It now turns out that all of you “impatient ones,” the folks who were upset at the apparent lack of action by the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate the January 6 attack on Congress and all that led up to that, the ones who complained that Merrick Garland as just sitting around, and that the longer this continued the worse things would get - all of you were were right.
While the Republic was being gutted their only concern was “re-establishing the institutional propriety of the operations of the Department of Justice .... “Restoring public trust” was their mantra.”
Just who’s trust were they hoping to restore? Certainly not mine.
The list of things the Democrats in the House and Senate have had chances to do and passed up on is astonishing. I would have thought that from the first day in office Biden would have had a study group looking at places where the stress test of Trump's presidency revealed gaps to be closed where previously honor or expectations would have been enough, guardrails that should be put in place to prevent the kind of abuses perpetrated and planned such as increasing the time before the electoral college vote is replaced by the House vote... but no. We could have stopped so many merry go rounds already.
Absolutely. I would only add that a lot of detail you mention should have come from his staff as they are top notch. How did we not cut out DeJoy and Chris Wray? Jerome Powell as well. Powell is overseeing the working man paying for inflation. The Fed raising interest rates hurts the economy and the folks who work. Robert Reich strongly suggest the cure is raising taxes on high income earners and corporations that have made huge profits.
This WaPo article confirms what I've been feeling all along. I know I'm not alone in now feeling that this will be a permanent stain on our Department of Justice and the FBI, who diddled all those long months until the House submitted its Jan. 6 Committee report and prodded them finally into action.
We watched this play out in real time. Bottom line is a shortage of adults to get things done.
Reminds me of the Katrina deal in New Orleans in that much was needed and yet much was left undone. In my small Virginia town our emergency task force leader Stan Crigger would have done a better job in New Orleans. Stan was a twin to Hoss Cartwright with the same wonderful strength that exuded leadership when needed.
I kind of figured that was what was going on…so now what? All this lost time, time where the rats have had time to cover their tracks and disappear from view. All this time to make trump more bulletproof and boosting his numbers in the polls. I’m disgusted with our so called justice system who tromp on the peons and let the instigators and their enablers skate…damn them all…
What a scandal!!! Like a bomb waiting to go off. The prelude to the Jan 6 committee and Smith's work looks like another version of letting Nixon off the hook and pardoning him. What other skeletons are lying around awaiting the light of day? THANKS TC---another great post. As one looks at the past and some of the other scandals and those who got away, what is TRUTH---for Iran Contra and much much more. The True Heroes are the members of the Jan 6 committee and Jack Smith. One could mention some other items: Pentagon Papers; Gulf of Tonkin; the recent "dumps" of otherwise secret gov't documents (Snowden); etc etc etc
First, I think Garland has been overcautious, no question. But that's MY perspective as someone who knows that Democrats have avoided politicizing the Justice Department while I can't think of a republican administration in my lifetime that has NOT politicized it.
So we come to the standard Democratic view that we have to be better than they are, which is not hard, but leads to stupidity like lowering the boom on Al Franken to prove that we don't tolerate whatever it was we aren't supposed to tolerate (which is not to minimize that he didn't do sexist or sleazy things--but give me a break).
But then we come to two other things.
One is that whatever happens in all this, we absolutely have to do it right and get it right. That was Garland's approach to prosecuting Timothy McVeigh, and it is worth bearing in mind. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., gave Ralph Waldo Emerson an essay to read, and Emerson's take on it was, "When you strike at a king, you must kill him." I'd rather have it happen slowly then badly or bunglingly.
Another is that we do not know what else was going on in the Justice Department, especially among those who did not talk to the media for this story. James Reston, who was a great reporter in his day, used to tell younger colleagues, "Look for the unhappy ones." There might just be some others shaking their heads right now in their offices there and thinking, this is how we are supposed to act.
Now, that doesn't excuse how the FBI has been a politicized organization since a man who had been a fine law professor and later became a fine Supreme Court justice, Harlan Fiske Stone, made the colossal mistake of naming young Justice Department lawyer John Edgar Hoover to run the FBI in 1924. In American history, in terms of choosing appointees and candidates, it ranks close to Abraham Lincoln either choosing or permitting the choice of Andrew Johnson as his running mate in 1864. Indeed, both sides are right about the FBI requiring a major enema. And if you don't believe me, one minute of listening to or reading James Comey should do it.
BTW, Comey's crime novel is excellent. Hits all points right where it should, keeps you wanting to dive into the next chapter. Undoubtedly Hollywood will pick it up, and they'll be right to do so. I ended up reading it in a day and a night, couldn't put it down.
I believe Comey bears more responsibility for Trump winning the Presidency than any one other person or factor, including Russian interference. He knowingly made a dire announcement eleven days before the election that tipped some independents and took the wind out of some democrat's sails who elected to stay home instead of risking having voted for someone who they feared might in a month or two turn out to have been guilty of something which Trump and his own family did immediately after taking office ... but before Trump those things just sounded oh, so much more dire. Comey knew what he was doing and the effect he'd have, and his explanations and excuses after the fact are pure illogical bull shit.
the way I'm feeling right now is fundamentally what you're saying, Michael.
and yeah, I'm as sick of the "when they go low, we go high" thing, but I can't possibly find myself embracing the "other side," which would end up being "when they go low, we go lower."
yes, maybe Garland wasn't a great choice. Wray is something else altogether. he just seems like either a fuck-up or a flunky. he IS in the Federalist Society. but I also think that firing Wray like, tomorrow, would have a terrible look.
now I also realize that whatever is or isn't done, TFF and his minions will say and believe what they want to anyway. so maybe I'm being SO fair-minded that I've fallen into the Schmuck Pile. in any event, Smith is great. and let's remember that Garland appointed him...
David- I so agree with you! “When they go low we go high” is just hand wringing virtue signaling and I’m sick to death of that mantra. Honestly, it’s as effective and meaningful as “thoughts and prayers”
Doesn’t mean Dems have to grovel in the mud ‘neath the belly of the beast, but you do have to recognize the rules of the game and play accordingly. Being holier than thou accomplishes nothing but getting steam-rolled agin and again.
I’m still angry at Al Franken for resigning. Come to think of it, I’m still angry at Al Gore for conceding. Also a little pissed at Obama for caving on the debt ceiling.
Absolutely! Sometimes you don't have to go low, you just have to go straight at the truth. When they go low call it out. Spell it out. And you can feel that healthy anger at your heroes and others you support because people are complex and imperfect, and you aren't in a cult.
Foxes guarding the henhouse..."I don’t know about anyone else, but I think the best way to “restore public trust” is to go after the perpetrators of the greatest crime against the government and people of the United States since the 1861 attack on Fort Sumter by the Confederacy would be the best way to demonstrate that the government was ready and willing and up to the task of “preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States of America.”"...I could not agree more.
The internal politics of the FBI have always been Republican, as is the case with most law enforcement because control, as opposed to cooperation, is a right wing feature. The upper echelon in the agency probably steered neophyte Garland away from such an investigation, which is my guess. And so we end up with a rare moment in which elected officials complete a job which is usually managed by civil servants, the drone bees. At least that is historic.
my blood is boiling -- this information is simply infuriating. Wonder if some of that dark-money played a role here. This is another kind of obstruction of justice.
Wouldn't it be great to believe that justice was fair, and those in charge of enforcing laws and determining justice were all good people we could count on to do what's right.... but that isn't the world we live in, is it? There are some good ones... Jack Smith hopefully?
But instead I'm left with the impression of criminals with billions applying pressure to make the right people look the other way. And anyone without money, and God forbid, are not white, live at the mercy of law enforcement.
All of it makes Schiff, Raskin, Cheney, and others look like saints. But even if they are that (highly questionable), they're only pissing into the wind.
Now I am wondering if they also quashed the investigation of the pipe bomber. Call me a conspiracy freak, but I think she sits in Congress or her aide(s) are still employed by her.
Well as Comey would say, "Lordy!" Of course I was not surprised but dismayed. And as far as the Federalist Society is concerned. Well...it got its start from Robert Bork among others. It is an organization which should be investigated up one side and down the other. It has usurped the ABA in terms of "vetting" Federal judges. I suppose there are always reasons to "belong" to an organization you might not agree with, and perhaps even donate to it, just to give the appearance of being with it, keeping your finger on the pulse of the thing. However, I believe what was at the heart of the whole djt slow to no walk investigation has been and continues to be FEAR. I equate it to putin placing "tactical nukes" in Belarus along with the missiles that can carry "tactical warheads". Which is a distinction with no meaning. A nuke is a nuke. djt is djt and he is the worst kind of traitor. No one wants to say it. Just like no one wants to say Fascism where the gop is concerned - that part determined to install one party governance by any means necessary. There is an entire crowd around djt and just because he may not have been in the room with rudy, bum bannon, stoned roger and others at the Willard, does not mean he was not in on the plans. Read the J6 report. djt cannot keep his mouth shut so he was talking with people and hoping that no one was keeping notes. I think he envisioned himself walking into the senate chambers once the dust had settled to proclaim he was the winner, something like Lukashenko in Belarus. So...what a scenario. Even Hollywood could not devise a more devious group of co-conspirators or write the script in which the ending cannot be determined. And to date no one is doing anything to get behind the whole matter of "fake electors", 16 of which were in my state of Michigan! They actually signed the papers! That whole thing should be fully exposed for the fraud it was then and the danger it still presents today given attempts being made in some states to allow legislatures to overturn the popular vote of citizens if somehow the election is deemed to be "fraudulent". That's no good for any citizen and voter. Might as well live in hungary or russia or belarus or Florida!
The involvement of the Federalist Society in our judicial vetting and nominations should be eliminated. What earthly reason is there for a club of self selected old rich farts to be able to influence to that extent one of the "independent" wings of our country's governing structure? Very few people, immersed in a group like that, would have the mental clarity to avoid being tainted and the courage to refuse to allow their actions to be influenced by such forceful, powerful personalities forming one's peer group. Garland is unlikely to be one such person.
Every fake elector should have been charged with impersonating a federal official or some such thing and put in prison. They signed fake electoral votes for gawd's sake - fake seal and everything - and they knew what they were doing. Some got a few charges but not all. Nothing at the level of robbing a convenience store for example. Where the hell is our national sense of proportion?
I’m of two minds right now. At the time, I was very adamant that something should be done NOW, NOW, NOW. However, in looking back at the emotionally charged environment of our country at the time and where we are now, I am thinking that perhaps Merrick Garland was right. We’ve seen an administration that has carried on with business and accomplished a lot under difficult circumstances. The accomplishments the administration has made has done more to restore my trust in the government than any quick justice for Trump and his minions would have. You’re right, the evidence hasn’t changed and the witnesses are still there. The mood of the country, however, has changed. I think if Merrick Garland had gone after Trump as soon as we thought he should, the people turning out to protest his indictment would have been much more than a few dozen. The J-6 hearings helped not only to bring out the evidence but also helped to let people who really didn’t realize what was going on to understand just what a criminal government we had voted in. Yes, justice was delayed, but justice is still on the job.
If Garland had begun when he should have (immediately) he would still have been running his investigation while the J-6 committee was presenting it's findings. Their hearings would only have softened up the country for his own announcements. I still feel Garland dropped the ball and handed it off to Smith only due to eventual heat from the J-6 hearings, the public, and the national archives which had begun to seek the return of their documents. It was all getting rather embarrassing so he called in Jack Smith.
While the Republic was being gutted their only concern was “re-establishing the institutional propriety of the operations of the Department of Justice .... “Restoring public trust” was their mantra.”
Just who’s trust were they hoping to restore? Certainly not mine.
Sick.
Ok, I'll say it here. I was dismayed when I just happened to be scrolling through photos of The Federalist Society to find
Merrick Garland there as a
contributor. Leonard Leo is
the president of the Society.
Many of these members and
contributors are conservatives and judges.
I'm not really very surprised
at the WaPo report. I had been willing to give Garland
a long leash until he started
pressuring the J6 Committee
for ALL their files, transcripts,
videos and interviews. They
weren't even done yet and Bannon was very busy in
his War Room still, after being
referred to DOJ for ignoring
their supeona. He's still dancing free until court in
Oct. is it? That's on his fake
wall $ theft. Nothing from
DOJ.
Our only hope and possible saving grace is Jack Smith.
He's not afraid to get his hands dirty or to wade in.
If he were, he wouldn't be
at the Hague dealing with
the horrific war crimes from
Kosova/Crimea. I most fervently hope and do pray,
Jack Smith will be allowed to
prosecute any and all involved in the theft of classified documents and
the attempt and continued
attempts, to destroy our
Republic of, by and for the
people.
I want to add, that I understand, though not approve, of Biden's appointment of Garland to
DOJ. It was a sop to ease
an old friend from, I'm
sure, the loss of a SCOTUS
seat. There are some things that should be left well enough alone.
Thank you, Tom for another outstanding essay and a forum where we can speak
what's on our minds, hearts and souls.
Is this a bad cop good cop deal and we are the suckers? Some have mentioned that dems have had chances to stop this merry go round.
The list of things the Democrats in the House and Senate have had chances to do and passed up on is astonishing. I would have thought that from the first day in office Biden would have had a study group looking at places where the stress test of Trump's presidency revealed gaps to be closed where previously honor or expectations would have been enough, guardrails that should be put in place to prevent the kind of abuses perpetrated and planned such as increasing the time before the electoral college vote is replaced by the House vote... but no. We could have stopped so many merry go rounds already.
Absolutely. I would only add that a lot of detail you mention should have come from his staff as they are top notch. How did we not cut out DeJoy and Chris Wray? Jerome Powell as well. Powell is overseeing the working man paying for inflation. The Fed raising interest rates hurts the economy and the folks who work. Robert Reich strongly suggest the cure is raising taxes on high income earners and corporations that have made huge profits.
This WaPo article confirms what I've been feeling all along. I know I'm not alone in now feeling that this will be a permanent stain on our Department of Justice and the FBI, who diddled all those long months until the House submitted its Jan. 6 Committee report and prodded them finally into action.
We watched this play out in real time. Bottom line is a shortage of adults to get things done.
Reminds me of the Katrina deal in New Orleans in that much was needed and yet much was left undone. In my small Virginia town our emergency task force leader Stan Crigger would have done a better job in New Orleans. Stan was a twin to Hoss Cartwright with the same wonderful strength that exuded leadership when needed.
I liked Hoss too.
Stain is a good word because we really need the FBI to clean house, and we need the Secret Service to scrub especially hard.
I kind of figured that was what was going on…so now what? All this lost time, time where the rats have had time to cover their tracks and disappear from view. All this time to make trump more bulletproof and boosting his numbers in the polls. I’m disgusted with our so called justice system who tromp on the peons and let the instigators and their enablers skate…damn them all…
What a scandal!!! Like a bomb waiting to go off. The prelude to the Jan 6 committee and Smith's work looks like another version of letting Nixon off the hook and pardoning him. What other skeletons are lying around awaiting the light of day? THANKS TC---another great post. As one looks at the past and some of the other scandals and those who got away, what is TRUTH---for Iran Contra and much much more. The True Heroes are the members of the Jan 6 committee and Jack Smith. One could mention some other items: Pentagon Papers; Gulf of Tonkin; the recent "dumps" of otherwise secret gov't documents (Snowden); etc etc etc
I am of two minds.
First, I think Garland has been overcautious, no question. But that's MY perspective as someone who knows that Democrats have avoided politicizing the Justice Department while I can't think of a republican administration in my lifetime that has NOT politicized it.
So we come to the standard Democratic view that we have to be better than they are, which is not hard, but leads to stupidity like lowering the boom on Al Franken to prove that we don't tolerate whatever it was we aren't supposed to tolerate (which is not to minimize that he didn't do sexist or sleazy things--but give me a break).
But then we come to two other things.
One is that whatever happens in all this, we absolutely have to do it right and get it right. That was Garland's approach to prosecuting Timothy McVeigh, and it is worth bearing in mind. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., gave Ralph Waldo Emerson an essay to read, and Emerson's take on it was, "When you strike at a king, you must kill him." I'd rather have it happen slowly then badly or bunglingly.
Another is that we do not know what else was going on in the Justice Department, especially among those who did not talk to the media for this story. James Reston, who was a great reporter in his day, used to tell younger colleagues, "Look for the unhappy ones." There might just be some others shaking their heads right now in their offices there and thinking, this is how we are supposed to act.
Now, that doesn't excuse how the FBI has been a politicized organization since a man who had been a fine law professor and later became a fine Supreme Court justice, Harlan Fiske Stone, made the colossal mistake of naming young Justice Department lawyer John Edgar Hoover to run the FBI in 1924. In American history, in terms of choosing appointees and candidates, it ranks close to Abraham Lincoln either choosing or permitting the choice of Andrew Johnson as his running mate in 1864. Indeed, both sides are right about the FBI requiring a major enema. And if you don't believe me, one minute of listening to or reading James Comey should do it.
BTW, Comey's crime novel is excellent. Hits all points right where it should, keeps you wanting to dive into the next chapter. Undoubtedly Hollywood will pick it up, and they'll be right to do so. I ended up reading it in a day and a night, couldn't put it down.
He found his calling. If only he had gone into that before ....
I believe Comey bears more responsibility for Trump winning the Presidency than any one other person or factor, including Russian interference. He knowingly made a dire announcement eleven days before the election that tipped some independents and took the wind out of some democrat's sails who elected to stay home instead of risking having voted for someone who they feared might in a month or two turn out to have been guilty of something which Trump and his own family did immediately after taking office ... but before Trump those things just sounded oh, so much more dire. Comey knew what he was doing and the effect he'd have, and his explanations and excuses after the fact are pure illogical bull shit.
the way I'm feeling right now is fundamentally what you're saying, Michael.
and yeah, I'm as sick of the "when they go low, we go high" thing, but I can't possibly find myself embracing the "other side," which would end up being "when they go low, we go lower."
yes, maybe Garland wasn't a great choice. Wray is something else altogether. he just seems like either a fuck-up or a flunky. he IS in the Federalist Society. but I also think that firing Wray like, tomorrow, would have a terrible look.
now I also realize that whatever is or isn't done, TFF and his minions will say and believe what they want to anyway. so maybe I'm being SO fair-minded that I've fallen into the Schmuck Pile. in any event, Smith is great. and let's remember that Garland appointed him...
David- I so agree with you! “When they go low we go high” is just hand wringing virtue signaling and I’m sick to death of that mantra. Honestly, it’s as effective and meaningful as “thoughts and prayers”
Doesn’t mean Dems have to grovel in the mud ‘neath the belly of the beast, but you do have to recognize the rules of the game and play accordingly. Being holier than thou accomplishes nothing but getting steam-rolled agin and again.
I’m still angry at Al Franken for resigning. Come to think of it, I’m still angry at Al Gore for conceding. Also a little pissed at Obama for caving on the debt ceiling.
Agreed on all points, Sharon.
Amen, amen, amen!
Absolutely! Sometimes you don't have to go low, you just have to go straight at the truth. When they go low call it out. Spell it out. And you can feel that healthy anger at your heroes and others you support because people are complex and imperfect, and you aren't in a cult.
Dems seem to miss the field goal or easy touchdown very late in the game. This time we may win due to GOP overreach. I am counting on it.
Foxes guarding the henhouse..."I don’t know about anyone else, but I think the best way to “restore public trust” is to go after the perpetrators of the greatest crime against the government and people of the United States since the 1861 attack on Fort Sumter by the Confederacy would be the best way to demonstrate that the government was ready and willing and up to the task of “preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States of America.”"...I could not agree more.
I wonder if Merrick Garland was concerned about how many Jeffrey Clarks remained. If Stumpy wins the presidency I understand he’ll be AG. 🤣
The internal politics of the FBI have always been Republican, as is the case with most law enforcement because control, as opposed to cooperation, is a right wing feature. The upper echelon in the agency probably steered neophyte Garland away from such an investigation, which is my guess. And so we end up with a rare moment in which elected officials complete a job which is usually managed by civil servants, the drone bees. At least that is historic.
my blood is boiling -- this information is simply infuriating. Wonder if some of that dark-money played a role here. This is another kind of obstruction of justice.
This is so like us Democrats. What the hell is wrong with us?
We got raised to believe the rules are important. Which they are. And which puts us at a disadvantage opposing unscrupulous people.
Yeah. I guess that’s it. Dang it.
Wouldn't it be great to believe that justice was fair, and those in charge of enforcing laws and determining justice were all good people we could count on to do what's right.... but that isn't the world we live in, is it? There are some good ones... Jack Smith hopefully?
But instead I'm left with the impression of criminals with billions applying pressure to make the right people look the other way. And anyone without money, and God forbid, are not white, live at the mercy of law enforcement.
All of it makes Schiff, Raskin, Cheney, and others look like saints. But even if they are that (highly questionable), they're only pissing into the wind.
So discouraging.
Now I am wondering if they also quashed the investigation of the pipe bomber. Call me a conspiracy freak, but I think she sits in Congress or her aide(s) are still employed by her.
The gait of the pipe bomb carrier on the video tape was certainly female.
I agree.
Jack Smith is living up to his reputation!
Well as Comey would say, "Lordy!" Of course I was not surprised but dismayed. And as far as the Federalist Society is concerned. Well...it got its start from Robert Bork among others. It is an organization which should be investigated up one side and down the other. It has usurped the ABA in terms of "vetting" Federal judges. I suppose there are always reasons to "belong" to an organization you might not agree with, and perhaps even donate to it, just to give the appearance of being with it, keeping your finger on the pulse of the thing. However, I believe what was at the heart of the whole djt slow to no walk investigation has been and continues to be FEAR. I equate it to putin placing "tactical nukes" in Belarus along with the missiles that can carry "tactical warheads". Which is a distinction with no meaning. A nuke is a nuke. djt is djt and he is the worst kind of traitor. No one wants to say it. Just like no one wants to say Fascism where the gop is concerned - that part determined to install one party governance by any means necessary. There is an entire crowd around djt and just because he may not have been in the room with rudy, bum bannon, stoned roger and others at the Willard, does not mean he was not in on the plans. Read the J6 report. djt cannot keep his mouth shut so he was talking with people and hoping that no one was keeping notes. I think he envisioned himself walking into the senate chambers once the dust had settled to proclaim he was the winner, something like Lukashenko in Belarus. So...what a scenario. Even Hollywood could not devise a more devious group of co-conspirators or write the script in which the ending cannot be determined. And to date no one is doing anything to get behind the whole matter of "fake electors", 16 of which were in my state of Michigan! They actually signed the papers! That whole thing should be fully exposed for the fraud it was then and the danger it still presents today given attempts being made in some states to allow legislatures to overturn the popular vote of citizens if somehow the election is deemed to be "fraudulent". That's no good for any citizen and voter. Might as well live in hungary or russia or belarus or Florida!
I agree with so much here.
The involvement of the Federalist Society in our judicial vetting and nominations should be eliminated. What earthly reason is there for a club of self selected old rich farts to be able to influence to that extent one of the "independent" wings of our country's governing structure? Very few people, immersed in a group like that, would have the mental clarity to avoid being tainted and the courage to refuse to allow their actions to be influenced by such forceful, powerful personalities forming one's peer group. Garland is unlikely to be one such person.
Every fake elector should have been charged with impersonating a federal official or some such thing and put in prison. They signed fake electoral votes for gawd's sake - fake seal and everything - and they knew what they were doing. Some got a few charges but not all. Nothing at the level of robbing a convenience store for example. Where the hell is our national sense of proportion?
I’m of two minds right now. At the time, I was very adamant that something should be done NOW, NOW, NOW. However, in looking back at the emotionally charged environment of our country at the time and where we are now, I am thinking that perhaps Merrick Garland was right. We’ve seen an administration that has carried on with business and accomplished a lot under difficult circumstances. The accomplishments the administration has made has done more to restore my trust in the government than any quick justice for Trump and his minions would have. You’re right, the evidence hasn’t changed and the witnesses are still there. The mood of the country, however, has changed. I think if Merrick Garland had gone after Trump as soon as we thought he should, the people turning out to protest his indictment would have been much more than a few dozen. The J-6 hearings helped not only to bring out the evidence but also helped to let people who really didn’t realize what was going on to understand just what a criminal government we had voted in. Yes, justice was delayed, but justice is still on the job.
If Garland had begun when he should have (immediately) he would still have been running his investigation while the J-6 committee was presenting it's findings. Their hearings would only have softened up the country for his own announcements. I still feel Garland dropped the ball and handed it off to Smith only due to eventual heat from the J-6 hearings, the public, and the national archives which had begun to seek the return of their documents. It was all getting rather embarrassing so he called in Jack Smith.