This Week - September 23rd, 2022
In the ongoing saga of the Mar-A-Lago documents, this was a good week for the rule of law. First the special master, and then the 11th Circuit, demonstrated that they actually are real judges.
There was a collective sigh of relief across the land early this week when the special master, Judge Dearie, made it clear at the outset that he was having none of Trump’s “maybe I declassified the documents…it’s for me to know and you to find out,” insisting that Trump can’t challenge the classification without presenting any evidence to the contrary.
“My view of it is: you can’t have your cake and eat it…If they [the documents] are on their face classified what business is it for the court without any evidence to the contrary to presume they are not."
Two days later the three-judge 11th Circuit panel – including two Trump appointees – took all of 24 hours after filings were in to demolish Judge Cannon’s creation of a special legal status for the Former Guy, lifting the stay on DOJ’s criminal investigation, and rejecting the order for examination of classified documents by a special master.
Some highlights:
“It is self-evident that the public has a strong interest in ensuring that the storage of the classified records did not result in ‘exceptionally grave damage to the national security…Ascertaining that necessarily involves reviewing the documents, determining who had access to them and when, and deciding which (if any) sources or methods are compromised.”
“For our part, we cannot discern why the Plaintiff would have an individual interest in or need for any of the one hundred documents with classification markings.”
“This requirement [restricted access to classified documents] pertains equally to former Presidents, unless the current administration, in its discretion, chooses to waive that requirement.”
New York AG Unveils Civil Suit Against the Trump Organization
Leticia James unleashes on the Trumps
· Civil lawsuit alleges $250 million fraud; seeks recovery of fraudulent gains.
· Seeks to bar Trumps from serving as executives of any company operating in New York.
· Criminal referrals to the DOJ and IRS.
Letitia James’ comments:
“Mr. Trump and his allies may say these penalties are too harsh or that this is part of a witch hunt…I will remind them that this investigation only started after Michael Cohen, his former lawyer, testified before Congress and shed light on this misconduct.”
“And the remedies are consistent with what we have sought for other businesses that have committed the same misconduct.”
“There cannot be different rules for different people in this country or in this state.”
Trumpism is not going away
This week was a relief for those committed to some kind of standards for decency and honor in public life, but it’s not the end of the story.
For the MAGA faithful, this is all fake news and a deep state witch hunt to take down their Dear Leader. These developments haven’t moved the needle at all in that world.
Republicans across the country continue to stoke the fires of paranoia and conflict.
Some Republican Candidates are Refusing to Accept 2022 Results
“Six Trump-backed Republican nominees for governor and the Senate in midterm battlegrounds would not commit to accepting this year’s election results, and another six Republicans ignored or declined to answer a question about embracing the November outcome. All of them, along with many other G.O.P. candidates, have pre-emptively cast doubt on how their states count votes.”
Another judge applies the 14th Amendment to a seditionist Oath Keeper
An Alaska judge ruled on Thursday that Alaska state Rep. David Eastman (R) will likely be found ineligible for office in a lawsuit seeking to oust the Republican over his lifetime membership with the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group.
Let’s hope this is the beginning of a trend.
Authoritarian rule ends in ruin.
Ken Burns has pointed out that while democracies are not pristine by any means – we are certainly having our issues in America right now – but they are vastly preferable to authoritarian regimes, “which have killed by a multitude of 100, more of their own citizens than democracies have.”
And let’s be clear about this – Republicans are no longer committed to democracy. They are intent on imposing authoritarian, one-party rule.
Democracy is turbulent, often frustrating, and it is not immune from corruption. But it is eventually self-correcting, bending to the will and needs of the people, from whom the power of government originates.
It is our heritage. It is worth preserving, conserving, and renewing. The alternative will mean terrible suffering for us all.
The U.S. and the Holocaust – Documentary on PBS by Ken Burns.
“We have seen the nadir of human behavior. And there is no guarantee that it won’t repeat.” Guy Stern, 100-year-old holocaust survivor.
Every American should see this film. It should be required for every high school student. It is of course well done in the way Ken Burns always does. It is poignant, very educational, and unsparing.
A survey in 2020 found that 63% of young adults including Millennials and Gen Z didn’t know that 6 million Jews had been murdered in WWII by the Germans.
It is important to bear witness, and to hold in all of our hearts and minds that the type of forces gaining traction in the world today are no different. The more people who know what happened, the better.
In Europe we can observe in real time where authoritarian rule leads. The fact that Fox “News” is carrying Russian propaganda nightly in the U.S. is a national disgrace.
“We’re in perhaps the most difficult crisis in the history of America.”
“After three previous great crises, I think we’re in the fourth and perhaps the most difficult crisis in the history of America. The three being the civil war, the great depression and the second world war; the institutions were not under assault as they are today and that makes the fragility of Benjamin Franklin’s statement, ‘A republic, if you can keep it,’ all the more relevant.”
Why workers are revolting?
Amazon Promotes Former Private Prison Exec to Run Warehouse Training
After demonstrating a talent for efficient “inmate processing” at private prison giant CCA, she became head of Amazon’s “learning and development team” for warehouse workers. No, sadly this is not from The Onion, or Borowitz.
Another Amazon Innovation – “Digital Productivity Monitoring”
Integrated computer systems including real-time clock, camera, keyboard tracker, and algorithms to provide a second-by-second record of what each employee is doing. New software with such Orwellian names as WorkSmart and Time Doctor count worker’s keystrokes and snap pictures every 10 minutes of workers’ faces and screens, recording all on digital scoreboards. You are paid only for the minutes the computers “see” you in action.
The Rise of the Worker Productivity Score
Since the dawn of modern offices, workers have orchestrated their actions by watching the clock. Now, more and more, the clock is watching them.
E.g. United Health Group monitors keyboard activity and marks its drug-addiction therapists “idle” if they are conversing off-line with patients or collegues, leaving their keyboards inactive."
On the other extreme of the corporate world.
Founder of Patagonia Gives Away the Company
For decades, Patagonia gave away 1 percent of its sales to environmental causes. Last week, Yvon Chouinard announced that he, along with his wife and children, had given away the company, valued at $3 billion, to a trust and a nonprofit group. Now the company’s profits of some $100 million a year will be used to fight climate change and safeguard some of the planet’s dwindling wild places.
Tidbits
Love is all around! Donkey Reunion Sound up!!!
How do they do that? The comments are the best!
Being unabashedly yourself is not easy, but it yields your best creative work.
“Perhaps I am not interesting, but I am the only thing I have to offer, and I want to offer something.”
“It’s easy to let our insecurity stop us from accomplishing what we want to do and becoming who we want to be. But art requires bravery, starting with letting go of the fear of not being enough.”