25 September 2018

AND THE WALLS CAME TUMBLING DOWN






While the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee struggles to keep its positive vote for Brett Kavanaugh on track in the face of mounting criticism for its refusal to allow a full discovery and presentation of the pertinent facts, another bomb has exploded in the political square, six weeks before the mid-term elections.

The New York Times report of Rosenstein's inappropriate remarks in the days following the Comey firing have led to his possible resignation or firing. This in turn could jeopardize the Mueller investigation, which Rosenstein is overseeing given the recusal of Jeff Sessions. This gives President Trump the opportunity to be rid of Mueller, whom he has tried to fire before.

Assuming Rosenstein is gone, Trump has two routes under prevailing Justice Department rules: Rosenstein's next-in-line is Solicitor General Neil Francisco, a conservative Jones
Day lawyer, and former partner of White House Counsel McGahn. Trump could press Francisco to fire Mueller, or leave him in place, but sharply control and limit the scope of Mueller's investigation.  If Fransisco refuses, Trump has options.  He can appoint a more compliant previously confirmed lawyer to Rosenstein's position, or do the same to replace Jeff Sessions. That automaton Trumpist could fire Mueller, even if he later fails to be confirmed by the
Senate.

--> Would Trump dare do that? The public outrage would be severe, and it would test the integrity of the Republican Congressional leaders who have reportedly warned Trump not to fire Mueller. But let's not kid ourselves. Those leaders have long since demonstrated a complete lack of integrity, and the likelihood of this House and this Senate impeaching and convicting Trump is slim to none.

But firing Mueller now may not solve Trump's problem. We can safely assume Mueller has by now put together a huge dossier of his findings, some of which may jeopardize not only Trump, but members of his family. Firing Mueller will not make that go away.  There are Justice Department divisions, US attorneys and State Attorneys General who could run with a Mueller hand-off. For Trump, that would be the worst of both worlds: he would suffer adverse publicity, and still be legally hounded.

And in the be-careful-what-you-wish-for department, Watergate is a powerful lesson. Perhaps someone in the White House can break it down in one or two syllable words for Trump. Nixon too was hectored by an inquiring Special Prosecutor. He complained that Archibald Cox was vigorously inquiring of White House operatives about the Watergate break-in of Democratic headquarters. Nixon ordered Attorney General Richardson -- whom I knew personally after negotiating the resignation of our client, Vice President Spiro Agnew -- to fire Cox. I was not surprised when Richardson refused to obey Nixon's order, and resigned. Next in line was William Ruckelshaus  who did the same, and the chore descended upon the shoulders of Solicitor General Robert Bork, who obeyed the Nixon directive, fired Cox, and appointed Leon Jaworski in his place. Jaworski proceeded to pursue Nixon and forced him to resign, and convicted many members of his staff.

While Rosenstein's fate may not be decided until Trump returns from the UN meetings on Thursday, the President has no good options here. This investigation is too far down the road to be effectively derailed, and any attempt to do so might provoke not only a Constitutional crisis, but could threaten to make the so-called Blue Wave into a Blue Tsunami.

My bet for now: Rosenstein stays, Mueller stays. Until the mid-terms. After that, folks, hide in your cellar: all bets are off.

A more concise version of this post is published in Time.com. Click here:

http://time.com/5405150/president-trump-fire-rosenstein-mueller-investigation/

A bientot.





23 September 2018

CONGRESSIONAL CONTEMPT FOR TRUTH

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford v. Judge Brett Kavanaugh, an extrajudicial case on trial:

Let's start with an indisputable standard: No one is entitled to a seat on the Supreme Court. It must be earned, to the satisfaction of both the Article I and Article II designated branches of our Republic. Ya want it, ya gotta earn it.

I should make clear up front, I am not unbiased here. In my view, Kavanaugh is a bad guy. In the hearings, he masked his arch conservatism, he masked his rigid anti-abortion philosophy. This this is the guy who urged Ken Starr to humiliate Bill Clinton by asking detailed questions about his sexual liasons, and this is the guy who was involved in White House torture discussions and then denied it.

As a judge, he voted against providing contraception to employees of religious organizations. The man is basically opposed to abortion and contraception.

And most obscenely, this is the guy who tried as hard as he could to prevent a17 yr.-old immigrant from getting a rape abortion, even though under Roe she was constitutionally entitled to the procedure. The girl was in custody and 17 weeks pregnant, but K did everything he could to delay the decision until she passed the 20-week mark in Texas that would have denied her the right to the procedure. Despite her status, he wrote, in his opinion, that the federal government had an interest in her fetus. I never knew that. How scary. Brett Kavanaugh has "a permissible interest" in every fetus in the United States.  Sounds like the basis of a Steven King horror novel. Perhaps the federal government will create a department to regulate fetuses, and make rules about who can make em, when, how, etc.  

Happily the D.C. Circuit Court, sitting en banc, overruled  Kavanaugh, and the teenager got her abortion. But on the Supreme Court, Kavanaugh and his like-minded colleagues will be beyond overruling. So the political fight to keep him off the Court is worthwhile.

Now, is the Blasey Ford incident disqualifying? Before we answer that question, we need to learn what happened.

Let's take a logical approach. There are three possibilities: i) it happened, ii) it did not happen, and iii) we cannot be sure one way or the other.

Those are the only relevant issues. Whether Diane Feinstein should have revealed the Ford letter earlier, whether Ford should have written earlier, whether 165 virgins attest he did not rape them, etc., are all partisan bullshit tropes, and avoid the key issue.

1. First, let us assume for the sake of argument, it did happen. Assume Ford is telling the truth. Does 17 yr.-old Brett Kavanaugh's drunken attempt to rape a 15 year old girl disqualify him?  Maybe not in Turkey, or Afghanistan, or elsewhere, but in our culture, Yes. In my opinion, a definite yes. If it happened to my daughter I would want to impose corporal punishment on the boy. Serious corporal punishment. I probably would not do it, but I would want to.

When I was 17, I was just as eager as most of my peers to engage in sexual advances, but the notion of putting my hand over a girl's mouth to stop her from screaming while I forcibly tore off her clothes is inconceivable to me. Not only would I never do a thing like that, I do not know anybody who would. So, culturally, anyone who would do this is a shit, period. Perhaps he is living a good life now, and there are 165 women who say he didn't try to rape them, but that doesn't give the shit a passing grade to get on the Supreme Court.

Moreover, if it happened, but he testifies to the contrary, then he has perjured himself, and he is toast. Period

Now, let's dissolve the assumption we were working on above,(i.e.' it did happen) and ask the Q, did he do it?

Blasey Ford is a compelling witness. She is a psychologist, has a Masters and Ph.D, and is a solid citizen. She has everything to lose and nothing to gain by coming forward. She told her therapist about this 6 years ago. At the request of her counsel, she took a lie detector test. She has received death threats, needed to abandon her residence, send her daughters away. She has little to gain by this, much to lose.

Everything I have read supports the notion that this kind of traumatic event sticks. It is never forgotten. She may not remember the address of the house, etc, but she would never forget being choked by the hand on the mouth, the fear he was going to kill her in the process of raping her. Never. 

Why didn't she report it? Please. She was 15, she had a beer, she shouldn't have been there, her parents would have killed her if they learned she was at this house party with drunken boys. No 15 yr.-old girl would have called the cops. If there is one thing the Me Too movement has demonstrated, it is that these things are mostly unreported even by adults, no less errant 15 yr. olds.

He, on the other hand, apparently ran with a drunken crowd. The witness Judge, admits he was, in that period, a total alcoholic, totally blitzed all the time. That was the culture at this elite boys school. Kavanaugh had the title "Kegmaster" and was proud of it. And Judge refuses to testify before Congress.

Does this prove it happened? Not at all, but what it does establish is that this is an allegation with sufficient indicia of truth that it deserves serious attention.

So let's ask the FBI to check this out. This is easy. He says No, it did not happen. She says Yes, it did. Y'think this incident wasn't the talk of the day at both schools that Monday?  And just the other day, NPR reported that a Ford classmate wrote on her Facebook page that "it really happened and everybody was talking about it ". I suggest the Feebs could, in two weeks, produce a large report of what everybody said, because someone spilled the beans, and the kids at the house knew everything and told everyone.

But the Republicans on the committee refuse to seek an FBI report and to call other witnesses, as they did on the Clarence Thomas hearing. There was a third person in that room, and Ford wants his testimony. Why does the Committee refuse to call a percipient witness? I suggest they know he will have to attest to the drunken culture of these prep school boys, including his pal Brett.

So, if you had an FBI report as above, and added that to the witness testimony of the person in the room, and the people who were contemporaneously told of the event, the "jury' could decide if it happened or not. If they conclude yes, and he denies it, then he is a liar and the trial is over. Indeed, if they decide he did it, he should be toast whether he lies about it or not. If the jury decides he did not do it, they can proceed to vote on confirmation,disregarding the Ford allegations.

But this jury is not unbiased. Every decision they have made so far has the result of denying access to the truth. They are reluctantly giving this woman a bare bones hearing because a failure to do so would negatively affect their electability. This is a show trial. The chair of the committee has already said Ford is mistaken. Just yesterday, Mitch McConnell promised that Kavanaugh will he confirmed very soon. The Republicans are going to just bull ahead and do it. The result: the eleven white guys who rule the committee will be disgraced, as will Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh.

And the rest of us will need to worry about our rights to abortion, contraception, gay marriage, and our secular democracy.

19 September 2018

SPEAKING TRUTH TO THE MOB


-->
What do you think would happen if United States Senator Charles E. Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, received the following note?

 "Grassley, I know where you live, I know where your grandchildren go to school. If you proceed with any further hearings into Kavanaugh’s conduct, I will kill your daughter and rape your 15-yr-old granddaughter. Do not take this warning lightly. I am an ex-marine, ex-special forces combat experienced operator."

Y'think Grassley would pay attention to that? Perhaps give it to the FBI?  Of course he would, he may be venal but he is not stupid.  The death threat is a felony violation of 18 USC 1505 which makes it a crime to send a threatening letter for the purpose of endeavoring to "influence, obstruct, or impede" ... "any inquiry or investigation ... by any committee of either House."

Why does he not give the Dr. Blasey Ford the simple consideration of having the FBI complete its background investigation of Kavanaugh while hunting down the felons who are impeding the congressional inquiry by harassing her, hacking her accounts, and sending her death threats? What kind of nation have we become under Trump who urges his audience into violent behavior at his rallies?  Blasey Ford has already been hounded into hiding, and has sent her children elsewhere. Now she gets a show-up-or-else letter to appear at a circus on six day’s notice, on a schedule she never assented to?

The Blasey Ford letter has all the indicia of a bona fide complaint. She is a psychologist with a Masters Degree and a Ph.D.  She has told of the incident to others six years ago. Her turmoil and silence until now over the attack is a well-recognized pattern of sexual abuse victims.

She took a lie detector test. Has Kavanaugh offered to do that? (One of the "unbiased" Republican Senators on the Committee remarked that her taking lie detector test was evidence her complaint was phony!) The alleged witness to the attack, a classmate of Kavanaugh, has changed his story from "It did not happen" to "I don't remember," and has said he will not appear before the committee. Doubtless he prefers not to testify about his admitted perpetual drunken behavior at Georgetown Prep, and the similar conduct of his classmates. Kavanaugh himself proudly bore the title of "Kegmaster" at the elite boys' private school. Surely there are scores of pertinent witnesses out there. Is Grassley making any effort to find them?

Has the Senate learned nothing from the Anita Hill disgrace? The Republicans just don't give a shit?

My bet: The Republicans will rush ahead and confirm, with or without her. But the press will keep digging. Result?  Before the end of the year, Kavanaugh will be a Supreme Court Justice, the truth will come out that he perjured himself during the hearings, and for the next forty years the courtroom will stink from the rotten eggs that permanently stain Mr. Justice Kavanaugh's judicial robes.

Unless, of course, a Democratic Congress impeaches and convicts him after 2020. Don' hold your breath.

Thank you, Mr. Trump, Mr. Grassley, and Mr. McConnell, for continuing to populate the swamp.

A bientot.