DL Open Thread: Monday, December 2, 2024
Biden Pardons Biden. As well he should have:
The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.
No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.
Thus keeping alive Hunter’s hopes of one day becoming Ambassador To France. Like Charles Kushner:
President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday he would nominate Charles Kushner, the New Jersey real estate developer and his son-in-law’s father whom he pardoned in 2020, to be the ambassador to France.
While Trump ran toward headlines, Kushner, by comparison, avoided them, until 2004. That year he pleaded guilty to federal charges including 16 counts of “assisting in the filing of false tax returns, one count of retaliating against a cooperating witness and one count of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission,” a federal prosecutor in New Jersey announced.
The details of the case were eye-popping, even for a state known for political scandals.
“Kushner further admitted he devised a scheme to retaliate against a cooperating witness and her husband by having a prostitute seduce the husband and covertly filming them having sex,” the federal prosecutor wrote in a statement at the time, announcing Kushner’s guilty plea.
Just trying to keep things in perspective…
‘Brain Rot’. Oxford’s ‘Word Of The Year’ is two words. Which perhaps buttresses the selection. Here’s the rationale:
Our experts noticed that ‘brain rot’ gained new prominence this year as a term used to capture concerns about the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media. The term increased in usage frequency by 230% between 2023 and 2024.
The first recorded use of ‘brain rot’ was found in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden, but has taken on new significance in the digital age.
BTW, must’ve missed that last year’s winner was ‘rizz’. I suspect that knowing its meaning places you in the ‘susceptible to brain rot’ demographic. Looking at the other finalists, I would have chosen ‘dynamic pricing’, a euphemism for ‘ripping people off’, which is, come to think of it, two words.
Kash Patel: QAnon Sympathizer. I don’t think he’s gonna past muster, but who knows? One thing is certain–He shouldn’t pass muster:
In the middle of the Thanksgiving holiday stretch, Donald Trump announced what might be his most extreme and controversial appointment yet: Kash Patel for FBI director. There are many reasons why this decision is outrageous. Patel is a MAGA combatant who has fiercely advocated Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump and who has championed January 6 rioters as patriots and unfairly persecuted political prisoners.
Patel is also a fervent promoter of conspiracy theories. At the end of Trump’s first presidency, when he was a Pentagon official, he spread the bonkers idea that Italian military satellites had been employed to turn Trump votes to Joe Biden votes in the 2020 election. And he has falsely claimed that the Trump-Russia scandal was a hoax cooked up by the FBI and so-called Deep State to sabotage Trump.
Appearing on Grace Time TV in September 2022, Patel said of the QAnon community, “We’re just blown away at the amount of acumen some of these people have.” He added, “If it’s Q or whatever movement that’s getting that information out, I am all for it, every day of the week.”
Trump’s nomination of Patel is clearly designed to destroy the FBI. Patel has no other qualifications.
‘The End Of Democratic Delusions’. Interesting think-piece from George Packer:
But every election is a reminder that the country is narrowly divided and has been for decades, with frequent changes of control in the House of Representatives. Now that Trump has won the popular vote and the Electoral College, the majoritarian illusion, like the demographic one, should be seen for what it is: an impediment to Democratic success. It relieved the party of the need to listen and persuade rather than expecting the dei ex machina of population and rule changes to do the work of politics.
The mood in America, as in electorates all over the world, is profoundly anti-establishment. Trump had a mass movement behind him; Kamala Harris was installed by party elites. He offered disruption, chaos, and contempt; she offered a tax break for small businesses. He spoke for the alienated; she spoke for the status quo.
Democrats have become the party of institutionalists. Much of their base is metropolitan, credentialed, economically comfortable, and pro-government. A realignment has been going on since the early ’70s: Democrats now claim the former Republican base of college-educated professionals, and Republicans have replaced Democrats as the party of the working class. As long as globalization, technology, and immigration were widely seen as not only inevitable but positive forces, the Democratic Party appeared to ride the wave of history, while Republicans depended on a shrinking pool of older white voters in dying towns. But something profound changed around 2008.
OK, I’d have to excerpt far too much to capture Packer’s overview. Including why the so-called Trump Reaction is not as strong as it appears to be. Please just read it. OK, one more excerpt, which rings true to me:
A few weeks before the election, Representative Chris Deluzio, a first-term Democrat, was campaigning door-to-door in a closely divided district in western Pennsylvania. He’s a Navy veteran, a moderate on cultural issues, and a homegrown economic populist—critical of corporations, deep-pocketed donors, and the ideology that privileges capital over human beings and communities. At one house he spoke with a middle-aged white policeman named Mike, who had a Trump sign in his front yard. Without budging on his choice for president, Mike ended up voting for Deluzio. On Election Night, in a state carried by Trump, Deluzio outperformed Harris in his district, especially in the reddest areas, and won comfortably. What does this prove? Only that politics is best when it’s face-to-face and based on respect, that most people are complicated and even persuadable, and that—in the next line from the Fitzgerald quote—one can “see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.”
Why We Need LEOBOR Reform. Even when cops beat the shit out of someone, and even when government has to pay out to the victim, the public is kept in the dark:
But a tradition of police and government secrecy in Delaware makes it impossible to fully evaluate what accountability came from this situation.
The public is unable to see police records, like dashcam video, to view exactly what happened that night and use that information to evaluate both the officers’ conduct and whether they lied in official reports to justify serious felony charges against the woman.
That’s because Delaware public records law has been interpreted by state attorneys in a way that gives police departments legal backing to hide police reports, body camera footage and most other records detailing and justifying their actions. Limited information may become available for specific court proceedings, but that is not the case in Caldwell’s situation and many others.
The city of Dover rejected a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Delaware Online/The News Journal to view footage of this incident and review relevant reports.
The office of Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings evaluates appeals of such public record request rejections under the state’s public record law. The office has, in recent years, endorsed police departments’ hiding all so-called investigatory documents in perpetuity and regardless of the situation.
A rare essential article from the News-Journal. Maybe I’ll keep my sjubscription for another week or so…
What do you want to talk about?
Unless I missed it Trump still has not named a Secretary of Labor. Which union-busting mofo will get the tap? Howard Schultz is tanned and rested.
Lori Chavez-Reamer seems to be his choice. She is not completely anti Union, but we know she will follow lead like the rest of minions. She had much Union support in Oregon when she was in office.
That choice makes sense. As opposed to Trump naming an anti-labor zealot to the position. After all, Trump doesn’t win w/o an influx of labor union D’s.
I’m a registered Dem that has never voted GOP. However, it’s disheartening and frustrating to watch the Democratic Party continue to lose its way. The President should not have pardoned his son, bottom line. Whether you feel Trump should have pardoned Jared’s dad is irrelevant. This is political nepotism at its finest, and from the highest office. It arms the GOP with anti-Dem fodder, and the GOP would be right. Dems will continue losing until the party takes accountability.
Oh bullshit. The Rethugs need no anti-Dem fodder, nor do they deserve it after Trump’s pardoning of a whole raft of criminals as he was going out the door and his imminent pardoning of a whole ‘nother raft of criminals as he reenters.
The Rethugs only have their panties in a bunch b/c they think it’ll play on Fox News. Let ’em bleat.
El Som, And we’ll keep losing. Have fun living in GOP society the next 25 years.
Hunter paid his back taxes and all of the penalties. His 11-day gun ownership with no usage was negligible. The appropriate de minimus penalty was really not worth the court’s time. Would Hunter even have been prosecuted if the GOP could find ANYTHING on Biden? (They tried and tried and found NOTHING.). Were Hunter my son, I would have pardoned him. Enough already!!!
Agreed. I have to wonder about the humanity of anybody who says they wouldn’t have done it.
Concern trolling is so 2018.
“It arms the GOP with anti-Dem fodder”
LOL… They can and do make anti-Dem fodder out of thin air regardless of what Dems do.
That said, it might have been better to wait until Hunter was sentenced on Dec. 12 and then to commute the sentence instead of pardoning. At least then Joe could have argued that the sentence was disproportionate.
Right, wait until Joe can twist things to make sense. If federal sentencing guidelines were too tough, Joe should have done something about it.
Another loss.
Chris Christie prosecuted Kushner. Wonder if he’ll comment. As to the pushback from the other side. Are you shitting me! Hunter has been sober since 2019. I commend Joe!
Remember to be good with it when Trump does it. Joe opened the floodgates.
No he didn’t. Trump ALREADY opened the floodgates.
Plus, do you REALLY think that Biden pardoning his son will have any political impact, say, even two weeks down the road?
Plus, he pardoned his SON. I defy anybody to argue that, if you were the President, you wouldn’t do the same for your flesh and blood.
No. I wouldn’t pardon my son (and yes, I have sons). I’m surprised you have that attitude. Again, if federal sentencing guidelines are too tough, Joe should have corrected that for everyone! Yes, this will have a far-reaching political impact.
It isn’t you or I (or 99% of DL readers) that need convincing about Trump. But guys, this is another nail in the coffin for the next 20 – 30 years. The independent / swing voters will continue to vote GOP.
Yes, the sky is falling.
If it is, it’s not b/c of the pardon.
You’ve made your point. 5 times now. Move on.
Do you live in a pollyannish bubble? Geez you are the king/queen of asymmetrical rage!
I heard this morning on Good Morning America that his daughter Tiffany will be a special envoy (or other named position) to the Mideast.
Probably better than Senator from Florida. Or is it Lara who’s being talked up for that one?
I was very surprised when they said Tiffany. Over the weekend they mentioned Lara for an even higher sounding position, but I can’t remember the exact position.
I’m glad Biden pardoned Hunter, if for no other reason then to thwart yet another Republican Inquisition of yet another targeted individual just because they can. Expecting the usual “outrage” from all the usual suspects.
Tiffany’s father in law, not Tiffany.
https://politicalwire.com/2024/12/02/trump-appoints-tiffanys-father-in-law-as-an-advisor/
Oh, right. I had seen that, but didn’t put him and that job together.
I read that the pardon in such a sweeping way, all the way back to 1/1/2014, could cause 5th amendment problems for Hunter if he is called before congress. BTW I knew all along Joe would pardon him. I would pardon my son in a minute.
I also would pardon my son. Besides, Hunter’s not a fascist.
Biden probably wouldn’t have pardoned Hunter, as he said he wouldn’t, until Trump announced that he was putting in Patel as FBI Director. Joe knew that meant more investigations and serious…undeserved…consequences for Hunter. The way out of that?….the Trump-used pardon power of the Presidency.
> “The office has, in recent years, endorsed police departments’ hiding all so-called investigatory documents in perpetuity and regardless of the situation.”
I’d like to know just when the AG’s office ever endorsed releasing investigatory records. That’s been the law and practice for a good long while now, not just “in recent years.” But that would require actual reporting from TNJ.
I can’t read the article, but I’m assuming that it doesn’t note that anyone can file a lawsuit to release records regardless of what the DOJ says. TNJ hasn’t filed a FOIA suit in some time. Its reporters file inane appeals when the law is clearly settled and then when they lose, complain about losing. TNJ also doesn’t advocate for changes to the law when the legislature is in session, which would really solve the whole problem.
Damn. I wanted to watch Tiffany solve the problems of the middle-east.
“Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room… Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases… No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong.”
No reasonable person my ass. Wesley Snipes went to prison for three years for the same shit. Lauryn Hill got three months in the slammer and three on house arrest. Neither of them had the gun complication, either.
The judge in Hunter’s case threw the aforementioned plea deal out because Hunter’s lawyers peppered the gun plea with verbiage that let him off the hook for tax evasion. Had the elder Biden spoke (and pardoned) strictly on the basis of the gun violation this wouldn’t be the insult to everyone’s intelligence that it is and most people either wouldn’t care or would applaud him for it. ‘I pardoned him because I’m his dad and I could. Clinton and Carter pardoned their relatives, too. It’s a privilege people like us enjoy and you don’t. And it’s only going to get worse now that Trump is returning, anyway’ would’ve made me respect him more. At least it would’ve been honest.
Giving someone a decade-long carte blanche pardon is shady AF and everyone knows it.
‘…and everybody knows it.’
That is demonstrably untrue.
Yeah, it’s a bit like Biden’s “No reasonable person” statement.
Retracted.
You aren’t going to build one, sport, now or ever, because we are a selfish people who worship the most selfish among us. Take a look around, maybe outside your silo.
“Giving someone a decade-long carte blanche pardon is shady AF and everyone knows it.”
True But a justified response to Trump’s even shadier promise to weaponize the DOJ against his enemies list.
Agreed. This pardon set the Dems back even further than election night, and you can forget about true progressive policies for at least a decade.
You’re full of shit. Trump gave out over 70 pardons right before he left office. Many of them to criminals that he either had business and/or political relationships with. Including Kushner’s dad, who he’s now appointed as Ambassador to France.
Where the fuck were all the D officials screaming about that four years ago?
This sets back nothing. It’s the neo-lib corporadems who have, and continue, to set back true progressive policies.
Load. Of. Shit.
You could forget about those policies either way, and for a lot more than a decade, pardon or no pardon. You better get used to never seeing them in your lifetime.
Man, this really brought the assholes out of the woodwork.