"We are now truly at a break-glass-in-case-of-fire moment for the Justice Dept. "

[Dennis Donovan]

Link to tweet

Rachel Maddow MSNBC ✔@maddow

Former counterintelligence chief at DOJ:

“We are now at a break-glass-in-case-of-fire moment for the Justice Department”

David Laufman @DavidLaufmanLaw'

A shocking, cram-down political intervention in the criminal justice process. We are now truly at a break-glass-in-case-of-fire moment for the Justice Dept.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/justice-dept-to-reduce-sentencing-recommendation-for-trump-associate-roger-stone-official-says-after-president-calls-it-unfair/2020/02/11/ad81fd36-4cf0-11ea-bf44-f5043eb3918a_story.html …

2:41 PM - Feb 11, 2020

Sobering.

[2naSalit]

1. So I wonder when

the general strike will be.

[Dennis Donovan]

3. Hopefully, there will be a revolt in DoJ, whistleblowers come forward...

...and House Judiciary starts an impeachment inquiry into Barr asap.

[dchill]

18. All of that seems particularly appropriate.

Fuckin' A.

[OliverQ]

2. This is so scary and I don't know what to do.

I don't think we can survive until November. Barr and Trump need to be stopped before then.

[2naSalit]

5. +1

[burrowowl]

20. How

[Horse with no Name]

25. That's the thought that comes creeping in my head

Can you remember all of the crimes he committed last year?
Fuck I can’t even remember all from last week.

[58Sunliner]

38. +1.

[42bambi]

26. So many of us have kids and grand kids ... I fear for their future. It's a feeling

of utter helplessness watching this train wreck. We damn well better vote, but even then I worry ... dear leader has zero scruples and he will stop at nothing to cheat!

[Grasswire2]

29. Here are three things you can do.

1. Join the aclu -- we are going to need them more than ever. Lend your voice to the cause of liberty for the cost of just a couple of coffee drinks.

2. Protect our watchdog press with LTTE, with expressions of support for investigative journalism, and protection for reporters.

3. Get the slim book by Yale holocaust historian Timothy Snyder "ON TYRANNY: TWENTY LESSONS FROM THE TWENTIETH CENTURY" to tell us what to watch and how to be in this fraught moment. $7.95 at booksellers everywhere.

[klook]

35. Great post -- sound recommendations.

Thank you. I’ve been an ACLU member for years, and the last couple of years I’ve increased my donations exponentially.

[G_j]

4. Unfortunately

no such mechanism exists.

[First Speaker]

6. If the will is great enough, the "mechanism" will present itself...

...that something is going to break, one way or another, before November is an open question in my mind...

[benfranklin1776]

7. Time for some hearings.

Haul toady Barr in front of the judiciary committee and roast his Chestnuts while building the perjury case.🤬🤬

[Evolve Dammit]

9. Yes. Now, please. Time is running out for justice. Lady Liberty weeps, but she does have a sword.

IF they can muster the collective courage to use it.

[Duppers]

16. YES. Madam speaker,

Hear our plea. We need a Barr-on-the-ropes hearing asap.

[dchill]

19. Go with THAT!

[Mr.Bill]

44. How quaint that anyoned thinks he would show up. n/t

[benfranklin1776]

47. Then he gets issued a good old fashioned subpoena

And if he refuses, he gets a nice quaint contempt proceeding post haste, and then a criminal enforcement punishment and impeachment as his richly deserved reward.

[Mr.Bill]

48. And the current Senate

will vote to acquit.

[benfranklin1776]

49. Immaterial it must be done to preserve the constitutional system of checks and balances

Doing nothing is a capitulation to authoritarian thuggery. And the beauty of a contempt citation is it doesn’t rely on impeachment to enforce it. The House has inherent enforcement authority. So impeachment is a nice cherry on top of the disgrace of a contempt penalty. Also it’s leverage in court proceedings involving the DOJ. Judges don’t look favorably on contemnors and are apt to give exacting consideration to motions to disqualify him.

[Mr.Bill]

50. Oh, I agree with impeaching him,

but he will never show up to testify.

[benfranklin1776]

52. Then he must be made to pay the price of his contemptuous ways

So Agent Orange’s deranged tweets, he now complains of, become the least of his concerns 👊🏽

[Mr.Bill]

53. What price have others who refused to testify

paid? The only ones paying a price so far are the ones who testified and told the truth. Trump has turned Congressional investigations into Bizarro world.

[benfranklin1776]

55. They have not sadly....YET

The problem was eschewing contempt proceedings during the mueller report aftermath and during the impeachment, the latter being an issue of extreme urgency. However now there is no reason to not exercise the full contempt power now given this maladministrations’s wanton obstruction has not been rightfully punished, so I am speaking prospectively.

[AtheistCrusader]

8. Trump's just going to pardon him anyway.

[leftieNanner]

10. You're right, he will

But this is just The Orange One flexing his muscles - because he can. And Billy Barr is happy to do it for him.

I wonder what Barr's end goal is here. We know Mike Pants is hoping to hurry the Rapture, and that Barr is an Opus Dei lunatic, but what is Barr trying to achieve. Unitary executive power, I know. But is there anything else?

[AtheistCrusader]

15. I think they are convinced Trump will win re-election.

They're in this for the full 8. It's the only thing that makes sense.

[leftieNanner]

23. I agree

And in 8 years they can tear everything down. Everything.

[Grasswire2]

30. We know Barr's goal.

He's an end times extremist Catholic wacko. Opus Dei. A ruling church.

[leftieNanner]

33. That's it!

A theocracy.

[Grasswire2]

34. yes

the speech he gave a couple of months ago totally makes the argument.

[leftieNanner]

36. So he probably hates Trump

But sees him a willing vehicle to power and control.

Ugh.

[Mr.Bill]

45. His goal

is to not have videos of him banging 14 year old girls at Epstein's mansion made public.

[smirkymonkey]

11. Does anyone really believe that anything can stop them?

<a href="https://imgflip.com/i/3owkid"><img src="" title="made at imgflip.com"/></a>

I hate to be so cynical, but I don't really know what anyone can do when they refuse to recognize the rule of law or comply with any code of ethics.

[paleotn]

22. Wonder how long until the Reichstag burns.

[Grasswire2]

31. The American people have yet to deploy the power that people all the world over are using...

....to fight for democracy. Masses in the streets.

The power is still in the hands of the citizens.

[misanthrope]

39. As long as their favorite TV shows come on, Americans will do nothing

We're fat, distracted and complacent. Seventy years of hypnotism via technological bread and circuses are finally coming to fruition.

[spanone]

12. This is truly unbelievable.

[democrank]

13. Recommended

[Zolorp]

14. I'm sure Susan Collins is concerned and disappointed.

[Jarqui]

17. I am so disturbed by what is going on, I have not been able to post

I do not want to upset people.

I am very frightened by what has gone on and what I think will go on beyond this point.

[58Sunliner]

28. I agree. I hate to do it but I think I will have to leave the country.

I think those that can, should, and help some others out. People should be getting their passports and getting rid of stuff if they can. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I have had a little voice telling me to get out of here.

[Jarqui]

32. Don't do that. Stand and fight.

The majority of the country and the world will be with you.

I'd be lying if I didn't confess to this sucking the wind out of my sails with worry.

It is probably going to get worse before it gets better.

But I have no choice but to fight this con man every step of the way that I can muster.

[58Sunliner]

37. If they take my SS, I will not survive here.

My best chance is to sell my house and live somewhere cheaply. I'm disabled and have a chance at health care elsewhere. I can't risk being homeless. It's as if we are looking at a perspective that descends to a point of intolerable. Everything that he has done, even shit that is just completely unnecessary, like the clean water act, is part of the campaign to overwhelm people. I don't even think he making the plays. He is malignant enough, just too fucking stupid. And if I saw enough people protesting, putting it on the line, I would think about how I could stay and fight. Look at the voter turnout. Jesus effing christ. Lives on the effing line and the people here can not be bothered to vote. WTF. I live in a city that has too many shootings/violence for my comfort. I don't feel safe. Do you think it will get better when things get worse? I don't know that there will be some magic cohesion. We aren't the French in WW2. The resistance. They didn't have gangs and gun violence and mass shootings. I hope I am wrong. But if I'm not, my family will have a resource in a safer place. It isn't an easy decision, I don't sleep well worrying about this country, and the people who care and their future.

[misanthrope]

40. I'm in the same boat

I depend on my SSI and, most importantly, the Medicare that comes with my disability status. Without Medicare, I die. It's that simple.

However, I'm surrounded by others who don't care. They're neighbors, fellow citizens, relatives, colleagues, people who benefit from my work and from the non-profits I serve. For them, it's just about "owning libs" or "their side" winning like it's some stupid sporting contest. If you point out the human consequences, they rationalize it by labeling social safety net recipients as "takers," as "the other." They're willfully signing my death warrant.

When our Constitution was just four decades old, Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville traveled the young nation and reflected on its culture. Among his observations was the following:

"As one digs deeper into the national character of Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?"

So even at that tender age, Americans plainly exhibited their tendencies toward exploitation and avarice. It's only compounded with time.

[58Sunliner]

42. Doesn't give you much faith or love. That's pretty stressful.

[misanthrope]

43. Well, I'm used to it

I've spent 56 years in Alabama. I'm used to being in a tiny minority surrounded by selfishness, fear and hatred. I grew up in a house fraught with psychological abuse. I've seen those I admire most get screwed over by the world and watched the most ethically void rise to the top.

However, what I do to publicize and help others isn't because I expect recognition or gratitude but because I believe it to be "the right thing." I'm the one that has to deal with my conscience when my head hits the pillow at night. I'd rather be part of the solution because I encounter too many who don't care that they're part of the problem.

[paleotn]

21. Welcome to the Fascist State of Uhmerca

Well, some states are fascist anyway.

[colsohlibgal]

24. Criminals In Charge

Apparently it can and has happened here. Orange Mussolini and his partner in crime Barr are brazenly mocking the rule of law. They are behaving like Mobsters.

2020 just got even more vital. You would think this brazen act might turn more suburban voters blue, particularly women. We desperately need a Blue Wave more extreme than 2018.

[jls4561]

27. I am hoping that those who had the integrity to resign

rather than be part of the subversion of justice will start talking.

[dalton99a]

41. Kick

[Dukkha]

46. A Valentine's Day Massacre is just around the corner

and yet nothing will be done about it

[dewsgirl]

51. Yikes 😳

[Backseat Driver]

54. Trying hard to maintain while "full panic mode" eases off...

[Mr.Bill]

56. I'm beginning to seriously investigate living in Mexico.

I know I can't afford Canada, and I don't like cold weather anyway.