American Politics

The following is an op-ed piece. [URL]https://news.yahoo.com/donald-trump-soon-indicted-heres-075321268.html[/URL].

It gives me no joy to write this piece.

Even a cursory review of the redacted version of the affidavit submitted in support of the government's application for a search warrant at the home of former President Donald Trump reveals that he will soon be indicted by a federal grand jury for three crimes: Removing and concealing national defense information, giving NDI to those not legally entitled to possess it and obstruction of justice by failing to return NDI to those who are legally entitled to retrieve it.

When he learned from a phone call that 30 FBI agents were at the front door of his Florida residence with a search warrant and he decided to reveal this publicly, Trump assumed that the agents were looking for classified top-secret materials that they'the allege he criminally possessed. His assumptions were apparently based on his gut instinct and not on a sophisticated analysis of the law. Hence, his public boast that he declassified all the formerly classified documents he took with him.

Unbeknownst to him, the feds had anticipated such a defense and are not preparing to indict him for possessing classified materials, even though he did possess hundreds of voluntarily surrendered materials marked "top secret. " It is irrelevant if the documents were declassified, as the feds will charge crimes that do not require proof of classification. They told the federal judge who signed the search warrant that Trump still had NDI in his home. It appears they were correct.

Under the law, it doesn't matter if the documents on which NDI is contained are classified or not, as it is simply and always criminal to have NDI in a non-federal facility, to have those without security clearances move it from one place to another, and to keep it from the feds when they are seeking it. Stated differently, the absence of classification — for whatever reason — is not a defense to the charges that are likely to be filed against Trump.

Yet, misreading and underestimating the feds, Trump actually did them a favor. One of the elements that they must prove for any of the three crimes is that Trump knew that he had the documents. The favor he did was admitting to that when he boasted that they were no longer classified. He committed a mortal sin in the criminal defense world by denying something for which he had not been accused.

The second element that the feds must prove is that the documents actually do contain national defense information. And the third element they must prove is that Trump put these documents into the hands of those not authorized to hold them and stored them in a non-federally secured place. Intelligence community experts have already examined the documents taken from Trump's home and are prepared to tell a jury that they contain the names of foreign agents secretly working for the USA This is the crown jewel of government secrets. Moreover, Trump's Florida home is not a secure federal facility designated for the deposit of NDI.

The newest aspect of the case against Trump that we learned from the redacted affidavit is the obstruction allegation. This is not the obstruction that Robert Mueller claimed he found Trump committed during the Russia investigation. This is a newer obstruction statute, signed by President George W. Bush in 2002, that places far fewer burdens on the feds to prove. The older statute is the one Mueller alleged. It characterizes any material interference with a judicial function as criminal. Thus, one who lies to a grand jury or prevents a witness from testifying commits this variant of obstruction.

But the Bush-era statute, the one the feds contemplate charging Trump with having violated, makes it a crime of obstruction by failing to return government property or by sending the FBI on a wild goose chase looking for something that belongs to the government and that you know that you have. This statute does not require the preexistence of a judicial proceeding. It only requires that the defendant has the government's property, knows that he has it and baselessly resists efforts by the government to get it back.

Where does all this leave Trump? The short answer is: In hot water. The longer answer is: he is confronting yet again the federal law enforcement and intelligence communities for which he has rightly expressed such public disdain. He had valid points of expression during the Russia investigation. He has little ground upon which to stand today.

I have often argued that many of these statutes that the feds have enacted to protect themselves are morally unjust and not grounded in the Constitution. One of my intellectual heroes, the great Murray Rothbard, taught that the government protects itself far more aggressively than it protects our natural rights.

In a monumental irony, both Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks journalist who exposed American war crimes during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency employee who exposed criminal mass government surveillance upon the American public, stand charged with the very same crimes that are likely to be brought against Trump. On both Assange and Snowden, Trump argued that they should be executed. Fortunately for all three, these statutes do not provide for capital punishment.

Rothbard warned that the feds aggressively protect themselves. Yet, both Assange and Snowden are heroic defenders of liberty with valid moral and legal defenses. Assange is protected by the Pentagon Papers case, which insulates the media from criminal or civil liability for revealing stolen matters of interest to the public, so long as the revealer is not the thief. Snowden is protected by the Constitution, which expressly prohibits the warrantless surveillance he revealed, which was the most massive peacetime abuse of government power.

What will Trump say is his defense to taking national defense information? I cannot think of a legally viable one.

Yeah, The aged director of the infectious diseases institute for 41 years lied about a past statement. Let's look at all the officials involved in the effort to deal with a "novel" virus that evolved in unexpected ways. Sometimes it's instructive to look at the "messenger" who might only focus on something that seems glaring to get ratings on a podcast. Looking at the bigger picture puts things more into perspective. How many died from Covid? How many of the patients vaccinated with Moderna vaccine with heart problems died? Was Covid a crisis. Yes. Were the vaccines put out in a rush? Yes, maybe. Are humans treated as Guinea pigs?

[QUOTE=Beijing4987;2739035]Yeah, The aged director of the infectious diseases institute for 41 years lied about a past statement. Let's look at all the officials involved in the effort to deal with a "novel" virus that evolved in unexpected ways. Sometimes it's instructive to look at the "messenger" who might only focus on something that seems glaring to get ratings on a podcast. Looking at the bigger picture puts things more into perspective. How many died from Covid? How many of the patients vaccinated with Moderna vaccine with heart problems died? Was Covid a crisis. Yes. Were the vaccines put out in a rush? Yes, maybe. Are humans treated as Guinea pigs?[/QUOTE]Hard to believe that anyone who is such a liar and incompetent can be the head of such an important department. Do you mean he is that good of a liar to fool how many presidents of Both parties for 41 years? Seems to me that he is much smarter than all of his detractors. Why didn't Trump fire him and if vaccines are so bad, why is Trump taking credit for fast tracking them?

[QUOTE=JustTK;2738943]I have no idea what MDS writes. Its like trying to decipher The Riddler. He doesn't seem tloo be able to put a single coherent sentence together.

You have taken that upon urself by supporting the status quo. "I can't support change, bcos it will never happen" BS.

Bothsiderism. No, I am Neithersiderism.[/QUOTE]Well, there is a major detail you seem to be missing about this that I mentioned in my post:

In order for your mythical Third Party or Non Dem / Repub nirvana thingy to ever come to pass there must be more Americans registered to vote, more Americans voting, voting made easier, every ballot collected and every vote counted.

Surely you have not missed the fact that the Repub Party is adamantly against every one of those steps and are actively putting their most devoted and obedient QAnon Repub Loon soldiers in place to thwart or destroy American democracy being practiced that way.

And their orders and mission do not, repeat, do not include "finding" votes for Third Party candidates or Third Party issues. It is all about making sure only likely Repub ballots are gathered and those votes counted so Repubs and only Repubs prevail so they can continue in their decades long Repub mission to Crash the USA economy and wipe out millions upon millions of USA jobs.

Which is the exact opposite of the Dems' constant effort to help more Americans to vote and count every vote. Oh, and NOT to Crash the USA economy and NOT to wipe out millions upon millions of USA jobs.

Therefore, you of all people should be most keen on pro-actively voting for Dems and only Dems straight down every ballot in every election. You know as well as anyone your Third Party nirvana thingy is not going to happen in the next election or the next.

But in order for it to ever ever ever happen, you need tens of millions of legitimately registered voters, new voters, who have widespread and easy access to all vote-casting options and with a certainty that all of their votes will be counted and that the accurate results will matter.

That will only happen when Dems are on guard duty to make sure it happens. Not Repubs. Not ever.

Then and only then will you be able to work your magic convincing all those legitimate American voters to choose no money Third Party candidates who are not beholden to "wealthy only" interests blah blah blah and have a prayer of it actually resulting in an election win for them.

But if you continue to stand by and allow Repubs to do what Repubs have been doing for decades on this very point as though it doesn't matter then you are only choosing to be more of the problem than the solution.

[QUOTE=Beijing4987;2739035]Yeah, The aged director of the infectious diseases institute for 41 years lied about a past statement. Let's look at all the officials involved in the effort to deal with a "novel" virus that evolved in unexpected ways. Sometimes it's instructive to look at the "messenger" who might only focus on something that seems glaring to get ratings on a podcast. Looking at the bigger picture puts things more into perspective. How many died from Covid? How many of the patients vaccinated with Moderna vaccine with heart problems died? Was Covid a crisis. Yes. Were the vaccines put out in a rush? Yes, maybe. Are humans treated as Guinea pigs?[/QUOTE]Not sure what point your trying to make.

[QUOTE=Spidy;2738970]Great Win for the democracy and the Dems!

Great indictment against QAnon Palin / Trump Humpers. Good to know not all Repubs have lost their minds.[/QUOTE]Pailin was caught "Palin' around with terrorists", otherwise known as the Republican base.

Yep, unless it falls within one of those 200+ year traditions favoring them like that Virginia gubernatorial race, those Trump-endorced loons keep going down in flames in a special election.

In continuation of his sterling record of being the first potus since Repub Herbert Hoover to lose the House, the Senate and the Presidency in a single four year term.

[QUOTE=PVMonger;2738953]I don't care what might have been trending on rightwingnut media. The photo that was taken [B]was not of classified information[/B]. I realize that you don't understand the difference between [B] classified information[/B] and [B]cover sheets[/B] but I can't make it any simpler for you. [URL]https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/donald-trump-hid-classified-documents-mar-a-lago-raid-1234584879/[/URL] here's the photo. Please tell be exactly where in the photo it shows "classified information'. Not "classified cover sheets" but actual classified information.

You didn't quote case law or any other thing. You provided no sources. And, besides, [B]all of those documents should have been turned over to NARA when Donnie the Dumbass left the WH[/B]. Period. I don't care what you think. That is the law.

You were the one who brought up "the warrant". That means you are dumber than Donnie the Dumbass' dumb lawyers.

Sheesh. [URL]https://www.alabar.org/office-of-general-counsel/formal-opinions/2009-01/[/URL].

Nobody has said that Donnie the Dumbass had the "status" to look at the documents. But not after he left the WH, Those documents did not belong to him. Period. Talk about being foolish. [URL]https://www.npr.org/2022/08/13/1117297065/trump-documents-history-national-archives-law-watergate[/URL] and [URL]https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/donald-trump-hid-classified-documents-mar-a-lago-raid-1234584879/[/URL] and hundreds of other sources.[/QUOTE]America would have been kept safer if those Top Secret files had actually been discovered strewn all over the floor at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport rather than sitting in Donald Trump's desk drawer at his residence, including if not especially when he resided in the White House!

Clearly, Trump and his followers are a greater national security threat to the USA than all of our foreign adversaries since the founding of the country combined.

[URL]https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/09/02/dark-brandon-disaster-pedohitler-trends-on-twitter-after-joe-bidens-divisive-speech/[/URL]

[QUOTE=PVMonger;2739031]The following is an op-ed piece. [URL]https://news.yahoo.com/donald-trump-soon-indicted-heres-075321268.html[/URL].

It gives me no joy to write this piece.

Even a cursory review of the redacted version of the affidavit submitted in support of the government's application for a search warrant at the home of former President Donald Trump reveals that he will soon be indicted by a federal grand jury for three crimes: Removing and concealing national defense information, giving NDI to those not legally entitled to possess it and obstruction of justice by failing to return NDI to those who are legally entitled to retrieve it.

When he learned from a phone call that 30 FBI agents were at the front door of his Florida residence with a search warrant and he decided to reveal this publicly, Trump assumed that the agents were looking for classified top-secret materials that they'the allege he criminally possessed. His assumptions were apparently based on his gut instinct and not on a sophisticated analysis of the law. Hence, his public boast that he declassified all the formerly classified documents he took with him.

Unbeknownst to him, the feds had anticipated such a defense and are not preparing to indict him for possessing classified materials, even though he did possess hundreds of voluntarily surrendered materials marked "top secret. " It is irrelevant if the documents were declassified, as the feds will charge crimes that do not require proof of classification. They told the federal judge who signed the search warrant that Trump still had NDI in his home. It appears they were correct.[/QUOTE]Be very wary of anything Napolitano and Barr contribute to this. As long time Repubs and / or FUX News darlings, they are by definition America-hating liars until proven otherwise.

Sure, they might be speaking the truth here and there. Same as Bolton.

However, it is far more likely their game is to get rid of Repub King Midas In Reverse Trump ASAP, preferably in prison and as far away from their beloved Repub Party as possible. And, for the love of god, for him to STFU about endorcing Repub candidates in the primaries only for them to go down in flames in the real election (see my previous post about his sterling election record since Repub Herbert Hoover).

They see where the polls are headed going into the midterm. They are pulling all the stops to dismiss and silence Trump before he manages to flip that ultra traditional advantage for Repubs this time around into another Trump-induced historic win for the Dems.

[QUOTE=Elvis2008;2738999]Except it was not hindsight for JustTK, and it was not for me. TK said that he focused on his staying healthy and I rallied against lockdowns, travel bans, the vaccines when they did not work, social distancing, and masks in most cases. TK got blasted for "risking the lives of others" when he said he was not vaccinated, and I was called Elvira and Elvirus.

It is not 20-20 hindsight for him or me. You just have your head up in your butt.

And Fauci is the narcissitic lying megalomaniac or if you are a dumb Dem, that is otherwise known as a "scientific expert". This asshole funded creation of the virus who killed so many, and this fool directed most of the medical research in our country.

And remember when you are toasty this winter and Europeans are freezing, the reason why you have that is because we Republicans fought the climate change nuts so hard. Thank God we have natural gas, coal, and nuclear to keep us warm.

If you are in Europe this winter with a wood burning stove, a pile of firewood, and ample toilet paper, the hot ladies will be knocking on your door asking to spend the night.[/QUOTE]The NIH did not fund "gain of function" research. [URL]https://www.bbc.com/news/57932699[/URL].

But no matter. Donnie the Dumbass, as has been pointed out multiple times, pulled US medical professionals out of China so that we had no warning.

Of course, every RethugliKKKan moron (who has said that the vaccines are useless) won't admit who was in charge when the vaccines were developed. If anybody is to blame, it is that guy. You know, the one who takes all of the credit for the vaccine. Why, RethugliKKKans, do you not blame Donnie the Dumbass for the useless vaccine? Why? Huh?

[QUOTE=JustTK;2739056]Not sure what point your trying to make.[/QUOTE]The point he was trying to make is that SARS-CoV-2 was a novel virus. Nobody had ever seen it before. That's what "novel" means.

So what every healthcare professional, virologist, infectious disease expert, et cetera did was go back to what they thought they knew about other SARS-type viruses. I distinctly remember early on in the pandemic when we were told to leave groceries out in the garage and bring in several items at a time and wipe them down thoroughly because the experts said that the virus was spread by contact [B]like every other SARS virus known to mankind[/B].

When that procedure proved unhelpful and when it was found that SARS-CoV-2 spread via droplets, the procedure to combat COVID changed.

Unfortunately, the morons and the scientifically ignorant said "See, all those people lied". When you are so stupid that you don't understand what science does and how it works, you get that kind of thinking.

Now, we have vaccines. The idiots say "the vaccines don't work". The ones who are complete morons say things like "the vaccines contain microchips" or "the vaccines alter your DNA" or other similar dumber-than-dogshit things. But, and this is instructive, none of the idiots and morons blame the guy who was large-and-in-charge when the vaccines were developed. That, by the way, was Donnie the Dumbass. The guy who said he understood all of this virus stuff bigly.

The virus is mutating so rapidly that the vaccines are becoming less-and-less effective. But most of the idiots and morons don't have a clue as to how viruses mutate in the first place and they have less of a clue as to what vaccines are supposed to do. The current vaccine was very effective against a virus that essentially disappeared 2 years ago. The virus mutates something like once every 11 days. How many 11-day-cycles have we gone through in the last two-and-a-half years? But the idiots and morons still think the vaccine ought to be as effective today as it was two years ago.

Unfortunately, the US is so dumbed-down educationally (especially in red states) that only 30-some-odd percent of the US population is fully boosted.

[QUOTE=Canada;2738967]Just thank Trump. He is the one who put the pressure on the Chinese government. Yes our company along with every company you mentioned in your post benefited from the currency devaluation. Yes we could have raised our prices to our customers like many companies did but we were making a fair margin and wanted to keep our market share. You obviously did not benefit because you did not have a company doing this business. You only worked for the company. And yes I did sell out to a billion dollar company and semi retired because I do not want to work for a billion dollar company. So I started another company and 2 years later sold out again to another billion dollar company and semi retired again. But thanks to Biden driving oil prices and gas prices to record highs I started another business and will end up selling it to another billion dollar company. You in the other hand are still probably waiting on the next Biden handout. Big difference.[/QUOTE]Another post from you agreeing with the complete ineptitude of Trump and his failure in the trade war with China. His tariffs were supposed to make US manufacturing more competitive and bring business back to the US and instead geniuses like yourself were going all in quaffing as much Chinese product that you could lay your hands on. Just so funny how everything you raise just confirms what a dope Trump was.

[QUOTE=PVMonger;2739031]The following is an op-ed piece. [URL]https://news.yahoo.com/donald-trump-soon-indicted-heres-075321268.html[/URL].[/QUOTE]Coming from a guy like Napolitano, that really means a lot. Ironic, though: with all Donnie's crimes like multiple financial frauds, sedition, and, most likely, high treason, he might be put away for something like this. It's Capone all over again, LOL. But hey, I'll take whatever.

Marvelous satire from Dana Millbank:

"I'm so sorry you've convinced millions of people to believe the egregious lie that the 2020 election was stolen. I'm sorry you are making heroes of the criminals who attacked our seat of government. I'm sorry you're currently fomenting violence against the FBI and the IRS. I'm sorry you're passing laws giving yourselves more power to overthrow the 2024 election results if you lose, and I'm sorry you're nominating candidates committed to doing so. I'm sorry you don't like it when the Justice Department enforces the law and protects national security. I'm sorry you've lionized Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban, and I'm sorry you say that the Democratic Party, not Vladimir Putin's Russia, is the real enemy. I regret that you've taken away women's rights. I regret that you're banning books and censoring history lessons. I regret that you are shunning science, expertise and the truth. Above all, I'm truly sorry that, because of such things, Biden called you semi-fascists. There's really nothing 'semi' about it."

[URL]https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/02/kevin-mccarthy-joe-biden-semi-fascism-trump/[/URL]

[QUOTE=PVMonger;2739029]In an eight-page inventory list, the department noted that Trump had casually mixed "TOP SECRET" documents with magazines, books, and his wife's clothes. One box allegedly found in the ex-president's office also contained "43 empty folders with 'CLASSIFIED' banners.[/QUOTE]How does the lock-her-up Hillary's server compare to this?

Just try to imagine it wasn't Trump. It's Obama or Clinton who have done even 1/100th of this.

Can you imagine the cries, the outrage, the witch hunt? What exact words would wingnuts have used to describe democrats and the punishment they deserve?