DL Open Thread: Sunday, March 19, 2023

Rethugs Sabotaged Jimmy Carter’s Reelection Bid–Cut Deal With Iran To Hold Prisoners Until After Reagan’s Election.  We’d always suspected it, but now we have close-to-incontrovertible proof:

It has been more than four decades, but Ben Barnes said he remembers it vividly. His longtime political mentor invited him on a mission to the Middle East. What Mr. Barnes said he did not realize until later was the real purpose of the mission: to sabotage the re-election campaign of the president of the United States.

His mentor was John B. Connally Jr., a titan of American politics and former Texas governor who had served three presidents and just lost his own bid for the White House. A former Democrat, Mr. Connally had sought the Republican nomination in 1980 only to be swamped by former Gov. Ronald Reagan of California. Now Mr. Connally resolved to help Mr. Reagan beat Mr. Carter and in the process, Mr. Barnes said, make his own case for becoming secretary of state or defense in a new administration.

What happened next Mr. Barnes has largely kept secret for nearly 43 years. Mr. Connally, he said, took him to one Middle Eastern capital after another that summer, meeting with a host of regional leaders to deliver a blunt message to be passed to Iran: Don’t release the hostages before the election. Mr. Reagan will win and give you a better deal.

Whenever I hear Democrats agonizing over whether they should back unelectable Rethugs in primaries, I want them to know that Rethugs have been playing dirty tricks and stealing elections since the ’60’s.

Good States. Bad States.  Maryland House passes bill requiring gender-affirming care under Medicaid.  Wyoming Governor signs bill banning abortion pill.

Speaking Of Gender-Affirming Care…,  County in Georgia county spent over $1 mill in legal fees to prevent treatment for sheriff’s deputy.  Why? Because it would be too costly.  Can’t make this stuff up.  Remember, kids, the cruelty is the point.

More Trump Thievery:

While presidents—and sometimes their families—are regularly offered gifts in the course of diplomacy, they aren’t allowed to keep any worth more than $450. And everything has to be reported to the State Department and properly accounted for by the federal government. In total, according to Friday’s report, internal White House records indicate the Trumps failed to report 117 gifts worth at least $291,000.

Trump is widely know as a man who is extremely susceptible to flattery, and he and his family received a lot of gifts that would hold little appeal to anyone else. The president of El Salvador, for example, sent a life-size portrait of Trump. Shinzo Abe, then prime minister of Japan, presented Trump with high-end clubs when the two golfed together.

But no matter how personal seeming the gifts were, US law requires them to be reported. They may then be purchased back from the government if a president or his family wants to keep them. Nearly all of the unreported gifts Trump and his family received have been accounted for—some are with the National Archives, some have been sold to the Trumps, and some have been sold at auction. But not all have been accounted for—like the portrait of Trump, which government records indicate may have been moved to one of his Florida properties.

The report does raise the possibility that there are other gifts for which absolutely no records exist—gifts that could not, therefore, be tracked. National Archives and Records Administration documents show that the Trump administration’s interest in reporting gifts seemed to tail off as his term went on. In 2017, for instance, the White House reported a total of 74 foreign gifts to Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump, or her husband Jared Kushner. Every year after that, the number of reported foreign gifts declined. In 2020, the four family members reported having received just one foreign gift.

Lest you wonder why Trump has such close ties to the Saudi LIV golf league:

In terms of gifts that weren’t reported, the committee uncovered that the most prolific foreign gifter was the Saudi Arabian government and various members of the Saudi royal family, which together gave 16 gifts worth at least $45,000 that went unrecorded. They included a $24,000 dagger that bin Salman gave to Kushner. Kushner also received several swords, and the Trump family received clothing from the Saudis—like a wool and fur winter coat given to Melania.

Lawsuit: Church Of Christ Enabled Serial Pedophiles.  When you leave your brain at the door, you apparently abandon any Spidey Sense you might have when someone molests you at a church service:

Michele “Chele” Roland was looking for salvation when she joined the International Churches of Christ. She never imagined that, three decades later, she would lead a legal battle accusing the controversial Christian religious organization of enabling and covering up the sexual molestation of children in its congregation, among other alleged abuses, but that’s exactly what she’s doing.

Roland and her attorney, Bobby Samini, have filed a series of lawsuits against the International Churches of Christ – abbreviated as ICOC – which allege that its leaders failed to report as well as plotted to conceal the sexual and emotional abuse of women and children who worshipped alongside them.

The lawsuits, which seek damages, describe disturbing instances of molestation against minors. And they accuse the ICOC, its founder, Thomas “Kip” McKean, and associated organizations of creating “a widespread culture of acceptance of the abuse of children”.

“What happened to your girls isn’t that big of a deal,” a church elder allegedly told a mother of two young girls who were sexually assaulted on church grounds, according to a February filing. “Most girls have been molested by the time they reach 18.”  (Can you imagine saying that to any of the women in your life?)

Five women filed a complaint in December that said the ICOC failed to stop convicted pedophile and church member David Saracino from sexually assaulting them when they were between the ages of four and 17. According to the legal documents, Saracino received a 40-year prison sentence for raping a four-year-old in 2004.

“They’re so brazen because they’ve gotten away with it,” Roland said of the lawsuits. Adding that other instances of abuse drove victims to suicide, Roland added: “They didn’t think they were going to get caught because of the statute of limitations. They’re like, ‘It’s been ten years! We’re all safe, right?’ No, dumbasses. You’re not.”

For years accusers were held back from seeking legal action against the ICOC because of statutes of limitation that generally prohibit suing for long ago harm. But two newly enacted California laws helped set the stage for the cases against the ICOC.

The Sexual Abuse and Cover-Up Accountability Act as well as the California Child Victims Act extended time limits that victims of sexual abuse have to initiate legal proceedings, effectively giving those who were minors when they were molested a second chance to seek justice.

A closing personal note.  My father-in-law passed away yesterday.  He had been in the hospital and subsequently in hospice at Wilmington Hospital for almost the last three weeks after a series of seizures and strokes.  The final 16 days of his journey were spent in the Hospice Unit there.  The people who cared for him are some of the finest human beings I’ve ever met.  Not just compassionate and respectful of the resident, but always reassuring and kind to the family as well.   To Pat, Raykisha, Sally, and Vanessa:  Thank you all so very much.  We will forever be in your debt while you will be forever in our hearts.

What do you want to talk about?