General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"We are now truly at a break-glass-in-case-of-fire moment for the Justice Dept. "
Link to tweet
Rachel Maddow MSNBC ✔@maddow
Former counterintelligence chief at DOJ:
We are now at a break-glass-in-case-of-fire moment for the Justice Department
David Laufman @DavidLaufmanLaw'
A shocking, cram-down political intervention in the criminal justice process. We are now truly at a break-glass-in-case-of-fire moment for the Justice Dept.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/justice-dept-to-reduce-sentencing-recommendation-for-trump-associate-roger-stone-official-says-after-president-calls-it-unfair/2020/02/11/ad81fd36-4cf0-11ea-bf44-f5043eb3918a_story.html
2:41 PM - Feb 11, 2020
Sobering.
2naSalit
(86,779 posts)the general strike will be.
Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)...and House Judiciary starts an impeachment inquiry into Barr asap.
dchill
(38,532 posts)Fuckin' A.
OliverQ
(3,363 posts)I don't think we can survive until November. Barr and Trump need to be stopped before then.
Horse with no Name
(33,956 posts)Can you remember all of the crimes he committed last year?
Fuck I cant even remember all from last week.
58Sunliner
(4,398 posts)42bambi
(1,753 posts)of utter helplessness watching this train wreck. We damn well better vote, but even then I worry ... dear leader has zero scruples and he will stop at nothing to cheat!
Grasswire2
(13,571 posts)1. Join the aclu -- we are going to need them more than ever. Lend your voice to the cause of liberty for the cost of just a couple of coffee drinks.
2. Protect our watchdog press with LTTE, with expressions of support for investigative journalism, and protection for reporters.
3. Get the slim book by Yale holocaust historian Timothy Snyder "ON TYRANNY: TWENTY LESSONS FROM THE TWENTIETH CENTURY" to tell us what to watch and how to be in this fraught moment. $7.95 at booksellers everywhere.
klook
(12,166 posts)Thank you. Ive been an ACLU member for years, and the last couple of years Ive increased my donations exponentially.
G_j
(40,370 posts)no such mechanism exists.
First Speaker
(4,858 posts)...that something is going to break, one way or another, before November is an open question in my mind...
benfranklin1776
(6,449 posts)Haul toady Barr in front of the judiciary committee and roast his Chestnuts while building the perjury case.🤬🤬
Evolve Dammit
(16,763 posts)IF they can muster the collective courage to use it.
Duppers
(28,127 posts)Hear our plea. We need a Barr-on-the-ropes hearing asap.
dchill
(38,532 posts)Mr.Bill
(24,319 posts)benfranklin1776
(6,449 posts)And if he refuses, he gets a nice quaint contempt proceeding post haste, and then a criminal enforcement punishment and impeachment as his richly deserved reward.
Mr.Bill
(24,319 posts)will vote to acquit.
benfranklin1776
(6,449 posts)Doing nothing is a capitulation to authoritarian thuggery. And the beauty of a contempt citation is it doesnt rely on impeachment to enforce it. The House has inherent enforcement authority. So impeachment is a nice cherry on top of the disgrace of a contempt penalty. Also its leverage in court proceedings involving the DOJ. Judges dont look favorably on contemnors and are apt to give exacting consideration to motions to disqualify him.
Mr.Bill
(24,319 posts)but he will never show up to testify.
benfranklin1776
(6,449 posts)So Agent Oranges deranged tweets, he now complains of, become the least of his concerns 👊🏽
Mr.Bill
(24,319 posts)paid? The only ones paying a price so far are the ones who testified and told the truth. Trump has turned Congressional investigations into Bizarro world.
benfranklin1776
(6,449 posts)The problem was eschewing contempt proceedings during the mueller report aftermath and during the impeachment, the latter being an issue of extreme urgency. However now there is no reason to not exercise the full contempt power now given this maladministrationss wanton obstruction has not been rightfully punished, so I am speaking prospectively.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)leftieNanner
(15,149 posts)But this is just The Orange One flexing his muscles - because he can. And Billy Barr is happy to do it for him.
I wonder what Barr's end goal is here. We know Mike Pants is hoping to hurry the Rapture, and that Barr is an Opus Dei lunatic, but what is Barr trying to achieve. Unitary executive power, I know. But is there anything else?
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)They're in this for the full 8. It's the only thing that makes sense.
leftieNanner
(15,149 posts)And in 8 years they can tear everything down. Everything.
Grasswire2
(13,571 posts)He's an end times extremist Catholic wacko. Opus Dei. A ruling church.
leftieNanner
(15,149 posts)A theocracy.
Grasswire2
(13,571 posts)the speech he gave a couple of months ago totally makes the argument.
leftieNanner
(15,149 posts)But sees him a willing vehicle to power and control.
Ugh.
Mr.Bill
(24,319 posts)is to not have videos of him banging 14 year old girls at Epstein's mansion made public.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)<a href="https://imgflip.com/i/3owkid"><img src="" title="made at imgflip.com"/></a>
I hate to be so cynical, but I don't really know what anyone can do when they refuse to recognize the rule of law or comply with any code of ethics.
paleotn
(17,960 posts)Grasswire2
(13,571 posts)....to fight for democracy. Masses in the streets.
The power is still in the hands of the citizens.
misanthrope
(7,428 posts)We're fat, distracted and complacent. Seventy years of hypnotism via technological bread and circuses are finally coming to fruition.
spanone
(135,874 posts)democrank
(11,104 posts)Zolorp
(1,115 posts)Jarqui
(10,130 posts)I do not want to upset people.
I am very frightened by what has gone on and what I think will go on beyond this point.
58Sunliner
(4,398 posts)I think those that can, should, and help some others out. People should be getting their passports and getting rid of stuff if they can. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I have had a little voice telling me to get out of here.
Jarqui
(10,130 posts)The majority of the country and the world will be with you.
I'd be lying if I didn't confess to this sucking the wind out of my sails with worry.
It is probably going to get worse before it gets better.
But I have no choice but to fight this con man every step of the way that I can muster.
58Sunliner
(4,398 posts)My best chance is to sell my house and live somewhere cheaply. I'm disabled and have a chance at health care elsewhere. I can't risk being homeless. It's as if we are looking at a perspective that descends to a point of intolerable. Everything that he has done, even shit that is just completely unnecessary, like the clean water act, is part of the campaign to overwhelm people. I don't even think he making the plays. He is malignant enough, just too fucking stupid. And if I saw enough people protesting, putting it on the line, I would think about how I could stay and fight. Look at the voter turnout. Jesus effing christ. Lives on the effing line and the people here can not be bothered to vote. WTF. I live in a city that has too many shootings/violence for my comfort. I don't feel safe. Do you think it will get better when things get worse? I don't know that there will be some magic cohesion. We aren't the French in WW2. The resistance. They didn't have gangs and gun violence and mass shootings. I hope I am wrong. But if I'm not, my family will have a resource in a safer place. It isn't an easy decision, I don't sleep well worrying about this country, and the people who care and their future.
misanthrope
(7,428 posts)I depend on my SSI and, most importantly, the Medicare that comes with my disability status. Without Medicare, I die. It's that simple.
However, I'm surrounded by others who don't care. They're neighbors, fellow citizens, relatives, colleagues, people who benefit from my work and from the non-profits I serve. For them, it's just about "owning libs" or "their side" winning like it's some stupid sporting contest. If you point out the human consequences, they rationalize it by labeling social safety net recipients as "takers," as "the other." They're willfully signing my death warrant.
When our Constitution was just four decades old, Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville traveled the young nation and reflected on its culture. Among his observations was the following:
"As one digs deeper into the national character of Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?"
So even at that tender age, Americans plainly exhibited their tendencies toward exploitation and avarice. It's only compounded with time.
58Sunliner
(4,398 posts)misanthrope
(7,428 posts)I've spent 56 years in Alabama. I'm used to being in a tiny minority surrounded by selfishness, fear and hatred. I grew up in a house fraught with psychological abuse. I've seen those I admire most get screwed over by the world and watched the most ethically void rise to the top.
However, what I do to publicize and help others isn't because I expect recognition or gratitude but because I believe it to be "the right thing." I'm the one that has to deal with my conscience when my head hits the pillow at night. I'd rather be part of the solution because I encounter too many who don't care that they're part of the problem.
paleotn
(17,960 posts)Well, some states are fascist anyway.
colsohlibgal
(5,275 posts)Apparently it can and has happened here. Orange Mussolini and his partner in crime Barr are brazenly mocking the rule of law. They are behaving like Mobsters.
2020 just got even more vital. You would think this brazen act might turn more suburban voters blue, particularly women. We desperately need a Blue Wave more extreme than 2018.
jls4561
(1,261 posts)rather than be part of the subversion of justice will start talking.
dalton99a
(81,578 posts)Dukkha
(7,341 posts)and yet nothing will be done about it
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)Backseat Driver
(4,394 posts)Mr.Bill
(24,319 posts)I know I can't afford Canada, and I don't like cold weather anyway.