January 31, 2023

"What Trump has done is quite arguably the worst crime against the US that a president could commit"

When Luttig was a young, lowly staffer in the Ford White House, he worked on a book meant to bolster the president’s [Gerald Ford's] ill-fated 1976 campaign.

Part of that effort involved explaining Ford’s rationale for pardoning predecessor Richard M. Nixon for his involvement in the Watergate scandal. Luttig has concluded Ford made the right decision, in the interest of not prolonging the national upheaval. He has been thinking a lot about those days, now that the Justice Department is faced with deciding whether to indict Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection and his hoarding of classified documents after leaving office.

“What Nixon did was just an ordinary crime,” Luttig says. “What Trump has done is quite arguably the worst crime against the United States that a president could commit.”

Luttig sees “ample evidence” of criminal activity and believes Trump will be indicted. But he has been judicious about not calling for an indictment. Instead, in his professorial manner, he’s been laying out the factors that he believes should be considered by Attorney General Merrick Garland (yet another close acquaintance, of course, from their time as federal judges).

https://www.eschatonblog.com/2023/01/lies-and-lying-liars.html#comment-6104089055
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/01/31/michael-luttig-judge-jan-6-trump-pence/

January 31, 2023

Santos' old treasurer has resigned - He also has to file a campaign finance report ... today.

Just in: He does not have a treasurer, meaning he can't raise or spend money. He also has to file a campaign finance report ... today. https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/882/202301319575449882/202301319575449882.pdf
https://twitter.com/SollenbergerRC/status/1620509481095544832?s=20&t=vkv-QK5bnxeBX63h1JUzIA

January 31, 2023

Sometimes, the truth hides in plain sight.

https://twitter.com/LeonardPittsJr1/status/1619829737261506560?s=20&t=kKfyQ-TluG_HI7FZWDnAXQ

January 30, 2023

Bolsonaro has applied for a six-month visitor visa to remain in the US.

Breaking news: Jair Bolsonaro has applied for a six-month visitor visa to remain in the US. The former president of Brazil faces multiple investigations at home

Jair Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil, has applied for a six-month visitor visa to remain in the US as his legal standing in his home country grows perilous.

Bolsonaro’s application was received by US authorities on Friday, according to his lawyer, Felipe Alexandre, who has advised the former president not to leave the country while it is being processed — a period that could last several months.

“I think Florida will be his temporary home away from home,” said Alexandre, founder of AG Immigration. “Right now, with his situation, I think he needs a little stability.”

Bolsonaro is facing multiple investigations in Brazil — both for alleged wrongdoing during his four-year presidential term and to determine whether he was to blame for an insurrection in Brasília earlier this month launched by supporters who have rejected his electoral defeat.


https://www.ft.com/content/914b9d07-49a6-4133-84ac-f22e2eff803d

January 30, 2023

"None of Donald Trump's opponents ever have the balls to throw him the damn brick."

Former Marco Rubio campaign manager Terry Sullivan put it more bluntly in his discussion with Coppins: "There is an old quote that has been attributed to Lee Atwater: 'When your enemy is in the process of drowning, throw him a brick.' None of Donald Trump's opponents ever have the balls to throw him a damn brick. They just hope someone else will. Hope isn't a winning strategy."

https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/1620062033181036544?s=20&t=JU9q8O_CNssaYaumQnVHPQ
https://twitter.com/mckaycoppins/status/1620057738251472896?s=20&t=JU9q8O_CNssaYaumQnVHPQ
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/01/2024-republican-primary-donald-trump-deus-ex-machina/672888/

January 30, 2023

Outraged again! by Tom Tomorrow

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January 29, 2023

U.S. Officials Announce Plans To Continue Pretending Brutal State-Sponsored Violence Not Supposed To

WASHINGTON—Feigning shock and surprise over gruesome details about the murder of Tyre Nichols by Memphis Police, U.S. officials announced plans Friday to continue pretending brutal state-sponsored violence was not supposed to happen. “Today, as we deal with the fallout from the death of Tyre Nichols, myself and the highest officials in the American government pledge to keep acting like we don’t want our highly militarized police force to kill innocent civilians every day,” said President Joe Biden at a White House press conference, adding that he and his fellow elected officials would pretend to gasp, pray, and put on a big emotional show every time law enforcement carried out the exact murders against its own citizens they had both tacitly and publicly approved. “Although we’ll wipe away our tears and promise you that we’ll do everything in our power to make sure that senseless acts of violence like this never happen again, we do want to emphasize that this is the exact outcome we want. We’ll tout things like ‘reform,’ do our little investigations, and put a few police officers in jail, but come on. You’ll know we’re lying.” At press time, President Biden told reporters to get some extra photos of him looking sad, as they’ll need them in the upcoming months when the investigation into Memphis Police Department yields no changes whatsoever.

https://www.theonion.com/u-s-officials-announce-plans-to-continue-pretending-br-1850036671

January 29, 2023

Elaine Chao hits Trump:

"When I was young, some people deliberately misspelled or mispronounced my name. Asian Americans have worked hard to change that ... He doesn't seem to understand that, which says a whole lot more about him than it will ever say about Asian Americans."

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1619681895029014532?s=20&t=Ijxwa6isNnJkCrgk6tM6BQ

January 29, 2023

CNN: In Japan, pet fish playing Nintendo Switch run up bill on owner's credit card

Mutekimaru Channel/Youtube
CNN
—
Here’s something you don’t see everyday. Pet fish playing a video game in Japan managed to log on to the Nintendo Switch store, change their owner’s avatar, set up a Pay Pal account and rack up a credit card bill.

And it was all seemingly livestreamed, in real time, on the internet.

MORE:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/28/asia/nintendo-switch-pet-fish-credit-card-intl-hnk/index.html

January 27, 2023

Seeing a lot of people say the NYT Durham story shows that Barr was much more corrupt than we know.

emptywheel
@emptywheel

Nope. He did the same stuff in DC, SDNY, EDNY, WDPA.

The lesson of NYT piece is Barr had wild success at manipulating the press and w/exception of NYT, no one is unwinding that.

https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1619032837683904512?s=20&t=C6Ic3bfSGqyDTQ2GUpapAA