law and Constitution.

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Wow, a very busy week already. Your Letters always allow me to keep up to date with what's happening in Washington and around the country. I still can't figure out how you (HCR) manage to do these nearly daily in-depth news digests on top of your many other full time jobs!! -- Thanks as always!

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IRS is Treasury Department. Subpoena Steve Mnuchin. Who did he direct not to audit TfG’s returns?

Remember, tfg did not expect to win at all in 2016. So he never covered all his financial misdeeds and crimes.

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Dec 21, 2022·edited Dec 21, 2022

I'm a cold, hard numbers guy, so one thing jumps out to me here: "about 70%".

How many times have we seen that approximate number (or some similar very high amount), being reliably provided as the amount of Americans who agree on every so-called "hot button" "controversial" "wedge" issue? Believe it or not, a supermajority of Americans of all stripes agree on the things we keep arguing about: abortion protections, gay marriage, gun control, Build-Back-Better-esque social programs, and yes, support for immigrants.

This is a democracy (yes, it is! still! for now!), so why on Earth would these not be considered settled issues? Any RATIONAL, REASONABLE politician or political party looking at such overwhelming support would conclude that the smart move would be to mold your platform to be more in line with the clear direction of public sentiment, so as to maximize your potential voter base. But the Republican Party isn't rational or reasonable, and no one should hold their breath expecting them to develop these qualities of their own volition. And it has little to do with the leaders being charlatans, and unfortunately much more to do with the everyday folks who make up the party and the attitudes they carry.

I cannot emphasize this enough: these people truly believe that this is their country, and this country in its pure, natural, *real* form is theirs alone. They do not see themselves as part of a greater whole, instead they are the rightful center, and everyone else is allowed to exist out of their good graces, provided the guests don't get too pushy and know their proper place: out of sight and forever in deference to the pure, true, good, *real* Americans. This is why every civil rights advancement is treated with righteous fury and proper hysterics. ("We never should have given those racial minorities/immigrants/liberated women/gays/godless heathens an inch! Those ungrateful hooligans always take advantage if given the chance!")

And it is why no matter how outnumbered they are on any issue, they will never reconsider the veracity of their stance. They are so absolutely sure of themselves and their rightful place of the center of gravity of our culture, why would they? Plus, the basic tenet of the conservative mindset, *very* generally speaking, is that the way it has been is the way it naturally is and should be; change is to be resisted and imagination is suspect.

So what you get is the recent Supreme Court oral arguments about that web design lady who is willing to bring the whole precedent of non-discrimination in the business arena down with her, rather than either serve gay couples (*shudders and clutches pearls*) or not "do weddings" (*wipes away solitary tear while viola plays mournfully*). When the Big-Shot Lawyer was asked to replace "gay couple" with "interracial couple" - just to, ya know, see how *that* sounded out loud - Big-Shot Lawyer replied that it was not a fair comparison because reasonable people still disagree on gay marriage (~70% of Americans support gay marriage), whereas that is no longer true of interracial marriage (~90% approval). And you know that argument will gain traction, because Justice Handmaiden pretty much used the same forehead-slapping logic when asked about a possible overturn of Roe v Wade, and how that would be different from an overturn of other bedrock cases like Brown v Board. She replied that Brown was safe on account of being a "super-precedent" (this is a made-up thing), while Roe was simply precedent and hence not. The difference? Roe is still argued over amongst reasonable people, while Brown is not.

But... if 70% of people agree with a certain stance, and the percentage keeps increasing, and the law and precedent has already decided in favor of that 70% supermajority, and years or even DECADES have passed... are those remaining 70% truly "reasonable" people simply having a disagreement? How close to damn 100% do we have to get before they are no longer reasonable? 75? 82? 88?

Truth is, it doesn't matter how small a minority these righteous intolerants become. The words "but of course, I'm in the minority on that one" will never cross their lips, for they are the *real* Americans, and whatever stance they take will always be a reasonable thing we need to take seriously. They will never accept having to adopt a change in behavior to keep up with the times, and these righteous intolerants will bring the whole operation down if threatened with the thought that those they dislike will get something they are undeserving of.

Despite always touting immigration as one of the most pressing issues facing the nation, they will shoot down an immigration bill that gives them everything they say they want because it gives protections to a few they would rather not share space with. Even though they are outnumbered in their spitefulness by 70% of their fellow citizens.

Let's stop letting them get away with this attitude problem for much longer, shall we?

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Only a radical right Republican would give the time of day to anything said by Elise Stefanik (R-NY). It's her job to rabble rouse, bitch, moan and groan about anything that could be interpreted as calling "R"s to account. One of Trump's sheep dogs. As to the release of Trump's tax records, the House Ways & Means Committee is only helping Trump keep a promise he made over and over as far back as 2016. Only his constant whining and delay tactics have made voters as interested as we are to see what he's been hiding and lying about.

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Professor Richardson, a story getting buried by all the bigger news is long island congressman-elect Santos. Turns out nothing about this guy is legitimate, and somehow everyone missed the obvious series of lies until the NYT broke the story a couple days ago. Daily Beast is now reporting the MAGA candidate is funded by a Russian oligarch. The playbook here has a striking resemblance to that of WA state MAGA candidate Joe Kent, who narrowly lost his race after reporters discovered his job was fake. Someone was paying his “salary.”

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"Jewish space lasers" refers to Marjorie Traitor Goon's insane belief that the California Camp wildfire of 2019 was caused by "lasers" in orbit (thus "space") paid for by George Soros.

When it comes to what needs to be done to Marjorie Traitor Goon, aka "Potato Face", it's another case of "If my thought dreams could be seen, they'd probably put my head in a guillotine. "

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“‘The Republicans’ extreme are extreme on the level of the insane taking over the asylum.” And it continues… wasting our class time, so they can throw spitballs. So much work to do: around reducing carbon emissions, (we NEED more immigrants for our workforce, so let’s) get the immigration laws reformed, international diplomacy and defense against aggressors like Putin… to name just a few.

And they continue to waste our precious time…

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It is so important that TFG face legal consequences. His constant whining that every investigation is political continues to tear at the fabric of democracy, because he is mixing justice with revenge and the illegal acts with “witch hunts”. He told Americans the system is fixed to protect and give advantages to people like him, and then he showed them that he could use his station to grift and steal from America, proving his point. If he doesn’t face consequences, I would bet he would almost certainly win the 2024 election. He can always say that the evil Democrats were always out to get him, but if convicted, America will know those Democrats hold the ground of integrity and truth.

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“…Stefan Passantino, the top ethics lawyer for the Trump White House,”

We may have the Oxymoron of the Century here.

One can imagine the memos to staff;

“Ethics; How to Identify and Avoid”

“How to Spot Ethical Behavior in Others”

“How to Anonymously Report Suspected Ethical Behavior of Co-workers to This Office”

This is just too rich!

The Trump Administration was an ethics-free zone from the top down. Was it the ethics lawyer’s job to keep it that way?

Headline I’m looking forward to seeing; “Former White House Ethics Lawyer Disbarred for Ethical Lapses”

Please, somebody stop me!

Have a great day, everyone!

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Dec 21, 2022·edited Dec 21, 2022

The head of the IRS (Steve Mneuchen) at the time should be indicted for whatever is/are the appropriate charge/charges, with regards to the pass given to drumpf tax returns.

Bobert is in it for the money, as mtg alleged; she has had breast augmentation. Idiots, both.

That’s all, just two random thoughts.

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“The Dems’ extreme people are extreme on progressive policies. The Republicans’ extreme are extreme on the level of the insane taking over the asylum.” Well said. Couldn't be clearer. (Jonathan Blitzer, "New Yorker")

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I’ve been saying for a while that the Democrats in the House should find a handful of Republicans who want government to work, and elect one of those Republicans as speaker. It’s doable.

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I must confess to some gleefulness on reading through tonight's LFAA, tempered with cautious optimism that justice may finally eventually be served to tfg...

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